VALPERGA:
OR, THE
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
OF
CASTRUCCIO,
PRINCE OF LUCCA.
BY THE AUTHOR OF "FRANKENSTEIN."
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR G. AND W. B. WHITTAKER,
AVE-MARIA-LANE.
1823.
CONTENTS
PREFACE
CHAPTER I
_Birth of Castruccio.--His family exiled from
Lucca when he is eleven years of age._
CHAPTER II
_Castruccio visits Florence.--Characters of Euthanasia
dei Adimari and her father.--The
father of Castruccio dies._
CHAPTER III
_Francis Guinigi, the military Peasant.--Castruccio
resides with him one Year._
CHAPTER IV
_Castruccio in England._
CHAPTER V
_Castruccio in Flanders and France--Alberto
Scoto--Benedetto Pepi._
CHAPTER VI
_Castruccio in Italy--Susa--Creed of Benedetto._
CHAPTER VII
_Milan.--Court of the Emperor Henry.--Arrigo
Guinigi.--Sack of Cremona.--Benedetto
Pepi._
CHAPTER VIII
_Death of the Emperor.--Uguccione, tyrant of
Pisa, restores Castruccio at Lucca.--Euthanasia._
CHAPTER IX
_Castle of Valperga described--Friendship
and Love._
CHAPTER X
_Euthanasia's Narrative._
CHAPTER XI
_Capture of Monte Catini.--Castruccio treacherously
made prisoner by Ranieri, Governor
of Lucca.--Delivered, and proclaimed
Consul._
CHAPTER XII
_Peace between Lucca and Florence.--Bindo._
CHAPTER XIII
_Euthanasia holds a Court._
CHAPTER XIV
_Euthanasia's Court continued.--Pepi arrives._
PREFACE
The accounts of the Life of Castruccio known in England, are generally
taken from Macchiavelli's romance concerning this chief. The reader may
find a detail of his real adventures in Sismondi's delightful
publication, _Histoire des Republiques Italiennes de l'Age Moyen_. In
addition to this work, I have consulted Tegrino's Life of Castruccio,
and Giovanni Villani's Florentine Annals.
The following is a translation from the article respecting
him in Moreri.
"Castruccio Castracani, one of the most celebrated captains of his time,
lived in the fourteenth century. He was of the family of the
Antelminelli of Lucca; and, having at a very early age borne arms in
favour of the Ghibelines, he was exiled by the Guelphs. He served not
long after in the armies of Philip king of France, who made war on the
Flemings. In the sequel he repassed the Alps; and, having joined
Uguccione Faggiuola, chief of the Ghibelines of Tuscany, he reduced
Lucca, Pistoia, and several other towns. He became the ally of the
emperor Louis of Bavaria, against pope John XXII, Robert king of Naples,
and the Florentines. Louis of Bavaria gave him the investiture of Lucca
under the denomination of Duke, together with the title of Senator of
Rome. Nothing seemed able to oppose his courage and good fortune, when
he was taken off by a premature death in 1330, in the forty-seventh year
of his age."
The dates here given are somewhat different from those adopted in the
following narrative.
VALPERGA
CHAPTER I
_Birth of Castruccio.--His family exiled from
Lucca when he is eleven years of age._
The other nations of Europe were yet immersed in barbarism, when Italy,
where the light of civilization had never been wholly eclipsed, began to
emerge from the darkness of the ruin of the Western Empire, and to catch
from the East the returning rays of literature and science. At the
beginning of the fourteenth century Dante had already given a permanent
form to the language which was the offspring of this revolution; he was
personally engaged in those political struggles, in which the elements
of the good and evil that have since assumed a more permanent form were
contending; his disappointment and exile gave him leisure to meditate,
and produced his _Divina Comedia_.
Lombardy and Tuscany, the most civilized districts of Italy, exhibited
astonishing specimens of human genius; but at the same time they were
torn to pieces by domestic faction, and almost destroyed by the fury of
civil wars. The antient quarrels of the Guelphs and the Ghibelines were
started with renovated zeal, under the new distinctions of _Bianchi_ and
_Neri_[1]. The Ghibelines and the _Bianchi_ were the friends of the
emperor, asserting the supremacy and universality of his sway over all
other dominion, ecclesiastical or civil: the Guelphs and the _Neri_ were
the partizans of liberty. Florence was at the head of the Guelphs, and
employed, as they were employed by it in their turn, the Papal power as
a pretext and an instrument.
