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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18642-8.txt b/18642-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c169ac3 --- /dev/null +++ b/18642-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10328 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Women of the Romance Countries, by John R. Effinger + +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: Women of the Romance Countries + +Author: John R. Effinger + +Release Date: June 21, 2006 [EBook #18642] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN OF THE ROMANCE COUNTRIES *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif, Alison Hadwin and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: MARIA DE PADILLA + +_After the painting by Paul Gervais._] + +WOMAN + +In all ages and in all countries + +WOMEN OF THE ROMANCE COUNTRIES + +by + +JOHN R. EFFINGER, Ph.D. +_Of the University of Michigan_ + +THE RITTENHOUSE PRESS +PHILADELPHIA + +_Copyrighted at Washington and entered at +Stationers' Hall, London + +1907 1908 + +and printed by arrangement with George Barrie's Sons._ + +PRINTED IN U. S. A. + + + + +PREFACE + + +No one can deny the influence of woman, which has been a potent factor +in society, directly or indirectly, ever since the days of Mother Eve. +Whether living in Oriental seclusion, or enjoying the freer life of the +Western world, she has always played an important part in the onward +march of events, and exercised a subtle power in all things, great and +small. To appreciate this power properly, and give it a worthy +narrative, is ever a difficult and well-nigh impossible task, at least +for mortal man. Under the most favorable circumstances, the subject is +elusive and difficult of approach, lacking in sequence, and often +shrouded in mystery. + +What, then, must have been the task of the author of the present volume, +in essaying to write of the women of Italy and Spain! In neither of +these countries are the people all of the same race, nor do they afford +the development of a constant type for observation or study. Italy, with +its mediæval chaos, its free cities, and its fast-and-loose allegiance +to the temporal power of the Eternal City, has ever been the despair of +the orderly historian; and Spain, overrun by Goth, by Roman, and by +Moslem host, presents strange contrasts and rare complexities. + +Such being the case, this account of the women of the Romance countries +does not attempt to trace in detail their gradual evolution, but rather +to present, in the proper setting, the most conspicuous examples of +their good or evil influence, their bravery or their cowardice, their +loyalty or their infidelity, their learning or their illiteracy, their +intelligence or their ignorance, throughout the succeeding years. + +Chroniclers and historians, poets and romancers, have all given valuable +aid in the undertaking, and to them grateful acknowledgment is hereby +made. + +JOHN R. EFFINGER. + +_University of Michigan._ + + + + +Part First + +Italian Women + + + + +Chapter I + +The Age of the Countess Matilda of Tuscany + + +The eleventh century, which culminated in the religious fervor of the +First Crusade, must not on that account be considered as an age of +unexampled piety and devotion. Good men there were and true, and women +of great intellectual and moral force, but it cannot be said that the +time was characterized by any deep and sincere religious feeling which +showed itself in the general conduct of society. Europe was just +emerging from that gloom which had settled down so closely upon the +older civilizations after the downfall of the glory that was Rome, and +the light of the new day sifted but fitfully through the dark curtains +of that restless time. Liberty had not as yet become the shibboleth of +the people, superstition was in the very air, the knowledge of the +wisest scholars was as naught, compared with what we know to-day; +everywhere, might made right. + +In a time like this, in spite of the illustrious example of the Countess +Matilda, it cannot be supposed that women were in a very exalted +position. It is even recorded that in several instances, men, as +superior beings, debated as to whether or not women were possessed of +souls. While this momentous question was never settled in a conclusive +fashion, it may be remarked that in the heat of the discussion there +were some who called women angels of light, while there were others who +had no hesitation in declaring that they were devils incarnate, though +in neither case were they willing to grant them the same rights and +privileges which they themselves possessed. Though many other facts of +the same kind might be adduced, the mere existence of such discussion is +enough to prove to the most undiscerning that woman's place in society +was not clearly recognized, and that there were many difficulties to be +overcome before she could consider herself free from her primitive state +of bondage. + +In the eye of the feudal law, women were not considered as persons of +any importance whatever. The rights of husbands were practically +absolute, and led to much abuse, as they had a perfectly legal right to +punish wives for their misdeeds, to control their conduct in such a way +as to interfere with their personal liberty, and in general to treat +them as slaves and inferior beings. The whipping-post had not then been +invented as a fitting punishment for the wife beater, as it was +perfectly understood, according to the feudal practices as collected by +Beaumanoir, "that every husband had the right to beat his wife when she +was unwilling to obey his commands, or when she cursed him, or when she +gave him the lie, providing that it was done moderately, and that death +did not ensue." If a wife left a husband who had beaten her, she was +compelled by law to return at his first word of regret, or to lose all +right to their common possessions, even for purposes of her own support. + +The daughters of a feudal household had even fewer rights than the wife. +All who are willing to make a candid acknowledgment of the facts must +admit that even to-day, a girl-baby is often looked upon with disfavor. +This has been true in all times, and there are numerous examples to show +that this aversion existed in ancient India, in Greece and Sparta, and +at Rome. The feudal practices of mediæval Europe were certainly based +upon it, and the Breton peasant of to-day expresses the same idea +somewhat bluntly when he says by way of explanation, after the birth of +a daughter: _Ma femme a fait une fausse couche._ Conscious as all must +be of this widespread sentiment at the present time, it will not be +difficult to imagine what its consequences must have been in so rude a +time as the eleventh century, when education could do so little in the +way of restraining human passion and prejudice. As the whole feudal +system, so far as the succession of power was concerned, was based upon +the principle of primogeniture, it was the oldest son who succeeded to +all his father's lands and wealth, the daughter or daughters being left +under his absolute control. Naturally, such a system worked hardship for +the younger brothers, but then as now it was easier for men to find a +place for themselves in the world than for women, and the army or the +Church rarely failed to furnish some sort of career for all those who +were denied the rights and privileges of the firstborn. The lot of the +sister, however, was pitiful in the extreme (unless it happened that the +older brother was kind and considerate), for if she were in the way she +could be bundled off to a cloister, there to spend her days in solitude, +or she could be married against her will, being given as the price of +some alliance. + +The conditions of marriage, however, were somewhat complicated, as it +was always necessary to secure the consent of three persons before a +girl of the higher class could go to the altar in nuptial array. These +three persons were her father or her guardian, her lord and the king. It +was Hugo who likened the feudal system to a continually ascending +pyramid with the king at the very summit, and that interminable chain of +interdependence is well illustrated in the present case. Suppose the +father, brother, or other guardian had decided upon a suitable husband +for the daughter of the house, it was necessary that he should first +gain the consent of that feudal lord to whom he gave allegiance, and +when this had been obtained, the king himself must give his royal +sanction to the match. Nor was this all, for a feudal law said that any +lord can compel any woman among his dependants to marry a man of his own +choosing after she has reached the age of twelve. Furthermore, there was +in existence a most cruel, barbarous, and repulsive practice which gave +any feudal lord a right to the first enjoyment of the person of the +bride of one of his vassals. As Legouvé has so aptly expressed it: _Les +jeunes gens payaient de leur corps en allant à la guerre, les jeunes +filles en allant à l'autel._ + +Divorce was a very simple matter at this time so far as the husband was +concerned, for he it was who could repudiate his wife, disown her, and +send her from his door for almost any reason, real or false. In earlier +times, at the epoch when the liberty of the citizen was the pride of +Rome, marriage almost languished there on account of the misuse of +divorce, and both men and women were allowed to profit by the laxity of +the laws on this subject. Seneca said, in one instance: "That Roman +woman counts her years, not by the number of consuls, but by the number +of her husbands." Juvenal reports a Roman freedman as saying to his +wife: "Leave the house at once and forever! You blow your nose too +frequently. I desire a wife with a dry nose." When Christianity +appeared, then, the marriage tie was held in slight consideration, and +it was only after many centuries and by slow degrees that its sanctity +was recognized, and its rights respected. While, under the Roman law, +both men and women had been able to get a divorce with the same ease, +the feudal idea, which gave all power into the hands of the men, made +divorce an easy thing for the men alone, but this was hardly an +improvement, as the marriage relation still lacked stability. + +It must not be supposed that all the mediæval ideas respecting marriage +and divorce and the condition of women in general, which have just been +explained, had to do with any except those who belonged in some way to +the privileged classes, for such was not the case. At that time, the +great mass of the people in Europe--men and women--were ignorant to the +last degree, possessing little if any sense of delicacy or refinement, +and were utterly uncouth. For the most part, they lived in miserable +hovels, were clothed in a most meagre and scanty way, and were little +better than those beasts of burden which are compelled to do their +master's bidding. Among these people, rights depended quite largely upon +physical strength, and women were generally misused. To the lord of the +manor it was a matter of little importance whether or not the serfs upon +his domain were married in due form or not; marriage as a sacrament had +little to do with these hewers of wood and drawers of water, and they +were allowed to follow their own impulses quite generally, so far as +their relations with each other were concerned. The loose moral +practices of the time among the more enlightened could be but a bad +example for the benighted people of the soil; consequently, throughout +all classes of society there was a degree of corruption and immorality +which is hardly conceivable to-day. + +So far as education was concerned, there were but a few who could enjoy +its blessings, and these were, for the most part, men. Women, in their +inferior and unimportant position, rarely desired an education, and more +rarely received one. Of course, there were conspicuous exceptions to +this rule; here and there, a woman working under unusually favorable +circumstances was really able to become a learned person. Such cases +were extremely rare, however, for the true position of woman in society +was far from being understood. Schools for women were unknown; indeed, +there were few schools of any kind, and it was only in the monasteries +that men were supposed to know how to read and write. Even kings and +queens were often without these polite accomplishments, and the right of +the sword had not yet been questioned. Then, it must be taken into +consideration that current ideas regarding education in Italy in this +early time were quite different from what they are to-day. As there were +no books, book learning was impossible, and the old and yellowed +parchments stored away in the libraries of the monasteries were +certainly not calculated to arouse much public enthusiasm. Education at +this time was merely some sort of preparation for the general duties of +life, and the nature of this preparation depended upon a number of +circumstances. + +To make the broadest and most general classification possible, the women +of that time might be divided into ladies of high degree and women of +the people. The former were naturally fitted by their training to take +their part in the spectacle of feudal life with proper dignity; more +than that, they were often skilled in all the arts of the housewife, and +many times they showed themselves the careful stewards of their +husbands' fortunes. The women of the people, on the other hand, were not +shown any special consideration on account of their sex, and were quite +generally expected to work in the fields with the men. Their homes were +so unworthy of the name that they required little care or thought, and +their food was so coarse that little time was given to its preparation. +Simple-minded, credulous, superstitious in the extreme, with absolutely +no intellectual uplift of any kind, and nothing but the sordid drudgery +of life with which to fill the slow-passing hours, it is no wonder that +the great mass of both the men and the women of this time were +hopelessly swallowed up in a many-colored sea of ignorance, from which, +with the march of the centuries, they have been making slow efforts to +rise. So the lady sat in the great hall in the castle, clad in some +gorgeous gown of silk which had been brought by the patient caravans, +through devious ways, from the far and mysterious East; surrounded by +her privileged maidens, she spun demurely and in peace and quiet, while +out in the fields the back of the peasant woman was bent in ceaseless +toil. Or again, the lady of the manor would ride forth with her lord +when he went to the hunt, she upon her white palfrey, and he upon his +black charger, and each with hooded falcon on wrist; for the gentle art +of falconry was almost as much in vogue among the women as among the men +of the time. Often it happened that during the course of the hunt it +would be necessary to cross a newly planted field, or one heavy with the +ripened grain, and this they did gaily and with never a thought for the +hardship that they might cause; and as they swept along, hot after the +quarry, the poor, mistreated peasant, whether man or woman, dared utter +no word of protest or make moan, nor did he or she dare to look boldly +and unabashed upon this hunting scene, but rather from the cover of some +protecting thicket. Scenes of this kind will serve to show the great +gulf which there was between the great and the lowly; and as there was +an almost total lack of any sort of education in the formal sense of the +word, it will be readily understood that all that education could mean +for anybody was that training which was incident to the daily round of +life, whatever it happened to be. So the poor and dependent learned to +fear and sometimes to hate their masters, and the proud and haughty +learned to consider themselves as superior and exceptional beings. + +With society in such a state as this, the question will naturally arise: +What did the Church do under these circumstances to ameliorate the +condition of the people and to advance the cause of woman? The only +answer to this question is a sorry negative, as it soon becomes +apparent, after an investigation of the facts, that in many cases the +members of the clergy themselves were largely responsible for the wide +prevalence of vice and immorality. It must be remembered that absolution +from sin and crime in those days was but a matter of money price and +that pardons could be easily bought for any offence, as the venality of +the clergy was astounding. The corruption of the time was great, and the +priests themselves were steeped in crime and debauchery. In former +generations, the Church at Rome had many times issued strict orders +against the marriage of the clergy, and, doubtless as one of the +consequences of this regulation, it had become the custom for many of +the priests to have one or more concubines with whom they, in most +cases, lived openly and without shame. The monasteries became, under +these conditions, dens of iniquity, and the nunneries were no better. +The nunnery of Saint Fara in the eleventh century, according to a +contemporary description, was no longer the residence of holy virgins, +but a brothel of demoniac females who gave themselves up to all sorts of +shameless conduct; and there are many other accounts of the same general +tenor. Pope Gregory VII. tried again to do something for the cause of +public morality, in 1074, when he issued edicts against both concubinage +and simony--or the then prevalent custom of buying or selling +ecclesiastical preferment; but the edict was too harsh and unreasonable +with regard to the first, inasmuch as it provided that no priest should +marry in the future, and that those who already possessed wives or +concubines were to give them up or relinquish their sacred offices. This +order caused great consternation, especially in Milan, where the clergy +were honestly married, each man to one wife, and it was found impossible +to exact implicit obedience to its requirements. + +So far as the general influence of women upon the feudal society of +Italy in the eleventh century is concerned, it is not discoverable to +have been manifest in the ways which were common in other countries. It +will be understood, of course, that, in speaking of woman's influence +here, reference is made to the women of the upper classes, as those of +the peasant class cannot be said to have formed a part of social Europe +at this time. It is most common to read in all accounts of this feudal +period, which was the beginning of the golden age of the older chivalry, +that women exerted a most gentle influence upon the men about them and +that the honor and respect in which they were held did much to elevate +the general tone of life. In Italy, however, chivalry did not flourish +as it did in other countries. Since the time of the great Emperor +Charlemagne all Italy had been nominally a part of the imperial domain, +but owing to its geographical position, which made it difficult of +access and hard to control, this overlordship was not always +administered with strictness, and from time to time the larger cities of +Italy were granted special rights and privileges. The absence of an +administrative capital made impossible any centralization of national +life, and it was entirely natural, then, that the various Italian +communities should assert their right to some sort of local government +and some measure of freedom. This spirit of citizenship in the free +towns overcame the spirit of disciplined dependence which was common to +those parts of the empire which were governed according to the usual +feudal customs, and, as a result, Italy lacks many of those +characteristics which are common to the more integral parts of the vast +feudal system. + +The most conspicuous offspring of feudalism was chivalry, with its +various orders of knighthood; but chivalry and the orders of knighthood +gained little foothold in Italy, where the conditions necessary for the +growth and development of such a social and military order were far from +propitious. Knights, it is true, came and went in Italy, and performed +their deeds of valor; fair maidens were rescued, and women and children +were given succor; but the knights were foreign knights, and they owed +allegiance to a foreign lord. So far, then, Italy was without the +institution of chivalry, and, to a great degree, insensible to those +high ideals of fealty and honor which were the cardinal virtues of the +knightly order. Owing to the absence of these fine qualities of mind and +soul, the Italian in war was too often of fierce and relentless temper, +showing neither pity nor mercy and having no compassion for a fallen +foe. Warriors never admitted prisoners to ransom, and the annals of +their contests are destitute of those graceful courtesies which shed +such a beautiful lustre over the contests of England and France. +Stratagems were as common as open and glorious battle, and private +injuries were revenged by assassination and not by the fair and manly +_joust à l'outrance_. However, when a man pledged his word for the +performance of any act and wished his sincerity to be believed, he +always swore by the _parola di cavaliere_, and not by the _parola di +cortigiano_, so general was the acknowledgment of the moral superiority +of chivalry. + +It was in the midst of this age of ignorance that Matilda, the great +Countess of Tuscany, by means of her wisdom and intelligence and her +many graces of mind and body, made such a great and lasting reputation +for herself that her name has come down in history as the worthy +companion of William the Conqueror and the great monk Hildebrand, later +Pope Gregory VII., her most distinguished contemporaries. Matilda's +father, Boniface, was the richest and most powerful nobleman of his time +in all Italy, and as Margrave and Duke of Tuscany, Duke of Lucca, +Marquis of Modena, and Count of Reggio, Mantua, and Ferrara, he exerted +a very powerful feudal influence. Though at first unfriendly to the +interests of the papal party in Italy, he was just about ready to +espouse its cause when he fell under the hand of an assassin; and then +it was that Matilda, by special dispensation of the emperor, was allowed +to inherit directly her father's vast estate, which she shared at first +with her brother Frederick and her sister Beatrice. Generally, fiefs +reverted to the emperor and remained within his custody for five +years--were held in probate, as it were--before the lawful heirs were +allowed to enter into possession of their property. Frederick and +Beatrice were short-lived, however, and it was not many years before +Matilda was left as sole heir to this great domain; she was not entirely +alone, as she had the watchful care and guidance of her mother, who +assisted her in every emergency. + +As the result of this condition of affairs, both mother and daughter +were soon sought in marriage by many ardent and ambitious suitors, each +presenting his claims for preferment and doing all in his power to bring +about an alliance which meant so much for the future. Godfrey of +Lorraine, who was not friendly to the party of the Emperor Henry III., +while on a raid in Italy, pressed his suit with such insistency that the +widowed Beatrice promised to marry him and at the same time gave her +consent to a betrothal between Matilda and Godfrey's hunchback son, who +also bore the name of Godfrey. This marriage with an unfriendly prince, +after so many years of imperial favor, and this attempt at a +consolidation of power for both present and future, so angered Henry +that he insisted that Beatrice must have yielded to violence in this +disposition of her affairs. Finally, in spite of her repeated denials, +she was made a prisoner for her so-called insubordination, while Matilda +was compelled to find safety in the great fortress at Canossa. In the +meantime, Godfrey had gone back to Lorraine, more powerful than ever, to +stir up trouble in the empire. + +In this same year, 1054, Henry III. died, and his son, Henry IV., won +over by the prayers of Pope Victor II., made peace with Godfrey and +restored Beatrice to liberty. They, being more than grateful to Victor +for this kindly intervention, invited him to come to their stately +palace in Florence and tarry with them for a while. From this time on, +in the period when Matilda was growing into womanhood, the real seat of +the papal power was not in Rome, but in Florence, and Godfrey's palace +became an acknowledged centre of ecclesiastical activity. + +Matilda was a girl of a mystic temperament, credulous, it is true, and +somewhat superstitious like all the other people of her time, and yet +filled with a deep yearning for a greater knowledge of the secrets of +the universe. Her ideal of authority was formed by intercourse with the +various members of her own circle, who were all devoted heart and soul +to the cause of the Holy See, and it was but natural that, when she +became old enough to think and act for herself, all her inclinations +should lead her to embrace the cause of the pope. While it is beyond the +province of the present volume to describe in detail the exact political +and religious situation in Italy at this time, it should be said that +the pope was anxious to reassert the temporal power of his office, which +had for a long time been subservient to the will of the emperors. He +desired the supremacy of the papacy within the Church, and the supremacy +of the Church over the state. Early filled with a holy zeal for this +cause, Matilda tried to inform herself regarding the real state of +affairs, so that she might be able to act intelligently when the time +for action came. Through skilful diplomacy, it came to pass that +Matilda's uncle--Frederick--became Pope Stephen X.; and then, of course, +the house of Lorraine came to look upon the papal interests as its own, +and the daughter of the house strengthened the deep attachment for the +Church which was to die only when she died. Nor must it be thought that +the priestly advisers of the house were blind to the fact that in +Matilda they had one who might become a pillar of support for the +fortunes of the papacy. The monk Hildebrand, for a long time the power +behind the pope until he himself became pope in 1073, was a constant +visitor at Matilda's home, and he it was who finally took her education +in hand and gave it its fullest development. She had many teachers, of +course, and under Hildebrand's guiding genius, the work was not stopped +until the young countess could speak French, German, and Latin with the +same ease as she did her mother tongue. + +Finally, in 1076, when she was thirty years of age, her +mother--Beatrice--died, and also her husband, Godfrey le Bossu. The +great countess, acting for the first time entirely upon her own +responsibility, now began that career of activity and warfare which was +unflagging to the end. No other woman of her time had her vast power and +wealth, no other woman of her time had her well-stored mind, and no +other, whether man or woman, was so well equipped to become the great +protector of the Holy Church at Rome. People were amazed at her +ability--they called her God-given and Heaven-sent, and they felt a +touch of mystery in this woman's life. Surely she was not as the others +of her time, for she could hold her head high in the councils of the +most learned, and she the only woman of the number! Nor was she +one-sided in her activity and indifferent to all interests save those of +the papal party, as her many public benefactions show her to have been a +woman filled with that larger zeal for humanity which far transcends the +narrow zeal for sect or creed. For, in addition to the many temples, +convents, and sepulchres, which she caused to be scattered over the +northern part of Italy, she built the beautiful public baths at +Casciano, and the great hospital of Altapascio. + +Never strong physically, Matilda was possessed of remarkable vitality +and an iron will, and she showed great powers of execution and +administration, never shirking the gravest responsibilities. A part of +her life was spent in the rough camps of her devoted feudal soldiery, +and--weak woman though she was--she led them on to battle more than +once, when they seemed to need the inspiration of her presence. Women +warriors there have been in every day and generation in some part of the +world perhaps, but never one like this. Clad in her suit of mail, and +urging on her battle horse at the head of her followers, her pale face +filled with the light of a holy zeal, it is small wonder that her arms +triumphed, and that before her death she came to be acknowledged openly +as by far the most important person in all Italy. + +It happened at one time that the emperor--Henry IV.--deserted by his +friends in Germany, and excommunicated by the pope, found that his only +hope for restoration to popular favor lay in a pardon from his enemy and +the lifting of the ban of excommunication. He set out, therefore, alone +and without an army, to meet the pope and sue for peace. Gregory, +uninformed as to Henry's intended visit (for news did not travel quickly +in those early days), was at the time on his way to Germany, where an +important diet was to be held, and with him was his faithful ally +Matilda. When they learned of the emperor's approach, however, the papal +train turned aside to the nearby fortress of Canossa, one of Matilda's +possessions, there to await the royal suppliant. In the immense hall of +that great castle, all hung with armor, shining shields and +breastplates, and all the varied accoutrements of war, the frowning +turrets without and the dark corridors within swarming with the pope's +defenders, Henry, the great emperor, who had once tried to depose +Gregory, was now forced to his greatest earthly humiliation and was +compelled to bend the knee and sue for pardon. Matilda it was who sat +beside the pope at this most solemn moment, and she alone could share +with Gregory the glory of this triumph, for she it was who had supplied +the sinews of war and made it possible for the pope to impose his will. + +On their return to Rome, to insure a continuance of papal success and +give stability to the ecclesiastical organization, she made over by +formal donation to the Holy See all her worldly possessions. This was +not only an act of great liberality, but it was a very bold assertion of +independence, as it was not customary to make disposition of feudal +possessions without first gaining the emperor's consent. As it was a +foregone conclusion that he would never give his consent to this +arrangement, Matilda thought best to dispense with that formality. + +Henry's submission was the distinct recognition of papal supremacy for +which Matilda had been battling, but Gregory, in his exactions, had +overstepped the bounds of prudent policy, as he had shown himself too +arrogant and dictatorial. In consequence, all Lombardy rose against him, +Tuscany soon followed suit, and, in 1080, Matilda herself was forced to +take refuge in the mountains of Modena. Henry, who had regained in part +his power and his influence at home, descended upon Rome in 1083, and in +revenge for his former disgrace, expelled Gregory, who retired to +Salerno, where he died soon after. Now comes a period of conflict +between popes and anti-popes, Matilda sustaining the regular successors +of Gregory, and Henry nominating men of his own choice. The long period +of warfare was beginning to weigh heavily upon the land, however, and in +a solemn assembly at Carpinetto, the friends and barons of Matilda +implored her to cease her struggles, but she refused to listen to their +entreaties because a monk of Canossa had promised her the aid of heaven +if she should persevere in this holy war. Before long, Lombardy, which +had long been restless, revolted against the emperor, and Matilda, by +great skill and a display of much tact, was enabled to arrange matters +in such a way that she broke Henry's power. This victory made Matilda, +to all intents and purposes, the real Queen of Italy, though in title +she was but the Countess of Tuscany. Then it was that she confirmed her +grant of 1077, giving unconditionally to the pope all her fiefs and +holdings. While the validity of this donation was seriously questioned, +and while it was claimed that she had really intended to convey her +personal property only, so ambiguous was the wording of the document +that the pope's claims were in the main allowed, and many of her lands +were given over to his temporal sway. + +After the death of Henry IV. (1106), she continued to rule without +opposition in Italy, though recognizing the suzerainty of his successor, +Henry V. In 1110, this emperor came to visit her at Bibbianello, where +he was filled with admiration for her attainments, her great wisdom, and +her many virtues. During this visit, Henry treated her with the greatest +respect, addressing her as mother; before his departure, he made her +regent of Italy. She was then old and feeble, physically, but her mind +and will were still vigorous. A few years later, during the Lenten +season in 1115, she caught cold while attempting to follow out the +exacting requirements of Holy Week, and it soon became apparent that her +end was near. Realizing this fact herself she directed that her serfs +should be freed, confirmed her general donation to the pope, made a few +small bequests to the neighboring churches, and then died as she had +lived, calmly and bravely. Her death occurred at Bendano, and her body +was interred at Saint Benoît de Ponderone. Five centuries later, under +the pontificate of Urban VIII., it was taken to Rome and buried with +great ceremony in the Vatican. + +As to Matilda's character, some few historians have cast reflections +upon the nature of her relations with Pope Gregory, their stay together +at Canossa, at the time of Henry's humiliation, being particularly +mentioned as an instance of their too great intimacy. Such aspersions +have still to be proved, and there is nothing in all contemporary +writings to show that there was anything reprehensible in all the course +of this firm friendship. Gregory was twice the age of the great +countess, and was more her father than her lover. During her whole +lifetime, she had been of a mystic temperament, and it is too much to +ask us to believe that her great and holy ardor for the Church was +tainted by anything like vice or sensuality. By reason of her great +sagacity and worldly wisdom she was the most powerful and most able +personage in Italy at the time of her death. If her broad domains could +have been kept together by some able successor, Italian unity might not +have been deferred for so many centuries; but there was no one to take +up her work and Italy was soon divided again, and this time the real +partition was made rather by the growing republics than by the feudal +lords. + +A consideration of the life of the Countess Matilda points to the fact +that there was but this one woman in all Italy at this time who _knew_ +enough to take advantage of her opportunities and play a great rôle upon +the active stage of life. Many years were to pass before it could enter +the popular conception that all women were to be given their chance at a +fuller life, and even yet in sunny Italy, there is much to do for +womankind. Then, as now, the skies were blue, and the sun was bright and +warm; then, as now, did the peasants dance and sing all the way from +water-ribbed Venice to fair and squalid Naples, but with a difference. +Now, there is a measure of freedom to each and all--then, justice was +not only blind but went on crutches, and women were made to suffer +because they were women and because they could not defend, by force, +their own. Still, there is comfort in the fact that from this dead level +of mediocrity and impotence, one woman, the great Countess of Tuscany, +was able to rise up and show herself possessed of a great heart, a great +mind, and a great soul; and in her fullness of achievement, there was +rich promise for the future. + + + + +Chapter II + +The Neapolitan Court in the Time of Queen Joanna + + +If you drive along the beautiful shore of the Mergellina to-day, beneath +the high promontory of Pausilipo, to the southwest of Naples, you will +see there in ruins the tumbling rocks and stones of an unfinished +palace, with the blue sea breaking over its foundations; and that is +still called the palace of Queen Joanna. In the church of Saint Chiara +at Naples, this Queen Joanna was buried, and there her tomb may be seen +to-day. Still is she held in memory dear, and still is her name familiar +to the lips of the people. On every hand are to be seen the monuments of +her munificence, and if you ask a Neapolitan in the street who built +this palace or that church, the answer is almost always the same--"Our +Queen Joanna." + +Who was this well-beloved queen, when did she live, and why is she still +held in this affectionate regard by the present residents of sunny +Naples? To answer all these questions it will be necessary to go back to +a much earlier day in the history of this southern part of the Italian +peninsula--a day when Naples was the centre of a royal government of no +little importance in the eyes of the mediæval world. + +Some three hundred years before Joanna's birth, in the early part of the +eleventh century, a band of knightly pilgrims was on its way to the +Holy Land to battle for the Cross. They had ridden through the fair +provinces of France, in brave array upon their mighty chargers, all the +way from Normandy to Marseilles, and there they had taken ship for the +East. The ships were small, the accommodations and supplies were not of +the best, and it was not possible to make the journey with any great +speed. Stopping, as it happened, for fresh stores in the south of Italy, +they were at once invited by the Prince of Salerno to aid him in his +fight against the Mohammedans, who were every day encroaching more upon +the Greek possessions there. Being men of warlike nature, already +somewhat wearied by the sea voyage to which they were not accustomed, +and considering this fighting with the Saracens of Italy as a good +preparation for later conflicts with the heathens and the infidels who +were swarming about the gates of Jerusalem, they were not slow to accept +the invitation. While victory perched upon the banners of the Normans, +it was evident at once that for the future safety of the country a +strong and stable guard would be necessary, and so the Normans were now +asked to stay permanently. This the majority did with immense +satisfaction, for the soft and gentle climate of the country had filled +their souls with a sweet contentment, and the charms and graces of the +southern women had more than conquered the proud conquerors. Just as +Charles VIII. and his army, some hundreds of years later, were ensnared +by the soft glances of soft eyes when they went to Italy to conquer, so +the Normans were held in silken chains in this earlier time. But there +was this difference--the Normans did not forget their own interests. +Willing victims to the wondrous beauty of the belles of Naples, they +were strong enough to think of their own position at the same time; and +as the French colony grew to fair size and much importance, they took +advantage of certain controversies which arose, and boldly seized +Apulia, which they divided among twelve of their counts. This all +happened in the year 1042. + +It may well be imagined that Naples at this time presented a most +picturesque appearance, for there was a Babel of tongues and a mixture +of nationalities which was quite unusual. After the native Neapolitans, +dark-eyed and swarthy, there were countless Greeks and Saracens of +somewhat fairer hue, and over them all were the fierce Normans, +strangers from a northern clime, who were lording it in most masterful +fashion. The effect of this overlordship, which they held from the pope +as their feudal head, was to give to this portion of Italy certain +characteristics which are almost entirely lacking in the other parts of +Italy. Here there was no free city, here there was no republic, but, +instead, a feudal court which followed the best models of the continent +and in its time became famed for its brilliancy and elegance. Without +dallying by the way to explain when battles were fought and kings were +crowned, suffice it to say that, early in the fourteenth century, Robert +of Taranto, an Angevine prince, ascended the throne of Naples, and by +his wisdom and goodness and by his great interest in art and literature +made his capital the centre of a culture and refinement which were rare +at that time. This was a day of almost constant warfare, when the din of +battle and the clash of armor were silencing the sound of the harp and +the music of the poet, but Robert--_Il buon Rè Roberto_, as he was +called--loved peace and hated war and ever strove to make his court a +place of brightness and joy, wherein the arts and sciences might +flourish without let or hindrance. + +These centuries of feudal rule had, perhaps, given the people of Naples +a somewhat different temper from that possessed by the people in other +parts of Italy. There had been a firm centre of authority, and, in spite +of the troubles which had rent the kingdom, the people in the main had +been little concerned with them. They had been taught to obey, and +generally their rights had been respected. Now, under King Robert, the +populace was enjoying one long holiday, the like of which could have +been seen in no other part of Italy at that time. The natural languor of +the climate and their intuitive appreciation of the lazy man's proverb, +_Dolce far niente_, made it easy for them to give themselves up to the +pleasures of the moment. All was splendor and feasting at the court, and +the castle Nuovo, where the king resided, was ever filled with a goodly +company. So the people took life easily; there was much dancing and +playing of guitars upon the Mole, by the side of the waters of that +glorious bay all shimmering in the moonlight, and the night was filled +with music and laughter. The beauty of the women was exceptional, and +the blood of the men was hot; passion was ill restrained, and the +green-eyed monster of jealousy hovered over all. Quick to love and quick +to anger, resentful in the extreme, suspicious and often treacherous, +Dan Cupid wrought havoc among them at times most innocently, and many a +_colpo di coltello_ [dagger thrust] was given under the influence of +love's frenzy. But the dance continued, the dresses were still of the +gayest colors, the bursts of laughter were unsubdued. + +The fair fame of the court of Naples had gone far afield, and not to +know of it and of its magnificence, even in those days of difficult +communication, was so damaging a confession among gentlefolk, that all +were loath to make it. Here, it was known, the arts of peace were +encouraged, while war raged on all sides, and here it was that many +noble lords and ladies had congregated from all Europe to form part of +that gallant company and shine with its reflected splendor. King Robert +likewise held as feudal appanage the fair state of Provence in southern +France, rich in brilliant cities and enjoying much prosperity, until the +time of the ill-advised Albigensian Crusade, and communication between +the two parts of Robert's realm was constant. Naples was the centre, +however, and such was the elegance and courtesy of its court that it was +famed far and wide as a school of manners; and here it was that pages, +both highborn and of low estate, were sent by their patrons that they +might perfect themselves in courtly behavior. The open encouragement +which was accorded to the few men of letters of the time made Naples a +favorite resort for the wandering troubadours, and there they sang, to +rapturous applause, their songs of love and chivalry. Here in this +corner of Italy, where the dominant influences were those which came +from France, and where, in reality, French knights were the lords in +control, the order of chivalry existed as in the other parts of Europe, +but as it did not exist elsewhere in Italy. Transplanted to this +southern soil, however, knighthood failed to develop, to any marked +degree, those deeper qualities of loyalty, courtesy, and liberality +which shed so much lustre upon its institution elsewhere. Here, +unfortunately, mere gallantry seemed its essential attribute, and the +gallantry of this period, at its best, would show but little regard for +the moral standards of to-day. No one who has read the history of this +time can fail to be struck with the fact that on every hand there are +references to acts of immorality which seem to pass without censure. As +Hallam has said, many of the ladies of this epoch, in their desire for +the spiritual treasures of Rome, seem to have been neglectful of another +treasure which was in their keeping. Whether the gay gallant was knight +or squire, page or courtier, the feminine heart seems to have been +unable to withstand his wiles, and from Boccaccio to Rabelais the +deceived and injured husband was ever a butt of ridicule. Of course, +there was reason for all this; the ideals of wedded life were much +further from realization than they are to-day, and the sanctity of the +marriage relation was but at the beginning of its slow evolution, in +this part of the Western world. + +But within the walls of the huge castle Nuovo, which combined the +strength of a fortress with the elegance of a palace, it must not be +supposed that there was naught but gross sensuality. Court intrigue and +scandal there were in plenty, and there were many fair ladies in the +royal household who were somewhat free in the bestowal of their favors, +sumptuous banquets were spread, tournaments for trials of knightly skill +were held with open lists for all who might appear, but in the centre of +it all was the king, pleasure-loving, it is true, but still far more +than that. He it was who said: "For me, I swear that letters are dearer +to me than my crown; and were I obliged to renounce the one or the +other, I should quickly take the diadem from my brow." It was his +constant endeavor to show himself a generous and intelligent patron of +the arts. The interior of his palace had been decorated by the brush of +Giotto, one of the first great painters of Italy, and here in this home +of luxury and refinement he had gathered together the largest and most +valuable library then existing in Europe. + +When Petrarch was at the age of thirty-six he received a letter from the +Roman Senate, asking him to come to Rome that they might bestow upon him +the poet's crown of laurel. Before presenting himself for this honor, +however, to use his own words, he "decided first to visit Naples and +that celebrated king and philosopher, Robert, who was not more +distinguished as a ruler than as a man of learning. He was indeed the +only monarch of our age who was, at the same time, the friend of +learning and of virtue, and I trusted that he might correct such things +as he found to criticise in my work." Having learned the reason of the +great poet's visit, King Robert fixed a day for the consideration of +Petrarch's work; but, after a discussion which lasted from noon until +evening, it was found that more time would be necessary on account of +the many matters which came up, and so the two following days were +passed in the same manner. Then, at last, Petrarch was pronounced worthy +of the honor which had been offered him, and there was much feasting at +the palace that night, and much song, and much music, and much wine was +spilled. + +Not the least attentive listener in those three days of discussion and +argument was the Princess Joanna, the granddaughter of the king, his +ward and future heir. For in the midst of his life of agreeable +employment, _Il buon Rè Roberto_ had been suddenly called upon to mourn +the loss of his only son, Robert, Duke of Calabria, who had been as +remarkable for his accomplishments--according to the writers of +chronicles--as for his goodness and love of justice. Two daughters +survived him, Joanna and Maria, and they were left to the care of the +grandfather, who transferred to them all the affection he had felt for +the son. In 1331, when Joanna was about four years old, the king +declared her the heiress of his crown; and at a solemn feudal gathering +in the great audience room of the castle Nuovo, he called upon his +nobles and barons to take oaths of allegiance to her as the Duchess of +Calabria; and this they did, solemnly and in turn, each bending the knee +in token of submission. With the title of Duchess of Calabria, she was +to inherit all her father's right to the thrones of Naples and +Provence. + +As soon as she came under his guardianship, the education of the small +Joanna became the constant preoccupation of her kindly grandfather, for +he was filled with enthusiasm for the manifold advantages of learning, +and spared no pains to surround the little duchess with the best +preceptors in art and in literature that Italy afforded. All +contemporary writers agree that the young girl gave quick and ready +response to these influences, and she soon proved her possession of most +unusual talents, combined with a great love for literary study; it is +said that, at the age of twelve, she was not only distinguished by her +superior endowments, but already surpassed in understanding not only +every other child of her own age, but many women of mature years. To +these mental accomplishments, we are told that there were added a gentle +and engaging temper, a graceful person, a beautiful countenance, and the +most captivating manners. And so things went along, and the old king did +all in his power to shield her from the corrupting influences which were +at work all about her. In that he seems to have been successful, for +there is every reason to believe that she grew up to womanhood untainted +by her surroundings. + +Various forces were at work, however, which were soon to undermine the +peace and tranquillity of the gay court, and plunge it into deepest woe. +It should be known that by a former division of the possessions of the +royal house of Naples, which had been dictated by the whim of a partial +father, the elder branch of that house had been allotted the kingdom of +Hungary, which had been acquired originally as the dowry of a princess, +while to the younger branch of the house Naples and Provence had been +given. Such a division of the royal domain had never satisfied those of +the elder branch of the family, and for many years the rulers of Hungary +had cast longing eyes upon the fair states to the south. The good King +Robert, desiring in his heart to atone for the slight which had been put +upon them, decided to marry Joanna to his grand-nephew Andreas, the +second son of Carobert, King of Hungary, thus restoring to the elder +branch of the family the possession of the throne of Naples without +endangering the rights of his granddaughter, and at the same time +extinguishing all the feuds and jealousies which had existed for so long +a time between the two kingdoms. So the young Hungarian prince was +brought to the Neapolitan court at once, and the two children were +married. Joanna was but five years old and Andreas but seven when this +ill-fated union was celebrated, with all possible splendor and in the +midst of great rejoicing. The children were henceforth brought up +together with the idea that they were destined for each other, but as +the years grew on apace they displayed the most conflicting qualities of +mind and soul. + +A careful analysis of the court life during these youthful days will +reveal the fact that its essential characteristics may be summed up in +the three phrases--love of literary study, love of gallantry, and love +of intrigue; it so happens that each of these phases is typified by a +woman, Joanna representing the first, Maria,--the natural daughter of +Robert,--the second, and Philippa the Catanese, the third. Much has been +said already of Joanna's love for study and of her unusual attainments, +but a word or two more will be necessary to complete the picture. Her +wonderful gifts and her evident delight in studious pursuits were no +mere show of childish precocity which would disappear with her maturer +growth, for they ever remained with her and made her one of the very +exceptional women of her day and generation. Imagine her there in the +court of her grandfather, where no woman before her had ever shown the +least real and intelligent interest in his intellectual occupations. It +was a great thing, of course, for all the ladies of the court to have +some famous poet come and tarry with them for a while; but they thought +only of a possible _affaire d'amour_, and odes and sonnets descriptive +of their charms. There was little appreciative understanding of +literature or poetry among them, and they were quite content to sip +their pleasures from a cup which was not of the Pierian spring. Joanna, +however, seemed to enter earnestly into the literary diversions of the +king, and many an hour did they spend together in the great library of +the palace, unfolding now one and now another of the many parchment +rolls and poring over their contents. Three learned languages there were +at this time in this part of the world, the Greek, the Latin, and the +Arabic, and the day had just begun to dawn when the common idioms of +daily speech were beginning to assert their literary value. So it is but +natural to assume that the majority of these manuscripts were in these +three languages, and that it required no small amount of learning on +Joanna's part to be able to decipher them. + +Far different from this little princess was Maria of Sicily, a woman of +many charms, but vain and inconstant, and satisfied with the frivolities +of life. Indeed, it must be said that it is solely on account of her +love for the poet Boccaccio, after her marriage to the Count of Artois, +that she is known to-day. Boccaccio had journeyed to the south from +Florence, as the fame of King Robert's court had reached him, and he was +anxious to bask in its sunlight and splendor, and to bring to some +fruition his literary impulses, which were fast welling up within him. +And to Naples he came as the spring was retouching the hills with green +in 1333, and there he remained until late in the year 1341, when he was +forced to return to his home in the north. His stay in Naples had done +much for him, though perhaps less for him personally than for his +literary muse, as he plunged headlong into the mad whirlpool of social +pleasures and enjoyed to the utmost the life of this gay court, which +was enlivened and adorned by the wit of men and the beauty of women. Not +until the Easter eve before his departure, however, did he chance to see +the lady who was to influence to such a great degree his later career. +It was in the church of San Lorenzo that Boccaccio saw Maria of Sicily, +and it was a case of love at first sight, the _coup de foudre_ that +Mlle. de Scudéry has talked about; and if the man's word may be worthy +of belief under such circumstances, the lady returned his passion with +an equal ardor. It was not until after much delay, however, that she was +willing to yield to the amorous demands of the poet, and then she did so +in spite of her honor and her duty as the wife of another. But this +delay but opened the way for an endless succession of gallant words and +acts, wherein the art of coquetry was called upon to play no unimportant +part. Between these two people there was no sincere friendship such as +existed later between Boccaccio and Joanna, and they were but playing +with the dangerous fire of passion, which they ever fanned to a greater +heat. + +Philippa the Catanese, as she is called in history, stands for the +spirit of intrigue in this history; and well she may, as she has a most +wonderful and tragic history. The daughter of a humble fisherman of +Catania in Sicily, she had been employed by Queen Violante, the first +wife of Robert, in the care of her infant son, the Duke of Calabria. Of +wonderful intelligence for one in her station, gifted beyond her years, +and beautiful and ambitious, she won the favor of the queen to such a +degree that she soon became her chief attendant. Her foster-child, the +Duke of Calabria, who tenderly loved her, married her to the seneschal +of his palace and appointed her first lady in waiting to his wife; and +thus it happened that she was present at the birth of Joanna, and was +the first to receive her in her arms. Naturally enough, then, King +Robert made her the governess and custodian of the small duchess after +her father's death. This appointment of a woman of low origin to so high +a position in the court gave offence to many of the highborn ladies +there, and none could understand the reason for it all. Many dark rumors +were afloat, and, although the matter was discussed in undertones, it +was the general opinion that she had been aided by magic or sorcery, and +the bolder spirits said that she was in daily communication with the +Evil One. However that may be, she was faithful to her trust, and it was +only through her too zealous scheming in behalf of her young mistress +that she was brought to her tragic end. + +As the two children, Andreas and Joanna, grew up to maturity, it became +more and more apparent that there was no bond of sympathy between them. +Andreas had as his preceptor a monk named Fra Roberto, who was the open +enemy of Philippa, and her competitor in power. It was his constant aim +to keep Andreas in ignorance and to inspire him with a dislike for the +people of Naples, whom he was destined to govern, and to this end he +made him retain his Hungarian dress and customs. Petrarch, who made a +second visit to Naples as envoy from the pope, has this to say of Fra +Roberto: "May Heaven rid the soil of Italy of such a pest! A horrible +animal with bald head and bare feet, short in stature, swollen in +person, with worn-out rags torn studiously to show his naked skin, who +not only despises the supplications of the citizens, but, from the +vantage ground of his feigned sanctity, treats with scorn the embassy +of the pope." King Robert saw too late the mistake he had committed, as +the sorrow and trouble in store for the young wife were only too +apparent. To remedy, so far as was in his power, this unhappy condition +of affairs, he called again a meeting of his feudal lords; and this time +he had them swear allegiance to Joanna alone in her own right, formally +excluding the Hungarians from any share in the sovereign power. While +gratifying to the Neapolitans, this act could but excite the enmity of +the Hungarian faction under Fra Roberto, and it paved the way for much +intrigue and much treachery in the future. + +When King Robert died in 1343, Joanna became Queen of Naples and +Provence at the age of fifteen; but on account of her youth and +inexperience, and because of the machinations of the hateful monk, she +was kept in virtual bondage, and the once peaceful court was rent by the +bitterest dissensions. Through it all, however, Joanna seems to have +shown no special dislike to Andreas, who, indeed, was probably innocent +of any participation in the scheming of his followers; Petrarch compares +the young queen and her consort to two lambs in the midst of wolves. The +time for Joanna's formal coronation was fixed for September 20, 1345, +and some weeks before, while the palace was being decorated and prepared +for this great event, the young couple had retired to the Celestine +monastery at Aversa, some fifteen miles away. Joanna, who was soon to +become a mother, was much benefited by this change of scene, and all was +peace and happiness about them, with nothing to indicate the awful +tragedy which the future held in store. On the night of September 18th, +two days before the coronation was to take place, Andreas was called +from the queen's apartment by the information that a courier from Naples +was waiting to see him upon urgent business. In the dark corridor +without, he was at once seized by some person or persons whose identity +has never been made clear, who stopped his mouth with their gloves and +then strangled him and suspended his body from a balcony. The cord, +however, was not strong enough to stand the strain, and broke, and the +body fell into the garden below. There the assassins would have buried +it upon the spot, if they had not been put to flight by a servant of the +palace, who gave the alarm. + +This deed of violence gave rise to much suspicion, and the assertion is +often made that Joanna had at least connived at her husband's unhappy +end. Indeed, there is a story--which is without foundation, however--to +the effect that Andreas found her one day twisting a silken rope with +which it was her intention to have him strangled; and when he asked her +what she was doing, she replied, with a smile: "Twisting a rope with +which to hang you!" But it is difficult to believe the truth of any of +these imputations. If she were cruel enough to desire her husband's +death, and bold enough to plan for it, she was also intelligent enough +to execute her purpose in a manner less foolish and less perilous to +herself. Never, up to this time, had she given the slightest indication +of such cruelty in her character, and never after that time was the +slightest suspicion cast upon her for any other evil act. How, then, +could it be possible that Andreas had been murdered by her order? +Whatever the cause of this ferocious outbreak, the Hungarian faction, +struck with consternation, fled in all directions, not knowing what to +expect. The next morning Joanna returned to the castle Nuovo, where she +remained until after the birth of her son. During this period of +confinement, she wrote a letter to the King of Hungary, her +father-in-law, telling him what had taken place. In this epistle she +makes use of the expression: + + "My good husband, with whom I have ever associated without strife;" + and she declares regarding her own sorrow: "I have suffered so much + anguish for the death of my beloved husband that, stunned by grief, + I had well-nigh died of the same wounds!" + +As soon as her strength would permit, Joanna summoned a council of her +advisers and signed a commission giving Hugh de Balzo full authority to +seek out the murderers and punish them. Suspicion at once fell upon +Philippa the Catanese, and upon other members of her family, as her +hatred of the Hungarians was well known, and her past reputation for +intrigue and mystery only added strength to the accusation. Philippa, +who, since the death of King Robert, had been created Countess of +Montoni, was now more powerful than ever at the court, and seemed to +invite the danger which was hanging over her, in the belief that no harm +could touch her head. But her calculations went astray, as Balzo +appeared one morning at the palace gate, produced evidence incriminating +her and her intimates, and dragged them off to prison, where they were +put to death in the most approved Neapolitan fashion--with lingering +torments and tortures. From that day the character of the young queen +underwent a most decided change. Hitherto she had been gay, frank, and +confiding, now she became serious and reserved. She had always been +gracious and compassionate, and rather the equal than the queen of those +about her,--according to Boccaccio's description,--but treachery had +come so near to her, and her trusted Philippa had proved so vile a +character, that she never after gave her entire confidence to any +person, man or woman. + +Some two years after the death of Andreas, for reasons of state, she +married her second cousin, Louis of Taranto, a brave and handsome prince +of whom she had long been fond. But she was not to be allowed to enjoy +her newly found happiness in peace, as her domains were soon invaded by +Louis, the elder brother of Andreas, who had recently ascended his +father's throne as King of Hungary, and who now came to avenge his +brother's death and seize Naples by way of indemnity. Joanna, deserted +by many of her nobles in these dire straits, and not knowing what to +do,--as her husband seems to have played no part in this +emergency,--decided upon flight as the only means of safety, and, +embarking with her entire household in three galleys, she set sail for +Provence, where loyal hearts awaited her coming. There she went at once +to Avignon, where Pope Clement VI. was holding his court with the utmost +splendor; and in the presence of the pope and all the cardinals, she +made answer in her own behalf to the charges which had been made against +her by the Hungarian king. Her address, which she had previously +composed in Latin, has been called the "most powerful specimen of female +oratory" ever recorded in history; and the Hungarian ambassadors, who +had been sent to plead against her, were so confounded by her eloquence +that they attempted no reply to her defence. + +In the meantime, Naples, in the hands of the invaders, had been stained +with blood, and then ravaged by the great plague of which Boccaccio has +given us a picture. Revolting at length under the harsh measures of the +Hungarian governor who had been left in charge by Louis, the Neapolitans +expelled him and his followers from the city, and sent an urgent +invitation to Joanna to return to her former home. Right gladly was the +summons answered, and with a goodly retinue of brave knights who had +sworn to die in her service she returned to her people, who welcomed her +homecoming with unbounded enthusiasm. Now the court resumed its gayety +and animation, and again it became, as in the days of King Robert, a +far-famed school of courtesy. Alphonse Daudet gives us a hint of all +this in his exquisite short story entitled _La Mule du Pape_, where he +tells of the young page Tistet Vedene, _qui descendait le Rhône en +chantant sur une galère papale et s'en allait à la cour de Naples avec +la troupe de jeunes nobles que la ville envoyait tous les ans près de la +reine Jeanne pour s'exercer à la diplomatie et aux belles manières_ [who +descended the Rhône, singing, upon a papal galley, and went away to the +court of Naples with the company of young nobles whom the city (of +Avignon) sent every year to Queen Joanna for training in diplomacy and +fine manners]. There was further war with the Hungarians, it is true, +but peace was established, Sicily was added to Joanna's domain, and +there was general tranquillity. + +Twice again did Joanna marry, urged to this course by her ministers, but +death removed her consort each time, and in the end she was put into +captivity by her relative and adopted child, Charles of Durazzo, who had +forsaken her to follow the fortunes of the King of Hungary, and who had +invaded Naples and put forth a claim to the throne, basing it upon some +scheming papal grant which was without legality. Charles had her taken +to the castle of Muro, a lonely fortress in the Apennines, some sixty +miles from Naples, and there, her spirit of defiance unsubdued, she was +murdered by four common soldiers in the latter part of May, 1382, after +a reign of thirty-nine years. So came to an end this brilliant queen, +the most accomplished woman of her generation, and with her downfall the +lamp of learning was dimmed for a time in southern Italy, where the din +of arms and the discord of civic strife gave no tranquillity to those +who loved the arts of peace. + + + + +Chapter III + +Women and the Church + + +Near the close of the first half of the fourteenth century, after the +terrible ravages of the great plague had abated, the people were +prostrate with fear and terrorized by the merciless words of the +priests, who had not been slow to declare the pestilence as a mark of +the wrath of God and who were utilizing the peculiar possibilities of +this psychological moment for the advancement of the interests of the +Church. In the churches--the wondrous mediæval structures which were +newly built at that time--songs of spasmodic grief like the _Stabat +Mater_, or of tragic terror such as the _Dies iræ_, were echoing under +the high-vaulted arches, and the fear of God was upon the people. In a +great movement of this kind it is but to be expected that women played +no little part; their more sensitive natures caused them to be more +easily affected than were the men by the threats of everlasting torment +which were constantly being made by the priests for the benefit of all +those who refused to renounce worldly things and come within the +priestly fold. There was a most remarkable show of contrition and +penitence at this time, and thousands of persons, men and women of all +classes, were so deeply moved that they went about in companies, beating +themselves and each other for the glory of God, and singing vociferously +their melancholy dirges. These were the Flagellants, and there were +crowds of them all over Europe, the number in France alone at this time +being estimated at eight hundred thousand. One of the direct results of +this state of religious excitement was an increased interest, on the +part of women, in religious service, and a renewed desire to devote +themselves to a religious life. + +The conditions of conjugal life had been such throughout the feudal +period that for many years there had been a slowly growing sentiment +that marriage was but a manner of self-abandonment to the world, the +flesh, and the devil, and many women from time to time were influenced +to put away worldly things and seek peace in the protection of some +religious order. Tertullian had long before condemned marriage, and +Saint Jerome was most bitter against it. The various abuses of the +marriage relation were such that those of pure hearts and minds could +but pause and ask themselves whether or not this was an ideal +arrangement of human life; and, all in all, there was still much to be +done by means of educational processes before men and women could lead a +life together which might be of mutual advantage to all parties +concerned. Still, it must not be supposed that this tendency on the part +of women to affiliate themselves with conventual orders was a movement +of recent origin. + +Since the earliest days of Christianity women had been especially active +in the work of the Church, and there were countless martyrs among them +even as far back as the time of the Roman persecutions. In the old days +of pagan worship they had been allowed their part in religious +ceremonies, and with the development of the religious institutions of +Christendom this active participation had steadily increased. But, more +than this, when it became necessary to withdraw from the corrupt +atmosphere of everyday affairs in order to lead a good life, it came to +pass that near the dwellings of the first monks and hermits who had +sought the desert and solitude for their lives of meditation were to be +found shelters for their wives and sisters and daughters who had +followed them to their retreats to share in their holy lives. + +Slowly, as in the case of the men, the conventual orders for women were +formed in these communities and regulated by such rules as seemed best +suited to their needs. At the outset it may be stated that celibacy as a +prerequisite to admission to such orders was required of women before it +was of men; and so in one way the profession of a nun antedates the +corresponding profession of a monk, as the idea of an unmarried life had +already made much progress in the Christian Church among women before it +came into vogue among the men. It may be that the women of that time +were inclined to take literally that chapter in Paul's first Epistle to +the Corinthians wherein it is said: "There is this difference, also, +between a wife and a virgin: the unmarried woman careth for the things +of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit; but she +that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please +her husband;" but, however that may be, these orders of unmarried women +soon became numerous, and severe were the penalties imposed upon all +those who broke the vow of chastity when once it had been made. The +consecration of a nun was a most solemn occasion, and the rites had to +be administered by a bishop, or by one acting under episcopal authority. +The favorite times for the celebration of this ceremony were the great +Church festival days in honor of the Apostles, and at Epiphany and +Easter. When the nuns were consecrated, a fillet was placed in their +hair--a purple ribbon or a slender band of gold--to represent a crown +of victory, and the tresses, which were gathered up and tied together, +showed the difference between this bride of Christ and a bride of earth, +with her hair falling loose about her shoulders after the Roman fashion. +Then over all was placed the long, flowing veil, as a sign that the nun +belonged to Christ alone. + +The ordinary rules of conduct which were prescribed for the inmates of +the nunneries resemble in many ways those which were laid down for the +men; and those first followed are ascribed to Scholastica, a sister of +the great Saint Benedict, who established the order of Benedictines at +Monte Cassino about 529; according to popular tradition, this holy woman +was esteemed as the foundress of nunneries in Europe. For the regulation +of the women's orders Saint Augustine formulated twenty-four rules, +which he prescribed should be read every week, and later Saint Benedict +revised them and extended them so that there were finally seventy-two +rules in addition to the Ten Commandments. The nuns were to obey their +superior implicitly, silence and humility were enjoined upon them, head +and eyes were to be kept lowered at all times, the hours for going to +bed and for rising were fixed, and there were minute regulations +regarding prayers, watches, and devotions. Furthermore, they were rarely +allowed to go out of their convents, they were to possess nothing of +their own, mirrors were not tolerated, being conducive to personal +vanity, and the luxury of a bath was granted only in case of sickness. + +As with the ordinary rules of conduct, so the ordinary routine of daily +life in a nunnery corresponded to that of a monastery. Hour by hour, +there was the same periodical rotation of work and religious service, +with short intervals at fixed times for rest or food. The usual +occupation in the earliest times had to do with the carding and +spinning of wool, and Saint Jerome, with his characteristic +earnestness, advises the nuns to have the wool ever in their hands. +Saint Augustine gives us the picture of a party of nuns standing at the +door of their convent and handing out the woollen garments which they +have made for the old monks who are standing there waiting to receive +them, with food to give to the nuns in exchange. The simplicity of this +scene recalls the epitaph which is said to have been written in honor of +a Roman housewife who lived in the simple days of the Republic: "She +stayed at home and spun wool!" Somewhat later the nuns were called upon +to furnish the elegantly embroidered altar cloths which were used in the +churches, and, still later, in some places girls' schools were +established in the convents. + +In the eleventh century, the successful struggle which had been made by +Gregory VII., with the aid of the Countess Matilda, for the principle of +papal supremacy exerted a marked influence upon the religious life of +the time and gave an undoubted impetus to the idea of conventual life +for women, as during this period many new cloisters were established. It +will be readily understood that the deeds of the illustrious Tuscan +countess had been held up more than once to the gaze of the people of +Italy as worthy of their emulation, and many women were unquestionably +induced in this way to give their lives to the Church. In the Cistercian +order alone there were more than six thousand cloisters for women by the +middle of the twelfth century. + +It was during this same eleventh century, when a woman had helped to +strengthen the power of the Church, that the influence of the +Madonna--of Mary, the mother of Christ--began to make a profound +impression upon the form of worship. A multitude of Latin hymns may be +found which were written in honor of the Virgin as far back as the +fifth century, and in the mediæval romances of chivalry, which were so +often tinged with religious mysticism, she often appears as the Empress +and Queen of Heaven. All through the mediæval period, in fact, there was +a constant endeavor to prove that the Old Testament contained allusions +to Mary, and, with this in view, Albertus Magnus put together a +_Marienbibel_ in the twelfth century, and Bonaventura edited a +_Marienpsalter_. Therein, the gates of Paradise, Noah's ark, Jacob's +ladder, the ark of the Covenant, Aaron's rod, Solomon's throne, and many +other things, were held up as examples and foreshadowings of the coming +of the Blessed Virgin; and in the sermons, commentaries, and homilies of +the time the same ideas were continually emphasized. A collection of the +Latin appellations which were bestowed upon the Madonna during this time +contains the following terms, which reveal the fervor and temper of the +age: _Dei genitrix_, _virgo virginum_, _mater Christi_, _mater divinæ +gratiæ_, _mater potens_, _speculum justitiæ_, _vas spirituale_, _rosa +mystica_, _turris davidica_, _domus aurea_, _janua coeli_, _regina +peccatorum_, _regina apostolorum_, _consolatrix afflictorum_, and +_regina sanctorum omnium_. + +The Benedictines had consecrated themselves to the service of Mary since +the time of the Crusades, and, beginning with the eleventh century, many +religious orders and brotherhoods were organized in honor of Mary. The +Order of the Knights of the Star was founded in 1022, and the Knights of +the Lily were organized in 1048. About the middle of the twelfth century +the Order of the Holy Maid of Evora and that of the Knights of Alcantara +were established, and others followed. In 1149 Pope Celestine III. +chartered the Order of the Holy Virgin, for the service of a hospital in +Siena; in 1218, after a revelation from on high, the Order of the Holy +Mary of Mercy was founded by Peter Nolascus--Raymond von +Pennaforte--for the express purpose of giving aid and freedom to +captives. In 1233 seven noble Florentines founded the Order of the +Servants of Mercy, adopting Saint Augustine's rules of conduct, and they +dwelt in the convent of the Annunziata, in Florence. In 1285 Philip +Benizio founded a similar order for women, and, soon after, the pious +Juliana Falconeri instituted for women a second order of the same kind. +There was a constant multiplication of these orders vowed to the service +of the Madonna as the centuries passed, and the idea of Madonna worship +became more firmly fixed. + +No account of Madonna worship can be considered complete, however, +without some reference to the influence which it exerted upon the art of +the time. Madonna pictures first appeared in the East, where the worship +of such images had gained a firm foothold as early as the ninth century, +but long before that time pictures of the Mother of God were known and +many of them had become quite famous. Saint Luke the Evangelist is +generally considered as the first of the religious painters, and the +Vladimir Church at Moscow is in possession of a Madonna which is +supposed to be the work of his hand. The Eastern Church was the first to +feel the effect of this outburst of religious art, and it is but natural +to find some of its earliest examples in various other Russian cities, +such as Kieff, Kazan, and Novgorod. Bronze reliefs of the Virgin were +also common, and in many a crude form and fashion this newly aroused +sentiment of Christian art sought to find adequate expression. The +Western Church soon followed this movement in every detail, and then by +slow degrees upon Italian soil began that evolution in artistic +conception and artistic technique which was to culminate in the +effulgent glory of Raphael's Sistine Madonna. It was the Emperor +Justinian's conquest of Italy which "sowed the new art seed in a +fertile field," to use Miss Hurl's expression; but inasmuch as artistic +endeavor shows that same lack of originality which was characteristic of +all other forms of intellectual activity at this time, the germ took +root but slowly, and for a number of centuries servile imitations of the +highly decorated and decidedly soulless Byzantine Virgins were very +common. One of these paintings may be found in almost every church +throughout the length and breadth of Italy; but when you have seen one +you have seen them all, for they all have the same expression. The eyes +are generally large and ill shaped, the nose is long, the face is wan +and meagre, and there is a peevish and almost saturnine expression in +the wooden features which shows but slight affection for the +Christ-child, and which could have afforded but scant comfort to any who +sought to find there a gleam of tender pity. These pictures were +generally half-length, against a background of gold leaf, which was at +first laid on solidly, but which at a later period was adorned with tiny +cherub figures. The folds of the drapery were stiff and heavy, and the +whole effect was dull and lifeless. But no matter how inadequate such a +picture may seem to us to-day, and no matter how much it seems to lack +the depth and sincerity of reality, it possessed for the people of the +Middle Ages a mystic charm which had its influence. These pictures were +often supposed to have miraculous power, and there are many legends and +wonderful tales concerning them. + +The first really great master among Italian painters, however, was +Giovanni Cimabue, who lived in Florence during the last part of the +thirteenth century; he infused into his work a certain vigor and +animation which were even more than a portent of the revival which was +to come. Other Italian painters there had been before him, it is true, +and particularly Guido of Siena and Giunta of Pisa, but they fail to +show in their work that spirit of originality and that breadth of +conception which were so characteristic of their successors. Throughout +the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries there is an evident effort after +an artistic expression of the deeper things of life which shall in some +way correspond to the spiritual realities. The yearning human heart +which was being solaced by the beautiful story of Christ and the mother +Mary, and which was filled with religious enthusiasm at the thought of +this Virgin enthroned in the heavens, was growing weary of the set +features and stolid look of the Madonna of Byzantine art, and dreaming +mystic dreams of the beauty of the Christ mother as she must have been +in real life. She became the centre of thought and speculation, prayers +and supplications were addressed to her, and more than once did she +appear in beatific vision to some illumined worshipper. It was in the +midst of this glow of feeling that Cimabue painted his colossal and +wondrous _Madonna and Child with the Angels_, the largest altar piece +which had been produced up to that time. Cimabue was then living in the +Borgo Allegri, one of the suburbs of Florence, and there in his studio +this great painting slowly came into existence. As soon as it assumed +some definite shape its fame was noised abroad, and many were the +curious ones who came to watch the master at his task. The mere fact +that this painting was upon a larger scale than any other picture of the +kind which had before been attempted in Italy was enough to arrest the +attention of the most indifferent; and as the figure warmed into life +and the face of the Madonna became as that of a holy woman, human and +yet divine in its pity, and with a tender and melancholy expression, the +popular acclaim with which the picture was hailed was unprecedented, and +Cimabue became at once the acknowledged master of his time. So great +was the joy and appreciation with which this Madonna was received, that +a beautiful story is told to the effect that it was only after its +completion that the name Allegri [joyous] was given to the locality in +which the work was done; but, unfortunately, the facts do not bear out +the tale--Baedeker and other eminent authorities to the contrary +notwithstanding. Before this picture was taken to the beautiful chapel +of the Rucellai in the Chiesa Santa Maria Novella in Florence, where it +can be seen to-day, the French nobleman Charles of Anjou went to inspect +it, and with him went a stately company of lords and ladies. Later, when +it was removed to the church, a solemn religious procession was +organized for the occasion. Preceded by trumpeters, under a rain of +flowers, and followed by the whole populace, it went from the Borgo +Allegri to the church, and there it was installed with proper ceremony. + +The list of holy women who, by means of their good lives and their +deeds, helped on the cause of the Church during this early time is a +long one; in almost every community there was a local saint of great +renown and wonderful powers. Ignorance, superstition, and credulity had, +perhaps, much to do with the miraculous power which these saints +possessed, but there can be no doubt that most, if not all, of the +legends which concern them had some good foundation in fact. The holy +Rosalia of Palermo is one of the best known of these mediæval saints, +and even to-day there is a yearly festival in her honor. For many years +she had lived in a grotto near the city; there, by her godly life and +many kind deeds, she had inspired the love and reverence of the whole +community. When the pest came in 1150--that awful black death which +killed the people by hundreds--they turned to her in their despair and +begged her to intercede with them and take away this curse of God, as it +was believed to be. Through an entire night, within her grotto, the good +Rosalia prayed that the plague might be taken away and the people +forgiven, and the story has it that her prayers were answered at once. +At her death she was made the patron saint of Palermo, and the lonely +grotto became a sacred spot which was carefully preserved, and which may +be seen to-day by all who go to visit it on Monte Pellegrino. + +In the first part of the thirteenth century two new orders for women +grew up in connection with the recently founded orders of the +Franciscans and Dominicans; the story of the foundation of the former +sisterhood in particular is one of striking interest. This organization +originated in 1212 and its members were called Les Clarisses, after +Clara, the daughter of Favorino Seisso, a knight of Assisi. Clara, +though rich and accustomed to a life of indolence and pleasure, was so +moved by the preaching of Saint Francis, that she sent for this holy man +and conversed with him at great length upon religious topics. Finally, +after a short but natural hesitation, she made up her mind to take the +veil and establish an order for women which should embody many of the +ideas for which the Franciscan order stood. The Franciscans, in addition +to the usual vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, laid special +stress upon preaching and ministry to the soul and body. After the +conversion was complete, she was taken by Saint Francis and his brother, +each one bearing a lighted taper, to the nearest convent, and there, in +the dimly lighted chapel, the glittering garments of her high estate +were laid upon the altar as she put on the sombre Franciscan garb and +cut her beautiful hair. + +In the fourteenth century the interest taken by women in the conventual +life increased, and one of the most powerful influences in the +religious life of the time was Catherine of Siena, a creature of light +in the midst of the dark turmoil and strife which characterize this +portion of Italian history. Catherine was the beautiful and high-minded +daughter of a rich merchant of Siena, and at a very early age showed a +decided inclination for the religious life. At the age of twelve she +began to have visions and declared herself the bride of Christ; and +through her firmness she overcame the opposition of her parents and the +scorn of her friends, and made definite preparations for withdrawal from +worldly things. A small cell was arranged for her use in her father's +house, and there she would retire for prayer and meditation. At Siena, +in 1365, at the age of eighteen, she entered a Dominican sisterhood of +the third order, where she vowed to care for the poor, the sick, and for +those in prison. + +In 1374 she went out in the midst of the plague, not only nursing the +sick, but preaching to the crowds in the street, giving them words of +cheer and comfort, and to such effect--according to the testimony of a +contemporary writer--that thousands were seen clustered about her, +intent upon what she was saying. So great had her wisdom become that she +was called upon to settle disputes, and invitations came for her to +preach in many neighboring cities. Furthermore, on one occasion she was +sent on the pope's business to Arezzo and Lucca. + +At this time the popes were established in Avignon, in southern France, +and thither she went on a visit in 1376. On her departure, the chief +magistrate of Florence besought her influence with the pope, who had put +him under the ban of the Church. At Avignon she was received with +greatest consideration by the College of Cardinals, as well as by the +pope, for all had confidence in her good sense and judgment. The story +is told, however, that some of the prelates at the papal court, envious +on account of her influence with the pope, and wishing to put her +learning to the test, engaged her in a religious discussion, hoping to +trip her in some matters of doctrine or Church history. But she reasoned +with the best of them so calmly and with such evident knowledge, that +they were compelled to acknowledge her great wisdom. In the fall of that +same year, as the result of her arguments and representations, Pope +Gregory XI. was induced to go back to Rome, the ancient seat of the +Church. Catherine left Avignon before the time fixed for the pope's +departure; but before returning to Siena, she went to Genoa, where +several of her followers were very sick and in need of her care. There +in Genoa, Gregory, on his way to Rome, stopped to visit her, being in +need of further counsel. Such an act on the part of the pope is ample +proof of her unusual ability and her influential position. + +The pope once in Rome, she entreated him to bring peace to Italy. At his +request, she went to Florence to restore order there. In that city, +however, she found a populace hostile to the papal party, and her +protests and entreaties were of little avail. Upon one occasion, the +crowd demanded her life by fire or sword, and so fierce did their +opposition become that even the pope's friends were afraid to give her +shelter; it was only through her great calmness and fearlessness that +her life was spared. Gregory's death followed soon after, and with his +demise Catherine ceased to occupy so conspicuous a place in the public +affairs of her time. Gregory's successor, Urban VI., was clever enough +to summon Catherine to Rome again, that she might speak in his behalf +and overcome the outspoken opposition and hostility of some of the +cardinals, who had declared in favor of Clement VII. in his stead, and +had even gone so far as to declare him elected. Catherine was not able +to effect a conciliation, however, and here began the papal schism, as +the discontented cardinals continued their opposition with renewed vigor +and maintained Clement VII. as anti-pope. She was more successful in +another affair, as, immediately after her trip to Rome, in 1378 she +induced the rebellious Florentines to come to terms of peace with Urban. + +The remaining two years of her life were spent in labors for her +Dominican order, and she visited several cities in its behalf. At the +time of her death, it was commonly reported that her body worked a +number of miracles. The authenticity of these supernatural events, +however, was ever somewhat in doubt, as the Franciscans always stoutly +denied the claims that were made by the Dominicans in regard to this +affair. Catherine was canonized in 1461, and April 30th is the special +day in each year devoted to her memory. Among the other celebrated nuns +and saints of the fourteenth century may be mentioned the Blessed +Marina, who founded the cloister of Saint Matthew at Spoleta; the +Blessed Cantuccia, a Benedictine abbess; and the Holy Humilitas, abbess +of the Order of Vallombrosa at Florence; but none of them compare in +pious works or in worldly reputation with the wise and hard-working +Catherine of Siena. + +In the fifteenth century there was a still further increase of the +religious orders for both men and women, which came with the continual +extension of the field of religious activity; for the mother Church was +no laggard at this time, and never ceased to advance her own interests. +In this general period there were three nuns in Italy, each bearing the +name of Catherine, who by their saintly lives did much for the uplifting +of those about them. The first of this trio was Catherine, daughter of +Giovanni Vigeo. Though born in Ferrara, she was always spoken of as +Catherine of Bologna, as it was in the latter city that she spent the +greater part of her long and useful life. There she was for many years +at the head of a prosperous convent belonging to the nuns of the Order +of Clarissa, and there it was that she had her wonderful visions and +dreamed the wonderful dreams, which she carefully wrote down with her +own hand in the year 1438. For more than threescore years after this +period of illumination she continued in her position, where she was ever +an example of godliness and piety. Her death came on March 9, 1463; and +although her great services to the cause of religion were recognized at +this time, and openly commended by the pope, it was not until May 22, +1712, that she was finally canonized by Clement IX. + +The second Catherine was Catherine of Pallanza, which is a little town +near Novara in Piedmont, some thirty miles west of Milan. During the +year of the great pest, her immediate family was completely wiped away, +and she was left homeless and with few friends to guide her with words +of counsel. Her nearest relatives were in Milan, and to them she went at +first, until the first bitterness of her great grief had passed away. +Then, acting upon a decision which had long been made, and in spite of +the determined opposition of her friends, she took the veil. It was not +her intention, however, to enter one of the convents of Milan and live +the religious life in close contact with others of the same inclination, +for she was a recluse by disposition and desired, for at least a time, +to be left alone in her meditations. So she went outside the city walls +and established herself there upon a hillside, in a lonely place, +sheltered by a rude hut constructed in part by her own hands. Living in +this hermit fashion, she was soon an object of comment, and, moved by +her obvious goodness, many went to consult her from time to time in +regard to their affairs. She soon developed a gift of divination and +prophecy which was remarkable even for that time of easy credulity in +such matters, and was soon able to work wonders which, if the traditions +be true, were little short of miracles. As an illustration of her +wonderful power, it may be stated that it was commonly believed that by +means of her prayers children might be born in families where hitherto a +marriage had been without fruit. Also, she was able by means of her +persuasions to compel thieves to return stolen goods. In spite of the +seclusion of her life, the fame of Catherine of Pallanza was soon so +great that other women came to live about her; eventually these were +banded together in one congregation, governed according to the rules of +Saint Augustine. Catherine died in 1478, at the age of forty-one, and +somewhat later she was given a place among the saints of the Church, +April 6th being the special day devoted to her honor. + +There can be little doubt that Saint Catherine of Pallanza, in her +comparatively short life, really did more for the cause of true religion +than did the pious Saint Catherine of Bologna, who lived almost twice as +long within the walls of her quiet and tranquil convent. The one, though +a recluse at the beginning of her career, came more into actual contact +with people and things than did the smooth-faced, white-handed mother +superior in all the course of her calm and unruffled existence. +Catherine of Bologna was a model nun, a paragon of humility, devotion, +and holiness, but she was something quite apart from the stirring life +of the time. Her visions and trances were considered as closer ties +between herself and the hosts of heaven, and she was looked upon with +awe and wonderment. Catherine of Pallanza, by word and by precept, and +by means of the wonderful power which she possessed, exerted a far wider +influence for the good of men and women. + +Catherine of Genoa, the third of this series, and a member of the old +and distinguished Fieschi family, was born in 1447. Notwithstanding her +decided wish to enter a convent, and in spite of her repeated +protestations, she was compelled to marry, at the age of seventeen, +Julio Adorno, a man of tastes uncongenial to her. On account of her +slender figure and her delicate health, her parents had felt warranted +in their refusal to allow her to become a nun, but the husband of their +choice proved a greater trial to her strength and temper than the +cloister would have been. After ten years of suffering and brutal +neglect, Catherine became the mistress of her own fortunes, for at this +time her husband had the good grace to die. With an ample fortune at her +command, she was not slow to put it to some public good; and she at once +devoted her time and energies to the great hospital at Genoa, which was +sadly in need of such aid. In those days before the advent of the +trained nurse, the presence of such a woman in such a place was +unquestionably a source of great aid and comfort, both directly and +indirectly. Nor did she confine her favors to the inmates of this great +hospital, for she went about in the poorer quarters of the city, caring +for the sick wherever they were to be found. When alone, she was much +given to mystic contemplations, which took shape as dialogues between +the body and soul and which were later published with a treatise on the +_Theology of Love_ and a complete life of this noble woman. She died at +the age of sixty-three, on September 14, 1510. + +The careers of these three women illustrate in a very satisfactory way +the various channels through which the religious life of the time found +its expression. The life of Catherine of Bologna was practically apart +from the real life of her time; Catherine of Pallanza was sought out by +people who were in need of her help, and she was able to give them wise +counsel; Catherine of Genoa, representing the more practical side of the +Christian spirit, went among the poor, the sick, and the needy, doing +good on every hand. Membership in these women's orders was looked upon +as a special and sacred office whereby the nun became the mystic bride +of the Church, and it was no uncommon thing for the sisters, when racked +and tortured by the temptations of the world, to fall into these +ecstatic contemplative moods wherein they became possessed with powers +beyond those of earth. In that age of quite universal ignorance, it is +not to be wondered at that the emotional spirit was too strongly +developed in all religious observances, and, as we have seen, it +characterized, equally, the convent nun, the priestess of the mountain +side, and the sister of mercy. The hysterical element, however, was +often too strongly accentuated, and the nuns were often too intent upon +their own salvation to give heed to the needs of those about them. But +the sum total of their influence was for the best, and the examples of +moderation, self-control, and self-sacrifice which they afforded played +no little part in softening the crudities of mediæval life and paved the +way for that day when religion was to become a rule of action as well as +an article of faith. + + + + +Chapter IV + +The Women of the Midi + + +It must have been part of the plan of the universe that the sunny +southern provinces of France should have given to the world a gay, +happy, and intellectual society wherein was seen for the first time a +concrete beginning in matters of social evolution. There the sky is +bright, the heavens are deep, the sun is warm, mountainous hills lend a +purple haze to the horizon, and the air is filled with the sweet perfume +of thyme and lavender; and there came to its maturity that brilliant +life of the Midi which has been so often told in song and story, and +which furnished inspiration for that wonderful poetry which has come +down to us from the troubadours. During the twelfth and thirteenth +centuries in particular, Provence was filled with rich and populous +cities, brilliant feudal courts abounded, and noble lords and ladies not +only encouraged song and poetry, but strove to become proficient in the +_gay science_, as it was called, for their own diversion. + +Under such conditions, it is not surprising to find that women occupy no +unimportant place in society and that their influence is far-reaching. +Love and its pursuit were the chief concern of the upper classes; and it +was but natural, when the intellectual condition of the time and its +many limitations are taken into consideration. What was there to +consume the leisure hours in that far-away time? There were no books, +there were no newspapers, as there are now, accurate knowledge was +impossible in scientific study, there was no theatre or opera--in short, +there were none of the things which form the usual means of relaxation +and amusement to-day; and so, as a matter of course, yielding to a most +human instinct, the tender passion became an all-absorbing topic, and +served without exception as the inspiration for poetic endeavor. Love +they could know and feel, and of it could they sing with understanding, +because they felt it to be real and personal, and subjectively true at +least. Of the great external world, however, their knowledge was +exceedingly crude; and the facts in nature had become so strangely +distorted, through centuries of ignorance and superstition, that the +solemnly pronounced verities of the time were but a burlesque upon the +truth. Belief in the existence of the antipodes was considered by +ecclesiastical authority as a sure proof of heresy, the philosopher's +stone had been found, astrology was an infallible science, and the air +was filled with demons who were ever waiting for an opportunity to steal +away man's immortal soul. Geography did not exist except in fancy; +history could be summed up in the three magic words, Troy, Greece, and +Rome; and the general notions current regarding the world and its +formation were fantastic in the extreme. In the realm of natural history +wondrous facts had come to light, and it was averred that a stag lived +to an age of nine hundred years; that a dove contemplated herself with +her right eye and God with her left; that the cockatrice kills animals +by breathing upon them; that a viper fears to gaze upon a naked man; +that the nature of the wolf is such that if the man sees him first, the +wolf is deprived of force and vigor, but if the wolf first sees the man, +his power of speech will vanish in the twinkling of an eye. +Furthermore, there were curious ideas current concerning the mystic +power of precious stones, and many were the lapidaries which were +written for the edification of the credulous world. The diamond was held +in somewhat doubtful esteem, inasmuch as the French word _diamant_, +minus its first syllable, signified a "lover"; the beryl, of uncertain +hue, made sure the love of man and wife; and Marbodus is authority for +the statement that "the emerald is found only in a dry and uninhabitable +country, so bitterly cold that nothing can live there but the griffins +and the one-eyed arimasps that fight with them." + +But the men and women of Provence could not forever stand with mouths +agape in eager wonder and expectation; these were tales of interest, no +doubt, and their truth was not seriously questioned, but this was not +life, and they knew it. There was red blood in their veins, the +heartbeat was quick and strong, and love had charmed them all. It must +not be supposed, however, that this was a weakly and effeminate age, +that all were carpet knights, and that strong and virile men no longer +could be found, for such was not the case. All was movement and action, +the interests of life were many, and warfare was the masculine vocation, +but in the very midst of all this turmoil and confusion there sprang up +a courtly ideal of love and a reverence for women which is almost +without parallel. The sanctity of the marriage tie had not been +respected during the feudal days, the union for life between men and +women had, generally, other causes than any mutual love which might +exist between the two, and the right of divorce was shamefully misused. +While in other parts of Europe women sought relief from this intolerable +condition of affairs by giving their love to Christ and by becoming His +bride in mystic marriage through the Church, in bright Provence, aided +by the order of chivalry, they were able to do something for the ideals +of love in a more definite way and to bring back to earth that +all-absorbing passion which women had been bestowing upon the Lord of +Heaven. Inasmuch as the real marriage of the time was but a _mariage de +convenance_, which gave the wife to the husband without regard for her +own inclinations, and without consideration for the finer things of +sense and sentiment which should find a perfect harmony in such +relationship, it came to be a well-recognized fact that love and +marriage were two things quite distinct and different. A wife was +expected to show a material fidelity to her lord, keep her honor +unstained, and devote herself to his service; and this done, she was +allowed to bestow upon a lover her soul and better spirit. + +A quaint story with regard to the Chevalier de Bayard, though of +somewhat later date, will serve to illustrate this condition of affairs. +The brave knight had been brought up during his youth in the palace of +the Duke of Savoy, and there, mingling with the other young people of +the house, he had seen and soon loved a beautiful young girl who was in +the service of the duchess. This love was returned, and they would soon +have married in spite of their poverty if a cruel fate had not parted +them. Bayard was sent as a page to the court of Charles VIII., and +during his absence his ladylove, by the duke's order, was married to the +Lord of Fluxas. This Bayard found out to his bitter sorrow when he +returned some years later, but the lady, as a virtuous woman, wishing to +show him that her honest affection for him was still alive, overwhelmed +him with so many courteous acts that more would have been impossible. +"Monseigneur de Bayard, my friend," she said, "this is the home of your +youth, and it would be but sorry treatment if you should fail to show us +here your knightly skill, reports of which have come from Italy and +France." The poor gentleman could but reply: "What is your wish, +madame?" Whereat she said: "It seems to me, Monseigneur de Bayard, that +you would do well to give a splendid tourney in the city." "Madame," he +said, "it shall be done. You are the lady in this world who first +conquered my heart to her service, but now I well know that I can naught +expect except your kiss of welcome and the touch of your soft hand. +Death would I prefer to your dishonor, and that I do not seek; but give +me, I pray you, your muff." The next morning heralds proclaimed that the +lists would be opened in Carignan, and that the Chevalier de Bayard +would joust with all who might appear, the prize to be his lady's muff, +from which now hung a precious ruby worth a hundred ducats. The lists +were run, and after the last blare of trumpet and clatter of charger's +hoof, the two judges, one of them being the Lord of Fluxas, came to +Bayard with the prize. He, blushing, refused this great honor, saying he +had done nothing worthy of it, but that in all truth it belonged to +Madame de Fluxas, who had lent him the muff and who had been his +inspiration. The Lord of Fluxas, knowing the chivalry of this great +knight, felt no pang of jealousy whatever, and went straightway to his +lady, bearing the prize and the courtly words of the champion. Madame de +Fluxas, with secret joy but outward calm, replied: "Monseigneur de +Bayard has honored me with his fair speech and highbred courtesy, and +this muff will I ever keep in honor of him." That night there was +feasting and dancing in the halls, next day, departure. The knight went +to take leave of his lady, with heavy heart, and many bitter tears they +shed. This honest love endured until death parted them, and no year +passed that presents were not exchanged between them. + +So there was a social life at this time and place which was filled with +refinement and courtesy, and it centred about the ladies of the courts. +Each troubadour, and many of them were brave knights as well, sought to +sing the praises of his lady, devote himself to her service, and do her +bidding in all things great and small. There was a proverb in Provence, +it is true, which declared that "A man's shadow is worth a hundred +women," and another saying, "Water spoils wine, carts spoil roads, and +women spoil men"; but, in spite of all this, devotion to women was +developed to a most unusual degree, and there was even an attempt made +to fix the nature of such soft bondage by rule and regulation. Southern +natures were so impetuous that some checks upon the practice of this +chivalric love seemed to be imperative, as thinking people felt that +love should not go unbridled. Justin H. Smith, who has written so +entertainingly of the _Troubadours at Home_, says that it was their +expedient to make love a "science and an art. Rules were devised, and +passion was to be bound with a rigid etiquette like that of chivalry or +social intercourse. It was to be mainly an affair of sentiment and +honor, not wholly Platonic to be sure, but thoroughly desensualized. +Four stages were marked off in the lover's progress: first, he adored +for a season without venturing to confess it; secondly, he adored as a +mere suppliant; thirdly, he adored as one who knew that the lady was not +indifferent; and finally, he became the accepted lover, that is to say, +the chosen servitor and vassal of his lady, her special knight." + +To the coarse and somewhat stupid barons of the time infidelity was an +act of absolute self-abandonment, and they felt in no way jealous of +these fine knights who were more in sympathy with their wives than they +could ever hope to be. So the lover became an accepted person who had +rights which the wife did not conceal and which the husband did not +deny. The husband literally owned the body of his wife, it is true, but +the lover had her soul, for the feudal customs gave to the woman no +moral power over her husband, while the code of love, on the other hand, +made of woman the guide and associate of man. It was all a play world, +of course; the troubadour knight and lover would discuss by means of the +_tenso_, which was a dialogue in song, all sorts of questions with his +lady, or with another of his kind, while the slow, thick-headed husbands +dozed in their chairs, dreaming of sudden alarums and the din of battle. +Here, however, was afforded opportunity for a quick display of wit, and +here was shown much nimbleness of mind, and, all in all, woman profited +by the intercourse and became, as has been said, more than the "link +between generations," which was all she had been before. It was in the +great hall, about the wide hearth, after the evening meal, that the harp +was sounded and the _tenso_ was begun which was of such interest to the +singer and his fair chatelaine; and among the questions of serious +import which they then discussed, the following will serve by way of +illustration: "Which is better, to have wisdom, or success with the +ladies?" "Which is better, to win a lady by skill or by boldness?" +"Which are greater, the joys or the sorrows of love?" "Which brings the +greater renown, Yes or No?" "Can true love exist between married +persons?" Futile and ridiculous as all this may seem to us to-day, the +very fact that women were here put upon the same footing as the men, +even upon a superior footing, as great deference was shown them by their +knightly lovers, all this was but an indication of the fact that woman's +place in society was surely advancing. Thus, outside of marriage and +even opposed to it, was realized that which constitutes its true +essence, the fusion of soul and mutual improvement; and since that time +love and marriage have more often been found together, and the notion +has been growing with the ages that the one is the complement of the +other. Marriage, as has been said, was but an imperfect institution at +this time, and in many cases it appears that the code of love, as it may +be called, was quite superior to the civil code. For example, the feudal +law allowed a man to beat his wife moderately, as occasion required, but +respect was one of the fundamental laws imposed by the code of love. +Again, the civil law said that a woman whose husband had been absent for +ten years, and whose whereabouts was unknown, had the right to marry +again, but the code of love decreed that the absence of a lover, no +matter how prolonged, was not sufficient cause for giving up the +attachment. In short, in this world of gallantry the ideals of love were +higher than they were in the world of lawful wedlock, and the reason was +not far to seek. + +It cannot be said, however, that these lofty ideals of Platonic +affection which so strongly characterize this brilliant and courtly +society were always carried out to the letter, and it must be admitted +with regret that there are many cases on record where the restraints and +formalities of etiquette were insufficient to check the fateful passion +when once its fires were burning. Every forbidden intrigue was fraught +with danger; indeed, the injured husband is sometimes alluded to as +_Monsieur Danger_, but here, as elsewhere, stolen sweets were sweetest, +and the risk was taken. Vengeance, however, followed discovery, and +swift was the retribution which overtook the troubadour when guilty of +faithless conduct. The tragic story of Guillem de Cabestaing, who came +from that district of Roussillon which is said to be famous for its red +wine and its black sheep, will serve to show how love could not be bound +by laws of honor and how quick punishment came to pay the score. +Guillem, the son of a poor knight, came at the age of twelve to enter +the service of my lord Raimon of Roussillon, who was also his father's +lord, and there in the castle he began his education. An esquire he +became, and he followed his master in peace and in warfare, perfected +himself in the gentler arts of song and music, and paid no small +attention to his own person, which was fair and comely. On an evil day, +however, my lord Raimon transferred young Guillem to the service of his +wife, the Lady Margarida, a young and sweet-faced girl who was famed for +her beauty, and then began the love between them. Raimon was soon +jealous and then suspicious, but false words from false lips allayed +suspicion for a time. Then Guillem, in a song composed at his lady's +command, revealed the love which united them, though all unconsciously, +and then the end was near. One day, Guillem was summoned from the palace +into the dark wood by his master, but when Raimon returned Guillem did +not come with him; in his stead was a servant, who carried something +concealed beneath his cloak. After the dinner, which had been attended +with constant jest and laughter, Raimon informed his wife that she had +just eaten the heart of the luckless troubadour! Summoning her words +with a quick self-control, the Lady Margarida vowed that never after +would she taste of meat, whereat Raimon grew red with rage and sought to +take her life. But she fled quickly to a high tower and threw herself +down to death. That is the tragedy, but this fidelity in death received +its reward; for when the king heard the tale, and who did not, as it was +soon spread abroad, Raimon was stripped of all his possessions and +thrown into a dungeon, while lover and lady were buried together at the +church door at Perpignan, and a yearly festival was ordained in their +honor. + +For many hundreds of years after the decay of all this brilliant life in +southern France, the statement was repeated that courts of love had been +organized in gay Provence, which were described as assemblies of +beautiful women, sitting in judgment on guilty lovers and deciding +amorous questions, but the relentless search of the modern scholar has +proved beyond a doubt that no such courts ever existed. A certain code +of love there was most certainly, of which the troubadours sang, and +whose regulations were matters of general conduct as inspired by the +spirit of courtesy and gallantry which was current at the time, and very +often were questions relating to the tender passion discussed _in +extenso_ by the fairest ladies of the south, but more than that cannot +be said with truth. The fiction is a pretty one, and among those who are +said to have presided at these amorous tribunals are Queen Eleanor, the +Countess of Narbonne, and the Countess of Champagne, and Richard Coeur +de Lion has even been mentioned in this capacity. The courts were held +at Pierrefeu, Digne, and Avignon according to tradition, women alone +could act as judges, and appeals might be made from one court to +another. This tradition but goes to show that after the decay of the +Provençal civilization, its various ideas and ideals were drawn up into +formal documents, that the spirit of the age might be preserved, and +they in turn were taken by following generations in good faith as +coexistent with the things which they describe. + +It was but natural that in a state of society like the one mentioned, +women should long to show themselves possessed of poetic gifts as well +as men. It must not be supposed that the wife of a great baron occupied +an easy position, however, and had many leisure hours, as her wifely +duties took no little time and energy, and it was her place to hold in +check the rude speech and manners of the warlike nobles who thronged the +castle halls, as well as to put some limit to the bold words and glances +of the troubadours, who were often hard to repress. Her previous +education had been bestowed with care, however, the advantages of a +formal and punctilious etiquette had been preached more than once, and +she was even advised that the enemy of all her friends should find her +civil-spoken; so, my lady managed her difficult affairs with tact and +skill, and contrived in many cases to acquire such fame for her +moderation and her wisdom that many poets sang her praises. It was her +pleasure also to harbor these troubadours who sang her praises, and +learn from them the secrets of their art; and in this pleasant +intercourse it often chanced that she was inspired by the god of song, +and vied with them in poesy. The names of eighteen such women have come +down to us, and fragments from most of them are extant, though the +Countess of Dia seems the most important of them all, as five of her +short poems are now known to exist. The Lady Castelloza must be named +soon after, for her wit and her accomplishments. She once reminded a +thoughtless lover that if he should allow her to pine away and die for +love of him, he would be committing a monstrous crime "before God and +men." Clara of Anduse must not be forgotten in this list, and she it was +who conquered the cold indifference of the brilliant troubadour Uc de +Saint-Cyr; still, however numerous her contributions to poetry may have +been, but one song remains to us, and that is contained in a manuscript +of the fourteenth century. It should be said that the reason for the +small amount of poetry which these women have left behind them is easily +explained. Talents they may have possessed and poetical ability in +abundance, but there was no great incentive to work, inasmuch as poetry +offered them no career such as it opened up to the men. A troubadour +sang at the command of his noble patron, but with the women poetry was +not an employment, but a necessity for self-expression. It is altogether +probable that their efforts were for the most part the result of a +sudden inspiration, their mirth or their grief was poured forth, and +then they relapsed into silence. Other than in this way the voice of the +woman was rarely heard in song, unless she took part in the _tenso_, or +song of contention, and then her words were uttered as they came, +without premeditation, and were lost as soon as sung. + +The city of Toulouse was a centre for much of the literary life of the +time, and it was during the reign of Count Raimon VI., who was a poet of +no small merit, that the art of the troubadours reached its culmination. +For half a generation, it is said, his court was crowded with these +poets, and he dwelt with them and they with him in brotherly affection. +With the terrible Albigensian Crusade, the voice of the singer was no +longer heard in the land, and the poetic fire, which had burned with so +fierce a blaze at times, smouldered for long years, until in the +beginning of the fourteenth century the flames burst forth anew. At that +time a company of poets, and they were of bourgeois origin and not of +the nobility, determined to take vigorous measures to restore the art of +the troubadour to its former high position, and to this end they founded +the Collège du Gay Sçavoir, which was to support and maintain annually +in Toulouse a poetic tournament called Les Jeux Floraux, wherein the +prizes were to consist of flowers of gold and silver. With the definite +establishment of these Floral Games the name of a woman has been +intertwined in most curious fashion; and although many facts are +recorded of her life and deeds, there are those who deny that she ever +lived. This remarkable woman was called Clémence Isaure, and the story +has grown up that some years after the founding of the Jeux Floraux she +left a sum of money in trust which was to serve as a permanent endowment +for this most illustrious institution of her native city. Then it was +that the Collège du Gay Sçavoir became a thing of permanence, and +brilliant were the fêtes which were celebrated under its auspices. +First, a golden violet was bestowed upon the victor in these poetic +contests, and the winner was decreed a Bachelor of Poetry; then, two +other flowers were added, the eglantine and the marigold, and he who won +two prizes was given the degree of Master; while he who won all three +became forthwith a Doctor. + +To prove that Clémence Isaure really did exist in Toulouse a tomb was +shown which seemed to bear her name; and so strongly rooted is this +belief, that her statue is held in reverence, and every year in May, +even to this day, when the date for the Jeux Floraux arrives, the first +thing on the programme for that solemn occasion is a formal eulogy in +honor of this distinguished patroness. More than that, in the garden of +the Luxembourg Palace in Paris, in that semicircle of twenty marble +statues grouped about the parterre and representing some of the most +illustrious women of France, Clémence Isaure has an honored place, and +her counterfeit presentment by the sculptor Préault is considered one of +the finest of the number. + +In support of the claim that such a woman never existed, and in +explanation of the tradition itself, the learned ones inform us that +with the definite establishment of these Floral Games the good citizens +of Toulouse thought it best to follow in the footsteps of their bold and +plain-spoken troubadour ancestors in a somewhat timid manner, and the +poems which were then written were not addressed to some fair lady in +real life, but to the Holy Virgin, who was frequently addressed as +Clemenza [pity], and from this word the story took its rise. After a +certain lapse of time, Clemenza, personified so often in their +impassioned strains, became a real person to their southern +imaginations, and a tomb was conveniently found which seemed to settle +the matter without question. It is even asserted that the city of +Toulouse is enjoying to-day other bequests which were made to it by +Clémence Isaure, and that there is no more reason for doubting her +existence than for doubting the existence of any other historical +character of long ago. In any event, the Floral Games are still held +yearly, the seven poets have become forty in number, and they compose a +dignified Academy, which has some ten thousand francs a year to bestow +in prizes. And the number of the prizes has been increased, as now five +different flowers of gold and five of silver are bestowed each for +poetry of a certain kind, and in addition there is a gold jasmine which +is awarded to the most excellent prose article, and a silver pink which +is a sort of prize at large, and which may be given for a composition of +any character. + +This belief in the actual existence of Clémence Isaure is still held by +many, and, in fact, the legend seems stronger than the facts adduced +against it; but whatever the truth may be, the story symbolizes in a +most beautiful and fitting way the part which woman has played in this +Provençal country in the encouragement given to song and poetry. It was +the women who gave the real encouragement to the troubadours and +inspired them to their greatest efforts, and it seems but poetic +justice, at least, that in Toulouse the only existing institution +representative of those old troubadour days should claim a woman as its +greatest patron. + + + + +Chapter V + +Influence of Women in Early Literature + + + "Nine times now since my birth, the heaven of light had turned + almost to the same point in its own gyration, when the glorious + Lady of my mind--who was called Beatrice by many who knew not what + to call her--first appeared before my eyes. She had already been in + this life so long, that in its course the starry heaven had moved + toward the region of the East one of the twelve parts of a degree; + so that at about the beginning of her ninth year she appeared to + me, and I near the end of my ninth year saw her. She appeared to me + clothed in a most noble color, a modest and becoming crimson, and + she was girt and adorned in such wise as befitted her very youthful + age. At that instant, I can truly say that the spirit of life, + which dwells in the most secret chamber of the heart, began to + tremble with such violence that it appeared fearfully in the least + pulses, and, trembling, said these words: _Ecce deus fortior me, + qui veniens dominabitur mihi_ [Behold a god stronger than I, who, + coming, shall rule over me]. At that instant the spirit of the + soul, which dwells in the high chamber to which all the spirits of + the senses carry their perceptions, began to marvel greatly, and, + speaking especially to the spirit of the sight, said these words: + _Apparuit jam beatitudo vestra_ [Now has appeared your bliss]. At + that instant the natural spirit, which dwells in that part where + our nourishment is supplied, began to weep, and, weeping, said + these words: _Heu miser! quia frequenter impeditus ero deinceps_ + [Woe is me, wretched! Because often from this time forth shall I be + hindered]." + +Nowhere in all literature can be found a dearer statement of the +spiritual evolution which was going on in the minds of men with respect +to women, at the close of the Middle Ages, than that given in the +foregoing passage from Dante's _Vita Nuova_--taken from Professor +Norton's finished translation. The spirit of the amatory poetry of the +gay troubadours of Provence had found its way into Italy, but it was its +more spiritual side which was to make the greater impression upon the +national literature at this early stage of its development. The mystic +marriage with the Church which had consoled so many women in distress, +and which had removed them from the sin and confusion of the hurly-burly +world to a life of quiet joy and peace, had slowly been exerting a more +general and secular influence which first bore fruit in the notions of +Platonic friendship which had been discussed; then came deference and +respect and a truer understanding of woman's true position. But +something was wanting in this profession of love and respect which came +from the singers of Provence; their words were ready and their speech +was smooth, but all their knightly grace of manner could not conceal the +fact that Venus was their goddess. They were sincere, doubtless, but all +that they sang was so lyric, subjective, and persona! in its essence +that they failed to strike the deepest chords of human feeling or +display that high seriousness which is indicative of real dignity of +character. Love had been the despot whose slightest caprice was law.--in +obeying his commands one could do no wrong. Woman became the arbiter of +man's destiny in so far as, the fervent lover, in his ardor, was glad to +do her bidding. The troubadour Miravel has told us that when a man made +a failure of his life, all were prone to say: "It is evident that he did +not care for the ladies." There is a worldly tone in this remark which +grates upon the ear--it does not ring clear and true, although the +Provençal poets had improved the manners of their time and had +introduced a highbred courtesy into their dealings with women which was +in itself a great step in advance. It is related that when William the +Conqueror first saw Emma, his betrothed, he seized her roughly in his +arms and threw her to the ground as an indication of affection; but the +troubadour was wont to kneel before his lady and pray for grace and +power to win her approbation. Yet, under the courtly form of manner and +speech, it is too often the sensual conception of womankind which lurks +in the background, and there is little evidence to show that there was +any general belief in the chastening power of the love of a good +woman--a power which might be of positive value in character building. + +The spiritual possibilities latent in this higher conception seem, +however, to have been grasped by some of the Italian poets of the early +Renaissance, and here we find a devotion to women which comes not from +the heart alone, but from the soul as well. Dante's "natural spirit" was +but the sensual nature, and well might it cry out when the "spirit of +life" began to feel the secret commotion of the "spirit of the soul": +"Woe is me, wretched! Because often from this time forth shall I be +hindered in my work." And so it was. With this first somewhat broad +conception of the dignity of womanhood there was a new incentive to +manly endeavor; and there came into the world, in the power and might of +the great Florentine poet, a majesty of character which fair Provence +could never have produced. Immediately before Dante's time we see +glimmerings of this new sentiment in the work of Guido Cavalcanti and of +Cino da Pistoja. Cavalcanti, being exiled from Florence, went on a visit +to the shrine of Saint James of Compostella; and upon the way, passing +through Toulouse, he was captivated by a beautiful Spanish girl, whom he +has made celebrated under the name of Mandetta: + + "In un boschetto trovai pastorella, + Più che la stella bella al mio parere, + Capegli avea biondetti e ricciutelli." + +It is true that in his work Cavalcanti shows many of the stilted +mannerisms which were common to the troubadours; but such expressions as +"to her, every virtue bows," and "the mind of man cannot soar so high, +nor is it sufficiently purified by divine grace to understand and +appreciate all her perfections," point the way toward a greater +sincerity. His chief work was a long _Canzone sopra l'Amore_, which was +so deep and philosophic that seven weighty commentaries in both Latin +and Italian have as yet failed to sound all its depths. In the story of +the early love of Cino da Pistoja for Ricciarda dei Selvaggi there is a +genuine and homely charm which makes us feel that here indeed true love +had found a place. Ricciarda--or Selvaggia, as Cino calls her--was the +daughter of a noble family of Pistoja, her father having been +_gonfaniere_ and leader of the Bianchi faction, and it appears that she +also was famed for her poetic gifts. For a time she and Cino kept their +love a secret from the world, but their poems to each other at this time +show it to have been upon a high plane. Finally, the parents of +Ricciarda were banished from Pistoja by the Neri, and in their flight +they took refuge in a small fortress perched near the summit of the +Apennines, where they were joined by Cino, who had determined to share +their fortunes. There the spring turned into summer, and the summer +into autumn, and the days sped happily--days which were later called the +happiest of the poet's whole life. The two young people roamed the hills +together, or took their share in the household duties, and the whole +picture seems to breathe forth an air of reality and truth which far +removes it from that atmosphere of comic-opera love and passion which +seemed to fill the Midi. When the winter came, the hardship of this +mountain life commenced; the winds grew too keen, and the young girl +soon began to show the effects of the want and misery to which she was +exposed. Finally, the end came; and there Cino and the parents, +grieving, laid her to her rest, in a sheltered valley. The pathos of +this story needs no word of explanation, and Cino's grief is best shown +by an act of his later years. Long afterward, when he was loaded with +fame and honors, it happened that, being sent upon an embassy, he had +occasion to cross the mountains near the spot where Selvaggia had been +buried. Sending his suite around by another path, he went alone to her +tomb and tarried for a time in prayer and sorrow. Later, in verse, he +commemorates this visit, closing with the words: + + "...pur chiamando, Selvaggia! + L'alpe passai, con voce di dolore." + +[Then calling aloud in accents of despair, Selvaggia! I passed the +mountain tops.] Cino's loved one is distinguished in the history of +Italian literature as the _bel numer'una_--"fair number one"--in that +list of the famous women of the century where the names of Beatrice and +Laura are to be found. + +With Dante, the spiritual nature of his love for Beatrice assumed an +almost mystical and religious character, betraying the marked influence +of mediæval philosophy and theology; and here it was--for the first +time in modern literature--that woman as a symbol of goodness and light +found herself raised upon a pedestal and glorified in the eyes of the +world. Many a pink and rosy Venus had been evoked before, many a +pale-faced nun had received the veneration of the multitude for her +saintly life, but here we have neither Venus nor saint; for Beatrice is +the type of the good woman in the world, human in her instincts and holy +in her acts. The air of mysticism with which Dante has enveloped his +love for the daughter of the Portinari family does not in any way +detract from our interest in his point of view, for the principal fact +for the modern world is that he had such thoughts about women. Legouvé +has said that spiritual love was always mingled with a respect for +women, and that sensual admiration was rarely without secret scorn and +hatred; and it is his further opinion that spiritual love was naturally +allied to sentiments of austere patriotism in illustrious men, while +those who celebrated the joys of sensual passion were indifferent to the +cause of country and sometimes traitor to it. Dante and Petrarch, the +two chaste poets, as they are sometimes called, were the most ardent +patriots in all Italy. Midst the tortures of the _Inferno_ or the joys +of the _Paradiso_, the image of the stricken fatherland is ever with +Dante, and more than once does he cry out against her cruel oppressors. +With Petrarch, as it has well been said, his love for the Latin language +was but the form of his love for his people, as in his great hope for +the future the glory of the past was to return. Boccaccio was the most +illustrious of those in literature who represented the sensual +conception of woman; and whatever his literary virtues may have been, no +one has ever called attention to his patriotic fervor or to his dignity +of character. Laura and Beatrice, though not of royal birth, have been +made immortal by their poet lovers; Boccaccio loved the daughter of a +king, but he has described her with such scant respect that what little +renown she may have derived from her liaison with him is all to her +discredit. + +The story of Dante and Beatrice is now an old one, but ever fresh with +the rare charm which it possesses even after the lapse of these many +years. The _New Life_, Dante's earliest work, which is devoted to a +description of his first meeting with Beatrice and his subsequent +all-powerful love for her, has been regarded sceptically by some +critics, who are inclined to see in it but an allegory, and there are +others who go so far as to say that Beatrice never existed. What +uncertainty can there be regarding her life, when Cino da Pistoja wrote +his most celebrated poem, a _canzone_ to Dante, consoling him for her +loss? The following stanza from Rossetti's matchless version is proof +enough for all who care to read: + + "Why now do pangs of torment clutch thy heart, + Which with thy love should make thee overjoyed, + As him whose intellect has passed the skies? + Behold, the spirits of thy life depart + Daily to Heaven with her, they so are buoyed + With thy desire, and Love so bids them rise. + O God I and thou, a man whom God made wise, + To nurse a charge of care, and love the same! + I tell thee, in His name, + From sin of sighing grief to hold thy breath, + Nor let thy heart to death, + Nor harbour death's resemblance in thine eyes. + God hath her with Himself eternally, + Yet she inhabits every hour with thee." + +Beatrice certainly lived; and no matter in what veil of mysticism the +poet may choose to envelop her in his later writings, and in spite of +the imagery of his phrases, even in the _New Life_, she never fails to +appear to us as a real woman. We know that Dante first saw her on +Mayday, in the year 1274, when neither had reached the age of ten, and +the thrill he felt at this first vision has been described in his own +words on the first page of this chapter. From that time forth it seems +that, boy as he was, he was continually haunted by this apparition, +which had at once assumed such domination over him. Often he went +seeking her, and all that he saw of her was so noble and praiseworthy +that he is moved to apply to her the words of Homer: "She seems not the +daughter of mortal man, but of God." And he further says: "Though her +image, which stayed constantly with me, gave assurance to Love to hold +lordship over me, yet it was of such noble virtue that it never suffered +Love to rule me without the faithful counsel of the reason in those +matters in which it was useful to hear such counsel." So began his pure +and high ideal of love, which is most remarkable in that it stands in +striking contrast, not only to the usual amatory declarations of the +time to be found in literature, but also to the very life and temper of +the day and generation in which he was so soon to play a conspicuous +part. It was a day of almost unbridled passions and lack of +self-restraint, and none before had thought to couple reason with the +thought of love. For nine years his boyish dreams were filled with this +maiden, Beatrice, and not once in all that time did he have word with +her. Finally, he says: "On the last of these days, it happened that this +most admirable lady appeared before me, clad in shining white, between +two ladies older than herself; and as she passed along, she turned her +eyes toward that spot where I stood in all timidity, and then, through +her great courtesy, which now has its reward in the eternal world, she +saluted me with such virtue that I knew all the depth of bliss." But +never did Dante come to know her well, though she was ever in his +thoughts, and though he must have watched for her presence in the +street. Once she went upon a journey, and he was sore distraught until +she came back into his existence; once he was taken to a company of +young people, where he was so affected by sudden and unexpected sight of +her that he grew pale and trembled, and showed such signs of mortal +illness that his friend grew much alarmed and led him quickly away. The +cause of his confusion was not apparent to all the company; but the +ladies mocked him, to his great dismay, and even Beatrice was tempted to +a smile, not understanding all, yet feeling some annoyance that she +should be the occasion for such strange demeanor on his part. Later, +when her father dies, Dante grieves for her, waits at the corner to pick +up fragments of conversation from those who have just come from +consoling her, and, in truth, makes such a spectacle of himself, that +these ladies passing say: "Why should he feel such grief, when he has +not seen her?" He constantly feels the moral force of her influence, and +recounts in the following lines--from the Norton translation--her noble +influence on others: + + "...for when she goes her way + Love casts a blight upon all caitiff hearts, + So that their every thought doth freeze and perish. + And who can bear to stay on her to look, + Will noble thing become or else will die. + And when one finds that he may worthy be + To look on her, he doth his virtue prove." + +Before we are through with Dante's little book, we seem to feel that +Beatrice must have lived, that she was flesh and blood as we are, and +that she really graced the fair city on the Arno in her time, as the +poet would have us believe. She is pictured in company with other +ladies, upon the street, in social gatherings at the homes of her +friends, in church at her devotions, in tears and laughter, and ever is +she pictured with such love and tenderness that she will remain, as +Professor Norton says, "the loveliest and the most womanly woman of the +Middle Ages--at once absolutely real and truly ideal." + +At her death, Dante is disconsolate for a time, and then devotes himself +to study with renewed vigor; and he closes his story of her with the +promise that he will write of her what has never yet been written of any +woman. This anticipates, perhaps, the _Divine Comedy_, which was yet to +be written, wherein Beatrice was his guide through Paradise and where he +accords her a place higher than that of the angels. It may mar the +somewhat idyllic simplicity of this story to add that Dante was married +some years later to Gemma Donati, the daughter of a distinguished +Florentine family, but such was the case. Little is known of her, +however, as Dante never speaks of her; and while there is no reason to +suppose that their union was not a happy one, it is safe to conclude +that it gave him no such spiritual uplift as he had felt from his +youthful passion. + +The extent of Dante's greatness is to be measured not only by his wide +learning--for he was the greatest scholar of his time--but also by his +noble seriousness, which enabled him to penetrate through that which was +light and frivolous to that which was of deep import to humanity. His +was not the task of amusing the idle populace with what he wrote--he had +a high duty, which was to make men think on the realities of life and of +their own short-comings. People whispered, as he passed along: "See his +dark face and melancholy look! Hell has he seen and Purgatory, and +Paradise as well! The mysteries of life are his, but he has paid the +cost." And many went back to their pleasures, but some were impressed +with his expression. Whence came his seriousness, whence came his +penetrating glance and sober mien? Why did he move almost alone in all +that heedless throng, intent upon the eternal truth? Because from early +youth he had nourished in his heart a pure love which had chastened him +and given him an understanding of those deeper things of the spirit, +which was denied to most men of his time. Doubtless Dante would have +been Dante, with or without the influence of Beatrice, but through her +he received that broad humanity which makes him the symbol of the +highest thought of his time. + +Whatever the story of Petrarch and his Laura may lack in dignity when +compared with that of Dante and Beatrice, it certainly does not lack in +grace or interest. While Dante early took an interest in the political +affairs which distracted Florence, and was of a stern and somewhat +forbidding character, mingling study with action, Petrarch, humanist and +scholar as he was, represents also the more polite accomplishments of +his time, as he was a most polished courtier and somewhat vain of his +fair person. Dante's whole exterior was characteristic of his mind. If +accounts be true, his eyes were large and black, his nose was aquiline, +his complexion dark, and in all his movements he was slow and +deliberate. Petrarch, on the contrary, was more quick and animated; he +had bright blue eyes, a fair skin, and a merry laugh; and he himself it +is who tells us how cautiously he used to turn the corner of a street +lest the wind should disarrange the elaborate curls of his beautiful +hair. Though record is made of this side of his character, it must not +be assumed that his mind was a frivolous one, for he may be +considered--as Professor Robinson says--as "the cosmopolitan +representative of the first great forward movement" in Western +civilization and deserves to rank--as Carducci claims--with Erasmus and +Voltaire, each in his time the intellectual leader of Europe. + +With regard to Laura, Petrarch has left the following lines, which were +inscribed upon the fly-leaf of a favorite copy of Virgil, wherein it was +his habit to keep a record of all those things which most concerned him: +"Laura, who was so distinguished by her own virtues and so widely +celebrated by my poetry, first appeared before my eyes in my early +manhood, in the year of our Lord 1327, upon the sixth day of April, at +the first hour, in the Church of Santa Clara at Avignon; in the same +city, in the same month of April, on the same sixth day, at the same +first hour, in the year 1348, that light was taken from our day, while +I, by chance, happened to be at Verona, ignorant, alas! of my fate. The +sad news came to me at Parma, in a letter from my friend Ludovico, on +the morning of the nineteenth of May of the same year. Her chaste and +beautiful form was laid in the Church of the Franciscans, the evening of +the day she died. I am persuaded that her soul returned, as Seneca says +of Scipio Africanus, to the heaven whence it came. I have experienced a +certain satisfaction in writing this bitter record of a cruel event, +especially in this place, where I may see it often, for so may I be led +to reflect that life can afford me no further joys; and the most serious +of my temptations being removed, I may be counselled by the frequent +perusal of these lines and by the thought of my departing years, that +now the time has come to flee from Babylon. This, with God's help, will +be easy when I frankly and manfully consider the needless troubles of +the past with its empty hopes and unexpected issue." + +The Babylon to which Petrarch refers was Avignon, then the home of the +popes, which he declares was a place filled with everything fearful that +had ever existed or been conceived by a disordered mind--a veritable +hell on earth. But here he had stayed this quarter of a century, a +captive to the charms of his fair Laura. According to the generally +accepted story, she was of high birth, as her father--Audibert de +Noves--was a noble of Avignon, who died in her infancy, leaving her a +dowry of one thousand gold crowns, which would amount to almost ten +thousand pounds sterling to-day, and which was a splendid marriage +portion for that time. In 1325, two years before her meeting with +Petrarch, she was married to Hugh de Sade, when she was but eighteen; +and while her husband was a man of rank and of an age suited to her own, +it does not appear that he was favored in mind or in body, or that there +was any special affinity between them. In the marriage contract it was +stipulated that her mother and brother were to pay the dower left by the +father and also to bestow upon the bride two gowns for state ceremonies, +one of them to be green, embroidered with violets, and the other of +crimson, with a trimming of feathers. Petrarch frequently alludes to +these gowns, and in the portraits of Laura which have been preserved she +is attired in either one or the other of them. Her personal beauty has +been described in greatest detail by the poet, and it is doubtful if the +features of any other woman and her general characteristics of mind and +body were ever subjected to such minute analysis as is exemplified in +the present instance. Hands and feet, hair, eyes, ears, nose, and +throat--all are depicted in most glowing and appreciative fashion; and, +from the superlative degree of the adjectives, she must indeed have been +fair to look upon and possessed of a great compelling charm. But from +her lovely mouth--_la bella bocca angelica_, as he calls it--there never +came a weak or yielding word in answer to his passionate entreaties. For +this was no mystical love, no such spiritual affection as was felt by +Dante, but the love of an active man of the world whose feelings had +been deeply troubled. In spite of his pleadings, she remained unshaken; +and although she felt honored by the affection of this man, and was +entirely susceptible to the compliment of his poetry, and in spite of +the current notions of duty and fidelity, which were far from exacting, +she had a better self which triumphed. The profligate Madame du Deffand, +who occupies so conspicuous a place in the annals of the French court in +the days of its greatest corruption, has little sympathy with a +situation of this kind, and is led to exclaim: _Le fade personnage que +votre Pétrarque! que sa Laure était sotte et précieuse!_ But Petrarch +himself thought otherwise, for he has written thereupon: "A woman taught +me the duty of a man! To persuade me to keep the path of virtue, her +conduct was at once an example and a reproach." + +Without following it in all its various incidents, it will suffice to +say that this love of Petrarch for Laura, which lasted for so many +years, exerted a powerful influence upon the poet and had much to do in +shaping the character which was to win for him in later times the praise +which Pierre de Nolhac has bestowed upon him in calling him the first +modern man. Petrarch considered unworthy, it is true, the poems and +sonnets which he consecrated to the charms of Laura, and he even +regretted that his fame should rest upon them, when, in his own +estimation, his ponderous works in Latin were of much more consequence. +But, incidental to his passion for Laura, he was led to discuss within +himself the two conceptions of love which were current at that +time,--the mediæval and monkish conception, based upon a sensual idea +which regarded women as the root of all evil and the source of all sin, +and the modern or secular idea, which is spiritual and may become holy. +In an imaginary conversation with Saint Augustine which Petrarch wrote +to furnish a vehicle for the discussion of these matters, the poet +exclaims that it is the soul--the inborn and celestial goodness--that he +loves, and that he owes all to her who has preserved him from sin and +urged him on to a full development of his powers. The ultimate result of +all this thought and all this reflection upon the nature of the +affections developed the humanity of the man, excited broad interests +within his breast, gave him a wide sympathy, and entitled him to rank as +the first great humanist. + +Dante, with his vague and almost mystical adoration of Beatrice, which +was at times a passion almost subjective, is still in the shadow of the +Middle Ages, their gloom is still upon him, and he can see but dimly +into the centuries which are still to come; but his face is glorified by +his vision of the spiritual possibilities of good and noble womanhood. +Petrarch, in the brief interval which has passed, has come out into the +light of a modern world; and there, in the midst of baffled desire, he +is brought face to face with the great thought that though love be human +it has power divine. + + + + +Chapter VI + +Women in the Early Renaissance + + +Although the fourteenth century in Italy was one of almost continuous +warfare between the different contending states of the peninsula, the +fact remains that the whole country was enjoying a degree of prosperity +which was unprecedented in the history of the Italian people. It was the +beginning of the age of the despots, it is true, but in the midst of +strife and contention there was at the same time a material progress +which did much to enrich the country and enable its inhabitants to +elevate their standard of living. The Italian cities were encouraging +business transactions on a large scale; Italian merchants were among the +most enterprising on the continent, making long trips to foreign +countries for the purpose of buying and selling goods; and the Oriental +trade, which had been diverted in great measure to Italian channels, was +a constant source of profit. That all this could be so in the face of +the warlike condition of society is due to the fact that much of the +fighting was done by mercenary soldiers, or that the political quarrels +of the time, which frequently concerned the fate of cities, too often +had their rise in family feuds which, no matter how fiercely they were +waged, did not interest the masses. There were always thousands upon +thousands of worthy citizens who felt no direct personal interest in the +outcome of the fighting, and who pursued the even tenor of their way +without much regard for what was taking place, so far as allowing it to +interfere with their daily occupations was concerned. + +The general impression of the moral tone of this epoch in society is far +from favorable. Divorce had become practically impossible for ordinary +individuals; marriage was common enough, but appeared to possess no +special sanctity; and as a result there were many illegitimate children, +who seem, however, to have been recognized by their fathers and cared +for with as great solicitude as were those who were born within the pale +of the law. The ideas which were current regarding matters of decency +and refinement will be found quite different from those prevalent in our +own day. Coarseness in speech and manner was common, no high moral +standards were maintained, even by the Church, and diplomacy and +calculation took the place of sincerity and conscience. Still, while +these may have been the characteristics of a considerable number of the +population, the fact must not be forgotten that even in that day of +moral laxity there were many good and simple people who lived their +homely lives in peace and quiet and contentment, unmoved by the rush of +the world. We get a glimpse of what this simple life may have been from +a charming little book by Pandolfino called _La Famiglia_, wherein the +joys of family life are depicted in a most idyllic manner. The story +deals with the beginning of the married life of a young couple; and we +are shown how the husband takes the wife to his house after the wedding +has been celebrated, displays to her his worldly possessions, and then +turns them over to her keeping. After visiting the establishment and +giving it a careful inspection, they kneel before the little shrine of +the Madonna, which is near at hand, and there they pray devoutly that +they may be given grace to profit by all their blessings, and that they +may live long years together in peace and harmony, and the prayer ends +with the wish that they may have many male children. The young wife is +later advised not to paint her face, and to pay no attention to other +men. There is no injunction to secrecy with regard to family affairs of +importance, inasmuch as Pandolfino says very frankly that he doubts the +ability of a woman to keep a secret, and that, while he is perfectly +willing to grant that his wife is loving and discreet, he feels a much +greater sense of security when he _knows_ she is unable to do him any +harm. His quaint phrase is as follows: _Non perchè io non conoscessi la +mia amarevole e discreta, ma sempre estimai più securo ch'ella non mi +potesse nuocere che ella non volesse._ + +The material conditions for happiness--and they are certainly no +unimportant factor--were wonderfully advanced, and the common people of +Italy at this time were enjoying many comforts of life which were +unknown to the higher classes in other countries. The houses were +generally large and of stone, supplies were plentiful and cheap, and, +all in all, it appears to have been an age of abundance. It was +customary for the housewives to lay in a supply of oil and wine for the +year; they were most careful in regard to all matters of domestic +economy and took a pride in their work. Indeed, Burckhardt has said that +from this epoch dates the first conscious attempt to regulate the +affairs of a household in a systematic way, and to this end it is +interesting to note that bridal outfits were prepared with unusual care, +special attention being given to the supply of household linen, which +was sometimes elaborate. As a further aid to orderly housekeeping, it +was often the custom for the wives to keep a careful account of daily +expenditures, which they did with a skill that would doubtless cause the +despair of many a modern housewife who has attempted the same thing. It +must not be supposed, however, that the course of this domestic life was +without annoyance, as even here at this early day servants were inclined +to be exacting and hard to please. At least, that is the inference which +may be drawn from a letter by an old notary of Florence, Lapo Mazzei, +wherein he takes occasion to say, in inviting a friend to supper, that +it will be entirely convenient to have him come, inasmuch as he has +taken the precaution, in order not to trouble the house servants, to +send to the bakery to be roasted a fat pullet and a loin of mutton! + +Some of the customs of this time will seem to us quite primitive. It was +an unheard-of thing, for example, to see carriages going about the +streets, as they had not yet come into general use, and riding on +horseback was the ordinary means of locomotion, even for ladies. Indeed, +mention has been found in one of the early historians of an adventure +which befell Louisa Strozzi, a daughter of the great Florentine house of +Strozzi, as she was returning to her home, from a ball in the early +morning hours, _on horseback_. It seems to have been the custom then, as +now, to give balls which lasted far into the night, and the growing +wealth of the citizens caused an increasing love of display. In some +communities laws were enacted in the interests of simplicity, and it was +provided that not more than three dishes should be supplied for an +ordinary entertainment, while twenty was the largest number which might +be served at a wedding feast. With regard to matters of dress, Scipio +Ammirato tells us in his sixteenth-century _History of Florence_ that in +the earliest times the women had the simplest tastes and were "much more +soft and delicate than the men," and he adds that "the greatest ornament +of the most noble and wealthy woman of Florence was no other than a +tight-fitting skirt of bright scarlet, without other girdle than a belt +of antique style, and a mantle lined with black and white." Such +simplicity, however, cannot have been long in vogue, for as early as +1323 the chronicler Villani informs us that the city authorities began +to enact stringent sumptuary laws which were directed against the women. +Three years after this, we learn from the same source that the Duke of +Milan had made complaint because the women of Florence had induced his +wife to wear, "in front of her face," a most unsightly knot of yellow +and white silk, in place of her own curls, a style of head-dress already +condemned by the city fathers of Florence. After this incident, the +historian adds, by way of sententious remark: "Thus did the excessive +appetite of the women defeat the reason and sense of the men." These +laws of the year 1323 failed to prove effective, and finally, in 1330, +more explicit measures were taken to check this growing evil. Villani +had now best tell the story in his own words: + +"The women of Florence were greatly at fault in the matter of +superfluous ornaments, of crowns and wreaths of gold and silver and +pearls and of other precious stones, and certain garlands of pearls, and +other ornaments for the head, and of great price. Likewise they had +dresses cut of several kinds of cloth and silk, with silken puffs of +divers kinds, and with fringes of pearls, and little gold and silver +buttons, often of four and six rows together. It was also their custom +to wear various strings of pearls and of precious stones at the breast, +with different designs and letters. Likewise did they give costly +entertainments and wedding parties, extravagant and with superfluous and +excessive table." In the midst of this deplorable state of affairs, an +ordinance was passed forbidding women to wear crowns of any kind, even +of painted paper; dresses of more than one piece and dresses with either +painted or embroidered figures were forbidden, though woven figures +were permitted. Also, bias patterns and stripes were put under the ban, +excepting only those of not more than two colors. It was decided, +furthermore, that more than two rings on a finger should not be +tolerated. Other cities of Italy, having the same trouble to contend +with, sent deputations to Florence asking for a copy of these +regulations; this attempt on the part of the cities to control the +habits of their citizens in these matters seems to have been quite +general. + +In matters of education more attention was paid to the boys than to the +girls at this time, as the women were generally expected to let the men +attend to the chief affairs of life, while they busied themselves with +domestic duties. Still, it is on record that in the year 1338 there were +from eight to ten thousand boys and girls in school in the city of +Florence, learning to read. Among the people of the wealthy class and of +the nobility, women were undoubtedly given greater educational +advantages in many instances; and then again, in strictly academic +circles, the daughters of a professor sometimes distinguished themselves +for great learning and scholarship. It was at the University of Bologna +in particular that women seem to have been most conspicuous in +educational affairs, and here it was that a number of them were actually +allowed to wear the robe of a professor and lecture to the students. +Among the number famed for their learning may be mentioned Giovanna +Bianchetti and Maddalena Buonsignori, who gave instruction in law. The +latter was the author of a small Latin treatise of some reputation, +entitled _De legibus connubialis_, and the character of this legal work +reveals the fact that she must have been much interested in the women of +her time, for she has made here in some detail a study of their legal +status from certain points of view. No list of this kind would be +complete without mention of Novella d'Andrea, who was perhaps the best +known of all these learned women, for to her erudition was added a most +marvellous beauty which alone would have been sufficient, perhaps, to +hand her name down to posterity. Her father was a professor of canonical +law at the University of Bologna, and there it was that she became his +assistant, and on several occasions delivered lectures in his stead. At +such times it was her custom, if the tradition be true, to speak from +behind a high screen, as she had found out from experience that the +students were so bewildered by her grace and charm, when she stood +openly before them, that they were in no mood for serious study, but +gazed at her the while in undisguised admiration. + +However pleasurable it may prove to reflect upon this peaceful scene, +the fact must not be forgotten that more women were aiding men, directly +or indirectly, to break laws than to make them, for many of the most +bitter feuds and controversies of the time were waged about a woman. +Bianchina, the wife of Vergusio Landi, seduced by the great Galeazzo +Visconti, who had been her husband's friend and ally, became the cause +of a most ferocious war which was waged between the cities of Milan and +Piacenza; Virginia Galucci, abducted by Alberto Carbonesi, brought about +a long-standing hostility between these two families and caused much +blood to be spilled; many other instances might be cited which would +reveal the same state of affairs. A few of the most remarkable of these +feuds have been deemed worthy of more extended notice, and the first +among the number concerns the quarrel between the Buondelmonti and the +Amedei, in Florence, in the thirteenth century. Buondelmonte de' +Buondelmonti, a young nobleman from the upper Val d'Arno and a member of +the Guelph party, was to marry a daughter of the house of Amedei, +staunch Ghibelline supporters, and the wedding day was fast approaching; +one day the young Guelph was met upon the street by a lady of the Donati +family, also a Guelph, who reproached him for his intended union with +one of the hated party, and urged him to marry her own daughter, Ciulla, +who was far more desirable. The sight of the fair Donati was too much +for the quick passions of Buondelmonte; he fell in love with her at +once, and straightway repudiated his former plan of marriage. It may +well be imagined that the Amedei were enraged at this; the powerful +Uberti and all the other Ghibelline families in Florence, about +twenty-four in all, joined with them, and they swore to kill the fickle +young lover on sight. On Easter morning, they lay in wait for the +handsome but heedless young Buondelmonte at the north end of the Ponte +Vecchio; and when he appeared, boldly riding without an escort, all +clothed in white and upon a milk-white steed, they fell upon him and +struck him to the ground, and left him dying there, his Easter tunic +dripping with his blood. Their savage yell of triumph over this +assassination was not the end, but the beginning, for forty-two Guelph +families immediately took up the quarrel and swore to avenge the death +of their comrade, and for more than thirty years the strife continued. + +The story of Imelda de' Lambertazzi is even more tragic in its results, +as here the woman has to suffer as well as the man, and in its general +outlines this incident recalls many of the features of _Romeo and +Juliet_, though there is no evidence that Shakespeare used it in any +way, but rather confined his attention to the traditional story of the +lovers of Verona. The Lambertazzi were a noble family of Bologna, and +the daughter of the house had long been wooed most ardently by Bonifacio +de' Geremei, whose family was in deadly feud with her own. Yielding +finally to his entreaties, she allowed him to come to see her in her own +apartments; but there they were surprised by her two brothers, who +considered his presence as an affront offered not only to their sister, +but to their house. Imelda barely had time to escape before the two men +rushed upon Bonifacio, who was powerless to defend himself. With +poisoned daggers, whose secret had been learned from the Saracens by the +Crusaders, he was speedily stabbed to the heart, and then dragged into a +dark corner beneath a winding staircase. After seeing her brothers leave +the palace, Imelda returned to discover her lover's fate, while they +rushed off to raise a hue and cry and plan for further deeds of +violence. Imelda found the room where she had left the struggling men +empty, but, following the drops of blood upon the floor, she soon came +to the lifeless body hidden away. Drawing it out to the light, she found +that it was still warm, and, knowing the secret of her brothers' +weapons, she resolved upon a desperate remedy, and endeavored to suck +the poison from the wounds. The result of this most heroic attempt was +fearful: the poison was communicated to her own veins, and she was soon +stretched lifeless beside the luckless lover. There they were found by +anxious servants, who, knowing of the quarrel, had not dared to stir +about at first. Hallam says, after his account of this event: "So cruel +an outrage wrought the Geremei to madness; they formed alliances with +some of the neighboring republics; the Lambertazzi took the same +measures; and after a fight in the streets of Bologna of forty days' +duration, the latter were driven out of the city, with all the +Ghibellines, their political associates. Twelve thousand citizens were +condemned to banishment, their houses razed, and their estates +confiscated." + +Another story of bloody violence centres in the territory from Padova +and Treviso, on the one hand, to Vicenza and Verona, on the other; and +while the incidents took place in mediæval times, dating from the latter +part of the twelfth century, the consequences were so widespread and so +lasting that they were by no means dead in the days of the early +Renaissance. Tisolino di Camposampiero, a nobleman of Padova, confided +to his friend Ezzelino, the feudal lord of Onar and Romano, that it was +his intention to marry his son to the rich heiress of Abano, Cecilia +Ricco by name. Ezzelino received this confidence, and promised to keep +the secret; but no sooner had he parted from the Padovan nobleman than +he made plans of his own, and succeeded in marrying his own son to the +desirable heiress before Tisolino could interpose. What more was needed +to start a feud of the first magnitude? Tisolino's disappointed son, +whose heart was now filled with vengeance rather than with unrequited +love, abducted his former fiancée by means of a clever ruse, and carried +her off to his father's stronghold. The next day she was sent back, +dishonored, to her husband, who refused to receive her under these +circumstances; but at the same time he felt no compunctions about +retaining her extensive dowry, which comprised many strong castles and +other feudal holdings. Then the long struggle began which was to take +many lives and last for many years. Succeeding generations inherited the +hatred as one of their most cherished possessions, and it was almost a +century before the quarrel spent itself. + +One of the most beautiful and pathetic stories of this whole period, +however, is the one which concerns the fate of Madonna Francesca, +daughter of Guido the Elder, Lord of Ravenna and of Cervia. For many +years, according to Boccaccio's account, Guido had waged a grievous war +with the Lord Malatesta of Rimini, and finally, when peace was brought +about between them through the mediation of friends, it was thought +advisable to cement the friendship with as close a tie as possible. To +that end, Guido agreed to give his fair young daughter, Francesca, in +marriage to Gianciotto, Malatesta's son, without a thought to her own +desires in the matter. When the plan was noised abroad, certain friends +of Guido, knowing Gianciotto to be lame and rather rough in his manners, +and considering it very doubtful whether Francesca would consent to +marry him when once she had seen him, came to the father and urged him +to act with discretion, so that no scandal might arise over the matter. +It happened that there was a younger son of the house of Malatesta, +Paolo by name, who was young and handsome and possessed of most courtly +and winning manners, and it was advised that he be sent to marry +Francesca by proxy in his brother's stead, and that she should be kept +in ignorance regarding the real state of affairs until it was too late +to withdraw her word. So Paolo came to Ravenna with a brilliant train of +gentlemen to celebrate the wedding festivities; and as he crossed the +courtyard of the palace on the morning of his arrival, a maid who knew +him pointed him out to Francesca through the open window, saying: "That +is he who is to be your husband." This Francesca believed, as she had no +reason to think otherwise, so skilfully was the marriage ceremony +arranged, and it was not until her arrival at Rimini that she knew her +fate. For there, on the morning following her coming, as she saw +Gianciotto rise from her side, when she had thought him to be Paolo, the +sad truth burst upon her. What excuses Paolo could give for this strange +deception we are not told, but the fact remains that Francesca still +loved him, and looked with scorn upon his misshapen brother. From that +time the dangerous moment slowly approached. Living together in the +same palace, it was but natural that Paolo and Francesca should be much +in each other's society; while Gianciotto, unloved and unlovely, busied +himself with his own affairs, which sometimes took him to other cities, +as he was a man of ambition and essayed by political manoeuvres to +advance his own interests. It happened once that in returning from one +of these journeys he saw Paolo enter Francesca's room, and then for the +first time he became jealous. Hitherto he had known of their affection +for each other, but it had never dawned upon him that his own brother +could thus betray his trust, while under his roof and receiving his +protection. Now he rushed up the broad stairway and made straight for +Francesca's door, anxious to know the worst. The door was found locked +before him, and his hurried knocks brought sudden terror to the lovers +within. There was an open window, however, through which Paolo counted +upon disappearing, and so he bade the lady make haste to open to her +lord, that he might not be curious. As Francesca opened the door, Paolo +found to his dismay that the edge of his cloak had caught upon a nail; +so that when Gianciotto, red with anger, burst into the room, the fatal +secret was disclosed. Grasping his dagger, without a moment's +hesitation, he stepped quickly to the window and would have slain his +brother with a single mighty blow, but Francesca, throwing herself +before him, sheathed the dagger in her heart and fell dead at his feet. +Gianciotto, still burning for revenge, and unmoved by his first bloody +deed, again struck at Paolo, and this time he slew him. Then, following +the words of the old story, "leaving them both dead, he hastily went his +way and betook him to his wonted affairs; and the next morning the two +lovers, with many tears, were buried together in one grave." + +There is a terrible pathos about this story which has made it live +during all these years. Through every line of it runs a commentary upon +the barbarous customs of the time, which made such a situation possible, +and its climax was so inevitable and so necessary, according to all the +laws of nature, that we of a later day are inclined to shed a +sympathetic tear and heave a sigh of regret. + +Dante has placed the two lovers in his _Inferno_ for their sin, but in +the fifth canto, where he first sees them, he is moved to such pity for +their unhappy lot that he exclaims: + + "...Francesca, i tuoi martiri + A lagrimar mi fanno tristo e pio!" + +[Thine agonies, Francesca, sad and compassionate to weeping make me!] +And before she finished telling her tragic story, he swooned away as if +he had been dying, "and fell, even as a dead body falls." + +In a more recent time this story has been told by Silvio Pellico, who +wrote a tragedy on the subject, and by Leigh Hunt in a poem. In England, +Boker wrote a successful tragedy upon it many years ago, and more +recently Stephen Phillips, in his _Paolo and Francesca_, has produced a +dramatic poem of rare merit. Most recently of all, Gabriele d'Annunzio, +the well-known Italian poet and novelist, has made this story the +subject of a powerful drama, which was interpreted in a most wonderful +way by the great Italian actress, Eleonora Duse. To show that others +than poets have been inspired by Francesca's unhappy history, it may be +of interest to record the fact that noted pictures illustrating the +story have been painted by many of the greatest artists. + +To return to that early period in Italian history, so filled with strife +and discord, it should be said that in spite of this constant warfare, +the richer princes, especially in the north of Italy, lived in a most +sumptuous manner, and prepared the way, to a certain degree, for the +splendor of Lorenzo the Magnificent, which was to appear in the century +following. The women in these regal courts were clothed in the most +extravagant fashion, and the precious stuffs and precious stones of all +the known world were laid at their feet by their admirers. Among these +affluent noblemen of the fourteenth century, Galeazzo Visconti was +generally considered the handsomest man of his age. Symonds tells us +that he was tall and graceful, with golden hair which he wore in long +plaits, or tied up in a net, or else loose and crowned with flowers. By +nature he was fond of display, liked to make a great show of his wealth, +and spent much money in public entertainments and feasts and in the +construction of beautiful palaces and churches. His wealth was so great +and his reputation had gone so far abroad that he was able to do what +other rich Italian noblemen accomplished in a somewhat later +time--arrange royal marriages for some of his children. His daughter +Violante was wedded with great ceremony to the Duke of Clarence, son of +Edward III. of England, who is said to have received with her as a dowry +the sum of two hundred thousand golden florins, and at the same time +five cities on the Piedmont frontier. London was a muddy, unpaved city +at this time, primitive in the extreme; the houses were still covered +with thatched roofs, beds were still made upon bundles of straw cast +upon the floors, and wine was so scarce that it was generally sold for +medicinal purposes. It has been pointed out that it must have been a +strange experience for this English nobleman to leave all that and come +to a country of warmth and sunshine, where the houses were large and +comfortable and made of marble, where the streets were dry and paved, +where wine was as plenty as water, and where ease and luxury were seen +on every hand. + +This royal marriage was celebrated at Pavia, where Galeazzo held his +court, and the historian Giovio has given some curious and interesting +details regarding it. He says that on the completion of the ceremony +Galeazzo gave rich gifts to more than two hundred Englishmen, and it was +generally considered that he had shown himself more generous than the +greatest kings. At the wedding feast, Gian Galeazzo, the bride's +brother,--who was afterward married to Isabella, the daughter of King +John of France,--at the head of a band of noble youths, brought +wonderful new gifts to the table with the arrival of each new course +upon the bill of fare. "At one time it was sixty most beautiful horses, +adorned with gold and silver trappings; at another, silver plate, hawks, +hounds, fine cuirasses, suits of armor of wrought steel, helmets +decorated with crests, tunics adorned with pearls, belts, precious +jewels set in gold, and great quantities of cloth of gold and crimson +stuff for the making of garments. Such was the profusion at this banquet +that the remnants taken from the table were more than enough to supply +ten thousand men." Not every heiress in Italy could have gloried in such +a wedding feast as the one given in honor of Violante Visconti, but the +wealth of these petty rulers was something almost incredible, and the +general prosperity of the common people passes belief. As has always +been the case under such circumstances, increasing wealth has brought +about increased expenditure, principally in matters of dress, and the +women in particular seem to have made the most of this opportunity. +Vanity and frivolity multiplied on every hand as a natural consequence; +the Church was growing daily less able to cope with the moral degeneracy +of the time on account of its own immoral condition; thus, the +foundations were being laid for those centuries of corruption and +national weakness which were soon to follow. + + + + +Chapter VII + +Women in the Later Renaissance + + +The age of Lorenzo de' Medici--that bright fifteenth century--in the +history of the Italian peninsula was signalized by such achievement and +definite result in the intellectual emancipation of the minds of men, +art and poetry were given such an impetus and showed promise of such +full fruition, that he who would now conjure up the picture of that fair +day is well-nigh lost in wonderment and awe. But in this love of art and +worship of the beautiful it soon becomes apparent that pagan influences +were stealing into daily life, and that the religion of the Christian +Church was fast becoming an empty form which had no value as a rule of +conduct. Blind faith in the power of the Vicar of Christ to forgive the +sins of this world still remained, and in that one way, perhaps, did the +Church manage to exist throughout this period; for men, sinful and +irreligious and blasphemous as they certainly were, were none the less +so impressed with the possibilities of suffering in a future state that +they insisted upon priestly absolution--which they accepted with +implicit confidence--before setting out upon their journey into the +Unknown. The most terrible crimes were matters of common occurrence and +were allowed to go unrebuked, at least by the moral sentiment of the +community; adultery was too frequent, murder caused little comment, and +incest was not unknown. The pursuit of pleasure was of no less +importance than the pursuit of fame and glory; the Italian idea of honor +was in perfect harmony with deceit and treachery; and unclean living, +and a married woman was considered above reproach so long as she did not +allow her acts of infidelity to become known to all the world. + +In an age of this kind it cannot be said that the women occupied a +position which is to be envied by the women of to-day. It is not to be +expected that the women will show themselves better than the men at such +a time, and when was there a better opportunity for vice to run riot? +The convents of the time were, almost without exception, perfect +brothels, and the garb of the virgin nun was shown scant respect--and +was entitled to still less. Venice became a modern Corinth, and was a +resort for all the profligates of the continent; it was estimated that +there were twelve thousand prostitutes within its gates at the beginning +of the fifteenth century. A century later, Rome counted no less than +seven thousand of these unsavory citizens, and they, with their +villainous male confederates, who were ever ready to rob, levy +blackmail, or commit murder, did much to make the Holy City almost +uninhabitable in the days of Pope Innocent VIII. As Symonds has said, +the want of a coordinating principle is everywhere apparent in this +Italian civilization; the individual has reached his personal freedom, +but he has not yet come to a comprehension of that higher liberty which +is law; passions are unbridled, the whim of the moment is an +all-compelling power, and the time was yet far in the distance when +society could feel itself upon a firm foundation. + +From all that can be learned, it appears that women were not treated +with any special respect; men were free to indulge in the most ribald +conversation in their presence, and it has yet to be proved that they +took offence at this unbecoming liberty. The songs which were composed +at Carnival time were dedicated to the ladies especially, and yet in all +literature it would be difficult to find anything more indecent. Society +was simply in a crude state so far as its ideas of decency and delicacy +were concerned, and both men and women were often lacking in what are +now considered to be the most elementary notions of propriety. As the +men were by far the more active and the more important members of each +community, it cannot be said that women were looked upon with equal +consideration. The Oriental idea of women in general, as domestic +animals whose duty it was to minister to the wants and pleasures of +their master and superior, lordly man, was but slowly vanishing, and +many centuries of suffering, experience, and education were to intervene +before saner and truer notions could prevail. Lorenzo de' Medici, in +writing of a beautiful and talented woman, makes the following +statement: "Her understanding was superior to her sex, but without the +appearance of arrogance or presumption; and she avoided an error too +common among women, who, when they think themselves sensible, become for +the most part insupportable." It is evident that if women were generally +held in as high esteem as men, it is altogether unlikely that the +expression "superior to her sex" would have been employed, and the +latter part of the sentence leads to the further inference that +pretentious and pedantic women of the kind referred to were not +altogether uncommon at this time. + +No better illustration of the relative position of women in society can +be found than in one of the letters received by Lorenzo from his wife, +who was a member of the old and proud Orsini family, which was much more +aristocratic than his own. She addresses him by the term _Magnifice +Conjux_, which certainly does not betoken a very great degree of +intimacy between husband and wife; and the letter concerns the +unbearable conduct of the poet Poliziano, who was then an inmate of +their house and the private teacher of their children. It seems that he +had persecuted her with his attentions, and she is led to protest +against his continued employment. In spite of her protest, however, she +meekly adds: "Know, I should say to you, that if you desire him to +remain, I shall be very content, although I have endured his uttering to +me a thousand villainies. If this is with your permission, I am patient, +but I cannot believe such a thing." Lorenzo's behavior upon the receipt +of this letter will be of interest and will throw much light upon the +question involved. Did he burn with indignation at this story of +Poliziano's disgraceful conduct and did he dismiss him from his service +forthwith as one unworthy of his trust? By no means. The children were +soon after taken away from their mother's supervision and sent off to a +villa not far from Florence, where they were put entirely under the +control of the man who had just insulted their mother! Furthermore, +Boccaccio wrote, at a somewhat earlier date it is true, but in a state +of society which differed little from that under discussion, that women +were of little real consequence in the world, and that "since but few +good ones are to be found among them, they are to be avoided +altogether." + +The position occupied by women in the eyes of the law is somewhat more +difficult to determine, but it may be said with certainty that they took +no part in the public duties of life and seem to have manifested no +yearnings in that direction. They did not vote or hold public office, +and would no doubt have looked inquiringly and without comprehension at +anyone who proposed such possibilities. Women were evidently being +shielded and protected as much as possible; property was rarely held by +them in their own names, and the laws appear to have been made for the +men almost exclusively. It will be remembered, perhaps, that when Dante +was banished from Florence, his wife was allowed to continue her +residence in that city without molestation, and was even able to save +much of their property from confiscation and devote it to the education +of their children. Later on, when Carlo Strozzi was sent away in exile, +his family was not disturbed in the least, and it was during his absence +from the city that his daughter Maddalena was married to Luchino +Visconti in the midst of most brilliant ceremonies. Guests were invited +from all the north of Italy, there were horseraces and tournaments, and +the whole function was one of great pomp and brilliancy. The brothers +and grown sons of exiled citizens were never accorded such +consideration, and it is but fair to assume that the popular sentiment +of the time demanded this exceptional treatment for the women. At one +time it was even held to be against the Florentine statutes to banish a +woman; in 1497, at the time of a conspiracy to restore the banished +Piero de' Medici to power, his sister, though proved to have conspired +in equal measure with the men, was not given an equal measure of +punishment; she was merely kept in seclusion for a period at the palace +of Guglielmo de' Pazzi, and was then set at liberty through the +influence of Francesco Valori, to whom it seemed unworthy to lay hands +upon a woman. + +In the midst of this exciting and excited world, it may well be imagined +that the passions were strong and that women of charm and beauty were +able to exercise no little influence upon the men who came within their +power. Never, perhaps, in the history of modern civilization has the +æsthetic instinct of a people been so thoroughly aroused as it was in +Italy at this time, and the almost pagan love of beauty which possessed +them led to many extravagances in their sentimental conceptions. As +Lorenzo de' Medici was the most powerful and distinguished Italian of +his time, so may he be termed its representative lover, for his +excursions into the land of sentiment may be considered as typical of +his day and generation. The first passion of his heart was purely +subjective and artificial, the result of a forcing process which had +been induced by the power of brotherly love. It so happened that +Lorenzo's brother Giuliano, who was assassinated later by the Pazzi, +loved, very tenderly, a lady named Simonetta, reputed to be the most +beautiful woman in all Florence; so great was her fame that she was +quite generally spoken of as _la bella Simonetta_, and the artist +Botticelli, who had an eye for a pretty woman, has left us a portrait +which vouches for her charms in no uncertain way. She was but a fragile +flower, however, and died in the bloom of youth, mourned by her lover +with such genuine grief that, with one impulse, all sought to bring him +consolation. Letters of condolence were written in prose and verse, +sonnets were fairly showered upon him, and Greek and Latin were used as +often as Italian in giving expression to the universal sorrow. But how +all this affected Lorenzo, and what inspiration it gave to his muse, he +had best relate in his own words, for the tale is not devoid of romance, +and he alone can do it justice: + + "A young lady of great personal charm happened to die at Florence; + and as she had been very generally admired and beloved, so her + death was as generally lamented. Nor was this to be marvelled at, + for she possessed such beauty and such engaging manners that almost + every person who had any acquaintance with her flattered himself + that he had obtained the chief place in her affections. Her sad + death excited the extreme regret of her admirers; and as she was + carried to the place of burial, with her face uncovered, those who + had known her in life pressed about her for a last look at the + object of their adoration, and then accompanied her funeral with + their tears. On this occasion, all the eloquence and all the wit of + Florence were exerted in paying due honors to her memory, both in + verse and prose. Among the rest, I, also, composed a few sonnets, + and, in order to give them greater effect, I tried to convince + myself that I too had been deprived of the object of my love, and + to excite in my own mind all those passions which might enable me + to move the affections of others." + +In this attempt to put himself in the place of another, Lorenzo de' +Medici began to wonder how it would seem to have such grief to bear on +his own account; and then his thoughts went still further afield, and he +found himself speculating as to whether or not another lady could be +found of the same merit and beauty as the lamented Simonetta. In the +midst of the great number of those who were writing eulogistic poetry in +this lady's honor, Lorenzo began to feel that the situation lacked +distinction, and he was not slow to realize what great reputation might +be acquired by the lucky mortal who could unearth another divinity of +equal charm. For some time he tried in vain, and then suddenly success +crowned his efforts, and he has told us in what manner. "A public +festival was held in Florence, to which all that was noble and beautiful +in the city resorted. To this I was brought by some of my companions (I +suppose as my destiny led) against my will, for I had for some time past +avoided such exhibitions; or if at times I had attended them, it +proceeded rather from a compliance with custom than from any pleasure I +experienced in them. Among the ladies there assembled, I saw one of +such sweet and charming manners that I could not help saying, as I +looked at her, 'If this person were possessed of the delicacy, the +understanding, and the accomplishments of her who is lately dead, most +certainly she excels her in the charm of her person.' Resigning myself +to my passion, I endeavored to discover, if possible, how far her +manners and conversation agreed with her appearance; and here I found +such an assemblage of extraordinary endowments that it is difficult to +say whether she excelled more in person or in mind. Her beauty was, as I +have said before, astonishing. She was of a just and proper height. Her +complexion was extremely fair, but not pale, blooming, but not ruddy. +Her countenance was serious without being severe, mild and pleasant +without levity or vulgarity. Her eyes were sparkling, but without +indication of pride or conceit. Her whole figure was so finely +proportioned that amongst other women she appeared with superior +dignity, yet free from the least degree of formality or affectation. In +walking or in dancing, or in other exercises which display the person, +every motion was elegant and appropriate. Her sentiments were always +just and striking and have furnished me material for some of my sonnets; +she always spoke at the proper time, and always to the purpose, so that +nothing could be added, nothing taken away.... To recount all her +excellencies would far exceed my present limits, and I shall therefore +conclude with affirming that there was nothing which could be desired in +a beautiful and accomplished woman which was not in her most abundantly +found. By these qualities, I was so captivated that not a power or +faculty of my body or mind remained any longer at liberty, and I could +not help considering the lady who had died as the star of Venus, which +at the approach of the sun is totally overpowered and extinguished." + +The name of this wondrous lady is carefully kept in the background by +Lorenzo, but from other sources she is known to have been Lucrezia +Donati, a lady of noble birth, celebrated for her goodness and beauty, +and a member of that same Donati family to which Dante's wife belonged. +At the time of this love affair, Lorenzo was about twenty, and the lady +was somewhat older, but that made no difference to the young poet, who +immediately began to exhibit all those symptoms which have become +traditional in such maladies of the heart. He lost his appetite, grew +pale, shunned the society of even his dearest friends, took long, +solitary walks, and wrote many an ode and sonnet in honor of the fair +Donati. But she was indeed a divinity rather than a friend, and his +oft-expressed delight in her many charms was rather intellectual than +emotional and passionate. She becomes for him, in truth, a very sun of +blazing beauty, which he looks upon to admire, but the fire of the lover +is entirely wanting. While it was no such mystic attachment as that +professed by Dante for Beatrice, it no doubt resembles it from certain +points of view, as, in each case, the lover has little actual +acquaintance with the object of his affections. But there this +comparison must end, for it has been explained how Dante derived a +certain moral and spiritual benefit from his early brooding love, and in +the more modern instance nothing of the kind is apparent. On the +contrary, everything seems to show that Lorenzo was at an age when his +"fancy lightly turned to thoughts of love," and, being of a poetic +temperament, he amused himself by writing amorous poetry which came from +the head and not the heart. The characteristic traits of this poetry, +then, are grace and elegance, sonority and rhythm; it lacks sincerity +and that impetuous flow of sentiment which is generally indicative of +intense feeling. It cannot be denied, however, that he often reached a +high plane; perhaps the following lines show him at his best: + + "Quale sopra i nevosi ed alti monti + Apollo spande il suo bel lume adorno, + Tal' i crin suoi sopra la bianca gonna! + Il tempo e'l luogo non ch'io conti, + Che dov'è si bel sole è sempre giorno; + E Paradiso, ov'è si bella Donna!" + +[As Apollo sheds his golden beams over the snowy summits of the lofty +mountains, so flowed her golden tresses over her gown of white. But I +need not note the time and place, for where shines so fair a sun it can +be naught but day, and where dwells my lady fair can be but Paradise!] + +While still preoccupied with what Mrs. Jameson terms his visions of love +and poetry, he was called upon by his father, at the age of twenty-one, +to marry, for political reasons, a woman whom he had never seen--Clarice +Orsini. That the marriage was unexpected is attested by a note in his +diary to this effect: "I, Lorenzo, took to wife, Donna Clarice Orsini, +or rather she was given to me," on such and such a day. The ceremony was +performed in Naples, it appears, but the wedding festivities were +celebrated in Florence, and never was there a more brilliant scene in +all the city's history. The fête began on a Sunday morning and lasted +until midday of the Tuesday following, and for that space of time almost +the entire population was entertained and fed by the Medici. On this +occasion the wedding presents took a practical turn, in part, for, from +friends and from some of the neighboring villages subject to the rule of +Florence, supplies were sent in great quantities; among the number, +record is made of eight hundred calves and two thousand pairs of +chickens! There were music and dancing by day and by night; musicians +were stationed in various parts of the city, and about them the dancers +filled the streets. An adequate conception of this scene will perhaps be +a matter of some difficulty, but those who know something of the way in +which the people in modern Paris dance upon the smooth pavements on the +night of the national holiday, the Quatorze Juillet, will possess at +least a faint idea of what it must have been. That all classes of the +population were cared for at this great festival is proved by the fact +that one hundred kegs of wine were consumed daily, and that five +thousand pounds of sweetmeats and candies were distributed among the +people. + +The marriage of the poet Ariosto with the beautiful Alessandra Strozzi, +widow of Tito Strozzi, a noble Florentine who was famed in his day for +his Latin poetry, was not concluded with any such display and +magnificence, the author of the _Orlando Furioso_ being in no position +which made it necessary for him to entertain the whole population, and +having ideas all his own regarding the advantage of publicity in such +matters. Long before Ariosto's marriage, however, in the days of his +youth and before he had ever set eyes upon the Titian-haired Alessandra, +he fell captive to the charms of Ginevra Lapi, a young girl of +Florentine family, who lived at or near Mantua. He met her first at a +_festa di ballo_, we are told, and there he was much impressed with her +grace and beauty, for she seemed like a young goddess among her less +favored companions. Then began that attachment which lasted for long +years and which seems to have inspired much of his earlier lyric poetry. +Four years after their first meeting he writes that she was "dearer to +him than his own soul and fairer than ever in his eyes," and she seems +to have made a very strong impression upon his mind, as he mentions her +long afterward with most genuine tenderness. What more than this may be +said of Ginevra Lapi has not yet come to light, and it is due to the +poet alone that her name has been handed down to posterity. If Ariosto +had been an expansive and communicative man, we might know far more than +we do of Ginevra and of the other friends of his youth, for he was a +person of most impressionable nature, who was very susceptible to the +allurements of beautiful women, and there is no doubt of the fact that +he had a certain compelling charm which made him almost irresistible +with the ladies of his _entourage_. However, the history of his affairs +of the heart has baffled all investigators as yet, because the poet, +from the very earliest days of his youth, made it a rule never to boast +of his conquests or to speak of his friends in any public way. As a +symbol of this gallant rule of conduct, there is still preserved at +Ferrara one of Ariosto's inkstands, which is ornamented with a little +bronze Cupid, finger upon lip in token of silence. + +Early biographers and literary historians were inclined to give to +Ginevra Lapi all credit for the more serious inspiration which prompted +him to write the major part of his amatory verse, and so careful had he +been to conceal the facts that it was not until many years after his +death that his marriage to Alessandra Strozzi was generally known. +Ariosto had been on a visit to Rome in the year 1515, and, on his +return, he chanced to stop at Florence, where he intended to spend three +or four days during the grand festival which was being held in honor of +Saint John the Baptist. Arriving just in time to be present at some +social function of importance, the poet there saw for the first time +this lady who was to mean so much to him for all the rest of his life. +It will be remembered that when Lorenzo de' Medici first met Lucrezia +Donati he had been taken to some evening company, much against his +will. In the present instance, it was the lady who showed +disinclination to go into society, and her recent widowhood gave her +good reason for her feeling in the matter; but, won over by the +entreaties of her friends, _da preghi vinta_, she finally consented to +go. What she wore and how she looked, and how she bore herself, and much +more, do we know from Ariosto's glowing lines which were written in +commemoration of this event. Her gown was of black, all embroidered with +bunches of grapes and grape leaves in purple and gold. Her luxuriant +blond hair, the _richissima capellatura bionda_, was gathered in a net +behind and, parted in the middle, fell to her shoulders in long curls on +either side of her face; and on her forehead, just where the hair was +parted, she wore a twig of laurel, cunningly wrought in gold and +precious stones. + +Alessandra's most effective charm was her wonderful hair, of that color +which had been made famous by the pictures of Titian and Giorgione, and +it really seems that in Ariosto's time this color was so ardently +desired that hair dyes were in common use, especially in Venice. It is +with a feeling of some regret that we are led to reflect that much of +that gorgeous hair which we have admired for so many years in the famous +paintings of the Venetian masters may be artificial in its brilliant +coloring, but such, alas! is probably the case. The fair Alessandra, +nevertheless, had no need to resort to the dye pots of Venice, as Mother +Nature had been generous in the extreme, and the poet was inspired by +the truth, if the painters of the time were not. How unfortunate, then, +that a serious illness was the means of her being shorn of this crowning +glory! Her attending physician decided upon one occasion that it would +be necessary to cut her hair to save her life, but later events proved +that he had been over anxious and that this desperate remedy had been +entirely uncalled for. Ariosto, as may well be believed, was indignant +at the sacrifice, and wrote three sonnets regarding it before he cooled +his anger. In one of these passionate protests occur the following +lines, which will give some idea of his highly colored style and at the +same time show us what an important place Alessandra Strozzi must have +held in his affections: "When I think, as I do a thousand times a day, +upon those golden tresses, which neither wisdom nor necessity but hasty +folly tore, alas! from that fair head, I am enraged, my cheeks burn with +anger, even tears gush forth bathing my face and bosom. I would die, +could I but be avenged upon the impious stupidity of that rash hand. O +Love, if such wrong goes unpunished, thine be the reproach!... Wilt thou +suffer the loveliest and dearest of thy possessions to be boldly +ravished and yet bear it in silence?" + +Though Ariosto had come to Florence to spend but a summer day or two at +Saint John's feast, his visit lengthened into weeks, and full six months +had rolled around before he could tear himself away after that first +eventful evening. As his time was spent with his friend Vespucci, +Alessandra's brother-in-law, he had ample opportunity to bask in her +smiles without exciting unfavorable comment; and when he finally did +depart, he left his heart behind him. From that day until the time of +his death it was known that he loved her, but their names were never +coupled in any scandalous way, and it was only after the death of the +poet that the fact was known that they had been secretly married. No one +has been able to give the exact date of this marriage, but there is now +little doubt with regard to the fact itself, and certain evidence leads +to the conclusion that the wedding must have taken place in the year +1522. Why this matter was kept a secret has given rise to much +speculation, for it would appear to the superficial observer that a +public acknowledgment of the fact might have been a matter of pride to +either the poet or the Signora Strozzi. Family reasons have been alleged +by Baruffaldi, one of Ariosto's many biographers, but they seem entirely +inadequate and unsatisfactory, and the whole matter still remains +shrouded in mystery. + +One side of the question which has not perhaps been presented before is +this--would there have been any change in the tone of Ariosto's lyric +verse if Alessandra had been known to all the world as his wife? With +the possible exceptions of the Brownings and one or two others, the case +is hardly recorded where a poet has been inspired to his highest efforts +by his wedded wife, and it is extremely problematical whether or not in +the present instance the fire and fervor of Ariosto's lines could have +been kindled at a domestic hearth which all the world might see. The +secret marriage was probably insisted upon by the wife, and all honor to +Alessandra Strozzi for her pure heart in that corrupt time! But the fact +was probably kept hidden to gratify some whim of the poet. The very +situation is tinged with the romantic, the old adage about stolen sweets +was undoubtedly as true in that time as it is to-day, and the poet had a +restless nature which could ill brook the ordinary yoke of Hymen. So +long as he could live in the Via Mirasole, and Alessandra in the stately +Casa Strozzi, Ferrara had charms for him, and his muse was all aflame. +Would this have been true if one roof had sheltered them? + +Whatever the verdict may be in this matter, the fact remains that all of +Ariosto's lyric poetry and many of the passages in the _Orlando Furioso_ +were inspired by his real love for some woman, and it was this living, +burning passion which gives him his preeminence as a poet. He had +mannerisms, it is true, and much that he wrote is apt to appear stilted +to the ordinary English reader, but such mannerisms are only the +national characteristics of most Italian poetry and must be viewed in +that light. On the other hand, Ariosto's evident sincerity is in +striking contrast to the cold, intellectual, amatory verse of Lorenzo +de' Medici, which was, in truth, but an æsthetic diversion for that +brilliant prince. And even this was due to the inspiration he received +from the sight of a fair lady, many years his senior, for whom he had a +most distant, formal, Platonic affection, while it never dawned upon him +that his own wife's beauty might deserve a sonnet now and then. + + + + +Chapter VIII + +The Borgias and the Bad Women of the Sixteenth Century + + +Things went from bad to worse, as is their habit, and Italian life in +the sixteenth century shows an increasing corruption and a laxity in +public morals which were but the natural result of the free-thinking +Renaissance. The Church had completely lost its influence as the +spiritual head of Europe, and had become but a hypocritical +principality, greedy for temporal power, and openly trafficking in +ecclesiastical offices which were once supposed to belong by right to +men of saintly lives; it is probable that this barefaced profligacy of +the papal court was responsible for the widespread moral inertia which +was characteristic of the time. The pontiff's chair at the dawn of this +century was filled by Roderigo Borgia, known as Alexander VI., and it +may well be said that his career of crime and lust gave the keynote to +the society which was to follow him. By means of most open bribery he +had been elected to his office, but, in spite of these well-known facts, +his advent was hailed with great joy and his march to the Vatican was a +veritable triumph. Contemporary historians unite in praising him at this +time in his career, for as a cardinal he had been no worse in his +immoralities than many of his colleagues; and he was a man of commanding +presence and marked abilities, who seemed to embody the easy grace and +indifference of his day. It was said of him as he rode to assume the +mantle of Saint Peter: "He sits upon a snow-white horse, with serene +forehead, with commanding dignity. How admirable is the mild composure +of his mien! how noble his countenance! his glance--how free!" And it +was said that the heroic beauty of his whole body was given him by +Nature in order that he might adorn the seat of the Apostles with his +divine form, in the place of God! What blasphemy this was! but it shows +the moral level of the day. His intercourse with Vanozza Catanei was +open and notorious, and she was the mother of that Lucrezia Borgia whose +ill repute is dying a hard death in the face of modern attempts at +rehabilitation. His liaison with Giulia Farnese, known as _la bella +Giulia_, the lawful wife of Orsino Orsini, was no less conspicuous, and +these two women had a great influence upon him throughout his whole +lifetime. It had already been said of him: "He is handsome, of a most +glad countenance and joyous aspect, gifted with honeyed and choice +eloquence; the beautiful women on whom he casts his eyes are charmed to +love him, and he moves them in a wondrous way, more powerfully than the +magnet influences iron;" but this seduction in his manner cannot be +considered as merely an innocent result of his great personal beauty, +because his lustful disposition is well proved, and sensuality was +always his greatest vice. Symonds makes the statement that within the +sacred walls of the Vatican he maintained a harem in truly Oriental +fashion; and here were doubtless sent, from all parts of the papal +states, those daughters of Venus who were willing to minister to the +joys of His Holiness. To cap the climax, imagine the effrontery of a +pope who dared, in the face of the ecclesiastical rule enjoining +celibacy upon the priesthood, to parade his delinquencies before the +eyes of all the world, and seat himself in state, for a solemn pageant +at Saint Peter's, with his daughter Lucrezia upon one side of his +throne and his daughter-in-law Sancia upon the other! It was once said +by a witty and epigrammatic Italian that Church affairs were so corrupt +that the interests of morality demanded the marriage rather than the +celibacy of the clergy, and it would appear that this remark has a +certain pertinency anent the present situation. To illustrate in what +way such delinquency was made a matter of jest, the following story is +related. At the time of the French invasion, during the early days of +Alexander's pontificate, Giulia and Girolama Farnese, two members of +what we perhaps may call the pope's domestic circle, were captured, +together with their duenna, Adriana di Mila, by a certain Monseigneur +d'Allegre, who was in the suite of the French king. He came upon them +near Capodimonte and carried them off to Montefiascone, where they were +placed in confinement; while Alexander was notified of the occurrence +and told that he must pay a ransom, the sum being fixed at three +thousand ducats. This amount was paid instanter, and the captives were +at once released. As they approached Rome, they were met by Alexander, +who was attired as a layman, in black and gold brocade, with his dagger +at his belt. When Ludovico Sforza heard what had happened, he remarked, +with a smile, that the ransom was much too small, and that if the sum of +fifty thousand ducats had been demanded it would have been paid with +equal readiness, as these ladies were known to be "the very eyes and +heart" of the Holy Father. + +It was in the midst of this wanton court that the yellow-haired Lucrezia +Borgia grew up to womanhood, subject to all the baleful influences which +were in such profusion about her. Associating, perforce, with the +dissolute women of her father's household, it would be too much to +expect to find her a woman uncontaminated by the ways of the world. +There are many things to show that she had her father's love, and dark +stories have been whispered regarding his overfondness for her; but, be +that as it may, it is certain that Alexander never neglected an +opportunity to give his daughter worldly advancement. Before his +accession to the pontificate, Lucrezia had been formally promised to a +couple of Spanish grandees, Don Cherubino Juan de Centelles and Don +Gasparo da Procida, who was a son of the Count of Aversa; but once in +the Vatican, with the papal power in his hands, Alexander grew more +ambitious, and looked for another alliance, which might give him an +increased political power. Then come three marriages in which the +daughter Lucrezia seems but a puppet in her father's hands. First, she +was married to Giovanni Sforza, Lord of Pesaro, but differences of +opinion regarding politics and the pope's desire for a still more +powerful son-in-law led him to sanction Lucrezia's divorce; she was then +promptly married to Alphonso, Prince of Biseglia, a natural son of the +King of Naples. When Alphonso's father was deposed, the Borgias grew +tired of the prince, and caused him to be stabbed one fine day on the +very steps of Saint Peter's. Then, as he showed some disinclination to +give up the ghost, he was strangled as he lay in his bed by Michellozzo, +the trusted villain of the Borgia household. The year following, +Lucrezia found another spouse, and this time it was Alphonso, the Crown +Prince of Ferrara. The marriage was celebrated by means of a proxy, in +Rome, and then the daughter of the pope, with cardinals and prelates in +her train, set out on a triumphal journey across the country. She +travelled with much pomp and ceremony, as was befitting one of her +position in the world, and on her arrival in Ferrara she was welcomed +with most elaborate ceremonies. This marriage had been forced upon the +house of Este through political necessity, and the young duke-to-be, +Alphonso, had looked forward to it with no pleasure, hence the wedding +by proxy; but Lucrezia, by her charm and tact, soon won the affection of +her husband and drew about her a most distinguished company of poets and +scholars, all of whom were enthusiastic in singing her praise. Ariosto +and the two Strozzi were there, likewise the Cardinal Bembo--who became +a somewhat too ardent admirer--and Aldo Manuzio, and other men of +distinction. Though of commonplace origin, Lucrezia had received the +very best education possible, and she conducted herself with such +propriety and showed such ready wit that she was the real centre of her +literary coterie and gave little, if any, outward evidence of that +immoral and dissolute character with which she had been credited in her +earlier days. There can be no doubt that the corrupt influences which +surrounded her in her girlhood early destroyed her purity of mind and +led her to dissolute practices, but the legend which has grown up about +her, filled with fearful stories of poison and murder, has been much +exaggerated. A sensual woman she was, but she has had to suffer for many +crimes which were committed by her father and her brother, Cæsar Borgia; +and while she was undoubtedly bad in many ways, the time has passed when +she can justly be considered as a fiend incarnate. + +With the high priest of all Christendom a man whose hands were stained +with blood and whose private life was marred by every vice, it is not +surprising that in all parts of Italy the annals of this time are +tainted and polluted in every way. Apparently, all restraint was thrown +aside, the noblest families seemed to vie with each other in crime and +debauchery, and the pages of history are filled with countless awful +iniquities. Among the Medici alone, there is a record of eleven family +murders within the short space of fifty years, and seven of these were +caused by illicit love! With that lack of logic which sometimes, under +similar circumstances, characterizes the actions of men to-day, these +Italians of the sixteenth century were not willing that their sisters +and wives should debase themselves by dishonorable conduct, no matter +what they might do themselves, and when the women were found guilty +there was no punishment too severe for them. Thus, Eleanora di Toledo +was hacked to pieces by her husband Pietro de' Medici, and his sister +Isabella was strangled by her husband the Duke di Bracciano, with the +consent of her brothers. + +Isabella dead, the duke was free to marry Vittoria Accoramboni,--in no +way his equal in rank, for he was an Orsini,--who was a woman totally +devoid of all moral sense--if she is to be judged by her acts. She had +been wedded to Francesco Peretti, but, tiring of him and seeing the +opportunity for marriage with the duke, she and her mother plotted the +husband's death, and it was her handsome and unscrupulous brother who +did the deed. Despite the pope's opposition, the marriage was +consummated, but the guilty pair were not allowed to remain unmolested +for a long time, as Vittoria was soon arrested and tried for complicity +in her first husband's murder. While thus under arrest, she lived in +great state and entertained in a most lavish way, and seemed in no way +abashed by her position. Though finally acquitted, she was ordered by +the court to leave the duke and lead henceforth a life which might be +above suspicion. Through the brother Marcello and his constant +companion, who is continually alluded to as the "Greek enchantress," the +duke and his wife were soon brought together again; they were again +married, that the succession might be assured to Vittoria. Indeed, they +were twice married with this purpose in view, but they were so scorned +by the members of the duke's own family and so harassed by the pope's +officers, who were ever threatening prosecution, that their life was one +of constant care and anxiety. When the duke finally died, Vittoria was +left his sole heir, though the will was disputed by Ludovico Orsini, the +next in succession. Vittoria was spending her first few months of +widowhood in the Orsini palace at Padua, when one night the building was +entered by forty men, all masked in black, who came with murderous +intent. Marcello, the infamous brother, escaped their clutches; another +brother, much younger and innocent of all crime, was shot in the +shoulder and driven to his sister's room, where he thought to find +shelter; there they saw Vittoria, calmly kneeling at her _prie-dieu_, +rosary in hand, saying her evening prayers. As the story goes, she flung +herself before a crucifix, but all in vain, for she was stabbed in the +heart, one assassin turning the knife to make death absolutely certain. +She died saying, it is reported: "Jesus, I forgive you!" The next day, +when the deed was noised abroad, and the corpse of Vittoria was exposed +to the public gaze, her beauty, even in death, appealed to the Paduans; +and they at once rushed to Ludovico's palace, believing him guilty of +the crime or responsible for it in some way. The place was besieged, an +intercepted letter revealed the fact that Ludovico had killed Vittoria +with his own hand, and when the place was finally reduced and surrender +inevitable, the noble assassin coolly gave up his arms, and then began +to trim his finger-nails with a small pair of scissors, which he took +from his pocket, as if nothing had happened. It is evident that, having +accomplished his revenge upon this woman who had sullied the name of his +family, he was now content to take whatever fate might come; and when he +was strangled in prison, by order of the republic of Venice, he went to +his fathers like a brave man, without a sigh or tremor. + +The story of Violante di Cordona exhibits the same disregard for moral +law and the same calm acceptance of death. As the Duchess of Palliano +and wife of Don Giovanni Caraffa, this beautiful woman was much courted +at her palace in Naples, where she lived in a most sumptuous way with +crowds of courtiers and admirers about her. Through the jealousy of +Diana Brancaccio, one of her ladies in waiting, who is described as +"hot-tempered and tawny-haired," the fair duchess was doomed to a sad +fate, and all on account of the handsome Marcello Capecce, who had been +her most ardent suitor. In Mrs. Linton's words, "his love for Violante +was that half religious, half sensual passion which now writes sonnets +to my lady as a saint, and now makes love to her as a courtesan." But, +whatever his mode of procedure, Diana loved him, while he loved only +Violante, and he proved to be a masterful man. The duke was away in +exile on account of a disgraceful carouse which had ended in a street +fight, and Violante was spending the time, practically alone, in the +quiet little town of Gallese, which is halfway between Orvieto and Rome. +In this solitude, Violante and Marcello were finally surprised under +circumstances which made their guilt certain, and final confession was +obtained from Marcello after he had been arrested and subjected to +torture. Thereupon the duke sought him out in his prison, and stabbed +him and threw his body into the prison sewer. The pope, Paul IV., was +the duke's uncle; and upon being told what his nephew had done, he +showed no surprise, but asked significantly: "And what have they done +with the duchess?" Murder, under such circumstances, was considered +justifiable throughout all Italy--and it must be confessed that the +modern world knows something of this sentiment. On one occasion, a +Florentine court made this reply to a complaint which had been lodged +against a faithless wife: _Essendo vero quanto scriveva facesse quello +che conveniva a cavaliere di honore!