City and University of Pavia--Duomo and Castello--The library of the
Castello--Wedding of Lodovico Sforza, Duke of Bari, and Beatrice d'Este,
in the chapel of the Castello of Pavia--Galeazzo di San Severino and
Orlando--Reception of the bride in Milan--Tournaments and festivities at
the Castello--Visit of Duchess Leonora to the Certosa of Pavia.
1491
The ancient city of Pavia, the capital of the Lombard kings before the
conquest of Charlemagne, still presents a picturesque and imposing
appearance to the traveller, who sees the red-brick walls and gates of
the old fortifications and the slender bell-towers of its Romanesque
churches rising out of the green plains on the banks of the broad and
swift Ticino. But it was a far grander and more beautiful sight in the
days when Lodovico Sforza's bride landed near the chapel on the bridge,
and in the fading light of the short winter afternoon rode at his side
through the chief streets of the old Lombard capital, or, as it was
proudly called, the city of a hundred towers. On the princely cavalcade
wound, amid a dense crowd of people shouting, "_Moro! Moro!_" up the
long Strada Nova, with its marble palaces, and newly painted loggias
adorned with busts and frescoes, in front of the stately _Ateneo_ with
its halls and porticoes for the different schools, which had the
reputation of being the finest university in all Italy, and past the
rising walls of the new Duomo which Lodovico was building on the site of
the ruined basilica of Charlemagne's time. A few months before, the
renowned Sienese architect, Francesco Martini, had arrived at Pavia on
horseback to give his advice as to the cupola of the new cathedral,
accompanied by His Excellency's servant, Magistro Leonardo, the
Florentine, and a vast train of servants, and had been entertained at
the public expense. Martini had soon left again for Milan, after giving
the architect of the Duomo, Bramante's pupil Cristoforo Rocchi, the
benefit of his advice, and promising to send him a model of the cupola;
but Leonardo had remained at Pavia all the summer and autumn, turning
over old manuscripts in the library of the Castello, and discussing
anatomical problems with the professors and surgeons of the university,
until a peremptory summons had reached him from the governor of the
Castello at Milan, desiring him to return immediately and assist in
decorating the ball-room for the wedding _fêtes_. Another visitor, a
citizen of Beatrice's own city of Ferrara, had also been at Pavia a few
months before--the Dominican friar, Girolamo Savonarola, who had visited
the Certosa and Castello of Pavia on his way from Brescia to preach at
Genoa, before he was summoned at Pico della Mirandola's request to begin
his famous course of Lent sermons in St. Mark's of Florence. But now the
duke's painter and the humble friar had both gone their separate ways,
Fra Girolamo to startle the scholars of the Medici circle with his
thunders, and Leonardo to paint cupids in the halls of the Castello at
Milan, and to resume his labours at the great equestrian statue of
Francesco Sforza, which Signor Lodovico was longing to see finished. All
unconscious of their existence, the young bride of the powerful regent
rode at her lord's side and entered the wide courtyard through the great
gateway, under the lofty towers of the famous Castello which for over a
hundred and fifty years had been the home of Viscontis and Sforzas.
After the cold and fatigue of the long journey in this snowy winter
season, the bridal party were thankful to reach the end of their journey
and to enjoy a day's rest before the wedding ceremony, which, after
consultation with Messer Ambrogio da Rosate, the chief court physician
and astrologer, had been fixed for Tuesday, the 17th of January, this
being the day of Mars, and therefore especially propitious for the
marriage of a lord, who above all things desired the birth of a son.
Throughout his life Il Moro, like many of his contemporaries, had a
blind belief in the stars, and placed the most implicit confidence in
Messer Ambrogio, who was said to have saved his life during his
dangerous illness at Vigevano three years before, and who had been
lately called upon to cast the horoscope of Pope Innocent VIII. at the
earnest entreaty of His Holiness. "Maestro Ambrogio has been suddenly
called to fly to Vigevano," wrote Giacomo Trotti to Ferrara one day in
1489, "because he is a professor of astrology, by which this excellent
Signor orders all his actions." The date of Lodovico's journeys, the
hour of all important court ceremonies, and even the movements of his
armies in time of war, were regulated by the course of the stars. Messer
Ambrogio, consequently, became a most important personage at the court
of Milan. "Without him," wrote Beatrice's maid of honour to the
Marchioness Isabella, "nothing can be done here."
