Beatrice Duchess of Bari--Her popularity at the court of
Milan--Giangaleazzo and Isabella of Aragon--Lodovico's first
impressions--His growing affection for his wife--His letters to Isabella
d'Este--Hunting and fishing parties--Cuzzago and Vigevano--Controversy
on Orlando and Rinaldo--Bellincioni's sonnets.
1491
We have seen how the childhood and early youth of Beatrice d'Este had
been spent, first at her grandfather the King Ferrante's court at
Naples, afterwards in her own home at Ferrara. Under the watchful eye of
a wise and careful mother, she had been trained in all the learning and
accomplishments of the day, but had been allowed little liberty or
opportunity of revealing her strong individuality. Her charms and
talents had been thrown into the shade by the superior beauty and
intellect of the Marchioness Isabella, and until the day she landed at
Pavia she had been regarded in the comparatively insignificant light of
the younger and less gifted sister. Now all this suddenly changed. At
the age of fifteen, Beatrice d'Este found herself the wife of the ablest
and most powerful prince in Italy, released from all the restraints
hitherto imposed upon her and placed in a position of absolute freedom
and independence. From the quiet regularity of the sheltered life which
she had led at Ferrara by her mother's side, she suddenly found herself
transplanted to the gayest and most splendid court in Italy, surrounded
by every luxury that wealth could give and every beautiful object that
taste could devise. The bravest captains and the most accomplished
artists of the day were at her feet, ready to obey her orders and
gratify her smallest fancy. Leonardo and Bramante were at hand to
arrange pageants and masquerades, to paint _amorini_ on her mantelpiece
or mythological fables along the frieze of her rooms, to build elegant
pavilions, or lay out labyrinths and lakes in her garden. Bellincioni
and a dozen other poets celebrated her name and recorded her words and
actions in verse; learned scholars and commentators read Dante to her
when she cared to listen. Niccolo da Correggio not only wrote sonnets
and canzoni for her to sing but invented new patterns for her gowns; and
Cristoforo Romano laid down the sculptor's chisel to play the lyre or
viol for her pleasure. For her the wise man of Pavia, Lorenzo Gusnasco,
fashioned cunningly wrought instruments, lutes and viols inlaid with
ebony and ivory, and organs inscribed with Latin mottoes; and the
wonderful tenor, Cordier, the priest of Louvain, sang his sweetest and
most entrancing strains in the ducal chapel. For her amusement the court
jesters laughed and chattered and played their foolish tricks--Diodato,
who had followed her from Ferrara, and the witty clown Barone, the
petted favourite of Isabella d'Este and Veronica Gambara and a dozen
other great ladies. And Messer Galeazzo was ready to risk his life and
ruin his best clothes, all for the sake of his duchess. From the moment
of Beatrice's arrival at the Milanese court she won all hearts, less by
her beauty than by her vivacity and high spirits, her bright eyes and
ringing laugh, her frank gladness and keen enjoyment of life. How
favourable was the first impression which the young duchess made upon
those around her, we learn from the letters which the Ferrarese envoy
and ladies-in-waiting addressed almost daily to her anxious parents,
during the first few weeks after her marriage. Every little incident,
each word or act that is likely to please Duchess Leonora, is faithfully
reported by these good servants, in their eagerness to allay the natural
fears of the loving mother for the absent child in her brilliant but
difficult position. The demeanour of Signor Lodovico towards his wife,
all he said and thought of her, was narrowly watched by Giacomo Trotti,
and duly repeated in his letters to Ferrara. For the present this was
eminently satisfactory. "Signor Lodovico," writes the ambassador during
the wedding festivities at Milan, "has nothing but the highest praise
both for his wife and the Marchesana. He is never tired of saying how
much pleasure he takes in their company.
"Here jousting and tilting, feasting and dancing, are the order of the
day. Signor Lodovico is delighted with his wife's appearance, and
to-day, when she gave away the prizes, he kissed her repeatedly in the
eyes of all the people."
And again a few days later, when the festivities were ended and the
ducal family were enjoying a little rest before the party broke up, he
writes--
"Whenever Lodovico Sforza is wanted, he is always to be found in the
company of his wife, of the Marchesana, of Don Alfonso and Madonna Anna,
with whom he is never tired of talking and laughing, exactly as if he
were a youth of their own age."
