Italian militia--The Camerino disputes--Death of Clement
VII.--Marriage of Prince Guidobaldo--Proposed Turkish
crusade under the Duke--His death and character.
Three nearly contemporary events had lately combined to extinguish
the nationality of Italy, and those liberties which, shared in ample
or more sparing measure by her many states, had till now crowned
her military glories with intellectual renown. In the sack of Rome
the power of the Keys had been shaken, the prestige of the papal
city had passed away. The defence of Florence was the last effort of
patriotism, and with it fell communal independence. The coronation of
Charles V. laid upon the Peninsula an iron yoke of foreign despotism,
which rendered her virtually a province of Spain. A necessary
consequence of this sad change will be to limit the field of our
investigation, and to restrict what remains of our work to the ducal
family and their hereditary domains, which for the future were little
more than an appanage of the Spanish monarchy. The Lords of Urbino
had hitherto been prominent among the captains of adventure, and
bore a part wherever engagements were offered, or hard blows to be
had. But the condottiere system being now superseded, a new mode of
warfare and machinery of defence became indispensable. Knight-service
and the romance of war were swept away by artillery; the imposing
_battaglia_ of men-at-arms proved powerless when confronted by
battalions of steady infantry, or out-manoeuvred by the dashing
cavalry of Dalmatia. This lesson, first taught by the Swiss in their
fastnesses, had been practically demonstrated to the Italians in
every great action from the Taro to the recent Lombard campaigns, and
had been adopted by most of their leaders. It now, however, became
necessary to apply it in another sense, and, seeing that captains
were no longer to be hired with their respective followings of
efficient soldiery, to organise a militia of its own for the defence
of such state, upon principles which Machiavelli was among the first
to recognise and explain.
Before that system came into general use, the Italian infantry was
notoriously incompetent to cope with transalpine levies, as Francesco
Maria had bitterly experienced in the war of 1523-27. He therefore,
in 1533, instituted a militia of his mountaineers, under the name of
the Feltrian legion, which before his death numbered five thousand
men, in four regiments, commanded by as many colonels. The object
was to make them good soldiers without ceasing to be citizens; to
maintain in readiness at small expense a military population, who
were not men of war by profession. For this purpose lists were
annually taken of all males from eighteen to twenty-five, learned
professions and infamous persons being exempted, and to them arms
were given. They were drilled and instructed in the necessary
evolutions, and a proportion of them were called into active service
when needed. On these occasions they were well paid; but, when kept
on the reserve, their small stipend was rendered more attractive by
a variety of political immunities and fiscal exemptions, including
the exclusive privilege of bearing arms. The practical result was
this,--the able-bodied population were, on the one hand, brought into
a sort of direct dependence on the executive, and, on the other, were
taught that the safety of the commonwealth was entrusted to their
swords and sinews. It is scarcely necessary to add that this system
has been generally adopted, and that on it are still based the
military institutions of most continental nations.
* * * * *
In December, 1532, the Emperor returned to Italy, and was met near
Vicenza by Francesco Maria, who welcomed him in his own name, and
in that of the Signory. Dispensing with complimentary formalities,
Charles received him at once to easy intercourse, and, requesting
his continued attendance, spent much time in conversing with him on
the art of war. At Bologna another congress was held by the Pontiff
and the Emperor, in which were discussed the affairs of Italy, the
proposed general council, and the matrimonial speculations of Clement
for advancement of his house. The marriage of Alessandro de' Medici,
now created Duke of Florence, was arranged with Margaret of Austria,
natural daughter of Charles; but the hand of Caterina de' Medici,
which the latter wished to be given to Francesco Sforza, was reserved
by her ambitious uncle for a French prince. Charles left Bologna on
the 28th of February, 1533, and embarked at Genoa for Spain, after
giving some hope to Francesco Maria of a satisfactory settlement of
his claims upon Sora. Clement in ten days after set out for Rome. The
estrangement between these potentates, which at this meeting began
to chill their intercourse, was greatly widened by the voyage of his
Holiness in the following autumn to Marseilles, where he celebrated
the nuptials of Caterina with Henry, second son and successor of
Francis I. At this second congress of Bologna, Titian met the Emperor
by special command; and it was perhaps on that occasion that he
had commissions for portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino,
which now ornament the Uffizi gallery. The former is engraved as a
frontispiece for this volume; of the latter we have lately spoken:
both will demand further notice in our fifty-fourth chapter, and in
the last No. of the Appendix.