The beautiful park and gardens at Pavia lay deep in snow, their lakes
and fountains were all frozen over, but there was plenty to interest and
amuse the visitors within the walls of this great Castello, of which
they had heard so much, and which was said to be the grandest of royal
houses in the whole of Europe. Three or four generations of masters had
been employed by successive Visconti dukes to rear this glorious fabric,
which in its palmy days must have been a noble monument of Lombard
architecture. The long colonnades of low round arches went back to
Romanesque days and the times of the first Visconti lords of Pavia; the
Gothic windows of the banqueting-hall and upper stories had been
finished in the reign of the great Giangaleazzo, and were enriched with
slender marble shafts and exquisite terra-cotta mouldings similar to
those that we admire to-day in the cloisters of the Certosa. The vaulted
halls were painted with the finest ultramarine and gold, and the arms of
Sforzas and Viscontis, the lilies of France and the red cross of Savoy,
appeared on the groined roof between planets and stars of raised gold.
The vast Sala della Palla, where the dukes and their courtiers indulged
in their favourite pastime of "pall-mall," which Burckhardt calls the
classic game of the Renaissance, was decorated with frescoes by the best
artists of Pavia or Cremona, representing fishing and hunting scenes.
Portraits of the dukes and duchesses were introduced, together with
lions and tigers, wild boars and stags flying before the hounds, in the
forest shades or on the open moor. The ball-room was adorned with
historic subjects from the lives of the earlier Viscontis. The poet
Petrarch, who had once filled a chair in the university, was seen
delivering an oration before the duke; and Giangaleazzo, the founder of
the Duomo of Milan and of the Certosa, was represented seated at a
festive board laden with gold and silver plate, entertaining foreign
ambassadors, with his armour-bearer standing at his side, and his
cupbearer pouring out the wine, while huntsmen and falconers with horses
and dogs awaited his pleasure. Of later date were the frescoes in the
duchess's rooms, representing the marriage of Galeazzo Sforza at the
French court and the reception of Bona of Savoy at Genoa, while the
paintings which adorned the chapel had only lately been completed by
Vincenzo Foppa and Bonifazio da Cremona.
Signor Lodovico was very proud, as he might well be, of this his
ancestral home, and of the famous library which he had done so much to
improve. He led his guests from room to room, and showed them all the
rare and curious objects--the armoury with its store of ancient coats of
mail and hauberks, of swords and helmets of ancient design, and its
choice specimens of the engraved and damascened work; the breastplates
and greaves that were a _specialité_ of Milanese armourers at this
period; the wonderful clock of copper and brass worked by wheels and
weights, upon which Giovanni Dondi had spent sixteen years of ceaseless
thought and toil, and which not only had a peal of bells, but a complete
solar system, showing the movement of sun, moon, and planets as set
forth by Ptolemy. After Dondi's death, Duke Galeazzo had to send to
Paris for a clockmaker who could regulate the works of this elaborate
machine, which was so much admired by Charles V. when he visited Pavia
in 1530, that he commissioned a mechanician of Cremona to make a similar
one for him to take back to Spain. And Messer Lodovico showed them also
what he himself held to be his greatest treasures--the precious books
adorned by exquisite miniatures from the hand of Fra Antonio da Monza
and other living artists, the Sforziada and the Chant de Roland, and the
rare Greek and Latin manuscripts which he had been at such infinite
pains to collect; the _codici_ brought from Bobbio by Giorgio Merula,
and the manuscripts which Erasmo Brasca had discovered when _Il Moro_
sent him to search for missing texts in the convents of the South of
France. For Lodovico himself spared no expense and grudged no time or
trouble in order to enrich what he felt to be a great national
institution. Two years before he had addressed a letter to the son of
Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary--the prince who was to have wedded
Bianca Sforza--begging him to have a rare manuscript by Festus Pompeius
copied for him, and deploring the "decay of the knowledge of the Latin
tongue in Italy, and the loss of so many priceless classical works which
the barbarians have carried away."
The sight of these precious and varied treasures were fully appreciated
by the cultivated Duchess Leonora, who had grown up among the scholars
of her royal father's academy at Naples, and by her daughter, the
accomplished Marchesana Isabella, ever eager, as she says in one of her
letters, to see and learn some new thing, "_desiderosa di cosa nova_."
