_Piazza del Papa, S. Severo, Porta Sole, S. Agostino, and S.
Francesco al Monte_
The Piazza del Papa[69] lies a little to the right of the entrance door
to the Duomo. In former times the straw market was held in this square,
which was then called the Piazza di Paglia, and at that period the
statue of Pope Julius occupied a splendid position on the steps of the
cathedral. But during the great revolt against the Papacy in 1780 the
Pope's statue was taken away from its prominent place by some wise
persons who foresaw its destruction should they allow it to remain
there, and it was bundled into the cellar of a tavern in the town, where
it remained, not, it must be confessed, entirely incognito, till
people's nerves had calmed a little.[70] Not so very long ago the Pope
was once more brought to the light of day and set in his present
position.
Pope Julius III. is a great figure in Perugian history. He is in a sense
a lay figure, for he never set foot in the city after his student days,
and he was worshipped almost in the manner of an unseen deity by the
Perugians. Julius succeeded Paul III., and though he by no means did
away with the supreme power of the
[Illustration: HOUSE IN THE VIA PERNICE]
Church in the city, still he mitigated many of the hardships and the
ignominies which that power had entailed in the hands of the great
Farnese. When Paul III. died in 1549 his fortress remained as a legacy
to the city, with a Castellano to watch over its (Papal) interests.
This man proceeded to rule as his master had taught him, and he defended
the castle vigilantly against the Pope's nephew, who made some efforts
to gain possession of so rich a prize.
The policy of Julius III. was of a much milder order. "Julius had always
loved our city with a peculiar partiality," says Mariotti, "and he sent
his relation Cardinal della Corgna hither, endowing him with full
authority, and hardly had the Cardinal arrived than he restored to the
city the arms of which she had been deprived so long; and in February of
that same year Julius III. sent a brief to the holders of ecclesiastical
liberty, which was addressed to the _Priori delle Arte_ (heads of City
Guilds), a title which had not been heard of in Perugia since 1539; and
to this grace the same Pope added considerable sums of money for the
maintenance of those same magistrates...."
It will be easy to anyone who has formed even a dim conception of what
the strength of the spirit of liberty was like in the minds of the
Perugians to understand the pure sensation of delight which the Pope's
open acknowledgment of their old municipal rule, followed as it was by a
message couched in such friendly terms, was likely to produce. Fretting
as the citizens had been for many years under the rule of the despotic
Paul, they hailed his more temperate successor as a sort of saviour, and
they determined to express their sentiments of joy in what Bonazzi fitly
terms "a day of political bacchanalia."[71]
"So on the morning of the first day in May the heads of the
principal guilds of the Mercanzia and the Cambio met in the piazza,
and there having put aside their black apparel (Paul III. had
Insisted on the _Priori_ wearing a form of mourning, in order, and
probably with perfect wisdom, to insist on his own authority in
Perugia), they reassumed the crimson of the former _Priori_, and
thrusting their heads through the golden chains which the Pope's
Vice-Legate himself insisted upon hanging round them in token of
their reinstatement, they took their seats upon the damask benches
and listened to the Mass of the Holy Ghost, sung by the
Vice-Legate. Then, upon leaving the church, all the religious
orders, the _Confraternitàs_, the guilds, the gentlemen, the
troops, and the excited populace seeing the transfigured
magistrates, lifted a frenzied cry, and forming into a monstrous
procession to the sound of pipes, of drums, of trumpets, bells, and
much artillery, the whole crowd followed the _Priori_ to the Church
of S. Agostino and there, having heard another musical mass, the
new magistrates, followed by an ever increasing and clamorous
cortège, went on to take up quarters on the first floor of the
Palazzo Pubblico."
Not satisfied with this demonstration of their delight and loyalty
toward the new Pope, the Perugians determined to commemorate the
occasion through the medium of art. They commissioned Adone Doni to
paint the above described scene of the reinstatement of the magistrates
(see the picture in the Palazzo Pubblico), whilst Vincenzo Danti, then a
mere boy, was employed to make the big bronze statue of Julius III.,
which is one of the most remarkable points in the present town.