The distinctions of _Bianchi_ and _Neri_ took their rise in Pistoia, a
town of some moment between Florence and Lucca. The _Neri_ being
expelled from Pistoia, the exiles fixed their residence in Lucca; where
they so fortified and augmented their party, as to be able in the year
1301 to expel the _Bianchi_, among whom was Castruccio Castracani dei
Antelminelli.
The family of the Antelminelli was one of the most distinguished in
Lucca. They had followed the emperors in their Italian wars, and had
received in recompense titles and reward. The father of Castruccio was
the chief of his house; he had been a follower of the unfortunate
Manfred, king of Naples, and his party feelings as a Ghibeline derived
new fervour from the adoration with which he regarded his noble master.
Manfred was the natural son of the last emperor of the house of Swabia;
before the age of twenty he had performed the most brilliant exploits,
and undergone the most romantic vicissitudes, in all of which the father
of Castruccio had been his faithful page and companion. The unrelenting
animosity with which the successive Popes pursued his royal master, gave
rise in his bosom to a hatred, that was heightened by the contempt with
which he regarded their cowardly and artful policy.
When therefore the quarrels of the Guelphs and Ghibelines were revived
in Lucca under the names of _Bianchi_ and _Neri_, Ruggieri dei
Antelminelli was the chief opponent and principal victim of the
machinations of the Papal party. Castruccio was then only eleven years
of age; but his young imagination was deeply impressed by the scenes
that passed around him. When the citizens of Lucca had assembled on the
appointed day to choose their _Podestà_, or principal magistrate, the
two parties dividing on the Piazza glared defiance at each other: the
Guelphs had the majority in numbers; but the Ghibelines wishing, like
Brennus, to throw the sword into the ascending scale, assailed the
stronger party with arms in their hands. They were repulsed; and, flying
before their enemies, the Guelphs remained in possession of the field,
where, under the guidance of their chiefs, they voted the perpetual
banishment of the Ghibelines; and the summons was read by a herald,
which commanded all the districts of Lucca to range themselves the next
morning under their respective banners, that they might attack and expel
by force those of the contrary party who should refuse to obey the
decree.
Ruggieri returned from the Piazza of the Podestà, accompanied by
several of his principal friends. His wife, Madonna Dianora, was
anxiously waiting his return; while the young Castruccio stood at the
casement, and, divining by his mother's countenance the cause of her
inquietude, looked eagerly down the street that he might watch the
approach of his father: he clapped his hands with joy, as he exclaimed,
"They come!" Ruggieri entered; his wife observed him inquiringly and
tenderly, but forbore to speak; yet her cheek became pale, when she
heard her husband issue orders, that the palace should be barricadoed,
and none permitted to enter, except those who brought the word which
shewed that they belonged to the same party.
"Are we in danger?"--asked Madonna Dianora in a low voice of one of
their most intimate friends. Her husband overheard her, and replied:
"Keep up your courage, my best girl; trust me, as you have ever trusted.
I would that I dared send you to a place of safety, but it were not well
that you traversed the streets of Lucca; so you must share my fortunes,
Dianora."
"Have I not ever shared them?" replied his wife. His friends had retired
to an adjoining hall, and she continued;--"There can be no dearer fate
to me than to live or perish with you, Ruggieri; but cannot we save our
son?"
Castruccio was sitting at the feet of his parents, and gazing on them
with his soft, yet bright eyes. He had looked at his mother as she
spoke; now he turned eagerly towards his father while he listened to his
reply:--"We have been driven from the Piazza of the Podestà, and we can
no longer entertain any hope of overcoming our enemies. The mildest fate
that we may expect is confiscation and banishment; if they decree our
death, the stones of this palace alone divide us from our fate. And
Castruccio,--could any of our friends convey him hence, I should feel
redoubled courage--but it is too much to risk."
"Father," said the boy, "I am only a child, and can do no good; but I
pray you do not send me away from you: indeed, dear, dearest mother, I
will not leave you."
The trampling of horses was heard in the streets: Ruggieri started up;
one of his friends entered:--"It is the guard going to the gates," said
he; "the assembly of the people is broken up."
"And what is decreed?"
"No one ventures near to inquire out that; but courage, my noble lord."
"That word to me, Ricciardo?--but it is well; my wife and child make a
very woman of me."