And Signor Lodovico proved himself the most courteous and pleasant of
hosts, conversing with graceful ease on a thousand subjects, and
gratifying his new sister-in-law by the marked attention and courtesy
with which he treated her.
"I find myself highly honoured and caressed by Signor Lodovico," she
wrote to her husband from Pavia; and the discerning eyes of the
Ferrarese ambassador, Giacomo Trotti, noticed how much pleasure His
Excellency already took in the company of Madonna Beatrice and the
Marchesana. On that first day which they spent together at the Castello,
Trotti wrote to Duke Ercole, "Signor Lodovico is always at his wife's
side, speaking to her and watching her most attentively. And he tells me
that it would be impossible for her to give him greater pleasure or
satisfaction than she does, and never ceases to praise her."
The first impression which the youthful bride made on her husband was
evidently favourable. By all accounts, Beatrice was a singularly lovely
and fascinating child. Without the regular features and distinguished
air of her sister Isabella, there was a distinct charm in her sparkling
dark eyes and jet-black hair, her bright colouring and gay smile. The
contemporary chronicler Muralti describes her in his Annals as "of
youthful age, beautiful in face, and dark in colouring, fond of
inventing new costumes, and of spending day and night in song and
dancing and all manner of delights." In these early days at Pavia and
Milan there was, indeed, Trotti tells us, a certain shyness and reserve
about her that was only natural and might well be ascribed to maiden
shyness and timidity, but in the freedom and gaiety of her new life this
soon gave way to the irrepressible mirth and joyousness of youthful
vivacity. From the first she seems to have become sincerely attached to
Lodovico, who, although considerably older than herself, and already
thirty-nine years of age, was a very handsome and splendid-looking man,
of imposing stature and striking countenance, with courteous manners and
gentle ways. And however often he may have excited her jealousy or
wounded her feelings, his young wife never wavered in her love for him,
but proved, as he himself confessed, the best and most devoted of
companions.
On Tuesday, the 17th of January, the long-delayed wedding finally took
place, in the Castello of Pavia. A small but very brilliant company was
assembled that day in the ancient chapel of the Visconti. The official
festivities were to be celebrated at Milan, where the duke and duchess
and their court were awaiting the bride's arrival, and the Ferrarese
ambassador was the only foreign envoy present at the wedding. But
Lodovico's personal friends and retainers mustered in force, as well as
those captains and courtiers who could claim kinship with the house of
Este. Niccolo da Correggio was there, as one nearly related to both
bride and bridegroom, and was universally pronounced to be the
handsomest and best dressed of all the cavaliers who were present that
day. There, too, was Galeotto Prince of Mirandola, the husband of the
gifted Bianca d'Este, and Rodolfo Gonzaga, the Marquis of Mantua's
uncle, and, conspicuous by their lofty stature and martial air, the four
Sanseverino brothers.
The bride, arrayed in a white robe sown with pearls and glittering with
jewels, was led to the altar by the Duchess of Ferrara and Marchioness
of Mantua, supported by the young Don Alfonso, his uncle Sigismondo,
and a select retinue of Ferrarese courtiers and ladies. It was rumoured
that the Marquis Gianfrancesco Gonzaga had himself been seen in the
crowd assembled in the courtyard of the Castello, and, much to
Isabella's surprise, Lodovico asked the marchioness, at the banquet
which followed, if this report were true. But Isabella could only reply
that if her husband were at Pavia, she was unaware of the fact, and it
was not until the last day of the tournament at Milan that the marquis
appeared in public.
"The nuptial benediction was pronounced, and the act of espousals
confirmed by the ring which Signor Lodovico placed on the bride's
finger, and that night the marriage was consummated," were the words of
the official proclamation that was made in Milan the next day, and duly
notified to the magistrates of the different cities in the duchy as well
as to the duke's ambassadors at foreign courts.
On the following morning Lodovico left for Milan, to complete the
arrangements for the bride's reception early in the following week.