On the 6th of February, after the departure of the duchess and her
children, Trotti wrote again, remarking, "Signor Lodovico seems to think
of nothing but how best to please and amuse his wife, and every day he
tells me how dear she is to him."[9]
Among the Ferrarese ladies who had remained at Milan, in attendance on
the young duchess, was her cousin, Polisenna d'Este, who, being
considerably older and more sedate, and no longer either young or
beautiful, had for these very reasons been placed by Leonora in her
daughter's household, and desired to keep her informed of all that
happened. Early in February this lady-in-waiting wrote the following
letter to Isabella d'Este, in terms that were well calculated to
reassure both the anxious sister and mother as to Beatrice's happiness
and her husband's behaviour:--
"MOST ILLUSTRIOUS MADONNA AND DEAR MARCHESANA,
"Since I have remained here after your Highness's departure from Milan,
continually in the company of your sister, the illustrious Duchess of
Bari, and of her husband, Signor Lodovico, I will no longer delay to
discharge my duty in sending you some comforting words as to the
well-being and happiness of the said duchess. I cannot express how happy
she is to see herself every day more affectionately caressed and petted
by her husband, who seems to find his sole delight in giving her every
possible pleasure and amusement. It is indeed a rare joy to see them
together and to realize what cordial love and good-will he bears her.
God grant it may last long! And I felt that I must write this good news
to your Highness, knowing that it would give you especial satisfaction.
I will only add that the air here seems to suit her particularly well,
and that she is certainly very much improved and stronger in appearance,
and seems every day to grow more beautiful. I beg of your Highness to
commend me to Madonna Beatrice and Collona.
"Your Highness's servant,
POLISSENA D'ESTE.
From Milan, 12th of February, 1491."
And Beatrice herself wrote to Isabella in answer to her letter from her
sister, describing the festivities at Ferrara, where her presence had
been sadly missed by her affectionate relatives.
"I leave you to imagine how much content and delight your letter of the
17th has given me. For in it you give me so full and vivid a description
of the successful _fêtes_ in honour of the wedding of Madonna Anna, our
brother's wife and dearest sister, that I seem to have been present
there myself. And since you know well how much I love and respect you, I
am sure you will understand how glad I was to hear from you. Your
letter, indeed, gave me greater pleasure than any which I have received
since you left here, and I am quite sure that all of these pageants and
spectacles were distinguished by the utmost beauty and gallantry, as you
say, since they were all planned and arranged by our dear father, who
orders these things with consummate wisdom and perfection. I can well
believe that my absence has been a real grief to you, and that these
_fêtes_ have given you but little pleasure, since I was not there. For
my own part, I cannot deny that, now I am without your company, I feel
not only that I am deprived of a very dear sister, but that I have lost
half of myself. And if it were not for the new and continual amusements
which my illustrious husband provides every day for my pleasure, I
should have been inconsolable until I could be once more with you. But
since our hearts and thoughts are still one, and we are able to exchange
letters constantly, I beg you to take comfort as I do, and rest content
in feeling that, now these ceremonies are all over, we can at least speak
to each other by means of letters, written with our own hands, as you
have promised me."[10]
This simple, warm-hearted letter, which breathes all the frankness and
affection of Beatrice's nature, is written, like most of her early
letters, in her own hand. The words are often badly spelt, and her
handwriting is larger and less formed than that of Isabella, which it
otherwise resembles. But owing to the multiplicity of interests and
occupations that claimed her time after the first years of her married
life, the young duchess generally employed a secretary, and has left
comparatively few letters. Lodovico himself addressed several letters to
his sister-in-law, to whom he was sincerely attached, and in order to
facilitate the intercourse between the two sisters, and as he said, to
leave Isabella no excuse for not answering his communications, he sent a
courier regularly every week to Mantua, with orders to await the
Marchesana's pleasure and bring back her letters.