"_Ave Maria_ is now ringing," replied his companion; "soon night will
set in, and, if you will trust me, I will endeavour to convey Madonna
Dianora to some place of concealment."
"Many thanks, my good Ricciardo," answered the lady; "my safest post is
at the side of Ruggieri. But our boy----save him, and a mother's
blessing, her warm, heartfelt thanks, all the treasure that I can give,
shall be yours! You know Valperga?"
"Yes, the castle of Valperga. Is the Countess there now?"
"She is,--and she is our friend; if my Castruccio were once within the
walls of that castle, I were happy."
While Madonna Dianora conversed thus with Ricciardo, Ruggieri held a
consultation with his friends. The comfortable daylight had faded away,
and night brought danger and double fear along with it. The companions
of Ruggieri sat in the banqueting hall of his palace, debating their
future conduct: they spoke in whispers, for they feared that a louder
tone might overpower any sound in the streets; and they listened to
every footfall, as if it were the tread of their coming destiny.
Ricciardo joined them; and Madonna Dianora was left alone with her son:
they were silent. Dianora wept, and held the hand of her child; while he
tried to comfort her, and to show that fortitude he had often heard his
father praise; but his little bosom swelled in despite of his mastery,
until, the big tears rolling down his cheeks, he threw himself into his
mother's arms, and sobbed aloud. At this moment some one knocked
violently at the palace-gate. The assembled Ghibelines started up, and
drew their swords as they rushed towards the staircase; and they stood
in fearful silence, while they listened to the answers which the
stranger gave to him who guarded the door.
Ruggieri had embraced his wife he feared for the last time. She did not
then weep; her high wrought feelings were fixed on one object alone, the
safety of her child.--"If you escape," she cried, "Valperga is your
refuge; you well know the road that leads to it."
The boy did not answer for a while; and then he whispered, while he
clung round her neck,--"You, dear mother, shall shew it to me."
The voice of the man who had disturbed them by his knocking, had
reassured the imprisoned Ghibelines, and he was admitted. It was Marco,
the servant of Messer Antonio dei Adimari. A Florentine by birth, and a
Guelph, Antonio had retired from his native city while it continued
under the jurisdiction of the opposite party, and had lived at the
castle of Valperga, of which his wife was Countess and Castellana. He
was bound to Ruggieri by the strongest ties of private friendship; and
he now exerted himself to save his friend. Marco brought intelligence of
the decree of the assembly of the people. "Our lives are then in
safety,"--cried Dianora, with a wild look of joy,--"and all the rest is
as the seared leaves of autumn; they fall off lightly, and make no
noise."
"The night wears apace," said Marco, "and before sunrise you must
depart; will you accompany me to Valperga?"
"Not so," replied Ruggieri; "we may be beggars, but we will not burthen
our friends. Thank your lord for his many kindnesses towards me. I leave
it to him to save what he can for me from the ruins of my fortune. If
his interest stand high enough with our rulers, intreat him to exert it
to preserve the unoffending walls of this palace: it was the dwelling of
my forefathers, my inheritance; I lived here during my boyish days; and
once its hall was graced by the presence of Manfred. My boy may one day
return; and I would not that he should find the palace of his father a
ruin. We cannot remain near Lucca, but shall retire to some town which
adheres to our party, and there wait for better days."
Dianora made speedy preparations for their departure; the horses were
brought to the door; and the stars were fading in the light of dawn, as
the cavalcade proceeded through the high and narrow streets of Lucca.
Their progress was unimpeded at the gates; Ruggieri felt a load taken
from his heart, when he found himself, with his wife and child, safe in
the open country. Yet the feeling of joy was repressed by the
remembrance, that life was all that remained to them, and that poverty
and obscurity were to be the hard-visaged nurses of their declining
years, the harsh tutors of the young and aspiring Castruccio.
The exiles pursued their way slowly to Florence.
Florence was then in a frightful state of civil discord. The Ghibelines
had the preponderance; but not a day passed without brawls and
bloodshed. Our exiles found many of their townsmen on the same road, on
the same sad errand of seeking protection from a foreign state. Little
Castruccio saw many of his dearest friends among them; and his young
heart, moved by their tears and complaints, became inflamed with rage
and desire of vengeance. It was by scenes such as these, that party
spirit was generated, and became so strong in Italy. Children, while
they were yet too young to feel their own disgrace, saw the misery of
their parents, and took early vows of implacable hatred against their
persecutors: these were remembered in after times; the wounds were never
seared, but the fresh blood ever streaming kept alive the feelings of
passion and anger which had given rise to the first blow.