_ [Things being true as he has +written them, he is allowed to do that which is befitting a gentleman of +honor!] It was not the pope alone who proposed punishment for Violante, +for the duke had a brother, Cardinal Alfonso Caraffa, who spoke of it +continually, and finally, in the month of August, in the year 1559, +Palliano sent fifty men, with Violante's brother, the Count Aliffe, at +their head, to go to her at Gallese and put her to death. A couple of +Franciscan monks gave her what little comfort there was to be extracted +from the situation, and she received the last sacrament, though stoutly +protesting her innocence the while. Then the bandage was put over her +eyes, and her brother prepared to place about her neck the cord with +which she was to be strangled; finding it too short for the purpose, he +went into another room to get one of more suitable length. Before he had +disappeared through the doorway, Violante had pulled the bandage from +her eyes, and was asking, in the most matter-of-fact way, what the +trouble was and why he did not complete his task. With great courtesy, +he informed his sister what he was about, and a moment later returned, +tranquilly readjusted bandage and cord, and then, fitting his dagger +hilt into a loop at the back, he slowly twisted it about until the soul +of the duchess had fled. Not a harsh or hasty word was spoken, there was +no hurry and no confusion, all was done quietly and in order. The marvel +is that these highly emotional people, who are usually so sensitive to +pain, could have shown such stoical indifference to their fate. + +The case of Beatrice Cenci is one of the best known in all this category +of crime, and here again is shown that sublime fortitude which cannot +fail to excite our sympathy, to some degree at least. Francesco Cenci +was a wealthy nobleman of such profligate habits and such evil ways +that he had twice been threatened with imprisonment for his crimes. +Seven children he had by his first marriage, and at his wife's death he +married Lucrezia Petroni, by whom he had no children. Francesco had no +love for his sons and daughters, and treated them with such uniform +cruelty that he soon drove from their hearts any filial affection they +may have felt for him. His conduct grew so outrageous that finally, in +desperation, his family appealed to the pope for relief, begging that +Cenci be put to death, so that they might live in peace; but the +pontiff, who had already profited by Cenci's wealth and saw further need +for his gold, refused to comply with so unusual a request, and made +matters so much the worse by allowing the father to find out what a +desperate course the children had adopted. One of the two daughters was +finally married, and Cenci was compelled by the pope to give her a +suitable _dot_; but Beatrice still remained at home, and the father kept +her in virtual imprisonment that she might not escape him and cause him +expense as the other girl had done. The indignities heaped upon her and +upon the wife and sons were such that they all revolted at last and +plotted to take his life. Cardinal Guerra, a young prelate, who, it +seems, was in the habit of visiting the house in Cenci's absence, and +who may have been in love with Beatrice, was taken into the secret and +all the details were arranged. Two old servants, who had no love for +their harsh master, were prevailed upon to do the deed, and were +secretly admitted by Beatrice to the castle known as the Rock of +Petrella, where Cenci had taken his family for the summer months--all +this was in the year 1598. The father's wine had been drugged so that he +fell into a deep sleep, and again it was Beatrice who took the assassins +into the room where he lay. At first they held back, saying that they +could not kill a man in his slumber; but Beatrice would not allow them +to abandon the task, so great was her power over them. + +Beatrice has shown all along a surprising firmness of character, and a +more detailed description of her appearance cannot fail to be of +interest. Leigh Hunt gives the following pen portrait, which he ascribes +to some Roman manuscript: "Beatrice was of a make rather large than +small. Her complexion was fair. She had two dimples in her cheeks, which +added to the beauty of her countenance, especially when she smiled, and +gave it a grace that enchanted all who saw her. Her hair was like +threads of gold; and because it was very long, she used to fasten it up; +but when she let it flow freely, the wavy splendor of it was +astonishing. She had pleasing blue eyes, of a sprightliness mixed with +dignity, and, in addition to all these graces, her conversation had a +spirit in it and a sparkling polish which made every one in love with +her." + +Such was the girl who overcame the compassion of these hirelings by +recounting to them again the story of their own wrongs and those of the +family; and when they still refused, she said: "If you are afraid to put +to death a man in his sleep, I myself will kill my father; but your own +lives shall not have long to run." So, in they went, and the deed was +done in a terrible manner: a long, pointed nail was thrust through one +of the eyes and into the brain and then withdrawn, and the body was +tossed from an upper balcony into the branches of an elder tree below, +that it might seem that he had fallen while walking about in the night. +The murderers were given the reward agreed upon, and, in addition, +Beatrice bestowed upon the one who had been least reluctant a mantle +laced with gold, which had formerly belonged to her father. The next +day, when Francesco Cenci's body was discovered, there was pretence of +great grief in the household, and the dead man was given most elaborate +burial. After a short time, the family went back to Rome and lived there +in tranquillity, until they were startled one day by accusations which +charged them with the death of the father. Indignant denials were made +by all, and especially by Beatrice, but in vain; they were submitted to +torture, and the shameful truth was finally confessed. The pope at first +ordered them to be beheaded; but so great was the interest taken in the +case by cardinals and members of the nobility, that a respite of +twenty-five days was granted in which to prepare a defence. The ablest +advocates in Rome interested themselves in the matter, and, when the +case was called, the pope listened to the arguments for four hours. The +plan of defence was to compare the wrongs of the father with those of +the children, and to see which had suffered the more. The larger share +of responsibility was put upon Beatrice; but she, it appeared, had been +the one most sinned against, and certain unmentionable villainies in her +father's conduct, which were darkly hinted at, aroused the pity of the +Holy Father to such an extent that he gave them all comparative liberty, +with the hope of ultimate acquittal. At this juncture of affairs, a +certain nobleman, Paolo Santa Croce, killed his mother as the result of +a family quarrel; and the pope, newly angered against the Cenci family +because he considered it to have set the example for this parricidal +mania, ordered them all to be executed according to the terms of the +original judgment, with the exception of the youngest son, Bernardo, who +was given a free pardon. The sentence was executed on the following day, +Saturday, May 11, 1599, on the bridge of Saint Angelo, the three victims +being Lucrezia the wife, Beatrice, and the older brother, Giacomo, all +the other sons excepting Bernardo being dead at this time. Part of the +Cenci estates were conveyed to one of the pope's nephews, and became the +Villa Borghese, wherein may still be seen portraits of Lucrezia Petroni +and Beatrice Cenci, the latter by the well-known Guido Reni. It is +generally believed that this portrait was painted while Beatrice was in +prison, and Shelley has given the following appreciative description of +it in the preface to his tragedy, _The Cenci_, which is based upon this +story, and which he wrote in Rome in 1819: + + "There is a fixed and pale composure upon the features, she seems + sad and stricken down in spirit, yet the despair thus expressed is + lightened by the patience of gentleness. Her head is bound with + folds of white drapery, from which the yellow strings of her golden + hair escape and fall about her neck. The moulding of her face is + exquisitely delicate, the eyebrows are distinct and arched, the + lips have that permanent meaning of imagination and sensibility + which suffering has not repressed and which it seems as if death + scarcely could extinguish. Her forehead is large and clear, her + eyes, which we are told were remarkable for their vivacity, are + swollen with weeping and lustreless, but beautifully tender and + serene. In the whole mien there are simplicity and dignity which, + united with her exquisite loveliness and deep sorrow, are + inexpressibly pathetic. Beatrice Cenci appears to have been one of + those rare persons in whom energy and gentleness dwell together + without destroying one another; her nature was simple and profound. + The crimes and miseries in which she was an actor and a sufferer + are as the mask and the mantle in which circumstances clothed her + for her impersonation in the scene of the world." + +To-day, the story is still an oft-told tale in Rome, the portrait of _la +Cenci_ is known by all, and all feel pity for her sad fate. However +great her crime may have been, it should be taken into account that it +was only after "long and vain attempts to escape from what she +considered a perpetual contamination, both of mind and body,"--as +Shelley puts it,--that she plotted the murder for which she was +beheaded; so great was the provocation, that all can pity if pardon be +withheld. + +The corrupt condition of life in the convents throughout Italy at this +time is not a matter of mere conjecture, for the facts are known in many +cases and are of such a nature as almost to pass belief. One reason for +this state of affairs is to be found in the character of the women who +composed these conventual orders. It is natural to think of them as holy +maidens of deep religious instincts, who had taken the veil to satisfy +some spiritual necessity of their being; unfortunately, the picture is +untrue. In many of these convents, and particularly in those where vice +was known to flourish, the membership was largely recruited from the +ranks of the nobility, it being the custom to send unmarried, +unmarriageable, and unmanageable daughters to the shelter of a cloister, +simply to get them out of the way. Women who had transgressed, to their +own disgrace, the commonly accepted social laws, whether married or +unmarried, found ready protection here; a professed nun was under the +care of the Church and had nothing to fear from the state, and this fact +was not unknown. To show how clearly this condition was understood at +the time, it is interesting to note that when the scandal concerning the +convent of Santa Chiara was first made public, an easy-going priest, who +had acted as a go-between in many of these intrigues of the cloister, +said that he could not see why people in general should create so much +confusion about it, as these were only "affairs of the gentlefolk [_cosi +di gentilhuomini_]"! + +The public disgrace of Santa Chiara was due to the evil ways of one of +its members, Sister Umilia, a woman who had had some experience in +worldly things before she turned her back upon them. Her name was +Lucrezia Malpigli, and, as a young girl, she had loved and desired to +marry Massimiliano Arnolfini; but her parents objected, and she was +affianced to the three Buonvisi brothers in consecutive order before she +finally found a husband, the two older brothers dying each time before +the wedding ceremony. After her marriage, to her misfortune, she met, at +Lucca, Arnolfini, the man whom she had loved as a girl at Ferrara, and +it soon appeared that the old love was not dead. Within a short time her +husband was stabbed, by Arnolfini's bravo, as he was returning with her +from the church, and rumors were at once afloat implicating her in the +murder. Guilty or not, she was frightened, and before four days had +passed she had taken refuge in the convent of Santa Chiara. Safe from +all pursuit, she endowed the convent most liberally, cut her hair, and +became the Sister Umilia, who was described as a "young woman, tall and +pale, dressed in a nun's habit, with a crown upon her head." For +thirteen years little was heard of her, and then a telltale rope ladder +hanging from the convent wall led to disclosures of a most revolting +nature. It was discovered that the supposedly pious nuns were +profligates, the convent was a veritable den of iniquity, and Sister +Umilia was found to have several lovers who were disputing her favors. +Poisons had been sent to her by a young nobleman, Tommaso Samminiati, +that she might dispose of a certain Sister Calidonia, who had become +repentant and was threatening to reveal the secrets of their life; and +the poisons were so deadly, so the letter ran, that when once Calidonia +had swallowed a certain white powder, "if the devil does not help her, +she will pass from this life in half a night's time, and without the +slightest sign of violence." Penalties were inflicted upon all of these +offending nuns, and Umilia was imprisoned for nine years before she was +restored to liberty and allowed to wear again the convent dress. + +However black this picture may appear, it is passing fair when compared +with the career of the notorious Lady of Monza. Virginia Maria de Leyva +was a lady of noble birth who had entered the convent of Santa +Margherita, at Monza, where she had taken the veil, being induced to +take this step because her cousin had in some way deprived her of her +inheritance, and without a dowry she had not found marriage easy. In the +convent, because she was well born and well connected, she became a +person of much influence and received many callers. Adjoining the +convent was the residence of young Gianpaolo Osio, a reckless, amorous +dare-devil, who was _beau comme le jour_, as the French fairy tales say. +So much of the story having been told, it is not difficult to guess what +is to come. It was a case of love at first sight, and Osio was aided in +his conquest by a number of the older and more corrupt nuns and several +other people about the convent, not excepting the father confessor, who +wrote some of Osio's love letters and seemed to smile upon the affair +and wish it all success. Virginia yielded, as might have been expected +under such circumstances; and the amour ran along smoothly for several +years, until Virginia and Osio, with the help of four obliging nuns, +felt constrained to take the life of a disgruntled serving-maid who was +threatening to reveal all to Monsignor Barca, the inspector of the +convent, at the time of his approaching visit. When once the deed was +done, the corpse was dismembered for purposes of better concealment; but +suspicion was aroused by this sudden disappearance of the maid, and Osio +took Virginia from the place, to shield her as much as possible. Next, +he offered to help her two most active accomplices, Ottavia and +Benedetta, to escape and seek refuge in a Bergamasque convent, where +they would be safe; but on the way thither he treacherously assaulted +them and left them both for dead. One crime rarely covers up another, +however; the facts soon came to light, and all concerned were fitly +punished. Virginia was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment in the +convent of Santa Valeria, at Milan; and there she remained for many +years, in a dark cell, until she was finally given better quarters +through the interposition of Cardinal Borromeo, who had been impressed +by her growing reputation for sanctity. How old she grew to be, deponent +saith not, but she must have lived for many years, as the following +description will attest: "a bent old woman, tall of stature, dried and +fleshless, but venerable in her aspect, whom no one could believe to +have been once a charming and immodest beauty." + +What an awful century it was! Vice and corruption in all quarters, the +pope an acknowledged sinner, the nobility tainted, and even the holy +daughters of the Church virgins in name only! And this was the century +in which the most beautiful Madonnas were painted! + + + + +Chapter IX + +The Brighter Side of the Sixteenth Century + + +The tales of crime and sensuality which fill the annals of the sixteenth +century are so repulsive that it is with a feeling of relief that we +turn our attention to other pictures of the same time which are +altogether pleasing in their outlines. The court of the Duke of Urbino +is the most conspicuous example of this better side of life, and his +talented and accomplished wife, Elizabetta Gonzaga, a daughter of the +reigning house of Mantua, presided over a literary salon which was +thronged with all the wit and wisdom of the land. Urbino was but a +rocky, desolate bit of mountainous country, not more than forty miles +square, in the Marches of Ancona, on a spur of the Tuscan Apennines, +about twenty miles from the Adriatic and not far from historic Rimini, +but here was a most splendid principality with a glittering court. +Federigo, Count of Montefeltro, had been created Duke of Urbino by Pope +Sixtus IV. in 1474, and he it was who laid the foundations for that +prosperous state which at his death passed into the hands of his son +Guidobaldo, the husband of Elizabetta. Federigo's immense wealth was not +gained by burdening his subjects with heavy taxes, but rather from the +money which he was able to earn as a military leader, for he was a noble +soldier of fortune. Vespasiano tells us, with regard to his military +science, that he was excelled by no general of his time, and his good +faith was never questioned. He was also a man of singularly religious +nature, and no morning passed without his hearing mass upon his knees. +In his lifetime he served no less than three pontiffs, two kings of +Naples, and two dukes of Milan; the republic of Florence and several +Italian leagues had appointed him their general in the field, and in +this long life of warfare the sums of money paid him for his services +were immense. Dennistoun relates that in the year 1453 "his war-pay from +Alfonso of Naples exceeded eight thousand ducats a month, and for many +years he had from him and his son an annual peace-pension of six +thousand ducats in the name of past services. At the close of his life, +when general of the Italian league, he drew, in war, one hundred and +sixty-five thousand ducats of annual stipend, forty-five thousand being +his own share." With this wealth he caused his desert-like domain to +rejoice and blossom as the rose. His magnificent fortified palace was +most elaborately decorated with rare marbles and priceless carvings, +frescos, panel pictures, tapestries, tarsia work, stucco reliefs, and +works of art of all kinds; here, according to his biographer Muzio, he +maintained a suite so numerous and distinguished as to rival that of any +royal household. So famed indeed did Urbino become, that all the +chivalry of Italy crowded the palace to learn manners and the art of war +from its courteous duke. + +Further details are furnished by Vespasiano, who says that "his +household, which consisted of five hundred mouths entertained at his own +cost, was governed less like a company of soldiers than a strict +religious community. There was no gaming or swearing, but the men +conversed with the utmost sobriety." It is interesting to know that +among his court officers were included forty-five counts of the duchy +and of other states, seventeen gentlemen, five secretaries, four +teachers of grammar, logic, and philosophy, fourteen clerks in public +offices, five architects and engineers, five readers during meals, and +four transcribers of manuscripts. Federigo had ever shown himself a +liberal and enlightened monarch, and he had early acquired a solid +culture which enabled him, when he grew to manhood, to bestow his +patronage in an intelligent manner. Scholars and artists were clustered +about him in great numbers; Urbino was widely known as the Italian +Athens, and as one of the foremost centres of art and literature in all +Europe, when Elizabetta Gonzaga was wedded to Guidobaldo and became the +chatelaine of the palace. The young duke and his wife began their life +together under the most auspicious circumstances. From what his tutor, +Odasio of Padua, says about his boyhood, it is evident that if he were +alive to-day he could easily obtain one of the Cecil Rhodes Oxford +fellowships, for we are told that he cared only for study and for manly +sports, and that he was of an upright character. His memory was so +retentive that he could repeat whole books, word for word, after many +years, and in more ways than one he had displayed a wonderful precocity. +Elizabetta, too, had been given a most liberal and careful education, +and her ready intelligence was equalled only by her careful tact and her +perfect _savoir faire_. Indeed, on account of her many attainments, +personal charm, and her refining influence, which was far-reaching, she +may be likened to that celebrated Frenchwoman Catherine de Vivonne, +Madame de Rambouillet, whose hôtel was, a century later, such a +rendezvous for the gentler spirits of France in that hurly-burly period +which followed the religious wars. Endowed as she was by nature, it was +by most fortuitous circumstance that she was called to preside over the +court of Urbino, for at that time there was no other woman in Italy who +was so fitted for such a distinguished position. It was in the last +decade of the _quattrocento_ that Elizabetta was married, and she found +clustered about her from the very start illustrious artists and men of +letters. Melozzo da Forli and Giovanni Santi--Raphael's father--were +there, and there the early youth of Raphael was spent; Jan van Eyck and +Justus of Ghent, the great Flemish painters, were also there, and the +palace was adorned with many monuments to their skill. Here it was that +Piero della Francesca had written his celebrated work on the science of +perspective, Francesco di Giorgio his _Trattato d'Architettura_, and +Giovanni Santi his poetical account of the artists of his time; and here +it was in the first days of the sixteenth century that Elizabetta was +the centre of a group which was all sweetness and light when compared +with the prevailing habits of life. + +In this circle were to be found, among others, Bernardo Bibbiena, the +patron of Berni, of whom Raphael has left us a portrait which is now in +the Pitti Palace; Giuliano de' Medici, whose marble statue by Michael +Angelo may still be seen in San Lorenzo at Florence; Cardinal Pietro +Bembo, who had in his youth fallen a victim to the charms of Lucrezia +Borgia when she first went to Ferrara; Emilia Pia, the wife of Antonio +da Montefeltro, who is described as "a lady of so lively wit and +judgment, that she seems to govern the whole company"; and last, but far +from least, Baldassare Castiglione, that model courtier and fine wit, +who has left a picture of Urbino in his celebrated book _Il Cortegiano_, +which was long known in Italy as _Il Libro d'Oro_. This volume is an +elaborate discussion of the question, What constitutes a perfect +courtier; and it was for a long time a most comprehensive and final +compendium, handbook, and guide for all who wished to perfect +themselves in courtly grace. What interests us most in the book, +however, is the fact that Castiglione has put this discussion of polite +manners into the form of a conversation which he supposes to have taken +place in the drawing room of the Countess of Urbino, that being the most +likely spot in all Europe for such a discussion at such a time, for +Guidobaldo's court was "confessedly the purest and most elevated in all +Italy." Castiglione was one of Elizabetta's most ardent admirers, and he +says of her that no one "approached but was immediately affected with +secret pleasure, and it seemed as if her presence had some powerful +majesty, for surely never were stricter ties of love and cordial +friendship between brothers than with us." + +Count Guidobaldo early became a cripple and an invalid, too ardent +devotion to books and to athletic pursuits at the same time having +undermined a constitution that was never strong; therefore, it was his +custom to retire for the night at an early hour; but it was in the +evening that the countess held court, and then were gathered together, +for many years, all the brightest minds of Italy, who felt the charm of +her presence and the value of her stimulating personality. Urbino was a +school of good manners, as Naples had been in the days of Queen Joanna; +it was the first great literary salon in modern history, and, presided +over by a woman who was a veritable _grande dame de société_, its +influence was by no means confined to a narrow sphere. Even in far-away +England, Urbino was known and appreciated; and Henry VII., to show his +esteem for its ruler, conferred the Order of the Garter upon Guidobaldo. +In acknowledgment of this favor, Castiglione was sent to the English +court to bear the thanks of his lord, and with him he took as a present +Raphael's _Saint George and the Dragon_, which, by the way, was taken +from England when Cromwell ordered the sale of the art treasures of +Charles I., and may now be seen at the Louvre. The old Count Federigo +had made all this refined magnificence possible, it is true, and +Guidobaldo had been in every way a worthy successor to his father, +though lacking his rugged strength; but to Guidobaldo's wife, the +gracious and wise Elizabetta Gonzaga, belongs the credit for having kept +Urbino up to a high standard--an achievement of which few, if any, other +women of her time were capable. There was needed a person who combined +worldly knowledge with education and a sane, decent philosophy of life, +and Guidobaldo's wife was that person. + +Veronica Gambara deserves a place among the good and illustrious women +of this time; and though she occupied a position far less conspicuous +than that of the Countess of Urbino, she was still a person of +reputation and importance. Born in the year 1485, her "fortunate +parents," as Zamboni calls them, gave her a most careful and thorough +education, and as a young woman she was noted for her poetic gifts, +which were of a high order. At the age of twenty-five she married +Ghiberto, Count of Correggio, and their union was one of true sympathy +and deep attachment, such as was rarely seen then, when the _mariage de +convenance_ was more in vogue, perhaps, than it is in these later days +in Paris. Nine happy years they spent together, and two sons were born +to them; then Ghiberto died, leaving Veronica in such grief that she +fell ill and hovered a long time between life and death. In one of her +poems she relates that it was the fear that she might not meet her +beloved husband in Paradise which prevented her from dying with him. She +had work to do, however, as her husband, in sign of his great confidence +in her, had made her his sole executrix and given into her care the +government of Correggio. Veronica had always possessed a lively +imagination, and now in her grief her sorrow was shown to the world in +a most extravagant way. She wore the heaviest and blackest mourning +obtainable; her apartments, furnished henceforth with the bare +necessities of life, were tapestried in black; and black was the hue of +her livery, her carriages, and her horses. To further proclaim to all +the world her love for the departed, she had painted over the door of +her chamber the couplet which Virgil has ascribed to Dido: + + "Ille meos, primus qui me sibi junxit, amores + Abstulit: ille habeat secum servetque sepulchro!" + +[He who first linked me to himself hath borne away my affection: may he +possess it still and retain it in his grave!] + +As to her personal appearance, Veronica was not beautiful in face, as +her features were irregular; but it was said of her in her early +womanhood that if her face had equalled her form she would have been one +of the most beautiful women of her time. She was high-strung, +enthusiastic, and passionate, but she possessed a character and an +intelligence which enabled her to hold herself in check; she was a most +devoted wife and entirely domestic in her disposition. Her poetry is +addressed chiefly to her husband, and she never tires of extolling his +many virtues. His eyes, in particular, seem to have been especially +beautiful in her sight, as she devotes no less than six sonnets and a +madrigal to a description of their charms, calling them _occhi +stellante_, and telling of their power in most fervid terms. We cannot, +however, consider her as a woman who was wholly concerned with her own +small affairs, as her letters show her to have been in communication +with the most illustrious literary men and women of all Italy, including +Ariosto, Bembo, Sannazzaro, and Vittoria Colonna. Though her literary +baggage was not extensive, the few sonnets she has left have a strength, +simplicity, and sincerity which were rare among the poets of her time. +Her best poem was one addressed to the rival sovereigns, the Emperor +Charles V., and the brilliant Francis I. of France; in it she pleads +with them to give peace to Italy and join their forces, so as to drive +back from the shores of Europe the host of the infidels. Her death +occurred in the year 1550, and then, Mrs. Jameson tells us in somewhat +ambiguous phrase, "she was buried by her husband." A little reflection +will clear away the doubt, however, and make clear the fact that she was +laid to rest beside the husband for whom she had buried herself in black +for so many years. + +No woman more completely devoted herself to her husband's memory, by +means of her enduring verse, or deserves a higher place in the annals of +conjugal poetry, than Vittoria Colonna; such laurel wreaths did she put +upon the brow of her spouse, the Marquis of Pescara, that Ariosto was +tempted to say, in substance, that if Alexander had envied Achilles the +fame he had acquired in the songs of Homer, how much more would he have +envied Pescara those strains wherein his gifted wife had exalted his +fame above that of all contemporary heroes! Vittoria came from most +illustrious families, as her father was the Grand Constable Fabrizio +Colonna and her mother was Anna di Montefeltro, daughter of Federigo, +the first great Duke of Urbino. At the early age of four, fate joined +Vittoria in an infant marriage to the young Count d'Avalo, who was of +her own age, and who later, as the Marquis of Pescara, really became her +husband. When Vittoria was but a young girl, her beauty and her +wonderful talents, added to her high station, made her conspicuous among +her countrywomen, and her hand was often sought in marriage even by +reigning princes. Both the Duke of Savoy and the Duke of Braganza +desired to marry her, and the pope was even persuaded to plead their +cause; but all to no avail, as she had long considered her future +settled and had no desire to change it. At the age of seventeen they +celebrated their wedding, and their life together, which began with that +moment, was never marred by a single discordant note. + +The first four years of their married life were spent on the island of +Ischia, where Pescara had a villa and a small estate, and there they +lived in an idyllic happiness which has almost become proverbial. The +young husband was not so studiously inclined as was his gifted wife, but +he was a manly fellow, much given to athletic pursuits, and with a +decided taste for a military career, and Vittoria was loved by him in a +most tender and noble fashion. They were denied the happiness of +children, and the young wife expresses her sorrow over this fact in her +twenty-second sonnet; but she consoles herself by adding: "since it is +not given to me to be the mother of sons who shall inherit their +father's glory, at least may I be able, by uniting my name with his in +verse, to become the mother of his great deeds and lofty fame." After +their long honeymoon had come to an end, Pescara was moved to return to +the world, or rather to enter it for the first time as a man, and he +entered the imperial army. At the age of twenty-one, as a general of +cavalry, he took part in the battle of Ravenna, where he was made a +prisoner of war. After a year's detention, however, he was allowed to +return to his post, and then followed campaigning in various parts of +the peninsula. Vittoria, during all these days of absence, had remained +quietly in their island home at Ischia, where she devoted her time to +the composition of those sonnets in honor of her husband's glorious +deeds which have since brought her such lasting reputation. In token of +her fidelity and her general attitude toward the world and society at +this time, Vittoria had adopted as her device a small Cupid within the +circlet of a twisted snake, and under it was the significant motto: +_Quem peperit virtus prudentia servet amorem_ [Discretion shall guard +the love which virtue inspired]. The soldier-husband came for a hasty +visit to Ischia whenever distances and the varying fortunes of war made +it possible; but his stays were brief, and he always wore in his wife's +eyes that romantic halo which it was but natural that a poetic woman +should throw about the head of a young and brilliant general whose +handsome features and noble carriage made him none the less attractive, +and who happened at the same time to be her husband. + +After a somewhat short but notable career as a soldier, Pescara was +given entire command of the imperial armies, and he it was who directed +the fortunes of the day during that memorable battle of Pavia when King +Francis I. of France was captured, and when the illustrious French +knight "without fear and without reproach," the Chevalier Bayard, made +that remark which has long since become historic, _Tout est perdu fors +l'honneur_. That battle won, and with such credit to himself, Pescara +was loaded with praise and rewards, and, as is often the case under such +circumstances, he was subjected to some temptations. His power had +become so great, and his military skill was considered so remarkable, +that efforts were made to entice him from the imperial service; he was +actually offered the crown of the kingdom of Naples in case he would be +willing to renounce his allegiance to Charles V. The offer tempted him, +and he hesitated for a moment, writing to his wife to ascertain her +opinion on the subject. It is clear that he wavered in his duty, but his +excuse to Vittoria was that he longed to see her on a throne which she +could grace indeed. She, however, without a moment's hesitation, wrote +to him to remain faithful to his sovereign, saying, in a letter cited +by Giambattista Rota: "I do not desire to be the wife of a king, but +rather of that great captain who, by means of his valor in war and his +nobility of soul in time of peace, has been able to conquer the greatest +monarchs." Pescara, obedient to his wife's desire, immediately began to +free himself from the temptations which had been besetting his path, but +he had gone so far upon this dangerous road that he was able to turn +aside from it only after his hitherto untarnished honor had been +sullied. The criticism which he received at this time made him +melancholy, and, weakened by wounds received at the battle of Pavia, +which now broke out again, he soon came to his end at Milan, at the age +of thirty-five. Though she was for a long time stunned by her grief, +Vittoria finally accepted her sorrow with some degree of calmness. + +Back she then went to Ischia, where they had passed those earlier days +together, and there, for seven years almost without interruption, she +spent her time thinking of the dead lord of Pescara, and extolling him +in her verse. Still young and beautiful, it was but natural that her +grief might be controlled in time and that she might again find +happiness in married life. Distinguished princes pleaded with her in +vain, and even her brothers urged her to this course, which, under the +circumstances, they considered entirely within the bounds of propriety; +but to them all she gave the calm assurance that her noble husband, +though dead to others, was still alive for her and constantly in her +thoughts. After the first period of her grief had passed, she found +herself much drawn toward spiritual and religious thoughts, and then it +was that her poetry became devotional in tone and sacred subjects were +now her only inspiration. Roscoe mentions the fact that she was at this +time suspected of sympathizing in secret with the reformed doctrines in +religion which were then making such headway in the North and playing +such havoc with the papal interests, but there seems little ground for +this suspicion beyond the fact that her devotion to the things of the +spirit and her somewhat austere ideas in regard to manners and morals +were in that day so unusual as to call forth comment. This sacred verse +was published in a volume entitled _Rime spirituali_, and Guingené is +authority for the statement that no other author before Vittoria Colonna +had ever published a volume of poetry devoted exclusively to religious +themes. + +Her most faithful friend and admirer in all her long widowhood of +twenty-two years was the great artist, sculptor, and painter, Michael +Angelo, who never failed to treat her with the tenderest courtesy and +respect. No other woman had ever touched his heart, and she gave him +suggestion and inspiration for much of his work. After those first seven +years of loneliness at Ischia, Vittoria spent much time in the convents +of Orvieto and Viterbo, and later she lived in the greatest seclusion at +Rome; there it was that death overtook her. Wherever she went, Michael +Angelo's thoughtfulness followed her out, and in those last moments at +Rome he was with her, faithful to the end. He was the kindly, rugged +master-genius of his time, an intellectual giant, and she was a woman of +rare devotion and purity of soul; and the real Platonic affection which +seems to have possessed them, in that age of license and scepticism, is +touching and impressive. What this friendship meant to him, the poet has +expressed in the following sonnet addressed to Vittoria, which is here +given in Wordsworth's matchless translation: + + "Yes! hope may with my strong desire keep pace, + And I be undeluded, unbetrayed; + For if of our affections none find grace + in sight of Heaven, then, wherefore had God made + The world which we inhabit? Better plea + Love cannot have than that in loving thee + Glory to that eternal peace is paid, + Who such divinity to thee imparts + As hallows and makes pure all gentle hearts. + His hope is treacherous only whose love dies + With beauty, which is varying every hour: + But in chaste hearts, uninfluenced by the power + Of outward change, there blooms a deathless flower, + That breathes on earth the air of Paradise." + +The ducal court at Ferrara became, in the latter half of the sixteenth +century, the centre of much intellectual life and brilliancy; generous +patronage was extended to the arts and to literature, and here gathered +together a company which rivalled in splendor the court of Urbino in the +days of the Countess Elizabetta. The duke, Alfonso II., son of that +unfortunate Renée, daughter of Louis XII. of France, who had been kept +in an Italian prison for twelve long years because of her suspected +sympathy with the reformed doctrines, came of a long line of princes who +had in the past given liberally to the cause of learning. During his +reign, which covers the period from 1559 to 1597, the social side of +court life in his dukedom came into special prominence. The two sisters +of Alfonso--Lucrezia and Leonora--presided over this court, and to it +came, from time to time, many of the most beautiful women of Italy. +Tarquinia Moeza was there, a woman of beauty and of rare poetic gifts; +Lucrezia Bendidio, beautiful and accomplished, and having constantly +about her a most admiring throng of poets and literati; and later came +the two acknowledged beauties of the day, Leonora di Sanvitali, Countess +of Scandiano, and her no less charming mother-in-law, Barbara, Countess +of Sala. Among the men of this company, suffice it to mention the name +of the poet Guarini, whose fame has become enduring on account of his +charming and idyllic drama, _Il pastor fido_, for he it is who seems to +embody that sprightliness of wit which gave to Ferrara at that time its +gladsome reputation. + +To this court there came, for the first time, in the year 1565, young +Torquato Tasso, poet and courtier, scholar and gentleman, and already +the author of a published narrative poem, the _Rinaldo_, which caused +him to be hailed as the most promising poet of his generation when he +was but in his eighteenth year. Bernardo Tasso, the poet's father, was +likewise a poet and a professional courtier of some distinction, and +varying fortunes had taken him to Urbino, where the son Torquato grew +up, surrounded by all the evidences of refinement and culture. He had +been favored by nature with a tall and commanding figure, and his good +looks had already caused more than one gentle heart to flutter, when, at +the age of twenty-one, with his father's consent and approval, he +entered the service of the Cardinal Luigi d'Este, and became at once a +conspicuous figure in court circles. Almost instantly the youth, filled +as he was with most romantic ideas and readily susceptible to the power +of woman's beauty, fell a captive to the charms of the Princess Leonora +d'Este, who, though some ten years his senior, seemed to embody all the +graces and to completely satisfy the ideal which up to this time he had +been able to see only with his mind's eye. Leonora had already been +sought in marriage by many titled suitors, but she had invariably turned +a deaf ear to such proposals, never finding one who could please her +fancy or who promised comfort in her loneliness. For she was lonely in +that court, as she seems to have dwelt in a sort of spiritual isolation +most of the time; there was always a melancholy air about her, which had +no doubt been induced in large measure by her mother's sad fate. For +Tasso to love her was most natural; but they both knew that such a love +could be but hopeless, and it cannot be said that she encouraged him in +any covert manner or that he made open profession of his passion. It is +true that he makes her the subject of many of his poems, wherein he +lauds her to the skies, but this is no more than was expected of a court +poet; he did the same for other ladies, but in all that was dedicated to +her charms there seems to shine forth a truer light of real affection +than is found in all the others. What words of affection, if any, passed +between them can never be known; but it seems that there must have been +some sort of tacit consent to his silent adoration, and Tasso tells in a +madrigal, perhaps in proof of this, that once, when he had asked her +pardon for having put his arm upon her own in the eagerness of +conversation, she replied, with gentleness: "You offended, not by +putting your arm there, but by taking it away!" + +For twelve years Tasso remained at Ferrara, constantly writing sonnets +and short poems of all descriptions, which were most often addressed to +Leonora, but at the same time he was busily working upon that longer +poem in epic form, descriptive of the First Crusade, the _Gerusalemme +liberata_, wherein he puts a new feeling into Italian poetry, which had +been expressed before by Ariosto in his amatory verse, but which cannot +be found to any great extent in his more pretentious work, the _Orlando +Furioso_. This new feeling was real sentiment, and not sentimentality, +and it denotes the growing conception of the worth and dignity of +womanhood which we have already discovered in the poetry of Michael +Angelo. Allowing for the infinite contradictions possible in human +nature, it may be that these men of the same time, who so coolly killed +their wives and sisters for acts of infidelity, were touched in some dim +way with the same feeling, to which, alas! they gave but sorry +expression, if the surmise be true. + +The constant excitement of the court and his unending literary labors +commenced to tell upon the poet in 1575, when his health began to fail +and he grew irritable and restless, became subject to delusions, fancied +that he had been denounced by the Inquisition, and was in daily terror +of being poisoned. Then it was said that the poet was mad, and there are +some who have whispered that it was his unrequited love for the Princess +Leonora which brought about this calamity. However that may be, the +climax was reached in the year 1577, when Tasso, in the presence of +Lucrezia d'Este,--who was then Duchess of Urbino,--drew a knife upon one +of his servants. For this he was arrested, but soon after was given his +liberty on condition that he should go to a Franciscan monastery and +give himself that rest and attention which his failing health demanded. +Here, however, he was beset with the idea that the duke sought to take +his life, and he fled in disguise to his sister, who was then living at +Sorrento. Various explanations have been given for this sudden flight, +and some biographers have insinuated that the duke had discovered some +hidden intrigue between his sister Leonora and Tasso which had caused +the latter to fear for his safety. This supposition cannot be accepted +as true, however, for if the duke had known or had even strongly +suspected such a thing he would have promptly put the poet to death +without compunction, and such a course of action would have been +entirely justified by the public sentiment of the time. And if this +supposition were true, is it probable that Tasso would have been allowed +to return to Ferrara in a short time, as he did? Now, begins a confused +life, and the poet comes and goes, moved by a strange restlessness, +never happy away from Ferrara, yet never caring to stay there long. +Finally, on one occasion he thought himself so neglected at his return +that he made a most violent scene, and became so bitter and incoherent +in his complaints that he was pronounced insane and imprisoned by order +of the duke. There he remained for seven years, and the most of that +time he was in a well-lighted and well-furnished room, where he was +allowed to receive visitors and devote himself to literary work whenever +he so desired. At the end of this time, in which Tasso himself speaks of +his mental disorder, he went to Mantua, where he had been invited by the +Prince Vincenzo Gonzaga; there he spent a few pleasant months; but he +soon grew discontented, the roaming fit came upon him again, and after a +number of years of pitiful endeavor he finally died, in 1595, at the +convent of Saint Onofrio. + +It does not seem just to blame the Princess Leonora d'Este for the sad +fate which befell Tasso, as so many have done, for there is no proof of +any unkindness on her part. That he loved her there can be but little +doubt, but hardly to the verge of madness, as he wrote love sonnets to +other ladies at the same time; the truth seems to be that he became +mentally unbalanced as the result of the precocious development of his +powers, which made a man of him while yet a boy and developed in him an +intensity of feeling which made his candle of life burn fiercely, but +for a short time only. His end was but the natural consequence of the +beginning, and whether Leonora helped or hindered in the final result, +it matters not, for she was blameless. She died in the second year of +Tasso's imprisonment, sad at heart as she had ever been, never deeply +touched by the poet's constant praises, and to the end a victim to that +melancholy mood which had come upon her in childhood. + + + + +Chapter X + +The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries + + +The transition from the sixteenth to the seventeenth century in Italy +was marked by no sudden changes of any kind. The whole country was +thoroughly prostrate and under the control of the empire; a national +spirit did not exist, and the people seemed content to slumber on +without opposing in any way the tyranny of their foreign masters. The +glory of the Italian Renaissance had been sung in all the countries of +Europe; in every nook and corner of the continent, Italian painters and +sculptors, princes and poets, artists and artisans of all kinds, had +stimulated this new birth of the world; but this mission accomplished, +Italy seemed to find little more to do, and for lack of an ideal her +sons and daughters wasted their time in the pursuit of idle things. It +was the natural reaction after an age of unusual force and brilliancy. +In the shadow of the great achievements of the sixteenth century in all +lines of human activity, the seventeenth, lost in admiration, could +imagine no surer way to equal attainment than to imitate what had gone +before. Literature became stilted and full of mannerisms and underwent a +process of refinement which left it without strength or vigor, and +society in general seemed more concerned with form and ceremony than +with the deeper things of the spirit. + +Countless examples are on record to show the petty jealousies which were +agitating the public mind at this time, and the number of quarrels and +arguments which had their origin in most trivial causes passes belief. +Rank and position were of the utmost consequence, and questions of +precedence in public functions were far more eagerly discussed than were +questions of national policy. Naples, under the control of Spanish +princes, was particularly noted for such exhibitions of undignified +behavior. On one occasion, during a solemn church ceremony, the military +governor of the city left the cathedral in a great rage because he had +noticed that a small footstool had been placed for the archbishop, while +nothing of the kind had been provided for his own comfort. At the death +of a certain princess, the royal commissioners delayed the funeral +because it was claimed that she had used arms and insignia of nobility +above her true rank, and was not entitled, therefore, to the brilliant +obsequies which were being planned by the members of her family. The +body was finally put in a vault and left unburied until the matter had +been passed upon by the heraldry experts in Madrid! During the funeral +services which were being held in honor of the Queen of Spain, the +archbishop desired footstools placed for all the bishops present, but +the vicegerent opposed this innovation, and the ceremony was finally +suspended because they could come to no agreement. The cities of Cremona +and Pavia were in litigation for eighty-two years over the question as +to which should have precedence over the other in public functions where +representatives of the two places happened to be together; finally, the +Milanese Senate, to which the question was submitted, "after careful +examination and mature deliberation, decided that it had nothing to +decide." Another example of this small-mindedness is shown in the case +of the General Giovanni Serbelloni, who, while fighting in the +Valteline in 1625, was unwilling to open a despatch which had been sent +to him, because he had not been addressed by all his titles. It is a +pleasure to add that as a result of this action he was left in ignorance +as to the approach of the enemy and the next day suffered a severe +defeat. + +Rome was the seat of much splendor and display--an inevitable state of +affairs when the fact is taken into consideration that the city was +filled with legates and embassies, all anxious to wait upon his holiness +the pope and gain some special privilege or concession. At this time the +cardinals, too, were not mere ecclesiastics, but rather men of great +wealth and power; often they became prime ministers in their several +countries,--as Richelieu, for example,--and the great and influential +houses of Savoy, Este, Gonzaga, Farnese, Barberini, and many others, +always possessed one or more of them who vied in magnificence with the +pope himself. And all this helped to make the Eternal City the scene of +much brilliancy. The papal court was the natural centre of all this +animation, and many a stately procession wended its way to the Vatican. +On one occasion, the Duke of Parma, wishing to compliment a newly +elected pope, sent as his representative the Count of San Secondo, who +went to his solemn interview followed by a long procession of one +hundred and fifty carriages, and appeared before the pontiff with +eighteen distinguished prelates in his train. This mad passion for +display led to so many evils of all kinds that Urban VIII. prohibited +"indecent garments" for both men and women. In the interests of public +morality, it was further decreed that women were not to take music +lessons from men, and nuns were allowed no other professors than their +own companions. Public singing, distinct from religious ceremonies, was +a novelty at this time, and women with the gift of song were paid most +liberally for their services. Venice was the city most noted for its +festivals and carnivals, and here these women were given most generous +treatment. + +In Florence, as in all the rest of Italy, Spain was taken as "the glass +of fashion, the mould of form" for the first part of the century, but +the splendor of the court of Louis Quatorze soon caused French fashions +to reign supreme. Then, as now, brides were accustomed to dress in +white, while married women were given a wide latitude in their choice of +colors. At first, widows wore a dress distinctive not only in color but +in cut, yet eventually they were to be distinguished by only a small +head-dress of black crape. Young women were much given to curling their +hair, and at the same time it was the fashion to wear upon the forehead +a cluster of blond curls, a _petite perruque_, which, in the words of an +old chronicler, Rinuccini, "is very unbecoming to those whose hair +happens to be of another color." From the same authority is derived the +following information concerning the women belonging to the under crust +of society: "Prostitutes, formerly, all wore an apparent sign which +revealed their infamous profession; it was a yellow ribbon fastened to +the strings of the hats, which were then in fashion; when hats went out +of style, the yellow ribbon was worn in the hair, and if the women were +ever found without it they were severely punished. Finally, on payment +of a certain tax, they were allowed to go without the ribbon, and then +they were to be distinguished by their impudence only." In Florence, +women of this class were especially noted for their beauty, and there it +was customary to compel them all to live within a certain district. + +In the average Florentine household it had been the custom to have three +women servants,--a cook, a second girl, and a _matrona_. This third +servant was better educated than the others, and it was her duty, +outside of the house, to keep her mistress company, whether she rode in +her carriage or went about on foot. At home, she did the sewing and the +mending, and generally dressed her mistress and combed her hair. For +this work the _matrona_ received a salary of six or seven dollars a +month, and it seems to have been usual for her employers to arrange a +good marriage for her after several years of service, giving her at that +time from one hundred to one hundred and fifty crowns as a dowry. Later +in the century, the _matrona_ does not seem to have been so common, and +many women went alone in their carriages, while on foot they were +accompanied by a manservant in livery. The wealthier ladies of the +nobility, however, were accompanied in their conveyances by a +_donzella_, and on the street and in all public places by an elderly and +dignified manservant, dressed in black, who was known as the +_cavaliere_. The fashion with regard to this male protector became so +widespread that the women of the middle class were in the habit of +hiring the services of some such individual for their occasional use on +fête days and whenever they went to mass. The further development of +this custom and its effect upon public morals in the following century +will be discussed on another page. + +Busy with all-absorbing questions of dress, etiquette, and domestic +management, it does not appear that the women of the seventeenth century +in Italy took any great share in public events, although one Italian +woman at least, leaving the country of her birth, was placed by fate +upon a royal throne. Henry IV. of France, about the year 1600, was hard +pressed for the payment of certain debts by Ferdinand I., Grand Duke of +Tuscany, as the Medici were still the bankers of Europe, and the French +king was owing more than a million louis d'or; but the whole matter was +settled in a satisfactory way when Henry gave definite promises to pay +within a dozen years. To maintain his credit in the meantime, and to +facilitate the payment of the money, the one-time King of Navarre +demanded in marriage Marie de' Medici, the niece of the grand duke; it +is needless to say that the request was speedily granted, for the pride +and ambition of this rich Tuscan family were unlimited, and the memory +of that other daughter of the house of Medici, Catherine, who had been +Queen of France and mother of three French kings, was still fresh in the +minds of all. The wedding ceremony was performed in great splendor, at +Florence, Henry sending a proxy to represent him at that time; and then +the young bride set out for France, followed by a glittering retinue, +and bearing, as her dowry, six hundred thousand crowns of gold. Arriving +at Leghorn, they took ship for Marseilles, and then began a triumphal +march across the country, cities vying with each other in doing her +honor. Cantu tells us that at Avignon, which was still a city under the +temporal sway of the pope, Marie was placed in a chariot drawn by two +elephants, and given an escort of two thousand cavaliers. There were +seven triumphal arches and seven theatres; for it was the proud boast of +the residents of Avignon that everything went by sevens in their city, +as there were seven palaces, seven parishes, seven old convents, seven +monasteries, seven hospitals, seven colleges, and seven gates in the +city wall! Several addresses of welcome were delivered in the presence +of the young queen, though in this instance the number was hardly seven, +poems were read, and she received a number of gold medals bearing her +profile upon one side and the city's coat of arms upon the other. Henry +had left Paris to come to meet his bride, and it was at Lyons that the +royal pair saw each other for the first time. It cannot be said that +this first interview was warmly enthusiastic, for the king found her far +less beautiful than the portrait which had been sent to him, and he soon +came to the sad conclusion that she was too fat, had staring eyes and +bad manners, and was very stubborn. + +After the birth of a son and heir, who later became Louis XIII., the +king neglected his wife to such an extent that she felt little sorrow at +the time of his assassination. Then it was, as queen-regent, that Marie +for the first time entered actively into political life; but her ability +in this sphere of action was only moderate, and she was soon the centre +of much quarrel and contention, wherein the unyielding feudal nobility +and the Protestants figured largely as disturbing causes. In the midst +of these troublous times, the queen had an invaluable assistant in the +person of Eleanora Galigaï, her foster-sister, whose husband, Concino +Concini, a Florentine, had come to France in the suite of Marie, and had +subsequently risen to a position of influence in the court. Eventually, +he became the Maréchal d'Ancre, and his wife was spoken of as _la +Maréchale_ or _la Galigaï_, for so great was the extent of Eleanora's +control over the queen that she was one of the most conspicuous women in +all Europe at that time. Gradually, she was criticised on account of the +way in which she used her power, and it was alleged that she was +overmuch in the company of divers magicians and astrologers who had been +brought from Italy, and that the black art alone was responsible for her +success. These accusations finally aroused such public hostility that, +after a trial which was a travesty upon justice, Eleanora was soon +condemned to death, on the charge of having unduly influenced the queen +by means of magic philters. Eleanora went to her death bravely, saying +with dignity to her accusers: "The philter which I have used is the +influence which every strong mind possesses, naturally, over every +weaker one." + +Not long after this Florentine queen of France was playing her part in +public affairs, all Europe was surprised by another woman, whose actions +were without parallel and whose case seems to be the opposite of the one +just cited. Marie de' Medici left Italy to become a queen, and now a +queen is seen to abdicate that she may go to Rome to live. Christine, +Queen of Sweden, a most enlightened woman and the daughter of the great +Gustavus Adolphus who had brought about the triumph of the Protestant +arms in Germany, relinquished her royal robes in the year 1654, +announced her conversion to Catholicism, and finally went to Rome, where +she ended her days. She was given a veritable ovation on her arrival +there, as may well be imagined, for the Church rarely made so +distinguished a convert, and Christine, in acknowledgment of this +attention, presented her crown and sceptre as a votive offering to the +church of the Santa Casa at Loretto. At Rome she lived in one of the +most beautiful palaces in the city, and there divided her time between +study and amusements. Through it all she was never able to forget the +fact that she had been a queen, and many examples might be given of her +haughty demeanor in the presence of those who were unwilling to do her +bidding. Before leaving Sweden, Christine had tried to gather a circle +of learned men about her at Stockholm, and the great French philosopher +Descartes spent some months in her palace. Later, when in Paris, on her +way to Italy, a special session of the French Academy had been held in +her honor, and all of the literary men of France went out to the palace +at Fontainebleau while she was domiciled there, to do her honor. Once in +Rome, it was her immediate desire to become the centre of a literary +coterie, and to that end she was most generous in her gifts to artists +and men of letters. Her intelligence and her liberality soon gave her +great influence, and before long she was able to organize an Academy in +due form under her own roof. She was for many years a most conspicuous +figure in Roman society, and at the time of her death, in 1689, +Filicaïa, a poet of some local reputation, declared that her kingdom +comprised "all those who thought, all those who acted, and all those who +were endowed with intelligence." + +In this seventeenth century, as in the one before, parents were +continually compelling their children and especially their daughters to +enter upon a religious career, and many of them were forced to this +course in spite of their protestations. Cantu tells of the case of +Archangela Tarabotti, who was compelled to enter the convent of Saint +Anne at Venice, though all her interests and all her ways were worldly +in the extreme. To the convent she went, however, at the age of +thirteen, because she was proving a difficult child to control, and +there she was left to grind her teeth in impotent rage. In common with +many other young girls of her time, she had never been taught to read or +write, as the benefit of such accomplishments was not appreciated in any +general way--at least so far as women were concerned; but, once within +the convent walls, from sheer ennui, Archangela began to study most +assiduously, and finally published a number of books which present an +interesting description and criticism of existing manners and customs in +so far as they had to do with women and their attitude toward conventual +institutions. Having entered upon this life under protest, her first +books were written in a wild, passionate style, and it was her purpose +to make public the violence of which she had been a victim, and to +prove, by copious references to authorities both sacred and profane, +that women should be allowed entire liberty in their choice of a career. +Incidentally, she cursed most thoroughly the fathers who compelled their +daughters to take the veil in spite of their expressed unwillingness. +Perhaps the most important of these protests, which was given an Elzevir +edition in 1654, was entitled _Innocence Deceived, or The Tyranny of +Parents_. This special edition was dedicated to God, and bore the +epigraph: "Compulsory devotion is not agreeable to God!" Another of +these books was entitled _The Hell of Convent Life_, and these titles +are certainly enough to show that she set about her task of +religious--or, rather, social--reform with a most fervid, though +somewhat bitter, zeal. Naturally, these open criticisms caused a great +scandal in ecclesiastical circles, and many vigorous attempts were made +to reconcile the recalcitrant nun and induce her to modify her views. +Finally, moved by the pious exhortations of the patriarch, Federigo +Cornaro, she became somewhat resigned to her fate. Then it was said of +her that "she abandoned the pomp of fine garments, which had possessed +so great a charm for her," and the records show that the last years of +her life were spent in an endeavor to atone for the extravagances of her +youthful conduct. A number of devout books were produced by her during +this time, and among them the following curious titles may be noticed: +_The Paved Road to Heaven_ and _The Purgatory of Unhappily Married +Women_. + +A somewhat similar case of petty tyranny, and one which was soon the +talk of all Europe, is the pathetic story of Roberto Acciaïuoli and +Elizabetta Marmoraï. These two young people loved each other in spite of +the fact that Elizabetta was the wife of Giulio Berardi; when the latter +died, everyone supposed that the lovers would marry, and such was their +intention, but they found an unexpected obstacle in their path, for +Roberto's uncle, the Cardinal Acciaïuoli, had other views on the +subject. It was his desire that his nephew should contract a marriage +with some wealthy Roman family whose influence might aid him to become +pope. The young man refused to further this project in any way, and +insisted upon marrying the woman of his choice; the cardinal, in +despair, had to fall back upon the assistance of his ruling prince, +Cosmo II., Grand Duke of Tuscany. Cosmo, unwilling to offend this +prelate who might some day become the head of the Church, took action in +his behalf and ordered that Elizabetta should be confined in a +Florentine convent. Thereupon Roberto fled to Mantua, and, after having +married her by letter, publicly proclaimed his act and demanded that his +wife be delivered up to him. The best lawyers in Lombardy now declared +the marriage a valid one, but in Florence the steps taken were +considered merely as the equivalent of a public betrothal. So the matter +stood for a time, until the pope died and the ambitious cardinal +presented himself as a candidate for the pontiff's chair. Then the +outraged nephew sent to each one of the papal electors a detailed +account of what had taken place, with the result that his uncle's +candidacy was a complete failure. Cosmo, moved somewhat by public +opinion, which was all upon the side of the lovers, ordered Elizabetta +to be released from her captivity, whereupon she joined her husband in +Venice, that she might share his exile. They were not allowed to remain +there for a long time in peace, however, as Cosmo, smarting under the +lash of popular disapproval, decided to make an effort to get them +within his power again, that he might wreak his vengeance upon them. +Accordingly, he demanded that the Venetian republic should deliver them +up, charging that they had been guilty of gross disrespect toward him, +their sovereign. Hearing of this requisition, Roberto and Elizabetta, +disguised as monks, fled to Germany, but were recognized at Trent and +taken back to Tuscany. Acciaïuoli was then deprived of all his property +and imprisoned for life in the fortress of Volterra, and his wife was +threatened with the same treatment if she persisted in maintaining the +validity of the marriage. Worn by all this trouble and persecution, +Elizabetta weakened, failed to show the courage which might be expected +from the heroine of such a dramatic story, and preferred to live alone +for the rest of her days than to spend her life in prison with her +devoted husband. + +The eighteenth century found Italy still under the control of foreign +rulers, and the national spirit was still unborn; public morals seem to +have degenerated rather than improved, and then, as always, the women +were no better than the men desired them to be. Details of the life of +this period are extremely difficult to obtain, as the social aspects of +Italian life from the decline of the Renaissance to the Napoleonic era +have been quite generally neglected by historians; the information which +is obtainable must be derived in large measure from books and letters on +Italian travel, written for the most part by foreigners. One of the most +interesting volumes of this kind was written by a Mrs. Piozzi, the +English wife of an Italian, who had unusual opportunities for a close +observation of social conditions; several of the following paragraphs +are based upon her experiences. + +The most striking thing in the social life of this time is the domestic +arrangement whereby every married woman was supposed to have at her beck +and call, in addition to her husband, another cavalier, who was known as +a _cicisbeo_ and was the natural successor of the Florentine _cavaliere_ +before mentioned. Cicisbeism has been much criticised and much discussed +as to its bearing upon public morals, and many opposite opinions have +been expressed with regard to it. The Countess Martinengo Cesaresco, who +is a most careful and able student of Italian life, has the following to +say upon the subject: "He [the _cicisbeo_] was frequently a humble +relative--in every family were cadets too poor to marry, as they could +not work for their living, or too sincere to become priests, to whom +cavalier service secured a dinner, at any rate, if they wanted one. It +was the custom to go to the theatre every evening--the box at the opera +was an integral part of the household arrangements, a continuation of +the salon--only it could not be reached without an escort. The chaperon +did not exist, because a woman, no matter how old, was no escort for +another woman, nor could she herself dispense with an attendant of the +other sex. A dowager of sixty and a bride of sixteen had equally to stay +at home if there was not a man to accompany them. The cavalier's service +was particularly in request at the theatre, but he was more or less on +duty whenever his lady left her house for any purpose, with the doubtful +exception of going to church. No husband outside a honeymoon could be +expected to perform all these functions: he, therefore, appointed or +agreed upon the appointment of somebody else to act as his substitute. +This was, in nine cases out of ten, the eminently unromantic cavalier +servitude of fact. The high-flown, complimentary language, the profound +bowing and hand-kissing of the period, combined to mystify strangers as +to its real significance. Sometimes, when there was really a lover in +the question, the _cavalier servente_ must have been a serious +impediment; he was always _Là planté ... à contrecarrer un pauvre tiers_, +in the words of the witty Président de Brosses, who, though he did not +wholly credit the assurances he received as to the invariable innocence +of the institution, was yet far from passing on it the sweeping +judgment arrived at by most foreigners. There is no doubt that habit and +opportunity did, now and then, prove too strong for the two individuals +thrown so constantly together. 'Juxtaposition is great,' as Clough says +in his _Amours de Voyage_; but that such lapses represented the rule +rather than the exception is not borne out either by reason or record." + +Mrs. Piozzi is somewhat dubious in regard to this condition of affairs +and is hardly disposed to take the charitable view which has just been +given, but the general trend of more enlightened comment seems to agree +with the Countess Cesaresco. In Sheridan's _School for Scandal_ occur +the following lines, which convey the same idea: + + LADY TEAZLE.--"You know I admit you as a lover no farther than + fashion sanctions." + + JOSEPH SURFACE.--"True--a mere platonic _cicisbeo_--what every wife + is entitled to." + +Fragments taken somewhat at random regarding the women of several of the +more important cities of Italy may serve to give some idea regarding +their general position and condition throughout the country at large. +Writing from Milan, Mrs. Piozzi says: "There is a degree of effrontery +among the women that amazes me, and of which I had no idea till a friend +showed me, one evening, from my own box at the opera, fifty or a hundred +low shopkeepers' wives dispersed about the pit at the theatre, dressed +in men's clothes (_per disempegno_, as they call it), that they might be +more at liberty, forsooth, to clap and hiss and quarrel and jostle! I +felt shocked." Venice was, as it had ever been, a city of pleasure. The +women, generally married at fifteen, were old at thirty, and such was +the intensity of life in this "water-logged town"--as F. Hopkinson Smith +somewhat irreverently called it upon one occasion--that a traveller was +led to remark: _On ne goûte pas ses plaisirs, on les avale._ Here, as in +all parts of Italy for that matter, the conditions of domestic life were +somewhat unusual at this time, as it was the custom to employ +menservants almost exclusively; as these servitors were under the +control of the master of the house, it was quite common for the women to +intrust to their husbands the entire management of household affairs. +Thus freed from family cares, Venetian ladies had little to occupy their +time outside of the pleasures of society. Nothing was expected of them +on the intellectual side; they had no thought of education, found no +resource in study, and were not compelled to read in order to keep up +with society small-talk; so long as they found a means to charm their +masculine admirers, nothing more was demanded. Apparently, for them to +charm and fascinate was not difficult, for, according to Mrs. Piozzi, "a +woman in Italy is sure of applause, so she takes little pains to secure +it." Accordingly, the women of Venice seem to have been quite +unpretentious in their manners and dress. They wore little or no rouge, +though they were much addicted to the use of powder, and their dresses +were very plain and presented little variety. "The hair was dressed in a +simple way, flat on top, all of one length, hanging in long curls about +the neck or sides, as it happens." During the summer season it was the +custom literally to turn night into daytime, as social functions were +rarely begun before midnight, and it was dawn before the revellers were +brought home in their gondolas. At one place in Venice were literary +topics much discussed, and that was at Quirini's Casino, a semi-public +resort where ladies were much in evidence, and this was but the +exception which proved the rule. + +Genoa has been thus described: "It possesses men without honesty, women +without modesty, a sea without fish, and a woods with no birds," and, +without going into the merits of each of these statements, it is safe to +say that the state of public morals in this city was about the same as +that to be found in any other Italian city. Apropos of the poor heating +arrangements in Genoese houses, Mrs. Piozzi makes the following remark, +which gives a sidelight upon some of the customs of the place and will +interest the curious: "To church, however, and to the theatre in winter, +they have carried a great green velvet bag, adorned with gold tassels +and lined with fur to keep their feet from freezing, as carpets are not +in use. Poor women run about the streets with a little earthen pipkin +hanging on their arm filled with fire, even if they are sent on an +errand." + +In Florence, the art of making improviso verses--which has ever been +popular in southern countries--seems to have reached its highest state +of perfection during this eighteenth century, and a woman, the +celebrated Corilla, was acknowledged to be the most expert in this +accomplishment. At Rome, when at the climax of her wonderful career, she +was publicly crowned with the laurel in the presence of thousands of +applauding spectators; and in her later years, at Florence, her drawing +room was ever filled with curious and admiring crowds. Without +pretensions to immaculate character, deep erudition, or high birth, +which an Italian esteems above all earthly things, Corilla so made her +way in the world that members of the nobility were wont to throng to her +house, and many sovereigns, _en passage_ at Florence, took pains to seek +her society. Corilla's successor was the beautiful Fantastici, a young +woman of pleasing personality and remarkable powers of improvisation, +who soon became a popular favorite. + +Both at home and abroad, Italian women were coming to the fore in +musical circles, and no opera in any one of the continental capitals +was complete without its prima donna. Among the distinguished singers of +this epoch the two most celebrated were Faustina Bordoni and Catarina +Gabrielli. Faustina, born in the year 1700, was the daughter of a noble +Venetian family, and at an early age began to study music under the +direction of Gasparoni; when she was but sixteen, she made her début +with such success that she was immediately given place as one of the +greatest artists on the lyric stage. In Venice, Naples, Florence, and +Vienna, she displayed such dramatic skill and such a wonderful voice +that she was soon acknowledged as the most brilliant singer in Europe. +Later, she was brought to London, under the management of the great +composer Händel, and there she finally displaced in the public favor her +old-time rival, Cuzzoni. The singer known as Catarina Gabrielli was the +daughter of the cook of the celebrated Cardinal Gabrielli; in spite of +her low origin, she was possessed of a great though insolent beauty, in +addition to her wonderful vocal powers, and her brilliant career in +Europe was most exceptional in every way. In Italy, later in Vienna, and +even in far-away St. Petersburg, she not only achieved wonderful success +as a singer, but by her coquettish ways she contrived to attract a crowd +of most jealous and ardent admirers, who pursued her and more than once +fought for her favors. During her stay in Vienna, the French ambassador, +who had fallen a victim to her charms, became so madly jealous of the +Portuguese minister, that he drew his sword on Catarina upon one +occasion, and had it not been for her whalebone bodice she would have +lost her life. As it was, she received a slight scratch, which calmed +the enraged diplomat and brought him to his knees. She would pardon him +only on condition that he would present her with his sword, on which +were to be inscribed the following words: "Sword of M..., who dared +strike La Gabrielli." Through the intervention of friends, however, this +heavy penalty was never imposed, and the Frenchman was spared the +ridicule which would have surely followed. Catarina, after a long and +somewhat reckless career, passed her last years in Bologna, where she +died, in 1796, at the age of sixty-six, after having won general esteem +and admiration by her charities and by her steadiness of character, +which was in notable contrast to the extravagance of her earlier life. + +Perhaps the three most distinguished Italian women in all the century +were Clelia Borromeo, Laura Bassi, and Gaetana Agnesi. The Countess +Clelia was a veritable _grande dame_, who exerted a wide influence for +good in all the north of Italy; Laura Bassi was a most learned and +distinguished professor of philosophy at the University of Bologna; and +the last member of this illustrious triad, Gaetana Agnesi, became so +famous in the scholarly world that her achievements must be recounted +with some attention to detail. At the time of her birth, in 1718, her +father was professor of mathematics at Bologna, and it appears that she +was so precocious that at the age of nine she had such command of the +Latin language that she was able to publish a long and carefully +prepared address written in that classic tongue, contending that there +was no reason why women should not devote themselves to the pursuit of +liberal studies. By the time she was thirteen she knew--in addition to +Latin--Greek, Hebrew, French, Spanish, German, and several other +languages, and was so renowned for her linguistic attainments that she +was called, familiarly, the "walking polyglot." When she was fifteen, +her father began to invite the most learned men of Bologna to assemble +at his house and listen to her essays and discussions upon the most +difficult philosophical problems; in spite of the fact that this +display of her learning was known to be distasteful to the young girl, +it was not until she reached her twentieth year that she was allowed to +withdraw from society. In welcome seclusion, she devoted herself to the +study of mathematics, and published several mathematical works whose +value is still recognized. In 1752 her father fell ill, and, by Pope +Benedict XIV., Gaetana was appointed to occupy his professorial chair, +which she did with distinction. At her father's death, two years later, +she withdrew from this active career; and after a most careful study of +theology, she satisfied a long-cherished wish and entered a convent, +joining the Order of Blue Nuns, at Milan. She was most actively +interested in hospital work and charities of all kinds, and, as her +death did not occur until 1799, lived a long life of usefulness. + + + + +Chapter XI + +Italian Women in the Nineteenth Century + + +After the torpor and stagnation of the last two centuries, after the +self-abasement of the people, and the apparent extinction of all spirit +of national pride, the French invasion and domination, under the stern +rule of Bonaparte, was a rude awakening. Old boundaries were swept +aside, old traditions were disregarded, old rulers were dethroned; +everywhere were the French, with their Republican banners, mouthing the +great words Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, ravaging and plundering +in the most shameless fashion, and extorting the most exorbitant taxes. +But the contagion spread--the Italians were impressed with the wonderful +exploits of the one-time Corsican corporal, and they, in turn, began to +wag their heads in serious discussion of the "rights of man," as the +French had done a decade before. For the dissemination of the new ideas, +political clubs were organized throughout Italy as they had existed in +France, and the whole country was in ferment. Add to that the fact that +Napoleon began to levy troops in Italy as soon as his position warranted +this action, and that soon Italian soldiers were in all parts of Europe +fighting under the French flag, and one can perhaps have some picture of +the complete way in which French influences were made to prevail. In +this conquered territory the population may be divided into three +classes: first, the deposed nobility, who had for the most part left +the country; second, the middle class, composed of professional men and +the wealthier citizens; and third, the common people. Of these three +classes, the second was the one which Napoleon tried in every way to +conciliate, for he counted upon its aid in the moulding of public +opinion. He had little to do with the departed nobility, the common +people were helping him fight his battles, but, if he hoped to occupy +Italy permanently, his real appeal had to be made to the educated class. +Accordingly, the arts of peace were used in the interests of the god of +war; public improvements of all kinds were begun over all Italy, under +the supervision of the French officials, canals were built, marshes were +drained, academies of learning were founded, commerce was stimulated, +schools for girls were started at Milan, Bologna, and Verona in +imitation of those which had already been established in France, and, in +fact, everything was done to prove to the people that the rule of the +French was beneficial to the best interests of the peninsula. Many men +of letters were won over by fair promises, and scientific men were, in +many instances, so aided in their researches and so loaded with honors +that it was difficult to resist the approaches of the emperor; and there +resulted much fulsome praise in honor of Napoleon, who was hailed as a +veritable god. Some there were, however, who resisted the advances of +the conquerors and were loath to see the country so completely in the +control of a foreign nation. It is true that Italy was enjoying a great +prosperity in spite of the demands made upon it by the French, but this +sudden accession of Republican ideas and the consciousness that Italian +armies were fighting bravely all over the continent had aroused a +national spirit which had lain dormant for centuries; the more +far-seeing patriots were already looking forward to a time when Italy +might be not only free but independent. + +Among those unmoved by French promises were a number of brilliant women, +who were outspoken in their hostility, and who gathered about them many +of the most able men of the time. Though it is true that the French set +the fashions, and in every city it was usual to find that the French +officials were eagerly courted by the inhabitants, it is none the less +true that in many of these cities there was some small but active centre +of opposition, the salon of some gifted woman who was working might and +main for the final triumph of the principle of Italian control in Italy. +Napoleon had penetration enough to take such opposition at its just +valuation. Women had already given him many a _mauvais quart d'heure_ in +Paris; Madame de Staël and, later, the beautiful Madame Récamier were +forced to go into exile because he feared their power, and here in Italy +he resolved not to be caught napping. Among the number of these Italian +women who were daring enough to oppose his success, one of the most +influential and best known was the Countess Cicognara. Her husband, +Count Leopold Cicognara, was an archæologist of some reputation, who is +to-day best known by his _Storía della Scultura_; he was precisely the +type of man whose friendship and good will Napoleon was anxious to +obtain. Cicognara kept his distance, however, and in his determination +to hold himself aloof from all actual participation in the new order of +things he was ably seconded by his wife, who was a most ardent partisan. +In Milan her salon was known to be of the opposition, and there gathered +all the malcontents, ready to criticise and blame, and wholly refusing +their aid in any public matters undertaken under French auspices. Here, +at Milan, Madame de Staël came to know the countess in the course of her +wanderings through Italy, and, as may readily be imagined, the two women +were much drawn to each other by reason of their similar tastes, +especially with regard to the political situation. Later, at Venice, the +Countess Cicognara was again the centre of a group of free-thinkers, and +there it was that she first felt the displeasure of Napoleon. The count +had been summoned by him in the hope that he might finally be won over, +but Cicognara conducted himself with such dignity that he excited no +little admiration for his position of strict neutrality; his wife did +not fare so well, inasmuch as she was harshly criticised for her active +partisanship. Also, Napoleon caused it to be known that he would look +with disfavor upon all who continued to frequent the salon of the +countess; the result of this procedure was that of those who had +formerly thronged her doors but two faithful ones remained--Hippolyte +Pindemonte and Carlo Rosmini, both staunch patriots and men of ability. + +After Waterloo and the fall of Napoleon, the French power in Italy was +gone, and the Congress of Vienna, which arranged the terms of peace for +the allied powers of Europe, restored the Italian states to their +original condition, as they were before the Revolution. But the real +conditions of Italian life were changed; for the people were now aroused +in an unprecedented way, which made a return to the old mode of life +impossible except in the outward form of things. The socialistic ideas +of the French had gained some foothold in Italy; men and women were +waking up to the possibilities which lay before them in the way of +helping each other; and charitable and philanthropic works of every kind +were undertaken with an interest which was altogether uncommon. As might +be expected, women occupied an important place in these various +activities and showed much enterprise and zeal in carrying out their +plans. The Marchioness Maddalena Frescobaldi Capponi aided in founding +at Florence a house of refuge for fallen women; Maria Maddalena di +Canossa, in the year 1819, established at Venice and at Verona the Order +of the Daughters of Charity, whose task it was to perfect themselves in +"love to God and love to man"; and various charitable schools were +organized in other parts of the country. At Turin, Julie Colbert di +Barolo, the friend of the famous Silvio Pellico, founded the Order of +the Sisters of Saint Anne, whose members were to devote themselves to +the education of poor girls, training them not only in the usual +studies, but also in manners and deportment, and teaching them to be +contented with their lot, whatever it might happen to be. The spirit of +arts and crafts had ardent supporters at this time, and many endeavors +were made to teach the people how to do something which might be of +avail in their struggle for life. Among those interested in this +movement was Rosa Govona, who had founded a society whose members were +called, after her, Les Rosines, and who were bound to support themselves +by means of their own work. The Napoleonic campaigns had taken from +Italy many men who never returned; thus, there were many women who were +left to their own resources, and it was for this class that Rosa Govona +was working. The society grew rapidly, branch organizations were +established in many cities, and there is no doubt that the movement was +productive of much good. Another woman philanthropist of this time was +the Countess Tarnielli Bellini, who left quite a large sum of money at +Novara for the establishment of several charitable institutions, among +them an industrial school. + +Rome now became the real centre of Italian life; it was the objective +point of every tourist, and it soon gathered together a somewhat +heterogeneous population which was to pave the way for that cosmopolitan +society which is to-day found in the Eternal City. While this foreign +element was growing more important every day, it cannot be said that the +members of the old and proud Roman nobility looked upon it with any +smile of welcome. Many of the newcomers were artists, sculptors and +painters, who were attracted by the wealth of classic and Renaissance +art which Rome contained, or they were expatriates for one of a number +of reasons. One of the most distinguished women of this foreign colony +was Madame Bonaparte, Napoleon's mother, who took up her residence in +Rome after 1815, and lived there until 1836, the year of her death. She +was a woman of fine presence and great courage, content with a simple +mode of life which was quite in contrast with the princely tastes of her +sons and daughters. Pauline Bonaparte, the emperor's favorite sister, +had lived in Rome for a number of years, as she had married, in 1803, +Camillo, Prince Borghese. She was soon separated from her husband, but +continued to reside in Rome, bearing the title of Duchess of Guastalla; +there she was housed in a fine palace, where she dwelt in a style of +easy magnificence. Pauline was one of the most beautiful women of this +time, and much of her charm and grace has been preserved in Canova's +famous statue, the _Venus Victrix_, for which she served as model. + +The most hospitable palace in all Rome during the first quarter of the +century was that presided over by Signora Torlonia, Duchess of +Bracciano. Her husband, "old Torlonia," as he was familiarly called, was +a banker during the working hours of the day; but in the evening he +became the Duke of Bracciano, and no one questioned his right to the +title, as he was known to have paid good money for it. He had made +princes of his sons and noble ladies of his daughters, and his great +wealth had undoubtedly aided his plans. Madame Lenormant says of him: +"he was avaricious as a Jew, and sumptuous as the most magnificent +grand seigneur," and he seems to have been a most interesting character. +He lived in a beautiful palace upon the Corso, wherein was placed +Canova's _Hercules and Lycas_, and there he and his wife dispensed a +most open-handed hospitality. Madame Torlonia had been a beauty in her +day, and she was a very handsome woman even in her later years. Kind and +good-natured, she was like the majority of Italian women of her time--a +curious combination of devotion and gallantry. It is related of her that +she confided to a friend one day that she had taken great care to +prevent her husband's peace of mind from being disturbed by her somewhat +questionable conduct, and then added: "But he will be very much +surprised when the Day of Judgment comes!" The Torlonia palace was +practically the only princely house open to strangers, and it often +sheltered a most distinguished company. Among those who were entertained +there may be included Thorwaldsen, the great Danish sculptor, Madame +Récamier, Chateaubriand, Canova, Horace Vernet, the French painter, and +his charming daughter Louise, and the great musician Mendelssohn. The +last, in a letter written from Rome in 1831, makes the following +allusion to the Torlonias, which is not without interest: "Last night a +theatre that Torlonia [the son] has undertaken and organized was opened +with a new opera of Pacini's. The crowd was great and every box filled +with handsome, well-dressed people; young Torlonia appeared in a stage +box, with his mother, the old duchess, and they were immensely +applauded. The audience called out: _Bravo, Torlonia, grazie, grazie!_" + +Italy had continued its reputation as the home of music, and now, as in +the eighteenth century, Italian singers, men and women, were wearing the +laurel in all the capitals of Europe. Among the women who were thus +celebrated the best known were Grassini, Catalani, Pasta, and Alboni. +Grassini was the daughter of a Lombardy farmer, and the expenses of her +musical education had been defrayed by General Belgioso, who was much +impressed with her wonderful voice and her charm of manner. Her début at +La Scala was a wonderful success in spite of the fact that she then sang +in company with the two greatest Italian singers of the time, +Crescentini--one of the last of the male sopranos--and Marchesi. Later, +she attracted the attention of Bonaparte, and soon accompanied him to +Paris, anxious, it has been said, to play the rôle of Cleopatra to this +modern Cæsar. Josephine's jealousy was aroused more than once by this +song bird of Italy, but she continued in the emperor's good graces for a +number of years, in spite of the fact that she was ever ready to follow +the whim of the moment and distributed her favors quite promiscuously. +In 1804 she was made directress of the Paris Opéra, and some years +after, returning from a most wonderful London engagement, she sang in +_Romeo and Juliet_ with such effect that the usually impassive Napoleon +sprang to his feet, shouting like a schoolboy; the next day, as a +testimonial of his appreciation, he sent her a check for twenty thousand +francs. + +Angelica Catalani first created a stir in the world at the age of +twelve, when, as a novice in the convent of Santa Lucia at Gubbio, in +the duchy of Urbino, she sang for the daily service in the little chapel +with such amazing sweetness that people came from all the neighborhood +to listen to her. After some preliminary training, which was undertaken +without the entire approval of the girl's father, Angelica was confided +to the care of the great teacher Marchesi, who soon put her in the front +rank of singers. Her success upon the stage was unquestioned, and her +voice was one of the most remarkable in all the history of music, being +a pure soprano, with a compass of nearly three octaves,--from G to +F,--and so clear and powerful that it rose fresh, penetrating, and +triumphant above the music of any band or orchestra which might be +playing her accompaniment. Bell-like in quality and ever true, this +voice lacked feeling, and while it never failed to awaken unbounded +enthusiasm, it rarely, if ever, brought a thrill of deeper emotion. + +Giuditta Pasta, who became the lyric Siddons of her age, began her +career as an artist laboring under many disadvantages, for she lacked a +graceful personality and possessed a voice of but moderate power and +sweetness. One thing she did possess in full measure, however, and that +was an artistic temperament, which, combined with her unbounded ambition +and her ability for hard work, soon brought her public recognition. Her +simple but effective manner of singing and her wonderful histrionic +ability made all her work dignified and impressive; her representation +of the character of Medea, in Simon Mayer's opera by that name, has been +called the "grandest lyric impersonation in the records of art." When +the great actor Talma heard her in the days of her early success in +Paris, he said: "Here is a woman of whom I can still learn. One turn of +her beautiful head, one glance of her eye, one light motion of her hand, +is, with her, sufficient to express a passion." The whole continent was +at her feet--London, Paris, Berlin, St. Petersburg, and Vienna showered +her with their _bravas_ and their gifts, and her native Italy went wild +at her approach. Her last great public performance was at Milan in 1832, +when, in company with Donizetti the tenor and the then inexperienced +Giulia Grisi, she sang the rôle of Norma, in Bellini's opera, which was +then given for the first time under the baton of the composer himself. +Alboni, the wonderful contralto who owed her early advancement and +training to the kindly interest of Rossini, Fanny Persiani, the daughter +of the hunchback tenor, Tacchinardi, who through her singing did more +than any other artist to make the music of Donizetti popular throughout +Europe--these and a number of other names might be mentioned to show +that Italy was now the fountain head of song, as in the Renaissance it +had been the home of the other fine arts. + +This account of the triumphs of Italian women upon the continental stage +would be wholly incomplete without some reference to the incomparable +_danseuse_ La Taglioni, who will always occupy an important place in the +annals of Terpsichore. Without great personal charm, her success was due +to her wonderful skill, which was the result of the mercilessly severe +training that she had received from her father, Filippo Taglioni, who +was a ballet master of some repute. Born at Stockholm, where her father +was employed at the Royal Opera, she made her début at Vienna, where she +created an immediate sensation. Hitherto ballet dancing had been +somewhat realistic and voluptuous, as illustrated by the performances of +the celebrated Madame Vestris, but La Taglioni put poetry and +imagination into her work, which was more ideal in character, and her +supremacy was soon unquestioned. Among her most remarkable performances +was the dancing of the _Tyrolienne_ in _Guillaume Tell_, and of the _pas +de fascination_ in _Robert le Diable_. In this mid-century period +dancing occupied a far more important place in opera than it has since, +but with the retirement of La Taglioni, in 1845, the era of grand +ballets came practically to an end. About her work there seems to have +been a subtle charm which no other modern _danseuse_ has ever possessed, +and her admirers were to be found in all ranks of society. Balzac often +mentions her, and Thackeray says in _The Newcomes_ that the young men +of the epoch "will never see anything so graceful as Taglioni in _La +Sylphide_." + +With the final accomplishment of Italian unity and the establishment of +the court at Rome, there began a new life for the whole country, wherein +the position of the ruling family was decidedly difficult. At the outset +there was the opposition of the Vatican, for the pope was unwilling to +accept the inevitable and relinquish his temporal power with good grace; +and there was the greater problem, perhaps, of moulding into one +nationality the various peoples of the peninsula. Neapolitans and +Milanese, Venetians and Romans, were all so many different races, so far +as their history and traditions were concerned, and the task of making +them all Italians--which had been put upon the house of Savoy--was +fraught with much danger. It is too early yet to know with what complete +success this work will be crowned, but it may be safely said that Queen +Margharita, wife of Humbert I., did much to bring about that general +spirit of good will which has thus far been characteristic of united +Italy. Owing to the peculiar conditions of the situation, and the strong +local spirit which still endures everywhere, it was soon found that all +Italy would be slow in coming to the court at Rome, and so the court +decided to go to the country. Royal villas are scattered through the +different provinces, and it is customary for the king and his suite to +visit them with some frequency. During all this perambulating court +life, Queen Margharita became a popular favorite, in no less degree than +the king, and their democratic ways soon gained the love and esteem of +the people in general. The following incident will show to what extent +the queen was interested in the welfare of her subjects and what she was +able to accomplish by means of her ready wit. Certain towns along the +coast had become very prosperous through the manufacture of coral +ornaments of various kinds, and large numbers of women were given +lucrative employment in this work until, slowly, coral began to go out +of fashion, and then the industry commenced to diminish in importance. +It became, in fact, practically extinct, and so great was the misery +caused by the lack of work that the attention of the queen was called to +this pitiful situation. Instantly, by personal gifts, she relieved the +pressure of the moment, and then by deliberately wearing coral ornaments +in a most conspicuous way she restored their popularity and at the same +time brought back prosperity to the stricken villages. Since the death +of King Humbert, Margharita has naturally lived somewhat more in +retirement, but she has ever shown herself to be most eager to do +everything for her people and especially for the women of Italy. Much +progress in educational affairs has been brought about through her +influence; and to show her interest in the movement for the physical +training of women, which is slowly taking form, she has recently joined +an Alpine club, and has done not a little mountain climbing in spite of +the fact that she is no longer in the first bloom of youth. + +The present queen, Helena of Montenegro, is beginning to enjoy the same +popularity, and there is every reason to believe that her reign will +continue, in a most worthy way, the traditions left by her predecessor. +The conditions attending the marriage of the heir apparent when he was +yet the Prince of Naples were such indeed as to win the sympathy and +approval of the whole nation. Before this marriage, Crispi, the Italian +premier, had tried to arrange for the young prince a match which might +have some political significance, and to this end he collected the +photographs of all the eligible princesses of Europe, put them together +in a beautiful album, and told his young master to look them over and +select a wife for himself. The prince gazed at them with but languid +interest, however, for these royal maidens were, most of them, strangers +to him; he finally announced to the astonished minister that he did not +intend to marry until he found a woman he loved! In this resolution he +was not to be shaken, and the Princess Helena, whom he made his wife, he +saw for the first time at the czar's coronation ceremonies at Moscow, +and it was a simple case of love at first sight. Such simplicity and +sincerity as are apparent in this real affection of the king and queen +for each other cannot fail to have a widespread influence. + +The modern Italian woman is not an easy person to describe, as it would +be difficult to find one who might serve as a type for all the rest. In +general, it may be said that they are not so well educated as the women +in many other countries, and that so long as a woman is devout, and at +the same time domestic in her tastes, she is considered to possess the +most essential requisites of character and attainment. The women of the +peasant class work in the fields with the men; in the towns and cities +women help in their husbands' shops, as in France, and while they may +not always possess the energy and business skill which characterize the +French women, they are at least no more indolent and easy-going than +their male companions. The women of the nobility are often less educated +than their plebeian sisters, and for the most part lead a very narrow +and petty existence, which produces little but vanity and selfishness +and discontent. There are exceptions, however, and here and there may be +seen a gentlewoman who has studied and travelled, and made herself not +only a social but also an intellectual leader of distinction. + +From a legal standpoint, the position of women differs in the various +provinces, for, while the written law may be the same throughout the +kingdom, local customs are often widely divergent. Villari, in his +recent book on Italian life, says that a woman's property is guaranteed +to her by law from any abuse on her husband's part; she has equal rights +of inheritance with her brothers, if her parents have made no will; and +there are few cases in which her rights are inferior to those of her +male relatives. Also, the woman is considered the natural and legal +guardian of her children, after the death of her husband. In spite of +this legal equality, the old idea of woman's inferior position still +crops out, and it is noticeable that a father, in bequeathing his +property, rarely leaves it to his daughters, but rather to his sons, and +often to the eldest son alone, as in the old feudal days. Social +conventions are not unlike those of other southern countries. For the +majority of women marriage is the one aim in life, and an unmarried +woman is shown little consideration and is the butt of much ridicule. In +the northern part of Italy, women are gaining a certain amount of +liberty in these latter days, and young girls of the better class may, +without causing much comment, go upon the street unattended. In the +south, however, the position of women is very different, and they are +still regarded in much the same way as are the women of Oriental +countries. The long years of Saracen rule are responsible for this +condition, which makes the woman little more than the slave of her +husband. It is said that in some country districts it is the custom for +the husband to lock his wife in the house whenever he goes from home, +and the usage is so well established that if the ceremony is omitted the +woman is inclined to think that some slight is intended. + +With regard to the education of women, the law makes no distinction +between the sexes, and practically all schools, classical and technical, +under government control, and the universities, are open to both men +and women. Special schools, both public and private, have been +established exclusively for women, but they are not the rule. With +regard to matters of attendance, statistics show that the proportion of +women is larger in the universities than in the preparatory schools. As +yet, the legal profession is not open to women practitioners, but many +have pursued the study of medicine, and there are several who enjoy a +large and lucrative practice. With all these advantages, the ordinary +woman in Italy to-day rarely possesses what we would call an ordinary +education, and there is absolutely no public opinion in favor of it. +There are frequent bluestockings, it is true, but they have no influence +with the public, and are showing themselves entirely ineffectual in +forcing public opinion in this regard. + +Though the great singers seem to come from Germany in these modern days, +Italy has held a distinguished place upon the boards for the last +half-century by reason of its great tragic actresses, Adelaide Ristori +and Eleonora Duse. Ristori was beginning her career in the fifties when +she went to Paris, where the great Rachel was in the very midst of her +triumph; and there in the French capital, in the very face of bitter +rivalry, she was able to prove her ability and make a name for herself. +Later, in the United States she met with a most flattering reception, +and for a season played with Edwin Booth in the Shakespearean +répertoire. Duse first came into public notice about 1895, when her +wonderful emotional power at once caused critics to compare her to +Bernhardt, and not always to the advantage of the great French +tragédienne. At one period her name became linked most unpleasantly with +that of the young Italian realist Gabriele d'Annunzio. + +In modern Italian literature two women stand out conspicuously--Matilda +Serao and Ada Negri. The Signora Serao, who began life as a journalist, +is to-day the foremost woman writer of fiction in Italy, and her novels, +which are almost without exception devoted to the delineation of +Neapolitan life, are quite graphic and interesting, though her literary +taste is not always good and she sometimes lapses into the commonplace +and the vulgar. Also, she inclines somewhat toward the melodramatic, +and, like many of her brothers in literature, she is far from free from +what may best be termed "cheap sentiment." Ada Negri, who started in her +career as a modest school teacher in Lombardy, is a lyric poet of no +mean ability. She has taken up the cudgel for the poor and the weak and +the oppressed, and so thorough and genuine are her appreciation and +understanding of the life of the people, that she seems to have touched +many hearts. Singing as she does of the hard lot of the poor, and of the +many struggles of life, it is appropriate that the two volumes of her +verses which have appeared up to this time should bear the titles +_Fatalità_ and _Tempeste_. + +Many other women have acquired honored positions in literature, and +woman's increased activity and prominence in all intellectual branches +is a condition which may well excite wonder. While from many points of +view unfortunately backward, the women of Italy are beginning to realize +their more serious possibilities, and it is safe to say that the more +advanced ideas regarding woman's work and her position in society, which +come as the inevitable consequence of modern civilization and education, +will soon bear fruit here as in other parts of the continent. + + + + +Part Second + +Spanish Women + + + + +Chapter XII + +The Condition of Spain before the Moorish Invasion + + +To one whose fancy roves to Spain in his dream of fair women there comes +at once the picture of a dark-eyed beauty gazing out discreetly from +behind her lattice window, listening to the tinkling sound of her +lover's mandolin, and sighing at the ardor of his passion; or again, she +may be going abroad, with lace mantilla about her shapely head, armed +with her fan,--that article of comfort and coquetry, as it has been +called,--which is at once a shield and an allurement as wielded by her +deft fingers. With the thought of Spain there comes also the snap of the +castanets and the flash of bright-colored skirts as they move in time to +the _tarantella_. All in all, it is the poet's land of beauty and +pleasure, music and the dance, with _Dolce far niente_ as its motto, +rose-entwined. + +Free from the poet's spell, however, and under the guidance of the +sterner muse of history, this picture of sweet content vanishes for a +time as the more rugged outlines of another and an earlier age attract +our attention. Fact and conjecture are somewhat intermingled as they +concern the early history of Spain, but enough is known to give us a +fairly clear idea of the general condition of the country. The original +inhabitants of the peninsula--the Iberians--antedate authentic +historical records, but some centuries before the Christian era it is +certain that there was a Celtic invasion from the North which resulted +in a mingling of these two races and the appearance of the Celtiberians. +The life of these early inhabitants was rude and filled with privations, +but they were brave and hardy, having no fear of pain or danger, and +possessed by the love of liberty. In this primitive society the +occupations of the men were almost exclusively those connected with the +pursuit of war, and the wives and mothers were given a large measure of +domestic responsibility and were treated with great respect. To them was +intrusted not only the education of the younger children, but the care +of the land as well, and there is nothing to show that they failed in +either of these duties. They were more than good mothers and good +husbandmen, however, for more than once, in case of need, these early +Spanish women donned armor and fought side by side with their husbands +and brothers, sword or lance in hand, nothing daunted by the fierceness +of the struggle and always giving a good account of themselves in the +thick of the battle. + +Hannibal's wife was a woman of Spain, it is true, but it is to her less +eminent sisters that we must turn in order to discover the most +conspicuous cases of feminine bravery and heroism, which are accompanied +in almost every instance by a similar record for the men, as the lot of +men and women was cast along the same lines in those days, and the +national traits are characteristic of either sex. A most fervid +patriotism was inbred in these people, and throughout all the long years +of Roman conquest and depredation these native Celtiberians, men and +women, proved time and time again that they knew the full significance +of the Latin phrase which came from the lips of their conquerors--_Dulce +et decorum est pro patria mori_ [It is sweet and glorious to die for +one's country]. When Hannibal essayed to capture the stronghold of +Saguntum, a fortified city on the eastern coast of Spain, and probably +of Phoenician origin, he found himself confronted by no easy task. On +account of his early residence in Spain and his familiarity with the +people and the country, he had found its conquest an affair of no great +difficulty for the most part, but here at Saguntum all the conditions +were changed. The resistance was most stubborn, in spite of the fact +that the besieging force consisted of one hundred and fifty thousand +men. Hannibal himself was wounded while fighting under the walls; and +when the end came, the fall of Saguntum was due to famine rather than to +the force of arms. Then the Saguntines, men, women, and children, were +of the opinion that surrender was ignoble, and they all preferred death +at the hands of the enemy to any timorous act of submission. + +Some thirteen years later, in B. C. 206, the Romans, who were now making +a systematic endeavor to subdue the whole country, laid siege to Ataspa; +and although the details of the investment of the city are far from +complete, the imperfect records of the event show that the force of the +enemy was so overwhelming that the inhabitants of the ill-fated city saw +at once the futility of a prolonged resistance and resolved to do or die +without delay. Accordingly, a small guard was left behind to kill the +women and children and set fire to the town, and the rest of the doughty +little garrison, with banners waving and bugles sounding in defiance, +sallied forth from the city gates, and each man went to his death with +his face to the enemy. The thrilling tale of the final capture of the +city of Numantia by Scipio Africanus furnishes but further proof of this +indomitable courage of the early Spaniards. After a siege and blockade +of sixteen months, the Numantians, threatened by famine, and unable to +secure terms of honorable capitulation, decided that death was better +than the horrors of Roman slavery; and so they killed each other in +their patriotic zeal, wives and daughters perishing at the hands of +their fathers and their husbands, and the last man, after setting fire +to the town, threw himself into the flames. When the Roman conquerors +marched through the stricken city they could discover nothing but "ruin, +blood, solitude, and horror." By B. C. 72 practically all of Spain had +submitted to the Romans, but Pompey found to his surprise that the old +Spanish spirit was not entirely dead when he attempted to take +possession of the town of Calahorra on the Ebro. The details of the +affair almost pass belief. As usual, the defence was dogged; and when +the town was threatened with famine, it is said that the men not only +killed the women and children, but actually salted their flesh and +stored it for future consumption! This was not mere savagery, it was +fanatic devotion to a patriotic principle, and there is naught to show +that the deed was done under protest from the victims. + +The superior organization of the Romans was bound to conquer, however, +in the end, and by the time of Julius Cæsar the whole country had been +subjected. This gradual supremacy of the Romans was accompanied by a +gradual dying out of those early, sturdy virtues which had so marked the +Spanish people. Life in that pre-Christian era had been rude and +uncouth; there was little education or refinement; but there was a +certain rugged nobility of character which cannot but command our +admiration. The general manners and customs of the time are, for the +most part, marked by great decency and purity; women justly merited the +respect which was shown them, and the family was recognized as a +necessary factor in national strength. As an interesting bit of +information which will show, indirectly at least, that women were held +in high regard, it may be noted that a number of old coins have been +found, coming from this early day, which bear upon one side a woman's +head. + +The prosperity which came with the advent of the Romans was the result, +in great part, of the unexampled peace which the whole peninsula now +enjoyed. The mines were worked, the olive groves yielded a rich harvest +of oil, the fields were tilled and much Spanish wheat was sent abroad, +and, in everything but the mining, the women worked side by side with +the men. Flax had been brought to Spain long before by the +Phoenicians, and no special attention had been given to its culture; +but now matters were quite changed, and the finest linen to be found in +all the Western world came from the dexterous hands of the Spanish +women. This time of peace and comfort cannot be considered as an unmixed +blessing, however; for with the decline of war the sterner virtues +languished, and much of that primitive simplicity of an earlier day lost +its freshness and naïveté and gave way to the subtle vices and corrupt +influences which never failed to follow in the wake of Latin conquest. +The strength and virility of the nation had been sapped by the Romans, +as thousands of Spaniards were forced into the Roman legions and forced +to fight their oppressors' battles in many distant lands, and very few +of them came home even to die. With this enormous depletion of the male +population, it was but natural that there should be a certain mixture of +races which was not always an aid to public morals. Marriage between +Roman citizens and the women of the so-called barbarian nations was +rarely recognized by law; many of the Spanish women, as prisoners of +war, were sold into slavery; and with such a social system imposed by +the conquerors, it is easy to see that contamination was inevitable. + +With the gradual decay of Roman power, the colonial dependencies of this +great empire were more and more allowed to fall into the almost absolute +control of unscrupulous governors, who did not miss an occasion to levy +extortionate taxes and manage everything in their own interests. As the +natural result of the raids of the barbarian hordes--the Alans, the +Suevians, the Vandals, and the Goths--Spain was losing all that +semblance of national unity which it had acquired under Roman rule, and +was slowly resolving itself into its primitive autonomous towns. +Finally, Euric the Goth, who had founded a strong government in what is +now southern France, went south of the Pyrenees in the last part of the +fifth century, defeated the Roman garrison at Tarragona, and succeeded +in making a treaty with the emperor, whereby he was to rule all Spain +with the exception of the Suevian territory in the northwest. Now begins +that third process of amalgamation which was to aid in the further +evolution of the national type. First, the native Iberians were blended +with the early Celtic invaders to form the Celtiberian stock, then came +the period of Roman control, to say nothing of the temporary +Carthaginian occupancy, and now, finally, on the ruins of this Roman +province, there rose a Gothic kingdom of power and might. The +foundations of Roman social life were already tottering, for it had been +established from the beginning upon the notion of family headship, and +the individual had no natural rights which the government was bound to +respect, and, all in all, it was little calculated to inspire the esteem +and confidence of the proud Spaniard, who prized his personal liberty +above all else. In literature and in art Roman influences were dominant +and permanent, but, as Martin Hume says: "The centralizing governmental +traditions which the Roman system had grafted upon the primitive town +and village government of the Celtiberians had struck so little root in +Spain during six centuries, that long before the last legionaries left +the country the centralized government had fallen away, and the towns +with their assembly of all free citizens survived with but little +alteration from the pre-Roman period." + +This being the case when the Goths appeared, it was easy for them to +start out afresh on their own lines, and all the more so as many of +their governmental ideas were peculiarly adapted to the Spanish +temperament. The Goths at the time of their appearance in Spain were no +longer barbarians, as their long contact with Rome had given them ample +opportunity for education, and they deserve to be considered as +disseminators of civilization. Their easy conquest of Spain can then be +accounted for in two ways: first, there was not sufficient warlike +spirit in the country to successfully oppose them; secondly, they were +hailed as liberators rather than as conquerors, because at their coming +the real barbarians, who were still threatening the country, were forced +to leave. The central idea of the Gothic social system, which was soon +established in all parts of the country, was its recognition of the +independence of the individual, and especially of the women of the +family. The head of the household did not consider himself as the sole +possessor of all rights and privileges; the women and children were +expected to do their share of fighting the enemy, and were given their +share of food and plunder in all equity. The equality of the wife with +her husband was strictly enjoined, not only in the marriage ceremony, +but also by law, which gave her full control of her own property and a +half-interest in the possessions held by them both in common. + +Alaric II. caused to be published in 506 the code of laws which had been +compiled by King Euric, but which was called the _Breviarium +Alaricianium_, wherein, among various other matters, the rights of women +are especially enforced. This code was intended only for the use of the +Goths, who took position at once as a ruling and noble race, and the +rest of the population was still governed by the old Roman code. For +almost a hundred and fifty years this double system of legal procedure +was maintained, and then its many disadvantages became so evident that a +vigorous king sought to remedy the tottering fortunes of the Gothic +realm by promulgating a single code, to which all should be subject and +which should represent the better features of the two codes hitherto in +vogue. Chindaswinth, who ruled from 642 to 654, was responsible for this +new departure; and his son Recceswinth, who followed him upon the +throne, was the first to administer the revised code, which is known as +the _Lex Visigothorum_. Although the document is but an adaptation of +the Roman law to the special needs of the country from the standpoint of +Christianity, it shows at the same time the strong influence of the +social traditions of the Goths, and especially with reference to its +treatment of women. + +It is evident from a perusal of these laws that the Goths had high +ideals of family life, and that it was their most earnest endeavor to +maintain, by means of legal enactment, a rather unusual state of social +purity. Women were held in high esteem and occupied a most respected and +influential position, and Cæsar's wife was their common model. The moral +condition of the Romanized Spaniards fell far short of the Gothic +standards, however, and it is evident that the new code endeavored to +correct the numerous social evils which then afflicted the country. The +loose habits of the Romans had been followed all too quickly, and the +custom of keeping many slaves in a household had led to a domestic +promiscuity which was appalling in some instances, so that the Gothic +desire for reform is easily explained. It is interesting to note in this +connection that the best account to be found of the moral status of the +whole people at this time is contained by implication in the list of +things which they are forbidden by law to do. So, the _Lex Visigothorum_ +is not only a tribute to the moral sense of its promulgators, but at the +same time a storehouse of information with regard to a rather obscure +period in Spanish history. + +All things considered, one of the most startling things in the new code +was a severe statute forbidding public prostitutes, for it is somewhat +difficult to believe that the moral tone of society at that time would +warrant so stringent a measure. A public flogging was prescribed as the +penalty which would be inflicted upon all who failed to obey the +statute, and it is altogether probable that the law was administered +with the same Puritanic rigor which had brought it into existence. Other +provisions there were, animated by this same spirit, which were levelled +at the social evils incident to the practice of holding slaves. A woman +who had intrigued with her own slave or who wished to marry him was +condemned to death in the most summary fashion; and even if the man were +a freedman, the penalty was just the same. What a glimpse this gives us +of the life of the time, when the slaves were often more charming and +more intelligent than their rough masters, and how clear it is that the +Goths considered a household conducted with decency and with order as an +important element in national prosperity and well-being! + +As one might naturally expect, the laws relating to the subject of +marriage and divorce are equally severe, even when the contracting +parties belong to the same class in society. The equality between wife +and husband was again provided for, as it had been in the earlier code, +and the woman was again given full control of her own property and a +half-interest in the things which had been common property. Once +married, divorce was forbidden except in the case of adultery on the +woman's part; and though it is clear to see that this was not equal +justice for both man and wife, yet such was the fact. When infidelity +was proved, the law provided that the wife and her paramour should be +delivered up to the tender mercies of the injured husband, who had the +right to punish them according to his own inclination. He was given the +power of life and death even, under these circumstances, and too often +it is to be feared that the punishment became a bloody revenge +sanctioned by law. Marriage between Jews and Christians had long been +forbidden, as it had been discovered by experience that such a union was +bound to lead to proselyting in one form or another; and the death +penalty was inflicted upon all who were not content to abide by the +statute. Marriage between Goths and Romans had been legalized in 652, +but for many years before that time the two races had been kept apart; +for the Goths, as the ruling race, considered it prejudicial to their +interests to ally themselves in this way with their subjects. + +Woman's place in the criminal procedure of the time was unique. It +appears that the punishment inflicted for any given crime depended not +so much upon the importance of the offence as upon the importance of the +criminal, and that almost every injury might be atoned for by the +payment of a certain sum of money, the amount depending upon the rank of +the person making the payment. Such money payments, wherever a woman was +involved, were regulated according to the following scale of values: +from her birth to the age of fifteen, she was valued at only one-half +the price of a man of her own class; from fifteen to twenty, she was +considered of equal value; from twenty to forty, she was rated as worth +one-sixth less than a man; and after forty, at even less than half. +Inasmuch as both men and women were amenable to the same laws with but +this difference in the amount of the penalty in any given case, it would +appear that women were recognized to possess a smaller money-earning +power than the men; and such was undoubtedly the case, in spite of the +fact that both men and women seemed to share alike the various daily +tasks in the earlier and simpler days of Gothic rule in Spain. Such +participation on the part of the women was by no means common among the +Romans, and this fact, together with the spread of slavery, did much to +put the women in this secondary position, so far as ability to work was +concerned. + +With all this apparent equality in fact and in the eyes of the law, it +is somewhat doubtful whether or not the wives and mothers really enjoyed +a high degree of personal liberty. Their legal rights were clearly +defined, but it is certain that they were looked upon as inferior +beings. The prevalent customs with regard to the marriage dower show in +no uncertain fashion that the wife was considered to a certain extent as +the chattel and property of her husband; for a woman could not marry +without a dower, but it was paid not by but to her parents, and by her +future husband. A marriage of that description may be likened to the +sale of a bill of goods. In further proof of this dependent position of +the women, and to show the care which was taken to protect them from +contamination of any kind, one of the statutes regulating the practice +of medicine presents certain interesting features. This law prohibited +surgeons from bleeding any freewoman except in the presence of her +husband, her nearest relative, or at least of some properly appointed +witness. A Salic law dating from about the same period imposed a fine of +fifteen pieces of gold upon anyone who should improperly press a +woman's hand, but there seems to be nothing to show that the Goths +considered legislation upon this important point necessary. Even under +these conditions the physician's position was somewhat precarious, as it +was provided that in case he should withdraw enough of the patient's +blood to cause death, he became the slave of the patient's heir at law! + +Spain was like the greater part of the rest of Europe at this time with +regard to its intellectual atmosphere; Christianity and Roman +civilization had not yet succeeded in stamping out the old pagan beliefs +of the early inhabitants, and superstition and ignorance were for a long +time characteristic traits of the majority of the people. The air was +peopled with demons, the devil himself was no infrequent visitor, +witches and fortune tellers were not without influence, and stealthily, +by night, many mystic rites were celebrated. Many of the Christian +beliefs of the time are likewise the result of ignorance and +superstition, but at that time, naturally, only the pagan ideas were +condemned. Accordingly, while the law of the Goths recognized trial by +ordeal, wherein God is summoned to bear miraculous witness in favor of +the innocent, the same law condemned belief in witchcraft! The favorite +ordeal among the Goths was trial by red-hot iron. The Church took charge +of this ceremony, which was accompanied by a most solemn ritual, and all +this was legal and religious and approved by the highest authorities! +But the poor witches had to go! It was charged that they were able to +produce storm and ruin by means of their incantations, that they offered +nightly sacrifices to devils, and that in general they were in league +with the powers of darkness and productive of much disorder. +Furthermore, soothsayers were not to be consulted concerning the death +of a king; and any freeman disobeying this edict was soundly flogged, +lost his property by confiscation, and was condemned to perpetual +servitude. These mysterious and redoubtable old women who gathered +simples upon the mountain side and dealt in the black art had formerly +been very numerous, and, although they have always continued to exist in +Spain, their number was much diminished by means of the enforcement of +the new law. + +In addition to the various social and political questions which were +demanding settlement at this time, there was a matter of ecclesiastical +difference which caused great trouble and confusion. The Goths, though +Christians, belonged to the Arian branch of the Church, while the +Spaniards were firm believers in the Athanasian or Latin form of +Christianity, and the struggle for supremacy between the two went on for +many years before either side was willing to submit. Near the beginning +of the sixth century, Clothilda, daughter of the Frankish king, Clovis, +was married to Amalaric, the Gothic king, whose capital was then in the +old city of Narbonne. Political advantages were supposed to come from +this international alliance, but the results were quite to the contrary. +The queen was an Athanasian, and the king an Arian Catholic, and neither +was willing to endure the heresy of the other. Amalaric used his most +persuasive arts in his attempts to win over his wife to the Gothic point +of view, but his endeavor was in vain, and she remained obstinately true +to the God of her fathers. Finally, irritated beyond measure, the king +ordered that Clothilda should no longer be allowed to make public +profession of her religion, and the result was a merry war which led to +the defeat and final death of the Arian sovereign. Late in this same +sixth century there was in Spain another Frankish queen, who not only +held steadfastly to her own faith, but was the indirect means whereby +all the country was induced to abandon the Arian creed. The native +Catholic clergy, under the leadership of Leander, a most noted +churchman, and Bishop of Seville, had long urged the necessity of such a +change, but the Goths were unwilling to submit; and so matters stood +until Prince Hermenegild, urged on by Leander, and most of all by his +wife Ingunda, led a revolt against his father, King Leovgild. The revolt +was not a success, but the star of the Athanasian party was rising +rapidly, and the open stand of the queen for the Latin doctrines gave +great impetus and power to the whole movement. The triumph was complete +when Leovgild's son and heir, Recared, saw that further opposition was +useless and publicly announced his conversion to the faith of Rome. + +In the early history of the Church in Spain there are many interesting +references to women which are not generally known, but which reveal, on +the whole, a condition of affairs similar to that which was to be found +in other parts of Europe at the same time. Monasteries were probably +unknown in the peninsula before the middle of the sixth century, but +from a very early day it is certain that women as well as men were +taking vows of perpetual chastity and devoting themselves to a life of +holy works. Early in the fourth century the Council of Elvira prescribed +penalties for professed nuns who might desire to reënter the world, and +the Council of Saragossa, in 380, declared that no virgin should be +allowed to devote herself to a religious life until she had reached the +mature age of forty years. That same Council of Elvira was the first in +the history of the Church to ordain the celibacy of the secular clergy, +and its thirty-third canon forbade the bishops, priests, and deacons of +the peninsula to live as husbands with their wives. In the year 591, the +first Synod of Toledo, over which Bishop Leander presided, enacted +various canons which give some interesting sidelights on the times. It +appears that ecclesiastics had already been forbidden to keep women +servants in their houses, but the rule was so often disregarded that it +was enacted that in the future, as a punishment for such intractable +churchmen, their servants should be sold as slaves and the proceeds +handed over to some charitable organization. In just what way this +punishment was to affect the clergy, beyond causing them temporary +annoyance, it is difficult to understand, but there is no doubt as to +the fact. + +In all of the seven centuries preceding the Moorish conquest of Spain +there had been some little progress, so far as the position of women was +concerned, but it cannot be said that the advance had been great. The +original Gothic ideas on this subject had been far superior to those +held by the Romans, but the rigor of the old ideas lost force in time, +and, if the accounts of the Church historians be true, the last Goths to +wield the sceptre were so corrupt and led such abandoned lives that God, +in his vengeance, sent the Mohammedan horde upon them. In all these +shifting times the conditions of life were such that few women were able +to take any prominent part in public affairs; or if they did, the +imperfect records of the epoch fail to make mention of it. At intervals +there were queens, like Ingunda, possessed of a strong and decided +character and ready to take a part in the control of affairs, but they +were the exception and not the rule, as the education of women was so +very limited that few of them knew enough to see beyond a very narrow +horizon. Probably the most enlightened woman in all this period was the +nun Florentina, sister of Bishop Leander of Seville, who was far-famed +for her good works. At the time of her death in 603, she had risen to +such distinction on account of her character and her ability that she +was made the general director of a system of over forty convents, which +were under her continual inspection and control. Such, in brief, is her +story; further details are wanting, but even this is enough to impress +us with the fact that she must have been a great woman and +representative of all that was good and noble in her day. + + + + +Chapter XIII + +Women among the Moors + + +The closing years of Gothic rule in Spain, and the various causes which +finally led to the Moorish invasion, are somewhat involved in legend and +mystery. But in spite of a scepticism which has been openly expressed by +some authors, it seems more than probable that the fabled Rodrigo, from +his capital at Toledo, actually ruled over Spain in the year 709, and +that he was, directly or indirectly, the cause of the invasion of the +Moors. According to the commonly accepted story, the moral condition of +Spain at the beginning of the eighth century was most deplorable. The +Goths had lost that reputation for honesty and chastity which in the +earlier days of their power had distinguished them from the Romans. +Rodrigo, "the last of the Goths," lived a life of such flagrant +profligacy that the coming of the Moors was but just punishment for all +his sins. As Miss Yonge has remarked, "the fall of Gothic Spain was one +of the disasters that served to justify the saying that all great +catastrophes are caused by women." The woman in the present instance was +Florinda, often called La Cava, reputed to be the daughter of Count +Julian, commander of the south of Spain and in charge of the fortress of +Ceuta. Although Rodrigo already possessed a wife, Egilona, who was a +brilliant, able, and beautiful woman, he was a man of little moral force +and had a roving eye and lusty passions. Seeing Florinda once upon a +time, he coveted her, succeeded in winning her affections, and was not +content until he had betrayed her confidence and brought dishonor upon +her and her father. Count Julian, filled with a righteous anger at this +unwarranted act on the part of his liege lord, openly revolted, called +in the Moors, and unwittingly opened his country to an invader who would +be slow to leave. The story is told in the old ballad, as follows: + + "Long had the crimes of Spain cried out to Heaven: + At length the measure of offence was full. + Count Julian called the invader ... + ...Mad to wreak + His vengeance for his deeply injured child + On Roderick's head, an evil hour for Spain, + For that unhappy daughter, and himself. + Desperate apostate, on the Moors he called, + And, like a cloud of locusts, whom the wind + Wafts from the plains of wasted Africa, + The Mussulman upon Iberia's shores + Descends. A countless multitude they came: + Syrian, Moor, Saracen, Greek renegade, + Persian, and Copt, and Latin, in one band + Of erring faith conjoined, strong in the youth + And heat of zeal, a dreadful brotherhood." + +_La Cava_, the name by which Florinda has been called ever since by the +Spaniards, means "the wicked one," and the general theory has been that, +in spite of her betrayed innocence, she has been held in execration for +all that followed. Others, however, have pointed out the discrepancy +between the generally acknowledged purity of character of Florinda and +the meaning of _La Cava_, and it is their opinion that Count Julian's +daughter is merely legendary, and that _La Cava_ refers in some +allegorical way to the dissolute and voluptuous life which Rodrigo had +been leading and which was in itself a good and sufficient reason for +all the misfortunes which were to follow. + +While all is not clear as to the reason for the invitation to come to +Spain, there is no cause to doubt that it was accepted in a most hearty +manner. Modern historians do not hesitate to say that the Catholic +churchmen, not realizing the danger, invited the Moslems to aid them in +repressing a revolt among the Gothic nobles. However the case may have +been, Mousa, the Berber chieftain, sent his bravest sheik, Tarik, with a +goodly following, to lead the invasion. The white-turbaned warriors +crossed the strait between what had always been called the Pillars of +Hercules, and landed upon that great rock which has ever since borne +that leader's name, Gebel-al-Tarik--Gibraltar--the "rock of Tarik." +Rodrigo, with an army of about eighty thousand men, which he had hastily +gathered together, hastened to meet the invaders, and the two armies met +on the banks of the Guadelete. Egilona, Roderick's wife, was left with a +safe guard in the strongly fortified town of Meriba, while the "last of +the Goths," in shining armor and wearing a helmet adorned with horns of +gold, such as may be seen upon old Gothic coins, fought vainly against +the terrible horsemen of the deserts. _La bataille est merveillose e +pesant_, to quote the words of the _Song of Roland_, describing that +other battle, between the Franks and the Moors, some sixty-five years +later in the fatal pass of Roncesvalles; the Goths were overwhelmingly +defeated, and Rodrigo disappeared in a most mysterious way, leaving his +crown and sceptre upon the river bank. Mousa, with another invading +force, had followed close upon the heels of Tarik, and he it was who +pushed on to Meriba and laid siege to the town, knowing full well that +the queen was within the gates, while Tarik, by a series of easy +conquests, made his way to Toledo. When the siege came to a close and +the Berbers entered the fortifications, they were amazed at the richness +and vast amount of treasure which fell into their hands. The jewel +caskets of Egilona in particular excited their wonder and admiration, +and so many chains of gold and precious stones did they find among her +possessions that she was straightway named "the Mother of Necklaces." +When the spoils of battle were divided, the fair captive queen fell to +the lot of Mousa's son, Abdul Aziz, who had been made ruler over the +newly conquered territory. The young Moorish prince was soon a slave to +the charms of Egilona, and so great did his love for her become that he +married her, with the promise that he would always regard her as queen +and would never marry again; he never broke that promise. Seville was +his capital, and there his power was so great that the kalif in +Damascus, fearing that he might attempt to rule independently, sent out +men to take his life. These assassins found him so beloved by his +soldiers that they feared to attack him until they had circulated the +rumor that Egilona was about to convert him to the Christian faith and +that he would soon wear a crown upon his head, like any Christian king. +After this story had been spread abroad, the kalif's men followed Aziz +to a small mosque, where he went sometimes to pray, cut off his head, +and showed it in the public place, with the order for his death. + +The Goths were driven to the north and west of the peninsula, while the +Moors, in the rich country to the south and east, strengthened their +position and laid the foundations for that empire which was to have such +a long and brilliant history, in the middle of the eighth century the +kalif at Damascus had lost his power to so great an extent that the seat +of government was transferred to Cordova, where Abd-el-Rhaman I. reigned +for more than a quarter of a century as the first kalif of the Moslem +Church resident in Spain. On the borderland there was continual fighting +between the Moors and the Christians, and many are the legends which +tell of this spirited epoch. The Christians had rallied about the +standards of various leaders in the hill countries, and they fought +among themselves quite as much as with the Moslem foe. There are even +stories to the effect that Christian leaders made alliances with the +Moors for more successful forays upon their Christian neighbors, and +there are also legends of shameful peace which was bought at the price +of Christian tribute. Among all these tales of tribute, that which has +most fired the national spirit and inspired the ballad writers is the +story of the tribute of a hundred Christian maidens, which was paid by +King Ramiro. The indignation of the people at this unworthy act and the +reproaches of the Spanish women, who preferred the hardships of war to +this cowardly repose, are well expressed in the following verses from +the ballad which sings of the cessation of the tribute, wherein a +Spanish damsel addresses the king: + + "I know not if I'm bounden to call thee by the name + Of Christian, Don Ramiro, for though thou dost not claim + A heathen realm's allegiance, a heathen sure thou art-- + Beneath a Spaniard's mantle thou hid'st a Moorish heart. + + "For he who gives the Moslem king a hundred maids of Spain, + Each year when in its season the day comes round again, + If he be not a heathen, he swells the heathen's train: + 'Twere better burn a kingdom than suffer such disdain. + + "And if 'tis fear of battle that makes ye bow so low, + And suffer such dishonor from God our Savior's foe, + I pray you, sirs, take warning, ye'll have as good a fright + If e'er the Spanish damsels arise themselves to right." + +The Moorish conquest had been rapidly made, and generally very little +resistance was offered to the advance of the invaders. The emasculating +influences of the Roman decadence had been at work to such effect that +the sturdy traits of the Goth had disappeared, and there was no real +national spirit or energy sufficient for the national defence. To the +credit of the Moors, it must be said that their conquest was ever marked +by mercy and large-mindedness; and in spite of their absolute power and +their intense religious zeal, they permitted the subdued people to enjoy +many liberties. Chief among them was their right to worship as +Christians, retaining their clergy and their liturgy, which had been +compiled by the Spanish bishops Leander and Ildefonso. Christian zeal, +however, was not satisfied with a state of inaction. Many times a number +of people went to what they considered a glorious martyrdom as the +result of their intemperate denunciations of the Koran and the sons of +the Prophet. Christianity was allowed to exist without hindrance, but +the Moors would not permit criticism of their own faith, and this was +natural enough. Several of these Christian martyrs were women, and their +stubborn love for their religion cannot but excite our sympathy, however +ill advised and unavailing it may have been. The story is told of two +poor young girls, Muñila and Alodia, the children of a Moslem father and +a Christian mother, who had carefully brought them up in her own faith. +These maidens became so beautiful that they were called "roses springing +from thorns." As the story goes, "their father died and their mother +married a less tolerant Moslem, who, finding their faith proof against +his threats, brought them before the Kadi. Splendid marriages were +offered them if they would quit the Christian faith; but they answered +that they knew of no spouse equal to their Lord, no bliss comparable to +what He could bestow: and persuasion and torture alike failed with them, +until they sealed their confession with their lives." The rage for +martyrdom now seemed to grow, and there is a long list of those who went +to death as the result of their voluntary acts. Conspicuous here is the +case of a wealthy young woman named Columba, who left the Moslem +Church, in spite of the entreaties of her family, and entered a convent +at Tabanos. By order of the authorities, the other nuns of the +establishment were taken to Cordova and locked up, that they might not +become violent in their talk and bring destruction upon themselves as +the result of their intemperate acts; and Columba was kept in solitary +confinement, in the hope that she might be induced to abjure her newly +found faith. But she refused to change her belief in any way, and one +day escaped, went at once and reviled Mohammed before the kadi, and went +to her death, as was inevitable, according to the law of the land. + +In the middle of the ninth century, Eulogius, the recently elected +Metropolitan Bishop of Toledo, was considered too zealous and too +uncompromising in his beliefs, and he was soon summoned before the divan +to answer to the charge of participation in the flight and conversion of +a Moslem lady, who had taken the name of Leocritia, under which she was +canonized at a later date. It was said that the woman had become a +Christian through his efforts, and that he had hidden her for a time in +the house of his sister. He was decapitated, and his body was thrown +into the river; and if the legend be true, a white dove flew over it as +it floated down the stream. Leocritia also was put to death. Here, +however, the record of these martyrdoms apparently comes to an end, and +the force of the folly seems to have spent itself. The Mohammedans were +growing more strict all the time in their treatment of the Christians, +but the futility of such self-sought martyrdom was finally becoming +apparent. + +Before the time of these religious disturbances the Moors had not +molested the Christians in any way, and the two nations lived side by +side in rather friendly intercourse. Intermarriages were not +infrequent, and both Moorish and Christian women lived much the same +outward life. Each Moor was allowed four wives by law; and while the +women of his household were compelled to submit to certain restrictions, +their manner of life was far less secluded than that of the average +woman of the modern Orient. They went about veiled up to the eyes, and +were never allowed to eat with the men; but, socially, men and women +mingled together on terms of equality, and their conversations and +common enjoyment of music and poetry were unrestricted. In the most +brilliant period of the kalifate of Cordova,--between the years 888 and +967,--when the Moors were acknowledged to be the most enlightened people +of all Europe, their women were not excluded from participation in +educational pursuits. While few if any of them became the intellectual +equals of the men, many of them learned enough to become helpful +companions for their husbands--and that is not such a bad idea for +women's education, even in these modern days, if the voice of the men is +to be heard in the land. In Seville a lady named Maryam founded a school +for girls, where they were taught science, mathematics, and history, in +addition to the various feminine accomplishments of the time. With +regard to the mysteries of their attire, this subject can best be +treated by a woman who knows whereof she speaks. Miss Yonge, in her +interesting book on the Christians and Moors in Spain, has the following +to say on the subject: "Their dress was much the same as that of the +ladies of North Africa. Full white muslin trousers were tied at the +ankle, and a long, full, white _gilalah_, a mantle of transparent +muslin, covered the tighter vest and jacket, both of brilliant colors, +over which they wore gold chains, necklaces, and bracelets, with strings +of coral, pearl, and amber; while their hair was in little curls, +adorned with jewels and flowers. But all this was concealed by the +thick, muffling, outer veil; they also had horsehair visards through +which they could see without being seen." + +With the growth and consolidation of Moslem power in Spain, and as the +natural result of the great progress in the mechanic arts of all kinds, +life became luxurious and filled with comforts far outside the ken of +the sturdy Spanish patriots, who, from their mountain strongholds, were +still battling against the rule of the infidel. The effect of all this +elegance and refinement was evident in the whole atmosphere of Moorish +society, and the beautiful homes of these wonderful people were filled +with the most rare and costly works of art. An illustration of how +necessary all these luxuries of life finally became to the Mohammedans +is found in the statement that the sheik of a tribe on a pilgrimage to +Mecca carried with him a whole caravan of dependents and slaves. He had +silver ovens in which to bake fresh bread every day, and his camels bore +leathern bags filled with snow that he might drink iced sherbet in the +midst of the desert. A Moorish general carried to his camp an immense +following of women, slaves, musicians, and court poets, and in his +pavilioned tent, on the very eve of a battle, there were often feasting +and dancing and much merriment, just as if he had been in his sumptuous +home at Cordova. + +The Moors were generous and public-spirited, and much given to display. +The marriage feast which was prepared by Almanzor the Invincible, for +his son, in the year 1000, presents a picture of glittering splendor +which has been described more than once. Abd-el-Malek was the son's +name, and he was being married to his own cousin, one of the most +beautiful of the Moorish maidens. The feast took place in the gardens +about Almanzor's beautiful country place, Almeria, where at night the +whole estate was illuminated by means of lamps which were fastened to +every tree and shrub. Musicians, far out upon the lakes, discoursed +sweet music from boats which were hung with silken tapestries, and the +whole night was given over to pleasures. As a reminder of the customs of +the desert tribes, who used to carry off their wives by force, the bride +was placed in a spacious pavilion of white silk, where she was carefully +guarded by her maids in waiting, each armed with a cunningly wrought +wand of ivory and gold. The bridegroom and his attendants came upon them +suddenly, however, brandishing gilt maces, and after a mimic struggle, +where all was mirth and laughter, the guard of love was overcome and the +bride was won. This wedding feast brought joy, not only to those who +actively participated in its pleasures, but also to many of the common +people; for Almanzor gave dowries to a large number of orphan girls, +endowed a large number of schools and colleges, and put new uniforms +upon all the members of his bodyguard. + +With the death of the great Kalif Al Hakem II.--976--the power of Islam +in Spain began slowly to decline. His son and heir, Heschem II., was but +a youth of ten, and the Arabs called him Al Mowayed Bi'llah, "the +Protected by God." Though the law required that the Ruler of the +Faithful should be more than fifteen years old, Heschem was at once +proclaimed kalif, although he was given no share in the government. His +mother, Sobeyah, the Sultana of Cordova, had acquired some experience in +affairs of state during the last few years of her husband's life; now, +to help her in her regency, she appointed as her grand vizier +Mohammed-ben-Abd-Allah, a man of wonderful power and ability and no +other than Almanzor the Invincible, who has already been mentioned. +Almanzor had entered the public service as a court scribe, and it was +there that, by the charm of his manner and the nobility of his bearing, +he first attracted the attention of Sobeyah. The all-powerful sultana +was not slow in yielding to his many graces, and he soon became her +acknowledged favorite and rose to high positions in the state. It was +but natural, then, that Sobeyah should turn to him for aid when her +husband's death was announced. On account of the minority of her son, +there was an attempt on the part of many in the palace to deprive the +sultana of her authority, depose her son, and usurp the office of kalif. +Sobeyah, hard pressed and all but defeated, turned to her lover, +Almanzor, who suppressed the intrigue and brought order out of +confusion. Enjoying as he did the full confidence of the sultana, +Almanzor undertook the entire administration of the kingdom as if he had +been kalif in name as well as in fact, and his success in all his +various undertakings was most wonderful. Heschem, the real kalif, was a +virtual prisoner in his harem, and was encouraged by his guardian and +friends to devote himself entirely to a religious life, leaving all the +cares of state to his mother Sobeyah and to the vizier. Step by step, +Almanzor ascended to a position of such power and authority that the +sultana became jealous of his might and lost her love in an attempt to +regain her authority. In 992, according to Burke, Almanzor used his seal +in place of the royal seal on all official documents. In 993 he assumed +the royal cognomen of Mowayed. Two years later he arrogated to himself, +alone, the title of _saíd_, and in 996 he ventured a step further and +assumed the title of _málik karim_, or king. Then it was that Sobeyah +determined to reassert her power, cause the overthrow of this ambitious +favorite, and rule henceforth in her own name. The officers of the harem +and the various court officials were easily won over to her party; the +young kalif was urged to assert his manhood, declare himself, throw off +the influence of his dreaded guardian, and give active support to the +cause of his mother. The sultana became exultant as victory seemed +assured. Secretly, she summoned one of Almanzor's military rivals from +Africa, that she might have a leader for her forces in the field. The +public treasury was at her disposal, and no stone was left unturned to +secure ultimate success. As the final _coup_, the vizier was banished +from the royal presence and forbidden to enter the palace. But Almanzor +was still the Invincible. Giving no heed to the terms of his banishment, +he made his way into the presence of the kalif; and there, by bold yet +subtle argument, he not only succeeded in regaining the royal favor, but +secured from Heschem a solemn instrument signed with the royal sign +manual, whereby he was empowered to assume the government of the entire +kingdom. This was the same tragic story which was to be acted over again +in the early part of the seventeenth century, in France, when the great +prime minister, the Cardinal Richelieu, his jealous rival, the +queen-mother, and the weak king, Louis XIII., were more than once +engaged in a struggle for power, which ended invariably in the success +of the minister. It is difficult to find a more striking historical +coincidence, and the case is worthy of remark. In his success, Almanzor +showed no hate for his one-time protectress, who had so nearly caused +his ruin, and in his administration of affairs he left her entire +liberty of action. But her last vestige of power had departed, her most +loyal followers had been induced to abandon her cause after the +defection of the kalif himself, and Sobeyah, who had been the most +powerful of all the Moorish sultanas of Cordova, was now forced in +humiliation to withdraw from active participation in worldly affairs and +to spend the few remaining years of her life in strict seclusion in a +lonely cloister. + +In the last part of the eleventh century there were troublous times for +the Moors. For a number of years there had been no strong central power +among them, and the various emirs who were the rulers of the different +parts of the peninsula were so intent upon their own affairs, and so +consumed by greed and selfishness, that the general cause suffered +mightily and the Spanish Christians grew bolder and bolder in their +attacks. Alfonso VI. of Castile was their leader. The danger of total +extinction finally became so great that the emirs were induced to join +forces for their personal safety and to take measures to preserve their +own towns and cities. Realizing their helpless condition, they sent a +letter to Yousouf-ben-Tashfyn, Prince of the Almoravides, a Mohammadan +tribe of Africa, asking him to come with his hosts to help them do +battle against the infidel. Certain portions of this invitation reveal +so clearly the deplorable conditions of Moorish society at this time +that it is well worth while to spend a moment in their perusal: + + "We, the Arabs of Andalusia, have not preserved our illustrious + tribes: we have dispersed and intermixed them, and have long had no + fellowship with our tribes and families who dwell in Africa. Want + of union has led to discord, and our natural enemies are prevailing + against us. Each day becometh more unbearable the fury of King + Alfonso, who like a mad dog enters our lands, takes our castles, + makes Moslems captive, and will tread us under foot unless an emir + from Africa will arise to defend the oppressed, who behold the ruin + of their kindred, their neighbors, and even of their law. They are + no more what they once were. Pleasures, amusements, the sweet + climate of Andalusia, delicious baths of fragrant waters, fountains + and dainty meats, have enervated them so that they dare not face + the toils of war. If thou art moved by desire of earthly wealth, + here wilt thou find rich carpets, jewels of gold and silver, + precious raiment, delicious gardens, and clear springs of flowing + water. But if thine heart seeks only to win eternal life in Allah's + service, here is the opportunity, for never are wanting bloody + battles, skirmishes, and fights. Here has Allah placed a paradise + that from the shadow of weapons thou mayest pass to the everlasting + shadow where he rewards the deserving." + +Moved by such an appeal, Yousouf came with his armies, defeated the +Christians under Alfonso at the terrible battle of Zalakah, and would +have followed up his victory had he not been recalled to Morocco by the +death of his son. He returned to Spain soon after, however, and then +began a conquest in his own interests, having made up his mind that the +emirs could be easily dispossessed and that it would be good to rule as +the absolute master of all Andalusia. Beginning with Granada, he +attacked the emirs each in turn, and in the end subdued them all. Aben +Abed, the Emir of Seville and one of the most learned men in Spain, was +so beside himself at the thought of this possible defeat, that he sought +for aid in any quarter and finally entreated the assistance of the +redoubtable Alfonso, his late enemy. As proof of his good faith and by +way of inducement, Aben Abed decided to offer to Alfonso the hand of his +daughter, Zaida, in marriage. If the traditions be correct, Zaida was a +Christian at heart, in spite of her Mohammedan education and +surroundings, as the Castilians claimed that she had been converted in a +dream in which Saint Isidoro had come to her and prevailed upon her to +change her faith. In any event, Alfonso seems to have been only too glad +to accept this offer, and Zaida was accordingly escorted in great state +to Toledo, which had lately been wrested from the Moors; there she was +baptized as Maria Isabella, and then married to the king with much +ceremony. This Moorish princess was a perfect beauty of the Oriental +type, with dark hair and oval face, and Alfonso may well have been +enamored of her charms; but he was no less enamored of her marriage +portion, which consisted of the rich cities of Cucuça, Ucles, and Huate. +The new queen was hailed with joy by the Christians, as her conversion +was considered prophetic of the ultimate and complete success of +Alfonso's armies. Unfortunately, Zaida lived for but a short time after +her marriage; she died in giving birth to Alfonso's only son, who was +named Sancho. Aben Abed's alliance with the Christian monarch for their +mutual defence was without final result, however, as he was at last +compelled to surrender Seville in 1091, after a stubborn resistance. +Aben Abed was exiled, with his wife and daughters, and was sent to the +castle of Aginât, in Africa, to live his life away. There, if the +reports be true, their food was so scanty that the ladies of the family +had to spin to get enough for them all to eat, while the despondent emir +tried to beguile the weary hours with poetry. The hardships of their +life were so great that finally the emir was left alone in his +captivity, and it was four long years before he could follow them in +death. + +In the latter part of the fourteenth century, the little kingdom of +Granada was the most prosperous part of the Moorish territory, and its +brilliant life seemed to recall for a moment the splendors of Cordova. +Chivalry, driven from southern France by the Albigensian Crusade, had +been slowly growing in importance among the Spaniards of the north, and +the Moors were not slow in following the courteous spirit and in +adopting its code of truth and honor. Mohammed V. controlled the +destinies of the Granadine kingdom at this time; and when his son, +Aben-Abd-Allah, was married to the daughter of the Emir of Fez, there +was a succession of the most splendid fêtes and tournaments, which were +attended by knights not only from Christian Spain but also from Italy +and France. Chivalry was essentially a Christian institution, but its +outer forms were readily taken up by the Moors and practised to such an +extent that their influence upon society and social conventions soon +began to show itself in a most surprising way. The women of the harems, +who in former days were generally considered, after the Eastern fashion, +as beings who were not to be mentioned, now occupy a more honorable +position, and it is recounted that the men "wore the devices of their +lady-loves on the rich housings of their steeds--hearts pierced with +arrows, a sail guiding a ship, an initial, and in colors denoting their +state of mind: yellow and black for grief, green for hope, blue for +jealousy, violet and flame for ardent love. Large assemblies were held +in the beautiful houses and gardens, where hunting, poetry, music, and +dancing were the chief occupations; but the grave learning and +earnestness of Al Hakem's days had passed away, and the enjoyments had +become far more sensual and voluptuous than in his time." It is evident +that the frugal, stern, uncompromising sons of the Prophet of an earlier +day were becoming men of little faith in many particulars, and that they +had fallen far below the standard of life which had characterized their +ancestors. But in this state of moral degeneracy it is gratifying to +note that the position of women has been much improved and that they are +no longer regarded as mere slaves. The customs of chivalry, as has been +indicated, were responsible for much of this, but the influence of the +many Spanish women who were held as captives in the harems must not be +overlooked. + +The closing years of Moorish dominion in Spain were marked by many +adventures of a most romantic character, which have been made familiar +to the world at large by Washington Irving. When Aboul Hacem came to the +throne in 1466, the Mohammedan power was already tottering; but there +were troubles in Castile which emboldened the king to such an extent +that, in 1476, when the regular demand for tribute money was presented, +he is said to have made answer: "Those who coined gold for you are dead. +Nothing is made at Granada for the Christians but sword-blades and +lance-points." Although ultimate success for the Moors was now entirely +out of the question, their final defence was not what it might have +been--a state of affairs which was the result of various contentions +that emanated largely from the harem. Conspicuous in these intrigues was +Zoraya, "the Morning Star," a renegade Christian who was the favorite +wife of the king. Though childless, Zoraya had interested herself in +Boabdil, the son of another wife, Ayescha, and had determined to drive +Aboul Hacem from his throne, that his son might rule in his place. So +formidable did the plot become that the king was forced to imprison +Ayescha and Boabdil in a certain quarter of the harem; but their +captivity was short, as they were soon put at liberty by friendly hands. +Twisting a rope from the veils of the sultana's women in waiting, wife +and son let themselves down from a window and sought refuge among their +supporters. Countless quarrels followed, which ended in Boabdil's final +success, and in them all, Zoraya was his firm friend and adviser. But +success at such a time and for such a cause was little more than +failure, and the day was soon to come when sultanas and intriguing harem +favorites could no longer trouble the land with their contentions; for +the power of Isabella the Catholic was soon to be felt, and the doom of +the Moor had been sounded. + + + + +Chapter XIV + +The Women of the Little Monarchies + + +In spite of the fact that Spain was an easy conquest for the Moors and +that whole cities surrendered to the invaders without having struck a +single blow in their own defence, it must not be supposed that there was +no opposition whatever and no show of Spanish patriotism. The great mass +of the population, it is true, were yielding and willing to accept any +terms, so long as they were allowed to live unmolested. Such were the +Romanized Spaniards, who formed a majority of the population, but who +had long been held in subjection by the masterful Goths. As a race they +lacked energy and vitality, and they were too corrupt and +pleasure-loving to be moved by patriotic instincts in such a time of +national crisis. A certain portion of the Goths, however, after their +defeat at the battle of Guadalete, decided to renounce their lands and +all their possessions rather than live under the rule of the +Mohammedans; and with their wives and children and such little treasure +as they could hurriedly get together, they set out for the north and +found a refuge in the rocky slopes of the Pyrenees. The mountain passes +were not under the control of any of these Christian refugees, and the +Moors were free to advance on the fair fields of southern France so long +as they did not turn aside to molest the Spanish patriots. When they did +make such attack, the fortunes of war were generally against them, and +more than once those modes of mountain warfare were employed which at an +earlier date wrought such great havoc with the hosts of Charlemagne at +the pass of Roncesvalles. In these desperate conflicts, as in the olden +time when the Celtiberians were trying to beat back the power of Rome, +the women were not slow to take their place beside their fathers and +husbands at the first wild call to arms. The old Moorish leader Mousa +had spoken well when he told the kalif at Damascus that the Christians +of Spain were lions in their castles, and the Moors were repeatedly +given ample proof of the wisdom of his observation. + + "Covadonga's conquering site + Cradle was of Spanish might," + +so says the old ballad. And what and where was Covadonga? At the far +western extremity of the Pyrenees, where the Sierra Penamerella thrusts +its rugged spur into the Atlantic, was a great mountain cavern, +Covadonga, large enough to shelter as many as three hundred men, and +there had gathered together the strongest of the Christian bands after +the Moorish victory in the south. A long, sinuous valley or ravine, +named Cangas, that is to say, the "shell," sloped down to the foothills +from the mouth of the cave and seemed to present an easy approach to the +stronghold. Pelayo, of the royal line of the Goths, had here been +proclaimed a king in 718, and here was the beginning of that kingdom of +Asturias and Leon which was later to become a mighty one in Spain. The +Moors soon tried to crush this growing power, which was a menace to +their own security. They sent an army under a chief named Al Kama, who +was to win over the recalcitrants by the offer of fair terms, if +possible; and if not, he was to storm their rude citadel and destroy +them utterly. The proposal for a shameful peace was indignantly +refused, and the Moors, confident of victory, and outnumbering the +Christian warriors many times, swept up the broad slope of the long and +winding valley to the cavern's mouth. The summits of the rocky walls on +either side were filled with people, many of them women, who were +waiting for the signal from Pelayo and his brave handful of followers. +When the foreguard of the Moors was near the entrance to the cave, the +king and his men, mounted, led the attack in front, and all along the +line the carnage began. Now let the Spanish ballad speak again: + + "'In the name + Of God! For Spain or vengeance!' And forthwith + On either side along the whole defile, + The Asturians shouting: 'In the name of God!' + Set the whole ruin loose: huge trunks, and stones, + And loosened crags, down, down they rolled with rush + And bound and thundering force." + +The mountain torrent which had its course along the valley was dyed red +with the pagan blood, and so great was the humiliation of the Moors that +the Arab chroniclers observe a discreet silence with regard to the +details of this defeat. But for the brave and valiant assistance of the +Spanish women this defeat might not have been possible. + +Another instance of the bravery of the Spanish women, which at this +distance seems somewhat tinged with the air of comic opera, is connected +with the heroic defence of Orihuela. It was at the time of the Moorish +invasion, when the Gothic leaders, after their pitiful failure at +Guadalete, were seeking cover and scurrying off to places of safety, +closely pursued by the ardent sons of the Prophet. Duke Theodomir, hard +pressed in the mountains of Murcia, was obliged to ride for his life; +and with but few attendants, he finally succeeded in making his way, +after many adventures, to the walled town of Orihuela, with the enemy +close upon his heels. To prevent an immediate attack, gain time, and +circumvent the Moors in as many ways as possible, Theodomir had to think +quickly. The town was practically without a garrison when he entered it, +and his followers were too few in numbers to avail him much. Then it was +that the women of the town came to his assistance, offering to do what +he might command for the common safety. Theodomir clothed them in armor +at once, gave them spears and swords, ordered them to tie their hair +under their chins, that they might look like bearded men, and then +stationed his amazon warriors upon the walls and fortifications, where +they made such a brave parade that the Moors were afraid to attack the +city, and offered to parley with the Spaniards. Seizing upon this +favorable opportunity, Theodomir, disguised as a legate, and preceded by +his page, who played the part of a royal herald, boldly entered the +hostile camp, made his way to the tent of Abdul Aziz, the leader, and +there, by his consummate acting, succeeded in obtaining the province of +Murcia, together with seven cities which he was to hold under the kalif, +on condition of a yearly tribute. Such was the defence of Orihuela, and +while it involved no strenuous fighting, it was at the same time no +mediocre test of womanly daring. After the first few trying hours of the +masquerade had been passed, however, and it was evident that the ruse +had been successful, it may well be imagined that these feminine +warriors were not slow to see the humor of the situation, and many must +have been the jests as they passed each other upon the battlements, with +the Moors, far down below, completely awed by their warlike mien. + +Dryden has said: "Women emasculate a monarch's reign;" and more than one +instance of the truth of this statement may be found in the court +annals of almost any country. The history of the little monarchies of +Spain in that chaotic, formative period, when the Christians were slowly +gaining in power and strength and preparing for the great final struggle +which was to overcome the turbaned invaders and consolidate the Spanish +interests, presents many chapters of exceeding interest wherein women +play no unimportant rôle, and the dowager-queen Teresa, mother of King +Sancho the Fat, of Leon, stands out as a prominent figure among them +all. Endowed with no mean portion of feminine art and cunning, she was +the author of a plot which gave inspiration for a whole cycle of +ballads. The bravest Christian champion in all Spain in the latter half +of the tenth century was Fernan Gonzalez, Count of Castile, a veritable +Spanish Warwick, who was held in such high esteem by his countrymen that +they inscribed upon his great carved tomb at Burgos: _A Fernan Gonzalez, +Libertador de Castilla, el más excelente General de ese tiempo_ [To +Fernan Gonzalez, liberator of Castile, the greatest general of his +time]. His great success, however, in his forays against the Moors made +Doña Teresa fearful lest some harm might befall her sluggish son, King +Sancho. For some time Sancho had been on good terms with the Moors. He +had even journeyed to Cordova to consult a celebrated physician, and had +in many ways been treated with such favor by the kalif, Abd-el-Rhaman, +that people had begun to shake their heads and ask themselves whether +the ruler of Leon was doing all in his power for the good of +Christendom. After the great success of Gonzalez at Pedrahita, where the +Saracen invader Abu Alaxi suffered signal defeat, there was greater +dissatisfaction than ever with this do-nothing policy, and the Count of +Castile was hailed on every hand as the greatest of the Christian +warriors. Her jealousy aroused, Doña Teresa now resolved upon desperate +measures, ready to stop at nothing in her mad desire to overthrow +Gonzalez. On her advice, the count was summoned to Sancho's capital, +Oviedo, for a general conference in regard to matters of Christian +defence, and to Oviedo Gonzalez came, little suspecting the trap which +had been laid for him there. Doña Teresa knew that Gonzalez had lately +lost his wife, and she found opportunity during his stay, after many +words of fulsome flattery, in which she was no novice, to counsel him to +seek the hand of her niece, Doña Sancha, daughter of King Garcia of +Navarre. She even undertook to arrange this marriage for him and +promised to send her messengers on ahead, that the Navarrese court might +be ready to receive him in case he thought best to go at once to press +his suit. Gonzalez, at this moment a living example of Gay's couplet, + + "And when a lady's in the case, + You know all other things give place," + +all inflamed by the glowing descriptions of Doña Sancha's beauty, and at +the same time fully aware of the political advantage which might follow +from this alliance with the powerful house of Navarre, was only too +eager to go on the moment, as the cunning Doña Teresa had supposed; and +he set out at once, leaving Oviedo amidst the sound of martial music, +with banners flying, and the populace cheering lustily and in all good +faith, for they loved this doughty hero. Doña Teresa had kept her word, +in that she had sent on her messengers ahead to announce his coming, but +the reception that she was preparing for him was far different from the +one which he had imagined. King Garcia was informed by his crafty sister +that Gonzalez was coming with an impudent demand for his daughter's +hand, and that for the general safety he should be seized and put into +one of the castle dungeons as soon as he appeared. Doña Sancha, the +prospective bride of his ardent imagination, was no party to all this, +for the rumors of Gonzalez's visit which had come to her ears had filled +her with excitement, and she looked forward to his coming with no little +fluttering of heart. King Garcia, however, was faithful to his sister's +command, and the poor Count Gonzalez, taken unawares, was promptly cast +into prison on his arrival. What Doña Sancha did on learning the +unworthy rôle she had been made to play in this sad event is well told +in the ballad which recounts the story, and here, as will be seen, a +Norman knight is made to act as her informant. The verses are in +Lockhart's admirable translation: + + "The Norman feasts among the guests, but at the evening tide + He speaks to Garci's daughter within her bower aside: + 'Now God forgive us, lady, and God His Mother dear, + For on a day of sorrow we have been blithe of cheer. + + "'The Moors may well be joyful, but great should be our grief, + For Spain has lost her guardian, Castile hath lost her chief; + The Moorish host is pouring like a river o'er the land; + Curse on the Christian fetters that bind Gonçales's hand. + + "'Gonçales loves thee, lady, he loved thee long ago, + But little is the kindness that for his love you show; + The curse that lies on Cava's head, it may be shared by thee. + Arise! let love with love be paid, and set Gonçales free.' + + "The lady answers little, but at the midst of night, + When all her maids are sleeping, she hath risen and ta'en her flight; + She hath tempted the alcayde with her jewels and her gold, + And unto her his prisoner, that jailer false hath sold. + + "She took Gonçales by the hand at the dawning of the day, + She said 'Upon the heath you stand, before you lies the way, + But if I to my father go--alas! what must I do! + My father will be angry--I fain would go with you.'" + +It is perhaps needless to add that the fair Doña Sancha did go with the +gallant captain, and in the lofty cathedral at Burgos, which was his +capital, their wedding was celebrated in great state. At the conclusion +of the marriage feast, however, Gonzalez determined to punish the +faithless Garcia, and made war against him to such good effect that he +was made a prisoner and only released after the repeated intercessions +of his sister, Doña Teresa. Why Gonzalez should have listened to the +pleadings of Teresa after her treatment of him is rather hard to +imagine. A still further proof of his unsuspicious character is seen in +the fact that he allowed himself to be inveigled into going to Leon to +attend a meeting of the Cortes, and while there he was again imprisoned. +Such was the sum of Doña Teresa's iniquity, and all because she was in +the clutch of the green-eyed monster and put a higher value upon the +glory of her house than upon the glory of the Christian arms. This was +the occasion for the good wife Doña Sancha to show her courage and +loyalty, which stand out in striking contrast to the treacherous acts of +her jealous aunt. It was Shakespeare who said: "These women are shrewd +tempters with their tongues;" and as the alcayde had been won over at +the time of Gonzalez's first captivity, so now again Doña Sancha put her +nimble wits to work and devised another plan for his release. In robe of +sombre hue, she set out upon a pious pilgrimage to Santiago; and as her +way lay through Leon, where her husband languished in prison, she +resolved to tarry by the way for a short while and visit him in his +misery. Permission for such a visit was slow in coming, as Doña Teresa +was resolved this time that Gonzalez should not escape. After much +pleading, however, Doña Sancha had her way, and the prison doors swung +open before her. Once alone with her husband, she quickly changed +clothes with him; and the Count of Castile, in the garb of a woman, soon +after passed the jailers and found himself at liberty. By the time the +ruse was discovered, he was leagues away and in safety among his +friends. The wrath of Teresa and her son King Sancho may well be +imagined when the news was brought to them; but they resolved to take +the matter in a philosophic way, after the first moment of anger had +passed, and Doña Sancha was allowed to join her husband, going unharmed +from this unfriendly court. + +In all this warring, romantic period of the tenth century, by far the +most interesting and thrilling tale is that of Doña Lambra and the Seven +Lords of Lara, and while the story is somewhat legendary and based +rather upon stirring ballads than upon authentic records, it must not be +forgotten here. Doña Lambra, a kinswoman of the Count of Castile, had +been married with great ceremony at Burgos to Ruy Velasquez, +brother-in-law to Don Gonzalo, Count of Lara in the Asturias; and during +the five weeks of pleasure and feasting which celebrated this happy +event, there were no knights in all the glittering throng more striking +in appearance and more admired for their many accomplishments than the +seven stalwart sons of Don Gonzalo, the nephews of the bridegroom, who +were called the Seven Lords of Lara. During the very last week of the +festivities a wooden target was set up upon the other side of the river, +and the knights threw light Moorish _djerrids_, or wooden javelins, at +it, each trying with a surer aim to outdo his fellows. Doña Lambra was +an interested spectator, and when at last Alvaro Sanchez, one of her +favorite cousins, struck the target full in the centre, she was more +than pleased, and declared that he was the best marksman of them all. +The Seven Lords of Lara had taken no part in this contest as yet, for +six of the brothers had been busily engaged in playing chess, and the +youngest of them all, Gonzalo Gonzales, had been standing idly by. +Piqued, however, by Doña Lambra's praise of her kinsman, young Gonzalo +threw himself upon his horse, rode to the river's edge, and hurled his +_djerrid_ with such force that he completely shattered the target far on +the other side. This unexpected turn of events so angered the bride that +she grew white with rage, and Alvaro vented his spleen in such abusive +language that Gonzalo dealt him a blow which struck him fairly upon the +mouth and knocked out his teeth. Thereat Doña Lambra cried out that no +maiden had ever been so dishonored at her wedding, and bloodshed was +narrowly averted by the interference of the Counts of Castile and Lara. +As it was feared that Ruy Velasquez might be urged on to vengeance by +his angered wife, he was induced to set out upon a trip through Castile +with many of the older knights, while the Seven Lords of Lara, in the +midst of a larger company, were left to escort the bride to her new home +at Bavardiello. Once arrived, the brothers went into the garden of the +palace, where Gonzalo, who was a devotee of falconry, was engaged in +bathing his favorite hawk, when suddenly, without warning, one of Doña +Lambra's slaves rushed upon him and threw in his face a gourd filled +with blood. In mediæval Spain this was a most deadly insult, and all the +brothers drew their swords and rushed after the offender. They came upon +him crouching at Doña Lambra's feet, and there they killed him without +mercy, so that his blood was sprinkled upon her garments. Then, taking +their mother with them, they returned to their home at Salas. This time +Doña Lambra demanded vengeance in no uncertain tone, and Ruy Velasquez +began to plot in her behalf. The old Count of Lara was prevailed upon to +go to the kalif at Cordova, bearing a letter from Velasquez which was +supposedly of political import, but which was intended to be the count's +death warrant. The kalif, loath to put so brave a knight to death, cast +him into prison. Soon after, he made an attack upon the Christians. +Velasquez gathered an army to oppose him, and succeeded in getting the +young Lords of Lara to join him. In the midst of the battle, Velasquez +and his whole army deserted, leaving the seven youths and a small +company of retainers to fight alone against the Moorish host. Taken +prisoners, their heads were cut off and sent to Cordova, where the kalif +was cruel enough to present them to their imprisoned father for +identification. Now let the ballad take up the story: + + "He took their heads up one by one, he kissed them o'er and o'er; + And aye ye saw the tears run down, I wot that grief was sore. + He closed the lids on their dead eyes, all with his fingers frail, + And handled all their bloody curls, and kissed their lips so pale. + + "'Oh had ye died all by my side upon some famous day, + My fair young men, no weak tears then had washed your blood away; + The trumpet of Castile had drowned the misbelievers' horn, + And the last of all the Lara's line a Gothic spear had borne.' + + "With that it chanced a man drew near to lead him from the place, + Old Lara stooped him down once more, and kissed Gonzalo's face; + But ere the man observed him, or could his gesture bar, + Sudden he from his side had grasped that Moslem's scymetar." + +Before the count was overpowered he had killed thirteen of the Moors, +and then he begged that he might be put to death; but the kalif, on +learning all of the details of the treachery of Velasquez, restored the +count to liberty and sent him back to his wife in the castle at Salas. +The fate of the revengeful Doña Lambra is not recorded, but it is to be +hoped that she was made to atone in some way for all her savage rage. + +About Ximena and her far-famed husband Don Rodrigo, widely known as the +Cid, many marvellous tales have been told, and it is a matter for regret +that so many of them are purely legendary. According to one of the +traditions, which was followed by the French dramatic poet Pierre +Corneille when he wrote his famous play, _Le Cid_, in 1636, Ximena is +given a much more prominent place in the story than that accorded to her +in history. According to this version, Don Diego, father of Don Rodrigo, +is given a mortal insult by the braggart Don Gomez, who is the father of +Ximena. Young Don Rodrigo, eager to avenge the slight put upon his aged +father, provokes Don Gomez to a duel and kills him. Ximena, who has +loved Don Rodrigo, overcome by these tragic events, is at a loss to know +what to do, and in her heart there is a fierce struggle between her love +for her lover and her respect for her father. This distressing situation +is relieved somewhat by the thought that Don Rodrigo, in killing her +father, has but avenged his own; but still her Spanish nature cries for +redress, and she appeals to King Fernan of Castile, at whose court all +these things have taken place. Believing her love for Don Rodrigo to be +stronger than her hatred, the king suddenly announces the death of +Rodrigo, which so surprises Ximena that she discloses her deep +affection, which she had made an attempt to conceal; whereat he +announces his intention to unite the two lovers as soon as Rodrigo +should have given further proof of his valor. + +As a matter of fact, the Cid was a free-lance of undoubted bravery and +courage, who fought now with and now against the Moors; but in spite of +the fact that he was not always true to the same allegiance, he is +essentially a popular hero, as he represents a spirit of boldness and +independence which in itself is enough to endear him to the minds of the +people. His killing of Don Gomez in the manner described is extremely +doubtful, and history affords no details as to the manner of his wooing +or his wedding. But Ximena was his wife, shared in many of his +hardships, and at his death, in 1099, ruled in his stead for three +years at Valencia. Finally, much harried by the Moslems, who were ever +growing bolder, Ximena withdrew to Burgos, taking with her the body of +the Cid, embalmed in precious spices, and borne, as in the days of his +vigor, on the back of his great warhorse Babieca. The Cid was buried in +the monastery of Cardena, near Burgos; and there the brave Doña Ximena +was laid by his side at the time of her death, in 1104. Although a +number of fanciful stories have been told about the daughters of Ximena +and the doughty Cid, the fact remains that they had two daughters, who +married into some of the noblest houses of all Spain. The elder, +Christina, became the wife of Ramiro, Infante of Navarre; while the +younger, Maria, married Count Ramon Berenguer III. of Barcelona. After a +long series of intermarriages, to quote from Burke, in a double stream, +through the royal houses of Spain and of France, the blood of the Cid is +found to flow in the veins of his majesty Alfonso XIII., the reigning +King of Spain. + +The religious side of Spanish life in the eleventh century, so far as +Christianity is concerned, centres about a woman, Constance of Burgundy, +the wife of King Alfonso VI. of Castile. This was the period when the +monk Hildebrand, become Pope Gregory VII., was endeavoring to unify the +power of the Roman Church and strengthen the authority of the papacy; +and as he had a devout woman, the Countess Matilda of Tuscany, to aid +him in Italy, so he had as his firm ally in Spain the pious Queen +Constance, daughter of King Robert of France. Constance was not a +Spanish woman, but the influence she exerted in Spain had such a +far-reaching effect that she cannot be overlooked in any category such +as the present. With Constance to Spain came the monk Bernard of Cluny, +a pale ascetic, who had just been leading a crusade against the +corruption existing in the Church itself, and whose whole life had been +devoted to serious things. The French court had been given over to works +of piety, the Church had great authority, and the clergy were held in +high esteem. When the French princess left this devout atmosphere to go +to sunny Spain, she had grave misgivings as to the frivolous and +irreverent character of her new subjects, and deemed it wise to take +with her as a friend and adviser the stern Bernard. The worst fears of +these two zealous Christians were more than realized. The king had +friendly intercourse with Moorish vassals, and Moslem and Christian +lived side by side in perfect harmony! That all this should be and at a +time when the same Moslem brood was defiling the place of the Holy +Sepulchre in far-off Palestine, and when the crusading spirit filled the +air, was almost beyond belief, and Constance and the monk were greatly +scandalized thereat. Totally without that toleration which comes with +experience, they could conceive of no religion as a good religion which +did not meet the rigid requirements of their own belief; and they +planned at once a Spanish crusade which was intended to improve the +general deplorable condition of public morals and at the same time to +modify, in a most radical way, the liturgy of the Spanish Church, which +was far too lax in points of discipline. Their conduct at the time of +the surrender of Toledo, in 1074, is a most excellent example of the +eager, yet thoughtless, way in which they went about their new work. +When King Alfonso, after an interval of more than three hundred years, +regained possession of the ancient capital of the Goths, the city from +which the luckless Rodrigo, the last of the Goths, was driven, Toledo +was surrendered on the express condition that the Moors should not be +disturbed in their religious beliefs and that they were to retain the +use of their mosques. Such terms with such an enemy appeared monstrous +to the queen. Especially did it seem a sin before God that the +principal mosque, the Alfaqui, the noblest building in all that fair +city which lay stretched out with many a gilded dome and minaret upon +its seven hills above the Tagus, should still be used for the worship of +a pagan people; and Constance and Bernard plotted together, piously, for +the triumph of the true religion. The first time that the king left the +city, Bernard, now Archbishop of Toledo, acting under the authority of +Queen Constance, went to the Alfaqui at the head of a company of monks +summoned from his monastery at Sahagun, opened the doors, set up +crosses, erected altars, hung bells, and then publicly summoned the +people to mass on the following morning. The king, upon his return, was +furious at this intolerant act, and was moved to threaten punishment; +but the Moors, satisfied by his indignation, displayed a real spirit of +toleration in asking for the pardon of the monks. + +The queen and Bernard, successful in this first struggle, continued to +labor incessantly for the glory of the Church. The masterful Pope +Gregory VII., in his letter addressed to the princes of Spain, said: +"You are aware, I believe, that from the earliest times the kingdom of +Spain was the special patrimony of Saint Peter, and although pagans have +occupied it, it still belongs to the same master." The King of Castile +was not bold enough to deny this papal claim of overlordship, and +Gregory demanded as first proof of his submission that he should +substitute throughout his realm the Roman liturgy for the national or +Mozarabic ritual then in general use. Queen Constance and Bernard were +in favor of this reform, and they prevailed upon the king to accept it; +but it was a far different matter to secure its actual use at the hands +of the national clergy, who were strongly opposed to the change. In +spite of all her efforts the queen could do nothing, and finally, as a +compromise, it was decided to submit the question to the ordeal of trial +by battle. Two champions were duly appointed who fought before a most +august assembly over which the queen presided. The Knight of the Gothic +Missal, Don Juan Ruiz de Matanzas, killed the Champion of Rome, and was +not only victorious, but unscathed, much to the disgust of Constance and +her followers. The manifest disinclination to accept this result as +final made another ordeal necessary, and this time, in truly Spanish +style, a bull fight was resolved upon. The great arena at Toledo was +selected as the place where this ecclesiastical combat was to take +place, and on the appointed day the great amphitheatre was crowded with +an expectant multitude. The queen, the king, and the archbishop, backed +by black-robed monks, looked on with evident interest, hoping that this +time the scales would turn in their favor; but the people, expert in +contests of this kind, had already picked the Castilian bull as the +winner and had begun to wager their small coin as to the probable +duration of the fight. The people were right, the Roman _toro_ was +promptly slain, and once more the cause of Spain was triumphant. But the +queen was persistent, and in spite of the fact that the result of each +of these ordeals was popularly considered as a direct sign from heaven, +she refused to accept them as final, because her pet project had been +rejected. If the results had been different, there is little doubt but +that the ordeals would have been received as infallible. However, it was +not possible to cast a slight upon this time-honored procedure by any +act which might tend to throw it into disrepute, so the whole question +was dropped for the space of seven years. Queen Constance, in this +interval, carried on a quiet campaign which she hoped would lead +eventually to the adoption of the much discussed and twice rejected +liturgy, and at no time did she give up her hope. Rome, to her narrow +mind, must reign supreme in matters spiritual if the kingdom of Spain +was to have relations with the kingdom of heaven, and she did not +hesitate to ride rough-shod over the national clergy, to whom alone, +without any aid whatever from the pope, the recent Christian successes +in Spain had been due. When she considered the time ripe for some +radical action, Gregory sent his legate, the Cardinal Ricardo, to hold a +Church council at Burgos, and there it was formally decreed that the +Mozarabic ritual must be put aside in Castile. Before the formal +adoption of the Roman form, however, it was decided wise to resort once +more to a trial by ordeal, as the favorable issue of such a public test +would make it much easier to conquer the prejudices of the people. This +time, Constance advising it, the ordeal by fire was tried, and, as Miss +Yonge phrases it, "a great pile was erected in the market place of +Toledo for the most harmless _auto de fé_ that ever took place there." +Seats were built up on all sides in amphitheatre fashion, the queen, the +king, the court, and the dignitaries of the two clerical parties were +there in special boxes, and again were the people much in evidence, but +this time much in doubt as to the final outcome. When all was ready, the +torch was applied to the pile and the two volumes were committed to the +flames. The book which was not consumed by the fire was to be considered +acceptable to God. To the chagrin of the papal party, the Roman book was +utterly consumed, but the Gothic missal came forth unscathed. Although +there was great rejoicing at this final triumph for the national clergy, +the foreigners were in control, and the king, urged on by his wife, +decided to act upon his own responsibility, without regard for the +manifest judgment of heaven, and lost no time in giving his signature to +the decree of the Council of Burgos, which then went into immediate +effect. This time the people made no resistance, and, as has been said, +Spain became once more, after the lapse of nearly seven centuries, the +obedient province of Rome. In the succeeding centuries the influence of +Rome has been ever present and powerful in the affairs of the Spanish +peninsula, and whether for its weal or woe, which is not a matter for +consideration here, the fact remains that Queen Constance was the one +person in Spain who was most responsible for this state of affairs. Her +unflagging interest in the success of the papal party and her +perseverance in the face of the opposition of a majority of the Spanish +clergy made her the life of the whole movement, and to this day she is +held in grateful memory at the Holy See. + + + + +Chapter XV + +Women in Early Political Life + + +After the time of the good Queen Constance and with the growth of the +Spanish monarchies, which in spite of all their internal turmoil and +confusion were fast becoming more powerful and more of a menace to the +Moslem rule, the wheels of fate seem to bring women into greater +political prominence than ever before. Constance, it is true, had been +no mean figure in that epoch, and had exerted a most powerful influence +in shaping the destinies of Spain for her own time and for the future, +but this was done by an exercise of indirect rather than direct +authority. Constance had been queen, but there had been a king to rule +as well, and with him remained the real power. As Constance influenced +him, she may have been said to use this royal power, it is true, but the +fact remains that it was the woman Constance who was using her powers of +feminine persuasion to bring about the results which were so dear to her +heart. No political responsibilities rested upon her shoulders, there +were no cares of state to weary and make uneasy her crowned head, and +she was free to follow her own penchants unimpeded by this larger task. +But now a wider field for the activities of women seems to come; in +Spain, chance gives them full control in their own name in certain +instances, and they bear the full responsibility. The measure of their +success may not be greater than the measure of their failure in these +new lines of endeavor, but, good or bad as their methods of +administration may have been, it does not appear that they fall below +the level of masculine achievement at the same time. And this is a +curious thing. Since the birth of time men have been regarding women as +weaklings, both mentally and physically. Tennyson has it that "woman is +the lesser man," and such has been the commonly expressed opinion. +Everything in the social life of the world has conspired to give truth +to this statement; women are still the real slaves of their husbands in +many countries, and the virtual slaves in almost all the world; +education has been granted to them grudgingly, the scope of their +intellect has been limited in the narrowest way; and in spite of all +these facts, in spite of this suppression and repression from time +immemorial, women have been able by some power or some cunning to exert +a most powerful influence in the world, and when called upon to take up +a man's work they have left a record for judgment and skill and wisdom +which needs no apologies and which is generally above the average. To +those who are content with generalities it may be sufficient to say that +women are not the equals of men, but to anyone who attempts to study, +step by step, the history of human development it becomes apparent that +the French admonition _Cherchez la femme_ contains the truth, unalloyed. +In America it has become the custom to say that in every great national +emergency there is always a man ready to meet the situation and meet it +nobly and with understanding; and what can be said here can be said with +equal truth perhaps in other countries of the world, but to this +statement it may be well to add that women also may be found to do nobly +the tasks which may fall to their lot. + +In every day and generation, however, it will rarely be found that the +women are better than the men. The interests of men and women are so +identical from so many points of view, society is in so many ways but a +composite of their common interests, that their moral level must of +necessity be the same. By intuition, then, by inherent capacity, by +woman's wit, by that something feminine which is at once the power and +the charm of a woman, the members of this so-called weaker sex have been +able to take their place worthily beside their brothers in the open +field of the world's activities whenever circumstance has called them +forth, without the inheritance, the education, or the experience which +the men possess, but morally they can but be as society makes them. +There are exceptions to all rules, however; some women as well as some +men may be better or worse than the majority of their fellows, and these +are the ones who are signalled out by the historian for special +attention. The people who are always good and always happy have no +history, as there is nothing noteworthy to tell of them, life has no +tragedies, all is plain sailing, and the whole story can be told in a +few words. In a measure the same thing is true of the ordinary man, be +he good or bad, for what can be said of him can be said of a whole +class, and so the history of the class may be told, but the individual +will always remain in the background. + +In the special epoch of Spanish history with which the present chapter +is concerned, the twelfth century and the first part of the thirteenth, +there is little to say of women in general which cannot be said of the +mediæval women of other parts of Europe. Oriental ideas had been +introduced to some extent, it is true, by the Moors, but otherwise the +general ignorance and dependence of the women of the time call for no +special comment. Above this commonplace level there are to be seen, +nevertheless, two women who occupied a commanding position in the world, +which was quite unusual. They were both queens of Castile, and as one +was bad, vain, reckless, and frivolous, so was the other good, +unselfish, wise, and dignified. Within the extremes of character which +their lives present is traced the measure of a woman's possibilities at +that time. + +Urraca of Castile, daughter of Constance and King Alfonso VII., +inherited little of her mother's devout nature; the world rather than +the Church had attracted her, and she began to show at an early age a +taste for gallantry and intrigue which became but more pronounced with +her maturer years. She was dark rather than fair, with an imperious +bearing, she had compelling eyes, and there was a grace in her movements +which it was difficult to see without admiring, but she was vain, intent +upon conquest, and without an atom of moral firmness, if all accounts be +true. Her mother was sorely tried by her waywardness, but did not live +long enough to appreciate her real lack of moral instinct; and her +father, in spite of his several marriages, which were almost as numerous +as those of Henry VIII. of England, was chagrined to find Urraca as his +sole heir, no other children having survived. In the hope that France +might again furnish material for a dignified alliance as it had done +before in sending Constance herself, Alfonso arranged for the marriage +of Urraca with Raymond of Burgundy. Urraca was soon left a widow, with +one son, Alfonso; and while she apparently felt some affection for this +child, she was in no way weaned from her love of excitement, and was +soon again the soul and centre of the court's gay revels. One among the +throng of courtiers attracted her, the tall Count Gomez of Candespina, +and she made no secret of her love for him. As often seen together, +they formed a striking pair, and it was not strange that the Castilian +nobles should have wished to see them married, in spite of the fact that +the prospective bridegroom was not her equal by birth. No one dared to +give Alfonso this advice, however, as his refusal was a foregone +conclusion, all things being taken into consideration. Finally, the +Jewish physician of the court, Don Cidelio, allowing his interest in the +affair to get the better of his discretion, ventured to speak to the +king about Urraca and her lover. Alfonso, indignant, was so displeased, +that Don Cidelio was banished from the court at once, while he arranged +forthwith a political marriage which was full of possibilities for +Spain's future welfare. Alfonso, in his long reign, which had lasted for +forty-three years, had given such a great impetus to the movement of +reconquest directed against the Moors, that a strong and capable +successor could have completed his work and hastened the final Christian +victory by some four hundred years. Alfonso was far-seeing enough to +know the possibilities ahead, and it is easy to understand and +sympathize with his rage at the mere thought of the dapper, silken +Candespina. So the rebellious Urraca, with her heart full of love for +Count Gomez, was married, and just before her father's death in 1109, to +King Alfonso I., called _el batallador_ [the battler], and known as the +Emperor of Aragon. This union of Castile, Leon, and Aragon would have +promised much for the future, if the rulers of this united kingdom could +have lived in peace and harmony together. They were so unlike in every +way, however, that it was easy to predict trouble. The Battler was a +youth of great military skill and great ambition, but he was not a +courtier in any sense of the word and could not be compared in Urraca's +eyes with her carpet knight, Don Gomez. So she was loath to change her +mode of life, and he was in a state of constant irritation at her +worldliness; and as a natural consequence of it all, after a year of +turmoil and confusion, the two separated. + +Content to lose his wife, Alfonso was quite unwilling to lose her broad +domain, and consequently Aragonese garrisons were installed in some of +the principal Castilian fortresses, while Urraca, a prisoner, was +confined in the fortress of Castelar. This was too much for the +Castilians to endure; so they at once took up arms in their queen's +defence and, furthermore, demanded a divorce on the ground that Urraca +and Alfonso were within the proscribed limits of consanguinity, as they +were both descended from Sancho the Great, of Navarre. While there was +much in the queen's character which the Castilian people could not +admire, they had never approved of her marriage with the _batallador_, +and were only too happy to have this excuse for severing the ties which +bound the two countries together. Urraca was rescued from her captivity, +and proceeded without delay to annoy her husband in every manner +possible. Her honored father's prime minister was deposed and his +estates confiscated, Don Gomez was given this high post and treated as +an acknowledged favorite, and most shamelessly, and the whole country +was shocked. But matters of self-defence were now of first importance to +the Castilians, and so they were compelled to overlook her misconduct +for the moment and prepare to withstand the irate Alfonso's threatened +invasion. He invited Henry, Count of Portugal, the brother of Urraca's +first husband,--and her son's guardian,--to aid him in this attack, and +together they invaded Castile and inflicted a complete defeat upon +Urraca's army at the battle of Sepulveda in the year 1111. The pope, +Pascal II., sent a legate, who granted the divorce for which the +Castilians had clamored; and Urraca, again a free woman, was now the +centre of her own little court, where she soon gathered about her a +small company of nobles who were vying with each other to obtain her +royal favor. Two among them, Count Gomez of Candespina, and Pedro, a +member of the great and powerful Lara family, hoped to marry her, but +she coquetted with them all to such good purpose that she succeeded in +keeping their good will by leaving them all in uncertainty as to her +serious intentions. + +At this moment a new element appeared in the settlement of public +affairs. For the first time in the history of Spain, the privileged +towns and cities, which had been granted special charters by the late +Alfonso, Urraca's father, rose in their might and declared that Urraca +should be deposed and that her youthful son, Alfonso Ramon, should be +crowned in her stead. Seeing this turn of affairs, Henry of Portugal, +the young Alfonso's guardian, decided that he might best serve his own +interests by siding with the Castilians against the Battler, and he lost +no time in making this transfer of his allegiance. Castile and Leon were +still harried by the divorced husband, who now had no legal claim upon +them, and there was a general consolidation of national interests for +the national defence, while the conflicting interests with regard to the +succession within the country were at the same time pressing for +settlement and producing a state of strife and contention which was +little short of civil war. In the midst of it all, Urraca continued to +play the wanton, and soon so disgusted the Count of Portugal that he +deserted her standard. This he did on the eve of the great battle of +Espina, in the year 1112. Urraca still counted upon the devotion of her +nobles, but Lara fled from the field, the prime favorite Candespina was +killed, and the revengeful husband gained another victory. It was soon +evident, however, that Alfonso of Aragon could never meet with complete +success in his attempt to subdue Castile, and he wisely gave up the +struggle after a few more years of desultory fighting. Urraca was now in +a tight place, and in spite of all her arts and wiles she was unable to +gather about her again a party strong enough to command respect. +Candespina and Lara were no longer by her side, the other nobles had +lost patience with her constant intriguing, and the popular party, +backed by the towns, soon gained the ascendency, and Urraca was +compelled to resign in favor of her son. From this moment she sinks into +obscurity, and little more is known of her unhappy and profligate career +besides the fact that she came to her end, unregretted, in 1126. +According to the ancient _Laws of Manu_, "it is in the nature of the +feminine sex to seek here below, to corrupt men," and Menander has said, +sententiously, "where women are, are all kinds of mischief." While no +one at the present time, unless he be some confirmed woman-hater, will +be so ungallant as to attempt to maintain the truth of these sweeping +statements, there must have been, at various times and places in the +world, women of the kind indicated, as Queen Urraca of Castile, for +example, or these things would never have been said. + +The great-grandson of Urraca, Alfonso III. of Castile, received as his +heritage the usual complement of strife and warfare which belonged to +almost all of the little Spanish monarchies throughout the greater part +of the twelfth century; but in the year 1170, arriving at his majority, +he entered into a friendly treaty of peace with Aragon, and in that same +fortunate year he married the Princess Eleanor, daughter of the English +king, Henry II. Apropos of this marriage and its general effect upon the +fortunes of Castile, Burke has written the following interesting +sentences: "Up to the time of this happy union, the reign of Alfonso +III. in Spain had been nothing but a succession of intrigues and civil +wars of the accustomed character; but from the day of his marriage in +1170 to the day of his death in 1214, after a reign of no less than +fifty-six years, he exercised the sovereign power without hindrance, if +not entirely without opposition, within his dominions. If the domestic +tranquillity of Castile during four-and-forty years may not be +attributed exclusively to the influence of the English queen, yet the +marriage bore fruits in a second generation, of which it would be +difficult to exaggerate the importance; for it was the blood of the +Plantagenets, that flowed in the veins of Berenguela, their daughter, +one of the true heroines of Spain." + +In this instance, as in the case of the good Constance of Burgundy, we +see that Spain has been sobered and steadied by an infusion of foreign +blood. Constance, it is true, was a fanatic who cared little for the +national desires, and thought little of adapting herself to the national +conditions of life, so long as she could further her own ends, which +were those of the pope at Rome; and so stern and strict was her view of +life, and so rigid was her discipline, that it was impossible for her to +reconcile the lighter-minded Spaniards to her mode of thinking. For a +short time, by drastic methods, she subdued to some extent the frivolous +temper of her people; but she was so unlovable in her ways, and so +unloved by the people at large, that the sum total of her influence upon +Spanish life, apart from the somewhat questionable advantage which she +gave to Rome as the result of her activity, amounted to very little. +Even her own daughter, Urraca, in spite of the fact that she undoubtedly +inherited more from her father than she did from her mother, was, beyond +peradventure, rendered more wayward and more reckless by the mother's +narrow view of life. The gracious Eleanor, on the other hand, was more +liberal-minded, did everything in her power to get into touch with her +subjects, and by her kindliness and strength of character was able to +aid her husband in no mean degree in quieting civil discord and in +consolidating the interests of the country. + +Her daughter Berenguela, brought up in the midst of these influences, +developed a strong and self-reliant character which early in her career +gave proof of its existence. In accord with that policy which has so +often obtained in the monarchies of Europe, it was decided that a +foreign alliance with some strong ruling house would redound to +advantage; and so great was the prestige of Castile at this time, that +Alfonso found no difficulty in arranging a marriage with Conrad, Count +of Suabia, the son of the great Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. As might +have been expected, this marriage was nothing but a political +arrangement which was to benefit Castile, and in which the will of +Berenguela, the person most interested, had not been consulted in any +manner whatever. It is not on record that Eleanor was opposed to this +arrangement for her daughter, not from any lack of independent +spirit,--for she came of a self-willed race, as the erratic life of her +brother, Richard Coeur de Lion, will show,--but because such marriages +were the common lot of the royal maidens of her time and were accepted +as matters of necessity. It must be remembered that the ideals of +marriage were yet much undeveloped and that "husband" and "lover" were +rarely, if ever, synonymous terms. It appears that the emperor not only +consented to this marriage between his son and Eleanor's daughter, but +was much in favor of the project and more than anxious to see the +consummation of it all, as Eleanor had brought Gascony to her husband as +a marriage portion, and the prospective inheritance of Berenguela was a +goodly one. + +Fortunately for Berenguela, the marriage was postponed until she had +attained her majority; and when that day of partial freedom came, she +boldly declared that she would not marry the German prince, that she did +not know him and did not love him, and that nothing could force her to +such a bargain of herself. Great was the consternation in her father's +court, and great was the dismay in the North when Frederick Barbarossa +was told of this haughty Spanish maiden who refused the honor of an +alliance with his imperial house. The case was well-nigh unique; the +mediæval world was startled in its traditional routine, and Berenguela's +audacity became the talk of every court in Europe. Prayers and +entreaties were in vain, so firmly did she stand her ground in spite of +the countless specious arguments which were used to bend her will, and, +finally, the matter was dropped and considered a closed incident. "Woman +sees deep; man sees far. To the man the world is his heart; to the woman +the heart is her world;" so says Christian Grabbe, and this epigram may +well be applied to Berenguela's case. Her heart was her world, and she +fought for it, and in her victory she won, not only for herself, but for +Spain as well. And it came about in this way. Berenguela was married, +and with her own consent, to Alfonso IX., King of Leon, who had of late +made war upon her father, and with this marriage and the peace which +followed between the two countries, Spain prospered for a time. + +This Alfonso of Leon had already made one marriage venture which had +come to grief, for he had previously wedded the Princess Teresa of +Portugal, and his marriage had been forcibly dissolved by Pope Innocent +III., who was then, as Hume puts it, "riding rough-shod over the nations +of Christendom." This divorce had been pronounced on the ground that the +young couple were too closely related to each other; and as they +ventured to resist, they were for a time excommunicated. So Alfonso and +Teresa were finally separated, though not until several children had +been born to them, and then the young king led Berenguela to the altar. +This marriage, in its immediate result, was but a repetition of what had +gone before. The pope annulled it promptly on the same grounds of +consanguinity, and turned a deaf ear to every plea for reconsideration. +The case was not an unusual one; many marriages which were far less +regular in form had been sanctioned by this new Roman Cæsar; and the +result of the marriage could be but for the benefit of Rome, as domestic +peace in Spain gave assurance of more successful opposition to the +Moslem rule. But the pope was firm, his holy permission had not been +obtained before the marriage had been celebrated, and, piqued at this +unintended slight which had been put upon his august authority, he +revealed his littleness by this show of spite. + +Rebellious under this harsh decree because of its manifest injustice, +Alfonso and Berenguela endeavored to hold out against the pontiff, and +for seven years they lived together as man and wife, making their home +in Leon. Their life was to some degree a happy one together, children +were born to them, but ever about their path was the shadow of doubt +that was cast by the pope's decree. As a sad and pitiful end to it all, +Berenguela, a mother though not a wife, was forced to return to her +father's court in Castile, leaving the eldest son, Fernando, with the +father. In but one thing had the pope shown any mercy for this wedded +pair, and that was when he had consented to recognize the legitimacy of +their children; so Fernando could now be considered, without any doubt, +as the rightful heir to Leon. Meanwhile, Alfonso III. of Castile, +Berenguela's father, had won new laurels at the great battle known as +the Navas de Tolosa, where the Moors had suffered a crushing defeat, and +Castile was more than ever the leading Spanish power. But soon after +Berenguela's arrival, her father went to his long rest, and the crown +descended to his oldest son, Enrico, who was but a boy of ten. Queen +Eleanor was first intrusted with the administration of affairs, but she +soon followed her husband, dying within a month after this power had +been conferred upon her, and the regency passed by common consent to the +prudent care of Berenguela, who was, according to Hume, "the fittest +ruler in all Spain, the most prudent princess in all Christendom." This +regency, however, was not a time of peace and quiet, for the death of +the old king had given opportunity for the turbulent Lords of Lara to +break forth again in open revolt, and after a year of ineffectual +resistance Berenguela was compelled, in the interests of domestic +harmony, to surrender the person of her young brother into the control +of Alvaro Nuñez, the leader of the opposition, who at once began to rule +the kingdom with a heavy hand. What Berenguela's fate would have been +and what Castile's if this usurper had been allowed to remain for a long +time in power is a matter for conjecture, but Alvaro's dreams of success +were soon shattered. Through some whim of fate it happened that the +young king was accidentally killed one morning as he was at play in the +courtyard of the palace, and Berenguela, as the only lawful heir, became +the Queen of Castile in her own right. In this trying moment, +clear-headed as usual, she gave further proof of her astuteness. She +realized that her husband might in some way try to make political +capital out of the situation and might try to work in his own interests +rather than in those of their son. For the young Fernando, recognized as +heir to Leon, would now, as the prospective ruler of Castile, be heir +to a larger estate than that of his father, and Alfonso was not a man +big enough to rejoice in this fact, as Berenguela well knew. +Accordingly, she sent speedy messengers to Alfonso before the news of +the death of the young King Enrico had reached him, and asked that her +son might come to her for a visit. The invitation was innocent enough, +to all appearances, and the request was granted, but no sooner was the +young prince safe within the boundaries of Castile than Berenguela +called a meeting of the States-General of her kingdom, and there, after +having received the homage of her nobles, in the midst of a most +brilliant gathering, she announced her intention of abdicating in favor +of her son, the heir to Leon. There was some objection to this move, as +Berenguela was so universally beloved that all were loath to lose her +from the sovereign's chair. She took great pains to point out to them +the advantage which would undoubtedly accrue to the country as the +result of this prospective union with Leon, assured them that her +interests would ever be theirs, and that she would at all times counsel +her son and help him in every way within her power; and finally, her +will prevailed and the abdication was approved. + +Alfonso of Leon was more than irate when he learned of young Enrico's +death and realized the meaning of his son's visit to Castile, and he +immediately collected a large army and declared war upon his son. +Berenguela had foreseen this as the probable result of her course of +action and was not entirely unprepared in the emergency. The ultimate +peace and prosperity which might come to Spain with the definite union +of Castile and Leon were matters of such importance in her eyes that she +did not now hesitate to give of her personal wealth, even her jewels, as +Isabella did in a later day, to further the interests of the cause for +which she was contending. The goodness and sweetness of character +possessed by this great queen made such an impression upon all those who +came within the circle of her influence, and her cause was so manifestly +just, that her troops were filled with the zeal which knows no defeat, +and the conflict was a short one. Through Berenguela's diplomatic action +the war was brought to an end, harmony was restored between Castile and +Leon, and the united armies of the two countries were sent into southern +Spain to make further attack upon the Moorish strongholds. + +Now comes an interesting moment in the queen's career, the moment when +she was planning with all her wisdom for her son's marriage and his +future success. The interminable commotion and discord, the vexatious +factional quarrels, and the undying hatreds which had been engendered by +a long series of Spanish intermarriages, had so filled her with disgust +that she determined, now that the union of Castile and Leon was +practically complete, to go outside of this narrow circle in her search +for a suitable mate for the young King Fernando. Her choice fell upon +the Princess Beatrice of Suabia, cousin of the emperor and member of the +same house which she had scorned in her younger days. But the Princess +Beatrice was fair and good, the young people were eager for the +marriage, and there was no good reason why the thing should not be done. +Before this wedding, Berenguela decided that her son must be received +into the order of knighthood. There was the customary period of courtly +ceremony, with games and gay festivals and much feasting, which lasted +for several days, and then came the sacred, final rites, which ended +with the accolade. The youthful king and would-be knight was taken, all +clothed in white, by two "grave and ancient" chevaliers to the chapel of +the monastery of Las Huelgas, near the old city of Burgos, and there, +having placed his arms piously upon the altar, he passed the night +alone, "bestowing himself in orisons and prayers." When the daybreak +came, he confessed to a priest, heard matins, and then went to rest and +prepare himself for the final scene. When he was at length brought back +to the chapel, there was a most imposing company awaiting him, composed +of all the knights of Castile and many others from far distant countries +who had come to wage war against the Moors; and in the presence of them +all, from the sanctified hands of his noble mother, came the magic touch +which made a man of him. The next day, in the great cathedral at Burgos, +the wedding was celebrated, for the German princess had come to Spain +for the function, and there was much pomp and much show of silks and +brocades and the glitter of gold and silver was backed by the glitter of +steel. + +Soon King Fernando was in the saddle again, riding away toward the +south, leading a great host of knights, and one Moorish town after +another fell into their hands. While besieging Jaen, Fernando learned of +his father's death, which had occurred suddenly. Berenguela summoned her +son to return with all possible speed, but without waiting for his +arrival she set out at once for Leon, thinking that there might be work +to do. Nor was she wrong. Alfonso of Leon, jealous of his wife's great +renown and his son's growing success, and knowing that the union of +Castile and Leon was her most cherished project, deliberately left Leon +to his two daughters, Sancha and Dulce, children of his first marriage, +with Teresa of Portugal, perfectly sure that their claims could not find +adequate legal support, as these children had never been legitimized +after the pope's annulment of this marriage, but contented at the +thought that he had probably left an inheritance of dispute and possible +warfare which might be sufficient to make Bereuguela's plans miscarry. +But in this he reckoned without his host. Berenguela conducted her +affairs with the utmost discretion, conciliated the Leonese nobility, +caused her son to be proclaimed king, and brought about a permanent +union of the two countries without the loss of a single drop of blood. +Having accomplished this task, her next care was to provide in some +suitable way for Alfonso's two daughters. This she was under no +obligation to do, but her sense of justice left no other course of +conduct open to her. She arranged a meeting with their mother Teresa, +who had long since retired to a convent, and, journeying to the +Portuguese frontier, at Valencia de Alcantara in Galicia, these two +women, each the unwedded wife of the same man, came together to settle +the claims of their children to their dead husband's throne. The whole +matter was discussed in the most friendly way, and Berenguela was able +to carry her point that there should be no attempt to unseat Fernando +from the throne of Leon, and at the same time she made a proposition, by +way of indemnity, which Teresa, speaking for her daughters, was quite +ready to accept. The infantas were given by Fernando a pension of +fifteen thousand gold doubloons, in return for which they formally +agreed to abandon all claim to Leon, and this pension, under +Berenguela's direction, was paid in all faith and honor. In November of +the year 1246 this great queen died, and, according to her own +direction, she was buried at Burgos "in plain and humble fashion." + +No better eulogy of her life and labors can ever be written than that +which is found in Burke's history of Spain, and no excuse is needed for +giving it in its entirety: Berenguela was one of those rare beings who +seems to have been born to do right and to have done it. From her +earliest youth she was a leading figure, a happy and noble influence in +one of the most contemptible and detestable societies of mediæval +Christendom. Married of her own free will to a stranger and an enemy, +that she might bring peace to two kingdoms, she was ever a true and +loyal wife; unwedded by ecclesiastical tyranny in the very flower of her +young womanhood, she was ever a faithful daughter of the Church; +inheriting a crown when she had proved her own capacity for royal +dominion, she bestowed it on a strange and absent son, with no thought +but for the good of her country and of Christendom; and finally, as +queen-mother and ever faithful counsellor, she accepted all the +difficulties of government, while the glory of royalty was reserved for +the king whom she had created. Berenguela was ever present in the right +place, and at the proper time, and her name is associated only with what +is good and worthy and noble in an age of violence and wrong and +robbery; when good faith was well-nigh unknown, when bad men were +all-powerful, when murder was but an incident in family life, and +treason the chief feature in politics. + + + + +Chapter XVI + +The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries + + +In the early days of the thirteenth century, Pedro II. of Aragon had +married the somewhat frivolous, yet devout, Maria of Montpellier, whose +mother had been a Greek princess of Constantinople; and when a son was +born of this marriage, Maria, who foresaw a great future for her child, +was most desirous that he should have an Apostolic patron. There was the +embarrassment of the choice, however, as Maria did not wish to neglect +or cast a slight upon eleven saints while giving preference to one, and, +finally, the queen's father confessor, Bishop Boyl, devised the +following plan. Twelve tapers, each consecrated to an Apostle, were to +be lighted, and the child was to be named in honor of the candle which +burned the longest. Southey, in somewhat prolix and doggerel verse, has +given the following account of the ceremony: + + "The tapers were short and slender too, + Yet to the expectant throng, + Before they to the socket burnt, + The time, I trow, seemed long. + + "The first that went out was St. Peter, + The second was St. John, + And now St. Mattias is going, + And now St. Mathew is gone. + + "Next there went St. Andrew, + Then goes St. Philip too; + And see, there is an end + Of St. Bartholomew. + + "St. Simon is in the snuff, + But it is a matter of doubt, + Whether he or St. Thomas could be said, + Soonest to have gone out. + + "There are only three remaining, + St. Jude and the two Saints James, + And great was then Queen Mary's hope, + For the best of all good names. + + "Great was then Queen Mary's hope, + But greater her fear, I guess, + When one of the three went out, + And that one was St. James the less. + + "They are now within less than quarter inch, + The only remaining two. + When there came a thief in St James, + And it made a gutter too. + + "Up started Queen Mary, + Up she sate in her bed, + 'I can never call him Judas,' + She clasped her hands and said. + + 'I never can call him Judas!' + Again did she exclaim. + 'Holy Mother, preserve us! + It is not a Christian name.' + + "She opened her hands and clasped them again, + And the infant in the cradle + Set up a cry, a lusty cry, + As loud as he was able. + + "'Holy Mother, preserve us!' + The Queen her prayer renewed, + When in came a moth at the window, + And fluttered about St. Jude. + + "St. James had fallen in the socket, + But as yet the flame is not out, + And St. Jude hath singed the silly moth, + That flutters so idly about. + + "And before the flame and the molten wax, + That silly moth could kill, + It hath beat out St. Jude with its wings, + But St. James is burning still. + + "Oh, that was a joy for Queen Mary's heart, + The babe is christened James, + The Prince of Aragon hath got, + The best of all good names. + + "Glory to Santiago, + The mighty one in war, + James he is called, and he shall be + King James the Conqueror. + + "Now shall the Crescent wane, + The Cross be set on high, + In triumph upon many a mosque, + Woe, woe to Mawmetry!" + +So Jayme the youth was named, Jayme being the popularly accepted +Aragonese form for James, and early in life he entered upon an active +career which soon showed him to possess a strong and crafty nature, +though he was at the same time brutal, rough, and dissolute. In his +various schemes for conquest and national expansion, he stopped at +nothing which might ensure the success of his undertakings, and in +particular did he attempt by matrimonial ventures of various kinds to +increase his already large domain. This rather unusual disregard of the +sacredness of the marriage relation, even for that time, may have been +induced to some extent by the atmosphere in which he passed his youthful +days; for his mother, the devout Queen Maria, in spite of all her pious +zeal for the Church, was pleasure-loving, and in the excitement of court +life it was whispered that she had looked with favor more than once +upon some gallant troubadour from Provence who had written verses in her +honor. Jayme's first marriage was with Eleanor of Castile, Berenguela's +sister, but when he discovered that the young Castilian king, Fernando, +was strong and capable and that there was no possibility whatever of an +ultimate union of Aragon and Castile, at least within his own time, he +promptly divorced Eleanor, and then wedded Yolande, the daughter of King +Andrew of Hungary. Yolande's eldest son, Pedro, was married to +Constance, daughter of King Manfred of Sicily, for purely political +reasons; and when the King of France opposed this alliance as one +detrimental to the best interests of the pope, who was being much aided +at this time by Gallican support, Jayme cleverly silenced this complaint +by marrying his daughter Isabel to Philip, the French dauphin. This +daring King of Aragon had dreams of a great Romance Empire which might +extend all over the southern part of Europe, with Aragon as its centre, +and it was to this end that he bent all his energies. While he was not +able to realize this fond hope, he was remarkably successful; and not a +little of his success must be attributed to his lack of sentiment and +his practical view of the matrimonial question. + +With his conquests and the corresponding prosperity which is to be seen +in Castile at the same general period, Christian Spain slowly became the +most civilized and enlightened country in all Europe. Spain was rich, +there was much culture and refinement, and her artistic manufactures +excited the wonder of the world. With the knights who were coming in +ever increasing numbers to do battle against the Moors, now that the +time of the Crusades had passed, there came a goodly number of the +troubadours and minstrels who had recently been driven from Provence by +the cruel Simon de Montfort at the time of the Albigensian massacres, +and the whole condition of Spanish society was such that the stern +simplicity of the early Spaniards quickly disappeared. So great was the +craze for poetry and for glittering entertainments and a lavish display +of wealth, that Don Jayme felt called upon to take some restraining +measures. Aragon, as well as Castile, was filled with the wealth of +captured Moorish cities, there was a new sense of national security with +each successive Christian victory, luxuries of all kinds were being +brought within the reach of the people as the result of a newly aroused +spirit of commercialism, and, all in all, to a warlike king, the +situation was fraught with danger. Accordingly, Jayme determined to take +matters into his own hands, and he proceeded to issue a number of +sumptuary laws which were far from mild. Food was regulated, minstrels +were not allowed to sit at the same table with ladies and gentlemen, +most rigid rules were formulated against the abuse of gold, silver, and +tinsel trimmings on the dresses of the women, and of the men as well, +and the use of ermine and of all fine and Costly furs was carefully +restricted. In Castile the same movement was taking place, and Alfonso +X., who followed Fernando, issued similar laws, wherein women were +forbidden to wear any bright colors, to adorn their girdles with pearls, +or to border their skirts with either gold or silver thread. As in Italy +at about the same time, and notably in Florence, extravagant wedding +feasts were condemned, no presents of garments were permitted, and the +whole cost of a bride's trousseau could not exceed sixty maravedis, a +maravedi being a gold coin containing about sixty grains of the yellow +metal. + +It was in the midst of this brilliant period of national well-being that +Spain was called upon to celebrate a wedding festival which far +surpassed in magnificence anything that had ever before been seen among +the Christians of the peninsula. The sister of King Alfonso X. of +Castile, Eleanor, was given in marriage to Edward Plantagenet, the +attractive young heir to the English throne, and it was in honor of this +event that all Burgos was in gala dress in the month of October, 1254. +All were on tiptoe with excitement, crowds thronged into the old +cathedral city, and the windows and housetops were black with people, on +that eventful day when the stalwart prince rode in through the great +gate, with a glittering train of nobles at his back, to claim his bride. +Prince Edward was a magnificent specimen of physical manhood, towering +almost head and shoulders above his fellows, and the gorgeous +entertainments which were prepared for him and his followers gave good +opportunity for all to witness his courtly grace and his distinguished +bearing. The chronicles of the time are full of the most superlative +descriptions of this whole affair, and often they seem lost in +wonderment, lacking words with which to describe the scene properly. +Before the wedding, in accord with mediæval custom, Edward received +knighthood at the hands of King Alfonso. In that same old monastery at +Las Huelgas where the youth Fernando had kept his lonely vigil before he +had been knighted by his noble mother, Queen Berenguela, the English +prince now kept his watch; and when the morning came and he stood, tall +and fair, clothed in a robe of white, ready to receive the accolade, +before a company of chosen knights and ladies, the scene must have been +wonderfully impressive. The bride, Eleanor, had been a great favorite +with all her people, of both high and low degree, and all were glad to +see that the future seemed to smile upon her. + +A worthy companion to the wise Berenguela is found in the person of +Maria de Molina, the wife of Sancho IV., called the Ferocious, King of +Castile. His reign, which had extended over a period of eleven years, +came to a close with his death in the year 1295, and in all that time +there had been nothing but discord and confusion, warfare and +assassination, as Sancho's claim to the throne had been disputed by +several pretenders, and they lost no occasion to harass him by plot and +revolution. It may well be imagined, then, that when he died, leaving +his throne to his son Fernando, a child of nine, the situation was most +perplexing for the queen-mother, who had been made regent, by the terms +of her husband's will, until Fernando should become of age. A further +matter which tended to complicate the situation was the fact that the +marriage between Sancho and Maria had never been sanctioned by the pope, +as the two were within the forbidden limits of consanguinity, and he had +refused to grant his special dispensation. With this doubt as to her +son's legitimacy, Maria was placed in a position which was doubly hard, +and if she had not been a woman of keen diplomacy and great wisdom, she +would never have been able to steer her ship of state in safety amid so +many threatening dangers. Her first care was to induce the pope to +grant, after much persuasion, the long-deferred dispensation which +legalized her marriage; and this matter settled, she was ready to enter +the conflict and endeavor to maintain her rights. The first to attempt +her overthrow was the Infante Juan, the young king's uncle, who made an +alliance with the Moorish king of Granada and assumed a threatening +attitude. Maria sent against him her greatest nobles, Haro, and the +Lords of Lara; but she had been deceived in the loyalty of these +followers, as they promptly deserted the regent's cause and, with all +their men, went over to the insurgents and helped to make more powerful +the coalition which was forming against the infant king. For a brief +moment Maria was in despair and felt almost ready to yield in the face +of the opposition, as the hostile combination now included Portugal, +Aragon, Navarre, France, and Granada, and it was their intent to +separate the kingdoms of Leon and Castile if possible and undo all that +Berenguela had labored so hard and with such success to accomplish. +Inasmuch as this was, above all else, a quarrel which concerned the +nobility, a contention which had its rise in the jealousy and mutual +distrust of several powerful houses, Maria, with a keen knowledge of the +situation, and with a sagacity which was rather surprising in a woman +untrained in politics or government, decided to win to her side the +great mass of the common people, with whom she had always lived in peace +and harmony. Her first act was to call a meeting of the Cortes in +Valladolid, which was the only city upon which she could depend in this +crisis. The Cortes speedily acknowledged Fernando IV. as king, and with +this encouragement Maria de Molina set bravely about her arduous task of +organization and defence. Few of the nobles rallied to her support, but +she soon won over the chartered towns by the liberal treatment she +accorded them in matters of taxation and by her protection of the +various civic brotherhoods which had been organized by the people that +they might defend themselves from the injustice of the nobility, which +was now showing itself in countless tyrannical and petty acts. She +labored early and late, conducted her government in a most businesslike +manner, convoked the Cortes in regular session every year, and by the +sheer force of her integrity and her moral strength she finally quelled +all internal disturbances and brought back the government to its former +strength and solidity. In the year 1300 Fernando was declared king in +his own right, at the age of fourteen, and then, for a short time, it +looked as if all that the regent had sought to accomplish might +suddenly be nullified. The king, inclined to be arrogant, and with his +head somewhat turned as the result of his sudden accession to power, was +prevailed upon to listen to evil counsellors, who tried in every way to +make him believe that Maria had administered her regency with an eye to +her own interests, and that much of the revenue which legally belonged +to him had been diverted to her own private uses. Fernando, in spite of +all his mother's goodness, was simple enough to believe these idle +tales, and, in most unfilial and suspecting fashion, he sternly ordered +Maria to render up a detailed account of her stewardship during his +minority. Maria was much affected by this thoughtless and inconsiderate +act, but before she had had time to reply or attempt her own defence in +any way, a storm of indignation broke forth from the free towns, and +Fernando was informed that he would not be allowed to enter the town of +Medina del Campo, where the Leonese Cortes was to be held, unless he +restored his mother to favor and brought her with him to the assembly. +Fernando knew enough to fear the veiled threat which this communication +contained, and the queen-regent appeared with him at the opening of the +session. The scene which followed is pathetic in the extreme, and shows +the magnanimity and unselfishness of Maria in a most striking manner. +She spoke to the members of the Cortes, recalled their former struggles +against the encroachments of the nobles, and urged them to prudent +action, that there might be no further occasion for domestic strife. +Loyalty to country and to king were the keynotes of her speech, and +before she had finished, those who had assembled in anger, ready to +renounce their allegiance on account of Fernando's shameful treatment of +his mother, were now willing to forgive and pardon for that same +mother's sake. This point once established and a loyal following +secured, Maria proceeded to give in detail that account of her +stewardship which had been called for, and she had no trouble in showing +that her administration had been above reproach. Then it was that +Fernando made public acknowledgment of the fact that he had been led +astray by evil-minded advisers; and the Cortes adjourned, faithful to +the king and more than ever devoted to his mother. At Fernando's death +in 1312, Maria de Molina was again called to the regency, so great was +her reputation for wisdom and fair play; and when she ended her public +career, in 1324, all hastened to do honor to her memory, and she was +called Maria the Great, a title which has never been bestowed upon any +other queen-regent in Spain. Her reputation for goodness was unchanged +by the lapse of time, her goodness stands approved to-day, and two +dramatists, Tirso de Molina and Roca de Togores, have depicted her as a +heroine in their plays. + +Under the reign of Alfonso XI., Castile was rent by two factions, one in +support of the king's wife, Maria of Portugal, and the other friendly to +his beautiful mistress, Leonora de Guzman. When a youth of seventeen, +Alfonso had fallen captive to the charms of the fair Leonora; but his +grandmother, Maria de Molina, actuated by political motives, had forced +him to marry the Infanta Maria of Portugal. What might have been +expected came to pass: Maria was the queen in name, but Leonora was the +queen in fact. After three years had passed and no heir to the throne +had been born, Alfonso threatened to plead his kinship as a reason and +get a divorce; but Leonora, anticipating the trouble into which this +might plunge the country, as Alfonso was eager to marry her as soon as +the divorce should have been granted, urged him not to bring about this +separation and did all in her power to make him abide by the +arrangement which had been made for him. Nevertheless, in spite of the +fact that two sons were finally born to Maria and the succession was +assured, Leonora was by far the most influential woman in the kingdom, +and was in every way better fitted to rule as queen than the neglected +Maria. Leonora had her court and her courtiers, and had not only the +love but the respect and confidence of the king, and exercised a +considerable interest in affairs of state for a space of twenty years. +So established was her position at the court, that she was allowed +unhindered to found an order of merit, whose members wore a red ribbon +and were called Caballeros de la Banda. This order was for the promotion +of courtesy and knightly behavior, as it seems that there was still much +crudity of manner in Castile; and according to Miss Yonge, the +ceremonious Arabs complained that the Castilians were brave men, but +that they had no manners, and entered each other's houses freely without +asking permission. Finally, after the battle of Salado in 1340, which +was a great triumph for Alfonso and the Christians, the king was induced +to part definitely with his mistress. Maria, the true wife, had long +been jealous of her power and had lost no opportunity to bring about her +downfall. In the course of their long relationship Leonora had borne ten +children to the king, and her beauty, if accounts be true, was in no way +impaired; but, as he grew older, Alfonso could see more clearly the +complications which might ensue if he persisted in this double course; +and so, with a heavy heart, he consented to the separation, but not +without having given to Leonora the well-fortified city of +Medina-Sidonia, while her children were so well provided for that the +royal revenues were sadly depleted. With the death of Alfonso in 1350 +came the opportunity which Queen Maria had long since sought in vain, +an opportunity for revenge. Leonora was summoned to Seville, that Maria +might consult with her with regard to the interests of her children; and +when the one-time mistress showed some disinclination to accept this +invitation and gave evident signs of distrust, two noblemen of Maria's +following pledged their honor for her safety. Assured by this show of +good faith, Leonora went to Seville as she had been summoned, but no +sooner had she entered the walls of the city than she was made a +prisoner at Maria's order, dragged about in chains after the court, +which was travelling to Burgos, and finally she was sent to Talavera, +where she met an ignominious death at the hands of a servant, who +cruelly strangled her. Strange to say, this act caused no special +comment at the time, for, in spite of Leonora's general popularity, her +influence had been of such incalculable harm to Maria and her followers +in more ways than one, that their revenge was taken somewhat as a matter +of course. Maria, however, in this display of savagery, had done more +than she had anticipated; for, although she had continually tried to +excite her son to this revenge upon her rival, her desire for bloody +satisfaction had been satisfied at Leonora's death, and she now tried to +have Pedro treat Leonora's sons as his own brothers, but all to no +purpose. Young Pedro was cruel by nature; the early training which he +had received from her hands had in no way softened him, and as a natural +result, when he came to the throne and became his own master, he soon +made himself known and feared by his many terrible and wicked deeds; and +so marked did this fierce trait of character appear, that he was ever +known as Pedro the Cruel, much to his mother's shame. + +"If you ever feel disposed, Samivel, to go a-marryin' anybody,--no +matter who,--just you shut yourself up in your own room, if you've got +one, and pison yourself off-hand,"--such was the sententious advice of +the elder Weller, as recorded by Charles Dickens in the immortal pages +of the _Pickwick Papers_; and investigation will show that in all +literatures, from the earliest times, similar warnings have been uttered +to men who contemplated matrimony. A Tuscan proverb says: "in buying +horses and in taking a wife, shut your eyes tight and commend yourself +to God;" and a sage of Araby has remarked: "Before going to war, say a +prayer; before going to sea, say two prayers; before marrying, say three +prayers;" but the majority of men since the world began have been +content to close their eyes tightly or utter their three prayers and +take the goods the gods provide. Pedro the Cruel was no exception to +this rule, and his capricious ventures in search of married bliss would +fill many pages. According to Burke, "he was lawfully married in 1352 to +the lady who passed during her entire life as his mistress, Maria de +Padilla; he was certainly married to Blanche of Bourbon in 1353; and his +seduction, or rather his violation, of Juana de Castro was accomplished +by a third profanation of the sacrament, when the Bishops of Salamanca +and Avila, both accessories to the king's scandalous bigamy, pronounced +the blessing of the Church upon his brutal dishonor of a noble lady." +Whether Pedro was ever married to Maria de Padilla is still an open +question, but, if not his wife, she was his mistress for many years and +had great power over him. The details of all this life of intrigue are +somewhat confused, but enough is known to make it clear that Pedro was +as cruel in love as in war and politics. + +The queen-mother, ignorant of her son's marriage to Maria de Padilla, or +deciding to ignore it, prevailed upon Pedro to ask for the hand of +Blanche, the daughter of the Duke of Bourbon, and sister to Jeanne, wife +to Charles, the heir of France. His request was granted, and the king +sent his half-brother, the Master of Santiago, one of Leonora's sons, to +fetch the bride to Spain. While this journey was being made, Pedro fell +in love with one of the noble ladies in waiting of Doña Isabel of +Albuquerque, and so great was his passion for this dark-eyed damsel that +it was with difficulty that he could be prevailed upon to leave her and +go to greet the French princess when she finally arrived in Valladolid. +But he tore himself away, went to Blanche, and was married with great +pomp and ceremony. Some had said before the marriage that Maria de +Padilla must have bewitched Pedro, so great was his infatuation; and +three days after the wedding a strange thing happened, which caused +people to shake their heads again and suggest the interference of the +powers of sorcery. For, after this short time, Pedro rode away from +Valladolid and his new queen and went to Montalvao, where Maria de +Padilla was waiting to receive him. Just what had happened, it is +somewhat difficult to discover, and the story is told that the king, +listening to scandalous talk, was made to believe that his royal +messenger and half-brother, Fadrique, had played the rôle of Sir +Tristram as he brought the lady back, and that she had been a somewhat +willing Isolde. There were others who said that Blanche, knowing the +king's volatile disposition and of his relations with the notorious +Maria, had endeavored upon the eve of her marriage to seek aid from the +arts of magic in her effort to win the love of her husband, and had +obtained from a Jewish sorcerer a belt which she was told would make +Pedro faithful, kind, and true. But the story goes on to say that this +wizard had been bribed by Maria de Padilla; and when the king tried on +the