But to us who know the almost purely democratic, or at least municipal,
tendencies of past Perugia, this great bronze figure of a Pope eternally
blessing the city always excites a sense of something false and
contradictory, and had we been permitted to visit the benevolent Julius
in the caverns of the wine shop, we should have felt him in that place
to be a truer symbol of the spirit of the town throughout her troubled
history.
S. SEVERO.
From the Piazza del Papa several roads branch off to different points of
the town. To the right the Via Bontempi leads down past some beautiful
old palaces into a network of typical Perugian streets. The churches of
S. Fiorenzo, the Carmine, and S. Maria Nuova, all of which have
_gonfaloni_ or banners by Bonfigli, lie in this direction, and are very
well worth visiting. Indeed, the _gonfalone_ in S. Maria Nuova is
extraordinarily interesting: a typical specimen of that tragic and
almost passionate form of art which arose out of, and answered to, the
needs of a people convinced of its own moral depravity (see p. 232). To
the left of the Via Bontempi a narrow street winds steeply up the hill
to the church of S. Severo, which stands high up above the church of S.
Maria Nuova, and commands a splendid view to the east of the city, and
away across the valley of the Tiber to Assisi. "It is asserted by some
persons," says Siepi, "that in the year 1007 a little colony of
Camaldolese monks was transferred to the city of Perugia, who, during
the lifetime of their holy founder, took up their abode on the hill of
S. Severo, and here, upon the ruins of an ancient temple, which some
believe was dedicated to the sun god, and upon a spot which might be
termed the Acropolis of Perugia, they built their church, and dedicated
it to S. Severo, Bishop of Ravenna, probably because they came into
Perugia from that same city." As to whether the church of S. Severo was
really built on the site of an old pagan temple dedicated to the sun god
we cannot say; it is certain that this whole quarter of the town is
called Porta Sole, but, however it be, the church of the Camaldolese
monks has been quite altered in the course of centuries, and, except for
its position and its fresco, it has not much to charm the casual
tourist. During later restorations the outer porch with Raphael's and
Perugino's fresco was preserved, and built into a little chapel, where
we see it now. The fresco is signed 1505, so Raphael was no longer a
boy when he painted it. Some years later he painted his great pictures
in the Stanze of the Vatican, and, perhaps, he was feeling his way to
these grand compositions when he drew his semi-circle of saints on the
walls of the little old church of S. Severo. Did the master Perugino
watch his brilliant pupil as he painted? There is a touch of pathos in
the facts which follow:--Raphael the mighty genius dies, and Rome goes
into mourning for him; fourteen or fifteen years go by, and Perugino,
who, be it remembered, was not a young man when the slim youth from
Urbino came one day into his studio and asked to learn the art of
painting from him, comes back to the spot where Raphael's fresco shines
upon the wall, and paints, in his most faded style, the six pale saints
which we now see below it....
PORTA SOLE.
But to return once more to the piazza. Another road leads up immediately
behind the statue of Pope Julius to one of the most surprising points in
the city, namely, the bastions of Porta Sole. It was to this high point,
which commands an extraordinary view over the north of the town, that
Dante alluded when writing of Perugia:
"Intra Tupino e l'acqua che discende
Del colle eletto del beato Ubaldo
Fertile costa d'alto monte pende,
Onde Perugia sente freddo e caldo
Da Porta Sole, e diretro le piange
Per grave giogo Nocera con Gualdo."