"Loving you cordially as I do," he writes, a fortnight after her
departure, "and, knowing that I have in you a very dear sister, nothing
can give me greater pleasure than letters from your hand. I thank your
Highness most sincerely for all that you tell me, and most of all for
your warm expressions of affection and for saying how sorry you were to
leave us, and how not even the splendid _fêtes_ in Ferrara could console
you for being deprived of our presence. All I beg of you is to write
often, and I will see that your letters are brought here."
Besides her sister and brother-in-law and Madonna Polisenna, Isabella
had another correspondent at the court of Milan, in the person of Messer
Galeazzo di Sanseverino, with whom she had formed a warm friendship at
Pavia, and who had promised to give her frequent news of her sister,
while at the same time he still carried on the battle over Roland and
Rinaldo which had been started in the park of the Castello at Pavia. He
too, writing on the 11th of February, was able to assure the Marchesana
that all was going well, and that the relations between her sister and
Signor Lodovico left nothing to be desired.
"My Duchess," as he always calls the mistress to whose service he had
pledged his sword and life, "perseveres in showing Signor Lodovico an
affection which is truly beyond all praise, and, to put it briefly, I am
satisfied that there is such real attachment between them, that I do not
believe two persons could love each other better."
The presence of this young and joyous princess gave a touch of romance
to court life, and inspired men like Galeazzo and Niccolo da Correggio
with a chivalrous devotion to her person. Every one was ready to obey
her wishes, and eager to win her smiles and to earn her thanks.
Even Giangaleazzo, the feeble duke who seldom took pleasure in anything
but horses and dogs, and often treated his own wife in a brutal way,
felt the charm of this bright young creature, and was stirred out of his
usual apathy by the coming of Beatrice. In a letter which he addressed
to the Duke of Ferrara after the wedding festivities, he went out of his
way to express the affection with which this charming princess, his
wife's cousin and his uncle's wife, has inspired him.
"I cannot," he writes, "sufficiently express how much joy this marriage
has given me, and how glad I am to see the singular virtues and talents
of _Madonna la sposa_." And after formally congratulating the duke on
his daughter's marriage, and on the renewed alliance between the two
houses, he goes on to say how much he rejoices in his uncle's happiness,
which will, he feels sure, only increase his own. "For by means of this
marriage, besides the two sisters which God had already given us, we
have now gained a third, whom by God's grace we shall not love less than
the two who are ours by nature."
Giangaleazzo's own wife, Duchess Isabella, a virtuous and high-minded
princess whose own merits were sadly hampered by her husband's weakness
and folly, was much beloved by her own servants, but inherited the proud
reserve of the Aragonese race, and led a secluded existence with her
lord, who hated town life and seldom showed his face in Milan. But this
young wife of Lodovico, it was easy to see, would soon throw her into
the shade. Beatrice's presence lent a charm to the most tedious court
functions. Her high spirits and overflowing mirth threw new zest into
every pursuit. Grave senators and wise statesmen listened to her words
with interest, and grey-headed prelates tolerated her merry jokes and
smiled at her irrepressible laughter. She sang and danced, and played at
ball and rode races, and took long hunting and fishing expeditions to
the royal villas in the neighbourhood of Milan. "My wife," wrote
Lodovico to his sister-in-law three months after his marriage, "has
developed a perfect passion for horsemanship, and is always either
riding or hunting."
The regent himself was too deeply engaged in state affairs, and devoted
too much time and attention to the details of administration, to be able
to accompany his wife as a rule. But she had a devoted comrade in her
husband's son-in-law, whom he deputed to escort the duchess on her more
distant expeditions. Since his betrothal to Lodovico's daughter,
Galeazzo had enjoyed all the privileges of a son, and was already, what
the Moro had promised to make him, the first man in the state. He
assisted at all state audiences, and was the only person present when
Lodovico received foreign ambassadors. He shared the Moro's private
life, and always dined alone with the duke and duchess when there were
no other guests at their table. His letters to Isabella d'Este give
lively accounts of the expeditions which he took in Beatrice's company
during the first few months of her married life.