girdle which his wife presented, it forthwith was changed into a +hideous serpent, which filled him with such disgust that he could no +longer bear the sight of her. Don Alfonso of Albuquerque, who had first +introduced Pedro to Maria de Padilla, now tried to take her away from +him, in the hope that he might be prevailed upon to return to his wife, +the unfortunate Blanche. This so angered the king that he resolved upon +Don Alfonso's death, and if it had not been for the timely warning given +by Maria, this gentleman would certainly have been assassinated. This +action on Maria's part, however, was the occasion for a fresh outburst +of anger; and Pedro left, wooed Doña Juana de Castro in stormy fashion, +and induced her to marry him, on the statement that he had made a secret +protest against Blanche and that the pope would soon annul this +marriage. Thomas Hardy has said that the most delicate women get used to +strange moral situations, and there must have been something of this in +Juana's makeup, or she would never have been forced into so shameful a +position; but, however that may be, she was made to rue the day, as the +king left her the next morning for Maria, his Venus Victrix, and never +went to see her again, although he gave her the town of Duefias and +allowed her to be addressed as "queen." The chronicles of the time tell +of the remarkable beauty of Maria and of the adulation she enjoyed in +the heyday of her prosperity. As an instance of the extreme gallantry of +the courtiers, we are informed that, with King Pedro, it was their +custom to attend the lovely favorite at her bath and, upon her leaving +it, to drink of its water. + +The fate of Blanche was still hanging in the balance. Pedro, on leaving +her so abruptly, had left orders that she be taken to his palace at +Toledo, but Blanche, fearing to trust herself to his power, tried to +slip from his grasp and finally succeeded in doing so. Arrived in +Toledo, she asked permission, before entering the palace, to go to the +cathedral, for mass; and once within the walls of the sanctuary, she +refused to go back to her guards, demanded the right of protection which +the churches had always possessed in the Middle Ages, and, finally, told +her story with such dramatic effect, that the clergy crowded about her, +the nobles unsheathed their swords and swore to uphold her cause, and a +revolution was begun which soon assumed great proportions and so +frightened Pedro that he consented to take back his wife and send away +the baleful Maria. For four years his nobles kept stern watch over him, +and he was never allowed to ride out of his palace without a guard of a +thousand men at his heels, so fearful were they that he might break away +from them, surround himself again with evil counsellors, and recommence +his career of wantonness and crime. Their efforts were at last of no +avail, as he eluded his followers one day upon a hunting expedition, +through the kindly intervention of a heavy fog, rode off to Segovia, +ordered his mother, who had been exercising a practical regency during +this period, to send him the great seal of state, and then he proceeded +to wreak vengeance upon all those who had been instrumental in his +humiliation. Blanche was sent to prison at Medina-Sidonia on a +trumped-up charge, was shamefully treated during the time of her +captivity, and died in 1359, in the same year that Maria de Padilla, +discredited and cast aside, also found rest in death. Pitiful as these +stories are, they serve to show that women, even at this time, when +Spain was the seat of learning and refinement for all Europe, were but +the servants of their lords and masters, and that passion still ran +riot, while justice sat upon a tottering seat. + +In Aragon, near the close of this fourteenth century, similar scenes of +cruelty were enacted, although the king, Juan I., cannot be compared for +cruelty with the infamous Pedro. Burke has said that if Pedro was not +absolutely the most cruel of men, he was undoubtedly the greatest +blackguard who ever sat upon a throne, and King Juan was far from +meriting similar condemnation. Sibyl de Foix, his stepmother, had +exercised so strange and wonderful a power over his father, that when +Juan came to the throne he was more than eager to turn upon this +enchantress and make her render up the wide estates which the late king +had been prevailed upon to leave to her. It is actually asserted that +Juan charged Sibyl with witchcraft and insisted that she had bewitched +his father and that she had all sorts of mysterious dealings with Satan +and his evil spirits. Whatever the truth may have been, the unhappy +queen only escaped torture and death by surrendering all of the property +which had been given her. Juan was by no means a misogynist, however, +for he was noted for his gallantry, and his beautiful queen, Violante, +was surrounded by a bevy of court beauties who were famed throughout all +Christendom at this time. Juan's capital at Saragossa was the talk of +all Europe. It became famed for its elegance, was a veritable school of +good manners and courtly grace, and to it flocked poets and countless +gentlemen who were knightly soldiers of fortune, only too willing to +serve a noble patron who knew how to appreciate the value of their +chivalry. Violante was the acknowledged leader of this gay and brilliant +world; at her instigation courts of love are said to have been +established, and in every way did she try to reproduce the brilliant +social life which had been the wonder and admiration of the world before +Simon de Montfort had blighted the fair life of Provence. More than ever +before in Spain, women were put into positions of prominence in this +court; and so great was the poetic and literary atmosphere which +surrounded them, that they were known more than once to try their hands +at verse making. Their attempts were modest, however, and no one has +ever been tempted to quote against them Alphonse Karr's well-known +epigram: "A woman who writes, commits two sins: she increases the number +of books, and she decreases the number of women;" for they were content, +for the most part, to be the source of inspiration for their minstrel +knights. Violante's gay court was looked upon with questioning eye, +however, by the majority of her rude subjects, and, finally, when the +sum demanded from the Cortes each year for the maintenance of this +brilliant establishment continued to increase in a most unreasonable +manner, the Cortes called a halt, Violante was obliged to change her +mode of life, and the number of her ladies in waiting was reduced by +half, while other unnecessary expenses were cut in proportion. + + + + +Chapter XVII + +The Age of Isabella--Spanish Unity + + +In the first half of the fifteenth century in Spain there was one woman, +Isabella of Portugal, who deserves to be remembered for her many good +qualities and for the fact that she was the mother of the great Queen +Isabella. It was as the wife of John II. of Castile that the elder +Isabella was brought into the political life of the time and made to +play her part. This King John was one of the weakest and in some ways +the most inefficient of monarchs, for, in spite of his intelligence, his +good manners, and his open and substantial appreciation of the learned +men of his time, his political life was contemptible, as he was +completely under the control of the court favorite, Alvaro de Luna. +_Alvaro de Luna era el hombre más politico, disimulado, y astuto de su +tiempo_ [Alvaro de Luna was the most politic, deceitful, and astute man +of his time], so says the Spanish historian Quintana; and as Burke puts +it, he had the strongest head and the bravest heart in all Castile. +There was no one to excel him in knightly sport, no one lived in greater +magnificence, and he was, in truth, "the glass of fashion, the mould of +form, the observed of all observers." To this perfect knight, the king +was a mere puppet who could be moved this way or that with perfect +impunity. So complete was the ascendency of Luna, that it is said on +good authority that the king hesitated to go to bed until he had +received his favorite's permission. When King John's first wife, Maria +of Portugal, died in 1445, it was his desire to marry a princess of the +royal house of France; but, for his own reasons, the Lord of Luna willed +otherwise, and the king, submissive, obeyed orders and espoused Isabella +of Portugal, a granddaughter of King John I. No sooner had this fiery +princess taken her place beside King John, after their marriage in 1450, +than she began to assert her independence in a way which caused great +scandal at the court and brought dismay to the heart of Alvaro de Luna. +Isabella opposed the plans of this masterful nobleman at every turn, +refused to accept his dictation about the slightest matter, declined to +make terms with him in any way, and declared herself entirely beyond his +control, in spite of the fact that he had been responsible for her +marriage. King John was at first as much surprised as any of the other +people at the boldness of his young queen, but he soon saw that it would +be possible, with Isabella's aid, to throw off the hateful yoke which +Luna had put about his neck, and this is what took place in a very short +time. The queen was more than a match for all who opposed her, court +intrigues, instigated by Luna, were to no avail, and in the end he had +to give up, beaten by a woman, and one whom he had hoped to make his +agent, or ally, in the further subjection of the king. A year after the +marriage of John and Isabella, the Princess Isabella was born, and with +her advent there came new hope for Spain. + +In the neighboring little kingdom of Navarre there was another princess +who lived at about the same time, who distinguished herself not by the +same boldness of manner perhaps, but by a quiet dignity, and by a wise +and temperate spirit which was often sorely tried. Blanche, Princess of +Navarre, had been married in 1419 to the Prince of Aragon, John; but in +the early years of their married life, before Navarre, the substantial +part of Blanche's marriage portion, came under her definite control, the +young prince spent the most of his time in Castile, where he was +connected with many of the court intrigues which were being woven around +the romantic figure of Alvaro de Luna. Finally, Blanche became Queen of +Navarre, upon her father's death in 1425, but John was still too much +concerned with his Castilian affairs to care to leave them and come to +take his place at the side of his wife's throne. For three years Blanche +was left to her own devices, and during that time she ruled her little +state without the aid or assistance of king or prime minister, and was +so eminently successful in all her undertakings that her capacity was +soon a matter of favorable comment. Finally, in 1428, John was forced to +leave Castile, as Luna had gained the upper hand for the moment, and he +considered this as a favorable opportunity to go to Navarre and gain +recognition as Queen Blanche's husband. Accordingly, he went in great +state to Pamplona, the capital city, and there, with imposing +ceremonies, the public and official coronation of John and Blanche was +celebrated. At the same time, Blanche's son Charles was recognized as +his mother's successor in her ancestral kingdom. But Navarre was not a +congenial territory for King John, who was of a restless, impulsive +disposition; and he was so bored by the provincial gayety of Pamplona +that after a very short stay he could endure it no longer, and set off +for Italy, leaving Blanche in entire control as before. Navarre was a +sort of halfway ground between France and the various governments of +Spain, and was often the centre of much intrigue and plotted treachery; +but John was so completely overshadowed now by Luna's almost absolute +power, that he knew there was no field for his activity at home. +Blanche, however, was confronted more than once by the most delicate +situations, as her good city of Pamplona was constantly filled with the +agents of foreign powers; but so firm was the queen's character, and so +careful were her judgments, that she was able to administer her +government until her death, in 1441, with much success and very little +criticism. + +The next woman to occupy a conspicuous place in the annals of Aragon and +Navarre is Doña Juana Henriquez, the second wife of this same John II. +Doña Juana was the daughter of Don Fadrique Henriquez, Admiral of +Castile, who had become the most influential man in the kingdom during a +moment of temporary disgrace for Alvaro de Luna; and at this time of his +success, for factional reasons, John considered that an alliance with +the admiral might further his own plans with respect to Castile. This +second wife was not a woman of high birth, and was totally unaccustomed +to the new surroundings in which she found herself placed; but with the +quick adaptive power which is possessed by women to so marked a degree, +Juana was soon able to hold her own at court and to make a good showing, +in fact, on any occasion. She was a very beautiful woman, of the +traditional Spanish type, with dark eyes and dark hair, and a very +engaging manner, and to her cleverness she joined a great ambition which +made her unceasing in her efforts for her husband's advancement. She was +inclined to be haughty and domineering in tone, was not overscrupulous, +as might have been expected of one who had lived in the atmosphere of +the Castilian court at this time, and the sum total of her efforts did +little more than to perpetuate the period of strife and turmoil. The +admiral, Don Fadrique, was in control for but a short time; and upon the +return to power of Alvaro, John was driven out of the country, after +being wounded in battle, and the admiral himself was killed in the +fighting at Olmedo. John took his wife with him to Pamplona, where he +now went, as that city offered him a most convenient exile. His return +to his wife's country was not made in peace, for no sooner had he +arrived than he proceeded to dispossess his son Charles, who had been +openly acknowledged as his mother's heir at the time of her coronation. +In the warfare which ensued, and which was a snarl of petty, selfish +interests, Juana did yeoman service in her husband's cause. At the time +of her hurried flight to Navarre, she had tarried for a short time in +the little town of Sos, in Aragon, and there she had given birth to a +son, Fernando, who was to be instrumental in bringing peace and glory to +Spain in spite of the fact that he first saw the light in the midst of +such tumult and confusion. Notwithstanding her delicate condition, Juana +was soon in the thick of the fray, as she hastened to the town of +Estella, which had been threatened, fortified the place, and defended it +effectually from all the attacks made upon it by the hostile forces. She +seems to have been a born fighter, and, though her efforts may often +have been misdirected, she must have exerted a powerful influence upon +the mind of her son, who was to show himself at a later day as good a +fighter in a larger cause. + +To turn back to Castile now for a time, in the labyrinth of this much +involved period, where the duplication of names and the multiplicity of +places makes it difficult to thread one's way intelligently, it will be +found that the court, during the reign of Henry IV., was chiefly +distinguished by its scandalous immorality. Quintana, in his volume +entitled the _Grandezas de Madrid_, gives enough information on the +subject to reveal the fact that the roués of that period could learn +little from their counterparts to-day, as the most shameless proceedings +were of everyday occurrence, and men and women both seemed to vie with +each other in their wickedness. It would be somewhat unjust to include +the great body of the people in this vicious class, as the most +conspicuous examples of human degradation and degeneracy were to be +found at the court, but the fact remains that public ideas in regard to +moral questions were very lax; the clergy was corrupt, and the moral +tone of the whole country was deplorably low, as judged by the standards +of to-day. Women deceived their husbands with much the same relish as +Boccaccio depicts in his _Decameron_; passions were everywhere the +moving forces, in the higher and lower classes as well, and nowhere was +there to be seen the continence which comes from an intelligent +self-control. + +In the midst of this carnival of vice and corruption, King Henry, the +older brother of the Princess Isabella, was a most striking figure. He +had been divorced from his first wife, Blanche of Aragon, on the ground +of impotence, but had succeeded, in spite of this humiliation, in +contracting another alliance, this time with the beautiful, but not +overscrupulous, Juana of Portugal. Beltran de Cueva, a brilliant +nobleman, was the favorite and influential person at the court at this +time, and his gradual rise to favor had been due in no small measure to +the protection of the new queen, who was Beltran's all but acknowledged +mistress and took no pains to conceal the matter at any time. In fact, +at a great tournament held near Madrid in 1461, soon after Juana's +arrival at the court, Beltran posed as her preferred champion, and held +the lists against all comers in defence of his mistress's preëminent and +matchless beauty. The king was far from displeased at this liaison +between Beltran and the queen, and he was so delighted at the knight's +unvarying success in this tournament, that the story goes that he +founded a monastery upon the spot and named it, in honor of Saint Jerome +and Beltran, San Geronimo del Paso, or of the "passage of arms"! The +king was little moved by all this, for the simple reason that he was +paying a most ardent court at the same time to one of the queen's ladies +in waiting. This Lady Guiomar, his mistress, was beautiful, but bold and +vicious, as her relations with such a king demonstrate, but for a time +at least she was riding upon the crest of the wave. Proud in her +questionable honor, and daring to be jealous of the real queen, she made +King Henry pay dearly for her favors, and she was soon installed in a +palace of her own and living in a splendor and magnificence which +rivalled that of the queen herself. The Archbishop of Seville, strange +to relate, openly espoused her cause. Her insolent and domineering ways +were a fit counterpart to those of the queen, and the unfortunate people +were soon making open complaint. Beltran, the king in fact, was the open +and accepted favorite of the queen, and Henry, the king in name only, +was devoting himself to a vain and shallow court beauty who wished to be +a veritable queen and longed for the overthrow of her rival! Such was +the sad spectacle presented to the world by Castile at this time, but +the crisis was soon to come which would clarify the air and lead to a +more satisfactory condition in the state. Matters were hastened to their +climax when the queen gave birth, in 1462, to a daughter who was called +after her mother, Juana; but so evident was the paternity of this +pitiful little princess, that she was at once christened La Beltraneja +in common parlance; and by that sobriquet she is best known in history. +It is doubtful if the sluggish moral natures of this time would have +been moved by this fact, if the king had not insisted that this baby +girl should be acknowledged as his daughter and heiress to the crown of +Castile. This was too much for the leaders of the opposition, and they +demanded that Henry's younger brother, Alfonso, be recognized as his +successor. This proposition brought about civil warfare, which was ended +by Alfonso's death in 1468, and then Isabella was generally recognized +as the real successor to her unworthy brother Henry, in spite of the +claims he continued to put forth in favor of La Beltraneja. + +Before the cessation of domestic hostilities, Isabella had been sorely +tried by various projects which had been advanced for her marriage. She +had been brought up by her mother, Queen Isabella, in the little town of +Arevalo, which had been settled upon her at the time of the death of her +husband, King John II. There, in quiet and seclusion, quite apart from +the vice and tumult of the capital, the little princess had been under +the close tutelage of the Church, as her mother had grown quite devout +with advancing years; and as Isabella ripened into womanhood, it became +evident that she possessed a high seriousness and a strength of +character quite unusual. Still, all was uncertain as to her fate. Her +brother Henry had first endeavored to marry her to Alfonso V. of +Portugal, the elder and infamous brother of his own shameless queen, but +Isabella had declined this alliance on the ground that it had not been +properly ratified by the Cortes of Castile, and as a result the plan was +soon dropped. In the midst of the rebellion which had broken out after +Henry's attempt to foist La Beltraneja upon the state, he had proposed +as a conciliatory measure that one of the most turbulent of the +factional leaders, Don Pedro Giron, Grand Master of Calatrava, should +wed Isabella, and the offer had been accepted. This man, who was old +enough to be her father, was stained with vice, in spite of his exalted +position in the religious Order of Calatrava, and his character was so +notoriously vile that the mere mention of such an alliance was nothing +short of insult to Isabella. Again she did not allow herself to be +dominated by her brother, and after announcing that she utterly refused +to consent to such an arrangement, she shut herself up in her apartments +and declared her intention of resisting any attempts which might be made +to coerce her. But the king gave no heed to her remonstrances, and made +arrangements for the wedding festivities, the bridegroom having been +summoned. The pope had absolved the profligate grand master from his +vows of celibacy, which he had never kept, and poor Isabella, sustained +only by the moral support of her courageous mother, was beginning to +quake and tremble, as she knew not what might happen, and the prospect +for her future happiness was far from good. A providential illness +overcame the dreaded bridegroom when he was less than forty leagues from +Madrid, as it turned out, and Isabella was able to breathe again freely. + +With the death of the younger Alfonso, there were many who urged +Isabella to declare herself at once as the Queen of Castile and to head +a revolution against her brother, the unworthy Henry. Her natural +inclinations, as well as the whole character of her early education, had +made her devout, almost bigoted, by nature, and it was but natural that +her advisers at this time in her career were mostly members of the +clergy, who saw in this young queen-to-be a great support for the +Spanish Church in the future. But this girl of sixteen was wiser than +her advisers, for she refused to head a revolution, and contented +herself with a claim to the throne upon her brother's death. Such a +claim necessarily had to run counter to the claim of the dubious +Princess Juana, and to discredit her cause as much as possible her +sobriquet _La Beltraneja_ was zealously revived. Sure of the support of +the clergy, and still wishing to be near to her advisers, Isabella went +to the monastery at Avila, where, it is said, deputations from all +parts of Castile came to entreat her to assume the crown at once. Her +policy of delay made possible an interview between sister and brother, +at which Henry, unable to withstand the manifest current of public +sentiment, agreed to accept Isabella as his successor and as the lawful +heir to the throne of Castile. With this question settled in this +satisfactory way, the matter of Isabella's marriage again became an +affair of national importance. There were suitors in plenty, Richard, +Duke of Gloucester, brother of Edward IV. of England, and the Duke of +Guienne, brother of Louis XI. and heir to the French throne, being among +the number; but the young Isabella, influenced as much by policy as by +any personal feeling in the matter, had decided that she would wed +Fernando, son of John II. of Aragon and his second wife, the dashing +Doña Juana Henriquez, and nothing would change her from this fixed +purpose. In a former day it had been a woman, Queen Berenguela, who had +labored long and successfully for the union of Castile and Leon; and now +another woman, this time a girl still in her teens, was laboring for a +still greater Spanish unity, which will consolidate the interests of the +two kingdoms of Aragon and Castile and give to all Spain the peace which +was now such a necessity to the future well-being of the country. There +were numerous obstacles thrown in the way of this marriage, which was +not pleasing to all of the Castilian factions. The Archbishop of Seville +tried to kidnap Isabella to prevent it, and would have done so but for +the activity of another prelate, the Archbishop of Toledo, who rescued +the unfortunate maiden and carried her off to sure friends in +Valladolid, where she awaited Fernando's coming. + +Burke gives an admirable description of Isabella at this time, in the +following lines: "That royal and noble lady was then in the full bloom +of her maiden beauty. She had just completed her eighteenth year. In +stature somewhat superior to the majority of her countrywomen, and +inferior to none in personal grace and charm, her golden hair and her +bright blue eyes told perhaps of her Lancastrian ancestry. Her beauty +was remarkable in a land where beauty has never been rare; her dignity +was conspicuous in a country where dignity is the heritage not of a +class but of a nation. Of her courage, no less than of her discretion, +she had already given abundant proofs. Bold and resolute, modest and +reserved, she had all the simplicity of a great lady born for a great +position. She became in after life something of an autocrat and overmuch +of a bigot. But it could not be laid to the charge of a persecuted +princess of nineteen that she was devoted to the service of her +religion." Such was Isabella when she married Fernando; and the wedding +was quietly celebrated at Valladolid, in the house of a friend, Don Juan +de Vivero, while the warlike Archbishop of Toledo had charge of the +ceremony. Never was there a simpler royal wedding in all the annals of +Spanish history: there was no throng of gay nobles, there were none of +the customary feasts or tournaments, there was no military display, no +glitter of jewels, no shimmer of silks and satins, but all was quiet and +serious, and the few guests at this solemn consecration seemed impressed +with the dignity of the occasion. The pathway of the young princess was +not all strewn with roses, however, as her marriage seemed to enrage her +degenerate brother and to stimulate him to new deeds of unworthiness. In +spite of the fact that King Henry's shameless conduct in private life +had been given a severe rebuke, by implication at least, at the time +that Isabella was being urged on all sides to declare herself as queen +and dispossess her brother, this perverted monarch continued his +profligate career in most open fashion. He had not only one mistress +but many of them at the court, he loaded them with riches and with +favors, and often, in a somewhat questionable excess of religious zeal, +he appointed them to posts of honor and importance in conventual +establishments! No sooner had Isabella's wedding been celebrated than +Henry began to stir up trouble again, declared that the queen's +daughter, La Beltraneja, was the only lawful heir to his estates, and to +further his projects he succeeded in arranging for a betrothal ceremony +between this young woman and the young Duke of Guienne, heir presumptive +to the crown of France, who had been one of Isabella's suitors, as will +be remembered. This French alliance, threatening for a moment, was soon +impaired by the unexpected death of the young duke, and Isabella's +position was strengthened daily by the growing disbelief in La +Beltraneja's legitimacy. To give in detail an account of all the plots +which were concocted against Isabella would take many chapters in +itself, for she met with bitter opposition in spite of the fact that she +seems to have won the sympathies of the larger part of the population of +the two countries. + +In the midst of this continual intrigue came the news of King Henry's +death in 1474, and then Isabella, who had been biding her time, was +proclaimed queen by her own orders, and the proclamation was made at +Segovia, which was then her place of residence. As a mere matter of +curiosity, it may be interesting to record the long list of titles which +actually belonged to Isabella at this time. She was Queen of Castile, +Aragon, Leon, Sicily, Granada, Toledo, Valencia, Galicia, the Mallorcas, +Seville, Sardinia, Cordova, Corsica, Murcia, Jaen, the Algarves, +Alguynias, Gibraltar, the Canary Islands, Countess of Barcelona, +Sovereign Lady of Biscay and Molina, Duchess of Athens and Neopatria, +Countess of Roussillon, Cerdagne, Marchioness of Ovistan and Goziano! +After assuming the heavy burden implied by this somewhat overpowering +list of titles, the young queen's first serious annoyance came from her +husband, strange as the case may seem. Fernando of Aragon was the +nearest living male representative of King Henry, and he somewhat +selfishly began to take steps to supplant Isabella in her succession. +Little did he know his wife, however, if he imagined it possible to +deprive her of Castile, and events soon showed that she was the stronger +of the two. At her orders, the laws and precedents with regard to royal +succession were carefully examined, and it was soon published abroad +that there was no legal objection to her assumption of power. Fernando +was appeased to some degree by certain concessions made by his wife, +their daughter Juana was recognized as heiress of Castile, and, all in +all, in spite of his disgruntled state of mind, he wisely concluded to +remain at Isabella's side and help to fight her battles. A new cause for +alarm soon appeared: another of Isabella's former suitors, Alfonso, King +of Portugal, was affianced to the pitiful La Beltraneja, the two were +proclaimed King and Queen of Castile, and the country was at once +invaded by a hostile force. Isabella interested herself personally in +the equipment of her troops, she faced every emergency bravely, and +after a short campaign her banners were triumphant and all things seemed +to indicate that an era of peace had been begun. The pope dissolved the +marriage between Alfonso and La Beltraneja soon after, and these two +unhappy mortals forthwith retired from the world, she to the convent of +Saint Clare at Coimbra, while the poor king resigned his crown and +became a Franciscan monk. So great, in fact, was Isabella's victory at +this time, and so keen was her appreciation of the fact that her +greatest cause for alarm had been completely removed from the scene of +action, that she walked barefooted in a procession to the church of +Saint Paul at Tordesillas, to express her feeling of thanksgiving for +her great success. + +Following close upon the heels of this last stroke of good fortune for +Castile came the news that the old King of Aragon, Fernando's father, +was dead, and now, in truth, came that unity of Spain which had been the +dream of more than one Utopian mind in days gone by. With fortune +smiling upon them in so many ways, the sovereigns of this united realm +were still confronted by many serious problems of government, especially +in Castile, which called for speedy settlement. The long years of weak +and vicious administration had filled the country with all kinds of +abuses, and the task of internal improvement was difficult enough to +cause even a stouter heart to quail. The queen in all these matters +displayed a rare sagacity and developed a rare faculty for handling men +which stood her in good stead. The recalcitrant nobles and the +rebellious commoners were all brought to terms by her influence, and her +power was soon unquestioned. She had an army at her back and a crowd of +officers ready to carry out and enforce her instructions to the letter, +but, more than all this, her great and personal triumph was the result +of her tremendous personal power and magnetism. She travelled all over +Spain in a most tireless fashion, she met the people in a familiar +manner, and showed her sympathy for them in countless ways; but there +was always about her something of that divinity which doth hedge a king, +which made all both fear and respect her. No nook or corner of the whole +country was too remote, her visits covered the whole realm, and +everywhere it was plain to see that her coming had been followed by the +most satisfactory results. Having thus created a great and mighty +public sentiment in her favor, Isabella was not slow to attack the great +questions of national reforms, which were sadly in need of her +attention. She boldly curtailed the privileges of the grandees of Spain, +and to such good effect that she transformed, in an incredibly short +space of time, the most turbulent aristocracy on the continent into a +body of devoted and submissive retainers, the counterpart of which was +not to be found in any other country of Europe. Her wide grasp of +affairs is seen in the support she was willing to give to Columbus in +his voyage overseas, and time and time again she showed herself equal to +the most trying situations in a way which was most surprising in one of +her age and experience. Her firmness of character was ever felt, +although her manners were always mild and her whole attitude was +calculated to conciliate rather than to antagonize. + +Pure and discreet in every way, Isabella was ever a zealous Christian, +and she never failed to aid the Church when the means were within her +reach. The gradual decline of the Moorish power in Spain had given rise +to a most unfortunate spirit of religious intolerance, with which +Isabella was soon called upon to deal, and her action in this matter is +but characteristic of the time in which she lived. Spain was filled with +Jews, who had settled unmolested under the Moslem rule, and there were +also many Moriscoes, or people of mixed Spanish and Moorish origin; and +these unfortunates were now to be submitted to the tortures of that +diabolical institution known as the Inquisition, because they were not +enthusiastic in their support of the Catholic religion. Isabella tried +to oppose the introduction of these barbarous practices into Castile, +but by specious argument her scruples were overcome and she was made to +bow to the will of the pope and his legates. In the workings of the +Inquisition little distinction was made between men and women, and both +seem to have suffered alike at the hands of these cruel ministers of the +Church. In 1498, for the first time, it was decreed that men and women +held under arrest by order of the inquisitor should be provided with +separate prisons, and it is easy to imagine from this one statement that +Isabella must have been very much of a bigot, or she could not have +allowed so flagrant an abuse to exist for any length of time, no matter +what the occasion for it. When the power of the inquisitor seemed about +to extend to the Jews for the first time, they offered to Fernando and +Isabella thirty thousand pieces of silver, for the final campaigns +against the Moors, if they might be allowed to live unmolested. The +proposition was being favorably entertained, when Torquemada, the chief +inquisitor, suddenly appeared before the king and queen, with a crucifix +in his uplifted hand; and if the traditional account be true, he +addressed them in these words: "Judas sold his Master for thirty pieces +of silver, your highnesses are about to do the same for thirty thousand; +behold Him, take Him, and hasten to sell Him." Impressed by this +dramatic presentation of the subject, Isabella was impelled to sign the +decrees which banished the Jews from Spain and led to so much slaughter +and persecution. All of this side of Isabella's character causes some +expression of surprise perhaps, but it must be remembered that her +religious zeal and enthusiasm were such that anyone who dared to oppose +the power of Rome in any way could have no claim upon her of any kind. + +This same trait of character is everywhere prominent in Isabella's +treatment of the Moors. In the year 1487 the important Moorish city of +Malaga was compelled finally to surrender to the armies of Fernando and +Isabella after a most heroic defence, but these Christian rulers could +feel no pity for their unfortunate captives, and were unwilling to show +any sense of appreciation of their valor. Accordingly, the whole +population of some fifteen thousand people was sold into slavery and +scattered throughout Europe! Prescott, in his history of the time of +Fernando and Isabella, states that the clergy in the Spanish camp wanted +to have the whole population put to the sword, but to this Isabella +would not consent. Burke gives the following details with regard to the +fate of all these prisoners of war: "A hundred choice warriors were sent +as a gift to the pope. Fifty of the most beautiful girls were presented +to the Queen of Naples, thirty more to the Queen of Portugal, others to +the ladies of her court, and the residue of both sexes were portioned +off among the nobles, the knights, and the common soldiers of the army, +according to their rank and influence." If Isabella showed herself +tender-hearted in not allowing a regular massacre of these poor Moors, +she was far less compassionate with regard to the Jews and the renegade +Christians who were within the walls of Malaga when the city was taken. +These poor unfortunates were burned at the stake, and Albarca, a +contemporary Church historian, in describing the scene, says that these +awful fires were "illuminations most grateful to the Catholic piety of +Fernando and Isabella." + +Isabella shows this same general mental temper in her whole attitude to +war and warlike deeds, for she seems to have possessed little of that +real sentiment or pity which women are supposed to show. Tolstoi has +said that the first and chief thing that should be looked for in a woman +is fear, but this remark cannot be applied in any way to Isabella, for +no fear was ever found in her. In the camp at Granada, in those last +days of struggle, the queen appeared on the field daily, superbly +mounted, and dressed in complete armor; and she gave much time to the +inspection of the quarters of the soldiers and reviewed the troops at +her pleasure. One day she said, in talking to some of her officers, that +she would like to go nearer to the city walls for a closer inspection of +the place, whereupon a small escort of chosen men was immediately +detailed to take the queen to a better point for observing the city and +its means of defence. They all advanced boldly, the queen in the front +rank, and so angered the Moors by their insolence, so small was their +party, that the gates of the city suddenly opened and a large body of +citizens came forth to punish them for their temerity. In spite of the +unequal numbers, the Christian knights, inspired by the presence and the +coolness of their queen, who was apparently unmoved by the whole scene, +performed such miracles of valor that two thousand Moors were slain in a +short time and their fellows compelled to retire in confusion. + +With the conquest of the Moors, the spreading of the influence of Spain +beyond the seas became a more immediate question. Its solution, however, +was still prevented by the theories of statesmen and theologians. +Columbus had won the queen to his cause during the famous audience at +the summer court at Salamanca, when he was presented to the sovereigns +by Cardinal de Mendoza, at which interview, we are told, he "had no eyes +for any potentate but Isabella." But after years of disappointment to +Columbus, the queen was again the great power to further his project: +she offered to pledge her crown jewels to defray the cost of the +expedition. Thus a speedy issue was obtained, and to Isabella's +determination Spain owes a glory which gilds the reign of this queen +with imperishable lustre. + + + + +Chapter XVIII + +The Women of the Sixteenth Century + + +The wealth which had come to Spain as the result of her conquests in +Moorish territory, and, far more, the treasure which was beginning to +pour into the country from the new Spanish possessions beyond the seas, +brought to the old peninsula a possibility for lavish and brilliant +display in dress which was by no means disregarded. All Europe, in this +same period of the Renaissance, had been undergoing to a greater or less +degree this social transformation, but the looms of Valencia and Granada +furnished the silks and brocades which other countries bought with +eagerness, and Spain may be considered very properly as the home of all +this courtly show. The wonderful gold cloths which were woven by the +deft fingers of the Moriscoes were everywhere prized by fine ladies and +ardent churchmen, for there was no finer material for a fetching robe of +state in all the world, and no altar cloth or priestly robe could +possess excelling beauty and not owe a debt to Spain. Someone has said +that women are compounds of plain-sewing and make-believe, daughters of +Sham and Hem, and, without questioning the truth of the statement, the +same remark might be applied to both the clergy and the women of this +period at least, if "fine-sewing" be substituted for "plain-sewing" in +the epigram. Isabella herself, in spite of her well-known serious +character, dressed in a way which was magnificent beyond belief, and +the smallest provincial court was a marvel of brave array. Never had the +women adorned themselves so splendidly before, the fashions were made +and followed with much scrupulous precision, and so great was the sum of +money expended by people of all classes, high and low, that the +far-seeing and prudent began to fear the consequences. It is said that +on more than one occasion the Cortes deplored the prevalent extravagance +and the foolish pride which made even the laboring classes vie in +richness of dress with the nobility, "whereby they not only squander +their own estate, but bring poverty and want to all." When, however, +Fernando and Isabella discovered that gold was being used in large +amounts in the weaving of these costly tissues, they issued an order +which not only prohibited the wearing of this finery, but inflicted +heavy penalties upon all those who should import, sell, or manufacture +any textures containing gold or silver threads! + +While Her Most Catholic Majesty was issuing edicts of this kind relating +to the material affairs of life, it must not be supposed that she was in +any way neglecting the humanities, for the truth is quite the contrary. +Never before had such encouragement been given to learning by a Spanish +sovereign, and never before had there been so little jealousy of +foreigners in the matter of scholarship. Isabella was the leader in this +broad movement, and from all parts of Europe she summoned distinguished +men in science and literature, who were installed at her court in +positions of honor or were given chairs in the universities. The final +expulsion of the Moors had brought about an era of peace and quiet which +was much needed, as Spain had been rent by so much warfare and domestic +strife, and for so many years, that the more solid attainments in +literature had been much neglected, and the Spanish nobles were covered +with but a polite veneer of worldly information and knowledge which too +often cracked and showed the rough beneath. Isabella endeavored to +change this state of affairs, and by her own studies, and by her +manifest interest in the work of the schools, she soon succeeded in +placing learning in a position of high esteem, even among the nobles, +who did not need it for their advancement in the world. Paul Jove wrote: +"No Spaniard was accounted noble who was indifferent to learning;" and +so great was the queen's influence, that more than one scion of a noble +house was glad to enter upon a scholarly career and hold a university +appointment. It may well be imagined that in all this new intellectual +movement which was stimulated by Isabella, it was the sober side of +literature and of scholarship which was encouraged, as a light and vain +thing such as lyric poetry would have been as much out of place in the +court of the firm defender of the Catholic faith as the traditional bull +in the traditional china shop. Isabella, under priestly influences, +favored and furthered the revival of interest in the study of Greek and +Latin, and it is in this realm of classical study that the scholars of +the time were celebrated. + +The power of example is a wonderful thing always, and in the present +instance the direct results of Isabella's interest in education may be +seen in the fact that many of the women of her day began to show an +unusual interest in schools and books. The opportunities for an +education were not limited to the members of the sterner sex, and it +appears that both men and women were eager to take advantage of the many +new opportunities which were afforded them at this epoch. A certain Doña +Beatriz de Galindo was considered the greatest Latin scholar among the +women of her time, and for several years her praises were sounded in all +the universities. Finally, Doña Beatriz was appointed special teacher +in the Latin language to the queen herself; and so great was her success +with this royal pupil, that she was rewarded with the title _la Latina_, +by which she was commonly known ever after. According to a Spanish +proverb, "the best counsel is that of a woman," and surely Isabella +acted upon that supposition. This is not all, however, for not only was +a woman called to give lessons to the queen, but women were intrusted +with important university positions, which they filled with no small +credit to themselves. Good Dr. Holmes has said: "Our ice-eyed +brain-women are really admirable if we only ask of them just what they +can give and no more," but the bluestockings of Isabella's day were by +no means ice-eyed or limited in their accomplishments, and they managed +to combine a rare grace and beauty of the dark southern type with a +scholarship which was most unusual, all things taken into consideration. +Doña Francisca de Lebrija, a daughter of the great Andalusian humanist +Antonio de Lebrija, followed her father's courses in the universities of +Seville, Salamanca, and Alcala, and finally, in recognition of her great +talents, she was invited to lecture upon rhetoric before the Alcala +students. At Salamanca, too, there was a liberal spirit shown toward +women, and there it was that Doña Lucia de Medrano delivered a course of +most learned lectures upon classical Latinity. These are merely the more +illustrious among the learned women of the time, and must not be +considered as the only cases on record. Educational standards for the +majority of both men and women were not high, as a matter of course, +and, from the very nature of things, there were more learned men than +learned women; but the fact remains that Isabella's position in the +whole matter, her desire to learn and her desire to give other women the +same opportunity and the same desire, did much to encourage an ambition +of this kind among the wives and daughters of Spain. The queen was a +conspicuous incarnation of woman's possibilities, and her enlightened +views did much to broaden the feminine horizon. Where she led the way +others dared to follow, and the net result was a distinct advance in +national culture. + +In spite of all this intellectual advance, the game of politics was +still being played, and women were still, in more than one instance, the +unhappy pawns upon the board who were sacrificed from time to time in +the interest of some important move. The success of Spanish unity had +aroused Spanish ambition, Fernando and Isabella had arranged political +marriages for their children, and the sixteenth century was to show +that, in one instance at least, this practical and utilitarian view of +the marriage relation brought untold misery and hardship to one poor +Spanish princess. In each case the royal alliances which were contracted +by the Spanish rulers for their various children were the subject of +much careful planning and negotiation, and yet, in spite of it all, +these measures constitute the most conspicuous failure in all their long +reign. Particularly pathetic and distressing is the story of the poor +Princess Juana, whose prospects were most brilliant and whose destiny +was most cruel. Juana was married in 1496 to the Archduke Philip of +Austria, Governor of the Netherlands and heir to the great domain of his +father, the Emperor Maximilian, and the wedding had been celebrated in a +most gorgeous fashion. It was in the month of August that a splendid +Spanish fleet set out from Laredo, a little port between Bilbao and +Santander, to carry the Spanish maiden to her waiting bridegroom. As is +usual in such affairs, the beauty of the girl had been much extolled, +and the archduke, then in his eighteenth year, was all aglow with hope +and expectation. Watchmen had been posted to keep a lookout for the +ships from Spain, and when they finally came in sight with their +glistening white sails and their masts and spars all gay with flags and +streamers, salutes were fired and they received a royal welcome. The +Spanish admiral in person led the Princess Juana to meet her affianced +husband, and soon after, in the great cathedral at Lille, the two young +people were married in the midst of great festivities. It seems almost +pitiful to think of the human side of all this great and glittering +show. Juana was barely seventeen years of age, alone, without mother or +father or sister or brother, in a strange land, in the midst of a +strange court, where all about her were speaking a strange language, and +the wife of a youth whom she had never seen until the eve of her +marriage! For a few long weeks Juana was somewhat reserved in her new +surroundings, and in her heart she longed again for Spain; but as the +days passed she became accustomed to her new home, took pleasure in the +greater liberty which was now accorded her as a married woman, and soon, +neglected by her parents, so far as any show of affection was concerned, +she learned to grow indifferent to them and to all their interests. By +the year 1500, however, Juana had become a most important person, as +death had claimed her brother and her older sisters and she now remained +the rightful heir not only to Aragon, but to her mother's realm of +Castile as well. This fact caused much uneasiness in Spain, as such an +outcome was most unexpected. Secret agents who had been sent to Flanders +to inquire into the political and religious views of the archduchess +brought back most discouraging reports. It was asserted that she was no +longer a careful Catholic, that she "had little or no devotion," and +that she was "in the hands of worthless clerics from Paris." As a matter +of fact, Juana, once freed from the ecclesiastical restraints which had +been imposed upon her in her younger days by her pious mother, did what +it was most natural for her to do,--she went to the opposite extreme. +Spain, at that time, with its Inquisition and its fervid zeal for Rome, +was the most religious country in Europe, while in the Netherlands there +was a growing liberal spirit which attracted the archduchess. It must +have been annoying to her to feel that her mother, Isabella, was in a +constant fret about the condition of her soul, while otherwise she was +treated with a distant formality, entirely devoid of a mother's love, +and it is no small wonder that she refused to accept a spiritual +director and father confessor who had been sent from Spain to save her +from perdition. + +With all these facts in mind, Isabella was greatly troubled, for the +thought that the indifferent Juana might some day reign in her stead and +undo all that she had done with so much labor for the glory of the +Church was naturally repugnant to her devout nature. Finally, after a +son was born to Juana, Charles, who was to become at a later day the +Emperor Charles V., the queen decided upon a somewhat doubtful procedure +to avert, for a time at least, the impending catastrophe. The Cortes, +under royal pressure, was induced to provide for the government after +Isabella's death, in case Juana might be absent from the kingdom, or in +case of her "being present in Castile, but, unwilling or unable to +reign." Under any or all of those circumstances, it was provided that +Fernando should act as regent until her son Charles had reached his +twentieth year, a rather unusual age, at a time when young princes were +frequently declared to have attained their majority at fifteen or +sixteen. Isabella's intention in all this was too obvious, for it was +plainly a part of her plan that Juana should never have any share in the +government of the country of which she was the rightful heir. The whole +transaction smacks strongly of duplicity of the worst kind, for at the +very time that the Cortes was being prevailed upon to do this, Juana was +being given a royal welcome in both Aragon and Castile, for she had been +induced to come home for a visit; and she was even being given public +recognition as the future queen of these two countries. There were +feasts and tournaments given in her honor, Fernando and Isabella +introduced her to their subjects with apparent pleasure, and yet under +it all was this heartless trick which they had planned in utter defiance +of the law. Still, the law in Spain at this time was almost synonymous +with the wish of the sovereign; and so powerful was Isabella and so +great was her influence with her legislative body, that there was little +dissent to the plan for usurpation which had its origin in her fertile +brain. The reasons for this action will never be definitely known, +perhaps. It would hardly seem that Juana's lukewarm Catholicism would be +sufficient to warrant so radical a step, and it is difficult to give +credence to the vaguely circulated rumor that Juana was insane. + +Whether this alleged insanity was real or not, it served as a pretext +for the action taken, and the report regarding the unhappy princess was +soon common property. When Isabella drew her last breath in 1504, +Fernando artfully convoked the Cortes, formally renounced any interest +in the succession to the throne of Castile, and caused Juana and Philip +to be proclaimed as successors to Isabella and himself. Within two +months, however, Juana's claims were completely disregarded, it was +officially announced that she was not in her right mind, and Fernando +was empowered to take control of the Castilian government and rule as +regent, according to the terms of the decree which had been arranged by +Isabella some years before, and was to remain as a _de facto_ sovereign +until Charles had reached the specified majority. The statements which +were made to support the claim as to her insanity were not altogether +clear, and to-day at least they do not seem convincing. Her attitude of +indifference toward the extreme point of view taken by her mother in +regard to religion may have been scandalous, as no doubt it was at that +time, but it was hardly evidence of an impaired intellect. During her +last visit to Spain before her mother's death, Juana had resisted with +violence when she was imprisoned for a time and had not been allowed to +go to her husband, and such resistance was quite natural in a +high-spirited young woman who was being treated in a high-handed and +illegal manner; but because her jailer had been the Bishop of Burgos, +and because she had been detained by royal order, her action was +considered as a certain indication of mental derangement. Again, it was +asserted that on one occasion, soon after Juana's return to Flanders +from the place of her imprisonment, she gave unmistakable signs of +insanity in the course of a court quarrel. It seems that during her +absence a certain lady in waiting at her ducal court had succeeded in +winning the favor of Philip, and had received such marked attentions +from the archduke that the affair was soon gossiped about in every nook +and corner of the palace, from scullery maid to the lord high +chamberlain. Juana was given a full account of the whole affair before +she had been in the palace twenty-four hours, and it so enraged her that +she sought out her rival in her husband's affection, and, after a +terrible scene, clipped the golden locks of the fair enchantress so +close to her head that, for a time at least, her beauty was marred. This +was not dignified action, and it might well have been the act of any +angered woman under those circumstances, but in Spain the one terrible +word "insanity" was whispered about and no other explanation could or +would be accepted. Her sanity had never been questioned in Flanders, +and, in spite of her quick temper and many unreasonable acts, no one had +ever thought to fasten this terrible suspicion upon her. The game was +worth the candle, however; Isabella had been unwilling to take any +chances, and the ambiguous clause, "being present in Castile, but unable +or unwilling to reign," gave the hint which Fernando had been only too +willing to act upon, and the trumped-up charge of insanity was an easy +thing to sustain. + +Fernando's assumption of the regency, however, and the action of the +Cortes, which virtually disregarded the claims of Juana to the throne, +angered her and her husband still more, and they set out by ship for +Spain, after some delay, to demand an explanation. Fernando went to meet +them at the little village of Villafafila, and there, after an audience +with the archduke which took place in the little parish church and which +lasted for several hours, it was agreed between them that Juana, "on +account of her infirmities and sufferings, which decency forbids to be +related," was to be "refused under any circumstances to occupy herself +with the affairs of the kingdom," and it was mutually agreed that Juana +was to be prevented by force, if necessary, from taking any part in the +government of Castile! What happened in that interview no man can ever +know exactly, but it certainly appears that the wily Fernando had been +able by some trick or mass of false evidence to convince Philip that +Juana was really insane, and yet he had been with his wife almost +continually for the previous two years and had not thought of her in +that light, and Fernando had not even seen his daughter within that same +space of time! But then and there the fate of the much-abused princess +was definitely decided. Juana, self-willed as she had shown herself to +be, was not a woman of strong character or any great ability, and her +husband had so regularly controlled her and bent her to his will that he +found little trouble in the present instance in deposing her entirely, +that he might rule Castile in her stead. When Philip died suddenly two +months after he had assumed the reigns of government, Juana was stricken +with a great grief, which, it is said, did not at first find the +ordinary solace afforded by tears. She refused for a long time to +believe him dead; and when there was no longer any doubt of the fact, +she became almost violent in her sorrow. She had watched by her +husband's bedside during his illness, and was most suspicious of all who +had anything to do with her, for she thought, as was probably the case, +that Philip had been poisoned, and she feared that the same fate might +be reserved for her. In any event, Juana was treated with little or no +consideration at this unhappy moment; the Cardinal Ximenes, who had been +made grand inquisitor, assumed control of the state until Fernando might +be summoned from Naples, whither he had gone; and, all in all, the +rightful heir to the throne was utterly despised and disregarded. She +was allowed to follow her husband's body to its last resting place, and +then, after a brief delay, she went to live at Arcos, where she was well +watched and guarded by her jealous father, who feared that some +disaffected nobles might seek her out and gain her aid in organizing a +revolt against his own government. While in this seclusion, Juana was +sought in marriage by several suitors, and among them Henry VII. of +England; but all these negotiations came to naught, and in the end she +was sent to the fortress of Tordesillas, where she was kept in close +confinement until the time of her death. + +There is no trustworthy evidence to show that Juana was mad before the +death of her husband, and all her eccentricities of manner could well +have been accounted for by her wayward, jealous, and hysterical +character, but after her domestic tragedy there is little doubt but that +her mind was to some degree unsettled. Naturally nervous, and feeling +herself in the absolute power of persons who were hostile to her +interests, she became most excitable and suspicious, and may well have +lost her reason before her last hour came. The story of her confinement +in the old fortress at Tordesillas is enough in itself to show that +stronger minds than hers might have given way under that strain. This +palace-prison overlooked the river Douro, and was composed of a great +hall, which extended across the front of the building, and a number of +small, dark, and poorly ventilated rooms at the back. In addition to the +jailer, who was responsible for the prisoner, the place was filled with +a number of women, whose duty it was to keep a close watch upon Juana +and prevent her from making any attempt to escape. The use of the great +hall with its view across the river was practically denied to her, she +was never allowed to look out of the window under any circumstances, for +fear she might appeal to some passer-by for aid, and, in general, unless +she was under especial surveillance, she was confined, day in and day +out, in a little back room, a veritable cell, which was without windows, +and where her only light came from the rude candles common to that age. +Priests were frequent visitors, but, to the end, Juana would have +nothing to do with them, and it is even said that on more than one +occasion she had to be dragged to the prison chapel when she was ordered +to hear mass. No man can tell whether this unhappy woman would have +developed a strong, self-reliant character if the course of her life had +been other than it was, but, accepting the facts as they stand, there is +no more pathetic figure in all the history of Spain than this poor, +mistreated Juana la Loca, "the mad Juana," and to every diligent +student of Spanish history this instance of woman's inhumanity to woman +will ever be a blot on the scutcheon of the celebrated Isabella of +Castile. + +The religious fanaticism which was responsible in part at least for the +fate of Juana soon took shape in a modified form as a definite national +policy, and the grandson and great-grandson of Isabella, Charles V. and +his son, King Philip, showed themselves equally ardent in the defence of +the Catholic faith, even if their ardor did not lead them to treat with +inhumanity some member of their own family. Spain gloried in this +religious leadership, exhausted herself in her efforts to maintain the +cause of Rome in the face of the growing force of the Reformation, and +not only sent her sons to die upon foreign battlefields, but ruthlessly +took the lives of many of her best citizens at home in her despairing +efforts to wipe out every trace of heresy. This whole ecclesiastical +campaign produced a marked change in the character of the Spanish +people; they lost many of their easy-going ways, while retaining their +indomitable spirit of national pride, and became stern, vindictive, and +bigoted. In the process of this transformation, the women of the country +were perhaps in advance of the men in responding to the new influences +which were at work upon them. The number of convents increased rapidly, +every countryside had its wonder-working nun who could unveil the +mysteries of the world while in the power of some ecstatic trance, and +women everywhere were the most tireless supporters of the clergy. It was +natural that this should be the case, for there was a nervous excitement +in the air which was especially effective upon feminine minds, and the +Spanish woman in particular was sensitive and impressionable and easily +influenced. Among all of the devout women of this age living a +conventual life, the most distinguished, beyond any question, was +Teresa de Cepeda, who is perhaps the favorite saint of modern Spain +to-day. + +Teresa's early life resembled that of any other well-born young girl of +her time, although she must have enjoyed rather exceptional educational +advantages, as her father was a man of scholarly instincts, who took an +interest in his daughter's development and sedulously cultivated her +taste for books. When Teresa was born in 1515, the Spanish romances of +chivalry and knight-errantry were in the full tide of their popularity; +and as soon as the little girl was able to read, she spent many hours +over these fascinating tales. Endowed by nature with a very unusual +imagination, she was soon so much absorbed in these wonder tales, which +were her mother's delight, that she often sat up far into the night to +finish the course of some absorbing adventure. At this juncture, her +father, fearing that this excitement might be harmful, tried to divert +her mind by putting in her way books of pious origin, wherein the +various trials and tribulations of the Christian martyrs were described +in a most graphic and realistic style. Soon Teresa was even more +interested in these stories than in those of a more worldly character, +and the glories of martyrdom, which were described as leading to a +direct enjoyment of heavenly bliss without any purgatorial delay, made +such a profound impression upon her youthful mind that she resolved at +the early age of seven to start out in search of a martyr's crown. +Prevailing upon her little brother to accompany her in this quest for +celestial happiness, she started out for the country of the Moors, +deeming that the surest way to attain the desired goal. While this +childish enthusiasm was nipped in the bud by the timely intervention of +an uncle, who met the two pilgrims trudging along the highway, the idea +lost none of its fascination for a time; and the two children +immediately began to play at being hermits in their father's garden, +and made donation to all the beggars in the neighborhood of whatever +they could find to give away, depriving themselves of many customary +pleasures to satisfy their pious zeal. With the lapse of time, however, +this morbid sentiment seemed to disappear, and Teresa was much like any +other girl in her enjoyment of the innocent pleasures of life. Avila, in +Old Castile, was her home, and there she was sent to an Augustinian +convent to complete her education, but without any idea that she would +eventually adopt a religious life for herself. This convent, indeed, +seemed to make little impression upon her, and it was only after a +chance visit made to an uncle who was about to enter a monastery, and +who entreated her to withdraw from the vanities of the world, that she +seems to have gone back with undimmed ardor to her childish notions. In +spite of her father's opposition, Teresa, in her eighteenth year, left +home one morning and went to install herself at the Carmelite convent of +the Incarnation, which was situated in the outskirts of her native city. +The lax discipline and somewhat worldly tone of the place proved a great +surprise to her, as she had imagined that the odor of sanctity must be +all-pervasive in a religious house; but she evidently accommodated +herself to the conditions as she found them, for she made no decided +protest and gave evidence of no special piety until twenty years after +she had formally given up the world. Then, saddened and sobered by her +father's death, Teresa began to have wonderful trances, accompanied by +visions wherein Christ, crucified, appeared to her time and time again. +Although in later times these unusual experiences have been adduced to +prove her saintship, at the time of their occurrence they were not +looked upon in the same light, and there were many who said that Teresa +was possessed of devils. She was more than half inclined to this view +of the case herself, and the eminent religious authorities who were +consulted in the matter advised her to scourge herself without mercy, +and to exorcise the figures, both celestial and infernal, which +continued to appear before her. The strange experiences continued to +trouble her, however, in spite of all that she could do, and to the end +of her days she was subject to them. Constantly occupied with illusions +and hallucinations, she soon became a religious mystic, living apart +from the world and yet deeply interested in its spiritual welfare. One +of her visions in particular shows into what a state of religious +exaltation she could be thrown. She imagined herself a frameless mirror +of infinite size, with Christ shining in the middle of it, and the +mirror itself, she knew not how, was in Christ! + +In the midst of these experiences Teresa began to wonder what she could +do for the real advancement of the Church, and her first thought was +that there must be reform in the convents if the cause of religion was +to prosper. Discouraged by the members of her own convent, who looked +upon any reform movement as a reflection upon their own establishment, +Teresa was nevertheless encouraged to go on with her work by certain +far-seeing ecclesiastics who were able to appreciate its ultimate value. +It was her plan to establish a convent wherein all the early and austere +regulations of the Carmelite order were to be observed, and, by working +secretly, she was able to carry it out. There was violent protest, which +almost led to violence, and it was only after full papal approval that +she was allowed to go about her business unmolested. The reorganizing +spirit of the Counter-Reformation which was now at work within the +Catholic Church gave her moral support, and the remaining years of her +life were devoted to the work of conventual reorganization and +regeneration which she had begun with so stout a heart. It was her wont +to travel everywhere in a little cart which was drawn by a single +donkey, and winter and summer she went her way, enduring innumerable +hardships and privations, that her work might prosper. Sixteen convents +and fourteen monasteries were founded as the result of her efforts; and +as her sincerity and single-mindedness became more and more apparent, +she was everywhere hailed by the people as a devout and holy woman, and +was even worshipped by some as a saint on earth. Disappointment and +failure were her lot at times, and she found it difficult to maintain +the stern discipline of which she was such an ardent advocate. On one +occasion, it is said that her nuns in the convent of Saint Joseph, at +Avila, went on a strike and demanded a meat diet, which, it may be +added, she refused to grant; and a prioress at Medina answered one of +her communications in a very impertinent manner and showed other signs +of insubordination; but Teresa was calm and unruffled, in her outward +demeanor at least, and found a way by tactful management, and by a +judicious show of her authority, to settle all differences and disputes +without great difficulty. When death overtook her in 1582, miracles were +worked about her tomb, and when the vault was opened, after a period of +nine months, it is asserted that her body was uncorrupted. Removed to a +last resting place at Avila at a somewhat later date, her bones were +finally carried off by pious relic hunters, who believed them to possess +miraculous properties. In the forty years which followed her death, +Teresa was so revered throughout her native land that she was canonized +by Pope Gregory XV. in 1622. To her exalted spirit were joined a firm +judgment and a wonderful power of organization, and in placing her among +the saints she was given a merited reward for her holy labors. + +The harsh intolerance which came with the Spanish Counter-Reformation +manifested itself oftentimes in acts of cruelty and oppression which are +almost beyond belief. So eager were the zealots for the triumph of pure +and unadulterated Catholicism, that no consideration whatever was shown +for the Moriscoes, or Spanish Moors, whose form of belief was Catholic, +but tinged with Moslem usages, and even women and children were made to +suffer the unreasoning persecution of the Christians. One offensive +measure after another was adopted for the discomfiture of the thrifty +sons of the Prophet, and finally, with the purpose of wiping out all +distinctions of any kind which might lead to a retention of national +characteristics, it was decreed in 1567 that no woman should walk abroad +with a covered face. Such a measure was certainly short-sighted. For +hundreds of years this Oriental custom had been common in southern +Spain; it was significant of much of their idea of social order and +decency, and any attempt to abolish it with a single stroke of a +Catholic pen was both unwise and imprudent. According to Hume, "this +practice had taken such a firm hold of the people of the south of Spain +that traces of it remain to the present day in Andalusia, where the +women of the poorer classes constantly cover the lower part of the face +with the corner of a shawl. In Peru and Chili (originally colonized by +the Spanish) the custom is even more universal." Yet it was this firmly +rooted habit that the Christians tried to destroy! As the result of this +order, the majority of the Spanish women showed themselves in public as +rarely as possible, and then they tried to evade the law whenever they +could. Other measures, equally severe and equally impossible, which were +enacted at the same time, ended finally, as might have been expected, in +a desperate revolt. A horde of Moslem fanatics, goaded to desperation, +swept down upon the Christians of Granada, and there was a terrible +massacre. This was all that was necessary to start the Spaniards upon a +campaign which was still more cruel than any which had preceded it, for +now the avowed object was revenge and not war. Six thousand helpless +women and children were slaughtered in a single day by the Marquis de +los Velez, and this is but a single instance of the bloodthirsty spirit +which was rampant at the time. + +Even among the Spanish people, the officers of the Inquisition found +many victims, and women quite as often as men had to endure its rigors. +In spite of the many centuries of Christian influence, there were still +to be found in various parts of the country remnants of the old pagan +worship which were difficult to eradicate. It was claimed that sects +were in existence which not only denied the Christian faith, but openly +acknowledged the Devil as their patron and promised obedience to him! In +the ceremonies attendant upon this worship of the powers of darkness, +women played no unimportant part, and many were the reputed witches who +were supposed to be on terms of intimate acquaintance with the +arch-fiend in person. As the suppression of this heresy was assumed by +the Church, the Inquisition, as its punitive organ, took charge of the +matter and showed little mercy in its dealings with suspected persons, +for whom the rack and other instruments of torture were put to frequent +use. In the year 1507 the Inquisition of Calahorra burned more than +thirty women as sorceresses and magicians, and twenty years later, in +Navarre, there were similar condemnations. So frequent, indeed, were +these arrests for magic and sorcery, that the "sect of sorcerers," as it +was called, seemed to be making great headway throughout the whole +country, and the Inquisition called upon all good Christians to lodge +information with the proper authorities whenever they "heard that any +person had familiar spirits, and that he invoked demons in circles, +questioning them and expecting their answer, as a magician, or in virtue +of an express or tacit compact." It was also their duty to report anyone +who "constructed or procured mirrors, rings, phials, or other vessels +for the purpose of attracting, enclosing, and preserving a demon, who +replies to his questions and assists him in obtaining his wishes; or who +had endeavored to discover the future by interrogating demons in +possessed people; or tried to produce the same effect by invoking the +devil under the name of _holy angel_ or _white angel_, and by asking +things of him with prayers and humility, by practising other +superstitious ceremonies with vases, phials of water, or consecrated +tapers; by the inspection of the nails, and of the palm of the hand +rubbed with vinegar, or by endeavoring to obtain representations of +objects by means of phantoms in order to learn secret things or which +had not then happened." Such orders led to the arrest of hundreds of +women all over Spain, and many of them went to death in the flames, for +women rather than men were affected by this crusade, as they were +generally the adepts in these matters of the black art. That such things +could be in Spain at this time may cause some surprise, but it must be +remembered that superstition dies hard and that many of the things which +are here condemned are still advertised in the columns of the +newspapers, and the belief in the supernatural seems to have taken a new +lease of life as the result of certain modern investigations. +Superstition has ever gone hand in hand with civilization, in spite of +the repeated efforts of the latter to go its way alone. + +Witches and sorceresses, however, were far outnumbered in the prisons of +the Inquisition by the numerous Spanish women who were accused of +Lutheranism, for the reformed doctrines had succeeded in making great +progress even here in this hotbed of popery, and many persons were +burned for their lack of faith in the old formulas of belief. An _auto +de fé_ was a great public holiday, celebrated in some large open square, +which had been especially prepared for the event, with tiers upon tiers +of seats arranged on every side for the accommodation of the thousands +of spectators; and to this inspiring performance came many noble ladies, +decked out as if for a bull fight, and eager to witness each act of +atrocity in its slightest detail. The names of scores of the women who +perished in this way might be cited to show that from all classes the +Church was claiming its victims; and even after death, condemnation +might come and punishment might be inflicted. To illustrate the +possibilities of this religious fury, the case of Doña Eleanora de +Vibero will more than suffice. She had been buried at Valladolid, +without any doubt as to her orthodoxy, but she was later accused of +Lutheranism by a treasurer of the Inquisition, who said that she had +concealed her opinions by receiving the sacraments and the Eucharist at +the time of her death. His charges were supported by the testimony of +several witnesses, who had been tortured or threatened; and the result +of it all was that her memory and her posterity were condemned to +infamy, her property was confiscated, and at the first solemn _auto de +fé_ of Valladolid, held in 1559, and attended by the Prince Don Carlos +and the Princess Juana, her disinterred body was burned with her effigy, +her house was razed to the ground, and a monument with an inscription +relating to this event was placed upon the spot. + +Such is this sixteenth century in Spain, an age of strange contrasts, +where the greatest crimes are committed in the holy name of Religion! + + + + +Chapter XIX + +The Slow Decay of Spanish Power + + +When the long and unfortunate reign of Philip the Catholic came to an +end on the eve of the seventeenth century, Spain, sadly buffeted by the +rough waves of an adverse fortune, was in a most pitiful condition. With +the downfall of the great Armada which was so confidently destined to +humble the pride of England, national confidence had begun to slip away, +the wars at home and in the Netherlands had sadly depleted the treasury, +the credit of the country was far from good, and gradually, as a natural +reaction after the religious exaltation which had marked the whole of +the sixteenth century, a spirit of irreligion and licentiousness became +prevalent in all classes of society. As Philip had grown older and more +ascetic in his tastes, he had gradually withdrawn from society and had +left his court to its own devices. With his death, in 1598, the last +restraint was gone, and there was no limit to the excesses of the +insensate nation. Having failed in their great and zealous effort to +fasten Spanish Catholicism upon the whole of Europe, they had finally +accepted a milder philosophy, and had decided to enjoy the present +rather than continue to labor for a somewhat doubtful reward in the life +which was to come. The young king, Philip III., who began to reign under +these circumstances, was wedded in 1599 to the Archduchess Margaret of +Austria, and the feasts and celebrations which were organized in honor +of this event outrivalled in their magnificence anything of the kind +that had taken place in Spain for many years, and there was a free and +libertine spirit about all of this merrymaking which did not augur well +for the future. The Duke of Lerma, the king's favorite and prime +minister, was in full charge of the affair, and he spared no pains in +his desire to make a brave show, in spite of the critical financial +condition of the country. The young Austrian princess, upon her arrival +at Madrid, was fairly dazzled by the reception she was given; and well +she may have been, for the money expended for this purpose reaches +proportions which almost surpass belief. The Cortes appropriated one +million ducats for the occasion, and the nobles spent three million +more, three hundred thousand of this sum having been contributed by +Lerma from his own private revenues. + +The Spanish court now changed its character completely, and the sombre +simplicity of the elder Philip's day gave place to a gayety and +brilliant ceremonial which were more in accord with the new spirit of +the times. Lerma filled the palace at Madrid with brilliant ladies in +waiting, for he believed, with the gallant Francis I. of France, that a +royal court without women is like a year without spring, a spring +without flowers; and a marvellous round of pleasures began, all governed +by a stately etiquette. But this gay life was rotten at the core; the +immodest and shameless conduct of the women in particular shocked and +surprised all visiting foreigners; and as time went on, the social evil +increased and became more widespread. Virtue in women was a subject for +jest, the cities were perfect sinks of iniquity, to quote Hume, and, in +Madrid in particular, immorality was so common among the women that the +fact passed into a proverbial saying. Homer has said: "Than woman there +is no fouler and viler fiend when her mind is bent on ill;" and even +were the superlatives to be lopped from this expression, it might still +help to express the fact that the moral degeneracy of Spain in her new +career of wantonness was at least shared by the women. At the court, the +king, who was in many ways what might be termed a mystic voluptuary, +spent his time in alternate fits of dissipation and devotion, wasted his +time in gallantry, and neglected his royal duties; and the all-powerful +Lerma was the centre of a world of graft, where the highest offices in +the land were bartered for gold, and every noble had an itching palm. In +this scene of disorder women played no little part, and through intrigue +and cajolery they often won the day for their favored lovers. Religion +gave place to recklessness, valor disappeared in vanity, and a splendid +idleness replaced a splendid industry. One Cortes after another +protested, measures were adopted which sought to bring the nation to its +senses, new sumptuary laws were enacted, but all to no avail; for the +nobility continued to set an example of glittering prodigality, and the +common people were not slow to follow. + +When another Philip, the fourth of this name, came to the throne in +1621, the situation was almost hopeless. The country was involved in the +Thirty Years' War, one failure after another befell the Spanish arms, +the taxes had become unbearable, and in many quarters revolt was +threatened. The king was not equal to his task, government was an +irksome duty for him, and he found his greatest pleasure in two things, +hunting and the theatre. Madrid at this time was theatre-mad, playhouses +were numerous, and the people thronged them every night. The ladies of +the nobility had their special boxes, which were their own private +property, furnished in a lavish way, and there every evening they held +their little court and dispensed favors to their many admirers. It was +the first time in the history of the theatre that women's rôles were +being played quite generally by women, and, as was most natural, certain +actresses soon sprang into popular favor and vied with each other for +the plaudits of the multitude. In theory the stage was frowned at by the +Church, the plays were very often coarse and licentious in character, +and the moral influence of this source of popular amusement was +decidedly bad; but the tinsel queens of that age, as in the present +time, were invested with a glamour which had an all-compelling charm, +and noble protectors were never wanting. Among the actresses of +notoriety in this Spanish carnival of life, the most celebrated were +Maria Riquelme, Francisca Beson, Josefa Vaca, and Maria Calderon, +familiarly known to the theatre-goers as _la bella Calderona_. Philip +IV., as much infatuated as the meanest of his subjects by the glitter of +the footlights, never lost an opportunity when at his capital to spend +his evenings in the royal box, where he showed his appreciation by most +generous applause; and he was soon on familiar terms with many of the +reigning favorites. Among them all, La Calderona seemed to please him +most, and she was soon the recipient of so many royal favors that no one +could doubt her conquest. Other lovers were discarded, she became +Philip's mistress, and she it was who bore to him a son, the celebrated +Don Juan, who became in later years a leader in revolt against his +father's widowed queen. + +In the midst of this troubled life, divided between the pleasures of the +chase, the excitements of the theatre, and the many vexations of state, +Philip was reserved in his dealings with his fellow men, and few +fathomed the depth of his despair in the face of the approaching +national ruin. One person seemed to have read the sadness of his heart, +however, and that person, with whom he had a most extended +correspondence, was, strange to relate, a woman, and a nun of the most +devout type, Sister Maria de Agreda! The history of this woman is most +interesting, and she seems to have been the one serious and restraining +element in all that scene of gay riot. The Agreda family, belonging to +the lesser nobility, lived on the frontiers of Aragon, and there, in +their city of Agreda, they had founded in 1619 a convent, following a +pretended revelation which had directed them to this holy undertaking. +The year after the convent was completed, Maria de Agreda, who was then +eighteen, and her mother, took the veil at the same time and retired +from the vanity of the world. In seven years the young girl was made the +mother superior of the institution, and, beginning from that date, she +was subject to frequent visions of a most surprising character. God and +the Virgin appeared to her repeatedly, commanding her each time to write +the life of Mary; but in spite of these supernatural admonitions, she +resisted for ten long years, fearing that she might be possessed of +demons who came in celestial shape to urge her to a work which she felt +to be beyond her powers. Finally, impressed by the persistence of these +holy visitants, she referred the matter to a priest who had long been +her father confessor, and at his suggestion she decided to write as she +had been commanded. For some months she busied herself with this task, +and then one day, in an unlucky moment, she ventured to confide her +plans to another monk, in the absence of her regular spiritual adviser. +This time her plans of literary work were discouraged, and she was +advised to burn her manuscripts as worthless paper and to content herself +with the usual routine of conventual life. Following this advice, she +destroyed the fruits of her labor, and prepared to resume her +interrupted duties, when, to her consternation, God and the Virgin again +appeared in her cell at night and again commanded her to write as +before. Again she resisted, and again the vision came, and finally, +encouraged by her old confessor, who had returned upon the scene, she +began anew the once abandoned work. This time there was no interruption; +the book was finished, and printed first in Madrid, and then at Lisbon, +Perpignan, and Antwerp. Naturally, the claim was made that the book was +written under divine inspiration, and the curious and oftentimes +revolting details with which its pages were filled were soon the talk +and scandal of the religious world. Maria, in spite of her mysticism, +had proved to be a realist of the most pronounced type, and in many +quarters her book was openly denounced. In Paris, the great court +preacher Bossuet proclaimed it immoral; and the Sorbonne, which was then +a faculty of theologians, condemned the book to be burned. Although the +facts are not clearly known, it must have been during this time of +publicity that the nun was brought to the attention of the world-weary +king. He was attracted by her professed visions, he sought for +consolation of a spiritual character in the midst of his unhappy career, +and there resulted this correspondence between the two, which has since +been published. To quote Hume, it was "the nun Maria de Agreda who, +alone of all his fellow-creatures, could sound the misery of Philip's +soul as we can do who are privileged to read the secret correspondence +between them." Pleasures of all sorts were beginning to pall now upon +the jaded monarch. Court festivities became a hollow mockery, the +glitter of the stage had vanished, only to leave its queens all daubed +with paint and powder in the garish light of reality, and the +broken-hearted Philip, bereft of wife and heir, was induced to marry for +a second time, in the hope that another son might come to inherit his +throne. + +Philip's second wife was his niece Mariana, another Austrian +archduchess, but this marriage was a vain hope so far as his earthly +happiness was concerned. The wished-for son was born, and duly +christened Charles, but he was ever a weakling; and when the father died +in 1665, preceding Maria de Agreda to the tomb by a few months only, the +government was left in charge of Mariana as regent, and all Spain was +soon in a turmoil as the result of the countless intrigues which were +now being begun by foreign powers who hoped to dominate the peninsula. +Mariana, who was a most ardent partisan, began to scheme for her +Austrian house as soon as she arrived in Spain, and did everything in +her power to counteract the French alliance which had been favored by +Philip. Upon her husband's death, she promptly installed her German +confessor, Nithard, as inquisitor-general, gave him a place in the +Council of State, and in all things made him her personal +representative. Her whole course of action was so hostile to the real +interests of Spain, that murmurs of discontent were soon heard among the +people; and Don Juan, the illegitimate son, won power and popularity for +himself by espousing the cause of the nation. The weakling boy-king +Charles was a degenerate of the worst type, the result of a long series +of intermarriages; and so long as Mariana could keep him within her own +control, it was difficult to question her authority to do as she +pleased. For greater protection to herself and to her own interests, +Mariana had installed about her in her palace a strong guard of +foreigners, who attended her when she went abroad and held her gates +against all unfriendly visitors when she was at home. But the opposition +grew, and finally, after some ill-timed measures of Nithard, there was +open revolt, and Don Juan appeared at the head of a body of troops to +demand in the name of outraged Spain the immediate dismissal of the +queen's favorite. Mariana's confusion at this juncture of affairs has +been quaintly pictured by Archdeacon Coxe, who wrote an interesting +history of the Bourbon kings of Spain in the early part of the last +century: "In the agony of indignation and despair, the queen threw +herself upon the ground and bewailed her situation. 'Alas, alas!' she +cried; 'what does it avail me to be a Queen and Regent, if I am deprived +of this good man who is my only consolation? The meanest individual is +permitted to chuse (_sic_) a confessor: yet I am the only persecuted +person in the kingdom!'" Tears were unavailing, however, and Nithard had +to leave in disgrace, although Mariana was successful in opposing Don +Juan's claim to a share in the government. But the queen could not rule +alone, and the new favorite, as was quite usual in such cases, owed his +position to feminine wiles. Valenzuela, a gentleman of Granada, had been +one of Nithard's trusted agents, and courted assiduously Doña Eugenia, +one of the ladies in waiting to the queen; and by marrying her he had +brought himself to Mariana's notice, and had so completely gained her +confidence, that she naturally looked to him for support. Either the +queen's virtue was a very fragile thing, or Valenzuela was considered a +gallant most irresistible; for in his first two interviews with Her +Majesty, his wife, Doña Eugenia, was present, "to avoid scandal." It is +probably safe to say that as Valenzuela rose in power this precaution +was thrown to the winds, and on more than one occasion "he made an +ostentatious display of his high favor, affected the airs of a +successful lover, as well as of a prime minister; and it did not escape +notice that his usual device in tournaments was an eagle gazing at the +sun, with the motto _Tengo solo licencia_, 'I alone have permission.'" + +This pride had its fall, however, as in 1677 the boy-king Charles, at +the age of fifteen, which had been fixed as his majority, was made to +see that his mother was working against the best interests of his +subjects; and he escaped from the honorable captivity in which he had +been held at the palace, and gave himself up to his half-brother, Don +Juan, who was only too ready to seize this advantage against the hostile +queen. Manana was imprisoned in a convent in Toledo, Valenzuela was +exiled to the Philippines, and Don Juan, as prime minister, prepared to +restore public confidence. In line with his former policy, he made a +clean sweep of all the members of the Austrian party, and then began to +prepare the way for a French marriage, to strengthen the friendly +feeling of the powerful Louis XIV., who had been married to a Spanish +wife. Scarcely had the promise for this marriage between Louis's niece +Marie Louise and the half-witted Charles been made, when, suddenly, Don +Juan sickened and died, and the queen-mother Mariana was again in power. +There were dark hints of poison; it was insinuated that Mariana knew +more of the affair than she would be willing to reveal; but, whatever +the facts, there was no proof, and there was no opportunity for +accusations. Meanwhile, the preparations for the royal wedding were +continued, in spite of the fact that it was feared that Mariana might +try to break the agreement. But this wily woman, confident in her own +powers, felt sure that she would prove more than a match for this young +French queen who was coming as a sacrifice to enslave Spain to France. +Marie Louise had left her home under protest, strange tales of this +idiot prince who was to be her husband had come to her ears, and she +could only look forward to her marriage with feelings of loathing and +disgust. As all her appeals had been to no avail, she discarded prudence +from her category of virtues, and entered the Spanish capital a +thoughtless, reckless woman, fully determined to follow her own +inclinations, without regard to the consequences. Her beauty made an +immediate impression upon the feeble mind of her consort; but she +spurned his advances, made a jest of his pathetic passion for her, and +was soon deep in a life of dissipation. Mariana, as the older woman, +might have checked this impulsive nature; but she aided rather than +hindered the downfall of the little queen, looked with but feigned +disapproval upon the men who sought her facile favors, and, after a +swift decade, saw her die, without a murmur of regret. Again there were +whispers of poison, but Mariana was still in power, and she lost no time +in planning again for Austrian ascendency and an Austrian succession. +Once more the puppet king was accepted as a husband, and this time by +the Princess Anne of Neuburg, a daughter of the elector-palatine, and +sister of the empress, though, in justice to Anne, it should be said +that she was an unwilling bride and merely came as Marie Louise had +done--a sacrifice to political ambition. Victor Hugo, in his remarkable +drama _Ruy Blas_, gives a striking picture of this epoch in Spanish +history, and shows the terrible ennui felt by Anne in the midst of the +rigid etiquette of Madrid. In one of the scenes in this play, a letter +is brought to the queen from King Charles, who is now spending almost +all his time on his country estates, hunting; and after the epistle has +been duly opened and read aloud by the first lady in waiting, it is +found to contain the following inspiring words: "Madame, the wind is +high, and I have killed six wolves"! + +The new queen, however, was soon interested by the indefatigable Mariana +in the absorbing game of politics which she had been playing for so long +a time and in which she was such an adept; and before many months had +passed, the two women were working well together for the interests of +their dear Austria, for their sympathies were identical and there was +nothing to prevent harmonious action between them. Anne brought in her +train an energetic woman, Madame Berlips, who was her favorite adviser, +and for a time these three feminine minds were the controlling forces in +the government. France was not sleeping, however; skilful diplomatic +agents were at work under the general supervision of the crafty Louis +Quatorze, and the matter of the succession was for a long time in doubt. +Without an heir, Charles was forced to nominate his successor; and the +wording of his will, the all-important document in the case, was never +certain until death came and the papers were given an official reading. +Then it was discovered, to the chagrin of the zealous Austrian trio, +that they had been outwitted, and that the grandson of Louis, young +Philip of Anjou, had won the much-sought prize. With the coming of the +new king, the women of the Austrian party and all their followers were +banished from the court, and a new era began for Spain. The French +policy which had worked such wonders in the seventeenth century was now +applied to this foreign country, numerous abuses were corrected, and +foremost in the new régime was a woman, the Princess Orsini, who was +soon the real Queen of Spain to all intents and purposes. Feminine tact +and diplomacy had long been held in high esteem in France; Louis had +been for many years under the influence of the grave Madame de +Maintenon; and this influence had been so salutary in every way, that +the aged monarch could think of no better adviser for his youthful +grandson, in his new and responsible position, than some other woman, +equally gifted, who might guide him safely through the political shoals +which were threatening him at every turn. Madame de Maintenon was called +upon for her advice in this crisis, and she it was who suggested the +Princess Orsini as the one woman in all Europe who could be trusted to +guide the young Philip V. It is interesting to note that there was never +question for a moment of placing a man in this post of confidence; its +dangers and responsibilities were acknowledged as too heavy for a man to +shoulder, and it was merely a question of finding the proper woman for +the emergency. One other woman was needed, however, in Spain at this +time, and that was a wife for the newly crowned king. She was to provide +for the future, while the Princess Orsini was to take care of the +present. + +A political marriage was planned, as might have been expected, and after +some delay the fickle Duke of Savoy, who had long been a doubtful friend +to the French, was brought to terms, and his daughter Marie Louise was +promised as Philip's bride. The ceremony was performed at Turin, where +the king was represented by a proxy, the Marquis of Castel Rodrigo, and +the royal party left Genoa in a few days, in gayly adorned galleys, +bound for the Spanish coast. Philip hastened to meet his bride, and +first saw her at Figueras, to the north of Barcelona. There, on October +3, 1701, their union was ratified, in the presence of the "patriarch of +the Indies," who happened to be in Spain at that time. All was not clear +weather in these first days of the honeymoon, for, at the command of the +French king, all of the Piedmontese attendants of the little queen had +been dismissed, as it was feared that she might bring evil counsellors +who would make trouble for the new government. The Princess Orsini, who +had joined the party when they embarked at Genoa, took charge of Marie +Louise on the departure of her friends, and did all in her power to make +the separation easy for her, but Marie was so indignant at this +unexpected turn of affairs that she was in high dudgeon for several +days, and during this time, until she had become thoroughly reconciled +to her fate, the impatience of the boy-king was restrained and he was +forced to consent to a temporary separation. To quote from Coxe's +description: "Marie Louise had scarcely entered her fourteenth year, and +appeared still more youthful from the smallness of her stature; but her +spirit and understanding partook of the early maturity of her native +climate, and to exquisite beauty of person and countenance she united +the most captivating manners and graceful deportment." Even after her +attendants had been dismissed and the Princess Orsini had been +definitely installed as her _camerara-mayor_, or head lady in waiting, +with almost unlimited powers, Louis Quatorze still thought it advisable +to write to his young protégé and give him some advice relative to his +treatment of his wife. Among his sententious remarks, the following are +of special interest: "The queen is the first of your subjects, in which +quality, as well as in that of your wife, she is bound to obey you. You +are bound to love her, but you will never love her as you ought if her +tears have any power to extort from you indulgences derogatory to your +glory. Be firm, then, at first. I well know that the first refusals will +grieve you, and are repugnant to your natural mildness; but fear not to +give a slight uneasiness, to spare real chagrin in the future. By such +conduct alone you will prevent disputes which would become +insupportable. Shall your domestic dissensions be the subject of +conversation for your people and for all Europe? Render the queen happy, +if necessary, in spite of herself. Restrain her at first; she will be +obliged to you in the end; and this violence over yourself will furnish +the most solid proof of your affection for her.... Believe that my love +for you dictates this advice, which, were I in your place, I should +receive from a father as the most convincing proof of his regard." + +The Princess Orsini, or Des Ursins, as she is generally known, was a +most remarkable woman. A member of the old French family of La +Tremouille, she had first married Adrian Blaise de Talleyrand, Prince +de Chalais; and on her husband's banishment as the result of an +unfortunate duel, she went with him in exile to Spain, where she spent +several years and had an opportunity to become familiar with the +language and customs of the country. Going later to Italy, where her +husband died, she was soon married a second time, to Flavio de' Orsini, +Duke of Bracciano and Grandee of Spain, and for several years was a most +conspicuous figure in the court circles of Rome and Versailles, becoming +the intimate friend of Madame de Maintenon. Thus it was that Madame de +Maintenon spoke of her in connection with the Spanish position as soon +as the matter presented itself. The Princess Orsini was nothing loath to +accept this position when it was spoken of, and she wrote to the +Duchesse de Noailles as follows in soliciting her influence with the +French court: "My intention is only to go to Madrid and remain there as +long as the king chooses, and afterward to return to Versailles and give +an account of my journey.... I am the widow of a grandee, and acquainted +with the Spanish language; I am beloved and esteemed in the country; I +have numerous friends, and particularly the Cardinal Pontocarrero; with +these advantages, judge whether I shall not cause both rain and sunshine +at Madrid, and whether I shall incur the imputation of vanity in +offering my services." Saint-Simon, who knew the princess well, has +written in his _Memoirs_ the following description of her appearance and +character, and it is so lucid in its statement and such an admirable +specimen of pen portraiture that it is given in its entirety: + + "She was above the middle size, a brunette with expressive blue + eyes; and her face, though without pretension to beauty, was + uncommonly interesting. She had a fine figure, a majestic and + dignified air, rather attractive than intimidating, and united + with such numberless graces, even in trifles, that I have never + seen her equal either in person or mind. Flattering, engaging, and + discreet, anxious to please for the sake of pleasing, and + irresistible when she wished to persuade or conciliate, she had an + agreeable tone of voice and manner, and an inexhaustible fund of + conversation, which was rendered highly entertaining by accounts of + the different countries she had visited, and anecdotes of the + distinguished persons whom she had known and frequented. She had + been habituated to the best company, was extremely polite and + affable to all, yet peculiarly engaging with those whom she wished + to distinguish, and equally skilful in displaying her own graces + and qualifications. She was adapted by nature for the meridian of + courts, and versed in all the intrigues of cabinets from her long + residence in Rome, where she maintained a princely establishment. + She was vain of her person and fond of admiration, foibles which + never left her, and hence her dress in every season of life was too + youthful for her age and sometimes even ridiculous. She possessed a + simple and natural eloquence, saying always what she chose, and as + she chose, and nothing more. Secret with regard to herself; + faithful to the confidence of others; gifted with an exterior, nay, + an interior, of gayety, good humor, and evenness of temper, which + rendered her perfectly mistress of herself at all times and in all + circumstances. Never did any woman possess more art without the + appearance of art; never was a more fertile head, or superior + knowledge of the human heart, and the means of ruling it. She was, + however, proud and haughty; hurrying forward directly to her ends, + without regard to the means; but still, if possible, clothing them + with a mild and plausible exterior. She was nothing by halves; + jealous and imperious in her attachments; a zealous friend, + unchangeable by time or absence, and a most implacable and + inveterate enemy. Finally, her love of existence was not greater + than her love of power; but her ambition was of that towering kind + which women seldom feel, and superior even to the ordinary spirit + of man." + +Such was the woman who was to give tone to the new administration and to +aid the young king and queen in the difficult tasks which were before +them. Philip was not a decided success, except as a soldier; he yielded +much to his wilful wife, and the Princess Orsini was soon accepted by +them both as a trustworthy guide. The following extract from a letter +written by the French ambassador to his court soon after her +installation is significant in her praise: "I see the queen will +infallibly govern her husband, and therefore we must be careful that she +governs him well. For this object the intervention of the princess is +absolutely necessary; her progress is considerable; and we have no other +means to influence her royal mistress, who begins to show that she will +not be treated as a child." During the fourteen warlike years which +followed, and which resulted in the complete submission of all the +Spanish provinces to the will of Philip V., Marie Louise was devoted to +her husband's cause, and developed a strong character as she grew older; +but in 1714, just as quiet had come and the country under the new +administrative scheme had begun to win back some of its former thrift +and prosperity, death came to her suddenly, and Philip was left alone +with the resourceful Orsini, who rarely failed in her undertakings. So +complete was her influence over him, that Hume says she "ruled Spain +unchecked in his name." With this opportunity before her, and a victim +to her strong personal ambition, which exulted in this exercise of +power, she now grew jealous of her position and feared lest a new +marriage might depose her. Accordingly, she arranged matters to her +liking, and succeeded in having Philip marry Elizabeth Farnese, a +princess of Parma, who had been described to her as a meek and humble +little body with no mind or will of her own. With a queen of this stamp +safely stowed away in the palace, the Princess Orsini saw no limit to +her autocratic sway. This time, however, the clever woman of state had +been cruelly deceived; for the mild Elizabeth turned out to be a general +in her own right, who promptly dismissed her would-be patron from the +court and speedily acquired such domination over Philip that he became +the mere creature of her will. + +This Elizabeth Farnese, in spite of her quiet life at Parma, soon showed +herself to possess a capacity for government which no one could have +suspected, for she had studied and was far better acquainted with +history and politics than the majority of women, spoke several +languages, and had an intelligent appreciation of the fine arts. Hume +calls her a virago, and, although this is a harsh word, her first +encounter with the Princess Orsini would seem to warrant its use. The +princess, by virtue of her office of _camerara-mayor_, had gone ahead of +the king, to meet the new queen, and the two women met at the little +village of Xadraca, four leagues beyond Guadalaxara. The princess knelt +and kissed the hand of her new mistress, and then conducted her to the +apartments which had been prepared for her. Coxe describes the scene as +follows: "The Princess Orsini began to express the usual compliments and +to hint at the impatience of the royal bridegroom. But she was +thunderstruck when the queen interrupted her with bitter reproaches and +affected to consider her dress and deportment as equally disrespectful. +A mild apology served only to rouse new fury; the queen haughtily +silenced her remonstrances, and exclaimed to the guard: 'Turn out that +mad woman who has dared to insult me.' She even assisted in pushing her +out of the apartment. Then she called the officer in waiting, and +commanded him to arrest the princess and convey her to the frontier. The +officer, hesitating and astonished, represented that the king alone had +the power to give such an order. 'Have you not,' she indignantly +exclaimed, 'his majesty's order to obey me without reserve?' On his +reply in the affirmative, she impatiently rejoined: 'Then obey me.' As +he still persisted in requiring a written authority, she called for a +pen and ink and wrote the order on her knee." + +Whether this incident as related be true or not, it serves well to +illustrate the imperious nature which she undoubtedly possessed, and +which was seen so many times in the course of the next quarter of a +century. Her will had to be obeyed, and nothing could turn her aside +from her purpose when once it was fixed. But she was as artful as she +was stubborn, and ruled most of the time without seeming to rule, +carefully watching all of her husband's states of mind, and leading him +gradually, and all unconsciously, to her point of view when it differed +from her own. Her interests were largely centred in her attempts to win +some of the smaller Italian principalities for her sons, she was +continually involved in the European wars of her time, and she again +brought Spain into a critical financial condition by her costly and +fruitless warfare. Not until the accession of her stepson, Charles III., +who came to the throne in 1759, was Spain free from the machinations of +this designing woman, and, in all that time of her authority, no one can +say that she ruled her country wisely or well. She was short-sighted in +her ambition, entirely out of sympathy with the Spanish people, and did +little or nothing to deserve their hearty praise. So when at last her +power was gone, and the new king came to his own, there was but one +feeling among all the people, and that was a feeling of great relief. + +For the rest of this eighteenth century in Spain there is no +predominating woman's influence such as there had been for so many years +before, as Amelia, the wife of Charles III., died a few months after his +accession, and for the rest of his life he remained unmarried and with +no feminine influence near him. The morals of Spain did not improve in +this time, however, even if the king gave an example of continence which +no other monarch for many years had shown. Charles was very strict in +such matters, and it is on record that he banished the Dukes of Arcos +and Osuna because of their open and shameless amours with certain +actresses who were popular in Madrid at that time. The women in question +were also sternly punished, and the whole influence of Charles was thus +openly thrown in favor of the decencies of life, which had so long been +neglected. The sum total of his efforts was nevertheless powerless to +avail much against the inbred corruption of the people, for their none +too stable natures were being strongly influenced at that time by the +echo of French liberalism which was now sounding across the Pyrenees, +and restraint of any kind was becoming more and more irksome every day. +Charles IV., who ascended the throne in 1788, was weak and timid and +completely in the power of his wife, Marie Louise of Parma, a wilful +woman of little character, who was responsible for much of the +humiliation which came to Spain during the days of Napoleon's supremacy. +Charles IV., realizing his own lack of ability in affairs of state, had +decided to take a prime minister from the ranks of the people, that he +might be wholly dependent upon his sovereign's will; and his choice fell +upon a certain handsome Manuel Godoy, a member of the bodyguard of the +king, with whom the vapid Marie was madly in love, and whom she had +recommended for the position. The king, all unsuspecting, followed this +advice, and Godoy, who was wholly incompetent, went from one mistake to +another, to the utter detriment of Spanish interests. The queen's +relations with her husband's chief of state were well known to all save +Charles himself, and, on one occasion at least, Napoleon, by threatening +to reveal the whole shameful story to the king, bent Godoy to his will +and forced him to humiliating concessions. The queen supported him +blindly, however, in every measure, and put her evil pleasure above the +national welfare. + +It must not be assumed that in this period of national wreckage that all +was bad, that all the women were corrupt and all the men were without +principle, for there was never perhaps such a condition of affairs in +any country; but the prevailing and long-continued licentiousness at the +court, which was in many respects a counterpart in miniature of the +wanton ways of eighteenth-century France, could not fail in the end to +react in a most disastrous way upon the moral nature of the people. +There were still pious mothers and daughters, but the moral standards of +the time were so deplorably low in a country where they had never been +of the highest, from a strictly puritan standpoint, that society in +general shows little of that high seriousness so essential to effective +morality. + + + + +Chapter XX + +The Women of Modern Spain + + +Spain, in all the days of her history, has been conspicuous among all +other continental countries for the number of women who have wielded the +sovereign power, and the reasons for this fact are not far to seek +perhaps. In both Germany and Italy there has been little of national +life or government in the broadest sense of the word until a very recent +date, the custom of the empire has given male rulers to Austria, the +illustrious Catherine of Voltaire's day has been the one woman to +achieve prominence in Russia, and in France the ancient Salic law did +not allow women to ascend the throne; so that, all in all, by this +process of exclusion, it is easy to see that in Spain alone the +conditions have been favorable for woman's tenure of royal office. A +scrutiny of the list of Spanish monarchs reveals the fact that in all +the long line there are no names more worthy of honor than those of +Berenguela and Isabella the Catholic, and that, irrespective of sex, +Isabella stands without any formidable rival as the ablest and most +efficient ruler that Spain has ever had. The right of woman's accession +to the Spanish throne was seriously threatened, however, early in the +eighteenth century with the advent of the French Bourbons. Young Philip +V., acting under French influences in this affair, as he did continually +in all his various undertakings, had induced the Cortes to introduce the +French Salic principle; and for the greater part of the century this +law was allowed to stand, although nothing happened to test it severely. +By way of comment on this circumstance, it is interesting to note that +this young king, Philip V., who had been instrumental in barring women +from the succession, was, by tacit confession, unequal to his own task, +and found his wisest counsellor in the person of the clever Princess +Orsini. Spanish feeling and Spanish custom in regard to this matter were +so strong, however, that Charles IV., when he came to the throne in +1789, had prevailed upon the Cortes to abolish the Salic law and to +restore the old Castilian succession. While this was done secretly, a +decree to this effect had never been issued, and legally the Salic law +was still in force when Charles's son, Fernando VII., approached his +last days. Fernando had been unlucky with his wives, as the first three +proved to be short-lived, and the fourth, Maria Cristina, Princess of +Naples, presented him with two daughters and no sons. + +It happened that, before the birth of these daughters, Fernando had been +induced by his wife to attack the Salic law and to restore the Castilian +rule of succession, and in this way the elder princess, who was to +become Isabella II., had a clear claim to the throne from the time of +her birth. The person most interested in opposing this action was Don +Carlos, brother of Fernando, who was the rightful heir in the event of +his brother's death under the former procedure. When the fact became +known that Don Carlos had been dispossessed in this way by the +machinations of Maria Cristina, he and his followers put forth every +effort to induce Fernando to undo what he had done; but all to no avail, +and in 1833, when the king died, Maria became regent during the minority +of the youthful Isabella. For the next seven years Spain was in a +turmoil as the result of the continual revolts which were raised by the +friends of Don Carlos, and Maria for a time had much trouble in making +headway against them. + +The political game she was playing gave her strange allies during these +days, for she was naturally in favor of an autocratic government, after +the manner of the old régime; but as Don Carlos had rallied to his +standard the clerical and conservative parties of the country, Maria was +forced, as a mere matter of self-protection, to make friendly advances +to the growing liberal forces in society, which had been brought into +permanent existence by the success of republicanism in France. In spite +of this nominal espousal of the liberal cause, Maria was continually +trying to avoid popular concessions and to retain unimpaired the +despotic power of the monarchy, but she was soon forced to see that, in +appearance at least, she must pretend to advance the popular cause and +give her subjects more extended privileges. Accordingly, she issued a +decree in 1834 establishing a new constitution and creating a +legislature composed of two chambers; but there was more pretence than +reality in this reform, and the dissatisfaction of the liberals +increased as the queen-regent's real purposes became more clearly +understood. Fortunate in having at the head of her armies a great +general, Espartero, Maria finally succeeded in dispersing and exhausting +the Carlist armies; but then differences arose between the queen and +Espartero over the rights of the chartered towns, which she was +endeavoring to abolish; and the popular sentiment was so in favor of the +liberal side of the discussion, that a revolution was threatened and +Isabella was forced to seek safety in flight. For three years the +general-statesman ruled, until the majority of the Princess Isabella was +declared in 1843, and in that same year Espartero was forced into exile, +as he had become unpopular on account of his friendship for England. +With this change in governmental affairs, Maria Cristina was allowed to +return to Madrid, and she and her daughter, the new queen, Isabella II., +controlled the destinies of the country. A husband was found for +Isabella in the person of her cousin, Francis of Assis, but he was a +sickly, impotent prince, with no vigor of mind or body, and the married +life of this young couple was anything but happy. The country meanwhile +continued in a state of unrest, and there were frequent revolutionary +outbreaks. Isabella was no less unreliable than her mother had been, and +her capricious manner of changing policy and changing advisers was +productive of a state of lawlessness and disorder in all branches of the +government which daily became more shameful. This shifting policy in +matters of state was equally characteristic of the queen's behavior in +other affairs. Dissatisfied with her pitiful husband, she soon abandoned +her dignity as a queen and as a woman, in a most brazen way, and her +private life was so scandalous as to become the talk of all Europe. But +the court was kept in good humor by the lavish entertainments which were +given; the proverbial Spanish sloth and indifference allowed all this to +run unchecked, for a time at least; and the sound of the guitar and the +song of the peasant were still heard throughout the land. + +Some idea of the social life in Madrid at this time can be obtained from +the following charming description of an afternoon ride in one of the +city parks, written in September, 1853, by Madame Calderon de la Barca: +"This beautiful _paseo_, called Las Delicias de Ysabel Segunda, had been +freshly watered. Numbers of pretty girls in their graceful _amazones_ +galloped by on horseback, with their attendant _caballeros_. Few actual +mantillas were to be seen. They were too warm for this season, and are +besides confined to morning costume. Their place was supplied either by +light Parisian bonnets or by a still prettier head-dress, a veil of +black lace or tulle thrown over the head, fastened by gold pins, and +generally thrown very far back, the magnificent hair beautifully +dressed. Certainly this appeared to me the prettiest head-dress in the +world, showing to the greatest advantage the splendid eyes, fine hair, +and expressive features of the wearers. I was astonished at the richness +of the toilettes, and M---- assured me that luxury in dress is now +carried here to an extraordinary height; and to show you that I am not +so blinded by admiration for what is Spanish as not to see faults, at +least when they are pointed out to me, I will allow that French women +have a better idea of the fitness of things, and that there is an +absence of simplicity in the dress of the Spanish women which is out of +taste. I allude chiefly to those who were on foot. The rich silks and +brocades which trail along the Prado, hiding pertinaciously the +exquisitely small feet of the wearers, would be confined in Paris to the +_élégantes_ who promenade the Bois de Boulogne or the Champs-Elysées in +carriages. Here the wife and the daughter of the poorest shopkeeper +disdain chintz and calico; nothing short of silk or velvet is considered +decorous except within doors. But, having made this confession, I must +add that the general effect is charming, and as for beauty, both of face +and figure, especially the latter, surely no city in the world can show +such an amount of it." + +In spite of the general tone of gayety which was pervading Madrid in +these days of the early fifties, many of the members of the older +nobility, conservative to the core, were holding somewhat aloof from the +general social life of the time. Society had become too promiscuous for +their exclusive tastes, and they were unwilling to open their drawing +rooms to the cosmopolitan multitude then thronging the capital. Details +of this aristocratic life are naturally somewhat difficult to obtain, +but this same sprightly Madame Calderon de la Barca, through her +connection with the diplomatic corps at Madrid, was able to enter this +circle in several instances, and her chatty account of a ball given by +the Countess Montijo, one of the leaders in this exclusive set, if not +one of its most exclusive members, is not lacking in interest: "A +beautiful ball was given the other night at the Countess Montijo's. She +certainly possesses the social talent more than any one I ever met with, +and, without the least apparent effort, seems to have a kind of +omnipresence in her salons, so that each one of her guests receives a +due share of attention. The principal drawing room, all white and gold, +is a noble room. The toilettes were more than usually elegant, the +jewels universal. The finest diamonds were perhaps those of the Countess +of Toreno, wife of the celebrated minister. The Countess of Ternan-Nuñez +and the Princess Pio (an Italian lady), wore tiaras of emeralds and +brilliants of a size and beauty that I have never seen surpassed. The +Duchess of Alva was, as usual, dressed in perfect taste, but, alas! I am +not able to describe. It was something white and vapory and covered with +flowers, with a few diamond pins fastening the flowers in her hair. I +observed that whenever a young girl was without a partner, there was the +hostess introducing one to her, or if any awkward-looking youth stood +neglected in a corner, she took his arm, brought him forward, presented +him to some one, and made him dance. Or if some scientific man, invited +for his merits,--for her parties are much less carefully winnowed than +those of the aristocracy in general,--stood with his spectacles on, +looking a little like a fish out of water, there was the countess beside +him, making him take her to the buffet, conversing with him as she does +well upon every subject, and putting him so much at his ease that in a +few minutes he evidently felt quite at home." Such a description as +this must inevitably lead to the reflection that charming as the +Countess Montijo may have been, she was in no way peculiar or remarkable +except in so far as she represented the highest type of a polished, +tactful Spanish hostess, for in every civilized modern country there are +women of this class who excite general admiration. + +The wavering policy of the capricious Isabella was somewhat strengthened +in 1856, when the long-suffering people, unable to countenance for a +longer time the universal corruption which existed in all branches of +the government, rose in such threatening revolt, under the leadership of +O'Donnell, that the queen was forced to give heed. The revolt counted +among its supporters members of all political parties, who were now +banded together from motives which were largely patriotic, and so great +was their influence that Isabella was forced to accept their terms or +lose her crown. For a few years there was an increased prosperity for +Spain, but the improvement could not be of long duration, so long as the +government remained under the same inefficient leadership. Finally, the +end came in 1868, when there broke forth a general revolution which was +but the forcible expression of the real and genuine spirit of discontent +which was to be found among all classes of the people. The navy rebelled +at Cadiz, and the fleet declared for the revolution, and then, to take +away Isabella's last hope of support, certain popular generals, who had +been sent into exile, returned, and led the royal troops against the +hated sovereign. In the face of this overwhelming array of hostile +forces, the queen crossed the Pyrenees as a fugitive, and when she went +she left her crown behind her. After five years of upheaval, which +descended at times to complete anarchy, with the advantage resting now +with the conservatives and now with the liberals, the crown was finally +offered to the son of the dethroned queen, who, as Alfonso XII., began +his reign under most auspicious circumstances. With his unlooked-for +death in 1886, his wife and widow, Maria Cristina, was left as the +regent for her unborn son, who has so recently attained his majority. +This Maria was a most careful mother, who devoted herself with the +utmost fidelity to the education of her son; and her conception of this +duty was so high and serious that she practically put a stop to the +social life of the court, that she might give herself unreservedly to +her important task. With what success, the future alone can tell, but, +in the meanwhile, there is but one opinion as to her personal worth and +character. + +Without venturing a prediction as to the probable future for Spain in +the history of the world, the fact remains that in recent years the +country has advanced greatly from many points of view, so far as its +domestic affairs are concerned. There has been a remarkable commercial +activity, railroads have opened up much of the country which had been +cut off from the main currents of life from time immemorial, and the +widespread use of electricity for lighting and for motive power is +perhaps unexcelled in any other European country. The greatest question +now confronting Spain is, in the opinion of many, the question of +popular education, and here there is continual advancement. As might be +expected in a country like Spain, where southern, and in some cases +semi-Oriental, ideas must of necessity exist with regard to women, their +education has not yet made great progress, although the question is +being considered in a most liberal and enlightened spirit. No movement +in this day and generation can be successfully brought to an issue +unless it can be shown that there is some general demand for the +measures proposed, and until very recently in Spain there was general +apathy with regard to the education of women. For many years girls have +been carefully instructed in two things, religion and domestic science, +and for neither of these things was any extended course of study +necessary. The parochial schools, with all their narrowness, prepared +the maiden for her first communion, and her mother gave her such +training in the arts of the housewife as she might need when she married +and had a home of her own to care for. These two things accomplished, +the average middle-class Spaniard, until a very recent day, was utterly +unable to see that there was anything more necessary, or that the system +was defective in any way. But the modern spirit has entered the country, +and an organized effort is now being made to show the advantages of a +higher education and to furnish the opportunity for obtaining it. In +this work of educational reform among Spanish women, an American, Mrs. +Gulick, the wife of an American missionary at San Sebastian, has played +a leading part. Organizing a school which was maintained under her +supervision, she has been quite successful in what she has accomplished, +and believes that she has "proved the intellectual ability of Spanish +girls." Her pupils have been received in the National Institute, where +they have given a good account of themselves; and a few of them have +even been admitted to the examinations of the University of Madrid, +where they have maintained a high rank. Mrs. Gulick is not the only +leading exponent of higher education for Spanish women, however, as the +whole movement is now practically under the moral leadership of a most +competent and earnest woman, Emilia Pardo Bazan, who understands the +wants of her fellow countrywomen and is striving in every legitimate way +to give them the sort of instruction they need. Free schools exist in +all the cities and towns for both boys and girls, and recent attempts +have been made to enact a compulsory education law. Numerous normal +schools have been established in the various cities, which are open to +both men and women, and the number of women teachers is rapidly +increasing. Secular education is far more advanced and far more in +keeping with the spirit of the times than is the instruction which is to +be found in the schools conducted by the teaching orders. The girls in +the convents are taught to adore the Virgin in a very abstract and +indefinite way, and are given very little practical advice as to the +essential traits of true womanhood. A remarkable article, written +recently in one of the Madrid papers by one who signed himself "A Priest +of the Spanish Catholic Church," says, apropos of this very question: +"Instead of the Virgin being held up to admiration as the Mother of Our +Lord and as an example of all feminine perfection, the ideal woman and +mother, the people are called upon to worship the idea of the Immaculate +Conception, an abstract dogma of recent invention...." This Madonna +worship is one of the characteristic things in the religious life of +Spain, and everywhere _La Virgen_, who is rarely if ever called _Santa +Maria_, is an object of great love and reverence. There are many of +these _Virgenes_ scattered throughout the country, and each is +reverenced. Many of them are supposed to work miracles or answer +prayers, and their chapels are filled with the votive offerings of those +who have been helped in time of trouble. Not the least pathetic among +these offerings are the long locks of hair tied with ribbons of many +colors, which have been contributed by some mother because her child has +been restored from sickness to health. Women are more devout than the +men in their observance of religious duties, although the whole +population is religious to an unusual degree so far as the outward +forms are concerned, but the real religion which aims at character +building is little known as yet. + +With regard to the general position of women in Spain, and their +influence upon public life, which as yet is not of any considerable +moment, Madame L. Higgin, in her recent volume upon Spanish life, writes +as follows: "As a rule, they take no leading part in politics, devoting +themselves chiefly to charitable works. There is a general movement for +higher education and greater liberty of thought and action among women, +and there are a certain limited number who frankly range themselves on +the side of so-called emancipation, who attend socialistic and other +meetings, and who aspire to be the comrades of men rather than their +objects of worship or their play-things. But this movement is scarcely +more than in its infancy. It must be remembered that even within the +present generation the bedrooms allotted to girls were always approached +through those of their parents, that no girl or unmarried woman could go +unattended, and that to be left alone in a room with a man was to lose +her reputation. Already these things seem dreams of the past; nor could +one well believe, what is, however, a fact, that there were fathers of +the upper classes in the first half of the last century who preferred +that their daughters should not learn to read or write, and especially +the latter, as it only enabled them to read letters clandestinely +received from lovers and to reply to them. The natural consequence of +this was the custom, which so largely prevailed, of young men, +absolutely unknown to the parents, establishing correspondence or +meetings with the objects of their adoration by means of a complacent +_doncella_ with an open palm, or the pastime known as _pelando el pavo_ +(literally, "plucking the turkey"), which consisted of serenades of love +songs, amorous dialogues, or the passage of notes through the +_reja_--the iron gratings which protect the lower windows of Spanish +houses from the prowling human wolf--or from the balconies. Many a time +have I seen these interesting little missives let down past my balcony +to the waiting gallant below, and his drawn up. Only once I saw a +neighbor, in the balcony below, intercept the post and, I believe, +substitute some other letter." + +This seclusion of the young girls is in itself a sufficient comment upon +the sentiments of honor and duty which are current among the male +portion of the population, and it is plain that this condition of +affairs can find little betterment until the nation finds new social +ideals. Such conditions as these are mediæval, or Oriental at best, and +it is to be hoped that the newer education which is now influencing +Spain may help to bring about a better and saner view of the social +intercourse of men and women. As a direct result of the general +attitude, the men upon the streets of a Spanish city will often surprise +a foreigner by their cool insolence in the presence of the women they +may happen to meet. Her appearance is made the subject for much audible +comment, and such exclamations as _Ay! que buenos ojos! Que bonita +eres!_ [Oh! what fine eyes! How pretty you are!] are only too common. +The woman thus characterized will modify her conduct according to the +necessities of the situation; and if her casual admirer happens to be +young and good-looking and she herself is not averse to flattery, she +will reward him with a quick smile. In any case, the whole matter is +treated as an ordinary occurrence, as it is, and no insult is felt where +none is intended. Such remarks are but an expression, which is +oftentimes naïve, of the admiration which is felt at the sight of +unusual feminine charms. The incident simply goes to show that +everywhere in Spain there is tacit recognition of the general +inferiority of women. In the laboring and peasant classes, where the +women work with the men, such lapses from the conventional standard of +good manners would not cause so much comment; but under these +circumstances the dangers and the annoyances are not so great, as these +women of the people, with their practical experience in life, ignorant +as they may be, are often more competent to take care of themselves than +are their more carefully educated sisters in polite society who have +been so carefully fenced from harm. + +Many of the objectionable features of Spanish life which spring from +these long-standing notions in regard to women are bound to disappear as +both men and women become more educated, and in several particulars +already encouraging progress has been made. Marriage laws and customs +may always be considered as telling bits of evidence in the discussion +of any question of this nature, and in Spain, as the result of modern +innovations, the rights of the woman in contracting the marriage +relation are superior to those enjoyed elsewhere on the continent or +even in England. In the old days, the _mariage de convenance_ was a +matter of course in educated circles, and the parents and relatives of a +girl were given an almost absolute power in arranging for her future +welfare. Now, as the result of an enlightened public sentiment, which is +somewhat unexpected in that it is in advance of many other social +customs, there is a law which gives a girl the right to marry the man of +her choice, even against her parents' wishes. No father can compel his +daughter to marry against her will; and if there is any attempt to force +her in the matter, she is entitled to claim the protection of a +magistrate, who is empowered by law to protect her from such oppression. +If the parents are insistent, the magistrate may take the girl from her +father's house and act as her guardian until the time of her majority, +when she is free to marry according to her own fancy. Nor is any such +rebellious action to be construed as prejudicial to the daughter's right +to inherit that portion of her father's estate to which she would +otherwise have a legal claim. Madame Higgin relates the following cases +which came within the range of her personal experience: "In one case, +the first intimation a father received of his daughter's engagement was +the notice from a neighboring magistrate that she was about to be +married; and in another, a daughter left her mother's house and was +married from that of the magistrate, to a man without any income and +considerably below her in rank, in all these cases the contracting +parties were of the highest rank." + +With regard to the wedding service, customs have changed greatly during +the course of the last century. It was natural that Spain, in common +with all other Catholic countries, should have given the Church entire +control of the marriage sacrament for many years, and it was not until +the republicanism of the nineteenth century forced a change that the +civil marriage was instituted as it had been in France. While not +compulsory, the religious service is almost always performed, in +addition to the other, except among the poor, who are deterred by the +cost of this double wedding; and sometimes the religious service is held +at the church and sometimes at the home of the bride. It was generally +the custom in the church weddings for all the ladies in the wedding +party, including the bride, to dress in black; but there was finally so +much opposition to this sombre hue at such a joyous occasion, that the +fashionable world within recent times has made the house wedding a +possibility, and at such a function there was no limit to the brilliant +display possible. The English and American custom of taking a wedding +journey immediately after the ceremony is not common in Spain, and the +Spaniards, in their conversation and sometimes in their books, are not +slow to express their opinions with regard to the matter, insisting that +it is much preferable to remain at home among friends than to "expose +themselves to the jeers of postilions and stable boys," to quote a line +from Fernan Caballero's _Clemencia_. In spite of this firmly rooted +opinion, however, that the national customs are best, and in this +particular it seems indeed as if they were more reasonable, the wedding +journey is slowly being adopted in what they call "_el_ high life," and +it may some day become one of the fixed institutions of the land, as it +is with us. All this is but another proof of the fact that fashions are +now cosmopolitan things, and that among the educated and wealthy classes +in all countries there are often many more points of resemblance than +are to be found between any given group of these cosmopolites and some +of their own fellow countrymen taken from a lower class in society. + +Some time after the Prince of Naples, who is now the King of Italy, had +attracted the favorable comment of all thinking people for his +determination not to wed until he married for love, a similar occurrence +in Spain revealed the fact that Maria Cristina, the queen-regent, was +determined to accept the modern and sensible notion of marriage for one +of her own children, and thus incidentally to give to her people in +general the benefit of a powerful precedent in such matters. Mention has +already been made of the fact that, according to certain laws, a Spanish +girl may now refuse to marry at her parents' dictation; but, in spite of +the fact that such laws exist, it cannot be said that they are often +called into play, for the daughter is still in such a state of childish +dependence upon her father and mother, that any such step as described, +which amounts to nothing more or less than a revolt against parental +authority, would fill her with dismay and would prove more than she +would dare to attempt. The laws upon the statute books indicate that +there is a public appreciation of the fact that marriage should not be a +matter of coercion, but among the people in general the old idea is +still more powerful, and Spanish daughters are married daily to the +husbands chosen by their match-making mothers or aunts. In the face of +this popular custom, and in spite of the fact that royal marriages, on +account of their somewhat political character, have generally been made +without regard to sentiment, the queen-regent decided that her oldest +daughter, the Princess of Asturias, should marry the man she loved. +There were various worldly, or rather political, reasons against the +proposed alliance; but Maria brushed them all aside and allowed the +whole affair to progress in a natural way, as there seemed to be nothing +in the proposed alliance which gave her cause for alarm. Here are the +facts in the case. Among the playfellows of the little King Alfonso +XIII. there were two distant cousins, the sons of the Count of Caserta, +and between the elder, Don Carlos, and the young princess a warm +attachment soon sprang up which led to a betrothal, with the queen's +consent. At once there was a protest which would have intimidated a +person of weaker character. It was pointed out that Don Carlos the youth +was the son of a man who had been chief of staff to the Pretender Don +Carlos, who had been responsible for so much of the disorder in Spain +within the last quarter of a century; and although Caserta and his sons +had taken the oath of allegiance to Alfonso XIII., it was feared that in +some way this marriage might give the Pretender a new claim upon the +government, and that in future years it might lead to renewed domestic +strife. Furthermore, it was alleged that the Jesuits, who are known +conservatives and legitimists everywhere, and who had been accused of +sympathizing with the Pretender's claims, were behind this new alliance, +and, as the work of their hands, it was popularly considered as a matter +of very doubtful expediency. But the queen persisted in her course, +entirely without political motives, so far as anyone has been able to +discover, and preparations for the wedding were begun in earnest. + +Then it was that the affair began to assume a more national and more +serious character. The liberal party, which was in power and which +naturally looked with suspicion upon anything tainted with conservatism, +decided to oppose the marriage, and the prime minister, who was no other +than the great Sagasta, allowed the queen to understand plainly that the +whole affair must be dropped. Maria Cristina informed her prime minister +that _her_ will was to be law in the matter, and that she was unwilling +to allow any sort of governmental interference. The marriage now +precipitated a national crisis, Sagasta and all the members of his +cabinet resigned their portfolios of office, and the queen was left to +form a new ministry. She appointed the new members from the ranks of the +conservative party, and, now without cabinet opposition, the marriage +was celebrated. Then the storm arose again: there were riots and +disturbances in most of the large cities; the Jesuits, who were made +responsible for this turn of affairs, were openly attacked, even in +Madrid. It was even claimed that the young king's confessor belonged to +the hated order, and everywhere there were fears expressed that the +government might soon be delivered up to the Carlists. This impression +was only increased when the conservative ministry suspended the +constitutional guarantees and assumed to rule with unlimited authority. +This move was simply taken, it appears, as a matter of extreme necessity +under the circumstances, as the queen and her advisers were determined +to keep the upper hand and make no concession under such riotous +pressure. Finally, as the disorder was unabated, and it became evident +that the cabinet could never gain public confidence, Sagasta, by dint of +much persuading, was again induced to become prime minister, and with +his return peace was restored and the revolution which was surely +threatening was averted. + +So ended this memorable contest wherein the queen seemed almost willing +to sacrifice her son's crown that she might humor her daughter's whim, +and a satisfactory explanation of the whole affair which would be +convincing to all the parties concerned is doubtless difficult to make. +In the absence of any political motives which can be proved or +rightfully suspected, it would seem that Maria Cristina, even though a +queen, had been making a most royal battle for the idea that marriage +should be a matter of inclination and not a matter of compulsion; and +her heroic measures to carry out her ideas cannot fail to produce a +great impression upon liberal Spain, as soon as the scare about the +Jesuits and the Carlists has had time to subside. + +The national amusements of Spain, as they affect the whole people, may +be reduced to two, bull-fighting and dancing. While women never take +part in the contests of the arena, they are none the less among the most +interested of the spectators, and the Plaza de Toros on a Sunday is the +place to see their wonderfully brilliant costumes. With regard to +Spanish dancing, as a popular amusement it is almost universal, and +rarely are two or three gathered together but that the sound of the +tambourine, guitar, and castanets is heard and the dance is in full +swing. Much has been written about some of these national dances, and +often the idea is left in the mind of the reader that they are all very +shocking and indecent, but this is hardly the fact. Certain dances are +to be seen in Spain to-day, among the gypsies, which have come down +practically unchanged from the Roman days, when Martial and Horace were +enchanted by the graceful motions of the dancing girls of their time; +and these are undoubtedly suggestive in a high degree, and are not less +objectionable than the more widely known Oriental dances which have +recently made their advent into the United States; but these dances are +in no way national or common. They are rarely seen, except in the gypsy +quarter of Seville, and there they are generally arranged for +money-making purposes. In short, they are no more typical of Spanish +dances than the questionable evolutions of the old Quadrille at the +Moulin Rouge were representative of the dances of the French people, and +it is time that the libel should be stopped. The country people and the +working classes dance with the enjoyment of children, and generally they +sing at the same time some love song which is unending, and sometimes +improvised as the dance proceeds. + +In athletic matters it cannot be said that Spanish women are very +active, and in this they are somewhat behind their brothers, who have +numerous games which test their skill and endurance. Though the bicycle +is well known now in Spain, the Spanish women have not adopted it with +the zest which was shown by the women of France, and it is doubtful if +it will ever be popular among them. Horseback riding is a fashionable +amusement among the wealthy city women, but their attainments in this +branch of sport seem insignificant when compared to the riding of +English and American women. The Spanish riding horse is a pacer rather +than a trotter, and this cradle-like motion is certainly better suited +to the Spanish women. Few, if any, of them aspire to follow the hounds, +a ditch or a gate would present difficulties which would be truly +insurmountable, and they never acquire the ease and grace in this +exercise which are the mark of an expert horsewoman. + +The dark beauty of the Spanish women has long been a favorite theme, and +there is little to say on that subject which has not been said a +thousand times before, but no account of them would be complete without +some word in recognition of their many personal charms. In the cities, +the women, so far as their dress is concerned, have lost their +individuality, as the women of other nations have done, in their efforts +to follow the Parisian styles; but there is still a certain charming +simplicity of manner which characterizes the whole bearing of a Spanish +lady, and is quite free from that affectation and studied deportment +which are too often considered as the acme of good breeding. This almost +absolute lack of self-consciousness often leads to acts so naïve that +foreigners are often led to question their sense of propriety. But with +this naïveté and simplicity is joined a great love for dress and +display. Madame Higgin says on this subject: "Spanish women are great +dressers, and the costumes seen at the race meetings at the Hippodrome +and in the Parque are elaborately French, and sometimes startling. The +upper middle class go to Santander, Biarritz, or one of the other +fashionable watering places, and it is said of the ladies that they only +stop as many days as they can sport new costumes. If they go for a +fortnight, they must have fifteen absolutely new dresses, as they would +never think of putting one on a second time. They take with them immense +trunks, such as we generally associate with American travellers; these +are called _mundos_ (worlds)--a name which one feels certain was given +by the suffering man who is expected to look after them. In the +provinces, however, among the women of the peasant class, Parisian +bonnets are neither worn nor appreciated; the good and time-honored +customs in regard to peasant dress have been retained, and there rather +than in the cities is to be seen the pure type as it has existed for +centuries, unaffected and unalloyed by contact with the manners and +customs of other nations." + +It is difficult to say what the condition of Spanish women will be as +the years go by, but it is at least certain that they will be better +educated than they are to-day, and better able to understand the real +meaning of life. Now they are often veritable children, who know nothing +of affairs at home or of the world abroad, somewhat proud of their +manifest charms and ever ready for a conquest; but with a better mental +training and some enlarged conception of the real and essential duties +in modern life, the unimportant things will be gradually relegated to +their proper position, and the whole nation will gain new strength from +an ennobled womanhood. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Women of the Romance Countries, by John R. 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Effinger, Ph.D. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + text-indent: 2%; + } + p.noindent {text-indent: 0%;} + p.right {text-align: right;} + h1,h2,h3 { + text-align: center; + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + a:link {background-color: #ffffff; color: blue; text-decoration: none; } + link {background-color: #ffffff; color: blue; text-decoration: none; } + a:visited {background-color: #ffffff; color: blue; text-decoration: none; } + a:hover {background-color: #ffffff; color: red; text-decoration:underline; } + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .poem {margin-left: 20%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i13 {display: block; margin-left: 13em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 6em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Women of the Romance Countries, by John R. Effinger + +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: Women of the Romance Countries + +Author: John R. Effinger + +Release Date: June 21, 2006 [EBook #18642] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN OF THE ROMANCE COUNTRIES *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif, Alison Hadwin and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div class="center"> +<img src="images/002.jpg" alt="Decoration" title="Decoration" width="80%" /> +</div> + +<div class="center"> +<img src="images/001.jpg" alt="MARIA DE PADILLA After the painting by Paul Gervais." title="MARIA DE PADILLA After the painting by Paul Gervais." width="50%"/> +</div> + +<h1>WOMAN</h1> + +<h2>In all ages and in all countries</h2> + +<h1>WOMEN OF THE ROMANCE COUNTRIES</h1> + +<h3>by</h3> + +<h2>JOHN R. EFFINGER, Ph.D.<br /> +<i>Of the University of Michigan</i></h2> + +<h3>MARIA DE PADILLA <i>After the painting by Paul Gervais</i>.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="center"> +<img src="images/003.jpg" alt="Decoration" title="Decoration" width="25%" /> +</div> +<h3>THE RITTENHOUSE PRESS PHILADELPHIA</h3> + +<h3><i>Copyrighted at Washington and entered at Stationers' Hall, London</i></h3> + +<h3>1907 1908</h3> + +<h3><i>and printed by arrangement with George Barrie's Sons.</i></h3> + +<h3>PRINTED IN U. S. A.</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><a name="table" id="table"></a></p> +<table summary="table"> +<tr><td> +<a href="#PREFACE"><b>PREFACE</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#Part_First"><b>Part First</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_I"><b> Chapter I</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_II"><b> Chapter II</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_III"><b> Chapter III</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_IV"><b> Chapter IV</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_V"><b> Chapter V</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_VI"><b> Chapter VI</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_VII"><b> Chapter VII</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_VIII"><b> Chapter VIII</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_IX"><b> Chapter IX</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_X"><b> Chapter X</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XI"><b> Chapter XI</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#Part_Second"><b>Part Second</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XII"><b> Chapter XII</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XIII"><b> Chapter XIII</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XIV"><b> Chapter XIV</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XV"><b> Chapter XV</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XVI"><b> Chapter XVI</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XVII"><b> Chapter XVII</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XVIII"><b> Chapter XVIII</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XIX"><b> Chapter XIX</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Chapter_XX"><b> Chapter XX</b></a><br /> +</td></tr> +</table> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a><a href="#table">PREFACE</a></h2> + + +<p>No one can deny the influence of woman, which has been a potent factor +in society, directly or indirectly, ever since the days of Mother Eve. +Whether living in Oriental seclusion, or enjoying the freer life of the +Western world, she has always played an important part in the onward +march of events, and exercised a subtle power in all things, great and +small. To appreciate this power properly, and give it a worthy +narrative, is ever a difficult and well-nigh impossible task, at least +for mortal man. Under the most favorable circumstances, the subject is +elusive and difficult of approach, lacking in sequence, and often +shrouded in mystery.</p> + +<p>What, then, must have been the task of the author of the present volume, +in essaying to write of the women of Italy and Spain! In neither of +these countries are the people all of the same race, nor do they afford +the development of a constant type for observation or study. Italy, with +its mediæval chaos, its free cities, and its fast-and-loose allegiance +to the temporal power of the Eternal City, has ever been the despair of +the orderly historian; and Spain, overrun by Goth, by Roman, and by +Moslem host, presents strange contrasts and rare complexities.</p> + +<p>Such being the case, this account of the women of the Romance countries +does not attempt to trace in detail their gradual evolution, but rather +to present, in the proper setting, the most conspicuous examples of +their good or evil influence, their bravery or their cowardice, their +loyalty or their infidelity, their learning or their illiteracy, their +intelligence or their ignorance, throughout the succeeding years.</p> + +<p>Chroniclers and historians, poets and romancers, have all given valuable +aid in the undertaking, and to them grateful acknowledgment is hereby +made.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">John R. Effinger.</span></p> + +<p><i>University of Michigan.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Part_First" id="Part_First"></a><a href="#table">Part First</a></h2> + +<h2>Italian Women</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_I" id="Chapter_I"></a><a href="#table">Chapter I</a></h2> + +<h3>The Age of the Countess Matilda of Tuscany</h3> + + +<p>The eleventh century, which culminated in the religious fervor of the +First Crusade, must not on that account be considered as an age of +unexampled piety and devotion. Good men there were and true, and women +of great intellectual and moral force, but it cannot be said that the +time was characterized by any deep and sincere religious feeling which +showed itself in the general conduct of society. Europe was just +emerging from that gloom which had settled down so closely upon the +older civilizations after the downfall of the glory that was Rome, and +the light of the new day sifted but fitfully through the dark curtains +of that restless time. Liberty had not as yet become the shibboleth of +the people, superstition was in the very air, the knowledge of the +wisest scholars was as naught, compared with what we know to-day; +everywhere, might made right.</p> + +<p>In a time like this, in spite of the illustrious example of the Countess +Matilda, it cannot be supposed that women were in a very exalted +position. It is even recorded that in several instances, men, as +superior beings, debated as to whether or not women were possessed of +souls. While this momentous question was never settled in a conclusive +fashion, it may be remarked that in the heat of the discussion there +were some who called women angels of light, while there were others who +had no hesitation in declaring that they were devils incarnate, though +in neither case were they willing to grant them the same rights and +privileges which they themselves possessed. Though many other facts of +the same kind might be adduced, the mere existence of such discussion is +enough to prove to the most undiscerning that woman's place in society +was not clearly recognized, and that there were many difficulties to be +overcome before she could consider herself free from her primitive state +of bondage.</p> + +<p>In the eye of the feudal law, women were not considered as persons of +any importance whatever. The rights of husbands were practically +absolute, and led to much abuse, as they had a perfectly legal right to +punish wives for their misdeeds, to control their conduct in such a way +as to interfere with their personal liberty, and in general to treat +them as slaves and inferior beings. The whipping-post had not then been +invented as a fitting punishment for the wife beater, as it was +perfectly understood, according to the feudal practices as collected by +Beaumanoir, "that every husband had the right to beat his wife when she +was unwilling to obey his commands, or when she cursed him, or when she +gave him the lie, providing that it was done moderately, and that death +did not ensue." If a wife left a husband who had beaten her, she was +compelled by law to return at his first word of regret, or to lose all +right to their common possessions, even for purposes of her own support.</p> + +<p>The daughters of a feudal household had even fewer rights than the wife. +All who are willing to make a candid acknowledgment of the facts must +admit that even to-day, a girl-baby is often looked upon with disfavor. +This has been true in all times, and there are numerous examples to show +that this aversion existed in ancient India, in Greece and Sparta, and +at Rome. The feudal practices of mediæval Europe were certainly based +upon it, and the Breton peasant of to-day expresses the same idea +somewhat bluntly when he says by way of explanation, after the birth of +a daughter: <i>Ma femme a fait une fausse couche.</i> Conscious as all must +be of this widespread sentiment at the present time, it will not be +difficult to imagine what its consequences must have been in so rude a +time as the eleventh century, when education could do so little in the +way of restraining human passion and prejudice. As the whole feudal +system, so far as the succession of power was concerned, was based upon +the principle of primogeniture, it was the oldest son who succeeded to +all his father's lands and wealth, the daughter or daughters being left +under his absolute control. Naturally, such a system worked hardship for +the younger brothers, but then as now it was easier for men to find a +place for themselves in the world than for women, and the army or the +Church rarely failed to furnish some sort of career for all those who +were denied the rights and privileges of the firstborn. The lot of the +sister, however, was pitiful in the extreme (unless it happened that the +older brother was kind and considerate), for if she were in the way she +could be bundled off to a cloister, there to spend her days in solitude, +or she could be married against her will, being given as the price of +some alliance.</p> + +<p>The conditions of marriage, however, were somewhat complicated, as it +was always necessary to secure the consent of three persons before a +girl of the higher class could go to the altar in nuptial array. These +three persons were her father or her guardian, her lord and the king. It +was Hugo who likened the feudal system to a continually ascending +pyramid with the king at the very summit, and that interminable chain of +interdependence is well illustrated in the present case. Suppose the +father, brother, or other guardian had decided upon a suitable husband +for the daughter of the house, it was necessary that he should first +gain the consent of that feudal lord to whom he gave allegiance, and +when this had been obtained, the king himself must give his royal +sanction to the match. Nor was this all, for a feudal law said that any +lord can compel any woman among his dependants to marry a man of his own +choosing after she has reached the age of twelve. Furthermore, there was +in existence a most cruel, barbarous, and repulsive practice which gave +any feudal lord a right to the first enjoyment of the person of the +bride of one of his vassals. As Legouvé has so aptly expressed it: <i>Les +jeunes gens payaient de leur corps en allant à la guerre, les jeunes +filles en allant à l'autel.</i></p> + +<p>Divorce was a very simple matter at this time so far as the husband was +concerned, for he it was who could repudiate his wife, disown her, and +send her from his door for almost any reason, real or false. In earlier +times, at the epoch when the liberty of the citizen was the pride of +Rome, marriage almost languished there on account of the misuse of +divorce, and both men and women were allowed to profit by the laxity of +the laws on this subject. Seneca said, in one instance: "That Roman +woman counts her years, not by the number of consuls, but by the number +of her husbands." Juvenal reports a Roman freedman as saying to his +wife: "Leave the house at once and forever! You blow your nose too +frequently. I desire a wife with a dry nose." When Christianity +appeared, then, the marriage tie was held in slight consideration, and +it was only after many centuries and by slow degrees that its sanctity +was recognized, and its rights respected. While, under the Roman law, +both men and women had been able to get a divorce with the same ease, +the feudal idea, which gave all power into the hands of the men, made +divorce an easy thing for the men alone, but this was hardly an +improvement, as the marriage relation still lacked stability.</p> + +<p>It must not be supposed that all the mediæval ideas respecting marriage +and divorce and the condition of women in general, which have just been +explained, had to do with any except those who belonged in some way to +the privileged classes, for such was not the case. At that time, the +great mass of the people in Europe—men and women—were ignorant to the +last degree, possessing little if any sense of delicacy or refinement, +and were utterly uncouth. For the most part, they lived in miserable +hovels, were clothed in a most meagre and scanty way, and were little +better than those beasts of burden which are compelled to do their +master's bidding. Among these people, rights depended quite largely upon +physical strength, and women were generally misused. To the lord of the +manor it was a matter of little importance whether or not the serfs upon +his domain were married in due form or not; marriage as a sacrament had +little to do with these hewers of wood and drawers of water, and they +were allowed to follow their own impulses quite generally, so far as +their relations with each other were concerned. The loose moral +practices of the time among the more enlightened could be but a bad +example for the benighted people of the soil; consequently, throughout +all classes of society there was a degree of corruption and immorality +which is hardly conceivable to-day.</p> + +<p>So far as education was concerned, there were but a few who could enjoy +its blessings, and these were, for the most part, men. Women, in their +inferior and unimportant position, rarely desired an education, and more +rarely received one. Of course, there were conspicuous exceptions to +this rule; here and there, a woman working under unusually favorable +circumstances was really able to become a learned person. Such cases +were extremely rare, however, for the true position of woman in society +was far from being understood. Schools for women were unknown; indeed, +there were few schools of any kind, and it was only in the monasteries +that men were supposed to know how to read and write. Even kings and +queens were often without these polite accomplishments, and the right of +the sword had not yet been questioned. Then, it must be taken into +consideration that current ideas regarding education in Italy in this +early time were quite different from what they are to-day. As there were +no books, book learning was impossible, and the old and yellowed +parchments stored away in the libraries of the monasteries were +certainly not calculated to arouse much public enthusiasm. Education at +this time was merely some sort of preparation for the general duties of +life, and the nature of this preparation depended upon a number of +circumstances.</p> + +<p>To make the broadest and most general classification possible, the women +of that time might be divided into ladies of high degree and women of +the people. The former were naturally fitted by their training to take +their part in the spectacle of feudal life with proper dignity; more +than that, they were often skilled in all the arts of the housewife, and +many times they showed themselves the careful stewards of their +husbands' fortunes. The women of the people, on the other hand, were not +shown any special consideration on account of their sex, and were quite +generally expected to work in the fields with the men. Their homes were +so unworthy of the name that they required little care or thought, and +their food was so coarse that little time was given to its preparation. +Simple-minded, credulous, superstitious in the extreme, with absolutely +no intellectual uplift of any kind, and nothing but the sordid drudgery +of life with which to fill the slow-passing hours, it is no wonder that +the great mass of both the men and the women of this time were +hopelessly swallowed up in a many-colored sea of ignorance, from which, +with the march of the centuries, they have been making slow efforts to +rise. So the lady sat in the great hall in the castle, clad in some +gorgeous gown of silk which had been brought by the patient caravans, +through devious ways, from the far and mysterious East; surrounded by +her privileged maidens, she spun demurely and in peace and quiet, while +out in the fields the back of the peasant woman was bent in ceaseless +toil. Or again, the lady of the manor would ride forth with her lord +when he went to the hunt, she upon her white palfrey, and he upon his +black charger, and each with hooded falcon on wrist; for the gentle art +of falconry was almost as much in vogue among the women as among the men +of the time. Often it happened that during the course of the hunt it +would be necessary to cross a newly planted field, or one heavy with the +ripened grain, and this they did gaily and with never a thought for the +hardship that they might cause; and as they swept along, hot after the +quarry, the poor, mistreated peasant, whether man or woman, dared utter +no word of protest or make moan, nor did he or she dare to look boldly +and unabashed upon this hunting scene, but rather from the cover of some +protecting thicket. Scenes of this kind will serve to show the great +gulf which there was between the great and the lowly; and as there was +an almost total lack of any sort of education in the formal sense of the +word, it will be readily understood that all that education could mean +for anybody was that training which was incident to the daily round of +life, whatever it happened to be. So the poor and dependent learned to +fear and sometimes to hate their masters, and the proud and haughty +learned to consider themselves as superior and exceptional beings.</p> + +<p>With society in such a state as this, the question will naturally arise: +What did the Church do under these circumstances to ameliorate the +condition of the people and to advance the cause of woman? The only +answer to this question is a sorry negative, as it soon becomes +apparent, after an investigation of the facts, that in many cases the +members of the clergy themselves were largely responsible for the wide +prevalence of vice and immorality. It must be remembered that absolution +from sin and crime in those days was but a matter of money price and +that pardons could be easily bought for any offence, as the venality of +the clergy was astounding. The corruption of the time was great, and the +priests themselves were steeped in crime and debauchery. In former +generations, the Church at Rome had many times issued strict orders +against the marriage of the clergy, and, doubtless as one of the +consequences of this regulation, it had become the custom for many of +the priests to have one or more concubines with whom they, in most +cases, lived openly and without shame. The monasteries became, under +these conditions, dens of iniquity, and the nunneries were no better. +The nunnery of Saint Fara in the eleventh century, according to a +contemporary description, was no longer the residence of holy virgins, +but a brothel of demoniac females who gave themselves up to all sorts of +shameless conduct; and there are many other accounts of the same general +tenor. Pope Gregory VII. tried again to do something for the cause of +public morality, in 1074, when he issued edicts against both concubinage +and simony—or the then prevalent custom of buying or selling +ecclesiastical preferment; but the edict was too harsh and unreasonable +with regard to the first, inasmuch as it provided that no priest should +marry in the future, and that those who already possessed wives or +concubines were to give them up or relinquish their sacred offices. This +order caused great consternation, especially in Milan, where the clergy +were honestly married, each man to one wife, and it was found impossible +to exact implicit obedience to its requirements.</p> + +<p>So far as the general influence of women upon the feudal society of +Italy in the eleventh century is concerned, it is not discoverable to +have been manifest in the ways which were common in other countries. It +will be understood, of course, that, in speaking of woman's influence +here, reference is made to the women of the upper classes, as those of +the peasant class cannot be said to have formed a part of social Europe +at this time. It is most common to read in all accounts of this feudal +period, which was the beginning of the golden age of the older chivalry, +that women exerted a most gentle influence upon the men about them and +that the honor and respect in which they were held did much to elevate +the general tone of life. In Italy, however, chivalry did not flourish +as it did in other countries. Since the time of the great Emperor +Charlemagne all Italy had been nominally a part of the imperial domain, +but owing to its geographical position, which made it difficult of +access and hard to control, this overlordship was not always +administered with strictness, and from time to time the larger cities of +Italy were granted special rights and privileges. The absence of an +administrative capital made impossible any centralization of national +life, and it was entirely natural, then, that the various Italian +communities should assert their right to some sort of local government +and some measure of freedom. This spirit of citizenship in the free +towns overcame the spirit of disciplined dependence which was common to +those parts of the empire which were governed according to the usual +feudal customs, and, as a result, Italy lacks many of those +characteristics which are common to the more integral parts of the vast +feudal system.</p> + +<p>The most conspicuous offspring of feudalism was chivalry, with its +various orders of knighthood; but chivalry and the orders of knighthood +gained little foothold in Italy, where the conditions necessary for the +growth and development of such a social and military order were far from +propitious. Knights, it is true, came and went in Italy, and performed +their deeds of valor; fair maidens were rescued, and women and children +were given succor; but the knights were foreign knights, and they owed +allegiance to a foreign lord. So far, then, Italy was without the +institution of chivalry, and, to a great degree, insensible to those +high ideals of fealty and honor which were the cardinal virtues of the +knightly order. Owing to the absence of these fine qualities of mind and +soul, the Italian in war was too often of fierce and relentless temper, +showing neither pity nor mercy and having no compassion for a fallen +foe. Warriors never admitted prisoners to ransom, and the annals of +their contests are destitute of those graceful courtesies which shed +such a beautiful lustre over the contests of England and France. +Stratagems were as common as open and glorious battle, and private +injuries were revenged by assassination and not by the fair and manly +<i>joust à l'outrance</i>. However, when a man pledged his word for the +performance of any act and wished his sincerity to be believed, he +always swore by the <i>parola di cavaliere</i>, and not by the <i>parola di +cortigiano</i>, so general was the acknowledgment of the moral superiority +of chivalry.</p> + +<p>It was in the midst of this age of ignorance that Matilda, the great +Countess of Tuscany, by means of her wisdom and intelligence and her +many graces of mind and body, made such a great and lasting reputation +for herself that her name has come down in history as the worthy +companion of William the Conqueror and the great monk Hildebrand, later +Pope Gregory VII., her most distinguished contemporaries. Matilda's +father, Boniface, was the richest and most powerful nobleman of his time +in all Italy, and as Margrave and Duke of Tuscany, Duke of Lucca, +Marquis of Modena, and Count of Reggio, Mantua, and Ferrara, he exerted +a very powerful feudal influence. Though at first unfriendly to the +interests of the papal party in Italy, he was just about ready to +espouse its cause when he fell under the hand of an assassin; and then +it was that Matilda, by special dispensation of the emperor, was allowed +to inherit directly her father's vast estate, which she shared at first +with her brother Frederick and her sister Beatrice. Generally, fiefs +reverted to the emperor and remained within his custody for five +years—were held in probate, as it were—before the lawful heirs were +allowed to enter into possession of their property. Frederick and +Beatrice were short-lived, however, and it was not many years before +Matilda was left as sole heir to this great domain; she was not entirely +alone, as she had the watchful care and guidance of her mother, who +assisted her in every emergency.</p> + +<p>As the result of this condition of affairs, both mother and daughter +were soon sought in marriage by many ardent and ambitious suitors, each +presenting his claims for preferment and doing all in his power to bring +about an alliance which meant so much for the future. Godfrey of +Lorraine, who was not friendly to the party of the Emperor Henry III., +while on a raid in Italy, pressed his suit with such insistency that the +widowed Beatrice promised to marry him and at the same time gave her +consent to a betrothal between Matilda and Godfrey's hunchback son, who +also bore the name of Godfrey. This marriage with an unfriendly prince, +after so many years of imperial favor, and this attempt at a +consolidation of power for both present and future, so angered Henry +that he insisted that Beatrice must have yielded to violence in this +disposition of her affairs. Finally, in spite of her repeated denials, +she was made a prisoner for her so-called insubordination, while Matilda +was compelled to find safety in the great fortress at Canossa. In the +meantime, Godfrey had gone back to Lorraine, more powerful than ever, to +stir up trouble in the empire.</p> + +<p>In this same year, 1054, Henry III. died, and his son, Henry IV., won +over by the prayers of Pope Victor II., made peace with Godfrey and +restored Beatrice to liberty. They, being more than grateful to Victor +for this kindly intervention, invited him to come to their stately +palace in Florence and tarry with them for a while. From this time on, +in the period when Matilda was growing into womanhood, the real seat of +the papal power was not in Rome, but in Florence, and Godfrey's palace +became an acknowledged centre of ecclesiastical activity.</p> + +<p>Matilda was a girl of a mystic temperament, credulous, it is true, and +somewhat superstitious like all the other people of her time, and yet +filled with a deep yearning for a greater knowledge of the secrets of +the universe. Her ideal of authority was formed by intercourse with the +various members of her own circle, who were all devoted heart and soul +to the cause of the Holy See, and it was but natural that, when she +became old enough to think and act for herself, all her inclinations +should lead her to embrace the cause of the pope. While it is beyond the +province of the present volume to describe in detail the exact political +and religious situation in Italy at this time, it should be said that +the pope was anxious to reassert the temporal power of his office, which +had for a long time been subservient to the will of the emperors. He +desired the supremacy of the papacy within the Church, and the supremacy +of the Church over the state. Early filled with a holy zeal for this +cause, Matilda tried to inform herself regarding the real state of +affairs, so that she might be able to act intelligently when the time +for action came. Through skilful diplomacy, it came to pass that +Matilda's uncle—Frederick—became Pope Stephen X.; and then, of course, +the house of Lorraine came to look upon the papal interests as its own, +and the daughter of the house strengthened the deep attachment for the +Church which was to die only when she died. Nor must it be thought that +the priestly advisers of the house were blind to the fact that in +Matilda they had one who might become a pillar of support for the +fortunes of the papacy. The monk Hildebrand, for a long time the power +behind the pope until he himself became pope in 1073, was a constant +visitor at Matilda's home, and he it was who finally took her education +in hand and gave it its fullest development. She had many teachers, of +course, and under Hildebrand's guiding genius, the work was not stopped +until the young countess could speak French, German, and Latin with the +same ease as she did her mother tongue.</p> + +<p>Finally, in 1076, when she was thirty years of age, her +mother—Beatrice—died, and also her husband, Godfrey le Bossu. The +great countess, acting for the first time entirely upon her own +responsibility, now began that career of activity and warfare which was +unflagging to the end. No other woman of her time had her vast power and +wealth, no other woman of her time had her well-stored mind, and no +other, whether man or woman, was so well equipped to become the great +protector of the Holy Church at Rome. People were amazed at her +ability—they called her God-given and Heaven-sent, and they felt a +touch of mystery in this woman's life. Surely she was not as the others +of her time, for she could hold her head high in the councils of the +most learned, and she the only woman of the number! Nor was she +one-sided in her activity and indifferent to all interests save those of +the papal party, as her many public benefactions show her to have been a +woman filled with that larger zeal for humanity which far transcends the +narrow zeal for sect or creed. For, in addition to the many temples, +convents, and sepulchres, which she caused to be scattered over the +northern part of Italy, she built the beautiful public baths at +Casciano, and the great hospital of Altapascio.</p> + +<p>Never strong physically, Matilda was possessed of remarkable vitality +and an iron will, and she showed great powers of execution and +administration, never shirking the gravest responsibilities. A part of +her life was spent in the rough camps of her devoted feudal soldiery, +and—weak woman though she was—she led them on to battle more than +once, when they seemed to need the inspiration of her presence. Women +warriors there have been in every day and generation in some part of the +world perhaps, but never one like this. Clad in her suit of mail, and +urging on her battle horse at the head of her followers, her pale face +filled with the light of a holy zeal, it is small wonder that her arms +triumphed, and that before her death she came to be acknowledged openly +as by far the most important person in all Italy.</p> + +<p>It happened at one time that the emperor—Henry IV.—deserted by his +friends in Germany, and excommunicated by the pope, found that his only +hope for restoration to popular favor lay in a pardon from his enemy and +the lifting of the ban of excommunication. He set out, therefore, alone +and without an army, to meet the pope and sue for peace. Gregory, +uninformed as to Henry's intended visit (for news did not travel quickly +in those early days), was at the time on his way to Germany, where an +important diet was to be held, and with him was his faithful ally +Matilda. When they learned of the emperor's approach, however, the papal +train turned aside to the nearby fortress of Canossa, one of Matilda's +possessions, there to await the royal suppliant. In the immense hall of +that great castle, all hung with armor, shining shields and +breastplates, and all the varied accoutrements of war, the frowning +turrets without and the dark corridors within swarming with the pope's +defenders, Henry, the great emperor, who had once tried to depose +Gregory, was now forced to his greatest earthly humiliation and was +compelled to bend the knee and sue for pardon. Matilda it was who sat +beside the pope at this most solemn moment, and she alone could share +with Gregory the glory of this triumph, for she it was who had supplied +the sinews of war and made it possible for the pope to impose his will.</p> + +<p>On their return to Rome, to insure a continuance of papal success and +give stability to the ecclesiastical organization, she made over by +formal donation to the Holy See all her worldly possessions. This was +not only an act of great liberality, but it was a very bold assertion of +independence, as it was not customary to make disposition of feudal +possessions without first gaining the emperor's consent. As it was a +foregone conclusion that he would never give his consent to this +arrangement, Matilda thought best to dispense with that formality.</p> + +<p>Henry's submission was the distinct recognition of papal supremacy for +which Matilda had been battling, but Gregory, in his exactions, had +overstepped the bounds of prudent policy, as he had shown himself too +arrogant and dictatorial. In consequence, all Lombardy rose against him, +Tuscany soon followed suit, and, in 1080, Matilda herself was forced to +take refuge in the mountains of Modena. Henry, who had regained in part +his power and his influence at home, descended upon Rome in 1083, and in +revenge for his former disgrace, expelled Gregory, who retired to +Salerno, where he died soon after. Now comes a period of conflict +between popes and anti-popes, Matilda sustaining the regular successors +of Gregory, and Henry nominating men of his own choice. The long period +of warfare was beginning to weigh heavily upon the land, however, and in +a solemn assembly at Carpinetto, the friends and barons of Matilda +implored her to cease her struggles, but she refused to listen to their +entreaties because a monk of Canossa had promised her the aid of heaven +if she should persevere in this holy war. Before long, Lombardy, which +had long been restless, revolted against the emperor, and Matilda, by +great skill and a display of much tact, was enabled to arrange matters +in such a way that she broke Henry's power. This victory made Matilda, +to all intents and purposes, the real Queen of Italy, though in title +she was but the Countess of Tuscany. Then it was that she confirmed her +grant of 1077, giving unconditionally to the pope all her fiefs and +holdings. While the validity of this donation was seriously questioned, +and while it was claimed that she had really intended to convey her +personal property only, so ambiguous was the wording of the document +that the pope's claims were in the main allowed, and many of her lands +were given over to his temporal sway.</p> + +<p>After the death of Henry IV. (1106), she continued to rule without +opposition in Italy, though recognizing the suzerainty of his successor, +Henry V. In 1110, this emperor came to visit her at Bibbianello, where +he was filled with admiration for her attainments, her great wisdom, and +her many virtues. During this visit, Henry treated her with the greatest +respect, addressing her as mother; before his departure, he made her +regent of Italy. She was then old and feeble, physically, but her mind +and will were still vigorous. A few years later, during the Lenten +season in 1115, she caught cold while attempting to follow out the +exacting requirements of Holy Week, and it soon became apparent that her +end was near. Realizing this fact herself she directed that her serfs +should be freed, confirmed her general donation to the pope, made a few +small bequests to the neighboring churches, and then died as she had +lived, calmly and bravely. Her death occurred at Bendano, and her body +was interred at Saint Benoît de Ponderone. Five centuries later, under +the pontificate of Urban VIII., it was taken to Rome and buried with +great ceremony in the Vatican.</p> + +<p>As to Matilda's character, some few historians have cast reflections +upon the nature of her relations with Pope Gregory, their stay together +at Canossa, at the time of Henry's humiliation, being particularly +mentioned as an instance of their too great intimacy. Such aspersions +have still to be proved, and there is nothing in all contemporary +writings to show that there was anything reprehensible in all the course +of this firm friendship. Gregory was twice the age of the great +countess, and was more her father than her lover. During her whole +lifetime, she had been of a mystic temperament, and it is too much to +ask us to believe that her great and holy ardor for the Church was +tainted by anything like vice or sensuality. By reason of her great +sagacity and worldly wisdom she was the most powerful and most able +personage in Italy at the time of her death. If her broad domains could +have been kept together by some able successor, Italian unity might not +have been deferred for so many centuries; but there was no one to take +up her work and Italy was soon divided again, and this time the real +partition was made rather by the growing republics than by the feudal +lords.</p> + +<p>A consideration of the life of the Countess Matilda points to the fact +that there was but this one woman in all Italy at this time who <i>knew</i> +enough to take advantage of her opportunities and play a great rôle upon +the active stage of life. Many years were to pass before it could enter +the popular conception that all women were to be given their chance at a +fuller life, and even yet in sunny Italy, there is much to do for +womankind. Then, as now, the skies were blue, and the sun was bright and +warm; then, as now, did the peasants dance and sing all the way from +water-ribbed Venice to fair and squalid Naples, but with a difference. +Now, there is a measure of freedom to each and all—then, justice was +not only blind but went on crutches, and women were made to suffer +because they were women and because they could not defend, by force, +their own. Still, there is comfort in the fact that from this dead level +of mediocrity and impotence, one woman, the great Countess of Tuscany, +was able to rise up and show herself possessed of a great heart, a great +mind, and a great soul; and in her fullness of achievement, there was +rich promise for the future.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_II" id="Chapter_II"></a><a href="#table">Chapter II</a></h2> + +<h3>The Neapolitan Court in the Time of Queen Joanna</h3> + + +<p>If you drive along the beautiful shore of the Mergellina to-day, beneath +the high promontory of Pausilipo, to the southwest of Naples, you will +see there in ruins the tumbling rocks and stones of an unfinished +palace, with the blue sea breaking over its foundations; and that is +still called the palace of Queen Joanna. In the church of Saint Chiara +at Naples, this Queen Joanna was buried, and there her tomb may be seen +to-day. Still is she held in memory dear, and still is her name familiar +to the lips of the people. On every hand are to be seen the monuments of +her munificence, and if you ask a Neapolitan in the street who built +this palace or that church, the answer is almost always the same—"Our +Queen Joanna."</p> + +<p>Who was this well-beloved queen, when did she live, and why is she still +held in this affectionate regard by the present residents of sunny +Naples? To answer all these questions it will be necessary to go back to +a much earlier day in the history of this southern part of the Italian +peninsula—a day when Naples was the centre of a royal government of no +little importance in the eyes of the mediæval world.</p> + +<p>Some three hundred years before Joanna's birth, in the early part of the +eleventh century, a band of knightly pilgrims was on its way to the +Holy Land to battle for the Cross. They had ridden through the fair +provinces of France, in brave array upon their mighty chargers, all the +way from Normandy to Marseilles, and there they had taken ship for the +East. The ships were small, the accommodations and supplies were not of +the best, and it was not possible to make the journey with any great +speed. Stopping, as it happened, for fresh stores in the south of Italy, +they were at once invited by the Prince of Salerno to aid him in his +fight against the Mohammedans, who were every day encroaching more upon +the Greek possessions there. Being men of warlike nature, already +somewhat wearied by the sea voyage to which they were not accustomed, +and considering this fighting with the Saracens of Italy as a good +preparation for later conflicts with the heathens and the infidels who +were swarming about the gates of Jerusalem, they were not slow to accept +the invitation. While victory perched upon the banners of the Normans, +it was evident at once that for the future safety of the country a +strong and stable guard would be necessary, and so the Normans were now +asked to stay permanently. This the majority did with immense +satisfaction, for the soft and gentle climate of the country had filled +their souls with a sweet contentment, and the charms and graces of the +southern women had more than conquered the proud conquerors. Just as +Charles VIII. and his army, some hundreds of years later, were ensnared +by the soft glances of soft eyes when they went to Italy to conquer, so +the Normans were held in silken chains in this earlier time. But there +was this difference—the Normans did not forget their own interests. +Willing victims to the wondrous beauty of the belles of Naples, they +were strong enough to think of their own position at the same time; and +as the French colony grew to fair size and much importance, they took +advantage of certain controversies which arose, and boldly seized +Apulia, which they divided among twelve of their counts. This all +happened in the year 1042.</p> + +<p>It may well be imagined that Naples at this time presented a most +picturesque appearance, for there was a Babel of tongues and a mixture +of nationalities which was quite unusual. After the native Neapolitans, +dark-eyed and swarthy, there were countless Greeks and Saracens of +somewhat fairer hue, and over them all were the fierce Normans, +strangers from a northern clime, who were lording it in most masterful +fashion. The effect of this overlordship, which they held from the pope +as their feudal head, was to give to this portion of Italy certain +characteristics which are almost entirely lacking in the other parts of +Italy. Here there was no free city, here there was no republic, but, +instead, a feudal court which followed the best models of the continent +and in its time became famed for its brilliancy and elegance. Without +dallying by the way to explain when battles were fought and kings were +crowned, suffice it to say that, early in the fourteenth century, Robert +of Taranto, an Angevine prince, ascended the throne of Naples, and by +his wisdom and goodness and by his great interest in art and literature +made his capital the centre of a culture and refinement which were rare +at that time. This was a day of almost constant warfare, when the din of +battle and the clash of armor were silencing the sound of the harp and +the music of the poet, but Robert—<i>Il buon Rè Roberto</i>, as he was +called—loved peace and hated war and ever strove to make his court a +place of brightness and joy, wherein the arts and sciences might +flourish without let or hindrance.</p> + +<p>These centuries of feudal rule had, perhaps, given the people of Naples +a somewhat different temper from that possessed by the people in other +parts of Italy. There had been a firm centre of authority, and, in spite +of the troubles which had rent the kingdom, the people in the main had +been little concerned with them. They had been taught to obey, and +generally their rights had been respected. Now, under King Robert, the +populace was enjoying one long holiday, the like of which could have +been seen in no other part of Italy at that time. The natural languor of +the climate and their intuitive appreciation of the lazy man's proverb, +<i>Dolce far niente</i>, made it easy for them to give themselves up to the +pleasures of the moment. All was splendor and feasting at the court, and +the castle Nuovo, where the king resided, was ever filled with a goodly +company. So the people took life easily; there was much dancing and +playing of guitars upon the Mole, by the side of the waters of that +glorious bay all shimmering in the moonlight, and the night was filled +with music and laughter. The beauty of the women was exceptional, and +the blood of the men was hot; passion was ill restrained, and the +green-eyed monster of jealousy hovered over all. Quick to love and quick +to anger, resentful in the extreme, suspicious and often treacherous, +Dan Cupid wrought havoc among them at times most innocently, and many a +<i>colpo di coltello</i> [dagger thrust] was given under the influence of +love's frenzy. But the dance continued, the dresses were still of the +gayest colors, the bursts of laughter were unsubdued.</p> + +<p>The fair fame of the court of Naples had gone far afield, and not to +know of it and of its magnificence, even in those days of difficult +communication, was so damaging a confession among gentlefolk, that all +were loath to make it. Here, it was known, the arts of peace were +encouraged, while war raged on all sides, and here it was that many +noble lords and ladies had congregated from all Europe to form part of +that gallant company and shine with its reflected splendor. King Robert +likewise held as feudal appanage the fair state of Provence in southern +France, rich in brilliant cities and enjoying much prosperity, until the +time of the ill-advised Albigensian Crusade, and communication between +the two parts of Robert's realm was constant. Naples was the centre, +however, and such was the elegance and courtesy of its court that it was +famed far and wide as a school of manners; and here it was that pages, +both highborn and of low estate, were sent by their patrons that they +might perfect themselves in courtly behavior. The open encouragement +which was accorded to the few men of letters of the time made Naples a +favorite resort for the wandering troubadours, and there they sang, to +rapturous applause, their songs of love and chivalry. Here in this +corner of Italy, where the dominant influences were those which came +from France, and where, in reality, French knights were the lords in +control, the order of chivalry existed as in the other parts of Europe, +but as it did not exist elsewhere in Italy. Transplanted to this +southern soil, however, knighthood failed to develop, to any marked +degree, those deeper qualities of loyalty, courtesy, and liberality +which shed so much lustre upon its institution elsewhere. Here, +unfortunately, mere gallantry seemed its essential attribute, and the +gallantry of this period, at its best, would show but little regard for +the moral standards of to-day. No one who has read the history of this +time can fail to be struck with the fact that on every hand there are +references to acts of immorality which seem to pass without censure. As +Hallam has said, many of the ladies of this epoch, in their desire for +the spiritual treasures of Rome, seem to have been neglectful of another +treasure which was in their keeping. Whether the gay gallant was knight +or squire, page or courtier, the feminine heart seems to have been +unable to withstand his wiles, and from Boccaccio to Rabelais the +deceived and injured husband was ever a butt of ridicule. Of course, +there was reason for all this; the ideals of wedded life were much +further from realization than they are to-day, and the sanctity of the +marriage relation was but at the beginning of its slow evolution, in +this part of the Western world.</p> + +<p>But within the walls of the huge castle Nuovo, which combined the +strength of a fortress with the elegance of a palace, it must not be +supposed that there was naught but gross sensuality. Court intrigue and +scandal there were in plenty, and there were many fair ladies in the +royal household who were somewhat free in the bestowal of their favors, +sumptuous banquets were spread, tournaments for trials of knightly skill +were held with open lists for all who might appear, but in the centre of +it all was the king, pleasure-loving, it is true, but still far more +than that. He it was who said: "For me, I swear that letters are dearer +to me than my crown; and were I obliged to renounce the one or the +other, I should quickly take the diadem from my brow." It was his +constant endeavor to show himself a generous and intelligent patron of +the arts. The interior of his palace had been decorated by the brush of +Giotto, one of the first great painters of Italy, and here in this home +of luxury and refinement he had gathered together the largest and most +valuable library then existing in Europe.</p> + +<p>When Petrarch was at the age of thirty-six he received a letter from the +Roman Senate, asking him to come to Rome that they might bestow upon him +the poet's crown of laurel. Before presenting himself for this honor, +however, to use his own words, he "decided first to visit Naples and +that celebrated king and philosopher, Robert, who was not more +distinguished as a ruler than as a man of learning. He was indeed the +only monarch of our age who was, at the same time, the friend of +learning and of virtue, and I trusted that he might correct such things +as he found to criticise in my work." Having learned the reason of the +great poet's visit, King Robert fixed a day for the consideration of +Petrarch's work; but, after a discussion which lasted from noon until +evening, it was found that more time would be necessary on account of +the many matters which came up, and so the two following days were +passed in the same manner. Then, at last, Petrarch was pronounced worthy +of the honor which had been offered him, and there was much feasting at +the palace that night, and much song, and much music, and much wine was +spilled.</p> + +<p>Not the least attentive listener in those three days of discussion and +argument was the Princess Joanna, the granddaughter of the king, his +ward and future heir. For in the midst of his life of agreeable +employment, <i>Il buon Rè Roberto</i> had been suddenly called upon to mourn +the loss of his only son, Robert, Duke of Calabria, who had been as +remarkable for his accomplishments—according to the writers of +chronicles—as for his goodness and love of justice. Two daughters +survived him, Joanna and Maria, and they were left to the care of the +grandfather, who transferred to them all the affection he had felt for +the son. In 1331, when Joanna was about four years old, the king +declared her the heiress of his crown; and at a solemn feudal gathering +in the great audience room of the castle Nuovo, he called upon his +nobles and barons to take oaths of allegiance to her as the Duchess of +Calabria; and this they did, solemnly and in turn, each bending the knee +in token of submission. With the title of Duchess of Calabria, she was +to inherit all her father's right to the thrones of Naples and +Provence.</p> + +<p>As soon as she came under his guardianship, the education of the small +Joanna became the constant preoccupation of her kindly grandfather, for +he was filled with enthusiasm for the manifold advantages of learning, +and spared no pains to surround the little duchess with the best +preceptors in art and in literature that Italy afforded. All +contemporary writers agree that the young girl gave quick and ready +response to these influences, and she soon proved her possession of most +unusual talents, combined with a great love for literary study; it is +said that, at the age of twelve, she was not only distinguished by her +superior endowments, but already surpassed in understanding not only +every other child of her own age, but many women of mature years. To +these mental accomplishments, we are told that there were added a gentle +and engaging temper, a graceful person, a beautiful countenance, and the +most captivating manners. And so things went along, and the old king did +all in his power to shield her from the corrupting influences which were +at work all about her. In that he seems to have been successful, for +there is every reason to believe that she grew up to womanhood untainted +by her surroundings.</p> + +<p>Various forces were at work, however, which were soon to undermine the +peace and tranquillity of the gay court, and plunge it into deepest woe. +It should be known that by a former division of the possessions of the +royal house of Naples, which had been dictated by the whim of a partial +father, the elder branch of that house had been allotted the kingdom of +Hungary, which had been acquired originally as the dowry of a princess, +while to the younger branch of the house Naples and Provence had been +given. Such a division of the royal domain had never satisfied those of +the elder branch of the family, and for many years the rulers of Hungary +had cast longing eyes upon the fair states to the south. The good King +Robert, desiring in his heart to atone for the slight which had been put +upon them, decided to marry Joanna to his grand-nephew Andreas, the +second son of Carobert, King of Hungary, thus restoring to the elder +branch of the family the possession of the throne of Naples without +endangering the rights of his granddaughter, and at the same time +extinguishing all the feuds and jealousies which had existed for so long +a time between the two kingdoms. So the young Hungarian prince was +brought to the Neapolitan court at once, and the two children were +married. Joanna was but five years old and Andreas but seven when this +ill-fated union was celebrated, with all possible splendor and in the +midst of great rejoicing. The children were henceforth brought up +together with the idea that they were destined for each other, but as +the years grew on apace they displayed the most conflicting qualities of +mind and soul.</p> + +<p>A careful analysis of the court life during these youthful days will +reveal the fact that its essential characteristics may be summed up in +the three phrases—love of literary study, love of gallantry, and love +of intrigue; it so happens that each of these phases is typified by a +woman, Joanna representing the first, Maria,—the natural daughter of +Robert,—the second, and Philippa the Catanese, the third. Much has been +said already of Joanna's love for study and of her unusual attainments, +but a word or two more will be necessary to complete the picture. Her +wonderful gifts and her evident delight in studious pursuits were no +mere show of childish precocity which would disappear with her maturer +growth, for they ever remained with her and made her one of the very +exceptional women of her day and generation. Imagine her there in the +court of her grandfather, where no woman before her had ever shown the +least real and intelligent interest in his intellectual occupations. It +was a great thing, of course, for all the ladies of the court to have +some famous poet come and tarry with them for a while; but they thought +only of a possible <i>affaire d'amour</i>, and odes and sonnets descriptive +of their charms. There was little appreciative understanding of +literature or poetry among them, and they were quite content to sip +their pleasures from a cup which was not of the Pierian spring. Joanna, +however, seemed to enter earnestly into the literary diversions of the +king, and many an hour did they spend together in the great library of +the palace, unfolding now one and now another of the many parchment +rolls and poring over their contents. Three learned languages there were +at this time in this part of the world, the Greek, the Latin, and the +Arabic, and the day had just begun to dawn when the common idioms of +daily speech were beginning to assert their literary value. So it is but +natural to assume that the majority of these manuscripts were in these +three languages, and that it required no small amount of learning on +Joanna's part to be able to decipher them.</p> + +<p>Far different from this little princess was Maria of Sicily, a woman of +many charms, but vain and inconstant, and satisfied with the frivolities +of life. Indeed, it must be said that it is solely on account of her +love for the poet Boccaccio, after her marriage to the Count of Artois, +that she is known to-day. Boccaccio had journeyed to the south from +Florence, as the fame of King Robert's court had reached him, and he was +anxious to bask in its sunlight and splendor, and to bring to some +fruition his literary impulses, which were fast welling up within him. +And to Naples he came as the spring was retouching the hills with green +in 1333, and there he remained until late in the year 1341, when he was +forced to return to his home in the north. His stay in Naples had done +much for him, though perhaps less for him personally than for his +literary muse, as he plunged headlong into the mad whirlpool of social +pleasures and enjoyed to the utmost the life of this gay court, which +was enlivened and adorned by the wit of men and the beauty of women. Not +until the Easter eve before his departure, however, did he chance to see +the lady who was to influence to such a great degree his later career. +It was in the church of San Lorenzo that Boccaccio saw Maria of Sicily, +and it was a case of love at first sight, the <i>coup de foudre</i> that +Mlle. de Scudéry has talked about; and if the man's word may be worthy +of belief under such circumstances, the lady returned his passion with +an equal ardor. It was not until after much delay, however, that she was +willing to yield to the amorous demands of the poet, and then she did so +in spite of her honor and her duty as the wife of another. But this +delay but opened the way for an endless succession of gallant words and +acts, wherein the art of coquetry was called upon to play no unimportant +part. Between these two people there was no sincere friendship such as +existed later between Boccaccio and Joanna, and they were but playing +with the dangerous fire of passion, which they ever fanned to a greater +heat.</p> + +<p>Philippa the Catanese, as she is called in history, stands for the +spirit of intrigue in this history; and well she may, as she has a most +wonderful and tragic history. The daughter of a humble fisherman of +Catania in Sicily, she had been employed by Queen Violante, the first +wife of Robert, in the care of her infant son, the Duke of Calabria. Of +wonderful intelligence for one in her station, gifted beyond her years, +and beautiful and ambitious, she won the favor of the queen to such a +degree that she soon became her chief attendant. Her foster-child, the +Duke of Calabria, who tenderly loved her, married her to the seneschal +of his palace and appointed her first lady in waiting to his wife; and +thus it happened that she was present at the birth of Joanna, and was +the first to receive her in her arms. Naturally enough, then, King +Robert made her the governess and custodian of the small duchess after +her father's death. This appointment of a woman of low origin to so high +a position in the court gave offence to many of the highborn ladies +there, and none could understand the reason for it all. Many dark rumors +were afloat, and, although the matter was discussed in undertones, it +was the general opinion that she had been aided by magic or sorcery, and +the bolder spirits said that she was in daily communication with the +Evil One. However that may be, she was faithful to her trust, and it was +only through her too zealous scheming in behalf of her young mistress +that she was brought to her tragic end.</p> + +<p>As the two children, Andreas and Joanna, grew up to maturity, it became +more and more apparent that there was no bond of sympathy between them. +Andreas had as his preceptor a monk named Fra Roberto, who was the open +enemy of Philippa, and her competitor in power. It was his constant aim +to keep Andreas in ignorance and to inspire him with a dislike for the +people of Naples, whom he was destined to govern, and to this end he +made him retain his Hungarian dress and customs. Petrarch, who made a +second visit to Naples as envoy from the pope, has this to say of Fra +Roberto: "May Heaven rid the soil of Italy of such a pest! A horrible +animal with bald head and bare feet, short in stature, swollen in +person, with worn-out rags torn studiously to show his naked skin, who +not only despises the supplications of the citizens, but, from the +vantage ground of his feigned sanctity, treats with scorn the embassy +of the pope." King Robert saw too late the mistake he had committed, as +the sorrow and trouble in store for the young wife were only too +apparent. To remedy, so far as was in his power, this unhappy condition +of affairs, he called again a meeting of his feudal lords; and this time +he had them swear allegiance to Joanna alone in her own right, formally +excluding the Hungarians from any share in the sovereign power. While +gratifying to the Neapolitans, this act could but excite the enmity of +the Hungarian faction under Fra Roberto, and it paved the way for much +intrigue and much treachery in the future.</p> + +<p>When King Robert died in 1343, Joanna became Queen of Naples and +Provence at the age of fifteen; but on account of her youth and +inexperience, and because of the machinations of the hateful monk, she +was kept in virtual bondage, and the once peaceful court was rent by the +bitterest dissensions. Through it all, however, Joanna seems to have +shown no special dislike to Andreas, who, indeed, was probably innocent +of any participation in the scheming of his followers; Petrarch compares +the young queen and her consort to two lambs in the midst of wolves. The +time for Joanna's formal coronation was fixed for September 20, 1345, +and some weeks before, while the palace was being decorated and prepared +for this great event, the young couple had retired to the Celestine +monastery at Aversa, some fifteen miles away. Joanna, who was soon to +become a mother, was much benefited by this change of scene, and all was +peace and happiness about them, with nothing to indicate the awful +tragedy which the future held in store. On the night of September 18th, +two days before the coronation was to take place, Andreas was called +from the queen's apartment by the information that a courier from Naples +was waiting to see him upon urgent business. In the dark corridor +without, he was at once seized by some person or persons whose identity +has never been made clear, who stopped his mouth with their gloves and +then strangled him and suspended his body from a balcony. The cord, +however, was not strong enough to stand the strain, and broke, and the +body fell into the garden below. There the assassins would have buried +it upon the spot, if they had not been put to flight by a servant of the +palace, who gave the alarm.</p> + +<p>This deed of violence gave rise to much suspicion, and the assertion is +often made that Joanna had at least connived at her husband's unhappy +end. Indeed, there is a story—which is without foundation, however—to +the effect that Andreas found her one day twisting a silken rope with +which it was her intention to have him strangled; and when he asked her +what she was doing, she replied, with a smile: "Twisting a rope with +which to hang you!" But it is difficult to believe the truth of any of +these imputations. If she were cruel enough to desire her husband's +death, and bold enough to plan for it, she was also intelligent enough +to execute her purpose in a manner less foolish and less perilous to +herself. Never, up to this time, had she given the slightest indication +of such cruelty in her character, and never after that time was the +slightest suspicion cast upon her for any other evil act. How, then, +could it be possible that Andreas had been murdered by her order? +Whatever the cause of this ferocious outbreak, the Hungarian faction, +struck with consternation, fled in all directions, not knowing what to +expect. The next morning Joanna returned to the castle Nuovo, where she +remained until after the birth of her son. During this period of +confinement, she wrote a letter to the King of Hungary, her +father-in-law, telling him what had taken place. In this epistle she +makes use of the expression:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"My good husband, with whom I have ever associated without strife;" +and she declares regarding her own sorrow: "I have suffered so much +anguish for the death of my beloved husband that, stunned by grief, +I had well-nigh died of the same wounds!"</p></div> + +<p>As soon as her strength would permit, Joanna summoned a council of her +advisers and signed a commission giving Hugh de Balzo full authority to +seek out the murderers and punish them. Suspicion at once fell upon +Philippa the Catanese, and upon other members of her family, as her +hatred of the Hungarians was well known, and her past reputation for +intrigue and mystery only added strength to the accusation. Philippa, +who, since the death of King Robert, had been created Countess of +Montoni, was now more powerful than ever at the court, and seemed to +invite the danger which was hanging over her, in the belief that no harm +could touch her head. But her calculations went astray, as Balzo +appeared one morning at the palace gate, produced evidence incriminating +her and her intimates, and dragged them off to prison, where they were +put to death in the most approved Neapolitan fashion—with lingering +torments and tortures. From that day the character of the young queen +underwent a most decided change. Hitherto she had been gay, frank, and +confiding, now she became serious and reserved. She had always been +gracious and compassionate, and rather the equal than the queen of those +about her,—according to Boccaccio's description,—but treachery had +come so near to her, and her trusted Philippa had proved so vile a +character, that she never after gave her entire confidence to any +person, man or woman.</p> + +<p>Some two years after the death of Andreas, for reasons of state, she +married her second cousin, Louis of Taranto, a brave and handsome prince +of whom she had long been fond. But she was not to be allowed to enjoy +her newly found happiness in peace, as her domains were soon invaded by +Louis, the elder brother of Andreas, who had recently ascended his +father's throne as King of Hungary, and who now came to avenge his +brother's death and seize Naples by way of indemnity. Joanna, deserted +by many of her nobles in these dire straits, and not knowing what to +do,—as her husband seems to have played no part in this +emergency,—decided upon flight as the only means of safety, and, +embarking with her entire household in three galleys, she set sail for +Provence, where loyal hearts awaited her coming. There she went at once +to Avignon, where Pope Clement VI. was holding his court with the utmost +splendor; and in the presence of the pope and all the cardinals, she +made answer in her own behalf to the charges which had been made against +her by the Hungarian king. Her address, which she had previously +composed in Latin, has been called the "most powerful specimen of female +oratory" ever recorded in history; and the Hungarian ambassadors, who +had been sent to plead against her, were so confounded by her eloquence +that they attempted no reply to her defence.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, Naples, in the hands of the invaders, had been stained +with blood, and then ravaged by the great plague of which Boccaccio has +given us a picture. Revolting at length under the harsh measures of the +Hungarian governor who had been left in charge by Louis, the Neapolitans +expelled him and his followers from the city, and sent an urgent +invitation to Joanna to return to her former home. Right gladly was the +summons answered, and with a goodly retinue of brave knights who had +sworn to die in her service she returned to her people, who welcomed her +homecoming with unbounded enthusiasm. Now the court resumed its gayety +and animation, and again it became, as in the days of King Robert, a +far-famed school of courtesy. Alphonse Daudet gives us a hint of all +this in his exquisite short story entitled <i>La Mule du Pape</i>, where he +tells of the young page Tistet Vedene, <i>qui descendait le Rhône en +chantant sur une galère papale et s'en allait à la cour de Naples avec +la troupe de jeunes nobles que la ville envoyait tous les ans près de la +reine Jeanne pour s'exercer à la diplomatie et aux belles manières</i> [who +descended the Rhône, singing, upon a papal galley, and went away to the +court of Naples with the company of young nobles whom the city (of +Avignon) sent every year to Queen Joanna for training in diplomacy and +fine manners]. There was further war with the Hungarians, it is true, +but peace was established, Sicily was added to Joanna's domain, and +there was general tranquillity.</p> + +<p>Twice again did Joanna marry, urged to this course by her ministers, but +death removed her consort each time, and in the end she was put into +captivity by her relative and adopted child, Charles of Durazzo, who had +forsaken her to follow the fortunes of the King of Hungary, and who had +invaded Naples and put forth a claim to the throne, basing it upon some +scheming papal grant which was without legality. Charles had her taken +to the castle of Muro, a lonely fortress in the Apennines, some sixty +miles from Naples, and there, her spirit of defiance unsubdued, she was +murdered by four common soldiers in the latter part of May, 1382, after +a reign of thirty-nine years. So came to an end this brilliant queen, +the most accomplished woman of her generation, and with her downfall the +lamp of learning was dimmed for a time in southern Italy, where the din +of arms and the discord of civic strife gave no tranquillity to those +who loved the arts of peace.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_III" id="Chapter_III"></a><a href="#table">Chapter III</a></h2> + +<h3>Women and the Church</h3> + + +<p>Near the close of the first half of the fourteenth century, after the +terrible ravages of the great plague had abated, the people were +prostrate with fear and terrorized by the merciless words of the +priests, who had not been slow to declare the pestilence as a mark of +the wrath of God and who were utilizing the peculiar possibilities of +this psychological moment for the advancement of the interests of the +Church. In the churches—the wondrous mediæval structures which were +newly built at that time—songs of spasmodic grief like the <i>Stabat +Mater</i>, or of tragic terror such as the <i>Dies iræ</i>, were echoing under +the high-vaulted arches, and the fear of God was upon the people. In a +great movement of this kind it is but to be expected that women played +no little part; their more sensitive natures caused them to be more +easily affected than were the men by the threats of everlasting torment +which were constantly being made by the priests for the benefit of all +those who refused to renounce worldly things and come within the +priestly fold. There was a most remarkable show of contrition and +penitence at this time, and thousands of persons, men and women of all +classes, were so deeply moved that they went about in companies, beating +themselves and each other for the glory of God, and singing vociferously +their melancholy dirges. These were the Flagellants, and there were +crowds of them all over Europe, the number in France alone at this time +being estimated at eight hundred thousand. One of the direct results of +this state of religious excitement was an increased interest, on the +part of women, in religious service, and a renewed desire to devote +themselves to a religious life.</p> + +<p>The conditions of conjugal life had been such throughout the feudal +period that for many years there had been a slowly growing sentiment +that marriage was but a manner of self-abandonment to the world, the +flesh, and the devil, and many women from time to time were influenced +to put away worldly things and seek peace in the protection of some +religious order. Tertullian had long before condemned marriage, and +Saint Jerome was most bitter against it. The various abuses of the +marriage relation were such that those of pure hearts and minds could +but pause and ask themselves whether or not this was an ideal +arrangement of human life; and, all in all, there was still much to be +done by means of educational processes before men and women could lead a +life together which might be of mutual advantage to all parties +concerned. Still, it must not be supposed that this tendency on the part +of women to affiliate themselves with conventual orders was a movement +of recent origin.</p> + +<p>Since the earliest days of Christianity women had been especially active +in the work of the Church, and there were countless martyrs among them +even as far back as the time of the Roman persecutions. In the old days +of pagan worship they had been allowed their part in religious +ceremonies, and with the development of the religious institutions of +Christendom this active participation had steadily increased. But, more +than this, when it became necessary to withdraw from the corrupt +atmosphere of everyday affairs in order to lead a good life, it came to +pass that near the dwellings of the first monks and hermits who had +sought the desert and solitude for their lives of meditation were to be +found shelters for their wives and sisters and daughters who had +followed them to their retreats to share in their holy lives.</p> + +<p>Slowly, as in the case of the men, the conventual orders for women were +formed in these communities and regulated by such rules as seemed best +suited to their needs. At the outset it may be stated that celibacy as a +prerequisite to admission to such orders was required of women before it +was of men; and so in one way the profession of a nun antedates the +corresponding profession of a monk, as the idea of an unmarried life had +already made much progress in the Christian Church among women before it +came into vogue among the men. It may be that the women of that time +were inclined to take literally that chapter in Paul's first Epistle to +the Corinthians wherein it is said: "There is this difference, also, +between a wife and a virgin: the unmarried woman careth for the things +of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit; but she +that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please +her husband;" but, however that may be, these orders of unmarried women +soon became numerous, and severe were the penalties imposed upon all +those who broke the vow of chastity when once it had been made. The +consecration of a nun was a most solemn occasion, and the rites had to +be administered by a bishop, or by one acting under episcopal authority. +The favorite times for the celebration of this ceremony were the great +Church festival days in honor of the Apostles, and at Epiphany and +Easter. When the nuns were consecrated, a fillet was placed in their +hair—a purple ribbon or a slender band of gold—to represent a crown +of victory, and the tresses, which were gathered up and tied together, +showed the difference between this bride of Christ and a bride of earth, +with her hair falling loose about her shoulders after the Roman fashion. +Then over all was placed the long, flowing veil, as a sign that the nun +belonged to Christ alone.</p> + +<p>The ordinary rules of conduct which were prescribed for the inmates of +the nunneries resemble in many ways those which were laid down for the +men; and those first followed are ascribed to Scholastica, a sister of +the great Saint Benedict, who established the order of Benedictines at +Monte Cassino about 529; according to popular tradition, this holy woman +was esteemed as the foundress of nunneries in Europe. For the regulation +of the women's orders Saint Augustine formulated twenty-four rules, +which he prescribed should be read every week, and later Saint Benedict +revised them and extended them so that there were finally seventy-two +rules in addition to the Ten Commandments. The nuns were to obey their +superior implicitly, silence and humility were enjoined upon them, head +and eyes were to be kept lowered at all times, the hours for going to +bed and for rising were fixed, and there were minute regulations +regarding prayers, watches, and devotions. Furthermore, they were rarely +allowed to go out of their convents, they were to possess nothing of +their own, mirrors were not tolerated, being conducive to personal +vanity, and the luxury of a bath was granted only in case of sickness.</p> + +<p>As with the ordinary rules of conduct, so the ordinary routine of daily +life in a nunnery corresponded to that of a monastery. Hour by hour, +there was the same periodical rotation of work and religious service, +with short intervals at fixed times for rest or food. The usual +occupation in the earliest times had to do with the carding and +spinning of wool, and Saint Jerome, with his characteristic +earnestness, advises the nuns to have the wool ever in their hands. +Saint Augustine gives us the picture of a party of nuns standing at the +door of their convent and handing out the woollen garments which they +have made for the old monks who are standing there waiting to receive +them, with food to give to the nuns in exchange. The simplicity of this +scene recalls the epitaph which is said to have been written in honor of +a Roman housewife who lived in the simple days of the Republic: "She +stayed at home and spun wool!" Somewhat later the nuns were called upon +to furnish the elegantly embroidered altar cloths which were used in the +churches, and, still later, in some places girls' schools were +established in the convents.</p> + +<p>In the eleventh century, the successful struggle which had been made by +Gregory VII., with the aid of the Countess Matilda, for the principle of +papal supremacy exerted a marked influence upon the religious life of +the time and gave an undoubted impetus to the idea of conventual life +for women, as during this period many new cloisters were established. It +will be readily understood that the deeds of the illustrious Tuscan +countess had been held up more than once to the gaze of the people of +Italy as worthy of their emulation, and many women were unquestionably +induced in this way to give their lives to the Church. In the Cistercian +order alone there were more than six thousand cloisters for women by the +middle of the twelfth century.</p> + +<p>It was during this same eleventh century, when a woman had helped to +strengthen the power of the Church, that the influence of the +Madonna—of Mary, the mother of Christ—began to make a profound +impression upon the form of worship. A multitude of Latin hymns may be +found which were written in honor of the Virgin as far back as the +fifth century, and in the mediæval romances of chivalry, which were so +often tinged with religious mysticism, she often appears as the Empress +and Queen of Heaven. All through the mediæval period, in fact, there was +a constant endeavor to prove that the Old Testament contained allusions +to Mary, and, with this in view, Albertus Magnus put together a +<i>Marienbibel</i> in the twelfth century, and Bonaventura edited a +<i>Marienpsalter</i>. Therein, the gates of Paradise, Noah's ark, Jacob's +ladder, the ark of the Covenant, Aaron's rod, Solomon's throne, and many +other things, were held up as examples and foreshadowings of the coming +of the Blessed Virgin; and in the sermons, commentaries, and homilies of +the time the same ideas were continually emphasized. A collection of the +Latin appellations which were bestowed upon the Madonna during this time +contains the following terms, which reveal the fervor and temper of the +age: <i>Dei genitrix</i>, <i>virgo virginum</i>, <i>mater Christi</i>, <i>mater divinæ +gratiæ</i>, <i>mater potens</i>, <i>speculum justitiæ</i>, <i>vas spirituale</i>, <i>rosa +mystica</i>, <i>turris davidica</i>, <i>domus aurea</i>, <i>janua cœli</i>, <i>regina +peccatorum</i>, <i>regina apostolorum</i>, <i>consolatrix afflictorum</i>, and +<i>regina sanctorum omnium</i>.</p> + +<p>The Benedictines had consecrated themselves to the service of Mary since +the time of the Crusades, and, beginning with the eleventh century, many +religious orders and brotherhoods were organized in honor of Mary. The +Order of the Knights of the Star was founded in 1022, and the Knights of +the Lily were organized in 1048. About the middle of the twelfth century +the Order of the Holy Maid of Evora and that of the Knights of Alcantara +were established, and others followed. In 1149 Pope Celestine III. +chartered the Order of the Holy Virgin, for the service of a hospital in +Siena; in 1218, after a revelation from on high, the Order of the Holy +Mary of Mercy was founded by Peter Nolascus—Raymond von +Pennaforte—for the express purpose of giving aid and freedom to +captives. In 1233 seven noble Florentines founded the Order of the +Servants of Mercy, adopting Saint Augustine's rules of conduct, and they +dwelt in the convent of the Annunziata, in Florence. In 1285 Philip +Benizio founded a similar order for women, and, soon after, the pious +Juliana Falconeri instituted for women a second order of the same kind. +There was a constant multiplication of these orders vowed to the service +of the Madonna as the centuries passed, and the idea of Madonna worship +became more firmly fixed.</p> + +<p>No account of Madonna worship can be considered complete, however, +without some reference to the influence which it exerted upon the art of +the time. Madonna pictures first appeared in the East, where the worship +of such images had gained a firm foothold as early as the ninth century, +but long before that time pictures of the Mother of God were known and +many of them had become quite famous. Saint Luke the Evangelist is +generally considered as the first of the religious painters, and the +Vladimir Church at Moscow is in possession of a Madonna which is +supposed to be the work of his hand. The Eastern Church was the first to +feel the effect of this outburst of religious art, and it is but natural +to find some of its earliest examples in various other Russian cities, +such as Kieff, Kazan, and Novgorod. Bronze reliefs of the Virgin were +also common, and in many a crude form and fashion this newly aroused +sentiment of Christian art sought to find adequate expression. The +Western Church soon followed this movement in every detail, and then by +slow degrees upon Italian soil began that evolution in artistic +conception and artistic technique which was to culminate in the +effulgent glory of Raphael's Sistine Madonna. It was the Emperor +Justinian's conquest of Italy which "sowed the new art seed in a +fertile field," to use Miss Hurl's expression; but inasmuch as artistic +endeavor shows that same lack of originality which was characteristic of +all other forms of intellectual activity at this time, the germ took +root but slowly, and for a number of centuries servile imitations of the +highly decorated and decidedly soulless Byzantine Virgins were very +common. One of these paintings may be found in almost every church +throughout the length and breadth of Italy; but when you have seen one +you have seen them all, for they all have the same expression. The eyes +are generally large and ill shaped, the nose is long, the face is wan +and meagre, and there is a peevish and almost saturnine expression in +the wooden features which shows but slight affection for the +Christ-child, and which could have afforded but scant comfort to any who +sought to find there a gleam of tender pity. These pictures were +generally half-length, against a background of gold leaf, which was at +first laid on solidly, but which at a later period was adorned with tiny +cherub figures. The folds of the drapery were stiff and heavy, and the +whole effect was dull and lifeless. But no matter how inadequate such a +picture may seem to us to-day, and no matter how much it seems to lack +the depth and sincerity of reality, it possessed for the people of the +Middle Ages a mystic charm which had its influence. These pictures were +often supposed to have miraculous power, and there are many legends and +wonderful tales concerning them.