Porta Sole is mixed up with a strange and a most typical bit of Perugian
history. We have seen how much this city was influenced by the popes,
and how, in the many fluctuations of her history, she nearly always
returned to the nominal rule of the Church of Rome. Early in the
fourteenth century she broke away for a time from Papal power, but in
1370 again swore allegiance to Pope Urban IV., who sent his brother,
Cardinal Albano, to receive the act of submission from her people. The
following year the Cardinal of Jerusalem came to Perugia to establish
peace between the nobles and the _Raspanti_. He was escorted by about
500 horsemen and 300 infantry, and the people received him with
enthusiasm, coming out to meet him with palms in their hands, and cries
of "Viva Santa Madre Chiesa, eviva il Signore!" Unfortunately his wise
rule lasted but a year, and he was succeeded by a very different sort of
person, namely, the Abbot of Mommaggiore from Cluny (see p. 30), who
arrived in Perugia in a most hostile frame of mind, and quite prepared
for war and for revolts of every kind. The Abbot at once set to work to
build for himself fortresses, the like of which, as one proud chronicler
relates, had never before been seen in Italy. He erected a massive
citadel at Porta Sole, and in order to be in connection with the Palazzo
dei Priori he made a covered passage with high machicolated walls to
join the two together. In doing this he did not scruple to knock down a
large part of the cathedral which happened to come in his way. At Porta
S. Antonio, too, the Abbot built some large and splendid houses, part of
which may still be seen, and these he joined by means of a covered
passage to the other citadel on Porta Sole. Thus Mommaggiore may be said
to have had a run over half the city of Perugia. So beautiful and
luxurious were his palaces at S. Antonio, that we are told they seemed a
veritable paradise. In them he stored enough wine and flour and other
things to last him and his French companions for at least ten years,
and not content with all these preparations for a possible revolt of the
citizens, he even called in the help of an English _condottiere_, Sir
John Hawkwood, who was at that time in the service of the Church, to
come and ravage all the country round Perugia.
The Perugians looked on in silence, and in silence they planned a
desperate plan of revolution, for they were determined to resist this
abominable French Abbot and to assert their former authority. Silently,
and with bowed heads, they watched the Abbot's troops scouring the
streets on the evening of the 12th December 1375; and not till night had
fallen on the town did a hum arise. Then deep growling sounds rang
through the darkness of the night, and the tyrant, sitting in his
palace, knew that the men of the town were up, and that a mighty
mischief was preparing. Down in the Porta S. Angelo the cry of "Viva il
Popolo" was heard, and with one accord, little and great, nobles and
people, forgetting private injuries and discords, and moved by a single
purpose, clasping hands and crying, "Viva il Popolo, and death to the
Abbot and the pastors of the Church," rushed into the piazza just as the
sun had risen. The terrified Abbot, seeing that the people were about to
storm the Palazzo Pubblico, fled with his friends and soldiers along the
covered passages to his palace at S. Antonio. The furious citizens were
quick to follow and arrived before the fortress with all sorts of
infernal machines, amongst others a large catapult which hurled forth
stones of such a size and with such excellent effect that it received
the name of _Cacciaprete_ (Kick out the priests). We hear of a great
battle which took place when the Abbot, being besieged in his citadel,
was forced to implore the help of Sir John Hawkwood; but the latter,
having been well bribed by the Perugians, abandoned his unfortunate
patron, leaving him, surrounded night and day by a crowd of angry
citizens, to meditate upon the various fortunes of war. At last,
however, a peace was concluded, and Sir John Hawkwood arrived at the
head of 300 lancers[72] to escort the Abbot, his French friends, and his
1500 horse and soldiers safe beyond the city. The Perugians, seeing
their enemy the Abbot arrayed in heavy armour and hardly able to lift
his feet, slipping moreover at every turn upon the muddy ground, saluted
him with shrill whistles, which even the mighty Hawkwood was unable to
suppress, and a chronicler devoutly tells us that "thus in the name of
God, of His holy Mother Mary, and of the blessed Saints: Ercolano,
Lorenzo, and Costanzo, was the city of Perugia delivered from the hands
of those accursed pastors of the Church." The happy event was celebrated
by grand religious functions, although the revolt had been entirely
against the temporal power of the Pope. Even Milan and Florence rejoiced
at the news, and ambassadors from Siena and from Arezzo came to Perugia
to grace the feasts and the rejoicings with their presence. "_Priori_
and treasurers of the Republic, doctors, nobles, _Raspanti_, and
_Beccherini_, danced for a whole week, day and night, in friendly
concord, and there were fireworks and much sound of music."