"This morning, being Friday," he writes on the 11th of February, 1491,
"I started at ten o'clock with the duchess and all of her ladies on
horseback to go to Cussago, and in order to let your Highness enter
fully into our pleasures, I must tell you that first of all I had to
ride in a chariot with the duchess and Dioda, and as we drove we sang
more than twenty-five songs, arranged for three voices. That is to say,
Dioda took the tenor part, and the duchess the soprano, whilst I sang
sometimes bass and sometimes soprano, and played so many foolish tricks
that I really think I may claim to be more of a fool than Dioda! And now
farewell for to-night, and I will try to improve still further, so as to
afford your Highness the more pleasure when you come here in the
summer."
But Messer Galeazzo's story does not end here. A day or two later he
takes up the thread of his discourse again, and describes the pleasant
day which the duchess spent at Cussago, one of Lodovico Sforza's
favourite villas on the sunny slopes of the Brianza, six miles from
Milan, on the way to Como.
"Having reached Cussago," he goes on, "we had a grand fishing expedition
in the river, and caught an immense quantity of large pike, trout,
lampreys, crabs, and several other good sorts of smaller fish, and
proceeded to dine off them until we could eat no more. Then, to make our
meal digest the better, directly after dinner we began to play at ball
with great vigour and energy, and after we had played for some time we
went over the palace, which is really very beautiful, and, among other
things, contains a doorway of carved marble, as fine as the new works at
the Certosa. Next we examined the result of our sport, which had been
laid out in front of the place, and took back as many of the lampreys
and crabs as we could eat with us, and sent some of the lampreys to his
Highness the duke. When this was done, we went to another palace and
caught more than a thousand large trout, and after choosing out the best
for presents and for our own holy throats, we had the rest thrown back
into the water. And then we mounted our horses again, and began to let
fly some of those good falcons of mine which you saw at Pavia, along the
river-side, and they killed several birds. By this time it was already
four o'clock. We rode out to hunt stags and fawns, and after giving
chase to twenty-two and killing two stags and two fawns, we returned
home and reached Milan an hour after dark, and presented the result of
our day's sport to my lord the Duke of Bari. My illustrious lord took
the greatest possible pleasure in hearing all we had done, far more,
indeed, than if he had been there in person, and I believe that my
duchess will in the end reap the greatest benefit, and that Signor
Lodovico will give her Cussago, which is a place of rare beauty and
worth. But I have cut my boots to pieces and torn my clothes, and played
the fool into the bargain, and these are the rewards one gains in the
service of ladies. However, I will have patience, since it is all for
the sake of my duchess, whom I never mean to fail in life or death."
[Illustration: SFORZA MS. ILLUMINATED _From a private photograph._]
Galeazzo was a true prophet, and in the British Museum we may still
admire the beautifully illuminated deed of gift, adorned with friezes of
exquisite cherubs and medallion-portraits of Lodovico and Beatrice, by
which the fair palace and lands of Cussago became the property of the
young duchess. This favourite villa of the Visconti had been left by
Francesco Sforza to his son Lodovico, who had employed a host of
architects and painters to adorn its walls. Bramante is said to have
reared the noble bell-tower and portico that are still standing, while
Milanese or Pavian sculptors carved the medallions bearing the Sforza
arms, and the portrait of Lodovico that may still be seen on the arcades
of the loggia. To-day the once beautiful country-house is a ruin; the
marble doorway which Galeazzo and Beatrice admired, carved it may be by
that same Cristoforo Romano to whom we owe the portal of the Stanga
palace, and that of Isabella d'Este's studio at Mantua, has disappeared.
Only the fragments of frescoes and the rich terra-cotta mouldings and
slender columns of the elegant _cortile_ recall the joyous day which
Beatrice d'Este and her ladies spent at the villa. But their memory
sheds a glamour on the scene, and in the story of those Renaissance
days, among so much that is dark and sinister, it is pleasant to recall
this picture of the young duchess and her gallant cavalier singing songs
for pure gladness of heart as they rode out together in the fair spring
morning.
"One thing only," wrote Messer Galeazzo, "was wanting to our pleasure,
and that was the sweet company of yourself, fair Madonna Marchesana."
And with a sigh he tells her how much she is missed in the Castello of
Milan, and how often he wishes he could find her in Madonna the Duchess
of Ferrara's rooms, having her long hair combed and curled by her
favourite maidens Teodora and Beatrice and Violante, to all of whom he
sends courteous greeting. Then he returns to the old controversy over
Orlando, and replies to a gay challenge which Isabella has sent him in a
letter to Signor Lodovico, only wishing she were here to defend Rinaldo
in person, or rather to be made to own the error of her ways, and to
confess that the knight of Montalbano is not to be compared to Roland!