</p> + +<p>The first really great master among Italian painters, however, was +Giovanni Cimabue, who lived in Florence during the last part of the +thirteenth century; he infused into his work a certain vigor and +animation which were even more than a portent of the revival which was +to come. Other Italian painters there had been before him, it is true, +and particularly Guido of Siena and Giunta of Pisa, but they fail to +show in their work that spirit of originality and that breadth of +conception which were so characteristic of their successors. Throughout +the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries there is an evident effort after +an artistic expression of the deeper things of life which shall in some +way correspond to the spiritual realities. The yearning human heart +which was being solaced by the beautiful story of Christ and the mother +Mary, and which was filled with religious enthusiasm at the thought of +this Virgin enthroned in the heavens, was growing weary of the set +features and stolid look of the Madonna of Byzantine art, and dreaming +mystic dreams of the beauty of the Christ mother as she must have been +in real life. She became the centre of thought and speculation, prayers +and supplications were addressed to her, and more than once did she +appear in beatific vision to some illumined worshipper. It was in the +midst of this glow of feeling that Cimabue painted his colossal and +wondrous <i>Madonna and Child with the Angels</i>, the largest altar piece +which had been produced up to that time. Cimabue was then living in the +Borgo Allegri, one of the suburbs of Florence, and there in his studio +this great painting slowly came into existence. As soon as it assumed +some definite shape its fame was noised abroad, and many were the +curious ones who came to watch the master at his task. The mere fact +that this painting was upon a larger scale than any other picture of the +kind which had before been attempted in Italy was enough to arrest the +attention of the most indifferent; and as the figure warmed into life +and the face of the Madonna became as that of a holy woman, human and +yet divine in its pity, and with a tender and melancholy expression, the +popular acclaim with which the picture was hailed was unprecedented, and +Cimabue became at once the acknowledged master of his time. So great +was the joy and appreciation with which this Madonna was received, that +a beautiful story is told to the effect that it was only after its +completion that the name Allegri [joyous] was given to the locality in +which the work was done; but, unfortunately, the facts do not bear out +the tale—Baedeker and other eminent authorities to the contrary +notwithstanding. Before this picture was taken to the beautiful chapel +of the Rucellai in the Chiesa Santa Maria Novella in Florence, where it +can be seen to-day, the French nobleman Charles of Anjou went to inspect +it, and with him went a stately company of lords and ladies. Later, when +it was removed to the church, a solemn religious procession was +organized for the occasion. Preceded by trumpeters, under a rain of +flowers, and followed by the whole populace, it went from the Borgo +Allegri to the church, and there it was installed with proper ceremony.</p> + +<p>The list of holy women who, by means of their good lives and their +deeds, helped on the cause of the Church during this early time is a +long one; in almost every community there was a local saint of great +renown and wonderful powers. Ignorance, superstition, and credulity had, +perhaps, much to do with the miraculous power which these saints +possessed, but there can be no doubt that most, if not all, of the +legends which concern them had some good foundation in fact. The holy +Rosalia of Palermo is one of the best known of these mediæval saints, +and even to-day there is a yearly festival in her honor. For many years +she had lived in a grotto near the city; there, by her godly life and +many kind deeds, she had inspired the love and reverence of the whole +community. When the pest came in 1150—that awful black death which +killed the people by hundreds—they turned to her in their despair and +begged her to intercede with them and take away this curse of God, as it +was believed to be. Through an entire night, within her grotto, the good +Rosalia prayed that the plague might be taken away and the people +forgiven, and the story has it that her prayers were answered at once. +At her death she was made the patron saint of Palermo, and the lonely +grotto became a sacred spot which was carefully preserved, and which may +be seen to-day by all who go to visit it on Monte Pellegrino.</p> + +<p>In the first part of the thirteenth century two new orders for women +grew up in connection with the recently founded orders of the +Franciscans and Dominicans; the story of the foundation of the former +sisterhood in particular is one of striking interest. This organization +originated in 1212 and its members were called Les Clarisses, after +Clara, the daughter of Favorino Seisso, a knight of Assisi. Clara, +though rich and accustomed to a life of indolence and pleasure, was so +moved by the preaching of Saint Francis, that she sent for this holy man +and conversed with him at great length upon religious topics. Finally, +after a short but natural hesitation, she made up her mind to take the +veil and establish an order for women which should embody many of the +ideas for which the Franciscan order stood. The Franciscans, in addition +to the usual vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, laid special +stress upon preaching and ministry to the soul and body. After the +conversion was complete, she was taken by Saint Francis and his brother, +each one bearing a lighted taper, to the nearest convent, and there, in +the dimly lighted chapel, the glittering garments of her high estate +were laid upon the altar as she put on the sombre Franciscan garb and +cut her beautiful hair.</p> + +<p>In the fourteenth century the interest taken by women in the conventual +life increased, and one of the most powerful influences in the +religious life of the time was Catherine of Siena, a creature of light +in the midst of the dark turmoil and strife which characterize this +portion of Italian history. Catherine was the beautiful and high-minded +daughter of a rich merchant of Siena, and at a very early age showed a +decided inclination for the religious life. At the age of twelve she +began to have visions and declared herself the bride of Christ; and +through her firmness she overcame the opposition of her parents and the +scorn of her friends, and made definite preparations for withdrawal from +worldly things. A small cell was arranged for her use in her father's +house, and there she would retire for prayer and meditation. At Siena, +in 1365, at the age of eighteen, she entered a Dominican sisterhood of +the third order, where she vowed to care for the poor, the sick, and for +those in prison.</p> + +<p>In 1374 she went out in the midst of the plague, not only nursing the +sick, but preaching to the crowds in the street, giving them words of +cheer and comfort, and to such effect—according to the testimony of a +contemporary writer—that thousands were seen clustered about her, +intent upon what she was saying. So great had her wisdom become that she +was called upon to settle disputes, and invitations came for her to +preach in many neighboring cities. Furthermore, on one occasion she was +sent on the pope's business to Arezzo and Lucca.</p> + +<p>At this time the popes were established in Avignon, in southern France, +and thither she went on a visit in 1376. On her departure, the chief +magistrate of Florence besought her influence with the pope, who had put +him under the ban of the Church. At Avignon she was received with +greatest consideration by the College of Cardinals, as well as by the +pope, for all had confidence in her good sense and judgment. The story +is told, however, that some of the prelates at the papal court, envious +on account of her influence with the pope, and wishing to put her +learning to the test, engaged her in a religious discussion, hoping to +trip her in some matters of doctrine or Church history. But she reasoned +with the best of them so calmly and with such evident knowledge, that +they were compelled to acknowledge her great wisdom. In the fall of that +same year, as the result of her arguments and representations, Pope +Gregory XI. was induced to go back to Rome, the ancient seat of the +Church. Catherine left Avignon before the time fixed for the pope's +departure; but before returning to Siena, she went to Genoa, where +several of her followers were very sick and in need of her care. There +in Genoa, Gregory, on his way to Rome, stopped to visit her, being in +need of further counsel. Such an act on the part of the pope is ample +proof of her unusual ability and her influential position.</p> + +<p>The pope once in Rome, she entreated him to bring peace to Italy. At his +request, she went to Florence to restore order there. In that city, +however, she found a populace hostile to the papal party, and her +protests and entreaties were of little avail. Upon one occasion, the +crowd demanded her life by fire or sword, and so fierce did their +opposition become that even the pope's friends were afraid to give her +shelter; it was only through her great calmness and fearlessness that +her life was spared. Gregory's death followed soon after, and with his +demise Catherine ceased to occupy so conspicuous a place in the public +affairs of her time. Gregory's successor, Urban VI., was clever enough +to summon Catherine to Rome again, that she might speak in his behalf +and overcome the outspoken opposition and hostility of some of the +cardinals, who had declared in favor of Clement VII. in his stead, and +had even gone so far as to declare him elected. Catherine was not able +to effect a conciliation, however, and here began the papal schism, as +the discontented cardinals continued their opposition with renewed vigor +and maintained Clement VII. as anti-pope. She was more successful in +another affair, as, immediately after her trip to Rome, in 1378 she +induced the rebellious Florentines to come to terms of peace with Urban.</p> + +<p>The remaining two years of her life were spent in labors for her +Dominican order, and she visited several cities in its behalf. At the +time of her death, it was commonly reported that her body worked a +number of miracles. The authenticity of these supernatural events, +however, was ever somewhat in doubt, as the Franciscans always stoutly +denied the claims that were made by the Dominicans in regard to this +affair. Catherine was canonized in 1461, and April 30th is the special +day in each year devoted to her memory. Among the other celebrated nuns +and saints of the fourteenth century may be mentioned the Blessed +Marina, who founded the cloister of Saint Matthew at Spoleta; the +Blessed Cantuccia, a Benedictine abbess; and the Holy Humilitas, abbess +of the Order of Vallombrosa at Florence; but none of them compare in +pious works or in worldly reputation with the wise and hard-working +Catherine of Siena.</p> + +<p>In the fifteenth century there was a still further increase of the +religious orders for both men and women, which came with the continual +extension of the field of religious activity; for the mother Church was +no laggard at this time, and never ceased to advance her own interests. +In this general period there were three nuns in Italy, each bearing the +name of Catherine, who by their saintly lives did much for the uplifting +of those about them. The first of this trio was Catherine, daughter of +Giovanni Vigeo. Though born in Ferrara, she was always spoken of as +Catherine of Bologna, as it was in the latter city that she spent the +greater part of her long and useful life. There she was for many years +at the head of a prosperous convent belonging to the nuns of the Order +of Clarissa, and there it was that she had her wonderful visions and +dreamed the wonderful dreams, which she carefully wrote down with her +own hand in the year 1438. For more than threescore years after this +period of illumination she continued in her position, where she was ever +an example of godliness and piety. Her death came on March 9, 1463; and +although her great services to the cause of religion were recognized at +this time, and openly commended by the pope, it was not until May 22, +1712, that she was finally canonized by Clement IX.</p> + +<p>The second Catherine was Catherine of Pallanza, which is a little town +near Novara in Piedmont, some thirty miles west of Milan. During the +year of the great pest, her immediate family was completely wiped away, +and she was left homeless and with few friends to guide her with words +of counsel. Her nearest relatives were in Milan, and to them she went at +first, until the first bitterness of her great grief had passed away. +Then, acting upon a decision which had long been made, and in spite of +the determined opposition of her friends, she took the veil. It was not +her intention, however, to enter one of the convents of Milan and live +the religious life in close contact with others of the same inclination, +for she was a recluse by disposition and desired, for at least a time, +to be left alone in her meditations. So she went outside the city walls +and established herself there upon a hillside, in a lonely place, +sheltered by a rude hut constructed in part by her own hands. Living in +this hermit fashion, she was soon an object of comment, and, moved by +her obvious goodness, many went to consult her from time to time in +regard to their affairs. She soon developed a gift of divination and +prophecy which was remarkable even for that time of easy credulity in +such matters, and was soon able to work wonders which, if the traditions +be true, were little short of miracles. As an illustration of her +wonderful power, it may be stated that it was commonly believed that by +means of her prayers children might be born in families where hitherto a +marriage had been without fruit. Also, she was able by means of her +persuasions to compel thieves to return stolen goods. In spite of the +seclusion of her life, the fame of Catherine of Pallanza was soon so +great that other women came to live about her; eventually these were +banded together in one congregation, governed according to the rules of +Saint Augustine. Catherine died in 1478, at the age of forty-one, and +somewhat later she was given a place among the saints of the Church, +April 6th being the special day devoted to her honor.</p> + +<p>There can be little doubt that Saint Catherine of Pallanza, in her +comparatively short life, really did more for the cause of true religion +than did the pious Saint Catherine of Bologna, who lived almost twice as +long within the walls of her quiet and tranquil convent. The one, though +a recluse at the beginning of her career, came more into actual contact +with people and things than did the smooth-faced, white-handed mother +superior in all the course of her calm and unruffled existence. +Catherine of Bologna was a model nun, a paragon of humility, devotion, +and holiness, but she was something quite apart from the stirring life +of the time. Her visions and trances were considered as closer ties +between herself and the hosts of heaven, and she was looked upon with +awe and wonderment. Catherine of Pallanza, by word and by precept, and +by means of the wonderful power which she possessed, exerted a far wider +influence for the good of men and women.</p> + +<p>Catherine of Genoa, the third of this series, and a member of the old +and distinguished Fieschi family, was born in 1447. Notwithstanding her +decided wish to enter a convent, and in spite of her repeated +protestations, she was compelled to marry, at the age of seventeen, +Julio Adorno, a man of tastes uncongenial to her. On account of her +slender figure and her delicate health, her parents had felt warranted +in their refusal to allow her to become a nun, but the husband of their +choice proved a greater trial to her strength and temper than the +cloister would have been. After ten years of suffering and brutal +neglect, Catherine became the mistress of her own fortunes, for at this +time her husband had the good grace to die. With an ample fortune at her +command, she was not slow to put it to some public good; and she at once +devoted her time and energies to the great hospital at Genoa, which was +sadly in need of such aid. In those days before the advent of the +trained nurse, the presence of such a woman in such a place was +unquestionably a source of great aid and comfort, both directly and +indirectly. Nor did she confine her favors to the inmates of this great +hospital, for she went about in the poorer quarters of the city, caring +for the sick wherever they were to be found. When alone, she was much +given to mystic contemplations, which took shape as dialogues between +the body and soul and which were later published with a treatise on the +<i>Theology of Love</i> and a complete life of this noble woman. She died at +the age of sixty-three, on September 14, 1510.</p> + +<p>The careers of these three women illustrate in a very satisfactory way +the various channels through which the religious life of the time found +its expression. The life of Catherine of Bologna was practically apart +from the real life of her time; Catherine of Pallanza was sought out by +people who were in need of her help, and she was able to give them wise +counsel; Catherine of Genoa, representing the more practical side of the +Christian spirit, went among the poor, the sick, and the needy, doing +good on every hand. Membership in these women's orders was looked upon +as a special and sacred office whereby the nun became the mystic bride +of the Church, and it was no uncommon thing for the sisters, when racked +and tortured by the temptations of the world, to fall into these +ecstatic contemplative moods wherein they became possessed with powers +beyond those of earth. In that age of quite universal ignorance, it is +not to be wondered at that the emotional spirit was too strongly +developed in all religious observances, and, as we have seen, it +characterized, equally, the convent nun, the priestess of the mountain +side, and the sister of mercy. The hysterical element, however, was +often too strongly accentuated, and the nuns were often too intent upon +their own salvation to give heed to the needs of those about them. But +the sum total of their influence was for the best, and the examples of +moderation, self-control, and self-sacrifice which they afforded played +no little part in softening the crudities of mediæval life and paved the +way for that day when religion was to become a rule of action as well as +an article of faith.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_IV" id="Chapter_IV"></a><a href="#table">Chapter IV</a></h2> + +<h3>The Women of the Midi</h3> + + +<p>It must have been part of the plan of the universe that the sunny +southern provinces of France should have given to the world a gay, +happy, and intellectual society wherein was seen for the first time a +concrete beginning in matters of social evolution. There the sky is +bright, the heavens are deep, the sun is warm, mountainous hills lend a +purple haze to the horizon, and the air is filled with the sweet perfume +of thyme and lavender; and there came to its maturity that brilliant +life of the Midi which has been so often told in song and story, and +which furnished inspiration for that wonderful poetry which has come +down to us from the troubadours. During the twelfth and thirteenth +centuries in particular, Provence was filled with rich and populous +cities, brilliant feudal courts abounded, and noble lords and ladies not +only encouraged song and poetry, but strove to become proficient in the +<i>gay science</i>, as it was called, for their own diversion.</p> + +<p>Under such conditions, it is not surprising to find that women occupy no +unimportant place in society and that their influence is far-reaching. +Love and its pursuit were the chief concern of the upper classes; and it +was but natural, when the intellectual condition of the time and its +many limitations are taken into consideration. What was there to +consume the leisure hours in that far-away time? There were no books, +there were no newspapers, as there are now, accurate knowledge was +impossible in scientific study, there was no theatre or opera—in short, +there were none of the things which form the usual means of relaxation +and amusement to-day; and so, as a matter of course, yielding to a most +human instinct, the tender passion became an all-absorbing topic, and +served without exception as the inspiration for poetic endeavor. Love +they could know and feel, and of it could they sing with understanding, +because they felt it to be real and personal, and subjectively true at +least. Of the great external world, however, their knowledge was +exceedingly crude; and the facts in nature had become so strangely +distorted, through centuries of ignorance and superstition, that the +solemnly pronounced verities of the time were but a burlesque upon the +truth. Belief in the existence of the antipodes was considered by +ecclesiastical authority as a sure proof of heresy, the philosopher's +stone had been found, astrology was an infallible science, and the air +was filled with demons who were ever waiting for an opportunity to steal +away man's immortal soul. Geography did not exist except in fancy; +history could be summed up in the three magic words, Troy, Greece, and +Rome; and the general notions current regarding the world and its +formation were fantastic in the extreme. In the realm of natural history +wondrous facts had come to light, and it was averred that a stag lived +to an age of nine hundred years; that a dove contemplated herself with +her right eye and God with her left; that the cockatrice kills animals +by breathing upon them; that a viper fears to gaze upon a naked man; +that the nature of the wolf is such that if the man sees him first, the +wolf is deprived of force and vigor, but if the wolf first sees the man, +his power of speech will vanish in the twinkling of an eye. +Furthermore, there were curious ideas current concerning the mystic +power of precious stones, and many were the lapidaries which were +written for the edification of the credulous world. The diamond was held +in somewhat doubtful esteem, inasmuch as the French word <i>diamant</i>, +minus its first syllable, signified a "lover"; the beryl, of uncertain +hue, made sure the love of man and wife; and Marbodus is authority for +the statement that "the emerald is found only in a dry and uninhabitable +country, so bitterly cold that nothing can live there but the griffins +and the one-eyed arimasps that fight with them."</p> + +<p>But the men and women of Provence could not forever stand with mouths +agape in eager wonder and expectation; these were tales of interest, no +doubt, and their truth was not seriously questioned, but this was not +life, and they knew it. There was red blood in their veins, the +heartbeat was quick and strong, and love had charmed them all. It must +not be supposed, however, that this was a weakly and effeminate age, +that all were carpet knights, and that strong and virile men no longer +could be found, for such was not the case. All was movement and action, +the interests of life were many, and warfare was the masculine vocation, +but in the very midst of all this turmoil and confusion there sprang up +a courtly ideal of love and a reverence for women which is almost +without parallel. The sanctity of the marriage tie had not been +respected during the feudal days, the union for life between men and +women had, generally, other causes than any mutual love which might +exist between the two, and the right of divorce was shamefully misused. +While in other parts of Europe women sought relief from this intolerable +condition of affairs by giving their love to Christ and by becoming His +bride in mystic marriage through the Church, in bright Provence, aided +by the order of chivalry, they were able to do something for the ideals +of love in a more definite way and to bring back to earth that +all-absorbing passion which women had been bestowing upon the Lord of +Heaven. Inasmuch as the real marriage of the time was but a <i>mariage de +convenance</i>, which gave the wife to the husband without regard for her +own inclinations, and without consideration for the finer things of +sense and sentiment which should find a perfect harmony in such +relationship, it came to be a well-recognized fact that love and +marriage were two things quite distinct and different. A wife was +expected to show a material fidelity to her lord, keep her honor +unstained, and devote herself to his service; and this done, she was +allowed to bestow upon a lover her soul and better spirit.</p> + +<p>A quaint story with regard to the Chevalier de Bayard, though of +somewhat later date, will serve to illustrate this condition of affairs. +The brave knight had been brought up during his youth in the palace of +the Duke of Savoy, and there, mingling with the other young people of +the house, he had seen and soon loved a beautiful young girl who was in +the service of the duchess. This love was returned, and they would soon +have married in spite of their poverty if a cruel fate had not parted +them. Bayard was sent as a page to the court of Charles VIII., and +during his absence his ladylove, by the duke's order, was married to the +Lord of Fluxas. This Bayard found out to his bitter sorrow when he +returned some years later, but the lady, as a virtuous woman, wishing to +show him that her honest affection for him was still alive, overwhelmed +him with so many courteous acts that more would have been impossible. +"Monseigneur de Bayard, my friend," she said, "this is the home of your +youth, and it would be but sorry treatment if you should fail to show us +here your knightly skill, reports of which have come from Italy and +France." The poor gentleman could but reply: "What is your wish, +madame?" Whereat she said: "It seems to me, Monseigneur de Bayard, that +you would do well to give a splendid tourney in the city." "Madame," he +said, "it shall be done. You are the lady in this world who first +conquered my heart to her service, but now I well know that I can naught +expect except your kiss of welcome and the touch of your soft hand. +Death would I prefer to your dishonor, and that I do not seek; but give +me, I pray you, your muff." The next morning heralds proclaimed that the +lists would be opened in Carignan, and that the Chevalier de Bayard +would joust with all who might appear, the prize to be his lady's muff, +from which now hung a precious ruby worth a hundred ducats. The lists +were run, and after the last blare of trumpet and clatter of charger's +hoof, the two judges, one of them being the Lord of Fluxas, came to +Bayard with the prize. He, blushing, refused this great honor, saying he +had done nothing worthy of it, but that in all truth it belonged to +Madame de Fluxas, who had lent him the muff and who had been his +inspiration. The Lord of Fluxas, knowing the chivalry of this great +knight, felt no pang of jealousy whatever, and went straightway to his +lady, bearing the prize and the courtly words of the champion. Madame de +Fluxas, with secret joy but outward calm, replied: "Monseigneur de +Bayard has honored me with his fair speech and highbred courtesy, and +this muff will I ever keep in honor of him." That night there was +feasting and dancing in the halls, next day, departure. The knight went +to take leave of his lady, with heavy heart, and many bitter tears they +shed. This honest love endured until death parted them, and no year +passed that presents were not exchanged between them.</p> + +<p>So there was a social life at this time and place which was filled with +refinement and courtesy, and it centred about the ladies of the courts. +Each troubadour, and many of them were brave knights as well, sought to +sing the praises of his lady, devote himself to her service, and do her +bidding in all things great and small. There was a proverb in Provence, +it is true, which declared that "A man's shadow is worth a hundred +women," and another saying, "Water spoils wine, carts spoil roads, and +women spoil men"; but, in spite of all this, devotion to women was +developed to a most unusual degree, and there was even an attempt made +to fix the nature of such soft bondage by rule and regulation. Southern +natures were so impetuous that some checks upon the practice of this +chivalric love seemed to be imperative, as thinking people felt that +love should not go unbridled. Justin H. Smith, who has written so +entertainingly of the <i>Troubadours at Home</i>, says that it was their +expedient to make love a "science and an art. Rules were devised, and +passion was to be bound with a rigid etiquette like that of chivalry or +social intercourse. It was to be mainly an affair of sentiment and +honor, not wholly Platonic to be sure, but thoroughly desensualized. +Four stages were marked off in the lover's progress: first, he adored +for a season without venturing to confess it; secondly, he adored as a +mere suppliant; thirdly, he adored as one who knew that the lady was not +indifferent; and finally, he became the accepted lover, that is to say, +the chosen servitor and vassal of his lady, her special knight."</p> + +<p>To the coarse and somewhat stupid barons of the time infidelity was an +act of absolute self-abandonment, and they felt in no way jealous of +these fine knights who were more in sympathy with their wives than they +could ever hope to be. So the lover became an accepted person who had +rights which the wife did not conceal and which the husband did not +deny. The husband literally owned the body of his wife, it is true, but +the lover had her soul, for the feudal customs gave to the woman no +moral power over her husband, while the code of love, on the other hand, +made of woman the guide and associate of man. It was all a play world, +of course; the troubadour knight and lover would discuss by means of the +<i>tenso</i>, which was a dialogue in song, all sorts of questions with his +lady, or with another of his kind, while the slow, thick-headed husbands +dozed in their chairs, dreaming of sudden alarums and the din of battle. +Here, however, was afforded opportunity for a quick display of wit, and +here was shown much nimbleness of mind, and, all in all, woman profited +by the intercourse and became, as has been said, more than the "link +between generations," which was all she had been before. It was in the +great hall, about the wide hearth, after the evening meal, that the harp +was sounded and the <i>tenso</i> was begun which was of such interest to the +singer and his fair chatelaine; and among the questions of serious +import which they then discussed, the following will serve by way of +illustration: "Which is better, to have wisdom, or success with the +ladies?" "Which is better, to win a lady by skill or by boldness?" +"Which are greater, the joys or the sorrows of love?" "Which brings the +greater renown, Yes or No?" "Can true love exist between married +persons?" Futile and ridiculous as all this may seem to us to-day, the +very fact that women were here put upon the same footing as the men, +even upon a superior footing, as great deference was shown them by their +knightly lovers, all this was but an indication of the fact that woman's +place in society was surely advancing. Thus, outside of marriage and +even opposed to it, was realized that which constitutes its true +essence, the fusion of soul and mutual improvement; and since that time +love and marriage have more often been found together, and the notion +has been growing with the ages that the one is the complement of the +other. Marriage, as has been said, was but an imperfect institution at +this time, and in many cases it appears that the code of love, as it may +be called, was quite superior to the civil code. For example, the feudal +law allowed a man to beat his wife moderately, as occasion required, but +respect was one of the fundamental laws imposed by the code of love. +Again, the civil law said that a woman whose husband had been absent for +ten years, and whose whereabouts was unknown, had the right to marry +again, but the code of love decreed that the absence of a lover, no +matter how prolonged, was not sufficient cause for giving up the +attachment. In short, in this world of gallantry the ideals of love were +higher than they were in the world of lawful wedlock, and the reason was +not far to seek.</p> + +<p>It cannot be said, however, that these lofty ideals of Platonic +affection which so strongly characterize this brilliant and courtly +society were always carried out to the letter, and it must be admitted +with regret that there are many cases on record where the restraints and +formalities of etiquette were insufficient to check the fateful passion +when once its fires were burning. Every forbidden intrigue was fraught +with danger; indeed, the injured husband is sometimes alluded to as +<i>Monsieur Danger</i>, but here, as elsewhere, stolen sweets were sweetest, +and the risk was taken. Vengeance, however, followed discovery, and +swift was the retribution which overtook the troubadour when guilty of +faithless conduct. The tragic story of Guillem de Cabestaing, who came +from that district of Roussillon which is said to be famous for its red +wine and its black sheep, will serve to show how love could not be bound +by laws of honor and how quick punishment came to pay the score. +Guillem, the son of a poor knight, came at the age of twelve to enter +the service of my lord Raimon of Roussillon, who was also his father's +lord, and there in the castle he began his education. An esquire he +became, and he followed his master in peace and in warfare, perfected +himself in the gentler arts of song and music, and paid no small +attention to his own person, which was fair and comely. On an evil day, +however, my lord Raimon transferred young Guillem to the service of his +wife, the Lady Margarida, a young and sweet-faced girl who was famed for +her beauty, and then began the love between them. Raimon was soon +jealous and then suspicious, but false words from false lips allayed +suspicion for a time. Then Guillem, in a song composed at his lady's +command, revealed the love which united them, though all unconsciously, +and then the end was near. One day, Guillem was summoned from the palace +into the dark wood by his master, but when Raimon returned Guillem did +not come with him; in his stead was a servant, who carried something +concealed beneath his cloak. After the dinner, which had been attended +with constant jest and laughter, Raimon informed his wife that she had +just eaten the heart of the luckless troubadour! Summoning her words +with a quick self-control, the Lady Margarida vowed that never after +would she taste of meat, whereat Raimon grew red with rage and sought to +take her life. But she fled quickly to a high tower and threw herself +down to death. That is the tragedy, but this fidelity in death received +its reward; for when the king heard the tale, and who did not, as it was +soon spread abroad, Raimon was stripped of all his possessions and +thrown into a dungeon, while lover and lady were buried together at the +church door at Perpignan, and a yearly festival was ordained in their +honor.</p> + +<p>For many hundreds of years after the decay of all this brilliant life in +southern France, the statement was repeated that courts of love had been +organized in gay Provence, which were described as assemblies of +beautiful women, sitting in judgment on guilty lovers and deciding +amorous questions, but the relentless search of the modern scholar has +proved beyond a doubt that no such courts ever existed. A certain code +of love there was most certainly, of which the troubadours sang, and +whose regulations were matters of general conduct as inspired by the +spirit of courtesy and gallantry which was current at the time, and very +often were questions relating to the tender passion discussed <i>in +extenso</i> by the fairest ladies of the south, but more than that cannot +be said with truth. The fiction is a pretty one, and among those who are +said to have presided at these amorous tribunals are Queen Eleanor, the +Countess of Narbonne, and the Countess of Champagne, and Richard Cœur +de Lion has even been mentioned in this capacity. The courts were held +at Pierrefeu, Digne, and Avignon according to tradition, women alone +could act as judges, and appeals might be made from one court to +another. This tradition but goes to show that after the decay of the +Provençal civilization, its various ideas and ideals were drawn up into +formal documents, that the spirit of the age might be preserved, and +they in turn were taken by following generations in good faith as +coexistent with the things which they describe.</p> + +<p>It was but natural that in a state of society like the one mentioned, +women should long to show themselves possessed of poetic gifts as well +as men. It must not be supposed that the wife of a great baron occupied +an easy position, however, and had many leisure hours, as her wifely +duties took no little time and energy, and it was her place to hold in +check the rude speech and manners of the warlike nobles who thronged the +castle halls, as well as to put some limit to the bold words and glances +of the troubadours, who were often hard to repress. Her previous +education had been bestowed with care, however, the advantages of a +formal and punctilious etiquette had been preached more than once, and +she was even advised that the enemy of all her friends should find her +civil-spoken; so, my lady managed her difficult affairs with tact and +skill, and contrived in many cases to acquire such fame for her +moderation and her wisdom that many poets sang her praises. It was her +pleasure also to harbor these troubadours who sang her praises, and +learn from them the secrets of their art; and in this pleasant +intercourse it often chanced that she was inspired by the god of song, +and vied with them in poesy. The names of eighteen such women have come +down to us, and fragments from most of them are extant, though the +Countess of Dia seems the most important of them all, as five of her +short poems are now known to exist. The Lady Castelloza must be named +soon after, for her wit and her accomplishments. She once reminded a +thoughtless lover that if he should allow her to pine away and die for +love of him, he would be committing a monstrous crime "before God and +men." Clara of Anduse must not be forgotten in this list, and she it was +who conquered the cold indifference of the brilliant troubadour Uc de +Saint-Cyr; still, however numerous her contributions to poetry may have +been, but one song remains to us, and that is contained in a manuscript +of the fourteenth century. It should be said that the reason for the +small amount of poetry which these women have left behind them is easily +explained. Talents they may have possessed and poetical ability in +abundance, but there was no great incentive to work, inasmuch as poetry +offered them no career such as it opened up to the men. A troubadour +sang at the command of his noble patron, but with the women poetry was +not an employment, but a necessity for self-expression. It is altogether +probable that their efforts were for the most part the result of a +sudden inspiration, their mirth or their grief was poured forth, and +then they relapsed into silence. Other than in this way the voice of the +woman was rarely heard in song, unless she took part in the <i>tenso</i>, or +song of contention, and then her words were uttered as they came, +without premeditation, and were lost as soon as sung.</p> + +<p>The city of Toulouse was a centre for much of the literary life of the +time, and it was during the reign of Count Raimon VI., who was a poet of +no small merit, that the art of the troubadours reached its culmination. +For half a generation, it is said, his court was crowded with these +poets, and he dwelt with them and they with him in brotherly affection. +With the terrible Albigensian Crusade, the voice of the singer was no +longer heard in the land, and the poetic fire, which had burned with so +fierce a blaze at times, smouldered for long years, until in the +beginning of the fourteenth century the flames burst forth anew. At that +time a company of poets, and they were of bourgeois origin and not of +the nobility, determined to take vigorous measures to restore the art of +the troubadour to its former high position, and to this end they founded +the Collège du Gay Sçavoir, which was to support and maintain annually +in Toulouse a poetic tournament called Les Jeux Floraux, wherein the +prizes were to consist of flowers of gold and silver. With the definite +establishment of these Floral Games the name of a woman has been +intertwined in most curious fashion; and although many facts are +recorded of her life and deeds, there are those who deny that she ever +lived. This remarkable woman was called Clémence Isaure, and the story +has grown up that some years after the founding of the Jeux Floraux she +left a sum of money in trust which was to serve as a permanent endowment +for this most illustrious institution of her native city. Then it was +that the Collège du Gay Sçavoir became a thing of permanence, and +brilliant were the fêtes which were celebrated under its auspices. +First, a golden violet was bestowed upon the victor in these poetic +contests, and the winner was decreed a Bachelor of Poetry; then, two +other flowers were added, the eglantine and the marigold, and he who won +two prizes was given the degree of Master; while he who won all three +became forthwith a Doctor.</p> + +<p>To prove that Clémence Isaure really did exist in Toulouse a tomb was +shown which seemed to bear her name; and so strongly rooted is this +belief, that her statue is held in reverence, and every year in May, +even to this day, when the date for the Jeux Floraux arrives, the first +thing on the programme for that solemn occasion is a formal eulogy in +honor of this distinguished patroness. More than that, in the garden of +the Luxembourg Palace in Paris, in that semicircle of twenty marble +statues grouped about the parterre and representing some of the most +illustrious women of France, Clémence Isaure has an honored place, and +her counterfeit presentment by the sculptor Préault is considered one of +the finest of the number.</p> + +<p>In support of the claim that such a woman never existed, and in +explanation of the tradition itself, the learned ones inform us that +with the definite establishment of these Floral Games the good citizens +of Toulouse thought it best to follow in the footsteps of their bold and +plain-spoken troubadour ancestors in a somewhat timid manner, and the +poems which were then written were not addressed to some fair lady in +real life, but to the Holy Virgin, who was frequently addressed as +Clemenza [pity], and from this word the story took its rise. After a +certain lapse of time, Clemenza, personified so often in their +impassioned strains, became a real person to their southern +imaginations, and a tomb was conveniently found which seemed to settle +the matter without question. It is even asserted that the city of +Toulouse is enjoying to-day other bequests which were made to it by +Clémence Isaure, and that there is no more reason for doubting her +existence than for doubting the existence of any other historical +character of long ago. In any event, the Floral Games are still held +yearly, the seven poets have become forty in number, and they compose a +dignified Academy, which has some ten thousand francs a year to bestow +in prizes. And the number of the prizes has been increased, as now five +different flowers of gold and five of silver are bestowed each for +poetry of a certain kind, and in addition there is a gold jasmine which +is awarded to the most excellent prose article, and a silver pink which +is a sort of prize at large, and which may be given for a composition of +any character.</p> + +<p>This belief in the actual existence of Clémence Isaure is still held by +many, and, in fact, the legend seems stronger than the facts adduced +against it; but whatever the truth may be, the story symbolizes in a +most beautiful and fitting way the part which woman has played in this +Provençal country in the encouragement given to song and poetry. It was +the women who gave the real encouragement to the troubadours and +inspired them to their greatest efforts, and it seems but poetic +justice, at least, that in Toulouse the only existing institution +representative of those old troubadour days should claim a woman as its +greatest patron.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_V" id="Chapter_V"></a><a href="#table">Chapter V</a></h2> + +<h3>Influence of Women in Early Literature</h3> + + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Nine times now since my birth, the heaven of light had turned +almost to the same point in its own gyration, when the glorious +Lady of my mind—who was called Beatrice by many who knew not what +to call her—first appeared before my eyes. She had already been in +this life so long, that in its course the starry heaven had moved +toward the region of the East one of the twelve parts of a degree; +so that at about the beginning of her ninth year she appeared to +me, and I near the end of my ninth year saw her. She appeared to me +clothed in a most noble color, a modest and becoming crimson, and +she was girt and adorned in such wise as befitted her very youthful +age. At that instant, I can truly say that the spirit of life, +which dwells in the most secret chamber of the heart, began to +tremble with such violence that it appeared fearfully in the least +pulses, and, trembling, said these words: <i>Ecce deus fortior me, +qui veniens dominabitur mihi</i> [Behold a god stronger than I, who, +coming, shall rule over me]. At that instant the spirit of the +soul, which dwells in the high chamber to which all the spirits of +the senses carry their perceptions, began to marvel greatly, and, +speaking especially to the spirit of the sight, said these words: +<i>Apparuit jam beatitudo vestra</i> [Now has appeared your bliss]. At +that instant the natural spirit, which dwells in that part where +our nourishment is supplied, began to weep, and, weeping, said +these words: <i>Heu miser! quia frequenter impeditus ero deinceps</i> +[Woe is me, wretched! Because often from this time forth shall I be +hindered]."</p></div> + +<p>Nowhere in all literature can be found a dearer statement of the +spiritual evolution which was going on in the minds of men with respect +to women, at the close of the Middle Ages, than that given in the +foregoing passage from Dante's <i>Vita Nuova</i>—taken from Professor +Norton's finished translation. The spirit of the amatory poetry of the +gay troubadours of Provence had found its way into Italy, but it was its +more spiritual side which was to make the greater impression upon the +national literature at this early stage of its development. The mystic +marriage with the Church which had consoled so many women in distress, +and which had removed them from the sin and confusion of the hurly-burly +world to a life of quiet joy and peace, had slowly been exerting a more +general and secular influence which first bore fruit in the notions of +Platonic friendship which had been discussed; then came deference and +respect and a truer understanding of woman's true position. But +something was wanting in this profession of love and respect which came +from the singers of Provence; their words were ready and their speech +was smooth, but all their knightly grace of manner could not conceal the +fact that Venus was their goddess. They were sincere, doubtless, but all +that they sang was so lyric, subjective, and persona! in its essence +that they failed to strike the deepest chords of human feeling or +display that high seriousness which is indicative of real dignity of +character. Love had been the despot whose slightest caprice was law.—in +obeying his commands one could do no wrong. Woman became the arbiter of +man's destiny in so far as, the fervent lover, in his ardor, was glad to +do her bidding. The troubadour Miravel has told us that when a man made +a failure of his life, all were prone to say: "It is evident that he did +not care for the ladies." There is a worldly tone in this remark which +grates upon the ear—it does not ring clear and true, although the +Provençal poets had improved the manners of their time and had +introduced a highbred courtesy into their dealings with women which was +in itself a great step in advance. It is related that when William the +Conqueror first saw Emma, his betrothed, he seized her roughly in his +arms and threw her to the ground as an indication of affection; but the +troubadour was wont to kneel before his lady and pray for grace and +power to win her approbation. Yet, under the courtly form of manner and +speech, it is too often the sensual conception of womankind which lurks +in the background, and there is little evidence to show that there was +any general belief in the chastening power of the love of a good +woman—a power which might be of positive value in character building.</p> + +<p>The spiritual possibilities latent in this higher conception seem, +however, to have been grasped by some of the Italian poets of the early +Renaissance, and here we find a devotion to women which comes not from +the heart alone, but from the soul as well. Dante's "natural spirit" was +but the sensual nature, and well might it cry out when the "spirit of +life" began to feel the secret commotion of the "spirit of the soul": +"Woe is me, wretched! Because often from this time forth shall I be +hindered in my work." And so it was. With this first somewhat broad +conception of the dignity of womanhood there was a new incentive to +manly endeavor; and there came into the world, in the power and might of +the great Florentine poet, a majesty of character which fair Provence +could never have produced. Immediately before Dante's time we see +glimmerings of this new sentiment in the work of Guido Cavalcanti and of +Cino da Pistoja. Cavalcanti, being exiled from Florence, went on a visit +to the shrine of Saint James of Compostella; and upon the way, passing +through Toulouse, he was captivated by a beautiful Spanish girl, whom he +has made celebrated under the name of Mandetta:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"In un boschetto trovai pastorella,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Più che la stella bella al mio parere,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Capegli avea biondetti e ricciutelli."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It is true that in his work Cavalcanti shows many of the stilted +mannerisms which were common to the troubadours; but such expressions as +"to her, every virtue bows," and "the mind of man cannot soar so high, +nor is it sufficiently purified by divine grace to understand and +appreciate all her perfections," point the way toward a greater +sincerity. His chief work was a long <i>Canzone sopra l'Amore</i>, which was +so deep and philosophic that seven weighty commentaries in both Latin +and Italian have as yet failed to sound all its depths. In the story of +the early love of Cino da Pistoja for Ricciarda dei Selvaggi there is a +genuine and homely charm which makes us feel that here indeed true love +had found a place. Ricciarda—or Selvaggia, as Cino calls her—was the +daughter of a noble family of Pistoja, her father having been +<i>gonfaniere</i> and leader of the Bianchi faction, and it appears that she +also was famed for her poetic gifts. For a time she and Cino kept their +love a secret from the world, but their poems to each other at this time +show it to have been upon a high plane. Finally, the parents of +Ricciarda were banished from Pistoja by the Neri, and in their flight +they took refuge in a small fortress perched near the summit of the +Apennines, where they were joined by Cino, who had determined to share +their fortunes. There the spring turned into summer, and the summer +into autumn, and the days sped happily—days which were later called the +happiest of the poet's whole life. The two young people roamed the hills +together, or took their share in the household duties, and the whole +picture seems to breathe forth an air of reality and truth which far +removes it from that atmosphere of comic-opera love and passion which +seemed to fill the Midi. When the winter came, the hardship of this +mountain life commenced; the winds grew too keen, and the young girl +soon began to show the effects of the want and misery to which she was +exposed. Finally, the end came; and there Cino and the parents, +grieving, laid her to her rest, in a sheltered valley. The pathos of +this story needs no word of explanation, and Cino's grief is best shown +by an act of his later years. Long afterward, when he was loaded with +fame and honors, it happened that, being sent upon an embassy, he had +occasion to cross the mountains near the spot where Selvaggia had been +buried. Sending his suite around by another path, he went alone to her +tomb and tarried for a time in prayer and sorrow. Later, in verse, he +commemorates this visit, closing with the words:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"...pur chiamando, Selvaggia!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">L'alpe passai, con voce di dolore."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>[Then calling aloud in accents of despair, Selvaggia! I passed the +mountain tops.] Cino's loved one is distinguished in the history of +Italian literature as the <i>bel numer'una</i>—"fair number one"—in that +list of the famous women of the century where the names of Beatrice and +Laura are to be found.</p> + +<p>With Dante, the spiritual nature of his love for Beatrice assumed an +almost mystical and religious character, betraying the marked influence +of mediæval philosophy and theology; and here it was—for the first +time in modern literature—that woman as a symbol of goodness and light +found herself raised upon a pedestal and glorified in the eyes of the +world. Many a pink and rosy Venus had been evoked before, many a +pale-faced nun had received the veneration of the multitude for her +saintly life, but here we have neither Venus nor saint; for Beatrice is +the type of the good woman in the world, human in her instincts and holy +in her acts. The air of mysticism with which Dante has enveloped his +love for the daughter of the Portinari family does not in any way +detract from our interest in his point of view, for the principal fact +for the modern world is that he had such thoughts about women. Legouvé +has said that spiritual love was always mingled with a respect for +women, and that sensual admiration was rarely without secret scorn and +hatred; and it is his further opinion that spiritual love was naturally +allied to sentiments of austere patriotism in illustrious men, while +those who celebrated the joys of sensual passion were indifferent to the +cause of country and sometimes traitor to it. Dante and Petrarch, the +two chaste poets, as they are sometimes called, were the most ardent +patriots in all Italy. Midst the tortures of the <i>Inferno</i> or the joys +of the <i>Paradiso</i>, the image of the stricken fatherland is ever with +Dante, and more than once does he cry out against her cruel oppressors. +With Petrarch, as it has well been said, his love for the Latin language +was but the form of his love for his people, as in his great hope for +the future the glory of the past was to return. Boccaccio was the most +illustrious of those in literature who represented the sensual +conception of woman; and whatever his literary virtues may have been, no +one has ever called attention to his patriotic fervor or to his dignity +of character. Laura and Beatrice, though not of royal birth, have been +made immortal by their poet lovers; Boccaccio loved the daughter of a +king, but he has described her with such scant respect that what little +renown she may have derived from her liaison with him is all to her +discredit.</p> + +<p>The story of Dante and Beatrice is now an old one, but ever fresh with +the rare charm which it possesses even after the lapse of these many +years. The <i>New Life</i>, Dante's earliest work, which is devoted to a +description of his first meeting with Beatrice and his subsequent +all-powerful love for her, has been regarded sceptically by some +critics, who are inclined to see in it but an allegory, and there are +others who go so far as to say that Beatrice never existed. What +uncertainty can there be regarding her life, when Cino da Pistoja wrote +his most celebrated poem, a <i>canzone</i> to Dante, consoling him for her +loss? The following stanza from Rossetti's matchless version is proof +enough for all who care to read:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Why now do pangs of torment clutch thy heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Which with thy love should make thee overjoyed,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As him whose intellect has passed the skies?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Behold, the spirits of thy life depart<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Daily to Heaven with her, they so are buoyed<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With thy desire, and Love so bids them rise.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">O God I and thou, a man whom God made wise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To nurse a charge of care, and love the same!<br /></span> +<span class="i6">I tell thee, in His name,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From sin of sighing grief to hold thy breath,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Nor let thy heart to death,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor harbour death's resemblance in thine eyes.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">God hath her with Himself eternally,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Yet she inhabits every hour with thee."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Beatrice certainly lived; and no matter in what veil of mysticism the +poet may choose to envelop her in his later writings, and in spite of +the imagery of his phrases, even in the <i>New Life</i>, she never fails to +appear to us as a real woman. We know that Dante first saw her on +Mayday, in the year 1274, when neither had reached the age of ten, and +the thrill he felt at this first vision has been described in his own +words on the first page of this chapter. From that time forth it seems +that, boy as he was, he was continually haunted by this apparition, +which had at once assumed such domination over him. Often he went +seeking her, and all that he saw of her was so noble and praiseworthy +that he is moved to apply to her the words of Homer: "She seems not the +daughter of mortal man, but of God." And he further says: "Though her +image, which stayed constantly with me, gave assurance to Love to hold +lordship over me, yet it was of such noble virtue that it never suffered +Love to rule me without the faithful counsel of the reason in those +matters in which it was useful to hear such counsel." So began his pure +and high ideal of love, which is most remarkable in that it stands in +striking contrast, not only to the usual amatory declarations of the +time to be found in literature, but also to the very life and temper of +the day and generation in which he was so soon to play a conspicuous +part. It was a day of almost unbridled passions and lack of +self-restraint, and none before had thought to couple reason with the +thought of love. For nine years his boyish dreams were filled with this +maiden, Beatrice, and not once in all that time did he have word with +her. Finally, he says: "On the last of these days, it happened that this +most admirable lady appeared before me, clad in shining white, between +two ladies older than herself; and as she passed along, she turned her +eyes toward that spot where I stood in all timidity, and then, through +her great courtesy, which now has its reward in the eternal world, she +saluted me with such virtue that I knew all the depth of bliss." But +never did Dante come to know her well, though she was ever in his +thoughts, and though he must have watched for her presence in the +street. Once she went upon a journey, and he was sore distraught until +she came back into his existence; once he was taken to a company of +young people, where he was so affected by sudden and unexpected sight of +her that he grew pale and trembled, and showed such signs of mortal +illness that his friend grew much alarmed and led him quickly away. The +cause of his confusion was not apparent to all the company; but the +ladies mocked him, to his great dismay, and even Beatrice was tempted to +a smile, not understanding all, yet feeling some annoyance that she +should be the occasion for such strange demeanor on his part. Later, +when her father dies, Dante grieves for her, waits at the corner to pick +up fragments of conversation from those who have just come from +consoling her, and, in truth, makes such a spectacle of himself, that +these ladies passing say: "Why should he feel such grief, when he has +not seen her?" He constantly feels the moral force of her influence, and +recounts in the following lines—from the Norton translation—her noble +influence on others:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"...for when she goes her way<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Love casts a blight upon all caitiff hearts,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So that their every thought doth freeze and perish.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And who can bear to stay on her to look,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will noble thing become or else will die.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And when one finds that he may worthy be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To look on her, he doth his virtue prove."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Before we are through with Dante's little book, we seem to feel that +Beatrice must have lived, that she was flesh and blood as we are, and +that she really graced the fair city on the Arno in her time, as the +poet would have us believe. She is pictured in company with other +ladies, upon the street, in social gatherings at the homes of her +friends, in church at her devotions, in tears and laughter, and ever is +she pictured with such love and tenderness that she will remain, as +Professor Norton says, "the loveliest and the most womanly woman of the +Middle Ages—at once absolutely real and truly ideal."</p> + +<p>At her death, Dante is disconsolate for a time, and then devotes himself +to study with renewed vigor; and he closes his story of her with the +promise that he will write of her what has never yet been written of any +woman. This anticipates, perhaps, the <i>Divine Comedy</i>, which was yet to +be written, wherein Beatrice was his guide through Paradise and where he +accords her a place higher than that of the angels. It may mar the +somewhat idyllic simplicity of this story to add that Dante was married +some years later to Gemma Donati, the daughter of a distinguished +Florentine family, but such was the case. Little is known of her, +however, as Dante never speaks of her; and while there is no reason to +suppose that their union was not a happy one, it is safe to conclude +that it gave him no such spiritual uplift as he had felt from his +youthful passion.</p> + +<p>The extent of Dante's greatness is to be measured not only by his wide +learning—for he was the greatest scholar of his time—but also by his +noble seriousness, which enabled him to penetrate through that which was +light and frivolous to that which was of deep import to humanity. His +was not the task of amusing the idle populace with what he wrote—he had +a high duty, which was to make men think on the realities of life and of +their own short-comings. People whispered, as he passed along: "See his +dark face and melancholy look! Hell has he seen and Purgatory, and +Paradise as well! The mysteries of life are his, but he has paid the +cost." And many went back to their pleasures, but some were impressed +with his expression. Whence came his seriousness, whence came his +penetrating glance and sober mien? Why did he move almost alone in all +that heedless throng, intent upon the eternal truth? Because from early +youth he had nourished in his heart a pure love which had chastened him +and given him an understanding of those deeper things of the spirit, +which was denied to most men of his time. Doubtless Dante would have +been Dante, with or without the influence of Beatrice, but through her +he received that broad humanity which makes him the symbol of the +highest thought of his time.</p> + +<p>Whatever the story of Petrarch and his Laura may lack in dignity when +compared with that of Dante and Beatrice, it certainly does not lack in +grace or interest. While Dante early took an interest in the political +affairs which distracted Florence, and was of a stern and somewhat +forbidding character, mingling study with action, Petrarch, humanist and +scholar as he was, represents also the more polite accomplishments of +his time, as he was a most polished courtier and somewhat vain of his +fair person. Dante's whole exterior was characteristic of his mind. If +accounts be true, his eyes were large and black, his nose was aquiline, +his complexion dark, and in all his movements he was slow and +deliberate. Petrarch, on the contrary, was more quick and animated; he +had bright blue eyes, a fair skin, and a merry laugh; and he himself it +is who tells us how cautiously he used to turn the corner of a street +lest the wind should disarrange the elaborate curls of his beautiful +hair. Though record is made of this side of his character, it must not +be assumed that his mind was a frivolous one, for he may be +considered—as Professor Robinson says—as "the cosmopolitan +representative of the first great forward movement" in Western +civilization and deserves to rank—as Carducci claims—with Erasmus and +Voltaire, each in his time the intellectual leader of Europe.</p> + +<p>With regard to Laura, Petrarch has left the following lines, which were +inscribed upon the fly-leaf of a favorite copy of Virgil, wherein it was +his habit to keep a record of all those things which most concerned him: +"Laura, who was so distinguished by her own virtues and so widely +celebrated by my poetry, first appeared before my eyes in my early +manhood, in the year of our Lord 1327, upon the sixth day of April, at +the first hour, in the Church of Santa Clara at Avignon; in the same +city, in the same month of April, on the same sixth day, at the same +first hour, in the year 1348, that light was taken from our day, while +I, by chance, happened to be at Verona, ignorant, alas! of my fate. The +sad news came to me at Parma, in a letter from my friend Ludovico, on +the morning of the nineteenth of May of the same year. Her chaste and +beautiful form was laid in the Church of the Franciscans, the evening of +the day she died. I am persuaded that her soul returned, as Seneca says +of Scipio Africanus, to the heaven whence it came. I have experienced a +certain satisfaction in writing this bitter record of a cruel event, +especially in this place, where I may see it often, for so may I be led +to reflect that life can afford me no further joys; and the most serious +of my temptations being removed, I may be counselled by the frequent +perusal of these lines and by the thought of my departing years, that +now the time has come to flee from Babylon. This, with God's help, will +be easy when I frankly and manfully consider the needless troubles of +the past with its empty hopes and unexpected issue."</p> + +<p>The Babylon to which Petrarch refers was Avignon, then the home of the +popes, which he declares was a place filled with everything fearful that +had ever existed or been conceived by a disordered mind—a veritable +hell on earth. But here he had stayed this quarter of a century, a +captive to the charms of his fair Laura. According to the generally +accepted story, she was of high birth, as her father—Audibert de +Noves—was a noble of Avignon, who died in her infancy, leaving her a +dowry of one thousand gold crowns, which would amount to almost ten +thousand pounds sterling to-day, and which was a splendid marriage +portion for that time. In 1325, two years before her meeting with +Petrarch, she was married to Hugh de Sade, when she was but eighteen; +and while her husband was a man of rank and of an age suited to her own, +it does not appear that he was favored in mind or in body, or that there +was any special affinity between them. In the marriage contract it was +stipulated that her mother and brother were to pay the dower left by the +father and also to bestow upon the bride two gowns for state ceremonies, +one of them to be green, embroidered with violets, and the other of +crimson, with a trimming of feathers. Petrarch frequently alludes to +these gowns, and in the portraits of Laura which have been preserved she +is attired in either one or the other of them. Her personal beauty has +been described in greatest detail by the poet, and it is doubtful if the +features of any other woman and her general characteristics of mind and +body were ever subjected to such minute analysis as is exemplified in +the present instance. Hands and feet, hair, eyes, ears, nose, and +throat—all are depicted in most glowing and appreciative fashion; and, +from the superlative degree of the adjectives, she must indeed have been +fair to look upon and possessed of a great compelling charm. But from +her lovely mouth—<i>la bella bocca angelica</i>, as he calls it—there never +came a weak or yielding word in answer to his passionate entreaties. For +this was no mystical love, no such spiritual affection as was felt by +Dante, but the love of an active man of the world whose feelings had +been deeply troubled. In spite of his pleadings, she remained unshaken; +and although she felt honored by the affection of this man, and was +entirely susceptible to the compliment of his poetry, and in spite of +the current notions of duty and fidelity, which were far from exacting, +she had a better self which triumphed. The profligate Madame du Deffand, +who occupies so conspicuous a place in the annals of the French court in +the days of its greatest corruption, has little sympathy with a +situation of this kind, and is led to exclaim: <i>Le fade personnage que +votre Pétrarque! que sa Laure était sotte et précieuse!</i> But Petrarch +himself thought otherwise, for he has written thereupon: "A woman taught +me the duty of a man! To persuade me to keep the path of virtue, her +conduct was at once an example and a reproach."</p> + +<p>Without following it in all its various incidents, it will suffice to +say that this love of Petrarch for Laura, which lasted for so many +years, exerted a powerful influence upon the poet and had much to do in +shaping the character which was to win for him in later times the praise +which Pierre de Nolhac has bestowed upon him in calling him the first +modern man. Petrarch considered unworthy, it is true, the poems and +sonnets which he consecrated to the charms of Laura, and he even +regretted that his fame should rest upon them, when, in his own +estimation, his ponderous works in Latin were of much more consequence. +But, incidental to his passion for Laura, he was led to discuss within +himself the two conceptions of love which were current at that +time,—the mediæval and monkish conception, based upon a sensual idea +which regarded women as the root of all evil and the source of all sin, +and the modern or secular idea, which is spiritual and may become holy. +In an imaginary conversation with Saint Augustine which Petrarch wrote +to furnish a vehicle for the discussion of these matters, the poet +exclaims that it is the soul—the inborn and celestial goodness—that he +loves, and that he owes all to her who has preserved him from sin and +urged him on to a full development of his powers. The ultimate result of +all this thought and all this reflection upon the nature of the +affections developed the humanity of the man, excited broad interests +within his breast, gave him a wide sympathy, and entitled him to rank as +the first great humanist.</p> + +<p>Dante, with his vague and almost mystical adoration of Beatrice, which +was at times a passion almost subjective, is still in the shadow of the +Middle Ages, their gloom is still upon him, and he can see but dimly +into the centuries which are still to come; but his face is glorified by +his vision of the spiritual possibilities of good and noble womanhood. +Petrarch, in the brief interval which has passed, has come out into the +light of a modern world; and there, in the midst of baffled desire, he +is brought face to face with the great thought that though love be human +it has power divine.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_VI" id="Chapter_VI"></a><a href="#table">Chapter VI</a></h2> + +<h3>Women in the Early Renaissance</h3> + + +<p>Although the fourteenth century in Italy was one of almost continuous +warfare between the different contending states of the peninsula, the +fact remains that the whole country was enjoying a degree of prosperity +which was unprecedented in the history of the Italian people. It was the +beginning of the age of the despots, it is true, but in the midst of +strife and contention there was at the same time a material progress +which did much to enrich the country and enable its inhabitants to +elevate their standard of living. The Italian cities were encouraging +business transactions on a large scale; Italian merchants were among the +most enterprising on the continent, making long trips to foreign +countries for the purpose of buying and selling goods; and the Oriental +trade, which had been diverted in great measure to Italian channels, was +a constant source of profit. That all this could be so in the face of +the warlike condition of society is due to the fact that much of the +fighting was done by mercenary soldiers, or that the political quarrels +of the time, which frequently concerned the fate of cities, too often +had their rise in family feuds which, no matter how fiercely they were +waged, did not interest the masses. There were always thousands upon +thousands of worthy citizens who felt no direct personal interest in the +outcome of the fighting, and who pursued the even tenor of their way +without much regard for what was taking place, so far as allowing it to +interfere with their daily occupations was concerned.</p> + +<p>The general impression of the moral tone of this epoch in society is far +from favorable. Divorce had become practically impossible for ordinary +individuals; marriage was common enough, but appeared to possess no +special sanctity; and as a result there were many illegitimate children, +who seem, however, to have been recognized by their fathers and cared +for with as great solicitude as were those who were born within the pale +of the law. The ideas which were current regarding matters of decency +and refinement will be found quite different from those prevalent in our +own day. Coarseness in speech and manner was common, no high moral +standards were maintained, even by the Church, and diplomacy and +calculation took the place of sincerity and conscience. Still, while +these may have been the characteristics of a considerable number of the +population, the fact must not be forgotten that even in that day of +moral laxity there were many good and simple people who lived their +homely lives in peace and quiet and contentment, unmoved by the rush of +the world. We get a glimpse of what this simple life may have been from +a charming little book by Pandolfino called <i>La Famiglia</i>, wherein the +joys of family life are depicted in a most idyllic manner. The story +deals with the beginning of the married life of a young couple; and we +are shown how the husband takes the wife to his house after the wedding +has been celebrated, displays to her his worldly possessions, and then +turns them over to her keeping. After visiting the establishment and +giving it a careful inspection, they kneel before the little shrine of +the Madonna, which is near at hand, and there they pray devoutly that +they may be given grace to profit by all their blessings, and that they +may live long years together in peace and harmony, and the prayer ends +with the wish that they may have many male children. The young wife is +later advised not to paint her face, and to pay no attention to other +men. There is no injunction to secrecy with regard to family affairs of +importance, inasmuch as Pandolfino says very frankly that he doubts the +ability of a woman to keep a secret, and that, while he is perfectly +willing to grant that his wife is loving and discreet, he feels a much +greater sense of security when he <i>knows</i> she is unable to do him any +harm. His quaint phrase is as follows: <i>Non perchè io non conoscessi la +mia amarevole e discreta, ma sempre estimai più securo ch'ella non mi +potesse nuocere che ella non volesse.</i></p> + +<p>The material conditions for happiness—and they are certainly no +unimportant factor—were wonderfully advanced, and the common people of +Italy at this time were enjoying many comforts of life which were +unknown to the higher classes in other countries. The houses were +generally large and of stone, supplies were plentiful and cheap, and, +all in all, it appears to have been an age of abundance. It was +customary for the housewives to lay in a supply of oil and wine for the +year; they were most careful in regard to all matters of domestic +economy and took a pride in their work. Indeed, Burckhardt has said that +from this epoch dates the first conscious attempt to regulate the +affairs of a household in a systematic way, and to this end it is +interesting to note that bridal outfits were prepared with unusual care, +special attention being given to the supply of household linen, which +was sometimes elaborate. As a further aid to orderly housekeeping, it +was often the custom for the wives to keep a careful account of daily +expenditures, which they did with a skill that would doubtless cause the +despair of many a modern housewife who has attempted the same thing. It +must not be supposed, however, that the course of this domestic life was +without annoyance, as even here at this early day servants were inclined +to be exacting and hard to please. At least, that is the inference which +may be drawn from a letter by an old notary of Florence, Lapo Mazzei, +wherein he takes occasion to say, in inviting a friend to supper, that +it will be entirely convenient to have him come, inasmuch as he has +taken the precaution, in order not to trouble the house servants, to +send to the bakery to be roasted a fat pullet and a loin of mutton!</p> + +<p>Some of the customs of this time will seem to us quite primitive. It was +an unheard-of thing, for example, to see carriages going about the +streets, as they had not yet come into general use, and riding on +horseback was the ordinary means of locomotion, even for ladies. Indeed, +mention has been found in one of the early historians of an adventure +which befell Louisa Strozzi, a daughter of the great Florentine house of +Strozzi, as she was returning to her home, from a ball in the early +morning hours, <i>on horseback</i>. It seems to have been the custom then, as +now, to give balls which lasted far into the night, and the growing +wealth of the citizens caused an increasing love of display. In some +communities laws were enacted in the interests of simplicity, and it was +provided that not more than three dishes should be supplied for an +ordinary entertainment, while twenty was the largest number which might +be served at a wedding feast. With regard to matters of dress, Scipio +Ammirato tells us in his sixteenth-century <i>History of Florence</i> that in +the earliest times the women had the simplest tastes and were "much more +soft and delicate than the men," and he adds that "the greatest ornament +of the most noble and wealthy woman of Florence was no other than a +tight-fitting skirt of bright scarlet, without other girdle than a belt +of antique style, and a mantle lined with black and white." Such +simplicity, however, cannot have been long in vogue, for as early as +1323 the chronicler Villani informs us that the city authorities began +to enact stringent sumptuary laws which were directed against the women. +Three years after this, we learn from the same source that the Duke of +Milan had made complaint because the women of Florence had induced his +wife to wear, "in front of her face," a most unsightly knot of yellow +and white silk, in place of her own curls, a style of head-dress already +condemned by the city fathers of Florence. After this incident, the +historian adds, by way of sententious remark: "Thus did the excessive +appetite of the women defeat the reason and sense of the men." These +laws of the year 1323 failed to prove effective, and finally, in 1330, +more explicit measures were taken to check this growing evil. Villani +had now best tell the story in his own words:</p> + +<p>"The women of Florence were greatly at fault in the matter of +superfluous ornaments, of crowns and wreaths of gold and silver and +pearls and of other precious stones, and certain garlands of pearls, and +other ornaments for the head, and of great price. Likewise they had +dresses cut of several kinds of cloth and silk, with silken puffs of +divers kinds, and with fringes of pearls, and little gold and silver +buttons, often of four and six rows together. It was also their custom +to wear various strings of pearls and of precious stones at the breast, +with different designs and letters. Likewise did they give costly +entertainments and wedding parties, extravagant and with superfluous and +excessive table." In the midst of this deplorable state of affairs, an +ordinance was passed forbidding women to wear crowns of any kind, even +of painted paper; dresses of more than one piece and dresses with either +painted or embroidered figures were forbidden, though woven figures +were permitted. Also, bias patterns and stripes were put under the ban, +excepting only those of not more than two colors. It was decided, +furthermore, that more than two rings on a finger should not be +tolerated. Other cities of Italy, having the same trouble to contend +with, sent deputations to Florence asking for a copy of these +regulations; this attempt on the part of the cities to control the +habits of their citizens in these matters seems to have been quite +general.</p> + +<p>In matters of education more attention was paid to the boys than to the +girls at this time, as the women were generally expected to let the men +attend to the chief affairs of life, while they busied themselves with +domestic duties. Still, it is on record that in the year 1338 there were +from eight to ten thousand boys and girls in school in the city of +Florence, learning to read. Among the people of the wealthy class and of +the nobility, women were undoubtedly given greater educational +advantages in many instances; and then again, in strictly academic +circles, the daughters of a professor sometimes distinguished themselves +for great learning and scholarship. It was at the University of Bologna +in particular that women seem to have been most conspicuous in +educational affairs, and here it was that a number of them were actually +allowed to wear the robe of a professor and lecture to the students. +Among the number famed for their learning may be mentioned Giovanna +Bianchetti and Maddalena Buonsignori, who gave instruction in law. The +latter was the author of a small Latin treatise of some reputation, +entitled <i>De legibus connubialis</i>, and the character of this legal work +reveals the fact that she must have been much interested in the women of +her time, for she has made here in some detail a study of their legal +status from certain points of view. No list of this kind would be +complete without mention of Novella d'Andrea, who was perhaps the best +known of all these learned women, for to her erudition was added a most +marvellous beauty which alone would have been sufficient, perhaps, to +hand her name down to posterity. Her father was a professor of canonical +law at the University of Bologna, and there it was that she became his +assistant, and on several occasions delivered lectures in his stead. At +such times it was her custom, if the tradition be true, to speak from +behind a high screen, as she had found out from experience that the +students were so bewildered by her grace and charm, when she stood +openly before them, that they were in no mood for serious study, but +gazed at her the while in undisguised admiration.</p> + +<p>However pleasurable it may prove to reflect upon this peaceful scene, +the fact must not be forgotten that more women were aiding men, directly +or indirectly, to break laws than to make them, for many of the most +bitter feuds and controversies of the time were waged about a woman. +Bianchina, the wife of Vergusio Landi, seduced by the great Galeazzo +Visconti, who had been her husband's friend and ally, became the cause +of a most ferocious war which was waged between the cities of Milan and +Piacenza; Virginia Galucci, abducted by Alberto Carbonesi, brought about +a long-standing hostility between these two families and caused much +blood to be spilled; many other instances might be cited which would +reveal the same state of affairs. A few of the most remarkable of these +feuds have been deemed worthy of more extended notice, and the first +among the number concerns the quarrel between the Buondelmonti and the +Amedei, in Florence, in the thirteenth century. Buondelmonte de' +Buondelmonti, a young nobleman from the upper Val d'Arno and a member of +the Guelph party, was to marry a daughter of the house of Amedei, +staunch Ghibelline supporters, and the wedding day was fast approaching; +one day the young Guelph was met upon the street by a lady of the Donati +family, also a Guelph, who reproached him for his intended union with +one of the hated party, and urged him to marry her own daughter, Ciulla, +who was far more desirable. The sight of the fair Donati was too much +for the quick passions of Buondelmonte; he fell in love with her at +once, and straightway repudiated his former plan of marriage. It may +well be imagined that the Amedei were enraged at this; the powerful +Uberti and all the other Ghibelline families in Florence, about +twenty-four in all, joined with them, and they swore to kill the fickle +young lover on sight. On Easter morning, they lay in wait for the +handsome but heedless young Buondelmonte at the north end of the Ponte +Vecchio; and when he appeared, boldly riding without an escort, all +clothed in white and upon a milk-white steed, they fell upon him and +struck him to the ground, and left him dying there, his Easter tunic +dripping with his blood. Their savage yell of triumph over this +assassination was not the end, but the beginning, for forty-two Guelph +families immediately took up the quarrel and swore to avenge the death +of their comrade, and for more than thirty years the strife continued.</p> + +<p>The story of Imelda de' Lambertazzi is even more tragic in its results, +as here the woman has to suffer as well as the man, and in its general +outlines this incident recalls many of the features of <i>Romeo and +Juliet</i>, though there is no evidence that Shakespeare used it in any +way, but rather confined his attention to the traditional story of the +lovers of Verona. The Lambertazzi were a noble family of Bologna, and +the daughter of the house had long been wooed most ardently by Bonifacio +de' Geremei, whose family was in deadly feud with her own. Yielding +finally to his entreaties, she allowed him to come to see her in her own +apartments; but there they were surprised by her two brothers, who +considered his presence as an affront offered not only to their sister, +but to their house. Imelda barely had time to escape before the two men +rushed upon Bonifacio, who was powerless to defend himself. With +poisoned daggers, whose secret had been learned from the Saracens by the +Crusaders, he was speedily stabbed to the heart, and then dragged into a +dark corner beneath a winding staircase. After seeing her brothers leave +the palace, Imelda returned to discover her lover's fate, while they +rushed off to raise a hue and cry and plan for further deeds of +violence. Imelda found the room where she had left the struggling men +empty, but, following the drops of blood upon the floor, she soon came +to the lifeless body hidden away. Drawing it out to the light, she found +that it was still warm, and, knowing the secret of her brothers' +weapons, she resolved upon a desperate remedy, and endeavored to suck +the poison from the wounds. The result of this most heroic attempt was +fearful: the poison was communicated to her own veins, and she was soon +stretched lifeless beside the luckless lover. There they were found by +anxious servants, who, knowing of the quarrel, had not dared to stir +about at first. Hallam says, after his account of this event: "So cruel +an outrage wrought the Geremei to madness; they formed alliances with +some of the neighboring republics; the Lambertazzi took the same +measures; and after a fight in the streets of Bologna of forty days' +duration, the latter were driven out of the city, with all the +Ghibellines, their political associates. Twelve thousand citizens were +condemned to banishment, their houses razed, and their estates +confiscated."</p> + +<p>Another story of bloody violence centres in the territory from Padova +and Treviso, on the one hand, to Vicenza and Verona, on the other; and +while the incidents took place in mediæval times, dating from the latter +part of the twelfth century, the consequences were so widespread and so +lasting that they were by no means dead in the days of the early +Renaissance. Tisolino di Camposampiero, a nobleman of Padova, confided +to his friend Ezzelino, the feudal lord of Onar and Romano, that it was +his intention to marry his son to the rich heiress of Abano, Cecilia +Ricco by name. Ezzelino received this confidence, and promised to keep +the secret; but no sooner had he parted from the Padovan nobleman than +he made plans of his own, and succeeded in marrying his own son to the +desirable heiress before Tisolino could interpose. What more was needed +to start a feud of the first magnitude? Tisolino's disappointed son, +whose heart was now filled with vengeance rather than with unrequited +love, abducted his former fiancée by means of a clever ruse, and carried +her off to his father's stronghold. The next day she was sent back, +dishonored, to her husband, who refused to receive her under these +circumstances; but at the same time he felt no compunctions about +retaining her extensive dowry, which comprised many strong castles and +other feudal holdings. Then the long struggle began which was to take +many lives and last for many years. Succeeding generations inherited the +hatred as one of their most cherished possessions, and it was almost a +century before the quarrel spent itself.</p> + +<p>One of the most beautiful and pathetic stories of this whole period, +however, is the one which concerns the fate of Madonna Francesca, +daughter of Guido the Elder, Lord of Ravenna and of Cervia. For many +years, according to Boccaccio's account, Guido had waged a grievous war +with the Lord Malatesta of Rimini, and finally, when peace was brought +about between them through the mediation of friends, it was thought +advisable to cement the friendship with as close a tie as possible. To +that end, Guido agreed to give his fair young daughter, Francesca, in +marriage to Gianciotto, Malatesta's son, without a thought to her own +desires in the matter. When the plan was noised abroad, certain friends +of Guido, knowing Gianciotto to be lame and rather rough in his manners, +and considering it very doubtful whether Francesca would consent to +marry him when once she had seen him, came to the father and urged him +to act with discretion, so that no scandal might arise over the matter. +It happened that there was a younger son of the house of Malatesta, +Paolo by name, who was young and handsome and possessed of most courtly +and winning manners, and it was advised that he be sent to marry +Francesca by proxy in his brother's stead, and that she should be kept +in ignorance regarding the real state of affairs until it was too late +to withdraw her word. So Paolo came to Ravenna with a brilliant train of +gentlemen to celebrate the wedding festivities; and as he crossed the +courtyard of the palace on the morning of his arrival, a maid who knew +him pointed him out to Francesca through the open window, saying: "That +is he who is to be your husband." This Francesca believed, as she had no +reason to think otherwise, so skilfully was the marriage ceremony +arranged, and it was not until her arrival at Rimini that she knew her +fate. For there, on the morning following her coming, as she saw +Gianciotto rise from her side, when she had thought him to be Paolo, the +sad truth burst upon her. What excuses Paolo could give for this strange +deception we are not told, but the fact remains that Francesca still +loved him, and looked with scorn upon his misshapen brother. From that +time the dangerous moment slowly approached. Living together in the +same palace, it was but natural that Paolo and Francesca should be much +in each other's society; while Gianciotto, unloved and unlovely, busied +himself with his own affairs, which sometimes took him to other cities, +as he was a man of ambition and essayed by political manœuvres to +advance his own interests. It happened once that in returning from one +of these journeys he saw Paolo enter Francesca's room, and then for the +first time he became jealous. Hitherto he had known of their affection +for each other, but it had never dawned upon him that his own brother +could thus betray his trust, while under his roof and receiving his +protection. Now he rushed up the broad stairway and made straight for +Francesca's door, anxious to know the worst. The door was found locked +before him, and his hurried knocks brought sudden terror to the lovers +within. There was an open window, however, through which Paolo counted +upon disappearing, and so he bade the lady make haste to open to her +lord, that he might not be curious. As Francesca opened the door, Paolo +found to his dismay that the edge of his cloak had caught upon a nail; +so that when Gianciotto, red with anger, burst into the room, the fatal +secret was disclosed. Grasping his dagger, without a moment's +hesitation, he stepped quickly to the window and would have slain his +brother with a single mighty blow, but Francesca, throwing herself +before him, sheathed the dagger in her heart and fell dead at his feet. +Gianciotto, still burning for revenge, and unmoved by his first bloody +deed, again struck at Paolo, and this time he slew him. Then, following +the words of the old story, "leaving them both dead, he hastily went his +way and betook him to his wonted affairs; and the next morning the two +lovers, with many tears, were buried together in one grave."</p> + +<p>There is a terrible pathos about this story which has made it live +during all these years. Through every line of it runs a commentary upon +the barbarous customs of the time, which made such a situation possible, +and its climax was so inevitable and so necessary, according to all the +laws of nature, that we of a later day are inclined to shed a +sympathetic tear and heave a sigh of regret.</p> + +<p>Dante has placed the two lovers in his <i>Inferno</i> for their sin, but in +the fifth canto, where he first sees them, he is moved to such pity for +their unhappy lot that he exclaims:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"...Francesca, i tuoi martiri<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A lagrimar mi fanno tristo e pio!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>[Thine agonies, Francesca, sad and compassionate to weeping make me!] +And before she finished telling her tragic story, he swooned away as if +he had been dying, "and fell, even as a dead body falls."</p> + +<p>In a more recent time this story has been told by Silvio Pellico, who +wrote a tragedy on the subject, and by Leigh Hunt in a poem. In England, +Boker wrote a successful tragedy upon it many years ago, and more +recently Stephen Phillips, in his <i>Paolo and Francesca</i>, has produced a +dramatic poem of rare merit. Most recently of all, Gabriele d'Annunzio, +the well-known Italian poet and novelist, has made this story the +subject of a powerful drama, which was interpreted in a most wonderful +way by the great Italian actress, Eleonora Duse. To show that others +than poets have been inspired by Francesca's unhappy history, it may be +of interest to record the fact that noted pictures illustrating the +story have been painted by many of the greatest artists.</p> + +<p>To return to that early period in Italian history, so filled with strife +and discord, it should be said that in spite of this constant warfare, +the richer princes, especially in the north of Italy, lived in a most +sumptuous manner, and prepared the way, to a certain degree, for the +splendor of Lorenzo the Magnificent, which was to appear in the century +following. The women in these regal courts were clothed in the most +extravagant fashion, and the precious stuffs and precious stones of all +the known world were laid at their feet by their admirers. Among these +affluent noblemen of the fourteenth century, Galeazzo Visconti was +generally considered the handsomest man of his age. Symonds tells us +that he was tall and graceful, with golden hair which he wore in long +plaits, or tied up in a net, or else loose and crowned with flowers. By +nature he was fond of display, liked to make a great show of his wealth, +and spent much money in public entertainments and feasts and in the +construction of beautiful palaces and churches. His wealth was so great +and his reputation had gone so far abroad that he was able to do what +other rich Italian noblemen accomplished in a somewhat later +time—arrange royal marriages for some of his children. His daughter +Violante was wedded with great ceremony to the Duke of Clarence, son of +Edward III. of England, who is said to have received with her as a dowry +the sum of two hundred thousand golden florins, and at the same time +five cities on the Piedmont frontier. London was a muddy, unpaved city +at this time, primitive in the extreme; the houses were still covered +with thatched roofs, beds were still made upon bundles of straw cast +upon the floors, and wine was so scarce that it was generally sold for +medicinal purposes. It has been pointed out that it must have been a +strange experience for this English nobleman to leave all that and come +to a country of warmth and sunshine, where the houses were large and +comfortable and made of marble, where the streets were dry and paved, +where wine was as plenty as water, and where ease and luxury were seen +on every hand.</p> + +<p>This royal marriage was celebrated at Pavia, where Galeazzo held his +court, and the historian Giovio has given some curious and interesting +details regarding it. He says that on the completion of the ceremony +Galeazzo gave rich gifts to more than two hundred Englishmen, and it was +generally considered that he had shown himself more generous than the +greatest kings. At the wedding feast, Gian Galeazzo, the bride's +brother,—who was afterward married to Isabella, the daughter of King +John of France,—at the head of a band of noble youths, brought +wonderful new gifts to the table with the arrival of each new course +upon the bill of fare. "At one time it was sixty most beautiful horses, +adorned with gold and silver trappings; at another, silver plate, hawks, +hounds, fine cuirasses, suits of armor of wrought steel, helmets +decorated with crests, tunics adorned with pearls, belts, precious +jewels set in gold, and great quantities of cloth of gold and crimson +stuff for the making of garments. Such was the profusion at this banquet +that the remnants taken from the table were more than enough to supply +ten thousand men." Not every heiress in Italy could have gloried in such +a wedding feast as the one given in honor of Violante Visconti, but the +wealth of these petty rulers was something almost incredible, and the +general prosperity of the common people passes belief. As has always +been the case under such circumstances, increasing wealth has brought +about increased expenditure, principally in matters of dress, and the +women in particular seem to have made the most of this opportunity. +Vanity and frivolity multiplied on every hand as a natural consequence; +the Church was growing daily less able to cope with the moral degeneracy +of the time on account of its own immoral condition; thus, the +foundations were being laid for those centuries of corruption and +national weakness which were soon to follow.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_VII" id="Chapter_VII"></a><a href="#table">Chapter VII</a></h2> + +<h3>Women in the Later Renaissance</h3> + + +<p>The age of Lorenzo de' Medici—that bright fifteenth century—in the +history of the Italian peninsula was signalized by such achievement and +definite result in the intellectual emancipation of the minds of men, +art and poetry were given such an impetus and showed promise of such +full fruition, that he who would now conjure up the picture of that fair +day is well-nigh lost in wonderment and awe. But in this love of art and +worship of the beautiful it soon becomes apparent that pagan influences +were stealing into daily life, and that the religion of the Christian +Church was fast becoming an empty form which had no value as a rule of +conduct. Blind faith in the power of the Vicar of Christ to forgive the +sins of this world still remained, and in that one way, perhaps, did the +Church manage to exist throughout this period; for men, sinful and +irreligious and blasphemous as they certainly were, were none the less +so impressed with the possibilities of suffering in a future state that +they insisted upon priestly absolution—which they accepted with +implicit confidence—before setting out upon their journey into the +Unknown. The most terrible crimes were matters of common occurrence and +were allowed to go unrebuked, at least by the moral sentiment of the +community; adultery was too frequent, murder caused little comment, and +incest was not unknown. The pursuit of pleasure was of no less +importance than the pursuit of fame and glory; the Italian idea of honor +was in perfect harmony with deceit and treachery; and unclean living, +and a married woman was considered above reproach so long as she did not +allow her acts of infidelity to become known to all the world.</p> + +<p>In an age of this kind it cannot be said that the women occupied a +position which is to be envied by the women of to-day. It is not to be +expected that the women will show themselves better than the men at such +a time, and when was there a better opportunity for vice to run riot? +The convents of the time were, almost without exception, perfect +brothels, and the garb of the virgin nun was shown scant respect—and +was entitled to still less. Venice became a modern Corinth, and was a +resort for all the profligates of the continent; it was estimated that +there were twelve thousand prostitutes within its gates at the beginning +of the fifteenth century. A century later, Rome counted no less than +seven thousand of these unsavory citizens, and they, with their +villainous male confederates, who were ever ready to rob, levy +blackmail, or commit murder, did much to make the Holy City almost +uninhabitable in the days of Pope Innocent VIII. As Symonds has said, +the want of a coordinating principle is everywhere apparent in this +Italian civilization; the individual has reached his personal freedom, +but he has not yet come to a comprehension of that higher liberty which +is law; passions are unbridled, the whim of the moment is an +all-compelling power, and the time was yet far in the distance when +society could feel itself upon a firm foundation.</p> + +<p>From all that can be learned, it appears that women were not treated +with any special respect; men were free to indulge in the most ribald +conversation in their presence, and it has yet to be proved that they +took offence at this unbecoming liberty. The songs which were composed +at Carnival time were dedicated to the ladies especially, and yet in all +literature it would be difficult to find anything more indecent. Society +was simply in a crude state so far as its ideas of decency and delicacy +were concerned, and both men and women were often lacking in what are +now considered to be the most elementary notions of propriety. As the +men were by far the more active and the more important members of each +community, it cannot be said that women were looked upon with equal +consideration. The Oriental idea of women in general, as domestic +animals whose duty it was to minister to the wants and pleasures of +their master and superior, lordly man, was but slowly vanishing, and +many centuries of suffering, experience, and education were to intervene +before saner and truer notions could prevail. Lorenzo de' Medici, in +writing of a beautiful and talented woman, makes the following +statement: "Her understanding was superior to her sex, but without the +appearance of arrogance or presumption; and she avoided an error too +common among women, who, when they think themselves sensible, become for +the most part insupportable." It is evident that if women were generally +held in as high esteem as men, it is altogether unlikely that the +expression "superior to her sex" would have been employed, and the +latter part of the sentence leads to the further inference that +pretentious and pedantic women of the kind referred to were not +altogether uncommon at this time.</p> + +<p>No better illustration of the relative position of women in society can +be found than in one of the letters received by Lorenzo from his wife, +who was a member of the old and proud Orsini family, which was much more +aristocratic than his own. She addresses him by the term <i>Magnifice +Conjux</i>, which certainly does not betoken a very great degree of +intimacy between husband and wife; and the letter concerns the +unbearable conduct of the poet Poliziano, who was then an inmate of +their house and the private teacher of their children. It seems that he +had persecuted her with his attentions, and she is led to protest +against his continued employment. In spite of her protest, however, she +meekly adds: "Know, I should say to you, that if you desire him to +remain, I shall be very content, although I have endured his uttering to +me a thousand villainies. If this is with your permission, I am patient, +but I cannot believe such a thing." Lorenzo's behavior upon the receipt +of this letter will be of interest and will throw much light upon the +question involved. Did he burn with indignation at this story of +Poliziano's disgraceful conduct and did he dismiss him from his service +forthwith as one unworthy of his trust? By no means. The children were +soon after taken away from their mother's supervision and sent off to a +villa not far from Florence, where they were put entirely under the +control of the man who had just insulted their mother! Furthermore, +Boccaccio wrote, at a somewhat earlier date it is true, but in a state +of society which differed little from that under discussion, that women +were of little real consequence in the world, and that "since but few +good ones are to be found among them, they are to be avoided +altogether."</p> + +<p>The position occupied by women in the eyes of the law is somewhat more +difficult to determine, but it may be said with certainty that they took +no part in the public duties of life and seem to have manifested no +yearnings in that direction. They did not vote or hold public office, +and would no doubt have looked inquiringly and without comprehension at +anyone who proposed such possibilities. Women were evidently being +shielded and protected as much as possible; property was rarely held by +them in their own names, and the laws appear to have been made for the +men almost exclusively. It will be remembered, perhaps, that when Dante +was banished from Florence, his wife was allowed to continue her +residence in that city without molestation, and was even able to save +much of their property from confiscation and devote it to the education +of their children. Later on, when Carlo Strozzi was sent away in exile, +his family was not disturbed in the least, and it was during his absence +from the city that his daughter Maddalena was married to Luchino +Visconti in the midst of most brilliant ceremonies. Guests were invited +from all the north of Italy, there were horseraces and tournaments, and +the whole function was one of great pomp and brilliancy. The brothers +and grown sons of exiled citizens were never accorded such +consideration, and it is but fair to assume that the popular sentiment +of the time demanded this exceptional treatment for the women. At one +time it was even held to be against the Florentine statutes to banish a +woman; in 1497, at the time of a conspiracy to restore the banished +Piero de' Medici to power, his sister, though proved to have conspired +in equal measure with the men, was not given an equal measure of +punishment; she was merely kept in seclusion for a period at the palace +of Guglielmo de' Pazzi, and was then set at liberty through the +influence of Francesco Valori, to whom it seemed unworthy to lay hands +upon a woman.</p> + +<p>In the midst of this exciting and excited world, it may well be imagined +that the passions were strong and that women of charm and beauty were +able to exercise no little influence upon the men who came within their +power. Never, perhaps, in the history of modern civilization has the +æsthetic instinct of a people been so thoroughly aroused as it was in +Italy at this time, and the almost pagan love of beauty which possessed +them led to many extravagances in their sentimental conceptions. As +Lorenzo de' Medici was the most powerful and distinguished Italian of +his time, so may he be termed its representative lover, for his +excursions into the land of sentiment may be considered as typical of +his day and generation. The first passion of his heart was purely +subjective and artificial, the result of a forcing process which had +been induced by the power of brotherly love. It so happened that +Lorenzo's brother Giuliano, who was assassinated later by the Pazzi, +loved, very tenderly, a lady named Simonetta, reputed to be the most +beautiful woman in all Florence; so great was her fame that she was +quite generally spoken of as <i>la bella Simonetta</i>, and the artist +Botticelli, who had an eye for a pretty woman, has left us a portrait +which vouches for her charms in no uncertain way. She was but a fragile +flower, however, and died in the bloom of youth, mourned by her lover +with such genuine grief that, with one impulse, all sought to bring him +consolation. Letters of condolence were written in prose and verse, +sonnets were fairly showered upon him, and Greek and Latin were used as +often as Italian in giving expression to the universal sorrow. But how +all this affected Lorenzo, and what inspiration it gave to his muse, he +had best relate in his own words, for the tale is not devoid of romance, +and he alone can do it justice:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"A young lady of great personal charm happened to die at Florence; +and as she had been very generally admired and beloved, so her +death was as generally lamented. Nor was this to be marvelled at, +for she possessed such beauty and such engaging manners that almost +every person who had any acquaintance with her flattered himself +that he had obtained the chief place in her affections. Her sad +death excited the extreme regret of her admirers; and as she was +carried to the place of burial, with her face uncovered, those who +had known her in life pressed about her for a last look at the +object of their adoration, and then accompanied her funeral with +their tears. On this occasion, all the eloquence and all the wit of +Florence were exerted in paying due honors to her memory, both in +verse and prose. Among the rest, I, also, composed a few sonnets, +and, in order to give them greater effect, I tried to convince +myself that I too had been deprived of the object of my love, and +to excite in my own mind all those passions which might enable me +to move the affections of others."</p></div> + +<p>In this attempt to put himself in the place of another, Lorenzo de' +Medici began to wonder how it would seem to have such grief to bear on +his own account; and then his thoughts went still further afield, and he +found himself speculating as to whether or not another lady could be +found of the same merit and beauty as the lamented Simonetta. In the +midst of the great number of those who were writing eulogistic poetry in +this lady's honor, Lorenzo began to feel that the situation lacked +distinction, and he was not slow to realize what great reputation might +be acquired by the lucky mortal who could unearth another divinity of +equal charm. For some time he tried in vain, and then suddenly success +crowned his efforts, and he has told us in what manner. "A public +festival was held in Florence, to which all that was noble and beautiful +in the city resorted. To this I was brought by some of my companions (I +suppose as my destiny led) against my will, for I had for some time past +avoided such exhibitions; or if at times I had attended them, it +proceeded rather from a compliance with custom than from any pleasure I +experienced in them. Among the ladies there assembled, I saw one of +such sweet and charming manners that I could not help saying, as I +looked at her, 'If this person were possessed of the delicacy, the +understanding, and the accomplishments of her who is lately dead, most +certainly she excels her in the charm of her person.' Resigning myself +to my passion, I endeavored to discover, if possible, how far her +manners and conversation agreed with her appearance; and here I found +such an assemblage of extraordinary endowments that it is difficult to +say whether she excelled more in person or in mind. Her beauty was, as I +have said before, astonishing. She was of a just and proper height. Her +complexion was extremely fair, but not pale, blooming, but not ruddy. +Her countenance was serious without being severe, mild and pleasant +without levity or vulgarity. Her eyes were sparkling, but without +indication of pride or conceit. Her whole figure was so finely +proportioned that amongst other women she appeared with superior +dignity, yet free from the least degree of formality or affectation. In +walking or in dancing, or in other exercises which display the person, +every motion was elegant and appropriate. Her sentiments were always +just and striking and have furnished me material for some of my sonnets; +she always spoke at the proper time, and always to the purpose, so that +nothing could be added, nothing taken away.... To recount all her +excellencies would far exceed my present limits, and I shall therefore +conclude with affirming that there was nothing which could be desired in +a beautiful and accomplished woman which was not in her most abundantly +found. By these qualities, I was so captivated that not a power or +faculty of my body or mind remained any longer at liberty, and I could +not help considering the lady who had died as the star of Venus, which +at the approach of the sun is totally overpowered and extinguished."</p> + +<p>The name of this wondrous lady is carefully kept in the background by +Lorenzo, but from other sources she is known to have been Lucrezia +Donati, a lady of noble birth, celebrated for her goodness and beauty, +and a member of that same Donati family to which Dante's wife belonged. +At the time of this love affair, Lorenzo was about twenty, and the lady +was somewhat older, but that made no difference to the young poet, who +immediately began to exhibit all those symptoms which have become +traditional in such maladies of the heart. He lost his appetite, grew +pale, shunned the society of even his dearest friends, took long, +solitary walks, and wrote many an ode and sonnet in honor of the fair +Donati. But she was indeed a divinity rather than a friend, and his +oft-expressed delight in her many charms was rather intellectual than +emotional and passionate. She becomes for him, in truth, a very sun of +blazing beauty, which he looks upon to admire, but the fire of the lover +is entirely wanting. While it was no such mystic attachment as that +professed by Dante for Beatrice, it no doubt resembles it from certain +points of view, as, in each case, the lover has little actual +acquaintance with the object of his affections. But there this +comparison must end, for it has been explained how Dante derived a +certain moral and spiritual benefit from his early brooding love, and in +the more modern instance nothing of the kind is apparent. On the +contrary, everything seems to show that Lorenzo was at an age when his +"fancy lightly turned to thoughts of love," and, being of a poetic +temperament, he amused himself by writing amorous poetry which came from +the head and not the heart. The characteristic traits of this poetry, +then, are grace and elegance, sonority and rhythm; it lacks sincerity +and that impetuous flow of sentiment which is generally indicative of +intense feeling. It cannot be denied, however, that he often reached a +high plane; perhaps the following lines show him at his best:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Quale sopra i nevosi ed alti monti<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Apollo spande il suo bel lume adorno,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tal' i crin suoi sopra la bianca gonna!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Il tempo e'l luogo non ch'io conti,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Che dov'è si bel sole è sempre giorno;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">E Paradiso, ov'è si bella Donna!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>[As Apollo sheds his golden beams over the snowy summits of the lofty +mountains, so flowed her golden tresses over her gown of white. But I +need not note the time and place, for where shines so fair a sun it can +be naught but day, and where dwells my lady fair can be but Paradise!]</p> + +<p>While still preoccupied with what Mrs. Jameson terms his visions of love +and poetry, he was called upon by his father, at the age of twenty-one, +to marry, for political reasons, a woman whom he had never seen—Clarice +Orsini. That the marriage was unexpected is attested by a note in his +diary to this effect: "I, Lorenzo, took to wife, Donna Clarice Orsini, +or rather she was given to me," on such and such a day. The ceremony was +performed in Naples, it appears, but the wedding festivities were +celebrated in Florence, and never was there a more brilliant scene in +all the city's history. The fête began on a Sunday morning and lasted +until midday of the Tuesday following, and for that space of time almost +the entire population was entertained and fed by the Medici. On this +occasion the wedding presents took a practical turn, in part, for, from +friends and from some of the neighboring villages subject to the rule of +Florence, supplies were sent in great quantities; among the number, +record is made of eight hundred calves and two thousand pairs of +chickens! There were music and dancing by day and by night; musicians +were stationed in various parts of the city, and about them the dancers +filled the streets. An adequate conception of this scene will perhaps be +a matter of some difficulty, but those who know something of the way in +which the people in modern Paris dance upon the smooth pavements on the +night of the national holiday, the Quatorze Juillet, will possess at +least a faint idea of what it must have been. That all classes of the +population were cared for at this great festival is proved by the fact +that one hundred kegs of wine were consumed daily, and that five +thousand pounds of sweetmeats and candies were distributed among the +people.</p> + +<p>The marriage of the poet Ariosto with the beautiful Alessandra Strozzi, +widow of Tito Strozzi, a noble Florentine who was famed in his day for +his Latin poetry, was not concluded with any such display and +magnificence, the author of the <i>Orlando Furioso</i> being in no position +which made it necessary for him to entertain the whole population, and +having ideas all his own regarding the advantage of publicity in such +matters. Long before Ariosto's marriage, however, in the days of his +youth and before he had ever set eyes upon the Titian-haired Alessandra, +he fell captive to the charms of Ginevra Lapi, a young girl of +Florentine family, who lived at or near Mantua. He met her first at a +<i>festa di ballo</i>, we are told, and there he was much impressed with her +grace and beauty, for she seemed like a young goddess among her less +favored companions. Then began that attachment which lasted for long +years and which seems to have inspired much of his earlier lyric poetry. +Four years after their first meeting he writes that she was "dearer to +him than his own soul and fairer than ever in his eyes," and she seems +to have made a very strong impression upon his mind, as he mentions her +long afterward with most genuine tenderness. What more than this may be +said of Ginevra Lapi has not yet come to light, and it is due to the +poet alone that her name has been handed down to posterity. If Ariosto +had been an expansive and communicative man, we might know far more than +we do of Ginevra and of the other friends of his youth, for he was a +person of most impressionable nature, who was very susceptible to the +allurements of beautiful women, and there is no doubt of the fact that +he had a certain compelling charm which made him almost irresistible +with the ladies of his <i>entourage</i>. However, the history of his affairs +of the heart has baffled all investigators as yet, because the poet, +from the very earliest days of his youth, made it a rule never to boast +of his conquests or to speak of his friends in any public way. As a +symbol of this gallant rule of conduct, there is still preserved at +Ferrara one of Ariosto's inkstands, which is ornamented with a little +bronze Cupid, finger upon lip in token of silence.</p> + +<p>Early biographers and literary historians were inclined to give to +Ginevra Lapi all credit for the more serious inspiration which prompted +him to write the major part of his amatory verse, and so careful had he +been to conceal the facts that it was not until many years after his +death that his marriage to Alessandra Strozzi was generally known. +Ariosto had been on a visit to Rome in the year 1515, and, on his +return, he chanced to stop at Florence, where he intended to spend three +or four days during the grand festival which was being held in honor of +Saint John the Baptist. Arriving just in time to be present at some +social function of importance, the poet there saw for the first time +this lady who was to mean so much to him for all the rest of his life. +It will be remembered that when Lorenzo de' Medici first met Lucrezia +Donati he had been taken to some evening company, much against his +will. In the present instance, it was the lady who showed +disinclination to go into society, and her recent widowhood gave her +good reason for her feeling in the matter; but, won over by the +entreaties of her friends, <i>da preghi vinta</i>, she finally consented to +go. What she wore and how she looked, and how she bore herself, and much +more, do we know from Ariosto's glowing lines which were written in +commemoration of this event. Her gown was of black, all embroidered with +bunches of grapes and grape leaves in purple and gold. Her luxuriant +blond hair, the <i>richissima capellatura bionda</i>, was gathered in a net +behind and, parted in the middle, fell to her shoulders in long curls on +either side of her face; and on her forehead, just where the hair was +parted, she wore a twig of laurel, cunningly wrought in gold and +precious stones.</p> + +<p>Alessandra's most effective charm was her wonderful hair, of that color +which had been made famous by the pictures of Titian and Giorgione, and +it really seems that in Ariosto's time this color was so ardently +desired that hair dyes were in common use, especially in Venice. It is +with a feeling of some regret that we are led to reflect that much of +that gorgeous hair which we have admired for so many years in the famous +paintings of the Venetian masters may be artificial in its brilliant +coloring, but such, alas! is probably the case. The fair Alessandra, +nevertheless, had no need to resort to the dye pots of Venice, as Mother +Nature had been generous in the extreme, and the poet was inspired by +the truth, if the painters of the time were not. How unfortunate, then, +that a serious illness was the means of her being shorn of this crowning +glory! Her attending physician decided upon one occasion that it would +be necessary to cut her hair to save her life, but later events proved +that he had been over anxious and that this desperate remedy had been +entirely uncalled for. Ariosto, as may well be believed, was indignant +at the sacrifice, and wrote three sonnets regarding it before he cooled +his anger. In one of these passionate protests occur the following +lines, which will give some idea of his highly colored style and at the +same time show us what an important place Alessandra Strozzi must have +held in his affections: "When I think, as I do a thousand times a day, +upon those golden tresses, which neither wisdom nor necessity but hasty +folly tore, alas! from that fair head, I am enraged, my cheeks burn with +anger, even tears gush forth bathing my face and bosom. I would die, +could I but be avenged upon the impious stupidity of that rash hand. O +Love, if such wrong goes unpunished, thine be the reproach!... Wilt thou +suffer the loveliest and dearest of thy possessions to be boldly +ravished and yet bear it in silence?"</p> + +<p>Though Ariosto had come to Florence to spend but a summer day or two at +Saint John's feast, his visit lengthened into weeks, and full six months +had rolled around before he could tear himself away after that first +eventful evening. As his time was spent with his friend Vespucci, +Alessandra's brother-in-law, he had ample opportunity to bask in her +smiles without exciting unfavorable comment; and when he finally did +depart, he left his heart behind him. From that day until the time of +his death it was known that he loved her, but their names were never +coupled in any scandalous way, and it was only after the death of the +poet that the fact was known that they had been secretly married. No one +has been able to give the exact date of this marriage, but there is now +little doubt with regard to the fact itself, and certain evidence leads +to the conclusion that the wedding must have taken place in the year +1522. Why this matter was kept a secret has given rise to much +speculation, for it would appear to the superficial observer that a +public acknowledgment of the fact might have been a matter of pride to +either the poet or the Signora Strozzi. Family reasons have been alleged +by Baruffaldi, one of Ariosto's many biographers, but they seem entirely +inadequate and unsatisfactory, and the whole matter still remains +shrouded in mystery.</p> + +<p>One side of the question which has not perhaps been presented before is +this—would there have been any change in the tone of Ariosto's lyric +verse if Alessandra had been known to all the world as his wife? With +the possible exceptions of the Brownings and one or two others, the case +is hardly recorded where a poet has been inspired to his highest efforts +by his wedded wife, and it is extremely problematical whether or not in +the present instance the fire and fervor of Ariosto's lines could have +been kindled at a domestic hearth which all the world might see. The +secret marriage was probably insisted upon by the wife, and all honor to +Alessandra Strozzi for her pure heart in that corrupt time! But the fact +was probably kept hidden to gratify some whim of the poet. The very +situation is tinged with the romantic, the old adage about stolen sweets +was undoubtedly as true in that time as it is to-day, and the poet had a +restless nature which could ill brook the ordinary yoke of Hymen. So +long as he could live in the Via Mirasole, and Alessandra in the stately +Casa Strozzi, Ferrara had charms for him, and his muse was all aflame. +Would this have been true if one roof had sheltered them?</p> + +<p>Whatever the verdict may be in this matter, the fact remains that all of +Ariosto's lyric poetry and many of the passages in the <i>Orlando Furioso</i> +were inspired by his real love for some woman, and it was this living, +burning passion which gives him his preeminence as a poet. He had +mannerisms, it is true, and much that he wrote is apt to appear stilted +to the ordinary English reader, but such mannerisms are only the +national characteristics of most Italian poetry and must be viewed in +that light. On the other hand, Ariosto's evident sincerity is in +striking contrast to the cold, intellectual, amatory verse of Lorenzo +de' Medici, which was, in truth, but an æsthetic diversion for that +brilliant prince. And even this was due to the inspiration he received +from the sight of a fair lady, many years his senior, for whom he had a +most distant, formal, Platonic affection, while it never dawned upon him +that his own wife's beauty might deserve a sonnet now and then.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_VIII" id="Chapter_VIII"></a><a href="#table">Chapter VIII</a></h2> + +<h3>The Borgias and the Bad Women of the Sixteenth Century</h3> + + +<p>Things went from bad to worse, as is their habit, and Italian life in +the sixteenth century shows an increasing corruption and a laxity in +public morals which were but the natural result of the free-thinking +Renaissance. The Church had completely lost its influence as the +spiritual head of Europe, and had become but a hypocritical +principality, greedy for temporal power, and openly trafficking in +ecclesiastical offices which were once supposed to belong by right to +men of saintly lives; it is probable that this barefaced profligacy of +the papal court was responsible for the widespread moral inertia which +was characteristic of the time. The pontiff's chair at the dawn of this +century was filled by Roderigo Borgia, known as Alexander VI., and it +may well be said that his career of crime and lust gave the keynote to +the society which was to follow him. By means of most open bribery he +had been elected to his office, but, in spite of these well-known facts, +his advent was hailed with great joy and his march to the Vatican was a +veritable triumph. Contemporary historians unite in praising him at this +time in his career, for as a cardinal he had been no worse in his +immoralities than many of his colleagues; and he was a man of commanding +presence and marked abilities, who seemed to embody the easy grace and +indifference of his day. It was said of him as he rode to assume the +mantle of Saint Peter: "He sits upon a snow-white horse, with serene +forehead, with commanding dignity. How admirable is the mild composure +of his mien! how noble his countenance! his glance—how free!" And it +was said that the heroic beauty of his whole body was given him by +Nature in order that he might adorn the seat of the Apostles with his +divine form, in the place of God! What blasphemy this was! but it shows +the moral level of the day. His intercourse with Vanozza Catanei was +open and notorious, and she was the mother of that Lucrezia Borgia whose +ill repute is dying a hard death in the face of modern attempts at +rehabilitation. His liaison with Giulia Farnese, known as <i>la bella +Giulia</i>, the lawful wife of Orsino Orsini, was no less conspicuous, and +these two women had a great influence upon him throughout his whole +lifetime. It had already been said of him: "He is handsome, of a most +glad countenance and joyous aspect, gifted with honeyed and choice +eloquence; the beautiful women on whom he casts his eyes are charmed to +love him, and he moves them in a wondrous way, more powerfully than the +magnet influences iron;" but this seduction in his manner cannot be +considered as merely an innocent result of his great personal beauty, +because his lustful disposition is well proved, and sensuality was +always his greatest vice. Symonds makes the statement that within the +sacred walls of the Vatican he maintained a harem in truly Oriental +fashion; and here were doubtless sent, from all parts of the papal +states, those daughters of Venus who were willing to minister to the +joys of His Holiness. To cap the climax, imagine the effrontery of a +pope who dared, in the face of the ecclesiastical rule enjoining +celibacy upon the priesthood, to parade his delinquencies before the +eyes of all the world, and seat himself in state, for a solemn pageant +at Saint Peter's, with his daughter Lucrezia upon one side of his +throne and his daughter-in-law Sancia upon the other! It was once said +by a witty and epigrammatic Italian that Church affairs were so corrupt +that the interests of morality demanded the marriage rather than the +celibacy of the clergy, and it would appear that this remark has a +certain pertinency anent the present situation. To illustrate in what +way such delinquency was made a matter of jest, the following story is +related. At the time of the French invasion, during the early days of +Alexander's pontificate, Giulia and Girolama Farnese, two members of +what we perhaps may call the pope's domestic circle, were captured, +together with their duenna, Adriana di Mila, by a certain Monseigneur +d'Allegre, who was in the suite of the French king. He came upon them +near Capodimonte and carried them off to Montefiascone, where they were +placed in confinement; while Alexander was notified of the occurrence +and told that he must pay a ransom, the sum being fixed at three +thousand ducats. This amount was paid instanter, and the captives were +at once released. As they approached Rome, they were met by Alexander, +who was attired as a layman, in black and gold brocade, with his dagger +at his belt. When Ludovico Sforza heard what had happened, he remarked, +with a smile, that the ransom was much too small, and that if the sum of +fifty thousand ducats had been demanded it would have been paid with +equal readiness, as these ladies were known to be "the very eyes and +heart" of the Holy Father.</p> + +<p>It was in the midst of this wanton court that the yellow-haired Lucrezia +Borgia grew up to womanhood, subject to all the baleful influences which +were in such profusion about her. Associating, perforce, with the +dissolute women of her father's household, it would be too much to +expect to find her a woman uncontaminated by the ways of the world. +There are many things to show that she had her father's love, and dark +stories have been whispered regarding his overfondness for her; but, be +that as it may, it is certain that Alexander never neglected an +opportunity to give his daughter worldly advancement. Before his +accession to the pontificate, Lucrezia had been formally promised to a +couple of Spanish grandees, Don Cherubino Juan de Centelles and Don +Gasparo da Procida, who was a son of the Count of Aversa; but once in +the Vatican, with the papal power in his hands, Alexander grew more +ambitious, and looked for another alliance, which might give him an +increased political power. Then come three marriages in which the +daughter Lucrezia seems but a puppet in her father's hands. First, she +was married to Giovanni Sforza, Lord of Pesaro, but differences of +opinion regarding politics and the pope's desire for a still more +powerful son-in-law led him to sanction Lucrezia's divorce; she was then +promptly married to Alphonso, Prince of Biseglia, a natural son of the +King of Naples. When Alphonso's father was deposed, the Borgias grew +tired of the prince, and caused him to be stabbed one fine day on the +very steps of Saint Peter's. Then, as he showed some disinclination to +give up the ghost, he was strangled as he lay in his bed by Michellozzo, +the trusted villain of the Borgia household. The year following, +Lucrezia found another spouse, and this time it was Alphonso, the Crown +Prince of Ferrara. The marriage was celebrated by means of a proxy, in +Rome, and then the daughter of the pope, with cardinals and prelates in +her train, set out on a triumphal journey across the country. She +travelled with much pomp and ceremony, as was befitting one of her +position in the world, and on her arrival in Ferrara she was welcomed +with most elaborate ceremonies. This marriage had been forced upon the +house of Este through political necessity, and the young duke-to-be, +Alphonso, had looked forward to it with no pleasure, hence the wedding +by proxy; but Lucrezia, by her charm and tact, soon won the affection of +her husband and drew about her a most distinguished company of poets and +scholars, all of whom were enthusiastic in singing her praise. Ariosto +and the two Strozzi were there, likewise the Cardinal Bembo—who became +a somewhat too ardent admirer—and Aldo Manuzio, and other men of +distinction. Though of commonplace origin, Lucrezia had received the +very best education possible, and she conducted herself with such +propriety and showed such ready wit that she was the real centre of her +literary coterie and gave little, if any, outward evidence of that +immoral and dissolute character with which she had been credited in her +earlier days. There can be no doubt that the corrupt influences which +surrounded her in her girlhood early destroyed her purity of mind and +led her to dissolute practices, but the legend which has grown up about +her, filled with fearful stories of poison and murder, has been much +exaggerated. A sensual woman she was, but she has had to suffer for many +crimes which were committed by her father and her brother, Cæsar Borgia; +and while she was undoubtedly bad in many ways, the time has passed when +she can justly be considered as a fiend incarnate.</p> + +<p>With the high priest of all Christendom a man whose hands were stained +with blood and whose private life was marred by every vice, it is not +surprising that in all parts of Italy the annals of this time are +tainted and polluted in every way. Apparently, all restraint was thrown +aside, the noblest families seemed to vie with each other in crime and +debauchery, and the pages of history are filled with countless awful +iniquities. Among the Medici alone, there is a record of eleven family +murders within the short space of fifty years, and seven of these were +caused by illicit love! With that lack of logic which sometimes, under +similar circumstances, characterizes the actions of men to-day, these +Italians of the sixteenth century were not willing that their sisters +and wives should debase themselves by dishonorable conduct, no matter +what they might do themselves, and when the women were found guilty +there was no punishment too severe for them. Thus, Eleanora di Toledo +was hacked to pieces by her husband Pietro de' Medici, and his sister +Isabella was strangled by her husband the Duke di Bracciano, with the +consent of her brothers.</p> + +<p>Isabella dead, the duke was free to marry Vittoria Accoramboni,—in no +way his equal in rank, for he was an Orsini,—who was a woman totally +devoid of all moral sense—if she is to be judged by her acts. She had +been wedded to Francesco Peretti, but, tiring of him and seeing the +opportunity for marriage with the duke, she and her mother plotted the +husband's death, and it was her handsome and unscrupulous brother who +did the deed. Despite the pope's opposition, the marriage was +consummated, but the guilty pair were not allowed to remain unmolested +for a long time, as Vittoria was soon arrested and tried for complicity +in her first husband's murder. While thus under arrest, she lived in +great state and entertained in a most lavish way, and seemed in no way +abashed by her position. Though finally acquitted, she was ordered by +the court to leave the duke and lead henceforth a life which might be +above suspicion. Through the brother Marcello and his constant +companion, who is continually alluded to as the "Greek enchantress," the +duke and his wife were soon brought together again; they were again +married, that the succession might be assured to Vittoria. Indeed, they +were twice married with this purpose in view, but they were so scorned +by the members of the duke's own family and so harassed by the pope's +officers, who were ever threatening prosecution, that their life was one +of constant care and anxiety. When the duke finally died, Vittoria was +left his sole heir, though the will was disputed by Ludovico Orsini, the +next in succession. Vittoria was spending her first few months of +widowhood in the Orsini palace at Padua, when one night the building was +entered by forty men, all masked in black, who came with murderous +intent. Marcello, the infamous brother, escaped their clutches; another +brother, much younger and innocent of all crime, was shot in the +shoulder and driven to his sister's room, where he thought to find +shelter; there they saw Vittoria, calmly kneeling at her <i>prie-dieu</i>, +rosary in hand, saying her evening prayers. As the story goes, she flung +herself before a crucifix, but all in vain, for she was stabbed in the +heart, one assassin turning the knife to make death absolutely certain. +She died saying, it is reported: "Jesus, I forgive you!" The next day, +when the deed was noised abroad, and the corpse of Vittoria was exposed +to the public gaze, her beauty, even in death, appealed to the Paduans; +and they at once rushed to Ludovico's palace, believing him guilty of +the crime or responsible for it in some way. The place was besieged, an +intercepted letter revealed the fact that Ludovico had killed Vittoria +with his own hand, and when the place was finally reduced and surrender +inevitable, the noble assassin coolly gave up his arms, and then began +to trim his finger-nails with a small pair of scissors, which he took +from his pocket, as if nothing had happened. It is evident that, having +accomplished his revenge upon this woman who had sullied the name of his +family, he was now content to take whatever fate might come; and when he +was strangled in prison, by order of the republic of Venice, he went to +his fathers like a brave man, without a sigh or tremor.</p> + +<p>The story of Violante di Cordona exhibits the same disregard for moral +law and the same calm acceptance of death. As the Duchess of Palliano +and wife of Don Giovanni Caraffa, this beautiful woman was much courted +at her palace in Naples, where she lived in a most sumptuous way with +crowds of courtiers and admirers about her. Through the jealousy of +Diana Brancaccio, one of her ladies in waiting, who is described as +"hot-tempered and tawny-haired," the fair duchess was doomed to a sad +fate, and all on account of the handsome Marcello Capecce, who had been +her most ardent suitor. In Mrs. Linton's words, "his love for Violante +was that half religious, half sensual passion which now writes sonnets +to my lady as a saint, and now makes love to her as a courtesan." But, +whatever his mode of procedure, Diana loved him, while he loved only +Violante, and he proved to be a masterful man. The duke was away in +exile on account of a disgraceful carouse which had ended in a street +fight, and Violante was spending the time, practically alone, in the +quiet little town of Gallese, which is halfway between Orvieto and Rome. +In this solitude, Violante and Marcello were finally surprised under +circumstances which made their guilt certain, and final confession was +obtained from Marcello after he had been arrested and subjected to +torture. Thereupon the duke sought him out in his prison, and stabbed +him and threw his body into the prison sewer. The pope, Paul IV., was +the duke's uncle; and upon being told what his nephew had done, he +showed no surprise, but asked significantly: "And what have they done +with the duchess?" Murder, under such circumstances, was considered +justifiable throughout all Italy—and it must be confessed that the +modern world knows something of this sentiment. On one occasion, a +Florentine court made this reply to a complaint which had been lodged +against a faithless wife: <i>Essendo vero quanto scriveva facesse quello +che conveniva a cavaliere di honore!</i> [Things being true as he has +written them, he is allowed to do that which is befitting a gentleman of +honor!] It was not the pope alone who proposed punishment for Violante, +for the duke had a brother, Cardinal Alfonso Caraffa, who spoke of it +continually, and finally, in the month of August, in the year 1559, +Palliano sent fifty men, with Violante's brother, the Count Aliffe, at +their head, to go to her at Gallese and put her to death. A couple of +Franciscan monks gave her what little comfort there was to be extracted +from the situation, and she received the last sacrament, though stoutly +protesting her innocence the while. Then the bandage was put over her +eyes, and her brother prepared to place about her neck the cord with +which she was to be strangled; finding it too short for the purpose, he +went into another room to get one of more suitable length. Before he had +disappeared through the doorway, Violante had pulled the bandage from +her eyes, and was asking, in the most matter-of-fact way, what the +trouble was and why he did not complete his task. With great courtesy, +he informed his sister what he was about, and a moment later returned, +tranquilly readjusted bandage and cord, and then, fitting his dagger +hilt into a loop at the back, he slowly twisted it about until the soul +of the duchess had fled. Not a harsh or hasty word was spoken, there was +no hurry and no confusion, all was done quietly and in order. The marvel +is that these highly emotional people, who are usually so sensitive to +pain, could have shown such stoical indifference to their fate.</p> + +<p>The case of Beatrice Cenci is one of the best known in all this category +of crime, and here again is shown that sublime fortitude which cannot +fail to excite our sympathy, to some degree at least. Francesco Cenci +was a wealthy nobleman of such profligate habits and such evil ways +that he had twice been threatened with imprisonment for his crimes. +Seven children he had by his first marriage, and at his wife's death he +married Lucrezia Petroni, by whom he had no children. Francesco had no +love for his sons and daughters, and treated them with such uniform +cruelty that he soon drove from their hearts any filial affection they +may have felt for him. His conduct grew so outrageous that finally, in +desperation, his family appealed to the pope for relief, begging that +Cenci be put to death, so that they might live in peace; but the +pontiff, who had already profited by Cenci's wealth and saw further need +for his gold, refused to comply with so unusual a request, and made +matters so much the worse by allowing the father to find out what a +desperate course the children had adopted. One of the two daughters was +finally married, and Cenci was compelled by the pope to give her a +suitable <i>dot</i>; but Beatrice still remained at home, and the father kept +her in virtual imprisonment that she might not escape him and cause him +expense as the other girl had done. The indignities heaped upon her and +upon the wife and sons were such that they all revolted at last and +plotted to take his life. Cardinal Guerra, a young prelate, who, it +seems, was in the habit of visiting the house in Cenci's absence, and +who may have been in love with Beatrice, was taken into the secret and +all the details were arranged. Two old servants, who had no love for +their harsh master, were prevailed upon to do the deed, and were +secretly admitted by Beatrice to the castle known as the Rock of +Petrella, where Cenci had taken his family for the summer months—all +this was in the year 1598. The father's wine had been drugged so that he +fell into a deep sleep, and again it was Beatrice who took the assassins +into the room where he lay. At first they held back, saying that they +could not kill a man in his slumber; but Beatrice would not allow them +to abandon the task, so great was her power over them.</p> + +<p>Beatrice has shown all along a surprising firmness of character, and a +more detailed description of her appearance cannot fail to be of +interest. Leigh Hunt gives the following pen portrait, which he ascribes +to some Roman manuscript: "Beatrice was of a make rather large than +small. Her complexion was fair. She had two dimples in her cheeks, which +added to the beauty of her countenance, especially when she smiled, and +gave it a grace that enchanted all who saw her. Her hair was like +threads of gold; and because it was very long, she used to fasten it up; +but when she let it flow freely, the wavy splendor of it was +astonishing. She had pleasing blue eyes, of a sprightliness mixed with +dignity, and, in addition to all these graces, her conversation had a +spirit in it and a sparkling polish which made every one in love with +her."</p> + +<p>Such was the girl who overcame the compassion of these hirelings by +recounting to them again the story of their own wrongs and those of the +family; and when they still refused, she said: "If you are afraid to put +to death a man in his sleep, I myself will kill my father; but your own +lives shall not have long to run." So, in they went, and the deed was +done in a terrible manner: a long, pointed nail was thrust through one +of the eyes and into the brain and then withdrawn, and the body was +tossed from an upper balcony into the branches of an elder tree below, +that it might seem that he had fallen while walking about in the night. +The murderers were given the reward agreed upon, and, in addition, +Beatrice bestowed upon the one who had been least reluctant a mantle +laced with gold, which had formerly belonged to her father. The next +day, when Francesco Cenci's body was discovered, there was pretence of +great grief in the household, and the dead man was given most elaborate +burial. After a short time, the family went back to Rome and lived there +in tranquillity, until they were startled one day by accusations which +charged them with the death of the father. Indignant denials were made +by all, and especially by Beatrice, but in vain; they were submitted to +torture, and the shameful truth was finally confessed. The pope at first +ordered them to be beheaded; but so great was the interest taken in the +case by cardinals and members of the nobility, that a respite of +twenty-five days was granted in which to prepare a defence. The ablest +advocates in Rome interested themselves in the matter, and, when the +case was called, the pope listened to the arguments for four hours. The +plan of defence was to compare the wrongs of the father with those of +the children, and to see which had suffered the more. The larger share +of responsibility was put upon Beatrice; but she, it appeared, had been +the one most sinned against, and certain unmentionable villainies in her +father's conduct, which were darkly hinted at, aroused the pity of the +Holy Father to such an extent that he gave them all comparative liberty, +with the hope of ultimate acquittal. At this juncture of affairs, a +certain nobleman, Paolo Santa Croce, killed his mother as the result of +a family quarrel; and the pope, newly angered against the Cenci family +because he considered it to have set the example for this parricidal +mania, ordered them all to be executed according to the terms of the +original judgment, with the exception of the youngest son, Bernardo, who +was given a free pardon. The sentence was executed on the following day, +Saturday, May 11, 1599, on the bridge of Saint Angelo, the three victims +being Lucrezia the wife, Beatrice, and the older brother, Giacomo, all +the other sons excepting Bernardo being dead at this time. Part of the +Cenci estates were conveyed to one of the pope's nephews, and became the +Villa Borghese, wherein may still be seen portraits of Lucrezia Petroni +and Beatrice Cenci, the latter by the well-known Guido Reni. It is +generally believed that this portrait was painted while Beatrice was in +prison, and Shelley has given the following appreciative description of +it in the preface to his tragedy, <i>The Cenci</i>, which is based upon this +story, and which he wrote in Rome in 1819:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"There is a fixed and pale composure upon the features, she seems +sad and stricken down in spirit, yet the despair thus expressed is +lightened by the patience of gentleness. Her head is bound with +folds of white drapery, from which the yellow strings of her golden +hair escape and fall about her neck. The moulding of her face is +exquisitely delicate, the eyebrows are distinct and arched, the +lips have that permanent meaning of imagination and sensibility +which suffering has not repressed and which it seems as if death +scarcely could extinguish. Her forehead is large and clear, her +eyes, which we are told were remarkable for their vivacity, are +swollen with weeping and lustreless, but beautifully tender and +serene. In the whole mien there are simplicity and dignity which, +united with her exquisite loveliness and deep sorrow, are +inexpressibly pathetic. Beatrice Cenci appears to have been one of +those rare persons in whom energy and gentleness dwell together +without destroying one another; her nature was simple and profound. +The crimes and miseries in which she was an actor and a sufferer +are as the mask and the mantle in which circumstances clothed her +for her impersonation in the scene of the world."</p></div> + +<p>To-day, the story is still an oft-told tale in Rome, the portrait of <i>la +Cenci</i> is known by all, and all feel pity for her sad fate. However +great her crime may have been, it should be taken into account that it +was only after "long and vain attempts to escape from what she +considered a perpetual contamination, both of mind and body,"—as +Shelley puts it,—that she plotted the murder for which she was +beheaded; so great was the provocation, that all can pity if pardon be +withheld.</p> + +<p>The corrupt condition of life in the convents throughout Italy at this +time is not a matter of mere conjecture, for the facts are known in many +cases and are of such a nature as almost to pass belief. One reason for +this state of affairs is to be found in the character of the women who +composed these conventual orders. It is natural to think of them as holy +maidens of deep religious instincts, who had taken the veil to satisfy +some spiritual necessity of their being; unfortunately, the picture is +untrue. In many of these convents, and particularly in those where vice +was known to flourish, the membership was largely recruited from the +ranks of the nobility, it being the custom to send unmarried, +unmarriageable, and unmanageable daughters to the shelter of a cloister, +simply to get them out of the way. Women who had transgressed, to their +own disgrace, the commonly accepted social laws, whether married or +unmarried, found ready protection here; a professed nun was under the +care of the Church and had nothing to fear from the state, and this fact +was not unknown. To show how clearly this condition was understood at +the time, it is interesting to note that when the scandal concerning the +convent of Santa Chiara was first made public, an easy-going priest, who +had acted as a go-between in many of these intrigues of the cloister, +said that he could not see why people in general should create so much +confusion about it, as these were only "affairs of the gentlefolk [<i>cosi +di gentilhuomini</i>]"!</p> + +<p>The public disgrace of Santa Chiara was due to the evil ways of one of +its members, Sister Umilia, a woman who had had some experience in +worldly things before she turned her back upon them. Her name was +Lucrezia Malpigli, and, as a young girl, she had loved and desired to +marry Massimiliano Arnolfini; but her parents objected, and she was +affianced to the three Buonvisi brothers in consecutive order before she +finally found a husband, the two older brothers dying each time before +the wedding ceremony. After her marriage, to her misfortune, she met, at +Lucca, Arnolfini, the man whom she had loved as a girl at Ferrara, and +it soon appeared that the old love was not dead. Within a short time her +husband was stabbed, by Arnolfini's bravo, as he was returning with her +from the church, and rumors were at once afloat implicating her in the +murder. Guilty or not, she was frightened, and before four days had +passed she had taken refuge in the convent of Santa Chiara. Safe from +all pursuit, she endowed the convent most liberally, cut her hair, and +became the Sister Umilia, who was described as a "young woman, tall and +pale, dressed in a nun's habit, with a crown upon her head." For +thirteen years little was heard of her, and then a telltale rope ladder +hanging from the convent wall led to disclosures of a most revolting +nature. It was discovered that the supposedly pious nuns were +profligates, the convent was a veritable den of iniquity, and Sister +Umilia was found to have several lovers who were disputing her favors. +Poisons had been sent to her by a young nobleman, Tommaso Samminiati, +that she might dispose of a certain Sister Calidonia, who had become +repentant and was threatening to reveal the secrets of their life; and +the poisons were so deadly, so the letter ran, that when once Calidonia +had swallowed a certain white powder, "if the devil does not help her, +she will pass from this life in half a night's time, and without the +slightest sign of violence." Penalties were inflicted upon all of these +offending nuns, and Umilia was imprisoned for nine years before she was +restored to liberty and allowed to wear again the convent dress.</p> + +<p>However black this picture may appear, it is passing fair when compared +with the career of the notorious Lady of Monza. Virginia Maria de Leyva +was a lady of noble birth who had entered the convent of Santa +Margherita, at Monza, where she had taken the veil, being induced to +take this step because her cousin had in some way deprived her of her +inheritance, and without a dowry she had not found marriage easy. In the +convent, because she was well born and well connected, she became a +person of much influence and received many callers. Adjoining the +convent was the residence of young Gianpaolo Osio, a reckless, amorous +dare-devil, who was <i>beau comme le jour</i>, as the French fairy tales say. +So much of the story having been told, it is not difficult to guess what +is to come. It was a case of love at first sight, and Osio was aided in +his conquest by a number of the older and more corrupt nuns and several +other people about the convent, not excepting the father confessor, who +wrote some of Osio's love letters and seemed to smile upon the affair +and wish it all success. Virginia yielded, as might have been expected +under such circumstances; and the amour ran along smoothly for several +years, until Virginia and Osio, with the help of four obliging nuns, +felt constrained to take the life of a disgruntled serving-maid who was +threatening to reveal all to Monsignor Barca, the inspector of the +convent, at the time of his approaching visit. When once the deed was +done, the corpse was dismembered for purposes of better concealment; but +suspicion was aroused by this sudden disappearance of the maid, and Osio +took Virginia from the place, to shield her as much as possible. Next, +he offered to help her two most active accomplices, Ottavia and +Benedetta, to escape and seek refuge in a Bergamasque convent, where +they would be safe; but on the way thither he treacherously assaulted +them and left them both for dead. One crime rarely covers up another, +however; the facts soon came to light, and all concerned were fitly +punished. Virginia was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment in the +convent of Santa Valeria, at Milan; and there she remained for many +years, in a dark cell, until she was finally given better quarters +through the interposition of Cardinal Borromeo, who had been impressed +by her growing reputation for sanctity. How old she grew to be, deponent +saith not, but she must have lived for many years, as the following +description will attest: "a bent old woman, tall of stature, dried and +fleshless, but venerable in her aspect, whom no one could believe to +have been once a charming and immodest beauty."</p> + +<p>What an awful century it was! Vice and corruption in all quarters, the +pope an acknowledged sinner, the nobility tainted, and even the holy +daughters of the Church virgins in name only! And this was the century +in which the most beautiful Madonnas were painted!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_IX" id="Chapter_IX"></a><a href="#table">Chapter IX</a></h2> + +<h3>The Brighter Side of the Sixteenth Century</h3> + + +<p>The tales of crime and sensuality which fill the annals of the sixteenth +century are so repulsive that it is with a feeling of relief that we +turn our attention to other pictures of the same time which are +altogether pleasing in their outlines. The court of the Duke of Urbino +is the most conspicuous example of this better side of life, and his +talented and accomplished wife, Elizabetta Gonzaga, a daughter of the +reigning house of Mantua, presided over a literary salon which was +thronged with all the wit and wisdom of the land. Urbino was but a +rocky, desolate bit of mountainous country, not more than forty miles +square, in the Marches of Ancona, on a spur of the Tuscan Apennines, +about twenty miles from the Adriatic and not far from historic Rimini, +but here was a most splendid principality with a glittering court. +Federigo, Count of Montefeltro, had been created Duke of Urbino by Pope +Sixtus IV. in 1474, and he it was who laid the foundations for that +prosperous state which at his death passed into the hands of his son +Guidobaldo, the husband of Elizabetta. Federigo's immense wealth was not +gained by burdening his subjects with heavy taxes, but rather from the +money which he was able to earn as a military leader, for he was a noble +soldier of fortune. Vespasiano tells us, with regard to his military +science, that he was excelled by no general of his time, and his good +faith was never questioned. He was also a man of singularly religious +nature, and no morning passed without his hearing mass upon his knees. +In his lifetime he served no less than three pontiffs, two kings of +Naples, and two dukes of Milan; the republic of Florence and several +Italian leagues had appointed him their general in the field, and in +this long life of warfare the sums of money paid him for his services +were immense. Dennistoun relates that in the year 1453 "his war-pay from +Alfonso of Naples exceeded eight thousand ducats a month, and for many +years he had from him and his son an annual peace-pension of six +thousand ducats in the name of past services. At the close of his life, +when general of the Italian league, he drew, in war, one hundred and +sixty-five thousand ducats of annual stipend, forty-five thousand being +his own share." With this wealth he caused his desert-like domain to +rejoice and blossom as the rose. His magnificent fortified palace was +most elaborately decorated with rare marbles and priceless carvings, +frescos, panel pictures, tapestries, tarsia work, stucco reliefs, and +works of art of all kinds; here, according to his biographer Muzio, he +maintained a suite so numerous and distinguished as to rival that of any +royal household. So famed indeed did Urbino become, that all the +chivalry of Italy crowded the palace to learn manners and the art of war +from its courteous duke.</p> + +<p>Further details are furnished by Vespasiano, who says that "his +household, which consisted of five hundred mouths entertained at his own +cost, was governed less like a company of soldiers than a strict +religious community. There was no gaming or swearing, but the men +conversed with the utmost sobriety." It is interesting to know that +among his court officers were included forty-five counts of the duchy +and of other states, seventeen gentlemen, five secretaries, four +teachers of grammar, logic, and philosophy, fourteen clerks in public +offices, five architects and engineers, five readers during meals, and +four transcribers of manuscripts. Federigo had ever shown himself a +liberal and enlightened monarch, and he had early acquired a solid +culture which enabled him, when he grew to manhood, to bestow his +patronage in an intelligent manner. Scholars and artists were clustered +about him in great numbers; Urbino was widely known as the Italian +Athens, and as one of the foremost centres of art and literature in all +Europe, when Elizabetta Gonzaga was wedded to Guidobaldo and became the +chatelaine of the palace. The young duke and his wife began their life +together under the most auspicious circumstances. From what his tutor, +Odasio of Padua, says about his boyhood, it is evident that if he were +alive to-day he could easily obtain one of the Cecil Rhodes Oxford +fellowships, for we are told that he cared only for study and for manly +sports, and that he was of an upright character. His memory was so +retentive that he could repeat whole books, word for word, after many +years, and in more ways than one he had displayed a wonderful precocity. +Elizabetta, too, had been given a most liberal and careful education, +and her ready intelligence was equalled only by her careful tact and her +perfect <i>savoir faire</i>. Indeed, on account of her many attainments, +personal charm, and her refining influence, which was far-reaching, she +may be likened to that celebrated Frenchwoman Catherine de Vivonne, +Madame de Rambouillet, whose hôtel was, a century later, such a +rendezvous for the gentler spirits of France in that hurly-burly period +which followed the religious wars. Endowed as she was by nature, it was +by most fortuitous circumstance that she was called to preside over the +court of Urbino, for at that time there was no other woman in Italy who +was so fitted for such a distinguished position. It was in the last +decade of the <i>quattrocento</i> that Elizabetta was married, and she found +clustered about her from the very start illustrious artists and men of +letters. Melozzo da Forli and Giovanni Santi—Raphael's father—were +there, and there the early youth of Raphael was spent; Jan van Eyck and +Justus of Ghent, the great Flemish painters, were also there, and the +palace was adorned with many monuments to their skill. Here it was that +Piero della Francesca had written his celebrated work on the science of +perspective, Francesco di Giorgio his <i>Trattato d'Architettura</i>, and +Giovanni Santi his poetical account of the artists of his time; and here +it was in the first days of the sixteenth century that Elizabetta was +the centre of a group which was all sweetness and light when compared +with the prevailing habits of life.</p> + +<p>In this circle were to be found, among others, Bernardo Bibbiena, the +patron of Berni, of whom Raphael has left us a portrait which is now in +the Pitti Palace; Giuliano de' Medici, whose marble statue by Michael +Angelo may still be seen in San Lorenzo at Florence; Cardinal Pietro +Bembo, who had in his youth fallen a victim to the charms of Lucrezia +Borgia when she first went to Ferrara; Emilia Pia, the wife of Antonio +da Montefeltro, who is described as "a lady of so lively wit and +judgment, that she seems to govern the whole company"; and last, but far +from least, Baldassare Castiglione, that model courtier and fine wit, +who has left a picture of Urbino in his celebrated book <i>Il Cortegiano</i>, +which was long known in Italy as <i>Il Libro d'Oro</i>. This volume is an +elaborate discussion of the question, What constitutes a perfect +courtier; and it was for a long time a most comprehensive and final +compendium, handbook, and guide for all who wished to perfect +themselves in courtly grace. What interests us most in the book, +however, is the fact that Castiglione has put this discussion of polite +manners into the form of a conversation which he supposes to have taken +place in the drawing room of the Countess of Urbino, that being the most +likely spot in all Europe for such a discussion at such a time, for +Guidobaldo's court was "confessedly the purest and most elevated in all +Italy." Castiglione was one of Elizabetta's most ardent admirers, and he +says of her that no one "approached but was immediately affected with +secret pleasure, and it seemed as if her presence had some powerful +majesty, for surely never were stricter ties of love and cordial +friendship between brothers than with us."</p> + +<p>Count Guidobaldo early became a cripple and an invalid, too ardent +devotion to books and to athletic pursuits at the same time having +undermined a constitution that was never strong; therefore, it was his +custom to retire for the night at an early hour; but it was in the +evening that the countess held court, and then were gathered together, +for many years, all the brightest minds of Italy, who felt the charm of +her presence and the value of her stimulating personality. Urbino was a +school of good manners, as Naples had been in the days of Queen Joanna; +it was the first great literary salon in modern history, and, presided +over by a woman who was a veritable <i>grande dame de société</i>, its +influence was by no means confined to a narrow sphere. Even in far-away +England, Urbino was known and appreciated; and Henry VII., to show his +esteem for its ruler, conferred the Order of the Garter upon Guidobaldo. +In acknowledgment of this favor, Castiglione was sent to the English +court to bear the thanks of his lord, and with him he took as a present +Raphael's <i>Saint George and the Dragon</i>, which, by the way, was taken +from England when Cromwell ordered the sale of the art treasures of +Charles I., and may now be seen at the Louvre. The old Count Federigo +had made all this refined magnificence possible, it is true, and +Guidobaldo had been in every way a worthy successor to his father, +though lacking his rugged strength; but to Guidobaldo's wife, the +gracious and wise Elizabetta Gonzaga, belongs the credit for having kept +Urbino up to a high standard—an achievement of which few, if any, other +women of her time were capable. There was needed a person who combined +worldly knowledge with education and a sane, decent philosophy of life, +and Guidobaldo's wife was that person.</p> + +<p>Veronica Gambara deserves a place among the good and illustrious women +of this time; and though she occupied a position far less conspicuous +than that of the Countess of Urbino, she was still a person of +reputation and importance. Born in the year 1485, her "fortunate +parents," as Zamboni calls them, gave her a most careful and thorough +education, and as a young woman she was noted for her poetic gifts, +which were of a high order. At the age of twenty-five she married +Ghiberto, Count of Correggio, and their union was one of true sympathy +and deep attachment, such as was rarely seen then, when the <i>mariage de +convenance</i> was more in vogue, perhaps, than it is in these later days +in Paris. Nine happy years they spent together, and two sons were born +to them; then Ghiberto died, leaving Veronica in such grief that she +fell ill and hovered a long time between life and death. In one of her +poems she relates that it was the fear that she might not meet her +beloved husband in Paradise which prevented her from dying with him. She +had work to do, however, as her husband, in sign of his great confidence +in her, had made her his sole executrix and given into her care the +government of Correggio. Veronica had always possessed a lively +imagination, and now in her grief her sorrow was shown to the world in +a most extravagant way. She wore the heaviest and blackest mourning +obtainable; her apartments, furnished henceforth with the bare +necessities of life, were tapestried in black; and black was the hue of +her livery, her carriages, and her horses. To further proclaim to all +the world her love for the departed, she had painted over the door of +her chamber the couplet which Virgil has ascribed to Dido:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Ille meos, primus qui me sibi junxit, amores<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Abstulit: ille habeat secum servetque sepulchro!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>[He who first linked me to himself hath borne away my affection: may he +possess it still and retain it in his grave!]</p> + +<p>As to her personal appearance, Veronica was not beautiful in face, as +her features were irregular; but it was said of her in her early +womanhood that if her face had equalled her form she would have been one +of the most beautiful women of her time. She was high-strung, +enthusiastic, and passionate, but she possessed a character and an +intelligence which enabled her to hold herself in check; she was a most +devoted wife and entirely domestic in her disposition. Her poetry is +addressed chiefly to her husband, and she never tires of extolling his +many virtues. His eyes, in particular, seem to have been especially +beautiful in her sight, as she devotes no less than six sonnets and a +madrigal to a description of their charms, calling them <i>occhi +stellante</i>, and telling of their power in most fervid terms. We cannot, +however, consider her as a woman who was wholly concerned with her own +small affairs, as her letters show her to have been in communication +with the most illustrious literary men and women of all Italy, including +Ariosto, Bembo, Sannazzaro, and Vittoria Colonna. Though her literary +baggage was not extensive, the few sonnets she has left have a strength, +simplicity, and sincerity which were rare among the poets of her time. +Her best poem was one addressed to the rival sovereigns, the Emperor +Charles V., and the brilliant Francis I. of France; in it she pleads +with them to give peace to Italy and join their forces, so as to drive +back from the shores of Europe the host of the infidels. Her death +occurred in the year 1550, and then, Mrs. Jameson tells us in somewhat +ambiguous phrase, "she was buried by her husband." A little reflection +will clear away the doubt, however, and make clear the fact that she was +laid to rest beside the husband for whom she had buried herself in black +for so many years.</p> + +<p>No woman more completely devoted herself to her husband's memory, by +means of her enduring verse, or deserves a higher place in the annals of +conjugal poetry, than Vittoria Colonna; such laurel wreaths did she put +upon the brow of her spouse, the Marquis of Pescara, that Ariosto was +tempted to say, in substance, that if Alexander had envied Achilles the +fame he had acquired in the songs of Homer, how much more would he have +envied Pescara those strains wherein his gifted wife had exalted his +fame above that of all contemporary heroes! Vittoria came from most +illustrious families, as her father was the Grand Constable Fabrizio +Colonna and her mother was Anna di Montefeltro, daughter of Federigo, +the first great Duke of Urbino. At the early age of four, fate joined +Vittoria in an infant marriage to the young Count d'Avalo, who was of +her own age, and who later, as the Marquis of Pescara, really became her +husband. When Vittoria was but a young girl, her beauty and her +wonderful talents, added to her high station, made her conspicuous among +her countrywomen, and her hand was often sought in marriage even by +reigning princes. Both the Duke of Savoy and the Duke of Braganza +desired to marry her, and the pope was even persuaded to plead their +cause; but all to no avail, as she had long considered her future +settled and had no desire to change it. At the age of seventeen they +celebrated their wedding, and their life together, which began with that +moment, was never marred by a single discordant note.</p> + +<p>The first four years of their married life were spent on the island of +Ischia, where Pescara had a villa and a small estate, and there they +lived in an idyllic happiness which has almost become proverbial. The +young husband was not so studiously inclined as was his gifted wife, but +he was a manly fellow, much given to athletic pursuits, and with a +decided taste for a military career, and Vittoria was loved by him in a +most tender and noble fashion. They were denied the happiness of +children, and the young wife expresses her sorrow over this fact in her +twenty-second sonnet; but she consoles herself by adding: "since it is +not given to me to be the mother of sons who shall inherit their +father's glory, at least may I be able, by uniting my name with his in +verse, to become the mother of his great deeds and lofty fame." After +their long honeymoon had come to an end, Pescara was moved to return to +the world, or rather to enter it for the first time as a man, and he +entered the imperial army. At the age of twenty-one, as a general of +cavalry, he took part in the battle of Ravenna, where he was made a +prisoner of war. After a year's detention, however, he was allowed to +return to his post, and then followed campaigning in various parts of +the peninsula. Vittoria, during all these days of absence, had remained +quietly in their island home at Ischia, where she devoted her time to +the composition of those sonnets in honor of her husband's glorious +deeds which have since brought her such lasting reputation. In token of +her fidelity and her general attitude toward the world and society at +this time, Vittoria had adopted as her device a small Cupid within the +circlet of a twisted snake, and under it was the significant motto: +<i>Quem peperit virtus prudentia servet amorem</i> [Discretion shall guard +the love which virtue inspired]. The soldier-husband came for a hasty +visit to Ischia whenever distances and the varying fortunes of war made +it possible; but his stays were brief, and he always wore in his wife's +eyes that romantic halo which it was but natural that a poetic woman +should throw about the head of a young and brilliant general whose +handsome features and noble carriage made him none the less attractive, +and who happened at the same time to be her husband.</p> + +<p>After a somewhat short but notable career as a soldier, Pescara was +given entire command of the imperial armies, and he it was who directed +the fortunes of the day during that memorable battle of Pavia when King +Francis I. of France was captured, and when the illustrious French +knight "without fear and without reproach," the Chevalier Bayard, made +that remark which has long since become historic, <i>Tout est perdu fors +l'honneur</i>. That battle won, and with such credit to himself, Pescara +was loaded with praise and rewards, and, as is often the case under such +circumstances, he was subjected to some temptations. His power had +become so great, and his military skill was considered so remarkable, +that efforts were made to entice him from the imperial service; he was +actually offered the crown of the kingdom of Naples in case he would be +willing to renounce his allegiance to Charles V. The offer tempted him, +and he hesitated for a moment, writing to his wife to ascertain her +opinion on the subject. It is clear that he wavered in his duty, but his +excuse to Vittoria was that he longed to see her on a throne which she +could grace indeed. She, however, without a moment's hesitation, wrote +to him to remain faithful to his sovereign, saying, in a letter cited +by Giambattista Rota: "I do not desire to be the wife of a king, but +rather of that great captain who, by means of his valor in war and his +nobility of soul in time of peace, has been able to conquer the greatest +monarchs." Pescara, obedient to his wife's desire, immediately began to +free himself from the temptations which had been besetting his path, but +he had gone so far upon this dangerous road that he was able to turn +aside from it only after his hitherto untarnished honor had been +sullied. The criticism which he received at this time made him +melancholy, and, weakened by wounds received at the battle of Pavia, +which now broke out again, he soon came to his end at Milan, at the age +of thirty-five. Though she was for a long time stunned by her grief, +Vittoria finally accepted her sorrow with some degree of calmness.</p> + +<p>Back she then went to Ischia, where they had passed those earlier days +together, and there, for seven years almost without interruption, she +spent her time thinking of the dead lord of Pescara, and extolling him +in her verse. Still young and beautiful, it was but natural that her +grief might be controlled in time and that she might again find +happiness in married life. Distinguished princes pleaded with her in +vain, and even her brothers urged her to this course, which, under the +circumstances, they considered entirely within the bounds of propriety; +but to them all she gave the calm assurance that her noble husband, +though dead to others, was still alive for her and constantly in her +thoughts. After the first period of her grief had passed, she found +herself much drawn toward spiritual and religious thoughts, and then it +was that her poetry became devotional in tone and sacred subjects were +now her only inspiration. Roscoe mentions the fact that she was at this +time suspected of sympathizing in secret with the reformed doctrines in +religion which were then making such headway in the North and playing +such havoc with the papal interests, but there seems little ground for +this suspicion beyond the fact that her devotion to the things of the +spirit and her somewhat austere ideas in regard to manners and morals +were in that day so unusual as to call forth comment. This sacred verse +was published in a volume entitled <i>Rime spirituali</i>, and Guingené is +authority for the statement that no other author before Vittoria Colonna +had ever published a volume of poetry devoted exclusively to religious +themes.</p> + +<p>Her most faithful friend and admirer in all her long widowhood of +twenty-two years was the great artist, sculptor, and painter, Michael +Angelo, who never failed to treat her with the tenderest courtesy and +respect. No other woman had ever touched his heart, and she gave him +suggestion and inspiration for much of his work. After those first seven +years of loneliness at Ischia, Vittoria spent much time in the convents +of Orvieto and Viterbo, and later she lived in the greatest seclusion at +Rome; there it was that death overtook her. Wherever she went, Michael +Angelo's thoughtfulness followed her out, and in those last moments at +Rome he was with her, faithful to the end. He was the kindly, rugged +master-genius of his time, an intellectual giant, and she was a woman of +rare devotion and purity of soul; and the real Platonic affection which +seems to have possessed them, in that age of license and scepticism, is +touching and impressive. What this friendship meant to him, the poet has +expressed in the following sonnet addressed to Vittoria, which is here +given in Wordsworth's matchless translation:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Yes! hope may with my strong desire keep pace,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And I be undeluded, unbetrayed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For if of our affections none find grace<br /></span> +<span class="i0">in sight of Heaven, then, wherefore had God made<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The world which we inhabit? Better plea<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Love cannot have than that in loving thee<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Glory to that eternal peace is paid,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who such divinity to thee imparts<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As hallows and makes pure all gentle hearts.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His hope is treacherous only whose love dies<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With beauty, which is varying every hour:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But in chaste hearts, uninfluenced by the power<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of outward change, there blooms a deathless flower,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That breathes on earth the air of Paradise."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The ducal court at Ferrara became, in the latter half of the sixteenth +century, the centre of much intellectual life and brilliancy; generous +patronage was extended to the arts and to literature, and here gathered +together a company which rivalled in splendor the court of Urbino in the +days of the Countess Elizabetta. The duke, Alfonso II., son of that +unfortunate Renée, daughter of Louis XII. of France, who had been kept +in an Italian prison for twelve long years because of her suspected +sympathy with the reformed doctrines, came of a long line of princes who +had in the past given liberally to the cause of learning. During his +reign, which covers the period from 1559 to 1597, the social side of +court life in his dukedom came into special prominence. The two sisters +of Alfonso—Lucrezia and Leonora—presided over this court, and to it +came, from time to time, many of the most beautiful women of Italy. +Tarquinia Moeza was there, a woman of beauty and of rare poetic gifts; +Lucrezia Bendidio, beautiful and accomplished, and having constantly +about her a most admiring throng of poets and literati; and later came +the two acknowledged beauties of the day, Leonora di Sanvitali, Countess +of Scandiano, and her no less charming mother-in-law, Barbara, Countess +of Sala. Among the men of this company, suffice it to mention the name +of the poet Guarini, whose fame has become enduring on account of his +charming and idyllic drama, <i>Il pastor fido</i>, for he it is who seems to +embody that sprightliness of wit which gave to Ferrara at that time its +gladsome reputation.</p> + +<p>To this court there came, for the first time, in the year 1565, young +Torquato Tasso, poet and courtier, scholar and gentleman, and already +the author of a published narrative poem, the <i>Rinaldo</i>, which caused +him to be hailed as the most promising poet of his generation when he +was but in his eighteenth year. Bernardo Tasso, the poet's father, was +likewise a poet and a professional courtier of some distinction, and +varying fortunes had taken him to Urbino, where the son Torquato grew +up, surrounded by all the evidences of refinement and culture. He had +been favored by nature with a tall and commanding figure, and his good +looks had already caused more than one gentle heart to flutter, when, at +the age of twenty-one, with his father's consent and approval, he +entered the service of the Cardinal Luigi d'Este, and became at once a +conspicuous figure in court circles. Almost instantly the youth, filled +as he was with most romantic ideas and readily susceptible to the power +of woman's beauty, fell a captive to the charms of the Princess Leonora +d'Este, who, though some ten years his senior, seemed to embody all the +graces and to completely satisfy the ideal which up to this time he had +been able to see only with his mind's eye. Leonora had already been +sought in marriage by many titled suitors, but she had invariably turned +a deaf ear to such proposals, never finding one who could please her +fancy or who promised comfort in her loneliness. For she was lonely in +that court, as she seems to have dwelt in a sort of spiritual isolation +most of the time; there was always a melancholy air about her, which had +no doubt been induced in large measure by her mother's sad fate. For +Tasso to love her was most natural; but they both knew that such a love +could be but hopeless, and it cannot be said that she encouraged him in +any covert manner or that he made open profession of his passion. It is +true that he makes her the subject of many of his poems, wherein he +lauds her to the skies, but this is no more than was expected of a court +poet; he did the same for other ladies, but in all that was dedicated to +her charms there seems to shine forth a truer light of real affection +than is found in all the others. What words of affection, if any, passed +between them can never be known; but it seems that there must have been +some sort of tacit consent to his silent adoration, and Tasso tells in a +madrigal, perhaps in proof of this, that once, when he had asked her +pardon for having put his arm upon her own in the eagerness of +conversation, she replied, with gentleness: "You offended, not by +putting your arm there, but by taking it away!"</p> + +<p>For twelve years Tasso remained at Ferrara, constantly writing sonnets +and short poems of all descriptions, which were most often addressed to +Leonora, but at the same time he was busily working upon that longer +poem in epic form, descriptive of the First Crusade, the <i>Gerusalemme +liberata</i>, wherein he puts a new feeling into Italian poetry, which had +been expressed before by Ariosto in his amatory verse, but which cannot +be found to any great extent in his more pretentious work, the <i>Orlando +Furioso</i>. This new feeling was real sentiment, and not sentimentality, +and it denotes the growing conception of the worth and dignity of +womanhood which we have already discovered in the poetry of Michael +Angelo. Allowing for the infinite contradictions possible in human +nature, it may be that these men of the same time, who so coolly killed +their wives and sisters for acts of infidelity, were touched in some dim +way with the same feeling, to which, alas! they gave but sorry +expression, if the surmise be true.</p> + +<p>The constant excitement of the court and his unending literary labors +commenced to tell upon the poet in 1575, when his health began to fail +and he grew irritable and restless, became subject to delusions, fancied +that he had been denounced by the Inquisition, and was in daily terror +of being poisoned. Then it was said that the poet was mad, and there are +some who have whispered that it was his unrequited love for the Princess +Leonora which brought about this calamity. However that may be, the +climax was reached in the year 1577, when Tasso, in the presence of +Lucrezia d'Este,—who was then Duchess of Urbino,—drew a knife upon one +of his servants. For this he was arrested, but soon after was given his +liberty on condition that he should go to a Franciscan monastery and +give himself that rest and attention which his failing health demanded. +Here, however, he was beset with the idea that the duke sought to take +his life, and he fled in disguise to his sister, who was then living at +Sorrento. Various explanations have been given for this sudden flight, +and some biographers have insinuated that the duke had discovered some +hidden intrigue between his sister Leonora and Tasso which had caused +the latter to fear for his safety. This supposition cannot be accepted +as true, however, for if the duke had known or had even strongly +suspected such a thing he would have promptly put the poet to death +without compunction, and such a course of action would have been +entirely justified by the public sentiment of the time. And if this +supposition were true, is it probable that Tasso would have been allowed +to return to Ferrara in a short time, as he did? Now, begins a confused +life, and the poet comes and goes, moved by a strange restlessness, +never happy away from Ferrara, yet never caring to stay there long. +Finally, on one occasion he thought himself so neglected at his return +that he made a most violent scene, and became so bitter and incoherent +in his complaints that he was pronounced insane and imprisoned by order +of the duke. There he remained for seven years, and the most of that +time he was in a well-lighted and well-furnished room, where he was +allowed to receive visitors and devote himself to literary work whenever +he so desired. At the end of this time, in which Tasso himself speaks of +his mental disorder, he went to Mantua, where he had been invited by the +Prince Vincenzo Gonzaga; there he spent a few pleasant months; but he +soon grew discontented, the roaming fit came upon him again, and after a +number of years of pitiful endeavor he finally died, in 1595, at the +convent of Saint Onofrio.</p> + +<p>It does not seem just to blame the Princess Leonora d'Este for the sad +fate which befell Tasso, as so many have done, for there is no proof of +any unkindness on her part. That he loved her there can be but little +doubt, but hardly to the verge of madness, as he wrote love sonnets to +other ladies at the same time; the truth seems to be that he became +mentally unbalanced as the result of the precocious development of his +powers, which made a man of him while yet a boy and developed in him an +intensity of feeling which made his candle of life burn fiercely, but +for a short time only. His end was but the natural consequence of the +beginning, and whether Leonora helped or hindered in the final result, +it matters not, for she was blameless. She died in the second year of +Tasso's imprisonment, sad at heart as she had ever been, never deeply +touched by the poet's constant praises, and to the end a victim to that +melancholy mood which had come upon her in childhood.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_X" id="Chapter_X"></a><a href="#table">Chapter X</a></h2> + +<h3>The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries</h3> + + +<p>The transition from the sixteenth to the seventeenth century in Italy +was marked by no sudden changes of any kind. The whole country was +thoroughly prostrate and under the control of the empire; a national +spirit did not exist, and the people seemed content to slumber on +without opposing in any way the tyranny of their foreign masters. The +glory of the Italian Renaissance had been sung in all the countries of +Europe; in every nook and corner of the continent, Italian painters and +sculptors, princes and poets, artists and artisans of all kinds, had +stimulated this new birth of the world; but this mission accomplished, +Italy seemed to find little more to do, and for lack of an ideal her +sons and daughters wasted their time in the pursuit of idle things. It +was the natural reaction after an age of unusual force and brilliancy. +In the shadow of the great achievements of the sixteenth century in all +lines of human activity, the seventeenth, lost in admiration, could +imagine no surer way to equal attainment than to imitate what had gone +before. Literature became stilted and full of mannerisms and underwent a +process of refinement which left it without strength or vigor, and +society in general seemed more concerned with form and ceremony than +with the deeper things of the spirit.</p> + +<p>Countless examples are on record to show the petty jealousies which were +agitating the public mind at this time, and the number of quarrels and +arguments which had their origin in most trivial causes passes belief. +Rank and position were of the utmost consequence, and questions of +precedence in public functions were far more eagerly discussed than were +questions of national policy. Naples, under the control of Spanish +princes, was particularly noted for such exhibitions of undignified +behavior. On one occasion, during a solemn church ceremony, the military +governor of the city left the cathedral in a great rage because he had +noticed that a small footstool had been placed for the archbishop, while +nothing of the kind had been provided for his own comfort. At the death +of a certain princess, the royal commissioners delayed the funeral +because it was claimed that she had used arms and insignia of nobility +above her true rank, and was not entitled, therefore, to the brilliant +obsequies which were being planned by the members of her family. The +body was finally put in a vault and left unburied until the matter had +been passed upon by the heraldry experts in Madrid! During the funeral +services which were being held in honor of the Queen of Spain, the +archbishop desired footstools placed for all the bishops present, but +the vicegerent opposed this innovation, and the ceremony was finally +suspended because they could come to no agreement. The cities of Cremona +and Pavia were in litigation for eighty-two years over the question as +to which should have precedence over the other in public functions where +representatives of the two places happened to be together; finally, the +Milanese Senate, to which the question was submitted, "after careful +examination and mature deliberation, decided that it had nothing to +decide." Another example of this small-mindedness is shown in the case +of the General Giovanni Serbelloni, who, while fighting in the +Valteline in 1625, was unwilling to open a despatch which had been sent +to him, because he had not been addressed by all his titles. It is a +pleasure to add that as a result of this action he was left in ignorance +as to the approach of the enemy and the next day suffered a severe +defeat.</p> + +<p>Rome was the seat of much splendor and display—an inevitable state of +affairs when the fact is taken into consideration that the city was +filled with legates and embassies, all anxious to wait upon his holiness +the pope and gain some special privilege or concession. At this time the +cardinals, too, were not mere ecclesiastics, but rather men of great +wealth and power; often they became prime ministers in their several +countries,—as Richelieu, for example,—and the great and influential +houses of Savoy, Este, Gonzaga, Farnese, Barberini, and many others, +always possessed one or more of them who vied in magnificence with the +pope himself. And all this helped to make the Eternal City the scene of +much brilliancy. The papal court was the natural centre of all this +animation, and many a stately procession wended its way to the Vatican. +On one occasion, the Duke of Parma, wishing to compliment a newly +elected pope, sent as his representative the Count of San Secondo, who +went to his solemn interview followed by a long procession of one +hundred and fifty carriages, and appeared before the pontiff with +eighteen distinguished prelates in his train. This mad passion for +display led to so many evils of all kinds that Urban VIII. prohibited +"indecent garments" for both men and women. In the interests of public +morality, it was further decreed that women were not to take music +lessons from men, and nuns were allowed no other professors than their +own companions. Public singing, distinct from religious ceremonies, was +a novelty at this time, and women with the gift of song were paid most +liberally for their services. Venice was the city most noted for its +festivals and carnivals, and here these women were given most generous +treatment.</p> + +<p>In Florence, as in all the rest of Italy, Spain was taken as "the glass +of fashion, the mould of form" for the first part of the century, but +the splendor of the court of Louis Quatorze soon caused French fashions +to reign supreme. Then, as now, brides were accustomed to dress in +white, while married women were given a wide latitude in their choice of +colors. At first, widows wore a dress distinctive not only in color but +in cut, yet eventually they were to be distinguished by only a small +head-dress of black crape. Young women were much given to curling their +hair, and at the same time it was the fashion to wear upon the forehead +a cluster of blond curls, a <i>petite perruque</i>, which, in the words of an +old chronicler, Rinuccini, "is very unbecoming to those whose hair +happens to be of another color." From the same authority is derived the +following information concerning the women belonging to the under crust +of society: "Prostitutes, formerly, all wore an apparent sign which +revealed their infamous profession; it was a yellow ribbon fastened to +the strings of the hats, which were then in fashion; when hats went out +of style, the yellow ribbon was worn in the hair, and if the women were +ever found without it they were severely punished. Finally, on payment +of a certain tax, they were allowed to go without the ribbon, and then +they were to be distinguished by their impudence only." In Florence, +women of this class were especially noted for their beauty, and there it +was customary to compel them all to live within a certain district.</p> + +<p>In the average Florentine household it had been the custom to have three +women servants,—a cook, a second girl, and a <i>matrona</i>. This third +servant was better educated than the others, and it was her duty, +outside of the house, to keep her mistress company, whether she rode in +her carriage or went about on foot. At home, she did the sewing and the +mending, and generally dressed her mistress and combed her hair. For +this work the <i>matrona</i> received a salary of six or seven dollars a +month, and it seems to have been usual for her employers to arrange a +good marriage for her after several years of service, giving her at that +time from one hundred to one hundred and fifty crowns as a dowry. Later +in the century, the <i>matrona</i> does not seem to have been so common, and +many women went alone in their carriages, while on foot they were +accompanied by a manservant in livery. The wealthier ladies of the +nobility, however, were accompanied in their conveyances by a +<i>donzella</i>, and on the street and in all public places by an elderly and +dignified manservant, dressed in black, who was known as the +<i>cavaliere</i>. The fashion with regard to this male protector became so +widespread that the women of the middle class were in the habit of +hiring the services of some such individual for their occasional use on +fête days and whenever they went to mass. The further development of +this custom and its effect upon public morals in the following century +will be discussed on another page.</p> + +<p>Busy with all-absorbing questions of dress, etiquette, and domestic +management, it does not appear that the women of the seventeenth century +in Italy took any great share in public events, although one Italian +woman at least, leaving the country of her birth, was placed by fate +upon a royal throne. Henry IV. of France, about the year 1600, was hard +pressed for the payment of certain debts by Ferdinand I., Grand Duke of +Tuscany, as the Medici were still the bankers of Europe, and the French +king was owing more than a million louis d'or; but the whole matter was +settled in a satisfactory way when Henry gave definite promises to pay +within a dozen years. To maintain his credit in the meantime, and to +facilitate the payment of the money, the one-time King of Navarre +demanded in marriage Marie de' Medici, the niece of the grand duke; it +is needless to say that the request was speedily granted, for the pride +and ambition of this rich Tuscan family were unlimited, and the memory +of that other daughter of the house of Medici, Catherine, who had been +Queen of France and mother of three French kings, was still fresh in the +minds of all. The wedding ceremony was performed in great splendor, at +Florence, Henry sending a proxy to represent him at that time; and then +the young bride set out for France, followed by a glittering retinue, +and bearing, as her dowry, six hundred thousand crowns of gold. Arriving +at Leghorn, they took ship for Marseilles, and then began a triumphal +march across the country, cities vying with each other in doing her +honor. Cantu tells us that at Avignon, which was still a city under the +temporal sway of the pope, Marie was placed in a chariot drawn by two +elephants, and given an escort of two thousand cavaliers. There were +seven triumphal arches and seven theatres; for it was the proud boast of +the residents of Avignon that everything went by sevens in their city, +as there were seven palaces, seven parishes, seven old convents, seven +monasteries, seven hospitals, seven colleges, and seven gates in the +city wall! Several addresses of welcome were delivered in the presence +of the young queen, though in this instance the number was hardly seven, +poems were read, and she received a number of gold medals bearing her +profile upon one side and the city's coat of arms upon the other. Henry +had left Paris to come to meet his bride, and it was at Lyons that the +royal pair saw each other for the first time. It cannot be said that +this first interview was warmly enthusiastic, for the king found her far +less beautiful than the portrait which had been sent to him, and he soon +came to the sad conclusion that she was too fat, had staring eyes and +bad manners, and was very stubborn.</p> + +<p>After the birth of a son and heir, who later became Louis XIII., the +king neglected his wife to such an extent that she felt little sorrow at +the time of his assassination. Then it was, as queen-regent, that Marie +for the first time entered actively into political life; but her ability +in this sphere of action was only moderate, and she was soon the centre +of much quarrel and contention, wherein the unyielding feudal nobility +and the Protestants figured largely as disturbing causes. In the midst +of these troublous times, the queen had an invaluable assistant in the +person of Eleanora Galigaï, her foster-sister, whose husband, Concino +Concini, a Florentine, had come to France in the suite of Marie, and had +subsequently risen to a position of influence in the court. Eventually, +he became the Maréchal d'Ancre, and his wife was spoken of as <i>la +Maréchale</i> or <i>la Galigaï</i>, for so great was the extent of Eleanora's +control over the queen that she was one of the most conspicuous women in +all Europe at that time. Gradually, she was criticised on account of the +way in which she used her power, and it was alleged that she was +overmuch in the company of divers magicians and astrologers who had been +brought from Italy, and that the black art alone was responsible for her +success. These accusations finally aroused such public hostility that, +after a trial which was a travesty upon justice, Eleanora was soon +condemned to death, on the charge of having unduly influenced the queen +by means of magic philters. Eleanora went to her death bravely, saying +with dignity to her accusers: "The philter which I have used is the +influence which every strong mind possesses, naturally, over every +weaker one."</p> + +<p>Not long after this Florentine queen of France was playing her part in +public affairs, all Europe was surprised by another woman, whose actions +were without parallel and whose case seems to be the opposite of the one +just cited. Marie de' Medici left Italy to become a queen, and now a +queen is seen to abdicate that she may go to Rome to live. Christine, +Queen of Sweden, a most enlightened woman and the daughter of the great +Gustavus Adolphus who had brought about the triumph of the Protestant +arms in Germany, relinquished her royal robes in the year 1654, +announced her conversion to Catholicism, and finally went to Rome, where +she ended her days. She was given a veritable ovation on her arrival +there, as may well be imagined, for the Church rarely made so +distinguished a convert, and Christine, in acknowledgment of this +attention, presented her crown and sceptre as a votive offering to the +church of the Santa Casa at Loretto. At Rome she lived in one of the +most beautiful palaces in the city, and there divided her time between +study and amusements. Through it all she was never able to forget the +fact that she had been a queen, and many examples might be given of her +haughty demeanor in the presence of those who were unwilling to do her +bidding. Before leaving Sweden, Christine had tried to gather a circle +of learned men about her at Stockholm, and the great French philosopher +Descartes spent some months in her palace. Later, when in Paris, on her +way to Italy, a special session of the French Academy had been held in +her honor, and all of the literary men of France went out to the palace +at Fontainebleau while she was domiciled there, to do her honor. Once in +Rome, it was her immediate desire to become the centre of a literary +coterie, and to that end she was most generous in her gifts to artists +and men of letters. Her intelligence and her liberality soon gave her +great influence, and before long she was able to organize an Academy in +due form under her own roof. She was for many years a most conspicuous +figure in Roman society, and at the time of her death, in 1689, +Filicaïa, a poet of some local reputation, declared that her kingdom +comprised "all those who thought, all those who acted, and all those who +were endowed with intelligence."</p> + +<p>In this seventeenth century, as in the one before, parents were +continually compelling their children and especially their daughters to +enter upon a religious career, and many of them were forced to this +course in spite of their protestations. Cantu tells of the case of +Archangela Tarabotti, who was compelled to enter the convent of Saint +Anne at Venice, though all her interests and all her ways were worldly +in the extreme. To the convent she went, however, at the age of +thirteen, because she was proving a difficult child to control, and +there she was left to grind her teeth in impotent rage. In common with +many other young girls of her time, she had never been taught to read or +write, as the benefit of such accomplishments was not appreciated in any +general way—at least so far as women were concerned; but, once within +the convent walls, from sheer ennui, Archangela began to study most +assiduously, and finally published a number of books which present an +interesting description and criticism of existing manners and customs in +so far as they had to do with women and their attitude toward conventual +institutions. Having entered upon this life under protest, her first +books were written in a wild, passionate style, and it was her purpose +to make public the violence of which she had been a victim, and to +prove, by copious references to authorities both sacred and profane, +that women should be allowed entire liberty in their choice of a career. +Incidentally, she cursed most thoroughly the fathers who compelled their +daughters to take the veil in spite of their expressed unwillingness. +Perhaps the most important of these protests, which was given an Elzevir +edition in 1654, was entitled <i>Innocence Deceived, or The Tyranny of +Parents</i>. This special edition was dedicated to God, and bore the +epigraph: "Compulsory devotion is not agreeable to God!" Another of +these books was entitled <i>The Hell of Convent Life</i>, and these titles +are certainly enough to show that she set about her task of +religious—or, rather, social—reform with a most fervid, though +somewhat bitter, zeal. Naturally, these open criticisms caused a great +scandal in ecclesiastical circles, and many vigorous attempts were made +to reconcile the recalcitrant nun and induce her to modify her views. +Finally, moved by the pious exhortations of the patriarch, Federigo +Cornaro, she became somewhat resigned to her fate. Then it was said of +her that "she abandoned the pomp of fine garments, which had possessed +so great a charm for her," and the records show that the last years of +her life were spent in an endeavor to atone for the extravagances of her +youthful conduct. A number of devout books were produced by her during +this time, and among them the following curious titles may be noticed: +<i>The Paved Road to Heaven</i> and <i>The Purgatory of Unhappily Married +Women</i>.</p> + +<p>A somewhat similar case of petty tyranny, and one which was soon the +talk of all Europe, is the pathetic story of Roberto Acciaïuoli and +Elizabetta Marmoraï. These two young people loved each other in spite of +the fact that Elizabetta was the wife of Giulio Berardi; when the latter +died, everyone supposed that the lovers would marry, and such was their +intention, but they found an unexpected obstacle in their path, for +Roberto's uncle, the Cardinal Acciaïuoli, had other views on the +subject. It was his desire that his nephew should contract a marriage +with some wealthy Roman family whose influence might aid him to become +pope. The young man refused to further this project in any way, and +insisted upon marrying the woman of his choice; the cardinal, in +despair, had to fall back upon the assistance of his ruling prince, +Cosmo II., Grand Duke of Tuscany. Cosmo, unwilling to offend this +prelate who might some day become the head of the Church, took action in +his behalf and ordered that Elizabetta should be confined in a +Florentine convent. Thereupon Roberto fled to Mantua, and, after having +married her by letter, publicly proclaimed his act and demanded that his +wife be delivered up to him. The best lawyers in Lombardy now declared +the marriage a valid one, but in Florence the steps taken were +considered merely as the equivalent of a public betrothal. So the matter +stood for a time, until the pope died and the ambitious cardinal +presented himself as a candidate for the pontiff's chair. Then the +outraged nephew sent to each one of the papal electors a detailed +account of what had taken place, with the result that his uncle's +candidacy was a complete failure. Cosmo, moved somewhat by public +opinion, which was all upon the side of the lovers, ordered Elizabetta +to be released from her captivity, whereupon she joined her husband in +Venice, that she might share his exile. They were not allowed to remain +there for a long time in peace, however, as Cosmo, smarting under the +lash of popular disapproval, decided to make an effort to get them +within his power again, that he might wreak his vengeance upon them. +Accordingly, he demanded that the Venetian republic should deliver them +up, charging that they had been guilty of gross disrespect toward him, +their sovereign. Hearing of this requisition, Roberto and Elizabetta, +disguised as monks, fled to Germany, but were recognized at Trent and +taken back to Tuscany. Acciaïuoli was then deprived of all his property +and imprisoned for life in the fortress of Volterra, and his wife was +threatened with the same treatment if she persisted in maintaining the +validity of the marriage. Worn by all this trouble and persecution, +Elizabetta weakened, failed to show the courage which might be expected +from the heroine of such a dramatic story, and preferred to live alone +for the rest of her days than to spend her life in prison with her +devoted husband.</p> + +<p>The eighteenth century found Italy still under the control of foreign +rulers, and the national spirit was still unborn; public morals seem to +have degenerated rather than improved, and then, as always, the women +were no better than the men desired them to be. Details of the life of +this period are extremely difficult to obtain, as the social aspects of +Italian life from the decline of the Renaissance to the Napoleonic era +have been quite generally neglected by historians; the information which +is obtainable must be derived in large measure from books and letters on +Italian travel, written for the most part by foreigners. One of the most +interesting volumes of this kind was written by a Mrs. Piozzi, the +English wife of an Italian, who had unusual opportunities for a close +observation of social conditions; several of the following paragraphs +are based upon her experiences.</p> + +<p>The most striking thing in the social life of this time is the domestic +arrangement whereby every married woman was supposed to have at her beck +and call, in addition to her husband, another cavalier, who was known as +a <i>cicisbeo</i> and was the natural successor of the Florentine <i>cavaliere</i> +before mentioned. Cicisbeism has been much criticised and much discussed +as to its bearing upon public morals, and many opposite opinions have +been expressed with regard to it. The Countess Martinengo Cesaresco, who +is a most careful and able student of Italian life, has the following to +say upon the subject: "He [the <i>cicisbeo</i>] was frequently a humble +relative—in every family were cadets too poor to marry, as they could +not work for their living, or too sincere to become priests, to whom +cavalier service secured a dinner, at any rate, if they wanted one. It +was the custom to go to the theatre every evening—the box at the opera +was an integral part of the household arrangements, a continuation of +the salon—only it could not be reached without an escort. The chaperon +did not exist, because a woman, no matter how old, was no escort for +another woman, nor could she herself dispense with an attendant of the +other sex. A dowager of sixty and a bride of sixteen had equally to stay +at home if there was not a man to accompany them. The cavalier's service +was particularly in request at the theatre, but he was more or less on +duty whenever his lady left her house for any purpose, with the doubtful +exception of going to church. No husband outside a honeymoon could be +expected to perform all these functions: he, therefore, appointed or +agreed upon the appointment of somebody else to act as his substitute. +This was, in nine cases out of ten, the eminently unromantic cavalier +servitude of fact. The high-flown, complimentary language, the profound +bowing and hand-kissing of the period, combined to mystify strangers as +to its real significance. Sometimes, when there was really a lover in +the question, the <i>cavalier servente</i> must have been a serious +impediment; he was always <i>Là planté ... à contrecarrer un pauvre tiers</i>, +in the words of the witty Président de Brosses, who, though he did not +wholly credit the assurances he received as to the invariable innocence +of the institution, was yet far from passing on it the sweeping +judgment arrived at by most foreigners. There is no doubt that habit and +opportunity did, now and then, prove too strong for the two individuals +thrown so constantly together. 'Juxtaposition is great,' as Clough says +in his <i>Amours de Voyage</i>; but that such lapses represented the rule +rather than the exception is not borne out either by reason or record."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Piozzi is somewhat dubious in regard to this condition of affairs +and is hardly disposed to take the charitable view which has just been +given, but the general trend of more enlightened comment seems to agree +with the Countess Cesaresco. In Sheridan's <i>School for Scandal</i> occur +the following lines, which convey the same idea:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Lady Teazle</span>.—"You know I admit you as a lover no farther than +fashion sanctions."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Joseph Surface</span>.—"True—a mere platonic <i>cicisbeo</i>—what every wife +is entitled to."</p></div> + +<p>Fragments taken somewhat at random regarding the women of several of the +more important cities of Italy may serve to give some idea regarding +their general position and condition throughout the country at large. +Writing from Milan, Mrs. Piozzi says: "There is a degree of effrontery +among the women that amazes me, and of which I had no idea till a friend +showed me, one evening, from my own box at the opera, fifty or a hundred +low shopkeepers' wives dispersed about the pit at the theatre, dressed +in men's clothes (<i>per disempegno</i>, as they call it), that they might be +more at liberty, forsooth, to clap and hiss and quarrel and jostle! I +felt shocked." Venice was, as it had ever been, a city of pleasure. The +women, generally married at fifteen, were old at thirty, and such was +the intensity of life in this "water-logged town"—as F. Hopkinson Smith +somewhat irreverently called it upon one occasion—that a traveller was +led to remark: <i>On ne goûte pas ses plaisirs, on les avale.</i> Here, as in +all parts of Italy for that matter, the conditions of domestic life were +somewhat unusual at this time, as it was the custom to employ +menservants almost exclusively; as these servitors were under the +control of the master of the house, it was quite common for the women to +intrust to their husbands the entire management of household affairs. +Thus freed from family cares, Venetian ladies had little to occupy their +time outside of the pleasures of society. Nothing was expected of them +on the intellectual side; they had no thought of education, found no +resource in study, and were not compelled to read in order to keep up +with society small-talk; so long as they found a means to charm their +masculine admirers, nothing more was demanded. Apparently, for them to +charm and fascinate was not difficult, for, according to Mrs. Piozzi, "a +woman in Italy is sure of applause, so she takes little pains to secure +it." Accordingly, the women of Venice seem to have been quite +unpretentious in their manners and dress. They wore little or no rouge, +though they were much addicted to the use of powder, and their dresses +were very plain and presented little variety. "The hair was dressed in a +simple way, flat on top, all of one length, hanging in long curls about +the neck or sides, as it happens." During the summer season it was the +custom literally to turn night into daytime, as social functions were +rarely begun before midnight, and it was dawn before the revellers were +brought home in their gondolas. At one place in Venice were literary +topics much discussed, and that was at Quirini's Casino, a semi-public +resort where ladies were much in evidence, and this was but the +exception which proved the rule.</p> + +<p>Genoa has been thus described: "It possesses men without honesty, women +without modesty, a sea without fish, and a woods with no birds," and, +without going into the merits of each of these statements, it is safe to +say that the state of public morals in this city was about the same as +that to be found in any other Italian city. Apropos of the poor heating +arrangements in Genoese houses, Mrs. Piozzi makes the following remark, +which gives a sidelight upon some of the customs of the place and will +interest the curious: "To church, however, and to the theatre in winter, +they have carried a great green velvet bag, adorned with gold tassels +and lined with fur to keep their feet from freezing, as carpets are not +in use. Poor women run about the streets with a little earthen pipkin +hanging on their arm filled with fire, even if they are sent on an +errand."</p> + +<p>In Florence, the art of making improviso verses—which has ever been +popular in southern countries—seems to have reached its highest state +of perfection during this eighteenth century, and a woman, the +celebrated Corilla, was acknowledged to be the most expert in this +accomplishment. At Rome, when at the climax of her wonderful career, she +was publicly crowned with the laurel in the presence of thousands of +applauding spectators; and in her later years, at Florence, her drawing +room was ever filled with curious and admiring crowds. Without +pretensions to immaculate character, deep erudition, or high birth, +which an Italian esteems above all earthly things, Corilla so made her +way in the world that members of the nobility were wont to throng to her +house, and many sovereigns, <i>en passage</i> at Florence, took pains to seek +her society. Corilla's successor was the beautiful Fantastici, a young +woman of pleasing personality and remarkable powers of improvisation, +who soon became a popular favorite.</p> + +<p>Both at home and abroad, Italian women were coming to the fore in +musical circles, and no opera in any one of the continental capitals +was complete without its prima donna. Among the distinguished singers of +this epoch the two most celebrated were Faustina Bordoni and Catarina +Gabrielli. Faustina, born in the year 1700, was the daughter of a noble +Venetian family, and at an early age began to study music under the +direction of Gasparoni; when she was but sixteen, she made her début +with such success that she was immediately given place as one of the +greatest artists on the lyric stage. In Venice, Naples, Florence, and +Vienna, she displayed such dramatic skill and such a wonderful voice +that she was soon acknowledged as the most brilliant singer in Europe. +Later, she was brought to London, under the management of the great +composer Händel, and there she finally displaced in the public favor her +old-time rival, Cuzzoni. The singer known as Catarina Gabrielli was the +daughter of the cook of the celebrated Cardinal Gabrielli; in spite of +her low origin, she was possessed of a great though insolent beauty, in +addition to her wonderful vocal powers, and her brilliant career in +Europe was most exceptional in every way. In Italy, later in Vienna, and +even in far-away St. Petersburg, she not only achieved wonderful success +as a singer, but by her coquettish ways she contrived to attract a crowd +of most jealous and ardent admirers, who pursued her and more than once +fought for her favors. During her stay in Vienna, the French ambassador, +who had fallen a victim to her charms, became so madly jealous of the +Portuguese minister, that he drew his sword on Catarina upon one +occasion, and had it not been for her whalebone bodice she would have +lost her life. As it was, she received a slight scratch, which calmed +the enraged diplomat and brought him to his knees. She would pardon him +only on condition that he would present her with his sword, on which +were to be inscribed the following words: "Sword of M..., who dared +strike La Gabrielli." Through the intervention of friends, however, this +heavy penalty was never imposed, and the Frenchman was spared the +ridicule which would have surely followed. Catarina, after a long and +somewhat reckless career, passed her last years in Bologna, where she +died, in 1796, at the age of sixty-six, after having won general esteem +and admiration by her charities and by her steadiness of character, +which was in notable contrast to the extravagance of her earlier life.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the three most distinguished Italian women in all the century +were Clelia Borromeo, Laura Bassi, and Gaetana Agnesi. The Countess +Clelia was a veritable <i>grande dame</i>, who exerted a wide influence for +good in all the north of Italy; Laura Bassi was a most learned and +distinguished professor of philosophy at the University of Bologna; and +the last member of this illustrious triad, Gaetana Agnesi, became so +famous in the scholarly world that her achievements must be recounted +with some attention to detail. At the time of her birth, in 1718, her +father was professor of mathematics at Bologna, and it appears that she +was so precocious that at the age of nine she had such command of the +Latin language that she was able to publish a long and carefully +prepared address written in that classic tongue, contending that there +was no reason why women should not devote themselves to the pursuit of +liberal studies. By the time she was thirteen she knew—in addition to +Latin—Greek, Hebrew, French, Spanish, German, and several other +languages, and was so renowned for her linguistic attainments that she +was called, familiarly, the "walking polyglot." When she was fifteen, +her father began to invite the most learned men of Bologna to assemble +at his house and listen to her essays and discussions upon the most +difficult philosophical problems; in spite of the fact that this +display of her learning was known to be distasteful to the young girl, +it was not until she reached her twentieth year that she was allowed to +withdraw from society. In welcome seclusion, she devoted herself to the +study of mathematics, and published several mathematical works whose +value is still recognized. In 1752 her father fell ill, and, by Pope +Benedict XIV., Gaetana was appointed to occupy his professorial chair, +which she did with distinction. At her father's death, two years later, +she withdrew from this active career; and after a most careful study of +theology, she satisfied a long-cherished wish and entered a convent, +joining the Order of Blue Nuns, at Milan. She was most actively +interested in hospital work and charities of all kinds, and, as her +death did not occur until 1799, lived a long life of usefulness.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XI" id="Chapter_XI"></a><a href="#table">Chapter XI</a></h2> + +<h3>Italian Women in the Nineteenth Century</h3> + + +<p>After the torpor and stagnation of the last two centuries, after the +self-abasement of the people, and the apparent extinction of all spirit +of national pride, the French invasion and domination, under the stern +rule of Bonaparte, was a rude awakening. Old boundaries were swept +aside, old traditions were disregarded, old rulers were dethroned; +everywhere were the French, with their Republican banners, mouthing the +great words Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, ravaging and plundering +in the most shameless fashion, and extorting the most exorbitant taxes. +But the contagion spread—the Italians were impressed with the wonderful +exploits of the one-time Corsican corporal, and they, in turn, began to +wag their heads in serious discussion of the "rights of man," as the +French had done a decade before. For the dissemination of the new ideas, +political clubs were organized throughout Italy as they had existed in +France, and the whole country was in ferment. Add to that the fact that +Napoleon began to levy troops in Italy as soon as his position warranted +this action, and that soon Italian soldiers were in all parts of Europe +fighting under the French flag, and one can perhaps have some picture of +the complete way in which French influences were made to prevail. In +this conquered territory the population may be divided into three +classes: first, the deposed nobility, who had for the most part left +the country; second, the middle class, composed of professional men and +the wealthier citizens; and third, the common people. Of these three +classes, the second was the one which Napoleon tried in every way to +conciliate, for he counted upon its aid in the moulding of public +opinion. He had little to do with the departed nobility, the common +people were helping him fight his battles, but, if he hoped to occupy +Italy permanently, his real appeal had to be made to the educated class. +Accordingly, the arts of peace were used in the interests of the god of +war; public improvements of all kinds were begun over all Italy, under +the supervision of the French officials, canals were built, marshes were +drained, academies of learning were founded, commerce was stimulated, +schools for girls were started at Milan, Bologna, and Verona in +imitation of those which had already been established in France, and, in +fact, everything was done to prove to the people that the rule of the +French was beneficial to the best interests of the peninsula. Many men +of letters were won over by fair promises, and scientific men were, in +many instances, so aided in their researches and so loaded with honors +that it was difficult to resist the approaches of the emperor; and there +resulted much fulsome praise in honor of Napoleon, who was hailed as a +veritable god. Some there were, however, who resisted the advances of +the conquerors and were loath to see the country so completely in the +control of a foreign nation. It is true that Italy was enjoying a great +prosperity in spite of the demands made upon it by the French, but this +sudden accession of Republican ideas and the consciousness that Italian +armies were fighting bravely all over the continent had aroused a +national spirit which had lain dormant for centuries; the more +far-seeing patriots were already looking forward to a time when Italy +might be not only free but independent.</p> + +<p>Among those unmoved by French promises were a number of brilliant women, +who were outspoken in their hostility, and who gathered about them many +of the most able men of the time. Though it is true that the French set +the fashions, and in every city it was usual to find that the French +officials were eagerly courted by the inhabitants, it is none the less +true that in many of these cities there was some small but active centre +of opposition, the salon of some gifted woman who was working might and +main for the final triumph of the principle of Italian control in Italy. +Napoleon had penetration enough to take such opposition at its just +valuation. Women had already given him many a <i>mauvais quart d'heure</i> in +Paris; Madame de Staël and, later, the beautiful Madame Récamier were +forced to go into exile because he feared their power, and here in Italy +he resolved not to be caught napping. Among the number of these Italian +women who were daring enough to oppose his success, one of the most +influential and best known was the Countess Cicognara. Her husband, +Count Leopold Cicognara, was an archæologist of some reputation, who is +to-day best known by his <i>Storía della Scultura</i>; he was precisely the +type of man whose friendship and good will Napoleon was anxious to +obtain. Cicognara kept his distance, however, and in his determination +to hold himself aloof from all actual participation in the new order of +things he was ably seconded by his wife, who was a most ardent partisan. +In Milan her salon was known to be of the opposition, and there gathered +all the malcontents, ready to criticise and blame, and wholly refusing +their aid in any public matters undertaken under French auspices. Here, +at Milan, Madame de Staël came to know the countess in the course of her +wanderings through Italy, and, as may readily be imagined, the two women +were much drawn to each other by reason of their similar tastes, +especially with regard to the political situation. Later, at Venice, the +Countess Cicognara was again the centre of a group of free-thinkers, and +there it was that she first felt the displeasure of Napoleon. The count +had been summoned by him in the hope that he might finally be won over, +but Cicognara conducted himself with such dignity that he excited no +little admiration for his position of strict neutrality; his wife did +not fare so well, inasmuch as she was harshly criticised for her active +partisanship. Also, Napoleon caused it to be known that he would look +with disfavor upon all who continued to frequent the salon of the +countess; the result of this procedure was that of those who had +formerly thronged her doors but two faithful ones remained—Hippolyte +Pindemonte and Carlo Rosmini, both staunch patriots and men of ability.</p> + +<p>After Waterloo and the fall of Napoleon, the French power in Italy was +gone, and the Congress of Vienna, which arranged the terms of peace for +the allied powers of Europe, restored the Italian states to their +original condition, as they were before the Revolution. But the real +conditions of Italian life were changed; for the people were now aroused +in an unprecedented way, which made a return to the old mode of life +impossible except in the outward form of things. The socialistic ideas +of the French had gained some foothold in Italy; men and women were +waking up to the possibilities which lay before them in the way of +helping each other; and charitable and philanthropic works of every kind +were undertaken with an interest which was altogether uncommon. As might +be expected, women occupied an important place in these various +activities and showed much enterprise and zeal in carrying out their +plans. The Marchioness Maddalena Frescobaldi Capponi aided in founding +at Florence a house of refuge for fallen women; Maria Maddalena di +Canossa, in the year 1819, established at Venice and at Verona the Order +of the Daughters of Charity, whose task it was to perfect themselves in +"love to God and love to man"; and various charitable schools were +organized in other parts of the country. At Turin, Julie Colbert di +Barolo, the friend of the famous Silvio Pellico, founded the Order of +the Sisters of Saint Anne, whose members were to devote themselves to +the education of poor girls, training them not only in the usual +studies, but also in manners and deportment, and teaching them to be +contented with their lot, whatever it might happen to be. The spirit of +arts and crafts had ardent supporters at this time, and many endeavors +were made to teach the people how to do something which might be of +avail in their struggle for life. Among those interested in this +movement was Rosa Govona, who had founded a society whose members were +called, after her, Les Rosines, and who were bound to support themselves +by means of their own work. The Napoleonic campaigns had taken from +Italy many men who never returned; thus, there were many women who were +left to their own resources, and it was for this class that Rosa Govona +was working. The society grew rapidly, branch organizations were +established in many cities, and there is no doubt that the movement was +productive of much good. Another woman philanthropist of this time was +the Countess Tarnielli Bellini, who left quite a large sum of money at +Novara for the establishment of several charitable institutions, among +them an industrial school.</p> + +<p>Rome now became the real centre of Italian life; it was the objective +point of every tourist, and it soon gathered together a somewhat +heterogeneous population which was to pave the way for that cosmopolitan +society which is to-day found in the Eternal City. While this foreign +element was growing more important every day, it cannot be said that the +members of the old and proud Roman nobility looked upon it with any +smile of welcome. Many of the newcomers were artists, sculptors and +painters, who were attracted by the wealth of classic and Renaissance +art which Rome contained, or they were expatriates for one of a number +of reasons. One of the most distinguished women of this foreign colony +was Madame Bonaparte, Napoleon's mother, who took up her residence in +Rome after 1815, and lived there until 1836, the year of her death. She +was a woman of fine presence and great courage, content with a simple +mode of life which was quite in contrast with the princely tastes of her +sons and daughters. Pauline Bonaparte, the emperor's favorite sister, +had lived in Rome for a number of years, as she had married, in 1803, +Camillo, Prince Borghese. She was soon separated from her husband, but +continued to reside in Rome, bearing the title of Duchess of Guastalla; +there she was housed in a fine palace, where she dwelt in a style of +easy magnificence. Pauline was one of the most beautiful women of this +time, and much of her charm and grace has been preserved in Canova's +famous statue, the <i>Venus Victrix</i>, for which she served as model.</p> + +<p>The most hospitable palace in all Rome during the first quarter of the +century was that presided over by Signora Torlonia, Duchess of +Bracciano. Her husband, "old Torlonia," as he was familiarly called, was +a banker during the working hours of the day; but in the evening he +became the Duke of Bracciano, and no one questioned his right to the +title, as he was known to have paid good money for it. He had made +princes of his sons and noble ladies of his daughters, and his great +wealth had undoubtedly aided his plans. Madame Lenormant says of him: +"he was avaricious as a Jew, and sumptuous as the most magnificent +grand seigneur," and he seems to have been a most interesting character. +He lived in a beautiful palace upon the Corso, wherein was placed +Canova's <i>Hercules and Lycas</i>, and there he and his wife dispensed a +most open-handed hospitality. Madame Torlonia had been a beauty in her +day, and she was a very handsome woman even in her later years. Kind and +good-natured, she was like the majority of Italian women of her time—a +curious combination of devotion and gallantry. It is related of her that +she confided to a friend one day that she had taken great care to +prevent her husband's peace of mind from being disturbed by her somewhat +questionable conduct, and then added: "But he will be very much +surprised when the Day of Judgment comes!" The Torlonia palace was +practically the only princely house open to strangers, and it often +sheltered a most distinguished company. Among those who were entertained +there may be included Thorwaldsen, the great Danish sculptor, Madame +Récamier, Chateaubriand, Canova, Horace Vernet, the French painter, and +his charming daughter Louise, and the great musician Mendelssohn. The +last, in a letter written from Rome in 1831, makes the following +allusion to the Torlonias, which is not without interest: "Last night a +theatre that Torlonia [the son] has undertaken and organized was opened +with a new opera of Pacini's. The crowd was great and every box filled +with handsome, well-dressed people; young Torlonia appeared in a stage +box, with his mother, the old duchess, and they were immensely +applauded. The audience called out: <i>Bravo, Torlonia, grazie, grazie!</i>"</p> + +<p>Italy had continued its reputation as the home of music, and now, as in +the eighteenth century, Italian singers, men and women, were wearing the +laurel in all the capitals of Europe. Among the women who were thus +celebrated the best known were Grassini, Catalani, Pasta, and Alboni. +Grassini was the daughter of a Lombardy farmer, and the expenses of her +musical education had been defrayed by General Belgioso, who was much +impressed with her wonderful voice and her charm of manner. Her début at +La Scala was a wonderful success in spite of the fact that she then sang +in company with the two greatest Italian singers of the time, +Crescentini—one of the last of the male sopranos—and Marchesi. Later, +she attracted the attention of Bonaparte, and soon accompanied him to +Paris, anxious, it has been said, to play the rôle of Cleopatra to this +modern Cæsar. Josephine's jealousy was aroused more than once by this +song bird of Italy, but she continued in the emperor's good graces for a +number of years, in spite of the fact that she was ever ready to follow +the whim of the moment and distributed her favors quite promiscuously. +In 1804 she was made directress of the Paris Opéra, and some years +after, returning from a most wonderful London engagement, she sang in +<i>Romeo and Juliet</i> with such effect that the usually impassive Napoleon +sprang to his feet, shouting like a schoolboy; the next day, as a +testimonial of his appreciation, he sent her a check for twenty thousand +francs.