In April the Duchess Leonora gave birth to a son at Mantua, who
was named after Julius II., and was destined to holy orders. His
father had at the same time a severe fit of gout; and, on his return
home, the painful duty devolved upon him of providing against the
visitation of a scarcity which then lamentably affected Italy. The
close of the year found him a suitor with the Pope in the affair of
Camerino, which we shall now briefly explain.
The small state of that name in the March of Ancona had been ruled
for nearly three hundred years by the Varana family, some of whom
we have occasionally mentioned in these Memoirs. Exaggerating the
domestic atrocities, then too frequent among Italians of their rank,
they became revoltingly notorious, in 1433-4, for a complicated
fratricide. Bernardo, Lord of Camerino, jealous of his brothers
Giovanni and Pier-Gentile, the offspring of his father's second
marriage, had them put to death by the agency of his own sons. Ere
many months passed, his subjects, loathing the foul deed, suddenly
rose against its authors. With sweeping vengeance they slew him, his
brother german Gentil Pandolfo, and his six sons, dashing the heads
of the little ones against the wall. The succession was thus opened
to Giulio Cesare, son of Giovanni, who, in 1451, married the only
daughter of Sigismondo Pandolfo, despot of Rimini.[*30] He lived to
see the usurpations of Cesare Borgia, and, falling into the hands
of Michelotto on the capture of La Pergola, the old man perished by
the bowstring of that monster in 1502, along with his eldest son
Venanzio, and two natural children. Venanzio had, in 1497, married
Maria, the only sister of Duke Francesco Maria, of whom we have
already had to tell a tale of scandal, and left one son Sigismondo.
He was born in 1499, and escaped the fate of his father and uncles,
from having been sent in infancy to Urbino. There he was educated;
and we have seen him defending S. Leo, when scarcely beyond boyhood.
After years of imprisonment and exile, his uncle Francesco Maria made
an ineffectual attempt, on the death of Leo X., to vindicate his
hereditary fief, from the usurpation of his paternal uncle, Giovanni
Maria, its _de facto_ lord. Sigismondo sought consolation for his
hard fortunes in low debauchery, until he fell in 1522 by the hand of
assassins, at the supposed instigation of his usurping uncle, who, in
1527, had absolution of the foul deed, and to whose career we must
now turn.[31]
[Footnote *30: Cf. EDWARD HUTTON, _Sigismondo Malatesta_ (1906), p.
61.]
[Footnote 31: Many details regarding these transactions have been
given, vol. I., p. 411; vol. II., pp. 36, 317, 371, 419.]
Giovanni Maria, second son of Giulio Cesare Count of Camerino,
was sent to Venice on Borgia's approach, and so avoided the fate
of his family. On the death of Alexander VI., being then in his
twenty-second year, he made a descent upon La Marca, and possessed
himself of his father's seigneury, in defiance of his infant nephew's
title to it. His authority was recognised by the Holy See, at a
time when the hereditary principle was loose, and a strong hand
constituted the best claim. He found a warm supporter in Leo X.,
through sympathy of their common hatred for the della Rovere race,
and received from him the lordship of Sinigaglia and prefecture
of Rome, on the deprivation of Francesco Maria, along with the
additional dignity of Duke of Camerino. After the death of Leo,
Sigismondo for a few months made good his authority at Camerino,
until supplanted by the usurper, whose title was conveniently
completed by his nephew's murder; whereupon he became _de jure_ its
sovereign, and continued in undisturbed possession of his ill-gotten
honours.
On the death of Duke Giovanni Maria, in August 1527, the male heir
of the fief was Ercole Varana, whose eldest son, Matteo, had been
destined by the Duke's will to become husband of his infant daughter
Giulia, then but four years old. This arrangement was, however,
resolutely opposed by his widow, Caterina Cibò,[*32] niece of Leo
X.; and ere any steps could be taken to carry it into effect, the
town was sacked by Sciarra Colonna, who, with his son-in-law, Rodolfo
Varana, a bastard of its last lord, drove Caterina and her child into
the citadel. Forgetting the double feud of Francesco Maria with her
husband and her Medicean relations, she in her extremity besought
his aid, offering to plight her daughter's hand to his son, Prince
Guidobaldo. The proposal found him ingloriously inactive in Umbria,
during the negotiations for release of Clement from S. Angelo, and,
readily accepting it, he sent troops to relieve the suppliant lady,
who continued for several years to administer the state in name of
Giulia, with the passive countenance of her cousin the Pontiff. But
the jealousy which rankled in the breast of his Holiness against
the della Rovere princes, fretted at an arrangement so conducive
to their aggrandisement, and at the first congress of Bologna he
sought to break it off. The Duke's answer, as reported by Leonardi,
was, that he would risk life and state rather than withdraw from
the engagement, and that, if driven to defensive measures, the Pope
should in the end bear the expenses of the war. With the recent and
costly failure of Leo against Urbino in their recollection, the
consistory would lend no sanction to the inclinations of their head,
and so the matter rested until the return of Clement from France.