But he warns her that if she perseveres in this heresy, he will draw up
such an indictment of Rinaldo's faults as will fill her with confusion,
and make her recognize with shame his inferiority to Roland, that baron
of immortal fame, of whom nothing but good can be said. Isabella,
however, stuck to her colours, and, a whole month later, Messer Galeazzo
sent her a long letter from Vigevano, in which he drew up an elaborate
parallel between the conduct of the two paladins, as recorded in
Boiardo's poem, and ended with a splendid eulogy of Roland.
"Roland the most Christian! Roland the pure and strong, prudent, just,
and merciful servant of Christ, the true defender of widows and orphans!
Of his valour I will say nothing, this being known to all the world; but
this I say, that when I think of my worship for Roland, however sad and
ill disposed I may be feeling, my heart rejoices, and I become glad of
heart and joyous again."
So he begs her, for the love that he bears her Highness, to try and
amend her ways and recant her errors, and do penitence in this Lenten
season for her fault, after the example of the great apostle St. Paul,
who was converted to the Christian faith, and became an elect son and
mighty preacher of the gospel, bringing many to righteousness and
enjoying the high favour of our Lord God. For Roland, the Marchesa may
know for certain, has his place in Paradise with the saints, "and in
serving him you will be serving God; but if, on the other hand, you
persevere in your false opinions, you will find that you are serving the
devil, who accompanied Rinaldo both in his life here and afterwards in
his death. And remember," he adds in conclusion, "when the blind lead
the blind, both fall into the ditch!"
Nothing daunted by this long harangue, Isabella retorted in an equally
lengthy epistle, flatly denying the charges brought against Rinaldo as
false and unsupported by a tittle of evidence. Galeazzo replied in
another bantering letter, assuming the part of a priest, and exhorting
the fair sinner to confess her faults in these holy days of Passiontide,
lest she should incur greater damnation, and drive her soul into the
devil's jaws.
"And since this is the hour of penitence and contrition," he concludes,
"I would once more beg and pray your Highness to return to the true
faith and devotion of Roland, having before your eyes the good example
of our most illustrious duchess, your sister, who has acknowledged her
errors, and become a sincere follower of Roland, as a good Christian,
and is now gone to Milan to obtain pardon.
"Your most humble and devoted servant,
GALEAZ SFORTIA VICECOMES,
_Armorum Capitaneus_.[11]
Vigevano, 30th of March, 1491."
Isabella, however, still remained obdurate, declaring that on no account
would she follow Beatrice's changeable conduct, and was ready to defend
her hero against a hundred thousand opponents. Upon which Galeazzo
reminded her that, for all her boastings, she had been constrained to
yield to his single-handed efforts in the park at Pavia, and had ended
by taking up his cry of "Roland." The more pity that she should turn her
back upon the good cause now, and prove the inconstancy of woman's
nature! But he consoled himself by reflecting that the Marchesana would
soon be back at Milan, when he would easily be able to make her give up
Rinaldo, and once more cry "Roland" as she had done before.
This letter was written by Galeazzo on the 13th of April, after which
the subject dropped for a while, until it was revived by a visit which
his brother, Gaspare Fracassa, paid to Mantua in the summer with his
wife, Margherita Pia, a great friend of the Marchesana and Duchess of
Urbino. Isabella could not resist the opportunity of returning the
charge, and sent Messer Galeazzo, by his brother's hands, a challenge to
battle, couched in approved terms, and indicating her choice of arms and
of the scene of action. Galeazzo replied in the most courteous language,
declaring himself absolutely at the service of his fair challenger, and
assuring her that her coming is awaited with the utmost impatience by
Signor Lodovico, the Duchess of Bari, and her humble servant.