Nothing, he was determined, should be left undone to do honour to his
nuptials or to make the occasion memorable both in the eyes of the
people of Milan and throughout Italy. During the summer and autumn
preparations had been actively going on, and a whole army of painters,
goldsmiths, and embroiderers were at work, decorating the suite of rooms
in the Rocca, or inner citadel of the Castello of the Porta Giovia,
adjoining the Corte Ducale, where the Moro and his bride were to take up
their abode. "Here all hands are busy," wrote the Ferrarese envoy to his
master, "and Lodovico takes care that for the duchess nothing is done by
halves." When the date of the wedding had been finally determined, every
nerve was strained to complete the works within the Castello, and an
imperative summons was issued by Messer Ambrogio Ferrari, the chief
ducal commissioner, to the governors of Cremona, Piacenza, and Pavia,
commanding the immediate return of the painters who were absent in these
cities. Among the masters especially mentioned in these letters, we find
the names of Bernardino da Rossi, Zenale and Buttinone di Treviglio,
Treso di Monza, and Magistro Leonardo. This was none other than the
great Florentine, then absent at Pavia, who was required to give his
advice, if not to assist, in the actual decoration of the _Sala della
palla_ on the first floor of the Castello. The vaulted roof of this
spacious hall, which was to serve as ball-room on this occasion, was
painted in azure and gold to imitate the starry sky, while the walls
were hung with canvases representing the heroic deeds of the great
Condottiere, Francesco Sforza, whose glorious memory his son Lodovico
was always eager to celebrate. At the entrance of the hall, an effigy of
the hero on horseback was placed under a triumphal arch, with an
inscription recalling his greatness, and saying that by virtue of these
mighty exploits his children now triumph and hold festival in his
honour.
At the same time, orders were sent in the duke's name to the seneschals
of the castles and towns between Pavia and Milan to see that the roads
and bridges were repaired and widened, in order that the bridal party
might be able to travel without hindrance or inconvenience. On the 18th
of January, invitations were issued to the chief lords in the state, as
well as to those foreign princes who were connected by marriage with the
Sforza and Este families, the Marquis of Montferrat, the Marquis of
Mantua, Giovanni Bentivoglio of Bologna, and others, requesting them to
honour with their presence a three-days' tournament to be held on the
great _piazza_ in front of the Castello, during the last week in
January.
While Lodovico was personally superintending the final arrangements,
seeing that the last touches were given to the frescoes in the duchess's
_Camerino_, or discussing to the masques and comedies that were to be
performed, with Bramante and Leonardo, his bride remained at Pavia with
her family and friends. The princesses of Este were well content, for
not only were all the treasures of the Castello and library at their
disposal, but they had the best of company in the person of Messer
Galeazzo di Sanseverino, who had been charged by his father-in-law,
Signor Lodovico, to supply his place during the interval of his enforced
absence. And certainly no better squire of dames could have been found
than this courteous and brilliant cavalier. He took Isabella and
Beatrice out riding in the park, and showed them some of the beauties
of that wide domain, which in the French chronicler's eyes seemed more
like the garden of Eden than any earthly spot. They could not, it is
true, admire those flowery lawns watered by crystal streams, and groves
of plane and cypress and myrtle, which charmed the travellers from the
north, and made Commines exclaim there was no other region in the world
as divinely beautiful as the Milanese land. But they could visit the
pleasure-houses and pavilions in the gardens, and hunt the stags and red
deer that ran wild in the park. For their amusement Messer Galeazzo let
fly some of those good falcons of his, with their jewelled hoods and
silver bells, and chased the herons and water-fowl along the lake, while
the ducal huntsmen followed in their suits of green velvet embroidered
with gold, and blew their golden bugles. Indoors they laughed and sang
together, and turned over the leaves of the illuminated missals or the
rare folios of the library. And as they talked of Messer Matteo
Boiardo's famous new poem and of the old French romances, a lively
discussion over the respective merits of the paladins, Roland and
Rinaldo di Montalbano arose between the two princesses on the one hand,
and Messer Galeazzo on the other. Isabella and Beatrice were all in
favour of the knight of Montalbano as the type of Italian chivalry,
while Sanseverino, who had kinsmen at the court of France and took
delight in French costumes and French literature, was as much at home in
France as he was at Milan, and defended the matchless glory of his hero,
Orlando. The quarrel waxed warm between them in those idle days, and in
the fulness of their youth and high spirits they amused themselves,
crying out, "Rolando! Rolando!" on the one side, and a "Rinaldo!" on the
other, until one afternoon Messer Galeazzo was acknowledged victor, and
even Isabella took up his cry of Roland, but soon returned to her old
allegiance, and declared boldly that she would allow no rival to the
wronged knight of Montalbano. The controversy was to be prolonged for
many a day, and was to become the theme of more than one merry letter
and gay challenge between the Marchesana Isabella and the handsome
Sanseverino, who soon won over Duchess Beatrice to his side. So the days
flew by until the week was almost over, and the time came to start for
Milan. Every hour fresh news reached Pavia of the new wonders and
marvellous entertainments that were awaiting them at the Milanese
capital, and Isabella's spirits rose high with eager expectation and
delight.