</p> + +<p>Angelica Catalani first created a stir in the world at the age of +twelve, when, as a novice in the convent of Santa Lucia at Gubbio, in +the duchy of Urbino, she sang for the daily service in the little chapel +with such amazing sweetness that people came from all the neighborhood +to listen to her. After some preliminary training, which was undertaken +without the entire approval of the girl's father, Angelica was confided +to the care of the great teacher Marchesi, who soon put her in the front +rank of singers. Her success upon the stage was unquestioned, and her +voice was one of the most remarkable in all the history of music, being +a pure soprano, with a compass of nearly three octaves,—from G to +F,—and so clear and powerful that it rose fresh, penetrating, and +triumphant above the music of any band or orchestra which might be +playing her accompaniment. Bell-like in quality and ever true, this +voice lacked feeling, and while it never failed to awaken unbounded +enthusiasm, it rarely, if ever, brought a thrill of deeper emotion.</p> + +<p>Giuditta Pasta, who became the lyric Siddons of her age, began her +career as an artist laboring under many disadvantages, for she lacked a +graceful personality and possessed a voice of but moderate power and +sweetness. One thing she did possess in full measure, however, and that +was an artistic temperament, which, combined with her unbounded ambition +and her ability for hard work, soon brought her public recognition. Her +simple but effective manner of singing and her wonderful histrionic +ability made all her work dignified and impressive; her representation +of the character of Medea, in Simon Mayer's opera by that name, has been +called the "grandest lyric impersonation in the records of art." When +the great actor Talma heard her in the days of her early success in +Paris, he said: "Here is a woman of whom I can still learn. One turn of +her beautiful head, one glance of her eye, one light motion of her hand, +is, with her, sufficient to express a passion." The whole continent was +at her feet—London, Paris, Berlin, St. Petersburg, and Vienna showered +her with their <i>bravas</i> and their gifts, and her native Italy went wild +at her approach. Her last great public performance was at Milan in 1832, +when, in company with Donizetti the tenor and the then inexperienced +Giulia Grisi, she sang the rôle of Norma, in Bellini's opera, which was +then given for the first time under the baton of the composer himself. +Alboni, the wonderful contralto who owed her early advancement and +training to the kindly interest of Rossini, Fanny Persiani, the daughter +of the hunchback tenor, Tacchinardi, who through her singing did more +than any other artist to make the music of Donizetti popular throughout +Europe—these and a number of other names might be mentioned to show +that Italy was now the fountain head of song, as in the Renaissance it +had been the home of the other fine arts.</p> + +<p>This account of the triumphs of Italian women upon the continental stage +would be wholly incomplete without some reference to the incomparable +<i>danseuse</i> La Taglioni, who will always occupy an important place in the +annals of Terpsichore. Without great personal charm, her success was due +to her wonderful skill, which was the result of the mercilessly severe +training that she had received from her father, Filippo Taglioni, who +was a ballet master of some repute. Born at Stockholm, where her father +was employed at the Royal Opera, she made her début at Vienna, where she +created an immediate sensation. Hitherto ballet dancing had been +somewhat realistic and voluptuous, as illustrated by the performances of +the celebrated Madame Vestris, but La Taglioni put poetry and +imagination into her work, which was more ideal in character, and her +supremacy was soon unquestioned. Among her most remarkable performances +was the dancing of the <i>Tyrolienne</i> in <i>Guillaume Tell</i>, and of the <i>pas +de fascination</i> in <i>Robert le Diable</i>. In this mid-century period +dancing occupied a far more important place in opera than it has since, +but with the retirement of La Taglioni, in 1845, the era of grand +ballets came practically to an end. About her work there seems to have +been a subtle charm which no other modern <i>danseuse</i> has ever possessed, +and her admirers were to be found in all ranks of society. Balzac often +mentions her, and Thackeray says in <i>The Newcomes</i> that the young men +of the epoch "will never see anything so graceful as Taglioni in <i>La +Sylphide</i>."</p> + +<p>With the final accomplishment of Italian unity and the establishment of +the court at Rome, there began a new life for the whole country, wherein +the position of the ruling family was decidedly difficult. At the outset +there was the opposition of the Vatican, for the pope was unwilling to +accept the inevitable and relinquish his temporal power with good grace; +and there was the greater problem, perhaps, of moulding into one +nationality the various peoples of the peninsula. Neapolitans and +Milanese, Venetians and Romans, were all so many different races, so far +as their history and traditions were concerned, and the task of making +them all Italians—which had been put upon the house of Savoy—was +fraught with much danger. It is too early yet to know with what complete +success this work will be crowned, but it may be safely said that Queen +Margharita, wife of Humbert I., did much to bring about that general +spirit of good will which has thus far been characteristic of united +Italy. Owing to the peculiar conditions of the situation, and the strong +local spirit which still endures everywhere, it was soon found that all +Italy would be slow in coming to the court at Rome, and so the court +decided to go to the country. Royal villas are scattered through the +different provinces, and it is customary for the king and his suite to +visit them with some frequency. During all this perambulating court +life, Queen Margharita became a popular favorite, in no less degree than +the king, and their democratic ways soon gained the love and esteem of +the people in general. The following incident will show to what extent +the queen was interested in the welfare of her subjects and what she was +able to accomplish by means of her ready wit. Certain towns along the +coast had become very prosperous through the manufacture of coral +ornaments of various kinds, and large numbers of women were given +lucrative employment in this work until, slowly, coral began to go out +of fashion, and then the industry commenced to diminish in importance. +It became, in fact, practically extinct, and so great was the misery +caused by the lack of work that the attention of the queen was called to +this pitiful situation. Instantly, by personal gifts, she relieved the +pressure of the moment, and then by deliberately wearing coral ornaments +in a most conspicuous way she restored their popularity and at the same +time brought back prosperity to the stricken villages. Since the death +of King Humbert, Margharita has naturally lived somewhat more in +retirement, but she has ever shown herself to be most eager to do +everything for her people and especially for the women of Italy. Much +progress in educational affairs has been brought about through her +influence; and to show her interest in the movement for the physical +training of women, which is slowly taking form, she has recently joined +an Alpine club, and has done not a little mountain climbing in spite of +the fact that she is no longer in the first bloom of youth.</p> + +<p>The present queen, Helena of Montenegro, is beginning to enjoy the same +popularity, and there is every reason to believe that her reign will +continue, in a most worthy way, the traditions left by her predecessor. +The conditions attending the marriage of the heir apparent when he was +yet the Prince of Naples were such indeed as to win the sympathy and +approval of the whole nation. Before this marriage, Crispi, the Italian +premier, had tried to arrange for the young prince a match which might +have some political significance, and to this end he collected the +photographs of all the eligible princesses of Europe, put them together +in a beautiful album, and told his young master to look them over and +select a wife for himself. The prince gazed at them with but languid +interest, however, for these royal maidens were, most of them, strangers +to him; he finally announced to the astonished minister that he did not +intend to marry until he found a woman he loved! In this resolution he +was not to be shaken, and the Princess Helena, whom he made his wife, he +saw for the first time at the czar's coronation ceremonies at Moscow, +and it was a simple case of love at first sight. Such simplicity and +sincerity as are apparent in this real affection of the king and queen +for each other cannot fail to have a widespread influence.</p> + +<p>The modern Italian woman is not an easy person to describe, as it would +be difficult to find one who might serve as a type for all the rest. In +general, it may be said that they are not so well educated as the women +in many other countries, and that so long as a woman is devout, and at +the same time domestic in her tastes, she is considered to possess the +most essential requisites of character and attainment. The women of the +peasant class work in the fields with the men; in the towns and cities +women help in their husbands' shops, as in France, and while they may +not always possess the energy and business skill which characterize the +French women, they are at least no more indolent and easy-going than +their male companions. The women of the nobility are often less educated +than their plebeian sisters, and for the most part lead a very narrow +and petty existence, which produces little but vanity and selfishness +and discontent. There are exceptions, however, and here and there may be +seen a gentlewoman who has studied and travelled, and made herself not +only a social but also an intellectual leader of distinction.</p> + +<p>From a legal standpoint, the position of women differs in the various +provinces, for, while the written law may be the same throughout the +kingdom, local customs are often widely divergent. Villari, in his +recent book on Italian life, says that a woman's property is guaranteed +to her by law from any abuse on her husband's part; she has equal rights +of inheritance with her brothers, if her parents have made no will; and +there are few cases in which her rights are inferior to those of her +male relatives. Also, the woman is considered the natural and legal +guardian of her children, after the death of her husband. In spite of +this legal equality, the old idea of woman's inferior position still +crops out, and it is noticeable that a father, in bequeathing his +property, rarely leaves it to his daughters, but rather to his sons, and +often to the eldest son alone, as in the old feudal days. Social +conventions are not unlike those of other southern countries. For the +majority of women marriage is the one aim in life, and an unmarried +woman is shown little consideration and is the butt of much ridicule. In +the northern part of Italy, women are gaining a certain amount of +liberty in these latter days, and young girls of the better class may, +without causing much comment, go upon the street unattended. In the +south, however, the position of women is very different, and they are +still regarded in much the same way as are the women of Oriental +countries. The long years of Saracen rule are responsible for this +condition, which makes the woman little more than the slave of her +husband. It is said that in some country districts it is the custom for +the husband to lock his wife in the house whenever he goes from home, +and the usage is so well established that if the ceremony is omitted the +woman is inclined to think that some slight is intended.</p> + +<p>With regard to the education of women, the law makes no distinction +between the sexes, and practically all schools, classical and technical, +under government control, and the universities, are open to both men +and women. Special schools, both public and private, have been +established exclusively for women, but they are not the rule. With +regard to matters of attendance, statistics show that the proportion of +women is larger in the universities than in the preparatory schools. As +yet, the legal profession is not open to women practitioners, but many +have pursued the study of medicine, and there are several who enjoy a +large and lucrative practice. With all these advantages, the ordinary +woman in Italy to-day rarely possesses what we would call an ordinary +education, and there is absolutely no public opinion in favor of it. +There are frequent bluestockings, it is true, but they have no influence +with the public, and are showing themselves entirely ineffectual in +forcing public opinion in this regard.</p> + +<p>Though the great singers seem to come from Germany in these modern days, +Italy has held a distinguished place upon the boards for the last +half-century by reason of its great tragic actresses, Adelaide Ristori +and Eleonora Duse. Ristori was beginning her career in the fifties when +she went to Paris, where the great Rachel was in the very midst of her +triumph; and there in the French capital, in the very face of bitter +rivalry, she was able to prove her ability and make a name for herself. +Later, in the United States she met with a most flattering reception, +and for a season played with Edwin Booth in the Shakespearean +répertoire. Duse first came into public notice about 1895, when her +wonderful emotional power at once caused critics to compare her to +Bernhardt, and not always to the advantage of the great French +tragédienne. At one period her name became linked most unpleasantly with +that of the young Italian realist Gabriele d'Annunzio.</p> + +<p>In modern Italian literature two women stand out conspicuously—Matilda +Serao and Ada Negri. The Signora Serao, who began life as a journalist, +is to-day the foremost woman writer of fiction in Italy, and her novels, +which are almost without exception devoted to the delineation of +Neapolitan life, are quite graphic and interesting, though her literary +taste is not always good and she sometimes lapses into the commonplace +and the vulgar. Also, she inclines somewhat toward the melodramatic, +and, like many of her brothers in literature, she is far from free from +what may best be termed "cheap sentiment." Ada Negri, who started in her +career as a modest school teacher in Lombardy, is a lyric poet of no +mean ability. She has taken up the cudgel for the poor and the weak and +the oppressed, and so thorough and genuine are her appreciation and +understanding of the life of the people, that she seems to have touched +many hearts. Singing as she does of the hard lot of the poor, and of the +many struggles of life, it is appropriate that the two volumes of her +verses which have appeared up to this time should bear the titles +<i>Fatalità</i> and <i>Tempeste</i>.</p> + +<p>Many other women have acquired honored positions in literature, and +woman's increased activity and prominence in all intellectual branches +is a condition which may well excite wonder. While from many points of +view unfortunately backward, the women of Italy are beginning to realize +their more serious possibilities, and it is safe to say that the more +advanced ideas regarding woman's work and her position in society, which +come as the inevitable consequence of modern civilization and education, +will soon bear fruit here as in other parts of the continent.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Part_Second" id="Part_Second"></a><a href="#table">Part Second</a></h2> + +<h2>Spanish Women</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XII" id="Chapter_XII"></a><a href="#table">Chapter XII</a></h2> + +<h3>The Condition of Spain before the Moorish Invasion</h3> + + +<p>To one whose fancy roves to Spain in his dream of fair women there comes +at once the picture of a dark-eyed beauty gazing out discreetly from +behind her lattice window, listening to the tinkling sound of her +lover's mandolin, and sighing at the ardor of his passion; or again, she +may be going abroad, with lace mantilla about her shapely head, armed +with her fan,—that article of comfort and coquetry, as it has been +called,—which is at once a shield and an allurement as wielded by her +deft fingers. With the thought of Spain there comes also the snap of the +castanets and the flash of bright-colored skirts as they move in time to +the <i>tarantella</i>. All in all, it is the poet's land of beauty and +pleasure, music and the dance, with <i>Dolce far niente</i> as its motto, +rose-entwined.</p> + +<p>Free from the poet's spell, however, and under the guidance of the +sterner muse of history, this picture of sweet content vanishes for a +time as the more rugged outlines of another and an earlier age attract +our attention. Fact and conjecture are somewhat intermingled as they +concern the early history of Spain, but enough is known to give us a +fairly clear idea of the general condition of the country. The original +inhabitants of the peninsula—the Iberians—antedate authentic +historical records, but some centuries before the Christian era it is +certain that there was a Celtic invasion from the North which resulted +in a mingling of these two races and the appearance of the Celtiberians. +The life of these early inhabitants was rude and filled with privations, +but they were brave and hardy, having no fear of pain or danger, and +possessed by the love of liberty. In this primitive society the +occupations of the men were almost exclusively those connected with the +pursuit of war, and the wives and mothers were given a large measure of +domestic responsibility and were treated with great respect. To them was +intrusted not only the education of the younger children, but the care +of the land as well, and there is nothing to show that they failed in +either of these duties. They were more than good mothers and good +husbandmen, however, for more than once, in case of need, these early +Spanish women donned armor and fought side by side with their husbands +and brothers, sword or lance in hand, nothing daunted by the fierceness +of the struggle and always giving a good account of themselves in the +thick of the battle.</p> + +<p>Hannibal's wife was a woman of Spain, it is true, but it is to her less +eminent sisters that we must turn in order to discover the most +conspicuous cases of feminine bravery and heroism, which are accompanied +in almost every instance by a similar record for the men, as the lot of +men and women was cast along the same lines in those days, and the +national traits are characteristic of either sex. A most fervid +patriotism was inbred in these people, and throughout all the long years +of Roman conquest and depredation these native Celtiberians, men and +women, proved time and time again that they knew the full significance +of the Latin phrase which came from the lips of their conquerors—<i>Dulce +et decorum est pro patria mori</i> [It is sweet and glorious to die for +one's country]. When Hannibal essayed to capture the stronghold of +Saguntum, a fortified city on the eastern coast of Spain, and probably +of Phœnician origin, he found himself confronted by no easy task. On +account of his early residence in Spain and his familiarity with the +people and the country, he had found its conquest an affair of no great +difficulty for the most part, but here at Saguntum all the conditions +were changed. The resistance was most stubborn, in spite of the fact +that the besieging force consisted of one hundred and fifty thousand +men. Hannibal himself was wounded while fighting under the walls; and +when the end came, the fall of Saguntum was due to famine rather than to +the force of arms. Then the Saguntines, men, women, and children, were +of the opinion that surrender was ignoble, and they all preferred death +at the hands of the enemy to any timorous act of submission.</p> + +<p>Some thirteen years later, in <span class="smcap">b. c.</span> 206, the Romans, who were now making +a systematic endeavor to subdue the whole country, laid siege to Ataspa; +and although the details of the investment of the city are far from +complete, the imperfect records of the event show that the force of the +enemy was so overwhelming that the inhabitants of the ill-fated city saw +at once the futility of a prolonged resistance and resolved to do or die +without delay. Accordingly, a small guard was left behind to kill the +women and children and set fire to the town, and the rest of the doughty +little garrison, with banners waving and bugles sounding in defiance, +sallied forth from the city gates, and each man went to his death with +his face to the enemy. The thrilling tale of the final capture of the +city of Numantia by Scipio Africanus furnishes but further proof of this +indomitable courage of the early Spaniards. After a siege and blockade +of sixteen months, the Numantians, threatened by famine, and unable to +secure terms of honorable capitulation, decided that death was better +than the horrors of Roman slavery; and so they killed each other in +their patriotic zeal, wives and daughters perishing at the hands of +their fathers and their husbands, and the last man, after setting fire +to the town, threw himself into the flames. When the Roman conquerors +marched through the stricken city they could discover nothing but "ruin, +blood, solitude, and horror." By <span class="smcap">b. c.</span> 72 practically all of Spain had +submitted to the Romans, but Pompey found to his surprise that the old +Spanish spirit was not entirely dead when he attempted to take +possession of the town of Calahorra on the Ebro. The details of the +affair almost pass belief. As usual, the defence was dogged; and when +the town was threatened with famine, it is said that the men not only +killed the women and children, but actually salted their flesh and +stored it for future consumption! This was not mere savagery, it was +fanatic devotion to a patriotic principle, and there is naught to show +that the deed was done under protest from the victims.</p> + +<p>The superior organization of the Romans was bound to conquer, however, +in the end, and by the time of Julius Cæsar the whole country had been +subjected. This gradual supremacy of the Romans was accompanied by a +gradual dying out of those early, sturdy virtues which had so marked the +Spanish people. Life in that pre-Christian era had been rude and +uncouth; there was little education or refinement; but there was a +certain rugged nobility of character which cannot but command our +admiration. The general manners and customs of the time are, for the +most part, marked by great decency and purity; women justly merited the +respect which was shown them, and the family was recognized as a +necessary factor in national strength. As an interesting bit of +information which will show, indirectly at least, that women were held +in high regard, it may be noted that a number of old coins have been +found, coming from this early day, which bear upon one side a woman's +head.</p> + +<p>The prosperity which came with the advent of the Romans was the result, +in great part, of the unexampled peace which the whole peninsula now +enjoyed. The mines were worked, the olive groves yielded a rich harvest +of oil, the fields were tilled and much Spanish wheat was sent abroad, +and, in everything but the mining, the women worked side by side with +the men. Flax had been brought to Spain long before by the +Phœnicians, and no special attention had been given to its culture; +but now matters were quite changed, and the finest linen to be found in +all the Western world came from the dexterous hands of the Spanish +women. This time of peace and comfort cannot be considered as an unmixed +blessing, however; for with the decline of war the sterner virtues +languished, and much of that primitive simplicity of an earlier day lost +its freshness and naïveté and gave way to the subtle vices and corrupt +influences which never failed to follow in the wake of Latin conquest. +The strength and virility of the nation had been sapped by the Romans, +as thousands of Spaniards were forced into the Roman legions and forced +to fight their oppressors' battles in many distant lands, and very few +of them came home even to die. With this enormous depletion of the male +population, it was but natural that there should be a certain mixture of +races which was not always an aid to public morals. Marriage between +Roman citizens and the women of the so-called barbarian nations was +rarely recognized by law; many of the Spanish women, as prisoners of +war, were sold into slavery; and with such a social system imposed by +the conquerors, it is easy to see that contamination was inevitable.</p> + +<p>With the gradual decay of Roman power, the colonial dependencies of this +great empire were more and more allowed to fall into the almost absolute +control of unscrupulous governors, who did not miss an occasion to levy +extortionate taxes and manage everything in their own interests. As the +natural result of the raids of the barbarian hordes—the Alans, the +Suevians, the Vandals, and the Goths—Spain was losing all that +semblance of national unity which it had acquired under Roman rule, and +was slowly resolving itself into its primitive autonomous towns. +Finally, Euric the Goth, who had founded a strong government in what is +now southern France, went south of the Pyrenees in the last part of the +fifth century, defeated the Roman garrison at Tarragona, and succeeded +in making a treaty with the emperor, whereby he was to rule all Spain +with the exception of the Suevian territory in the northwest. Now begins +that third process of amalgamation which was to aid in the further +evolution of the national type. First, the native Iberians were blended +with the early Celtic invaders to form the Celtiberian stock, then came +the period of Roman control, to say nothing of the temporary +Carthaginian occupancy, and now, finally, on the ruins of this Roman +province, there rose a Gothic kingdom of power and might. The +foundations of Roman social life were already tottering, for it had been +established from the beginning upon the notion of family headship, and +the individual had no natural rights which the government was bound to +respect, and, all in all, it was little calculated to inspire the esteem +and confidence of the proud Spaniard, who prized his personal liberty +above all else. In literature and in art Roman influences were dominant +and permanent, but, as Martin Hume says: "The centralizing governmental +traditions which the Roman system had grafted upon the primitive town +and village government of the Celtiberians had struck so little root in +Spain during six centuries, that long before the last legionaries left +the country the centralized government had fallen away, and the towns +with their assembly of all free citizens survived with but little +alteration from the pre-Roman period."</p> + +<p>This being the case when the Goths appeared, it was easy for them to +start out afresh on their own lines, and all the more so as many of +their governmental ideas were peculiarly adapted to the Spanish +temperament. The Goths at the time of their appearance in Spain were no +longer barbarians, as their long contact with Rome had given them ample +opportunity for education, and they deserve to be considered as +disseminators of civilization. Their easy conquest of Spain can then be +accounted for in two ways: first, there was not sufficient warlike +spirit in the country to successfully oppose them; secondly, they were +hailed as liberators rather than as conquerors, because at their coming +the real barbarians, who were still threatening the country, were forced +to leave. The central idea of the Gothic social system, which was soon +established in all parts of the country, was its recognition of the +independence of the individual, and especially of the women of the +family. The head of the household did not consider himself as the sole +possessor of all rights and privileges; the women and children were +expected to do their share of fighting the enemy, and were given their +share of food and plunder in all equity. The equality of the wife with +her husband was strictly enjoined, not only in the marriage ceremony, +but also by law, which gave her full control of her own property and a +half-interest in the possessions held by them both in common.</p> + +<p>Alaric II. caused to be published in 506 the code of laws which had been +compiled by King Euric, but which was called the <i>Breviarium +Alaricianium</i>, wherein, among various other matters, the rights of women +are especially enforced. This code was intended only for the use of the +Goths, who took position at once as a ruling and noble race, and the +rest of the population was still governed by the old Roman code. For +almost a hundred and fifty years this double system of legal procedure +was maintained, and then its many disadvantages became so evident that a +vigorous king sought to remedy the tottering fortunes of the Gothic +realm by promulgating a single code, to which all should be subject and +which should represent the better features of the two codes hitherto in +vogue. Chindaswinth, who ruled from 642 to 654, was responsible for this +new departure; and his son Recceswinth, who followed him upon the +throne, was the first to administer the revised code, which is known as +the <i>Lex Visigothorum</i>. Although the document is but an adaptation of +the Roman law to the special needs of the country from the standpoint of +Christianity, it shows at the same time the strong influence of the +social traditions of the Goths, and especially with reference to its +treatment of women.</p> + +<p>It is evident from a perusal of these laws that the Goths had high +ideals of family life, and that it was their most earnest endeavor to +maintain, by means of legal enactment, a rather unusual state of social +purity. Women were held in high esteem and occupied a most respected and +influential position, and Cæsar's wife was their common model. The moral +condition of the Romanized Spaniards fell far short of the Gothic +standards, however, and it is evident that the new code endeavored to +correct the numerous social evils which then afflicted the country. The +loose habits of the Romans had been followed all too quickly, and the +custom of keeping many slaves in a household had led to a domestic +promiscuity which was appalling in some instances, so that the Gothic +desire for reform is easily explained. It is interesting to note in this +connection that the best account to be found of the moral status of the +whole people at this time is contained by implication in the list of +things which they are forbidden by law to do. So, the <i>Lex Visigothorum</i> +is not only a tribute to the moral sense of its promulgators, but at the +same time a storehouse of information with regard to a rather obscure +period in Spanish history.</p> + +<p>All things considered, one of the most startling things in the new code +was a severe statute forbidding public prostitutes, for it is somewhat +difficult to believe that the moral tone of society at that time would +warrant so stringent a measure. A public flogging was prescribed as the +penalty which would be inflicted upon all who failed to obey the +statute, and it is altogether probable that the law was administered +with the same Puritanic rigor which had brought it into existence. Other +provisions there were, animated by this same spirit, which were levelled +at the social evils incident to the practice of holding slaves. A woman +who had intrigued with her own slave or who wished to marry him was +condemned to death in the most summary fashion; and even if the man were +a freedman, the penalty was just the same. What a glimpse this gives us +of the life of the time, when the slaves were often more charming and +more intelligent than their rough masters, and how clear it is that the +Goths considered a household conducted with decency and with order as an +important element in national prosperity and well-being!</p> + +<p>As one might naturally expect, the laws relating to the subject of +marriage and divorce are equally severe, even when the contracting +parties belong to the same class in society. The equality between wife +and husband was again provided for, as it had been in the earlier code, +and the woman was again given full control of her own property and a +half-interest in the things which had been common property. Once +married, divorce was forbidden except in the case of adultery on the +woman's part; and though it is clear to see that this was not equal +justice for both man and wife, yet such was the fact. When infidelity +was proved, the law provided that the wife and her paramour should be +delivered up to the tender mercies of the injured husband, who had the +right to punish them according to his own inclination. He was given the +power of life and death even, under these circumstances, and too often +it is to be feared that the punishment became a bloody revenge +sanctioned by law. Marriage between Jews and Christians had long been +forbidden, as it had been discovered by experience that such a union was +bound to lead to proselyting in one form or another; and the death +penalty was inflicted upon all who were not content to abide by the +statute. Marriage between Goths and Romans had been legalized in 652, +but for many years before that time the two races had been kept apart; +for the Goths, as the ruling race, considered it prejudicial to their +interests to ally themselves in this way with their subjects.</p> + +<p>Woman's place in the criminal procedure of the time was unique. It +appears that the punishment inflicted for any given crime depended not +so much upon the importance of the offence as upon the importance of the +criminal, and that almost every injury might be atoned for by the +payment of a certain sum of money, the amount depending upon the rank of +the person making the payment. Such money payments, wherever a woman was +involved, were regulated according to the following scale of values: +from her birth to the age of fifteen, she was valued at only one-half +the price of a man of her own class; from fifteen to twenty, she was +considered of equal value; from twenty to forty, she was rated as worth +one-sixth less than a man; and after forty, at even less than half. +Inasmuch as both men and women were amenable to the same laws with but +this difference in the amount of the penalty in any given case, it would +appear that women were recognized to possess a smaller money-earning +power than the men; and such was undoubtedly the case, in spite of the +fact that both men and women seemed to share alike the various daily +tasks in the earlier and simpler days of Gothic rule in Spain. Such +participation on the part of the women was by no means common among the +Romans, and this fact, together with the spread of slavery, did much to +put the women in this secondary position, so far as ability to work was +concerned.</p> + +<p>With all this apparent equality in fact and in the eyes of the law, it +is somewhat doubtful whether or not the wives and mothers really enjoyed +a high degree of personal liberty. Their legal rights were clearly +defined, but it is certain that they were looked upon as inferior +beings. The prevalent customs with regard to the marriage dower show in +no uncertain fashion that the wife was considered to a certain extent as +the chattel and property of her husband; for a woman could not marry +without a dower, but it was paid not by but to her parents, and by her +future husband. A marriage of that description may be likened to the +sale of a bill of goods. In further proof of this dependent position of +the women, and to show the care which was taken to protect them from +contamination of any kind, one of the statutes regulating the practice +of medicine presents certain interesting features. This law prohibited +surgeons from bleeding any freewoman except in the presence of her +husband, her nearest relative, or at least of some properly appointed +witness. A Salic law dating from about the same period imposed a fine of +fifteen pieces of gold upon anyone who should improperly press a +woman's hand, but there seems to be nothing to show that the Goths +considered legislation upon this important point necessary. Even under +these conditions the physician's position was somewhat precarious, as it +was provided that in case he should withdraw enough of the patient's +blood to cause death, he became the slave of the patient's heir at law!</p> + +<p>Spain was like the greater part of the rest of Europe at this time with +regard to its intellectual atmosphere; Christianity and Roman +civilization had not yet succeeded in stamping out the old pagan beliefs +of the early inhabitants, and superstition and ignorance were for a long +time characteristic traits of the majority of the people. The air was +peopled with demons, the devil himself was no infrequent visitor, +witches and fortune tellers were not without influence, and stealthily, +by night, many mystic rites were celebrated. Many of the Christian +beliefs of the time are likewise the result of ignorance and +superstition, but at that time, naturally, only the pagan ideas were +condemned. Accordingly, while the law of the Goths recognized trial by +ordeal, wherein God is summoned to bear miraculous witness in favor of +the innocent, the same law condemned belief in witchcraft! The favorite +ordeal among the Goths was trial by red-hot iron. The Church took charge +of this ceremony, which was accompanied by a most solemn ritual, and all +this was legal and religious and approved by the highest authorities! +But the poor witches had to go! It was charged that they were able to +produce storm and ruin by means of their incantations, that they offered +nightly sacrifices to devils, and that in general they were in league +with the powers of darkness and productive of much disorder. +Furthermore, soothsayers were not to be consulted concerning the death +of a king; and any freeman disobeying this edict was soundly flogged, +lost his property by confiscation, and was condemned to perpetual +servitude. These mysterious and redoubtable old women who gathered +simples upon the mountain side and dealt in the black art had formerly +been very numerous, and, although they have always continued to exist in +Spain, their number was much diminished by means of the enforcement of +the new law.</p> + +<p>In addition to the various social and political questions which were +demanding settlement at this time, there was a matter of ecclesiastical +difference which caused great trouble and confusion. The Goths, though +Christians, belonged to the Arian branch of the Church, while the +Spaniards were firm believers in the Athanasian or Latin form of +Christianity, and the struggle for supremacy between the two went on for +many years before either side was willing to submit. Near the beginning +of the sixth century, Clothilda, daughter of the Frankish king, Clovis, +was married to Amalaric, the Gothic king, whose capital was then in the +old city of Narbonne. Political advantages were supposed to come from +this international alliance, but the results were quite to the contrary. +The queen was an Athanasian, and the king an Arian Catholic, and neither +was willing to endure the heresy of the other. Amalaric used his most +persuasive arts in his attempts to win over his wife to the Gothic point +of view, but his endeavor was in vain, and she remained obstinately true +to the God of her fathers. Finally, irritated beyond measure, the king +ordered that Clothilda should no longer be allowed to make public +profession of her religion, and the result was a merry war which led to +the defeat and final death of the Arian sovereign. Late in this same +sixth century there was in Spain another Frankish queen, who not only +held steadfastly to her own faith, but was the indirect means whereby +all the country was induced to abandon the Arian creed. The native +Catholic clergy, under the leadership of Leander, a most noted +churchman, and Bishop of Seville, had long urged the necessity of such a +change, but the Goths were unwilling to submit; and so matters stood +until Prince Hermenegild, urged on by Leander, and most of all by his +wife Ingunda, led a revolt against his father, King Leovgild. The revolt +was not a success, but the star of the Athanasian party was rising +rapidly, and the open stand of the queen for the Latin doctrines gave +great impetus and power to the whole movement. The triumph was complete +when Leovgild's son and heir, Recared, saw that further opposition was +useless and publicly announced his conversion to the faith of Rome.</p> + +<p>In the early history of the Church in Spain there are many interesting +references to women which are not generally known, but which reveal, on +the whole, a condition of affairs similar to that which was to be found +in other parts of Europe at the same time. Monasteries were probably +unknown in the peninsula before the middle of the sixth century, but +from a very early day it is certain that women as well as men were +taking vows of perpetual chastity and devoting themselves to a life of +holy works. Early in the fourth century the Council of Elvira prescribed +penalties for professed nuns who might desire to reënter the world, and +the Council of Saragossa, in 380, declared that no virgin should be +allowed to devote herself to a religious life until she had reached the +mature age of forty years. That same Council of Elvira was the first in +the history of the Church to ordain the celibacy of the secular clergy, +and its thirty-third canon forbade the bishops, priests, and deacons of +the peninsula to live as husbands with their wives. In the year 591, the +first Synod of Toledo, over which Bishop Leander presided, enacted +various canons which give some interesting sidelights on the times. It +appears that ecclesiastics had already been forbidden to keep women +servants in their houses, but the rule was so often disregarded that it +was enacted that in the future, as a punishment for such intractable +churchmen, their servants should be sold as slaves and the proceeds +handed over to some charitable organization. In just what way this +punishment was to affect the clergy, beyond causing them temporary +annoyance, it is difficult to understand, but there is no doubt as to +the fact.</p> + +<p>In all of the seven centuries preceding the Moorish conquest of Spain +there had been some little progress, so far as the position of women was +concerned, but it cannot be said that the advance had been great. The +original Gothic ideas on this subject had been far superior to those +held by the Romans, but the rigor of the old ideas lost force in time, +and, if the accounts of the Church historians be true, the last Goths to +wield the sceptre were so corrupt and led such abandoned lives that God, +in his vengeance, sent the Mohammedan horde upon them. In all these +shifting times the conditions of life were such that few women were able +to take any prominent part in public affairs; or if they did, the +imperfect records of the epoch fail to make mention of it. At intervals +there were queens, like Ingunda, possessed of a strong and decided +character and ready to take a part in the control of affairs, but they +were the exception and not the rule, as the education of women was so +very limited that few of them knew enough to see beyond a very narrow +horizon. Probably the most enlightened woman in all this period was the +nun Florentina, sister of Bishop Leander of Seville, who was far-famed +for her good works. At the time of her death in 603, she had risen to +such distinction on account of her character and her ability that she +was made the general director of a system of over forty convents, which +were under her continual inspection and control. Such, in brief, is her +story; further details are wanting, but even this is enough to impress +us with the fact that she must have been a great woman and +representative of all that was good and noble in her day.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XIII" id="Chapter_XIII"></a><a href="#table">Chapter XIII</a></h2> + +<h3>Women among the Moors</h3> + + +<p>The closing years of Gothic rule in Spain, and the various causes which +finally led to the Moorish invasion, are somewhat involved in legend and +mystery. But in spite of a scepticism which has been openly expressed by +some authors, it seems more than probable that the fabled Rodrigo, from +his capital at Toledo, actually ruled over Spain in the year 709, and +that he was, directly or indirectly, the cause of the invasion of the +Moors. According to the commonly accepted story, the moral condition of +Spain at the beginning of the eighth century was most deplorable. The +Goths had lost that reputation for honesty and chastity which in the +earlier days of their power had distinguished them from the Romans. +Rodrigo, "the last of the Goths," lived a life of such flagrant +profligacy that the coming of the Moors was but just punishment for all +his sins. As Miss Yonge has remarked, "the fall of Gothic Spain was one +of the disasters that served to justify the saying that all great +catastrophes are caused by women." The woman in the present instance was +Florinda, often called La Cava, reputed to be the daughter of Count +Julian, commander of the south of Spain and in charge of the fortress of +Ceuta. Although Rodrigo already possessed a wife, Egilona, who was a +brilliant, able, and beautiful woman, he was a man of little moral force +and had a roving eye and lusty passions. Seeing Florinda once upon a +time, he coveted her, succeeded in winning her affections, and was not +content until he had betrayed her confidence and brought dishonor upon +her and her father. Count Julian, filled with a righteous anger at this +unwarranted act on the part of his liege lord, openly revolted, called +in the Moors, and unwittingly opened his country to an invader who would +be slow to leave. The story is told in the old ballad, as follows:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Long had the crimes of Spain cried out to Heaven:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At length the measure of offence was full.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Count Julian called the invader ...<br /></span> +<span class="i6">...Mad to wreak<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His vengeance for his deeply injured child<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On Roderick's head, an evil hour for Spain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For that unhappy daughter, and himself.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Desperate apostate, on the Moors he called,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And, like a cloud of locusts, whom the wind<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wafts from the plains of wasted Africa,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Mussulman upon Iberia's shores<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Descends. A countless multitude they came:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Syrian, Moor, Saracen, Greek renegade,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Persian, and Copt, and Latin, in one band<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of erring faith conjoined, strong in the youth<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And heat of zeal, a dreadful brotherhood."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><i>La Cava</i>, the name by which Florinda has been called ever since by the +Spaniards, means "the wicked one," and the general theory has been that, +in spite of her betrayed innocence, she has been held in execration for +all that followed. Others, however, have pointed out the discrepancy +between the generally acknowledged purity of character of Florinda and +the meaning of <i>La Cava</i>, and it is their opinion that Count Julian's +daughter is merely legendary, and that <i>La Cava</i> refers in some +allegorical way to the dissolute and voluptuous life which Rodrigo had +been leading and which was in itself a good and sufficient reason for +all the misfortunes which were to follow.</p> + +<p>While all is not clear as to the reason for the invitation to come to +Spain, there is no cause to doubt that it was accepted in a most hearty +manner. Modern historians do not hesitate to say that the Catholic +churchmen, not realizing the danger, invited the Moslems to aid them in +repressing a revolt among the Gothic nobles. However the case may have +been, Mousa, the Berber chieftain, sent his bravest sheik, Tarik, with a +goodly following, to lead the invasion. The white-turbaned warriors +crossed the strait between what had always been called the Pillars of +Hercules, and landed upon that great rock which has ever since borne +that leader's name, Gebel-al-Tarik—Gibraltar—the "rock of Tarik." +Rodrigo, with an army of about eighty thousand men, which he had hastily +gathered together, hastened to meet the invaders, and the two armies met +on the banks of the Guadelete. Egilona, Roderick's wife, was left with a +safe guard in the strongly fortified town of Meriba, while the "last of +the Goths," in shining armor and wearing a helmet adorned with horns of +gold, such as may be seen upon old Gothic coins, fought vainly against +the terrible horsemen of the deserts. <i>La bataille est merveillose e +pesant</i>, to quote the words of the <i>Song of Roland</i>, describing that +other battle, between the Franks and the Moors, some sixty-five years +later in the fatal pass of Roncesvalles; the Goths were overwhelmingly +defeated, and Rodrigo disappeared in a most mysterious way, leaving his +crown and sceptre upon the river bank. Mousa, with another invading +force, had followed close upon the heels of Tarik, and he it was who +pushed on to Meriba and laid siege to the town, knowing full well that +the queen was within the gates, while Tarik, by a series of easy +conquests, made his way to Toledo. When the siege came to a close and +the Berbers entered the fortifications, they were amazed at the richness +and vast amount of treasure which fell into their hands. The jewel +caskets of Egilona in particular excited their wonder and admiration, +and so many chains of gold and precious stones did they find among her +possessions that she was straightway named "the Mother of Necklaces." +When the spoils of battle were divided, the fair captive queen fell to +the lot of Mousa's son, Abdul Aziz, who had been made ruler over the +newly conquered territory. The young Moorish prince was soon a slave to +the charms of Egilona, and so great did his love for her become that he +married her, with the promise that he would always regard her as queen +and would never marry again; he never broke that promise. Seville was +his capital, and there his power was so great that the kalif in +Damascus, fearing that he might attempt to rule independently, sent out +men to take his life. These assassins found him so beloved by his +soldiers that they feared to attack him until they had circulated the +rumor that Egilona was about to convert him to the Christian faith and +that he would soon wear a crown upon his head, like any Christian king. +After this story had been spread abroad, the kalif's men followed Aziz +to a small mosque, where he went sometimes to pray, cut off his head, +and showed it in the public place, with the order for his death.</p> + +<p>The Goths were driven to the north and west of the peninsula, while the +Moors, in the rich country to the south and east, strengthened their +position and laid the foundations for that empire which was to have such +a long and brilliant history, in the middle of the eighth century the +kalif at Damascus had lost his power to so great an extent that the seat +of government was transferred to Cordova, where Abd-el-Rhaman I. reigned +for more than a quarter of a century as the first kalif of the Moslem +Church resident in Spain. On the borderland there was continual fighting +between the Moors and the Christians, and many are the legends which +tell of this spirited epoch. The Christians had rallied about the +standards of various leaders in the hill countries, and they fought +among themselves quite as much as with the Moslem foe. There are even +stories to the effect that Christian leaders made alliances with the +Moors for more successful forays upon their Christian neighbors, and +there are also legends of shameful peace which was bought at the price +of Christian tribute. Among all these tales of tribute, that which has +most fired the national spirit and inspired the ballad writers is the +story of the tribute of a hundred Christian maidens, which was paid by +King Ramiro. The indignation of the people at this unworthy act and the +reproaches of the Spanish women, who preferred the hardships of war to +this cowardly repose, are well expressed in the following verses from +the ballad which sings of the cessation of the tribute, wherein a +Spanish damsel addresses the king:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"I know not if I'm bounden to call thee by the name<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of Christian, Don Ramiro, for though thou dost not claim<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A heathen realm's allegiance, a heathen sure thou art—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beneath a Spaniard's mantle thou hid'st a Moorish heart.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"For he who gives the Moslem king a hundred maids of Spain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each year when in its season the day comes round again,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If he be not a heathen, he swells the heathen's train:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Twere better burn a kingdom than suffer such disdain.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"And if 'tis fear of battle that makes ye bow so low,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And suffer such dishonor from God our Savior's foe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I pray you, sirs, take warning, ye'll have as good a fright<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If e'er the Spanish damsels arise themselves to right."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The Moorish conquest had been rapidly made, and generally very little +resistance was offered to the advance of the invaders. The emasculating +influences of the Roman decadence had been at work to such effect that +the sturdy traits of the Goth had disappeared, and there was no real +national spirit or energy sufficient for the national defence. To the +credit of the Moors, it must be said that their conquest was ever marked +by mercy and large-mindedness; and in spite of their absolute power and +their intense religious zeal, they permitted the subdued people to enjoy +many liberties. Chief among them was their right to worship as +Christians, retaining their clergy and their liturgy, which had been +compiled by the Spanish bishops Leander and Ildefonso. Christian zeal, +however, was not satisfied with a state of inaction. Many times a number +of people went to what they considered a glorious martyrdom as the +result of their intemperate denunciations of the Koran and the sons of +the Prophet. Christianity was allowed to exist without hindrance, but +the Moors would not permit criticism of their own faith, and this was +natural enough. Several of these Christian martyrs were women, and their +stubborn love for their religion cannot but excite our sympathy, however +ill advised and unavailing it may have been. The story is told of two +poor young girls, Muñila and Alodia, the children of a Moslem father and +a Christian mother, who had carefully brought them up in her own faith. +These maidens became so beautiful that they were called "roses springing +from thorns." As the story goes, "their father died and their mother +married a less tolerant Moslem, who, finding their faith proof against +his threats, brought them before the Kadi. Splendid marriages were +offered them if they would quit the Christian faith; but they answered +that they knew of no spouse equal to their Lord, no bliss comparable to +what He could bestow: and persuasion and torture alike failed with them, +until they sealed their confession with their lives." The rage for +martyrdom now seemed to grow, and there is a long list of those who went +to death as the result of their voluntary acts. Conspicuous here is the +case of a wealthy young woman named Columba, who left the Moslem +Church, in spite of the entreaties of her family, and entered a convent +at Tabanos. By order of the authorities, the other nuns of the +establishment were taken to Cordova and locked up, that they might not +become violent in their talk and bring destruction upon themselves as +the result of their intemperate acts; and Columba was kept in solitary +confinement, in the hope that she might be induced to abjure her newly +found faith. But she refused to change her belief in any way, and one +day escaped, went at once and reviled Mohammed before the kadi, and went +to her death, as was inevitable, according to the law of the land.</p> + +<p>In the middle of the ninth century, Eulogius, the recently elected +Metropolitan Bishop of Toledo, was considered too zealous and too +uncompromising in his beliefs, and he was soon summoned before the divan +to answer to the charge of participation in the flight and conversion of +a Moslem lady, who had taken the name of Leocritia, under which she was +canonized at a later date. It was said that the woman had become a +Christian through his efforts, and that he had hidden her for a time in +the house of his sister. He was decapitated, and his body was thrown +into the river; and if the legend be true, a white dove flew over it as +it floated down the stream. Leocritia also was put to death. Here, +however, the record of these martyrdoms apparently comes to an end, and +the force of the folly seems to have spent itself. The Mohammedans were +growing more strict all the time in their treatment of the Christians, +but the futility of such self-sought martyrdom was finally becoming +apparent.</p> + +<p>Before the time of these religious disturbances the Moors had not +molested the Christians in any way, and the two nations lived side by +side in rather friendly intercourse. Intermarriages were not +infrequent, and both Moorish and Christian women lived much the same +outward life. Each Moor was allowed four wives by law; and while the +women of his household were compelled to submit to certain restrictions, +their manner of life was far less secluded than that of the average +woman of the modern Orient. They went about veiled up to the eyes, and +were never allowed to eat with the men; but, socially, men and women +mingled together on terms of equality, and their conversations and +common enjoyment of music and poetry were unrestricted. In the most +brilliant period of the kalifate of Cordova,—between the years 888 and +967,—when the Moors were acknowledged to be the most enlightened people +of all Europe, their women were not excluded from participation in +educational pursuits. While few if any of them became the intellectual +equals of the men, many of them learned enough to become helpful +companions for their husbands—and that is not such a bad idea for +women's education, even in these modern days, if the voice of the men is +to be heard in the land. In Seville a lady named Maryam founded a school +for girls, where they were taught science, mathematics, and history, in +addition to the various feminine accomplishments of the time. With +regard to the mysteries of their attire, this subject can best be +treated by a woman who knows whereof she speaks. Miss Yonge, in her +interesting book on the Christians and Moors in Spain, has the following +to say on the subject: "Their dress was much the same as that of the +ladies of North Africa. Full white muslin trousers were tied at the +ankle, and a long, full, white <i>gilalah</i>, a mantle of transparent +muslin, covered the tighter vest and jacket, both of brilliant colors, +over which they wore gold chains, necklaces, and bracelets, with strings +of coral, pearl, and amber; while their hair was in little curls, +adorned with jewels and flowers. But all this was concealed by the +thick, muffling, outer veil; they also had horsehair visards through +which they could see without being seen."</p> + +<p>With the growth and consolidation of Moslem power in Spain, and as the +natural result of the great progress in the mechanic arts of all kinds, +life became luxurious and filled with comforts far outside the ken of +the sturdy Spanish patriots, who, from their mountain strongholds, were +still battling against the rule of the infidel. The effect of all this +elegance and refinement was evident in the whole atmosphere of Moorish +society, and the beautiful homes of these wonderful people were filled +with the most rare and costly works of art. An illustration of how +necessary all these luxuries of life finally became to the Mohammedans +is found in the statement that the sheik of a tribe on a pilgrimage to +Mecca carried with him a whole caravan of dependents and slaves. He had +silver ovens in which to bake fresh bread every day, and his camels bore +leathern bags filled with snow that he might drink iced sherbet in the +midst of the desert. A Moorish general carried to his camp an immense +following of women, slaves, musicians, and court poets, and in his +pavilioned tent, on the very eve of a battle, there were often feasting +and dancing and much merriment, just as if he had been in his sumptuous +home at Cordova.</p> + +<p>The Moors were generous and public-spirited, and much given to display. +The marriage feast which was prepared by Almanzor the Invincible, for +his son, in the year 1000, presents a picture of glittering splendor +which has been described more than once. Abd-el-Malek was the son's +name, and he was being married to his own cousin, one of the most +beautiful of the Moorish maidens. The feast took place in the gardens +about Almanzor's beautiful country place, Almeria, where at night the +whole estate was illuminated by means of lamps which were fastened to +every tree and shrub. Musicians, far out upon the lakes, discoursed +sweet music from boats which were hung with silken tapestries, and the +whole night was given over to pleasures. As a reminder of the customs of +the desert tribes, who used to carry off their wives by force, the bride +was placed in a spacious pavilion of white silk, where she was carefully +guarded by her maids in waiting, each armed with a cunningly wrought +wand of ivory and gold. The bridegroom and his attendants came upon them +suddenly, however, brandishing gilt maces, and after a mimic struggle, +where all was mirth and laughter, the guard of love was overcome and the +bride was won. This wedding feast brought joy, not only to those who +actively participated in its pleasures, but also to many of the common +people; for Almanzor gave dowries to a large number of orphan girls, +endowed a large number of schools and colleges, and put new uniforms +upon all the members of his bodyguard.</p> + +<p>With the death of the great Kalif Al Hakem II.—976—the power of Islam +in Spain began slowly to decline. His son and heir, Heschem II., was but +a youth of ten, and the Arabs called him Al Mowayed Bi'llah, "the +Protected by God." Though the law required that the Ruler of the +Faithful should be more than fifteen years old, Heschem was at once +proclaimed kalif, although he was given no share in the government. His +mother, Sobeyah, the Sultana of Cordova, had acquired some experience in +affairs of state during the last few years of her husband's life; now, +to help her in her regency, she appointed as her grand vizier +Mohammed-ben-Abd-Allah, a man of wonderful power and ability and no +other than Almanzor the Invincible, who has already been mentioned. +Almanzor had entered the public service as a court scribe, and it was +there that, by the charm of his manner and the nobility of his bearing, +he first attracted the attention of Sobeyah. The all-powerful sultana +was not slow in yielding to his many graces, and he soon became her +acknowledged favorite and rose to high positions in the state. It was +but natural, then, that Sobeyah should turn to him for aid when her +husband's death was announced. On account of the minority of her son, +there was an attempt on the part of many in the palace to deprive the +sultana of her authority, depose her son, and usurp the office of kalif. +Sobeyah, hard pressed and all but defeated, turned to her lover, +Almanzor, who suppressed the intrigue and brought order out of +confusion. Enjoying as he did the full confidence of the sultana, +Almanzor undertook the entire administration of the kingdom as if he had +been kalif in name as well as in fact, and his success in all his +various undertakings was most wonderful. Heschem, the real kalif, was a +virtual prisoner in his harem, and was encouraged by his guardian and +friends to devote himself entirely to a religious life, leaving all the +cares of state to his mother Sobeyah and to the vizier. Step by step, +Almanzor ascended to a position of such power and authority that the +sultana became jealous of his might and lost her love in an attempt to +regain her authority. In 992, according to Burke, Almanzor used his seal +in place of the royal seal on all official documents. In 993 he assumed +the royal cognomen of Mowayed. Two years later he arrogated to himself, +alone, the title of <i>saíd</i>, and in 996 he ventured a step further and +assumed the title of <i>málik karim</i>, or king. Then it was that Sobeyah +determined to reassert her power, cause the overthrow of this ambitious +favorite, and rule henceforth in her own name. The officers of the harem +and the various court officials were easily won over to her party; the +young kalif was urged to assert his manhood, declare himself, throw off +the influence of his dreaded guardian, and give active support to the +cause of his mother. The sultana became exultant as victory seemed +assured. Secretly, she summoned one of Almanzor's military rivals from +Africa, that she might have a leader for her forces in the field. The +public treasury was at her disposal, and no stone was left unturned to +secure ultimate success. As the final <i>coup</i>, the vizier was banished +from the royal presence and forbidden to enter the palace. But Almanzor +was still the Invincible. Giving no heed to the terms of his banishment, +he made his way into the presence of the kalif; and there, by bold yet +subtle argument, he not only succeeded in regaining the royal favor, but +secured from Heschem a solemn instrument signed with the royal sign +manual, whereby he was empowered to assume the government of the entire +kingdom. This was the same tragic story which was to be acted over again +in the early part of the seventeenth century, in France, when the great +prime minister, the Cardinal Richelieu, his jealous rival, the +queen-mother, and the weak king, Louis XIII., were more than once +engaged in a struggle for power, which ended invariably in the success +of the minister. It is difficult to find a more striking historical +coincidence, and the case is worthy of remark. In his success, Almanzor +showed no hate for his one-time protectress, who had so nearly caused +his ruin, and in his administration of affairs he left her entire +liberty of action. But her last vestige of power had departed, her most +loyal followers had been induced to abandon her cause after the +defection of the kalif himself, and Sobeyah, who had been the most +powerful of all the Moorish sultanas of Cordova, was now forced in +humiliation to withdraw from active participation in worldly affairs and +to spend the few remaining years of her life in strict seclusion in a +lonely cloister.</p> + +<p>In the last part of the eleventh century there were troublous times for +the Moors. For a number of years there had been no strong central power +among them, and the various emirs who were the rulers of the different +parts of the peninsula were so intent upon their own affairs, and so +consumed by greed and selfishness, that the general cause suffered +mightily and the Spanish Christians grew bolder and bolder in their +attacks. Alfonso VI. of Castile was their leader. The danger of total +extinction finally became so great that the emirs were induced to join +forces for their personal safety and to take measures to preserve their +own towns and cities. Realizing their helpless condition, they sent a +letter to Yousouf-ben-Tashfyn, Prince of the Almoravides, a Mohammadan +tribe of Africa, asking him to come with his hosts to help them do +battle against the infidel. Certain portions of this invitation reveal +so clearly the deplorable conditions of Moorish society at this time +that it is well worth while to spend a moment in their perusal:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"We, the Arabs of Andalusia, have not preserved our illustrious +tribes: we have dispersed and intermixed them, and have long had no +fellowship with our tribes and families who dwell in Africa. Want +of union has led to discord, and our natural enemies are prevailing +against us. Each day becometh more unbearable the fury of King +Alfonso, who like a mad dog enters our lands, takes our castles, +makes Moslems captive, and will tread us under foot unless an emir +from Africa will arise to defend the oppressed, who behold the ruin +of their kindred, their neighbors, and even of their law. They are +no more what they once were. Pleasures, amusements, the sweet +climate of Andalusia, delicious baths of fragrant waters, fountains +and dainty meats, have enervated them so that they dare not face +the toils of war. If thou art moved by desire of earthly wealth, +here wilt thou find rich carpets, jewels of gold and silver, +precious raiment, delicious gardens, and clear springs of flowing +water. But if thine heart seeks only to win eternal life in Allah's +service, here is the opportunity, for never are wanting bloody +battles, skirmishes, and fights. Here has Allah placed a paradise +that from the shadow of weapons thou mayest pass to the everlasting +shadow where he rewards the deserving."</p></div> + +<p>Moved by such an appeal, Yousouf came with his armies, defeated the +Christians under Alfonso at the terrible battle of Zalakah, and would +have followed up his victory had he not been recalled to Morocco by the +death of his son. He returned to Spain soon after, however, and then +began a conquest in his own interests, having made up his mind that the +emirs could be easily dispossessed and that it would be good to rule as +the absolute master of all Andalusia. Beginning with Granada, he +attacked the emirs each in turn, and in the end subdued them all. Aben +Abed, the Emir of Seville and one of the most learned men in Spain, was +so beside himself at the thought of this possible defeat, that he sought +for aid in any quarter and finally entreated the assistance of the +redoubtable Alfonso, his late enemy. As proof of his good faith and by +way of inducement, Aben Abed decided to offer to Alfonso the hand of his +daughter, Zaida, in marriage. If the traditions be correct, Zaida was a +Christian at heart, in spite of her Mohammedan education and +surroundings, as the Castilians claimed that she had been converted in a +dream in which Saint Isidoro had come to her and prevailed upon her to +change her faith. In any event, Alfonso seems to have been only too glad +to accept this offer, and Zaida was accordingly escorted in great state +to Toledo, which had lately been wrested from the Moors; there she was +baptized as Maria Isabella, and then married to the king with much +ceremony. This Moorish princess was a perfect beauty of the Oriental +type, with dark hair and oval face, and Alfonso may well have been +enamored of her charms; but he was no less enamored of her marriage +portion, which consisted of the rich cities of Cucuça, Ucles, and Huate. +The new queen was hailed with joy by the Christians, as her conversion +was considered prophetic of the ultimate and complete success of +Alfonso's armies. Unfortunately, Zaida lived for but a short time after +her marriage; she died in giving birth to Alfonso's only son, who was +named Sancho. Aben Abed's alliance with the Christian monarch for their +mutual defence was without final result, however, as he was at last +compelled to surrender Seville in 1091, after a stubborn resistance. +Aben Abed was exiled, with his wife and daughters, and was sent to the +castle of Aginât, in Africa, to live his life away. There, if the +reports be true, their food was so scanty that the ladies of the family +had to spin to get enough for them all to eat, while the despondent emir +tried to beguile the weary hours with poetry. The hardships of their +life were so great that finally the emir was left alone in his +captivity, and it was four long years before he could follow them in +death.</p> + +<p>In the latter part of the fourteenth century, the little kingdom of +Granada was the most prosperous part of the Moorish territory, and its +brilliant life seemed to recall for a moment the splendors of Cordova. +Chivalry, driven from southern France by the Albigensian Crusade, had +been slowly growing in importance among the Spaniards of the north, and +the Moors were not slow in following the courteous spirit and in +adopting its code of truth and honor. Mohammed V. controlled the +destinies of the Granadine kingdom at this time; and when his son, +Aben-Abd-Allah, was married to the daughter of the Emir of Fez, there +was a succession of the most splendid fêtes and tournaments, which were +attended by knights not only from Christian Spain but also from Italy +and France. Chivalry was essentially a Christian institution, but its +outer forms were readily taken up by the Moors and practised to such an +extent that their influence upon society and social conventions soon +began to show itself in a most surprising way. The women of the harems, +who in former days were generally considered, after the Eastern fashion, +as beings who were not to be mentioned, now occupy a more honorable +position, and it is recounted that the men "wore the devices of their +lady-loves on the rich housings of their steeds—hearts pierced with +arrows, a sail guiding a ship, an initial, and in colors denoting their +state of mind: yellow and black for grief, green for hope, blue for +jealousy, violet and flame for ardent love. Large assemblies were held +in the beautiful houses and gardens, where hunting, poetry, music, and +dancing were the chief occupations; but the grave learning and +earnestness of Al Hakem's days had passed away, and the enjoyments had +become far more sensual and voluptuous than in his time." It is evident +that the frugal, stern, uncompromising sons of the Prophet of an earlier +day were becoming men of little faith in many particulars, and that they +had fallen far below the standard of life which had characterized their +ancestors. But in this state of moral degeneracy it is gratifying to +note that the position of women has been much improved and that they are +no longer regarded as mere slaves. The customs of chivalry, as has been +indicated, were responsible for much of this, but the influence of the +many Spanish women who were held as captives in the harems must not be +overlooked.</p> + +<p>The closing years of Moorish dominion in Spain were marked by many +adventures of a most romantic character, which have been made familiar +to the world at large by Washington Irving. When Aboul Hacem came to the +throne in 1466, the Mohammedan power was already tottering; but there +were troubles in Castile which emboldened the king to such an extent +that, in 1476, when the regular demand for tribute money was presented, +he is said to have made answer: "Those who coined gold for you are dead. +Nothing is made at Granada for the Christians but sword-blades and +lance-points." Although ultimate success for the Moors was now entirely +out of the question, their final defence was not what it might have +been—a state of affairs which was the result of various contentions +that emanated largely from the harem. Conspicuous in these intrigues was +Zoraya, "the Morning Star," a renegade Christian who was the favorite +wife of the king. Though childless, Zoraya had interested herself in +Boabdil, the son of another wife, Ayescha, and had determined to drive +Aboul Hacem from his throne, that his son might rule in his place. So +formidable did the plot become that the king was forced to imprison +Ayescha and Boabdil in a certain quarter of the harem; but their +captivity was short, as they were soon put at liberty by friendly hands. +Twisting a rope from the veils of the sultana's women in waiting, wife +and son let themselves down from a window and sought refuge among their +supporters. Countless quarrels followed, which ended in Boabdil's final +success, and in them all, Zoraya was his firm friend and adviser. But +success at such a time and for such a cause was little more than +failure, and the day was soon to come when sultanas and intriguing harem +favorites could no longer trouble the land with their contentions; for +the power of Isabella the Catholic was soon to be felt, and the doom of +the Moor had been sounded.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XIV" id="Chapter_XIV"></a><a href="#table">Chapter XIV</a></h2> + +<h3>The Women of the Little Monarchies</h3> + + +<p>In spite of the fact that Spain was an easy conquest for the Moors and +that whole cities surrendered to the invaders without having struck a +single blow in their own defence, it must not be supposed that there was +no opposition whatever and no show of Spanish patriotism. The great mass +of the population, it is true, were yielding and willing to accept any +terms, so long as they were allowed to live unmolested. Such were the +Romanized Spaniards, who formed a majority of the population, but who +had long been held in subjection by the masterful Goths. As a race they +lacked energy and vitality, and they were too corrupt and +pleasure-loving to be moved by patriotic instincts in such a time of +national crisis. A certain portion of the Goths, however, after their +defeat at the battle of Guadalete, decided to renounce their lands and +all their possessions rather than live under the rule of the +Mohammedans; and with their wives and children and such little treasure +as they could hurriedly get together, they set out for the north and +found a refuge in the rocky slopes of the Pyrenees. The mountain passes +were not under the control of any of these Christian refugees, and the +Moors were free to advance on the fair fields of southern France so long +as they did not turn aside to molest the Spanish patriots. When they did +make such attack, the fortunes of war were generally against them, and +more than once those modes of mountain warfare were employed which at an +earlier date wrought such great havoc with the hosts of Charlemagne at +the pass of Roncesvalles. In these desperate conflicts, as in the olden +time when the Celtiberians were trying to beat back the power of Rome, +the women were not slow to take their place beside their fathers and +husbands at the first wild call to arms. The old Moorish leader Mousa +had spoken well when he told the kalif at Damascus that the Christians +of Spain were lions in their castles, and the Moors were repeatedly +given ample proof of the wisdom of his observation.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Covadonga's conquering site<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cradle was of Spanish might,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noindent">so says the old ballad. And what and where was Covadonga? At the far +western extremity of the Pyrenees, where the Sierra Penamerella thrusts +its rugged spur into the Atlantic, was a great mountain cavern, +Covadonga, large enough to shelter as many as three hundred men, and +there had gathered together the strongest of the Christian bands after +the Moorish victory in the south. A long, sinuous valley or ravine, +named Cangas, that is to say, the "shell," sloped down to the foothills +from the mouth of the cave and seemed to present an easy approach to the +stronghold. Pelayo, of the royal line of the Goths, had here been +proclaimed a king in 718, and here was the beginning of that kingdom of +Asturias and Leon which was later to become a mighty one in Spain. The +Moors soon tried to crush this growing power, which was a menace to +their own security. They sent an army under a chief named Al Kama, who +was to win over the recalcitrants by the offer of fair terms, if +possible; and if not, he was to storm their rude citadel and destroy +them utterly. The proposal for a shameful peace was indignantly +refused, and the Moors, confident of victory, and outnumbering the +Christian warriors many times, swept up the broad slope of the long and +winding valley to the cavern's mouth. The summits of the rocky walls on +either side were filled with people, many of them women, who were +waiting for the signal from Pelayo and his brave handful of followers. +When the foreguard of the Moors was near the entrance to the cave, the +king and his men, mounted, led the attack in front, and all along the +line the carnage began. Now let the Spanish ballad speak again:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i13">"'In the name<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of God! For Spain or vengeance!' And forthwith<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On either side along the whole defile,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Asturians shouting: 'In the name of God!'<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Set the whole ruin loose: huge trunks, and stones,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And loosened crags, down, down they rolled with rush<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bound and thundering force."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The mountain torrent which had its course along the valley was dyed red +with the pagan blood, and so great was the humiliation of the Moors that +the Arab chroniclers observe a discreet silence with regard to the +details of this defeat. But for the brave and valiant assistance of the +Spanish women this defeat might not have been possible.</p> + +<p>Another instance of the bravery of the Spanish women, which at this +distance seems somewhat tinged with the air of comic opera, is connected +with the heroic defence of Orihuela. It was at the time of the Moorish +invasion, when the Gothic leaders, after their pitiful failure at +Guadalete, were seeking cover and scurrying off to places of safety, +closely pursued by the ardent sons of the Prophet. Duke Theodomir, hard +pressed in the mountains of Murcia, was obliged to ride for his life; +and with but few attendants, he finally succeeded in making his way, +after many adventures, to the walled town of Orihuela, with the enemy +close upon his heels. To prevent an immediate attack, gain time, and +circumvent the Moors in as many ways as possible, Theodomir had to think +quickly. The town was practically without a garrison when he entered it, +and his followers were too few in numbers to avail him much. Then it was +that the women of the town came to his assistance, offering to do what +he might command for the common safety. Theodomir clothed them in armor +at once, gave them spears and swords, ordered them to tie their hair +under their chins, that they might look like bearded men, and then +stationed his amazon warriors upon the walls and fortifications, where +they made such a brave parade that the Moors were afraid to attack the +city, and offered to parley with the Spaniards. Seizing upon this +favorable opportunity, Theodomir, disguised as a legate, and preceded by +his page, who played the part of a royal herald, boldly entered the +hostile camp, made his way to the tent of Abdul Aziz, the leader, and +there, by his consummate acting, succeeded in obtaining the province of +Murcia, together with seven cities which he was to hold under the kalif, +on condition of a yearly tribute. Such was the defence of Orihuela, and +while it involved no strenuous fighting, it was at the same time no +mediocre test of womanly daring. After the first few trying hours of the +masquerade had been passed, however, and it was evident that the ruse +had been successful, it may well be imagined that these feminine +warriors were not slow to see the humor of the situation, and many must +have been the jests as they passed each other upon the battlements, with +the Moors, far down below, completely awed by their warlike mien.</p> + +<p>Dryden has said: "Women emasculate a monarch's reign;" and more than one +instance of the truth of this statement may be found in the court +annals of almost any country. The history of the little monarchies of +Spain in that chaotic, formative period, when the Christians were slowly +gaining in power and strength and preparing for the great final struggle +which was to overcome the turbaned invaders and consolidate the Spanish +interests, presents many chapters of exceeding interest wherein women +play no unimportant rôle, and the dowager-queen Teresa, mother of King +Sancho the Fat, of Leon, stands out as a prominent figure among them +all. Endowed with no mean portion of feminine art and cunning, she was +the author of a plot which gave inspiration for a whole cycle of +ballads. The bravest Christian champion in all Spain in the latter half +of the tenth century was Fernan Gonzalez, Count of Castile, a veritable +Spanish Warwick, who was held in such high esteem by his countrymen that +they inscribed upon his great carved tomb at Burgos: <i>A Fernan Gonzalez, +Libertador de Castilla, el más excelente General de ese tiempo</i> [To +Fernan Gonzalez, liberator of Castile, the greatest general of his +time]. His great success, however, in his forays against the Moors made +Doña Teresa fearful lest some harm might befall her sluggish son, King +Sancho. For some time Sancho had been on good terms with the Moors. He +had even journeyed to Cordova to consult a celebrated physician, and had +in many ways been treated with such favor by the kalif, Abd-el-Rhaman, +that people had begun to shake their heads and ask themselves whether +the ruler of Leon was doing all in his power for the good of +Christendom. After the great success of Gonzalez at Pedrahita, where the +Saracen invader Abu Alaxi suffered signal defeat, there was greater +dissatisfaction than ever with this do-nothing policy, and the Count of +Castile was hailed on every hand as the greatest of the Christian +warriors. Her jealousy aroused, Doña Teresa now resolved upon desperate +measures, ready to stop at nothing in her mad desire to overthrow +Gonzalez. On her advice, the count was summoned to Sancho's capital, +Oviedo, for a general conference in regard to matters of Christian +defence, and to Oviedo Gonzalez came, little suspecting the trap which +had been laid for him there. Doña Teresa knew that Gonzalez had lately +lost his wife, and she found opportunity during his stay, after many +words of fulsome flattery, in which she was no novice, to counsel him to +seek the hand of her niece, Doña Sancha, daughter of King Garcia of +Navarre. She even undertook to arrange this marriage for him and +promised to send her messengers on ahead, that the Navarrese court might +be ready to receive him in case he thought best to go at once to press +his suit. Gonzalez, at this moment a living example of Gay's couplet,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"And when a lady's in the case,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You know all other things give place,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noindent">all inflamed by the glowing descriptions of Doña Sancha's beauty, and at +the same time fully aware of the political advantage which might follow +from this alliance with the powerful house of Navarre, was only too +eager to go on the moment, as the cunning Doña Teresa had supposed; and +he set out at once, leaving Oviedo amidst the sound of martial music, +with banners flying, and the populace cheering lustily and in all good +faith, for they loved this doughty hero. Doña Teresa had kept her word, +in that she had sent on her messengers ahead to announce his coming, but +the reception that she was preparing for him was far different from the +one which he had imagined. King Garcia was informed by his crafty sister +that Gonzalez was coming with an impudent demand for his daughter's +hand, and that for the general safety he should be seized and put into +one of the castle dungeons as soon as he appeared. Doña Sancha, the +prospective bride of his ardent imagination, was no party to all this, +for the rumors of Gonzalez's visit which had come to her ears had filled +her with excitement, and she looked forward to his coming with no little +fluttering of heart. King Garcia, however, was faithful to his sister's +command, and the poor Count Gonzalez, taken unawares, was promptly cast +into prison on his arrival. What Doña Sancha did on learning the +unworthy rôle she had been made to play in this sad event is well told +in the ballad which recounts the story, and here, as will be seen, a +Norman knight is made to act as her informant. The verses are in +Lockhart's admirable translation:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The Norman feasts among the guests, but at the evening tide<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He speaks to Garci's daughter within her bower aside:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Now God forgive us, lady, and God His Mother dear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For on a day of sorrow we have been blithe of cheer.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'The Moors may well be joyful, but great should be our grief,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For Spain has lost her guardian, Castile hath lost her chief;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Moorish host is pouring like a river o'er the land;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Curse on the Christian fetters that bind Gonçales's hand.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Gonçales loves thee, lady, he loved thee long ago,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But little is the kindness that for his love you show;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The curse that lies on Cava's head, it may be shared by thee.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Arise! let love with love be paid, and set Gonçales free.'<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The lady answers little, but at the midst of night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When all her maids are sleeping, she hath risen and ta'en her flight;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She hath tempted the alcayde with her jewels and her gold,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And unto her his prisoner, that jailer false hath sold.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"She took Gonçales by the hand at the dawning of the day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She said 'Upon the heath you stand, before you lies the way,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But if I to my father go—alas! what must I do!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My father will be angry—I fain would go with you.'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It is perhaps needless to add that the fair Doña Sancha did go with the +gallant captain, and in the lofty cathedral at Burgos, which was his +capital, their wedding was celebrated in great state. At the conclusion +of the marriage feast, however, Gonzalez determined to punish the +faithless Garcia, and made war against him to such good effect that he +was made a prisoner and only released after the repeated intercessions +of his sister, Doña Teresa. Why Gonzalez should have listened to the +pleadings of Teresa after her treatment of him is rather hard to +imagine. A still further proof of his unsuspicious character is seen in +the fact that he allowed himself to be inveigled into going to Leon to +attend a meeting of the Cortes, and while there he was again imprisoned. +Such was the sum of Doña Teresa's iniquity, and all because she was in +the clutch of the green-eyed monster and put a higher value upon the +glory of her house than upon the glory of the Christian arms. This was +the occasion for the good wife Doña Sancha to show her courage and +loyalty, which stand out in striking contrast to the treacherous acts of +her jealous aunt. It was Shakespeare who said: "These women are shrewd +tempters with their tongues;" and as the alcayde had been won over at +the time of Gonzalez's first captivity, so now again Doña Sancha put her +nimble wits to work and devised another plan for his release. In robe of +sombre hue, she set out upon a pious pilgrimage to Santiago; and as her +way lay through Leon, where her husband languished in prison, she +resolved to tarry by the way for a short while and visit him in his +misery. Permission for such a visit was slow in coming, as Doña Teresa +was resolved this time that Gonzalez should not escape. After much +pleading, however, Doña Sancha had her way, and the prison doors swung +open before her. Once alone with her husband, she quickly changed +clothes with him; and the Count of Castile, in the garb of a woman, soon +after passed the jailers and found himself at liberty. By the time the +ruse was discovered, he was leagues away and in safety among his +friends. The wrath of Teresa and her son King Sancho may well be +imagined when the news was brought to them; but they resolved to take +the matter in a philosophic way, after the first moment of anger had +passed, and Doña Sancha was allowed to join her husband, going unharmed +from this unfriendly court.</p> + +<p>In all this warring, romantic period of the tenth century, by far the +most interesting and thrilling tale is that of Doña Lambra and the Seven +Lords of Lara, and while the story is somewhat legendary and based +rather upon stirring ballads than upon authentic records, it must not be +forgotten here. Doña Lambra, a kinswoman of the Count of Castile, had +been married with great ceremony at Burgos to Ruy Velasquez, +brother-in-law to Don Gonzalo, Count of Lara in the Asturias; and during +the five weeks of pleasure and feasting which celebrated this happy +event, there were no knights in all the glittering throng more striking +in appearance and more admired for their many accomplishments than the +seven stalwart sons of Don Gonzalo, the nephews of the bridegroom, who +were called the Seven Lords of Lara. During the very last week of the +festivities a wooden target was set up upon the other side of the river, +and the knights threw light Moorish <i>djerrids</i>, or wooden javelins, at +it, each trying with a surer aim to outdo his fellows. Doña Lambra was +an interested spectator, and when at last Alvaro Sanchez, one of her +favorite cousins, struck the target full in the centre, she was more +than pleased, and declared that he was the best marksman of them all. +The Seven Lords of Lara had taken no part in this contest as yet, for +six of the brothers had been busily engaged in playing chess, and the +youngest of them all, Gonzalo Gonzales, had been standing idly by. +Piqued, however, by Doña Lambra's praise of her kinsman, young Gonzalo +threw himself upon his horse, rode to the river's edge, and hurled his +<i>djerrid</i> with such force that he completely shattered the target far on +the other side. This unexpected turn of events so angered the bride that +she grew white with rage, and Alvaro vented his spleen in such abusive +language that Gonzalo dealt him a blow which struck him fairly upon the +mouth and knocked out his teeth. Thereat Doña Lambra cried out that no +maiden had ever been so dishonored at her wedding, and bloodshed was +narrowly averted by the interference of the Counts of Castile and Lara. +As it was feared that Ruy Velasquez might be urged on to vengeance by +his angered wife, he was induced to set out upon a trip through Castile +with many of the older knights, while the Seven Lords of Lara, in the +midst of a larger company, were left to escort the bride to her new home +at Bavardiello. Once arrived, the brothers went into the garden of the +palace, where Gonzalo, who was a devotee of falconry, was engaged in +bathing his favorite hawk, when suddenly, without warning, one of Doña +Lambra's slaves rushed upon him and threw in his face a gourd filled +with blood. In mediæval Spain this was a most deadly insult, and all the +brothers drew their swords and rushed after the offender. They came upon +him crouching at Doña Lambra's feet, and there they killed him without +mercy, so that his blood was sprinkled upon her garments. Then, taking +their mother with them, they returned to their home at Salas. This time +Doña Lambra demanded vengeance in no uncertain tone, and Ruy Velasquez +began to plot in her behalf. The old Count of Lara was prevailed upon to +go to the kalif at Cordova, bearing a letter from Velasquez which was +supposedly of political import, but which was intended to be the count's +death warrant. The kalif, loath to put so brave a knight to death, cast +him into prison. Soon after, he made an attack upon the Christians. +Velasquez gathered an army to oppose him, and succeeded in getting the +young Lords of Lara to join him. In the midst of the battle, Velasquez +and his whole army deserted, leaving the seven youths and a small +company of retainers to fight alone against the Moorish host. Taken +prisoners, their heads were cut off and sent to Cordova, where the kalif +was cruel enough to present them to their imprisoned father for +identification. Now let the ballad take up the story:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"He took their heads up one by one, he kissed them o'er and o'er;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And aye ye saw the tears run down, I wot that grief was sore.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He closed the lids on their dead eyes, all with his fingers frail,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And handled all their bloody curls, and kissed their lips so pale.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Oh had ye died all by my side upon some famous day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My fair young men, no weak tears then had washed your blood away;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The trumpet of Castile had drowned the misbelievers' horn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the last of all the Lara's line a Gothic spear had borne.'<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"With that it chanced a man drew near to lead him from the place,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Old Lara stooped him down once more, and kissed Gonzalo's face;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But ere the man observed him, or could his gesture bar,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sudden he from his side had grasped that Moslem's scymetar."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Before the count was overpowered he had killed thirteen of the Moors, +and then he begged that he might be put to death; but the kalif, on +learning all of the details of the treachery of Velasquez, restored the +count to liberty and sent him back to his wife in the castle at Salas. +The fate of the revengeful Doña Lambra is not recorded, but it is to be +hoped that she was made to atone in some way for all her savage rage.</p> + +<p>About Ximena and her far-famed husband Don Rodrigo, widely known as the +Cid, many marvellous tales have been told, and it is a matter for regret +that so many of them are purely legendary. According to one of the +traditions, which was followed by the French dramatic poet Pierre +Corneille when he wrote his famous play, <i>Le Cid</i>, in 1636, Ximena is +given a much more prominent place in the story than that accorded to her +in history. According to this version, Don Diego, father of Don Rodrigo, +is given a mortal insult by the braggart Don Gomez, who is the father of +Ximena. Young Don Rodrigo, eager to avenge the slight put upon his aged +father, provokes Don Gomez to a duel and kills him. Ximena, who has +loved Don Rodrigo, overcome by these tragic events, is at a loss to know +what to do, and in her heart there is a fierce struggle between her love +for her lover and her respect for her father. This distressing situation +is relieved somewhat by the thought that Don Rodrigo, in killing her +father, has but avenged his own; but still her Spanish nature cries for +redress, and she appeals to King Fernan of Castile, at whose court all +these things have taken place. Believing her love for Don Rodrigo to be +stronger than her hatred, the king suddenly announces the death of +Rodrigo, which so surprises Ximena that she discloses her deep +affection, which she had made an attempt to conceal; whereat he +announces his intention to unite the two lovers as soon as Rodrigo +should have given further proof of his valor.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, the Cid was a free-lance of undoubted bravery and +courage, who fought now with and now against the Moors; but in spite of +the fact that he was not always true to the same allegiance, he is +essentially a popular hero, as he represents a spirit of boldness and +independence which in itself is enough to endear him to the minds of the +people. His killing of Don Gomez in the manner described is extremely +doubtful, and history affords no details as to the manner of his wooing +or his wedding. But Ximena was his wife, shared in many of his +hardships, and at his death, in 1099, ruled in his stead for three +years at Valencia. Finally, much harried by the Moslems, who were ever +growing bolder, Ximena withdrew to Burgos, taking with her the body of +the Cid, embalmed in precious spices, and borne, as in the days of his +vigor, on the back of his great warhorse Babieca. The Cid was buried in +the monastery of Cardena, near Burgos; and there the brave Doña Ximena +was laid by his side at the time of her death, in 1104. Although a +number of fanciful stories have been told about the daughters of Ximena +and the doughty Cid, the fact remains that they had two daughters, who +married into some of the noblest houses of all Spain. The elder, +Christina, became the wife of Ramiro, Infante of Navarre; while the +younger, Maria, married Count Ramon Berenguer III. of Barcelona. After a +long series of intermarriages, to quote from Burke, in a double stream, +through the royal houses of Spain and of France, the blood of the Cid is +found to flow in the veins of his majesty Alfonso XIII., the reigning +King of Spain.</p> + +<p>The religious side of Spanish life in the eleventh century, so far as +Christianity is concerned, centres about a woman, Constance of Burgundy, +the wife of King Alfonso VI. of Castile. This was the period when the +monk Hildebrand, become Pope Gregory VII., was endeavoring to unify the +power of the Roman Church and strengthen the authority of the papacy; +and as he had a devout woman, the Countess Matilda of Tuscany, to aid +him in Italy, so he had as his firm ally in Spain the pious Queen +Constance, daughter of King Robert of France. Constance was not a +Spanish woman, but the influence she exerted in Spain had such a +far-reaching effect that she cannot be overlooked in any category such +as the present. With Constance to Spain came the monk Bernard of Cluny, +a pale ascetic, who had just been leading a crusade against the +corruption existing in the Church itself, and whose whole life had been +devoted to serious things. The French court had been given over to works +of piety, the Church had great authority, and the clergy were held in +high esteem. When the French princess left this devout atmosphere to go +to sunny Spain, she had grave misgivings as to the frivolous and +irreverent character of her new subjects, and deemed it wise to take +with her as a friend and adviser the stern Bernard. The worst fears of +these two zealous Christians were more than realized. The king had +friendly intercourse with Moorish vassals, and Moslem and Christian +lived side by side in perfect harmony! That all this should be and at a +time when the same Moslem brood was defiling the place of the Holy +Sepulchre in far-off Palestine, and when the crusading spirit filled the +air, was almost beyond belief, and Constance and the monk were greatly +scandalized thereat. Totally without that toleration which comes with +experience, they could conceive of no religion as a good religion which +did not meet the rigid requirements of their own belief; and they +planned at once a Spanish crusade which was intended to improve the +general deplorable condition of public morals and at the same time to +modify, in a most radical way, the liturgy of the Spanish Church, which +was far too lax in points of discipline. Their conduct at the time of +the surrender of Toledo, in 1074, is a most excellent example of the +eager, yet thoughtless, way in which they went about their new work. +When King Alfonso, after an interval of more than three hundred years, +regained possession of the ancient capital of the Goths, the city from +which the luckless Rodrigo, the last of the Goths, was driven, Toledo +was surrendered on the express condition that the Moors should not be +disturbed in their religious beliefs and that they were to retain the +use of their mosques. Such terms with such an enemy appeared monstrous +to the queen. Especially did it seem a sin before God that the +principal mosque, the Alfaqui, the noblest building in all that fair +city which lay stretched out with many a gilded dome and minaret upon +its seven hills above the Tagus, should still be used for the worship of +a pagan people; and Constance and Bernard plotted together, piously, for +the triumph of the true religion. The first time that the king left the +city, Bernard, now Archbishop of Toledo, acting under the authority of +Queen Constance, went to the Alfaqui at the head of a company of monks +summoned from his monastery at Sahagun, opened the doors, set up +crosses, erected altars, hung bells, and then publicly summoned the +people to mass on the following morning. The king, upon his return, was +furious at this intolerant act, and was moved to threaten punishment; +but the Moors, satisfied by his indignation, displayed a real spirit of +toleration in asking for the pardon of the monks.</p> + +<p>The queen and Bernard, successful in this first struggle, continued to +labor incessantly for the glory of the Church. The masterful Pope +Gregory VII., in his letter addressed to the princes of Spain, said: +"You are aware, I believe, that from the earliest times the kingdom of +Spain was the special patrimony of Saint Peter, and although pagans have +occupied it, it still belongs to the same master." The King of Castile +was not bold enough to deny this papal claim of overlordship, and +Gregory demanded as first proof of his submission that he should +substitute throughout his realm the Roman liturgy for the national or +Mozarabic ritual then in general use. Queen Constance and Bernard were +in favor of this reform, and they prevailed upon the king to accept it; +but it was a far different matter to secure its actual use at the hands +of the national clergy, who were strongly opposed to the change. In +spite of all her efforts the queen could do nothing, and finally, as a +compromise, it was decided to submit the question to the ordeal of trial +by battle. Two champions were duly appointed who fought before a most +august assembly over which the queen presided. The Knight of the Gothic +Missal, Don Juan Ruiz de Matanzas, killed the Champion of Rome, and was +not only victorious, but unscathed, much to the disgust of Constance and +her followers. The manifest disinclination to accept this result as +final made another ordeal necessary, and this time, in truly Spanish +style, a bull fight was resolved upon. The great arena at Toledo was +selected as the place where this ecclesiastical combat was to take +place, and on the appointed day the great amphitheatre was crowded with +an expectant multitude. The queen, the king, and the archbishop, backed +by black-robed monks, looked on with evident interest, hoping that this +time the scales would turn in their favor; but the people, expert in +contests of this kind, had already picked the Castilian bull as the +winner and had begun to wager their small coin as to the probable +duration of the fight. The people were right, the Roman <i>toro</i> was +promptly slain, and once more the cause of Spain was triumphant. But the +queen was persistent, and in spite of the fact that the result of each +of these ordeals was popularly considered as a direct sign from heaven, +she refused to accept them as final, because her pet project had been +rejected. If the results had been different, there is little doubt but +that the ordeals would have been received as infallible. However, it was +not possible to cast a slight upon this time-honored procedure by any +act which might tend to throw it into disrepute, so the whole question +was dropped for the space of seven years. Queen Constance, in this +interval, carried on a quiet campaign which she hoped would lead +eventually to the adoption of the much discussed and twice rejected +liturgy, and at no time did she give up her hope. Rome, to her narrow +mind, must reign supreme in matters spiritual if the kingdom of Spain +was to have relations with the kingdom of heaven, and she did not +hesitate to ride rough-shod over the national clergy, to whom alone, +without any aid whatever from the pope, the recent Christian successes +in Spain had been due. When she considered the time ripe for some +radical action, Gregory sent his legate, the Cardinal Ricardo, to hold a +Church council at Burgos, and there it was formally decreed that the +Mozarabic ritual must be put aside in Castile. Before the formal +adoption of the Roman form, however, it was decided wise to resort once +more to a trial by ordeal, as the favorable issue of such a public test +would make it much easier to conquer the prejudices of the people. This +time, Constance advising it, the ordeal by fire was tried, and, as Miss +Yonge phrases it, "a great pile was erected in the market place of +Toledo for the most harmless <i>auto de fé</i> that ever took place there." +Seats were built up on all sides in amphitheatre fashion, the queen, the +king, the court, and the dignitaries of the two clerical parties were +there in special boxes, and again were the people much in evidence, but +this time much in doubt as to the final outcome. When all was ready, the +torch was applied to the pile and the two volumes were committed to the +flames. The book which was not consumed by the fire was to be considered +acceptable to God. To the chagrin of the papal party, the Roman book was +utterly consumed, but the Gothic missal came forth unscathed. Although +there was great rejoicing at this final triumph for the national clergy, +the foreigners were in control, and the king, urged on by his wife, +decided to act upon his own responsibility, without regard for the +manifest judgment of heaven, and lost no time in giving his signature to +the decree of the Council of Burgos, which then went into immediate +effect. This time the people made no resistance, and, as has been said, +Spain became once more, after the lapse of nearly seven centuries, the +obedient province of Rome. In the succeeding centuries the influence of +Rome has been ever present and powerful in the affairs of the Spanish +peninsula, and whether for its weal or woe, which is not a matter for +consideration here, the fact remains that Queen Constance was the one +person in Spain who was most responsible for this state of affairs. Her +unflagging interest in the success of the papal party and her +perseverance in the face of the opposition of a majority of the Spanish +clergy made her the life of the whole movement, and to this day she is +held in grateful memory at the Holy See.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XV" id="Chapter_XV"></a><a href="#table">Chapter XV</a></h2> + +<h3>Women in Early Political Life</h3> + + +<p>After the time of the good Queen Constance and with the growth of the +Spanish monarchies, which in spite of all their internal turmoil and +confusion were fast becoming more powerful and more of a menace to the +Moslem rule, the wheels of fate seem to bring women into greater +political prominence than ever before. Constance, it is true, had been +no mean figure in that epoch, and had exerted a most powerful influence +in shaping the destinies of Spain for her own time and for the future, +but this was done by an exercise of indirect rather than direct +authority. Constance had been queen, but there had been a king to rule +as well, and with him remained the real power. As Constance influenced +him, she may have been said to use this royal power, it is true, but the +fact remains that it was the woman Constance who was using her powers of +feminine persuasion to bring about the results which were so dear to her +heart. No political responsibilities rested upon her shoulders, there +were no cares of state to weary and make uneasy her crowned head, and +she was free to follow her own penchants unimpeded by this larger task. +But now a wider field for the activities of women seems to come; in +Spain, chance gives them full control in their own name in certain +instances, and they bear the full responsibility. The measure of their +success may not be greater than the measure of their failure in these +new lines of endeavor, but, good or bad as their methods of +administration may have been, it does not appear that they fall below +the level of masculine achievement at the same time. And this is a +curious thing. Since the birth of time men have been regarding women as +weaklings, both mentally and physically. Tennyson has it that "woman is +the lesser man," and such has been the commonly expressed opinion. +Everything in the social life of the world has conspired to give truth +to this statement; women are still the real slaves of their husbands in +many countries, and the virtual slaves in almost all the world; +education has been granted to them grudgingly, the scope of their +intellect has been limited in the narrowest way; and in spite of all +these facts, in spite of this suppression and repression from time +immemorial, women have been able by some power or some cunning to exert +a most powerful influence in the world, and when called upon to take up +a man's work they have left a record for judgment and skill and wisdom +which needs no apologies and which is generally above the average. To +those who are content with generalities it may be sufficient to say that +women are not the equals of men, but to anyone who attempts to study, +step by step, the history of human development it becomes apparent that +the French admonition <i>Cherchez la femme</i> contains the truth, unalloyed. +In America it has become the custom to say that in every great national +emergency there is always a man ready to meet the situation and meet it +nobly and with understanding; and what can be said here can be said with +equal truth perhaps in other countries of the world, but to this +statement it may be well to add that women also may be found to do nobly +the tasks which may fall to their lot.</p> + +<p>In every day and generation, however, it will rarely be found that the +women are better than the men. The interests of men and women are so +identical from so many points of view, society is in so many ways but a +composite of their common interests, that their moral level must of +necessity be the same. By intuition, then, by inherent capacity, by +woman's wit, by that something feminine which is at once the power and +the charm of a woman, the members of this so-called weaker sex have been +able to take their place worthily beside their brothers in the open +field of the world's activities whenever circumstance has called them +forth, without the inheritance, the education, or the experience which +the men possess, but morally they can but be as society makes them. +There are exceptions to all rules, however; some women as well as some +men may be better or worse than the majority of their fellows, and these +are the ones who are signalled out by the historian for special +attention. The people who are always good and always happy have no +history, as there is nothing noteworthy to tell of them, life has no +tragedies, all is plain sailing, and the whole story can be told in a +few words. In a measure the same thing is true of the ordinary man, be +he good or bad, for what can be said of him can be said of a whole +class, and so the history of the class may be told, but the individual +will always remain in the background.</p> + +<p>In the special epoch of Spanish history with which the present chapter +is concerned, the twelfth century and the first part of the thirteenth, +there is little to say of women in general which cannot be said of the +mediæval women of other parts of Europe. Oriental ideas had been +introduced to some extent, it is true, by the Moors, but otherwise the +general ignorance and dependence of the women of the time call for no +special comment. Above this commonplace level there are to be seen, +nevertheless, two women who occupied a commanding position in the world, +which was quite unusual. They were both queens of Castile, and as one +was bad, vain, reckless, and frivolous, so was the other good, +unselfish, wise, and dignified. Within the extremes of character which +their lives present is traced the measure of a woman's possibilities at +that time.</p> + +<p>Urraca of Castile, daughter of Constance and King Alfonso VII., +inherited little of her mother's devout nature; the world rather than +the Church had attracted her, and she began to show at an early age a +taste for gallantry and intrigue which became but more pronounced with +her maturer years. She was dark rather than fair, with an imperious +bearing, she had compelling eyes, and there was a grace in her movements +which it was difficult to see without admiring, but she was vain, intent +upon conquest, and without an atom of moral firmness, if all accounts be +true. Her mother was sorely tried by her waywardness, but did not live +long enough to appreciate her real lack of moral instinct; and her +father, in spite of his several marriages, which were almost as numerous +as those of Henry VIII. of England, was chagrined to find Urraca as his +sole heir, no other children having survived. In the hope that France +might again furnish material for a dignified alliance as it had done +before in sending Constance herself, Alfonso arranged for the marriage +of Urraca with Raymond of Burgundy. Urraca was soon left a widow, with +one son, Alfonso; and while she apparently felt some affection for this +child, she was in no way weaned from her love of excitement, and was +soon again the soul and centre of the court's gay revels. One among the +throng of courtiers attracted her, the tall Count Gomez of Candespina, +and she made no secret of her love for him. As often seen together, +they formed a striking pair, and it was not strange that the Castilian +nobles should have wished to see them married, in spite of the fact that +the prospective bridegroom was not her equal by birth. No one dared to +give Alfonso this advice, however, as his refusal was a foregone +conclusion, all things being taken into consideration. Finally, the +Jewish physician of the court, Don Cidelio, allowing his interest in the +affair to get the better of his discretion, ventured to speak to the +king about Urraca and her lover. Alfonso, indignant, was so displeased, +that Don Cidelio was banished from the court at once, while he arranged +forthwith a political marriage which was full of possibilities for +Spain's future welfare. Alfonso, in his long reign, which had lasted for +forty-three years, had given such a great impetus to the movement of +reconquest directed against the Moors, that a strong and capable +successor could have completed his work and hastened the final Christian +victory by some four hundred years. Alfonso was far-seeing enough to +know the possibilities ahead, and it is easy to understand and +sympathize with his rage at the mere thought of the dapper, silken +Candespina. So the rebellious Urraca, with her heart full of love for +Count Gomez, was married, and just before her father's death in 1109, to +King Alfonso I., called <i>el batallador</i> [the battler], and known as the +Emperor of Aragon. This union of Castile, Leon, and Aragon would have +promised much for the future, if the rulers of this united kingdom could +have lived in peace and harmony together. They were so unlike in every +way, however, that it was easy to predict trouble. The Battler was a +youth of great military skill and great ambition, but he was not a +courtier in any sense of the word and could not be compared in Urraca's +eyes with her carpet knight, Don Gomez. So she was loath to change her +mode of life, and he was in a state of constant irritation at her +worldliness; and as a natural consequence of it all, after a year of +turmoil and confusion, the two separated.</p> + +<p>Content to lose his wife, Alfonso was quite unwilling to lose her broad +domain, and consequently Aragonese garrisons were installed in some of +the principal Castilian fortresses, while Urraca, a prisoner, was +confined in the fortress of Castelar. This was too much for the +Castilians to endure; so they at once took up arms in their queen's +defence and, furthermore, demanded a divorce on the ground that Urraca +and Alfonso were within the proscribed limits of consanguinity, as they +were both descended from Sancho the Great, of Navarre. While there was +much in the queen's character which the Castilian people could not +admire, they had never approved of her marriage with the <i>batallador</i>, +and were only too happy to have this excuse for severing the ties which +bound the two countries together. Urraca was rescued from her captivity, +and proceeded without delay to annoy her husband in every manner +possible. Her honored father's prime minister was deposed and his +estates confiscated, Don Gomez was given this high post and treated as +an acknowledged favorite, and most shamelessly, and the whole country +was shocked. But matters of self-defence were now of first importance to +the Castilians, and so they were compelled to overlook her misconduct +for the moment and prepare to withstand the irate Alfonso's threatened +invasion. He invited Henry, Count of Portugal, the brother of Urraca's +first husband,—and her son's guardian,—to aid him in this attack, and +together they invaded Castile and inflicted a complete defeat upon +Urraca's army at the battle of Sepulveda in the year 1111. The pope, +Pascal II., sent a legate, who granted the divorce for which the +Castilians had clamored; and Urraca, again a free woman, was now the +centre of her own little court, where she soon gathered about her a +small company of nobles who were vying with each other to obtain her +royal favor. Two among them, Count Gomez of Candespina, and Pedro, a +member of the great and powerful Lara family, hoped to marry her, but +she coquetted with them all to such good purpose that she succeeded in +keeping their good will by leaving them all in uncertainty as to her +serious intentions.</p> + +<p>At this moment a new element appeared in the settlement of public +affairs. For the first time in the history of Spain, the privileged +towns and cities, which had been granted special charters by the late +Alfonso, Urraca's father, rose in their might and declared that Urraca +should be deposed and that her youthful son, Alfonso Ramon, should be +crowned in her stead. Seeing this turn of affairs, Henry of Portugal, +the young Alfonso's guardian, decided that he might best serve his own +interests by siding with the Castilians against the Battler, and he lost +no time in making this transfer of his allegiance. Castile and Leon were +still harried by the divorced husband, who now had no legal claim upon +them, and there was a general consolidation of national interests for +the national defence, while the conflicting interests with regard to the +succession within the country were at the same time pressing for +settlement and producing a state of strife and contention which was +little short of civil war. In the midst of it all, Urraca continued to +play the wanton, and soon so disgusted the Count of Portugal that he +deserted her standard. This he did on the eve of the great battle of +Espina, in the year 1112. Urraca still counted upon the devotion of her +nobles, but Lara fled from the field, the prime favorite Candespina was +killed, and the revengeful husband gained another victory. It was soon +evident, however, that Alfonso of Aragon could never meet with complete +success in his attempt to subdue Castile, and he wisely gave up the +struggle after a few more years of desultory fighting. Urraca was now in +a tight place, and in spite of all her arts and wiles she was unable to +gather about her again a party strong enough to command respect. +Candespina and Lara were no longer by her side, the other nobles had +lost patience with her constant intriguing, and the popular party, +backed by the towns, soon gained the ascendency, and Urraca was +compelled to resign in favor of her son. From this moment she sinks into +obscurity, and little more is known of her unhappy and profligate career +besides the fact that she came to her end, unregretted, in 1126. +According to the ancient <i>Laws of Manu</i>, "it is in the nature of the +feminine sex to seek here below, to corrupt men," and Menander has said, +sententiously, "where women are, are all kinds of mischief." While no +one at the present time, unless he be some confirmed woman-hater, will +be so ungallant as to attempt to maintain the truth of these sweeping +statements, there must have been, at various times and places in the +world, women of the kind indicated, as Queen Urraca of Castile, for +example, or these things would never have been said.</p> + +<p>The great-grandson of Urraca, Alfonso III. of Castile, received as his +heritage the usual complement of strife and warfare which belonged to +almost all of the little Spanish monarchies throughout the greater part +of the twelfth century; but in the year 1170, arriving at his majority, +he entered into a friendly treaty of peace with Aragon, and in that same +fortunate year he married the Princess Eleanor, daughter of the English +king, Henry II. Apropos of this marriage and its general effect upon the +fortunes of Castile, Burke has written the following interesting +sentences: "Up to the time of this happy union, the reign of Alfonso +III. in Spain had been nothing but a succession of intrigues and civil +wars of the accustomed character; but from the day of his marriage in +1170 to the day of his death in 1214, after a reign of no less than +fifty-six years, he exercised the sovereign power without hindrance, if +not entirely without opposition, within his dominions. If the domestic +tranquillity of Castile during four-and-forty years may not be +attributed exclusively to the influence of the English queen, yet the +marriage bore fruits in a second generation, of which it would be +difficult to exaggerate the importance; for it was the blood of the +Plantagenets, that flowed in the veins of Berenguela, their daughter, +one of the true heroines of Spain."</p> + +<p>In this instance, as in the case of the good Constance of Burgundy, we +see that Spain has been sobered and steadied by an infusion of foreign +blood. Constance, it is true, was a fanatic who cared little for the +national desires, and thought little of adapting herself to the national +conditions of life, so long as she could further her own ends, which +were those of the pope at Rome; and so stern and strict was her view of +life, and so rigid was her discipline, that it was impossible for her to +reconcile the lighter-minded Spaniards to her mode of thinking. For a +short time, by drastic methods, she subdued to some extent the frivolous +temper of her people; but she was so unlovable in her ways, and so +unloved by the people at large, that the sum total of her influence upon +Spanish life, apart from the somewhat questionable advantage which she +gave to Rome as the result of her activity, amounted to very little. +Even her own daughter, Urraca, in spite of the fact that she undoubtedly +inherited more from her father than she did from her mother, was, beyond +peradventure, rendered more wayward and more reckless by the mother's +narrow view of life. The gracious Eleanor, on the other hand, was more +liberal-minded, did everything in her power to get into touch with her +subjects, and by her kindliness and strength of character was able to +aid her husband in no mean degree in quieting civil discord and in +consolidating the interests of the country.</p> + +<p>Her daughter Berenguela, brought up in the midst of these influences, +developed a strong and self-reliant character which early in her career +gave proof of its existence. In accord with that policy which has so +often obtained in the monarchies of Europe, it was decided that a +foreign alliance with some strong ruling house would redound to +advantage; and so great was the prestige of Castile at this time, that +Alfonso found no difficulty in arranging a marriage with Conrad, Count +of Suabia, the son of the great Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. As might +have been expected, this marriage was nothing but a political +arrangement which was to benefit Castile, and in which the will of +Berenguela, the person most interested, had not been consulted in any +manner whatever. It is not on record that Eleanor was opposed to this +arrangement for her daughter, not from any lack of independent +spirit,—for she came of a self-willed race, as the erratic life of her +brother, Richard Cœur de Lion, will show,—but because such marriages +were the common lot of the royal maidens of her time and were accepted +as matters of necessity. It must be remembered that the ideals of +marriage were yet much undeveloped and that "husband" and "lover" were +rarely, if ever, synonymous terms. It appears that the emperor not only +consented to this marriage between his son and Eleanor's daughter, but +was much in favor of the project and more than anxious to see the +consummation of it all, as Eleanor had brought Gascony to her husband as +a marriage portion, and the prospective inheritance of Berenguela was a +goodly one.</p> + +<p>Fortunately for Berenguela, the marriage was postponed until she had +attained her majority; and when that day of partial freedom came, she +boldly declared that she would not marry the German prince, that she did +not know him and did not love him, and that nothing could force her to +such a bargain of herself. Great was the consternation in her father's +court, and great was the dismay in the North when Frederick Barbarossa +was told of this haughty Spanish maiden who refused the honor of an +alliance with his imperial house. The case was well-nigh unique; the +mediæval world was startled in its traditional routine, and Berenguela's +audacity became the talk of every court in Europe. Prayers and +entreaties were in vain, so firmly did she stand her ground in spite of +the countless specious arguments which were used to bend her will, and, +finally, the matter was dropped and considered a closed incident. "Woman +sees deep; man sees far. To the man the world is his heart; to the woman +the heart is her world;" so says Christian Grabbe, and this epigram may +well be applied to Berenguela's case. Her heart was her world, and she +fought for it, and in her victory she won, not only for herself, but for +Spain as well. And it came about in this way. Berenguela was married, +and with her own consent, to Alfonso IX., King of Leon, who had of late +made war upon her father, and with this marriage and the peace which +followed between the two countries, Spain prospered for a time.</p> + +<p>This Alfonso of Leon had already made one marriage venture which had +come to grief, for he had previously wedded the Princess Teresa of +Portugal, and his marriage had been forcibly dissolved by Pope Innocent +III., who was then, as Hume puts it, "riding rough-shod over the nations +of Christendom." This divorce had been pronounced on the ground that the +young couple were too closely related to each other; and as they +ventured to resist, they were for a time excommunicated. So Alfonso and +Teresa were finally separated, though not until several children had +been born to them, and then the young king led Berenguela to the altar. +This marriage, in its immediate result, was but a repetition of what had +gone before. The pope annulled it promptly on the same grounds of +consanguinity, and turned a deaf ear to every plea for reconsideration. +The case was not an unusual one; many marriages which were far less +regular in form had been sanctioned by this new Roman Cæsar; and the +result of the marriage could be but for the benefit of Rome, as domestic +peace in Spain gave assurance of more successful opposition to the +Moslem rule. But the pope was firm, his holy permission had not been +obtained before the marriage had been celebrated, and, piqued at this +unintended slight which had been put upon his august authority, he +revealed his littleness by this show of spite.</p> + +<p>Rebellious under this harsh decree because of its manifest injustice, +Alfonso and Berenguela endeavored to hold out against the pontiff, and +for seven years they lived together as man and wife, making their home +in Leon. Their life was to some degree a happy one together, children +were born to them, but ever about their path was the shadow of doubt +that was cast by the pope's decree. As a sad and pitiful end to it all, +Berenguela, a mother though not a wife, was forced to return to her +father's court in Castile, leaving the eldest son, Fernando, with the +father. In but one thing had the pope shown any mercy for this wedded +pair, and that was when he had consented to recognize the legitimacy of +their children; so Fernando could now be considered, without any doubt, +as the rightful heir to Leon. Meanwhile, Alfonso III. of Castile, +Berenguela's father, had won new laurels at the great battle known as +the Navas de Tolosa, where the Moors had suffered a crushing defeat, and +Castile was more than ever the leading Spanish power. But soon after +Berenguela's arrival, her father went to his long rest, and the crown +descended to his oldest son, Enrico, who was but a boy of ten. Queen +Eleanor was first intrusted with the administration of affairs, but she +soon followed her husband, dying within a month after this power had +been conferred upon her, and the regency passed by common consent to the +prudent care of Berenguela, who was, according to Hume, "the fittest +ruler in all Spain, the most prudent princess in all Christendom." This +regency, however, was not a time of peace and quiet, for the death of +the old king had given opportunity for the turbulent Lords of Lara to +break forth again in open revolt, and after a year of ineffectual +resistance Berenguela was compelled, in the interests of domestic +harmony, to surrender the person of her young brother into the control +of Alvaro Nuñez, the leader of the opposition, who at once began to rule +the kingdom with a heavy hand. What Berenguela's fate would have been +and what Castile's if this usurper had been allowed to remain for a long +time in power is a matter for conjecture, but Alvaro's dreams of success +were soon shattered. Through some whim of fate it happened that the +young king was accidentally killed one morning as he was at play in the +courtyard of the palace, and Berenguela, as the only lawful heir, became +the Queen of Castile in her own right. In this trying moment, +clear-headed as usual, she gave further proof of her astuteness. She +realized that her husband might in some way try to make political +capital out of the situation and might try to work in his own interests +rather than in those of their son. For the young Fernando, recognized as +heir to Leon, would now, as the prospective ruler of Castile, be heir +to a larger estate than that of his father, and Alfonso was not a man +big enough to rejoice in this fact, as Berenguela well knew. +Accordingly, she sent speedy messengers to Alfonso before the news of +the death of the young King Enrico had reached him, and asked that her +son might come to her for a visit. The invitation was innocent enough, +to all appearances, and the request was granted, but no sooner was the +young prince safe within the boundaries of Castile than Berenguela +called a meeting of the States-General of her kingdom, and there, after +having received the homage of her nobles, in the midst of a most +brilliant gathering, she announced her intention of abdicating in favor +of her son, the heir to Leon. There was some objection to this move, as +Berenguela was so universally beloved that all were loath to lose her +from the sovereign's chair. She took great pains to point out to them +the advantage which would undoubtedly accrue to the country as the +result of this prospective union with Leon, assured them that her +interests would ever be theirs, and that she would at all times counsel +her son and help him in every way within her power; and finally, her +will prevailed and the abdication was approved.</p> + +<p>Alfonso of Leon was more than irate when he learned of young Enrico's +death and realized the meaning of his son's visit to Castile, and he +immediately collected a large army and declared war upon his son. +Berenguela had foreseen this as the probable result of her course of +action and was not entirely unprepared in the emergency. The ultimate +peace and prosperity which might come to Spain with the definite union +of Castile and Leon were matters of such importance in her eyes that she +did not now hesitate to give of her personal wealth, even her jewels, as +Isabella did in a later day, to further the interests of the cause for +which she was contending. The goodness and sweetness of character +possessed by this great queen made such an impression upon all those who +came within the circle of her influence, and her cause was so manifestly +just, that her troops were filled with the zeal which knows no defeat, +and the conflict was a short one. Through Berenguela's diplomatic action +the war was brought to an end, harmony was restored between Castile and +Leon, and the united armies of the two countries were sent into southern +Spain to make further attack upon the Moorish strongholds.</p> + +<p>Now comes an interesting moment in the queen's career, the moment when +she was planning with all her wisdom for her son's marriage and his +future success. The interminable commotion and discord, the vexatious +factional quarrels, and the undying hatreds which had been engendered by +a long series of Spanish intermarriages, had so filled her with disgust +that she determined, now that the union of Castile and Leon was +practically complete, to go outside of this narrow circle in her search +for a suitable mate for the young King Fernando. Her choice fell upon +the Princess Beatrice of Suabia, cousin of the emperor and member of the +same house which she had scorned in her younger days. But the Princess +Beatrice was fair and good, the young people were eager for the +marriage, and there was no good reason why the thing should not be done. +Before this wedding, Berenguela decided that her son must be received +into the order of knighthood. There was the customary period of courtly +ceremony, with games and gay festivals and much feasting, which lasted +for several days, and then came the sacred, final rites, which ended +with the accolade. The youthful king and would-be knight was taken, all +clothed in white, by two "grave and ancient" chevaliers to the chapel of +the monastery of Las Huelgas, near the old city of Burgos, and there, +having placed his arms piously upon the altar, he passed the night +alone, "bestowing himself in orisons and prayers." When the daybreak +came, he confessed to a priest, heard matins, and then went to rest and +prepare himself for the final scene. When he was at length brought back +to the chapel, there was a most imposing company awaiting him, composed +of all the knights of Castile and many others from far distant countries +who had come to wage war against the Moors; and in the presence of them +all, from the sanctified hands of his noble mother, came the magic touch +which made a man of him. The next day, in the great cathedral at Burgos, +the wedding was celebrated, for the German princess had come to Spain +for the function, and there was much pomp and much show of silks and +brocades and the glitter of gold and silver was backed by the glitter of +steel.</p> + +<p>Soon King Fernando was in the saddle again, riding away toward the +south, leading a great host of knights, and one Moorish town after +another fell into their hands. While besieging Jaen, Fernando learned of +his father's death, which had occurred suddenly. Berenguela summoned her +son to return with all possible speed, but without waiting for his +arrival she set out at once for Leon, thinking that there might be work +to do. Nor was she wrong. Alfonso of Leon, jealous of his wife's great +renown and his son's growing success, and knowing that the union of +Castile and Leon was her most cherished project, deliberately left Leon +to his two daughters, Sancha and Dulce, children of his first marriage, +with Teresa of Portugal, perfectly sure that their claims could not find +adequate legal support, as these children had never been legitimized +after the pope's annulment of this marriage, but contented at the +thought that he had probably left an inheritance of dispute and possible +warfare which might be sufficient to make Bereuguela's plans miscarry. +But in this he reckoned without his host. Berenguela conducted her +affairs with the utmost discretion, conciliated the Leonese nobility, +caused her son to be proclaimed king, and brought about a permanent +union of the two countries without the loss of a single drop of blood. +Having accomplished this task, her next care was to provide in some +suitable way for Alfonso's two daughters. This she was under no +obligation to do, but her sense of justice left no other course of +conduct open to her. She arranged a meeting with their mother Teresa, +who had long since retired to a convent, and, journeying to the +Portuguese frontier, at Valencia de Alcantara in Galicia, these two +women, each the unwedded wife of the same man, came together to settle +the claims of their children to their dead husband's throne. The whole +matter was discussed in the most friendly way, and Berenguela was able +to carry her point that there should be no attempt to unseat Fernando +from the throne of Leon, and at the same time she made a proposition, by +way of indemnity, which Teresa, speaking for her daughters, was quite +ready to accept. The infantas were given by Fernando a pension of +fifteen thousand gold doubloons, in return for which they formally +agreed to abandon all claim to Leon, and this pension, under +Berenguela's direction, was paid in all faith and honor. In November of +the year 1246 this great queen died, and, according to her own +direction, she was buried at Burgos "in plain and humble fashion."</p> + +<p>No better eulogy of her life and labors can ever be written than that +which is found in Burke's history of Spain, and no excuse is needed for +giving it in its entirety: Berenguela was one of those rare beings who +seems to have been born to do right and to have done it. From her +earliest youth she was a leading figure, a happy and noble influence in +one of the most contemptible and detestable societies of mediæval +Christendom. Married of her own free will to a stranger and an enemy, +that she might bring peace to two kingdoms, she was ever a true and +loyal wife; unwedded by ecclesiastical tyranny in the very flower of her +young womanhood, she was ever a faithful daughter of the Church; +inheriting a crown when she had proved her own capacity for royal +dominion, she bestowed it on a strange and absent son, with no thought +but for the good of her country and of Christendom; and finally, as +queen-mother and ever faithful counsellor, she accepted all the +difficulties of government, while the glory of royalty was reserved for +the king whom she had created. Berenguela was ever present in the right +place, and at the proper time, and her name is associated only with what +is good and worthy and noble in an age of violence and wrong and +robbery; when good faith was well-nigh unknown, when bad men were +all-powerful, when murder was but an incident in family life, and +treason the chief feature in politics.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XVI" id="Chapter_XVI"></a><a href="#table">Chapter XVI</a></h2> + +<h3>The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries</h3> + + +<p>In the early days of the thirteenth century, Pedro II. of Aragon had +married the somewhat frivolous, yet devout, Maria of Montpellier, whose +mother had been a Greek princess of Constantinople; and when a son was +born of this marriage, Maria, who foresaw a great future for her child, +was most desirous that he should have an Apostolic patron. There was the +embarrassment of the choice, however, as Maria did not wish to neglect +or cast a slight upon eleven saints while giving preference to one, and, +finally, the queen's father confessor, Bishop Boyl, devised the +following plan. Twelve tapers, each consecrated to an Apostle, were to +be lighted, and the child was to be named in honor of the candle which +burned the longest. Southey, in somewhat prolix and doggerel verse, has +given the following account of the ceremony:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The tapers were short and slender too,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Yet to the expectant throng,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Before they to the socket burnt,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The time, I trow, seemed long.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The first that went out was St. Peter,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The second was St. John,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And now St. Mattias is going,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And now St. Mathew is gone.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Next there went St. Andrew,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Then goes St. Philip too;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And see, there is an end<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of St. Bartholomew.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"St. Simon is in the snuff,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But it is a matter of doubt,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whether he or St. Thomas could be said,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Soonest to have gone out.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"There are only three remaining,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">St. Jude and the two Saints James,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And great was then Queen Mary's hope,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For the best of all good names.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Great was then Queen Mary's hope,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But greater her fear, I guess,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When one of the three went out,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And that one was St. James the less.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"They are now within less than quarter inch,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The only remaining two.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When there came a thief in St James,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And it made a gutter too.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Up started Queen Mary,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Up she sate in her bed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'I can never call him Judas,'<br /></span> +<span class="i2">She clasped her hands and said.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'I never can call him Judas!'<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Again did she exclaim.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Holy Mother, preserve us!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">It is not a Christian name.'<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"She opened her hands and clasped them again,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And the infant in the cradle<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Set up a cry, a lusty cry,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As loud as he was able.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Holy Mother, preserve us!'<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The Queen her prayer renewed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When in came a moth at the window,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And fluttered about St. Jude.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"St. James had fallen in the socket,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But as yet the flame is not out,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And St. Jude hath singed the silly moth,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That flutters so idly about.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"And before the flame and the molten wax,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That silly moth could kill,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">It hath beat out St. Jude with its wings,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But St. James is burning still.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Oh, that was a joy for Queen Mary's heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The babe is christened James,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Prince of Aragon hath got,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The best of all good names.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Glory to Santiago,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The mighty one in war,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">James he is called, and he shall be<br /></span> +<span class="i2">King James the Conqueror.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Now shall the Crescent wane,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The Cross be set on high,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In triumph upon many a mosque,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Woe, woe to Mawmetry!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>So Jayme the youth was named, Jayme being the popularly accepted +Aragonese form for James, and early in life he entered upon an active +career which soon showed him to possess a strong and crafty nature, +though he was at the same time brutal, rough, and dissolute. In his +various schemes for conquest and national expansion, he stopped at +nothing which might ensure the success of his undertakings, and in +particular did he attempt by matrimonial ventures of various kinds to +increase his already large domain. This rather unusual disregard of the +sacredness of the marriage relation, even for that time, may have been +induced to some extent by the atmosphere in which he passed his youthful +days; for his mother, the devout Queen Maria, in spite of all her pious +zeal for the Church, was pleasure-loving, and in the excitement of court +life it was whispered that she had looked with favor more than once +upon some gallant troubadour from Provence who had written verses in her +honor. Jayme's first marriage was with Eleanor of Castile, Berenguela's +sister, but when he discovered that the young Castilian king, Fernando, +was strong and capable and that there was no possibility whatever of an +ultimate union of Aragon and Castile, at least within his own time, he +promptly divorced Eleanor, and then wedded Yolande, the daughter of King +Andrew of Hungary. Yolande's eldest son, Pedro, was married to +Constance, daughter of King Manfred of Sicily, for purely political +reasons; and when the King of France opposed this alliance as one +detrimental to the best interests of the pope, who was being much aided +at this time by Gallican support, Jayme cleverly silenced this complaint +by marrying his daughter Isabel to Philip, the French dauphin. This +daring King of Aragon had dreams of a great Romance Empire which might +extend all over the southern part of Europe, with Aragon as its centre, +and it was to this end that he bent all his energies. While he was not +able to realize this fond hope, he was remarkably successful; and not a +little of his success must be attributed to his lack of sentiment and +his practical view of the matrimonial question.</p> + +<p>With his conquests and the corresponding prosperity which is to be seen +in Castile at the same general period, Christian Spain slowly became the +most civilized and enlightened country in all Europe. Spain was rich, +there was much culture and refinement, and her artistic manufactures +excited the wonder of the world. With the knights who were coming in +ever increasing numbers to do battle against the Moors, now that the +time of the Crusades had passed, there came a goodly number of the +troubadours and minstrels who had recently been driven from Provence by +the cruel Simon de Montfort at the time of the Albigensian massacres, +and the whole condition of Spanish society was such that the stern +simplicity of the early Spaniards quickly disappeared. So great was the +craze for poetry and for glittering entertainments and a lavish display +of wealth, that Don Jayme felt called upon to take some restraining +measures. Aragon, as well as Castile, was filled with the wealth of +captured Moorish cities, there was a new sense of national security with +each successive Christian victory, luxuries of all kinds were being +brought within the reach of the people as the result of a newly aroused +spirit of commercialism, and, all in all, to a warlike king, the +situation was fraught with danger. Accordingly, Jayme determined to take +matters into his own hands, and he proceeded to issue a number of +sumptuary laws which were far from mild. Food was regulated, minstrels +were not allowed to sit at the same table with ladies and gentlemen, +most rigid rules were formulated against the abuse of gold, silver, and +tinsel trimmings on the dresses of the women, and of the men as well, +and the use of ermine and of all fine and Costly furs was carefully +restricted. In Castile the same movement was taking place, and Alfonso +X., who followed Fernando, issued similar laws, wherein women were +forbidden to wear any bright colors, to adorn their girdles with pearls, +or to border their skirts with either gold or silver thread. As in Italy +at about the same time, and notably in Florence, extravagant wedding +feasts were condemned, no presents of garments were permitted, and the +whole cost of a bride's trousseau could not exceed sixty maravedis, a +maravedi being a gold coin containing about sixty grains of the yellow +metal.</p> + +<p>It was in the midst of this brilliant period of national well-being that +Spain was called upon to celebrate a wedding festival which far +surpassed in magnificence anything that had ever before been seen among +the Christians of the peninsula. The sister of King Alfonso X. of +Castile, Eleanor, was given in marriage to Edward Plantagenet, the +attractive young heir to the English throne, and it was in honor of this +event that all Burgos was in gala dress in the month of October, 1254. +All were on tiptoe with excitement, crowds thronged into the old +cathedral city, and the windows and housetops were black with people, on +that eventful day when the stalwart prince rode in through the great +gate, with a glittering train of nobles at his back, to claim his bride. +Prince Edward was a magnificent specimen of physical manhood, towering +almost head and shoulders above his fellows, and the gorgeous +entertainments which were prepared for him and his followers gave good +opportunity for all to witness his courtly grace and his distinguished +bearing. The chronicles of the time are full of the most superlative +descriptions of this whole affair, and often they seem lost in +wonderment, lacking words with which to describe the scene properly. +Before the wedding, in accord with mediæval custom, Edward received +knighthood at the hands of King Alfonso. In that same old monastery at +Las Huelgas where the youth Fernando had kept his lonely vigil before he +had been knighted by his noble mother, Queen Berenguela, the English +prince now kept his watch; and when the morning came and he stood, tall +and fair, clothed in a robe of white, ready to receive the accolade, +before a company of chosen knights and ladies, the scene must have been +wonderfully impressive. The bride, Eleanor, had been a great favorite +with all her people, of both high and low degree, and all were glad to +see that the future seemed to smile upon her.</p> + +<p>A worthy companion to the wise Berenguela is found in the person of +Maria de Molina, the wife of Sancho IV., called the Ferocious, King of +Castile. His reign, which had extended over a period of eleven years, +came to a close with his death in the year 1295, and in all that time +there had been nothing but discord and confusion, warfare and +assassination, as Sancho's claim to the throne had been disputed by +several pretenders, and they lost no occasion to harass him by plot and +revolution. It may well be imagined, then, that when he died, leaving +his throne to his son Fernando, a child of nine, the situation was most +perplexing for the queen-mother, who had been made regent, by the terms +of her husband's will, until Fernando should become of age. A further +matter which tended to complicate the situation was the fact that the +marriage between Sancho and Maria had never been sanctioned by the pope, +as the two were within the forbidden limits of consanguinity, and he had +refused to grant his special dispensation. With this doubt as to her +son's legitimacy, Maria was placed in a position which was doubly hard, +and if she had not been a woman of keen diplomacy and great wisdom, she +would never have been able to steer her ship of state in safety amid so +many threatening dangers. Her first care was to induce the pope to +grant, after much persuasion, the long-deferred dispensation which +legalized her marriage; and this matter settled, she was ready to enter +the conflict and endeavor to maintain her rights. The first to attempt +her overthrow was the Infante Juan, the young king's uncle, who made an +alliance with the Moorish king of Granada and assumed a threatening +attitude. Maria sent against him her greatest nobles, Haro, and the +Lords of Lara; but she had been deceived in the loyalty of these +followers, as they promptly deserted the regent's cause and, with all +their men, went over to the insurgents and helped to make more powerful +the coalition which was forming against the infant king. For a brief +moment Maria was in despair and felt almost ready to yield in the face +of the opposition, as the hostile combination now included Portugal, +Aragon, Navarre, France, and Granada, and it was their intent to +separate the kingdoms of Leon and Castile if possible and undo all that +Berenguela had labored so hard and with such success to accomplish. +Inasmuch as this was, above all else, a quarrel which concerned the +nobility, a contention which had its rise in the jealousy and mutual +distrust of several powerful houses, Maria, with a keen knowledge of the +situation, and with a sagacity which was rather surprising in a woman +untrained in politics or government, decided to win to her side the +great mass of the common people, with whom she had always lived in peace +and harmony. Her first act was to call a meeting of the Cortes in +Valladolid, which was the only city upon which she could depend in this +crisis. The Cortes speedily acknowledged Fernando IV. as king, and with +this encouragement Maria de Molina set bravely about her arduous task of +organization and defence. Few of the nobles rallied to her support, but +she soon won over the chartered towns by the liberal treatment she +accorded them in matters of taxation and by her protection of the +various civic brotherhoods which had been organized by the people that +they might defend themselves from the injustice of the nobility, which +was now showing itself in countless tyrannical and petty acts. She +labored early and late, conducted her government in a most businesslike +manner, convoked the Cortes in regular session every year, and by the +sheer force of her integrity and her moral strength she finally quelled +all internal disturbances and brought back the government to its former +strength and solidity. In the year 1300 Fernando was declared king in +his own right, at the age of fourteen, and then, for a short time, it +looked as if all that the regent had sought to accomplish might +suddenly be nullified. The king, inclined to be arrogant, and with his +head somewhat turned as the result of his sudden accession to power, was +prevailed upon to listen to evil counsellors, who tried in every way to +make him believe that Maria had administered her regency with an eye to +her own interests, and that much of the revenue which legally belonged +to him had been diverted to her own private uses. Fernando, in spite of +all his mother's goodness, was simple enough to believe these idle +tales, and, in most unfilial and suspecting fashion, he sternly ordered +Maria to render up a detailed account of her stewardship during his +minority. Maria was much affected by this thoughtless and inconsiderate +act, but before she had had time to reply or attempt her own defence in +any way, a storm of indignation broke forth from the free towns, and +Fernando was informed that he would not be allowed to enter the town of +Medina del Campo, where the Leonese Cortes was to be held, unless he +restored his mother to favor and brought her with him to the assembly. +Fernando knew enough to fear the veiled threat which this communication +contained, and the queen-regent appeared with him at the opening of the +session. The scene which followed is pathetic in the extreme, and shows +the magnanimity and unselfishness of Maria in a most striking manner. +She spoke to the members of the Cortes, recalled their former struggles +against the encroachments of the nobles, and urged them to prudent +action, that there might be no further occasion for domestic strife. +Loyalty to country and to king were the keynotes of her speech, and +before she had finished, those who had assembled in anger, ready to +renounce their allegiance on account of Fernando's shameful treatment of +his mother, were now willing to forgive and pardon for that same +mother's sake. This point once established and a loyal following +secured, Maria proceeded to give in detail that account of her +stewardship which had been called for, and she had no trouble in showing +that her administration had been above reproach. Then it was that +Fernando made public acknowledgment of the fact that he had been led +astray by evil-minded advisers; and the Cortes adjourned, faithful to +the king and more than ever devoted to his mother. At Fernando's death +in 1312, Maria de Molina was again called to the regency, so great was +her reputation for wisdom and fair play; and when she ended her public +career, in 1324, all hastened to do honor to her memory, and she was +called Maria the Great, a title which has never been bestowed upon any +other queen-regent in Spain. Her reputation for goodness was unchanged +by the lapse of time, her goodness stands approved to-day, and two +dramatists, Tirso de Molina and Roca de Togores, have depicted her as a +heroine in their plays.</p> + +<p>Under the reign of Alfonso XI., Castile was rent by two factions, one in +support of the king's wife, Maria of Portugal, and the other friendly to +his beautiful mistress, Leonora de Guzman. When a youth of seventeen, +Alfonso had fallen captive to the charms of the fair Leonora; but his +grandmother, Maria de Molina, actuated by political motives, had forced +him to marry the Infanta Maria of Portugal. What might have been +expected came to pass: Maria was the queen in name, but Leonora was the +queen in fact. After three years had passed and no heir to the throne +had been born, Alfonso threatened to plead his kinship as a reason and +get a divorce; but Leonora, anticipating the trouble into which this +might plunge the country, as Alfonso was eager to marry her as soon as +the divorce should have been granted, urged him not to bring about this +separation and did all in her power to make him abide by the +arrangement which had been made for him. Nevertheless, in spite of the +fact that two sons were finally born to Maria and the succession was +assured, Leonora was by far the most influential woman in the kingdom, +and was in every way better fitted to rule as queen than the neglected +Maria. Leonora had her court and her courtiers, and had not only the +love but the respect and confidence of the king, and exercised a +considerable interest in affairs of state for a space of twenty years. +So established was her position at the court, that she was allowed +unhindered to found an order of merit, whose members wore a red ribbon +and were called Caballeros de la Banda. This order was for the promotion +of courtesy and knightly behavior, as it seems that there was still much +crudity of manner in Castile; and according to Miss Yonge, the +ceremonious Arabs complained that the Castilians were brave men, but +that they had no manners, and entered each other's houses freely without +asking permission. Finally, after the battle of Salado in 1340, which +was a great triumph for Alfonso and the Christians, the king was induced +to part definitely with his mistress. Maria, the true wife, had long +been jealous of her power and had lost no opportunity to bring about her +downfall. In the course of their long relationship Leonora had borne ten +children to the king, and her beauty, if accounts be true, was in no way +impaired; but, as he grew older, Alfonso could see more clearly the +complications which might ensue if he persisted in this double course; +and so, with a heavy heart, he consented to the separation, but not +without having given to Leonora the well-fortified city of +Medina-Sidonia, while her children were so well provided for that the +royal revenues were sadly depleted. With the death of Alfonso in 1350 +came the opportunity which Queen Maria had long since sought in vain, +an opportunity for revenge. Leonora was summoned to Seville, that Maria +might consult with her with regard to the interests of her children; and +when the one-time mistress showed some disinclination to accept this +invitation and gave evident signs of distrust, two noblemen of Maria's +following pledged their honor for her safety. Assured by this show of +good faith, Leonora went to Seville as she had been summoned, but no +sooner had she entered the walls of the city than she was made a +prisoner at Maria's order, dragged about in chains after the court, +which was travelling to Burgos, and finally she was sent to Talavera, +where she met an ignominious death at the hands of a servant, who +cruelly strangled her. Strange to say, this act caused no special +comment at the time, for, in spite of Leonora's general popularity, her +influence had been of such incalculable harm to Maria and her followers +in more ways than one, that their revenge was taken somewhat as a matter +of course. Maria, however, in this display of savagery, had done more +than she had anticipated; for, although she had continually tried to +excite her son to this revenge upon her rival, her desire for bloody +satisfaction had been satisfied at Leonora's death, and she now tried to +have Pedro treat Leonora's sons as his own brothers, but all to no +purpose. Young Pedro was cruel by nature; the early training which he +had received from her hands had in no way softened him, and as a natural +result, when he came to the throne and became his own master, he soon +made himself known and feared by his many terrible and wicked deeds; and +so marked did this fierce trait of character appear, that he was ever +known as Pedro the Cruel, much to his mother's shame.</p> + +<p>"If you ever feel disposed, Samivel, to go a-marryin' anybody,—no +matter who,—just you shut yourself up in your own room, if you've got +one, and pison yourself off-hand,"—such was the sententious advice of +the elder Weller, as recorded by Charles Dickens in the immortal pages +of the <i>Pickwick Papers</i>; and investigation will show that in all +literatures, from the earliest times, similar warnings have been uttered +to men who contemplated matrimony. A Tuscan proverb says: "in buying +horses and in taking a wife, shut your eyes tight and commend yourself +to God;" and a sage of Araby has remarked: "Before going to war, say a +prayer; before going to sea, say two prayers; before marrying, say three +prayers;" but the majority of men since the world began have been +content to close their eyes tightly or utter their three prayers and +take the goods the gods provide. Pedro the Cruel was no exception to +this rule, and his capricious ventures in search of married bliss would +fill many pages. According to Burke, "he was lawfully married in 1352 to +the lady who passed during her entire life as his mistress, Maria de +Padilla; he was certainly married to Blanche of Bourbon in 1353; and his +seduction, or rather his violation, of Juana de Castro was accomplished +by a third profanation of the sacrament, when the Bishops of Salamanca +and Avila, both accessories to the king's scandalous bigamy, pronounced +the blessing of the Church upon his brutal dishonor of a noble lady." +Whether Pedro was ever married to Maria de Padilla is still an open +question, but, if not his wife, she was his mistress for many years and +had great power over him. The details of all this life of intrigue are +somewhat confused, but enough is known to make it clear that Pedro was +as cruel in love as in war and politics.</p> + +<p>The queen-mother, ignorant of her son's marriage to Maria de Padilla, or +deciding to ignore it, prevailed upon Pedro to ask for the hand of +Blanche, the daughter of the Duke of Bourbon, and sister to Jeanne, wife +to Charles, the heir of France. His request was granted, and the king +sent his half-brother, the Master of Santiago, one of Leonora's sons, to +fetch the bride to Spain. While this journey was being made, Pedro fell +in love with one of the noble ladies in waiting of Doña Isabel of +Albuquerque, and so great was his passion for this dark-eyed damsel that +it was with difficulty that he could be prevailed upon to leave her and +go to greet the French princess when she finally arrived in Valladolid. +But he tore himself away, went to Blanche, and was married with great +pomp and ceremony. Some had said before the marriage that Maria de +Padilla must have bewitched Pedro, so great was his infatuation; and +three days after the wedding a strange thing happened, which caused +people to shake their heads again and suggest the interference of the +powers of sorcery. For, after this short time, Pedro rode away from +Valladolid and his new queen and went to Montalvao, where Maria de +Padilla was waiting to receive him. Just what had happened, it is +somewhat difficult to discover, and the story is told that the king, +listening to scandalous talk, was made to believe that his royal +messenger and half-brother, Fadrique, had played the rôle of Sir +Tristram as he brought the lady back, and that she had been a somewhat +willing Isolde. There were others who said that Blanche, knowing the +king's volatile disposition and of his relations with the notorious +Maria, had endeavored upon the eve of her marriage to seek aid from the +arts of magic in her effort to win the love of her husband, and had +obtained from a Jewish sorcerer a belt which she was told would make +Pedro faithful, kind, and true. But the story goes on to say that this +wizard had been bribed by Maria de Padilla; and when the king tried on +the girdle which his wife presented, it forthwith was changed into a +hideous serpent, which filled him with such disgust that he could no +longer bear the sight of her. Don Alfonso of Albuquerque, who had first +introduced Pedro to Maria de Padilla, now tried to take her away from +him, in the hope that he might be prevailed upon to return to his wife, +the unfortunate Blanche. This so angered the king that he resolved upon +Don Alfonso's death, and if it had not been for the timely warning given +by Maria, this gentleman would certainly have been assassinated. This +action on Maria's part, however, was the occasion for a fresh outburst +of anger; and Pedro left, wooed Doña Juana de Castro in stormy fashion, +and induced her to marry him, on the statement that he had made a secret +protest against Blanche and that the pope would soon annul this +marriage. Thomas Hardy has said that the most delicate women get used to +strange moral situations, and there must have been something of this in +Juana's makeup, or she would never have been forced into so shameful a +position; but, however that may be, she was made to rue the day, as the +king left her the next morning for Maria, his Venus Victrix, and never +went to see her again, although he gave her the town of Duefias and +allowed her to be addressed as "queen." The chronicles of the time tell +of the remarkable beauty of Maria and of the adulation she enjoyed in +the heyday of her prosperity. As an instance of the extreme gallantry of +the courtiers, we are informed that, with King Pedro, it was their +custom to attend the lovely favorite at her bath and, upon her leaving +it, to drink of its water.</p> + +<p>The fate of Blanche was still hanging in the balance. Pedro, on leaving +her so abruptly, had left orders that she be taken to his palace at +Toledo, but Blanche, fearing to trust herself to his power, tried to +slip from his grasp and finally succeeded in doing so. Arrived in +Toledo, she asked permission, before entering the palace, to go to the +cathedral, for mass; and once within the walls of the sanctuary, she +refused to go back to her guards, demanded the right of protection which +the churches had always possessed in the Middle Ages, and, finally, told +her story with such dramatic effect, that the clergy crowded about her, +the nobles unsheathed their swords and swore to uphold her cause, and a +revolution was begun which soon assumed great proportions and so +frightened Pedro that he consented to take back his wife and send away +the baleful Maria. For four years his nobles kept stern watch over him, +and he was never allowed to ride out of his palace without a guard of a +thousand men at his heels, so fearful were they that he might break away +from them, surround himself again with evil counsellors, and recommence +his career of wantonness and crime. Their efforts were at last of no +avail, as he eluded his followers one day upon a hunting expedition, +through the kindly intervention of a heavy fog, rode off to Segovia, +ordered his mother, who had been exercising a practical regency during +this period, to send him the great seal of state, and then he proceeded +to wreak vengeance upon all those who had been instrumental in his +humiliation. Blanche was sent to prison at Medina-Sidonia on a +trumped-up charge, was shamefully treated during the time of her +captivity, and died in 1359, in the same year that Maria de Padilla, +discredited and cast aside, also found rest in death. Pitiful as these +stories are, they serve to show that women, even at this time, when +Spain was the seat of learning and refinement for all Europe, were but +the servants of their lords and masters, and that passion still ran +riot, while justice sat upon a tottering seat.</p> + +<p>In Aragon, near the close of this fourteenth century, similar scenes of +cruelty were enacted, although the king, Juan I., cannot be compared for +cruelty with the infamous Pedro. Burke has said that if Pedro was not +absolutely the most cruel of men, he was undoubtedly the greatest +blackguard who ever sat upon a throne, and King Juan was far from +meriting similar condemnation. Sibyl de Foix, his stepmother, had +exercised so strange and wonderful a power over his father, that when +Juan came to the throne he was more than eager to turn upon this +enchantress and make her render up the wide estates which the late king +had been prevailed upon to leave to her. It is actually asserted that +Juan charged Sibyl with witchcraft and insisted that she had bewitched +his father and that she had all sorts of mysterious dealings with Satan +and his evil spirits. Whatever the truth may have been, the unhappy +queen only escaped torture and death by surrendering all of the property +which had been given her. Juan was by no means a misogynist, however, +for he was noted for his gallantry, and his beautiful queen, Violante, +was surrounded by a bevy of court beauties who were famed throughout all +Christendom at this time. Juan's capital at Saragossa was the talk of +all Europe. It became famed for its elegance, was a veritable school of +good manners and courtly grace, and to it flocked poets and countless +gentlemen who were knightly soldiers of fortune, only too willing to +serve a noble patron who knew how to appreciate the value of their +chivalry. Violante was the acknowledged leader of this gay and brilliant +world; at her instigation courts of love are said to have been +established, and in every way did she try to reproduce the brilliant +social life which had been the wonder and admiration of the world before +Simon de Montfort had blighted the fair life of Provence. More than ever +before in Spain, women were put into positions of prominence in this +court; and so great was the poetic and literary atmosphere which +surrounded them, that they were known more than once to try their hands +at verse making. Their attempts were modest, however, and no one has +ever been tempted to quote against them Alphonse Karr's well-known +epigram: "A woman who writes, commits two sins: she increases the number +of books, and she decreases the number of women;" for they were content, +for the most part, to be the source of inspiration for their minstrel +knights. Violante's gay court was looked upon with questioning eye, +however, by the majority of her rude subjects, and, finally, when the +sum demanded from the Cortes each year for the maintenance of this +brilliant establishment continued to increase in a most unreasonable +manner, the Cortes called a halt, Violante was obliged to change her +mode of life, and the number of her ladies in waiting was reduced by +half, while other unnecessary expenses were cut in proportion.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XVII" id="Chapter_XVII"></a><a href="#table">Chapter XVII</a></h2> + +<h3>The Age of Isabella—Spanish Unity</h3> + + +<p>In the first half of the fifteenth century in Spain there was one woman, +Isabella of Portugal, who deserves to be remembered for her many good +qualities and for the fact that she was the mother of the great Queen +Isabella. It was as the wife of John II. of Castile that the elder +Isabella was brought into the political life of the time and made to +play her part. This King John was one of the weakest and in some ways +the most inefficient of monarchs, for, in spite of his intelligence, his +good manners, and his open and substantial appreciation of the learned +men of his time, his political life was contemptible, as he was +completely under the control of the court favorite, Alvaro de Luna. +<i>Alvaro de Luna era el hombre más politico, disimulado, y astuto de su +tiempo</i> [Alvaro de Luna was the most politic, deceitful, and astute man +of his time], so says the Spanish historian Quintana; and as Burke puts +it, he had the strongest head and the bravest heart in all Castile. +There was no one to excel him in knightly sport, no one lived in greater +magnificence, and he was, in truth, "the glass of fashion, the mould of +form, the observed of all observers." To this perfect knight, the king +was a mere puppet who could be moved this way or that with perfect +impunity. So complete was the ascendency of Luna, that it is said on +good authority that the king hesitated to go to bed until he had +received his favorite's permission. When King John's first wife, Maria +of Portugal, died in 1445, it was his desire to marry a princess of the +royal house of France; but, for his own reasons, the Lord of Luna willed +otherwise, and the king, submissive, obeyed orders and espoused Isabella +of Portugal, a granddaughter of King John I. No sooner had this fiery +princess taken her place beside King John, after their marriage in 1450, +than she began to assert her independence in a way which caused great +scandal at the court and brought dismay to the heart of Alvaro de Luna. +Isabella opposed the plans of this masterful nobleman at every turn, +refused to accept his dictation about the slightest matter, declined to +make terms with him in any way, and declared herself entirely beyond his +control, in spite of the fact that he had been responsible for her +marriage. King John was at first as much surprised as any of the other +people at the boldness of his young queen, but he soon saw that it would +be possible, with Isabella's aid, to throw off the hateful yoke which +Luna had put about his neck, and this is what took place in a very short +time. The queen was more than a match for all who opposed her, court +intrigues, instigated by Luna, were to no avail, and in the end he had +to give up, beaten by a woman, and one whom he had hoped to make his +agent, or ally, in the further subjection of the king. A year after the +marriage of John and Isabella, the Princess Isabella was born, and with +her advent there came new hope for Spain.</p> + +<p>In the neighboring little kingdom of Navarre there was another princess +who lived at about the same time, who distinguished herself not by the +same boldness of manner perhaps, but by a quiet dignity, and by a wise +and temperate spirit which was often sorely tried. Blanche, Princess of +Navarre, had been married in 1419 to the Prince of Aragon, John; but in +the early years of their married life, before Navarre, the substantial +part of Blanche's marriage portion, came under her definite control, the +young prince spent the most of his time in Castile, where he was +connected with many of the court intrigues which were being woven around +the romantic figure of Alvaro de Luna. Finally, Blanche became Queen of +Navarre, upon her father's death in 1425, but John was still too much +concerned with his Castilian affairs to care to leave them and come to +take his place at the side of his wife's throne. For three years Blanche +was left to her own devices, and during that time she ruled her little +state without the aid or assistance of king or prime minister, and was +so eminently successful in all her undertakings that her capacity was +soon a matter of favorable comment. Finally, in 1428, John was forced to +leave Castile, as Luna had gained the upper hand for the moment, and he +considered this as a favorable opportunity to go to Navarre and gain +recognition as Queen Blanche's husband. Accordingly, he went in great +state to Pamplona, the capital city, and there, with imposing +ceremonies, the public and official coronation of John and Blanche was +celebrated. At the same time, Blanche's son Charles was recognized as +his mother's successor in her ancestral kingdom. But Navarre was not a +congenial territory for King John, who was of a restless, impulsive +disposition; and he was so bored by the provincial gayety of Pamplona +that after a very short stay he could endure it no longer, and set off +for Italy, leaving Blanche in entire control as before. Navarre was a +sort of halfway ground between France and the various governments of +Spain, and was often the centre of much intrigue and plotted treachery; +but John was so completely overshadowed now by Luna's almost absolute +power, that he knew there was no field for his activity at home. +Blanche, however, was confronted more than once by the most delicate +situations, as her good city of Pamplona was constantly filled with the +agents of foreign powers; but so firm was the queen's character, and so +careful were her judgments, that she was able to administer her +government until her death, in 1441, with much success and very little +criticism.</p> + +<p>The next woman to occupy a conspicuous place in the annals of Aragon and +Navarre is Doña Juana Henriquez, the second wife of this same John II. +Doña Juana was the daughter of Don Fadrique Henriquez, Admiral of +Castile, who had become the most influential man in the kingdom during a +moment of temporary disgrace for Alvaro de Luna; and at this time of his +success, for factional reasons, John considered that an alliance with +the admiral might further his own plans with respect to Castile. This +second wife was not a woman of high birth, and was totally unaccustomed +to the new surroundings in which she found herself placed; but with the +quick adaptive power which is possessed by women to so marked a degree, +Juana was soon able to hold her own at court and to make a good showing, +in fact, on any occasion. She was a very beautiful woman, of the +traditional Spanish type, with dark eyes and dark hair, and a very +engaging manner, and to her cleverness she joined a great ambition which +made her unceasing in her efforts for her husband's advancement. She was +inclined to be haughty and domineering in tone, was not overscrupulous, +as might have been expected of one who had lived in the atmosphere of +the Castilian court at this time, and the sum total of her efforts did +little more than to perpetuate the period of strife and turmoil. The +admiral, Don Fadrique, was in control for but a short time; and upon the +return to power of Alvaro, John was driven out of the country, after +being wounded in battle, and the admiral himself was killed in the +fighting at Olmedo. John took his wife with him to Pamplona, where he +now went, as that city offered him a most convenient exile. His return +to his wife's country was not made in peace, for no sooner had he +arrived than he proceeded to dispossess his son Charles, who had been +openly acknowledged as his mother's heir at the time of her coronation. +In the warfare which ensued, and which was a snarl of petty, selfish +interests, Juana did yeoman service in her husband's cause. At the time +of her hurried flight to Navarre, she had tarried for a short time in +the little town of Sos, in Aragon, and there she had given birth to a +son, Fernando, who was to be instrumental in bringing peace and glory to +Spain in spite of the fact that he first saw the light in the midst of +such tumult and confusion. Notwithstanding her delicate condition, Juana +was soon in the thick of the fray, as she hastened to the town of +Estella, which had been threatened, fortified the place, and defended it +effectually from all the attacks made upon it by the hostile forces. She +seems to have been a born fighter, and, though her efforts may often +have been misdirected, she must have exerted a powerful influence upon +the mind of her son, who was to show himself at a later day as good a +fighter in a larger cause.</p> + +<p>To turn back to Castile now for a time, in the labyrinth of this much +involved period, where the duplication of names and the multiplicity of +places makes it difficult to thread one's way intelligently, it will be +found that the court, during the reign of Henry IV., was chiefly +distinguished by its scandalous immorality. Quintana, in his volume +entitled the <i>Grandezas de Madrid</i>, gives enough information on the +subject to reveal the fact that the roués of that period could learn +little from their counterparts to-day, as the most shameless proceedings +were of everyday occurrence, and men and women both seemed to vie with +each other in their wickedness. It would be somewhat unjust to include +the great body of the people in this vicious class, as the most +conspicuous examples of human degradation and degeneracy were to be +found at the court, but the fact remains that public ideas in regard to +moral questions were very lax; the clergy was corrupt, and the moral +tone of the whole country was deplorably low, as judged by the standards +of to-day. Women deceived their husbands with much the same relish as +Boccaccio depicts in his <i>Decameron</i>; passions were everywhere the +moving forces, in the higher and lower classes as well, and nowhere was +there to be seen the continence which comes from an intelligent +self-control.</p> + +<p>In the midst of this carnival of vice and corruption, King Henry, the +older brother of the Princess Isabella, was a most striking figure. He +had been divorced from his first wife, Blanche of Aragon, on the ground +of impotence, but had succeeded, in spite of this humiliation, in +contracting another alliance, this time with the beautiful, but not +overscrupulous, Juana of Portugal. Beltran de Cueva, a brilliant +nobleman, was the favorite and influential person at the court at this +time, and his gradual rise to favor had been due in no small measure to +the protection of the new queen, who was Beltran's all but acknowledged +mistress and took no pains to conceal the matter at any time. In fact, +at a great tournament held near Madrid in 1461, soon after Juana's +arrival at the court, Beltran posed as her preferred champion, and held +the lists against all comers in defence of his mistress's preëminent and +matchless beauty. The king was far from displeased at this liaison +between Beltran and the queen, and he was so delighted at the knight's +unvarying success in this tournament, that the story goes that he +founded a monastery upon the spot and named it, in honor of Saint Jerome +and Beltran, San Geronimo del Paso, or of the "passage of arms"! The +king was little moved by all this, for the simple reason that he was +paying a most ardent court at the same time to one of the queen's ladies +in waiting. This Lady Guiomar, his mistress, was beautiful, but bold and +vicious, as her relations with such a king demonstrate, but for a time +at least she was riding upon the crest of the wave. Proud in her +questionable honor, and daring to be jealous of the real queen, she made +King Henry pay dearly for her favors, and she was soon installed in a +palace of her own and living in a splendor and magnificence which +rivalled that of the queen herself. The Archbishop of Seville, strange +to relate, openly espoused her cause. Her insolent and domineering ways +were a fit counterpart to those of the queen, and the unfortunate people +were soon making open complaint. Beltran, the king in fact, was the open +and accepted favorite of the queen, and Henry, the king in name only, +was devoting himself to a vain and shallow court beauty who wished to be +a veritable queen and longed for the overthrow of her rival! Such was +the sad spectacle presented to the world by Castile at this time, but +the crisis was soon to come which would clarify the air and lead to a +more satisfactory condition in the state. Matters were hastened to their +climax when the queen gave birth, in 1462, to a daughter who was called +after her mother, Juana; but so evident was the paternity of this +pitiful little princess, that she was at once christened La Beltraneja +in common parlance; and by that sobriquet she is best known in history. +It is doubtful if the sluggish moral natures of this time would have +been moved by this fact, if the king had not insisted that this baby +girl should be acknowledged as his daughter and heiress to the crown of +Castile. This was too much for the leaders of the opposition, and they +demanded that Henry's younger brother, Alfonso, be recognized as his +successor. This proposition brought about civil warfare, which was ended +by Alfonso's death in 1468, and then Isabella was generally recognized +as the real successor to her unworthy brother Henry, in spite of the +claims he continued to put forth in favor of La Beltraneja.</p> + +<p>Before the cessation of domestic hostilities, Isabella had been sorely +tried by various projects which had been advanced for her marriage. She +had been brought up by her mother, Queen Isabella, in the little town of +Arevalo, which had been settled upon her at the time of the death of her +husband, King John II. There, in quiet and seclusion, quite apart from +the vice and tumult of the capital, the little princess had been under +the close tutelage of the Church, as her mother had grown quite devout +with advancing years; and as Isabella ripened into womanhood, it became +evident that she possessed a high seriousness and a strength of +character quite unusual. Still, all was uncertain as to her fate. Her +brother Henry had first endeavored to marry her to Alfonso V. of +Portugal, the elder and infamous brother of his own shameless queen, but +Isabella had declined this alliance on the ground that it had not been +properly ratified by the Cortes of Castile, and as a result the plan was +soon dropped. In the midst of the rebellion which had broken out after +Henry's attempt to foist La Beltraneja upon the state, he had proposed +as a conciliatory measure that one of the most turbulent of the +factional leaders, Don Pedro Giron, Grand Master of Calatrava, should +wed Isabella, and the offer had been accepted. This man, who was old +enough to be her father, was stained with vice, in spite of his exalted +position in the religious Order of Calatrava, and his character was so +notoriously vile that the mere mention of such an alliance was nothing +short of insult to Isabella. Again she did not allow herself to be +dominated by her brother, and after announcing that she utterly refused +to consent to such an arrangement, she shut herself up in her apartments +and declared her intention of resisting any attempts which might be made +to coerce her. But the king gave no heed to her remonstrances, and made +arrangements for the wedding festivities, the bridegroom having been +summoned. The pope had absolved the profligate grand master from his +vows of celibacy, which he had never kept, and poor Isabella, sustained +only by the moral support of her courageous mother, was beginning to +quake and tremble, as she knew not what might happen, and the prospect +for her future happiness was far from good. A providential illness +overcame the dreaded bridegroom when he was less than forty leagues from +Madrid, as it turned out, and Isabella was able to breathe again freely.</p> + +<p>With the death of the younger Alfonso, there were many who urged +Isabella to declare herself at once as the Queen of Castile and to head +a revolution against her brother, the unworthy Henry. Her natural +inclinations, as well as the whole character of her early education, had +made her devout, almost bigoted, by nature, and it was but natural that +her advisers at this time in her career were mostly members of the +clergy, who saw in this young queen-to-be a great support for the +Spanish Church in the future. But this girl of sixteen was wiser than +her advisers, for she refused to head a revolution, and contented +herself with a claim to the throne upon her brother's death. Such a +claim necessarily had to run counter to the claim of the dubious +Princess Juana, and to discredit her cause as much as possible her +sobriquet <i>La Beltraneja</i> was zealously revived. Sure of the support of +the clergy, and still wishing to be near to her advisers, Isabella went +to the monastery at Avila, where, it is said, deputations from all +parts of Castile came to entreat her to assume the crown at once. Her +policy of delay made possible an interview between sister and brother, +at which Henry, unable to withstand the manifest current of public +sentiment, agreed to accept Isabella as his successor and as the lawful +heir to the throne of Castile. With this question settled in this +satisfactory way, the matter of Isabella's marriage again became an +affair of national importance. There were suitors in plenty, Richard, +Duke of Gloucester, brother of Edward IV. of England, and the Duke of +Guienne, brother of Louis XI. and heir to the French throne, being among +the number; but the young Isabella, influenced as much by policy as by +any personal feeling in the matter, had decided that she would wed +Fernando, son of John II. of Aragon and his second wife, the dashing +Doña Juana Henriquez, and nothing would change her from this fixed +purpose. In a former day it had been a woman, Queen Berenguela, who had +labored long and successfully for the union of Castile and Leon; and now +another woman, this time a girl still in her teens, was laboring for a +still greater Spanish unity, which will consolidate the interests of the +two kingdoms of Aragon and Castile and give to all Spain the peace which +was now such a necessity to the future well-being of the country. There +were numerous obstacles thrown in the way of this marriage, which was +not pleasing to all of the Castilian factions. The Archbishop of Seville +tried to kidnap Isabella to prevent it, and would have done so but for +the activity of another prelate, the Archbishop of Toledo, who rescued +the unfortunate maiden and carried her off to sure friends in +Valladolid, where she awaited Fernando's coming.</p> + +<p>Burke gives an admirable description of Isabella at this time, in the +following lines: "That royal and noble lady was then in the full bloom +of her maiden beauty. She had just completed her eighteenth year. In +stature somewhat superior to the majority of her countrywomen, and +inferior to none in personal grace and charm, her golden hair and her +bright blue eyes told perhaps of her Lancastrian ancestry. Her beauty +was remarkable in a land where beauty has never been rare; her dignity +was conspicuous in a country where dignity is the heritage not of a +class but of a nation. Of her courage, no less than of her discretion, +she had already given abundant proofs. Bold and resolute, modest and +reserved, she had all the simplicity of a great lady born for a great +position. She became in after life something of an autocrat and overmuch +of a bigot. But it could not be laid to the charge of a persecuted +princess of nineteen that she was devoted to the service of her +religion." Such was Isabella when she married Fernando; and the wedding +was quietly celebrated at Valladolid, in the house of a friend, Don Juan +de Vivero, while the warlike Archbishop of Toledo had charge of the +ceremony. Never was there a simpler royal wedding in all the annals of +Spanish history: there was no throng of gay nobles, there were none of +the customary feasts or tournaments, there was no military display, no +glitter of jewels, no shimmer of silks and satins, but all was quiet and +serious, and the few guests at this solemn consecration seemed impressed +with the dignity of the occasion. The pathway of the young princess was +not all strewn with roses, however, as her marriage seemed to enrage her +degenerate brother and to stimulate him to new deeds of unworthiness. In +spite of the fact that King Henry's shameless conduct in private life +had been given a severe rebuke, by implication at least, at the time +that Isabella was being urged on all sides to declare herself as queen +and dispossess her brother, this perverted monarch continued his +profligate career in most open fashion. He had not only one mistress +but many of them at the court, he loaded them with riches and with +favors, and often, in a somewhat questionable excess of religious zeal, +he appointed them to posts of honor and importance in conventual +establishments! No sooner had Isabella's wedding been celebrated than +Henry began to stir up trouble again, declared that the queen's +daughter, La Beltraneja, was the only lawful heir to his estates, and to +further his projects he succeeded in arranging for a betrothal ceremony +between this young woman and the young Duke of Guienne, heir presumptive +to the crown of France, who had been one of Isabella's suitors, as will +be remembered. This French alliance, threatening for a moment, was soon +impaired by the unexpected death of the young duke, and Isabella's +position was strengthened daily by the growing disbelief in La +Beltraneja's legitimacy. To give in detail an account of all the plots +which were concocted against Isabella would take many chapters in +itself, for she met with bitter opposition in spite of the fact that she +seems to have won the sympathies of the larger part of the population of +the two countries.</p> + +<p>In the midst of this continual intrigue came the news of King Henry's +death in 1474, and then Isabella, who had been biding her time, was +proclaimed queen by her own orders, and the proclamation was made at +Segovia, which was then her place of residence. As a mere matter of +curiosity, it may be interesting to record the long list of titles which +actually belonged to Isabella at this time. She was Queen of Castile, +Aragon, Leon, Sicily, Granada, Toledo, Valencia, Galicia, the Mallorcas, +Seville, Sardinia, Cordova, Corsica, Murcia, Jaen, the Algarves, +Alguynias, Gibraltar, the Canary Islands, Countess of Barcelona, +Sovereign Lady of Biscay and Molina, Duchess of Athens and Neopatria, +Countess of Roussillon, Cerdagne, Marchioness of Ovistan and Goziano! +After assuming the heavy burden implied by this somewhat overpowering +list of titles, the young queen's first serious annoyance came from her +husband, strange as the case may seem. Fernando of Aragon was the +nearest living male representative of King Henry, and he somewhat +selfishly began to take steps to supplant Isabella in her succession. +Little did he know his wife, however, if he imagined it possible to +deprive her of Castile, and events soon showed that she was the stronger +of the two. At her orders, the laws and precedents with regard to royal +succession were carefully examined, and it was soon published abroad +that there was no legal objection to her assumption of power. Fernando +was appeased to some degree by certain concessions made by his wife, +their daughter Juana was recognized as heiress of Castile, and, all in +all, in spite of his disgruntled state of mind, he wisely concluded to +remain at Isabella's side and help to fight her battles. A new cause for +alarm soon appeared: another of Isabella's former suitors, Alfonso, King +of Portugal, was affianced to the pitiful La Beltraneja, the two were +proclaimed King and Queen of Castile, and the country was at once +invaded by a hostile force. Isabella interested herself personally in +the equipment of her troops, she faced every emergency bravely, and +after a short campaign her banners were triumphant and all things seemed +to indicate that an era of peace had been begun. The pope dissolved the +marriage between Alfonso and La Beltraneja soon after, and these two +unhappy mortals forthwith retired from the world, she to the convent of +Saint Clare at Coimbra, while the poor king resigned his crown and +became a Franciscan monk. So great, in fact, was Isabella's victory at +this time, and so keen was her appreciation of the fact that her +greatest cause for alarm had been completely removed from the scene of +action, that she walked barefooted in a procession to the church of +Saint Paul at Tordesillas, to express her feeling of thanksgiving for +her great success.</p> + +<p>Following close upon the heels of this last stroke of good fortune for +Castile came the news that the old King of Aragon, Fernando's father, +was dead, and now, in truth, came that unity of Spain which had been the +dream of more than one Utopian mind in days gone by. With fortune +smiling upon them in so many ways, the sovereigns of this united realm +were still confronted by many serious problems of government, especially +in Castile, which called for speedy settlement. The long years of weak +and vicious administration had filled the country with all kinds of +abuses, and the task of internal improvement was difficult enough to +cause even a stouter heart to quail. The queen in all these matters +displayed a rare sagacity and developed a rare faculty for handling men +which stood her in good stead. The recalcitrant nobles and the +rebellious commoners were all brought to terms by her influence, and her +power was soon unquestioned. She had an army at her back and a crowd of +officers ready to carry out and enforce her instructions to the letter, +but, more than all this, her great and personal triumph was the result +of her tremendous personal power and magnetism. She travelled all over +Spain in a most tireless fashion, she met the people in a familiar +manner, and showed her sympathy for them in countless ways; but there +was always about her something of that divinity which doth hedge a king, +which made all both fear and respect her. No nook or corner of the whole +country was too remote, her visits covered the whole realm, and +everywhere it was plain to see that her coming had been followed by the +most satisfactory results. Having thus created a great and mighty +public sentiment in her favor, Isabella was not slow to attack the great +questions of national reforms, which were sadly in need of her +attention. She boldly curtailed the privileges of the grandees of Spain, +and to such good effect that she transformed, in an incredibly short +space of time, the most turbulent aristocracy on the continent into a +body of devoted and submissive retainers, the counterpart of which was +not to be found in any other country of Europe. Her wide grasp of +affairs is seen in the support she was willing to give to Columbus in +his voyage overseas, and time and time again she showed herself equal to +the most trying situations in a way which was most surprising in one of +her age and experience. Her firmness of character was ever felt, +although her manners were always mild and her whole attitude was +calculated to conciliate rather than to antagonize.</p> + +<p>Pure and discreet in every way, Isabella was ever a zealous Christian, +and she never failed to aid the Church when the means were within her +reach. The gradual decline of the Moorish power in Spain had given rise +to a most unfortunate spirit of religious intolerance, with which +Isabella was soon called upon to deal, and her action in this matter is +but characteristic of the time in which she lived. Spain was filled with +Jews, who had settled unmolested under the Moslem rule, and there were +also many Moriscoes, or people of mixed Spanish and Moorish origin; and +these unfortunates were now to be submitted to the tortures of that +diabolical institution known as the Inquisition, because they were not +enthusiastic in their support of the Catholic religion. Isabella tried +to oppose the introduction of these barbarous practices into Castile, +but by specious argument her scruples were overcome and she was made to +bow to the will of the pope and his legates. In the workings of the +Inquisition little distinction was made between men and women, and both +seem to have suffered alike at the hands of these cruel ministers of the +Church. In 1498, for the first time, it was decreed that men and women +held under arrest by order of the inquisitor should be provided with +separate prisons, and it is easy to imagine from this one statement that +Isabella must have been very much of a bigot, or she could not have +allowed so flagrant an abuse to exist for any length of time, no matter +what the occasion for it. When the power of the inquisitor seemed about +to extend to the Jews for the first time, they offered to Fernando and +Isabella thirty thousand pieces of silver, for the final campaigns +against the Moors, if they might be allowed to live unmolested. The +proposition was being favorably entertained, when Torquemada, the chief +inquisitor, suddenly appeared before the king and queen, with a crucifix +in his uplifted hand; and if the traditional account be true, he +addressed them in these words: "Judas sold his Master for thirty pieces +of silver, your highnesses are about to do the same for thirty thousand; +behold Him, take Him, and hasten to sell Him." Impressed by this +dramatic presentation of the subject, Isabella was impelled to sign the +decrees which banished the Jews from Spain and led to so much slaughter +and persecution. All of this side of Isabella's character causes some +expression of surprise perhaps, but it must be remembered that her +religious zeal and enthusiasm were such that anyone who dared to oppose +the power of Rome in any way could have no claim upon her of any kind.</p> + +<p>This same trait of character is everywhere prominent in Isabella's +treatment of the Moors. In the year 1487 the important Moorish city of +Malaga was compelled finally to surrender to the armies of Fernando and +Isabella after a most heroic defence, but these Christian rulers could +feel no pity for their unfortunate captives, and were unwilling to show +any sense of appreciation of their valor. Accordingly, the whole +population of some fifteen thousand people was sold into slavery and +scattered throughout Europe! Prescott, in his history of the time of +Fernando and Isabella, states that the clergy in the Spanish camp wanted +to have the whole population put to the sword, but to this Isabella +would not consent. Burke gives the following details with regard to the +fate of all these prisoners of war: "A hundred choice warriors were sent +as a gift to the pope. Fifty of the most beautiful girls were presented +to the Queen of Naples, thirty more to the Queen of Portugal, others to +the ladies of her court, and the residue of both sexes were portioned +off among the nobles, the knights, and the common soldiers of the army, +according to their rank and influence." If Isabella showed herself +tender-hearted in not allowing a regular massacre of these poor Moors, +she was far less compassionate with regard to the Jews and the renegade +Christians who were within the walls of Malaga when the city was taken. +These poor unfortunates were burned at the stake, and Albarca, a +contemporary Church historian, in describing the scene, says that these +awful fires were "illuminations most grateful to the Catholic piety of +Fernando and Isabella."</p> + +<p>Isabella shows this same general mental temper in her whole attitude to +war and warlike deeds, for she seems to have possessed little of that +real sentiment or pity which women are supposed to show. Tolstoi has +said that the first and chief thing that should be looked for in a woman +is fear, but this remark cannot be applied in any way to Isabella, for +no fear was ever found in her. In the camp at Granada, in those last +days of struggle, the queen appeared on the field daily, superbly +mounted, and dressed in complete armor; and she gave much time to the +inspection of the quarters of the soldiers and reviewed the troops at +her pleasure. One day she said, in talking to some of her officers, that +she would like to go nearer to the city walls for a closer inspection of +the place, whereupon a small escort of chosen men was immediately +detailed to take the queen to a better point for observing the city and +its means of defence. They all advanced boldly, the queen in the front +rank, and so angered the Moors by their insolence, so small was their +party, that the gates of the city suddenly opened and a large body of +citizens came forth to punish them for their temerity. In spite of the +unequal numbers, the Christian knights, inspired by the presence and the +coolness of their queen, who was apparently unmoved by the whole scene, +performed such miracles of valor that two thousand Moors were slain in a +short time and their fellows compelled to retire in confusion.</p> + +<p>With the conquest of the Moors, the spreading of the influence of Spain +beyond the seas became a more immediate question. Its solution, however, +was still prevented by the theories of statesmen and theologians. +Columbus had won the queen to his cause during the famous audience at +the summer court at Salamanca, when he was presented to the sovereigns +by Cardinal de Mendoza, at which interview, we are told, he "had no eyes +for any potentate but Isabella." But after years of disappointment to +Columbus, the queen was again the great power to further his project: +she offered to pledge her crown jewels to defray the cost of the +expedition. Thus a speedy issue was obtained, and to Isabella's +determination Spain owes a glory which gilds the reign of this queen +with imperishable lustre.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XVIII" id="Chapter_XVIII"></a><a href="#table">Chapter XVIII</a></h2> + +<h3>The Women of the Sixteenth Century</h3> + + +<p>The wealth which had come to Spain as the result of her conquests in +Moorish territory, and, far more, the treasure which was beginning to +pour into the country from the new Spanish possessions beyond the seas, +brought to the old peninsula a possibility for lavish and brilliant +display in dress which was by no means disregarded. All Europe, in this +same period of the Renaissance, had been undergoing to a greater or less +degree this social transformation, but the looms of Valencia and Granada +furnished the silks and brocades which other countries bought with +eagerness, and Spain may be considered very properly as the home of all +this courtly show. The wonderful gold cloths which were woven by the +deft fingers of the Moriscoes were everywhere prized by fine ladies and +ardent churchmen, for there was no finer material for a fetching robe of +state in all the world, and no altar cloth or priestly robe could +possess excelling beauty and not owe a debt to Spain. Someone has said +that women are compounds of plain-sewing and make-believe, daughters of +Sham and Hem, and, without questioning the truth of the statement, the +same remark might be applied to both the clergy and the women of this +period at least, if "fine-sewing" be substituted for "plain-sewing" in +the epigram. Isabella herself, in spite of her well-known serious +character, dressed in a way which was magnificent beyond belief, and +the smallest provincial court was a marvel of brave array. Never had the +women adorned themselves so splendidly before, the fashions were made +and followed with much scrupulous precision, and so great was the sum of +money expended by people of all classes, high and low, that the +far-seeing and prudent began to fear the consequences. It is said that +on more than one occasion the Cortes deplored the prevalent extravagance +and the foolish pride which made even the laboring classes vie in +richness of dress with the nobility, "whereby they not only squander +their own estate, but bring poverty and want to all." When, however, +Fernando and Isabella discovered that gold was being used in large +amounts in the weaving of these costly tissues, they issued an order +which not only prohibited the wearing of this finery, but inflicted +heavy penalties upon all those who should import, sell, or manufacture +any textures containing gold or silver threads!</p> + +<p>While Her Most Catholic Majesty was issuing edicts of this kind relating +to the material affairs of life, it must not be supposed that she was in +any way neglecting the humanities, for the truth is quite the contrary. +Never before had such encouragement been given to learning by a Spanish +sovereign, and never before had there been so little jealousy of +foreigners in the matter of scholarship. Isabella was the leader in this +broad movement, and from all parts of Europe she summoned distinguished +men in science and literature, who were installed at her court in +positions of honor or were given chairs in the universities. The final +expulsion of the Moors had brought about an era of peace and quiet which +was much needed, as Spain had been rent by so much warfare and domestic +strife, and for so many years, that the more solid attainments in +literature had been much neglected, and the Spanish nobles were covered +with but a polite veneer of worldly information and knowledge which too +often cracked and showed the rough beneath. Isabella endeavored to +change this state of affairs, and by her own studies, and by her +manifest interest in the work of the schools, she soon succeeded in +placing learning in a position of high esteem, even among the nobles, +who did not need it for their advancement in the world. Paul Jove wrote: +"No Spaniard was accounted noble who was indifferent to learning;" and +so great was the queen's influence, that more than one scion of a noble +house was glad to enter upon a scholarly career and hold a university +appointment. It may well be imagined that in all this new intellectual +movement which was stimulated by Isabella, it was the sober side of +literature and of scholarship which was encouraged, as a light and vain +thing such as lyric poetry would have been as much out of place in the +court of the firm defender of the Catholic faith as the traditional bull +in the traditional china shop. Isabella, under priestly influences, +favored and furthered the revival of interest in the study of Greek and +Latin, and it is in this realm of classical study that the scholars of +the time were celebrated.</p> + +<p>The power of example is a wonderful thing always, and in the present +instance the direct results of Isabella's interest in education may be +seen in the fact that many of the women of her day began to show an +unusual interest in schools and books. The opportunities for an +education were not limited to the members of the sterner sex, and it +appears that both men and women were eager to take advantage of the many +new opportunities which were afforded them at this epoch. A certain Doña +Beatriz de Galindo was considered the greatest Latin scholar among the +women of her time, and for several years her praises were sounded in all +the universities. Finally, Doña Beatriz was appointed special teacher +in the Latin language to the queen herself; and so great was her success +with this royal pupil, that she was rewarded with the title <i>la Latina</i>, +by which she was commonly known ever after. According to a Spanish +proverb, "the best counsel is that of a woman," and surely Isabella +acted upon that supposition. This is not all, however, for not only was +a woman called to give lessons to the queen, but women were intrusted +with important university positions, which they filled with no small +credit to themselves. Good Dr. Holmes has said: "Our ice-eyed +brain-women are really admirable if we only ask of them just what they +can give and no more," but the bluestockings of Isabella's day were by +no means ice-eyed or limited in their accomplishments, and they managed +to combine a rare grace and beauty of the dark southern type with a +scholarship which was most unusual, all things taken into consideration. +Doña Francisca de Lebrija, a daughter of the great Andalusian humanist +Antonio de Lebrija, followed her father's courses in the universities of +Seville, Salamanca, and Alcala, and finally, in recognition of her great +talents, she was invited to lecture upon rhetoric before the Alcala +students. At Salamanca, too, there was a liberal spirit shown toward +women, and there it was that Doña Lucia de Medrano delivered a course of +most learned lectures upon classical Latinity. These are merely the more +illustrious among the learned women of the time, and must not be +considered as the only cases on record. Educational standards for the +majority of both men and women were not high, as a matter of course, +and, from the very nature of things, there were more learned men than +learned women; but the fact remains that Isabella's position in the +whole matter, her desire to learn and her desire to give other women the +same opportunity and the same desire, did much to encourage an ambition +of this kind among the wives and daughters of Spain. The queen was a +conspicuous incarnation of woman's possibilities, and her enlightened +views did much to broaden the feminine horizon. Where she led the way +others dared to follow, and the net result was a distinct advance in +national culture.</p> + +<p>In spite of all this intellectual advance, the game of politics was +still being played, and women were still, in more than one instance, the +unhappy pawns upon the board who were sacrificed from time to time in +the interest of some important move. The success of Spanish unity had +aroused Spanish ambition, Fernando and Isabella had arranged political +marriages for their children, and the sixteenth century was to show +that, in one instance at least, this practical and utilitarian view of +the marriage relation brought untold misery and hardship to one poor +Spanish princess. In each case the royal alliances which were contracted +by the Spanish rulers for their various children were the subject of +much careful planning and negotiation, and yet, in spite of it all, +these measures constitute the most conspicuous failure in all their long +reign. Particularly pathetic and distressing is the story of the poor +Princess Juana, whose prospects were most brilliant and whose destiny +was most cruel. Juana was married in 1496 to the Archduke Philip of +Austria, Governor of the Netherlands and heir to the great domain of his +father, the Emperor Maximilian, and the wedding had been celebrated in a +most gorgeous fashion. It was in the month of August that a splendid +Spanish fleet set out from Laredo, a little port between Bilbao and +Santander, to carry the Spanish maiden to her waiting bridegroom. As is +usual in such affairs, the beauty of the girl had been much extolled, +and the archduke, then in his eighteenth year, was all aglow with hope +and expectation. Watchmen had been posted to keep a lookout for the +ships from Spain, and when they finally came in sight with their +glistening white sails and their masts and spars all gay with flags and +streamers, salutes were fired and they received a royal welcome. The +Spanish admiral in person led the Princess Juana to meet her affianced +husband, and soon after, in the great cathedral at Lille, the two young +people were married in the midst of great festivities. It seems almost +pitiful to think of the human side of all this great and glittering +show. Juana was barely seventeen years of age, alone, without mother or +father or sister or brother, in a strange land, in the midst of a +strange court, where all about her were speaking a strange language, and +the wife of a youth whom she had never seen until the eve of her +marriage! For a few long weeks Juana was somewhat reserved in her new +surroundings, and in her heart she longed again for Spain; but as the +days passed she became accustomed to her new home, took pleasure in the +greater liberty which was now accorded her as a married woman, and soon, +neglected by her parents, so far as any show of affection was concerned, +she learned to grow indifferent to them and to all their interests. By +the year 1500, however, Juana had become a most important person, as +death had claimed her brother and her older sisters and she now remained +the rightful heir not only to Aragon, but to her mother's realm of +Castile as well. This fact caused much uneasiness in Spain, as such an +outcome was most unexpected. Secret agents who had been sent to Flanders +to inquire into the political and religious views of the archduchess +brought back most discouraging reports. It was asserted that she was no +longer a careful Catholic, that she "had little or no devotion," and +that she was "in the hands of worthless clerics from Paris." As a matter +of fact, Juana, once freed from the ecclesiastical restraints which had +been imposed upon her in her younger days by her pious mother, did what +it was most natural for her to do,—she went to the opposite extreme. +Spain, at that time, with its Inquisition and its fervid zeal for Rome, +was the most religious country in Europe, while in the Netherlands there +was a growing liberal spirit which attracted the archduchess. It must +have been annoying to her to feel that her mother, Isabella, was in a +constant fret about the condition of her soul, while otherwise she was +treated with a distant formality, entirely devoid of a mother's love, +and it is no small wonder that she refused to accept a spiritual +director and father confessor who had been sent from Spain to save her +from perdition.</p> + +<p>With all these facts in mind, Isabella was greatly troubled, for the +thought that the indifferent Juana might some day reign in her stead and +undo all that she had done with so much labor for the glory of the +Church was naturally repugnant to her devout nature. Finally, after a +son was born to Juana, Charles, who was to become at a later day the +Emperor Charles V., the queen decided upon a somewhat doubtful procedure +to avert, for a time at least, the impending catastrophe. The Cortes, +under royal pressure, was induced to provide for the government after +Isabella's death, in case Juana might be absent from the kingdom, or in +case of her "being present in Castile, but, unwilling or unable to +reign." Under any or all of those circumstances, it was provided that +Fernando should act as regent until her son Charles had reached his +twentieth year, a rather unusual age, at a time when young princes were +frequently declared to have attained their majority at fifteen or +sixteen. Isabella's intention in all this was too obvious, for it was +plainly a part of her plan that Juana should never have any share in the +government of the country of which she was the rightful heir. The whole +transaction smacks strongly of duplicity of the worst kind, for at the +very time that the Cortes was being prevailed upon to do this, Juana was +being given a royal welcome in both Aragon and Castile, for she had been +induced to come home for a visit; and she was even being given public +recognition as the future queen of these two countries. There were +feasts and tournaments given in her honor, Fernando and Isabella +introduced her to their subjects with apparent pleasure, and yet under +it all was this heartless trick which they had planned in utter defiance +of the law. Still, the law in Spain at this time was almost synonymous +with the wish of the sovereign; and so powerful was Isabella and so +great was her influence with her legislative body, that there was little +dissent to the plan for usurpation which had its origin in her fertile +brain. The reasons for this action will never be definitely known, +perhaps. It would hardly seem that Juana's lukewarm Catholicism would be +sufficient to warrant so radical a step, and it is difficult to give +credence to the vaguely circulated rumor that Juana was insane.</p> + +<p>Whether this alleged insanity was real or not, it served as a pretext +for the action taken, and the report regarding the unhappy princess was +soon common property. When Isabella drew her last breath in 1504, +Fernando artfully convoked the Cortes, formally renounced any interest +in the succession to the throne of Castile, and caused Juana and Philip +to be proclaimed as successors to Isabella and himself. Within two +months, however, Juana's claims were completely disregarded, it was +officially announced that she was not in her right mind, and Fernando +was empowered to take control of the Castilian government and rule as +regent, according to the terms of the decree which had been arranged by +Isabella some years before, and was to remain as a <i>de facto</i> sovereign +until Charles had reached the specified majority. The statements which +were made to support the claim as to her insanity were not altogether +clear, and to-day at least they do not seem convincing. Her attitude of +indifference toward the extreme point of view taken by her mother in +regard to religion may have been scandalous, as no doubt it was at that +time, but it was hardly evidence of an impaired intellect. During her +last visit to Spain before her mother's death, Juana had resisted with +violence when she was imprisoned for a time and had not been allowed to +go to her husband, and such resistance was quite natural in a +high-spirited young woman who was being treated in a high-handed and +illegal manner; but because her jailer had been the Bishop of Burgos, +and because she had been detained by royal order, her action was +considered as a certain indication of mental derangement. Again, it was +asserted that on one occasion, soon after Juana's return to Flanders +from the place of her imprisonment, she gave unmistakable signs of +insanity in the course of a court quarrel. It seems that during her +absence a certain lady in waiting at her ducal court had succeeded in +winning the favor of Philip, and had received such marked attentions +from the archduke that the affair was soon gossiped about in every nook +and corner of the palace, from scullery maid to the lord high +chamberlain. Juana was given a full account of the whole affair before +she had been in the palace twenty-four hours, and it so enraged her that +she sought out her rival in her husband's affection, and, after a +terrible scene, clipped the golden locks of the fair enchantress so +close to her head that, for a time at least, her beauty was marred. This +was not dignified action, and it might well have been the act of any +angered woman under those circumstances, but in Spain the one terrible +word "insanity" was whispered about and no other explanation could or +would be accepted. Her sanity had never been questioned in Flanders, +and, in spite of her quick temper and many unreasonable acts, no one had +ever thought to fasten this terrible suspicion upon her. The game was +worth the candle, however; Isabella had been unwilling to take any +chances, and the ambiguous clause, "being present in Castile, but unable +or unwilling to reign," gave the hint which Fernando had been only too +willing to act upon, and the trumped-up charge of insanity was an easy +thing to sustain.</p> + +<p>Fernando's assumption of the regency, however, and the action of the +Cortes, which virtually disregarded the claims of Juana to the throne, +angered her and her husband still more, and they set out by ship for +Spain, after some delay, to demand an explanation. Fernando went to meet +them at the little village of Villafafila, and there, after an audience +with the archduke which took place in the little parish church and which +lasted for several hours, it was agreed between them that Juana, "on +account of her infirmities and sufferings, which decency forbids to be +related," was to be "refused under any circumstances to occupy herself +with the affairs of the kingdom," and it was mutually agreed that Juana +was to be prevented by force, if necessary, from taking any part in the +government of Castile! What happened in that interview no man can ever +know exactly, but it certainly appears that the wily Fernando had been +able by some trick or mass of false evidence to convince Philip that +Juana was really insane, and yet he had been with his wife almost +continually for the previous two years and had not thought of her in +that light, and Fernando had not even seen his daughter within that same +space of time! But then and there the fate of the much-abused princess +was definitely decided. Juana, self-willed as she had shown herself to +be, was not a woman of strong character or any great ability, and her +husband had so regularly controlled her and bent her to his will that he +found little trouble in the present instance in deposing her entirely, +that he might rule Castile in her stead. When Philip died suddenly two +months after he had assumed the reigns of government, Juana was stricken +with a great grief, which, it is said, did not at first find the +ordinary solace afforded by tears. She refused for a long time to +believe him dead; and when there was no longer any doubt of the fact, +she became almost violent in her sorrow. She had watched by her +husband's bedside during his illness, and was most suspicious of all who +had anything to do with her, for she thought, as was probably the case, +that Philip had been poisoned, and she feared that the same fate might +be reserved for her. In any event, Juana was treated with little or no +consideration at this unhappy moment; the Cardinal Ximenes, who had been +made grand inquisitor, assumed control of the state until Fernando might +be summoned from Naples, whither he had gone; and, all in all, the +rightful heir to the throne was utterly despised and disregarded. She +was allowed to follow her husband's body to its last resting place, and +then, after a brief delay, she went to live at Arcos, where she was well +watched and guarded by her jealous father, who feared that some +disaffected nobles might seek her out and gain her aid in organizing a +revolt against his own government. While in this seclusion, Juana was +sought in marriage by several suitors, and among them Henry VII. of +England; but all these negotiations came to naught, and in the end she +was sent to the fortress of Tordesillas, where she was kept in close +confinement until the time of her death.</p> + +<p>There is no trustworthy evidence to show that Juana was mad before the +death of her husband, and all her eccentricities of manner could well +have been accounted for by her wayward, jealous, and hysterical +character, but after her domestic tragedy there is little doubt but that +her mind was to some degree unsettled. Naturally nervous, and feeling +herself in the absolute power of persons who were hostile to her +interests, she became most excitable and suspicious, and may well have +lost her reason before her last hour came. The story of her confinement +in the old fortress at Tordesillas is enough in itself to show that +stronger minds than hers might have given way under that strain. This +palace-prison overlooked the river Douro, and was composed of a great +hall, which extended across the front of the building, and a number of +small, dark, and poorly ventilated rooms at the back. In addition to the +jailer, who was responsible for the prisoner, the place was filled with +a number of women, whose duty it was to keep a close watch upon Juana +and prevent her from making any attempt to escape. The use of the great +hall with its view across the river was practically denied to her, she +was never allowed to look out of the window under any circumstances, for +fear she might appeal to some passer-by for aid, and, in general, unless +she was under especial surveillance, she was confined, day in and day +out, in a little back room, a veritable cell, which was without windows, +and where her only light came from the rude candles common to that age. +Priests were frequent visitors, but, to the end, Juana would have +nothing to do with them, and it is even said that on more than one +occasion she had to be dragged to the prison chapel when she was ordered +to hear mass. No man can tell whether this unhappy woman would have +developed a strong, self-reliant character if the course of her life had +been other than it was, but, accepting the facts as they stand, there is +no more pathetic figure in all the history of Spain than this poor, +mistreated Juana la Loca, "the mad Juana," and to every diligent +student of Spanish history this instance of woman's inhumanity to woman +will ever be a blot on the scutcheon of the celebrated Isabella of +Castile.</p> + +<p>The religious fanaticism which was responsible in part at least for the +fate of Juana soon took shape in a modified form as a definite national +policy, and the grandson and great-grandson of Isabella, Charles V. and +his son, King Philip, showed themselves equally ardent in the defence of +the Catholic faith, even if their ardor did not lead them to treat with +inhumanity some member of their own family. Spain gloried in this +religious leadership, exhausted herself in her efforts to maintain the +cause of Rome in the face of the growing force of the Reformation, and +not only sent her sons to die upon foreign battlefields, but ruthlessly +took the lives of many of her best citizens at home in her despairing +efforts to wipe out every trace of heresy. This whole ecclesiastical +campaign produced a marked change in the character of the Spanish +people; they lost many of their easy-going ways, while retaining their +indomitable spirit of national pride, and became stern, vindictive, and +bigoted. In the process of this transformation, the women of the country +were perhaps in advance of the men in responding to the new influences +which were at work upon them. The number of convents increased rapidly, +every countryside had its wonder-working nun who could unveil the +mysteries of the world while in the power of some ecstatic trance, and +women everywhere were the most tireless supporters of the clergy. It was +natural that this should be the case, for there was a nervous excitement +in the air which was especially effective upon feminine minds, and the +Spanish woman in particular was sensitive and impressionable and easily +influenced. Among all of the devout women of this age living a +conventual life, the most distinguished, beyond any question, was +Teresa de Cepeda, who is perhaps the favorite saint of modern Spain +to-day.</p> + +<p>Teresa's early life resembled that of any other well-born young girl of +her time, although she must have enjoyed rather exceptional educational +advantages, as her father was a man of scholarly instincts, who took an +interest in his daughter's development and sedulously cultivated her +taste for books. When Teresa was born in 1515, the Spanish romances of +chivalry and knight-errantry were in the full tide of their popularity; +and as soon as the little girl was able to read, she spent many hours +over these fascinating tales. Endowed by nature with a very unusual +imagination, she was soon so much absorbed in these wonder tales, which +were her mother's delight, that she often sat up far into the night to +finish the course of some absorbing adventure. At this juncture, her +father, fearing that this excitement might be harmful, tried to divert +her mind by putting in her way books of pious origin, wherein the +various trials and tribulations of the Christian martyrs were described +in a most graphic and realistic style. Soon Teresa was even more +interested in these stories than in those of a more worldly character, +and the glories of martyrdom, which were described as leading to a +direct enjoyment of heavenly bliss without any purgatorial delay, made +such a profound impression upon her youthful mind that she resolved at +the early age of seven to start out in search of a martyr's crown. +Prevailing upon her little brother to accompany her in this quest for +celestial happiness, she started out for the country of the Moors, +deeming that the surest way to attain the desired goal. While this +childish enthusiasm was nipped in the bud by the timely intervention of +an uncle, who met the two pilgrims trudging along the highway, the idea +lost none of its fascination for a time; and the two children +immediately began to play at being hermits in their father's garden, +and made donation to all the beggars in the neighborhood of whatever +they could find to give away, depriving themselves of many customary +pleasures to satisfy their pious zeal. With the lapse of time, however, +this morbid sentiment seemed to disappear, and Teresa was much like any +other girl in her enjoyment of the innocent pleasures of life. Avila, in +Old Castile, was her home, and there she was sent to an Augustinian +convent to complete her education, but without any idea that she would +eventually adopt a religious life for herself. This convent, indeed, +seemed to make little impression upon her, and it was only after a +chance visit made to an uncle who was about to enter a monastery, and +who entreated her to withdraw from the vanities of the world, that she +seems to have gone back with undimmed ardor to her childish notions. In +spite of her father's opposition, Teresa, in her eighteenth year, left +home one morning and went to install herself at the Carmelite convent of +the Incarnation, which was situated in the outskirts of her native city. +The lax discipline and somewhat worldly tone of the place proved a great +surprise to her, as she had imagined that the odor of sanctity must be +all-pervasive in a religious house; but she evidently accommodated +herself to the conditions as she found them, for she made no decided +protest and gave evidence of no special piety until twenty years after +she had formally given up the world. Then, saddened and sobered by her +father's death, Teresa began to have wonderful trances, accompanied by +visions wherein Christ, crucified, appeared to her time and time again. +Although in later times these unusual experiences have been adduced to +prove her saintship, at the time of their occurrence they were not +looked upon in the same light, and there were many who said that Teresa +was possessed of devils. She was more than half inclined to this view +of the case herself, and the eminent religious authorities who were +consulted in the matter advised her to scourge herself without mercy, +and to exorcise the figures, both celestial and infernal, which +continued to appear before her. The strange experiences continued to +trouble her, however, in spite of all that she could do, and to the end +of her days she was subject to them. Constantly occupied with illusions +and hallucinations, she soon became a religious mystic, living apart +from the world and yet deeply interested in its spiritual welfare. One +of her visions in particular shows into what a state of religious +exaltation she could be thrown. She imagined herself a frameless mirror +of infinite size, with Christ shining in the middle of it, and the +mirror itself, she knew not how, was in Christ!