Francesco Maria then formally applied for the papal sanction to a
union of his son with the heiress of Camerino, but was put off on
account of her tender age.
[Footnote *32: Cf. FELICIANGELI, _Notizie e documenti sulla vita di
Caterina Cibò Varano_ (Camerino, 1891).]
Meanwhile there occurred an incident characteristic of these lawless
times. Like the other Italian commonwealths, Camerino had its
exiles, expelled by faction or political convulsions, and Matteo,
having rallied a body of these, surprised the city on the 13th
of October, 1534, and seized the Duchess-Regent in her palace.
His object being the abduction of Giulia, who had escaped into
the fortress, he hurried her mother, in her dressing-gown, to its
gates, and commanded her to summon the castellan to surrender. She,
however, with extraordinary hardihood and self-possession, ordered
him to fire upon the assailants; whereupon their leader drew his
sword and threatened her with instant death. The heroic dame, after
ejaculating a brief prayer, bared her neck and told him to strike;
but Matteo, quailing before her daring spirit, and apprehensive of
the infuriated populace, hastily withdrew, carrying her prisoner. He
was speedily attacked by the citizens _en masse_, and the officer in
charge of Caterina was glad to secure his own pardon by restoring
her to liberty. A new inducement thus arose for placing the heiress
in the hands of one competent to protect her; yet the redoubled
instances made with the Pope for completion of her marriage were met
by continued temporising, until the opportunity passed from his grasp.
On or about the 25th of September, 1534, Clement closed his life.
Guicciardini, his countryman and protégé, tells us that he died
hated by his court and suspected by princes, leaving a reputation
rather odious than pleasing, and accounted severe, greedy, faithless,
and illiberal. Muratori reviews his character more at length:--"He
was a pontiff not destitute of political capacity; circumspect
and dignified; dexterous in business, including dissimulation of
every sort, and regarded by all his contemporaries as a man of
double-dealing. Nature and experience had amply endowed him with
many qualities befitting a temporal sovereign; but it would be less
easy to detect in him those virtues becoming the Vicar of Christ,
or to discover, amid the religious tempests of his times, what
benefits he conferred upon the Church, what abuses or disorders he
checked, though from him took its origin and pretext that terrible
schism which yet dissevers so many nations from the true Church. He
misapplied the papacy, its powers and resources, to instigate and
maintain wars, which, besides many other mischiefs, brought upon Rome
a dreadful sack, and upon his own dignity a shocking degradation.
Still more did he turn these to despoil his native Florence of
her freedom, and to aggrandise his own family rather by princely
marriages than by honourable and discreet advancement. He died
detested by the court for his avarice and close-fistedness, and still
more loathed by the Roman people, who imputed to his policy all the
miseries that befell their far-famed city." His versatile conduct has
been fully exposed in these pages:
"With every wind that veered,
With shifted sails a several course he steered."
Finally, with him there originated national funded debt, that system
which has so extensively affected the political, military, financial,
commercial and monetary relations of the whole civilised world.
Yet, though the results of his disastrous pontificate justified
as they dictated these very sweeping charges, the testimony of
the Venetian ambassadors, who describe the earlier portion of his
reign, is much more favourable, at least to his motives. Whilst
they represent him as timidly slow in adopting his measures, and as
wavering and undecided in following them out, they commend his piety,
his willingness to promote reforms, his conscientious observance
of justice, the regularity of his habits, and the simplicity of
his tastes. Possessing neither the liberality nor the epicurean
propensities of his uncle, the contrast was unfavourable to his
popularity; and those who had shared with Leo the pastimes of music
and the chase sneered at discussions on engineering and hydraulics,
which occupied the leisure of Clement.