"You ought to be here," this lively princess wrote to her youngest
brother-in-law, Giovanni Gonzaga, who had stayed behind at Mantua, and
was absent from the wedding _fêtes_. And she told him of all the jousts
and banquets and balls that were to succeed each other at Milan, this
wonderful city which she was longing to see for herself. "And among
other _fêtes_," she added, "there will be three of the finest theatrical
representations that have ever been seen. But one thing which will make
you still more envious is that from Milan we mean to go and visit that
glorious city of Genoa, where you have never been! Only think how many
new places and lands we shall have seen by the time of our return! We
wish you all good things, but fear our wishes will profit you little,
and are sure my letter will make your mouth water."
On Saturday the 21st the bridal party set out from Pavia, and, leaving
the Certosa on the right, travelled across the Lombard plain to Binasco,
where they spent the night at the feudal castle of the Visconti, the
ruins of which may still be seen on the heights above the little town.
On Sunday morning the procession entered Milan, and the bride was
received by her cousin, Isabella of Aragon, wife of the reigning duke,
who had ridden out to meet her at the suburban church of S. Eustorgio,
where the bones of the martyred friar, S. Pietro Martire, repose in
their shrine of sculptured marble. At the gates Duke Gian Galeazzo and
his uncle met them, followed by a brilliant company of Milanese nobles,
and Lodovico, clad in a gorgeous mantle of gold brocade, rode through
the streets at the side of his youthful bride. A hundred trumpeters
marched before them, filling the air with strains of martial music, and
the crowds, who had assembled from all parts of Lombardy, thronged
around to gaze on the duchess and her daughters, and more especially on
the Moro's bride.
The street decorations that day were on the grandest scale. Lodovico had
given orders that no expense should be spared, and the magnificence of
the pageant amazed the foreign ambassadors and visitors from Mantua and
Ferrara. Not only were the walls and balconies hung with red and blue
satin or brocades, while wreaths of ivy were twined round the columns
and doorways, but one whole street where the armourers had their shops
was lined with effigies of armed warriors on horseback, entirely clad
with chain-armour and plates of damascened steel. "Every one took these
mailed figures to be alive," says Tristan Calco, the admiring chronicler
to whom we owe these details. The procession halted on the _piazza_ in
front of the Castello, and the heralds gave a loud blast of music as the
bride was lifted from her horse, and received under the grand portal by
the duchess-mother, Bona of Savoy, and her two daughters, Bianca Maria
and Anna Sforza. Bona herself had returned to Milan at the French king's
request soon after her son's marriage, and had consented to an outward
reconciliation with her brother-in-law, Lodovico. Her daughter Anna's
marriage with the heir of the house of Este had always been one of the
objects of her fondest wishes, and now she gave Duchess Leonora and her
daughters a cordial welcome to her son's court.
On the following day the marriage of Alfonso d'Este and the princess
Anna was privately solemnized in the ducal chapel, but the final nuptial
benediction was deferred until their return to Ferrara, a month later.
Meanwhile the bride's sumptuous trousseau and jewels, as well as the
splendid presents received by her, were displayed during the next week
in the Castello, before the courtiers who came to pay their homage to
the newly wedded Duke and Duchess of Bari. Of Anna Sforza herself we
hear little, but her beauty and gentleness are praised by more than one
contemporary chronicler, and endeared her especially to her uncle
Lodovico, who was sincerely grieved by her early death. She and her
husband paid frequent visits to Milan after her marriage, and were very
happy in the society of Beatrice, whom she only survived a few months,
dying at the birth of her first babe, to the great sorrow of her
father-in-law, Duke Ercole. "She was very beautiful and very charming,"
writes the Ferrarese diarist, "and there is little to tell about her,
because she lived so short a time."