These things were done at Porta Sole in the past. The Abbot's palaces
and covered passages were well-nigh battered to bits by the revengeful
citizens, but the charm of the small piazza has not vanished with them.
Looking from the bastions one still can trace a portion of the covered
passage by which the terror-stricken Abbot fled at sunrise to his
palaces at Porta Sant' Antonio; and on winter evenings we have often
stood there, watching, with an ever fresh delight, the brown roofs of
the slumbering town below--the brown woods of the browner Apennines
beyond; and seen them fade and gather into one harmonious whole just as
they did five hundred years ago, when Mommaggiore sat at supper and
heard the first low hum of revolution.
From the piazza of Porta Sole a steep paved road or staircase leads down
to the Piazza Grimani, and here one is confronted by what is perhaps the
most remarkable point in the whole city, namely, the Arch of
Augustus.[73]
ARCH OF AUGUSTUS.
In Dennis' admirable account of Perugia he gives a full description of
this arch:--
"The best preserved and grandest of all the gates of Perugia," he
says, "is the _Arco d'Augusto_, so called from the inscription,
_Augusta Perusia_, over the arch. It is formed of regular masonry
of travertine, uncemented, in courses of 18 inches high; some of
the blocks being 3 or 4 feet in length. The masonry of the arch
hardly corresponds with that below it and is probably of subsequent
date and Roman, as the inscription seems to testify, though the
letters are not necessarily coeval with the structure. The arch is
skew or oblique; and the gate is double, like those of Volterra and
Cosa. Above the arch is a frieze of six Ionic colonnettes, fluted,
alternating with shields; and from this springs another arch, now
blocked up, surmounted by a second frieze of Ionic pilasters, not
fluted. All the work above the lower arch is evidently of later
date than the original construction of the gateway.... This gate
stands recessed from the line of the city wall, and is flanked on
either hand by a tower, projecting about 20 feet, and rising,
narrowing upwards, to a level with the top of the wall above the
gate. The masonry of these towers, to the height of the imposts of
the arch, corresponds with that of the gate itself, and seems to be
the original structure, all above that height is of a later
period.... The gate still forms one of the entrances to the city,
though there is a populous suburb without its walls. Its appearance
is most imposing. The lofty towers, like ponderous obelisks,
truncated--the tall archway recessed between them--the frieze of
shields and colonnettes above it--the second arch soaring over all,
a gallery, it may be, whence to annoy the foe--the venerable
masonry overgrown with moss, or dark with the breath of ages--form
a whole which carries the mind most forcibly into the past."
The history of the arch of Augustus, or _Porta urbica etrusca_, has been
given again and again by local and by foreign guide-books and
historians, but we know of no better account than the above by Dennis,
and little is left to say on the subject here. In speaking of Etruscan
walls in another part of his book, Dennis remarks that one of their most
striking features is the apparent newness of the stone. The big blocks
of travertine on the Arco d'Augusto are as sharp almost as on the day
when the Etruscans brought them up the hill, something like three
thousand years ago, the marks of the individual masons are perfectly
clear upon their faces, and time has mellowed the light and graceful
colonnade of the Renaissance and Roman architecture, as much or more
than that of the vanished people.
For a vivid first impression of the city one should certainly enter it
from its northern side, and pass at once into its grim, dark, mediæval
streets, through these splendid early portals. The usual approach from
the station, which is certainly no quicker and much more tedious, gives
nothing like the same impression of the real Perugia, which we love to
read about and study.
[Illustration: ARCO D'AUGUSTO]
S. AGOSTINO.
Many roads meet in the Piazza Grimani, and joining as it were together,
pass back to the heart of the town through the arch of Augustus. The
whole of the Borgo S. Angelo, which spreads away to the north of the
piazza, though enclosed by very early walls, is not part of the first
city of Perugia, and is indeed a little city of its own with one main
street, the Via Longara, and houses closely packed on either side.[74]
To the right as one passes up it is the church of S. Agostino, with its
wonderful choir--one of those choirs which, by its exquisite variety of
design and transformation of the wood to beasts, delights and fascinates
one.