When they arrived at Florence, they were welcomed with kindness by the
chiefs of the _Bianchi_ of that city. Charles of Valois had just sent
ambassadors to the government, to offer his mediation in composing their
differences; and on that very day the party of Ghibelines who composed
the council assembled to deliberate on this insidious proposition. It
may be easily supposed therefore, that, entirely taken up with their own
affairs, they could not bestow the attention they would otherwise have
done on the Lucchese exiles. On the following day Ruggieri left
Florence.
The exiles proceeded to Ancona. This was the native town of the Lady
Dianora; and they were received with hospitality by her relations. But
it was a heavy change for Ruggieri, to pass from the active life of the
chief of a party, to the unmarked situation of an individual, who had no
interest in the government under which he lived, and who had exchanged
the distinctions of rank and wealth for that barren respect which an
unblamed old age might claim. Ruggieri had been a man of undaunted
courage; and this virtue, being no longer called into action, assumed
the appearance of patience and fortitude. His dearest pleasure was the
unceasing attention he paid to the education of his son. Castruccio was
an apt and sprightly boy, bold in action, careless of consequences, and
governed only by his affection for his parents. Ruggieri encouraged his
adventurous disposition; and although he often sympathized in the fears
of his anxious wife, when Castruccio would venture out to sea on a windy
day in a little fair-weather skiff, or when he saw him, without bridle
or saddle, mount a horse, and, heading a band of his companions, ride
off to the woods, yet he never permitted himself to express these fears,
or check the daring of his son.
So Castruccio grew up active; light and graceful of limb, trusting that
by his own powers he should always escape. Yet the boy was not without
prudence; he seemed to perceive instinctively the limits of possibility,
and would often repress the fool-hardiness of his companions, and shew
his superior judgement and patience in surmounting the same difficulties
by slower and safer means. Ruggieri disciplined him betimes in all the
duties of a knight and a soldier; he wielded a lance adapted to his
size, shot with bow and arrows, and the necessary studies to which he
applied, became, on account of their active nature, the source of
inexhaustible amusement to him. Accompanied by a troop of lads, they
would feign some court surrounded by an old wall, or some ruined tower,
to be Troy Town, or any other famous city of antient days, and then with
mimic _balestri_, and slings and arrows, and lances, they attacked, and
defended, and practised those lessons in tactics which their preceptors
inculcated at an early age.
During the first year of their banishment his mother died; her weak
frame was destroyed by hardship and disappointment. She recommended her
son to his father in terms of tender love; and then closed her eyes in
peace. This circumstance for a considerable time unhinged the young mind
of Castruccio, and interrupted his studies. His father, who loved her
tenderly, and who had found in her a friend to whom he could confide
those regrets which pride forbade him to impart to any other hearer, now
lamented her with excessive grief.
He did not dare check the silent tear that started into the eye of
Castruccio, when, returning from his exercises with his companions, he
was no longer embraced by his mother; he felt that his own sentiments
would refute the lesson he wished to impress.
Ruggieri was consoled for all his past misfortunes by the promising
talents and disposition of his son, and parental tenderness, the
strongest of all passions, but often the most unfortunate, was to him
the sunbeam, solitary, but bright, which enlightened his years of exile
and infirmity.
Yet at the moment that he most enjoyed this blessing, his security was
suddenly disturbed. One morning Castruccio disappeared; and the
following perplexing note addressed to his father, was the only trace
that he left of his intentions:--
"Pardon me, dearest father; I will return in a very few days; I am quite
safe, therefore do not disquiet yourself on my account. Do not be very
angry with me; for, although I am indignant at my own weakness, I cannot
resist! Be well assured that in less than a fortnight your unworthy son
will be at your feet.
"CASTRUCCIO."
This was the year 1304, when Castruccio was fourteen years of age.
Ruggieri hoped and trusted that he was safe, and that he would fulfil
his promise and soon return; but he waited with inexpressible anxiety.
The cause of Castruccio's flight was curious, shewing at once the
manners of the age and country in which they lived, and the imagination
and disposition of the boy.
[Footnote 1: Black and White.]