The most splendid _fêtes_ were yet to come. On the 24th of January, the
day after Alfonso and Anna's wedding, three tribunals were erected on
the piazza, the one occupied by a group of heralds and trumpeters, the
other loaded with precious bowls and dishes of gold and silver plate,
the gifts of the magistrates of Milan and other cities to Signor
Lodovico and his bride. The new duchess, accompanied by the other
princes and princesses, arrayed in their richest robes and literally
blazing with precious jewels, writes an eye-witness, ascended the third
tribunal erected in the centre, and received the homage of the deputies
of the city; after which two cavaliers, a Visconti and a Suardi, bending
on one knee before the bride, took from her hand two lengths of cloth of
gold, which were hung in the courtyard, as prizes to be given to the
victor in the tournament. That evening two hundred Milanese ladies of
high rank were invited to the great ball, or _festa per le donne_, given
in the Sala della palla. On this occasion peasant girls from all parts
of Italy, clad in the red, white, and blue of the Sforza colours, danced
before the court, and "the palm of Terpsichore," we are told, was
awarded to a Tuscan maiden.
On the 26th, the Giostra, which was to be the crowning event of the
week's festivities, began. At the tournament held in Pavia in honour of
Giangaleazzo's wedding, the knights had for the most part appeared in
their ordinary attire; but this time, to add greater splendour to the
occasion, they entered the lists in companies, clad in fancy costumes
and bearing symbolical devices after the fashion of the day. First of
all came the Mantuan troop of twenty horsemen clad in green velvet and
gold lace, bearing golden lances and olive boughs in their hand, with
Isabella's kinsman, Alfonso Gonzaga, at their head. Then came Annibale
Bentivoglio, the young husband of Lucrezia d'Este, with the Bologna
knights, riding on a triumphal car drawn by stags and unicorns, the
badge of the House of Este. These were followed by Gaspare di
Sanseverino, with a band of twelve riders in black and gold Moorish
dress, bearing Lodovico's device of the Moor's head on their helmets and
white doves on their black armour. Last of all came a troop of wild
Scythians, mounted on Barbary steeds, who galloped across the _piazza_,
and then, halting in front of the ducal party, suddenly threw off their
disguise and appeared in magnificent array, with the captain of the
Milanese armies, Galeazzo di Sanseverino, at their head. He planted his
golden lance in the ground, and at this sign a giant Moor, advancing to
the front, recited a poem in honour of Duchess Beatrice.[6]
These pageants and masques formed an important feature of Renaissance
_fêtes_, and were evidently regarded as such by the chroniclers of these
wedding festivities, but to us the chief interest of this tournament
lies in the knowledge that the Scythian disguise assumed by Galeazzo di
Sanseverino and his companions was designed by no less a personage than
Leonardo da Vinci. Some of the drawings of savages and masks which we
see to-day on the stray leaves of his sketch-books may relate to these
figures, but we know for certain that he was actually employed by Messer
Galeazzo to arrange this masquerade. In a note in his own handwriting,
on the margin of the "Codex Atlanticus," we read, "Item, 26 of January,
being in the house of Messer Galeazzo di San Sev^o, ordering the festa
of his Giostra, certain men-at-arms took off their vests to try on some
clothes of savages, upon which Giacomo" (the apprentice whom he had
already caught thieving at Pavia) "took up a purse which lay on the bed
with their other clothes, and took the money that was inside it." The
actual share which the great Florentine took in the preparation of the
wedding festivities has often been discussed, and we are never likely to
know how much of the duchess's cabinet he painted, or what part he took
in the decoration of the city, but at least this characteristic note on
the lad whose honesty he had reason to suspect, proves that he was
present in Milan at the time, and was the authority to whom Lodovico's
son-in-law naturally turned for advice in planning this masquerade.
Incidents of this kind help us to realize how many and varied were the
offices Leonardo was called upon to discharge in his master's service,
and how frequent were the interruptions which interfered with the
painting of his pictures or the modelling of his great horse.