The choir was made in 1502, and, as Mariotti, who describes it at
length, remarks, it is "indeed worthy of praise." Perugino himself
supplied the designs, which were carried out by his Florentine friend
Baccio d'Agnolo, and Perugino saw that the payment of the work was good:
1120 florins down at the end of the year when the work was done.[75]
S. Agostino, like other churches of the town, has long since been
despoiled of its best treasures. We read a long list of its early
pictures; the crowning glory of these, the large and many-sided
altar-piece by Perugino, was pulled to bits and scattered during the
Napoleonic raids. The history of this great altar-piece has been traced
with extraordinary precision, and as it throws some light on the ways of
the painter we give a sketch of it here. It seems that in the autumn of
1502 the indefatigable Pietro signed a contract in which he promised to
paint his "Sposalizio" for the Duomo, three other smaller pictures,
designs for the stalls of S. Agostino, and finally an immense two-sided
altar-piece for that same church. As may easily be imagined the
[Illustration: S. AGOSTINO AND PORTA BULAGAJO]
carrying out of this colossal contract was no light matter, and it
dragged on for years during which time Perugino did not hesitate to
embark on several other works; and, not at all abashed by his own lack
of faith in promises, we find him writing to the friars of S. Agostino
from Pieve di Castello, where he was for the time engaged on other work,
begging them in a large round hand and most marvellous spelling, to give
some corn to one of his protégés, bearer of the letter (see Pinacoteca).
The letter is dated March 30, 1512. The next we hear of the picture is
in the autumn of 1521 when there is a question about payment which
proves that the work was finished. It is not an easy matter to
reconstruct this picture, but we have seen the plan of it in a very
early manuscript which shows a grand pile of frame and canvasses much in
the style of Pinturicchio's altar-piece in the Pinacoteca. Of all its
many parts Perugia has only kept a few of the saints, the Baptism, the
Nativity and the _Pietà_(?). We read of scattered fragments in such
different towns as Grenoble, Toulouse, Lyons, and Nantes. The Madonna
herself, we hear, was pierced by a German ball at Strasburg.
There is in a side chapel of S. Agostino a rather beautiful old fresco,
probably by some scholar of Perugino, of a Madonna and some saints with
a white rabbit in the foreground. Looking one day at the picture we
wondered vaguely why the rabbit had been painted there: "Ma, per
bellezza," hazarded the small son of the sacristan with the delightful
intuition peculiar to the children of his nation. No doubt he was
perfectly right. Another good fresco by Perugino or his scholars may be
found, strangely enough, in the back passage of a baker's shop a little
farther up the Via Longara; but before leaving the church of S. Agostino
it would be well to look at the splendid meeting-room of the
Confraternità next door to it. This room, like that at S. Francesco, is
a magnificent specimen of rather heavy and sumptuous Renaissance
wood-carving.
S. ANGELO.
At the very end of the Borgo, just before turning into the open country,
is the little old temple of S. Angelo. One of the earliest facts we find
in the history of Perugia is that this temple was the only building
which escaped the fire kindled by Caius Cestius (see p. 10). The church
is probably built on the site of some old Etruscan temple, but in its
present state it bears only a phantom resemblance to the form of its
first architecture. Some say that the early temple was dedicated to Pan,
more likely it was a temple to Venus or Vulcan. Conestabile declares
that three distinct periods of building can be traced in it, and he
suggests that the original temple was pulled down and rebuilt by
ignorant early Christians with the ruins of another temple dedicated to
Flora. The pillars are certainly of different sizes and very different
qualities of stone. Some few are of Greek marble, and one has an
Etruscan capital; yet in Fergusson's description of S. Angelo he says
that "the materials are apparently original and made for the place they
occupy;" he also suggests that the church was originally used as a
baptistery, or may have been dedicated to some martyr, "but in the heart
of Etruria," he adds, "this form may have been adopted for other
reasons, the force of which we are hardly able at present to appreciate;
though in all cases locality is one of the strongest influencing powers
as far as architectural forms are concerned." In the first form of the
Christian building it was surrounded by a third row of columns (see p.