</p> + +<p>In the midst of these experiences Teresa began to wonder what she could +do for the real advancement of the Church, and her first thought was +that there must be reform in the convents if the cause of religion was +to prosper. Discouraged by the members of her own convent, who looked +upon any reform movement as a reflection upon their own establishment, +Teresa was nevertheless encouraged to go on with her work by certain +far-seeing ecclesiastics who were able to appreciate its ultimate value. +It was her plan to establish a convent wherein all the early and austere +regulations of the Carmelite order were to be observed, and, by working +secretly, she was able to carry it out. There was violent protest, which +almost led to violence, and it was only after full papal approval that +she was allowed to go about her business unmolested. The reorganizing +spirit of the Counter-Reformation which was now at work within the +Catholic Church gave her moral support, and the remaining years of her +life were devoted to the work of conventual reorganization and +regeneration which she had begun with so stout a heart. It was her wont +to travel everywhere in a little cart which was drawn by a single +donkey, and winter and summer she went her way, enduring innumerable +hardships and privations, that her work might prosper. Sixteen convents +and fourteen monasteries were founded as the result of her efforts; and +as her sincerity and single-mindedness became more and more apparent, +she was everywhere hailed by the people as a devout and holy woman, and +was even worshipped by some as a saint on earth. Disappointment and +failure were her lot at times, and she found it difficult to maintain +the stern discipline of which she was such an ardent advocate. On one +occasion, it is said that her nuns in the convent of Saint Joseph, at +Avila, went on a strike and demanded a meat diet, which, it may be +added, she refused to grant; and a prioress at Medina answered one of +her communications in a very impertinent manner and showed other signs +of insubordination; but Teresa was calm and unruffled, in her outward +demeanor at least, and found a way by tactful management, and by a +judicious show of her authority, to settle all differences and disputes +without great difficulty. When death overtook her in 1582, miracles were +worked about her tomb, and when the vault was opened, after a period of +nine months, it is asserted that her body was uncorrupted. Removed to a +last resting place at Avila at a somewhat later date, her bones were +finally carried off by pious relic hunters, who believed them to possess +miraculous properties. In the forty years which followed her death, +Teresa was so revered throughout her native land that she was canonized +by Pope Gregory XV. in 1622. To her exalted spirit were joined a firm +judgment and a wonderful power of organization, and in placing her among +the saints she was given a merited reward for her holy labors.</p> + +<p>The harsh intolerance which came with the Spanish Counter-Reformation +manifested itself oftentimes in acts of cruelty and oppression which are +almost beyond belief. So eager were the zealots for the triumph of pure +and unadulterated Catholicism, that no consideration whatever was shown +for the Moriscoes, or Spanish Moors, whose form of belief was Catholic, +but tinged with Moslem usages, and even women and children were made to +suffer the unreasoning persecution of the Christians. One offensive +measure after another was adopted for the discomfiture of the thrifty +sons of the Prophet, and finally, with the purpose of wiping out all +distinctions of any kind which might lead to a retention of national +characteristics, it was decreed in 1567 that no woman should walk abroad +with a covered face. Such a measure was certainly short-sighted. For +hundreds of years this Oriental custom had been common in southern +Spain; it was significant of much of their idea of social order and +decency, and any attempt to abolish it with a single stroke of a +Catholic pen was both unwise and imprudent. According to Hume, "this +practice had taken such a firm hold of the people of the south of Spain +that traces of it remain to the present day in Andalusia, where the +women of the poorer classes constantly cover the lower part of the face +with the corner of a shawl. In Peru and Chili (originally colonized by +the Spanish) the custom is even more universal." Yet it was this firmly +rooted habit that the Christians tried to destroy! As the result of this +order, the majority of the Spanish women showed themselves in public as +rarely as possible, and then they tried to evade the law whenever they +could. Other measures, equally severe and equally impossible, which were +enacted at the same time, ended finally, as might have been expected, in +a desperate revolt. A horde of Moslem fanatics, goaded to desperation, +swept down upon the Christians of Granada, and there was a terrible +massacre. This was all that was necessary to start the Spaniards upon a +campaign which was still more cruel than any which had preceded it, for +now the avowed object was revenge and not war. Six thousand helpless +women and children were slaughtered in a single day by the Marquis de +los Velez, and this is but a single instance of the bloodthirsty spirit +which was rampant at the time.</p> + +<p>Even among the Spanish people, the officers of the Inquisition found +many victims, and women quite as often as men had to endure its rigors. +In spite of the many centuries of Christian influence, there were still +to be found in various parts of the country remnants of the old pagan +worship which were difficult to eradicate. It was claimed that sects +were in existence which not only denied the Christian faith, but openly +acknowledged the Devil as their patron and promised obedience to him! In +the ceremonies attendant upon this worship of the powers of darkness, +women played no unimportant part, and many were the reputed witches who +were supposed to be on terms of intimate acquaintance with the +arch-fiend in person. As the suppression of this heresy was assumed by +the Church, the Inquisition, as its punitive organ, took charge of the +matter and showed little mercy in its dealings with suspected persons, +for whom the rack and other instruments of torture were put to frequent +use. In the year 1507 the Inquisition of Calahorra burned more than +thirty women as sorceresses and magicians, and twenty years later, in +Navarre, there were similar condemnations. So frequent, indeed, were +these arrests for magic and sorcery, that the "sect of sorcerers," as it +was called, seemed to be making great headway throughout the whole +country, and the Inquisition called upon all good Christians to lodge +information with the proper authorities whenever they "heard that any +person had familiar spirits, and that he invoked demons in circles, +questioning them and expecting their answer, as a magician, or in virtue +of an express or tacit compact." It was also their duty to report anyone +who "constructed or procured mirrors, rings, phials, or other vessels +for the purpose of attracting, enclosing, and preserving a demon, who +replies to his questions and assists him in obtaining his wishes; or who +had endeavored to discover the future by interrogating demons in +possessed people; or tried to produce the same effect by invoking the +devil under the name of <i>holy angel</i> or <i>white angel</i>, and by asking +things of him with prayers and humility, by practising other +superstitious ceremonies with vases, phials of water, or consecrated +tapers; by the inspection of the nails, and of the palm of the hand +rubbed with vinegar, or by endeavoring to obtain representations of +objects by means of phantoms in order to learn secret things or which +had not then happened." Such orders led to the arrest of hundreds of +women all over Spain, and many of them went to death in the flames, for +women rather than men were affected by this crusade, as they were +generally the adepts in these matters of the black art. That such things +could be in Spain at this time may cause some surprise, but it must be +remembered that superstition dies hard and that many of the things which +are here condemned are still advertised in the columns of the +newspapers, and the belief in the supernatural seems to have taken a new +lease of life as the result of certain modern investigations. +Superstition has ever gone hand in hand with civilization, in spite of +the repeated efforts of the latter to go its way alone.</p> + +<p>Witches and sorceresses, however, were far outnumbered in the prisons of +the Inquisition by the numerous Spanish women who were accused of +Lutheranism, for the reformed doctrines had succeeded in making great +progress even here in this hotbed of popery, and many persons were +burned for their lack of faith in the old formulas of belief. An <i>auto +de fé</i> was a great public holiday, celebrated in some large open square, +which had been especially prepared for the event, with tiers upon tiers +of seats arranged on every side for the accommodation of the thousands +of spectators; and to this inspiring performance came many noble ladies, +decked out as if for a bull fight, and eager to witness each act of +atrocity in its slightest detail. The names of scores of the women who +perished in this way might be cited to show that from all classes the +Church was claiming its victims; and even after death, condemnation +might come and punishment might be inflicted. To illustrate the +possibilities of this religious fury, the case of Doña Eleanora de +Vibero will more than suffice. She had been buried at Valladolid, +without any doubt as to her orthodoxy, but she was later accused of +Lutheranism by a treasurer of the Inquisition, who said that she had +concealed her opinions by receiving the sacraments and the Eucharist at +the time of her death. His charges were supported by the testimony of +several witnesses, who had been tortured or threatened; and the result +of it all was that her memory and her posterity were condemned to +infamy, her property was confiscated, and at the first solemn <i>auto de +fé</i> of Valladolid, held in 1559, and attended by the Prince Don Carlos +and the Princess Juana, her disinterred body was burned with her effigy, +her house was razed to the ground, and a monument with an inscription +relating to this event was placed upon the spot.</p> + +<p>Such is this sixteenth century in Spain, an age of strange contrasts, +where the greatest crimes are committed in the holy name of Religion!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XIX" id="Chapter_XIX"></a><a href="#table">Chapter XIX</a></h2> + +<h3>The Slow Decay of Spanish Power</h3> + + +<p>When the long and unfortunate reign of Philip the Catholic came to an +end on the eve of the seventeenth century, Spain, sadly buffeted by the +rough waves of an adverse fortune, was in a most pitiful condition. With +the downfall of the great Armada which was so confidently destined to +humble the pride of England, national confidence had begun to slip away, +the wars at home and in the Netherlands had sadly depleted the treasury, +the credit of the country was far from good, and gradually, as a natural +reaction after the religious exaltation which had marked the whole of +the sixteenth century, a spirit of irreligion and licentiousness became +prevalent in all classes of society. As Philip had grown older and more +ascetic in his tastes, he had gradually withdrawn from society and had +left his court to its own devices. With his death, in 1598, the last +restraint was gone, and there was no limit to the excesses of the +insensate nation. Having failed in their great and zealous effort to +fasten Spanish Catholicism upon the whole of Europe, they had finally +accepted a milder philosophy, and had decided to enjoy the present +rather than continue to labor for a somewhat doubtful reward in the life +which was to come. The young king, Philip III., who began to reign under +these circumstances, was wedded in 1599 to the Archduchess Margaret of +Austria, and the feasts and celebrations which were organized in honor +of this event outrivalled in their magnificence anything of the kind +that had taken place in Spain for many years, and there was a free and +libertine spirit about all of this merrymaking which did not augur well +for the future. The Duke of Lerma, the king's favorite and prime +minister, was in full charge of the affair, and he spared no pains in +his desire to make a brave show, in spite of the critical financial +condition of the country. The young Austrian princess, upon her arrival +at Madrid, was fairly dazzled by the reception she was given; and well +she may have been, for the money expended for this purpose reaches +proportions which almost surpass belief. The Cortes appropriated one +million ducats for the occasion, and the nobles spent three million +more, three hundred thousand of this sum having been contributed by +Lerma from his own private revenues.</p> + +<p>The Spanish court now changed its character completely, and the sombre +simplicity of the elder Philip's day gave place to a gayety and +brilliant ceremonial which were more in accord with the new spirit of +the times. Lerma filled the palace at Madrid with brilliant ladies in +waiting, for he believed, with the gallant Francis I. of France, that a +royal court without women is like a year without spring, a spring +without flowers; and a marvellous round of pleasures began, all governed +by a stately etiquette. But this gay life was rotten at the core; the +immodest and shameless conduct of the women in particular shocked and +surprised all visiting foreigners; and as time went on, the social evil +increased and became more widespread. Virtue in women was a subject for +jest, the cities were perfect sinks of iniquity, to quote Hume, and, in +Madrid in particular, immorality was so common among the women that the +fact passed into a proverbial saying. Homer has said: "Than woman there +is no fouler and viler fiend when her mind is bent on ill;" and even +were the superlatives to be lopped from this expression, it might still +help to express the fact that the moral degeneracy of Spain in her new +career of wantonness was at least shared by the women. At the court, the +king, who was in many ways what might be termed a mystic voluptuary, +spent his time in alternate fits of dissipation and devotion, wasted his +time in gallantry, and neglected his royal duties; and the all-powerful +Lerma was the centre of a world of graft, where the highest offices in +the land were bartered for gold, and every noble had an itching palm. In +this scene of disorder women played no little part, and through intrigue +and cajolery they often won the day for their favored lovers. Religion +gave place to recklessness, valor disappeared in vanity, and a splendid +idleness replaced a splendid industry. One Cortes after another +protested, measures were adopted which sought to bring the nation to its +senses, new sumptuary laws were enacted, but all to no avail; for the +nobility continued to set an example of glittering prodigality, and the +common people were not slow to follow.</p> + +<p>When another Philip, the fourth of this name, came to the throne in +1621, the situation was almost hopeless. The country was involved in the +Thirty Years' War, one failure after another befell the Spanish arms, +the taxes had become unbearable, and in many quarters revolt was +threatened. The king was not equal to his task, government was an +irksome duty for him, and he found his greatest pleasure in two things, +hunting and the theatre. Madrid at this time was theatre-mad, playhouses +were numerous, and the people thronged them every night. The ladies of +the nobility had their special boxes, which were their own private +property, furnished in a lavish way, and there every evening they held +their little court and dispensed favors to their many admirers. It was +the first time in the history of the theatre that women's rôles were +being played quite generally by women, and, as was most natural, certain +actresses soon sprang into popular favor and vied with each other for +the plaudits of the multitude. In theory the stage was frowned at by the +Church, the plays were very often coarse and licentious in character, +and the moral influence of this source of popular amusement was +decidedly bad; but the tinsel queens of that age, as in the present +time, were invested with a glamour which had an all-compelling charm, +and noble protectors were never wanting. Among the actresses of +notoriety in this Spanish carnival of life, the most celebrated were +Maria Riquelme, Francisca Beson, Josefa Vaca, and Maria Calderon, +familiarly known to the theatre-goers as <i>la bella Calderona</i>. Philip +IV., as much infatuated as the meanest of his subjects by the glitter of +the footlights, never lost an opportunity when at his capital to spend +his evenings in the royal box, where he showed his appreciation by most +generous applause; and he was soon on familiar terms with many of the +reigning favorites. Among them all, La Calderona seemed to please him +most, and she was soon the recipient of so many royal favors that no one +could doubt her conquest. Other lovers were discarded, she became +Philip's mistress, and she it was who bore to him a son, the celebrated +Don Juan, who became in later years a leader in revolt against his +father's widowed queen.</p> + +<p>In the midst of this troubled life, divided between the pleasures of the +chase, the excitements of the theatre, and the many vexations of state, +Philip was reserved in his dealings with his fellow men, and few +fathomed the depth of his despair in the face of the approaching +national ruin. One person seemed to have read the sadness of his heart, +however, and that person, with whom he had a most extended +correspondence, was, strange to relate, a woman, and a nun of the most +devout type, Sister Maria de Agreda! The history of this woman is most +interesting, and she seems to have been the one serious and restraining +element in all that scene of gay riot. The Agreda family, belonging to +the lesser nobility, lived on the frontiers of Aragon, and there, in +their city of Agreda, they had founded in 1619 a convent, following a +pretended revelation which had directed them to this holy undertaking. +The year after the convent was completed, Maria de Agreda, who was then +eighteen, and her mother, took the veil at the same time and retired +from the vanity of the world. In seven years the young girl was made the +mother superior of the institution, and, beginning from that date, she +was subject to frequent visions of a most surprising character. God and +the Virgin appeared to her repeatedly, commanding her each time to write +the life of Mary; but in spite of these supernatural admonitions, she +resisted for ten long years, fearing that she might be possessed of +demons who came in celestial shape to urge her to a work which she felt +to be beyond her powers. Finally, impressed by the persistence of these +holy visitants, she referred the matter to a priest who had long been +her father confessor, and at his suggestion she decided to write as she +had been commanded. For some months she busied herself with this task, +and then one day, in an unlucky moment, she ventured to confide her +plans to another monk, in the absence of her regular spiritual adviser. +This time her plans of literary work were discouraged, and she was +advised to burn her manuscripts as worthless paper and to content herself +with the usual routine of conventual life. Following this advice, she +destroyed the fruits of her labor, and prepared to resume her +interrupted duties, when, to her consternation, God and the Virgin again +appeared in her cell at night and again commanded her to write as +before. Again she resisted, and again the vision came, and finally, +encouraged by her old confessor, who had returned upon the scene, she +began anew the once abandoned work. This time there was no interruption; +the book was finished, and printed first in Madrid, and then at Lisbon, +Perpignan, and Antwerp. Naturally, the claim was made that the book was +written under divine inspiration, and the curious and oftentimes +revolting details with which its pages were filled were soon the talk +and scandal of the religious world. Maria, in spite of her mysticism, +had proved to be a realist of the most pronounced type, and in many +quarters her book was openly denounced. In Paris, the great court +preacher Bossuet proclaimed it immoral; and the Sorbonne, which was then +a faculty of theologians, condemned the book to be burned. Although the +facts are not clearly known, it must have been during this time of +publicity that the nun was brought to the attention of the world-weary +king. He was attracted by her professed visions, he sought for +consolation of a spiritual character in the midst of his unhappy career, +and there resulted this correspondence between the two, which has since +been published. To quote Hume, it was "the nun Maria de Agreda who, +alone of all his fellow-creatures, could sound the misery of Philip's +soul as we can do who are privileged to read the secret correspondence +between them." Pleasures of all sorts were beginning to pall now upon +the jaded monarch. Court festivities became a hollow mockery, the +glitter of the stage had vanished, only to leave its queens all daubed +with paint and powder in the garish light of reality, and the +broken-hearted Philip, bereft of wife and heir, was induced to marry for +a second time, in the hope that another son might come to inherit his +throne.</p> + +<p>Philip's second wife was his niece Mariana, another Austrian +archduchess, but this marriage was a vain hope so far as his earthly +happiness was concerned. The wished-for son was born, and duly +christened Charles, but he was ever a weakling; and when the father died +in 1665, preceding Maria de Agreda to the tomb by a few months only, the +government was left in charge of Mariana as regent, and all Spain was +soon in a turmoil as the result of the countless intrigues which were +now being begun by foreign powers who hoped to dominate the peninsula. +Mariana, who was a most ardent partisan, began to scheme for her +Austrian house as soon as she arrived in Spain, and did everything in +her power to counteract the French alliance which had been favored by +Philip. Upon her husband's death, she promptly installed her German +confessor, Nithard, as inquisitor-general, gave him a place in the +Council of State, and in all things made him her personal +representative. Her whole course of action was so hostile to the real +interests of Spain, that murmurs of discontent were soon heard among the +people; and Don Juan, the illegitimate son, won power and popularity for +himself by espousing the cause of the nation. The weakling boy-king +Charles was a degenerate of the worst type, the result of a long series +of intermarriages; and so long as Mariana could keep him within her own +control, it was difficult to question her authority to do as she +pleased. For greater protection to herself and to her own interests, +Mariana had installed about her in her palace a strong guard of +foreigners, who attended her when she went abroad and held her gates +against all unfriendly visitors when she was at home. But the opposition +grew, and finally, after some ill-timed measures of Nithard, there was +open revolt, and Don Juan appeared at the head of a body of troops to +demand in the name of outraged Spain the immediate dismissal of the +queen's favorite. Mariana's confusion at this juncture of affairs has +been quaintly pictured by Archdeacon Coxe, who wrote an interesting +history of the Bourbon kings of Spain in the early part of the last +century: "In the agony of indignation and despair, the queen threw +herself upon the ground and bewailed her situation. 'Alas, alas!' she +cried; 'what does it avail me to be a Queen and Regent, if I am deprived +of this good man who is my only consolation? The meanest individual is +permitted to chuse (<i>sic</i>) a confessor: yet I am the only persecuted +person in the kingdom!'" Tears were unavailing, however, and Nithard had +to leave in disgrace, although Mariana was successful in opposing Don +Juan's claim to a share in the government. But the queen could not rule +alone, and the new favorite, as was quite usual in such cases, owed his +position to feminine wiles. Valenzuela, a gentleman of Granada, had been +one of Nithard's trusted agents, and courted assiduously Doña Eugenia, +one of the ladies in waiting to the queen; and by marrying her he had +brought himself to Mariana's notice, and had so completely gained her +confidence, that she naturally looked to him for support. Either the +queen's virtue was a very fragile thing, or Valenzuela was considered a +gallant most irresistible; for in his first two interviews with Her +Majesty, his wife, Doña Eugenia, was present, "to avoid scandal." It is +probably safe to say that as Valenzuela rose in power this precaution +was thrown to the winds, and on more than one occasion "he made an +ostentatious display of his high favor, affected the airs of a +successful lover, as well as of a prime minister; and it did not escape +notice that his usual device in tournaments was an eagle gazing at the +sun, with the motto <i>Tengo solo licencia</i>, 'I alone have permission.'"</p> + +<p>This pride had its fall, however, as in 1677 the boy-king Charles, at +the age of fifteen, which had been fixed as his majority, was made to +see that his mother was working against the best interests of his +subjects; and he escaped from the honorable captivity in which he had +been held at the palace, and gave himself up to his half-brother, Don +Juan, who was only too ready to seize this advantage against the hostile +queen. Manana was imprisoned in a convent in Toledo, Valenzuela was +exiled to the Philippines, and Don Juan, as prime minister, prepared to +restore public confidence. In line with his former policy, he made a +clean sweep of all the members of the Austrian party, and then began to +prepare the way for a French marriage, to strengthen the friendly +feeling of the powerful Louis XIV., who had been married to a Spanish +wife. Scarcely had the promise for this marriage between Louis's niece +Marie Louise and the half-witted Charles been made, when, suddenly, Don +Juan sickened and died, and the queen-mother Mariana was again in power. +There were dark hints of poison; it was insinuated that Mariana knew +more of the affair than she would be willing to reveal; but, whatever +the facts, there was no proof, and there was no opportunity for +accusations. Meanwhile, the preparations for the royal wedding were +continued, in spite of the fact that it was feared that Mariana might +try to break the agreement. But this wily woman, confident in her own +powers, felt sure that she would prove more than a match for this young +French queen who was coming as a sacrifice to enslave Spain to France. +Marie Louise had left her home under protest, strange tales of this +idiot prince who was to be her husband had come to her ears, and she +could only look forward to her marriage with feelings of loathing and +disgust. As all her appeals had been to no avail, she discarded prudence +from her category of virtues, and entered the Spanish capital a +thoughtless, reckless woman, fully determined to follow her own +inclinations, without regard to the consequences. Her beauty made an +immediate impression upon the feeble mind of her consort; but she +spurned his advances, made a jest of his pathetic passion for her, and +was soon deep in a life of dissipation. Mariana, as the older woman, +might have checked this impulsive nature; but she aided rather than +hindered the downfall of the little queen, looked with but feigned +disapproval upon the men who sought her facile favors, and, after a +swift decade, saw her die, without a murmur of regret. Again there were +whispers of poison, but Mariana was still in power, and she lost no time +in planning again for Austrian ascendency and an Austrian succession. +Once more the puppet king was accepted as a husband, and this time by +the Princess Anne of Neuburg, a daughter of the elector-palatine, and +sister of the empress, though, in justice to Anne, it should be said +that she was an unwilling bride and merely came as Marie Louise had +done—a sacrifice to political ambition. Victor Hugo, in his remarkable +drama <i>Ruy Blas</i>, gives a striking picture of this epoch in Spanish +history, and shows the terrible ennui felt by Anne in the midst of the +rigid etiquette of Madrid. In one of the scenes in this play, a letter +is brought to the queen from King Charles, who is now spending almost +all his time on his country estates, hunting; and after the epistle has +been duly opened and read aloud by the first lady in waiting, it is +found to contain the following inspiring words: "Madame, the wind is +high, and I have killed six wolves"!</p> + +<p>The new queen, however, was soon interested by the indefatigable Mariana +in the absorbing game of politics which she had been playing for so long +a time and in which she was such an adept; and before many months had +passed, the two women were working well together for the interests of +their dear Austria, for their sympathies were identical and there was +nothing to prevent harmonious action between them. Anne brought in her +train an energetic woman, Madame Berlips, who was her favorite adviser, +and for a time these three feminine minds were the controlling forces in +the government. France was not sleeping, however; skilful diplomatic +agents were at work under the general supervision of the crafty Louis +Quatorze, and the matter of the succession was for a long time in doubt. +Without an heir, Charles was forced to nominate his successor; and the +wording of his will, the all-important document in the case, was never +certain until death came and the papers were given an official reading. +Then it was discovered, to the chagrin of the zealous Austrian trio, +that they had been outwitted, and that the grandson of Louis, young +Philip of Anjou, had won the much-sought prize. With the coming of the +new king, the women of the Austrian party and all their followers were +banished from the court, and a new era began for Spain. The French +policy which had worked such wonders in the seventeenth century was now +applied to this foreign country, numerous abuses were corrected, and +foremost in the new régime was a woman, the Princess Orsini, who was +soon the real Queen of Spain to all intents and purposes. Feminine tact +and diplomacy had long been held in high esteem in France; Louis had +been for many years under the influence of the grave Madame de +Maintenon; and this influence had been so salutary in every way, that +the aged monarch could think of no better adviser for his youthful +grandson, in his new and responsible position, than some other woman, +equally gifted, who might guide him safely through the political shoals +which were threatening him at every turn. Madame de Maintenon was called +upon for her advice in this crisis, and she it was who suggested the +Princess Orsini as the one woman in all Europe who could be trusted to +guide the young Philip V. It is interesting to note that there was never +question for a moment of placing a man in this post of confidence; its +dangers and responsibilities were acknowledged as too heavy for a man to +shoulder, and it was merely a question of finding the proper woman for +the emergency. One other woman was needed, however, in Spain at this +time, and that was a wife for the newly crowned king. She was to provide +for the future, while the Princess Orsini was to take care of the +present.</p> + +<p>A political marriage was planned, as might have been expected, and after +some delay the fickle Duke of Savoy, who had long been a doubtful friend +to the French, was brought to terms, and his daughter Marie Louise was +promised as Philip's bride. The ceremony was performed at Turin, where +the king was represented by a proxy, the Marquis of Castel Rodrigo, and +the royal party left Genoa in a few days, in gayly adorned galleys, +bound for the Spanish coast. Philip hastened to meet his bride, and +first saw her at Figueras, to the north of Barcelona. There, on October +3, 1701, their union was ratified, in the presence of the "patriarch of +the Indies," who happened to be in Spain at that time. All was not clear +weather in these first days of the honeymoon, for, at the command of the +French king, all of the Piedmontese attendants of the little queen had +been dismissed, as it was feared that she might bring evil counsellors +who would make trouble for the new government. The Princess Orsini, who +had joined the party when they embarked at Genoa, took charge of Marie +Louise on the departure of her friends, and did all in her power to make +the separation easy for her, but Marie was so indignant at this +unexpected turn of affairs that she was in high dudgeon for several +days, and during this time, until she had become thoroughly reconciled +to her fate, the impatience of the boy-king was restrained and he was +forced to consent to a temporary separation. To quote from Coxe's +description: "Marie Louise had scarcely entered her fourteenth year, and +appeared still more youthful from the smallness of her stature; but her +spirit and understanding partook of the early maturity of her native +climate, and to exquisite beauty of person and countenance she united +the most captivating manners and graceful deportment." Even after her +attendants had been dismissed and the Princess Orsini had been +definitely installed as her <i>camerara-mayor</i>, or head lady in waiting, +with almost unlimited powers, Louis Quatorze still thought it advisable +to write to his young protégé and give him some advice relative to his +treatment of his wife. Among his sententious remarks, the following are +of special interest: "The queen is the first of your subjects, in which +quality, as well as in that of your wife, she is bound to obey you. You +are bound to love her, but you will never love her as you ought if her +tears have any power to extort from you indulgences derogatory to your +glory. Be firm, then, at first. I well know that the first refusals will +grieve you, and are repugnant to your natural mildness; but fear not to +give a slight uneasiness, to spare real chagrin in the future. By such +conduct alone you will prevent disputes which would become +insupportable. Shall your domestic dissensions be the subject of +conversation for your people and for all Europe? Render the queen happy, +if necessary, in spite of herself. Restrain her at first; she will be +obliged to you in the end; and this violence over yourself will furnish +the most solid proof of your affection for her.... Believe that my love +for you dictates this advice, which, were I in your place, I should +receive from a father as the most convincing proof of his regard."</p> + +<p>The Princess Orsini, or Des Ursins, as she is generally known, was a +most remarkable woman. A member of the old French family of La +Tremouille, she had first married Adrian Blaise de Talleyrand, Prince +de Chalais; and on her husband's banishment as the result of an +unfortunate duel, she went with him in exile to Spain, where she spent +several years and had an opportunity to become familiar with the +language and customs of the country. Going later to Italy, where her +husband died, she was soon married a second time, to Flavio de' Orsini, +Duke of Bracciano and Grandee of Spain, and for several years was a most +conspicuous figure in the court circles of Rome and Versailles, becoming +the intimate friend of Madame de Maintenon. Thus it was that Madame de +Maintenon spoke of her in connection with the Spanish position as soon +as the matter presented itself. The Princess Orsini was nothing loath to +accept this position when it was spoken of, and she wrote to the +Duchesse de Noailles as follows in soliciting her influence with the +French court: "My intention is only to go to Madrid and remain there as +long as the king chooses, and afterward to return to Versailles and give +an account of my journey.... I am the widow of a grandee, and acquainted +with the Spanish language; I am beloved and esteemed in the country; I +have numerous friends, and particularly the Cardinal Pontocarrero; with +these advantages, judge whether I shall not cause both rain and sunshine +at Madrid, and whether I shall incur the imputation of vanity in +offering my services." Saint-Simon, who knew the princess well, has +written in his <i>Memoirs</i> the following description of her appearance and +character, and it is so lucid in its statement and such an admirable +specimen of pen portraiture that it is given in its entirety:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"She was above the middle size, a brunette with expressive blue +eyes; and her face, though without pretension to beauty, was +uncommonly interesting. She had a fine figure, a majestic and +dignified air, rather attractive than intimidating, and united +with such numberless graces, even in trifles, that I have never +seen her equal either in person or mind. Flattering, engaging, and +discreet, anxious to please for the sake of pleasing, and +irresistible when she wished to persuade or conciliate, she had an +agreeable tone of voice and manner, and an inexhaustible fund of +conversation, which was rendered highly entertaining by accounts of +the different countries she had visited, and anecdotes of the +distinguished persons whom she had known and frequented. She had +been habituated to the best company, was extremely polite and +affable to all, yet peculiarly engaging with those whom she wished +to distinguish, and equally skilful in displaying her own graces +and qualifications. She was adapted by nature for the meridian of +courts, and versed in all the intrigues of cabinets from her long +residence in Rome, where she maintained a princely establishment. +She was vain of her person and fond of admiration, foibles which +never left her, and hence her dress in every season of life was too +youthful for her age and sometimes even ridiculous. She possessed a +simple and natural eloquence, saying always what she chose, and as +she chose, and nothing more. Secret with regard to herself; +faithful to the confidence of others; gifted with an exterior, nay, +an interior, of gayety, good humor, and evenness of temper, which +rendered her perfectly mistress of herself at all times and in all +circumstances. Never did any woman possess more art without the +appearance of art; never was a more fertile head, or superior +knowledge of the human heart, and the means of ruling it. She was, +however, proud and haughty; hurrying forward directly to her ends, +without regard to the means; but still, if possible, clothing them +with a mild and plausible exterior. She was nothing by halves; +jealous and imperious in her attachments; a zealous friend, +unchangeable by time or absence, and a most implacable and +inveterate enemy. Finally, her love of existence was not greater +than her love of power; but her ambition was of that towering kind +which women seldom feel, and superior even to the ordinary spirit +of man."</p></div> + +<p>Such was the woman who was to give tone to the new administration and to +aid the young king and queen in the difficult tasks which were before +them. Philip was not a decided success, except as a soldier; he yielded +much to his wilful wife, and the Princess Orsini was soon accepted by +them both as a trustworthy guide. The following extract from a letter +written by the French ambassador to his court soon after her +installation is significant in her praise: "I see the queen will +infallibly govern her husband, and therefore we must be careful that she +governs him well. For this object the intervention of the princess is +absolutely necessary; her progress is considerable; and we have no other +means to influence her royal mistress, who begins to show that she will +not be treated as a child." During the fourteen warlike years which +followed, and which resulted in the complete submission of all the +Spanish provinces to the will of Philip V., Marie Louise was devoted to +her husband's cause, and developed a strong character as she grew older; +but in 1714, just as quiet had come and the country under the new +administrative scheme had begun to win back some of its former thrift +and prosperity, death came to her suddenly, and Philip was left alone +with the resourceful Orsini, who rarely failed in her undertakings. So +complete was her influence over him, that Hume says she "ruled Spain +unchecked in his name." With this opportunity before her, and a victim +to her strong personal ambition, which exulted in this exercise of +power, she now grew jealous of her position and feared lest a new +marriage might depose her. Accordingly, she arranged matters to her +liking, and succeeded in having Philip marry Elizabeth Farnese, a +princess of Parma, who had been described to her as a meek and humble +little body with no mind or will of her own. With a queen of this stamp +safely stowed away in the palace, the Princess Orsini saw no limit to +her autocratic sway. This time, however, the clever woman of state had +been cruelly deceived; for the mild Elizabeth turned out to be a general +in her own right, who promptly dismissed her would-be patron from the +court and speedily acquired such domination over Philip that he became +the mere creature of her will.</p> + +<p>This Elizabeth Farnese, in spite of her quiet life at Parma, soon showed +herself to possess a capacity for government which no one could have +suspected, for she had studied and was far better acquainted with +history and politics than the majority of women, spoke several +languages, and had an intelligent appreciation of the fine arts. Hume +calls her a virago, and, although this is a harsh word, her first +encounter with the Princess Orsini would seem to warrant its use. The +princess, by virtue of her office of <i>camerara-mayor</i>, had gone ahead of +the king, to meet the new queen, and the two women met at the little +village of Xadraca, four leagues beyond Guadalaxara. The princess knelt +and kissed the hand of her new mistress, and then conducted her to the +apartments which had been prepared for her. Coxe describes the scene as +follows: "The Princess Orsini began to express the usual compliments and +to hint at the impatience of the royal bridegroom. But she was +thunderstruck when the queen interrupted her with bitter reproaches and +affected to consider her dress and deportment as equally disrespectful. +A mild apology served only to rouse new fury; the queen haughtily +silenced her remonstrances, and exclaimed to the guard: 'Turn out that +mad woman who has dared to insult me.' She even assisted in pushing her +out of the apartment. Then she called the officer in waiting, and +commanded him to arrest the princess and convey her to the frontier. The +officer, hesitating and astonished, represented that the king alone had +the power to give such an order. 'Have you not,' she indignantly +exclaimed, 'his majesty's order to obey me without reserve?' On his +reply in the affirmative, she impatiently rejoined: 'Then obey me.' As +he still persisted in requiring a written authority, she called for a +pen and ink and wrote the order on her knee."</p> + +<p>Whether this incident as related be true or not, it serves well to +illustrate the imperious nature which she undoubtedly possessed, and +which was seen so many times in the course of the next quarter of a +century. Her will had to be obeyed, and nothing could turn her aside +from her purpose when once it was fixed. But she was as artful as she +was stubborn, and ruled most of the time without seeming to rule, +carefully watching all of her husband's states of mind, and leading him +gradually, and all unconsciously, to her point of view when it differed +from her own. Her interests were largely centred in her attempts to win +some of the smaller Italian principalities for her sons, she was +continually involved in the European wars of her time, and she again +brought Spain into a critical financial condition by her costly and +fruitless warfare. Not until the accession of her stepson, Charles III., +who came to the throne in 1759, was Spain free from the machinations of +this designing woman, and, in all that time of her authority, no one can +say that she ruled her country wisely or well. She was short-sighted in +her ambition, entirely out of sympathy with the Spanish people, and did +little or nothing to deserve their hearty praise. So when at last her +power was gone, and the new king came to his own, there was but one +feeling among all the people, and that was a feeling of great relief.</p> + +<p>For the rest of this eighteenth century in Spain there is no +predominating woman's influence such as there had been for so many years +before, as Amelia, the wife of Charles III., died a few months after his +accession, and for the rest of his life he remained unmarried and with +no feminine influence near him. The morals of Spain did not improve in +this time, however, even if the king gave an example of continence which +no other monarch for many years had shown. Charles was very strict in +such matters, and it is on record that he banished the Dukes of Arcos +and Osuna because of their open and shameless amours with certain +actresses who were popular in Madrid at that time. The women in question +were also sternly punished, and the whole influence of Charles was thus +openly thrown in favor of the decencies of life, which had so long been +neglected. The sum total of his efforts was nevertheless powerless to +avail much against the inbred corruption of the people, for their none +too stable natures were being strongly influenced at that time by the +echo of French liberalism which was now sounding across the Pyrenees, +and restraint of any kind was becoming more and more irksome every day. +Charles IV., who ascended the throne in 1788, was weak and timid and +completely in the power of his wife, Marie Louise of Parma, a wilful +woman of little character, who was responsible for much of the +humiliation which came to Spain during the days of Napoleon's supremacy. +Charles IV., realizing his own lack of ability in affairs of state, had +decided to take a prime minister from the ranks of the people, that he +might be wholly dependent upon his sovereign's will; and his choice fell +upon a certain handsome Manuel Godoy, a member of the bodyguard of the +king, with whom the vapid Marie was madly in love, and whom she had +recommended for the position. The king, all unsuspecting, followed this +advice, and Godoy, who was wholly incompetent, went from one mistake to +another, to the utter detriment of Spanish interests. The queen's +relations with her husband's chief of state were well known to all save +Charles himself, and, on one occasion at least, Napoleon, by threatening +to reveal the whole shameful story to the king, bent Godoy to his will +and forced him to humiliating concessions. The queen supported him +blindly, however, in every measure, and put her evil pleasure above the +national welfare.</p> + +<p>It must not be assumed that in this period of national wreckage that all +was bad, that all the women were corrupt and all the men were without +principle, for there was never perhaps such a condition of affairs in +any country; but the prevailing and long-continued licentiousness at the +court, which was in many respects a counterpart in miniature of the +wanton ways of eighteenth-century France, could not fail in the end to +react in a most disastrous way upon the moral nature of the people. +There were still pious mothers and daughters, but the moral standards of +the time were so deplorably low in a country where they had never been +of the highest, from a strictly puritan standpoint, that society in +general shows little of that high seriousness so essential to effective +morality.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Chapter_XX" id="Chapter_XX"></a><a href="#table">Chapter XX</a></h2> + +<h3>The Women of Modern Spain</h3> + + +<p>Spain, in all the days of her history, has been conspicuous among all +other continental countries for the number of women who have wielded the +sovereign power, and the reasons for this fact are not far to seek +perhaps. In both Germany and Italy there has been little of national +life or government in the broadest sense of the word until a very recent +date, the custom of the empire has given male rulers to Austria, the +illustrious Catherine of Voltaire's day has been the one woman to +achieve prominence in Russia, and in France the ancient Salic law did +not allow women to ascend the throne; so that, all in all, by this +process of exclusion, it is easy to see that in Spain alone the +conditions have been favorable for woman's tenure of royal office. A +scrutiny of the list of Spanish monarchs reveals the fact that in all +the long line there are no names more worthy of honor than those of +Berenguela and Isabella the Catholic, and that, irrespective of sex, +Isabella stands without any formidable rival as the ablest and most +efficient ruler that Spain has ever had. The right of woman's accession +to the Spanish throne was seriously threatened, however, early in the +eighteenth century with the advent of the French Bourbons. Young Philip +V., acting under French influences in this affair, as he did continually +in all his various undertakings, had induced the Cortes to introduce the +French Salic principle; and for the greater part of the century this +law was allowed to stand, although nothing happened to test it severely. +By way of comment on this circumstance, it is interesting to note that +this young king, Philip V., who had been instrumental in barring women +from the succession, was, by tacit confession, unequal to his own task, +and found his wisest counsellor in the person of the clever Princess +Orsini. Spanish feeling and Spanish custom in regard to this matter were +so strong, however, that Charles IV., when he came to the throne in +1789, had prevailed upon the Cortes to abolish the Salic law and to +restore the old Castilian succession. While this was done secretly, a +decree to this effect had never been issued, and legally the Salic law +was still in force when Charles's son, Fernando VII., approached his +last days. Fernando had been unlucky with his wives, as the first three +proved to be short-lived, and the fourth, Maria Cristina, Princess of +Naples, presented him with two daughters and no sons.</p> + +<p>It happened that, before the birth of these daughters, Fernando had been +induced by his wife to attack the Salic law and to restore the Castilian +rule of succession, and in this way the elder princess, who was to +become Isabella II., had a clear claim to the throne from the time of +her birth. The person most interested in opposing this action was Don +Carlos, brother of Fernando, who was the rightful heir in the event of +his brother's death under the former procedure. When the fact became +known that Don Carlos had been dispossessed in this way by the +machinations of Maria Cristina, he and his followers put forth every +effort to induce Fernando to undo what he had done; but all to no avail, +and in 1833, when the king died, Maria became regent during the minority +of the youthful Isabella. For the next seven years Spain was in a +turmoil as the result of the continual revolts which were raised by the +friends of Don Carlos, and Maria for a time had much trouble in making +headway against them.</p> + +<p>The political game she was playing gave her strange allies during these +days, for she was naturally in favor of an autocratic government, after +the manner of the old régime; but as Don Carlos had rallied to his +standard the clerical and conservative parties of the country, Maria was +forced, as a mere matter of self-protection, to make friendly advances +to the growing liberal forces in society, which had been brought into +permanent existence by the success of republicanism in France. In spite +of this nominal espousal of the liberal cause, Maria was continually +trying to avoid popular concessions and to retain unimpaired the +despotic power of the monarchy, but she was soon forced to see that, in +appearance at least, she must pretend to advance the popular cause and +give her subjects more extended privileges. Accordingly, she issued a +decree in 1834 establishing a new constitution and creating a +legislature composed of two chambers; but there was more pretence than +reality in this reform, and the dissatisfaction of the liberals +increased as the queen-regent's real purposes became more clearly +understood. Fortunate in having at the head of her armies a great +general, Espartero, Maria finally succeeded in dispersing and exhausting +the Carlist armies; but then differences arose between the queen and +Espartero over the rights of the chartered towns, which she was +endeavoring to abolish; and the popular sentiment was so in favor of the +liberal side of the discussion, that a revolution was threatened and +Isabella was forced to seek safety in flight. For three years the +general-statesman ruled, until the majority of the Princess Isabella was +declared in 1843, and in that same year Espartero was forced into exile, +as he had become unpopular on account of his friendship for England. +With this change in governmental affairs, Maria Cristina was allowed to +return to Madrid, and she and her daughter, the new queen, Isabella II., +controlled the destinies of the country. A husband was found for +Isabella in the person of her cousin, Francis of Assis, but he was a +sickly, impotent prince, with no vigor of mind or body, and the married +life of this young couple was anything but happy. The country meanwhile +continued in a state of unrest, and there were frequent revolutionary +outbreaks. Isabella was no less unreliable than her mother had been, and +her capricious manner of changing policy and changing advisers was +productive of a state of lawlessness and disorder in all branches of the +government which daily became more shameful. This shifting policy in +matters of state was equally characteristic of the queen's behavior in +other affairs. Dissatisfied with her pitiful husband, she soon abandoned +her dignity as a queen and as a woman, in a most brazen way, and her +private life was so scandalous as to become the talk of all Europe. But +the court was kept in good humor by the lavish entertainments which were +given; the proverbial Spanish sloth and indifference allowed all this to +run unchecked, for a time at least; and the sound of the guitar and the +song of the peasant were still heard throughout the land.</p> + +<p>Some idea of the social life in Madrid at this time can be obtained from +the following charming description of an afternoon ride in one of the +city parks, written in September, 1853, by Madame Calderon de la Barca: +"This beautiful <i>paseo</i>, called Las Delicias de Ysabel Segunda, had been +freshly watered. Numbers of pretty girls in their graceful <i>amazones</i> +galloped by on horseback, with their attendant <i>caballeros</i>. Few actual +mantillas were to be seen. They were too warm for this season, and are +besides confined to morning costume. Their place was supplied either by +light Parisian bonnets or by a still prettier head-dress, a veil of +black lace or tulle thrown over the head, fastened by gold pins, and +generally thrown very far back, the magnificent hair beautifully +dressed. Certainly this appeared to me the prettiest head-dress in the +world, showing to the greatest advantage the splendid eyes, fine hair, +and expressive features of the wearers. I was astonished at the richness +of the toilettes, and M—— assured me that luxury in dress is now +carried here to an extraordinary height; and to show you that I am not +so blinded by admiration for what is Spanish as not to see faults, at +least when they are pointed out to me, I will allow that French women +have a better idea of the fitness of things, and that there is an +absence of simplicity in the dress of the Spanish women which is out of +taste. I allude chiefly to those who were on foot. The rich silks and +brocades which trail along the Prado, hiding pertinaciously the +exquisitely small feet of the wearers, would be confined in Paris to the +<i>élégantes</i> who promenade the Bois de Boulogne or the Champs-Elysées in +carriages. Here the wife and the daughter of the poorest shopkeeper +disdain chintz and calico; nothing short of silk or velvet is considered +decorous except within doors. But, having made this confession, I must +add that the general effect is charming, and as for beauty, both of face +and figure, especially the latter, surely no city in the world can show +such an amount of it."</p> + +<p>In spite of the general tone of gayety which was pervading Madrid in +these days of the early fifties, many of the members of the older +nobility, conservative to the core, were holding somewhat aloof from the +general social life of the time. Society had become too promiscuous for +their exclusive tastes, and they were unwilling to open their drawing +rooms to the cosmopolitan multitude then thronging the capital. Details +of this aristocratic life are naturally somewhat difficult to obtain, +but this same sprightly Madame Calderon de la Barca, through her +connection with the diplomatic corps at Madrid, was able to enter this +circle in several instances, and her chatty account of a ball given by +the Countess Montijo, one of the leaders in this exclusive set, if not +one of its most exclusive members, is not lacking in interest: "A +beautiful ball was given the other night at the Countess Montijo's. She +certainly possesses the social talent more than any one I ever met with, +and, without the least apparent effort, seems to have a kind of +omnipresence in her salons, so that each one of her guests receives a +due share of attention. The principal drawing room, all white and gold, +is a noble room. The toilettes were more than usually elegant, the +jewels universal. The finest diamonds were perhaps those of the Countess +of Toreno, wife of the celebrated minister. The Countess of Ternan-Nuñez +and the Princess Pio (an Italian lady), wore tiaras of emeralds and +brilliants of a size and beauty that I have never seen surpassed. The +Duchess of Alva was, as usual, dressed in perfect taste, but, alas! I am +not able to describe. It was something white and vapory and covered with +flowers, with a few diamond pins fastening the flowers in her hair. I +observed that whenever a young girl was without a partner, there was the +hostess introducing one to her, or if any awkward-looking youth stood +neglected in a corner, she took his arm, brought him forward, presented +him to some one, and made him dance. Or if some scientific man, invited +for his merits,—for her parties are much less carefully winnowed than +those of the aristocracy in general,—stood with his spectacles on, +looking a little like a fish out of water, there was the countess beside +him, making him take her to the buffet, conversing with him as she does +well upon every subject, and putting him so much at his ease that in a +few minutes he evidently felt quite at home." Such a description as +this must inevitably lead to the reflection that charming as the +Countess Montijo may have been, she was in no way peculiar or remarkable +except in so far as she represented the highest type of a polished, +tactful Spanish hostess, for in every civilized modern country there are +women of this class who excite general admiration.</p> + +<p>The wavering policy of the capricious Isabella was somewhat strengthened +in 1856, when the long-suffering people, unable to countenance for a +longer time the universal corruption which existed in all branches of +the government, rose in such threatening revolt, under the leadership of +O'Donnell, that the queen was forced to give heed. The revolt counted +among its supporters members of all political parties, who were now +banded together from motives which were largely patriotic, and so great +was their influence that Isabella was forced to accept their terms or +lose her crown. For a few years there was an increased prosperity for +Spain, but the improvement could not be of long duration, so long as the +government remained under the same inefficient leadership. Finally, the +end came in 1868, when there broke forth a general revolution which was +but the forcible expression of the real and genuine spirit of discontent +which was to be found among all classes of the people. The navy rebelled +at Cadiz, and the fleet declared for the revolution, and then, to take +away Isabella's last hope of support, certain popular generals, who had +been sent into exile, returned, and led the royal troops against the +hated sovereign. In the face of this overwhelming array of hostile +forces, the queen crossed the Pyrenees as a fugitive, and when she went +she left her crown behind her. After five years of upheaval, which +descended at times to complete anarchy, with the advantage resting now +with the conservatives and now with the liberals, the crown was finally +offered to the son of the dethroned queen, who, as Alfonso XII., began +his reign under most auspicious circumstances. With his unlooked-for +death in 1886, his wife and widow, Maria Cristina, was left as the +regent for her unborn son, who has so recently attained his majority. +This Maria was a most careful mother, who devoted herself with the +utmost fidelity to the education of her son; and her conception of this +duty was so high and serious that she practically put a stop to the +social life of the court, that she might give herself unreservedly to +her important task. With what success, the future alone can tell, but, +in the meanwhile, there is but one opinion as to her personal worth and +character.</p> + +<p>Without venturing a prediction as to the probable future for Spain in +the history of the world, the fact remains that in recent years the +country has advanced greatly from many points of view, so far as its +domestic affairs are concerned. There has been a remarkable commercial +activity, railroads have opened up much of the country which had been +cut off from the main currents of life from time immemorial, and the +widespread use of electricity for lighting and for motive power is +perhaps unexcelled in any other European country. The greatest question +now confronting Spain is, in the opinion of many, the question of +popular education, and here there is continual advancement. As might be +expected in a country like Spain, where southern, and in some cases +semi-Oriental, ideas must of necessity exist with regard to women, their +education has not yet made great progress, although the question is +being considered in a most liberal and enlightened spirit. No movement +in this day and generation can be successfully brought to an issue +unless it can be shown that there is some general demand for the +measures proposed, and until very recently in Spain there was general +apathy with regard to the education of women. For many years girls have +been carefully instructed in two things, religion and domestic science, +and for neither of these things was any extended course of study +necessary. The parochial schools, with all their narrowness, prepared +the maiden for her first communion, and her mother gave her such +training in the arts of the housewife as she might need when she married +and had a home of her own to care for. These two things accomplished, +the average middle-class Spaniard, until a very recent day, was utterly +unable to see that there was anything more necessary, or that the system +was defective in any way. But the modern spirit has entered the country, +and an organized effort is now being made to show the advantages of a +higher education and to furnish the opportunity for obtaining it. In +this work of educational reform among Spanish women, an American, Mrs. +Gulick, the wife of an American missionary at San Sebastian, has played +a leading part. Organizing a school which was maintained under her +supervision, she has been quite successful in what she has accomplished, +and believes that she has "proved the intellectual ability of Spanish +girls." Her pupils have been received in the National Institute, where +they have given a good account of themselves; and a few of them have +even been admitted to the examinations of the University of Madrid, +where they have maintained a high rank. Mrs. Gulick is not the only +leading exponent of higher education for Spanish women, however, as the +whole movement is now practically under the moral leadership of a most +competent and earnest woman, Emilia Pardo Bazan, who understands the +wants of her fellow countrywomen and is striving in every legitimate way +to give them the sort of instruction they need. Free schools exist in +all the cities and towns for both boys and girls, and recent attempts +have been made to enact a compulsory education law. Numerous normal +schools have been established in the various cities, which are open to +both men and women, and the number of women teachers is rapidly +increasing. Secular education is far more advanced and far more in +keeping with the spirit of the times than is the instruction which is to +be found in the schools conducted by the teaching orders. The girls in +the convents are taught to adore the Virgin in a very abstract and +indefinite way, and are given very little practical advice as to the +essential traits of true womanhood. A remarkable article, written +recently in one of the Madrid papers by one who signed himself "A Priest +of the Spanish Catholic Church," says, apropos of this very question: +"Instead of the Virgin being held up to admiration as the Mother of Our +Lord and as an example of all feminine perfection, the ideal woman and +mother, the people are called upon to worship the idea of the Immaculate +Conception, an abstract dogma of recent invention...." This Madonna +worship is one of the characteristic things in the religious life of +Spain, and everywhere <i>La Virgen</i>, who is rarely if ever called <i>Santa +Maria</i>, is an object of great love and reverence. There are many of +these <i>Virgenes</i> scattered throughout the country, and each is +reverenced. Many of them are supposed to work miracles or answer +prayers, and their chapels are filled with the votive offerings of those +who have been helped in time of trouble. Not the least pathetic among +these offerings are the long locks of hair tied with ribbons of many +colors, which have been contributed by some mother because her child has +been restored from sickness to health. Women are more devout than the +men in their observance of religious duties, although the whole +population is religious to an unusual degree so far as the outward +forms are concerned, but the real religion which aims at character +building is little known as yet.</p> + +<p>With regard to the general position of women in Spain, and their +influence upon public life, which as yet is not of any considerable +moment, Madame L. Higgin, in her recent volume upon Spanish life, writes +as follows: "As a rule, they take no leading part in politics, devoting +themselves chiefly to charitable works. There is a general movement for +higher education and greater liberty of thought and action among women, +and there are a certain limited number who frankly range themselves on +the side of so-called emancipation, who attend socialistic and other +meetings, and who aspire to be the comrades of men rather than their +objects of worship or their play-things. But this movement is scarcely +more than in its infancy. It must be remembered that even within the +present generation the bedrooms allotted to girls were always approached +through those of their parents, that no girl or unmarried woman could go +unattended, and that to be left alone in a room with a man was to lose +her reputation. Already these things seem dreams of the past; nor could +one well believe, what is, however, a fact, that there were fathers of +the upper classes in the first half of the last century who preferred +that their daughters should not learn to read or write, and especially +the latter, as it only enabled them to read letters clandestinely +received from lovers and to reply to them. The natural consequence of +this was the custom, which so largely prevailed, of young men, +absolutely unknown to the parents, establishing correspondence or +meetings with the objects of their adoration by means of a complacent +<i>doncella</i> with an open palm, or the pastime known as <i>pelando el pavo</i> +(literally, "plucking the turkey"), which consisted of serenades of love +songs, amorous dialogues, or the passage of notes through the +<i>reja</i>—the iron gratings which protect the lower windows of Spanish +houses from the prowling human wolf—or from the balconies. Many a time +have I seen these interesting little missives let down past my balcony +to the waiting gallant below, and his drawn up. Only once I saw a +neighbor, in the balcony below, intercept the post and, I believe, +substitute some other letter."</p> + +<p>This seclusion of the young girls is in itself a sufficient comment upon +the sentiments of honor and duty which are current among the male +portion of the population, and it is plain that this condition of +affairs can find little betterment until the nation finds new social +ideals. Such conditions as these are mediæval, or Oriental at best, and +it is to be hoped that the newer education which is now influencing +Spain may help to bring about a better and saner view of the social +intercourse of men and women. As a direct result of the general +attitude, the men upon the streets of a Spanish city will often surprise +a foreigner by their cool insolence in the presence of the women they +may happen to meet. Her appearance is made the subject for much audible +comment, and such exclamations as <i>Ay! que buenos ojos! Que bonita +eres!</i> [Oh! what fine eyes! How pretty you are!] are only too common. +The woman thus characterized will modify her conduct according to the +necessities of the situation; and if her casual admirer happens to be +young and good-looking and she herself is not averse to flattery, she +will reward him with a quick smile. In any case, the whole matter is +treated as an ordinary occurrence, as it is, and no insult is felt where +none is intended. Such remarks are but an expression, which is +oftentimes naïve, of the admiration which is felt at the sight of +unusual feminine charms. The incident simply goes to show that +everywhere in Spain there is tacit recognition of the general +inferiority of women. In the laboring and peasant classes, where the +women work with the men, such lapses from the conventional standard of +good manners would not cause so much comment; but under these +circumstances the dangers and the annoyances are not so great, as these +women of the people, with their practical experience in life, ignorant +as they may be, are often more competent to take care of themselves than +are their more carefully educated sisters in polite society who have +been so carefully fenced from harm.</p> + +<p>Many of the objectionable features of Spanish life which spring from +these long-standing notions in regard to women are bound to disappear as +both men and women become more educated, and in several particulars +already encouraging progress has been made. Marriage laws and customs +may always be considered as telling bits of evidence in the discussion +of any question of this nature, and in Spain, as the result of modern +innovations, the rights of the woman in contracting the marriage +relation are superior to those enjoyed elsewhere on the continent or +even in England. In the old days, the <i>mariage de convenance</i> was a +matter of course in educated circles, and the parents and relatives of a +girl were given an almost absolute power in arranging for her future +welfare. Now, as the result of an enlightened public sentiment, which is +somewhat unexpected in that it is in advance of many other social +customs, there is a law which gives a girl the right to marry the man of +her choice, even against her parents' wishes. No father can compel his +daughter to marry against her will; and if there is any attempt to force +her in the matter, she is entitled to claim the protection of a +magistrate, who is empowered by law to protect her from such oppression. +If the parents are insistent, the magistrate may take the girl from her +father's house and act as her guardian until the time of her majority, +when she is free to marry according to her own fancy. Nor is any such +rebellious action to be construed as prejudicial to the daughter's right +to inherit that portion of her father's estate to which she would +otherwise have a legal claim. Madame Higgin relates the following cases +which came within the range of her personal experience: "In one case, +the first intimation a father received of his daughter's engagement was +the notice from a neighboring magistrate that she was about to be +married; and in another, a daughter left her mother's house and was +married from that of the magistrate, to a man without any income and +considerably below her in rank, in all these cases the contracting +parties were of the highest rank."</p> + +<p>With regard to the wedding service, customs have changed greatly during +the course of the last century. It was natural that Spain, in common +with all other Catholic countries, should have given the Church entire +control of the marriage sacrament for many years, and it was not until +the republicanism of the nineteenth century forced a change that the +civil marriage was instituted as it had been in France. While not +compulsory, the religious service is almost always performed, in +addition to the other, except among the poor, who are deterred by the +cost of this double wedding; and sometimes the religious service is held +at the church and sometimes at the home of the bride. It was generally +the custom in the church weddings for all the ladies in the wedding +party, including the bride, to dress in black; but there was finally so +much opposition to this sombre hue at such a joyous occasion, that the +fashionable world within recent times has made the house wedding a +possibility, and at such a function there was no limit to the brilliant +display possible. The English and American custom of taking a wedding +journey immediately after the ceremony is not common in Spain, and the +Spaniards, in their conversation and sometimes in their books, are not +slow to express their opinions with regard to the matter, insisting that +it is much preferable to remain at home among friends than to "expose +themselves to the jeers of postilions and stable boys," to quote a line +from Fernan Caballero's <i>Clemencia</i>. In spite of this firmly rooted +opinion, however, that the national customs are best, and in this +particular it seems indeed as if they were more reasonable, the wedding +journey is slowly being adopted in what they call "<i>el</i> high life," and +it may some day become one of the fixed institutions of the land, as it +is with us. All this is but another proof of the fact that fashions are +now cosmopolitan things, and that among the educated and wealthy classes +in all countries there are often many more points of resemblance than +are to be found between any given group of these cosmopolites and some +of their own fellow countrymen taken from a lower class in society.</p> + +<p>Some time after the Prince of Naples, who is now the King of Italy, had +attracted the favorable comment of all thinking people for his +determination not to wed until he married for love, a similar occurrence +in Spain revealed the fact that Maria Cristina, the queen-regent, was +determined to accept the modern and sensible notion of marriage for one +of her own children, and thus incidentally to give to her people in +general the benefit of a powerful precedent in such matters. Mention has +already been made of the fact that, according to certain laws, a Spanish +girl may now refuse to marry at her parents' dictation; but, in spite of +the fact that such laws exist, it cannot be said that they are often +called into play, for the daughter is still in such a state of childish +dependence upon her father and mother, that any such step as described, +which amounts to nothing more or less than a revolt against parental +authority, would fill her with dismay and would prove more than she +would dare to attempt. The laws upon the statute books indicate that +there is a public appreciation of the fact that marriage should not be a +matter of coercion, but among the people in general the old idea is +still more powerful, and Spanish daughters are married daily to the +husbands chosen by their match-making mothers or aunts. In the face of +this popular custom, and in spite of the fact that royal marriages, on +account of their somewhat political character, have generally been made +without regard to sentiment, the queen-regent decided that her oldest +daughter, the Princess of Asturias, should marry the man she loved. +There were various worldly, or rather political, reasons against the +proposed alliance; but Maria brushed them all aside and allowed the +whole affair to progress in a natural way, as there seemed to be nothing +in the proposed alliance which gave her cause for alarm. Here are the +facts in the case. Among the playfellows of the little King Alfonso +XIII. there were two distant cousins, the sons of the Count of Caserta, +and between the elder, Don Carlos, and the young princess a warm +attachment soon sprang up which led to a betrothal, with the queen's +consent. At once there was a protest which would have intimidated a +person of weaker character. It was pointed out that Don Carlos the youth +was the son of a man who had been chief of staff to the Pretender Don +Carlos, who had been responsible for so much of the disorder in Spain +within the last quarter of a century; and although Caserta and his sons +had taken the oath of allegiance to Alfonso XIII., it was feared that in +some way this marriage might give the Pretender a new claim upon the +government, and that in future years it might lead to renewed domestic +strife. Furthermore, it was alleged that the Jesuits, who are known +conservatives and legitimists everywhere, and who had been accused of +sympathizing with the Pretender's claims, were behind this new alliance, +and, as the work of their hands, it was popularly considered as a matter +of very doubtful expediency. But the queen persisted in her course, +entirely without political motives, so far as anyone has been able to +discover, and preparations for the wedding were begun in earnest.</p> + +<p>Then it was that the affair began to assume a more national and more +serious character. The liberal party, which was in power and which +naturally looked with suspicion upon anything tainted with conservatism, +decided to oppose the marriage, and the prime minister, who was no other +than the great Sagasta, allowed the queen to understand plainly that the +whole affair must be dropped. Maria Cristina informed her prime minister +that <i>her</i> will was to be law in the matter, and that she was unwilling +to allow any sort of governmental interference. The marriage now +precipitated a national crisis, Sagasta and all the members of his +cabinet resigned their portfolios of office, and the queen was left to +form a new ministry. She appointed the new members from the ranks of the +conservative party, and, now without cabinet opposition, the marriage +was celebrated. Then the storm arose again: there were riots and +disturbances in most of the large cities; the Jesuits, who were made +responsible for this turn of affairs, were openly attacked, even in +Madrid. It was even claimed that the young king's confessor belonged to +the hated order, and everywhere there were fears expressed that the +government might soon be delivered up to the Carlists. This impression +was only increased when the conservative ministry suspended the +constitutional guarantees and assumed to rule with unlimited authority. +This move was simply taken, it appears, as a matter of extreme necessity +under the circumstances, as the queen and her advisers were determined +to keep the upper hand and make no concession under such riotous +pressure. Finally, as the disorder was unabated, and it became evident +that the cabinet could never gain public confidence, Sagasta, by dint of +much persuading, was again induced to become prime minister, and with +his return peace was restored and the revolution which was surely +threatening was averted.</p> + +<p>So ended this memorable contest wherein the queen seemed almost willing +to sacrifice her son's crown that she might humor her daughter's whim, +and a satisfactory explanation of the whole affair which would be +convincing to all the parties concerned is doubtless difficult to make. +In the absence of any political motives which can be proved or +rightfully suspected, it would seem that Maria Cristina, even though a +queen, had been making a most royal battle for the idea that marriage +should be a matter of inclination and not a matter of compulsion; and +her heroic measures to carry out her ideas cannot fail to produce a +great impression upon liberal Spain, as soon as the scare about the +Jesuits and the Carlists has had time to subside.</p> + +<p>The national amusements of Spain, as they affect the whole people, may +be reduced to two, bull-fighting and dancing. While women never take +part in the contests of the arena, they are none the less among the most +interested of the spectators, and the Plaza de Toros on a Sunday is the +place to see their wonderfully brilliant costumes. With regard to +Spanish dancing, as a popular amusement it is almost universal, and +rarely are two or three gathered together but that the sound of the +tambourine, guitar, and castanets is heard and the dance is in full +swing. Much has been written about some of these national dances, and +often the idea is left in the mind of the reader that they are all very +shocking and indecent, but this is hardly the fact. Certain dances are +to be seen in Spain to-day, among the gypsies, which have come down +practically unchanged from the Roman days, when Martial and Horace were +enchanted by the graceful motions of the dancing girls of their time; +and these are undoubtedly suggestive in a high degree, and are not less +objectionable than the more widely known Oriental dances which have +recently made their advent into the United States; but these dances are +in no way national or common. They are rarely seen, except in the gypsy +quarter of Seville, and there they are generally arranged for +money-making purposes. In short, they are no more typical of Spanish +dances than the questionable evolutions of the old Quadrille at the +Moulin Rouge were representative of the dances of the French people, and +it is time that the libel should be stopped. The country people and the +working classes dance with the enjoyment of children, and generally they +sing at the same time some love song which is unending, and sometimes +improvised as the dance proceeds.</p> + +<p>In athletic matters it cannot be said that Spanish women are very +active, and in this they are somewhat behind their brothers, who have +numerous games which test their skill and endurance. Though the bicycle +is well known now in Spain, the Spanish women have not adopted it with +the zest which was shown by the women of France, and it is doubtful if +it will ever be popular among them. Horseback riding is a fashionable +amusement among the wealthy city women, but their attainments in this +branch of sport seem insignificant when compared to the riding of +English and American women. The Spanish riding horse is a pacer rather +than a trotter, and this cradle-like motion is certainly better suited +to the Spanish women. Few, if any, of them aspire to follow the hounds, +a ditch or a gate would present difficulties which would be truly +insurmountable, and they never acquire the ease and grace in this +exercise which are the mark of an expert horsewoman.</p> + +<p>The dark beauty of the Spanish women has long been a favorite theme, and +there is little to say on that subject which has not been said a +thousand times before, but no account of them would be complete without +some word in recognition of their many personal charms. In the cities, +the women, so far as their dress is concerned, have lost their +individuality, as the women of other nations have done, in their efforts +to follow the Parisian styles; but there is still a certain charming +simplicity of manner which characterizes the whole bearing of a Spanish +lady, and is quite free from that affectation and studied deportment +which are too often considered as the acme of good breeding. This almost +absolute lack of self-consciousness often leads to acts so naïve that +foreigners are often led to question their sense of propriety. But with +this naïveté and simplicity is joined a great love for dress and +display. Madame Higgin says on this subject: "Spanish women are great +dressers, and the costumes seen at the race meetings at the Hippodrome +and in the Parque are elaborately French, and sometimes startling. The +upper middle class go to Santander, Biarritz, or one of the other +fashionable watering places, and it is said of the ladies that they only +stop as many days as they can sport new costumes. If they go for a +fortnight, they must have fifteen absolutely new dresses, as they would +never think of putting one on a second time. They take with them immense +trunks, such as we generally associate with American travellers; these +are called <i>mundos</i> (worlds)—a name which one feels certain was given +by the suffering man who is expected to look after them. In the +provinces, however, among the women of the peasant class, Parisian +bonnets are neither worn nor appreciated; the good and time-honored +customs in regard to peasant dress have been retained, and there rather +than in the cities is to be seen the pure type as it has existed for +centuries, unaffected and unalloyed by contact with the manners and +customs of other nations."</p> + +<p>It is difficult to say what the condition of Spanish women will be as +the years go by, but it is at least certain that they will be better +educated than they are to-day, and better able to understand the real +meaning of life. Now they are often veritable children, who know nothing +of affairs at home or of the world abroad, somewhat proud of their +manifest charms and ever ready for a conquest; but with a better mental +training and some enlarged conception of the real and essential duties +in modern life, the unimportant things will be gradually relegated to +their proper position, and the whole nation will gain new strength from +an ennobled womanhood.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Women of the Romance Countries, by John R. 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Effinger + +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: Women of the Romance Countries + +Author: John R. Effinger + +Release Date: June 21, 2006 [EBook #18642] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN OF THE ROMANCE COUNTRIES *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif, Alison Hadwin and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: MARIA DE PADILLA + +_After the painting by Paul Gervais._] + +WOMAN + +In all ages and in all countries + +WOMEN OF THE ROMANCE COUNTRIES + +by + +JOHN R. EFFINGER, Ph.D. +_Of the University of Michigan_ + +THE RITTENHOUSE PRESS +PHILADELPHIA + +_Copyrighted at Washington and entered at +Stationers' Hall, London + +1907 1908 + +and printed by arrangement with George Barrie's Sons._ + +PRINTED IN U. S. A. + + + + +PREFACE + + +No one can deny the influence of woman, which has been a potent factor +in society, directly or indirectly, ever since the days of Mother Eve. +Whether living in Oriental seclusion, or enjoying the freer life of the +Western world, she has always played an important part in the onward +march of events, and exercised a subtle power in all things, great and +small. To appreciate this power properly, and give it a worthy +narrative, is ever a difficult and well-nigh impossible task, at least +for mortal man. Under the most favorable circumstances, the subject is +elusive and difficult of approach, lacking in sequence, and often +shrouded in mystery. + +What, then, must have been the task of the author of the present volume, +in essaying to write of the women of Italy and Spain! In neither of +these countries are the people all of the same race, nor do they afford +the development of a constant type for observation or study. Italy, with +its mediaeval chaos, its free cities, and its fast-and-loose allegiance +to the temporal power of the Eternal City, has ever been the despair of +the orderly historian; and Spain, overrun by Goth, by Roman, and by +Moslem host, presents strange contrasts and rare complexities. + +Such being the case, this account of the women of the Romance countries +does not attempt to trace in detail their gradual evolution, but rather +to present, in the proper setting, the most conspicuous examples of +their good or evil influence, their bravery or their cowardice, their +loyalty or their infidelity, their learning or their illiteracy, their +intelligence or their ignorance, throughout the succeeding years. + +Chroniclers and historians, poets and romancers, have all given valuable +aid in the undertaking, and to them grateful acknowledgment is hereby +made. + +JOHN R. EFFINGER. + +_University of Michigan._ + + + + +Part First + +Italian Women + + + + +Chapter I + +The Age of the Countess Matilda of Tuscany + + +The eleventh century, which culminated in the religious fervor of the +First Crusade, must not on that account be considered as an age of +unexampled piety and devotion. Good men there were and true, and women +of great intellectual and moral force, but it cannot be said that the +time was characterized by any deep and sincere religious feeling which +showed itself in the general conduct of society. Europe was just +emerging from that gloom which had settled down so closely upon the +older civilizations after the downfall of the glory that was Rome, and +the light of the new day sifted but fitfully through the dark curtains +of that restless time. Liberty had not as yet become the shibboleth of +the people, superstition was in the very air, the knowledge of the +wisest scholars was as naught, compared with what we know to-day; +everywhere, might made right. + +In a time like this, in spite of the illustrious example of the Countess +Matilda, it cannot be supposed that women were in a very exalted +position. It is even recorded that in several instances, men, as +superior beings, debated as to whether or not women were possessed of +souls. While this momentous question was never settled in a conclusive +fashion, it may be remarked that in the heat of the discussion there +were some who called women angels of light, while there were others who +had no hesitation in declaring that they were devils incarnate, though +in neither case were they willing to grant them the same rights and +privileges which they themselves possessed. Though many other facts of +the same kind might be adduced, the mere existence of such discussion is +enough to prove to the most undiscerning that woman's place in society +was not clearly recognized, and that there were many difficulties to be +overcome before she could consider herself free from her primitive state +of bondage. + +In the eye of the feudal law, women were not considered as persons of +any importance whatever. The rights of husbands were practically +absolute, and led to much abuse, as they had a perfectly legal right to +punish wives for their misdeeds, to control their conduct in such a way +as to interfere with their personal liberty, and in general to treat +them as slaves and inferior beings. The whipping-post had not then been +invented as a fitting punishment for the wife beater, as it was +perfectly understood, according to the feudal practices as collected by +Beaumanoir, "that every husband had the right to beat his wife when she +was unwilling to obey his commands, or when she cursed him, or when she +gave him the lie, providing that it was done moderately, and that death +did not ensue." If a wife left a husband who had beaten her, she was +compelled by law to return at his first word of regret, or to lose all +right to their common possessions, even for purposes of her own support. + +The daughters of a feudal household had even fewer rights than the wife. +All who are willing to make a candid acknowledgment of the facts must +admit that even to-day, a girl-baby is often looked upon with disfavor. +This has been true in all times, and there are numerous examples to show +that this aversion existed in ancient India, in Greece and Sparta, and +at Rome. The feudal practices of mediaeval Europe were certainly based +upon it, and the Breton peasant of to-day expresses the same idea +somewhat bluntly when he says by way of explanation, after the birth of +a daughter: _Ma femme a fait une fausse couche._ Conscious as all must +be of this widespread sentiment at the present time, it will not be +difficult to imagine what its consequences must have been in so rude a +time as the eleventh century, when education could do so little in the +way of restraining human passion and prejudice. As the whole feudal +system, so far as the succession of power was concerned, was based upon +the principle of primogeniture, it was the oldest son who succeeded to +all his father's lands and wealth, the daughter or daughters being left +under his absolute control. Naturally, such a system worked hardship for +the younger brothers, but then as now it was easier for men to find a +place for themselves in the world than for women, and the army or the +Church rarely failed to furnish some sort of career for all those who +were denied the rights and privileges of the firstborn. The lot of the +sister, however, was pitiful in the extreme (unless it happened that the +older brother was kind and considerate), for if she were in the way she +could be bundled off to a cloister, there to spend her days in solitude, +or she could be married against her will, being given as the price of +some alliance. + +The conditions of marriage, however, were somewhat complicated, as it +was always necessary to secure the consent of three persons before a +girl of the higher class could go to the altar in nuptial array. These +three persons were her father or her guardian, her lord and the king. It +was Hugo who likened the feudal system to a continually ascending +pyramid with the king at the very summit, and that interminable chain of +interdependence is well illustrated in the present case. Suppose the +father, brother, or other guardian had decided upon a suitable husband +for the daughter of the house, it was necessary that he should first +gain the consent of that feudal lord to whom he gave allegiance, and +when this had been obtained, the king himself must give his royal +sanction to the match. Nor was this all, for a feudal law said that any +lord can compel any woman among his dependants to marry a man of his own +choosing after she has reached the age of twelve. Furthermore, there was +in existence a most cruel, barbarous, and repulsive practice which gave +any feudal lord a right to the first enjoyment of the person of the +bride of one of his vassals. As Legouve has so aptly expressed it: _Les +jeunes gens payaient de leur corps en allant a la guerre, les jeunes +filles en allant a l'autel._ + +Divorce was a very simple matter at this time so far as the husband was +concerned, for he it was who could repudiate his wife, disown her, and +send her from his door for almost any reason, real or false. In earlier +times, at the epoch when the liberty of the citizen was the pride of +Rome, marriage almost languished there on account of the misuse of +divorce, and both men and women were allowed to profit by the laxity of +the laws on this subject. Seneca said, in one instance: "That Roman +woman counts her years, not by the number of consuls, but by the number +of her husbands." Juvenal reports a Roman freedman as saying to his +wife: "Leave the house at once and forever! You blow your nose too +frequently. I desire a wife with a dry nose." When Christianity +appeared, then, the marriage tie was held in slight consideration, and +it was only after many centuries and by slow degrees that its sanctity +was recognized, and its rights respected. While, under the Roman law, +both men and women had been able to get a divorce with the same ease, +the feudal idea, which gave all power into the hands of the men, made +divorce an easy thing for the men alone, but this was hardly an +improvement, as the marriage relation still lacked stability. + +It must not be supposed that all the mediaeval ideas respecting marriage +and divorce and the condition of women in general, which have just been +explained, had to do with any except those who belonged in some way to +the privileged classes, for such was not the case. At that time, the +great mass of the people in Europe--men and women--were ignorant to the +last degree, possessing little if any sense of delicacy or refinement, +and were utterly uncouth. For the most part, they lived in miserable +hovels, were clothed in a most meagre and scanty way, and were little +better than those beasts of burden which are compelled to do their +master's bidding. Among these people, rights depended quite largely upon +physical strength, and women were generally misused. To the lord of the +manor it was a matter of little importance whether or not the serfs upon +his domain were married in due form or not; marriage as a sacrament had +little to do with these hewers of wood and drawers of water, and they +were allowed to follow their own impulses quite generally, so far as +their relations with each other were concerned. The loose moral +practices of the time among the more enlightened could be but a bad +example for the benighted people of the soil; consequently, throughout +all classes of society there was a degree of corruption and immorality +which is hardly conceivable to-day. + +So far as education was concerned, there were but a few who could enjoy +its blessings, and these were, for the most part, men. Women, in their +inferior and unimportant position, rarely desired an education, and more +rarely received one. Of course, there were conspicuous exceptions to +this rule; here and there, a woman working under unusually favorable +circumstances was really able to become a learned person. Such cases +were extremely rare, however, for the true position of woman in society +was far from being understood. Schools for women were unknown; indeed, +there were few schools of any kind, and it was only in the monasteries +that men were supposed to know how to read and write. Even kings and +queens were often without these polite accomplishments, and the right of +the sword had not yet been questioned. Then, it must be taken into +consideration that current ideas regarding education in Italy in this +early time were quite different from what they are to-day. As there were +no books, book learning was impossible, and the old and yellowed +parchments stored away in the libraries of the monasteries were +certainly not calculated to arouse much public enthusiasm. Education at +this time was merely some sort of preparation for the general duties of +life, and the nature of this preparation depended upon a number of +circumstances. + +To make the broadest and most general classification possible, the women +of that time might be divided into ladies of high degree and women of +the people. The former were naturally fitted by their training to take +their part in the spectacle of feudal life with proper dignity; more +than that, they were often skilled in all the arts of the housewife, and +many times they showed themselves the careful stewards of their +husbands' fortunes. The women of the people, on the other hand, were not +shown any special consideration on account of their sex, and were quite +generally expected to work in the fields with the men. Their homes were +so unworthy of the name that they required little care or thought, and +their food was so coarse that little time was given to its preparation. +Simple-minded, credulous, superstitious in the extreme, with absolutely +no intellectual uplift of any kind, and nothing but the sordid drudgery +of life with which to fill the slow-passing hours, it is no wonder that +the great mass of both the men and the women of this time were +hopelessly swallowed up in a many-colored sea of ignorance, from which, +with the march of the centuries, they have been making slow efforts to +rise. So the lady sat in the great hall in the castle, clad in some +gorgeous gown of silk which had been brought by the patient caravans, +through devious ways, from the far and mysterious East; surrounded by +her privileged maidens, she spun demurely and in peace and quiet, while +out in the fields the back of the peasant woman was bent in ceaseless +toil. Or again, the lady of the manor would ride forth with her lord +when he went to the hunt, she upon her white palfrey, and he upon his +black charger, and each with hooded falcon on wrist; for the gentle art +of falconry was almost as much in vogue among the women as among the men +of the time. Often it happened that during the course of the hunt it +would be necessary to cross a newly planted field, or one heavy with the +ripened grain, and this they did gaily and with never a thought for the +hardship that they might cause; and as they swept along, hot after the +quarry, the poor, mistreated peasant, whether man or woman, dared utter +no word of protest or make moan, nor did he or she dare to look boldly +and unabashed upon this hunting scene, but rather from the cover of some +protecting thicket. Scenes of this kind will serve to show the great +gulf which there was between the great and the lowly; and as there was +an almost total lack of any sort of education in the formal sense of the +word, it will be readily understood that all that education could mean +for anybody was that training which was incident to the daily round of +life, whatever it happened to be. So the poor and dependent learned to +fear and sometimes to hate their masters, and the proud and haughty +learned to consider themselves as superior and exceptional beings. + +With society in such a state as this, the question will naturally arise: +What did the Church do under these circumstances to ameliorate the +condition of the people and to advance the cause of woman? The only +answer to this question is a sorry negative, as it soon becomes +apparent, after an investigation of the facts, that in many cases the +members of the clergy themselves were largely responsible for the wide +prevalence of vice and immorality. It must be remembered that absolution +from sin and crime in those days was but a matter of money price and +that pardons could be easily bought for any offence, as the venality of +the clergy was astounding. The corruption of the time was great, and the +priests themselves were steeped in crime and debauchery. In former +generations, the Church at Rome had many times issued strict orders +against the marriage of the clergy, and, doubtless as one of the +consequences of this regulation, it had become the custom for many of +the priests to have one or more concubines with whom they, in most +cases, lived openly and without shame. The monasteries became, under +these conditions, dens of iniquity, and the nunneries were no better. +The nunnery of Saint Fara in the eleventh century, according to a +contemporary description, was no longer the residence of holy virgins, +but a brothel of demoniac females who gave themselves up to all sorts of +shameless conduct; and there are many other accounts of the same general +tenor. Pope Gregory VII. tried again to do something for the cause of +public morality, in 1074, when he issued edicts against both concubinage +and simony--or the then prevalent custom of buying or selling +ecclesiastical preferment; but the edict was too harsh and unreasonable +with regard to the first, inasmuch as it provided that no priest should +marry in the future, and that those who already possessed wives or +concubines were to give them up or relinquish their sacred offices. This +order caused great consternation, especially in Milan, where the clergy +were honestly married, each man to one wife, and it was found impossible +to exact implicit obedience to its requirements. + +So far as the general influence of women upon the feudal society of +Italy in the eleventh century is concerned, it is not discoverable to +have been manifest in the ways which were common in other countries. It +will be understood, of course, that, in speaking of woman's influence +here, reference is made to the women of the upper classes, as those of +the peasant class cannot be said to have formed a part of social Europe +at this time. It is most common to read in all accounts of this feudal +period, which was the beginning of the golden age of the older chivalry, +that women exerted a most gentle influence upon the men about them and +that the honor and respect in which they were held did much to elevate +the general tone of life. In Italy, however, chivalry did not flourish +as it did in other countries. Since the time of the great Emperor +Charlemagne all Italy had been nominally a part of the imperial domain, +but owing to its geographical position, which made it difficult of +access and hard to control, this overlordship was not always +administered with strictness, and from time to time the larger cities of +Italy were granted special rights and privileges. The absence of an +administrative capital made impossible any centralization of national +life, and it was entirely natural, then, that the various Italian +communities should assert their right to some sort of local government +and some measure of freedom. This spirit of citizenship in the free +towns overcame the spirit of disciplined dependence which was common to +those parts of the empire which were governed according to the usual +feudal customs, and, as a result, Italy lacks many of those +characteristics which are common to the more integral parts of the vast +feudal system. + +The most conspicuous offspring of feudalism was chivalry, with its +various orders of knighthood; but chivalry and the orders of knighthood +gained little foothold in Italy, where the conditions necessary for the +growth and development of such a social and military order were far from +propitious. Knights, it is true, came and went in Italy, and performed +their deeds of valor; fair maidens were rescued, and women and children +were given succor; but the knights were foreign knights, and they owed +allegiance to a foreign lord. So far, then, Italy was without the +institution of chivalry, and, to a great degree, insensible to those +high ideals of fealty and honor which were the cardinal virtues of the +knightly order. Owing to the absence of these fine qualities of mind and +soul, the Italian in war was too often of fierce and relentless temper, +showing neither pity nor mercy and having no compassion for a fallen +foe. Warriors never admitted prisoners to ransom, and the annals of +their contests are destitute of those graceful courtesies which shed +such a beautiful lustre over the contests of England and France. +Stratagems were as common as open and glorious battle, and private +injuries were revenged by assassination and not by the fair and manly +_joust a l'outrance_. However, when a man pledged his word for the +performance of any act and wished his sincerity to be believed, he +always swore by the _parola di cavaliere_, and not by the _parola di +cortigiano_, so general was the acknowledgment of the moral superiority +of chivalry. + +It was in the midst of this age of ignorance that Matilda, the great +Countess of Tuscany, by means of her wisdom and intelligence and her +many graces of mind and body, made such a great and lasting reputation +for herself that her name has come down in history as the worthy +companion of William the Conqueror and the great monk Hildebrand, later +Pope Gregory VII., her most distinguished contemporaries. Matilda's +father, Boniface, was the richest and most powerful nobleman of his time +in all Italy, and as Margrave and Duke of Tuscany, Duke of Lucca, +Marquis of Modena, and Count of Reggio, Mantua, and Ferrara, he exerted +a very powerful feudal influence. Though at first unfriendly to the +interests of the papal party in Italy, he was just about ready to +espouse its cause when he fell under the hand of an assassin; and then +it was that Matilda, by special dispensation of the emperor, was allowed +to inherit directly her father's vast estate, which she shared at first +with her brother Frederick and her sister Beatrice. Generally, fiefs +reverted to the emperor and remained within his custody for five +years--were held in probate, as it were--before the lawful heirs were +allowed to enter into possession of their property. Frederick and +Beatrice were short-lived, however, and it was not many years before +Matilda was left as sole heir to this great domain; she was not entirely +alone, as she had the watchful care and guidance of her mother, who +assisted her in every emergency. + +As the result of this condition of affairs, both mother and daughter +were soon sought in marriage by many ardent and ambitious suitors, each +presenting his claims for preferment and doing all in his power to bring +about an alliance which meant so much for the future. Godfrey of +Lorraine, who was not friendly to the party of the Emperor Henry III., +while on a raid in Italy, pressed his suit with such insistency that the +widowed Beatrice promised to marry him and at the same time gave her +consent to a betrothal between Matilda and Godfrey's hunchback son, who +also bore the name of Godfrey. This marriage with an unfriendly prince, +after so many years of imperial favor, and this attempt at a +consolidation of power for both present and future, so angered Henry +that he insisted that Beatrice must have yielded to violence in this +disposition of her affairs. Finally, in spite of her repeated denials, +she was made a prisoner for her so-called insubordination, while Matilda +was compelled to find safety in the great fortress at Canossa. In the +meantime, Godfrey had gone back to Lorraine, more powerful than ever, to +stir up trouble in the empire. + +In this same year, 1054, Henry III. died, and his son, Henry IV., won +over by the prayers of Pope Victor II., made peace with Godfrey and +restored Beatrice to liberty. They, being more than grateful to Victor +for this kindly intervention, invited him to come to their stately +palace in Florence and tarry with them for a while. From this time on, +in the period when Matilda was growing into womanhood, the real seat of +the papal power was not in Rome, but in Florence, and Godfrey's palace +became an acknowledged centre of ecclesiastical activity. + +Matilda was a girl of a mystic temperament, credulous, it is true, and +somewhat superstitious like all the other people of her time, and yet +filled with a deep yearning for a greater knowledge of the secrets of +the universe. Her ideal of authority was formed by intercourse with the +various members of her own circle, who were all devoted heart and soul +to the cause of the Holy See, and it was but natural that, when she +became old enough to think and act for herself, all her inclinations +should lead her to embrace the cause of the pope. While it is beyond the +province of the present volume to describe in detail the exact political +and religious situation in Italy at this time, it should be said that +the pope was anxious to reassert the temporal power of his office, which +had for a long time been subservient to the will of the emperors. He +desired the supremacy of the papacy within the Church, and the supremacy +of the Church over the state. Early filled with a holy zeal for this +cause, Matilda tried to inform herself regarding the real state of +affairs, so that she might be able to act intelligently when the time +for action came. Through skilful diplomacy, it came to pass that +Matilda's uncle--Frederick--became Pope Stephen X.; and then, of course, +the house of Lorraine came to look upon the papal interests as its own, +and the daughter of the house strengthened the deep attachment for the +Church which was to die only when she died. Nor must it be thought that +the priestly advisers of the house were blind to the fact that in +Matilda they had one who might become a pillar of support for the +fortunes of the papacy. The monk Hildebrand, for a long time the power +behind the pope until he himself became pope in 1073, was a constant +visitor at Matilda's home, and he it was who finally took her education +in hand and gave it its fullest development. She had many teachers, of +course, and under Hildebrand's guiding genius, the work was not stopped +until the young countess could speak French, German, and Latin with the +same ease as she did her mother tongue. + +Finally, in 1076, when she was thirty years of age, her +mother--Beatrice--died, and also her husband, Godfrey le Bossu. The +great countess, acting for the first time entirely upon her own +responsibility, now began that career of activity and warfare which was +unflagging to the end. No other woman of her time had her vast power and +wealth, no other woman of her time had her well-stored mind, and no +other, whether man or woman, was so well equipped to become the great +protector of the Holy Church at Rome. People were amazed at her +ability--they called her God-given and Heaven-sent, and they felt a +touch of mystery in this woman's life. Surely she was not as the others +of her time, for she could hold her head high in the councils of the +most learned, and she the only woman of the number! Nor was she +one-sided in her activity and indifferent to all interests save those of +the papal party, as her many public benefactions show her to have been a +woman filled with that larger zeal for humanity which far transcends the +narrow zeal for sect or creed. For, in addition to the many temples, +convents, and sepulchres, which she caused to be scattered over the +northern part of Italy, she built the beautiful public baths at +Casciano, and the great hospital of Altapascio. + +Never strong physically, Matilda was possessed of remarkable vitality +and an iron will, and she showed great powers of execution and +administration, never shirking the gravest responsibilities. A part of +her life was spent in the rough camps of her devoted feudal soldiery, +and--weak woman though she was--she led them on to battle more than +once, when they seemed to need the inspiration of her presence. Women +warriors there have been in every day and generation in some part of the +world perhaps, but never one like this. Clad in her suit of mail, and +urging on her battle horse at the head of her followers, her pale face +filled with the light of a holy zeal, it is small wonder that her arms +triumphed, and that before her death she came to be acknowledged openly +as by far the most important person in all Italy. + +It happened at one time that the emperor--Henry IV.--deserted by his +friends in Germany, and excommunicated by the pope, found that his only +hope for restoration to popular favor lay in a pardon from his enemy and +the lifting of the ban of excommunication. He set out, therefore, alone +and without an army, to meet the pope and sue for peace. Gregory, +uninformed as to Henry's intended visit (for news did not travel quickly +in those early days), was at the time on his way to Germany, where an +important diet was to be held, and with him was his faithful ally +Matilda. When they learned of the emperor's approach, however, the papal +train turned aside to the nearby fortress of Canossa, one of Matilda's +possessions, there to await the royal suppliant. In the immense hall of +that great castle, all hung with armor, shining shields and +breastplates, and all the varied accoutrements of war, the frowning +turrets without and the dark corridors within swarming with the pope's +defenders, Henry, the great emperor, who had once tried to depose +Gregory, was now forced to his greatest earthly humiliation and was +compelled to bend the knee and sue for pardon. Matilda it was who sat +beside the pope at this most solemn moment, and she alone could share +with Gregory the glory of this triumph, for she it was who had supplied +the sinews of war and made it possible for the pope to impose his will. + +On their return to Rome, to insure a continuance of papal success and +give stability to the ecclesiastical organization, she made over by +formal donation to the Holy See all her worldly possessions. This was +not only an act of great liberality, but it was a very bold assertion of +independence, as it was not customary to make disposition of feudal +possessions without first gaining the emperor's consent. As it was a +foregone conclusion that he would never give his consent to this +arrangement, Matilda thought best to dispense with that formality. + +Henry's submission was the distinct recognition of papal supremacy for +which Matilda had been battling, but Gregory, in his exactions, had +overstepped the bounds of prudent policy, as he had shown himself too +arrogant and dictatorial. In consequence, all Lombardy rose against him, +Tuscany soon followed suit, and, in 1080, Matilda herself was forced to +take refuge in the mountains of Modena. Henry, who had regained in part +his power and his influence at home, descended upon Rome in 1083, and in +revenge for his former disgrace, expelled Gregory, who retired to +Salerno, where he died soon after. Now comes a period of conflict +between popes and anti-popes, Matilda sustaining the regular successors +of Gregory, and Henry nominating men of his own choice. The long period +of warfare was beginning to weigh heavily upon the land, however, and in +a solemn assembly at Carpinetto, the friends and barons of Matilda +implored her to cease her struggles, but she refused to listen to their +entreaties because a monk of Canossa had promised her the aid of heaven +if she should persevere in this holy war. Before long, Lombardy, which +had long been restless, revolted against the emperor, and Matilda, by +great skill and a display of much tact, was enabled to arrange matters +in such a way that she broke Henry's power. This victory made Matilda, +to all intents and purposes, the real Queen of Italy, though in title +she was but the Countess of Tuscany. Then it was that she confirmed her +grant of 1077, giving unconditionally to the pope all her fiefs and +holdings. While the validity of this donation was seriously questioned, +and while it was claimed that she had really intended to convey her +personal property only, so ambiguous was the wording of the document +that the pope's claims were in the main allowed, and many of her lands +were given over to his temporal sway. + +After the death of Henry IV. (1106), she continued to rule without +opposition in Italy, though recognizing the suzerainty of his successor, +Henry V. In 1110, this emperor came to visit her at Bibbianello, where +he was filled with admiration for her attainments, her great wisdom, and +her many virtues. During this visit, Henry treated her with the greatest +respect, addressing her as mother; before his departure, he made her +regent of Italy. She was then old and feeble, physically, but her mind +and will were still vigorous. A few years later, during the Lenten +season in 1115, she caught cold while attempting to follow out the +exacting requirements of Holy Week, and it soon became apparent that her +end was near. Realizing this fact herself she directed that her serfs +should be freed, confirmed her general donation to the pope, made a few +small bequests to the neighboring churches, and then died as she had +lived, calmly and bravely. Her death occurred at Bendano, and her body +was interred at Saint Benoit de Ponderone. Five centuries later, under +the pontificate of Urban VIII., it was taken to Rome and buried with +great ceremony in the Vatican. + +As to Matilda's character, some few historians have cast reflections +upon the nature of her relations with Pope Gregory, their stay together +at Canossa, at the time of Henry's humiliation, being particularly +mentioned as an instance of their too great intimacy. Such aspersions +have still to be proved, and there is nothing in all contemporary +writings to show that there was anything reprehensible in all the course +of this firm friendship. Gregory was twice the age of the great +countess, and was more her father than her lover. During her whole +lifetime, she had been of a mystic temperament, and it is too much to +ask us to believe that her great and holy ardor for the Church was +tainted by anything like vice or sensuality. By reason of her great +sagacity and worldly wisdom she was the most powerful and most able +personage in Italy at the time of her death. If her broad domains could +have been kept together by some able successor, Italian unity might not +have been deferred for so many centuries; but there was no one to take +up her work and Italy was soon divided again, and this time the real +partition was made rather by the growing republics than by the feudal +lords. + +A consideration of the life of the Countess Matilda points to the fact +that there was but this one woman in all Italy at this time who _knew_ +enough to take advantage of her opportunities and play a great role upon +the active stage of life. Many years were to pass before it could enter +the popular conception that all women were to be given their chance at a +fuller life, and even yet in sunny Italy, there is much to do for +womankind. Then, as now, the skies were blue, and the sun was bright and +warm; then, as now, did the peasants dance and sing all the way from +water-ribbed Venice to fair and squalid Naples, but with a difference. +Now, there is a measure of freedom to each and all--then, justice was +not only blind but went on crutches, and women were made to suffer +because they were women and because they could not defend, by force, +their own. Still, there is comfort in the fact that from this dead level +of mediocrity and impotence, one woman, the great Countess of Tuscany, +was able to rise up and show herself possessed of a great heart, a great +mind, and a great soul; and in her fullness of achievement, there was +rich promise for the future. + + + + +Chapter II + +The Neapolitan Court in the Time of Queen Joanna + + +If you drive along the beautiful shore of the Mergellina to-day, beneath +the high promontory of Pausilipo, to the southwest of Naples, you will +see there in ruins the tumbling rocks and stones of an unfinished +palace, with the blue sea breaking over its foundations; and that is +still called the palace of Queen Joanna. In the church of Saint Chiara +at Naples, this Queen Joanna was buried, and there her tomb may be seen +to-day. Still is she held in memory dear, and still is her name familiar +to the lips of the people. On every hand are to be seen the monuments of +her munificence, and if you ask a Neapolitan in the street who built +this palace or that church, the answer is almost always the same--"Our +Queen Joanna." + +Who was this well-beloved queen, when did she live, and why is she still +held in this affectionate regard by the present residents of sunny +Naples? To answer all these questions it will be necessary to go back to +a much earlier day in the history of this southern part of the Italian +peninsula--a day when Naples was the centre of a royal government of no +little importance in the eyes of the mediaeval world. + +Some three hundred years before Joanna's birth, in the early part of the +eleventh century, a band of knightly pilgrims was on its way to the +Holy Land to battle for the Cross. They had ridden through the fair +provinces of France, in brave array upon their mighty chargers, all the +way from Normandy to Marseilles, and there they had taken ship for the +East. The ships were small, the accommodations and supplies were not of +the best, and it was not possible to make the journey with any great +speed. Stopping, as it happened, for fresh stores in the south of Italy, +they were at once invited by the Prince of Salerno to aid him in his +fight against the Mohammedans, who were every day encroaching more upon +the Greek possessions there. Being men of warlike nature, already +somewhat wearied by the sea voyage to which they were not accustomed, +and considering this fighting with the Saracens of Italy as a good +preparation for later conflicts with the heathens and the infidels who +were swarming about the gates of Jerusalem, they were not slow to accept +the invitation. While victory perched upon the banners of the Normans, +it was evident at once that for the future safety of the country a +strong and stable guard would be necessary, and so the Normans were now +asked to stay permanently. This the majority did with immense +satisfaction, for the soft and gentle climate of the country had filled +their souls with a sweet contentment, and the charms and graces of the +southern women had more than conquered the proud conquerors. Just as +Charles VIII. and his army, some hundreds of years later, were ensnared +by the soft glances of soft eyes when they went to Italy to conquer, so +the Normans were held in silken chains in this earlier time. But there +was this difference--the Normans did not forget their own interests. +Willing victims to the wondrous beauty of the belles of Naples, they +were strong enough to think of their own position at the same time; and +as the French colony grew to fair size and much importance, they took +advantage of certain controversies which arose, and boldly seized +Apulia, which they divided among twelve of their counts. This all +happened in the year 1042. + +It may well be imagined that Naples at this time presented a most +picturesque appearance, for there was a Babel of tongues and a mixture +of nationalities which was quite unusual. After the native Neapolitans, +dark-eyed and swarthy, there were countless Greeks and Saracens of +somewhat fairer hue, and over them all were the fierce Normans, +strangers from a northern clime, who were lording it in most masterful +fashion. The effect of this overlordship, which they held from the pope +as their feudal head, was to give to this portion of Italy certain +characteristics which are almost entirely lacking in the other parts of +Italy. Here there was no free city, here there was no republic, but, +instead, a feudal court which followed the best models of the continent +and in its time became famed for its brilliancy and elegance. Without +dallying by the way to explain when battles were fought and kings were +crowned, suffice it to say that, early in the fourteenth century, Robert +of Taranto, an Angevine prince, ascended the throne of Naples, and by +his wisdom and goodness and by his great interest in art and literature +made his capital the centre of a culture and refinement which were rare +at that time. This was a day of almost constant warfare, when the din of +battle and the clash of armor were silencing the sound of the harp and +the music of the poet, but Robert--_Il buon Re Roberto_, as he was +called--loved peace and hated war and ever strove to make his court a +place of brightness and joy, wherein the arts and sciences might +flourish without let or hindrance. + +These centuries of feudal rule had, perhaps, given the people of Naples +a somewhat different temper from that possessed by the people in other +parts of Italy. There had been a firm centre of authority, and, in spite +of the troubles which had rent the kingdom, the people in the main had +been little concerned with them. They had been taught to obey, and +generally their rights had been respected. Now, under King Robert, the +populace was enjoying one long holiday, the like of which could have +been seen in no other part of Italy at that time. The natural languor of +the climate and their intuitive appreciation of the lazy man's proverb, +_Dolce far niente_, made it easy for them to give themselves up to the +pleasures of the moment. All was splendor and feasting at the court, and +the castle Nuovo, where the king resided, was ever filled with a goodly +company. So the people took life easily; there was much dancing and +playing of guitars upon the Mole, by the side of the waters of that +glorious bay all shimmering in the moonlight, and the night was filled +with music and laughter. The beauty of the women was exceptional, and +the blood of the men was hot; passion was ill restrained, and the +green-eyed monster of jealousy hovered over all. Quick to love and quick +to anger, resentful in the extreme, suspicious and often treacherous, +Dan Cupid wrought havoc among them at times most innocently, and many a +_colpo di coltello_ [dagger thrust] was given under the influence of +love's frenzy. But the dance continued, the dresses were still of the +gayest colors, the bursts of laughter were unsubdued. + +The fair fame of the court of Naples had gone far afield, and not to +know of it and of its magnificence, even in those days of difficult +communication, was so damaging a confession among gentlefolk, that all +were loath to make it. Here, it was known, the arts of peace were +encouraged, while war raged on all sides, and here it was that many +noble lords and ladies had congregated from all Europe to form part of +that gallant company and shine with its reflected splendor. King Robert +likewise held as feudal appanage the fair state of Provence in southern +France, rich in brilliant cities and enjoying much prosperity, until the +time of the ill-advised Albigensian Crusade, and communication between +the two parts of Robert's realm was constant. Naples was the centre, +however, and such was the elegance and courtesy of its court that it was +famed far and wide as a school of manners; and here it was that pages, +both highborn and of low estate, were sent by their patrons that they +might perfect themselves in courtly behavior. The open encouragement +which was accorded to the few men of letters of the time made Naples a +favorite resort for the wandering troubadours, and there they sang, to +rapturous applause, their songs of love and chivalry. Here in this +corner of Italy, where the dominant influences were those which came +from France, and where, in reality, French knights were the lords in +control, the order of chivalry existed as in the other parts of Europe, +but as it did not exist elsewhere in Italy. Transplanted to this +southern soil, however, knighthood failed to develop, to any marked +degree, those deeper qualities of loyalty, courtesy, and liberality +which shed so much lustre upon its institution elsewhere. Here, +unfortunately, mere gallantry seemed its essential attribute, and the +gallantry of this period, at its best, would show but little regard for +the moral standards of to-day. No one who has read the history of this +time can fail to be struck with the fact that on every hand there are +references to acts of immorality which seem to pass without censure. As +Hallam has said, many of the ladies of this epoch, in their desire for +the spiritual treasures of Rome, seem to have been neglectful of another +treasure which was in their keeping. Whether the gay gallant was knight +or squire, page or courtier, the feminine heart seems to have been +unable to withstand his wiles, and from Boccaccio to Rabelais the +deceived and injured husband was ever a butt of ridicule. Of course, +there was reason for all this; the ideals of wedded life were much +further from realization than they are to-day, and the sanctity of the +marriage relation was but at the beginning of its slow evolution, in +this part of the Western world. + +But within the walls of the huge castle Nuovo, which combined the +strength of a fortress with the elegance of a palace, it must not be +supposed that there was naught but gross sensuality. Court intrigue and +scandal there were in plenty, and there were many fair ladies in the +royal household who were somewhat free in the bestowal of their favors, +sumptuous banquets were spread, tournaments for trials of knightly skill +were held with open lists for all who might appear, but in the centre of +it all was the king, pleasure-loving, it is true, but still far more +than that. He it was who said: "For me, I swear that letters are dearer +to me than my crown; and were I obliged to renounce the one or the +other, I should quickly take the diadem from my brow." It was his +constant endeavor to show himself a generous and intelligent patron of +the arts. The interior of his palace had been decorated by the brush of +Giotto, one of the first great painters of Italy, and here in this home +of luxury and refinement he had gathered together the largest and most +valuable library then existing in Europe. + +When Petrarch was at the age of thirty-six he received a letter from the +Roman Senate, asking him to come to Rome that they might bestow upon him +the poet's crown of laurel. Before presenting himself for this honor, +however, to use his own words, he "decided first to visit Naples and +that celebrated king and philosopher, Robert, who was not more +distinguished as a ruler than as a man of learning. He was indeed the +only monarch of our age who was, at the same time, the friend of +learning and of virtue, and I trusted that he might correct such things +as he found to criticise in my work." Having learned the reason of the +great poet's visit, King Robert fixed a day for the consideration of +Petrarch's work; but, after a discussion which lasted from noon until +evening, it was found that more time would be necessary on account of +the many matters which came up, and so the two following days were +passed in the same manner. Then, at last, Petrarch was pronounced worthy +of the honor which had been offered him, and there was much feasting at +the palace that night, and much song, and much music, and much wine was +spilled. + +Not the least attentive listener in those three days of discussion and +argument was the Princess Joanna, the granddaughter of the king, his +ward and future heir. For in the midst of his life of agreeable +employment, _Il buon Re Roberto_ had been suddenly called upon to mourn +the loss of his only son, Robert, Duke of Calabria, who had been as +remarkable for his accomplishments--according to the writers of +chronicles--as for his goodness and love of justice. Two daughters +survived him, Joanna and Maria, and they were left to the care of the +grandfather, who transferred to them all the affection he had felt for +the son. In 1331, when Joanna was about four years old, the king +declared her the heiress of his crown; and at a solemn feudal gathering +in the great audience room of the castle Nuovo, he called upon his +nobles and barons to take oaths of allegiance to her as the Duchess of +Calabria; and this they did, solemnly and in turn, each bending the knee +in token of submission. With the title of Duchess of Calabria, she was +to inherit all her father's right to the thrones of Naples and +Provence. + +As soon as she came under his guardianship, the education of the small +Joanna became the constant preoccupation of her kindly grandfather, for +he was filled with enthusiasm for the manifold advantages of learning, +and spared no pains to surround the little duchess with the best +preceptors in art and in literature that Italy afforded. All +contemporary writers agree that the young girl gave quick and ready +response to these influences, and she soon proved her possession of most +unusual talents, combined with a great love for literary study; it is +said that, at the age of twelve, she was not only distinguished by her +superior endowments, but already surpassed in understanding not only +every other child of her own age, but many women of mature years. To +these mental accomplishments, we are told that there were added a gentle +and engaging temper, a graceful person, a beautiful countenance, and the +most captivating manners. And so things went along, and the old king did +all in his power to shield her from the corrupting influences which were +at work all about her. In that he seems to have been successful, for +there is every reason to believe that she grew up to womanhood untainted +by her surroundings. + +Various forces were at work, however, which were soon to undermine the +peace and tranquillity of the gay court, and plunge it into deepest woe. +It should be known that by a former division of the possessions of the +royal house of Naples, which had been dictated by the whim of a partial +father, the elder branch of that house had been allotted the kingdom of +Hungary, which had been acquired originally as the dowry of a princess, +while to the younger branch of the house Naples and Provence had been +given. Such a division of the royal domain had never satisfied those of +the elder branch of the family, and for many years the rulers of Hungary +had cast longing eyes upon the fair states to the south. The good King +Robert, desiring in his heart to atone for the slight which had been put +upon them, decided to marry Joanna to his grand-nephew Andreas, the +second son of Carobert, King of Hungary, thus restoring to the elder +branch of the family the possession of the throne of Naples without +endangering the rights of his granddaughter, and at the same time +extinguishing all the feuds and jealousies which had existed for so long +a time between the two kingdoms. So the young Hungarian prince was +brought to the Neapolitan court at once, and the two children were +married. Joanna was but five years old and Andreas but seven when this +ill-fated union was celebrated, with all possible splendor and in the +midst of great rejoicing. The children were henceforth brought up +together with the idea that they were destined for each other, but as +the years grew on apace they displayed the most conflicting qualities of +mind and soul. + +A careful analysis of the court life during these youthful days will +reveal the fact that its essential characteristics may be summed up in +the three phrases--love of literary study, love of gallantry, and love +of intrigue; it so happens that each of these phases is typified by a +woman, Joanna representing the first, Maria,--the natural daughter of +Robert,--the second, and Philippa the Catanese, the third. Much has been +said already of Joanna's love for study and of her unusual attainments, +but a word or two more will be necessary to complete the picture. Her +wonderful gifts and her evident delight in studious pursuits were no +mere show of childish precocity which would disappear with her maturer +growth, for they ever remained with her and made her one of the very +exceptional women of her day and generation. Imagine her there in the +court of her grandfather, where no woman before her had ever shown the +least real and intelligent interest in his intellectual occupations. It +was a great thing, of course, for all the ladies of the court to have +some famous poet come and tarry with them for a while; but they thought +only of a possible _affaire d'amour_, and odes and sonnets descriptive +of their charms. There was little appreciative understanding of +literature or poetry among them, and they were quite content to sip +their pleasures from a cup which was not of the Pierian spring. Joanna, +however, seemed to enter earnestly into the literary diversions of the +king, and many an hour did they spend together in the great library of +the palace, unfolding now one and now another of the many parchment +rolls and poring over their contents. Three learned languages there were +at this time in this part of the world, the Greek, the Latin, and the +Arabic, and the day had just begun to dawn when the common idioms of +daily speech were beginning to assert their literary value. So it is but +natural to assume that the majority of these manuscripts were in these +three languages, and that it required no small amount of learning on +Joanna's part to be able to decipher them. + +Far different from this little princess was Maria of Sicily, a woman of +many charms, but vain and inconstant, and satisfied with the frivolities +of life. Indeed, it must be said that it is solely on account of her +love for the poet Boccaccio, after her marriage to the Count of Artois, +that she is known to-day. Boccaccio had journeyed to the south from +Florence, as the fame of King Robert's court had reached him, and he was +anxious to bask in its sunlight and splendor, and to bring to some +fruition his literary impulses, which were fast welling up within him. +And to Naples he came as the spring was retouching the hills with green +in 1333, and there he remained until late in the year 1341, when he was +forced to return to his home in the north. His stay in Naples had done +much for him, though perhaps less for him personally than for his +literary muse, as he plunged headlong into the mad whirlpool of social +pleasures and enjoyed to the utmost the life of this gay court, which +was enlivened and adorned by the wit of men and the beauty of women. Not +until the Easter eve before his departure, however, did he chance to see +the lady who was to influence to such a great degree his later career. +It was in the church of San Lorenzo that Boccaccio saw Maria of Sicily, +and it was a case of love at first sight, the _coup de foudre_ that +Mlle. de Scudery has talked about; and if the man's word may be worthy +of belief under such circumstances, the lady returned his passion with +an equal ardor. It was not until after much delay, however, that she was +willing to yield to the amorous demands of the poet, and then she did so +in spite of her honor and her duty as the wife of another. But this +delay but opened the way for an endless succession of gallant words and +acts, wherein the art of coquetry was called upon to play no unimportant +part. Between these two people there was no sincere friendship such as +existed later between Boccaccio and Joanna, and they were but playing +with the dangerous fire of passion, which they ever fanned to a greater +heat. + +Philippa the Catanese, as she is called in history, stands for the +spirit of intrigue in this history; and well she may, as she has a most +wonderful and tragic history. The daughter of a humble fisherman of +Catania in Sicily, she had been employed by Queen Violante, the first +wife of Robert, in the care of her infant son, the Duke of Calabria. Of +wonderful intelligence for one in her station, gifted beyond her years, +and beautiful and ambitious, she won the favor of the queen to such a +degree that she soon became her chief attendant. Her foster-child, the +Duke of Calabria, who tenderly loved her, married her to the seneschal +of his palace and appointed her first lady in waiting to his wife; and +thus it happened that she was present at the birth of Joanna, and was +the first to receive her in her arms. Naturally enough, then, King +Robert made her the governess and custodian of the small duchess after +her father's death. This appointment of a woman of low origin to so high +a position in the court gave offence to many of the highborn ladies +there, and none could understand the reason for it all. Many dark rumors +were afloat, and, although the matter was discussed in undertones, it +was the general opinion that she had been aided by magic or sorcery, and +the bolder spirits said that she was in daily communication with the +Evil One. However that may be, she was faithful to her trust, and it was +only through her too zealous scheming in behalf of her young mistress +that she was brought to her tragic end. + +As the two children, Andreas and Joanna, grew up to maturity, it became +more and more apparent that there was no bond of sympathy between them. +Andreas had as his preceptor a monk named Fra Roberto, who was the open +enemy of Philippa, and her competitor in power. It was his constant aim +to keep Andreas in ignorance and to inspire him with a dislike for the +people of Naples, whom he was destined to govern, and to this end he +made him retain his Hungarian dress and customs. Petrarch, who made a +second visit to Naples as envoy from the pope, has this to say of Fra +Roberto: "May Heaven rid the soil of Italy of such a pest! A horrible +animal with bald head and bare feet, short in stature, swollen in +person, with worn-out rags torn studiously to show his naked skin, who +not only despises the supplications of the citizens, but, from the +vantage ground of his feigned sanctity, treats with scorn the embassy +of the pope." King Robert saw too late the mistake he had committed, as +the sorrow and trouble in store for the young wife were only too +apparent. To remedy, so far as was in his power, this unhappy condition +of affairs, he called again a meeting of his feudal lords; and this time +he had them swear allegiance to Joanna alone in her own right, formally +excluding the Hungarians from any share in the sovereign power. While +gratifying to the Neapolitans, this act could but excite the enmity of +the Hungarian faction under Fra Roberto, and it paved the way for much +intrigue and much treachery in the future. + +When King Robert died in 1343, Joanna became Queen of Naples and +Provence at the age of fifteen; but on account of her youth and +inexperience, and because of the machinations of the hateful monk, she +was kept in virtual bondage, and the once peaceful court was rent by the +bitterest dissensions. Through it all, however, Joanna seems to have +shown no special dislike to Andreas, who, indeed, was probably innocent +of any participation in the scheming of his followers; Petrarch compares +the young queen and her consort to two lambs in the midst of wolves. The +time for Joanna's formal coronation was fixed for September 20, 1345, +and some weeks before, while the palace was being decorated and prepared +for this great event, the young couple had retired to the Celestine +monastery at Aversa, some fifteen miles away. Joanna, who was soon to +become a mother, was much benefited by this change of scene, and all was +peace and happiness about them, with nothing to indicate the awful +tragedy which the future held in store. On the night of September 18th, +two days before the coronation was to take place, Andreas was called +from the queen's apartment by the information that a courier from Naples +was waiting to see him upon urgent business. In the dark corridor +without, he was at once seized by some person or persons whose identity +has never been made clear, who stopped his mouth with their gloves and +then strangled him and suspended his body from a balcony. The cord, +however, was not strong enough to stand the strain, and broke, and the +body fell into the garden below. There the assassins would have buried +it upon the spot, if they had not been put to flight by a servant of the +palace, who gave the alarm. + +This deed of violence gave rise to much suspicion, and the assertion is +often made that Joanna had at least connived at her husband's unhappy +end. Indeed, there is a story--which is without foundation, however--to +the effect that Andreas found her one day twisting a silken rope with +which it was her intention to have him strangled; and when he asked her +what she was doing, she replied, with a smile: "Twisting a rope with +which to hang you!" But it is difficult to believe the truth of any of +these imputations. If she were cruel enough to desire her husband's +death, and bold enough to plan for it, she was also intelligent enough +to execute her purpose in a manner less foolish and less perilous to +herself. Never, up to this time, had she given the slightest indication +of such cruelty in her character, and never after that time was the +slightest suspicion cast upon her for any other evil act. How, then, +could it be possible that Andreas had been murdered by her order? +Whatever the cause of this ferocious outbreak, the Hungarian faction, +struck with consternation, fled in all directions, not knowing what to +expect. The next morning Joanna returned to the castle Nuovo, where she +remained until after the birth of her son. During this period of +confinement, she wrote a letter to the King of Hungary, her +father-in-law, telling him what had taken place. In this epistle she +makes use of the expression: + + "My good husband, with whom I have ever associated without strife;" + and she declares regarding her own sorrow: "I have suffered so much + anguish for the death of my beloved husband that, stunned by grief, + I had well-nigh died of the same wounds!" + +As soon as her strength would permit, Joanna summoned a council of her +advisers and signed a commission giving Hugh de Balzo full authority to +seek out the murderers and punish them. Suspicion at once fell upon +Philippa the Catanese, and upon other members of her family, as her +hatred of the Hungarians was well known, and her past reputation for +intrigue and mystery only added strength to the accusation. Philippa, +who, since the death of King Robert, had been created Countess of +Montoni, was now more powerful than ever at the court, and seemed to +invite the danger which was hanging over her, in the belief that no harm +could touch her head. But her calculations went astray, as Balzo +appeared one morning at the palace gate, produced evidence incriminating +her and her intimates, and dragged them off to prison, where they were +put to death in the most approved Neapolitan fashion--with lingering +torments and tortures. From that day the character of the young queen +underwent a most decided change. Hitherto she had been gay, frank, and +confiding, now she became serious and reserved. She had always been +gracious and compassionate, and rather the equal than the queen of those +about her,--according to Boccaccio's description,--but treachery had +come so near to her, and her trusted Philippa had proved so vile a +character, that she never after gave her entire confidence to any +person, man or woman. + +Some two years after the death of Andreas, for reasons of state, she +married her second cousin, Louis of Taranto, a brave and handsome prince +of whom she had long been fond. But she was not to be allowed to enjoy +her newly found happiness in peace, as her domains were soon invaded by +Louis, the elder brother of Andreas, who had recently ascended his +father's throne as King of Hungary, and who now came to avenge his +brother's death and seize Naples by way of indemnity. Joanna, deserted +by many of her nobles in these dire straits, and not knowing what to +do,--as her husband seems to have played no part in this +emergency,--decided upon flight as the only means of safety, and, +embarking with her entire household in three galleys, she set sail for +Provence, where loyal hearts awaited her coming. There she went at once +to Avignon, where Pope Clement VI. was holding his court with the utmost +splendor; and in the presence of the pope and all the cardinals, she +made answer in her own behalf to the charges which had been made against +her by the Hungarian king. Her address, which she had previously +composed in Latin, has been called the "most powerful specimen of female +oratory" ever recorded in history; and the Hungarian ambassadors, who +had been sent to plead against her, were so confounded by her eloquence +that they attempted no reply to her defence. + +In the meantime, Naples, in the hands of the invaders, had been stained +with blood, and then ravaged by the great plague of which Boccaccio has +given us a picture. Revolting at length under the harsh measures of the +Hungarian governor who had been left in charge by Louis, the Neapolitans +expelled him and his followers from the city, and sent an urgent +invitation to Joanna to return to her former home. Right gladly was the +summons answered, and with a goodly retinue of brave knights who had +sworn to die in her service she returned to her people, who welcomed her +homecoming with unbounded enthusiasm. Now the court resumed its gayety +and animation, and again it became, as in the days of King Robert, a +far-famed school of courtesy. Alphonse Daudet gives us a hint of all +this in his exquisite short story entitled _La Mule du Pape_, where he +tells of the young page Tistet Vedene, _qui descendait le Rhone en +chantant sur une galere papale et s'en allait a la cour de Naples avec +la troupe de jeunes nobles que la ville envoyait tous les ans pres de la +reine Jeanne pour s'exercer a la diplomatie et aux belles manieres_ [who +descended the Rhone, singing, upon a papal galley, and went away to the +court of Naples with the company of young nobles whom the city (of +Avignon) sent every year to Queen Joanna for training in diplomacy and +fine manners]. There was further war with the Hungarians, it is true, +but peace was established, Sicily was added to Joanna's domain, and +there was general tranquillity. + +Twice again did Joanna marry, urged to this course by her ministers, but +death removed her consort each time, and in the end she was put into +captivity by her relative and adopted child, Charles of Durazzo, who had +forsaken her to follow the fortunes of the King of Hungary, and who had +invaded Naples and put forth a claim to the throne, basing it upon some +scheming papal grant which was without legality. Charles had her taken +to the castle of Muro, a lonely fortress in the Apennines, some sixty +miles from Naples, and there, her spirit of defiance unsubdued, she was +murdered by four common soldiers in the latter part of May, 1382, after +a reign of thirty-nine years. So came to an end this brilliant queen, +the most accomplished woman of her generation, and with her downfall the +lamp of learning was dimmed for a time in southern Italy, where the din +of arms and the discord of civic strife gave no tranquillity to those +who loved the arts of peace. + + + + +Chapter III + +Women and the Church + + +Near the close of the first half of the fourteenth century, after the +terrible ravages of the great plague had abated, the people were +prostrate with fear and terrorized by the merciless words of the +priests, who had not been slow to declare the pestilence as a mark of +the wrath of God and who were utilizing the peculiar possibilities of +this psychological moment for the advancement of the interests of the +Church. In the churches--the wondrous mediaeval structures which were +newly built at that time--songs of spasmodic grief like the _Stabat +Mater_, or of tragic terror such as the _Dies irae_, were echoing under +the high-vaulted arches, and the fear of God was upon the people. In a +great movement of this kind it is but to be expected that women played +no little part; their more sensitive natures caused them to be more +easily affected than were the men by the threats of everlasting torment +which were constantly being made by the priests for the benefit of all +those who refused to renounce worldly things and come within the +priestly fold. There was a most remarkable show of contrition and +penitence at this time, and thousands of persons, men and women of all +classes, were so deeply moved that they went about in companies, beating +themselves and each other for the glory of God, and singing vociferously +their melancholy dirges. These were the Flagellants, and there were +crowds of them all over Europe, the number in France alone at this time +being estimated at eight hundred thousand. One of the direct results of +this state of religious excitement was an increased interest, on the +part of women, in religious service, and a renewed desire to devote +themselves to a religious life. + +The conditions of conjugal life had been such throughout the feudal +period that for many years there had been a slowly growing sentiment +that marriage was but a manner of self-abandonment to the world, the +flesh, and the devil, and many women from time to time were influenced +to put away worldly things and seek peace in the protection of some +religious order. Tertullian had long before condemned marriage, and +Saint Jerome was most bitter against it. The various abuses of the +marriage relation were such that those of pure hearts and minds could +but pause and ask themselves whether or not this was an ideal +arrangement of human life; and, all in all, there was still much to be +done by means of educational processes before men and women could lead a +life together which might be of mutual advantage to all parties +concerned. Still, it must not be supposed that this tendency on the part +of women to affiliate themselves with conventual orders was a movement +of recent origin. + +Since the earliest days of Christianity women had been especially active +in the work of the Church, and there were countless martyrs among them +even as far back as the time of the Roman persecutions. In the old days +of pagan worship they had been allowed their part in religious +ceremonies, and with the development of the religious institutions of +Christendom this active participation had steadily increased. But, more +than this, when it became necessary to withdraw from the corrupt +atmosphere of everyday affairs in order to lead a good life, it came to +pass that near the dwellings of the first monks and hermits who had +sought the desert and solitude for their lives of meditation were to be +found shelters for their wives and sisters and daughters who had +followed them to their retreats to share in their holy lives. + +Slowly, as in the case of the men, the conventual orders for women were +formed in these communities and regulated by such rules as seemed best +suited to their needs. At the outset it may be stated that celibacy as a +prerequisite to admission to such orders was required of women before it +was of men; and so in one way the profession of a nun antedates the +corresponding profession of a monk, as the idea of an unmarried life had +already made much progress in the Christian Church among women before it +came into vogue among the men. It may be that the women of that time +were inclined to take literally that chapter in Paul's first Epistle to +the Corinthians wherein it is said: "There is this difference, also, +between a wife and a virgin: the unmarried woman careth for the things +of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit; but she +that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please +her husband;" but, however that may be, these orders of unmarried women +soon became numerous, and severe were the penalties imposed upon all +those who broke the vow of chastity when once it had been made. The +consecration of a nun was a most solemn occasion, and the rites had to +be administered by a bishop, or by one acting under episcopal authority. +The favorite times for the celebration of this ceremony were the great +Church festival days in honor of the Apostles, and at Epiphany and +Easter. When the nuns were consecrated, a fillet was placed in their +hair--a purple ribbon or a slender band of gold--to represent a crown +of victory, and the tresses, which were gathered up and tied together, +showed the difference between this bride of Christ and a bride of earth, +with her hair falling loose about her shoulders after the Roman fashion. +Then over all was placed the long, flowing veil, as a sign that the nun +belonged to Christ alone. + +The ordinary rules of conduct which were prescribed for the inmates of +the nunneries resemble in many ways those which were laid down for the +men; and those first followed are ascribed to Scholastica, a sister of +the great Saint Benedict, who established the order of Benedictines at +Monte Cassino about 529; according to popular tradition, this holy woman +was esteemed as the foundress of nunneries in Europe. For the regulation +of the women's orders Saint Augustine formulated twenty-four rules, +which he prescribed should be read every week, and later Saint Benedict +revised them and extended them so that there were finally seventy-two +rules in addition to the Ten Commandments. The nuns were to obey their +superior implicitly, silence and humility were enjoined upon them, head +and eyes were to be kept lowered at all times, the hours for going to +bed and for rising were fixed, and there were minute regulations +regarding prayers, watches, and devotions. Furthermore, they were rarely +allowed to go out of their convents, they were to possess nothing of +their own, mirrors were not tolerated, being conducive to personal +vanity, and the luxury of a bath was granted only in case of sickness. + +As with the ordinary rules of conduct, so the ordinary routine of daily +life in a nunnery corresponded to that of a monastery. Hour by hour, +there was the same periodical rotation of work and religious service, +with short intervals at fixed times for rest or food. The usual +occupation in the earliest times had to do with the carding and +spinning of wool, and Saint Jerome, with his characteristic +earnestness, advises the nuns to have the wool ever in their hands. +Saint Augustine gives us the picture of a party of nuns standing at the +door of their convent and handing out the woollen garments which they +have made for the old monks who are standing there waiting to receive +them, with food to give to the nuns in exchange. The simplicity of this +scene recalls the epitaph which is said to have been written in honor of +a Roman housewife who lived in the simple days of the Republic: "She +stayed at home and spun wool!" Somewhat later the nuns were called upon +to furnish the elegantly embroidered altar cloths which were used in the +churches, and, still later, in some places girls' schools were +established in the convents. + +In the eleventh century, the successful struggle which had been made by +Gregory VII., with the aid of the Countess Matilda, for the principle of +papal supremacy exerted a marked influence upon the religious life of +the time and gave an undoubted impetus to the idea of conventual life +for women, as during this period many new cloisters were established. It +will be readily understood that the deeds of the illustrious Tuscan +countess had been held up more than once to the gaze of the people of +Italy as worthy of their emulation, and many women were unquestionably +induced in this way to give their lives to the Church. In the Cistercian +order alone there were more than six thousand cloisters for women by the +middle of the twelfth century. + +It was during this same eleventh century, when a woman had helped to +strengthen the power of the Church, that the influence of the +Madonna--of Mary, the mother of Christ--began to make a profound +impression upon the form of worship. A multitude of Latin hymns may be +found which were written in honor of the Virgin as far back as the +fifth century, and in the mediaeval romances of chivalry, which were so +often tinged with religious mysticism, she often appears as the Empress +and Queen of Heaven. All through the mediaeval period, in fact, there was +a constant endeavor to prove that the Old Testament contained allusions +to Mary, and, with this in view, Albertus Magnus put together a +_Marienbibel_ in the twelfth century, and Bonaventura edited a +_Marienpsalter_. Therein, the gates of Paradise, Noah's ark, Jacob's +ladder, the ark of the Covenant, Aaron's rod, Solomon's throne, and many +other things, were held up as examples and foreshadowings of the coming +of the Blessed Virgin; and in the sermons, commentaries, and homilies of +the time the same ideas were continually emphasized. A collection of the +Latin appellations which were bestowed upon the Madonna during this time +contains the following terms, which reveal the fervor and temper of the +age: _Dei genitrix_, _virgo virginum_, _mater Christi_, _mater divinae +gratiae_, _mater potens_, _speculum justitiae_, _vas spirituale_, _rosa +mystica_, _turris davidica_, _domus aurea_, _janua coeli_, _regina +peccatorum_, _regina apostolorum_, _consolatrix afflictorum_, and +_regina sanctorum omnium_. + +The Benedictines had consecrated themselves to the service of Mary since +the time of the Crusades, and, beginning with the eleventh century, many +religious orders and brotherhoods were organized in honor of Mary. The +Order of the Knights of the Star was founded in 1022, and the Knights of +the Lily were organized in 1048. About the middle of the twelfth century +the Order of the Holy Maid of Evora and that of the Knights of Alcantara +were established, and others followed. In 1149 Pope Celestine III. +chartered the Order of the Holy Virgin, for the service of a hospital in +Siena; in 1218, after a revelation from on high, the Order of the Holy +Mary of Mercy was founded by Peter Nolascus--Raymond von +Pennaforte--for the express purpose of giving aid and freedom to +captives. In 1233 seven noble Florentines founded the Order of the +Servants of Mercy, adopting Saint Augustine's rules of conduct, and they +dwelt in the convent of the Annunziata, in Florence. In 1285 Philip +Benizio founded a similar order for women, and, soon after, the pious +Juliana Falconeri instituted for women a second order of the same kind. +There was a constant multiplication of these orders vowed to the service +of the Madonna as the centuries passed, and the idea of Madonna worship +became more firmly fixed. + +No account of Madonna worship can be considered complete, however, +without some reference to the influence which it exerted upon the art of +the time. Madonna pictures first appeared in the East, where the worship +of such images had gained a firm foothold as early as the ninth century, +but long before that time pictures of the Mother of God were known and +many of them had become quite famous. Saint Luke the Evangelist is +generally considered as the first of the religious painters, and the +Vladimir Church at Moscow is in possession of a Madonna which is +supposed to be the work of his hand. The Eastern Church was the first to +feel the effect of this outburst of religious art, and it is but natural +to find some of its earliest examples in various other Russian cities, +such as Kieff, Kazan, and Novgorod. Bronze reliefs of the Virgin were +also common, and in many a crude form and fashion this newly aroused +sentiment of Christian art sought to find adequate expression. The +Western Church soon followed this movement in every detail, and then by +slow degrees upon Italian soil began that evolution in artistic +conception and artistic technique which was to culminate in the +effulgent glory of Raphael's Sistine Madonna. It was the Emperor +Justinian's conquest of Italy which "sowed the new art seed in a +fertile field," to use Miss Hurl's expression; but inasmuch as artistic +endeavor shows that same lack of originality which was characteristic of +all other forms of intellectual activity at this time, the germ took +root but slowly, and for a number of centuries servile imitations of the +highly decorated and decidedly soulless Byzantine Virgins were very +common. One of these paintings may be found in almost every church +throughout the length and breadth of Italy; but when you have seen one +you have seen them all, for they all have the same expression. The eyes +are generally large and ill shaped, the nose is long, the face is wan +and meagre, and there is a peevish and almost saturnine expression in +the wooden features which shows but slight affection for the +Christ-child, and which could have afforded but scant comfort to any who +sought to find there a gleam of tender pity. These pictures were +generally half-length, against a background of gold leaf, which was at +first laid on solidly, but which at a later period was adorned with tiny +cherub figures. The folds of the drapery were stiff and heavy, and the +whole effect was dull and lifeless. But no matter how inadequate such a +picture may seem to us to-day, and no matter how much it seems to lack +the depth and sincerity of reality, it possessed for the people of the +Middle Ages a mystic charm which had its influence. These pictures were +often supposed to have miraculous power, and there are many legends and +wonderful tales concerning them. + +The first really great master among Italian painters, however, was +Giovanni Cimabue, who lived in Florence during the last part of the +thirteenth century; he infused into his work a certain vigor and +animation which were even more than a portent of the revival which was +to come. Other Italian painters there had been before him, it is true, +and particularly Guido of Siena and Giunta of Pisa, but they fail to +show in their work that spirit of originality and that breadth of +conception which were so characteristic of their successors. Throughout +the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries there is an evident effort after +an artistic expression of the deeper things of life which shall in some +way correspond to the spiritual realities. The yearning human heart +which was being solaced by the beautiful story of Christ and the mother +Mary, and which was filled with religious enthusiasm at the thought of +this Virgin enthroned in the heavens, was growing weary of the set +features and stolid look of the Madonna of Byzantine art, and dreaming +mystic dreams of the beauty of the Christ mother as she must have been +in real life. She became the centre of thought and speculation, prayers +and supplications were addressed to her, and more than once did she +appear in beatific vision to some illumined worshipper. It was in the +midst of this glow of feeling that Cimabue painted his colossal and +wondrous _Madonna and Child with the Angels_, the largest altar piece +which had been produced up to that time. Cimabue was then living in the +Borgo Allegri, one of the suburbs of Florence, and there in his studio +this great painting slowly came into existence. As soon as it assumed +some definite shape its fame was noised abroad, and many were the +curious ones who came to watch the master at his task. The mere fact +that this painting was upon a larger scale than any other picture of the +kind which had before been attempted in Italy was enough to arrest the +attention of the most indifferent; and as the figure warmed into life +and the face of the Madonna became as that of a holy woman, human and +yet divine in its pity, and with a tender and melancholy expression, the +popular acclaim with which the picture was hailed was unprecedented, and +Cimabue became at once the acknowledged master of his time. So great +was the joy and appreciation with which this Madonna was received, that +a beautiful story is told to the effect that it was only after its +completion that the name Allegri [joyous] was given to the locality in +which the work was done; but, unfortunately, the facts do not bear out +the tale--Baedeker and other eminent authorities to the contrary +notwithstanding. Before this picture was taken to the beautiful chapel +of the Rucellai in the Chiesa Santa Maria Novella in Florence, where it +can be seen to-day, the French nobleman Charles of Anjou went to inspect +it, and with him went a stately company of lords and ladies. Later, when +it was removed to the church, a solemn religious procession was +organized for the occasion. Preceded by trumpeters, under a rain of +flowers, and followed by the whole populace, it went from the Borgo +Allegri to the church, and there it was installed with proper ceremony. + +The list of holy women who, by means of their good lives and their +deeds, helped on the cause of the Church during this early time is a +long one; in almost every community there was a local saint of great +renown and wonderful powers. Ignorance, superstition, and credulity had, +perhaps, much to do with the miraculous power which these saints +possessed, but there can be no doubt that most, if not all, of the +legends which concern them had some good foundation in fact. The holy +Rosalia of Palermo is one of the best known of these mediaeval saints, +and even to-day there is a yearly festival in her honor. For many years +she had lived in a grotto near the city; there, by her godly life and +many kind deeds, she had inspired the love and reverence of the whole +community. When the pest came in 1150--that awful black death which +killed the people by hundreds--they turned to her in their despair and +begged her to intercede with them and take away this curse of God, as it +was believed to be. Through an entire night, within her grotto, the good +Rosalia prayed that the plague might be taken away and the people +forgiven, and the story has it that her prayers were answered at once. +At her death she was made the patron saint of Palermo, and the lonely +grotto became a sacred spot which was carefully preserved, and which may +be seen to-day by all who go to visit it on Monte Pellegrino. + +In the first part of the thirteenth century two new orders for women +grew up in connection with the recently founded orders of the +Franciscans and Dominicans; the story of the foundation of the former +sisterhood in particular is one of striking interest. This organization +originated in 1212 and its members were called Les Clarisses, after +Clara, the daughter of Favorino Seisso, a knight of Assisi. Clara, +though rich and accustomed to a life of indolence and pleasure, was so +moved by the preaching of Saint Francis, that she sent for this holy man +and conversed with him at great length upon religious topics. Finally, +after a short but natural hesitation, she made up her mind to take the +veil and establish an order for women which should embody many of the +ideas for which the Franciscan order stood. The Franciscans, in addition +to the usual vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, laid special +stress upon preaching and ministry to the soul and body. After the +conversion was complete, she was taken by Saint Francis and his brother, +each one bearing a lighted taper, to the nearest convent, and there, in +the dimly lighted chapel, the glittering garments of her high estate +were laid upon the altar as she put on the sombre Franciscan garb and +cut her beautiful hair. + +In the fourteenth century the interest taken by women in the conventual +life increased, and one of the most powerful influences in the +religious life of the time was Catherine of Siena, a creature of light +in the midst of the dark turmoil and strife which characterize this +portion of Italian history. Catherine was the beautiful and high-minded +daughter of a rich merchant of Siena, and at a very early age showed a +decided inclination for the religious life. At the age of twelve she +began to have visions and declared herself the bride of Christ; and +through her firmness she overcame the opposition of her parents and the +scorn of her friends, and made definite preparations for withdrawal from +worldly things. A small cell was arranged for her use in her father's +house, and there she would retire for prayer and meditation. At Siena, +in 1365, at the age of eighteen, she entered a Dominican sisterhood of +the third order, where she vowed to care for the poor, the sick, and for +those in prison. + +In 1374 she went out in the midst of the plague, not only nursing the +sick, but preaching to the crowds in the street, giving them words of +cheer and comfort, and to such effect--according to the testimony of a +contemporary writer--that thousands were seen clustered about her, +intent upon what she was saying. So great had her wisdom become that she +was called upon to settle disputes, and invitations came for her to +preach in many neighboring cities. Furthermore, on one occasion she was +sent on the pope's business to Arezzo and Lucca. + +At this time the popes were established in Avignon, in southern France, +and thither she went on a visit in 1376. On her departure, the chief +magistrate of Florence besought her influence with the pope, who had put +him under the ban of the Church. At Avignon she was received with +greatest consideration by the College of Cardinals, as well as by the +pope, for all had confidence in her good sense and judgment. The story +is told, however, that some of the prelates at the papal court, envious +on account of her influence with the pope, and wishing to put her +learning to the test, engaged her in a religious discussion, hoping to +trip her in some matters of doctrine or Church history. But she reasoned +with the best of them so calmly and with such evident knowledge, that +they were compelled to acknowledge her great wisdom. In the fall of that +same year, as the result of her arguments and representations, Pope +Gregory XI. was induced to go back to Rome, the ancient seat of the +Church. Catherine left Avignon before the time fixed for the pope's +departure; but before returning to Siena, she went to Genoa, where +several of her followers were very sick and in need of her care. There +in Genoa, Gregory, on his way to Rome, stopped to visit her, being in +need of further counsel. Such an act on the part of the pope is ample +proof of her unusual ability and her influential position. + +The pope once in Rome, she entreated him to bring peace to Italy. At his +request, she went to Florence to restore order there. In that city, +however, she found a populace hostile to the papal party, and her +protests and entreaties were of little avail. Upon one occasion, the +crowd demanded her life by fire or sword, and so fierce did their +opposition become that even the pope's friends were afraid to give her +shelter; it was only through her great calmness and fearlessness that +her life was spared. Gregory's death followed soon after, and with his +demise Catherine ceased to occupy so conspicuous a place in the public +affairs of her time. Gregory's successor, Urban VI., was clever enough +to summon Catherine to Rome again, that she might speak in his behalf +and overcome the outspoken opposition and hostility of some of the +cardinals, who had declared in favor of Clement VII. in his stead, and +had even gone so far as to declare him elected. Catherine was not able +to effect a conciliation, however, and here began the papal schism, as +the discontented cardinals continued their opposition with renewed vigor +and maintained Clement VII. as anti-pope. She was more successful in +another affair, as, immediately after her trip to Rome, in 1378 she +induced the rebellious Florentines to come to terms of peace with Urban. + +The remaining two years of her life were spent in labors for her +Dominican order, and she visited several cities in its behalf. At the +time of her death, it was commonly reported that her body worked a +number of miracles. The authenticity of these supernatural events, +however, was ever somewhat in doubt, as the Franciscans always stoutly +denied the claims that were made by the Dominicans in regard to this +affair. Catherine was canonized in 1461, and April 30th is the special +day in each year devoted to her memory. Among the other celebrated nuns +and saints of the fourteenth century may be mentioned the Blessed +Marina, who founded the cloister of Saint Matthew at Spoleta; the +Blessed Cantuccia, a Benedictine abbess; and the Holy Humilitas, abbess +of the Order of Vallombrosa at Florence; but none of them compare in +pious works or in worldly reputation with the wise and hard-working +Catherine of Siena. + +In the fifteenth century there was a still further increase of the +religious orders for both men and women, which came with the continual +extension of the field of religious activity; for the mother Church was +no laggard at this time, and never ceased to advance her own interests. +In this general period there were three nuns in Italy, each bearing the +name of Catherine, who by their saintly lives did much for the uplifting +of those about them. The first of this trio was Catherine, daughter of +Giovanni Vigeo. Though born in Ferrara, she was always spoken of as +Catherine of Bologna, as it was in the latter city that she spent the +greater part of her long and useful life. There she was for many years +at the head of a prosperous convent belonging to the nuns of the Order +of Clarissa, and there it was that she had her wonderful visions and +dreamed the wonderful dreams, which she carefully wrote down with her +own hand in the year 1438. For more than threescore years after this +period of illumination she continued in her position, where she was ever +an example of godliness and piety. Her death came on March 9, 1463; and +although her great services to the cause of religion were recognized at +this time, and openly commended by the pope, it was not until May 22, +1712, that she was finally canonized by Clement IX. + +The second Catherine was Catherine of Pallanza, which is a little town +near Novara in Piedmont, some thirty miles west of Milan. During the +year of the great pest, her immediate family was completely wiped away, +and she was left homeless and with few friends to guide her with words +of counsel. Her nearest relatives were in Milan, and to them she went at +first, until the first bitterness of her great grief had passed away. +Then, acting upon a decision which had long been made, and in spite of +the determined opposition of her friends, she took the veil. It was not +her intention, however, to enter one of the convents of Milan and live +the religious life in close contact with others of the same inclination, +for she was a recluse by disposition and desired, for at least a time, +to be left alone in her meditations. So she went outside the city walls +and established herself there upon a hillside, in a lonely place, +sheltered by a rude hut constructed in part by her own hands. Living in +this hermit fashion, she was soon an object of comment, and, moved by +her obvious goodness, many went to consult her from time to time in +regard to their affairs. She soon developed a gift of divination and +prophecy which was remarkable even for that time of easy credulity in +such matters, and was soon able to work wonders which, if the traditions +be true, were little short of miracles. As an illustration of her +wonderful power, it may be stated that it was commonly believed that by +means of her prayers children might be born in families where hitherto a +marriage had been without fruit. Also, she was able by means of her +persuasions to compel thieves to return stolen goods. In spite of the +seclusion of her life, the fame of Catherine of Pallanza was soon so +great that other women came to live about her; eventually these were +banded together in one congregation, governed according to the rules of +Saint Augustine. Catherine died in 1478, at the age of forty-one, and +somewhat later she was given a place among the saints of the Church, +April 6th being the special day devoted to her honor. + +There can be little doubt that Saint Catherine of Pallanza, in her +comparatively short life, really did more for the cause of true religion +than did the pious Saint Catherine of Bologna, who lived almost twice as +long within the walls of her quiet and tranquil convent. The one, though +a recluse at the beginning of her career, came more into actual contact +with people and things than did the smooth-faced, white-handed mother +superior in all the course of her calm and unruffled existence. +Catherine of Bologna was a model nun, a paragon of humility, devotion, +and holiness, but she was something quite apart from the stirring life +of the time. Her visions and trances were considered as closer ties +between herself and the hosts of heaven, and she was looked upon with +awe and wonderment. Catherine of Pallanza, by word and by precept, and +by means of the wonderful power which she possessed, exerted a far wider +influence for the good of men and women. + +Catherine of Genoa, the third of this series, and a member of the old +and distinguished Fieschi family, was born in 1447. Notwithstanding her +decided wish to enter a convent, and in spite of her repeated +protestations, she was compelled to marry, at the age of seventeen, +Julio Adorno, a man of tastes uncongenial to her. On account of her +slender figure and her delicate health, her parents had felt warranted +in their refusal to allow her to become a nun, but the husband of their +choice proved a greater trial to her strength and temper than the +cloister would have been. After ten years of suffering and brutal +neglect, Catherine became the mistress of her own fortunes, for at this +time her husband had the good grace to die. With an ample fortune at her +command, she was not slow to put it to some public good; and she at once +devoted her time and energies to the great hospital at Genoa, which was +sadly in need of such aid. In those days before the advent of the +trained nurse, the presence of such a woman in such a place was +unquestionably a source of great aid and comfort, both directly and +indirectly. Nor did she confine her favors to the inmates of this great +hospital, for she went about in the poorer quarters of the city, caring +for the sick wherever they were to be found. When alone, she was much +given to mystic contemplations, which took shape as dialogues between +the body and soul and which were later published with a treatise on the +_Theology of Love_ and a complete life of this noble woman. She died at +the age of sixty-three, on September 14, 1510. + +The careers of these three women illustrate in a very satisfactory way +the various channels through which the religious life of the time found +its expression. The life of Catherine of Bologna was practically apart +from the real life of her time; Catherine of Pallanza was sought out by +people who were in need of her help, and she was able to give them wise +counsel; Catherine of Genoa, representing the more practical side of the +Christian spirit, went among the poor, the sick, and the needy, doing +good on every hand. Membership in these women's orders was looked upon +as a special and sacred office whereby the nun became the mystic bride +of the Church, and it was no uncommon thing for the sisters, when racked +and tortured by the temptations of the world, to fall into these +ecstatic contemplative moods wherein they became possessed with powers +beyond those of earth. In that age of quite universal ignorance, it is +not to be wondered at that the emotional spirit was too strongly +developed in all religious observances, and, as we have seen, it +characterized, equally, the convent nun, the priestess of the mountain +side, and the sister of mercy. The hysterical element, however, was +often too strongly accentuated, and the nuns were often too intent upon +their own salvation to give heed to the needs of those about them. But +the sum total of their influence was for the best, and the examples of +moderation, self-control, and self-sacrifice which they afforded played +no little part in softening the crudities of mediaeval life and paved the +way for that day when religion was to become a rule of action as well as +an article of faith. + + + + +Chapter IV + +The Women of the Midi + + +It must have been part of the plan of the universe that the sunny +southern provinces of France should have given to the world a gay, +happy, and intellectual society wherein was seen for the first time a +concrete beginning in matters of social evolution. There the sky is +bright, the heavens are deep, the sun is warm, mountainous hills lend a +purple haze to the horizon, and the air is filled with the sweet perfume +of thyme and lavender; and there came to its maturity that brilliant +life of the Midi which has been so often told in song and story, and +which furnished inspiration for that wonderful poetry which has come +down to us from the troubadours. During the twelfth and thirteenth +centuries in particular, Provence was filled with rich and populous +cities, brilliant feudal courts abounded, and noble lords and ladies not +only encouraged song and poetry, but strove to become proficient in the +_gay science_, as it was called, for their own diversion. + +Under such conditions, it is not surprising to find that women occupy no +unimportant place in society and that their influence is far-reaching. +Love and its pursuit were the chief concern of the upper classes; and it +was but natural, when the intellectual condition of the time and its +many limitations are taken into consideration. What was there to +consume the leisure hours in that far-away time? There were no books, +there were no newspapers, as there are now, accurate knowledge was +impossible in scientific study, there was no theatre or opera--in short, +there were none of the things which form the usual means of relaxation +and amusement to-day; and so, as a matter of course, yielding to a most +human instinct, the tender passion became an all-absorbing topic, and +served without exception as the inspiration for poetic endeavor. Love +they could know and feel, and of it could they sing with understanding, +because they felt it to be real and personal, and subjectively true at +least. Of the great external world, however, their knowledge was +exceedingly crude; and the facts in nature had become so strangely +distorted, through centuries of ignorance and superstition, that the +solemnly pronounced verities of the time were but a burlesque upon the +truth. Belief in the existence of the antipodes was considered by +ecclesiastical authority as a sure proof of heresy, the philosopher's +stone had been found, astrology was an infallible science, and the air +was filled with demons who were ever waiting for an opportunity to steal +away man's immortal soul. Geography did not exist except in fancy; +history could be summed up in the three magic words, Troy, Greece, and +Rome; and the general notions current regarding the world and its +formation were fantastic in the extreme. In the realm of natural history +wondrous facts had come to light, and it was averred that a stag lived +to an age of nine hundred years; that a dove contemplated herself with +her right eye and God with her left; that the cockatrice kills animals +by breathing upon them; that a viper fears to gaze upon a naked man; +that the nature of the wolf is such that if the man sees him first, the +wolf is deprived of force and vigor, but if the wolf first sees the man, +his power of speech will vanish in the twinkling of an eye. +Furthermore, there were curious ideas current concerning the mystic +power of precious stones, and many were the lapidaries which were +written for the edification of the credulous world. The diamond was held +in somewhat doubtful esteem, inasmuch as the French word _diamant_, +minus its first syllable, signified a "lover"; the beryl, of uncertain +hue, made sure the love of man and wife; and Marbodus is authority for +the statement that "the emerald is found only in a dry and uninhabitable +country, so bitterly cold that nothing can live there but the griffins +and the one-eyed arimasps that fight with them." + +But the men and women of Provence could not forever stand with mouths +agape in eager wonder and expectation; these were tales of interest, no +doubt, and their truth was not seriously questioned, but this was not +life, and they knew it. There was red blood in their veins, the +heartbeat was quick and strong, and love had charmed them all. It must +not be supposed, however, that this was a weakly and effeminate age, +that all were carpet knights, and that strong and virile men no longer +could be found, for such was not the case. All was movement and action, +the interests of life were many, and warfare was the masculine vocation, +but in the very midst of all this turmoil and confusion there sprang up +a courtly ideal of love and a reverence for women which is almost +without parallel. The sanctity of the marriage tie had not been +respected during the feudal days, the union for life between men and +women had, generally, other causes than any mutual love which might +exist between the two, and the right of divorce was shamefully misused. +While in other parts of Europe women sought relief from this intolerable +condition of affairs by giving their love to Christ and by becoming His +bride in mystic marriage through the Church, in bright Provence, aided +by the order of chivalry, they were able to do something for the ideals +of love in a more definite way and to bring back to earth that +all-absorbing passion which women had been bestowing upon the Lord of +Heaven. Inasmuch as the real marriage of the time was but a _mariage de +convenance_, which gave the wife to the husband without regard for her +own inclinations, and without consideration for the finer things of +sense and sentiment which should find a perfect harmony in such +relationship, it came to be a well-recognized fact that love and +marriage were two things quite distinct and different. A wife was +expected to show a material fidelity to her lord, keep her honor +unstained, and devote herself to his service; and this done, she was +allowed to bestow upon a lover her soul and better spirit. + +A quaint story with regard to the Chevalier de Bayard, though of +somewhat later date, will serve to illustrate this condition of affairs. +The brave knight had been brought up during his youth in the palace of +the Duke of Savoy, and there, mingling with the other young people of +the house, he had seen and soon loved a beautiful young girl who was in +the service of the duchess. This love was returned, and they would soon +have married in spite of their poverty if a cruel fate had not parted +them. Bayard was sent as a page to the court of Charles VIII., and +during his absence his ladylove, by the duke's order, was married to the +Lord of Fluxas. This Bayard found out to his bitter sorrow when he +returned some years later, but the lady, as a virtuous woman, wishing to +show him that her honest affection for him was still alive, overwhelmed +him with so many courteous acts that more would have been impossible. +"Monseigneur de Bayard, my friend," she said, "this is the home of your +youth, and it would be but sorry treatment if you should fail to show us +here your knightly skill, reports of which have come from Italy and +France." The poor gentleman could but reply: "What is your wish, +madame?" Whereat she said: "It seems to me, Monseigneur de Bayard, that +you would do well to give a splendid tourney in the city." "Madame," he +said, "it shall be done. You are the lady in this world who first +conquered my heart to her service, but now I well know that I can naught +expect except your kiss of welcome and the touch of your soft hand. +Death would I prefer to your dishonor, and that I do not seek; but give +me, I pray you, your muff." The next morning heralds proclaimed that the +lists would be opened in Carignan, and that the Chevalier de Bayard +would joust with all who might appear, the prize to be his lady's muff, +from which now hung a precious ruby worth a hundred ducats. The lists +were run, and after the last blare of trumpet and clatter of charger's +hoof, the two judges, one of them being the Lord of Fluxas, came to +Bayard with the prize. He, blushing, refused this great honor, saying he +had done nothing worthy of it, but that in all truth it belonged to +Madame de Fluxas, who had lent him the muff and who had been his +inspiration. The Lord of Fluxas, knowing the chivalry of this great +knight, felt no pang of jealousy whatever, and went straightway to his +lady, bearing the prize and the courtly words of the champion. Madame de +Fluxas, with secret joy but outward calm, replied: "Monseigneur de +Bayard has honored me with his fair speech and highbred courtesy, and +this muff will I ever keep in honor of him." That night there was +feasting and dancing in the halls, next day, departure. The knight went +to take leave of his lady, with heavy heart, and many bitter tears they +shed. This honest love endured until death parted them, and no year +passed that presents were not exchanged between them. + +So there was a social life at this time and place which was filled with +refinement and courtesy, and it centred about the ladies of the courts. +Each troubadour, and many of them were brave knights as well, sought to +sing the praises of his lady, devote himself to her service, and do her +bidding in all things great and small. There was a proverb in Provence, +it is true, which declared that "A man's shadow is worth a hundred +women," and another saying, "Water spoils wine, carts spoil roads, and +women spoil men"; but, in spite of all this, devotion to women was +developed to a most unusual degree, and there was even an attempt made +to fix the nature of such soft bondage by rule and regulation. Southern +natures were so impetuous that some checks upon the practice of this +chivalric love seemed to be imperative, as thinking people felt that +love should not go unbridled. Justin H. Smith, who has written so +entertainingly of the _Troubadours at Home_, says that it was their +expedient to make love a "science and an art. Rules were devised, and +passion was to be bound with a rigid etiquette like that of chivalry or +social intercourse. It was to be mainly an affair of sentiment and +honor, not wholly Platonic to be sure, but thoroughly desensualized. +Four stages were marked off in the lover's progress: first, he adored +for a season without venturing to confess it; secondly, he adored as a +mere suppliant; thirdly, he adored as one who knew that the lady was not +indifferent; and finally, he became the accepted lover, that is to say, +the chosen servitor and vassal of his lady, her special knight." + +To the coarse and somewhat stupid barons of the time infidelity was an +act of absolute self-abandonment, and they felt in no way jealous of +these fine knights who were more in sympathy with their wives than they +could ever hope to be. So the lover became an accepted person who had +rights which the wife did not conceal and which the husband did not +deny. The husband literally owned the body of his wife, it is true, but +the lover had her soul, for the feudal customs gave to the woman no +moral power over her husband, while the code of love, on the other hand, +made of woman the guide and associate of man. It was all a play world, +of course; the troubadour knight and lover would discuss by means of the +_tenso_, which was a dialogue in song, all sorts of questions with his +lady, or with another of his kind, while the slow, thick-headed husbands +dozed in their chairs, dreaming of sudden alarums and the din of battle. +Here, however, was afforded opportunity for a quick display of wit, and +here was shown much nimbleness of mind, and, all in all, woman profited +by the intercourse and became, as has been said, more than the "link +between generations," which was all she had been before. It was in the +great hall, about the wide hearth, after the evening meal, that the harp +was sounded and the _tenso_ was begun which was of such interest to the +singer and his fair chatelaine; and among the questions of serious +import which they then discussed, the following will serve by way of +illustration: "Which is better, to have wisdom, or success with the +ladies?" "Which is better, to win a lady by skill or by boldness?" +"Which are greater, the joys or the sorrows of love?" "Which brings the +greater renown, Yes or No?" "Can true love exist between married +persons?" Futile and ridiculous as all this may seem to us to-day, the +very fact that women were here put upon the same footing as the men, +even upon a superior footing, as great deference was shown them by their +knightly lovers, all this was but an indication of the fact that woman's +place in society was surely advancing. Thus, outside of marriage and +even opposed to it, was realized that which constitutes its true +essence, the fusion of soul and mutual improvement; and since that time +love and marriage have more often been found together, and the notion +has been growing with the ages that the one is the complement of the +other. Marriage, as has been said, was but an imperfect institution at +this time, and in many cases it appears that the code of love, as it may +be called, was quite superior to the civil code. For example, the feudal +law allowed a man to beat his wife moderately, as occasion required, but +respect was one of the fundamental laws imposed by the code of love. +Again, the civil law said that a woman whose husband had been absent for +ten years, and whose whereabouts was unknown, had the right to marry +again, but the code of love decreed that the absence of a lover, no +matter how prolonged, was not sufficient cause for giving up the +attachment. In short, in this world of gallantry the ideals of love were +higher than they were in the world of lawful wedlock, and the reason was +not far to seek. + +It cannot be said, however, that these lofty ideals of Platonic +affection which so strongly characterize this brilliant and courtly +society were always carried out to the letter, and it must be admitted +with regret that there are many cases on record where the restraints and +formalities of etiquette were insufficient to check the fateful passion +when once its fires were burning. Every forbidden intrigue was fraught +with danger; indeed, the injured husband is sometimes alluded to as +_Monsieur Danger_, but here, as elsewhere, stolen sweets were sweetest, +and the risk was taken. Vengeance, however, followed discovery, and +swift was the retribution which overtook the troubadour when guilty of +faithless conduct. The tragic story of Guillem de Cabestaing, who came +from that district of Roussillon which is said to be famous for its red +wine and its black sheep, will serve to show how love could not be bound +by laws of honor and how quick punishment came to pay the score. +Guillem, the son of a poor knight, came at the age of twelve to enter +the service of my lord Raimon of Roussillon, who was also his father's +lord, and there in the castle he began his education. An esquire he +became, and he followed his master in peace and in warfare, perfected +himself in the gentler arts of song and music, and paid no small +attention to his own person, which was fair and comely. On an evil day, +however, my lord Raimon transferred young Guillem to the service of his +wife, the Lady Margarida, a young and sweet-faced girl who was famed for +her beauty, and then began the love between them. Raimon was soon +jealous and then suspicious, but false words from false lips allayed +suspicion for a time. Then Guillem, in a song composed at his lady's +command, revealed the love which united them, though all unconsciously, +and then the end was near. One day, Guillem was summoned from the palace +into the dark wood by his master, but when Raimon returned Guillem did +not come with him; in his stead was a servant, who carried something +concealed beneath his cloak. After the dinner, which had been attended +with constant jest and laughter, Raimon informed his wife that she had +just eaten the heart of the luckless troubadour! Summoning her words +with a quick self-control, the Lady Margarida vowed that never after +would she taste of meat, whereat Raimon grew red with rage and sought to +take her life. But she fled quickly to a high tower and threw herself +down to death. That is the tragedy, but this fidelity in death received +its reward; for when the king heard the tale, and who did not, as it was +soon spread abroad, Raimon was stripped of all his possessions and +thrown into a dungeon, while lover and lady were buried together at the +church door at Perpignan, and a yearly festival was ordained in their +honor. + +For many hundreds of years after the decay of all this brilliant life in +southern France, the statement was repeated that courts of love had been +organized in gay Provence, which were described as assemblies of +beautiful women, sitting in judgment on guilty lovers and deciding +amorous questions, but the relentless search of the modern scholar has +proved beyond a doubt that no such courts ever existed. A certain code +of love there was most certainly, of which the troubadours sang, and +whose regulations were matters of general conduct as inspired by the +spirit of courtesy and gallantry which was current at the time, and very +often were questions relating to the tender passion discussed _in +extenso_ by the fairest ladies of the south, but more than that cannot +be said with truth. The fiction is a pretty one, and among those who are +said to have presided at these amorous tribunals are Queen Eleanor, the +Countess of Narbonne, and the Countess of Champagne, and Richard Coeur +de Lion has even been mentioned in this capacity. The courts were held +at Pierrefeu, Digne, and Avignon according to tradition, women alone +could act as judges, and appeals might be made from one court to +another. This tradition but goes to show that after the decay of the +Provencal civilization, its various ideas and ideals were drawn up into +formal documents, that the spirit of the age might be preserved, and +they in turn were taken by following generations in good faith as +coexistent with the things which they describe. + +It was but natural that in a state of society like the one mentioned, +women should long to show themselves possessed of poetic gifts as well +as men. It must not be supposed that the wife of a great baron occupied +an easy position, however, and had many leisure hours, as her wifely +duties took no little time and energy, and it was her place to hold in +check the rude speech and manners of the warlike nobles who thronged the +castle halls, as well as to put some limit to the bold words and glances +of the troubadours, who were often hard to repress. Her previous +education had been bestowed with care, however, the advantages of a +formal and punctilious etiquette had been preached more than once, and +she was even advised that the enemy of all her friends should find her +civil-spoken; so, my lady managed her difficult affairs with tact and +skill, and contrived in many cases to acquire such fame for her +moderation and her wisdom that many poets sang her praises. It was her +pleasure also to harbor these troubadours who sang her praises, and +learn from them the secrets of their art; and in this pleasant +intercourse it often chanced that she was inspired by the god of song, +and vied with them in poesy. The names of eighteen such women have come +down to us, and fragments from most of them are extant, though the +Countess of Dia seems the most important of them all, as five of her +short poems are now known to exist. The Lady Castelloza must be named +soon after, for her wit and her accomplishments. She once reminded a +thoughtless lover that if he should allow her to pine away and die for +love of him, he would be committing a monstrous crime "before God and +men." Clara of Anduse must not be forgotten in this list, and she it was +who conquered the cold indifference of the brilliant troubadour Uc de +Saint-Cyr; still, however numerous her contributions to poetry may have +been, but one song remains to us, and that is contained in a manuscript +of the fourteenth century. It should be said that the reason for the +small amount of poetry which these women have left behind them is easily +explained. Talents they may have possessed and poetical ability in +abundance, but there was no great incentive to work, inasmuch as poetry +offered them no career such as it opened up to the men. A troubadour +sang at the command of his noble patron, but with the women poetry was +not an employment, but a necessity for self-expression. It is altogether +probable that their efforts were for the most part the result of a +sudden inspiration, their mirth or their grief was poured forth, and +then they relapsed into silence. Other than in this way the voice of the +woman was rarely heard in song, unless she took part in the _tenso_, or +song of contention, and then her words were uttered as they came, +without premeditation, and were lost as soon as sung. + +The city of Toulouse was a centre for much of the literary life of the +time, and it was during the reign of Count Raimon VI., who was a poet of +no small merit, that the art of the troubadours reached its culmination. +For half a generation, it is said, his court was crowded with these +poets, and he dwelt with them and they with him in brotherly affection. +With the terrible Albigensian Crusade, the voice of the singer was no +longer heard in the land, and the poetic fire, which had burned with so +fierce a blaze at times, smouldered for long years, until in the +beginning of the fourteenth century the flames burst forth anew. At that +time a company of poets, and they were of bourgeois origin and not of +the nobility, determined to take vigorous measures to restore the art of +the troubadour to its former high position, and to this end they founded +the College du Gay Scavoir, which was to support and maintain annually +in Toulouse a poetic tournament called Les Jeux Floraux, wherein the +prizes were to consist of flowers of gold and silver. With the definite +establishment of these Floral Games the name of a woman has been +intertwined in most curious fashion; and although many facts are +recorded of her life and deeds, there are those who deny that she ever +lived. This remarkable woman was called Clemence Isaure, and the story +has grown up that some years after the founding of the Jeux Floraux she +left a sum of money in trust which was to serve as a permanent endowment +for this most illustrious institution of her native city. Then it was +that the College du Gay Scavoir became a thing of permanence, and +brilliant were the fetes which were celebrated under its auspices. +First, a golden violet was bestowed upon the victor in these poetic +contests, and the winner was decreed a Bachelor of Poetry; then, two +other flowers were added, the eglantine and the marigold, and he who won +two prizes was given the degree of Master; while he who won all three +became forthwith a Doctor. + +To prove that Clemence Isaure really did exist in Toulouse a tomb was +shown which seemed to bear her name; and so strongly rooted is this +belief, that her statue is held in reverence, and every year in May, +even to this day, when the date for the Jeux Floraux arrives, the first +thing on the programme for that solemn occasion is a formal eulogy in +honor of this distinguished patroness. More than that, in the garden of +the Luxembourg Palace in Paris, in that semicircle of twenty marble +statues grouped about the parterre and representing some of the most +illustrious women of France, Clemence Isaure has an honored place, and +her counterfeit presentment by the sculptor Preault is considered one of +the finest of the number. + +In support of the claim that such a woman never existed, and in +explanation of the tradition itself, the learned ones inform us that +with the definite establishment of these Floral Games the good citizens +of Toulouse thought it best to follow in the footsteps of their bold and +plain-spoken troubadour ancestors in a somewhat timid manner, and the +poems which were then written were not addressed to some fair lady in +real life, but to the Holy Virgin, who was frequently addressed as +Clemenza [pity], and from this word the story took its rise. After a +certain lapse of time, Clemenza, personified so often in their +impassioned strains, became a real person to their southern +imaginations, and a tomb was conveniently found which seemed to settle +the matter without question. It is even asserted that the city of +Toulouse is enjoying to-day other bequests which were made to it by +Clemence Isaure, and that there is no more reason for doubting her +existence than for doubting the existence of any other historical +character of long ago. In any event, the Floral Games are still held +yearly, the seven poets have become forty in number, and they compose a +dignified Academy, which has some ten thousand francs a year to bestow +in prizes. And the number of the prizes has been increased, as now five +different flowers of gold and five of silver are bestowed each for +poetry of a certain kind, and in addition there is a gold jasmine which +is awarded to the most excellent prose article, and a silver pink which +is a sort of prize at large, and which may be given for a composition of +any character. + +This belief in the actual existence of Clemence Isaure is still held by +many, and, in fact, the legend seems stronger than the facts adduced +against it; but whatever the truth may be, the story symbolizes in a +most beautiful and fitting way the part which woman has played in this +Provencal country in the encouragement given to song and poetry. It was +the women who gave the real encouragement to the troubadours and +inspired them to their greatest efforts, and it seems but poetic +justice, at least, that in Toulouse the only existing institution +representative of those old troubadour days should claim a woman as its +greatest patron. + + + + +Chapter V + +Influence of Women in Early Literature + + + "Nine times now since my birth, the heaven of light had turned + almost to the same point in its own gyration, when the glorious + Lady of my mind--who was called Beatrice by many who knew not what + to call her--first appeared before my eyes. She had already been in + this life so long, that in its course the starry heaven had moved + toward the region of the East one of the twelve parts of a degree; + so that at about the beginning of her ninth year she appeared to + me, and I near the end of my ninth year saw her. She appeared to me + clothed in a most noble color, a modest and becoming crimson, and + she was girt and adorned in such wise as befitted her very youthful + age. At that instant, I can truly say that the spirit of life, + which dwells in the most secret chamber of the heart, began to + tremble with such violence that it appeared fearfully in the least + pulses, and, trembling, said these words: _Ecce deus fortior me, + qui veniens dominabitur mihi_ [Behold a god stronger than I, who, + coming, shall rule over me]. At that instant the spirit of the + soul, which dwells in the high chamber to which all the spirits of + the senses carry their perceptions, began to marvel greatly, and, + speaking especially to the spirit of the sight, said these words: + _Apparuit jam beatitudo vestra_ [Now has appeared your bliss]. At + that instant the natural spirit, which dwells in that part where + our nourishment is supplied, began to weep, and, weeping, said + these words: _Heu miser! quia frequenter impeditus ero deinceps_ + [Woe is me, wretched! Because often from this time forth shall I be + hindered]." + +Nowhere in all literature can be found a dearer statement of the +spiritual evolution which was going on in the minds of men with respect +to women, at the close of the Middle Ages, than that given in the +foregoing passage from Dante's _Vita Nuova_--taken from Professor +Norton's finished translation. The spirit of the amatory poetry of the +gay troubadours of Provence had found its way into Italy, but it was its +more spiritual side which was to make the greater impression upon the +national literature at this early stage of its development. The mystic +marriage with the Church which had consoled so many women in distress, +and which had removed them from the sin and confusion of the hurly-burly +world to a life of quiet joy and peace, had slowly been exerting a more +general and secular influence which first bore fruit in the notions of +Platonic friendship which had been discussed; then came deference and +respect and a truer understanding of woman's true position. But +something was wanting in this profession of love and respect which came +from the singers of Provence; their words were ready and their speech +was smooth, but all their knightly grace of manner could not conceal the +fact that Venus was their goddess. They were sincere, doubtless, but all +that they sang was so lyric, subjective, and persona! in its essence +that they failed to strike the deepest chords of human feeling or +display that high seriousness which is indicative of real dignity of +character. Love had been the despot whose slightest caprice was law.--in +obeying his commands one could do no wrong. Woman became the arbiter of +man's destiny in so far as, the fervent lover, in his ardor, was glad to +do her bidding. The troubadour Miravel has told us that when a man made +a failure of his life, all were prone to say: "It is evident that he did +not care for the ladies." There is a worldly tone in this remark which +grates upon the ear--it does not ring clear and true, although the +Provencal poets had improved the manners of their time and had +introduced a highbred courtesy into their dealings with women which was +in itself a great step in advance. It is related that when William the +Conqueror first saw Emma, his betrothed, he seized her roughly in his +arms and threw her to the ground as an indication of affection; but the +troubadour was wont to kneel before his lady and pray for grace and +power to win her approbation. Yet, under the courtly form of manner and +speech, it is too often the sensual conception of womankind which lurks +in the background, and there is little evidence to show that there was +any general belief in the chastening power of the love of a good +woman--a power which might be of positive value in character building. + +The spiritual possibilities latent in this higher conception seem, +however, to have been grasped by some of the Italian poets of the early +Renaissance, and here we find a devotion to women which comes not from +the heart alone, but from the soul as well. Dante's "natural spirit" was +but the sensual nature, and well might it cry out when the "spirit of +life" began to feel the secret commotion of the "spirit of the soul": +"Woe is me, wretched! Because often from this time forth shall I be +hindered in my work." And so it was. With this first somewhat broad +conception of the dignity of womanhood there was a new incentive to +manly endeavor; and there came into the world, in the power and might of +the great Florentine poet, a majesty of character which fair Provence +could never have produced. Immediately before Dante's time we see +glimmerings of this new sentiment in the work of Guido Cavalcanti and of +Cino da Pistoja. Cavalcanti, being exiled from Florence, went on a visit +to the shrine of Saint James of Compostella; and upon the way, passing +through Toulouse, he was captivated by a beautiful Spanish girl, whom he +has made celebrated under the name of Mandetta: + + "In un boschetto trovai pastorella, + Piu che la stella bella al mio parere, + Capegli avea biondetti e ricciutelli." + +It is true that in his work Cavalcanti shows many of the stilted +mannerisms which were common to the troubadours; but such expressions as +"to her, every virtue bows," and "the mind of man cannot soar so high, +nor is it sufficiently purified by divine grace to understand and +appreciate all her perfections," point the way toward a greater +sincerity. His chief work was a long _Canzone sopra l'Amore_, which was +so deep and philosophic that seven weighty commentaries in both Latin +and Italian have as yet failed to sound all its depths. In the story of +the early love of Cino da Pistoja for Ricciarda dei Selvaggi there is a +genuine and homely charm which makes us feel that here indeed true love +had found a place. Ricciarda--or Selvaggia, as Cino calls her--was the +daughter of a noble family of Pistoja, her father having been +_gonfaniere_ and leader of the Bianchi faction, and it appears that she +also was famed for her poetic gifts. For a time she and Cino kept their +love a secret from the world, but their poems to each other at this time +show it to have been upon a high plane. Finally, the parents of +Ricciarda were banished from Pistoja by the Neri, and in their flight +they took refuge in a small fortress perched near the summit of the +Apennines, where they were joined by Cino, who had determined to share +their fortunes. There the spring turned into summer, and the summer +into autumn, and the days sped happily--days which were later called the +happiest of the poet's whole life. The two young people roamed the hills +together, or took their share in the household duties, and the whole +picture seems to breathe forth an air of reality and truth which far +removes it from that atmosphere of comic-opera love and passion which +seemed to fill the Midi. When the winter came, the hardship of this +mountain life commenced; the winds grew too keen, and the young girl +soon began to show the effects of the want and misery to which she was +exposed. Finally, the end came; and there Cino and the parents, +grieving, laid her to her rest, in a sheltered valley. The pathos of +this story needs no word of explanation, and Cino's grief is best shown +by an act of his later years. Long afterward, when he was loaded with +fame and honors, it happened that, being sent upon an embassy, he had +occasion to cross the mountains near the spot where Selvaggia had been +buried. Sending his suite around by another path, he went alone to her +tomb and tarried for a time in prayer and sorrow. Later, in verse, he +commemorates this visit, closing with the words: + + "...pur chiamando, Selvaggia! + L'alpe passai, con voce di dolore." + +[Then calling aloud in accents of despair, Selvaggia! I passed the +mountain tops.] Cino's loved one is distinguished in the history of +Italian literature as the _bel numer'una_--"fair number one"--in that +list of the famous women of the century where the names of Beatrice and +Laura are to be found. + +With Dante, the spiritual nature of his love for Beatrice assumed an +almost mystical and religious character, betraying the marked influence +of mediaeval philosophy and theology; and here it was--for the first +time in modern literature--that woman as a symbol of goodness and light +found herself raised upon a pedestal and glorified in the eyes of the +world. Many a pink and rosy Venus had been evoked before, many a +pale-faced nun had received the veneration of the multitude for her +saintly life, but here we have neither Venus nor saint; for Beatrice is +the type of the good woman in the world, human in her instincts and holy +in her acts. The air of mysticism with which Dante has enveloped his +love for the daughter of the Portinari family does not in any way +detract from our interest in his point of view, for the principal fact +for the modern world is that he had such thoughts about women. Legouve +has said that spiritual love was always mingled with a respect for +women, and that sensual admiration was rarely without secret scorn and +hatred; and it is his further opinion that spiritual love was naturally +allied to sentiments of austere patriotism in illustrious men, while +those who celebrated the joys of sensual passion were indifferent to the +cause of country and sometimes traitor to it. Dante and Petrarch, the +two chaste poets, as they are sometimes called, were the most ardent +patriots in all Italy. Midst the tortures of the _Inferno_ or the joys +of the _Paradiso_, the image of the stricken fatherland is ever with +Dante, and more than once does he cry out against her cruel oppressors. +With Petrarch, as it has well been said, his love for the Latin language +was but the form of his love for his people, as in his great hope for +the future the glory of the past was to return. Boccaccio was the most +illustrious of those in literature who represented the sensual +conception of woman; and whatever his literary virtues may have been, no +one has ever called attention to his patriotic fervor or to his dignity +of character. Laura and Beatrice, though not of royal birth, have been +made immortal by their poet lovers; Boccaccio loved the daughter of a +king, but he has described her with such scant respect that what little +renown she may have derived from her liaison with him is all to her +discredit. + +The story of Dante and Beatrice is now an old one, but ever fresh with +the rare charm which it possesses even after the lapse of these many +years. The _New Life_, Dante's earliest work, which is devoted to a +description of his first meeting with Beatrice and his subsequent +all-powerful love for her, has been regarded sceptically by some +critics, who are inclined to see in it but an allegory, and there are +others who go so far as to say that Beatrice never existed. What +uncertainty can there be regarding her life, when Cino da Pistoja wrote +his most celebrated poem, a _canzone_ to Dante, consoling him for her +loss? The following stanza from Rossetti's matchless version is proof +enough for all who care to read: + + "Why now do pangs of torment clutch thy heart, + Which with thy love should make thee overjoyed, + As him whose intellect has passed the skies? + Behold, the spirits of thy life depart + Daily to Heaven with her, they so are buoyed + With thy desire, and Love so bids them rise. + O God I and thou, a man whom God made wise, + To nurse a charge of care, and love the same! + I tell thee, in His name, + From sin of sighing grief to hold thy breath, + Nor let thy heart to death, + Nor harbour death's resemblance in thine eyes. + God hath her with Himself eternally, + Yet she inhabits every hour with thee." + +Beatrice certainly lived; and no matter in what veil of mysticism the +poet may choose to envelop her in his later writings, and in spite of +the imagery of his phrases, even in the _New Life_, she never fails to +appear to us as a real woman. We know that Dante first saw her on +Mayday, in the year 1274, when neither had reached the age of ten, and +the thrill he felt at this first vision has been described in his own +words on the first page of this chapter. From that time forth it seems +that, boy as he was, he was continually haunted by this apparition, +which had at once assumed such domination over him. Often he went +seeking her, and all that he saw of her was so noble and praiseworthy +that he is moved to apply to her the words of Homer: "She seems not the +daughter of mortal man, but of God." And he further says: "Though her +image, which stayed constantly with me, gave assurance to Love to hold +lordship over me, yet it was of such noble virtue that it never suffered +Love to rule me without the faithful counsel of the reason in those +matters in which it was useful to hear such counsel." So began his pure +and high ideal of love, which is most remarkable in that it stands in +striking contrast, not only to the usual amatory declarations of the +time to be found in literature, but also to the very life and temper of +the day and generation in which he was so soon to play a conspicuous +part. It was a day of almost unbridled passions and lack of +self-restraint, and none before had thought to couple reason with the +thought of love. For nine years his boyish dreams were filled with this +maiden, Beatrice, and not once in all that time did he have word with +her. Finally, he says: "On the last of these days, it happened that this +most admirable lady appeared before me, clad in shining white, between +two ladies older than herself; and as she passed along, she turned her +eyes toward that spot where I stood in all timidity, and then, through +her great courtesy, which now has its reward in the eternal world, she +saluted me with such virtue that I knew all the depth of bliss." But +never did Dante come to know her well, though she was ever in his +thoughts, and though he must have watched for her presence in the +street. Once she went upon a journey, and he was sore distraught until +she came back into his existence; once he was taken to a company of +young people, where he was so affected by sudden and unexpected sight of +her that he grew pale and trembled, and showed such signs of mortal +illness that his friend grew much alarmed and led him quickly away. The +cause of his confusion was not apparent to all the company; but the +ladies mocked him, to his great dismay, and even Beatrice was tempted to +a smile, not understanding all, yet feeling some annoyance that she +should be the occasion for such strange demeanor on his part. Later, +when her father dies, Dante grieves for her, waits at the corner to pick +up fragments of conversation from those who have just come from +consoling her, and, in truth, makes such a spectacle of himself, that +these ladies passing say: "Why should he feel such grief, when he has +not seen her?" He constantly feels the moral force of her influence, and +recounts in the following lines--from the Norton translation--her noble +influence on others: + + "...for when she goes her way + Love casts a blight upon all caitiff hearts, + So that their every thought doth freeze and perish. + And who can bear to stay on her to look, + Will noble thing become or else will die. + And when one finds that he may worthy be + To look on her, he doth his virtue prove." + +Before we are through with Dante's little book, we seem to feel that +Beatrice must have lived, that she was flesh and blood as we are, and +that she really graced the fair city on the Arno in her time, as the +poet would have us believe. She is pictured in company with other +ladies, upon the street, in social gatherings at the homes of her +friends, in church at her devotions, in tears and laughter, and ever is +she pictured with such love and tenderness that she will remain, as +Professor Norton says, "the loveliest and the most womanly woman of the +Middle Ages--at once absolutely real and truly ideal." + +At her death, Dante is disconsolate for a time, and then devotes himself +to study with renewed vigor; and he closes his story of her with the +promise that he will write of her what has never yet been written of any +woman. This anticipates, perhaps, the _Divine Comedy_, which was yet to +be written, wherein Beatrice was his guide through Paradise and where he +accords her a place higher than that of the angels. It may mar the +somewhat idyllic simplicity of this story to add that Dante was married +some years later to Gemma Donati, the daughter of a distinguished +Florentine family, but such was the case. Little is known of her, +however, as Dante never speaks of her; and while there is no reason to +suppose that their union was not a happy one, it is safe to conclude +that it gave him no such spiritual uplift as he had felt from his +youthful passion. + +The extent of Dante's greatness is to be measured not only by his wide +learning--for he was the greatest scholar of his time--but also by his +noble seriousness, which enabled him to penetrate through that which was +light and frivolous to that which was of deep import to humanity. His +was not the task of amusing the idle populace with what he wrote--he had +a high duty, which was to make men think on the realities of life and of +their own short-comings. People whispered, as he passed along: "See his +dark face and melancholy look! Hell has he seen and Purgatory, and +Paradise as well! The mysteries of life are his, but he has paid the +cost." And many went back to their pleasures, but some were impressed +with his expression. Whence came his seriousness, whence came his +penetrating glance and sober mien? Why did he move almost alone in all +that heedless throng, intent upon the eternal truth? Because from early +youth he had nourished in his heart a pure love which had chastened him +and given him an understanding of those deeper things of the spirit, +which was denied to most men of his time. Doubtless Dante would have +been Dante, with or without the influence of Beatrice, but through her +he received that broad humanity which makes him the symbol of the +highest thought of his time. + +Whatever the story of Petrarch and his Laura may lack in dignity when +compared with that of Dante and Beatrice, it certainly does not lack in +grace or interest. While Dante early took an interest in the political +affairs which distracted Florence, and was of a stern and somewhat +forbidding character, mingling study with action, Petrarch, humanist and +scholar as he was, represents also the more polite accomplishments of +his time, as he was a most polished courtier and somewhat vain of his +fair person. Dante's whole exterior was characteristic of his mind. If +accounts be true, his eyes were large and black, his nose was aquiline, +his complexion dark, and in all his movements he was slow and +deliberate. Petrarch, on the contrary, was more quick and animated; he +had bright blue eyes, a fair skin, and a merry laugh; and he himself it +is who tells us how cautiously he used to turn the corner of a street +lest the wind should disarrange the elaborate curls of his beautiful +hair. Though record is made of this side of his character, it must not +be assumed that his mind was a frivolous one, for he may be +considered--as Professor Robinson says--as "the cosmopolitan +representative of the first great forward movement" in Western +civilization and deserves to rank--as Carducci claims--with Erasmus and +Voltaire, each in his time the intellectual leader of Europe. + +With regard to Laura, Petrarch has left the following lines, which were +inscribed upon the fly-leaf of a favorite copy of Virgil, wherein it was +his habit to keep a record of all those things which most concerned him: +"Laura, who was so distinguished by her own virtues and so widely +celebrated by my poetry, first appeared before my eyes in my early +manhood, in the year of our Lord 1327, upon the sixth day of April, at +the first hour, in the Church of Santa Clara at Avignon; in the same +city, in the same month of April, on the same sixth day, at the same +first hour, in the year 1348, that light was taken from our day, while +I, by chance, happened to be at Verona, ignorant, alas! of my fate. The +sad news came to me at Parma, in a letter from my friend Ludovico, on +the morning of the nineteenth of May of the same year. Her chaste and +beautiful form was laid in the Church of the Franciscans, the evening of +the day she died. I am persuaded that her soul returned, as Seneca says +of Scipio Africanus, to the heaven whence it came. I have experienced a +certain satisfaction in writing this bitter record of a cruel event, +especially in this place, where I may see it often, for so may I be led +to reflect that life can afford me no further joys; and the most serious +of my temptations being removed, I may be counselled by the frequent +perusal of these lines and by the thought of my departing years, that +now the time has come to flee from Babylon. This, with God's help, will +be easy when I frankly and manfully consider the needless troubles of +the past with its empty hopes and unexpected issue." + +The Babylon to which Petrarch refers was Avignon, then the home of the +popes, which he declares was a place filled with everything fearful that +had ever existed or been conceived by a disordered mind--a veritable +hell on earth. But here he had stayed this quarter of a century, a +captive to the charms of his fair Laura. According to the generally +accepted story, she was of high birth, as her father--Audibert de +Noves--was a noble of Avignon, who died in her infancy, leaving her a +dowry of one thousand gold crowns, which would amount to almost ten +thousand pounds sterling to-day, and which was a splendid marriage +portion for that time. In 1325, two years before her meeting with +Petrarch, she was married to Hugh de Sade, when she was but eighteen; +and while her husband was a man of rank and of an age suited to her own, +it does not appear that he was favored in mind or in body, or that there +was any special affinity between them. In the marriage contract it was +stipulated that her mother and brother were to pay the dower left by the +father and also to bestow upon the bride two gowns for state ceremonies, +one of them to be green, embroidered with violets, and the other of +crimson, with a trimming of feathers. Petrarch frequently alludes to +these gowns, and in the portraits of Laura which have been preserved she +is attired in either one or the other of them. Her personal beauty has +been described in greatest detail by the poet, and it is doubtful if the +features of any other woman and her general characteristics of mind and +body were ever subjected to such minute analysis as is exemplified in +the present instance. Hands and feet, hair, eyes, ears, nose, and +throat--all are depicted in most glowing and appreciative fashion; and, +from the superlative degree of the adjectives, she must indeed have been +fair to look upon and possessed of a great compelling charm. But from +her lovely mouth--_la bella bocca angelica_, as he calls it--there never +came a weak or yielding word in answer to his passionate entreaties. For +this was no mystical love, no such spiritual affection as was felt by +Dante, but the love of an active man of the world whose feelings had +been deeply troubled. In spite of his pleadings, she remained unshaken; +and although she felt honored by the affection of this man, and was +entirely susceptible to the compliment of his poetry, and in spite of +the current notions of duty and fidelity, which were far from exacting, +she had a better self which triumphed. The profligate Madame du Deffand, +who occupies so conspicuous a place in the annals of the French court in +the days of its greatest corruption, has little sympathy with a +situation of this kind, and is led to exclaim: _Le fade personnage que +votre Petrarque! que sa Laure etait sotte et precieuse!