After this pageant, the serious business of the Giostra began, and the
tilting-matches lasted during three whole days. Among the foremost
knights who distinguished themselves on this occasion, the chronicler
and court poet mention the Marquis of Mantua, who entered the lists in
disguise; young Annibale Bentivoglio, who wounded his hand badly, but
refused to leave the ground; the Marchesino Girolamo Stanga, one of
Isabella d'Este's especial friends and of Beatrice's most devoted
servants; and Niccolo da Correggio, who was universally admired in his
suit of gold brocade. All four Sanseverini brothers fought in the lists
with their wonted skill and valour, but once more Messer Galeazzo,
_Gentis columen_, came off the victor and proved himself unrivalled in
courtly exercises, both as jouster and swordsman. On the last day of the
tournament the prizes were given away, and Messer Galeazzo was conducted
triumphantly to the Rocca, and there received the _pallium_ of gold
brocade from the bride's own hand.[7] As soon as Lodovico recognized the
Marquis of Mantua, he sent him a pressing invitation to take his place
with the ducal party; and Gianfrancesco, unable to refuse so courteous a
request, joined his wife and sat down with the rest of his kinsfolk to
the family banquet, which was held that night in the Castello.
A curious letter, addressed by the Duke of Milan to his uncle Cardinal
Ascanio Sforza in Rome, gives a full and minute account of this
tournament, which Giangaleazzo describes as one of the most important
events of his reign, and which he begs may be fully reported to His
Holiness Pope Innocent. He dwells on the extraordinary magnificence of
the sight, on the number and size of the lances used, which were more
numerous and larger than ever before seen on these occasions, and ends
with a splendid tribute to Messer Galeazzo, who both in valour and
fortune surpassed all others. On the other hand, we recognize the
cunning of Lodovico in the despatch addressed on this occasion by the
ducal secretary to the Milanese envoy at Bologna. Here the incidents of
the Giostra are briefly recounted, and great stress is laid on the
valour displayed by Messer Annibale Bentivoglio, who, notwithstanding
his wounded hand, broke many lances, and, in spite of his great youth,
proved himself as skilled a jouster as any, and won no less glory than
if he had borne off the prize, which he would certainly have done if
fortune had served him as well as he deserved.
The wedding festivities were now brought to a close, and were
unanimously pronounced to have passed off with brilliant success.
Nothing now remained for the bride's mother but to take leave of her
daughter and return home. Accordingly, on the 1st of February, Duchess
Leonora set out on her homeward journey, with her son and his newly-made
bride and the Marchioness Isabella, accompanied by an escort of two
hundred Milanese gentlemen, with Anna's brother, Ermes Sforza, and the
Count of Caiazzo--Gianfrancesco, the eldest of the Sanseverino brothers
--at their head. Both Leonora and Isabella were anxious to see the
Certosa, of which they had heard so much, on their way back to Pavia,
and Lodovico, glad to do the honours of this famous abbey, in which he
took a just pride, sent a courier with the following letter to inform
the prior and brothers of the Duchess of Ferrara's visit:--
"Since, besides the other honours which we have paid to the illustrious
Duchess of Ferrara, we are above all anxious to show her the most
remarkable things in our domain, and since we count this our church and
monastery to be among the chief of these, we write this to inform you
that the said duchess will visit the Certosa on Wednesday next, on her
return home. And we desire you to give her a fitting reception, and to
prepare an honourable banquet for the duchess and her company, which
will number about four hundred persons and horses. No excuse on your
part can be allowed, since this is our will and pleasure. And above all
you will see that an abundant supply of lampreys is prepared. But we are
quite sure that you will do your best to pay honour to the duchess,
since otherwise we should feel obliged to do a thing that would be
displeasing to you, and send our chamberlain to provide for her
honourable entertainment."[8]
The prior and brothers of the Certosa knew their own interest too well
not to comply with this somewhat imperious missive, and left nothing
undone which could gratify their illustrious guests. Isabella's
curiosity for the beautiful and marvellous was amply gratified, and in
Lodovico's future letters to his sister-in-law we find more than one
allusion to "our church and convent of the Certosa, which you saw when
you were at Pavia." After spending the following night at the Castello
di Pavia, the duchess and her large party embarked on the bucentaurs
that were awaiting them at the junction of the Ticino and the Po, and
reached Ferrara on the 11th of February, there to begin a new series of
splendid entertainments in honour of Don Alfonso's marriage with this
Sforza princess.
FOOTNOTES:
[6] Porrò in A. S. L., ix. 501, etc.
[7] T. Chalcus, _Residua_, 90.
[8] C. Magenta, _I Visconti e Sforza nel Castello di Pavia_, i.