171) which were taken by the Abbot of S. Pietro to adorn his new
basilica, and in those times the third circle stood open to the air
[Illustration: CHURCH OF S. ANGELO]
with vestibules and atrium. The altar of sacrifice, now a side altar,
stood in the centre of the church where the hideous rococo baldachino
stands to-day. The small square pillar with the Latin inscription was
probably moved from its place, and turned to the north at the time
when, as a local writer fitly says, "the architecture of S. Angelo was
burdened by so many bagatelles and such a profusion of false ornament."
Among other late Christian "ornaments" in S. Angelo we must mention the
body of a young Saint which lies embalmed under one of the side altars.
It is one of those odd pathetic bits of bad taste which somehow charm
us. The Saint is dressed in tawdry armour, but his face and limbs are
exquisitely fine, his expression pure and very peaceful. His hair is
long, the skin of his face waxen, he seems to be merely sleeping. One of
the very earliest Umbrian frescoes of Perugia, "La Madonna del Verde,"
is painted in a chapel to the right. The whole building is a remarkable
mixture of early pagan, of Roman, and of Christian art, and we can only
regret that the last should have been added later, and in its worst and
most degraded era.
The temple stands on a quiet plot of ground within the city walls,
which, a little to the left of it, end in a great mediæval tower or
portcullis put up in time of war by a _condottiere_! It needed the
Umbrian sky, it required the Umbrian landscape to make of such strange
contrasts an harmonious whole. Yet S. Angelo is one of those things
which at once possesses men's fancy, and we read that even in the middle
ages fantastic legends centred round it, and that the early writers
believed it to be the "pavilion of Orlando."
* * * * *
Having, in this chapter, run through some few historical facts relating
to a Pope, an Abbot, two Umbrian painters and a pagan temple, we may as
well complete the medley with one or two calm records of the Umbrian
saints. Leaving the church of S. Angelo one passes back to the street
and out through the Porta S. Angelo into the open country. The gate is
half a castle, and was built by Fortebraccio when he was strengthening
the city with new walls. There is a charming detail in the life of S.
Francis connected with it. We hear that when Pope Honorius III. was
staying at Perugia, the enthusiasm for saint Francis of Assisi was at
its height, and the Pope with all his court went down across the plain
to visit the quiet dwelling-place of the gentle Christ-like teacher:
"And the friars of S. Francis," says Mariotti, "beheld many counts and
cavaliers and other noble gentlemen, and a great number of Cardinals,
Bishops, Abbots and different clergy, who all came down to see the large
but humble congregation of S. Francis." And then the Saint returned the
visit, and coming in person to call upon the Pope in order to obtain
indulgences for his new church of the Angeli, it happened that as he
passed through the Porta S. Angelo he met with S. Domenico who himself
was hurrying in the same direction. They met each other in the
archway--these two founders of great religious orders--"and with their
usual charity they embraced each other." The picture is beautiful and
striking indeed: maybe a hot May morning, and the two men, who more than
most on earth had overcome themselves and elevated the souls of other
men, staying to embrace in a quiet, homely fashion before passing
further on into the presence of the acknowledged Pontiff of the Church.
S. FRANCESCO AL MONTE.
A little further down the road on the left hand side, is the monastery
of S. Francesco al Monte. We hear that the place was endowed in the
following manner: "It happened that a rich gentleman, Giacomo di
Buonconti de' Coppoli, who, in his houses of Monteripido," (the hill on
which the present convent stands) "was wont most tenderly to entertain
the blessed brother Egidio, delighted beyond power of description in the
ecstatic trances of that Saint; and having become a widower, by the
death of Donna Vita, who died childless, Messer Giacomo took holy
orders, and in his will he ordered that his houses should be turned into
the convent of S. Francesco al Monte which was therefore built in 1276
by the Minori Osservanti." We may conclude that Fra Egidio, who was one
of the most fascinating followers of S. Francis, long outlived his
ardent worshipper, for we hear that he spent a great deal of his time in
the convent that was built to do honour to the Franciscan order.