_ But Petrarch +himself thought otherwise, for he has written thereupon: "A woman taught +me the duty of a man! To persuade me to keep the path of virtue, her +conduct was at once an example and a reproach." + +Without following it in all its various incidents, it will suffice to +say that this love of Petrarch for Laura, which lasted for so many +years, exerted a powerful influence upon the poet and had much to do in +shaping the character which was to win for him in later times the praise +which Pierre de Nolhac has bestowed upon him in calling him the first +modern man. Petrarch considered unworthy, it is true, the poems and +sonnets which he consecrated to the charms of Laura, and he even +regretted that his fame should rest upon them, when, in his own +estimation, his ponderous works in Latin were of much more consequence. +But, incidental to his passion for Laura, he was led to discuss within +himself the two conceptions of love which were current at that +time,--the mediaeval and monkish conception, based upon a sensual idea +which regarded women as the root of all evil and the source of all sin, +and the modern or secular idea, which is spiritual and may become holy. +In an imaginary conversation with Saint Augustine which Petrarch wrote +to furnish a vehicle for the discussion of these matters, the poet +exclaims that it is the soul--the inborn and celestial goodness--that he +loves, and that he owes all to her who has preserved him from sin and +urged him on to a full development of his powers. The ultimate result of +all this thought and all this reflection upon the nature of the +affections developed the humanity of the man, excited broad interests +within his breast, gave him a wide sympathy, and entitled him to rank as +the first great humanist. + +Dante, with his vague and almost mystical adoration of Beatrice, which +was at times a passion almost subjective, is still in the shadow of the +Middle Ages, their gloom is still upon him, and he can see but dimly +into the centuries which are still to come; but his face is glorified by +his vision of the spiritual possibilities of good and noble womanhood. +Petrarch, in the brief interval which has passed, has come out into the +light of a modern world; and there, in the midst of baffled desire, he +is brought face to face with the great thought that though love be human +it has power divine. + + + + +Chapter VI + +Women in the Early Renaissance + + +Although the fourteenth century in Italy was one of almost continuous +warfare between the different contending states of the peninsula, the +fact remains that the whole country was enjoying a degree of prosperity +which was unprecedented in the history of the Italian people. It was the +beginning of the age of the despots, it is true, but in the midst of +strife and contention there was at the same time a material progress +which did much to enrich the country and enable its inhabitants to +elevate their standard of living. The Italian cities were encouraging +business transactions on a large scale; Italian merchants were among the +most enterprising on the continent, making long trips to foreign +countries for the purpose of buying and selling goods; and the Oriental +trade, which had been diverted in great measure to Italian channels, was +a constant source of profit. That all this could be so in the face of +the warlike condition of society is due to the fact that much of the +fighting was done by mercenary soldiers, or that the political quarrels +of the time, which frequently concerned the fate of cities, too often +had their rise in family feuds which, no matter how fiercely they were +waged, did not interest the masses. There were always thousands upon +thousands of worthy citizens who felt no direct personal interest in the +outcome of the fighting, and who pursued the even tenor of their way +without much regard for what was taking place, so far as allowing it to +interfere with their daily occupations was concerned. + +The general impression of the moral tone of this epoch in society is far +from favorable. Divorce had become practically impossible for ordinary +individuals; marriage was common enough, but appeared to possess no +special sanctity; and as a result there were many illegitimate children, +who seem, however, to have been recognized by their fathers and cared +for with as great solicitude as were those who were born within the pale +of the law. The ideas which were current regarding matters of decency +and refinement will be found quite different from those prevalent in our +own day. Coarseness in speech and manner was common, no high moral +standards were maintained, even by the Church, and diplomacy and +calculation took the place of sincerity and conscience. Still, while +these may have been the characteristics of a considerable number of the +population, the fact must not be forgotten that even in that day of +moral laxity there were many good and simple people who lived their +homely lives in peace and quiet and contentment, unmoved by the rush of +the world. We get a glimpse of what this simple life may have been from +a charming little book by Pandolfino called _La Famiglia_, wherein the +joys of family life are depicted in a most idyllic manner. The story +deals with the beginning of the married life of a young couple; and we +are shown how the husband takes the wife to his house after the wedding +has been celebrated, displays to her his worldly possessions, and then +turns them over to her keeping. After visiting the establishment and +giving it a careful inspection, they kneel before the little shrine of +the Madonna, which is near at hand, and there they pray devoutly that +they may be given grace to profit by all their blessings, and that they +may live long years together in peace and harmony, and the prayer ends +with the wish that they may have many male children. The young wife is +later advised not to paint her face, and to pay no attention to other +men. There is no injunction to secrecy with regard to family affairs of +importance, inasmuch as Pandolfino says very frankly that he doubts the +ability of a woman to keep a secret, and that, while he is perfectly +willing to grant that his wife is loving and discreet, he feels a much +greater sense of security when he _knows_ she is unable to do him any +harm. His quaint phrase is as follows: _Non perche io non conoscessi la +mia amarevole e discreta, ma sempre estimai piu securo ch'ella non mi +potesse nuocere che ella non volesse._ + +The material conditions for happiness--and they are certainly no +unimportant factor--were wonderfully advanced, and the common people of +Italy at this time were enjoying many comforts of life which were +unknown to the higher classes in other countries. The houses were +generally large and of stone, supplies were plentiful and cheap, and, +all in all, it appears to have been an age of abundance. It was +customary for the housewives to lay in a supply of oil and wine for the +year; they were most careful in regard to all matters of domestic +economy and took a pride in their work. Indeed, Burckhardt has said that +from this epoch dates the first conscious attempt to regulate the +affairs of a household in a systematic way, and to this end it is +interesting to note that bridal outfits were prepared with unusual care, +special attention being given to the supply of household linen, which +was sometimes elaborate. As a further aid to orderly housekeeping, it +was often the custom for the wives to keep a careful account of daily +expenditures, which they did with a skill that would doubtless cause the +despair of many a modern housewife who has attempted the same thing. It +must not be supposed, however, that the course of this domestic life was +without annoyance, as even here at this early day servants were inclined +to be exacting and hard to please. At least, that is the inference which +may be drawn from a letter by an old notary of Florence, Lapo Mazzei, +wherein he takes occasion to say, in inviting a friend to supper, that +it will be entirely convenient to have him come, inasmuch as he has +taken the precaution, in order not to trouble the house servants, to +send to the bakery to be roasted a fat pullet and a loin of mutton! + +Some of the customs of this time will seem to us quite primitive. It was +an unheard-of thing, for example, to see carriages going about the +streets, as they had not yet come into general use, and riding on +horseback was the ordinary means of locomotion, even for ladies. Indeed, +mention has been found in one of the early historians of an adventure +which befell Louisa Strozzi, a daughter of the great Florentine house of +Strozzi, as she was returning to her home, from a ball in the early +morning hours, _on horseback_. It seems to have been the custom then, as +now, to give balls which lasted far into the night, and the growing +wealth of the citizens caused an increasing love of display. In some +communities laws were enacted in the interests of simplicity, and it was +provided that not more than three dishes should be supplied for an +ordinary entertainment, while twenty was the largest number which might +be served at a wedding feast. With regard to matters of dress, Scipio +Ammirato tells us in his sixteenth-century _History of Florence_ that in +the earliest times the women had the simplest tastes and were "much more +soft and delicate than the men," and he adds that "the greatest ornament +of the most noble and wealthy woman of Florence was no other than a +tight-fitting skirt of bright scarlet, without other girdle than a belt +of antique style, and a mantle lined with black and white." Such +simplicity, however, cannot have been long in vogue, for as early as +1323 the chronicler Villani informs us that the city authorities began +to enact stringent sumptuary laws which were directed against the women. +Three years after this, we learn from the same source that the Duke of +Milan had made complaint because the women of Florence had induced his +wife to wear, "in front of her face," a most unsightly knot of yellow +and white silk, in place of her own curls, a style of head-dress already +condemned by the city fathers of Florence. After this incident, the +historian adds, by way of sententious remark: "Thus did the excessive +appetite of the women defeat the reason and sense of the men." These +laws of the year 1323 failed to prove effective, and finally, in 1330, +more explicit measures were taken to check this growing evil. Villani +had now best tell the story in his own words: + +"The women of Florence were greatly at fault in the matter of +superfluous ornaments, of crowns and wreaths of gold and silver and +pearls and of other precious stones, and certain garlands of pearls, and +other ornaments for the head, and of great price. Likewise they had +dresses cut of several kinds of cloth and silk, with silken puffs of +divers kinds, and with fringes of pearls, and little gold and silver +buttons, often of four and six rows together. It was also their custom +to wear various strings of pearls and of precious stones at the breast, +with different designs and letters. Likewise did they give costly +entertainments and wedding parties, extravagant and with superfluous and +excessive table." In the midst of this deplorable state of affairs, an +ordinance was passed forbidding women to wear crowns of any kind, even +of painted paper; dresses of more than one piece and dresses with either +painted or embroidered figures were forbidden, though woven figures +were permitted. Also, bias patterns and stripes were put under the ban, +excepting only those of not more than two colors. It was decided, +furthermore, that more than two rings on a finger should not be +tolerated. Other cities of Italy, having the same trouble to contend +with, sent deputations to Florence asking for a copy of these +regulations; this attempt on the part of the cities to control the +habits of their citizens in these matters seems to have been quite +general. + +In matters of education more attention was paid to the boys than to the +girls at this time, as the women were generally expected to let the men +attend to the chief affairs of life, while they busied themselves with +domestic duties. Still, it is on record that in the year 1338 there were +from eight to ten thousand boys and girls in school in the city of +Florence, learning to read. Among the people of the wealthy class and of +the nobility, women were undoubtedly given greater educational +advantages in many instances; and then again, in strictly academic +circles, the daughters of a professor sometimes distinguished themselves +for great learning and scholarship. It was at the University of Bologna +in particular that women seem to have been most conspicuous in +educational affairs, and here it was that a number of them were actually +allowed to wear the robe of a professor and lecture to the students. +Among the number famed for their learning may be mentioned Giovanna +Bianchetti and Maddalena Buonsignori, who gave instruction in law. The +latter was the author of a small Latin treatise of some reputation, +entitled _De legibus connubialis_, and the character of this legal work +reveals the fact that she must have been much interested in the women of +her time, for she has made here in some detail a study of their legal +status from certain points of view. No list of this kind would be +complete without mention of Novella d'Andrea, who was perhaps the best +known of all these learned women, for to her erudition was added a most +marvellous beauty which alone would have been sufficient, perhaps, to +hand her name down to posterity. Her father was a professor of canonical +law at the University of Bologna, and there it was that she became his +assistant, and on several occasions delivered lectures in his stead. At +such times it was her custom, if the tradition be true, to speak from +behind a high screen, as she had found out from experience that the +students were so bewildered by her grace and charm, when she stood +openly before them, that they were in no mood for serious study, but +gazed at her the while in undisguised admiration. + +However pleasurable it may prove to reflect upon this peaceful scene, +the fact must not be forgotten that more women were aiding men, directly +or indirectly, to break laws than to make them, for many of the most +bitter feuds and controversies of the time were waged about a woman. +Bianchina, the wife of Vergusio Landi, seduced by the great Galeazzo +Visconti, who had been her husband's friend and ally, became the cause +of a most ferocious war which was waged between the cities of Milan and +Piacenza; Virginia Galucci, abducted by Alberto Carbonesi, brought about +a long-standing hostility between these two families and caused much +blood to be spilled; many other instances might be cited which would +reveal the same state of affairs. A few of the most remarkable of these +feuds have been deemed worthy of more extended notice, and the first +among the number concerns the quarrel between the Buondelmonti and the +Amedei, in Florence, in the thirteenth century. Buondelmonte de' +Buondelmonti, a young nobleman from the upper Val d'Arno and a member of +the Guelph party, was to marry a daughter of the house of Amedei, +staunch Ghibelline supporters, and the wedding day was fast approaching; +one day the young Guelph was met upon the street by a lady of the Donati +family, also a Guelph, who reproached him for his intended union with +one of the hated party, and urged him to marry her own daughter, Ciulla, +who was far more desirable. The sight of the fair Donati was too much +for the quick passions of Buondelmonte; he fell in love with her at +once, and straightway repudiated his former plan of marriage. It may +well be imagined that the Amedei were enraged at this; the powerful +Uberti and all the other Ghibelline families in Florence, about +twenty-four in all, joined with them, and they swore to kill the fickle +young lover on sight. On Easter morning, they lay in wait for the +handsome but heedless young Buondelmonte at the north end of the Ponte +Vecchio; and when he appeared, boldly riding without an escort, all +clothed in white and upon a milk-white steed, they fell upon him and +struck him to the ground, and left him dying there, his Easter tunic +dripping with his blood. Their savage yell of triumph over this +assassination was not the end, but the beginning, for forty-two Guelph +families immediately took up the quarrel and swore to avenge the death +of their comrade, and for more than thirty years the strife continued. + +The story of Imelda de' Lambertazzi is even more tragic in its results, +as here the woman has to suffer as well as the man, and in its general +outlines this incident recalls many of the features of _Romeo and +Juliet_, though there is no evidence that Shakespeare used it in any +way, but rather confined his attention to the traditional story of the +lovers of Verona. The Lambertazzi were a noble family of Bologna, and +the daughter of the house had long been wooed most ardently by Bonifacio +de' Geremei, whose family was in deadly feud with her own. Yielding +finally to his entreaties, she allowed him to come to see her in her own +apartments; but there they were surprised by her two brothers, who +considered his presence as an affront offered not only to their sister, +but to their house. Imelda barely had time to escape before the two men +rushed upon Bonifacio, who was powerless to defend himself. With +poisoned daggers, whose secret had been learned from the Saracens by the +Crusaders, he was speedily stabbed to the heart, and then dragged into a +dark corner beneath a winding staircase. After seeing her brothers leave +the palace, Imelda returned to discover her lover's fate, while they +rushed off to raise a hue and cry and plan for further deeds of +violence. Imelda found the room where she had left the struggling men +empty, but, following the drops of blood upon the floor, she soon came +to the lifeless body hidden away. Drawing it out to the light, she found +that it was still warm, and, knowing the secret of her brothers' +weapons, she resolved upon a desperate remedy, and endeavored to suck +the poison from the wounds. The result of this most heroic attempt was +fearful: the poison was communicated to her own veins, and she was soon +stretched lifeless beside the luckless lover. There they were found by +anxious servants, who, knowing of the quarrel, had not dared to stir +about at first. Hallam says, after his account of this event: "So cruel +an outrage wrought the Geremei to madness; they formed alliances with +some of the neighboring republics; the Lambertazzi took the same +measures; and after a fight in the streets of Bologna of forty days' +duration, the latter were driven out of the city, with all the +Ghibellines, their political associates. Twelve thousand citizens were +condemned to banishment, their houses razed, and their estates +confiscated." + +Another story of bloody violence centres in the territory from Padova +and Treviso, on the one hand, to Vicenza and Verona, on the other; and +while the incidents took place in mediaeval times, dating from the latter +part of the twelfth century, the consequences were so widespread and so +lasting that they were by no means dead in the days of the early +Renaissance. Tisolino di Camposampiero, a nobleman of Padova, confided +to his friend Ezzelino, the feudal lord of Onar and Romano, that it was +his intention to marry his son to the rich heiress of Abano, Cecilia +Ricco by name. Ezzelino received this confidence, and promised to keep +the secret; but no sooner had he parted from the Padovan nobleman than +he made plans of his own, and succeeded in marrying his own son to the +desirable heiress before Tisolino could interpose. What more was needed +to start a feud of the first magnitude? Tisolino's disappointed son, +whose heart was now filled with vengeance rather than with unrequited +love, abducted his former fiancee by means of a clever ruse, and carried +her off to his father's stronghold. The next day she was sent back, +dishonored, to her husband, who refused to receive her under these +circumstances; but at the same time he felt no compunctions about +retaining her extensive dowry, which comprised many strong castles and +other feudal holdings. Then the long struggle began which was to take +many lives and last for many years. Succeeding generations inherited the +hatred as one of their most cherished possessions, and it was almost a +century before the quarrel spent itself. + +One of the most beautiful and pathetic stories of this whole period, +however, is the one which concerns the fate of Madonna Francesca, +daughter of Guido the Elder, Lord of Ravenna and of Cervia. For many +years, according to Boccaccio's account, Guido had waged a grievous war +with the Lord Malatesta of Rimini, and finally, when peace was brought +about between them through the mediation of friends, it was thought +advisable to cement the friendship with as close a tie as possible. To +that end, Guido agreed to give his fair young daughter, Francesca, in +marriage to Gianciotto, Malatesta's son, without a thought to her own +desires in the matter. When the plan was noised abroad, certain friends +of Guido, knowing Gianciotto to be lame and rather rough in his manners, +and considering it very doubtful whether Francesca would consent to +marry him when once she had seen him, came to the father and urged him +to act with discretion, so that no scandal might arise over the matter. +It happened that there was a younger son of the house of Malatesta, +Paolo by name, who was young and handsome and possessed of most courtly +and winning manners, and it was advised that he be sent to marry +Francesca by proxy in his brother's stead, and that she should be kept +in ignorance regarding the real state of affairs until it was too late +to withdraw her word. So Paolo came to Ravenna with a brilliant train of +gentlemen to celebrate the wedding festivities; and as he crossed the +courtyard of the palace on the morning of his arrival, a maid who knew +him pointed him out to Francesca through the open window, saying: "That +is he who is to be your husband." This Francesca believed, as she had no +reason to think otherwise, so skilfully was the marriage ceremony +arranged, and it was not until her arrival at Rimini that she knew her +fate. For there, on the morning following her coming, as she saw +Gianciotto rise from her side, when she had thought him to be Paolo, the +sad truth burst upon her. What excuses Paolo could give for this strange +deception we are not told, but the fact remains that Francesca still +loved him, and looked with scorn upon his misshapen brother. From that +time the dangerous moment slowly approached. Living together in the +same palace, it was but natural that Paolo and Francesca should be much +in each other's society; while Gianciotto, unloved and unlovely, busied +himself with his own affairs, which sometimes took him to other cities, +as he was a man of ambition and essayed by political manoeuvres to +advance his own interests. It happened once that in returning from one +of these journeys he saw Paolo enter Francesca's room, and then for the +first time he became jealous. Hitherto he had known of their affection +for each other, but it had never dawned upon him that his own brother +could thus betray his trust, while under his roof and receiving his +protection. Now he rushed up the broad stairway and made straight for +Francesca's door, anxious to know the worst. The door was found locked +before him, and his hurried knocks brought sudden terror to the lovers +within. There was an open window, however, through which Paolo counted +upon disappearing, and so he bade the lady make haste to open to her +lord, that he might not be curious. As Francesca opened the door, Paolo +found to his dismay that the edge of his cloak had caught upon a nail; +so that when Gianciotto, red with anger, burst into the room, the fatal +secret was disclosed. Grasping his dagger, without a moment's +hesitation, he stepped quickly to the window and would have slain his +brother with a single mighty blow, but Francesca, throwing herself +before him, sheathed the dagger in her heart and fell dead at his feet. +Gianciotto, still burning for revenge, and unmoved by his first bloody +deed, again struck at Paolo, and this time he slew him. Then, following +the words of the old story, "leaving them both dead, he hastily went his +way and betook him to his wonted affairs; and the next morning the two +lovers, with many tears, were buried together in one grave." + +There is a terrible pathos about this story which has made it live +during all these years. Through every line of it runs a commentary upon +the barbarous customs of the time, which made such a situation possible, +and its climax was so inevitable and so necessary, according to all the +laws of nature, that we of a later day are inclined to shed a +sympathetic tear and heave a sigh of regret. + +Dante has placed the two lovers in his _Inferno_ for their sin, but in +the fifth canto, where he first sees them, he is moved to such pity for +their unhappy lot that he exclaims: + + "...Francesca, i tuoi martiri + A lagrimar mi fanno tristo e pio!" + +[Thine agonies, Francesca, sad and compassionate to weeping make me!] +And before she finished telling her tragic story, he swooned away as if +he had been dying, "and fell, even as a dead body falls." + +In a more recent time this story has been told by Silvio Pellico, who +wrote a tragedy on the subject, and by Leigh Hunt in a poem. In England, +Boker wrote a successful tragedy upon it many years ago, and more +recently Stephen Phillips, in his _Paolo and Francesca_, has produced a +dramatic poem of rare merit. Most recently of all, Gabriele d'Annunzio, +the well-known Italian poet and novelist, has made this story the +subject of a powerful drama, which was interpreted in a most wonderful +way by the great Italian actress, Eleonora Duse. To show that others +than poets have been inspired by Francesca's unhappy history, it may be +of interest to record the fact that noted pictures illustrating the +story have been painted by many of the greatest artists. + +To return to that early period in Italian history, so filled with strife +and discord, it should be said that in spite of this constant warfare, +the richer princes, especially in the north of Italy, lived in a most +sumptuous manner, and prepared the way, to a certain degree, for the +splendor of Lorenzo the Magnificent, which was to appear in the century +following. The women in these regal courts were clothed in the most +extravagant fashion, and the precious stuffs and precious stones of all +the known world were laid at their feet by their admirers. Among these +affluent noblemen of the fourteenth century, Galeazzo Visconti was +generally considered the handsomest man of his age. Symonds tells us +that he was tall and graceful, with golden hair which he wore in long +plaits, or tied up in a net, or else loose and crowned with flowers. By +nature he was fond of display, liked to make a great show of his wealth, +and spent much money in public entertainments and feasts and in the +construction of beautiful palaces and churches. His wealth was so great +and his reputation had gone so far abroad that he was able to do what +other rich Italian noblemen accomplished in a somewhat later +time--arrange royal marriages for some of his children. His daughter +Violante was wedded with great ceremony to the Duke of Clarence, son of +Edward III. of England, who is said to have received with her as a dowry +the sum of two hundred thousand golden florins, and at the same time +five cities on the Piedmont frontier. London was a muddy, unpaved city +at this time, primitive in the extreme; the houses were still covered +with thatched roofs, beds were still made upon bundles of straw cast +upon the floors, and wine was so scarce that it was generally sold for +medicinal purposes. It has been pointed out that it must have been a +strange experience for this English nobleman to leave all that and come +to a country of warmth and sunshine, where the houses were large and +comfortable and made of marble, where the streets were dry and paved, +where wine was as plenty as water, and where ease and luxury were seen +on every hand. + +This royal marriage was celebrated at Pavia, where Galeazzo held his +court, and the historian Giovio has given some curious and interesting +details regarding it. He says that on the completion of the ceremony +Galeazzo gave rich gifts to more than two hundred Englishmen, and it was +generally considered that he had shown himself more generous than the +greatest kings. At the wedding feast, Gian Galeazzo, the bride's +brother,--who was afterward married to Isabella, the daughter of King +John of France,--at the head of a band of noble youths, brought +wonderful new gifts to the table with the arrival of each new course +upon the bill of fare. "At one time it was sixty most beautiful horses, +adorned with gold and silver trappings; at another, silver plate, hawks, +hounds, fine cuirasses, suits of armor of wrought steel, helmets +decorated with crests, tunics adorned with pearls, belts, precious +jewels set in gold, and great quantities of cloth of gold and crimson +stuff for the making of garments. Such was the profusion at this banquet +that the remnants taken from the table were more than enough to supply +ten thousand men." Not every heiress in Italy could have gloried in such +a wedding feast as the one given in honor of Violante Visconti, but the +wealth of these petty rulers was something almost incredible, and the +general prosperity of the common people passes belief. As has always +been the case under such circumstances, increasing wealth has brought +about increased expenditure, principally in matters of dress, and the +women in particular seem to have made the most of this opportunity. +Vanity and frivolity multiplied on every hand as a natural consequence; +the Church was growing daily less able to cope with the moral degeneracy +of the time on account of its own immoral condition; thus, the +foundations were being laid for those centuries of corruption and +national weakness which were soon to follow. + + + + +Chapter VII + +Women in the Later Renaissance + + +The age of Lorenzo de' Medici--that bright fifteenth century--in the +history of the Italian peninsula was signalized by such achievement and +definite result in the intellectual emancipation of the minds of men, +art and poetry were given such an impetus and showed promise of such +full fruition, that he who would now conjure up the picture of that fair +day is well-nigh lost in wonderment and awe. But in this love of art and +worship of the beautiful it soon becomes apparent that pagan influences +were stealing into daily life, and that the religion of the Christian +Church was fast becoming an empty form which had no value as a rule of +conduct. Blind faith in the power of the Vicar of Christ to forgive the +sins of this world still remained, and in that one way, perhaps, did the +Church manage to exist throughout this period; for men, sinful and +irreligious and blasphemous as they certainly were, were none the less +so impressed with the possibilities of suffering in a future state that +they insisted upon priestly absolution--which they accepted with +implicit confidence--before setting out upon their journey into the +Unknown. The most terrible crimes were matters of common occurrence and +were allowed to go unrebuked, at least by the moral sentiment of the +community; adultery was too frequent, murder caused little comment, and +incest was not unknown. The pursuit of pleasure was of no less +importance than the pursuit of fame and glory; the Italian idea of honor +was in perfect harmony with deceit and treachery; and unclean living, +and a married woman was considered above reproach so long as she did not +allow her acts of infidelity to become known to all the world. + +In an age of this kind it cannot be said that the women occupied a +position which is to be envied by the women of to-day. It is not to be +expected that the women will show themselves better than the men at such +a time, and when was there a better opportunity for vice to run riot? +The convents of the time were, almost without exception, perfect +brothels, and the garb of the virgin nun was shown scant respect--and +was entitled to still less. Venice became a modern Corinth, and was a +resort for all the profligates of the continent; it was estimated that +there were twelve thousand prostitutes within its gates at the beginning +of the fifteenth century. A century later, Rome counted no less than +seven thousand of these unsavory citizens, and they, with their +villainous male confederates, who were ever ready to rob, levy +blackmail, or commit murder, did much to make the Holy City almost +uninhabitable in the days of Pope Innocent VIII. As Symonds has said, +the want of a coordinating principle is everywhere apparent in this +Italian civilization; the individual has reached his personal freedom, +but he has not yet come to a comprehension of that higher liberty which +is law; passions are unbridled, the whim of the moment is an +all-compelling power, and the time was yet far in the distance when +society could feel itself upon a firm foundation. + +From all that can be learned, it appears that women were not treated +with any special respect; men were free to indulge in the most ribald +conversation in their presence, and it has yet to be proved that they +took offence at this unbecoming liberty. The songs which were composed +at Carnival time were dedicated to the ladies especially, and yet in all +literature it would be difficult to find anything more indecent. Society +was simply in a crude state so far as its ideas of decency and delicacy +were concerned, and both men and women were often lacking in what are +now considered to be the most elementary notions of propriety. As the +men were by far the more active and the more important members of each +community, it cannot be said that women were looked upon with equal +consideration. The Oriental idea of women in general, as domestic +animals whose duty it was to minister to the wants and pleasures of +their master and superior, lordly man, was but slowly vanishing, and +many centuries of suffering, experience, and education were to intervene +before saner and truer notions could prevail. Lorenzo de' Medici, in +writing of a beautiful and talented woman, makes the following +statement: "Her understanding was superior to her sex, but without the +appearance of arrogance or presumption; and she avoided an error too +common among women, who, when they think themselves sensible, become for +the most part insupportable." It is evident that if women were generally +held in as high esteem as men, it is altogether unlikely that the +expression "superior to her sex" would have been employed, and the +latter part of the sentence leads to the further inference that +pretentious and pedantic women of the kind referred to were not +altogether uncommon at this time. + +No better illustration of the relative position of women in society can +be found than in one of the letters received by Lorenzo from his wife, +who was a member of the old and proud Orsini family, which was much more +aristocratic than his own. She addresses him by the term _Magnifice +Conjux_, which certainly does not betoken a very great degree of +intimacy between husband and wife; and the letter concerns the +unbearable conduct of the poet Poliziano, who was then an inmate of +their house and the private teacher of their children. It seems that he +had persecuted her with his attentions, and she is led to protest +against his continued employment. In spite of her protest, however, she +meekly adds: "Know, I should say to you, that if you desire him to +remain, I shall be very content, although I have endured his uttering to +me a thousand villainies. If this is with your permission, I am patient, +but I cannot believe such a thing." Lorenzo's behavior upon the receipt +of this letter will be of interest and will throw much light upon the +question involved. Did he burn with indignation at this story of +Poliziano's disgraceful conduct and did he dismiss him from his service +forthwith as one unworthy of his trust? By no means. The children were +soon after taken away from their mother's supervision and sent off to a +villa not far from Florence, where they were put entirely under the +control of the man who had just insulted their mother! Furthermore, +Boccaccio wrote, at a somewhat earlier date it is true, but in a state +of society which differed little from that under discussion, that women +were of little real consequence in the world, and that "since but few +good ones are to be found among them, they are to be avoided +altogether." + +The position occupied by women in the eyes of the law is somewhat more +difficult to determine, but it may be said with certainty that they took +no part in the public duties of life and seem to have manifested no +yearnings in that direction. They did not vote or hold public office, +and would no doubt have looked inquiringly and without comprehension at +anyone who proposed such possibilities. Women were evidently being +shielded and protected as much as possible; property was rarely held by +them in their own names, and the laws appear to have been made for the +men almost exclusively. It will be remembered, perhaps, that when Dante +was banished from Florence, his wife was allowed to continue her +residence in that city without molestation, and was even able to save +much of their property from confiscation and devote it to the education +of their children. Later on, when Carlo Strozzi was sent away in exile, +his family was not disturbed in the least, and it was during his absence +from the city that his daughter Maddalena was married to Luchino +Visconti in the midst of most brilliant ceremonies. Guests were invited +from all the north of Italy, there were horseraces and tournaments, and +the whole function was one of great pomp and brilliancy. The brothers +and grown sons of exiled citizens were never accorded such +consideration, and it is but fair to assume that the popular sentiment +of the time demanded this exceptional treatment for the women. At one +time it was even held to be against the Florentine statutes to banish a +woman; in 1497, at the time of a conspiracy to restore the banished +Piero de' Medici to power, his sister, though proved to have conspired +in equal measure with the men, was not given an equal measure of +punishment; she was merely kept in seclusion for a period at the palace +of Guglielmo de' Pazzi, and was then set at liberty through the +influence of Francesco Valori, to whom it seemed unworthy to lay hands +upon a woman. + +In the midst of this exciting and excited world, it may well be imagined +that the passions were strong and that women of charm and beauty were +able to exercise no little influence upon the men who came within their +power. Never, perhaps, in the history of modern civilization has the +aesthetic instinct of a people been so thoroughly aroused as it was in +Italy at this time, and the almost pagan love of beauty which possessed +them led to many extravagances in their sentimental conceptions. As +Lorenzo de' Medici was the most powerful and distinguished Italian of +his time, so may he be termed its representative lover, for his +excursions into the land of sentiment may be considered as typical of +his day and generation. The first passion of his heart was purely +subjective and artificial, the result of a forcing process which had +been induced by the power of brotherly love. It so happened that +Lorenzo's brother Giuliano, who was assassinated later by the Pazzi, +loved, very tenderly, a lady named Simonetta, reputed to be the most +beautiful woman in all Florence; so great was her fame that she was +quite generally spoken of as _la bella Simonetta_, and the artist +Botticelli, who had an eye for a pretty woman, has left us a portrait +which vouches for her charms in no uncertain way. She was but a fragile +flower, however, and died in the bloom of youth, mourned by her lover +with such genuine grief that, with one impulse, all sought to bring him +consolation. Letters of condolence were written in prose and verse, +sonnets were fairly showered upon him, and Greek and Latin were used as +often as Italian in giving expression to the universal sorrow. But how +all this affected Lorenzo, and what inspiration it gave to his muse, he +had best relate in his own words, for the tale is not devoid of romance, +and he alone can do it justice: + + "A young lady of great personal charm happened to die at Florence; + and as she had been very generally admired and beloved, so her + death was as generally lamented. Nor was this to be marvelled at, + for she possessed such beauty and such engaging manners that almost + every person who had any acquaintance with her flattered himself + that he had obtained the chief place in her affections. Her sad + death excited the extreme regret of her admirers; and as she was + carried to the place of burial, with her face uncovered, those who + had known her in life pressed about her for a last look at the + object of their adoration, and then accompanied her funeral with + their tears. On this occasion, all the eloquence and all the wit of + Florence were exerted in paying due honors to her memory, both in + verse and prose. Among the rest, I, also, composed a few sonnets, + and, in order to give them greater effect, I tried to convince + myself that I too had been deprived of the object of my love, and + to excite in my own mind all those passions which might enable me + to move the affections of others." + +In this attempt to put himself in the place of another, Lorenzo de' +Medici began to wonder how it would seem to have such grief to bear on +his own account; and then his thoughts went still further afield, and he +found himself speculating as to whether or not another lady could be +found of the same merit and beauty as the lamented Simonetta. In the +midst of the great number of those who were writing eulogistic poetry in +this lady's honor, Lorenzo began to feel that the situation lacked +distinction, and he was not slow to realize what great reputation might +be acquired by the lucky mortal who could unearth another divinity of +equal charm. For some time he tried in vain, and then suddenly success +crowned his efforts, and he has told us in what manner. "A public +festival was held in Florence, to which all that was noble and beautiful +in the city resorted. To this I was brought by some of my companions (I +suppose as my destiny led) against my will, for I had for some time past +avoided such exhibitions; or if at times I had attended them, it +proceeded rather from a compliance with custom than from any pleasure I +experienced in them. Among the ladies there assembled, I saw one of +such sweet and charming manners that I could not help saying, as I +looked at her, 'If this person were possessed of the delicacy, the +understanding, and the accomplishments of her who is lately dead, most +certainly she excels her in the charm of her person.' Resigning myself +to my passion, I endeavored to discover, if possible, how far her +manners and conversation agreed with her appearance; and here I found +such an assemblage of extraordinary endowments that it is difficult to +say whether she excelled more in person or in mind. Her beauty was, as I +have said before, astonishing. She was of a just and proper height. Her +complexion was extremely fair, but not pale, blooming, but not ruddy. +Her countenance was serious without being severe, mild and pleasant +without levity or vulgarity. Her eyes were sparkling, but without +indication of pride or conceit. Her whole figure was so finely +proportioned that amongst other women she appeared with superior +dignity, yet free from the least degree of formality or affectation. In +walking or in dancing, or in other exercises which display the person, +every motion was elegant and appropriate. Her sentiments were always +just and striking and have furnished me material for some of my sonnets; +she always spoke at the proper time, and always to the purpose, so that +nothing could be added, nothing taken away.... To recount all her +excellencies would far exceed my present limits, and I shall therefore +conclude with affirming that there was nothing which could be desired in +a beautiful and accomplished woman which was not in her most abundantly +found. By these qualities, I was so captivated that not a power or +faculty of my body or mind remained any longer at liberty, and I could +not help considering the lady who had died as the star of Venus, which +at the approach of the sun is totally overpowered and extinguished." + +The name of this wondrous lady is carefully kept in the background by +Lorenzo, but from other sources she is known to have been Lucrezia +Donati, a lady of noble birth, celebrated for her goodness and beauty, +and a member of that same Donati family to which Dante's wife belonged. +At the time of this love affair, Lorenzo was about twenty, and the lady +was somewhat older, but that made no difference to the young poet, who +immediately began to exhibit all those symptoms which have become +traditional in such maladies of the heart. He lost his appetite, grew +pale, shunned the society of even his dearest friends, took long, +solitary walks, and wrote many an ode and sonnet in honor of the fair +Donati. But she was indeed a divinity rather than a friend, and his +oft-expressed delight in her many charms was rather intellectual than +emotional and passionate. She becomes for him, in truth, a very sun of +blazing beauty, which he looks upon to admire, but the fire of the lover +is entirely wanting. While it was no such mystic attachment as that +professed by Dante for Beatrice, it no doubt resembles it from certain +points of view, as, in each case, the lover has little actual +acquaintance with the object of his affections. But there this +comparison must end, for it has been explained how Dante derived a +certain moral and spiritual benefit from his early brooding love, and in +the more modern instance nothing of the kind is apparent. On the +contrary, everything seems to show that Lorenzo was at an age when his +"fancy lightly turned to thoughts of love," and, being of a poetic +temperament, he amused himself by writing amorous poetry which came from +the head and not the heart. The characteristic traits of this poetry, +then, are grace and elegance, sonority and rhythm; it lacks sincerity +and that impetuous flow of sentiment which is generally indicative of +intense feeling. It cannot be denied, however, that he often reached a +high plane; perhaps the following lines show him at his best: + + "Quale sopra i nevosi ed alti monti + Apollo spande il suo bel lume adorno, + Tal' i crin suoi sopra la bianca gonna! + Il tempo e'l luogo non ch'io conti, + Che dov'e si bel sole e sempre giorno; + E Paradiso, ov'e si bella Donna!" + +[As Apollo sheds his golden beams over the snowy summits of the lofty +mountains, so flowed her golden tresses over her gown of white. But I +need not note the time and place, for where shines so fair a sun it can +be naught but day, and where dwells my lady fair can be but Paradise!] + +While still preoccupied with what Mrs. Jameson terms his visions of love +and poetry, he was called upon by his father, at the age of twenty-one, +to marry, for political reasons, a woman whom he had never seen--Clarice +Orsini. That the marriage was unexpected is attested by a note in his +diary to this effect: "I, Lorenzo, took to wife, Donna Clarice Orsini, +or rather she was given to me," on such and such a day. The ceremony was +performed in Naples, it appears, but the wedding festivities were +celebrated in Florence, and never was there a more brilliant scene in +all the city's history. The fete began on a Sunday morning and lasted +until midday of the Tuesday following, and for that space of time almost +the entire population was entertained and fed by the Medici. On this +occasion the wedding presents took a practical turn, in part, for, from +friends and from some of the neighboring villages subject to the rule of +Florence, supplies were sent in great quantities; among the number, +record is made of eight hundred calves and two thousand pairs of +chickens! There were music and dancing by day and by night; musicians +were stationed in various parts of the city, and about them the dancers +filled the streets. An adequate conception of this scene will perhaps be +a matter of some difficulty, but those who know something of the way in +which the people in modern Paris dance upon the smooth pavements on the +night of the national holiday, the Quatorze Juillet, will possess at +least a faint idea of what it must have been. That all classes of the +population were cared for at this great festival is proved by the fact +that one hundred kegs of wine were consumed daily, and that five +thousand pounds of sweetmeats and candies were distributed among the +people. + +The marriage of the poet Ariosto with the beautiful Alessandra Strozzi, +widow of Tito Strozzi, a noble Florentine who was famed in his day for +his Latin poetry, was not concluded with any such display and +magnificence, the author of the _Orlando Furioso_ being in no position +which made it necessary for him to entertain the whole population, and +having ideas all his own regarding the advantage of publicity in such +matters. Long before Ariosto's marriage, however, in the days of his +youth and before he had ever set eyes upon the Titian-haired Alessandra, +he fell captive to the charms of Ginevra Lapi, a young girl of +Florentine family, who lived at or near Mantua. He met her first at a +_festa di ballo_, we are told, and there he was much impressed with her +grace and beauty, for she seemed like a young goddess among her less +favored companions. Then began that attachment which lasted for long +years and which seems to have inspired much of his earlier lyric poetry. +Four years after their first meeting he writes that she was "dearer to +him than his own soul and fairer than ever in his eyes," and she seems +to have made a very strong impression upon his mind, as he mentions her +long afterward with most genuine tenderness. What more than this may be +said of Ginevra Lapi has not yet come to light, and it is due to the +poet alone that her name has been handed down to posterity. If Ariosto +had been an expansive and communicative man, we might know far more than +we do of Ginevra and of the other friends of his youth, for he was a +person of most impressionable nature, who was very susceptible to the +allurements of beautiful women, and there is no doubt of the fact that +he had a certain compelling charm which made him almost irresistible +with the ladies of his _entourage_. However, the history of his affairs +of the heart has baffled all investigators as yet, because the poet, +from the very earliest days of his youth, made it a rule never to boast +of his conquests or to speak of his friends in any public way. As a +symbol of this gallant rule of conduct, there is still preserved at +Ferrara one of Ariosto's inkstands, which is ornamented with a little +bronze Cupid, finger upon lip in token of silence. + +Early biographers and literary historians were inclined to give to +Ginevra Lapi all credit for the more serious inspiration which prompted +him to write the major part of his amatory verse, and so careful had he +been to conceal the facts that it was not until many years after his +death that his marriage to Alessandra Strozzi was generally known. +Ariosto had been on a visit to Rome in the year 1515, and, on his +return, he chanced to stop at Florence, where he intended to spend three +or four days during the grand festival which was being held in honor of +Saint John the Baptist. Arriving just in time to be present at some +social function of importance, the poet there saw for the first time +this lady who was to mean so much to him for all the rest of his life. +It will be remembered that when Lorenzo de' Medici first met Lucrezia +Donati he had been taken to some evening company, much against his +will. In the present instance, it was the lady who showed +disinclination to go into society, and her recent widowhood gave her +good reason for her feeling in the matter; but, won over by the +entreaties of her friends, _da preghi vinta_, she finally consented to +go. What she wore and how she looked, and how she bore herself, and much +more, do we know from Ariosto's glowing lines which were written in +commemoration of this event. Her gown was of black, all embroidered with +bunches of grapes and grape leaves in purple and gold. Her luxuriant +blond hair, the _richissima capellatura bionda_, was gathered in a net +behind and, parted in the middle, fell to her shoulders in long curls on +either side of her face; and on her forehead, just where the hair was +parted, she wore a twig of laurel, cunningly wrought in gold and +precious stones. + +Alessandra's most effective charm was her wonderful hair, of that color +which had been made famous by the pictures of Titian and Giorgione, and +it really seems that in Ariosto's time this color was so ardently +desired that hair dyes were in common use, especially in Venice. It is +with a feeling of some regret that we are led to reflect that much of +that gorgeous hair which we have admired for so many years in the famous +paintings of the Venetian masters may be artificial in its brilliant +coloring, but such, alas! is probably the case. The fair Alessandra, +nevertheless, had no need to resort to the dye pots of Venice, as Mother +Nature had been generous in the extreme, and the poet was inspired by +the truth, if the painters of the time were not. How unfortunate, then, +that a serious illness was the means of her being shorn of this crowning +glory! Her attending physician decided upon one occasion that it would +be necessary to cut her hair to save her life, but later events proved +that he had been over anxious and that this desperate remedy had been +entirely uncalled for. Ariosto, as may well be believed, was indignant +at the sacrifice, and wrote three sonnets regarding it before he cooled +his anger. In one of these passionate protests occur the following +lines, which will give some idea of his highly colored style and at the +same time show us what an important place Alessandra Strozzi must have +held in his affections: "When I think, as I do a thousand times a day, +upon those golden tresses, which neither wisdom nor necessity but hasty +folly tore, alas! from that fair head, I am enraged, my cheeks burn with +anger, even tears gush forth bathing my face and bosom. I would die, +could I but be avenged upon the impious stupidity of that rash hand. O +Love, if such wrong goes unpunished, thine be the reproach!... Wilt thou +suffer the loveliest and dearest of thy possessions to be boldly +ravished and yet bear it in silence?" + +Though Ariosto had come to Florence to spend but a summer day or two at +Saint John's feast, his visit lengthened into weeks, and full six months +had rolled around before he could tear himself away after that first +eventful evening. As his time was spent with his friend Vespucci, +Alessandra's brother-in-law, he had ample opportunity to bask in her +smiles without exciting unfavorable comment; and when he finally did +depart, he left his heart behind him. From that day until the time of +his death it was known that he loved her, but their names were never +coupled in any scandalous way, and it was only after the death of the +poet that the fact was known that they had been secretly married. No one +has been able to give the exact date of this marriage, but there is now +little doubt with regard to the fact itself, and certain evidence leads +to the conclusion that the wedding must have taken place in the year +1522. Why this matter was kept a secret has given rise to much +speculation, for it would appear to the superficial observer that a +public acknowledgment of the fact might have been a matter of pride to +either the poet or the Signora Strozzi. Family reasons have been alleged +by Baruffaldi, one of Ariosto's many biographers, but they seem entirely +inadequate and unsatisfactory, and the whole matter still remains +shrouded in mystery. + +One side of the question which has not perhaps been presented before is +this--would there have been any change in the tone of Ariosto's lyric +verse if Alessandra had been known to all the world as his wife? With +the possible exceptions of the Brownings and one or two others, the case +is hardly recorded where a poet has been inspired to his highest efforts +by his wedded wife, and it is extremely problematical whether or not in +the present instance the fire and fervor of Ariosto's lines could have +been kindled at a domestic hearth which all the world might see. The +secret marriage was probably insisted upon by the wife, and all honor to +Alessandra Strozzi for her pure heart in that corrupt time! But the fact +was probably kept hidden to gratify some whim of the poet. The very +situation is tinged with the romantic, the old adage about stolen sweets +was undoubtedly as true in that time as it is to-day, and the poet had a +restless nature which could ill brook the ordinary yoke of Hymen. So +long as he could live in the Via Mirasole, and Alessandra in the stately +Casa Strozzi, Ferrara had charms for him, and his muse was all aflame. +Would this have been true if one roof had sheltered them? + +Whatever the verdict may be in this matter, the fact remains that all of +Ariosto's lyric poetry and many of the passages in the _Orlando Furioso_ +were inspired by his real love for some woman, and it was this living, +burning passion which gives him his preeminence as a poet. He had +mannerisms, it is true, and much that he wrote is apt to appear stilted +to the ordinary English reader, but such mannerisms are only the +national characteristics of most Italian poetry and must be viewed in +that light. On the other hand, Ariosto's evident sincerity is in +striking contrast to the cold, intellectual, amatory verse of Lorenzo +de' Medici, which was, in truth, but an aesthetic diversion for that +brilliant prince. And even this was due to the inspiration he received +from the sight of a fair lady, many years his senior, for whom he had a +most distant, formal, Platonic affection, while it never dawned upon him +that his own wife's beauty might deserve a sonnet now and then. + + + + +Chapter VIII + +The Borgias and the Bad Women of the Sixteenth Century + + +Things went from bad to worse, as is their habit, and Italian life in +the sixteenth century shows an increasing corruption and a laxity in +public morals which were but the natural result of the free-thinking +Renaissance. The Church had completely lost its influence as the +spiritual head of Europe, and had become but a hypocritical +principality, greedy for temporal power, and openly trafficking in +ecclesiastical offices which were once supposed to belong by right to +men of saintly lives; it is probable that this barefaced profligacy of +the papal court was responsible for the widespread moral inertia which +was characteristic of the time. The pontiff's chair at the dawn of this +century was filled by Roderigo Borgia, known as Alexander VI., and it +may well be said that his career of crime and lust gave the keynote to +the society which was to follow him. By means of most open bribery he +had been elected to his office, but, in spite of these well-known facts, +his advent was hailed with great joy and his march to the Vatican was a +veritable triumph. Contemporary historians unite in praising him at this +time in his career, for as a cardinal he had been no worse in his +immoralities than many of his colleagues; and he was a man of commanding +presence and marked abilities, who seemed to embody the easy grace and +indifference of his day. It was said of him as he rode to assume the +mantle of Saint Peter: "He sits upon a snow-white horse, with serene +forehead, with commanding dignity. How admirable is the mild composure +of his mien! how noble his countenance! his glance--how free!" And it +was said that the heroic beauty of his whole body was given him by +Nature in order that he might adorn the seat of the Apostles with his +divine form, in the place of God! What blasphemy this was! but it shows +the moral level of the day. His intercourse with Vanozza Catanei was +open and notorious, and she was the mother of that Lucrezia Borgia whose +ill repute is dying a hard death in the face of modern attempts at +rehabilitation. His liaison with Giulia Farnese, known as _la bella +Giulia_, the lawful wife of Orsino Orsini, was no less conspicuous, and +these two women had a great influence upon him throughout his whole +lifetime. It had already been said of him: "He is handsome, of a most +glad countenance and joyous aspect, gifted with honeyed and choice +eloquence; the beautiful women on whom he casts his eyes are charmed to +love him, and he moves them in a wondrous way, more powerfully than the +magnet influences iron;" but this seduction in his manner cannot be +considered as merely an innocent result of his great personal beauty, +because his lustful disposition is well proved, and sensuality was +always his greatest vice. Symonds makes the statement that within the +sacred walls of the Vatican he maintained a harem in truly Oriental +fashion; and here were doubtless sent, from all parts of the papal +states, those daughters of Venus who were willing to minister to the +joys of His Holiness. To cap the climax, imagine the effrontery of a +pope who dared, in the face of the ecclesiastical rule enjoining +celibacy upon the priesthood, to parade his delinquencies before the +eyes of all the world, and seat himself in state, for a solemn pageant +at Saint Peter's, with his daughter Lucrezia upon one side of his +throne and his daughter-in-law Sancia upon the other! It was once said +by a witty and epigrammatic Italian that Church affairs were so corrupt +that the interests of morality demanded the marriage rather than the +celibacy of the clergy, and it would appear that this remark has a +certain pertinency anent the present situation. To illustrate in what +way such delinquency was made a matter of jest, the following story is +related. At the time of the French invasion, during the early days of +Alexander's pontificate, Giulia and Girolama Farnese, two members of +what we perhaps may call the pope's domestic circle, were captured, +together with their duenna, Adriana di Mila, by a certain Monseigneur +d'Allegre, who was in the suite of the French king. He came upon them +near Capodimonte and carried them off to Montefiascone, where they were +placed in confinement; while Alexander was notified of the occurrence +and told that he must pay a ransom, the sum being fixed at three +thousand ducats. This amount was paid instanter, and the captives were +at once released. As they approached Rome, they were met by Alexander, +who was attired as a layman, in black and gold brocade, with his dagger +at his belt. When Ludovico Sforza heard what had happened, he remarked, +with a smile, that the ransom was much too small, and that if the sum of +fifty thousand ducats had been demanded it would have been paid with +equal readiness, as these ladies were known to be "the very eyes and +heart" of the Holy Father. + +It was in the midst of this wanton court that the yellow-haired Lucrezia +Borgia grew up to womanhood, subject to all the baleful influences which +were in such profusion about her. Associating, perforce, with the +dissolute women of her father's household, it would be too much to +expect to find her a woman uncontaminated by the ways of the world. +There are many things to show that she had her father's love, and dark +stories have been whispered regarding his overfondness for her; but, be +that as it may, it is certain that Alexander never neglected an +opportunity to give his daughter worldly advancement. Before his +accession to the pontificate, Lucrezia had been formally promised to a +couple of Spanish grandees, Don Cherubino Juan de Centelles and Don +Gasparo da Procida, who was a son of the Count of Aversa; but once in +the Vatican, with the papal power in his hands, Alexander grew more +ambitious, and looked for another alliance, which might give him an +increased political power. Then come three marriages in which the +daughter Lucrezia seems but a puppet in her father's hands. First, she +was married to Giovanni Sforza, Lord of Pesaro, but differences of +opinion regarding politics and the pope's desire for a still more +powerful son-in-law led him to sanction Lucrezia's divorce; she was then +promptly married to Alphonso, Prince of Biseglia, a natural son of the +King of Naples. When Alphonso's father was deposed, the Borgias grew +tired of the prince, and caused him to be stabbed one fine day on the +very steps of Saint Peter's. Then, as he showed some disinclination to +give up the ghost, he was strangled as he lay in his bed by Michellozzo, +the trusted villain of the Borgia household. The year following, +Lucrezia found another spouse, and this time it was Alphonso, the Crown +Prince of Ferrara. The marriage was celebrated by means of a proxy, in +Rome, and then the daughter of the pope, with cardinals and prelates in +her train, set out on a triumphal journey across the country. She +travelled with much pomp and ceremony, as was befitting one of her +position in the world, and on her arrival in Ferrara she was welcomed +with most elaborate ceremonies. This marriage had been forced upon the +house of Este through political necessity, and the young duke-to-be, +Alphonso, had looked forward to it with no pleasure, hence the wedding +by proxy; but Lucrezia, by her charm and tact, soon won the affection of +her husband and drew about her a most distinguished company of poets and +scholars, all of whom were enthusiastic in singing her praise. Ariosto +and the two Strozzi were there, likewise the Cardinal Bembo--who became +a somewhat too ardent admirer--and Aldo Manuzio, and other men of +distinction. Though of commonplace origin, Lucrezia had received the +very best education possible, and she conducted herself with such +propriety and showed such ready wit that she was the real centre of her +literary coterie and gave little, if any, outward evidence of that +immoral and dissolute character with which she had been credited in her +earlier days. There can be no doubt that the corrupt influences which +surrounded her in her girlhood early destroyed her purity of mind and +led her to dissolute practices, but the legend which has grown up about +her, filled with fearful stories of poison and murder, has been much +exaggerated. A sensual woman she was, but she has had to suffer for many +crimes which were committed by her father and her brother, Caesar Borgia; +and while she was undoubtedly bad in many ways, the time has passed when +she can justly be considered as a fiend incarnate. + +With the high priest of all Christendom a man whose hands were stained +with blood and whose private life was marred by every vice, it is not +surprising that in all parts of Italy the annals of this time are +tainted and polluted in every way. Apparently, all restraint was thrown +aside, the noblest families seemed to vie with each other in crime and +debauchery, and the pages of history are filled with countless awful +iniquities. Among the Medici alone, there is a record of eleven family +murders within the short space of fifty years, and seven of these were +caused by illicit love! With that lack of logic which sometimes, under +similar circumstances, characterizes the actions of men to-day, these +Italians of the sixteenth century were not willing that their sisters +and wives should debase themselves by dishonorable conduct, no matter +what they might do themselves, and when the women were found guilty +there was no punishment too severe for them. Thus, Eleanora di Toledo +was hacked to pieces by her husband Pietro de' Medici, and his sister +Isabella was strangled by her husband the Duke di Bracciano, with the +consent of her brothers. + +Isabella dead, the duke was free to marry Vittoria Accoramboni,--in no +way his equal in rank, for he was an Orsini,--who was a woman totally +devoid of all moral sense--if she is to be judged by her acts. She had +been wedded to Francesco Peretti, but, tiring of him and seeing the +opportunity for marriage with the duke, she and her mother plotted the +husband's death, and it was her handsome and unscrupulous brother who +did the deed. Despite the pope's opposition, the marriage was +consummated, but the guilty pair were not allowed to remain unmolested +for a long time, as Vittoria was soon arrested and tried for complicity +in her first husband's murder. While thus under arrest, she lived in +great state and entertained in a most lavish way, and seemed in no way +abashed by her position. Though finally acquitted, she was ordered by +the court to leave the duke and lead henceforth a life which might be +above suspicion. Through the brother Marcello and his constant +companion, who is continually alluded to as the "Greek enchantress," the +duke and his wife were soon brought together again; they were again +married, that the succession might be assured to Vittoria. Indeed, they +were twice married with this purpose in view, but they were so scorned +by the members of the duke's own family and so harassed by the pope's +officers, who were ever threatening prosecution, that their life was one +of constant care and anxiety. When the duke finally died, Vittoria was +left his sole heir, though the will was disputed by Ludovico Orsini, the +next in succession. Vittoria was spending her first few months of +widowhood in the Orsini palace at Padua, when one night the building was +entered by forty men, all masked in black, who came with murderous +intent. Marcello, the infamous brother, escaped their clutches; another +brother, much younger and innocent of all crime, was shot in the +shoulder and driven to his sister's room, where he thought to find +shelter; there they saw Vittoria, calmly kneeling at her _prie-dieu_, +rosary in hand, saying her evening prayers. As the story goes, she flung +herself before a crucifix, but all in vain, for she was stabbed in the +heart, one assassin turning the knife to make death absolutely certain. +She died saying, it is reported: "Jesus, I forgive you!" The next day, +when the deed was noised abroad, and the corpse of Vittoria was exposed +to the public gaze, her beauty, even in death, appealed to the Paduans; +and they at once rushed to Ludovico's palace, believing him guilty of +the crime or responsible for it in some way. The place was besieged, an +intercepted letter revealed the fact that Ludovico had killed Vittoria +with his own hand, and when the place was finally reduced and surrender +inevitable, the noble assassin coolly gave up his arms, and then began +to trim his finger-nails with a small pair of scissors, which he took +from his pocket, as if nothing had happened. It is evident that, having +accomplished his revenge upon this woman who had sullied the name of his +family, he was now content to take whatever fate might come; and when he +was strangled in prison, by order of the republic of Venice, he went to +his fathers like a brave man, without a sigh or tremor. + +The story of Violante di Cordona exhibits the same disregard for moral +law and the same calm acceptance of death. As the Duchess of Palliano +and wife of Don Giovanni Caraffa, this beautiful woman was much courted +at her palace in Naples, where she lived in a most sumptuous way with +crowds of courtiers and admirers about her. Through the jealousy of +Diana Brancaccio, one of her ladies in waiting, who is described as +"hot-tempered and tawny-haired," the fair duchess was doomed to a sad +fate, and all on account of the handsome Marcello Capecce, who had been +her most ardent suitor. In Mrs. Linton's words, "his love for Violante +was that half religious, half sensual passion which now writes sonnets +to my lady as a saint, and now makes love to her as a courtesan." But, +whatever his mode of procedure, Diana loved him, while he loved only +Violante, and he proved to be a masterful man. The duke was away in +exile on account of a disgraceful carouse which had ended in a street +fight, and Violante was spending the time, practically alone, in the +quiet little town of Gallese, which is halfway between Orvieto and Rome. +In this solitude, Violante and Marcello were finally surprised under +circumstances which made their guilt certain, and final confession was +obtained from Marcello after he had been arrested and subjected to +torture. Thereupon the duke sought him out in his prison, and stabbed +him and threw his body into the prison sewer. The pope, Paul IV., was +the duke's uncle; and upon being told what his nephew had done, he +showed no surprise, but asked significantly: "And what have they done +with the duchess?" Murder, under such circumstances, was considered +justifiable throughout all Italy--and it must be confessed that the +modern world knows something of this sentiment. On one occasion, a +Florentine court made this reply to a complaint which had been lodged +against a faithless wife: _Essendo vero quanto scriveva facesse quello +che conveniva a cavaliere di honore!_ [Things being true as he has +written them, he is allowed to do that which is befitting a gentleman of +honor!] It was not the pope alone who proposed punishment for Violante, +for the duke had a brother, Cardinal Alfonso Caraffa, who spoke of it +continually, and finally, in the month of August, in the year 1559, +Palliano sent fifty men, with Violante's brother, the Count Aliffe, at +their head, to go to her at Gallese and put her to death. A couple of +Franciscan monks gave her what little comfort there was to be extracted +from the situation, and she received the last sacrament, though stoutly +protesting her innocence the while. Then the bandage was put over her +eyes, and her brother prepared to place about her neck the cord with +which she was to be strangled; finding it too short for the purpose, he +went into another room to get one of more suitable length. Before he had +disappeared through the doorway, Violante had pulled the bandage from +her eyes, and was asking, in the most matter-of-fact way, what the +trouble was and why he did not complete his task. With great courtesy, +he informed his sister what he was about, and a moment later returned, +tranquilly readjusted bandage and cord, and then, fitting his dagger +hilt into a loop at the back, he slowly twisted it about until the soul +of the duchess had fled. Not a harsh or hasty word was spoken, there was +no hurry and no confusion, all was done quietly and in order. The marvel +is that these highly emotional people, who are usually so sensitive to +pain, could have shown such stoical indifference to their fate. + +The case of Beatrice Cenci is one of the best known in all this category +of crime, and here again is shown that sublime fortitude which cannot +fail to excite our sympathy, to some degree at least. Francesco Cenci +was a wealthy nobleman of such profligate habits and such evil ways +that he had twice been threatened with imprisonment for his crimes. +Seven children he had by his first marriage, and at his wife's death he +married Lucrezia Petroni, by whom he had no children. Francesco had no +love for his sons and daughters, and treated them with such uniform +cruelty that he soon drove from their hearts any filial affection they +may have felt for him. His conduct grew so outrageous that finally, in +desperation, his family appealed to the pope for relief, begging that +Cenci be put to death, so that they might live in peace; but the +pontiff, who had already profited by Cenci's wealth and saw further need +for his gold, refused to comply with so unusual a request, and made +matters so much the worse by allowing the father to find out what a +desperate course the children had adopted. One of the two daughters was +finally married, and Cenci was compelled by the pope to give her a +suitable _dot_; but Beatrice still remained at home, and the father kept +her in virtual imprisonment that she might not escape him and cause him +expense as the other girl had done. The indignities heaped upon her and +upon the wife and sons were such that they all revolted at last and +plotted to take his life. Cardinal Guerra, a young prelate, who, it +seems, was in the habit of visiting the house in Cenci's absence, and +who may have been in love with Beatrice, was taken into the secret and +all the details were arranged. Two old servants, who had no love for +their harsh master, were prevailed upon to do the deed, and were +secretly admitted by Beatrice to the castle known as the Rock of +Petrella, where Cenci had taken his family for the summer months--all +this was in the year 1598. The father's wine had been drugged so that he +fell into a deep sleep, and again it was Beatrice who took the assassins +into the room where he lay. At first they held back, saying that they +could not kill a man in his slumber; but Beatrice would not allow them +to abandon the task, so great was her power over them. + +Beatrice has shown all along a surprising firmness of character, and a +more detailed description of her appearance cannot fail to be of +interest. Leigh Hunt gives the following pen portrait, which he ascribes +to some Roman manuscript: "Beatrice was of a make rather large than +small. Her complexion was fair. She had two dimples in her cheeks, which +added to the beauty of her countenance, especially when she smiled, and +gave it a grace that enchanted all who saw her. Her hair was like +threads of gold; and because it was very long, she used to fasten it up; +but when she let it flow freely, the wavy splendor of it was +astonishing. She had pleasing blue eyes, of a sprightliness mixed with +dignity, and, in addition to all these graces, her conversation had a +spirit in it and a sparkling polish which made every one in love with +her." + +Such was the girl who overcame the compassion of these hirelings by +recounting to them again the story of their own wrongs and those of the +family; and when they still refused, she said: "If you are afraid to put +to death a man in his sleep, I myself will kill my father; but your own +lives shall not have long to run." So, in they went, and the deed was +done in a terrible manner: a long, pointed nail was thrust through one +of the eyes and into the brain and then withdrawn, and the body was +tossed from an upper balcony into the branches of an elder tree below, +that it might seem that he had fallen while walking about in the night. +The murderers were given the reward agreed upon, and, in addition, +Beatrice bestowed upon the one who had been least reluctant a mantle +laced with gold, which had formerly belonged to her father. The next +day, when Francesco Cenci's body was discovered, there was pretence of +great grief in the household, and the dead man was given most elaborate +burial. After a short time, the family went back to Rome and lived there +in tranquillity, until they were startled one day by accusations which +charged them with the death of the father. Indignant denials were made +by all, and especially by Beatrice, but in vain; they were submitted to +torture, and the shameful truth was finally confessed. The pope at first +ordered them to be beheaded; but so great was the interest taken in the +case by cardinals and members of the nobility, that a respite of +twenty-five days was granted in which to prepare a defence. The ablest +advocates in Rome interested themselves in the matter, and, when the +case was called, the pope listened to the arguments for four hours. The +plan of defence was to compare the wrongs of the father with those of +the children, and to see which had suffered the more. The larger share +of responsibility was put upon Beatrice; but she, it appeared, had been +the one most sinned against, and certain unmentionable villainies in her +father's conduct, which were darkly hinted at, aroused the pity of the +Holy Father to such an extent that he gave them all comparative liberty, +with the hope of ultimate acquittal. At this juncture of affairs, a +certain nobleman, Paolo Santa Croce, killed his mother as the result of +a family quarrel; and the pope, newly angered against the Cenci family +because he considered it to have set the example for this parricidal +mania, ordered them all to be executed according to the terms of the +original judgment, with the exception of the youngest son, Bernardo, who +was given a free pardon. The sentence was executed on the following day, +Saturday, May 11, 1599, on the bridge of Saint Angelo, the three victims +being Lucrezia the wife, Beatrice, and the older brother, Giacomo, all +the other sons excepting Bernardo being dead at this time. Part of the +Cenci estates were conveyed to one of the pope's nephews, and became the +Villa Borghese, wherein may still be seen portraits of Lucrezia Petroni +and Beatrice Cenci, the latter by the well-known Guido Reni. It is +generally believed that this portrait was painted while Beatrice was in +prison, and Shelley has given the following appreciative description of +it in the preface to his tragedy, _The Cenci_, which is based upon this +story, and which he wrote in Rome in 1819: + + "There is a fixed and pale composure upon the features, she seems + sad and stricken down in spirit, yet the despair thus expressed is + lightened by the patience of gentleness. Her head is bound with + folds of white drapery, from which the yellow strings of her golden + hair escape and fall about her neck. The moulding of her face is + exquisitely delicate, the eyebrows are distinct and arched, the + lips have that permanent meaning of imagination and sensibility + which suffering has not repressed and which it seems as if death + scarcely could extinguish. Her forehead is large and clear, her + eyes, which we are told were remarkable for their vivacity, are + swollen with weeping and lustreless, but beautifully tender and + serene. In the whole mien there are simplicity and dignity which, + united with her exquisite loveliness and deep sorrow, are + inexpressibly pathetic. Beatrice Cenci appears to have been one of + those rare persons in whom energy and gentleness dwell together + without destroying one another; her nature was simple and profound. + The crimes and miseries in which she was an actor and a sufferer + are as the mask and the mantle in which circumstances clothed her + for her impersonation in the scene of the world." + +To-day, the story is still an oft-told tale in Rome, the portrait of _la +Cenci_ is known by all, and all feel pity for her sad fate. However +great her crime may have been, it should be taken into account that it +was only after "long and vain attempts to escape from what she +considered a perpetual contamination, both of mind and body,"--as +Shelley puts it,--that she plotted the murder for which she was +beheaded; so great was the provocation, that all can pity if pardon be +withheld. + +The corrupt condition of life in the convents throughout Italy at this +time is not a matter of mere conjecture, for the facts are known in many +cases and are of such a nature as almost to pass belief. One reason for +this state of affairs is to be found in the character of the women who +composed these conventual orders. It is natural to think of them as holy +maidens of deep religious instincts, who had taken the veil to satisfy +some spiritual necessity of their being; unfortunately, the picture is +untrue. In many of these convents, and particularly in those where vice +was known to flourish, the membership was largely recruited from the +ranks of the nobility, it being the custom to send unmarried, +unmarriageable, and unmanageable daughters to the shelter of a cloister, +simply to get them out of the way. Women who had transgressed, to their +own disgrace, the commonly accepted social laws, whether married or +unmarried, found ready protection here; a professed nun was under the +care of the Church and had nothing to fear from the state, and this fact +was not unknown. To show how clearly this condition was understood at +the time, it is interesting to note that when the scandal concerning the +convent of Santa Chiara was first made public, an easy-going priest, who +had acted as a go-between in many of these intrigues of the cloister, +said that he could not see why people in general should create so much +confusion about it, as these were only "affairs of the gentlefolk [_cosi +di gentilhuomini_]"! + +The public disgrace of Santa Chiara was due to the evil ways of one of +its members, Sister Umilia, a woman who had had some experience in +worldly things before she turned her back upon them. Her name was +Lucrezia Malpigli, and, as a young girl, she had loved and desired to +marry Massimiliano Arnolfini; but her parents objected, and she was +affianced to the three Buonvisi brothers in consecutive order before she +finally found a husband, the two older brothers dying each time before +the wedding ceremony. After her marriage, to her misfortune, she met, at +Lucca, Arnolfini, the man whom she had loved as a girl at Ferrara, and +it soon appeared that the old love was not dead. Within a short time her +husband was stabbed, by Arnolfini's bravo, as he was returning with her +from the church, and rumors were at once afloat implicating her in the +murder. Guilty or not, she was frightened, and before four days had +passed she had taken refuge in the convent of Santa Chiara. Safe from +all pursuit, she endowed the convent most liberally, cut her hair, and +became the Sister Umilia, who was described as a "young woman, tall and +pale, dressed in a nun's habit, with a crown upon her head." For +thirteen years little was heard of her, and then a telltale rope ladder +hanging from the convent wall led to disclosures of a most revolting +nature. It was discovered that the supposedly pious nuns were +profligates, the convent was a veritable den of iniquity, and Sister +Umilia was found to have several lovers who were disputing her favors. +Poisons had been sent to her by a young nobleman, Tommaso Samminiati, +that she might dispose of a certain Sister Calidonia, who had become +repentant and was threatening to reveal the secrets of their life; and +the poisons were so deadly, so the letter ran, that when once Calidonia +had swallowed a certain white powder, "if the devil does not help her, +she will pass from this life in half a night's time, and without the +slightest sign of violence." Penalties were inflicted upon all of these +offending nuns, and Umilia was imprisoned for nine years before she was +restored to liberty and allowed to wear again the convent dress. + +However black this picture may appear, it is passing fair when compared +with the career of the notorious Lady of Monza. Virginia Maria de Leyva +was a lady of noble birth who had entered the convent of Santa +Margherita, at Monza, where she had taken the veil, being induced to +take this step because her cousin had in some way deprived her of her +inheritance, and without a dowry she had not found marriage easy. In the +convent, because she was well born and well connected, she became a +person of much influence and received many callers. Adjoining the +convent was the residence of young Gianpaolo Osio, a reckless, amorous +dare-devil, who was _beau comme le jour_, as the French fairy tales say. +So much of the story having been told, it is not difficult to guess what +is to come. It was a case of love at first sight, and Osio was aided in +his conquest by a number of the older and more corrupt nuns and several +other people about the convent, not excepting the father confessor, who +wrote some of Osio's love letters and seemed to smile upon the affair +and wish it all success. Virginia yielded, as might have been expected +under such circumstances; and the amour ran along smoothly for several +years, until Virginia and Osio, with the help of four obliging nuns, +felt constrained to take the life of a disgruntled serving-maid who was +threatening to reveal all to Monsignor Barca, the inspector of the +convent, at the time of his approaching visit. When once the deed was +done, the corpse was dismembered for purposes of better concealment; but +suspicion was aroused by this sudden disappearance of the maid, and Osio +took Virginia from the place, to shield her as much as possible. Next, +he offered to help her two most active accomplices, Ottavia and +Benedetta, to escape and seek refuge in a Bergamasque convent, where +they would be safe; but on the way thither he treacherously assaulted +them and left them both for dead. One crime rarely covers up another, +however; the facts soon came to light, and all concerned were fitly +punished. Virginia was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment in the +convent of Santa Valeria, at Milan; and there she remained for many +years, in a dark cell, until she was finally given better quarters +through the interposition of Cardinal Borromeo, who had been impressed +by her growing reputation for sanctity. How old she grew to be, deponent +saith not, but she must have lived for many years, as the following +description will attest: "a bent old woman, tall of stature, dried and +fleshless, but venerable in her aspect, whom no one could believe to +have been once a charming and immodest beauty." + +What an awful century it was! Vice and corruption in all quarters, the +pope an acknowledged sinner, the nobility tainted, and even the holy +daughters of the Church virgins in name only! And this was the century +in which the most beautiful Madonnas were painted! + + + + +Chapter IX + +The Brighter Side of the Sixteenth Century + + +The tales of crime and sensuality which fill the annals of the sixteenth +century are so repulsive that it is with a feeling of relief that we +turn our attention to other pictures of the same time which are +altogether pleasing in their outlines. The court of the Duke of Urbino +is the most conspicuous example of this better side of life, and his +talented and accomplished wife, Elizabetta Gonzaga, a daughter of the +reigning house of Mantua, presided over a literary salon which was +thronged with all the wit and wisdom of the land. Urbino was but a +rocky, desolate bit of mountainous country, not more than forty miles +square, in the Marches of Ancona, on a spur of the Tuscan Apennines, +about twenty miles from the Adriatic and not far from historic Rimini, +but here was a most splendid principality with a glittering court. +Federigo, Count of Montefeltro, had been created Duke of Urbino by Pope +Sixtus IV. in 1474, and he it was who laid the foundations for that +prosperous state which at his death passed into the hands of his son +Guidobaldo, the husband of Elizabetta. Federigo's immense wealth was not +gained by burdening his subjects with heavy taxes, but rather from the +money which he was able to earn as a military leader, for he was a noble +soldier of fortune. Vespasiano tells us, with regard to his military +science, that he was excelled by no general of his time, and his good +faith was never questioned. He was also a man of singularly religious +nature, and no morning passed without his hearing mass upon his knees. +In his lifetime he served no less than three pontiffs, two kings of +Naples, and two dukes of Milan; the republic of Florence and several +Italian leagues had appointed him their general in the field, and in +this long life of warfare the sums of money paid him for his services +were immense. Dennistoun relates that in the year 1453 "his war-pay from +Alfonso of Naples exceeded eight thousand ducats a month, and for many +years he had from him and his son an annual peace-pension of six +thousand ducats in the name of past services. At the close of his life, +when general of the Italian league, he drew, in war, one hundred and +sixty-five thousand ducats of annual stipend, forty-five thousand being +his own share." With this wealth he caused his desert-like domain to +rejoice and blossom as the rose. His magnificent fortified palace was +most elaborately decorated with rare marbles and priceless carvings, +frescos, panel pictures, tapestries, tarsia work, stucco reliefs, and +works of art of all kinds; here, according to his biographer Muzio, he +maintained a suite so numerous and distinguished as to rival that of any +royal household. So famed indeed did Urbino become, that all the +chivalry of Italy crowded the palace to learn manners and the art of war +from its courteous duke. + +Further details are furnished by Vespasiano, who says that "his +household, which consisted of five hundred mouths entertained at his own +cost, was governed less like a company of soldiers than a strict +religious community. There was no gaming or swearing, but the men +conversed with the utmost sobriety." It is interesting to know that +among his court officers were included forty-five counts of the duchy +and of other states, seventeen gentlemen, five secretaries, four +teachers of grammar, logic, and philosophy, fourteen clerks in public +offices, five architects and engineers, five readers during meals, and +four transcribers of manuscripts. Federigo had ever shown himself a +liberal and enlightened monarch, and he had early acquired a solid +culture which enabled him, when he grew to manhood, to bestow his +patronage in an intelligent manner. Scholars and artists were clustered +about him in great numbers; Urbino was widely known as the Italian +Athens, and as one of the foremost centres of art and literature in all +Europe, when Elizabetta Gonzaga was wedded to Guidobaldo and became the +chatelaine of the palace. The young duke and his wife began their life +together under the most auspicious circumstances. From what his tutor, +Odasio of Padua, says about his boyhood, it is evident that if he were +alive to-day he could easily obtain one of the Cecil Rhodes Oxford +fellowships, for we are told that he cared only for study and for manly +sports, and that he was of an upright character. His memory was so +retentive that he could repeat whole books, word for word, after many +years, and in more ways than one he had displayed a wonderful precocity. +Elizabetta, too, had been given a most liberal and careful education, +and her ready intelligence was equalled only by her careful tact and her +perfect _savoir faire_. Indeed, on account of her many attainments, +personal charm, and her refining influence, which was far-reaching, she +may be likened to that celebrated Frenchwoman Catherine de Vivonne, +Madame de Rambouillet, whose hotel was, a century later, such a +rendezvous for the gentler spirits of France in that hurly-burly period +which followed the religious wars. Endowed as she was by nature, it was +by most fortuitous circumstance that she was called to preside over the +court of Urbino, for at that time there was no other woman in Italy who +was so fitted for such a distinguished position. It was in the last +decade of the _quattrocento_ that Elizabetta was married, and she found +clustered about her from the very start illustrious artists and men of +letters. Melozzo da Forli and Giovanni Santi--Raphael's father--were +there, and there the early youth of Raphael was spent; Jan van Eyck and +Justus of Ghent, the great Flemish painters, were also there, and the +palace was adorned with many monuments to their skill. Here it was that +Piero della Francesca had written his celebrated work on the science of +perspective, Francesco di Giorgio his _Trattato d'Architettura_, and +Giovanni Santi his poetical account of the artists of his time; and here +it was in the first days of the sixteenth century that Elizabetta was +the centre of a group which was all sweetness and light when compared +with the prevailing habits of life. + +In this circle were to be found, among others, Bernardo Bibbiena, the +patron of Berni, of whom Raphael has left us a portrait which is now in +the Pitti Palace; Giuliano de' Medici, whose marble statue by Michael +Angelo may still be seen in San Lorenzo at Florence; Cardinal Pietro +Bembo, who had in his youth fallen a victim to the charms of Lucrezia +Borgia when she first went to Ferrara; Emilia Pia, the wife of Antonio +da Montefeltro, who is described as "a lady of so lively wit and +judgment, that she seems to govern the whole company"; and last, but far +from least, Baldassare Castiglione, that model courtier and fine wit, +who has left a picture of Urbino in his celebrated book _Il Cortegiano_, +which was long known in Italy as _Il Libro d'Oro_. This volume is an +elaborate discussion of the question, What constitutes a perfect +courtier; and it was for a long time a most comprehensive and final +compendium, handbook, and guide for all who wished to perfect +themselves in courtly grace. What interests us most in the book, +however, is the fact that Castiglione has put this discussion of polite +manners into the form of a conversation which he supposes to have taken +place in the drawing room of the Countess of Urbino, that being the most +likely spot in all Europe for such a discussion at such a time, for +Guidobaldo's court was "confessedly the purest and most elevated in all +Italy." Castiglione was one of Elizabetta's most ardent admirers, and he +says of her that no one "approached but was immediately affected with +secret pleasure, and it seemed as if her presence had some powerful +majesty, for surely never were stricter ties of love and cordial +friendship between brothers than with us." + +Count Guidobaldo early became a cripple and an invalid, too ardent +devotion to books and to athletic pursuits at the same time having +undermined a constitution that was never strong; therefore, it was his +custom to retire for the night at an early hour; but it was in the +evening that the countess held court, and then were gathered together, +for many years, all the brightest minds of Italy, who felt the charm of +her presence and the value of her stimulating personality. Urbino was a +school of good manners, as Naples had been in the days of Queen Joanna; +it was the first great literary salon in modern history, and, presided +over by a woman who was a veritable _grande dame de societe_, its +influence was by no means confined to a narrow sphere. Even in far-away +England, Urbino was known and appreciated; and Henry VII., to show his +esteem for its ruler, conferred the Order of the Garter upon Guidobaldo. +In acknowledgment of this favor, Castiglione was sent to the English +court to bear the thanks of his lord, and with him he took as a present +Raphael's _Saint George and the Dragon_, which, by the way, was taken +from England when Cromwell ordered the sale of the art treasures of +Charles I., and may now be seen at the Louvre. The old Count Federigo +had made all this refined magnificence possible, it is true, and +Guidobaldo had been in every way a worthy successor to his father, +though lacking his rugged strength; but to Guidobaldo's wife, the +gracious and wise Elizabetta Gonzaga, belongs the credit for having kept +Urbino up to a high standard--an achievement of which few, if any, other +women of her time were capable. There was needed a person who combined +worldly knowledge with education and a sane, decent philosophy of life, +and Guidobaldo's wife was that person. + +Veronica Gambara deserves a place among the good and illustrious women +of this time; and though she occupied a position far less conspicuous +than that of the Countess of Urbino, she was still a person of +reputation and importance. Born in the year 1485, her "fortunate +parents," as Zamboni calls them, gave her a most careful and thorough +education, and as a young woman she was noted for her poetic gifts, +which were of a high order. At the age of twenty-five she married +Ghiberto, Count of Correggio, and their union was one of true sympathy +and deep attachment, such as was rarely seen then, when the _mariage de +convenance_ was more in vogue, perhaps, than it is in these later days +in Paris. Nine happy years they spent together, and two sons were born +to them; then Ghiberto died, leaving Veronica in such grief that she +fell ill and hovered a long time between life and death. In one of her +poems she relates that it was the fear that she might not meet her +beloved husband in Paradise which prevented her from dying with him. She +had work to do, however, as her husband, in sign of his great confidence +in her, had made her his sole executrix and given into her care the +government of Correggio. Veronica had always possessed a lively +imagination, and now in her grief her sorrow was shown to the world in +a most extravagant way. She wore the heaviest and blackest mourning +obtainable; her apartments, furnished henceforth with the bare +necessities of life, were tapestried in black; and black was the hue of +her livery, her carriages, and her horses. To further proclaim to all +the world her love for the departed, she had painted over the door of +her chamber the couplet which Virgil has ascribed to Dido: + + "Ille meos, primus qui me sibi junxit, amores + Abstulit: ille habeat secum servetque sepulchro!" + +[He who first linked me to himself hath borne away my affection: may he +possess it still and retain it in his grave!] + +As to her personal appearance, Veronica was not beautiful in face, as +her features were irregular; but it was said of her in her early +womanhood that if her face had equalled her form she would have been one +of the most beautiful women of her time. She was high-strung, +enthusiastic, and passionate, but she possessed a character and an +intelligence which enabled her to hold herself in check; she was a most +devoted wife and entirely domestic in her disposition. Her poetry is +addressed chiefly to her husband, and she never tires of extolling his +many virtues. His eyes, in particular, seem to have been especially +beautiful in her sight, as she devotes no less than six sonnets and a +madrigal to a description of their charms, calling them _occhi +stellante_, and telling of their power in most fervid terms. We cannot, +however, consider her as a woman who was wholly concerned with her own +small affairs, as her letters show her to have been in communication +with the most illustrious literary men and women of all Italy, including +Ariosto, Bembo, Sannazzaro, and Vittoria Colonna. Though her literary +baggage was not extensive, the few sonnets she has left have a strength, +simplicity, and sincerity which were rare among the poets of her time. +Her best poem was one addressed to the rival sovereigns, the Emperor +Charles V., and the brilliant Francis I. of France; in it she pleads +with them to give peace to Italy and join their forces, so as to drive +back from the shores of Europe the host of the infidels. Her death +occurred in the year 1550, and then, Mrs. Jameson tells us in somewhat +ambiguous phrase, "she was buried by her husband." A little reflection +will clear away the doubt, however, and make clear the fact that she was +laid to rest beside the husband for whom she had buried herself in black +for so many years. + +No woman more completely devoted herself to her husband's memory, by +means of her enduring verse, or deserves a higher place in the annals of +conjugal poetry, than Vittoria Colonna; such laurel wreaths did she put +upon the brow of her spouse, the Marquis of Pescara, that Ariosto was +tempted to say, in substance, that if Alexander had envied Achilles the +fame he had acquired in the songs of Homer, how much more would he have +envied Pescara those strains wherein his gifted wife had exalted his +fame above that of all contemporary heroes! Vittoria came from most +illustrious families, as her father was the Grand Constable Fabrizio +Colonna and her mother was Anna di Montefeltro, daughter of Federigo, +the first great Duke of Urbino. At the early age of four, fate joined +Vittoria in an infant marriage to the young Count d'Avalo, who was of +her own age, and who later, as the Marquis of Pescara, really became her +husband. When Vittoria was but a young girl, her beauty and her +wonderful talents, added to her high station, made her conspicuous among +her countrywomen, and her hand was often sought in marriage even by +reigning princes. Both the Duke of Savoy and the Duke of Braganza +desired to marry her, and the pope was even persuaded to plead their +cause; but all to no avail, as she had long considered her future +settled and had no desire to change it. At the age of seventeen they +celebrated their wedding, and their life together, which began with that +moment, was never marred by a single discordant note. + +The first four years of their married life were spent on the island of +Ischia, where Pescara had a villa and a small estate, and there they +lived in an idyllic happiness which has almost become proverbial. The +young husband was not so studiously inclined as was his gifted wife, but +he was a manly fellow, much given to athletic pursuits, and with a +decided taste for a military career, and Vittoria was loved by him in a +most tender and noble fashion. They were denied the happiness of +children, and the young wife expresses her sorrow over this fact in her +twenty-second sonnet; but she consoles herself by adding: "since it is +not given to me to be the mother of sons who shall inherit their +father's glory, at least may I be able, by uniting my name with his in +verse, to become the mother of his great deeds and lofty fame." After +their long honeymoon had come to an end, Pescara was moved to return to +the world, or rather to enter it for the first time as a man, and he +entered the imperial army. At the age of twenty-one, as a general of +cavalry, he took part in the battle of Ravenna, where he was made a +prisoner of war. After a year's detention, however, he was allowed to +return to his post, and then followed campaigning in various parts of +the peninsula. Vittoria, during all these days of absence, had remained +quietly in their island home at Ischia, where she devoted her time to +the composition of those sonnets in honor of her husband's glorious +deeds which have since brought her such lasting reputation. In token of +her fidelity and her general attitude toward the world and society at +this time, Vittoria had adopted as her device a small Cupid within the +circlet of a twisted snake, and under it was the significant motto: +_Quem peperit virtus prudentia servet amorem_ [Discretion shall guard +the love which virtue inspired]. The soldier-husband came for a hasty +visit to Ischia whenever distances and the varying fortunes of war made +it possible; but his stays were brief, and he always wore in his wife's +eyes that romantic halo which it was but natural that a poetic woman +should throw about the head of a young and brilliant general whose +handsome features and noble carriage made him none the less attractive, +and who happened at the same time to be her husband. + +After a somewhat short but notable career as a soldier, Pescara was +given entire command of the imperial armies, and he it was who directed +the fortunes of the day during that memorable battle of Pavia when King +Francis I. of France was captured, and when the illustrious French +knight "without fear and without reproach," the Chevalier Bayard, made +that remark which has long since become historic, _Tout est perdu fors +l'honneur_. That battle won, and with such credit to himself, Pescara +was loaded with praise and rewards, and, as is often the case under such +circumstances, he was subjected to some temptations. His power had +become so great, and his military skill was considered so remarkable, +that efforts were made to entice him from the imperial service; he was +actually offered the crown of the kingdom of Naples in case he would be +willing to renounce his allegiance to Charles V. The offer tempted him, +and he hesitated for a moment, writing to his wife to ascertain her +opinion on the subject. It is clear that he wavered in his duty, but his +excuse to Vittoria was that he longed to see her on a throne which she +could grace indeed. She, however, without a moment's hesitation, wrote +to him to remain faithful to his sovereign, saying, in a letter cited +by Giambattista Rota: "I do not desire to be the wife of a king, but +rather of that great captain who, by means of his valor in war and his +nobility of soul in time of peace, has been able to conquer the greatest +monarchs." Pescara, obedient to his wife's desire, immediately began to +free himself from the temptations which had been besetting his path, but +he had gone so far upon this dangerous road that he was able to turn +aside from it only after his hitherto untarnished honor had been +sullied. The criticism which he received at this time made him +melancholy, and, weakened by wounds received at the battle of Pavia, +which now broke out again, he soon came to his end at Milan, at the age +of thirty-five. Though she was for a long time stunned by her grief, +Vittoria finally accepted her sorrow with some degree of calmness. + +Back she then went to Ischia, where they had passed those earlier days +together, and there, for seven years almost without interruption, she +spent her time thinking of the dead lord of Pescara, and extolling him +in her verse. Still young and beautiful, it was but natural that her +grief might be controlled in time and that she might again find +happiness in married life. Distinguished princes pleaded with her in +vain, and even her brothers urged her to this course, which, under the +circumstances, they considered entirely within the bounds of propriety; +but to them all she gave the calm assurance that her noble husband, +though dead to others, was still alive for her and constantly in her +thoughts. After the first period of her grief had passed, she found +herself much drawn toward spiritual and religious thoughts, and then it +was that her poetry became devotional in tone and sacred subjects were +now her only inspiration. Roscoe mentions the fact that she was at this +time suspected of sympathizing in secret with the reformed doctrines in +religion which were then making such headway in the North and playing +such havoc with the papal interests, but there seems little ground for +this suspicion beyond the fact that her devotion to the things of the +spirit and her somewhat austere ideas in regard to manners and morals +were in that day so unusual as to call forth comment. This sacred verse +was published in a volume entitled _Rime spirituali_, and Guingene is +authority for the statement that no other author before Vittoria Colonna +had ever published a volume of poetry devoted exclusively to religious +themes. + +Her most faithful friend and admirer in all her long widowhood of +twenty-two years was the great artist, sculptor, and painter, Michael +Angelo, who never failed to treat her with the tenderest courtesy and +respect. No other woman had ever touched his heart, and she gave him +suggestion and inspiration for much of his work. After those first seven +years of loneliness at Ischia, Vittoria spent much time in the convents +of Orvieto and Viterbo, and later she lived in the greatest seclusion at +Rome; there it was that death overtook her. Wherever she went, Michael +Angelo's thoughtfulness followed her out, and in those last moments at +Rome he was with her, faithful to the end. He was the kindly, rugged +master-genius of his time, an intellectual giant, and she was a woman of +rare devotion and purity of soul; and the real Platonic affection which +seems to have possessed them, in that age of license and scepticism, is +touching and impressive. What this friendship meant to him, the poet has +expressed in the following sonnet addressed to Vittoria, which is here +given in Wordsworth's matchless translation: + + "Yes! hope may with my strong desire keep pace, + And I be undeluded, unbetrayed; + For if of our affections none find grace + in sight of Heaven, then, wherefore had God made + The world which we inhabit? Better plea + Love cannot have than that in loving thee + Glory to that eternal peace is paid, + Who such divinity to thee imparts + As hallows and makes pure all gentle hearts. + His hope is treacherous only whose love dies + With beauty, which is varying every hour: + But in chaste hearts, uninfluenced by the power + Of outward change, there blooms a deathless flower, + That breathes on earth the air of Paradise." + +The ducal court at Ferrara became, in the latter half of the sixteenth +century, the centre of much intellectual life and brilliancy; generous +patronage was extended to the arts and to literature, and here gathered +together a company which rivalled in splendor the court of Urbino in the +days of the Countess Elizabetta. The duke, Alfonso II., son of that +unfortunate Renee, daughter of Louis XII. of France, who had been kept +in an Italian prison for twelve long years because of her suspected +sympathy with the reformed doctrines, came of a long line of princes who +had in the past given liberally to the cause of learning. During his +reign, which covers the period from 1559 to 1597, the social side of +court life in his dukedom came into special prominence. The two sisters +of Alfonso--Lucrezia and Leonora--presided over this court, and to it +came, from time to time, many of the most beautiful women of Italy. +Tarquinia Moeza was there, a woman of beauty and of rare poetic gifts; +Lucrezia Bendidio, beautiful and accomplished, and having constantly +about her a most admiring throng of poets and literati; and later came +the two acknowledged beauties of the day, Leonora di Sanvitali, Countess +of Scandiano, and her no less charming mother-in-law, Barbara, Countess +of Sala. Among the men of this company, suffice it to mention the name +of the poet Guarini, whose fame has become enduring on account of his +charming and idyllic drama, _Il pastor fido_, for he it is who seems to +embody that sprightliness of wit which gave to Ferrara at that time its +gladsome reputation. + +To this court there came, for the first time, in the year 1565, young +Torquato Tasso, poet and courtier, scholar and gentleman, and already +the author of a published narrative poem, the _Rinaldo_, which caused +him to be hailed as the most promising poet of his generation when he +was but in his eighteenth year. Bernardo Tasso, the poet's father, was +likewise a poet and a professional courtier of some distinction, and +varying fortunes had taken him to Urbino, where the son Torquato grew +up, surrounded by all the evidences of refinement and culture. He had +been favored by nature with a tall and commanding figure, and his good +looks had already caused more than one gentle heart to flutter, when, at +the age of twenty-one, with his father's consent and approval, he +entered the service of the Cardinal Luigi d'Este, and became at once a +conspicuous figure in court circles. Almost instantly the youth, filled +as he was with most romantic ideas and readily susceptible to the power +of woman's beauty, fell a captive to the charms of the Princess Leonora +d'Este, who, though some ten years his senior, seemed to embody all the +graces and to completely satisfy the ideal which up to this time he had +been able to see only with his mind's eye. Leonora had already been +sought in marriage by many titled suitors, but she had invariably turned +a deaf ear to such proposals, never finding one who could please her +fancy or who promised comfort in her loneliness. For she was lonely in +that court, as she seems to have dwelt in a sort of spiritual isolation +most of the time; there was always a melancholy air about her, which had +no doubt been induced in large measure by her mother's sad fate. For +Tasso to love her was most natural; but they both knew that such a love +could be but hopeless, and it cannot be said that she encouraged him in +any covert manner or that he made open profession of his passion. It is +true that he makes her the subject of many of his poems, wherein he +lauds her to the skies, but this is no more than was expected of a court +poet; he did the same for other ladies, but in all that was dedicated to +her charms there seems to shine forth a truer light of real affection +than is found in all the others. What words of affection, if any, passed +between them can never be known; but it seems that there must have been +some sort of tacit consent to his silent adoration, and Tasso tells in a +madrigal, perhaps in proof of this, that once, when he had asked her +pardon for having put his arm upon her own in the eagerness of +conversation, she replied, with gentleness: "You offended, not by +putting your arm there, but by taking it away!" + +For twelve years Tasso remained at Ferrara, constantly writing sonnets +and short poems of all descriptions, which were most often addressed to +Leonora, but at the same time he was busily working upon that longer +poem in epic form, descriptive of the First Crusade, the _Gerusalemme +liberata_, wherein he puts a new feeling into Italian poetry, which had +been expressed before by Ariosto in his amatory verse, but which cannot +be found to any great extent in his more pretentious work, the _Orlando +Furioso_. This new feeling was real sentiment, and not sentimentality, +and it denotes the growing conception of the worth and dignity of +womanhood which we have already discovered in the poetry of Michael +Angelo. Allowing for the infinite contradictions possible in human +nature, it may be that these men of the same time, who so coolly killed +their wives and sisters for acts of infidelity, were touched in some dim +way with the same feeling, to which, alas! they gave but sorry +expression, if the surmise be true. + +The constant excitement of the court and his unending literary labors +commenced to tell upon the poet in 1575, when his health began to fail +and he grew irritable and restless, became subject to delusions, fancied +that he had been denounced by the Inquisition, and was in daily terror +of being poisoned. Then it was said that the poet was mad, and there are +some who have whispered that it was his unrequited love for the Princess +Leonora which brought about this calamity. However that may be, the +climax was reached in the year 1577, when Tasso, in the presence of +Lucrezia d'Este,--who was then Duchess of Urbino,--drew a knife upon one +of his servants. For this he was arrested, but soon after was given his +liberty on condition that he should go to a Franciscan monastery and +give himself that rest and attention which his failing health demanded. +Here, however, he was beset with the idea that the duke sought to take +his life, and he fled in disguise to his sister, who was then living at +Sorrento. Various explanations have been given for this sudden flight, +and some biographers have insinuated that the duke had discovered some +hidden intrigue between his sister Leonora and Tasso which had caused +the latter to fear for his safety. This supposition cannot be accepted +as true, however, for if the duke had known or had even strongly +suspected such a thing he would have promptly put the poet to death +without compunction, and such a course of action would have been +entirely justified by the public sentiment of the time. And if this +supposition were true, is it probable that Tasso would have been allowed +to return to Ferrara in a short time, as he did? Now, begins a confused +life, and the poet comes and goes, moved by a strange restlessness, +never happy away from Ferrara, yet never caring to stay there long. +Finally, on one occasion he thought himself so neglected at his return +that he made a most violent scene, and became so bitter and incoherent +in his complaints that he was pronounced insane and imprisoned by order +of the duke. There he remained for seven years, and the most of that +time he was in a well-lighted and well-furnished room, where he was +allowed to receive visitors and devote himself to literary work whenever +he so desired. At the end of this time, in which Tasso himself speaks of +his mental disorder, he went to Mantua, where he had been invited by the +Prince Vincenzo Gonzaga; there he spent a few pleasant months; but he +soon grew discontented, the roaming fit came upon him again, and after a +number of years of pitiful endeavor he finally died, in 1595, at the +convent of Saint Onofrio. + +It does not seem just to blame the Princess Leonora d'Este for the sad +fate which befell Tasso, as so many have done, for there is no proof of +any unkindness on her part. That he loved her there can be but little +doubt, but hardly to the verge of madness, as he wrote love sonnets to +other ladies at the same time; the truth seems to be that he became +mentally unbalanced as the result of the precocious development of his +powers, which made a man of him while yet a boy and developed in him an +intensity of feeling which made his candle of life burn fiercely, but +for a short time only. His end was but the natural consequence of the +beginning, and whether Leonora helped or hindered in the final result, +it matters not, for she was blameless. She died in the second year of +Tasso's imprisonment, sad at heart as she had ever been, never deeply +touched by the poet's constant praises, and to the end a victim to that +melancholy mood which had come upon her in childhood. + + + + +Chapter X + +The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries + + +The transition from the sixteenth to the seventeenth century in Italy +was marked by no sudden changes of any kind. The whole country was +thoroughly prostrate and under the control of the empire; a national +spirit did not exist, and the people seemed content to slumber on +without opposing in any way the tyranny of their foreign masters. The +glory of the Italian Renaissance had been sung in all the countries of +Europe; in every nook and corner of the continent, Italian painters and +sculptors, princes and poets, artists and artisans of all kinds, had +stimulated this new birth of the world; but this mission accomplished, +Italy seemed to find little more to do, and for lack of an ideal her +sons and daughters wasted their time in the pursuit of idle things. It +was the natural reaction after an age of unusual force and brilliancy. +In the shadow of the great achievements of the sixteenth century in all +lines of human activity, the seventeenth, lost in admiration, could +imagine no surer way to equal attainment than to imitate what had gone +before. Literature became stilted and full of mannerisms and underwent a +process of refinement which left it without strength or vigor, and +society in general seemed more concerned with form and ceremony than +with the deeper things of the spirit. + +Countless examples are on record to show the petty jealousies which were +agitating the public mind at this time, and the number of quarrels and +arguments which had their origin in most trivial causes passes belief. +Rank and position were of the utmost consequence, and questions of +precedence in public functions were far more eagerly discussed than were +questions of national policy. Naples, under the control of Spanish +princes, was particularly noted for such exhibitions of undignified +behavior. On one occasion, during a solemn church ceremony, the military +governor of the city left the cathedral in a great rage because he had +noticed that a small footstool had been placed for the archbishop, while +nothing of the kind had been provided for his own comfort. At the death +of a certain princess, the royal commissioners delayed the funeral +because it was claimed that she had used arms and insignia of nobility +above her true rank, and was not entitled, therefore, to the brilliant +obsequies which were being planned by the members of her family. The +body was finally put in a vault and left unburied until the matter had +been passed upon by the heraldry experts in Madrid! During the funeral +services which were being held in honor of the Queen of Spain, the +archbishop desired footstools placed for all the bishops present, but +the vicegerent opposed this innovation, and the ceremony was finally +suspended because they could come to no agreement. The cities of Cremona +and Pavia were in litigation for eighty-two years over the question as +to which should have precedence over the other in public functions where +representatives of the two places happened to be together; finally, the +Milanese Senate, to which the question was submitted, "after careful +examination and mature deliberation, decided that it had nothing to +decide." Another example of this small-mindedness is shown in the case +of the General Giovanni Serbelloni, who, while fighting in the +Valteline in 1625, was unwilling to open a despatch which had been sent +to him, because he had not been addressed by all his titles. It is a +pleasure to add that as a result of this action he was left in ignorance +as to the approach of the enemy and the next day suffered a severe +defeat. + +Rome was the seat of much splendor and display--an inevitable state of +affairs when the fact is taken into consideration that the city was +filled with legates and embassies, all anxious to wait upon his holiness +the pope and gain some special privilege or concession. At this time the +cardinals, too, were not mere ecclesiastics, but rather men of great +wealth and power; often they became prime ministers in their several +countries,--as Richelieu, for example,--and the great and influential +houses of Savoy, Este, Gonzaga, Farnese, Barberini, and many others, +always possessed one or more of them who vied in magnificence with the +pope himself. And all this helped to make the Eternal City the scene of +much brilliancy. The papal court was the natural centre of all this +animation, and many a stately procession wended its way to the Vatican. +On one occasion, the Duke of Parma, wishing to compliment a newly +elected pope, sent as his representative the Count of San Secondo, who +went to his solemn interview followed by a long procession of one +hundred and fifty carriages, and appeared before the pontiff with +eighteen distinguished prelates in his train. This mad passion for +display led to so many evils of all kinds that Urban VIII. prohibited +"indecent garments" for both men and women. In the interests of public +morality, it was further decreed that women were not to take music +lessons from men, and nuns were allowed no other professors than their +own companions. Public singing, distinct from religious ceremonies, was +a novelty at this time, and women with the gift of song were paid most +liberally for their services. Venice was the city most noted for its +festivals and carnivals, and here these women were given most generous +treatment. + +In Florence, as in all the rest of Italy, Spain was taken as "the glass +of fashion, the mould of form" for the first part of the century, but +the splendor of the court of Louis Quatorze soon caused French fashions +to reign supreme. Then, as now, brides were accustomed to dress in +white, while married women were given a wide latitude in their choice of +colors. At first, widows wore a dress distinctive not only in color but +in cut, yet eventually they were to be distinguished by only a small +head-dress of black crape. Young women were much given to curling their +hair, and at the same time it was the fashion to wear upon the forehead +a cluster of blond curls, a _petite perruque_, which, in the words of an +old chronicler, Rinuccini, "is very unbecoming to those whose hair +happens to be of another color." From the same authority is derived the +following information concerning the women belonging to the under crust +of society: "Prostitutes, formerly, all wore an apparent sign which +revealed their infamous profession; it was a yellow ribbon fastened to +the strings of the hats, which were then in fashion; when hats went out +of style, the yellow ribbon was worn in the hair, and if the women were +ever found without it they were severely punished. Finally, on payment +of a certain tax, they were allowed to go without the ribbon, and then +they were to be distinguished by their impudence only." In Florence, +women of this class were especially noted for their beauty, and there it +was customary to compel them all to live within a certain district. + +In the average Florentine household it had been the custom to have three +women servants,--a cook, a second girl, and a _matrona_. This third +servant was better educated than the others, and it was her duty, +outside of the house, to keep her mistress company, whether she rode in +her carriage or went about on foot. At home, she did the sewing and the +mending, and generally dressed her mistress and combed her hair. For +this work the _matrona_ received a salary of six or seven dollars a +month, and it seems to have been usual for her employers to arrange a +good marriage for her after several years of service, giving her at that +time from one hundred to one hundred and fifty crowns as a dowry. Later +in the century, the _matrona_ does not seem to have been so common, and +many women went alone in their carriages, while on foot they were +accompanied by a manservant in livery. The wealthier ladies of the +nobility, however, were accompanied in their conveyances by a +_donzella_, and on the street and in all public places by an elderly and +dignified manservant, dressed in black, who was known as the +_cavaliere_. The fashion with regard to this male protector became so +widespread that the women of the middle class were in the habit of +hiring the services of some such individual for their occasional use on +fete days and whenever they went to mass. The further development of +this custom and its effect upon public morals in the following century +will be discussed on another page. + +Busy with all-absorbing questions of dress, etiquette, and domestic +management, it does not appear that the women of the seventeenth century +in Italy took any great share in public events, although one Italian +woman at least, leaving the country of her birth, was placed by fate +upon a royal throne. Henry IV. of France, about the year 1600, was hard +pressed for the payment of certain debts by Ferdinand I., Grand Duke of +Tuscany, as the Medici were still the bankers of Europe, and the French +king was owing more than a million louis d'or; but the whole matter was +settled in a satisfactory way when Henry gave definite promises to pay +within a dozen years. To maintain his credit in the meantime, and to +facilitate the payment of the money, the one-time King of Navarre +demanded in marriage Marie de' Medici, the niece of the grand duke; it +is needless to say that the request was speedily granted, for the pride +and ambition of this rich Tuscan family were unlimited, and the memory +of that other daughter of the house of Medici, Catherine, who had been +Queen of France and mother of three French kings, was still fresh in the +minds of all. The wedding ceremony was performed in great splendor, at +Florence, Henry sending a proxy to represent him at that time; and then +the young bride set out for France, followed by a glittering retinue, +and bearing, as her dowry, six hundred thousand crowns of gold. Arriving +at Leghorn, they took ship for Marseilles, and then began a triumphal +march across the country, cities vying with each other in doing her +honor. Cantu tells us that at Avignon, which was still a city under the +temporal sway of the pope, Marie was placed in a chariot drawn by two +elephants, and given an escort of two thousand cavaliers. There were +seven triumphal arches and seven theatres; for it was the proud boast of +the residents of Avignon that everything went by sevens in their city, +as there were seven palaces, seven parishes, seven old convents, seven +monasteries, seven hospitals, seven colleges, and seven gates in the +city wall! Several addresses of welcome were delivered in the presence +of the young queen, though in this instance the number was hardly seven, +poems were read, and she received a number of gold medals bearing her +profile upon one side and the city's coat of arms upon the other. Henry +had left Paris to come to meet his bride, and it was at Lyons that the +royal pair saw each other for the first time. It cannot be said that +this first interview was warmly enthusiastic, for the king found her far +less beautiful than the portrait which had been sent to him, and he soon +came to the sad conclusion that she was too fat, had staring eyes and +bad manners, and was very stubborn. + +After the birth of a son and heir, who later became Louis XIII., the +king neglected his wife to such an extent that she felt little sorrow at +the time of his assassination. Then it was, as queen-regent, that Marie +for the first time entered actively into political life; but her ability +in this sphere of action was only moderate, and she was soon the centre +of much quarrel and contention, wherein the unyielding feudal nobility +and the Protestants figured largely as disturbing causes. In the midst +of these troublous times, the queen had an invaluable assistant in the +person of Eleanora Galigai, her foster-sister, whose husband, Concino +Concini, a Florentine, had come to France in the suite of Marie, and had +subsequently risen to a position of influence in the court. Eventually, +he became the Marechal d'Ancre, and his wife was spoken of as _la +Marechale_ or _la Galigai_, for so great was the extent of Eleanora's +control over the queen that she was one of the most conspicuous women in +all Europe at that time. Gradually, she was criticised on account of the +way in which she used her power, and it was alleged that she was +overmuch in the company of divers magicians and astrologers who had been +brought from Italy, and that the black art alone was responsible for her +success. These accusations finally aroused such public hostility that, +after a trial which was a travesty upon justice, Eleanora was soon +condemned to death, on the charge of having unduly influenced the queen +by means of magic philters. Eleanora went to her death bravely, saying +with dignity to her accusers: "The philter which I have used is the +influence which every strong mind possesses, naturally, over every +weaker one." + +Not long after this Florentine queen of France was playing her part in +public affairs, all Europe was surprised by another woman, whose actions +were without parallel and whose case seems to be the opposite of the one +just cited. Marie de' Medici left Italy to become a queen, and now a +queen is seen to abdicate that she may go to Rome to live. Christine, +Queen of Sweden, a most enlightened woman and the daughter of the great +Gustavus Adolphus who had brought about the triumph of the Protestant +arms in Germany, relinquished her royal robes in the year 1654, +announced her conversion to Catholicism, and finally went to Rome, where +she ended her days. She was given a veritable ovation on her arrival +there, as may well be imagined, for the Church rarely made so +distinguished a convert, and Christine, in acknowledgment of this +attention, presented her crown and sceptre as a votive offering to the +church of the Santa Casa at Loretto. At Rome she lived in one of the +most beautiful palaces in the city, and there divided her time between +study and amusements. Through it all she was never able to forget the +fact that she had been a queen, and many examples might be given of her +haughty demeanor in the presence of those who were unwilling to do her +bidding. Before leaving Sweden, Christine had tried to gather a circle +of learned men about her at Stockholm, and the great French philosopher +Descartes spent some months in her palace. Later, when in Paris, on her +way to Italy, a special session of the French Academy had been held in +her honor, and all of the literary men of France went out to the palace +at Fontainebleau while she was domiciled there, to do her honor. Once in +Rome, it was her immediate desire to become the centre of a literary +coterie, and to that end she was most generous in her gifts to artists +and men of letters. Her intelligence and her liberality soon gave her +great influence, and before long she was able to organize an Academy in +due form under her own roof. She was for many years a most conspicuous +figure in Roman society, and at the time of her death, in 1689, +Filicaia, a poet of some local reputation, declared that her kingdom +comprised "all those who thought, all those who acted, and all those who +were endowed with intelligence." + +In this seventeenth century, as in the one before, parents were +continually compelling their children and especially their daughters to +enter upon a religious career, and many of them were forced to this +course in spite of their protestations. Cantu tells of the case of +Archangela Tarabotti, who was compelled to enter the convent of Saint +Anne at Venice, though all her interests and all her ways were worldly +in the extreme. To the convent she went, however, at the age of +thirteen, because she was proving a difficult child to control, and +there she was left to grind her teeth in impotent rage. In common with +many other young girls of her time, she had never been taught to read or +write, as the benefit of such accomplishments was not appreciated in any +general way--at least so far as women were concerned; but, once within +the convent walls, from sheer ennui, Archangela began to study most +assiduously, and finally published a number of books which present an +interesting description and criticism of existing manners and customs in +so far as they had to do with women and their attitude toward conventual +institutions. Having entered upon this life under protest, her first +books were written in a wild, passionate style, and it was her purpose +to make public the violence of which she had been a victim, and to +prove, by copious references to authorities both sacred and profane, +that women should be allowed entire liberty in their choice of a career. +Incidentally, she cursed most thoroughly the fathers who compelled their +daughters to take the veil in spite of their expressed unwillingness. +Perhaps the most important of these protests, which was given an Elzevir +edition in 1654, was entitled _Innocence Deceived, or The Tyranny of +Parents_. This special edition was dedicated to God, and bore the +epigraph: "Compulsory devotion is not agreeable to God!" Another of +these books was entitled _The Hell of Convent Life_, and these titles +are certainly enough to show that she set about her task of +religious--or, rather, social--reform with a most fervid, though +somewhat bitter, zeal. Naturally, these open criticisms caused a great +scandal in ecclesiastical circles, and many vigorous attempts were made +to reconcile the recalcitrant nun and induce her to modify her views. +Finally, moved by the pious exhortations of the patriarch, Federigo +Cornaro, she became somewhat resigned to her fate. Then it was said of +her that "she abandoned the pomp of fine garments, which had possessed +so great a charm for her," and the records show that the last years of +her life were spent in an endeavor to atone for the extravagances of her +youthful conduct. A number of devout books were produced by her during +this time, and among them the following curious titles may be noticed: +_The Paved Road to Heaven_ and _The Purgatory of Unhappily Married +Women_. + +A somewhat similar case of petty tyranny, and one which was soon the +talk of all Europe, is the pathetic story of Roberto Acciaiuoli and +Elizabetta Marmorai. These two young people loved each other in spite of +the fact that Elizabetta was the wife of Giulio Berardi; when the latter +died, everyone supposed that the lovers would marry, and such was their +intention, but they found an unexpected obstacle in their path, for +Roberto's uncle, the Cardinal Acciaiuoli, had other views on the +subject. It was his desire that his nephew should contract a marriage +with some wealthy Roman family whose influence might aid him to become +pope. The young man refused to further this project in any way, and +insisted upon marrying the woman of his choice; the cardinal, in +despair, had to fall back upon the assistance of his ruling prince, +Cosmo II., Grand Duke of Tuscany. Cosmo, unwilling to offend this +prelate who might some day become the head of the Church, took action in +his behalf and ordered that Elizabetta should be confined in a +Florentine convent. Thereupon Roberto fled to Mantua, and, after having +married her by letter, publicly proclaimed his act and demanded that his +wife be delivered up to him. The best lawyers in Lombardy now declared +the marriage a valid one, but in Florence the steps taken were +considered merely as the equivalent of a public betrothal. So the matter +stood for a time, until the pope died and the ambitious cardinal +presented himself as a candidate for the pontiff's chair. Then the +outraged nephew sent to each one of the papal electors a detailed +account of what had taken place, with the result that his uncle's +candidacy was a complete failure. Cosmo, moved somewhat by public +opinion, which was all upon the side of the lovers, ordered Elizabetta +to be released from her captivity, whereupon she joined her husband in +Venice, that she might share his exile. They were not allowed to remain +there for a long time in peace, however, as Cosmo, smarting under the +lash of popular disapproval, decided to make an effort to get them +within his power again, that he might wreak his vengeance upon them. +Accordingly, he demanded that the Venetian republic should deliver them +up, charging that they had been guilty of gross disrespect toward him, +their sovereign. Hearing of this requisition, Roberto and Elizabetta, +disguised as monks, fled to Germany, but were recognized at Trent and +taken back to Tuscany. Acciaiuoli was then deprived of all his property +and imprisoned for life in the fortress of Volterra, and his wife was +threatened with the same treatment if she persisted in maintaining the +validity of the marriage. Worn by all this trouble and persecution, +Elizabetta weakened, failed to show the courage which might be expected +from the heroine of such a dramatic story, and preferred to live alone +for the rest of her days than to spend her life in prison with her +devoted husband. + +The eighteenth century found Italy still under the control of foreign +rulers, and the national spirit was still unborn; public morals seem to +have degenerated rather than improved, and then, as always, the women +were no better than the men desired them to be. Details of the life of +this period are extremely difficult to obtain, as the social aspects of +Italian life from the decline of the Renaissance to the Napoleonic era +have been quite generally neglected by historians; the information which +is obtainable must be derived in large measure from books and letters on +Italian travel, written for the most part by foreigners. One of the most +interesting volumes of this kind was written by a Mrs. Piozzi, the +English wife of an Italian, who had unusual opportunities for a close +observation of social conditions; several of the following paragraphs +are based upon her experiences. + +The most striking thing in the social life of this time is the domestic +arrangement whereby every married woman was supposed to have at her beck +and call, in addition to her husband, another cavalier, who was known as +a _cicisbeo_ and was the natural successor of the Florentine _cavaliere_ +before mentioned. Cicisbeism has been much criticised and much discussed +as to its bearing upon public morals, and many opposite opinions have +been expressed with regard to it. The Countess Martinengo Cesaresco, who +is a most careful and able student of Italian life, has the following to +say upon the subject: "He [the _cicisbeo_] was frequently a humble +relative--in every family were cadets too poor to marry, as they could +not work for their living, or too sincere to become priests, to whom +cavalier service secured a dinner, at any rate, if they wanted one. It +was the custom to go to the theatre every evening--the box at the opera +was an integral part of the household arrangements, a continuation of +the salon--only it could not be reached without an escort. The chaperon +did not exist, because a woman, no matter how old, was no escort for +another woman, nor could she herself dispense with an attendant of the +other sex. A dowager of sixty and a bride of sixteen had equally to stay +at home if there was not a man to accompany them. The cavalier's service +was particularly in request at the theatre, but he was more or less on +duty whenever his lady left her house for any purpose, with the doubtful +exception of going to church. No husband outside a honeymoon could be +expected to perform all these functions: he, therefore, appointed or +agreed upon the appointment of somebody else to act as his substitute. +This was, in nine cases out of ten, the eminently unromantic cavalier +servitude of fact. The high-flown, complimentary language, the profound +bowing and hand-kissing of the period, combined to mystify strangers as +to its real significance. Sometimes, when there was really a lover in +the question, the _cavalier servente_ must have been a serious +impediment; he was always _La plante ... a contrecarrer un pauvre tiers_, +in the words of the witty President de Brosses, who, though he did not +wholly credit the assurances he received as to the invariable innocence +of the institution, was yet far from passing on it the sweeping +judgment arrived at by most foreigners. There is no doubt that habit and +opportunity did, now and then, prove too strong for the two individuals +thrown so constantly together. 'Juxtaposition is great,' as Clough says +in his _Amours de Voyage_; but that such lapses represented the rule +rather than the exception is not borne out either by reason or record." + +Mrs. Piozzi is somewhat dubious in regard to this condition of affairs +and is hardly disposed to take the charitable view which has just been +given, but the general trend of more enlightened comment seems to agree +with the Countess Cesaresco. In Sheridan's _School for Scandal_ occur +the following lines, which convey the same idea: + + LADY TEAZLE.--"You know I admit you as a lover no farther than + fashion sanctions." + + JOSEPH SURFACE.--"True--a mere platonic _cicisbeo_--what every wife + is entitled to." + +Fragments taken somewhat at random regarding the women of several of the +more important cities of Italy may serve to give some idea regarding +their general position and condition throughout the country at large. +Writing from Milan, Mrs. Piozzi says: "There is a degree of effrontery +among the women that amazes me, and of which I had no idea till a friend +showed me, one evening, from my own box at the opera, fifty or a hundred +low shopkeepers' wives dispersed about the pit at the theatre, dressed +in men's clothes (_per disempegno_, as they call it), that they might be +more at liberty, forsooth, to clap and hiss and quarrel and jostle! I +felt shocked." Venice was, as it had ever been, a city of pleasure. The +women, generally married at fifteen, were old at thirty, and such was +the intensity of life in this "water-logged town"--as F. Hopkinson Smith +somewhat irreverently called it upon one occasion--that a traveller was +led to remark: _On ne goute pas ses plaisirs, on les avale._ Here, as in +all parts of Italy for that matter, the conditions of domestic life were +somewhat unusual at this time, as it was the custom to employ +menservants almost exclusively; as these servitors were under the +control of the master of the house, it was quite common for the women to +intrust to their husbands the entire management of household affairs. +Thus freed from family cares, Venetian ladies had little to occupy their +time outside of the pleasures of society. Nothing was expected of them +on the intellectual side; they had no thought of education, found no +resource in study, and were not compelled to read in order to keep up +with society small-talk; so long as they found a means to charm their +masculine admirers, nothing more was demanded. Apparently, for them to +charm and fascinate was not difficult, for, according to Mrs. Piozzi, "a +woman in Italy is sure of applause, so she takes little pains to secure +it." Accordingly, the women of Venice seem to have been quite +unpretentious in their manners and dress. They wore little or no rouge, +though they were much addicted to the use of powder, and their dresses +were very plain and presented little variety. "The hair was dressed in a +simple way, flat on top, all of one length, hanging in long curls about +the neck or sides, as it happens." During the summer season it was the +custom literally to turn night into daytime, as social functions were +rarely begun before midnight, and it was dawn before the revellers were +brought home in their gondolas. At one place in Venice were literary +topics much discussed, and that was at Quirini's Casino, a semi-public +resort where ladies were much in evidence, and this was but the +exception which proved the rule. + +Genoa has been thus described: "It possesses men without honesty, women +without modesty, a sea without fish, and a woods with no birds," and, +without going into the merits of each of these statements, it is safe to +say that the state of public morals in this city was about the same as +that to be found in any other Italian city. Apropos of the poor heating +arrangements in Genoese houses, Mrs. Piozzi makes the following remark, +which gives a sidelight upon some of the customs of the place and will +interest the curious: "To church, however, and to the theatre in winter, +they have carried a great green velvet bag, adorned with gold tassels +and lined with fur to keep their feet from freezing, as carpets are not +in use. Poor women run about the streets with a little earthen pipkin +hanging on their arm filled with fire, even if they are sent on an +errand." + +In Florence, the art of making improviso verses--which has ever been +popular in southern countries--seems to have reached its highest state +of perfection during this eighteenth century, and a woman, the +celebrated Corilla, was acknowledged to be the most expert in this +accomplishment. At Rome, when at the climax of her wonderful career, she +was publicly crowned with the laurel in the presence of thousands of +applauding spectators; and in her later years, at Florence, her drawing +room was ever filled with curious and admiring crowds. Without +pretensions to immaculate character, deep erudition, or high birth, +which an Italian esteems above all earthly things, Corilla so made her +way in the world that members of the nobility were wont to throng to her +house, and many sovereigns, _en passage_ at Florence, took pains to seek +her society. Corilla's successor was the beautiful Fantastici, a young +woman of pleasing personality and remarkable powers of improvisation, +who soon became a popular favorite. + +Both at home and abroad, Italian women were coming to the fore in +musical circles, and no opera in any one of the continental capitals +was complete without its prima donna. Among the distinguished singers of +this epoch the two most celebrated were Faustina Bordoni and Catarina +Gabrielli. Faustina, born in the year 1700, was the daughter of a noble +Venetian family, and at an early age began to study music under the +direction of Gasparoni; when she was but sixteen, she made her debut +with such success that she was immediately given place as one of the +greatest artists on the lyric stage. In Venice, Naples, Florence, and +Vienna, she displayed such dramatic skill and such a wonderful voice +that she was soon acknowledged as the most brilliant singer in Europe. +Later, she was brought to London, under the management of the great +composer Haendel, and there she finally displaced in the public favor her +old-time rival, Cuzzoni. The singer known as Catarina Gabrielli was the +daughter of the cook of the celebrated Cardinal Gabrielli; in spite of +her low origin, she was possessed of a great though insolent beauty, in +addition to her wonderful vocal powers, and her brilliant career in +Europe was most exceptional in every way. In Italy, later in Vienna, and +even in far-away St. Petersburg, she not only achieved wonderful success +as a singer, but by her coquettish ways she contrived to attract a crowd +of most jealous and ardent admirers, who pursued her and more than once +fought for her favors. During her stay in Vienna, the French ambassador, +who had fallen a victim to her charms, became so madly jealous of the +Portuguese minister, that he drew his sword on Catarina upon one +occasion, and had it not been for her whalebone bodice she would have +lost her life. As it was, she received a slight scratch, which calmed +the enraged diplomat and brought him to his knees. She would pardon him +only on condition that he would present her with his sword, on which +were to be inscribed the following words: "Sword of M..., who dared +strike La Gabrielli." Through the intervention of friends, however, this +heavy penalty was never imposed, and the Frenchman was spared the +ridicule which would have surely followed. Catarina, after a long and +somewhat reckless career, passed her last years in Bologna, where she +died, in 1796, at the age of sixty-six, after having won general esteem +and admiration by her charities and by her steadiness of character, +which was in notable contrast to the extravagance of her earlier life. + +Perhaps the three most distinguished Italian women in all the century +were Clelia Borromeo, Laura Bassi, and Gaetana Agnesi. The Countess +Clelia was a veritable _grande dame_, who exerted a wide influence for +good in all the north of Italy; Laura Bassi was a most learned and +distinguished professor of philosophy at the University of Bologna; and +the last member of this illustrious triad, Gaetana Agnesi, became so +famous in the scholarly world that her achievements must be recounted +with some attention to detail. At the time of her birth, in 1718, her +father was professor of mathematics at Bologna, and it appears that she +was so precocious that at the age of nine she had such command of the +Latin language that she was able to publish a long and carefully +prepared address written in that classic tongue, contending that there +was no reason why women should not devote themselves to the pursuit of +liberal studies. By the time she was thirteen she knew--in addition to +Latin--Greek, Hebrew, French, Spanish, German, and several other +languages, and was so renowned for her linguistic attainments that she +was called, familiarly, the "walking polyglot." When she was fifteen, +her father began to invite the most learned men of Bologna to assemble +at his house and listen to her essays and discussions upon the most +difficult philosophical problems; in spite of the fact that this +display of her learning was known to be distasteful to the young girl, +it was not until she reached her twentieth year that she was allowed to +withdraw from society. In welcome seclusion, she devoted herself to the +study of mathematics, and published several mathematical works whose +value is still recognized. In 1752 her father fell ill, and, by Pope +Benedict XIV., Gaetana was appointed to occupy his professorial chair, +which she did with distinction. At her father's death, two years later, +she withdrew from this active career; and after a most careful study of +theology, she satisfied a long-cherished wish and entered a convent, +joining the Order of Blue Nuns, at Milan. She was most actively +interested in hospital work and charities of all kinds, and, as her +death did not occur until 1799, lived a long life of usefulness. + + + + +Chapter XI + +Italian Women in the Nineteenth Century + + +After the torpor and stagnation of the last two centuries, after the +self-abasement of the people, and the apparent extinction of all spirit +of national pride, the French invasion and domination, under the stern +rule of Bonaparte, was a rude awakening. Old boundaries were swept +aside, old traditions were disregarded, old rulers were dethroned; +everywhere were the French, with their Republican banners, mouthing the +great words Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, ravaging and plundering +in the most shameless fashion, and extorting the most exorbitant taxes. +But the contagion spread--the Italians were impressed with the wonderful +exploits of the one-time Corsican corporal, and they, in turn, began to +wag their heads in serious discussion of the "rights of man," as the +French had done a decade before. For the dissemination of the new ideas, +political clubs were organized throughout Italy as they had existed in +France, and the whole country was in ferment. Add to that the fact that +Napoleon began to levy troops in Italy as soon as his position warranted +this action, and that soon Italian soldiers were in all parts of Europe +fighting under the French flag, and one can perhaps have some picture of +the complete way in which French influences were made to prevail. In +this conquered territory the population may be divided into three +classes: first, the deposed nobility, who had for the most part left +the country; second, the middle class, composed of professional men and +the wealthier citizens; and third, the common people. Of these three +classes, the second was the one which Napoleon tried in every way to +conciliate, for he counted upon its aid in the moulding of public +opinion. He had little to do with the departed nobility, the common +people were helping him fight his battles, but, if he hoped to occupy +Italy permanently, his real appeal had to be made to the educated class. +Accordingly, the arts of peace were used in the interests of the god of +war; public improvements of all kinds were begun over all Italy, under +the supervision of the French officials, canals were built, marshes were +drained, academies of learning were founded, commerce was stimulated, +schools for girls were started at Milan, Bologna, and Verona in +imitation of those which had already been established in France, and, in +fact, everything was done to prove to the people that the rule of the +French was beneficial to the best interests of the peninsula. Many men +of letters were won over by fair promises, and scientific men were, in +many instances, so aided in their researches and so loaded with honors +that it was difficult to resist the approaches of the emperor; and there +resulted much fulsome praise in honor of Napoleon, who was hailed as a +veritable god. Some there were, however, who resisted the advances of +the conquerors and were loath to see the country so completely in the +control of a foreign nation. It is true that Italy was enjoying a great +prosperity in spite of the demands made upon it by the French, but this +sudden accession of Republican ideas and the consciousness that Italian +armies were fighting bravely all over the continent had aroused a +national spirit which had lain dormant for centuries; the more +far-seeing patriots were already looking forward to a time when Italy +might be not only free but independent. + +Among those unmoved by French promises were a number of brilliant women, +who were outspoken in their hostility, and who gathered about them many +of the most able men of the time. Though it is true that the French set +the fashions, and in every city it was usual to find that the French +officials were eagerly courted by the inhabitants, it is none the less +true that in many of these cities there was some small but active centre +of opposition, the salon of some gifted woman who was working might and +main for the final triumph of the principle of Italian control in Italy. +Napoleon had penetration enough to take such opposition at its just +valuation. Women had already given him many a _mauvais quart d'heure_ in +Paris; Madame de Stael and, later, the beautiful Madame Recamier were +forced to go into exile because he feared their power, and here in Italy +he resolved not to be caught napping. Among the number of these Italian +women who were daring enough to oppose his success, one of the most +influential and best known was the Countess Cicognara. Her husband, +Count Leopold Cicognara, was an archaeologist of some reputation, who is +to-day best known by his _Storia della Scultura_; he was precisely the +type of man whose friendship and good will Napoleon was anxious to +obtain. Cicognara kept his distance, however, and in his determination +to hold himself aloof from all actual participation in the new order of +things he was ably seconded by his wife, who was a most ardent partisan. +In Milan her salon was known to be of the opposition, and there gathered +all the malcontents, ready to criticise and blame, and wholly refusing +their aid in any public matters undertaken under French auspices. Here, +at Milan, Madame de Stael came to know the countess in the course of her +wanderings through Italy, and, as may readily be imagined, the two women +were much drawn to each other by reason of their similar tastes, +especially with regard to the political situation. Later, at Venice, the +Countess Cicognara was again the centre of a group of free-thinkers, and +there it was that she first felt the displeasure of Napoleon. The count +had been summoned by him in the hope that he might finally be won over, +but Cicognara conducted himself with such dignity that he excited no +little admiration for his position of strict neutrality; his wife did +not fare so well, inasmuch as she was harshly criticised for her active +partisanship. Also, Napoleon caused it to be known that he would look +with disfavor upon all who continued to frequent the salon of the +countess; the result of this procedure was that of those who had +formerly thronged her doors but two faithful ones remained--Hippolyte +Pindemonte and Carlo Rosmini, both staunch patriots and men of ability. + +After Waterloo and the fall of Napoleon, the French power in Italy was +gone, and the Congress of Vienna, which arranged the terms of peace for +the allied powers of Europe, restored the Italian states to their +original condition, as they were before the Revolution. But the real +conditions of Italian life were changed; for the people were now aroused +in an unprecedented way, which made a return to the old mode of life +impossible except in the outward form of things. The socialistic ideas +of the French had gained some foothold in Italy; men and women were +waking up to the possibilities which lay before them in the way of +helping each other; and charitable and philanthropic works of every kind +were undertaken with an interest which was altogether uncommon. As might +be expected, women occupied an important place in these various +activities and showed much enterprise and zeal in carrying out their +plans. The Marchioness Maddalena Frescobaldi Capponi aided in founding +at Florence a house of refuge for fallen women; Maria Maddalena di +Canossa, in the year 1819, established at Venice and at Verona the Order +of the Daughters of Charity, whose task it was to perfect themselves in +"love to God and love to man"; and various charitable schools were +organized in other parts of the country. At Turin, Julie Colbert di +Barolo, the friend of the famous Silvio Pellico, founded the Order of +the Sisters of Saint Anne, whose members were to devote themselves to +the education of poor girls, training them not only in the usual +studies, but also in manners and deportment, and teaching them to be +contented with their lot, whatever it might happen to be. The spirit of +arts and crafts had ardent supporters at this time, and many endeavors +were made to teach the people how to do something which might be of +avail in their struggle for life. Among those interested in this +movement was Rosa Govona, who had founded a society whose members were +called, after her, Les Rosines, and who were bound to support themselves +by means of their own work. The Napoleonic campaigns had taken from +Italy many men who never returned; thus, there were many women who were +left to their own resources, and it was for this class that Rosa Govona +was working. The society grew rapidly, branch organizations were +established in many cities, and there is no doubt that the movement was +productive of much good. Another woman philanthropist of this time was +the Countess Tarnielli Bellini, who left quite a large sum of money at +Novara for the establishment of several charitable institutions, among +them an industrial school. + +Rome now became the real centre of Italian life; it was the objective +point of every tourist, and it soon gathered together a somewhat +heterogeneous population which was to pave the way for that cosmopolitan +society which is to-day found in the Eternal City. While this foreign +element was growing more important every day, it cannot be said that the +members of the old and proud Roman nobility looked upon it with any +smile of welcome. Many of the newcomers were artists, sculptors and +painters, who were attracted by the wealth of classic and Renaissance +art which Rome contained, or they were expatriates for one of a number +of reasons. One of the most distinguished women of this foreign colony +was Madame Bonaparte, Napoleon's mother, who took up her residence in +Rome after 1815, and lived there until 1836, the year of her death. She +was a woman of fine presence and great courage, content with a simple +mode of life which was quite in contrast with the princely tastes of her +sons and daughters. Pauline Bonaparte, the emperor's favorite sister, +had lived in Rome for a number of years, as she had married, in 1803, +Camillo, Prince Borghese. She was soon separated from her husband, but +continued to reside in Rome, bearing the title of Duchess of Guastalla; +there she was housed in a fine palace, where she dwelt in a style of +easy magnificence. Pauline was one of the most beautiful women of this +time, and much of her charm and grace has been preserved in Canova's +famous statue, the _Venus Victrix_, for which she served as model. + +The most hospitable palace in all Rome during the first quarter of the +century was that presided over by Signora Torlonia, Duchess of +Bracciano. Her husband, "old Torlonia," as he was familiarly called, was +a banker during the working hours of the day; but in the evening he +became the Duke of Bracciano, and no one questioned his right to the +title, as he was known to have paid good money for it. He had made +princes of his sons and noble ladies of his daughters, and his great +wealth had undoubtedly aided his plans. Madame Lenormant says of him: +"he was avaricious as a Jew, and sumptuous as the most magnificent +grand seigneur," and he seems to have been a most interesting character. +He lived in a beautiful palace upon the Corso, wherein was placed +Canova's _Hercules and Lycas_, and there he and his wife dispensed a +most open-handed hospitality. Madame Torlonia had been a beauty in her +day, and she was a very handsome woman even in her later years. Kind and +good-natured, she was like the majority of Italian women of her time--a +curious combination of devotion and gallantry. It is related of her that +she confided to a friend one day that she had taken great care to +prevent her husband's peace of mind from being disturbed by her somewhat +questionable conduct, and then added: "But he will be very much +surprised when the Day of Judgment comes!" The Torlonia palace was +practically the only princely house open to strangers, and it often +sheltered a most distinguished company. Among those who were entertained +there may be included Thorwaldsen, the great Danish sculptor, Madame +Recamier, Chateaubriand, Canova, Horace Vernet, the French painter, and +his charming daughter Louise, and the great musician Mendelssohn. The +last, in a letter written from Rome in 1831, makes the following +allusion to the Torlonias, which is not without interest: "Last night a +theatre that Torlonia [the son] has undertaken and organized was opened +with a new opera of Pacini's. The crowd was great and every box filled +with handsome, well-dressed people; young Torlonia appeared in a stage +box, with his mother, the old duchess, and they were immensely +applauded. The audience called out: _Bravo, Torlonia, grazie, grazie!_" + +Italy had continued its reputation as the home of music, and now, as in +the eighteenth century, Italian singers, men and women, were wearing the +laurel in all the capitals of Europe. Among the women who were thus +celebrated the best known were Grassini, Catalani, Pasta, and Alboni. +Grassini was the daughter of a Lombardy farmer, and the expenses of her +musical education had been defrayed by General Belgioso, who was much +impressed with her wonderful voice and her charm of manner. Her debut at +La Scala was a wonderful success in spite of the fact that she then sang +in company with the two greatest Italian singers of the time, +Crescentini--one of the last of the male sopranos--and Marchesi. Later, +she attracted the attention of Bonaparte, and soon accompanied him to +Paris, anxious, it has been said, to play the role of Cleopatra to this +modern Caesar. Josephine's jealousy was aroused more than once by this +song bird of Italy, but she continued in the emperor's good graces for a +number of years, in spite of the fact that she was ever ready to follow +the whim of the moment and distributed her favors quite promiscuously. +In 1804 she was made directress of the Paris Opera, and some years +after, returning from a most wonderful London engagement, she sang in +_Romeo and Juliet_ with such effect that the usually impassive Napoleon +sprang to his feet, shouting like a schoolboy; the next day, as a +testimonial of his appreciation, he sent her a check for twenty thousand +francs. + +Angelica Catalani first created a stir in the world at the age of +twelve, when, as a novice in the convent of Santa Lucia at Gubbio, in +the duchy of Urbino, she sang for the daily service in the little chapel +with such amazing sweetness that people came from all the neighborhood +to listen to her. After some preliminary training, which was undertaken +without the entire approval of the girl's father, Angelica was confided +to the care of the great teacher Marchesi, who soon put her in the front +rank of singers. Her success upon the stage was unquestioned, and her +voice was one of the most remarkable in all the history of music, being +a pure soprano, with a compass of nearly three octaves,--from G to +F,--and so clear and powerful that it rose fresh, penetrating, and +triumphant above the music of any band or orchestra which might be +playing her accompaniment. Bell-like in quality and ever true, this +voice lacked feeling, and while it never failed to awaken unbounded +enthusiasm, it rarely, if ever, brought a thrill of deeper emotion. + +Giuditta Pasta, who became the lyric Siddons of her age, began her +career as an artist laboring under many disadvantages, for she lacked a +graceful personality and possessed a voice of but moderate power and +sweetness. One thing she did possess in full measure, however, and that +was an artistic temperament, which, combined with her unbounded ambition +and her ability for hard work, soon brought her public recognition. Her +simple but effective manner of singing and her wonderful histrionic +ability made all her work dignified and impressive; her representation +of the character of Medea, in Simon Mayer's opera by that name, has been +called the "grandest lyric impersonation in the records of art." When +the great actor Talma heard her in the days of her early success in +Paris, he said: "Here is a woman of whom I can still learn. One turn of +her beautiful head, one glance of her eye, one light motion of her hand, +is, with her, sufficient to express a passion." The whole continent was +at her feet--London, Paris, Berlin, St. Petersburg, and Vienna showered +her with their _bravas_ and their gifts, and her native Italy went wild +at her approach. Her last great public performance was at Milan in 1832, +when, in company with Donizetti the tenor and the then inexperienced +Giulia Grisi, she sang the role of Norma, in Bellini's opera, which was +then given for the first time under the baton of the composer himself. +Alboni, the wonderful contralto who owed her early advancement and +training to the kindly interest of Rossini, Fanny Persiani, the daughter +of the hunchback tenor, Tacchinardi, who through her singing did more +than any other artist to make the music of Donizetti popular throughout +Europe--these and a number of other names might be mentioned to show +that Italy was now the fountain head of song, as in the Renaissance it +had been the home of the other fine arts. + +This account of the triumphs of Italian women upon the continental stage +would be wholly incomplete without some reference to the incomparable +_danseuse_ La Taglioni, who will always occupy an important place in the +annals of Terpsichore. Without great personal charm, her success was due +to her wonderful skill, which was the result of the mercilessly severe +training that she had received from her father, Filippo Taglioni, who +was a ballet master of some repute. Born at Stockholm, where her father +was employed at the Royal Opera, she made her debut at Vienna, where she +created an immediate sensation. Hitherto ballet dancing had been +somewhat realistic and voluptuous, as illustrated by the performances of +the celebrated Madame Vestris, but La Taglioni put poetry and +imagination into her work, which was more ideal in character, and her +supremacy was soon unquestioned. Among her most remarkable performances +was the dancing of the _Tyrolienne_ in _Guillaume Tell_, and of the _pas +de fascination_ in _Robert le Diable_. In this mid-century period +dancing occupied a far more important place in opera than it has since, +but with the retirement of La Taglioni, in 1845, the era of grand +ballets came practically to an end. About her work there seems to have +been a subtle charm which no other modern _danseuse_ has ever possessed, +and her admirers were to be found in all ranks of society. Balzac often +mentions her, and Thackeray says in _The Newcomes_ that the young men +of the epoch "will never see anything so graceful as Taglioni in _La +Sylphide_." + +With the final accomplishment of Italian unity and the establishment of +the court at Rome, there began a new life for the whole country, wherein +the position of the ruling family was decidedly difficult. At the outset +there was the opposition of the Vatican, for the pope was unwilling to +accept the inevitable and relinquish his temporal power with good grace; +and there was the greater problem, perhaps, of moulding into one +nationality the various peoples of the peninsula. Neapolitans and +Milanese, Venetians and Romans, were all so many different races, so far +as their history and traditions were concerned, and the task of making +them all Italians--which had been put upon the house of Savoy--was +fraught with much danger. It is too early yet to know with what complete +success this work will be crowned, but it may be safely said that Queen +Margharita, wife of Humbert I., did much to bring about that general +spirit of good will which has thus far been characteristic of united +Italy. Owing to the peculiar conditions of the situation, and the strong +local spirit which still endures everywhere, it was soon found that all +Italy would be slow in coming to the court at Rome, and so the court +decided to go to the country. Royal villas are scattered through the +different provinces, and it is customary for the king and his suite to +visit them with some frequency. During all this perambulating court +life, Queen Margharita became a popular favorite, in no less degree than +the king, and their democratic ways soon gained the love and esteem of +the people in general. The following incident will show to what extent +the queen was interested in the welfare of her subjects and what she was +able to accomplish by means of her ready wit. Certain towns along the +coast had become very prosperous through the manufacture of coral +ornaments of various kinds, and large numbers of women were given +lucrative employment in this work until, slowly, coral began to go out +of fashion, and then the industry commenced to diminish in importance. +It became, in fact, practically extinct, and so great was the misery +caused by the lack of work that the attention of the queen was called to +this pitiful situation. Instantly, by personal gifts, she relieved the +pressure of the moment, and then by deliberately wearing coral ornaments +in a most conspicuous way she restored their popularity and at the same +time brought back prosperity to the stricken villages. Since the death +of King Humbert, Margharita has naturally lived somewhat more in +retirement, but she has ever shown herself to be most eager to do +everything for her people and especially for the women of Italy. Much +progress in educational affairs has been brought about through her +influence; and to show her interest in the movement for the physical +training of women, which is slowly taking form, she has recently joined +an Alpine club, and has done not a little mountain climbing in spite of +the fact that she is no longer in the first bloom of youth. + +The present queen, Helena of Montenegro, is beginning to enjoy the same +popularity, and there is every reason to believe that her reign will +continue, in a most worthy way, the traditions left by her predecessor. +The conditions attending the marriage of the heir apparent when he was +yet the Prince of Naples were such indeed as to win the sympathy and +approval of the whole nation. Before this marriage, Crispi, the Italian +premier, had tried to arrange for the young prince a match which might +have some political significance, and to this end he collected the +photographs of all the eligible princesses of Europe, put them together +in a beautiful album, and told his young master to look them over and +select a wife for himself. The prince gazed at them with but languid +interest, however, for these royal maidens were, most of them, strangers +to him; he finally announced to the astonished minister that he did not +intend to marry until he found a woman he loved! In this resolution he +was not to be shaken, and the Princess Helena, whom he made his wife, he +saw for the first time at the czar's coronation ceremonies at Moscow, +and it was a simple case of love at first sight. Such simplicity and +sincerity as are apparent in this real affection of the king and queen +for each other cannot fail to have a widespread influence. + +The modern Italian woman is not an easy person to describe, as it would +be difficult to find one who might serve as a type for all the rest. In +general, it may be said that they are not so well educated as the women +in many other countries, and that so long as a woman is devout, and at +the same time domestic in her tastes, she is considered to possess the +most essential requisites of character and attainment. The women of the +peasant class work in the fields with the men; in the towns and cities +women help in their husbands' shops, as in France, and while they may +not always possess the energy and business skill which characterize the +French women, they are at least no more indolent and easy-going than +their male companions. The women of the nobility are often less educated +than their plebeian sisters, and for the most part lead a very narrow +and petty existence, which produces little but vanity and selfishness +and discontent. There are exceptions, however, and here and there may be +seen a gentlewoman who has studied and travelled, and made herself not +only a social but also an intellectual leader of distinction. + +From a legal standpoint, the position of women differs in the various +provinces, for, while the written law may be the same throughout the +kingdom, local customs are often widely divergent. Villari, in his +recent book on Italian life, says that a woman's property is guaranteed +to her by law from any abuse on her husband's part; she has equal rights +of inheritance with her brothers, if her parents have made no will; and +there are few cases in which her rights are inferior to those of her +male relatives. Also, the woman is considered the natural and legal +guardian of her children, after the death of her husband. In spite of +this legal equality, the old idea of woman's inferior position still +crops out, and it is noticeable that a father, in bequeathing his +property, rarely leaves it to his daughters, but rather to his sons, and +often to the eldest son alone, as in the old feudal days. Social +conventions are not unlike those of other southern countries. For the +majority of women marriage is the one aim in life, and an unmarried +woman is shown little consideration and is the butt of much ridicule. In +the northern part of Italy, women are gaining a certain amount of +liberty in these latter days, and young girls of the better class may, +without causing much comment, go upon the street unattended. In the +south, however, the position of women is very different, and they are +still regarded in much the same way as are the women of Oriental +countries. The long years of Saracen rule are responsible for this +condition, which makes the woman little more than the slave of her +husband. It is said that in some country districts it is the custom for +the husband to lock his wife in the house whenever he goes from home, +and the usage is so well established that if the ceremony is omitted the +woman is inclined to think that some slight is intended. + +With regard to the education of women, the law makes no distinction +between the sexes, and practically all schools, classical and technical, +under government control, and the universities, are open to both men +and women. Special schools, both public and private, have been +established exclusively for women, but they are not the rule. With +regard to matters of attendance, statistics show that the proportion of +women is larger in the universities than in the preparatory schools. As +yet, the legal profession is not open to women practitioners, but many +have pursued the study of medicine, and there are several who enjoy a +large and lucrative practice. With all these advantages, the ordinary +woman in Italy to-day rarely possesses what we would call an ordinary +education, and there is absolutely no public opinion in favor of it. +There are frequent bluestockings, it is true, but they have no influence +with the public, and are showing themselves entirely ineffectual in +forcing public opinion in this regard. + +Though the great singers seem to come from Germany in these modern days, +Italy has held a distinguished place upon the boards for the last +half-century by reason of its great tragic actresses, Adelaide Ristori +and Eleonora Duse. Ristori was beginning her career in the fifties when +she went to Paris, where the great Rachel was in the very midst of her +triumph; and there in the French capital, in the very face of bitter +rivalry, she was able to prove her ability and make a name for herself. +Later, in the United States she met with a most flattering reception, +and for a season played with Edwin Booth in the Shakespearean +repertoire. Duse first came into public notice about 1895, when her +wonderful emotional power at once caused critics to compare her to +Bernhardt, and not always to the advantage of the great French +tragedienne. At one period her name became linked most unpleasantly with +that of the young Italian realist Gabriele d'Annunzio. + +In modern Italian literature two women stand out conspicuously--Matilda +Serao and Ada Negri. The Signora Serao, who began life as a journalist, +is to-day the foremost woman writer of fiction in Italy, and her novels, +which are almost without exception devoted to the delineation of +Neapolitan life, are quite graphic and interesting, though her literary +taste is not always good and she sometimes lapses into the commonplace +and the vulgar. Also, she inclines somewhat toward the melodramatic, +and, like many of her brothers in literature, she is far from free from +what may best be termed "cheap sentiment." Ada Negri, who started in her +career as a modest school teacher in Lombardy, is a lyric poet of no +mean ability. She has taken up the cudgel for the poor and the weak and +the oppressed, and so thorough and genuine are her appreciation and +understanding of the life of the people, that she seems to have touched +many hearts. Singing as she does of the hard lot of the poor, and of the +many struggles of life, it is appropriate that the two volumes of her +verses which have appeared up to this time should bear the titles +_Fatalita_ and _Tempeste_. + +Many other women have acquired honored positions in literature, and +woman's increased activity and prominence in all intellectual branches +is a condition which may well excite wonder. While from many points of +view unfortunately backward, the women of Italy are beginning to realize +their more serious possibilities, and it is safe to say that the more +advanced ideas regarding woman's work and her position in society, which +come as the inevitable consequence of modern civilization and education, +will soon bear fruit here as in other parts of the continent. + + + + +Part Second + +Spanish Women + + + + +Chapter XII + +The Condition of Spain before the Moorish Invasion + + +To one whose fancy roves to Spain in his dream of fair women there comes +at once the picture of a dark-eyed beauty gazing out discreetly from +behind her lattice window, listening to the tinkling sound of her +lover's mandolin, and sighing at the ardor of his passion; or again, she +may be going abroad, with lace mantilla about her shapely head, armed +with her fan,--that article of comfort and coquetry, as it has been +called,--which is at once a shield and an allurement as wielded by her +deft fingers. With the thought of Spain there comes also the snap of the +castanets and the flash of bright-colored skirts as they move in time to +the _tarantella_. All in all, it is the poet's land of beauty and +pleasure, music and the dance, with _Dolce far niente_ as its motto, +rose-entwined. + +Free from the poet's spell, however, and under the guidance of the +sterner muse of history, this picture of sweet content vanishes for a +time as the more rugged outlines of another and an earlier age attract +our attention. Fact and conjecture are somewhat intermingled as they +concern the early history of Spain, but enough is known to give us a +fairly clear idea of the general condition of the country. The original +inhabitants of the peninsula--the Iberians--antedate authentic +historical records, but some centuries before the Christian era it is +certain that there was a Celtic invasion from the North which resulted +in a mingling of these two races and the appearance of the Celtiberians. +The life of these early inhabitants was rude and filled with privations, +but they were brave and hardy, having no fear of pain or danger, and +possessed by the love of liberty. In this primitive society the +occupations of the men were almost exclusively those connected with the +pursuit of war, and the wives and mothers were given a large measure of +domestic responsibility and were treated with great respect. To them was +intrusted not only the education of the younger children, but the care +of the land as well, and there is nothing to show that they failed in +either of these duties. They were more than good mothers and good +husbandmen, however, for more than once, in case of need, these early +Spanish women donned armor and fought side by side with their husbands +and brothers, sword or lance in hand, nothing daunted by the fierceness +of the struggle and always giving a good account of themselves in the +thick of the battle. + +Hannibal's wife was a woman of Spain, it is true, but it is to her less +eminent sisters that we must turn in order to discover the most +conspicuous cases of feminine bravery and heroism, which are accompanied +in almost every instance by a similar record for the men, as the lot of +men and women was cast along the same lines in those days, and the +national traits are characteristic of either sex. A most fervid +patriotism was inbred in these people, and throughout all the long years +of Roman conquest and depredation these native Celtiberians, men and +women, proved time and time again that they knew the full significance +of the Latin phrase which came from the lips of their conquerors--_Dulce +et decorum est pro patria mori_ [It is sweet and glorious to die for +one's country]. When Hannibal essayed to capture the stronghold of +Saguntum, a fortified city on the eastern coast of Spain, and probably +of Phoenician origin, he found himself confronted by no easy task. On +account of his early residence in Spain and his familiarity with the +people and the country, he had found its conquest an affair of no great +difficulty for the most part, but here at Saguntum all the conditions +were changed. The resistance was most stubborn, in spite of the fact +that the besieging force consisted of one hundred and fifty thousand +men. Hannibal himself was wounded while fighting under the walls; and +when the end came, the fall of Saguntum was due to famine rather than to +the force of arms. Then the Saguntines, men, women, and children, were +of the opinion that surrender was ignoble, and they all preferred death +at the hands of the enemy to any timorous act of submission. + +Some thirteen years later, in B. C. 206, the Romans, who were now making +a systematic endeavor to subdue the whole country, laid siege to Ataspa; +and although the details of the investment of the city are far from +complete, the imperfect records of the event show that the force of the +enemy was so overwhelming that the inhabitants of the ill-fated city saw +at once the futility of a prolonged resistance and resolved to do or die +without delay. Accordingly, a small guard was left behind to kill the +women and children and set fire to the town, and the rest of the doughty +little garrison, with banners waving and bugles sounding in defiance, +sallied forth from the city gates, and each man went to his death with +his face to the enemy. The thrilling tale of the final capture of the +city of Numantia by Scipio Africanus furnishes but further proof of this +indomitable courage of the early Spaniards. After a siege and blockade +of sixteen months, the Numantians, threatened by famine, and unable to +secure terms of honorable capitulation, decided that death was better +than the horrors of Roman slavery; and so they killed each other in +their patriotic zeal, wives and daughters perishing at the hands of +their fathers and their husbands, and the last man, after setting fire +to the town, threw himself into the flames. When the Roman conquerors +marched through the stricken city they could discover nothing but "ruin, +blood, solitude, and horror." By B. C. 72 practically all of Spain had +submitted to the Romans, but Pompey found to his surprise that the old +Spanish spirit was not entirely dead when he attempted to take +possession of the town of Calahorra on the Ebro. The details of the +affair almost pass belief. As usual, the defence was dogged; and when +the town was threatened with famine, it is said that the men not only +killed the women and children, but actually salted their flesh and +stored it for future consumption! This was not mere savagery, it was +fanatic devotion to a patriotic principle, and there is naught to show +that the deed was done under protest from the victims. + +The superior organization of the Romans was bound to conquer, however, +in the end, and by the time of Julius Caesar the whole country had been +subjected. This gradual supremacy of the Romans was accompanied by a +gradual dying out of those early, sturdy virtues which had so marked the +Spanish people. Life in that pre-Christian era had been rude and +uncouth; there was little education or refinement; but there was a +certain rugged nobility of character which cannot but command our +admiration. The general manners and customs of the time are, for the +most part, marked by great decency and purity; women justly merited the +respect which was shown them, and the family was recognized as a +necessary factor in national strength. As an interesting bit of +information which will show, indirectly at least, that women were held +in high regard, it may be noted that a number of old coins have been +found, coming from this early day, which bear upon one side a woman's +head. + +The prosperity which came with the advent of the Romans was the result, +in great part, of the unexampled peace which the whole peninsula now +enjoyed. The mines were worked, the olive groves yielded a rich harvest +of oil, the fields were tilled and much Spanish wheat was sent abroad, +and, in everything but the mining, the women worked side by side with +the men. Flax had been brought to Spain long before by the +Phoenicians, and no special attention had been given to its culture; +but now matters were quite changed, and the finest linen to be found in +all the Western world came from the dexterous hands of the Spanish +women. This time of peace and comfort cannot be considered as an unmixed +blessing, however; for with the decline of war the sterner virtues +languished, and much of that primitive simplicity of an earlier day lost +its freshness and naivete and gave way to the subtle vices and corrupt +influences which never failed to follow in the wake of Latin conquest. +The strength and virility of the nation had been sapped by the Romans, +as thousands of Spaniards were forced into the Roman legions and forced +to fight their oppressors' battles in many distant lands, and very few +of them came home even to die. With this enormous depletion of the male +population, it was but natural that there should be a certain mixture of +races which was not always an aid to public morals. Marriage between +Roman citizens and the women of the so-called barbarian nations was +rarely recognized by law; many of the Spanish women, as prisoners of +war, were sold into slavery; and with such a social system imposed by +the conquerors, it is easy to see that contamination was inevitable. + +With the gradual decay of Roman power, the colonial dependencies of this +great empire were more and more allowed to fall into the almost absolute +control of unscrupulous governors, who did not miss an occasion to levy +extortionate taxes and manage everything in their own interests. As the +natural result of the raids of the barbarian hordes--the Alans, the +Suevians, the Vandals, and the Goths--Spain was losing all that +semblance of national unity which it had acquired under Roman rule, and +was slowly resolving itself into its primitive autonomous towns. +Finally, Euric the Goth, who had founded a strong government in what is +now southern France, went south of the Pyrenees in the last part of the +fifth century, defeated the Roman garrison at Tarragona, and succeeded +in making a treaty with the emperor, whereby he was to rule all Spain +with the exception of the Suevian territory in the northwest. Now begins +that third process of amalgamation which was to aid in the further +evolution of the national type. First, the native Iberians were blended +with the early Celtic invaders to form the Celtiberian stock, then came +the period of Roman control, to say nothing of the temporary +Carthaginian occupancy, and now, finally, on the ruins of this Roman +province, there rose a Gothic kingdom of power and might. The +foundations of Roman social life were already tottering, for it had been +established from the beginning upon the notion of family headship, and +the individual had no natural rights which the government was bound to +respect, and, all in all, it was little calculated to inspire the esteem +and confidence of the proud Spaniard, who prized his personal liberty +above all else. In literature and in art Roman influences were dominant +and permanent, but, as Martin Hume says: "The centralizing governmental +traditions which the Roman system had grafted upon the primitive town +and village government of the Celtiberians had struck so little root in +Spain during six centuries, that long before the last legionaries left +the country the centralized government had fallen away, and the towns +with their assembly of all free citizens survived with but little +alteration from the pre-Roman period." + +This being the case when the Goths appeared, it was easy for them to +start out afresh on their own lines, and all the more so as many of +their governmental ideas were peculiarly adapted to the Spanish +temperament. The Goths at the time of their appearance in Spain were no +longer barbarians, as their long contact with Rome had given them ample +opportunity for education, and they deserve to be considered as +disseminators of civilization. Their easy conquest of Spain can then be +accounted for in two ways: first, there was not sufficient warlike +spirit in the country to successfully oppose them; secondly, they were +hailed as liberators rather than as conquerors, because at their coming +the real barbarians, who were still threatening the country, were forced +to leave. The central idea of the Gothic social system, which was soon +established in all parts of the country, was its recognition of the +independence of the individual, and especially of the women of the +family. The head of the household did not consider himself as the sole +possessor of all rights and privileges; the women and children were +expected to do their share of fighting the enemy, and were given their +share of food and plunder in all equity. The equality of the wife with +her husband was strictly enjoined, not only in the marriage ceremony, +but also by law, which gave her full control of her own property and a +half-interest in the possessions held by them both in common. + +Alaric II. caused to be published in 506 the code of laws which had been +compiled by King Euric, but which was called the _Breviarium +Alaricianium_, wherein, among various other matters, the rights of women +are especially enforced. This code was intended only for the use of the +Goths, who took position at once as a ruling and noble race, and the +rest of the population was still governed by the old Roman code. For +almost a hundred and fifty years this double system of legal procedure +was maintained, and then its many disadvantages became so evident that a +vigorous king sought to remedy the tottering fortunes of the Gothic +realm by promulgating a single code, to which all should be subject and +which should represent the better features of the two codes hitherto in +vogue. Chindaswinth, who ruled from 642 to 654, was responsible for this +new departure; and his son Recceswinth, who followed him upon the +throne, was the first to administer the revised code, which is known as +the _Lex Visigothorum_. Although the document is but an adaptation of +the Roman law to the special needs of the country from the standpoint of +Christianity, it shows at the same time the strong influence of the +social traditions of the Goths, and especially with reference to its +treatment of women. + +It is evident from a perusal of these laws that the Goths had high +ideals of family life, and that it was their most earnest endeavor to +maintain, by means of legal enactment, a rather unusual state of social +purity. Women were held in high esteem and occupied a most respected and +influential position, and Caesar's wife was their common model. The moral +condition of the Romanized Spaniards fell far short of the Gothic +standards, however, and it is evident that the new code endeavored to +correct the numerous social evils which then afflicted the country. The +loose habits of the Romans had been followed all too quickly, and the +custom of keeping many slaves in a household had led to a domestic +promiscuity which was appalling in some instances, so that the Gothic +desire for reform is easily explained. It is interesting to note in this +connection that the best account to be found of the moral status of the +whole people at this time is contained by implication in the list of +things which they are forbidden by law to do. So, the _Lex Visigothorum_ +is not only a tribute to the moral sense of its promulgators, but at the +same time a storehouse of information with regard to a rather obscure +period in Spanish history. + +All things considered, one of the most startling things in the new code +was a severe statute forbidding public prostitutes, for it is somewhat +difficult to believe that the moral tone of society at that time would +warrant so stringent a measure. A public flogging was prescribed as the +penalty which would be inflicted upon all who failed to obey the +statute, and it is altogether probable that the law was administered +with the same Puritanic rigor which had brought it into existence. Other +provisions there were, animated by this same spirit, which were levelled +at the social evils incident to the practice of holding slaves. A woman +who had intrigued with her own slave or who wished to marry him was +condemned to death in the most summary fashion; and even if the man were +a freedman, the penalty was just the same. What a glimpse this gives us +of the life of the time, when the slaves were often more charming and +more intelligent than their rough masters, and how clear it is that the +Goths considered a household conducted with decency and with order as an +important element in national prosperity and well-being! + +As one might naturally expect, the laws relating to the subject of +marriage and divorce are equally severe, even when the contracting +parties belong to the same class in society. The equality between wife +and husband was again provided for, as it had been in the earlier code, +and the woman was again given full control of her own property and a +half-interest in the things which had been common property. Once +married, divorce was forbidden except in the case of adultery on the +woman's part; and though it is clear to see that this was not equal +justice for both man and wife, yet such was the fact. When infidelity +was proved, the law provided that the wife and her paramour should be +delivered up to the tender mercies of the injured husband, who had the +right to punish them according to his own inclination. He was given the +power of life and death even, under these circumstances, and too often +it is to be feared that the punishment became a bloody revenge +sanctioned by law. Marriage between Jews and Christians had long been +forbidden, as it had been discovered by experience that such a union was +bound to lead to proselyting in one form or another; and the death +penalty was inflicted upon all who were not content to abide by the +statute. Marriage between Goths and Romans had been legalized in 652, +but for many years before that time the two races had been kept apart; +for the Goths, as the ruling race, considered it prejudicial to their +interests to ally themselves in this way with their subjects. + +Woman's place in the criminal procedure of the time was unique. It +appears that the punishment inflicted for any given crime depended not +so much upon the importance of the offence as upon the importance of the +criminal, and that almost every injury might be atoned for by the +payment of a certain sum of money, the amount depending upon the rank of +the person making the payment. Such money payments, wherever a woman was +involved, were regulated according to the following scale of values: +from her birth to the age of fifteen, she was valued at only one-half +the price of a man of her own class; from fifteen to twenty, she was +considered of equal value; from twenty to forty, she was rated as worth +one-sixth less than a man; and after forty, at even less than half. +Inasmuch as both men and women were amenable to the same laws with but +this difference in the amount of the penalty in any given case, it would +appear that women were recognized to possess a smaller money-earning +power than the men; and such was undoubtedly the case, in spite of the +fact that both men and women seemed to share alike the various daily +tasks in the earlier and simpler days of Gothic rule in Spain. Such +participation on the part of the women was by no means common among the +Romans, and this fact, together with the spread of slavery, did much to +put the women in this secondary position, so far as ability to work was +concerned. + +With all this apparent equality in fact and in the eyes of the law, it +is somewhat doubtful whether or not the wives and mothers really enjoyed +a high degree of personal liberty. Their legal rights were clearly +defined, but it is certain that they were looked upon as inferior +beings. The prevalent customs with regard to the marriage dower show in +no uncertain fashion that the wife was considered to a certain extent as +the chattel and property of her husband; for a woman could not marry +without a dower, but it was paid not by but to her parents, and by her +future husband. A marriage of that description may be likened to the +sale of a bill of goods. In further proof of this dependent position of +the women, and to show the care which was taken to protect them from +contamination of any kind, one of the statutes regulating the practice +of medicine presents certain interesting features. This law prohibited +surgeons from bleeding any freewoman except in the presence of her +husband, her nearest relative, or at least of some properly appointed +witness. A Salic law dating from about the same period imposed a fine of +fifteen pieces of gold upon anyone who should improperly press a +woman's hand, but there seems to be nothing to show that the Goths +considered legislation upon this important point necessary. Even under +these conditions the physician's position was somewhat precarious, as it +was provided that in case he should withdraw enough of the patient's +blood to cause death, he became the slave of the patient's heir at law! + +Spain was like the greater part of the rest of Europe at this time with +regard to its intellectual atmosphere; Christianity and Roman +civilization had not yet succeeded in stamping out the old pagan beliefs +of the early inhabitants, and superstition and ignorance were for a long +time characteristic traits of the majority of the people. The air was +peopled with demons, the devil himself was no infrequent visitor, +witches and fortune tellers were not without influence, and stealthily, +by night, many mystic rites were celebrated. Many of the Christian +beliefs of the time are likewise the result of ignorance and +superstition, but at that time, naturally, only the pagan ideas were +condemned. Accordingly, while the law of the Goths recognized trial by +ordeal, wherein God is summoned to bear miraculous witness in favor of +the innocent, the same law condemned belief in witchcraft! The favorite +ordeal among the Goths was trial by red-hot iron. The Church took charge +of this ceremony, which was accompanied by a most solemn ritual, and all +this was legal and religious and approved by the highest authorities! +But the poor witches had to go! It was charged that they were able to +produce storm and ruin by means of their incantations, that they offered +nightly sacrifices to devils, and that in general they were in league +with the powers of darkness and productive of much disorder. +Furthermore, soothsayers were not to be consulted concerning the death +of a king; and any freeman disobeying this edict was soundly flogged, +lost his property by confiscation, and was condemned to perpetual +servitude. These mysterious and redoubtable old women who gathered +simples upon the mountain side and dealt in the black art had formerly +been very numerous, and, although they have always continued to exist in +Spain, their number was much diminished by means of the enforcement of +the new law. + +In addition to the various social and political questions which were +demanding settlement at this time, there was a matter of ecclesiastical +difference which caused great trouble and confusion. The Goths, though +Christians, belonged to the Arian branch of the Church, while the +Spaniards were firm believers in the Athanasian or Latin form of +Christianity, and the struggle for supremacy between the two went on for +many years before either side was willing to submit. Near the beginning +of the sixth century, Clothilda, daughter of the Frankish king, Clovis, +was married to Amalaric, the Gothic king, whose capital was then in the +old city of Narbonne. Political advantages were supposed to come from +this international alliance, but the results were quite to the contrary. +The queen was an Athanasian, and the king an Arian Catholic, and neither +was willing to endure the heresy of the other. Amalaric used his most +persuasive arts in his attempts to win over his wife to the Gothic point +of view, but his endeavor was in vain, and she remained obstinately true +to the God of her fathers. Finally, irritated beyond measure, the king +ordered that Clothilda should no longer be allowed to make public +profession of her religion, and the result was a merry war which led to +the defeat and final death of the Arian sovereign. Late in this same +sixth century there was in Spain another Frankish queen, who not only +held steadfastly to her own faith, but was the indirect means whereby +all the country was induced to abandon the Arian creed. The native +Catholic clergy, under the leadership of Leander, a most noted +churchman, and Bishop of Seville, had long urged the necessity of such a +change, but the Goths were unwilling to submit; and so matters stood +until Prince Hermenegild, urged on by Leander, and most of all by his +wife Ingunda, led a revolt against his father, King Leovgild. The revolt +was not a success, but the star of the Athanasian party was rising +rapidly, and the open stand of the queen for the Latin doctrines gave +great impetus and power to the whole movement. The triumph was complete +when Leovgild's son and heir, Recared, saw that further opposition was +useless and publicly announced his conversion to the faith of Rome. + +In the early history of the Church in Spain there are many interesting +references to women which are not generally known, but which reveal, on +the whole, a condition of affairs similar to that which was to be found +in other parts of Europe at the same time. Monasteries were probably +unknown in the peninsula before the middle of the sixth century, but +from a very early day it is certain that women as well as men were +taking vows of perpetual chastity and devoting themselves to a life of +holy works. Early in the fourth century the Council of Elvira prescribed +penalties for professed nuns who might desire to reenter the world, and +the Council of Saragossa, in 380, declared that no virgin should be +allowed to devote herself to a religious life until she had reached the +mature age of forty years. That same Council of Elvira was the first in +the history of the Church to ordain the celibacy of the secular clergy, +and its thirty-third canon forbade the bishops, priests, and deacons of +the peninsula to live as husbands with their wives. In the year 591, the +first Synod of Toledo, over which Bishop Leander presided, enacted +various canons which give some interesting sidelights on the times. It +appears that ecclesiastics had already been forbidden to keep women +servants in their houses, but the rule was so often disregarded that it +was enacted that in the future, as a punishment for such intractable +churchmen, their servants should be sold as slaves and the proceeds +handed over to some charitable organization. In just what way this +punishment was to affect the clergy, beyond causing them temporary +annoyance, it is difficult to understand, but there is no doubt as to +the fact. + +In all of the seven centuries preceding the Moorish conquest of Spain +there had been some little progress, so far as the position of women was +concerned, but it cannot be said that the advance had been great. The +original Gothic ideas on this subject had been far superior to those +held by the Romans, but the rigor of the old ideas lost force in time, +and, if the accounts of the Church historians be true, the last Goths to +wield the sceptre were so corrupt and led such abandoned lives that God, +in his vengeance, sent the Mohammedan horde upon them. In all these +shifting times the conditions of life were such that few women were able +to take any prominent part in public affairs; or if they did, the +imperfect records of the epoch fail to make mention of it. At intervals +there were queens, like Ingunda, possessed of a strong and decided +character and ready to take a part in the control of affairs, but they +were the exception and not the rule, as the education of women was so +very limited that few of them knew enough to see beyond a very narrow +horizon. Probably the most enlightened woman in all this period was the +nun Florentina, sister of Bishop Leander of Seville, who was far-famed +for her good works. At the time of her death in 603, she had risen to +such distinction on account of her character and her ability that she +was made the general director of a system of over forty convents, which +were under her continual inspection and control. Such, in brief, is her +story; further details are wanting, but even this is enough to impress +us with the fact that she must have been a great woman and +representative of all that was good and noble in her day. + + + + +Chapter XIII + +Women among the Moors + + +The closing years of Gothic rule in Spain, and the various causes which +finally led to the Moorish invasion, are somewhat involved in legend and +mystery. But in spite of a scepticism which has been openly expressed by +some authors, it seems more than probable that the fabled Rodrigo, from +his capital at Toledo, actually ruled over Spain in the year 709, and +that he was, directly or indirectly, the cause of the invasion of the +Moors. According to the commonly accepted story, the moral condition of +Spain at the beginning of the eighth century was most deplorable. The +Goths had lost that reputation for honesty and chastity which in the +earlier days of their power had distinguished them from the Romans. +Rodrigo, "the last of the Goths," lived a life of such flagrant +profligacy that the coming of the Moors was but just punishment for all +his sins. As Miss Yonge has remarked, "the fall of Gothic Spain was one +of the disasters that served to justify the saying that all great +catastrophes are caused by women." The woman in the present instance was +Florinda, often called La Cava, reputed to be the daughter of Count +Julian, commander of the south of Spain and in charge of the fortress of +Ceuta. Although Rodrigo already possessed a wife, Egilona, who was a +brilliant, able, and beautiful woman, he was a man of little moral force +and had a roving eye and lusty passions. Seeing Florinda once upon a +time, he coveted her, succeeded in winning her affections, and was not +content until he had betrayed her confidence and brought dishonor upon +her and her father. Count Julian, filled with a righteous anger at this +unwarranted act on the part of his liege lord, openly revolted, called +in the Moors, and unwittingly opened his country to an invader who would +be slow to leave. The story is told in the old ballad, as follows: + + "Long had the crimes of Spain cried out to Heaven: + At length the measure of offence was full. + Count Julian called the invader ... + ...Mad to wreak + His vengeance for his deeply injured child + On Roderick's head, an evil hour for Spain, + For that unhappy daughter, and himself. + Desperate apostate, on the Moors he called, + And, like a cloud of locusts, whom the wind + Wafts from the plains of wasted Africa, + The Mussulman upon Iberia's shores + Descends. A countless multitude they came: + Syrian, Moor, Saracen, Greek renegade, + Persian, and Copt, and Latin, in one band + Of erring faith conjoined, strong in the youth + And heat of zeal, a dreadful brotherhood." + +_La Cava_, the name by which Florinda has been called ever since by the +Spaniards, means "the wicked one," and the general theory has been that, +in spite of her betrayed innocence, she has been held in execration for +all that followed. Others, however, have pointed out the discrepancy +between the generally acknowledged purity of character of Florinda and +the meaning of _La Cava_, and it is their opinion that Count Julian's +daughter is merely legendary, and that _La Cava_ refers in some +allegorical way to the dissolute and voluptuous life which Rodrigo had +been leading and which was in itself a good and sufficient reason for +all the misfortunes which were to follow. + +While all is not clear as to the reason for the invitation to come to +Spain, there is no cause to doubt that it was accepted in a most hearty +manner. Modern historians do not hesitate to say that the Catholic +churchmen, not realizing the danger, invited the Moslems to aid them in +repressing a revolt among the Gothic nobles. However the case may have +been, Mousa, the Berber chieftain, sent his bravest sheik, Tarik, with a +goodly following, to lead the invasion. The white-turbaned warriors +crossed the strait between what had always been called the Pillars of +Hercules, and landed upon that great rock which has ever since borne +that leader's name, Gebel-al-Tarik--Gibraltar--the "rock of Tarik." +Rodrigo, with an army of about eighty thousand men, which he had hastily +gathered together, hastened to meet the invaders, and the two armies met +on the banks of the Guadelete. Egilona, Roderick's wife, was left with a +safe guard in the strongly fortified town of Meriba, while the "last of +the Goths," in shining armor and wearing a helmet adorned with horns of +gold, such as may be seen upon old Gothic coins, fought vainly against +the terrible horsemen of the deserts. _La bataille est merveillose e +pesant_, to quote the words of the _Song of Roland_, describing that +other battle, between the Franks and the Moors, some sixty-five years +later in the fatal pass of Roncesvalles; the Goths were overwhelmingly +defeated, and Rodrigo disappeared in a most mysterious way, leaving his +crown and sceptre upon the river bank. Mousa, with another invading +force, had followed close upon the heels of Tarik, and he it was who +pushed on to Meriba and laid siege to the town, knowing full well that +the queen was within the gates, while Tarik, by a series of easy +conquests, made his way to Toledo. When the siege came to a close and +the Berbers entered the fortifications, they were amazed at the richness +and vast amount of treasure which fell into their hands. The jewel +caskets of Egilona in particular excited their wonder and admiration, +and so many chains of gold and precious stones did they find among her +possessions that she was straightway named "the Mother of Necklaces." +When the spoils of battle were divided, the fair captive queen fell to +the lot of Mousa's son, Abdul Aziz, who had been made ruler over the +newly conquered territory. The young Moorish prince was soon a slave to +the charms of Egilona, and so great did his love for her become that he +married her, with the promise that he would always regard her as queen +and would never marry again; he never broke that promise. Seville was +his capital, and there his power was so great that the kalif in +Damascus, fearing that he might attempt to rule independently, sent out +men to take his life. These assassins found him so beloved by his +soldiers that they feared to attack him until they had circulated the +rumor that Egilona was about to convert him to the Christian faith and +that he would soon wear a crown upon his head, like any Christian king. +After this story had been spread abroad, the kalif's men followed Aziz +to a small mosque, where he went sometimes to pray, cut off his head, +and showed it in the public place, with the order for his death. + +The Goths were driven to the north and west of the peninsula, while the +Moors, in the rich country to the south and east, strengthened their +position and laid the foundations for that empire which was to have such +a long and brilliant history, in the middle of the eighth century the +kalif at Damascus had lost his power to so great an extent that the seat +of government was transferred to Cordova, where Abd-el-Rhaman I. reigned +for more than a quarter of a century as the first kalif of the Moslem +Church resident in Spain. On the borderland there was continual fighting +between the Moors and the Christians, and many are the legends which +tell of this spirited epoch. The Christians had rallied about the +standards of various leaders in the hill countries, and they fought +among themselves quite as much as with the Moslem foe. There are even +stories to the effect that Christian leaders made alliances with the +Moors for more successful forays upon their Christian neighbors, and +there are also legends of shameful peace which was bought at the price +of Christian tribute. Among all these tales of tribute, that which has +most fired the national spirit and inspired the ballad writers is the +story of the tribute of a hundred Christian maidens, which was paid by +King Ramiro. The indignation of the people at this unworthy act and the +reproaches of the Spanish women, who preferred the hardships of war to +this cowardly repose, are well expressed in the following verses from +the ballad which sings of the cessation of the tribute, wherein a +Spanish damsel addresses the king: + + "I know not if I'm bounden to call thee by the name + Of Christian, Don Ramiro, for though thou dost not claim + A heathen realm's allegiance, a heathen sure thou art-- + Beneath a Spaniard's mantle thou hid'st a Moorish heart. + + "For he who gives the Moslem king a hundred maids of Spain, + Each year when in its season the day comes round again, + If he be not a heathen, he swells the heathen's train: + 'Twere better burn a kingdom than suffer such disdain. + + "And if 'tis fear of battle that makes ye bow so low, + And suffer such dishonor from God our Savior's foe, + I pray you, sirs, take warning, ye'll have as good a fright + If e'er the Spanish damsels arise themselves to right." + +The Moorish conquest had been rapidly made, and generally very little +resistance was offered to the advance of the invaders. The emasculating +influences of the Roman decadence had been at work to such effect that +the sturdy traits of the Goth had disappeared, and there was no real +national spirit or energy sufficient for the national defence. To the +credit of the Moors, it must be said that their conquest was ever marked +by mercy and large-mindedness; and in spite of their absolute power and +their intense religious zeal, they permitted the subdued people to enjoy +many liberties. Chief among them was their right to worship as +Christians, retaining their clergy and their liturgy, which had been +compiled by the Spanish bishops Leander and Ildefonso. Christian zeal, +however, was not satisfied with a state of inaction. Many times a number +of people went to what they considered a glorious martyrdom as the +result of their intemperate denunciations of the Koran and the sons of +the Prophet. Christianity was allowed to exist without hindrance, but +the Moors would not permit criticism of their own faith, and this was +natural enough. Several of these Christian martyrs were women, and their +stubborn love for their religion cannot but excite our sympathy, however +ill advised and unavailing it may have been. The story is told of two +poor young girls, Munila and Alodia, the children of a Moslem father and +a Christian mother, who had carefully brought them up in her own faith. +These maidens became so beautiful that they were called "roses springing +from thorns." As the story goes, "their father died and their mother +married a less tolerant Moslem, who, finding their faith proof against +his threats, brought them before the Kadi. Splendid marriages were +offered them if they would quit the Christian faith; but they answered +that they knew of no spouse equal to their Lord, no bliss comparable to +what He could bestow: and persuasion and torture alike failed with them, +until they sealed their confession with their lives." The rage for +martyrdom now seemed to grow, and there is a long list of those who went +to death as the result of their voluntary acts. Conspicuous here is the +case of a wealthy young woman named Columba, who left the Moslem +Church, in spite of the entreaties of her family, and entered a convent +at Tabanos. By order of the authorities, the other nuns of the +establishment were taken to Cordova and locked up, that they might not +become violent in their talk and bring destruction upon themselves as +the result of their intemperate acts; and Columba was kept in solitary +confinement, in the hope that she might be induced to abjure her newly +found faith. But she refused to change her belief in any way, and one +day escaped, went at once and reviled Mohammed before the kadi, and went +to her death, as was inevitable, according to the law of the land. + +In the middle of the ninth century, Eulogius, the recently elected +Metropolitan Bishop of Toledo, was considered too zealous and too +uncompromising in his beliefs, and he was soon summoned before the divan +to answer to the charge of participation in the flight and conversion of +a Moslem lady, who had taken the name of Leocritia, under which she was +canonized at a later date. It was said that the woman had become a +Christian through his efforts, and that he had hidden her for a time in +the house of his sister. He was decapitated, and his body was thrown +into the river; and if the legend be true, a white dove flew over it as +it floated down the stream. Leocritia also was put to death. Here, +however, the record of these martyrdoms apparently comes to an end, and +the force of the folly seems to have spent itself. The Mohammedans were +growing more strict all the time in their treatment of the Christians, +but the futility of such self-sought martyrdom was finally becoming +apparent. + +Before the time of these religious disturbances the Moors had not +molested the Christians in any way, and the two nations lived side by +side in rather friendly intercourse. Intermarriages were not +infrequent, and both Moorish and Christian women lived much the same +outward life. Each Moor was allowed four wives by law; and while the +women of his household were compelled to submit to certain restrictions, +their manner of life was far less secluded than that of the average +woman of the modern Orient. They went about veiled up to the eyes, and +were never allowed to eat with the men; but, socially, men and women +mingled together on terms of equality, and their conversations and +common enjoyment of music and poetry were unrestricted. In the most +brilliant period of the kalifate of Cordova,--between the years 888 and +967,--when the Moors were acknowledged to be the most enlightened people +of all Europe, their women were not excluded from participation in +educational pursuits. While few if any of them became the intellectual +equals of the men, many of them learned enough to become helpful +companions for their husbands--and that is not such a bad idea for +women's education, even in these modern days, if the voice of the men is +to be heard in the land. In Seville a lady named Maryam founded a school +for girls, where they were taught science, mathematics, and history, in +addition to the various feminine accomplishments of the time. With +regard to the mysteries of their attire, this subject can best be +treated by a woman who knows whereof she speaks. Miss Yonge, in her +interesting book on the Christians and Moors in Spain, has the following +to say on the subject: "Their dress was much the same as that of the +ladies of North Africa. Full white muslin trousers were tied at the +ankle, and a long, full, white _gilalah_, a mantle of transparent +muslin, covered the tighter vest and jacket, both of brilliant colors, +over which they wore gold chains, necklaces, and bracelets, with strings +of coral, pearl, and amber; while their hair was in little curls, +adorned with jewels and flowers. But all this was concealed by the +thick, muffling, outer veil; they also had horsehair visards through +which they could see without being seen." + +With the growth and consolidation of Moslem power in Spain, and as the +natural result of the great progress in the mechanic arts of all kinds, +life became luxurious and filled with comforts far outside the ken of +the sturdy Spanish patriots, who, from their mountain strongholds, were +still battling against the rule of the infidel. The effect of all this +elegance and refinement was evident in the whole atmosphere of Moorish +society, and the beautiful homes of these wonderful people were filled +with the most rare and costly works of art. An illustration of how +necessary all these luxuries of life finally became to the Mohammedans +is found in the statement that the sheik of a tribe on a pilgrimage to +Mecca carried with him a whole caravan of dependents and slaves. He had +silver ovens in which to bake fresh bread every day, and his camels bore +leathern bags filled with snow that he might drink iced sherbet in the +midst of the desert. A Moorish general carried to his camp an immense +following of women, slaves, musicians, and court poets, and in his +pavilioned tent, on the very eve of a battle, there were often feasting +and dancing and much merriment, just as if he had been in his sumptuous +home at Cordova. + +The Moors were generous and public-spirited, and much given to display. +The marriage feast which was prepared by Almanzor the Invincible, for +his son, in the year 1000, presents a picture of glittering splendor +which has been described more than once. Abd-el-Malek was the son's +name, and he was being married to his own cousin, one of the most +beautiful of the Moorish maidens. The feast took place in the gardens +about Almanzor's beautiful country place, Almeria, where at night the +whole estate was illuminated by means of lamps which were fastened to +every tree and shrub. Musicians, far out upon the lakes, discoursed +sweet music from boats which were hung with silken tapestries, and the +whole night was given over to pleasures. As a reminder of the customs of +the desert tribes, who used to carry off their wives by force, the bride +was placed in a spacious pavilion of white silk, where she was carefully +guarded by her maids in waiting, each armed with a cunningly wrought +wand of ivory and gold. The bridegroom and his attendants came upon them +suddenly, however, brandishing gilt maces, and after a mimic struggle, +where all was mirth and laughter, the guard of love was overcome and the +bride was won. This wedding feast brought joy, not only to those who +actively participated in its pleasures, but also to many of the common +people; for Almanzor gave dowries to a large number of orphan girls, +endowed a large number of schools and colleges, and put new uniforms +upon all the members of his bodyguard. + +With the death of the great Kalif Al Hakem II.