As soon as the Pontiff's death was known to Francesco Maria, he sent
his son to complete his nuptials at Camerino; but, within two hours
after his arrival there, a courier brought from the Sacred College
a protest against the marriage of the heiress during the vacancy of
the Holy See.[33] This impediment was suggested by Cardinal Farnese
in anticipation of his election, which took place as Paul III. on
the 12th of October, the very day on which the bridal ceremony was
completed. To balance this act of questionable fidelity to the See,
the Duke, by well-timed movements, repressed attempts to assert the
independence of Perugia and Rimini, and re-establish their hereditary
seigneurs. But such zeal served him little with the new Pontiff,
who at once made the Camerino succession a personal question, with
a view to confer that state upon his own natural son. One of his
earliest acts was accordingly to visit the contumacy of Caterina, her
daughter, and son-in-law, with a stern monitory and summons to Rome,
their disobedience of which was followed by excommunication, and by a
movement of the pontifical troops to blockade Camerino.
[Footnote 33: Cuparini's account of the war of Camerino, Vat. Urb.
MSS. 1023, art. 10. Leoni says the despatch arrived after the
nuptials had been solemnised.]
Francesco Maria now interposed all his influence, backed by
the imperial and the Venetian ambassadors, to induce Paul to a
recognition of Giulia as heiress under the investiture given to her
father, with remainder apparently to heirs general. Having vainly
exhausted the expedients of diplomacy in this cause, he protested
that the blame should not rest upon him of hostilities rendered
necessary in his son's defence, and, sending provisions to Camerino,
he marched at the head of ten thousand men to his support. At
Sassoferrata he was met by a deputation of the citizens, laden with
presents, who declared that though their walls were the Pope's, their
hearts and substance were at his disposal. At Matelica he found his
son and the ladies, before whom he passed his army in review, and
marched home again without once encountering the papal troops under
Gian Battista Savello. In fact, it was a war of the pen rather than
the sword, for at every step he renewed notarial protests of duty
and obedience to the Church, and regularly paid the excise, as well
as the price of all the stores which he took up for the use of the
Varana party. Apprehending that, if too far provoked, he would be
supported by the Venetian arms and by the Emperor, the Pontiff now
suspended martial measures, and pressed the point of law on the Roman
courts.
Thus relieved from immediate anxiety in this matter, the Duke of
Urbino resolved to pay a visit of compliment to Charles V. at Naples.
After reaching the Adriatic frontier of that kingdom, he dismissed
the strong escort which had guarded him through the ecclesiastical
state, and proceeded with a small suite. The Emperor received him
with much courtesy, and sought his counsel in the invasion of
Provence, which he was preparing. Francesco Maria would gladly have
referred the Camerino affair to his arbitration, but this being
rejected by the Nuncio, he obtained simply the imperial mediation,
which proved unavailing. He on this occasion presented Charles with
two swords of tried temper, and a finger-ring containing a repeating
watch, the latter made at Pesaro. In returning he took the route by
Benevento to the Adriatic, and halting for the night at the convent
of Sta. Maria degl'Eremiti, near Troia, he allowed some of his
attendants to examine into a curious tradition which then obtained
general credit. It was said that Diomed arriving here with a company
of attendants, he and most of them died within a few days, and
were duly interred; but that their souls were transmigrated into
a species of bird elsewhere unknown, which ever since had haunted
the marshy grounds. These were seen but rarely of an evening, and
towards morning uttered sounds like human lamentations. They flew on
the approach of any one not of Greek birth, but allowed persons of
that nation to visit their haunts familiarly. Three of the Duke's
suite having volunteered to watch, they all heard mournful voices
about three hours before dawn, a phenomenon which the narrator makes
no attempt to explain.[34] Having crossed to survey the Venetian
possessions at Zara, the Duke returned home in 1536, on board two
galleys of the Republic. The rest of that year was chiefly spent by
him at his post in Lombardy, protecting the Venetian mainland during
the passage of some imperial levies; but his charge was no longer an
important one, as the long contests for Milan had been finally set at
rest in the autumn of 1535, by the death of Duke Francesco Sforza,
after naming Charles V. heir of his state.
[Footnote 34: Vat. Urb. MSS., 1023, art. 1.]