Poor Fra Egidio! when he knew that death was near he begged to be taken
back to Assisi to die and be buried in the home of his loved leader; but
the Perugians, although they simply idolized him, refused him this last
comfort. They forced him to die in their midst so that they might have
his corpse and profit by the miracles that they expected would be worked
by it. They gave him a beautiful tomb at last, which may now be seen in
the church of the University. His staff, his book, his poor brown gown,
are kept in a crystal case tied up with roses and silk ribbons.
The monastery of S. Francesco al Monte rises bare but beautifully
proportioned on its hill top. Tall lines of slender cypress trees guard
either side of the steep ascent or "sacro monte" which leads to it. We
cannot explore the cells; the little church is bare, its Perugino
altar-piece and other pictures gone, like the rest, to the Pinacoteca;
but sitting on the grass-grown steps we may read one of the most
delightful and ingenuous stories ever told about either Perugia or the
followers of S. Francis:--
"So S. Louis, King of France, went upon a pilgrimage to visit all
the sanctuaries upon the earth, and hearing great fame of the
holiness of Brother Egidio, who had been one of the first
companions of S. Francis, he set his heart on visiting him in
person, wherefore he came to Perugia where Fra Egidio then was
living. And coming to the door of the convent dressed as a poor and
unknown pilgrim with but a few companions, he enquired with great
insistence after Fra Egidio, saying nothing to the porter of who it
was that asked. So the porter went to Fra Egidio, and told him that
a pilgrim was asking for him at the door, and to Fra Egidio it was
revealed by God that he who waited for him was the King of France,
whereat he immediately and with the utmost fervour left his cell
and hurried to the gate; and without further questioning and
although they had never met before, with the most deep devotion
those two kneeled down together kissing each other with such a
sweet familiarity it seemed that they had held long fellowship
together: but in spite of all these things neither the one nor the
other spoke a word; they merely held each other in that close
embrace, with every sign of charitable love, in silence. And having
stayed together thus for a long space of time without exchange of
words they parted from each other; and S. Louis went forth upon his
journey and Fra Egidio returned unto his cell." ...
Then we hear that the monks in the convent arose and murmured together,
and questioned Fra Egidio about the mysterious guest with whom he had
stayed so long in close embrace, and Fra Egidio told them very simply
that it had been the King of France. Then they upbraided him for his
discourtesy towards so great a man: "O Fra Egidio, wherefore hast thou
been so rude as never to have spoken even one syllable to so devout a
King who came all the way from France that he might see thee, and hear
from thee some holy words?" And Fra Egidio answers them with the
child-like and unruffled candour peculiar to his order, and begs them
not to marvel at the mutual silence of that meeting,
"Because," he says, "as soon as we had embraced each other the
light of wisdom revealed and showed to me his heart, and likewise
mine to him; and thus by a divine concurrence seeing into each
other's hearts, we understood far better, he, what I desired to say
to him, and I, what he desired to say to me, than if we had spoken
together with our mouths; and we found far greater consolation than
if we had attempted to explain with our voice that which we felt in
our hearts: for, had we spoken with our mouths, such is the
faultiness of human speech, we should more likely have had
discomfort in the place of comfort: now therefore understand, that
the King went from me marvellously contented, and his whole soul
refreshed."
So King Louis of France went out across the Umbrian hills, the Umbrian
Saint returned to his cell, and Perugia added a new and splendid number
to her list of royal visitors. Probably this story, be it a myth or be
it truth, has caused the confusion between the French King and the
French bishop, one of whom is certainly a patron of the city to this
day. The lilies of France are scattered everywhere at the feet of the
Umbrian griffin. But the true patron of Perugia is S. Louis Bishop of
Toulouse, and as far as we know the visit of King Louis of France was
only recorded by the author of the _Fioretti_.