--976--the power of Islam +in Spain began slowly to decline. His son and heir, Heschem II., was but +a youth of ten, and the Arabs called him Al Mowayed Bi'llah, "the +Protected by God." Though the law required that the Ruler of the +Faithful should be more than fifteen years old, Heschem was at once +proclaimed kalif, although he was given no share in the government. His +mother, Sobeyah, the Sultana of Cordova, had acquired some experience in +affairs of state during the last few years of her husband's life; now, +to help her in her regency, she appointed as her grand vizier +Mohammed-ben-Abd-Allah, a man of wonderful power and ability and no +other than Almanzor the Invincible, who has already been mentioned. +Almanzor had entered the public service as a court scribe, and it was +there that, by the charm of his manner and the nobility of his bearing, +he first attracted the attention of Sobeyah. The all-powerful sultana +was not slow in yielding to his many graces, and he soon became her +acknowledged favorite and rose to high positions in the state. It was +but natural, then, that Sobeyah should turn to him for aid when her +husband's death was announced. On account of the minority of her son, +there was an attempt on the part of many in the palace to deprive the +sultana of her authority, depose her son, and usurp the office of kalif. +Sobeyah, hard pressed and all but defeated, turned to her lover, +Almanzor, who suppressed the intrigue and brought order out of +confusion. Enjoying as he did the full confidence of the sultana, +Almanzor undertook the entire administration of the kingdom as if he had +been kalif in name as well as in fact, and his success in all his +various undertakings was most wonderful. Heschem, the real kalif, was a +virtual prisoner in his harem, and was encouraged by his guardian and +friends to devote himself entirely to a religious life, leaving all the +cares of state to his mother Sobeyah and to the vizier. Step by step, +Almanzor ascended to a position of such power and authority that the +sultana became jealous of his might and lost her love in an attempt to +regain her authority. In 992, according to Burke, Almanzor used his seal +in place of the royal seal on all official documents. In 993 he assumed +the royal cognomen of Mowayed. Two years later he arrogated to himself, +alone, the title of _said_, and in 996 he ventured a step further and +assumed the title of _malik karim_, or king. Then it was that Sobeyah +determined to reassert her power, cause the overthrow of this ambitious +favorite, and rule henceforth in her own name. The officers of the harem +and the various court officials were easily won over to her party; the +young kalif was urged to assert his manhood, declare himself, throw off +the influence of his dreaded guardian, and give active support to the +cause of his mother. The sultana became exultant as victory seemed +assured. Secretly, she summoned one of Almanzor's military rivals from +Africa, that she might have a leader for her forces in the field. The +public treasury was at her disposal, and no stone was left unturned to +secure ultimate success. As the final _coup_, the vizier was banished +from the royal presence and forbidden to enter the palace. But Almanzor +was still the Invincible. Giving no heed to the terms of his banishment, +he made his way into the presence of the kalif; and there, by bold yet +subtle argument, he not only succeeded in regaining the royal favor, but +secured from Heschem a solemn instrument signed with the royal sign +manual, whereby he was empowered to assume the government of the entire +kingdom. This was the same tragic story which was to be acted over again +in the early part of the seventeenth century, in France, when the great +prime minister, the Cardinal Richelieu, his jealous rival, the +queen-mother, and the weak king, Louis XIII., were more than once +engaged in a struggle for power, which ended invariably in the success +of the minister. It is difficult to find a more striking historical +coincidence, and the case is worthy of remark. In his success, Almanzor +showed no hate for his one-time protectress, who had so nearly caused +his ruin, and in his administration of affairs he left her entire +liberty of action. But her last vestige of power had departed, her most +loyal followers had been induced to abandon her cause after the +defection of the kalif himself, and Sobeyah, who had been the most +powerful of all the Moorish sultanas of Cordova, was now forced in +humiliation to withdraw from active participation in worldly affairs and +to spend the few remaining years of her life in strict seclusion in a +lonely cloister. + +In the last part of the eleventh century there were troublous times for +the Moors. For a number of years there had been no strong central power +among them, and the various emirs who were the rulers of the different +parts of the peninsula were so intent upon their own affairs, and so +consumed by greed and selfishness, that the general cause suffered +mightily and the Spanish Christians grew bolder and bolder in their +attacks. Alfonso VI. of Castile was their leader. The danger of total +extinction finally became so great that the emirs were induced to join +forces for their personal safety and to take measures to preserve their +own towns and cities. Realizing their helpless condition, they sent a +letter to Yousouf-ben-Tashfyn, Prince of the Almoravides, a Mohammadan +tribe of Africa, asking him to come with his hosts to help them do +battle against the infidel. Certain portions of this invitation reveal +so clearly the deplorable conditions of Moorish society at this time +that it is well worth while to spend a moment in their perusal: + + "We, the Arabs of Andalusia, have not preserved our illustrious + tribes: we have dispersed and intermixed them, and have long had no + fellowship with our tribes and families who dwell in Africa. Want + of union has led to discord, and our natural enemies are prevailing + against us. Each day becometh more unbearable the fury of King + Alfonso, who like a mad dog enters our lands, takes our castles, + makes Moslems captive, and will tread us under foot unless an emir + from Africa will arise to defend the oppressed, who behold the ruin + of their kindred, their neighbors, and even of their law. They are + no more what they once were. Pleasures, amusements, the sweet + climate of Andalusia, delicious baths of fragrant waters, fountains + and dainty meats, have enervated them so that they dare not face + the toils of war. If thou art moved by desire of earthly wealth, + here wilt thou find rich carpets, jewels of gold and silver, + precious raiment, delicious gardens, and clear springs of flowing + water. But if thine heart seeks only to win eternal life in Allah's + service, here is the opportunity, for never are wanting bloody + battles, skirmishes, and fights. Here has Allah placed a paradise + that from the shadow of weapons thou mayest pass to the everlasting + shadow where he rewards the deserving." + +Moved by such an appeal, Yousouf came with his armies, defeated the +Christians under Alfonso at the terrible battle of Zalakah, and would +have followed up his victory had he not been recalled to Morocco by the +death of his son. He returned to Spain soon after, however, and then +began a conquest in his own interests, having made up his mind that the +emirs could be easily dispossessed and that it would be good to rule as +the absolute master of all Andalusia. Beginning with Granada, he +attacked the emirs each in turn, and in the end subdued them all. Aben +Abed, the Emir of Seville and one of the most learned men in Spain, was +so beside himself at the thought of this possible defeat, that he sought +for aid in any quarter and finally entreated the assistance of the +redoubtable Alfonso, his late enemy. As proof of his good faith and by +way of inducement, Aben Abed decided to offer to Alfonso the hand of his +daughter, Zaida, in marriage. If the traditions be correct, Zaida was a +Christian at heart, in spite of her Mohammedan education and +surroundings, as the Castilians claimed that she had been converted in a +dream in which Saint Isidoro had come to her and prevailed upon her to +change her faith. In any event, Alfonso seems to have been only too glad +to accept this offer, and Zaida was accordingly escorted in great state +to Toledo, which had lately been wrested from the Moors; there she was +baptized as Maria Isabella, and then married to the king with much +ceremony. This Moorish princess was a perfect beauty of the Oriental +type, with dark hair and oval face, and Alfonso may well have been +enamored of her charms; but he was no less enamored of her marriage +portion, which consisted of the rich cities of Cucuca, Ucles, and Huate. +The new queen was hailed with joy by the Christians, as her conversion +was considered prophetic of the ultimate and complete success of +Alfonso's armies. Unfortunately, Zaida lived for but a short time after +her marriage; she died in giving birth to Alfonso's only son, who was +named Sancho. Aben Abed's alliance with the Christian monarch for their +mutual defence was without final result, however, as he was at last +compelled to surrender Seville in 1091, after a stubborn resistance. +Aben Abed was exiled, with his wife and daughters, and was sent to the +castle of Aginat, in Africa, to live his life away. There, if the +reports be true, their food was so scanty that the ladies of the family +had to spin to get enough for them all to eat, while the despondent emir +tried to beguile the weary hours with poetry. The hardships of their +life were so great that finally the emir was left alone in his +captivity, and it was four long years before he could follow them in +death. + +In the latter part of the fourteenth century, the little kingdom of +Granada was the most prosperous part of the Moorish territory, and its +brilliant life seemed to recall for a moment the splendors of Cordova. +Chivalry, driven from southern France by the Albigensian Crusade, had +been slowly growing in importance among the Spaniards of the north, and +the Moors were not slow in following the courteous spirit and in +adopting its code of truth and honor. Mohammed V. controlled the +destinies of the Granadine kingdom at this time; and when his son, +Aben-Abd-Allah, was married to the daughter of the Emir of Fez, there +was a succession of the most splendid fetes and tournaments, which were +attended by knights not only from Christian Spain but also from Italy +and France. Chivalry was essentially a Christian institution, but its +outer forms were readily taken up by the Moors and practised to such an +extent that their influence upon society and social conventions soon +began to show itself in a most surprising way. The women of the harems, +who in former days were generally considered, after the Eastern fashion, +as beings who were not to be mentioned, now occupy a more honorable +position, and it is recounted that the men "wore the devices of their +lady-loves on the rich housings of their steeds--hearts pierced with +arrows, a sail guiding a ship, an initial, and in colors denoting their +state of mind: yellow and black for grief, green for hope, blue for +jealousy, violet and flame for ardent love. Large assemblies were held +in the beautiful houses and gardens, where hunting, poetry, music, and +dancing were the chief occupations; but the grave learning and +earnestness of Al Hakem's days had passed away, and the enjoyments had +become far more sensual and voluptuous than in his time." It is evident +that the frugal, stern, uncompromising sons of the Prophet of an earlier +day were becoming men of little faith in many particulars, and that they +had fallen far below the standard of life which had characterized their +ancestors. But in this state of moral degeneracy it is gratifying to +note that the position of women has been much improved and that they are +no longer regarded as mere slaves. The customs of chivalry, as has been +indicated, were responsible for much of this, but the influence of the +many Spanish women who were held as captives in the harems must not be +overlooked. + +The closing years of Moorish dominion in Spain were marked by many +adventures of a most romantic character, which have been made familiar +to the world at large by Washington Irving. When Aboul Hacem came to the +throne in 1466, the Mohammedan power was already tottering; but there +were troubles in Castile which emboldened the king to such an extent +that, in 1476, when the regular demand for tribute money was presented, +he is said to have made answer: "Those who coined gold for you are dead. +Nothing is made at Granada for the Christians but sword-blades and +lance-points." Although ultimate success for the Moors was now entirely +out of the question, their final defence was not what it might have +been--a state of affairs which was the result of various contentions +that emanated largely from the harem. Conspicuous in these intrigues was +Zoraya, "the Morning Star," a renegade Christian who was the favorite +wife of the king. Though childless, Zoraya had interested herself in +Boabdil, the son of another wife, Ayescha, and had determined to drive +Aboul Hacem from his throne, that his son might rule in his place. So +formidable did the plot become that the king was forced to imprison +Ayescha and Boabdil in a certain quarter of the harem; but their +captivity was short, as they were soon put at liberty by friendly hands. +Twisting a rope from the veils of the sultana's women in waiting, wife +and son let themselves down from a window and sought refuge among their +supporters. Countless quarrels followed, which ended in Boabdil's final +success, and in them all, Zoraya was his firm friend and adviser. But +success at such a time and for such a cause was little more than +failure, and the day was soon to come when sultanas and intriguing harem +favorites could no longer trouble the land with their contentions; for +the power of Isabella the Catholic was soon to be felt, and the doom of +the Moor had been sounded. + + + + +Chapter XIV + +The Women of the Little Monarchies + + +In spite of the fact that Spain was an easy conquest for the Moors and +that whole cities surrendered to the invaders without having struck a +single blow in their own defence, it must not be supposed that there was +no opposition whatever and no show of Spanish patriotism. The great mass +of the population, it is true, were yielding and willing to accept any +terms, so long as they were allowed to live unmolested. Such were the +Romanized Spaniards, who formed a majority of the population, but who +had long been held in subjection by the masterful Goths. As a race they +lacked energy and vitality, and they were too corrupt and +pleasure-loving to be moved by patriotic instincts in such a time of +national crisis. A certain portion of the Goths, however, after their +defeat at the battle of Guadalete, decided to renounce their lands and +all their possessions rather than live under the rule of the +Mohammedans; and with their wives and children and such little treasure +as they could hurriedly get together, they set out for the north and +found a refuge in the rocky slopes of the Pyrenees. The mountain passes +were not under the control of any of these Christian refugees, and the +Moors were free to advance on the fair fields of southern France so long +as they did not turn aside to molest the Spanish patriots. When they did +make such attack, the fortunes of war were generally against them, and +more than once those modes of mountain warfare were employed which at an +earlier date wrought such great havoc with the hosts of Charlemagne at +the pass of Roncesvalles. In these desperate conflicts, as in the olden +time when the Celtiberians were trying to beat back the power of Rome, +the women were not slow to take their place beside their fathers and +husbands at the first wild call to arms. The old Moorish leader Mousa +had spoken well when he told the kalif at Damascus that the Christians +of Spain were lions in their castles, and the Moors were repeatedly +given ample proof of the wisdom of his observation. + + "Covadonga's conquering site + Cradle was of Spanish might," + +so says the old ballad. And what and where was Covadonga? At the far +western extremity of the Pyrenees, where the Sierra Penamerella thrusts +its rugged spur into the Atlantic, was a great mountain cavern, +Covadonga, large enough to shelter as many as three hundred men, and +there had gathered together the strongest of the Christian bands after +the Moorish victory in the south. A long, sinuous valley or ravine, +named Cangas, that is to say, the "shell," sloped down to the foothills +from the mouth of the cave and seemed to present an easy approach to the +stronghold. Pelayo, of the royal line of the Goths, had here been +proclaimed a king in 718, and here was the beginning of that kingdom of +Asturias and Leon which was later to become a mighty one in Spain. The +Moors soon tried to crush this growing power, which was a menace to +their own security. They sent an army under a chief named Al Kama, who +was to win over the recalcitrants by the offer of fair terms, if +possible; and if not, he was to storm their rude citadel and destroy +them utterly. The proposal for a shameful peace was indignantly +refused, and the Moors, confident of victory, and outnumbering the +Christian warriors many times, swept up the broad slope of the long and +winding valley to the cavern's mouth. The summits of the rocky walls on +either side were filled with people, many of them women, who were +waiting for the signal from Pelayo and his brave handful of followers. +When the foreguard of the Moors was near the entrance to the cave, the +king and his men, mounted, led the attack in front, and all along the +line the carnage began. Now let the Spanish ballad speak again: + + "'In the name + Of God! For Spain or vengeance!' And forthwith + On either side along the whole defile, + The Asturians shouting: 'In the name of God!' + Set the whole ruin loose: huge trunks, and stones, + And loosened crags, down, down they rolled with rush + And bound and thundering force." + +The mountain torrent which had its course along the valley was dyed red +with the pagan blood, and so great was the humiliation of the Moors that +the Arab chroniclers observe a discreet silence with regard to the +details of this defeat. But for the brave and valiant assistance of the +Spanish women this defeat might not have been possible. + +Another instance of the bravery of the Spanish women, which at this +distance seems somewhat tinged with the air of comic opera, is connected +with the heroic defence of Orihuela. It was at the time of the Moorish +invasion, when the Gothic leaders, after their pitiful failure at +Guadalete, were seeking cover and scurrying off to places of safety, +closely pursued by the ardent sons of the Prophet. Duke Theodomir, hard +pressed in the mountains of Murcia, was obliged to ride for his life; +and with but few attendants, he finally succeeded in making his way, +after many adventures, to the walled town of Orihuela, with the enemy +close upon his heels. To prevent an immediate attack, gain time, and +circumvent the Moors in as many ways as possible, Theodomir had to think +quickly. The town was practically without a garrison when he entered it, +and his followers were too few in numbers to avail him much. Then it was +that the women of the town came to his assistance, offering to do what +he might command for the common safety. Theodomir clothed them in armor +at once, gave them spears and swords, ordered them to tie their hair +under their chins, that they might look like bearded men, and then +stationed his amazon warriors upon the walls and fortifications, where +they made such a brave parade that the Moors were afraid to attack the +city, and offered to parley with the Spaniards. Seizing upon this +favorable opportunity, Theodomir, disguised as a legate, and preceded by +his page, who played the part of a royal herald, boldly entered the +hostile camp, made his way to the tent of Abdul Aziz, the leader, and +there, by his consummate acting, succeeded in obtaining the province of +Murcia, together with seven cities which he was to hold under the kalif, +on condition of a yearly tribute. Such was the defence of Orihuela, and +while it involved no strenuous fighting, it was at the same time no +mediocre test of womanly daring. After the first few trying hours of the +masquerade had been passed, however, and it was evident that the ruse +had been successful, it may well be imagined that these feminine +warriors were not slow to see the humor of the situation, and many must +have been the jests as they passed each other upon the battlements, with +the Moors, far down below, completely awed by their warlike mien. + +Dryden has said: "Women emasculate a monarch's reign;" and more than one +instance of the truth of this statement may be found in the court +annals of almost any country. The history of the little monarchies of +Spain in that chaotic, formative period, when the Christians were slowly +gaining in power and strength and preparing for the great final struggle +which was to overcome the turbaned invaders and consolidate the Spanish +interests, presents many chapters of exceeding interest wherein women +play no unimportant role, and the dowager-queen Teresa, mother of King +Sancho the Fat, of Leon, stands out as a prominent figure among them +all. Endowed with no mean portion of feminine art and cunning, she was +the author of a plot which gave inspiration for a whole cycle of +ballads. The bravest Christian champion in all Spain in the latter half +of the tenth century was Fernan Gonzalez, Count of Castile, a veritable +Spanish Warwick, who was held in such high esteem by his countrymen that +they inscribed upon his great carved tomb at Burgos: _A Fernan Gonzalez, +Libertador de Castilla, el mas excelente General de ese tiempo_ [To +Fernan Gonzalez, liberator of Castile, the greatest general of his +time]. His great success, however, in his forays against the Moors made +Dona Teresa fearful lest some harm might befall her sluggish son, King +Sancho. For some time Sancho had been on good terms with the Moors. He +had even journeyed to Cordova to consult a celebrated physician, and had +in many ways been treated with such favor by the kalif, Abd-el-Rhaman, +that people had begun to shake their heads and ask themselves whether +the ruler of Leon was doing all in his power for the good of +Christendom. After the great success of Gonzalez at Pedrahita, where the +Saracen invader Abu Alaxi suffered signal defeat, there was greater +dissatisfaction than ever with this do-nothing policy, and the Count of +Castile was hailed on every hand as the greatest of the Christian +warriors. Her jealousy aroused, Dona Teresa now resolved upon desperate +measures, ready to stop at nothing in her mad desire to overthrow +Gonzalez. On her advice, the count was summoned to Sancho's capital, +Oviedo, for a general conference in regard to matters of Christian +defence, and to Oviedo Gonzalez came, little suspecting the trap which +had been laid for him there. Dona Teresa knew that Gonzalez had lately +lost his wife, and she found opportunity during his stay, after many +words of fulsome flattery, in which she was no novice, to counsel him to +seek the hand of her niece, Dona Sancha, daughter of King Garcia of +Navarre. She even undertook to arrange this marriage for him and +promised to send her messengers on ahead, that the Navarrese court might +be ready to receive him in case he thought best to go at once to press +his suit. Gonzalez, at this moment a living example of Gay's couplet, + + "And when a lady's in the case, + You know all other things give place," + +all inflamed by the glowing descriptions of Dona Sancha's beauty, and at +the same time fully aware of the political advantage which might follow +from this alliance with the powerful house of Navarre, was only too +eager to go on the moment, as the cunning Dona Teresa had supposed; and +he set out at once, leaving Oviedo amidst the sound of martial music, +with banners flying, and the populace cheering lustily and in all good +faith, for they loved this doughty hero. Dona Teresa had kept her word, +in that she had sent on her messengers ahead to announce his coming, but +the reception that she was preparing for him was far different from the +one which he had imagined. King Garcia was informed by his crafty sister +that Gonzalez was coming with an impudent demand for his daughter's +hand, and that for the general safety he should be seized and put into +one of the castle dungeons as soon as he appeared. Dona Sancha, the +prospective bride of his ardent imagination, was no party to all this, +for the rumors of Gonzalez's visit which had come to her ears had filled +her with excitement, and she looked forward to his coming with no little +fluttering of heart. King Garcia, however, was faithful to his sister's +command, and the poor Count Gonzalez, taken unawares, was promptly cast +into prison on his arrival. What Dona Sancha did on learning the +unworthy role she had been made to play in this sad event is well told +in the ballad which recounts the story, and here, as will be seen, a +Norman knight is made to act as her informant. The verses are in +Lockhart's admirable translation: + + "The Norman feasts among the guests, but at the evening tide + He speaks to Garci's daughter within her bower aside: + 'Now God forgive us, lady, and God His Mother dear, + For on a day of sorrow we have been blithe of cheer. + + "'The Moors may well be joyful, but great should be our grief, + For Spain has lost her guardian, Castile hath lost her chief; + The Moorish host is pouring like a river o'er the land; + Curse on the Christian fetters that bind Goncales's hand. + + "'Goncales loves thee, lady, he loved thee long ago, + But little is the kindness that for his love you show; + The curse that lies on Cava's head, it may be shared by thee. + Arise! let love with love be paid, and set Goncales free.' + + "The lady answers little, but at the midst of night, + When all her maids are sleeping, she hath risen and ta'en her flight; + She hath tempted the alcayde with her jewels and her gold, + And unto her his prisoner, that jailer false hath sold. + + "She took Goncales by the hand at the dawning of the day, + She said 'Upon the heath you stand, before you lies the way, + But if I to my father go--alas! what must I do! + My father will be angry--I fain would go with you.'" + +It is perhaps needless to add that the fair Dona Sancha did go with the +gallant captain, and in the lofty cathedral at Burgos, which was his +capital, their wedding was celebrated in great state. At the conclusion +of the marriage feast, however, Gonzalez determined to punish the +faithless Garcia, and made war against him to such good effect that he +was made a prisoner and only released after the repeated intercessions +of his sister, Dona Teresa. Why Gonzalez should have listened to the +pleadings of Teresa after her treatment of him is rather hard to +imagine. A still further proof of his unsuspicious character is seen in +the fact that he allowed himself to be inveigled into going to Leon to +attend a meeting of the Cortes, and while there he was again imprisoned. +Such was the sum of Dona Teresa's iniquity, and all because she was in +the clutch of the green-eyed monster and put a higher value upon the +glory of her house than upon the glory of the Christian arms. This was +the occasion for the good wife Dona Sancha to show her courage and +loyalty, which stand out in striking contrast to the treacherous acts of +her jealous aunt. It was Shakespeare who said: "These women are shrewd +tempters with their tongues;" and as the alcayde had been won over at +the time of Gonzalez's first captivity, so now again Dona Sancha put her +nimble wits to work and devised another plan for his release. In robe of +sombre hue, she set out upon a pious pilgrimage to Santiago; and as her +way lay through Leon, where her husband languished in prison, she +resolved to tarry by the way for a short while and visit him in his +misery. Permission for such a visit was slow in coming, as Dona Teresa +was resolved this time that Gonzalez should not escape. After much +pleading, however, Dona Sancha had her way, and the prison doors swung +open before her. Once alone with her husband, she quickly changed +clothes with him; and the Count of Castile, in the garb of a woman, soon +after passed the jailers and found himself at liberty. By the time the +ruse was discovered, he was leagues away and in safety among his +friends. The wrath of Teresa and her son King Sancho may well be +imagined when the news was brought to them; but they resolved to take +the matter in a philosophic way, after the first moment of anger had +passed, and Dona Sancha was allowed to join her husband, going unharmed +from this unfriendly court. + +In all this warring, romantic period of the tenth century, by far the +most interesting and thrilling tale is that of Dona Lambra and the Seven +Lords of Lara, and while the story is somewhat legendary and based +rather upon stirring ballads than upon authentic records, it must not be +forgotten here. Dona Lambra, a kinswoman of the Count of Castile, had +been married with great ceremony at Burgos to Ruy Velasquez, +brother-in-law to Don Gonzalo, Count of Lara in the Asturias; and during +the five weeks of pleasure and feasting which celebrated this happy +event, there were no knights in all the glittering throng more striking +in appearance and more admired for their many accomplishments than the +seven stalwart sons of Don Gonzalo, the nephews of the bridegroom, who +were called the Seven Lords of Lara. During the very last week of the +festivities a wooden target was set up upon the other side of the river, +and the knights threw light Moorish _djerrids_, or wooden javelins, at +it, each trying with a surer aim to outdo his fellows. Dona Lambra was +an interested spectator, and when at last Alvaro Sanchez, one of her +favorite cousins, struck the target full in the centre, she was more +than pleased, and declared that he was the best marksman of them all. +The Seven Lords of Lara had taken no part in this contest as yet, for +six of the brothers had been busily engaged in playing chess, and the +youngest of them all, Gonzalo Gonzales, had been standing idly by. +Piqued, however, by Dona Lambra's praise of her kinsman, young Gonzalo +threw himself upon his horse, rode to the river's edge, and hurled his +_djerrid_ with such force that he completely shattered the target far on +the other side. This unexpected turn of events so angered the bride that +she grew white with rage, and Alvaro vented his spleen in such abusive +language that Gonzalo dealt him a blow which struck him fairly upon the +mouth and knocked out his teeth. Thereat Dona Lambra cried out that no +maiden had ever been so dishonored at her wedding, and bloodshed was +narrowly averted by the interference of the Counts of Castile and Lara. +As it was feared that Ruy Velasquez might be urged on to vengeance by +his angered wife, he was induced to set out upon a trip through Castile +with many of the older knights, while the Seven Lords of Lara, in the +midst of a larger company, were left to escort the bride to her new home +at Bavardiello. Once arrived, the brothers went into the garden of the +palace, where Gonzalo, who was a devotee of falconry, was engaged in +bathing his favorite hawk, when suddenly, without warning, one of Dona +Lambra's slaves rushed upon him and threw in his face a gourd filled +with blood. In mediaeval Spain this was a most deadly insult, and all the +brothers drew their swords and rushed after the offender. They came upon +him crouching at Dona Lambra's feet, and there they killed him without +mercy, so that his blood was sprinkled upon her garments. Then, taking +their mother with them, they returned to their home at Salas. This time +Dona Lambra demanded vengeance in no uncertain tone, and Ruy Velasquez +began to plot in her behalf. The old Count of Lara was prevailed upon to +go to the kalif at Cordova, bearing a letter from Velasquez which was +supposedly of political import, but which was intended to be the count's +death warrant. The kalif, loath to put so brave a knight to death, cast +him into prison. Soon after, he made an attack upon the Christians. +Velasquez gathered an army to oppose him, and succeeded in getting the +young Lords of Lara to join him. In the midst of the battle, Velasquez +and his whole army deserted, leaving the seven youths and a small +company of retainers to fight alone against the Moorish host. Taken +prisoners, their heads were cut off and sent to Cordova, where the kalif +was cruel enough to present them to their imprisoned father for +identification. Now let the ballad take up the story: + + "He took their heads up one by one, he kissed them o'er and o'er; + And aye ye saw the tears run down, I wot that grief was sore. + He closed the lids on their dead eyes, all with his fingers frail, + And handled all their bloody curls, and kissed their lips so pale. + + "'Oh had ye died all by my side upon some famous day, + My fair young men, no weak tears then had washed your blood away; + The trumpet of Castile had drowned the misbelievers' horn, + And the last of all the Lara's line a Gothic spear had borne.' + + "With that it chanced a man drew near to lead him from the place, + Old Lara stooped him down once more, and kissed Gonzalo's face; + But ere the man observed him, or could his gesture bar, + Sudden he from his side had grasped that Moslem's scymetar." + +Before the count was overpowered he had killed thirteen of the Moors, +and then he begged that he might be put to death; but the kalif, on +learning all of the details of the treachery of Velasquez, restored the +count to liberty and sent him back to his wife in the castle at Salas. +The fate of the revengeful Dona Lambra is not recorded, but it is to be +hoped that she was made to atone in some way for all her savage rage. + +About Ximena and her far-famed husband Don Rodrigo, widely known as the +Cid, many marvellous tales have been told, and it is a matter for regret +that so many of them are purely legendary. According to one of the +traditions, which was followed by the French dramatic poet Pierre +Corneille when he wrote his famous play, _Le Cid_, in 1636, Ximena is +given a much more prominent place in the story than that accorded to her +in history. According to this version, Don Diego, father of Don Rodrigo, +is given a mortal insult by the braggart Don Gomez, who is the father of +Ximena. Young Don Rodrigo, eager to avenge the slight put upon his aged +father, provokes Don Gomez to a duel and kills him. Ximena, who has +loved Don Rodrigo, overcome by these tragic events, is at a loss to know +what to do, and in her heart there is a fierce struggle between her love +for her lover and her respect for her father. This distressing situation +is relieved somewhat by the thought that Don Rodrigo, in killing her +father, has but avenged his own; but still her Spanish nature cries for +redress, and she appeals to King Fernan of Castile, at whose court all +these things have taken place. Believing her love for Don Rodrigo to be +stronger than her hatred, the king suddenly announces the death of +Rodrigo, which so surprises Ximena that she discloses her deep +affection, which she had made an attempt to conceal; whereat he +announces his intention to unite the two lovers as soon as Rodrigo +should have given further proof of his valor. + +As a matter of fact, the Cid was a free-lance of undoubted bravery and +courage, who fought now with and now against the Moors; but in spite of +the fact that he was not always true to the same allegiance, he is +essentially a popular hero, as he represents a spirit of boldness and +independence which in itself is enough to endear him to the minds of the +people. His killing of Don Gomez in the manner described is extremely +doubtful, and history affords no details as to the manner of his wooing +or his wedding. But Ximena was his wife, shared in many of his +hardships, and at his death, in 1099, ruled in his stead for three +years at Valencia. Finally, much harried by the Moslems, who were ever +growing bolder, Ximena withdrew to Burgos, taking with her the body of +the Cid, embalmed in precious spices, and borne, as in the days of his +vigor, on the back of his great warhorse Babieca. The Cid was buried in +the monastery of Cardena, near Burgos; and there the brave Dona Ximena +was laid by his side at the time of her death, in 1104. Although a +number of fanciful stories have been told about the daughters of Ximena +and the doughty Cid, the fact remains that they had two daughters, who +married into some of the noblest houses of all Spain. The elder, +Christina, became the wife of Ramiro, Infante of Navarre; while the +younger, Maria, married Count Ramon Berenguer III. of Barcelona. After a +long series of intermarriages, to quote from Burke, in a double stream, +through the royal houses of Spain and of France, the blood of the Cid is +found to flow in the veins of his majesty Alfonso XIII., the reigning +King of Spain. + +The religious side of Spanish life in the eleventh century, so far as +Christianity is concerned, centres about a woman, Constance of Burgundy, +the wife of King Alfonso VI. of Castile. This was the period when the +monk Hildebrand, become Pope Gregory VII., was endeavoring to unify the +power of the Roman Church and strengthen the authority of the papacy; +and as he had a devout woman, the Countess Matilda of Tuscany, to aid +him in Italy, so he had as his firm ally in Spain the pious Queen +Constance, daughter of King Robert of France. Constance was not a +Spanish woman, but the influence she exerted in Spain had such a +far-reaching effect that she cannot be overlooked in any category such +as the present. With Constance to Spain came the monk Bernard of Cluny, +a pale ascetic, who had just been leading a crusade against the +corruption existing in the Church itself, and whose whole life had been +devoted to serious things. The French court had been given over to works +of piety, the Church had great authority, and the clergy were held in +high esteem. When the French princess left this devout atmosphere to go +to sunny Spain, she had grave misgivings as to the frivolous and +irreverent character of her new subjects, and deemed it wise to take +with her as a friend and adviser the stern Bernard. The worst fears of +these two zealous Christians were more than realized. The king had +friendly intercourse with Moorish vassals, and Moslem and Christian +lived side by side in perfect harmony! That all this should be and at a +time when the same Moslem brood was defiling the place of the Holy +Sepulchre in far-off Palestine, and when the crusading spirit filled the +air, was almost beyond belief, and Constance and the monk were greatly +scandalized thereat. Totally without that toleration which comes with +experience, they could conceive of no religion as a good religion which +did not meet the rigid requirements of their own belief; and they +planned at once a Spanish crusade which was intended to improve the +general deplorable condition of public morals and at the same time to +modify, in a most radical way, the liturgy of the Spanish Church, which +was far too lax in points of discipline. Their conduct at the time of +the surrender of Toledo, in 1074, is a most excellent example of the +eager, yet thoughtless, way in which they went about their new work. +When King Alfonso, after an interval of more than three hundred years, +regained possession of the ancient capital of the Goths, the city from +which the luckless Rodrigo, the last of the Goths, was driven, Toledo +was surrendered on the express condition that the Moors should not be +disturbed in their religious beliefs and that they were to retain the +use of their mosques. Such terms with such an enemy appeared monstrous +to the queen. Especially did it seem a sin before God that the +principal mosque, the Alfaqui, the noblest building in all that fair +city which lay stretched out with many a gilded dome and minaret upon +its seven hills above the Tagus, should still be used for the worship of +a pagan people; and Constance and Bernard plotted together, piously, for +the triumph of the true religion. The first time that the king left the +city, Bernard, now Archbishop of Toledo, acting under the authority of +Queen Constance, went to the Alfaqui at the head of a company of monks +summoned from his monastery at Sahagun, opened the doors, set up +crosses, erected altars, hung bells, and then publicly summoned the +people to mass on the following morning. The king, upon his return, was +furious at this intolerant act, and was moved to threaten punishment; +but the Moors, satisfied by his indignation, displayed a real spirit of +toleration in asking for the pardon of the monks. + +The queen and Bernard, successful in this first struggle, continued to +labor incessantly for the glory of the Church. The masterful Pope +Gregory VII., in his letter addressed to the princes of Spain, said: +"You are aware, I believe, that from the earliest times the kingdom of +Spain was the special patrimony of Saint Peter, and although pagans have +occupied it, it still belongs to the same master." The King of Castile +was not bold enough to deny this papal claim of overlordship, and +Gregory demanded as first proof of his submission that he should +substitute throughout his realm the Roman liturgy for the national or +Mozarabic ritual then in general use. Queen Constance and Bernard were +in favor of this reform, and they prevailed upon the king to accept it; +but it was a far different matter to secure its actual use at the hands +of the national clergy, who were strongly opposed to the change. In +spite of all her efforts the queen could do nothing, and finally, as a +compromise, it was decided to submit the question to the ordeal of trial +by battle. Two champions were duly appointed who fought before a most +august assembly over which the queen presided. The Knight of the Gothic +Missal, Don Juan Ruiz de Matanzas, killed the Champion of Rome, and was +not only victorious, but unscathed, much to the disgust of Constance and +her followers. The manifest disinclination to accept this result as +final made another ordeal necessary, and this time, in truly Spanish +style, a bull fight was resolved upon. The great arena at Toledo was +selected as the place where this ecclesiastical combat was to take +place, and on the appointed day the great amphitheatre was crowded with +an expectant multitude. The queen, the king, and the archbishop, backed +by black-robed monks, looked on with evident interest, hoping that this +time the scales would turn in their favor; but the people, expert in +contests of this kind, had already picked the Castilian bull as the +winner and had begun to wager their small coin as to the probable +duration of the fight. The people were right, the Roman _toro_ was +promptly slain, and once more the cause of Spain was triumphant. But the +queen was persistent, and in spite of the fact that the result of each +of these ordeals was popularly considered as a direct sign from heaven, +she refused to accept them as final, because her pet project had been +rejected. If the results had been different, there is little doubt but +that the ordeals would have been received as infallible. However, it was +not possible to cast a slight upon this time-honored procedure by any +act which might tend to throw it into disrepute, so the whole question +was dropped for the space of seven years. Queen Constance, in this +interval, carried on a quiet campaign which she hoped would lead +eventually to the adoption of the much discussed and twice rejected +liturgy, and at no time did she give up her hope. Rome, to her narrow +mind, must reign supreme in matters spiritual if the kingdom of Spain +was to have relations with the kingdom of heaven, and she did not +hesitate to ride rough-shod over the national clergy, to whom alone, +without any aid whatever from the pope, the recent Christian successes +in Spain had been due. When she considered the time ripe for some +radical action, Gregory sent his legate, the Cardinal Ricardo, to hold a +Church council at Burgos, and there it was formally decreed that the +Mozarabic ritual must be put aside in Castile. Before the formal +adoption of the Roman form, however, it was decided wise to resort once +more to a trial by ordeal, as the favorable issue of such a public test +would make it much easier to conquer the prejudices of the people. This +time, Constance advising it, the ordeal by fire was tried, and, as Miss +Yonge phrases it, "a great pile was erected in the market place of +Toledo for the most harmless _auto de fe_ that ever took place there." +Seats were built up on all sides in amphitheatre fashion, the queen, the +king, the court, and the dignitaries of the two clerical parties were +there in special boxes, and again were the people much in evidence, but +this time much in doubt as to the final outcome. When all was ready, the +torch was applied to the pile and the two volumes were committed to the +flames. The book which was not consumed by the fire was to be considered +acceptable to God. To the chagrin of the papal party, the Roman book was +utterly consumed, but the Gothic missal came forth unscathed. Although +there was great rejoicing at this final triumph for the national clergy, +the foreigners were in control, and the king, urged on by his wife, +decided to act upon his own responsibility, without regard for the +manifest judgment of heaven, and lost no time in giving his signature to +the decree of the Council of Burgos, which then went into immediate +effect. This time the people made no resistance, and, as has been said, +Spain became once more, after the lapse of nearly seven centuries, the +obedient province of Rome. In the succeeding centuries the influence of +Rome has been ever present and powerful in the affairs of the Spanish +peninsula, and whether for its weal or woe, which is not a matter for +consideration here, the fact remains that Queen Constance was the one +person in Spain who was most responsible for this state of affairs. Her +unflagging interest in the success of the papal party and her +perseverance in the face of the opposition of a majority of the Spanish +clergy made her the life of the whole movement, and to this day she is +held in grateful memory at the Holy See. + + + + +Chapter XV + +Women in Early Political Life + + +After the time of the good Queen Constance and with the growth of the +Spanish monarchies, which in spite of all their internal turmoil and +confusion were fast becoming more powerful and more of a menace to the +Moslem rule, the wheels of fate seem to bring women into greater +political prominence than ever before. Constance, it is true, had been +no mean figure in that epoch, and had exerted a most powerful influence +in shaping the destinies of Spain for her own time and for the future, +but this was done by an exercise of indirect rather than direct +authority. Constance had been queen, but there had been a king to rule +as well, and with him remained the real power. As Constance influenced +him, she may have been said to use this royal power, it is true, but the +fact remains that it was the woman Constance who was using her powers of +feminine persuasion to bring about the results which were so dear to her +heart. No political responsibilities rested upon her shoulders, there +were no cares of state to weary and make uneasy her crowned head, and +she was free to follow her own penchants unimpeded by this larger task. +But now a wider field for the activities of women seems to come; in +Spain, chance gives them full control in their own name in certain +instances, and they bear the full responsibility. The measure of their +success may not be greater than the measure of their failure in these +new lines of endeavor, but, good or bad as their methods of +administration may have been, it does not appear that they fall below +the level of masculine achievement at the same time. And this is a +curious thing. Since the birth of time men have been regarding women as +weaklings, both mentally and physically. Tennyson has it that "woman is +the lesser man," and such has been the commonly expressed opinion. +Everything in the social life of the world has conspired to give truth +to this statement; women are still the real slaves of their husbands in +many countries, and the virtual slaves in almost all the world; +education has been granted to them grudgingly, the scope of their +intellect has been limited in the narrowest way; and in spite of all +these facts, in spite of this suppression and repression from time +immemorial, women have been able by some power or some cunning to exert +a most powerful influence in the world, and when called upon to take up +a man's work they have left a record for judgment and skill and wisdom +which needs no apologies and which is generally above the average. To +those who are content with generalities it may be sufficient to say that +women are not the equals of men, but to anyone who attempts to study, +step by step, the history of human development it becomes apparent that +the French admonition _Cherchez la femme_ contains the truth, unalloyed. +In America it has become the custom to say that in every great national +emergency there is always a man ready to meet the situation and meet it +nobly and with understanding; and what can be said here can be said with +equal truth perhaps in other countries of the world, but to this +statement it may be well to add that women also may be found to do nobly +the tasks which may fall to their lot. + +In every day and generation, however, it will rarely be found that the +women are better than the men. The interests of men and women are so +identical from so many points of view, society is in so many ways but a +composite of their common interests, that their moral level must of +necessity be the same. By intuition, then, by inherent capacity, by +woman's wit, by that something feminine which is at once the power and +the charm of a woman, the members of this so-called weaker sex have been +able to take their place worthily beside their brothers in the open +field of the world's activities whenever circumstance has called them +forth, without the inheritance, the education, or the experience which +the men possess, but morally they can but be as society makes them. +There are exceptions to all rules, however; some women as well as some +men may be better or worse than the majority of their fellows, and these +are the ones who are signalled out by the historian for special +attention. The people who are always good and always happy have no +history, as there is nothing noteworthy to tell of them, life has no +tragedies, all is plain sailing, and the whole story can be told in a +few words. In a measure the same thing is true of the ordinary man, be +he good or bad, for what can be said of him can be said of a whole +class, and so the history of the class may be told, but the individual +will always remain in the background. + +In the special epoch of Spanish history with which the present chapter +is concerned, the twelfth century and the first part of the thirteenth, +there is little to say of women in general which cannot be said of the +mediaeval women of other parts of Europe. Oriental ideas had been +introduced to some extent, it is true, by the Moors, but otherwise the +general ignorance and dependence of the women of the time call for no +special comment. Above this commonplace level there are to be seen, +nevertheless, two women who occupied a commanding position in the world, +which was quite unusual. They were both queens of Castile, and as one +was bad, vain, reckless, and frivolous, so was the other good, +unselfish, wise, and dignified. Within the extremes of character which +their lives present is traced the measure of a woman's possibilities at +that time. + +Urraca of Castile, daughter of Constance and King Alfonso VII., +inherited little of her mother's devout nature; the world rather than +the Church had attracted her, and she began to show at an early age a +taste for gallantry and intrigue which became but more pronounced with +her maturer years. She was dark rather than fair, with an imperious +bearing, she had compelling eyes, and there was a grace in her movements +which it was difficult to see without admiring, but she was vain, intent +upon conquest, and without an atom of moral firmness, if all accounts be +true. Her mother was sorely tried by her waywardness, but did not live +long enough to appreciate her real lack of moral instinct; and her +father, in spite of his several marriages, which were almost as numerous +as those of Henry VIII. of England, was chagrined to find Urraca as his +sole heir, no other children having survived. In the hope that France +might again furnish material for a dignified alliance as it had done +before in sending Constance herself, Alfonso arranged for the marriage +of Urraca with Raymond of Burgundy. Urraca was soon left a widow, with +one son, Alfonso; and while she apparently felt some affection for this +child, she was in no way weaned from her love of excitement, and was +soon again the soul and centre of the court's gay revels. One among the +throng of courtiers attracted her, the tall Count Gomez of Candespina, +and she made no secret of her love for him. As often seen together, +they formed a striking pair, and it was not strange that the Castilian +nobles should have wished to see them married, in spite of the fact that +the prospective bridegroom was not her equal by birth. No one dared to +give Alfonso this advice, however, as his refusal was a foregone +conclusion, all things being taken into consideration. Finally, the +Jewish physician of the court, Don Cidelio, allowing his interest in the +affair to get the better of his discretion, ventured to speak to the +king about Urraca and her lover. Alfonso, indignant, was so displeased, +that Don Cidelio was banished from the court at once, while he arranged +forthwith a political marriage which was full of possibilities for +Spain's future welfare. Alfonso, in his long reign, which had lasted for +forty-three years, had given such a great impetus to the movement of +reconquest directed against the Moors, that a strong and capable +successor could have completed his work and hastened the final Christian +victory by some four hundred years. Alfonso was far-seeing enough to +know the possibilities ahead, and it is easy to understand and +sympathize with his rage at the mere thought of the dapper, silken +Candespina. So the rebellious Urraca, with her heart full of love for +Count Gomez, was married, and just before her father's death in 1109, to +King Alfonso I., called _el batallador_ [the battler], and known as the +Emperor of Aragon. This union of Castile, Leon, and Aragon would have +promised much for the future, if the rulers of this united kingdom could +have lived in peace and harmony together. They were so unlike in every +way, however, that it was easy to predict trouble. The Battler was a +youth of great military skill and great ambition, but he was not a +courtier in any sense of the word and could not be compared in Urraca's +eyes with her carpet knight, Don Gomez. So she was loath to change her +mode of life, and he was in a state of constant irritation at her +worldliness; and as a natural consequence of it all, after a year of +turmoil and confusion, the two separated. + +Content to lose his wife, Alfonso was quite unwilling to lose her broad +domain, and consequently Aragonese garrisons were installed in some of +the principal Castilian fortresses, while Urraca, a prisoner, was +confined in the fortress of Castelar. This was too much for the +Castilians to endure; so they at once took up arms in their queen's +defence and, furthermore, demanded a divorce on the ground that Urraca +and Alfonso were within the proscribed limits of consanguinity, as they +were both descended from Sancho the Great, of Navarre. While there was +much in the queen's character which the Castilian people could not +admire, they had never approved of her marriage with the _batallador_, +and were only too happy to have this excuse for severing the ties which +bound the two countries together. Urraca was rescued from her captivity, +and proceeded without delay to annoy her husband in every manner +possible. Her honored father's prime minister was deposed and his +estates confiscated, Don Gomez was given this high post and treated as +an acknowledged favorite, and most shamelessly, and the whole country +was shocked. But matters of self-defence were now of first importance to +the Castilians, and so they were compelled to overlook her misconduct +for the moment and prepare to withstand the irate Alfonso's threatened +invasion. He invited Henry, Count of Portugal, the brother of Urraca's +first husband,--and her son's guardian,--to aid him in this attack, and +together they invaded Castile and inflicted a complete defeat upon +Urraca's army at the battle of Sepulveda in the year 1111. The pope, +Pascal II., sent a legate, who granted the divorce for which the +Castilians had clamored; and Urraca, again a free woman, was now the +centre of her own little court, where she soon gathered about her a +small company of nobles who were vying with each other to obtain her +royal favor. Two among them, Count Gomez of Candespina, and Pedro, a +member of the great and powerful Lara family, hoped to marry her, but +she coquetted with them all to such good purpose that she succeeded in +keeping their good will by leaving them all in uncertainty as to her +serious intentions. + +At this moment a new element appeared in the settlement of public +affairs. For the first time in the history of Spain, the privileged +towns and cities, which had been granted special charters by the late +Alfonso, Urraca's father, rose in their might and declared that Urraca +should be deposed and that her youthful son, Alfonso Ramon, should be +crowned in her stead. Seeing this turn of affairs, Henry of Portugal, +the young Alfonso's guardian, decided that he might best serve his own +interests by siding with the Castilians against the Battler, and he lost +no time in making this transfer of his allegiance. Castile and Leon were +still harried by the divorced husband, who now had no legal claim upon +them, and there was a general consolidation of national interests for +the national defence, while the conflicting interests with regard to the +succession within the country were at the same time pressing for +settlement and producing a state of strife and contention which was +little short of civil war. In the midst of it all, Urraca continued to +play the wanton, and soon so disgusted the Count of Portugal that he +deserted her standard. This he did on the eve of the great battle of +Espina, in the year 1112. Urraca still counted upon the devotion of her +nobles, but Lara fled from the field, the prime favorite Candespina was +killed, and the revengeful husband gained another victory. It was soon +evident, however, that Alfonso of Aragon could never meet with complete +success in his attempt to subdue Castile, and he wisely gave up the +struggle after a few more years of desultory fighting. Urraca was now in +a tight place, and in spite of all her arts and wiles she was unable to +gather about her again a party strong enough to command respect. +Candespina and Lara were no longer by her side, the other nobles had +lost patience with her constant intriguing, and the popular party, +backed by the towns, soon gained the ascendency, and Urraca was +compelled to resign in favor of her son. From this moment she sinks into +obscurity, and little more is known of her unhappy and profligate career +besides the fact that she came to her end, unregretted, in 1126. +According to the ancient _Laws of Manu_, "it is in the nature of the +feminine sex to seek here below, to corrupt men," and Menander has said, +sententiously, "where women are, are all kinds of mischief." While no +one at the present time, unless he be some confirmed woman-hater, will +be so ungallant as to attempt to maintain the truth of these sweeping +statements, there must have been, at various times and places in the +world, women of the kind indicated, as Queen Urraca of Castile, for +example, or these things would never have been said. + +The great-grandson of Urraca, Alfonso III. of Castile, received as his +heritage the usual complement of strife and warfare which belonged to +almost all of the little Spanish monarchies throughout the greater part +of the twelfth century; but in the year 1170, arriving at his majority, +he entered into a friendly treaty of peace with Aragon, and in that same +fortunate year he married the Princess Eleanor, daughter of the English +king, Henry II. Apropos of this marriage and its general effect upon the +fortunes of Castile, Burke has written the following interesting +sentences: "Up to the time of this happy union, the reign of Alfonso +III. in Spain had been nothing but a succession of intrigues and civil +wars of the accustomed character; but from the day of his marriage in +1170 to the day of his death in 1214, after a reign of no less than +fifty-six years, he exercised the sovereign power without hindrance, if +not entirely without opposition, within his dominions. If the domestic +tranquillity of Castile during four-and-forty years may not be +attributed exclusively to the influence of the English queen, yet the +marriage bore fruits in a second generation, of which it would be +difficult to exaggerate the importance; for it was the blood of the +Plantagenets, that flowed in the veins of Berenguela, their daughter, +one of the true heroines of Spain." + +In this instance, as in the case of the good Constance of Burgundy, we +see that Spain has been sobered and steadied by an infusion of foreign +blood. Constance, it is true, was a fanatic who cared little for the +national desires, and thought little of adapting herself to the national +conditions of life, so long as she could further her own ends, which +were those of the pope at Rome; and so stern and strict was her view of +life, and so rigid was her discipline, that it was impossible for her to +reconcile the lighter-minded Spaniards to her mode of thinking. For a +short time, by drastic methods, she subdued to some extent the frivolous +temper of her people; but she was so unlovable in her ways, and so +unloved by the people at large, that the sum total of her influence upon +Spanish life, apart from the somewhat questionable advantage which she +gave to Rome as the result of her activity, amounted to very little. +Even her own daughter, Urraca, in spite of the fact that she undoubtedly +inherited more from her father than she did from her mother, was, beyond +peradventure, rendered more wayward and more reckless by the mother's +narrow view of life. The gracious Eleanor, on the other hand, was more +liberal-minded, did everything in her power to get into touch with her +subjects, and by her kindliness and strength of character was able to +aid her husband in no mean degree in quieting civil discord and in +consolidating the interests of the country. + +Her daughter Berenguela, brought up in the midst of these influences, +developed a strong and self-reliant character which early in her career +gave proof of its existence. In accord with that policy which has so +often obtained in the monarchies of Europe, it was decided that a +foreign alliance with some strong ruling house would redound to +advantage; and so great was the prestige of Castile at this time, that +Alfonso found no difficulty in arranging a marriage with Conrad, Count +of Suabia, the son of the great Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. As might +have been expected, this marriage was nothing but a political +arrangement which was to benefit Castile, and in which the will of +Berenguela, the person most interested, had not been consulted in any +manner whatever. It is not on record that Eleanor was opposed to this +arrangement for her daughter, not from any lack of independent +spirit,--for she came of a self-willed race, as the erratic life of her +brother, Richard Coeur de Lion, will show,--but because such marriages +were the common lot of the royal maidens of her time and were accepted +as matters of necessity. It must be remembered that the ideals of +marriage were yet much undeveloped and that "husband" and "lover" were +rarely, if ever, synonymous terms. It appears that the emperor not only +consented to this marriage between his son and Eleanor's daughter, but +was much in favor of the project and more than anxious to see the +consummation of it all, as Eleanor had brought Gascony to her husband as +a marriage portion, and the prospective inheritance of Berenguela was a +goodly one. + +Fortunately for Berenguela, the marriage was postponed until she had +attained her majority; and when that day of partial freedom came, she +boldly declared that she would not marry the German prince, that she did +not know him and did not love him, and that nothing could force her to +such a bargain of herself. Great was the consternation in her father's +court, and great was the dismay in the North when Frederick Barbarossa +was told of this haughty Spanish maiden who refused the honor of an +alliance with his imperial house. The case was well-nigh unique; the +mediaeval world was startled in its traditional routine, and Berenguela's +audacity became the talk of every court in Europe. Prayers and +entreaties were in vain, so firmly did she stand her ground in spite of +the countless specious arguments which were used to bend her will, and, +finally, the matter was dropped and considered a closed incident. "Woman +sees deep; man sees far. To the man the world is his heart; to the woman +the heart is her world;" so says Christian Grabbe, and this epigram may +well be applied to Berenguela's case. Her heart was her world, and she +fought for it, and in her victory she won, not only for herself, but for +Spain as well. And it came about in this way. Berenguela was married, +and with her own consent, to Alfonso IX., King of Leon, who had of late +made war upon her father, and with this marriage and the peace which +followed between the two countries, Spain prospered for a time. + +This Alfonso of Leon had already made one marriage venture which had +come to grief, for he had previously wedded the Princess Teresa of +Portugal, and his marriage had been forcibly dissolved by Pope Innocent +III., who was then, as Hume puts it, "riding rough-shod over the nations +of Christendom." This divorce had been pronounced on the ground that the +young couple were too closely related to each other; and as they +ventured to resist, they were for a time excommunicated. So Alfonso and +Teresa were finally separated, though not until several children had +been born to them, and then the young king led Berenguela to the altar. +This marriage, in its immediate result, was but a repetition of what had +gone before. The pope annulled it promptly on the same grounds of +consanguinity, and turned a deaf ear to every plea for reconsideration. +The case was not an unusual one; many marriages which were far less +regular in form had been sanctioned by this new Roman Caesar; and the +result of the marriage could be but for the benefit of Rome, as domestic +peace in Spain gave assurance of more successful opposition to the +Moslem rule. But the pope was firm, his holy permission had not been +obtained before the marriage had been celebrated, and, piqued at this +unintended slight which had been put upon his august authority, he +revealed his littleness by this show of spite. + +Rebellious under this harsh decree because of its manifest injustice, +Alfonso and Berenguela endeavored to hold out against the pontiff, and +for seven years they lived together as man and wife, making their home +in Leon. Their life was to some degree a happy one together, children +were born to them, but ever about their path was the shadow of doubt +that was cast by the pope's decree. As a sad and pitiful end to it all, +Berenguela, a mother though not a wife, was forced to return to her +father's court in Castile, leaving the eldest son, Fernando, with the +father. In but one thing had the pope shown any mercy for this wedded +pair, and that was when he had consented to recognize the legitimacy of +their children; so Fernando could now be considered, without any doubt, +as the rightful heir to Leon. Meanwhile, Alfonso III. of Castile, +Berenguela's father, had won new laurels at the great battle known as +the Navas de Tolosa, where the Moors had suffered a crushing defeat, and +Castile was more than ever the leading Spanish power. But soon after +Berenguela's arrival, her father went to his long rest, and the crown +descended to his oldest son, Enrico, who was but a boy of ten. Queen +Eleanor was first intrusted with the administration of affairs, but she +soon followed her husband, dying within a month after this power had +been conferred upon her, and the regency passed by common consent to the +prudent care of Berenguela, who was, according to Hume, "the fittest +ruler in all Spain, the most prudent princess in all Christendom." This +regency, however, was not a time of peace and quiet, for the death of +the old king had given opportunity for the turbulent Lords of Lara to +break forth again in open revolt, and after a year of ineffectual +resistance Berenguela was compelled, in the interests of domestic +harmony, to surrender the person of her young brother into the control +of Alvaro Nunez, the leader of the opposition, who at once began to rule +the kingdom with a heavy hand. What Berenguela's fate would have been +and what Castile's if this usurper had been allowed to remain for a long +time in power is a matter for conjecture, but Alvaro's dreams of success +were soon shattered. Through some whim of fate it happened that the +young king was accidentally killed one morning as he was at play in the +courtyard of the palace, and Berenguela, as the only lawful heir, became +the Queen of Castile in her own right. In this trying moment, +clear-headed as usual, she gave further proof of her astuteness. She +realized that her husband might in some way try to make political +capital out of the situation and might try to work in his own interests +rather than in those of their son. For the young Fernando, recognized as +heir to Leon, would now, as the prospective ruler of Castile, be heir +to a larger estate than that of his father, and Alfonso was not a man +big enough to rejoice in this fact, as Berenguela well knew. +Accordingly, she sent speedy messengers to Alfonso before the news of +the death of the young King Enrico had reached him, and asked that her +son might come to her for a visit. The invitation was innocent enough, +to all appearances, and the request was granted, but no sooner was the +young prince safe within the boundaries of Castile than Berenguela +called a meeting of the States-General of her kingdom, and there, after +having received the homage of her nobles, in the midst of a most +brilliant gathering, she announced her intention of abdicating in favor +of her son, the heir to Leon. There was some objection to this move, as +Berenguela was so universally beloved that all were loath to lose her +from the sovereign's chair. She took great pains to point out to them +the advantage which would undoubtedly accrue to the country as the +result of this prospective union with Leon, assured them that her +interests would ever be theirs, and that she would at all times counsel +her son and help him in every way within her power; and finally, her +will prevailed and the abdication was approved. + +Alfonso of Leon was more than irate when he learned of young Enrico's +death and realized the meaning of his son's visit to Castile, and he +immediately collected a large army and declared war upon his son. +Berenguela had foreseen this as the probable result of her course of +action and was not entirely unprepared in the emergency. The ultimate +peace and prosperity which might come to Spain with the definite union +of Castile and Leon were matters of such importance in her eyes that she +did not now hesitate to give of her personal wealth, even her jewels, as +Isabella did in a later day, to further the interests of the cause for +which she was contending. The goodness and sweetness of character +possessed by this great queen made such an impression upon all those who +came within the circle of her influence, and her cause was so manifestly +just, that her troops were filled with the zeal which knows no defeat, +and the conflict was a short one. Through Berenguela's diplomatic action +the war was brought to an end, harmony was restored between Castile and +Leon, and the united armies of the two countries were sent into southern +Spain to make further attack upon the Moorish strongholds. + +Now comes an interesting moment in the queen's career, the moment when +she was planning with all her wisdom for her son's marriage and his +future success. The interminable commotion and discord, the vexatious +factional quarrels, and the undying hatreds which had been engendered by +a long series of Spanish intermarriages, had so filled her with disgust +that she determined, now that the union of Castile and Leon was +practically complete, to go outside of this narrow circle in her search +for a suitable mate for the young King Fernando. Her choice fell upon +the Princess Beatrice of Suabia, cousin of the emperor and member of the +same house which she had scorned in her younger days. But the Princess +Beatrice was fair and good, the young people were eager for the +marriage, and there was no good reason why the thing should not be done. +Before this wedding, Berenguela decided that her son must be received +into the order of knighthood. There was the customary period of courtly +ceremony, with games and gay festivals and much feasting, which lasted +for several days, and then came the sacred, final rites, which ended +with the accolade. The youthful king and would-be knight was taken, all +clothed in white, by two "grave and ancient" chevaliers to the chapel of +the monastery of Las Huelgas, near the old city of Burgos, and there, +having placed his arms piously upon the altar, he passed the night +alone, "bestowing himself in orisons and prayers." When the daybreak +came, he confessed to a priest, heard matins, and then went to rest and +prepare himself for the final scene. When he was at length brought back +to the chapel, there was a most imposing company awaiting him, composed +of all the knights of Castile and many others from far distant countries +who had come to wage war against the Moors; and in the presence of them +all, from the sanctified hands of his noble mother, came the magic touch +which made a man of him. The next day, in the great cathedral at Burgos, +the wedding was celebrated, for the German princess had come to Spain +for the function, and there was much pomp and much show of silks and +brocades and the glitter of gold and silver was backed by the glitter of +steel. + +Soon King Fernando was in the saddle again, riding away toward the +south, leading a great host of knights, and one Moorish town after +another fell into their hands. While besieging Jaen, Fernando learned of +his father's death, which had occurred suddenly. Berenguela summoned her +son to return with all possible speed, but without waiting for his +arrival she set out at once for Leon, thinking that there might be work +to do. Nor was she wrong. Alfonso of Leon, jealous of his wife's great +renown and his son's growing success, and knowing that the union of +Castile and Leon was her most cherished project, deliberately left Leon +to his two daughters, Sancha and Dulce, children of his first marriage, +with Teresa of Portugal, perfectly sure that their claims could not find +adequate legal support, as these children had never been legitimized +after the pope's annulment of this marriage, but contented at the +thought that he had probably left an inheritance of dispute and possible +warfare which might be sufficient to make Bereuguela's plans miscarry. +But in this he reckoned without his host. Berenguela conducted her +affairs with the utmost discretion, conciliated the Leonese nobility, +caused her son to be proclaimed king, and brought about a permanent +union of the two countries without the loss of a single drop of blood. +Having accomplished this task, her next care was to provide in some +suitable way for Alfonso's two daughters. This she was under no +obligation to do, but her sense of justice left no other course of +conduct open to her. She arranged a meeting with their mother Teresa, +who had long since retired to a convent, and, journeying to the +Portuguese frontier, at Valencia de Alcantara in Galicia, these two +women, each the unwedded wife of the same man, came together to settle +the claims of their children to their dead husband's throne. The whole +matter was discussed in the most friendly way, and Berenguela was able +to carry her point that there should be no attempt to unseat Fernando +from the throne of Leon, and at the same time she made a proposition, by +way of indemnity, which Teresa, speaking for her daughters, was quite +ready to accept. The infantas were given by Fernando a pension of +fifteen thousand gold doubloons, in return for which they formally +agreed to abandon all claim to Leon, and this pension, under +Berenguela's direction, was paid in all faith and honor. In November of +the year 1246 this great queen died, and, according to her own +direction, she was buried at Burgos "in plain and humble fashion." + +No better eulogy of her life and labors can ever be written than that +which is found in Burke's history of Spain, and no excuse is needed for +giving it in its entirety: Berenguela was one of those rare beings who +seems to have been born to do right and to have done it. From her +earliest youth she was a leading figure, a happy and noble influence in +one of the most contemptible and detestable societies of mediaeval +Christendom. Married of her own free will to a stranger and an enemy, +that she might bring peace to two kingdoms, she was ever a true and +loyal wife; unwedded by ecclesiastical tyranny in the very flower of her +young womanhood, she was ever a faithful daughter of the Church; +inheriting a crown when she had proved her own capacity for royal +dominion, she bestowed it on a strange and absent son, with no thought +but for the good of her country and of Christendom; and finally, as +queen-mother and ever faithful counsellor, she accepted all the +difficulties of government, while the glory of royalty was reserved for +the king whom she had created. Berenguela was ever present in the right +place, and at the proper time, and her name is associated only with what +is good and worthy and noble in an age of violence and wrong and +robbery; when good faith was well-nigh unknown, when bad men were +all-powerful, when murder was but an incident in family life, and +treason the chief feature in politics. + + + + +Chapter XVI + +The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries + + +In the early days of the thirteenth century, Pedro II. of Aragon had +married the somewhat frivolous, yet devout, Maria of Montpellier, whose +mother had been a Greek princess of Constantinople; and when a son was +born of this marriage, Maria, who foresaw a great future for her child, +was most desirous that he should have an Apostolic patron. There was the +embarrassment of the choice, however, as Maria did not wish to neglect +or cast a slight upon eleven saints while giving preference to one, and, +finally, the queen's father confessor, Bishop Boyl, devised the +following plan. Twelve tapers, each consecrated to an Apostle, were to +be lighted, and the child was to be named in honor of the candle which +burned the longest. Southey, in somewhat prolix and doggerel verse, has +given the following account of the ceremony: + + "The tapers were short and slender too, + Yet to the expectant throng, + Before they to the socket burnt, + The time, I trow, seemed long. + + "The first that went out was St. Peter, + The second was St. John, + And now St. Mattias is going, + And now St. Mathew is gone. + + "Next there went St. Andrew, + Then goes St. Philip too; + And see, there is an end + Of St. Bartholomew. + + "St. Simon is in the snuff, + But it is a matter of doubt, + Whether he or St. Thomas could be said, + Soonest to have gone out. + + "There are only three remaining, + St. Jude and the two Saints James, + And great was then Queen Mary's hope, + For the best of all good names. + + "Great was then Queen Mary's hope, + But greater her fear, I guess, + When one of the three went out, + And that one was St. James the less. + + "They are now within less than quarter inch, + The only remaining two. + When there came a thief in St James, + And it made a gutter too. + + "Up started Queen Mary, + Up she sate in her bed, + 'I can never call him Judas,' + She clasped her hands and said. + + 'I never can call him Judas!' + Again did she exclaim. + 'Holy Mother, preserve us! + It is not a Christian name.' + + "She opened her hands and clasped them again, + And the infant in the cradle + Set up a cry, a lusty cry, + As loud as he was able. + + "'Holy Mother, preserve us!' + The Queen her prayer renewed, + When in came a moth at the window, + And fluttered about St. Jude. + + "St. James had fallen in the socket, + But as yet the flame is not out, + And St. Jude hath singed the silly moth, + That flutters so idly about. + + "And before the flame and the molten wax, + That silly moth could kill, + It hath beat out St. Jude with its wings, + But St. James is burning still. + + "Oh, that was a joy for Queen Mary's heart, + The babe is christened James, + The Prince of Aragon hath got, + The best of all good names. + + "Glory to Santiago, + The mighty one in war, + James he is called, and he shall be + King James the Conqueror. + + "Now shall the Crescent wane, + The Cross be set on high, + In triumph upon many a mosque, + Woe, woe to Mawmetry!" + +So Jayme the youth was named, Jayme being the popularly accepted +Aragonese form for James, and early in life he entered upon an active +career which soon showed him to possess a strong and crafty nature, +though he was at the same time brutal, rough, and dissolute. In his +various schemes for conquest and national expansion, he stopped at +nothing which might ensure the success of his undertakings, and in +particular did he attempt by matrimonial ventures of various kinds to +increase his already large domain. This rather unusual disregard of the +sacredness of the marriage relation, even for that time, may have been +induced to some extent by the atmosphere in which he passed his youthful +days; for his mother, the devout Queen Maria, in spite of all her pious +zeal for the Church, was pleasure-loving, and in the excitement of court +life it was whispered that she had looked with favor more than once +upon some gallant troubadour from Provence who had written verses in her +honor. Jayme's first marriage was with Eleanor of Castile, Berenguela's +sister, but when he discovered that the young Castilian king, Fernando, +was strong and capable and that there was no possibility whatever of an +ultimate union of Aragon and Castile, at least within his own time, he +promptly divorced Eleanor, and then wedded Yolande, the daughter of King +Andrew of Hungary. Yolande's eldest son, Pedro, was married to +Constance, daughter of King Manfred of Sicily, for purely political +reasons; and when the King of France opposed this alliance as one +detrimental to the best interests of the pope, who was being much aided +at this time by Gallican support, Jayme cleverly silenced this complaint +by marrying his daughter Isabel to Philip, the French dauphin. This +daring King of Aragon had dreams of a great Romance Empire which might +extend all over the southern part of Europe, with Aragon as its centre, +and it was to this end that he bent all his energies. While he was not +able to realize this fond hope, he was remarkably successful; and not a +little of his success must be attributed to his lack of sentiment and +his practical view of the matrimonial question. + +With his conquests and the corresponding prosperity which is to be seen +in Castile at the same general period, Christian Spain slowly became the +most civilized and enlightened country in all Europe. Spain was rich, +there was much culture and refinement, and her artistic manufactures +excited the wonder of the world. With the knights who were coming in +ever increasing numbers to do battle against the Moors, now that the +time of the Crusades had passed, there came a goodly number of the +troubadours and minstrels who had recently been driven from Provence by +the cruel Simon de Montfort at the time of the Albigensian massacres, +and the whole condition of Spanish society was such that the stern +simplicity of the early Spaniards quickly disappeared. So great was the +craze for poetry and for glittering entertainments and a lavish display +of wealth, that Don Jayme felt called upon to take some restraining +measures. Aragon, as well as Castile, was filled with the wealth of +captured Moorish cities, there was a new sense of national security with +each successive Christian victory, luxuries of all kinds were being +brought within the reach of the people as the result of a newly aroused +spirit of commercialism, and, all in all, to a warlike king, the +situation was fraught with danger. Accordingly, Jayme determined to take +matters into his own hands, and he proceeded to issue a number of +sumptuary laws which were far from mild. Food was regulated, minstrels +were not allowed to sit at the same table with ladies and gentlemen, +most rigid rules were formulated against the abuse of gold, silver, and +tinsel trimmings on the dresses of the women, and of the men as well, +and the use of ermine and of all fine and Costly furs was carefully +restricted. In Castile the same movement was taking place, and Alfonso +X., who followed Fernando, issued similar laws, wherein women were +forbidden to wear any bright colors, to adorn their girdles with pearls, +or to border their skirts with either gold or silver thread. As in Italy +at about the same time, and notably in Florence, extravagant wedding +feasts were condemned, no presents of garments were permitted, and the +whole cost of a bride's trousseau could not exceed sixty maravedis, a +maravedi being a gold coin containing about sixty grains of the yellow +metal. + +It was in the midst of this brilliant period of national well-being that +Spain was called upon to celebrate a wedding festival which far +surpassed in magnificence anything that had ever before been seen among +the Christians of the peninsula. The sister of King Alfonso X. of +Castile, Eleanor, was given in marriage to Edward Plantagenet, the +attractive young heir to the English throne, and it was in honor of this +event that all Burgos was in gala dress in the month of October, 1254. +All were on tiptoe with excitement, crowds thronged into the old +cathedral city, and the windows and housetops were black with people, on +that eventful day when the stalwart prince rode in through the great +gate, with a glittering train of nobles at his back, to claim his bride. +Prince Edward was a magnificent specimen of physical manhood, towering +almost head and shoulders above his fellows, and the gorgeous +entertainments which were prepared for him and his followers gave good +opportunity for all to witness his courtly grace and his distinguished +bearing. The chronicles of the time are full of the most superlative +descriptions of this whole affair, and often they seem lost in +wonderment, lacking words with which to describe the scene properly. +Before the wedding, in accord with mediaeval custom, Edward received +knighthood at the hands of King Alfonso. In that same old monastery at +Las Huelgas where the youth Fernando had kept his lonely vigil before he +had been knighted by his noble mother, Queen Berenguela, the English +prince now kept his watch; and when the morning came and he stood, tall +and fair, clothed in a robe of white, ready to receive the accolade, +before a company of chosen knights and ladies, the scene must have been +wonderfully impressive. The bride, Eleanor, had been a great favorite +with all her people, of both high and low degree, and all were glad to +see that the future seemed to smile upon her. + +A worthy companion to the wise Berenguela is found in the person of +Maria de Molina, the wife of Sancho IV., called the Ferocious, King of +Castile. His reign, which had extended over a period of eleven years, +came to a close with his death in the year 1295, and in all that time +there had been nothing but discord and confusion, warfare and +assassination, as Sancho's claim to the throne had been disputed by +several pretenders, and they lost no occasion to harass him by plot and +revolution. It may well be imagined, then, that when he died, leaving +his throne to his son Fernando, a child of nine, the situation was most +perplexing for the queen-mother, who had been made regent, by the terms +of her husband's will, until Fernando should become of age. A further +matter which tended to complicate the situation was the fact that the +marriage between Sancho and Maria had never been sanctioned by the pope, +as the two were within the forbidden limits of consanguinity, and he had +refused to grant his special dispensation. With this doubt as to her +son's legitimacy, Maria was placed in a position which was doubly hard, +and if she had not been a woman of keen diplomacy and great wisdom, she +would never have been able to steer her ship of state in safety amid so +many threatening dangers. Her first care was to induce the pope to +grant, after much persuasion, the long-deferred dispensation which +legalized her marriage; and this matter settled, she was ready to enter +the conflict and endeavor to maintain her rights. The first to attempt +her overthrow was the Infante Juan, the young king's uncle, who made an +alliance with the Moorish king of Granada and assumed a threatening +attitude. Maria sent against him her greatest nobles, Haro, and the +Lords of Lara; but she had been deceived in the loyalty of these +followers, as they promptly deserted the regent's cause and, with all +their men, went over to the insurgents and helped to make more powerful +the coalition which was forming against the infant king. For a brief +moment Maria was in despair and felt almost ready to yield in the face +of the opposition, as the hostile combination now included Portugal, +Aragon, Navarre, France, and Granada, and it was their intent to +separate the kingdoms of Leon and Castile if possible and undo all that +Berenguela had labored so hard and with such success to accomplish. +Inasmuch as this was, above all else, a quarrel which concerned the +nobility, a contention which had its rise in the jealousy and mutual +distrust of several powerful houses, Maria, with a keen knowledge of the +situation, and with a sagacity which was rather surprising in a woman +untrained in politics or government, decided to win to her side the +great mass of the common people, with whom she had always lived in peace +and harmony. Her first act was to call a meeting of the Cortes in +Valladolid, which was the only city upon which she could depend in this +crisis. The Cortes speedily acknowledged Fernando IV. as king, and with +this encouragement Maria de Molina set bravely about her arduous task of +organization and defence. Few of the nobles rallied to her support, but +she soon won over the chartered towns by the liberal treatment she +accorded them in matters of taxation and by her protection of the +various civic brotherhoods which had been organized by the people that +they might defend themselves from the injustice of the nobility, which +was now showing itself in countless tyrannical and petty acts. She +labored early and late, conducted her government in a most businesslike +manner, convoked the Cortes in regular session every year, and by the +sheer force of her integrity and her moral strength she finally quelled +all internal disturbances and brought back the government to its former +strength and solidity. In the year 1300 Fernando was declared king in +his own right, at the age of fourteen, and then, for a short time, it +looked as if all that the regent had sought to accomplish might +suddenly be nullified. The king, inclined to be arrogant, and with his +head somewhat turned as the result of his sudden accession to power, was +prevailed upon to listen to evil counsellors, who tried in every way to +make him believe that Maria had administered her regency with an eye to +her own interests, and that much of the revenue which legally belonged +to him had been diverted to her own private uses. Fernando, in spite of +all his mother's goodness, was simple enough to believe these idle +tales, and, in most unfilial and suspecting fashion, he sternly ordered +Maria to render up a detailed account of her stewardship during his +minority. Maria was much affected by this thoughtless and inconsiderate +act, but before she had had time to reply or attempt her own defence in +any way, a storm of indignation broke forth from the free towns, and +Fernando was informed that he would not be allowed to enter the town of +Medina del Campo, where the Leonese Cortes was to be held, unless he +restored his mother to favor and brought her with him to the assembly. +Fernando knew enough to fear the veiled threat which this communication +contained, and the queen-regent appeared with him at the opening of the +session. The scene which followed is pathetic in the extreme, and shows +the magnanimity and unselfishness of Maria in a most striking manner. +She spoke to the members of the Cortes, recalled their former struggles +against the encroachments of the nobles, and urged them to prudent +action, that there might be no further occasion for domestic strife. +Loyalty to country and to king were the keynotes of her speech, and +before she had finished, those who had assembled in anger, ready to +renounce their allegiance on account of Fernando's shameful treatment of +his mother, were now willing to forgive and pardon for that same +mother's sake. This point once established and a loyal following +secured, Maria proceeded to give in detail that account of her +stewardship which had been called for, and she had no trouble in showing +that her administration had been above reproach. Then it was that +Fernando made public acknowledgment of the fact that he had been led +astray by evil-minded advisers; and the Cortes adjourned, faithful to +the king and more than ever devoted to his mother. At Fernando's death +in 1312, Maria de Molina was again called to the regency, so great was +her reputation for wisdom and fair play; and when she ended her public +career, in 1324, all hastened to do honor to her memory, and she was +called Maria the Great, a title which has never been bestowed upon any +other queen-regent in Spain. Her reputation for goodness was unchanged +by the lapse of time, her goodness stands approved to-day, and two +dramatists, Tirso de Molina and Roca de Togores, have depicted her as a +heroine in their plays. + +Under the reign of Alfonso XI., Castile was rent by two factions, one in +support of the king's wife, Maria of Portugal, and the other friendly to +his beautiful mistress, Leonora de Guzman. When a youth of seventeen, +Alfonso had fallen captive to the charms of the fair Leonora; but his +grandmother, Maria de Molina, actuated by political motives, had forced +him to marry the Infanta Maria of Portugal. What might have been +expected came to pass: Maria was the queen in name, but Leonora was the +queen in fact. After three years had passed and no heir to the throne +had been born, Alfonso threatened to plead his kinship as a reason and +get a divorce; but Leonora, anticipating the trouble into which this +might plunge the country, as Alfonso was eager to marry her as soon as +the divorce should have been granted, urged him not to bring about this +separation and did all in her power to make him abide by the +arrangement which had been made for him. Nevertheless, in spite of the +fact that two sons were finally born to Maria and the succession was +assured, Leonora was by far the most influential woman in the kingdom, +and was in every way better fitted to rule as queen than the neglected +Maria. Leonora had her court and her courtiers, and had not only the +love but the respect and confidence of the king, and exercised a +considerable interest in affairs of state for a space of twenty years. +So established was her position at the court, that she was allowed +unhindered to found an order of merit, whose members wore a red ribbon +and were called Caballeros de la Banda. This order was for the promotion +of courtesy and knightly behavior, as it seems that there was still much +crudity of manner in Castile; and according to Miss Yonge, the +ceremonious Arabs complained that the Castilians were brave men, but +that they had no manners, and entered each other's houses freely without +asking permission. Finally, after the battle of Salado in 1340, which +was a great triumph for Alfonso and the Christians, the king was induced +to part definitely with his mistress. Maria, the true wife, had long +been jealous of her power and had lost no opportunity to bring about her +downfall. In the course of their long relationship Leonora had borne ten +children to the king, and her beauty, if accounts be true, was in no way +impaired; but, as he grew older, Alfonso could see more clearly the +complications which might ensue if he persisted in this double course; +and so, with a heavy heart, he consented to the separation, but not +without having given to Leonora the well-fortified city of +Medina-Sidonia, while her children were so well provided for that the +royal revenues were sadly depleted. With the death of Alfonso in 1350 +came the opportunity which Queen Maria had long since sought in vain, +an opportunity for revenge. Leonora was summoned to Seville, that Maria +might consult with her with regard to the interests of her children; and +when the one-time mistress showed some disinclination to accept this +invitation and gave evident signs of distrust, two noblemen of Maria's +following pledged their honor for her safety. Assured by this show of +good faith, Leonora went to Seville as she had been summoned, but no +sooner had she entered the walls of the city than she was made a +prisoner at Maria's order, dragged about in chains after the court, +which was travelling to Burgos, and finally she was sent to Talavera, +where she met an ignominious death at the hands of a servant, who +cruelly strangled her. Strange to say, this act caused no special +comment at the time, for, in spite of Leonora's general popularity, her +influence had been of such incalculable harm to Maria and her followers +in more ways than one, that their revenge was taken somewhat as a matter +of course. Maria, however, in this display of savagery, had done more +than she had anticipated; for, although she had continually tried to +excite her son to this revenge upon her rival, her desire for bloody +satisfaction had been satisfied at Leonora's death, and she now tried to +have Pedro treat Leonora's sons as his own brothers, but all to no +purpose. Young Pedro was cruel by nature; the early training which he +had received from her hands had in no way softened him, and as a natural +result, when he came to the throne and became his own master, he soon +made himself known and feared by his many terrible and wicked deeds; and +so marked did this fierce trait of character appear, that he was ever +known as Pedro the Cruel, much to his mother's shame. + +"If you ever feel disposed, Samivel, to go a-marryin' anybody,--no +matter who,--just you shut yourself up in your own room, if you've got +one, and pison yourself off-hand,"--such was the sententious advice of +the elder Weller, as recorded by Charles Dickens in the immortal pages +of the _Pickwick Papers_; and investigation will show that in all +literatures, from the earliest times, similar warnings have been uttered +to men who contemplated matrimony. A Tuscan proverb says: "in buying +horses and in taking a wife, shut your eyes tight and commend yourself +to God;" and a sage of Araby has remarked: "Before going to war, say a +prayer; before going to sea, say two prayers; before marrying, say three +prayers;" but the majority of men since the world began have been +content to close their eyes tightly or utter their three prayers and +take the goods the gods provide. Pedro the Cruel was no exception to +this rule, and his capricious ventures in search of married bliss would +fill many pages. According to Burke, "he was lawfully married in 1352 to +the lady who passed during her entire life as his mistress, Maria de +Padilla; he was certainly married to Blanche of Bourbon in 1353; and his +seduction, or rather his violation, of Juana de Castro was accomplished +by a third profanation of the sacrament, when the Bishops of Salamanca +and Avila, both accessories to the king's scandalous bigamy, pronounced +the blessing of the Church upon his brutal dishonor of a noble lady." +Whether Pedro was ever married to Maria de Padilla is still an open +question, but, if not his wife, she was his mistress for many years and +had great power over him. The details of all this life of intrigue are +somewhat confused, but enough is known to make it clear that Pedro was +as cruel in love as in war and politics. + +The queen-mother, ignorant of her son's marriage to Maria de Padilla, or +deciding to ignore it, prevailed upon Pedro to ask for the hand of +Blanche, the daughter of the Duke of Bourbon, and sister to Jeanne, wife +to Charles, the heir of France. His request was granted, and the king +sent his half-brother, the Master of Santiago, one of Leonora's sons, to +fetch the bride to Spain. While this journey was being made, Pedro fell +in love with one of the noble ladies in waiting of Dona Isabel of +Albuquerque, and so great was his passion for this dark-eyed damsel that +it was with difficulty that he could be prevailed upon to leave her and +go to greet the French princess when she finally arrived in Valladolid. +But he tore himself away, went to Blanche, and was married with great +pomp and ceremony. Some had said before the marriage that Maria de +Padilla must have bewitched Pedro, so great was his infatuation; and +three days after the wedding a strange thing happened, which caused +people to shake their heads again and suggest the interference of the +powers of sorcery. For, after this short time, Pedro rode away from +Valladolid and his new queen and went to Montalvao, where Maria de +Padilla was waiting to receive him. Just what had happened, it is +somewhat difficult to discover, and the story is told that the king, +listening to scandalous talk, was made to believe that his royal +messenger and half-brother, Fadrique, had played the role of Sir +Tristram as he brought the lady back, and that she had been a somewhat +willing Isolde. There were others who said that Blanche, knowing the +king's volatile disposition and of his relations with the notorious +Maria, had endeavored upon the eve of her marriage to seek aid from the +arts of magic in her effort to win the love of her husband, and had +obtained from a Jewish sorcerer a belt which she was told would make +Pedro faithful, kind, and true. But the story goes on to say that this +wizard had been bribed by Maria de Padilla; and when the king tried on +the girdle which his wife presented, it forthwith was changed into a +hideous serpent, which filled him with such disgust that he could no +longer bear the sight of her. Don Alfonso of Albuquerque, who had first +introduced Pedro to Maria de Padilla, now tried to take her away from +him, in the hope that he might be prevailed upon to return to his wife, +the unfortunate Blanche. This so angered the king that he resolved upon +Don Alfonso's death, and if it had not been for the timely warning given +by Maria, this gentleman would certainly have been assassinated. This +action on Maria's part, however, was the occasion for a fresh outburst +of anger; and Pedro left, wooed Dona Juana de Castro in stormy fashion, +and induced her to marry him, on the statement that he had made a secret +protest against Blanche and that the pope would soon annul this +marriage. Thomas Hardy has said that the most delicate women get used to +strange moral situations, and there must have been something of this in +Juana's makeup, or she would never have been forced into so shameful a +position; but, however that may be, she was made to rue the day, as the +king left her the next morning for Maria, his Venus Victrix, and never +went to see her again, although he gave her the town of Duefias and +allowed her to be addressed as "queen." The chronicles of the time tell +of the remarkable beauty of Maria and of the adulation she enjoyed in +the heyday of her prosperity. As an instance of the extreme gallantry of +the courtiers, we are informed that, with King Pedro, it was their +custom to attend the lovely favorite at her bath and, upon her leaving +it, to drink of its water. + +The fate of Blanche was still hanging in the balance. Pedro, on leaving +her so abruptly, had left orders that she be taken to his palace at +Toledo, but Blanche, fearing to trust herself to his power, tried to +slip from his grasp and finally succeeded in doing so. Arrived in +Toledo, she asked permission, before entering the palace, to go to the +cathedral, for mass; and once within the walls of the sanctuary, she +refused to go back to her guards, demanded the right of protection which +the churches had always possessed in the Middle Ages, and, finally, told +her story with such dramatic effect, that the clergy crowded about her, +the nobles unsheathed their swords and swore to uphold her cause, and a +revolution was begun which soon assumed great proportions and so +frightened Pedro that he consented to take back his wife and send away +the baleful Maria. For four years his nobles kept stern watch over him, +and he was never allowed to ride out of his palace without a guard of a +thousand men at his heels, so fearful were they that he might break away +from them, surround himself again with evil counsellors, and recommence +his career of wantonness and crime. Their efforts were at last of no +avail, as he eluded his followers one day upon a hunting expedition, +through the kindly intervention of a heavy fog, rode off to Segovia, +ordered his mother, who had been exercising a practical regency during +this period, to send him the great seal of state, and then he proceeded +to wreak vengeance upon all those who had been instrumental in his +humiliation. Blanche was sent to prison at Medina-Sidonia on a +trumped-up charge, was shamefully treated during the time of her +captivity, and died in 1359, in the same year that Maria de Padilla, +discredited and cast aside, also found rest in death. Pitiful as these +stories are, they serve to show that women, even at this time, when +Spain was the seat of learning and refinement for all Europe, were but +the servants of their lords and masters, and that passion still ran +riot, while justice sat upon a tottering seat. + +In Aragon, near the close of this fourteenth century, similar scenes of +cruelty were enacted, although the king, Juan I., cannot be compared for +cruelty with the infamous Pedro. Burke has said that if Pedro was not +absolutely the most cruel of men, he was undoubtedly the greatest +blackguard who ever sat upon a throne, and King Juan was far from +meriting similar condemnation. Sibyl de Foix, his stepmother, had +exercised so strange and wonderful a power over his father, that when +Juan came to the throne he was more than eager to turn upon this +enchantress and make her render up the wide estates which the late king +had been prevailed upon to leave to her. It is actually asserted that +Juan charged Sibyl with witchcraft and insisted that she had bewitched +his father and that she had all sorts of mysterious dealings with Satan +and his evil spirits. Whatever the truth may have been, the unhappy +queen only escaped torture and death by surrendering all of the property +which had been given her. Juan was by no means a misogynist, however, +for he was noted for his gallantry, and his beautiful queen, Violante, +was surrounded by a bevy of court beauties who were famed throughout all +Christendom at this time. Juan's capital at Saragossa was the talk of +all Europe. It became famed for its elegance, was a veritable school of +good manners and courtly grace, and to it flocked poets and countless +gentlemen who were knightly soldiers of fortune, only too willing to +serve a noble patron who knew how to appreciate the value of their +chivalry. Violante was the acknowledged leader of this gay and brilliant +world; at her instigation courts of love are said to have been +established, and in every way did she try to reproduce the brilliant +social life which had been the wonder and admiration of the world before +Simon de Montfort had blighted the fair life of Provence. More than ever +before in Spain, women were put into positions of prominence in this +court; and so great was the poetic and literary atmosphere which +surrounded them, that they were known more than once to try their hands +at verse making. Their attempts were modest, however, and no one has +ever been tempted to quote against them Alphonse Karr's well-known +epigram: "A woman who writes, commits two sins: she increases the number +of books, and she decreases the number of women;" for they were content, +for the most part, to be the source of inspiration for their minstrel +knights. Violante's gay court was looked upon with questioning eye, +however, by the majority of her rude subjects, and, finally, when the +sum demanded from the Cortes each year for the maintenance of this +brilliant establishment continued to increase in a most unreasonable +manner, the Cortes called a halt, Violante was obliged to change her +mode of life, and the number of her ladies in waiting was reduced by +half, while other unnecessary expenses were cut in proportion. + + + + +Chapter XVII + +The Age of Isabella--Spanish Unity + + +In the first half of the fifteenth century in Spain there was one woman, +Isabella of Portugal, who deserves to be remembered for her many good +qualities and for the fact that she was the mother of the great Queen +Isabella. It was as the wife of John II. of Castile that the elder +Isabella was brought into the political life of the time and made to +play her part. This King John was one of the weakest and in some ways +the most inefficient of monarchs, for, in spite of his intelligence, his +good manners, and his open and substantial appreciation of the learned +men of his time, his political life was contemptible, as he was +completely under the control of the court favorite, Alvaro de Luna. +_Alvaro de Luna era el hombre mas politico, disimulado, y astuto de su +tiempo_ [Alvaro de Luna was the most politic, deceitful, and astute man +of his time], so says the Spanish historian Quintana; and as Burke puts +it, he had the strongest head and the bravest heart in all Castile. +There was no one to excel him in knightly sport, no one lived in greater +magnificence, and he was, in truth, "the glass of fashion, the mould of +form, the observed of all observers." To this perfect knight, the king +was a mere puppet who could be moved this way or that with perfect +impunity. So complete was the ascendency of Luna, that it is said on +good authority that the king hesitated to go to bed until he had +received his favorite's permission. When King John's first wife, Maria +of Portugal, died in 1445, it was his desire to marry a princess of the +royal house of France; but, for his own reasons, the Lord of Luna willed +otherwise, and the king, submissive, obeyed orders and espoused Isabella +of Portugal, a granddaughter of King John I. No sooner had this fiery +princess taken her place beside King John, after their marriage in 1450, +than she began to assert her independence in a way which caused great +scandal at the court and brought dismay to the heart of Alvaro de Luna. +Isabella opposed the plans of this masterful nobleman at every turn, +refused to accept his dictation about the slightest matter, declined to +make terms with him in any way, and declared herself entirely beyond his +control, in spite of the fact that he had been responsible for her +marriage. King John was at first as much surprised as any of the other +people at the boldness of his young queen, but he soon saw that it would +be possible, with Isabella's aid, to throw off the hateful yoke which +Luna had put about his neck, and this is what took place in a very short +time. The queen was more than a match for all who opposed her, court +intrigues, instigated by Luna, were to no avail, and in the end he had +to give up, beaten by a woman, and one whom he had hoped to make his +agent, or ally, in the further subjection of the king. A year after the +marriage of John and Isabella, the Princess Isabella was born, and with +her advent there came new hope for Spain. + +In the neighboring little kingdom of Navarre there was another princess +who lived at about the same time, who distinguished herself not by the +same boldness of manner perhaps, but by a quiet dignity, and by a wise +and temperate spirit which was often sorely tried. Blanche, Princess of +Navarre, had been married in 1419 to the Prince of Aragon, John; but in +the early years of their married life, before Navarre, the substantial +part of Blanche's marriage portion, came under her definite control, the +young prince spent the most of his time in Castile, where he was +connected with many of the court intrigues which were being woven around +the romantic figure of Alvaro de Luna. Finally, Blanche became Queen of +Navarre, upon her father's death in 1425, but John was still too much +concerned with his Castilian affairs to care to leave them and come to +take his place at the side of his wife's throne. For three years Blanche +was left to her own devices, and during that time she ruled her little +state without the aid or assistance of king or prime minister, and was +so eminently successful in all her undertakings that her capacity was +soon a matter of favorable comment. Finally, in 1428, John was forced to +leave Castile, as Luna had gained the upper hand for the moment, and he +considered this as a favorable opportunity to go to Navarre and gain +recognition as Queen Blanche's husband. Accordingly, he went in great +state to Pamplona, the capital city, and there, with imposing +ceremonies, the public and official coronation of John and Blanche was +celebrated. At the same time, Blanche's son Charles was recognized as +his mother's successor in her ancestral kingdom. But Navarre was not a +congenial territory for King John, who was of a restless, impulsive +disposition; and he was so bored by the provincial gayety of Pamplona +that after a very short stay he could endure it no longer, and set off +for Italy, leaving Blanche in entire control as before. Navarre was a +sort of halfway ground between France and the various governments of +Spain, and was often the centre of much intrigue and plotted treachery; +but John was so completely overshadowed now by Luna's almost absolute +power, that he knew there was no field for his activity at home. +Blanche, however, was confronted more than once by the most delicate +situations, as her good city of Pamplona was constantly filled with the +agents of foreign powers; but so firm was the queen's character, and so +careful were her judgments, that she was able to administer her +government until her death, in 1441, with much success and very little +criticism. + +The next woman to occupy a conspicuous place in the annals of Aragon and +Navarre is Dona Juana Henriquez, the second wife of this same John II. +Dona Juana was the daughter of Don Fadrique Henriquez, Admiral of +Castile, who had become the most influential man in the kingdom during a +moment of temporary disgrace for Alvaro de Luna; and at this time of his +success, for factional reasons, John considered that an alliance with +the admiral might further his own plans with respect to Castile. This +second wife was not a woman of high birth, and was totally unaccustomed +to the new surroundings in which she found herself placed; but with the +quick adaptive power which is possessed by women to so marked a degree, +Juana was soon able to hold her own at court and to make a good showing, +in fact, on any occasion. She was a very beautiful woman, of the +traditional Spanish type, with dark eyes and dark hair, and a very +engaging manner, and to her cleverness she joined a great ambition which +made her unceasing in her efforts for her husband's advancement. She was +inclined to be haughty and domineering in tone, was not overscrupulous, +as might have been expected of one who had lived in the atmosphere of +the Castilian court at this time, and the sum total of her efforts did +little more than to perpetuate the period of strife and turmoil. The +admiral, Don Fadrique, was in control for but a short time; and upon the +return to power of Alvaro, John was driven out of the country, after +being wounded in battle, and the admiral himself was killed in the +fighting at Olmedo. John took his wife with him to Pamplona, where he +now went, as that city offered him a most convenient exile. His return +to his wife's country was not made in peace, for no sooner had he +arrived than he proceeded to dispossess his son Charles, who had been +openly acknowledged as his mother's heir at the time of her coronation. +In the warfare which ensued, and which was a snarl of petty, selfish +interests, Juana did yeoman service in her husband's cause. At the time +of her hurried flight to Navarre, she had tarried for a short time in +the little town of Sos, in Aragon, and there she had given birth to a +son, Fernando, who was to be instrumental in bringing peace and glory to +Spain in spite of the fact that he first saw the light in the midst of +such tumult and confusion. Notwithstanding her delicate condition, Juana +was soon in the thick of the fray, as she hastened to the town of +Estella, which had been threatened, fortified the place, and defended it +effectually from all the attacks made upon it by the hostile forces. She +seems to have been a born fighter, and, though her efforts may often +have been misdirected, she must have exerted a powerful influence upon +the mind of her son, who was to show himself at a later day as good a +fighter in a larger cause. + +To turn back to Castile now for a time, in the labyrinth of this much +involved period, where the duplication of names and the multiplicity of +places makes it difficult to thread one's way intelligently, it will be +found that the court, during the reign of Henry IV., was chiefly +distinguished by its scandalous immorality. Quintana, in his volume +entitled the _Grandezas de Madrid_, gives enough information on the +subject to reveal the fact that the roues of that period could learn +little from their counterparts to-day, as the most shameless proceedings +were of everyday occurrence, and men and women both seemed to vie with +each other in their wickedness. It would be somewhat unjust to include +the great body of the people in this vicious class, as the most +conspicuous examples of human degradation and degeneracy were to be +found at the court, but the fact remains that public ideas in regard to +moral questions were very lax; the clergy was corrupt, and the moral +tone of the whole country was deplorably low, as judged by the standards +of to-day. Women deceived their husbands with much the same relish as +Boccaccio depicts in his _Decameron_; passions were everywhere the +moving forces, in the higher and lower classes as well, and nowhere was +there to be seen the continence which comes from an intelligent +self-control. + +In the midst of this carnival of vice and corruption, King Henry, the +older brother of the Princess Isabella, was a most striking figure. He +had been divorced from his first wife, Blanche of Aragon, on the ground +of impotence, but had succeeded, in spite of this humiliation, in +contracting another alliance, this time with the beautiful, but not +overscrupulous, Juana of Portugal. Beltran de Cueva, a brilliant +nobleman, was the favorite and influential person at the court at this +time, and his gradual rise to favor had been due in no small measure to +the protection of the new queen, who was Beltran's all but acknowledged +mistress and took no pains to conceal the matter at any time. In fact, +at a great tournament held near Madrid in 1461, soon after Juana's +arrival at the court, Beltran posed as her preferred champion, and held +the lists against all comers in defence of his mistress's preeminent and +matchless beauty. The king was far from displeased at this liaison +between Beltran and the queen, and he was so delighted at the knight's +unvarying success in this tournament, that the story goes that he +founded a monastery upon the spot and named it, in honor of Saint Jerome +and Beltran, San Geronimo del Paso, or of the "passage of arms"! The +king was little moved by all this, for the simple reason that he was +paying a most ardent court at the same time to one of the queen's ladies +in waiting. This Lady Guiomar, his mistress, was beautiful, but bold and +vicious, as her relations with such a king demonstrate, but for a time +at least she was riding upon the crest of the wave. Proud in her +questionable honor, and daring to be jealous of the real queen, she made +King Henry pay dearly for her favors, and she was soon installed in a +palace of her own and living in a splendor and magnificence which +rivalled that of the queen herself. The Archbishop of Seville, strange +to relate, openly espoused her cause. Her insolent and domineering ways +were a fit counterpart to those of the queen, and the unfortunate people +were soon making open complaint. Beltran, the king in fact, was the open +and accepted favorite of the queen, and Henry, the king in name only, +was devoting himself to a vain and shallow court beauty who wished to be +a veritable queen and longed for the overthrow of her rival! Such was +the sad spectacle presented to the world by Castile at this time, but +the crisis was soon to come which would clarify the air and lead to a +more satisfactory condition in the state. Matters were hastened to their +climax when the queen gave birth, in 1462, to a daughter who was called +after her mother, Juana; but so evident was the paternity of this +pitiful little princess, that she was at once christened La Beltraneja +in common parlance; and by that sobriquet she is best known in history. +It is doubtful if the sluggish moral natures of this time would have +been moved by this fact, if the king had not insisted that this baby +girl should be acknowledged as his daughter and heiress to the crown of +Castile. This was too much for the leaders of the opposition, and they +demanded that Henry's younger brother, Alfonso, be recognized as his +successor. This proposition brought about civil warfare, which was ended +by Alfonso's death in 1468, and then Isabella was generally recognized +as the real successor to her unworthy brother Henry, in spite of the +claims he continued to put forth in favor of La Beltraneja. + +Before the cessation of domestic hostilities, Isabella had been sorely +tried by various projects which had been advanced for her marriage. She +had been brought up by her mother, Queen Isabella, in the little town of +Arevalo, which had been settled upon her at the time of the death of her +husband, King John II. There, in quiet and seclusion, quite apart from +the vice and tumult of the capital, the little princess had been under +the close tutelage of the Church, as her mother had grown quite devout +with advancing years; and as Isabella ripened into womanhood, it became +evident that she possessed a high seriousness and a strength of +character quite unusual. Still, all was uncertain as to her fate. Her +brother Henry had first endeavored to marry her to Alfonso V. of +Portugal, the elder and infamous brother of his own shameless queen, but +Isabella had declined this alliance on the ground that it had not been +properly ratified by the Cortes of Castile, and as a result the plan was +soon dropped. In the midst of the rebellion which had broken out after +Henry's attempt to foist La Beltraneja upon the state, he had proposed +as a conciliatory measure that one of the most turbulent of the +factional leaders, Don Pedro Giron, Grand Master of Calatrava, should +wed Isabella, and the offer had been accepted. This man, who was old +enough to be her father, was stained with vice, in spite of his exalted +position in the religious Order of Calatrava, and his character was so +notoriously vile that the mere mention of such an alliance was nothing +short of insult to Isabella. Again she did not allow herself to be +dominated by her brother, and after announcing that she utterly refused +to consent to such an arrangement, she shut herself up in her apartments +and declared her intention of resisting any attempts which might be made +to coerce her. But the king gave no heed to her remonstrances, and made +arrangements for the wedding festivities, the bridegroom having been +summoned. The pope had absolved the profligate grand master from his +vows of celibacy, which he had never kept, and poor Isabella, sustained +only by the moral support of her courageous mother, was beginning to +quake and tremble, as she knew not what might happen, and the prospect +for her future happiness was far from good. A providential illness +overcame the dreaded bridegroom when he was less than forty leagues from +Madrid, as it turned out, and Isabella was able to breathe again freely. + +With the death of the younger Alfonso, there were many who urged +Isabella to declare herself at once as the Queen of Castile and to head +a revolution against her brother, the unworthy Henry. Her natural +inclinations, as well as the whole character of her early education, had +made her devout, almost bigoted, by nature, and it was but natural that +her advisers at this time in her career were mostly members of the +clergy, who saw in this young queen-to-be a great support for the +Spanish Church in the future. But this girl of sixteen was wiser than +her advisers, for she refused to head a revolution, and contented +herself with a claim to the throne upon her brother's death. Such a +claim necessarily had to run counter to the claim of the dubious +Princess Juana, and to discredit her cause as much as possible her +sobriquet _La Beltraneja_ was zealously revived. Sure of the support of +the clergy, and still wishing to be near to her advisers, Isabella went +to the monastery at Avila, where, it is said, deputations from all +parts of Castile came to entreat her to assume the crown at once. Her +policy of delay made possible an interview between sister and brother, +at which Henry, unable to withstand the manifest current of public +sentiment, agreed to accept Isabella as his successor and as the lawful +heir to the throne of Castile. With this question settled in this +satisfactory way, the matter of Isabella's marriage again became an +affair of national importance. There were suitors in plenty, Richard, +Duke of Gloucester, brother of Edward IV. of England, and the Duke of +Guienne, brother of Louis XI. and heir to the French throne, being among +the number; but the young Isabella, influenced as much by policy as by +any personal feeling in the matter, had decided that she would wed +Fernando, son of John II. of Aragon and his second wife, the dashing +Dona Juana Henriquez, and nothing would change her from this fixed +purpose. In a former day it had been a woman, Queen Berenguela, who had +labored long and successfully for the union of Castile and Leon; and now +another woman, this time a girl still in her teens, was laboring for a +still greater Spanish unity, which will consolidate the interests of the +two kingdoms of Aragon and Castile and give to all Spain the peace which +was now such a necessity to the future well-being of the country. There +were numerous obstacles thrown in the way of this marriage, which was +not pleasing to all of the Castilian factions. The Archbishop of Seville +tried to kidnap Isabella to prevent it, and would have done so but for +the activity of another prelate, the Archbishop of Toledo, who rescued +the unfortunate maiden and carried her off to sure friends in +Valladolid, where she awaited Fernando's coming. + +Burke gives an admirable description of Isabella at this time, in the +following lines: "That royal and noble lady was then in the full bloom +of her maiden beauty. She had just completed her eighteenth year. In +stature somewhat superior to the majority of her countrywomen, and +inferior to none in personal grace and charm, her golden hair and her +bright blue eyes told perhaps of her Lancastrian ancestry. Her beauty +was remarkable in a land where beauty has never been rare; her dignity +was conspicuous in a country where dignity is the heritage not of a +class but of a nation. Of her courage, no less than of her discretion, +she had already given abundant proofs. Bold and resolute, modest and +reserved, she had all the simplicity of a great lady born for a great +position. She became in after life something of an autocrat and overmuch +of a bigot. But it could not be laid to the charge of a persecuted +princess of nineteen that she was devoted to the service of her +religion." Such was Isabella when she married Fernando; and the wedding +was quietly celebrated at Valladolid, in the house of a friend, Don Juan +de Vivero, while the warlike Archbishop of Toledo had charge of the +ceremony. Never was there a simpler royal wedding in all the annals of +Spanish history: there was no throng of gay nobles, there were none of +the customary feasts or tournaments, there was no military display, no +glitter of jewels, no shimmer of silks and satins, but all was quiet and +serious, and the few guests at this solemn consecration seemed impressed +with the dignity of the occasion. The pathway of the young princess was +not all strewn with roses, however, as her marriage seemed to enrage her +degenerate brother and to stimulate him to new deeds of unworthiness. In +spite of the fact that King Henry's shameless conduct in private life +had been given a severe rebuke, by implication at least, at the time +that Isabella was being urged on all sides to declare herself as queen +and dispossess her brother, this perverted monarch continued his +profligate career in most open fashion. He had not only one mistress +but many of them at the court, he loaded them with riches and with +favors, and often, in a somewhat questionable excess of religious zeal, +he appointed them to posts of honor and importance in conventual +establishments! No sooner had Isabella's wedding been celebrated than +Henry began to stir up trouble again, declared that the queen's +daughter, La Beltraneja, was the only lawful heir to his estates, and to +further his projects he succeeded in arranging for a betrothal ceremony +between this young woman and the young Duke of Guienne, heir presumptive +to the crown of France, who had been one of Isabella's suitors, as will +be remembered. This French alliance, threatening for a moment, was soon +impaired by the unexpected death of the young duke, and Isabella's +position was strengthened daily by the growing disbelief in La +Beltraneja's legitimacy. To give in detail an account of all the plots +which were concocted against Isabella would take many chapters in +itself, for she met with bitter opposition in spite of the fact that she +seems to have won the sympathies of the larger part of the population of +the two countries. + +In the midst of this continual intrigue came the news of King Henry's +death in 1474, and then Isabella, who had been biding her time, was +proclaimed queen by her own orders, and the proclamation was made at +Segovia, which was then her place of residence. As a mere matter of +curiosity, it may be interesting to record the long list of titles which +actually belonged to Isabella at this time. She was Queen of Castile, +Aragon, Leon, Sicily, Granada, Toledo, Valencia, Galicia, the Mallorcas, +Seville, Sardinia, Cordova, Corsica, Murcia, Jaen, the Algarves, +Alguynias, Gibraltar, the Canary Islands, Countess of Barcelona, +Sovereign Lady of Biscay and Molina, Duchess of Athens and Neopatria, +Countess of Roussillon, Cerdagne, Marchioness of Ovistan and Goziano! +After assuming the heavy burden implied by this somewhat overpowering +list of titles, the young queen's first serious annoyance came from her +husband, strange as the case may seem. Fernando of Aragon was the +nearest living male representative of King Henry, and he somewhat +selfishly began to take steps to supplant Isabella in her succession. +Little did he know his wife, however, if he imagined it possible to +deprive her of Castile, and events soon showed that she was the stronger +of the two. At her orders, the laws and precedents with regard to royal +succession were carefully examined, and it was soon published abroad +that there was no legal objection to her assumption of power. Fernando +was appeased to some degree by certain concessions made by his wife, +their daughter Juana was recognized as heiress of Castile, and, all in +all, in spite of his disgruntled state of mind, he wisely concluded to +remain at Isabella's side and help to fight her battles. A new cause for +alarm soon appeared: another of Isabella's former suitors, Alfonso, King +of Portugal, was affianced to the pitiful La Beltraneja, the two were +proclaimed King and Queen of Castile, and the country was at once +invaded by a hostile force. Isabella interested herself personally in +the equipment of her troops, she faced every emergency bravely, and +after a short campaign her banners were triumphant and all things seemed +to indicate that an era of peace had been begun. The pope dissolved the +marriage between Alfonso and La Beltraneja soon after, and these two +unhappy mortals forthwith retired from the world, she to the convent of +Saint Clare at Coimbra, while the poor king resigned his crown and +became a Franciscan monk. So great, in fact, was Isabella's victory at +this time, and so keen was her appreciation of the fact that her +greatest cause for alarm had been completely removed from the scene of +action, that she walked barefooted in a procession to the church of +Saint Paul at Tordesillas, to express her feeling of thanksgiving for +her great success. + +Following close upon the heels of this last stroke of good fortune for +Castile came the news that the old King of Aragon, Fernando's father, +was dead, and now, in truth, came that unity of Spain which had been the +dream of more than one Utopian mind in days gone by. With fortune +smiling upon them in so many ways, the sovereigns of this united realm +were still confronted by many serious problems of government, especially +in Castile, which called for speedy settlement. The long years of weak +and vicious administration had filled the country with all kinds of +abuses, and the task of internal improvement was difficult enough to +cause even a stouter heart to quail. The queen in all these matters +displayed a rare sagacity and developed a rare faculty for handling men +which stood her in good stead. The recalcitrant nobles and the +rebellious commoners were all brought to terms by her influence, and her +power was soon unquestioned. She had an army at her back and a crowd of +officers ready to carry out and enforce her instructions to the letter, +but, more than all this, her great and personal triumph was the result +of her tremendous personal power and magnetism. She travelled all over +Spain in a most tireless fashion, she met the people in a familiar +manner, and showed her sympathy for them in countless ways; but there +was always about her something of that divinity which doth hedge a king, +which made all both fear and respect her. No nook or corner of the whole +country was too remote, her visits covered the whole realm, and +everywhere it was plain to see that her coming had been followed by the +most satisfactory results. Having thus created a great and mighty +public sentiment in her favor, Isabella was not slow to attack the great +questions of national reforms, which were sadly in need of her +attention. She boldly curtailed the privileges of the grandees of Spain, +and to such good effect that she transformed, in an incredibly short +space of time, the most turbulent aristocracy on the continent into a +body of devoted and submissive retainers, the counterpart of which was +not to be found in any other country of Europe. Her wide grasp of +affairs is seen in the support she was willing to give to Columbus in +his voyage overseas, and time and time again she showed herself equal to +the most trying situations in a way which was most surprising in one of +her age and experience. Her firmness of character was ever felt, +although her manners were always mild and her whole attitude was +calculated to conciliate rather than to antagonize. + +Pure and discreet in every way, Isabella was ever a zealous Christian, +and she never failed to aid the Church when the means were within her +reach. The gradual decline of the Moorish power in Spain had given rise +to a most unfortunate spirit of religious intolerance, with which +Isabella was soon called upon to deal, and her action in this matter is +but characteristic of the time in which she lived. Spain was filled with +Jews, who had settled unmolested under the Moslem rule, and there were +also many Moriscoes, or people of mixed Spanish and Moorish origin; and +these unfortunates were now to be submitted to the tortures of that +diabolical institution known as the Inquisition, because they were not +enthusiastic in their support of the Catholic religion. Isabella tried +to oppose the introduction of these barbarous practices into Castile, +but by specious argument her scruples were overcome and she was made to +bow to the will of the pope and his legates. In the workings of the +Inquisition little distinction was made between men and women, and both +seem to have suffered alike at the hands of these cruel ministers of the +Church. In 1498, for the first time, it was decreed that men and women +held under arrest by order of the inquisitor should be provided with +separate prisons, and it is easy to imagine from this one statement that +Isabella must have been very much of a bigot, or she could not have +allowed so flagrant an abuse to exist for any length of time, no matter +what the occasion for it. When the power of the inquisitor seemed about +to extend to the Jews for the first time, they offered to Fernando and +Isabella thirty thousand pieces of silver, for the final campaigns +against the Moors, if they might be allowed to live unmolested. The +proposition was being favorably entertained, when Torquemada, the chief +inquisitor, suddenly appeared before the king and queen, with a crucifix +in his uplifted hand; and if the traditional account be true, he +addressed them in these words: "Judas sold his Master for thirty pieces +of silver, your highnesses are about to do the same for thirty thousand; +behold Him, take Him, and hasten to sell Him." Impressed by this +dramatic presentation of the subject, Isabella was impelled to sign the +decrees which banished the Jews from Spain and led to so much slaughter +and persecution. All of this side of Isabella's character causes some +expression of surprise perhaps, but it must be remembered that her +religious zeal and enthusiasm were such that anyone who dared to oppose +the power of Rome in any way could have no claim upon her of any kind. + +This same trait of character is everywhere prominent in Isabella's +treatment of the Moors. In the year 1487 the important Moorish city of +Malaga was compelled finally to surrender to the armies of Fernando and +Isabella after a most heroic defence, but these Christian rulers could +feel no pity for their unfortunate captives, and were unwilling to show +any sense of appreciation of their valor. Accordingly, the whole +population of some fifteen thousand people was sold into slavery and +scattered throughout Europe! Prescott, in his history of the time of +Fernando and Isabella, states that the clergy in the Spanish camp wanted +to have the whole population put to the sword, but to this Isabella +would not consent. Burke gives the following details with regard to the +fate of all these prisoners of war: "A hundred choice warriors were sent +as a gift to the pope. Fifty of the most beautiful girls were presented +to the Queen of Naples, thirty more to the Queen of Portugal, others to +the ladies of her court, and the residue of both sexes were portioned +off among the nobles, the knights, and the common soldiers of the army, +according to their rank and influence." If Isabella showed herself +tender-hearted in not allowing a regular massacre of these poor Moors, +she was far less compassionate with regard to the Jews and the renegade +Christians who were within the walls of Malaga when the city was taken. +These poor unfortunates were burned at the stake, and Albarca, a +contemporary Church historian, in describing the scene, says that these +awful fires were "illuminations most grateful to the Catholic piety of +Fernando and Isabella." + +Isabella shows this same general mental temper in her whole attitude to +war and warlike deeds, for she seems to have possessed little of that +real sentiment or pity which women are supposed to show. Tolstoi has +said that the first and chief thing that should be looked for in a woman +is fear, but this remark cannot be applied in any way to Isabella, for +no fear was ever found in her. In the camp at Granada, in those last +days of struggle, the queen appeared on the field daily, superbly +mounted, and dressed in complete armor; and she gave much time to the +inspection of the quarters of the soldiers and reviewed the troops at +her pleasure. One day she said, in talking to some of her officers, that +she would like to go nearer to the city walls for a closer inspection of +the place, whereupon a small escort of chosen men was immediately +detailed to take the queen to a better point for observing the city and +its means of defence. They all advanced boldly, the queen in the front +rank, and so angered the Moors by their insolence, so small was their +party, that the gates of the city suddenly opened and a large body of +citizens came forth to punish them for their temerity. In spite of the +unequal numbers, the Christian knights, inspired by the presence and the +coolness of their queen, who was apparently unmoved by the whole scene, +performed such miracles of valor that two thousand Moors were slain in a +short time and their fellows compelled to retire in confusion. + +With the conquest of the Moors, the spreading of the influence of Spain +beyond the seas became a more immediate question. Its solution, however, +was still prevented by the theories of statesmen and theologians. +Columbus had won the queen to his cause during the famous audience at +the summer court at Salamanca, when he was presented to the sovereigns +by Cardinal de Mendoza, at which interview, we are told, he "had no eyes +for any potentate but Isabella." But after years of disappointment to +Columbus, the queen was again the great power to further his project: +she offered to pledge her crown jewels to defray the cost of the +expedition. Thus a speedy issue was obtained, and to Isabella's +determination Spain owes a glory which gilds the reign of this queen +with imperishable lustre. + + + + +Chapter XVIII + +The Women of the Sixteenth Century + + +The wealth which had come to Spain as the result of her conquests in +Moorish territory, and, far more, the treasure which was beginning to +pour into the country from the new Spanish possessions beyond the seas, +brought to the old peninsula a possibility for lavish and brilliant +display in dress which was by no means disregarded. All Europe, in this +same period of the Renaissance, had been undergoing to a greater or less +degree this social transformation, but the looms of Valencia and Granada +furnished the silks and brocades which other countries bought with +eagerness, and Spain may be considered very properly as the home of all +this courtly show. The wonderful gold cloths which were woven by the +deft fingers of the Moriscoes were everywhere prized by fine ladies and +ardent churchmen, for there was no finer material for a fetching robe of +state in all the world, and no altar cloth or priestly robe could +possess excelling beauty and not owe a debt to Spain. Someone has said +that women are compounds of plain-sewing and make-believe, daughters of +Sham and Hem, and, without questioning the truth of the statement, the +same remark might be applied to both the clergy and the women of this +period at least, if "fine-sewing" be substituted for "plain-sewing" in +the epigram. Isabella herself, in spite of her well-known serious +character, dressed in a way which was magnificent beyond belief, and +the smallest provincial court was a marvel of brave array. Never had the +women adorned themselves so splendidly before, the fashions were made +and followed with much scrupulous precision, and so great was the sum of +money expended by people of all classes, high and low, that the +far-seeing and prudent began to fear the consequences. It is said that +on more than one occasion the Cortes deplored the prevalent extravagance +and the foolish pride which made even the laboring classes vie in +richness of dress with the nobility, "whereby they not only squander +their own estate, but bring poverty and want to all." When, however, +Fernando and Isabella discovered that gold was being used in large +amounts in the weaving of these costly tissues, they issued an order +which not only prohibited the wearing of this finery, but inflicted +heavy penalties upon all those who should import, sell, or manufacture +any textures containing gold or silver threads! + +While Her Most Catholic Majesty was issuing edicts of this kind relating +to the material affairs of life, it must not be supposed that she was in +any way neglecting the humanities, for the truth is quite the contrary. +Never before had such encouragement been given to learning by a Spanish +sovereign, and never before had there been so little jealousy of +foreigners in the matter of scholarship. Isabella was the leader in this +broad movement, and from all parts of Europe she summoned distinguished +men in science and literature, who were installed at her court in +positions of honor or were given chairs in the universities. The final +expulsion of the Moors had brought about an era of peace and quiet which +was much needed, as Spain had been rent by so much warfare and domestic +strife, and for so many years, that the more solid attainments in +literature had been much neglected, and the Spanish nobles were covered +with but a polite veneer of worldly information and knowledge which too +often cracked and showed the rough beneath. Isabella endeavored to +change this state of affairs, and by her own studies, and by her +manifest interest in the work of the schools, she soon succeeded in +placing learning in a position of high esteem, even among the nobles, +who did not need it for their advancement in the world. Paul Jove wrote: +"No Spaniard was accounted noble who was indifferent to learning;" and +so great was the queen's influence, that more than one scion of a noble +house was glad to enter upon a scholarly career and hold a university +appointment. It may well be imagined that in all this new intellectual +movement which was stimulated by Isabella, it was the sober side of +literature and of scholarship which was encouraged, as a light and vain +thing such as lyric poetry would have been as much out of place in the +court of the firm defender of the Catholic faith as the traditional bull +in the traditional china shop. Isabella, under priestly influences, +favored and furthered the revival of interest in the study of Greek and +Latin, and it is in this realm of classical study that the scholars of +the time were celebrated. + +The power of example is a wonderful thing always, and in the present +instance the direct results of Isabella's interest in education may be +seen in the fact that many of the women of her day began to show an +unusual interest in schools and books. The opportunities for an +education were not limited to the members of the sterner sex, and it +appears that both men and women were eager to take advantage of the many +new opportunities which were afforded them at this epoch. A certain Dona +Beatriz de Galindo was considered the greatest Latin scholar among the +women of her time, and for several years her praises were sounded in all +the universities. Finally, Dona Beatriz was appointed special teacher +in the Latin language to the queen herself; and so great was her success +with this royal pupil, that she was rewarded with the title _la Latina_, +by which she was commonly known ever after. According to a Spanish +proverb, "the best counsel is that of a woman," and surely Isabella +acted upon that supposition. This is not all, however, for not only was +a woman called to give lessons to the queen, but women were intrusted +with important university positions, which they filled with no small +credit to themselves. Good Dr. Holmes has said: "Our ice-eyed +brain-women are really admirable if we only ask of them just what they +can give and no more," but the bluestockings of Isabella's day were by +no means ice-eyed or limited in their accomplishments, and they managed +to combine a rare grace and beauty of the dark southern type with a +scholarship which was most unusual, all things taken into consideration. +Dona Francisca de Lebrija, a daughter of the great Andalusian humanist +Antonio de Lebrija, followed her father's courses in the universities of +Seville, Salamanca, and Alcala, and finally, in recognition of her great +talents, she was invited to lecture upon rhetoric before the Alcala +students. At Salamanca, too, there was a liberal spirit shown toward +women, and there it was that Dona Lucia de Medrano delivered a course of +most learned lectures upon classical Latinity. These are merely the more +illustrious among the learned women of the time, and must not be +considered as the only cases on record. Educational standards for the +majority of both men and women were not high, as a matter of course, +and, from the very nature of things, there were more learned men than +learned women; but the fact remains that Isabella's position in the +whole matter, her desire to learn and her desire to give other women the +same opportunity and the same desire, did much to encourage an ambition +of this kind among the wives and daughters of Spain. The queen was a +conspicuous incarnation of woman's possibilities, and her enlightened +views did much to broaden the feminine horizon. Where she led the way +others dared to follow, and the net result was a distinct advance in +national culture. + +In spite of all this intellectual advance, the game of politics was +still being played, and women were still, in more than one instance, the +unhappy pawns upon the board who were sacrificed from time to time in +the interest of some important move. The success of Spanish unity had +aroused Spanish ambition, Fernando and Isabella had arranged political +marriages for their children, and the sixteenth century was to show +that, in one instance at least, this practical and utilitarian view of +the marriage relation brought untold misery and hardship to one poor +Spanish princess. In each case the royal alliances which were contracted +by the Spanish rulers for their various children were the subject of +much careful planning and negotiation, and yet, in spite of it all, +these measures constitute the most conspicuous failure in all their long +reign. Particularly pathetic and distressing is the story of the poor +Princess Juana, whose prospects were most brilliant and whose destiny +was most cruel. Juana was married in 1496 to the Archduke Philip of +Austria, Governor of the Netherlands and heir to the great domain of his +father, the Emperor Maximilian, and the wedding had been celebrated in a +most gorgeous fashion. It was in the month of August that a splendid +Spanish fleet set out from Laredo, a little port between Bilbao and +Santander, to carry the Spanish maiden to her waiting bridegroom. As is +usual in such affairs, the beauty of the girl had been much extolled, +and the archduke, then in his eighteenth year, was all aglow with hope +and expectation. Watchmen had been posted to keep a lookout for the +ships from Spain, and when they finally came in sight with their +glistening white sails and their masts and spars all gay with flags and +streamers, salutes were fired and they received a royal welcome. The +Spanish admiral in person led the Princess Juana to meet her affianced +husband, and soon after, in the great cathedral at Lille, the two young +people were married in the midst of great festivities. It seems almost +pitiful to think of the human side of all this great and glittering +show. Juana was barely seventeen years of age, alone, without mother or +father or sister or brother, in a strange land, in the midst of a +strange court, where all about her were speaking a strange language, and +the wife of a youth whom she had never seen until the eve of her +marriage! For a few long weeks Juana was somewhat reserved in her new +surroundings, and in her heart she longed again for Spain; but as the +days passed she became accustomed to her new home, took pleasure in the +greater liberty which was now accorded her as a married woman, and soon, +neglected by her parents, so far as any show of affection was concerned, +she learned to grow indifferent to them and to all their interests. By +the year 1500, however, Juana had become a most important person, as +death had claimed her brother and her older sisters and she now remained +the rightful heir not only to Aragon, but to her mother's realm of +Castile as well. This fact caused much uneasiness in Spain, as such an +outcome was most unexpected. Secret agents who had been sent to Flanders +to inquire into the political and religious views of the archduchess +brought back most discouraging reports. It was asserted that she was no +longer a careful Catholic, that she "had little or no devotion," and +that she was "in the hands of worthless clerics from Paris." As a matter +of fact, Juana, once freed from the ecclesiastical restraints which had +been imposed upon her in her younger days by her pious mother, did what +it was most natural for her to do,--she went to the opposite extreme. +Spain, at that time, with its Inquisition and its fervid zeal for Rome, +was the most religious country in Europe, while in the Netherlands there +was a growing liberal spirit which attracted the archduchess. It must +have been annoying to her to feel that her mother, Isabella, was in a +constant fret about the condition of her soul, while otherwise she was +treated with a distant formality, entirely devoid of a mother's love, +and it is no small wonder that she refused to accept a spiritual +director and father confessor who had been sent from Spain to save her +from perdition. + +With all these facts in mind, Isabella was greatly troubled, for the +thought that the indifferent Juana might some day reign in her stead and +undo all that she had done with so much labor for the glory of the +Church was naturally repugnant to her devout nature. Finally, after a +son was born to Juana, Charles, who was to become at a later day the +Emperor Charles V., the queen decided upon a somewhat doubtful procedure +to avert, for a time at least, the impending catastrophe. The Cortes, +under royal pressure, was induced to provide for the government after +Isabella's death, in case Juana might be absent from the kingdom, or in +case of her "being present in Castile, but, unwilling or unable to +reign." Under any or all of those circumstances, it was provided that +Fernando should act as regent until her son Charles had reached his +twentieth year, a rather unusual age, at a time when young princes were +frequently declared to have attained their majority at fifteen or +sixteen. Isabella's intention in all this was too obvious, for it was +plainly a part of her plan that Juana should never have any share in the +government of the country of which she was the rightful heir. The whole +transaction smacks strongly of duplicity of the worst kind, for at the +very time that the Cortes was being prevailed upon to do this, Juana was +being given a royal welcome in both Aragon and Castile, for she had been +induced to come home for a visit; and she was even being given public +recognition as the future queen of these two countries. There were +feasts and tournaments given in her honor, Fernando and Isabella +introduced her to their subjects with apparent pleasure, and yet under +it all was this heartless trick which they had planned in utter defiance +of the law. Still, the law in Spain at this time was almost synonymous +with the wish of the sovereign; and so powerful was Isabella and so +great was her influence with her legislative body, that there was little +dissent to the plan for usurpation which had its origin in her fertile +brain. The reasons for this action will never be definitely known, +perhaps. It would hardly seem that Juana's lukewarm Catholicism would be +sufficient to warrant so radical a step, and it is difficult to give +credence to the vaguely circulated rumor that Juana was insane. + +Whether this alleged insanity was real or not, it served as a pretext +for the action taken, and the report regarding the unhappy princess was +soon common property. When Isabella drew her last breath in 1504, +Fernando artfully convoked the Cortes, formally renounced any interest +in the succession to the throne of Castile, and caused Juana and Philip +to be proclaimed as successors to Isabella and himself. Within two +months, however, Juana's claims were completely disregarded, it was +officially announced that she was not in her right mind, and Fernando +was empowered to take control of the Castilian government and rule as +regent, according to the terms of the decree which had been arranged by +Isabella some years before, and was to remain as a _de facto_ sovereign +until Charles had reached the specified majority. The statements which +were made to support the claim as to her insanity were not altogether +clear, and to-day at least they do not seem convincing. Her attitude of +indifference toward the extreme point of view taken by her mother in +regard to religion may have been scandalous, as no doubt it was at that +time, but it was hardly evidence of an impaired intellect. During her +last visit to Spain before her mother's death, Juana had resisted with +violence when she was imprisoned for a time and had not been allowed to +go to her husband, and such resistance was quite natural in a +high-spirited young woman who was being treated in a high-handed and +illegal manner; but because her jailer had been the Bishop of Burgos, +and because she had been detained by royal order, her action was +considered as a certain indication of mental derangement. Again, it was +asserted that on one occasion, soon after Juana's return to Flanders +from the place of her imprisonment, she gave unmistakable signs of +insanity in the course of a court quarrel. It seems that during her +absence a certain lady in waiting at her ducal court had succeeded in +winning the favor of Philip, and had received such marked attentions +from the archduke that the affair was soon gossiped about in every nook +and corner of the palace, from scullery maid to the lord high +chamberlain. Juana was given a full account of the whole affair before +she had been in the palace twenty-four hours, and it so enraged her that +she sought out her rival in her husband's affection, and, after a +terrible scene, clipped the golden locks of the fair enchantress so +close to her head that, for a time at least, her beauty was marred. This +was not dignified action, and it might well have been the act of any +angered woman under those circumstances, but in Spain the one terrible +word "insanity" was whispered about and no other explanation could or +would be accepted. Her sanity had never been questioned in Flanders, +and, in spite of her quick temper and many unreasonable acts, no one had +ever thought to fasten this terrible suspicion upon her. The game was +worth the candle, however; Isabella had been unwilling to take any +chances, and the ambiguous clause, "being present in Castile, but unable +or unwilling to reign," gave the hint which Fernando had been only too +willing to act upon, and the trumped-up charge of insanity was an easy +thing to sustain. + +Fernando's assumption of the regency, however, and the action of the +Cortes, which virtually disregarded the claims of Juana to the throne, +angered her and her husband still more, and they set out by ship for +Spain, after some delay, to demand an explanation. Fernando went to meet +them at the little village of Villafafila, and there, after an audience +with the archduke which took place in the little parish church and which +lasted for several hours, it was agreed between them that Juana, "on +account of her infirmities and sufferings, which decency forbids to be +related," was to be "refused under any circumstances to occupy herself +with the affairs of the kingdom," and it was mutually agreed that Juana +was to be prevented by force, if necessary, from taking any part in the +government of Castile! What happened in that interview no man can ever +know exactly, but it certainly appears that the wily Fernando had been +able by some trick or mass of false evidence to convince Philip that +Juana was really insane, and yet he had been with his wife almost +continually for the previous two years and had not thought of her in +that light, and Fernando had not even seen his daughter within that same +space of time! But then and there the fate of the much-abused princess +was definitely decided. Juana, self-willed as she had shown herself to +be, was not a woman of strong character or any great ability, and her +husband had so regularly controlled her and bent her to his will that he +found little trouble in the present instance in deposing her entirely, +that he might rule Castile in her stead. When Philip died suddenly two +months after he had assumed the reigns of government, Juana was stricken +with a great grief, which, it is said, did not at first find the +ordinary solace afforded by tears. She refused for a long time to +believe him dead; and when there was no longer any doubt of the fact, +she became almost violent in her sorrow. She had watched by her +husband's bedside during his illness, and was most suspicious of all who +had anything to do with her, for she thought, as was probably the case, +that Philip had been poisoned, and she feared that the same fate might +be reserved for her. In any event, Juana was treated with little or no +consideration at this unhappy moment; the Cardinal Ximenes, who had been +made grand inquisitor, assumed control of the state until Fernando might +be summoned from Naples, whither he had gone; and, all in all, the +rightful heir to the throne was utterly despised and disregarded. She +was allowed to follow her husband's body to its last resting place, and +then, after a brief delay, she went to live at Arcos, where she was well +watched and guarded by her jealous father, who feared that some +disaffected nobles might seek her out and gain her aid in organizing a +revolt against his own government. While in this seclusion, Juana was +sought in marriage by several suitors, and among them Henry VII. of +England; but all these negotiations came to naught, and in the end she +was sent to the fortress of Tordesillas, where she was kept in close +confinement until the time of her death. + +There is no trustworthy evidence to show that Juana was mad before the +death of her husband, and all her eccentricities of manner could well +have been accounted for by her wayward, jealous, and hysterical +character, but after her domestic tragedy there is little doubt but that +her mind was to some degree unsettled. Naturally nervous, and feeling +herself in the absolute power of persons who were hostile to her +interests, she became most excitable and suspicious, and may well have +lost her reason before her last hour came. The story of her confinement +in the old fortress at Tordesillas is enough in itself to show that +stronger minds than hers might have given way under that strain. This +palace-prison overlooked the river Douro, and was composed of a great +hall, which extended across the front of the building, and a number of +small, dark, and poorly ventilated rooms at the back. In addition to the +jailer, who was responsible for the prisoner, the place was filled with +a number of women, whose duty it was to keep a close watch upon Juana +and prevent her from making any attempt to escape. The use of the great +hall with its view across the river was practically denied to her, she +was never allowed to look out of the window under any circumstances, for +fear she might appeal to some passer-by for aid, and, in general, unless +she was under especial surveillance, she was confined, day in and day +out, in a little back room, a veritable cell, which was without windows, +and where her only light came from the rude candles common to that age. +Priests were frequent visitors, but, to the end, Juana would have +nothing to do with them, and it is even said that on more than one +occasion she had to be dragged to the prison chapel when she was ordered +to hear mass. No man can tell whether this unhappy woman would have +developed a strong, self-reliant character if the course of her life had +been other than it was, but, accepting the facts as they stand, there is +no more pathetic figure in all the history of Spain than this poor, +mistreated Juana la Loca, "the mad Juana," and to every diligent +student of Spanish history this instance of woman's inhumanity to woman +will ever be a blot on the scutcheon of the celebrated Isabella of +Castile. + +The religious fanaticism which was responsible in part at least for the +fate of Juana soon took shape in a modified form as a definite national +policy, and the grandson and great-grandson of Isabella, Charles V. and +his son, King Philip, showed themselves equally ardent in the defence of +the Catholic faith, even if their ardor did not lead them to treat with +inhumanity some member of their own family. Spain gloried in this +religious leadership, exhausted herself in her efforts to maintain the +cause of Rome in the face of the growing force of the Reformation, and +not only sent her sons to die upon foreign battlefields, but ruthlessly +took the lives of many of her best citizens at home in her despairing +efforts to wipe out every trace of heresy. This whole ecclesiastical +campaign produced a marked change in the character of the Spanish +people; they lost many of their easy-going ways, while retaining their +indomitable spirit of national pride, and became stern, vindictive, and +bigoted. In the process of this transformation, the women of the country +were perhaps in advance of the men in responding to the new influences +which were at work upon them. The number of convents increased rapidly, +every countryside had its wonder-working nun who could unveil the +mysteries of the world while in the power of some ecstatic trance, and +women everywhere were the most tireless supporters of the clergy. It was +natural that this should be the case, for there was a nervous excitement +in the air which was especially effective upon feminine minds, and the +Spanish woman in particular was sensitive and impressionable and easily +influenced. Among all of the devout women of this age living a +conventual life, the most distinguished, beyond any question, was +Teresa de Cepeda, who is perhaps the favorite saint of modern Spain +to-day. + +Teresa's early life resembled that of any other well-born young girl of +her time, although she must have enjoyed rather exceptional educational +advantages, as her father was a man of scholarly instincts, who took an +interest in his daughter's development and sedulously cultivated her +taste for books. When Teresa was born in 1515, the Spanish romances of +chivalry and knight-errantry were in the full tide of their popularity; +and as soon as the little girl was able to read, she spent many hours +over these fascinating tales. Endowed by nature with a very unusual +imagination, she was soon so much absorbed in these wonder tales, which +were her mother's delight, that she often sat up far into the night to +finish the course of some absorbing adventure. At this juncture, her +father, fearing that this excitement might be harmful, tried to divert +her mind by putting in her way books of pious origin, wherein the +various trials and tribulations of the Christian martyrs were described +in a most graphic and realistic style. Soon Teresa was even more +interested in these stories than in those of a more worldly character, +and the glories of martyrdom, which were described as leading to a +direct enjoyment of heavenly bliss without any purgatorial delay, made +such a profound impression upon her youthful mind that she resolved at +the early age of seven to start out in search of a martyr's crown. +Prevailing upon her little brother to accompany her in this quest for +celestial happiness, she started out for the country of the Moors, +deeming that the surest way to attain the desired goal. While this +childish enthusiasm was nipped in the bud by the timely intervention of +an uncle, who met the two pilgrims trudging along the highway, the idea +lost none of its fascination for a time; and the two children +immediately began to play at being hermits in their father's garden, +and made donation to all the beggars in the neighborhood of whatever +they could find to give away, depriving themselves of many customary +pleasures to satisfy their pious zeal. With the lapse of time, however, +this morbid sentiment seemed to disappear, and Teresa was much like any +other girl in her enjoyment of the innocent pleasures of life. Avila, in +Old Castile, was her home, and there she was sent to an Augustinian +convent to complete her education, but without any idea that she would +eventually adopt a religious life for herself. This convent, indeed, +seemed to make little impression upon her, and it was only after a +chance visit made to an uncle who was about to enter a monastery, and +who entreated her to withdraw from the vanities of the world, that she +seems to have gone back with undimmed ardor to her childish notions. In +spite of her father's opposition, Teresa, in her eighteenth year, left +home one morning and went to install herself at the Carmelite convent of +the Incarnation, which was situated in the outskirts of her native city. +The lax discipline and somewhat worldly tone of the place proved a great +surprise to her, as she had imagined that the odor of sanctity must be +all-pervasive in a religious house; but she evidently accommodated +herself to the conditions as she found them, for she made no decided +protest and gave evidence of no special piety until twenty years after +she had formally given up the world. Then, saddened and sobered by her +father's death, Teresa began to have wonderful trances, accompanied by +visions wherein Christ, crucified, appeared to her time and time again. +Although in later times these unusual experiences have been adduced to +prove her saintship, at the time of their occurrence they were not +looked upon in the same light, and there were many who said that Teresa +was possessed of devils. She was more than half inclined to this view +of the case herself, and the eminent religious authorities who were +consulted in the matter advised her to scourge herself without mercy, +and to exorcise the figures, both celestial and infernal, which +continued to appear before her. The strange experiences continued to +trouble her, however, in spite of all that she could do, and to the end +of her days she was subject to them. Constantly occupied with illusions +and hallucinations, she soon became a religious mystic, living apart +from the world and yet deeply interested in its spiritual welfare. One +of her visions in particular shows into what a state of religious +exaltation she could be thrown. She imagined herself a frameless mirror +of infinite size, with Christ shining in the middle of it, and the +mirror itself, she knew not how, was in Christ! + +In the midst of these experiences Teresa began to wonder what she could +do for the real advancement of the Church, and her first thought was +that there must be reform in the convents if the cause of religion was +to prosper. Discouraged by the members of her own convent, who looked +upon any reform movement as a reflection upon their own establishment, +Teresa was nevertheless encouraged to go on with her work by certain +far-seeing ecclesiastics who were able to appreciate its ultimate value. +It was her plan to establish a convent wherein all the early and austere +regulations of the Carmelite order were to be observed, and, by working +secretly, she was able to carry it out. There was violent protest, which +almost led to violence, and it was only after full papal approval that +she was allowed to go about her business unmolested. The reorganizing +spirit of the Counter-Reformation which was now at work within the +Catholic Church gave her moral support, and the remaining years of her +life were devoted to the work of conventual reorganization and +regeneration which she had begun with so stout a heart. It was her wont +to travel everywhere in a little cart which was drawn by a single +donkey, and winter and summer she went her way, enduring innumerable +hardships and privations, that her work might prosper. Sixteen convents +and fourteen monasteries were founded as the result of her efforts; and +as her sincerity and single-mindedness became more and more apparent, +she was everywhere hailed by the people as a devout and holy woman, and +was even worshipped by some as a saint on earth. Disappointment and +failure were her lot at times, and she found it difficult to maintain +the stern discipline of which she was such an ardent advocate. On one +occasion, it is said that her nuns in the convent of Saint Joseph, at +Avila, went on a strike and demanded a meat diet, which, it may be +added, she refused to grant; and a prioress at Medina answered one of +her communications in a very impertinent manner and showed other signs +of insubordination; but Teresa was calm and unruffled, in her outward +demeanor at least, and found a way by tactful management, and by a +judicious show of her authority, to settle all differences and disputes +without great difficulty. When death overtook her in 1582, miracles were +worked about her tomb, and when the vault was opened, after a period of +nine months, it is asserted that her body was uncorrupted. Removed to a +last resting place at Avila at a somewhat later date, her bones were +finally carried off by pious relic hunters, who believed them to possess +miraculous properties. In the forty years which followed her death, +Teresa was so revered throughout her native land that she was canonized +by Pope Gregory XV. in 1622. To her exalted spirit were joined a firm +judgment and a wonderful power of organization, and in placing her among +the saints she was given a merited reward for her holy labors. + +The harsh intolerance which came with the Spanish Counter-Reformation +manifested itself oftentimes in acts of cruelty and oppression which are +almost beyond belief. So eager were the zealots for the triumph of pure +and unadulterated Catholicism, that no consideration whatever was shown +for the Moriscoes, or Spanish Moors, whose form of belief was Catholic, +but tinged with Moslem usages, and even women and children were made to +suffer the unreasoning persecution of the Christians. One offensive +measure after another was adopted for the discomfiture of the thrifty +sons of the Prophet, and finally, with the purpose of wiping out all +distinctions of any kind which might lead to a retention of national +characteristics, it was decreed in 1567 that no woman should walk abroad +with a covered face. Such a measure was certainly short-sighted. For +hundreds of years this Oriental custom had been common in southern +Spain; it was significant of much of their idea of social order and +decency, and any attempt to abolish it with a single stroke of a +Catholic pen was both unwise and imprudent. According to Hume, "this +practice had taken such a firm hold of the people of the south of Spain +that traces of it remain to the present day in Andalusia, where the +women of the poorer classes constantly cover the lower part of the face +with the corner of a shawl. In Peru and Chili (originally colonized by +the Spanish) the custom is even more universal." Yet it was this firmly +rooted habit that the Christians tried to destroy! As the result of this +order, the majority of the Spanish women showed themselves in public as +rarely as possible, and then they tried to evade the law whenever they +could. Other measures, equally severe and equally impossible, which were +enacted at the same time, ended finally, as might have been expected, in +a desperate revolt. A horde of Moslem fanatics, goaded to desperation, +swept down upon the Christians of Granada, and there was a terrible +massacre. This was all that was necessary to start the Spaniards upon a +campaign which was still more cruel than any which had preceded it, for +now the avowed object was revenge and not war. Six thousand helpless +women and children were slaughtered in a single day by the Marquis de +los Velez, and this is but a single instance of the bloodthirsty spirit +which was rampant at the time. + +Even among the Spanish people, the officers of the Inquisition found +many victims, and women quite as often as men had to endure its rigors. +In spite of the many centuries of Christian influence, there were still +to be found in various parts of the country remnants of the old pagan +worship which were difficult to eradicate. It was claimed that sects +were in existence which not only denied the Christian faith, but openly +acknowledged the Devil as their patron and promised obedience to him! In +the ceremonies attendant upon this worship of the powers of darkness, +women played no unimportant part, and many were the reputed witches who +were supposed to be on terms of intimate acquaintance with the +arch-fiend in person. As the suppression of this heresy was assumed by +the Church, the Inquisition, as its punitive organ, took charge of the +matter and showed little mercy in its dealings with suspected persons, +for whom the rack and other instruments of torture were put to frequent +use. In the year 1507 the Inquisition of Calahorra burned more than +thirty women as sorceresses and magicians, and twenty years later, in +Navarre, there were similar condemnations. So frequent, indeed, were +these arrests for magic and sorcery, that the "sect of sorcerers," as it +was called, seemed to be making great headway throughout the whole +country, and the Inquisition called upon all good Christians to lodge +information with the proper authorities whenever they "heard that any +person had familiar spirits, and that he invoked demons in circles, +questioning them and expecting their answer, as a magician, or in virtue +of an express or tacit compact." It was also their duty to report anyone +who "constructed or procured mirrors, rings, phials, or other vessels +for the purpose of attracting, enclosing, and preserving a demon, who +replies to his questions and assists him in obtaining his wishes; or who +had endeavored to discover the future by interrogating demons in +possessed people; or tried to produce the same effect by invoking the +devil under the name of _holy angel_ or _white angel_, and by asking +things of him with prayers and humility, by practising other +superstitious ceremonies with vases, phials of water, or consecrated +tapers; by the inspection of the nails, and of the palm of the hand +rubbed with vinegar, or by endeavoring to obtain representations of +objects by means of phantoms in order to learn secret things or which +had not then happened." Such orders led to the arrest of hundreds of +women all over Spain, and many of them went to death in the flames, for +women rather than men were affected by this crusade, as they were +generally the adepts in these matters of the black art. That such things +could be in Spain at this time may cause some surprise, but it must be +remembered that superstition dies hard and that many of the things which +are here condemned are still advertised in the columns of the +newspapers, and the belief in the supernatural seems to have taken a new +lease of life as the result of certain modern investigations. +Superstition has ever gone hand in hand with civilization, in spite of +the repeated efforts of the latter to go its way alone. + +Witches and sorceresses, however, were far outnumbered in the prisons of +the Inquisition by the numerous Spanish women who were accused of +Lutheranism, for the reformed doctrines had succeeded in making great +progress even here in this hotbed of popery, and many persons were +burned for their lack of faith in the old formulas of belief. An _auto +de fe_ was a great public holiday, celebrated in some large open square, +which had been especially prepared for the event, with tiers upon tiers +of seats arranged on every side for the accommodation of the thousands +of spectators; and to this inspiring performance came many noble ladies, +decked out as if for a bull fight, and eager to witness each act of +atrocity in its slightest detail. The names of scores of the women who +perished in this way might be cited to show that from all classes the +Church was claiming its victims; and even after death, condemnation +might come and punishment might be inflicted. To illustrate the +possibilities of this religious fury, the case of Dona Eleanora de +Vibero will more than suffice. She had been buried at Valladolid, +without any doubt as to her orthodoxy, but she was later accused of +Lutheranism by a treasurer of the Inquisition, who said that she had +concealed her opinions by receiving the sacraments and the Eucharist at +the time of her death. His charges were supported by the testimony of +several witnesses, who had been tortured or threatened; and the result +of it all was that her memory and her posterity were condemned to +infamy, her property was confiscated, and at the first solemn _auto de +fe_ of Valladolid, held in 1559, and attended by the Prince Don Carlos +and the Princess Juana, her disinterred body was burned with her effigy, +her house was razed to the ground, and a monument with an inscription +relating to this event was placed upon the spot. + +Such is this sixteenth century in Spain, an age of strange contrasts, +where the greatest crimes are committed in the holy name of Religion! + + + + +Chapter XIX + +The Slow Decay of Spanish Power + + +When the long and unfortunate reign of Philip the Catholic came to an +end on the eve of the seventeenth century, Spain, sadly buffeted by the +rough waves of an adverse fortune, was in a most pitiful condition. With +the downfall of the great Armada which was so confidently destined to +humble the pride of England, national confidence had begun to slip away, +the wars at home and in the Netherlands had sadly depleted the treasury, +the credit of the country was far from good, and gradually, as a natural +reaction after the religious exaltation which had marked the whole of +the sixteenth century, a spirit of irreligion and licentiousness became +prevalent in all classes of society. As Philip had grown older and more +ascetic in his tastes, he had gradually withdrawn from society and had +left his court to its own devices. With his death, in 1598, the last +restraint was gone, and there was no limit to the excesses of the +insensate nation. Having failed in their great and zealous effort to +fasten Spanish Catholicism upon the whole of Europe, they had finally +accepted a milder philosophy, and had decided to enjoy the present +rather than continue to labor for a somewhat doubtful reward in the life +which was to come. The young king, Philip III., who began to reign under +these circumstances, was wedded in 1599 to the Archduchess Margaret of +Austria, and the feasts and celebrations which were organized in honor +of this event outrivalled in their magnificence anything of the kind +that had taken place in Spain for many years, and there was a free and +libertine spirit about all of this merrymaking which did not augur well +for the future. The Duke of Lerma, the king's favorite and prime +minister, was in full charge of the affair, and he spared no pains in +his desire to make a brave show, in spite of the critical financial +condition of the country. The young Austrian princess, upon her arrival +at Madrid, was fairly dazzled by the reception she was given; and well +she may have been, for the money expended for this purpose reaches +proportions which almost surpass belief. The Cortes appropriated one +million ducats for the occasion, and the nobles spent three million +more, three hundred thousand of this sum having been contributed by +Lerma from his own private revenues. + +The Spanish court now changed its character completely, and the sombre +simplicity of the elder Philip's day gave place to a gayety and +brilliant ceremonial which were more in accord with the new spirit of +the times. Lerma filled the palace at Madrid with brilliant ladies in +waiting, for he believed, with the gallant Francis I. of France, that a +royal court without women is like a year without spring, a spring +without flowers; and a marvellous round of pleasures began, all governed +by a stately etiquette. But this gay life was rotten at the core; the +immodest and shameless conduct of the women in particular shocked and +surprised all visiting foreigners; and as time went on, the social evil +increased and became more widespread. Virtue in women was a subject for +jest, the cities were perfect sinks of iniquity, to quote Hume, and, in +Madrid in particular, immorality was so common among the women that the +fact passed into a proverbial saying. Homer has said: "Than woman there +is no fouler and viler fiend when her mind is bent on ill;" and even +were the superlatives to be lopped from this expression, it might still +help to express the fact that the moral degeneracy of Spain in her new +career of wantonness was at least shared by the women. At the court, the +king, who was in many ways what might be termed a mystic voluptuary, +spent his time in alternate fits of dissipation and devotion, wasted his +time in gallantry, and neglected his royal duties; and the all-powerful +Lerma was the centre of a world of graft, where the highest offices in +the land were bartered for gold, and every noble had an itching palm. In +this scene of disorder women played no little part, and through intrigue +and cajolery they often won the day for their favored lovers. Religion +gave place to recklessness, valor disappeared in vanity, and a splendid +idleness replaced a splendid industry. One Cortes after another +protested, measures were adopted which sought to bring the nation to its +senses, new sumptuary laws were enacted, but all to no avail; for the +nobility continued to set an example of glittering prodigality, and the +common people were not slow to follow. + +When another Philip, the fourth of this name, came to the throne in +1621, the situation was almost hopeless. The country was involved in the +Thirty Years' War, one failure after another befell the Spanish arms, +the taxes had become unbearable, and in many quarters revolt was +threatened. The king was not equal to his task, government was an +irksome duty for him, and he found his greatest pleasure in two things, +hunting and the theatre. Madrid at this time was theatre-mad, playhouses +were numerous, and the people thronged them every night. The ladies of +the nobility had their special boxes, which were their own private +property, furnished in a lavish way, and there every evening they held +their little court and dispensed favors to their many admirers. It was +the first time in the history of the theatre that women's roles were +being played quite generally by women, and, as was most natural, certain +actresses soon sprang into popular favor and vied with each other for +the plaudits of the multitude. In theory the stage was frowned at by the +Church, the plays were very often coarse and licentious in character, +and the moral influence of this source of popular amusement was +decidedly bad; but the tinsel queens of that age, as in the present +time, were invested with a glamour which had an all-compelling charm, +and noble protectors were never wanting. Among the actresses of +notoriety in this Spanish carnival of life, the most celebrated were +Maria Riquelme, Francisca Beson, Josefa Vaca, and Maria Calderon, +familiarly known to the theatre-goers as _la bella Calderona_. Philip +IV., as much infatuated as the meanest of his subjects by the glitter of +the footlights, never lost an opportunity when at his capital to spend +his evenings in the royal box, where he showed his appreciation by most +generous applause; and he was soon on familiar terms with many of the +reigning favorites. Among them all, La Calderona seemed to please him +most, and she was soon the recipient of so many royal favors that no one +could doubt her conquest. Other lovers were discarded, she became +Philip's mistress, and she it was who bore to him a son, the celebrated +Don Juan, who became in later years a leader in revolt against his +father's widowed queen. + +In the midst of this troubled life, divided between the pleasures of the +chase, the excitements of the theatre, and the many vexations of state, +Philip was reserved in his dealings with his fellow men, and few +fathomed the depth of his despair in the face of the approaching +national ruin. One person seemed to have read the sadness of his heart, +however, and that person, with whom he had a most extended +correspondence, was, strange to relate, a woman, and a nun of the most +devout type, Sister Maria de Agreda! The history of this woman is most +interesting, and she seems to have been the one serious and restraining +element in all that scene of gay riot. The Agreda family, belonging to +the lesser nobility, lived on the frontiers of Aragon, and there, in +their city of Agreda, they had founded in 1619 a convent, following a +pretended revelation which had directed them to this holy undertaking. +The year after the convent was completed, Maria de Agreda, who was then +eighteen, and her mother, took the veil at the same time and retired +from the vanity of the world. In seven years the young girl was made the +mother superior of the institution, and, beginning from that date, she +was subject to frequent visions of a most surprising character. God and +the Virgin appeared to her repeatedly, commanding her each time to write +the life of Mary; but in spite of these supernatural admonitions, she +resisted for ten long years, fearing that she might be possessed of +demons who came in celestial shape to urge her to a work which she felt +to be beyond her powers. Finally, impressed by the persistence of these +holy visitants, she referred the matter to a priest who had long been +her father confessor, and at his suggestion she decided to write as she +had been commanded. For some months she busied herself with this task, +and then one day, in an unlucky moment, she ventured to confide her +plans to another monk, in the absence of her regular spiritual adviser. +This time her plans of literary work were discouraged, and she was +advised to burn her manuscripts as worthless paper and to content herself +with the usual routine of conventual life. Following this advice, she +destroyed the fruits of her labor, and prepared to resume her +interrupted duties, when, to her consternation, God and the Virgin again +appeared in her cell at night and again commanded her to write as +before. Again she resisted, and again the vision came, and finally, +encouraged by her old confessor, who had returned upon the scene, she +began anew the once abandoned work. This time there was no interruption; +the book was finished, and printed first in Madrid, and then at Lisbon, +Perpignan, and Antwerp. Naturally, the claim was made that the book was +written under divine inspiration, and the curious and oftentimes +revolting details with which its pages were filled were soon the talk +and scandal of the religious world. Maria, in spite of her mysticism, +had proved to be a realist of the most pronounced type, and in many +quarters her book was openly denounced. In Paris, the great court +preacher Bossuet proclaimed it immoral; and the Sorbonne, which was then +a faculty of theologians, condemned the book to be burned. Although the +facts are not clearly known, it must have been during this time of +publicity that the nun was brought to the attention of the world-weary +king. He was attracted by her professed visions, he sought for +consolation of a spiritual character in the midst of his unhappy career, +and there resulted this correspondence between the two, which has since +been published. To quote Hume, it was "the nun Maria de Agreda who, +alone of all his fellow-creatures, could sound the misery of Philip's +soul as we can do who are privileged to read the secret correspondence +between them." Pleasures of all sorts were beginning to pall now upon +the jaded monarch. Court festivities became a hollow mockery, the +glitter of the stage had vanished, only to leave its queens all daubed +with paint and powder in the garish light of reality, and the +broken-hearted Philip, bereft of wife and heir, was induced to marry for +a second time, in the hope that another son might come to inherit his +throne. + +Philip's second wife was his niece Mariana, another Austrian +archduchess, but this marriage was a vain hope so far as his earthly +happiness was concerned. The wished-for son was born, and duly +christened Charles, but he was ever a weakling; and when the father died +in 1665, preceding Maria de Agreda to the tomb by a few months only, the +government was left in charge of Mariana as regent, and all Spain was +soon in a turmoil as the result of the countless intrigues which were +now being begun by foreign powers who hoped to dominate the peninsula. +Mariana, who was a most ardent partisan, began to scheme for her +Austrian house as soon as she arrived in Spain, and did everything in +her power to counteract the French alliance which had been favored by +Philip. Upon her husband's death, she promptly installed her German +confessor, Nithard, as inquisitor-general, gave him a place in the +Council of State, and in all things made him her personal +representative. Her whole course of action was so hostile to the real +interests of Spain, that murmurs of discontent were soon heard among the +people; and Don Juan, the illegitimate son, won power and popularity for +himself by espousing the cause of the nation. The weakling boy-king +Charles was a degenerate of the worst type, the result of a long series +of intermarriages; and so long as Mariana could keep him within her own +control, it was difficult to question her authority to do as she +pleased. For greater protection to herself and to her own interests, +Mariana had installed about her in her palace a strong guard of +foreigners, who attended her when she went abroad and held her gates +against all unfriendly visitors when she was at home. But the opposition +grew, and finally, after some ill-timed measures of Nithard, there was +open revolt, and Don Juan appeared at the head of a body of troops to +demand in the name of outraged Spain the immediate dismissal of the +queen's favorite. Mariana's confusion at this juncture of affairs has +been quaintly pictured by Archdeacon Coxe, who wrote an interesting +history of the Bourbon kings of Spain in the early part of the last +century: "In the agony of indignation and despair, the queen threw +herself upon the ground and bewailed her situation. 'Alas, alas!' she +cried; 'what does it avail me to be a Queen and Regent, if I am deprived +of this good man who is my only consolation? The meanest individual is +permitted to chuse (_sic_) a confessor: yet I am the only persecuted +person in the kingdom!'" Tears were unavailing, however, and Nithard had +to leave in disgrace, although Mariana was successful in opposing Don +Juan's claim to a share in the government. But the queen could not rule +alone, and the new favorite, as was quite usual in such cases, owed his +position to feminine wiles. Valenzuela, a gentleman of Granada, had been +one of Nithard's trusted agents, and courted assiduously Dona Eugenia, +one of the ladies in waiting to the queen; and by marrying her he had +brought himself to Mariana's notice, and had so completely gained her +confidence, that she naturally looked to him for support. Either the +queen's virtue was a very fragile thing, or Valenzuela was considered a +gallant most irresistible; for in his first two interviews with Her +Majesty, his wife, Dona Eugenia, was present, "to avoid scandal." It is +probably safe to say that as Valenzuela rose in power this precaution +was thrown to the winds, and on more than one occasion "he made an +ostentatious display of his high favor, affected the airs of a +successful lover, as well as of a prime minister; and it did not escape +notice that his usual device in tournaments was an eagle gazing at the +sun, with the motto _Tengo solo licencia_, 'I alone have permission.'" + +This pride had its fall, however, as in 1677 the boy-king Charles, at +the age of fifteen, which had been fixed as his majority, was made to +see that his mother was working against the best interests of his +subjects; and he escaped from the honorable captivity in which he had +been held at the palace, and gave himself up to his half-brother, Don +Juan, who was only too ready to seize this advantage against the hostile +queen. Manana was imprisoned in a convent in Toledo, Valenzuela was +exiled to the Philippines, and Don Juan, as prime minister, prepared to +restore public confidence. In line with his former policy, he made a +clean sweep of all the members of the Austrian party, and then began to +prepare the way for a French marriage, to strengthen the friendly +feeling of the powerful Louis XIV., who had been married to a Spanish +wife. Scarcely had the promise for this marriage between Louis's niece +Marie Louise and the half-witted Charles been made, when, suddenly, Don +Juan sickened and died, and the queen-mother Mariana was again in power. +There were dark hints of poison; it was insinuated that Mariana knew +more of the affair than she would be willing to reveal; but, whatever +the facts, there was no proof, and there was no opportunity for +accusations. Meanwhile, the preparations for the royal wedding were +continued, in spite of the fact that it was feared that Mariana might +try to break the agreement. But this wily woman, confident in her own +powers, felt sure that she would prove more than a match for this young +French queen who was coming as a sacrifice to enslave Spain to France. +Marie Louise had left her home under protest, strange tales of this +idiot prince who was to be her husband had come to her ears, and she +could only look forward to her marriage with feelings of loathing and +disgust. As all her appeals had been to no avail, she discarded prudence +from her category of virtues, and entered the Spanish capital a +thoughtless, reckless woman, fully determined to follow her own +inclinations, without regard to the consequences. Her beauty made an +immediate impression upon the feeble mind of her consort; but she +spurned his advances, made a jest of his pathetic passion for her, and +was soon deep in a life of dissipation. Mariana, as the older woman, +might have checked this impulsive nature; but she aided rather than +hindered the downfall of the little queen, looked with but feigned +disapproval upon the men who sought her facile favors, and, after a +swift decade, saw her die, without a murmur of regret. Again there were +whispers of poison, but Mariana was still in power, and she lost no time +in planning again for Austrian ascendency and an Austrian succession. +Once more the puppet king was accepted as a husband, and this time by +the Princess Anne of Neuburg, a daughter of the elector-palatine, and +sister of the empress, though, in justice to Anne, it should be said +that she was an unwilling bride and merely came as Marie Louise had +done--a sacrifice to political ambition. Victor Hugo, in his remarkable +drama _Ruy Blas_, gives a striking picture of this epoch in Spanish +history, and shows the terrible ennui felt by Anne in the midst of the +rigid etiquette of Madrid. In one of the scenes in this play, a letter +is brought to the queen from King Charles, who is now spending almost +all his time on his country estates, hunting; and after the epistle has +been duly opened and read aloud by the first lady in waiting, it is +found to contain the following inspiring words: "Madame, the wind is +high, and I have killed six wolves"! + +The new queen, however, was soon interested by the indefatigable Mariana +in the absorbing game of politics which she had been playing for so long +a time and in which she was such an adept; and before many months had +passed, the two women were working well together for the interests of +their dear Austria, for their sympathies were identical and there was +nothing to prevent harmonious action between them. Anne brought in her +train an energetic woman, Madame Berlips, who was her favorite adviser, +and for a time these three feminine minds were the controlling forces in +the government. France was not sleeping, however; skilful diplomatic +agents were at work under the general supervision of the crafty Louis +Quatorze, and the matter of the succession was for a long time in doubt. +Without an heir, Charles was forced to nominate his successor; and the +wording of his will, the all-important document in the case, was never +certain until death came and the papers were given an official reading. +Then it was discovered, to the chagrin of the zealous Austrian trio, +that they had been outwitted, and that the grandson of Louis, young +Philip of Anjou, had won the much-sought prize. With the coming of the +new king, the women of the Austrian party and all their followers were +banished from the court, and a new era began for Spain. The French +policy which had worked such wonders in the seventeenth century was now +applied to this foreign country, numerous abuses were corrected, and +foremost in the new regime was a woman, the Princess Orsini, who was +soon the real Queen of Spain to all intents and purposes. Feminine tact +and diplomacy had long been held in high esteem in France; Louis had +been for many years under the influence of the grave Madame de +Maintenon; and this influence had been so salutary in every way, that +the aged monarch could think of no better adviser for his youthful +grandson, in his new and responsible position, than some other woman, +equally gifted, who might guide him safely through the political shoals +which were threatening him at every turn. Madame de Maintenon was called +upon for her advice in this crisis, and she it was who suggested the +Princess Orsini as the one woman in all Europe who could be trusted to +guide the young Philip V. It is interesting to note that there was never +question for a moment of placing a man in this post of confidence; its +dangers and responsibilities were acknowledged as too heavy for a man to +shoulder, and it was merely a question of finding the proper woman for +the emergency. One other woman was needed, however, in Spain at this +time, and that was a wife for the newly crowned king. She was to provide +for the future, while the Princess Orsini was to take care of the +present. + +A political marriage was planned, as might have been expected, and after +some delay the fickle Duke of Savoy, who had long been a doubtful friend +to the French, was brought to terms, and his daughter Marie Louise was +promised as Philip's bride. The ceremony was performed at Turin, where +the king was represented by a proxy, the Marquis of Castel Rodrigo, and +the royal party left Genoa in a few days, in gayly adorned galleys, +bound for the Spanish coast. Philip hastened to meet his bride, and +first saw her at Figueras, to the north of Barcelona. There, on October +3, 1701, their union was ratified, in the presence of the "patriarch of +the Indies," who happened to be in Spain at that time. All was not clear +weather in these first days of the honeymoon, for, at the command of the +French king, all of the Piedmontese attendants of the little queen had +been dismissed, as it was feared that she might bring evil counsellors +who would make trouble for the new government. The Princess Orsini, who +had joined the party when they embarked at Genoa, took charge of Marie +Louise on the departure of her friends, and did all in her power to make +the separation easy for her, but Marie was so indignant at this +unexpected turn of affairs that she was in high dudgeon for several +days, and during this time, until she had become thoroughly reconciled +to her fate, the impatience of the boy-king was restrained and he was +forced to consent to a temporary separation. To quote from Coxe's +description: "Marie Louise had scarcely entered her fourteenth year, and +appeared still more youthful from the smallness of her stature; but her +spirit and understanding partook of the early maturity of her native +climate, and to exquisite beauty of person and countenance she united +the most captivating manners and graceful deportment." Even after her +attendants had been dismissed and the Princess Orsini had been +definitely installed as her _camerara-mayor_, or head lady in waiting, +with almost unlimited powers, Louis Quatorze still thought it advisable +to write to his young protege and give him some advice relative to his +treatment of his wife. Among his sententious remarks, the following are +of special interest: "The queen is the first of your subjects, in which +quality, as well as in that of your wife, she is bound to obey you. You +are bound to love her, but you will never love her as you ought if her +tears have any power to extort from you indulgences derogatory to your +glory. Be firm, then, at first. I well know that the first refusals will +grieve you, and are repugnant to your natural mildness; but fear not to +give a slight uneasiness, to spare real chagrin in the future. By such +conduct alone you will prevent disputes which would become +insupportable. Shall your domestic dissensions be the subject of +conversation for your people and for all Europe? Render the queen happy, +if necessary, in spite of herself. Restrain her at first; she will be +obliged to you in the end; and this violence over yourself will furnish +the most solid proof of your affection for her.... Believe that my love +for you dictates this advice, which, were I in your place, I should +receive from a father as the most convincing proof of his regard." + +The Princess Orsini, or Des Ursins, as she is generally known, was a +most remarkable woman. A member of the old French family of La +Tremouille, she had first married Adrian Blaise de Talleyrand, Prince +de Chalais; and on her husband's banishment as the result of an +unfortunate duel, she went with him in exile to Spain, where she spent +several years and had an opportunity to become familiar with the +language and customs of the country. Going later to Italy, where her +husband died, she was soon married a second time, to Flavio de' Orsini, +Duke of Bracciano and Grandee of Spain, and for several years was a most +conspicuous figure in the court circles of Rome and Versailles, becoming +the intimate friend of Madame de Maintenon. Thus it was that Madame de +Maintenon spoke of her in connection with the Spanish position as soon +as the matter presented itself. The Princess Orsini was nothing loath to +accept this position when it was spoken of, and she wrote to the +Duchesse de Noailles as follows in soliciting her influence with the +French court: "My intention is only to go to Madrid and remain there as +long as the king chooses, and afterward to return to Versailles and give +an account of my journey.... I am the widow of a grandee, and acquainted +with the Spanish language; I am beloved and esteemed in the country; I +have numerous friends, and particularly the Cardinal Pontocarrero; with +these advantages, judge whether I shall not cause both rain and sunshine +at Madrid, and whether I shall incur the imputation of vanity in +offering my services." Saint-Simon, who knew the princess well, has +written in his _Memoirs_ the following description of her appearance and +character, and it is so lucid in its statement and such an admirable +specimen of pen portraiture that it is given in its entirety: + + "She was above the middle size, a brunette with expressive blue + eyes; and her face, though without pretension to beauty, was + uncommonly interesting. She had a fine figure, a majestic and + dignified air, rather attractive than intimidating, and united + with such numberless graces, even in trifles, that I have never + seen her equal either in person or mind. Flattering, engaging, and + discreet, anxious to please for the sake of pleasing, and + irresistible when she wished to persuade or conciliate, she had an + agreeable tone of voice and manner, and an inexhaustible fund of + conversation, which was rendered highly entertaining by accounts of + the different countries she had visited, and anecdotes of the + distinguished persons whom she had known and frequented. She had + been habituated to the best company, was extremely polite and + affable to all, yet peculiarly engaging with those whom she wished + to distinguish, and equally skilful in displaying her own graces + and qualifications. She was adapted by nature for the meridian of + courts, and versed in all the intrigues of cabinets from her long + residence in Rome, where she maintained a princely establishment. + She was vain of her person and fond of admiration, foibles which + never left her, and hence her dress in every season of life was too + youthful for her age and sometimes even ridiculous. She possessed a + simple and natural eloquence, saying always what she chose, and as + she chose, and nothing more. Secret with regard to herself; + faithful to the confidence of others; gifted with an exterior, nay, + an interior, of gayety, good humor, and evenness of temper, which + rendered her perfectly mistress of herself at all times and in all + circumstances. Never did any woman possess more art without the + appearance of art; never was a more fertile head, or superior + knowledge of the human heart, and the means of ruling it. She was, + however, proud and haughty; hurrying forward directly to her ends, + without regard to the means; but still, if possible, clothing them + with a mild and plausible exterior. She was nothing by halves; + jealous and imperious in her attachments; a zealous friend, + unchangeable by time or absence, and a most implacable and + inveterate enemy. Finally, her love of existence was not greater + than her love of power; but her ambition was of that towering kind + which women seldom feel, and superior even to the ordinary spirit + of man." + +Such was the woman who was to give tone to the new administration and to +aid the young king and queen in the difficult tasks which were before +them. Philip was not a decided success, except as a soldier; he yielded +much to his wilful wife, and the Princess Orsini was soon accepted by +them both as a trustworthy guide. The following extract from a letter +written by the French ambassador to his court soon after her +installation is significant in her praise: "I see the queen will +infallibly govern her husband, and therefore we must be careful that she +governs him well. For this object the intervention of the princess is +absolutely necessary; her progress is considerable; and we have no other +means to influence her royal mistress, who begins to show that she will +not be treated as a child." During the fourteen warlike years which +followed, and which resulted in the complete submission of all the +Spanish provinces to the will of Philip V., Marie Louise was devoted to +her husband's cause, and developed a strong character as she grew older; +but in 1714, just as quiet had come and the country under the new +administrative scheme had begun to win back some of its former thrift +and prosperity, death came to her suddenly, and Philip was left alone +with the resourceful Orsini, who rarely failed in her undertakings. So +complete was her influence over him, that Hume says she "ruled Spain +unchecked in his name." With this opportunity before her, and a victim +to her strong personal ambition, which exulted in this exercise of +power, she now grew jealous of her position and feared lest a new +marriage might depose her. Accordingly, she arranged matters to her +liking, and succeeded in having Philip marry Elizabeth Farnese, a +princess of Parma, who had been described to her as a meek and humble +little body with no mind or will of her own. With a queen of this stamp +safely stowed away in the palace, the Princess Orsini saw no limit to +her autocratic sway. This time, however, the clever woman of state had +been cruelly deceived; for the mild Elizabeth turned out to be a general +in her own right, who promptly dismissed her would-be patron from the +court and speedily acquired such domination over Philip that he became +the mere creature of her will. + +This Elizabeth Farnese, in spite of her quiet life at Parma, soon showed +herself to possess a capacity for government which no one could have +suspected, for she had studied and was far better acquainted with +history and politics than the majority of women, spoke several +languages, and had an intelligent appreciation of the fine arts. Hume +calls her a virago, and, although this is a harsh word, her first +encounter with the Princess Orsini would seem to warrant its use. The +princess, by virtue of her office of _camerara-mayor_, had gone ahead of +the king, to meet the new queen, and the two women met at the little +village of Xadraca, four leagues beyond Guadalaxara. The princess knelt +and kissed the hand of her new mistress, and then conducted her to the +apartments which had been prepared for her. Coxe describes the scene as +follows: "The Princess Orsini began to express the usual compliments and +to hint at the impatience of the royal bridegroom. But she was +thunderstruck when the queen interrupted her with bitter reproaches and +affected to consider her dress and deportment as equally disrespectful. +A mild apology served only to rouse new fury; the queen haughtily +silenced her remonstrances, and exclaimed to the guard: 'Turn out that +mad woman who has dared to insult me.' She even assisted in pushing her +out of the apartment. Then she called the officer in waiting, and +commanded him to arrest the princess and convey her to the frontier. The +officer, hesitating and astonished, represented that the king alone had +the power to give such an order. 'Have you not,' she indignantly +exclaimed, 'his majesty's order to obey me without reserve?' On his +reply in the affirmative, she impatiently rejoined: 'Then obey me.' As +he still persisted in requiring a written authority, she called for a +pen and ink and wrote the order on her knee." + +Whether this incident as related be true or not, it serves well to +illustrate the imperious nature which she undoubtedly possessed, and +which was seen so many times in the course of the next quarter of a +century. Her will had to be obeyed, and nothing could turn her aside +from her purpose when once it was fixed. But she was as artful as she +was stubborn, and ruled most of the time without seeming to rule, +carefully watching all of her husband's states of mind, and leading him +gradually, and all unconsciously, to her point of view when it differed +from her own. Her interests were largely centred in her attempts to win +some of the smaller Italian principalities for her sons, she was +continually involved in the European wars of her time, and she again +brought Spain into a critical financial condition by her costly and +fruitless warfare. Not until the accession of her stepson, Charles III., +who came to the throne in 1759, was Spain free from the machinations of +this designing woman, and, in all that time of her authority, no one can +say that she ruled her country wisely or well. She was short-sighted in +her ambition, entirely out of sympathy with the Spanish people, and did +little or nothing to deserve their hearty praise. So when at last her +power was gone, and the new king came to his own, there was but one +feeling among all the people, and that was a feeling of great relief. + +For the rest of this eighteenth century in Spain there is no +predominating woman's influence such as there had been for so many years +before, as Amelia, the wife of Charles III., died a few months after his +accession, and for the rest of his life he remained unmarried and with +no feminine influence near him. The morals of Spain did not improve in +this time, however, even if the king gave an example of continence which +no other monarch for many years had shown. Charles was very strict in +such matters, and it is on record that he banished the Dukes of Arcos +and Osuna because of their open and shameless amours with certain +actresses who were popular in Madrid at that time. The women in question +were also sternly punished, and the whole influence of Charles was thus +openly thrown in favor of the decencies of life, which had so long been +neglected. The sum total of his efforts was nevertheless powerless to +avail much against the inbred corruption of the people, for their none +too stable natures were being strongly influenced at that time by the +echo of French liberalism which was now sounding across the Pyrenees, +and restraint of any kind was becoming more and more irksome every day. +Charles IV., who ascended the throne in 1788, was weak and timid and +completely in the power of his wife, Marie Louise of Parma, a wilful +woman of little character, who was responsible for much of the +humiliation which came to Spain during the days of Napoleon's supremacy. +Charles IV., realizing his own lack of ability in affairs of state, had +decided to take a prime minister from the ranks of the people, that he +might be wholly dependent upon his sovereign's will; and his choice fell +upon a certain handsome Manuel Godoy, a member of the bodyguard of the +king, with whom the vapid Marie was madly in love, and whom she had +recommended for the position. The king, all unsuspecting, followed this +advice, and Godoy, who was wholly incompetent, went from one mistake to +another, to the utter detriment of Spanish interests. The queen's +relations with her husband's chief of state were well known to all save +Charles himself, and, on one occasion at least, Napoleon, by threatening +to reveal the whole shameful story to the king, bent Godoy to his will +and forced him to humiliating concessions. The queen supported him +blindly, however, in every measure, and put her evil pleasure above the +national welfare. + +It must not be assumed that in this period of national wreckage that all +was bad, that all the women were corrupt and all the men were without +principle, for there was never perhaps such a condition of affairs in +any country; but the prevailing and long-continued licentiousness at the +court, which was in many respects a counterpart in miniature of the +wanton ways of eighteenth-century France, could not fail in the end to +react in a most disastrous way upon the moral nature of the people. +There were still pious mothers and daughters, but the moral standards of +the time were so deplorably low in a country where they had never been +of the highest, from a strictly puritan standpoint, that society in +general shows little of that high seriousness so essential to effective +morality. + + + + +Chapter XX + +The Women of Modern Spain + + +Spain, in all the days of her history, has been conspicuous among all +other continental countries for the number of women who have wielded the +sovereign power, and the reasons for this fact are not far to seek +perhaps. In both Germany and Italy there has been little of national +life or government in the broadest sense of the word until a very recent +date, the custom of the empire has given male rulers to Austria, the +illustrious Catherine of Voltaire's day has been the one woman to +achieve prominence in Russia, and in France the ancient Salic law did +not allow women to ascend the throne; so that, all in all, by this +process of exclusion, it is easy to see that in Spain alone the +conditions have been favorable for woman's tenure of royal office. A +scrutiny of the list of Spanish monarchs reveals the fact that in all +the long line there are no names more worthy of honor than those of +Berenguela and Isabella the Catholic, and that, irrespective of sex, +Isabella stands without any formidable rival as the ablest and most +efficient ruler that Spain has ever had. The right of woman's accession +to the Spanish throne was seriously threatened, however, early in the +eighteenth century with the advent of the French Bourbons. Young Philip +V., acting under French influences in this affair, as he did continually +in all his various undertakings, had induced the Cortes to introduce the +French Salic principle; and for the greater part of the century this +law was allowed to stand, although nothing happened to test it severely. +By way of comment on this circumstance, it is interesting to note that +this young king, Philip V., who had been instrumental in barring women +from the succession, was, by tacit confession, unequal to his own task, +and found his wisest counsellor in the person of the clever Princess +Orsini. Spanish feeling and Spanish custom in regard to this matter were +so strong, however, that Charles IV., when he came to the throne in +1789, had prevailed upon the Cortes to abolish the Salic law and to +restore the old Castilian succession. While this was done secretly, a +decree to this effect had never been issued, and legally the Salic law +was still in force when Charles's son, Fernando VII., approached his +last days. Fernando had been unlucky with his wives, as the first three +proved to be short-lived, and the fourth, Maria Cristina, Princess of +Naples, presented him with two daughters and no sons. + +It happened that, before the birth of these daughters, Fernando had been +induced by his wife to attack the Salic law and to restore the Castilian +rule of succession, and in this way the elder princess, who was to +become Isabella II., had a clear claim to the throne from the time of +her birth. The person most interested in opposing this action was Don +Carlos, brother of Fernando, who was the rightful heir in the event of +his brother's death under the former procedure. When the fact became +known that Don Carlos had been dispossessed in this way by the +machinations of Maria Cristina, he and his followers put forth every +effort to induce Fernando to undo what he had done; but all to no avail, +and in 1833, when the king died, Maria became regent during the minority +of the youthful Isabella. For the next seven years Spain was in a +turmoil as the result of the continual revolts which were raised by the +friends of Don Carlos, and Maria for a time had much trouble in making +headway against them. + +The political game she was playing gave her strange allies during these +days, for she was naturally in favor of an autocratic government, after +the manner of the old regime; but as Don Carlos had rallied to his +standard the clerical and conservative parties of the country, Maria was +forced, as a mere matter of self-protection, to make friendly advances +to the growing liberal forces in society, which had been brought into +permanent existence by the success of republicanism in France. In spite +of this nominal espousal of the liberal cause, Maria was continually +trying to avoid popular concessions and to retain unimpaired the +despotic power of the monarchy, but she was soon forced to see that, in +appearance at least, she must pretend to advance the popular cause and +give her subjects more extended privileges. Accordingly, she issued a +decree in 1834 establishing a new constitution and creating a +legislature composed of two chambers; but there was more pretence than +reality in this reform, and the dissatisfaction of the liberals +increased as the queen-regent's real purposes became more clearly +understood. Fortunate in having at the head of her armies a great +general, Espartero, Maria finally succeeded in dispersing and exhausting +the Carlist armies; but then differences arose between the queen and +Espartero over the rights of the chartered towns, which she was +endeavoring to abolish; and the popular sentiment was so in favor of the +liberal side of the discussion, that a revolution was threatened and +Isabella was forced to seek safety in flight. For three years the +general-statesman ruled, until the majority of the Princess Isabella was +declared in 1843, and in that same year Espartero was forced into exile, +as he had become unpopular on account of his friendship for England. +With this change in governmental affairs, Maria Cristina was allowed to +return to Madrid, and she and her daughter, the new queen, Isabella II., +controlled the destinies of the country. A husband was found for +Isabella in the person of her cousin, Francis of Assis, but he was a +sickly, impotent prince, with no vigor of mind or body, and the married +life of this young couple was anything but happy. The country meanwhile +continued in a state of unrest, and there were frequent revolutionary +outbreaks. Isabella was no less unreliable than her mother had been, and +her capricious manner of changing policy and changing advisers was +productive of a state of lawlessness and disorder in all branches of the +government which daily became more shameful. This shifting policy in +matters of state was equally characteristic of the queen's behavior in +other affairs. Dissatisfied with her pitiful husband, she soon abandoned +her dignity as a queen and as a woman, in a most brazen way, and her +private life was so scandalous as to become the talk of all Europe. But +the court was kept in good humor by the lavish entertainments which were +given; the proverbial Spanish sloth and indifference allowed all this to +run unchecked, for a time at least; and the sound of the guitar and the +song of the peasant were still heard throughout the land. + +Some idea of the social life in Madrid at this time can be obtained from +the following charming description of an afternoon ride in one of the +city parks, written in September, 1853, by Madame Calderon de la Barca: +"This beautiful _paseo_, called Las Delicias de Ysabel Segunda, had been +freshly watered. Numbers of pretty girls in their graceful _amazones_ +galloped by on horseback, with their attendant _caballeros_. Few actual +mantillas were to be seen. They were too warm for this season, and are +besides confined to morning costume. Their place was supplied either by +light Parisian bonnets or by a still prettier head-dress, a veil of +black lace or tulle thrown over the head, fastened by gold pins, and +generally thrown very far back, the magnificent hair beautifully +dressed. Certainly this appeared to me the prettiest head-dress in the +world, showing to the greatest advantage the splendid eyes, fine hair, +and expressive features of the wearers. I was astonished at the richness +of the toilettes, and M---- assured me that luxury in dress is now +carried here to an extraordinary height; and to show you that I am not +so blinded by admiration for what is Spanish as not to see faults, at +least when they are pointed out to me, I will allow that French women +have a better idea of the fitness of things, and that there is an +absence of simplicity in the dress of the Spanish women which is out of +taste. I allude chiefly to those who were on foot. The rich silks and +brocades which trail along the Prado, hiding pertinaciously the +exquisitely small feet of the wearers, would be confined in Paris to the +_elegantes_ who promenade the Bois de Boulogne or the Champs-Elysees in +carriages. Here the wife and the daughter of the poorest shopkeeper +disdain chintz and calico; nothing short of silk or velvet is considered +decorous except within doors. But, having made this confession, I must +add that the general effect is charming, and as for beauty, both of face +and figure, especially the latter, surely no city in the world can show +such an amount of it." + +In spite of the general tone of gayety which was pervading Madrid in +these days of the early fifties, many of the members of the older +nobility, conservative to the core, were holding somewhat aloof from the +general social life of the time. Society had become too promiscuous for +their exclusive tastes, and they were unwilling to open their drawing +rooms to the cosmopolitan multitude then thronging the capital. Details +of this aristocratic life are naturally somewhat difficult to obtain, +but this same sprightly Madame Calderon de la Barca, through her +connection with the diplomatic corps at Madrid, was able to enter this +circle in several instances, and her chatty account of a ball given by +the Countess Montijo, one of the leaders in this exclusive set, if not +one of its most exclusive members, is not lacking in interest: "A +beautiful ball was given the other night at the Countess Montijo's. She +certainly possesses the social talent more than any one I ever met with, +and, without the least apparent effort, seems to have a kind of +omnipresence in her salons, so that each one of her guests receives a +due share of attention. The principal drawing room, all white and gold, +is a noble room. The toilettes were more than usually elegant, the +jewels universal. The finest diamonds were perhaps those of the Countess +of Toreno, wife of the celebrated minister. The Countess of Ternan-Nunez +and the Princess Pio (an Italian lady), wore tiaras of emeralds and +brilliants of a size and beauty that I have never seen surpassed. The +Duchess of Alva was, as usual, dressed in perfect taste, but, alas! I am +not able to describe. It was something white and vapory and covered with +flowers, with a few diamond pins fastening the flowers in her hair. I +observed that whenever a young girl was without a partner, there was the +hostess introducing one to her, or if any awkward-looking youth stood +neglected in a corner, she took his arm, brought him forward, presented +him to some one, and made him dance. Or if some scientific man, invited +for his merits,--for her parties are much less carefully winnowed than +those of the aristocracy in general,--stood with his spectacles on, +looking a little like a fish out of water, there was the countess beside +him, making him take her to the buffet, conversing with him as she does +well upon every subject, and putting him so much at his ease that in a +few minutes he evidently felt quite at home." Such a description as +this must inevitably lead to the reflection that charming as the +Countess Montijo may have been, she was in no way peculiar or remarkable +except in so far as she represented the highest type of a polished, +tactful Spanish hostess, for in every civilized modern country there are +women of this class who excite general admiration. + +The wavering policy of the capricious Isabella was somewhat strengthened +in 1856, when the long-suffering people, unable to countenance for a +longer time the universal corruption which existed in all branches of +the government, rose in such threatening revolt, under the leadership of +O'Donnell, that the queen was forced to give heed. The revolt counted +among its supporters members of all political parties, who were now +banded together from motives which were largely patriotic, and so great +was their influence that Isabella was forced to accept their terms or +lose her crown. For a few years there was an increased prosperity for +Spain, but the improvement could not be of long duration, so long as the +government remained under the same inefficient leadership. Finally, the +end came in 1868, when there broke forth a general revolution which was +but the forcible expression of the real and genuine spirit of discontent +which was to be found among all classes of the people. The navy rebelled +at Cadiz, and the fleet declared for the revolution, and then, to take +away Isabella's last hope of support, certain popular generals, who had +been sent into exile, returned, and led the royal troops against the +hated sovereign. In the face of this overwhelming array of hostile +forces, the queen crossed the Pyrenees as a fugitive, and when she went +she left her crown behind her. After five years of upheaval, which +descended at times to complete anarchy, with the advantage resting now +with the conservatives and now with the liberals, the crown was finally +offered to the son of the dethroned queen, who, as Alfonso XII., began +his reign under most auspicious circumstances. With his unlooked-for +death in 1886, his wife and widow, Maria Cristina, was left as the +regent for her unborn son, who has so recently attained his majority. +This Maria was a most careful mother, who devoted herself with the +utmost fidelity to the education of her son; and her conception of this +duty was so high and serious that she practically put a stop to the +social life of the court, that she might give herself unreservedly to +her important task. With what success, the future alone can tell, but, +in the meanwhile, there is but one opinion as to her personal worth and +character. + +Without venturing a prediction as to the probable future for Spain in +the history of the world, the fact remains that in recent years the +country has advanced greatly from many points of view, so far as its +domestic affairs are concerned. There has been a remarkable commercial +activity, railroads have opened up much of the country which had been +cut off from the main currents of life from time immemorial, and the +widespread use of electricity for lighting and for motive power is +perhaps unexcelled in any other European country. The greatest question +now confronting Spain is, in the opinion of many, the question of +popular education, and here there is continual advancement. As might be +expected in a country like Spain, where southern, and in some cases +semi-Oriental, ideas must of necessity exist with regard to women, their +education has not yet made great progress, although the question is +being considered in a most liberal and enlightened spirit. No movement +in this day and generation can be successfully brought to an issue +unless it can be shown that there is some general demand for the +measures proposed, and until very recently in Spain there was general +apathy with regard to the education of women. For many years girls have +been carefully instructed in two things, religion and domestic science, +and for neither of these things was any extended course of study +necessary. The parochial schools, with all their narrowness, prepared +the maiden for her first communion, and her mother gave her such +training in the arts of the housewife as she might need when she married +and had a home of her own to care for. These two things accomplished, +the average middle-class Spaniard, until a very recent day, was utterly +unable to see that there was anything more necessary, or that the system +was defective in any way. But the modern spirit has entered the country, +and an organized effort is now being made to show the advantages of a +higher education and to furnish the opportunity for obtaining it. In +this work of educational reform among Spanish women, an American, Mrs. +Gulick, the wife of an American missionary at San Sebastian, has played +a leading part. Organizing a school which was maintained under her +supervision, she has been quite successful in what she has accomplished, +and believes that she has "proved the intellectual ability of Spanish +girls." Her pupils have been received in the National Institute, where +they have given a good account of themselves; and a few of them have +even been admitted to the examinations of the University of Madrid, +where they have maintained a high rank. Mrs. Gulick is not the only +leading exponent of higher education for Spanish women, however, as the +whole movement is now practically under the moral leadership of a most +competent and earnest woman, Emilia Pardo Bazan, who understands the +wants of her fellow countrywomen and is striving in every legitimate way +to give them the sort of instruction they need. Free schools exist in +all the cities and towns for both boys and girls, and recent attempts +have been made to enact a compulsory education law. Numerous normal +schools have been established in the various cities, which are open to +both men and women, and the number of women teachers is rapidly +increasing. Secular education is far more advanced and far more in +keeping with the spirit of the times than is the instruction which is to +be found in the schools conducted by the teaching orders. The girls in +the convents are taught to adore the Virgin in a very abstract and +indefinite way, and are given very little practical advice as to the +essential traits of true womanhood. A remarkable article, written +recently in one of the Madrid papers by one who signed himself "A Priest +of the Spanish Catholic Church," says, apropos of this very question: +"Instead of the Virgin being held up to admiration as the Mother of Our +Lord and as an example of all feminine perfection, the ideal woman and +mother, the people are called upon to worship the idea of the Immaculate +Conception, an abstract dogma of recent invention...." This Madonna +worship is one of the characteristic things in the religious life of +Spain, and everywhere _La Virgen_, who is rarely if ever called _Santa +Maria_, is an object of great love and reverence. There are many of +these _Virgenes_ scattered throughout the country, and each is +reverenced. Many of them are supposed to work miracles or answer +prayers, and their chapels are filled with the votive offerings of those +who have been helped in time of trouble. Not the least pathetic among +these offerings are the long locks of hair tied with ribbons of many +colors, which have been contributed by some mother because her child has +been restored from sickness to health. Women are more devout than the +men in their observance of religious duties, although the whole +population is religious to an unusual degree so far as the outward +forms are concerned, but the real religion which aims at character +building is little known as yet. + +With regard to the general position of women in Spain, and their +influence upon public life, which as yet is not of any considerable +moment, Madame L. Higgin, in her recent volume upon Spanish life, writes +as follows: "As a rule, they take no leading part in politics, devoting +themselves chiefly to charitable works. There is a general movement for +higher education and greater liberty of thought and action among women, +and there are a certain limited number who frankly range themselves on +the side of so-called emancipation, who attend socialistic and other +meetings, and who aspire to be the comrades of men rather than their +objects of worship or their play-things. But this movement is scarcely +more than in its infancy. It must be remembered that even within the +present generation the bedrooms allotted to girls were always approached +through those of their parents, that no girl or unmarried woman could go +unattended, and that to be left alone in a room with a man was to lose +her reputation. Already these things seem dreams of the past; nor could +one well believe, what is, however, a fact, that there were fathers of +the upper classes in the first half of the last century who preferred +that their daughters should not learn to read or write, and especially +the latter, as it only enabled them to read letters clandestinely +received from lovers and to reply to them. The natural consequence of +this was the custom, which so largely prevailed, of young men, +absolutely unknown to the parents, establishing correspondence or +meetings with the objects of their adoration by means of a complacent +_doncella_ with an open palm, or the pastime known as _pelando el pavo_ +(literally, "plucking the turkey"), which consisted of serenades of love +songs, amorous dialogues, or the passage of notes through the +_reja_--the iron gratings which protect the lower windows of Spanish +houses from the prowling human wolf--or from the balconies. Many a time +have I seen these interesting little missives let down past my balcony +to the waiting gallant below, and his drawn up. Only once I saw a +neighbor, in the balcony below, intercept the post and, I believe, +substitute some other letter." + +This seclusion of the young girls is in itself a sufficient comment upon +the sentiments of honor and duty which are current among the male +portion of the population, and it is plain that this condition of +affairs can find little betterment until the nation finds new social +ideals. Such conditions as these are mediaeval, or Oriental at best, and +it is to be hoped that the newer education which is now influencing +Spain may help to bring about a better and saner view of the social +intercourse of men and women. As a direct result of the general +attitude, the men upon the streets of a Spanish city will often surprise +a foreigner by their cool insolence in the presence of the women they +may happen to meet. Her appearance is made the subject for much audible +comment, and such exclamations as _Ay! que buenos ojos! Que bonita +eres!_ [Oh! what fine eyes! How pretty you are!] are only too common. +The woman thus characterized will modify her conduct according to the +necessities of the situation; and if her casual admirer happens to be +young and good-looking and she herself is not averse to flattery, she +will reward him with a quick smile. In any case, the whole matter is +treated as an ordinary occurrence, as it is, and no insult is felt where +none is intended. Such remarks are but an expression, which is +oftentimes naive, of the admiration which is felt at the sight of +unusual feminine charms. The incident simply goes to show that +everywhere in Spain there is tacit recognition of the general +inferiority of women. In the laboring and peasant classes, where the +women work with the men, such lapses from the conventional standard of +good manners would not cause so much comment; but under these +circumstances the dangers and the annoyances are not so great, as these +women of the people, with their practical experience in life, ignorant +as they may be, are often more competent to take care of themselves than +are their more carefully educated sisters in polite society who have +been so carefully fenced from harm. + +Many of the objectionable features of Spanish life which spring from +these long-standing notions in regard to women are bound to disappear as +both men and women become more educated, and in several particulars +already encouraging progress has been made. Marriage laws and customs +may always be considered as telling bits of evidence in the discussion +of any question of this nature, and in Spain, as the result of modern +innovations, the rights of the woman in contracting the marriage +relation are superior to those enjoyed elsewhere on the continent or +even in England. In the old days, the _mariage de convenance_ was a +matter of course in educated circles, and the parents and relatives of a +girl were given an almost absolute power in arranging for her future +welfare. Now, as the result of an enlightened public sentiment, which is +somewhat unexpected in that it is in advance of many other social +customs, there is a law which gives a girl the right to marry the man of +her choice, even against her parents' wishes. No father can compel his +daughter to marry against her will; and if there is any attempt to force +her in the matter, she is entitled to claim the protection of a +magistrate, who is empowered by law to protect her from such oppression. +If the parents are insistent, the magistrate may take the girl from her +father's house and act as her guardian until the time of her majority, +when she is free to marry according to her own fancy. Nor is any such +rebellious action to be construed as prejudicial to the daughter's right +to inherit that portion of her father's estate to which she would +otherwise have a legal claim. Madame Higgin relates the following cases +which came within the range of her personal experience: "In one case, +the first intimation a father received of his daughter's engagement was +the notice from a neighboring magistrate that she was about to be +married; and in another, a daughter left her mother's house and was +married from that of the magistrate, to a man without any income and +considerably below her in rank, in all these cases the contracting +parties were of the highest rank." + +With regard to the wedding service, customs have changed greatly during +the course of the last century. It was natural that Spain, in common +with all other Catholic countries, should have given the Church entire +control of the marriage sacrament for many years, and it was not until +the republicanism of the nineteenth century forced a change that the +civil marriage was instituted as it had been in France. While not +compulsory, the religious service is almost always performed, in +addition to the other, except among the poor, who are deterred by the +cost of this double wedding; and sometimes the religious service is held +at the church and sometimes at the home of the bride. It was generally +the custom in the church weddings for all the ladies in the wedding +party, including the bride, to dress in black; but there was finally so +much opposition to this sombre hue at such a joyous occasion, that the +fashionable world within recent times has made the house wedding a +possibility, and at such a function there was no limit to the brilliant +display possible. The English and American custom of taking a wedding +journey immediately after the ceremony is not common in Spain, and the +Spaniards, in their conversation and sometimes in their books, are not +slow to express their opinions with regard to the matter, insisting that +it is much preferable to remain at home among friends than to "expose +themselves to the jeers of postilions and stable boys," to quote a line +from Fernan Caballero's _Clemencia_. In spite of this firmly rooted +opinion, however, that the national customs are best, and in this +particular it seems indeed as if they were more reasonable, the wedding +journey is slowly being adopted in what they call "_el_ high life," and +it may some day become one of the fixed institutions of the land, as it +is with us. All this is but another proof of the fact that fashions are +now cosmopolitan things, and that among the educated and wealthy classes +in all countries there are often many more points of resemblance than +are to be found between any given group of these cosmopolites and some +of their own fellow countrymen taken from a lower class in society. + +Some time after the Prince of Naples, who is now the King of Italy, had +attracted the favorable comment of all thinking people for his +determination not to wed until he married for love, a similar occurrence +in Spain revealed the fact that Maria Cristina, the queen-regent, was +determined to accept the modern and sensible notion of marriage for one +of her own children, and thus incidentally to give to her people in +general the benefit of a powerful precedent in such matters. Mention has +already been made of the fact that, according to certain laws, a Spanish +girl may now refuse to marry at her parents' dictation; but, in spite of +the fact that such laws exist, it cannot be said that they are often +called into play, for the daughter is still in such a state of childish +dependence upon her father and mother, that any such step as described, +which amounts to nothing more or less than a revolt against parental +authority, would fill her with dismay and would prove more than she +would dare to attempt. The laws upon the statute books indicate that +there is a public appreciation of the fact that marriage should not be a +matter of coercion, but among the people in general the old idea is +still more powerful, and Spanish daughters are married daily to the +husbands chosen by their match-making mothers or aunts. In the face of +this popular custom, and in spite of the fact that royal marriages, on +account of their somewhat political character, have generally been made +without regard to sentiment, the queen-regent decided that her oldest +daughter, the Princess of Asturias, should marry the man she loved. +There were various worldly, or rather political, reasons against the +proposed alliance; but Maria brushed them all aside and allowed the +whole affair to progress in a natural way, as there seemed to be nothing +in the proposed alliance which gave her cause for alarm. Here are the +facts in the case. Among the playfellows of the little King Alfonso +XIII. there were two distant cousins, the sons of the Count of Caserta, +and between the elder, Don Carlos, and the young princess a warm +attachment soon sprang up which led to a betrothal, with the queen's +consent. At once there was a protest which would have intimidated a +person of weaker character. It was pointed out that Don Carlos the youth +was the son of a man who had been chief of staff to the Pretender Don +Carlos, who had been responsible for so much of the disorder in Spain +within the last quarter of a century; and although Caserta and his sons +had taken the oath of allegiance to Alfonso XIII., it was feared that in +some way this marriage might give the Pretender a new claim upon the +government, and that in future years it might lead to renewed domestic +strife. Furthermore, it was alleged that the Jesuits, who are known +conservatives and legitimists everywhere, and who had been accused of +sympathizing with the Pretender's claims, were behind this new alliance, +and, as the work of their hands, it was popularly considered as a matter +of very doubtful expediency. But the queen persisted in her course, +entirely without political motives, so far as anyone has been able to +discover, and preparations for the wedding were begun in earnest. + +Then it was that the affair began to assume a more national and more +serious character. The liberal party, which was in power and which +naturally looked with suspicion upon anything tainted with conservatism, +decided to oppose the marriage, and the prime minister, who was no other +than the great Sagasta, allowed the queen to understand plainly that the +whole affair must be dropped. Maria Cristina informed her prime minister +that _her_ will was to be law in the matter, and that she was unwilling +to allow any sort of governmental interference. The marriage now +precipitated a national crisis, Sagasta and all the members of his +cabinet resigned their portfolios of office, and the queen was left to +form a new ministry. She appointed the new members from the ranks of the +conservative party, and, now without cabinet opposition, the marriage +was celebrated. Then the storm arose again: there were riots and +disturbances in most of the large cities; the Jesuits, who were made +responsible for this turn of affairs, were openly attacked, even in +Madrid. It was even claimed that the young king's confessor belonged to +the hated order, and everywhere there were fears expressed that the +government might soon be delivered up to the Carlists. This impression +was only increased when the conservative ministry suspended the +constitutional guarantees and assumed to rule with unlimited authority. +This move was simply taken, it appears, as a matter of extreme necessity +under the circumstances, as the queen and her advisers were determined +to keep the upper hand and make no concession under such riotous +pressure. Finally, as the disorder was unabated, and it became evident +that the cabinet could never gain public confidence, Sagasta, by dint of +much persuading, was again induced to become prime minister, and with +his return peace was restored and the revolution which was surely +threatening was averted. + +So ended this memorable contest wherein the queen seemed almost willing +to sacrifice her son's crown that she might humor her daughter's whim, +and a satisfactory explanation of the whole affair which would be +convincing to all the parties concerned is doubtless difficult to make. +In the absence of any political motives which can be proved or +rightfully suspected, it would seem that Maria Cristina, even though a +queen, had been making a most royal battle for the idea that marriage +should be a matter of inclination and not a matter of compulsion; and +her heroic measures to carry out her ideas cannot fail to produce a +great impression upon liberal Spain, as soon as the scare about the +Jesuits and the Carlists has had time to subside. + +The national amusements of Spain, as they affect the whole people, may +be reduced to two, bull-fighting and dancing. While women never take +part in the contests of the arena, they are none the less among the most +interested of the spectators, and the Plaza de Toros on a Sunday is the +place to see their wonderfully brilliant costumes. With regard to +Spanish dancing, as a popular amusement it is almost universal, and +rarely are two or three gathered together but that the sound of the +tambourine, guitar, and castanets is heard and the dance is in full +swing. Much has been written about some of these national dances, and +often the idea is left in the mind of the reader that they are all very +shocking and indecent, but this is hardly the fact. Certain dances are +to be seen in Spain to-day, among the gypsies, which have come down +practically unchanged from the Roman days, when Martial and Horace were +enchanted by the graceful motions of the dancing girls of their time; +and these are undoubtedly suggestive in a high degree, and are not less +objectionable than the more widely known Oriental dances which have +recently made their advent into the United States; but these dances are +in no way national or common. They are rarely seen, except in the gypsy +quarter of Seville, and there they are generally arranged for +money-making purposes. In short, they are no more typical of Spanish +dances than the questionable evolutions of the old Quadrille at the +Moulin Rouge were representative of the dances of the French people, and +it is time that the libel should be stopped. The country people and the +working classes dance with the enjoyment of children, and generally they +sing at the same time some love song which is unending, and sometimes +improvised as the dance proceeds. + +In athletic matters it cannot be said that Spanish women are very +active, and in this they are somewhat behind their brothers, who have +numerous games which test their skill and endurance. Though the bicycle +is well known now in Spain, the Spanish women have not adopted it with +the zest which was shown by the women of France, and it is doubtful if +it will ever be popular among them. Horseback riding is a fashionable +amusement among the wealthy city women, but their attainments in this +branch of sport seem insignificant when compared to the riding of +English and American women. The Spanish riding horse is a pacer rather +than a trotter, and this cradle-like motion is certainly better suited +to the Spanish women. Few, if any, of them aspire to follow the hounds, +a ditch or a gate would present difficulties which would be truly +insurmountable, and they never acquire the ease and grace in this +exercise which are the mark of an expert horsewoman. + +The dark beauty of the Spanish women has long been a favorite theme, and +there is little to say on that subject which has not been said a +thousand times before, but no account of them would be complete without +some word in recognition of their many personal charms. In the cities, +the women, so far as their dress is concerned, have lost their +individuality, as the women of other nations have done, in their efforts +to follow the Parisian styles; but there is still a certain charming +simplicity of manner which characterizes the whole bearing of a Spanish +lady, and is quite free from that affectation and studied deportment +which are too often considered as the acme of good breeding. This almost +absolute lack of self-consciousness often leads to acts so naive that +foreigners are often led to question their sense of propriety. But with +this naivete and simplicity is joined a great love for dress and +display. Madame Higgin says on this subject: "Spanish women are great +dressers, and the costumes seen at the race meetings at the Hippodrome +and in the Parque are elaborately French, and sometimes startling. The +upper middle class go to Santander, Biarritz, or one of the other +fashionable watering places, and it is said of the ladies that they only +stop as many days as they can sport new costumes. If they go for a +fortnight, they must have fifteen absolutely new dresses, as they would +never think of putting one on a second time. They take with them immense +trunks, such as we generally associate with American travellers; these +are called _mundos_ (worlds)--a name which one feels certain was given +by the suffering man who is expected to look after them. In the +provinces, however, among the women of the peasant class, Parisian +bonnets are neither worn nor appreciated; the good and time-honored +customs in regard to peasant dress have been retained, and there rather +than in the cities is to be seen the pure type as it has existed for +centuries, unaffected and unalloyed by contact with the manners and +customs of other nations." + +It is difficult to say what the condition of Spanish women will be as +the years go by, but it is at least certain that they will be better +educated than they are to-day, and better able to understand the real +meaning of life. Now they are often veritable children, who know nothing +of affairs at home or of the world abroad, somewhat proud of their +manifest charms and ever ready for a conquest; but with a better mental +training and some enlarged conception of the real and essential duties +in modern life, the unimportant things will be gradually relegated to +their proper position, and the whole nation will gain new strength from +an ennobled womanhood. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Women of the Romance Countries, by John R. 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