Meanwhile Isabella prepared herself for the fray by collecting all the
information on the subject that she could possibly obtain. In that same
month of August, when Galeazzo sent her the last-named letter from his
villa at Castelnuovo, near Tortona, the Marchesana wrote to the Mantuan
ambassador at Venice, desiring him to send her all the poems and
romances concerning French paladins at the court of Charlemagne which he
could discover. At the same time she addressed a letter to her old
friend, Messer Matteo Boiardo, at Ferrara, requesting him to send her
the concluding cantos of his poem, the "Orlando Innamorato," which had
not as yet been given to the world. The poet replied that, to his great
regret, he was unable to comply with her wish, since the cantos in
question were not yet written; and Isabella could only beg him to let
her have a copy of the two earlier books, in order that she might
refresh her memory by reading them once more.
But the Marchesana's intended visit to Milan was, after all, put off,
and Messer Galeazzo was called away to more arduous duties in camp and
field. The debate, which had been prolonged with so much wit and
ingenuity on both sides, came to an abrupt ending. It was left to the
Florentine poet, Bellincioni, in whose verses the smallest incidents
that took place at court were faithfully reflected, to celebrate this
"praiseworthy and memorable duel of intellect between these two august
personages." At Beatrice's command Bellincioni wrote three sonnets
illustrating the arguments brought forward on either side. In the first,
he adopts Isabella's standpoint, and is all in favour of Rinaldo. In the
second, he sees a vision of Roland with the saints in Paradise, and
declares almost in the same language as Galeazzo, that whereas Rinaldo
was only a brave soldier, Roland was able and virtuous as well as
valiant. Finally, in the third, he exhorts the illustrious marchioness
to recant her errors, since the Scriptures tell us that it is human to
err, and not to follow the bad example of Pharaoh who hardened his
heart, but to see how immeasurably inferior Rinaldo was to his rival,
and to become, with Messer Galeazzo and others of his merit, a true
Christian and follower of Roland.
The whole controversy is a curious instance of the deep interest which
these great ladies of the Italian Renaissance and their courtiers took
in literary subjects, and especially in the romances of the Carlovingian
cycle. This interest was not confined to the upper circles of society,
but spread through all classes, and was no doubt largely increased by
the songs and the improvisations of strolling minstrels and Provençal
story-tellers. First of all the Florentine Pulci, and after him Boiardo
and Bello of Ferrara, sought inspiration in the same source, and later
on their example was followed by Ariosto and Tasso. And Poggio, writing
in the fifteenth century, tells us how in his day a worthy citizen of
Milan, after hearing one of these wandering _cantatores_ chanting the
story of Roland's death with dramatic action and effect, went home
weeping so bitterly that his wife and friends could hardly console him
or induce him to dry his tears. "And yet," remarks the grave historian,
"this Roland they tell of has been dead well-nigh seven hundred years."
Unfortunately, Isabella's share in this singular and interesting
correspondence has perished, and only Messer Galeazzo's letters survive.
These may still be seen in the Gonzaga Archives, where they were first
discovered by Signor Alessandro Luzio and Signor Rodolfo Renier. These
learned writers are in some perplexity as to the identity of the writer,
since the letters are signed Galeaz _Sfortia Vicecomes_, and internal
evidence will not allow them to have been written by any Galeazzo Sforza
or Visconti then living. But there can hardly be a doubt as to who the
writer actually was. Galeazzo di Sanseverino had been adopted by
Lodovico Sforza when he married his daughter Bianca, and from that time
used the surname of the ducal house, _Sfortia Vicecomes_, and very
frequently added his title of _Armorum Capitaneus_, captain of the
armies of Milan. His well-known patronage of artists and love of
letters, as well as his intimate connection with the duke and duchess,
all point in the same direction; and if any further proof were needed,
the mention of his brother Gaspare, and the allusion to Galeazzo by name
in one of Bellincioni's sonnets on the subject, and the fact that one of
the letters is dated from his own villa of Castelnuovo, near Tortona,
would be sufficient to settle the question. The champion of Orlando and
the faithful servant of Beatrice d'Este was, it is evident, none other
than the friend of Leonardo and Castiglione--that ideal knight, Galeazzo
di Sanseverino.
FOOTNOTES:
[9] G. Uzielli, _Leonardo da Vinci_, etc., p. 26.
[10] Luzio-Renier, _op. cit._, p. 98.
[11] Luzio-Renier, _op. cit._, p. 104.