Apulia and the Venetian possessions in the Levant being menaced
in the following year by Sultan Solyman, a general confederation
was effected for the defence of Italy and its dependencies, at the
head of which were the Pope and the Emperor. The Duke of Urbino
as captain-general undertook to raise five thousand men for this
armament, but, the danger suddenly passing away, distracted counsels
prevailed among the allies. Finally, on the 31st of January, 1538,
a new league was patched up, to carry into effect a suggestion of
Francesco Maria, by diverting the war into the Infidel's territory.
Considering, however, his impending difficulties with Paul III.,
the Duke obtained a joint guarantee of the contracting powers for
maintenance in his state, in confirmation of papal brieves to the
same effect dated in the preceding November. About the same time his
services to the Republic were acknowledged by the present of a palace
in the street of Sta. Fosca, valued at 16,000 ducats.
The views of the allies and their captain-general for this enterprise
were vast, comprehending the siege of Constantinople and an invasion
of Egypt: and the latter was indefatigable in his endeavours to
put the armament upon a footing equal to such extensive designs,
both as to its numbers and material. The enterprise was invested
with the sacred character of a religious war; but whilst Francesco
Maria concentrated upon it the energies of a mind in its prime, and
the exertions of a frame renovated by new specifics against his
hereditary enemy the gout, the hand of death was upon him. Returned
to Venice from a comprehensive survey of her defences in Dalmatia and
Istria, he was attacked by sudden illness on the 20th of September.
Foreseeing its fatal termination, he had himself taken by sea to
Pesaro, which he reached on the 8th of October. Next day he showed
himself on horseback to his people, but feeling unequal to the
exertion he took to bed, and gradually lost strength. On Monday, the
21st, a fit deprived him of speech, yet he continued sensible until
near daybreak of the 22nd, when he expired in religious penitence,
after receiving the sacraments.
All authorities agree in attributing his death to poison, but
neither Leoni nor Baldi hint at the person whose "envy" dictated
that base vengeance.[*35] Giovio speaks positively as to detection
having followed upon a searching inquiry, and points at those
interested in the Camerino question as authors of the crime. Sardi
and Tondini charge it upon Luigi Gonzaga, Count of Sabionetta,
surnamed Rodomonte, the nephew of Francesco da Bozzolo, a condottiere
who commanded Bourbon's cavalry at the assault of Rome, and who
facilitated Clement's flight some months thereafter. This assertion,
which is adopted by various writers, receives some confirmation from
a story in the gossiping MS. we have already quoted, that Gonzaga,
having accused Gian Giacomo Leonardi, a doctor of laws at Pesaro, of
instigating the murder, was challenged by the latter, who thereby
gained the favour of Duke Guidobaldo II., and with it the countship
of Monte l'Abbate, near Pesaro.[36] On the other hand, this Rodomonte
is stated in _Les Genealogies des Maisons Souveraines_ to have died
in 1528.
[Footnote *35: Cf. VIANI, _L'avvelenamento di Francesco Maria I.
della Rovere_ (Mantova, 1902), and _La Morte di F.M. della Rovere_,
in _Fanfulla della Domenica_, 23 March, 1902.]
[Footnote 36: Relazione della Legazione di Urbino, Bib. Marucc. c.
308.]
Whoever may have been author of the foul deed, it is agreed that
the perpetrator was the Duke's Mantuan barber, who is generally
said to have dropped a poisoned lotion into his ear. Baldi only
mentions that he did it "in a new way," and gives no account of the
medical examination of the body which, he asserts, took place. In an
old chronicle of Sinigaglia, Guidobaldo is stated to have had the
barber torn to pieces with pincers, and quartered in the streets of
Pesaro.[37]
[Footnote 37: Vat. Urb. MSS. No. 992. Gozzi's Chronicle, Oliveriana
MSS., No. 324. Also Teofiles's MS. narrative, _penes me_.]
After a cast in plaster had been taken from his features, the body
was dressed in a quilted doublet and hose of black satin, under his
inlaid armour, over which was the ducal tunic, and, above all, the
mantle of crimson satin embroidered in gold, which he had worn as
Prefect at the coronation of Charles V. Next evening it was borne,
with torches, by the principal courtiers, to the great hall, and
there placed upon an elevated catafalque of black and gold, on which
were arranged his ducal helmet, three magnificent head pieces, and as
many silver batons of command; five standards which he had captured
being set round with other trophies. It was watched all night, and
lay in state till the following evening, when it was coffined in
the dress just described. The same night it was taken on a litter
to Urbino by torchlight, escorted by a vast following on horseback
and on foot, under soaking rain. At the confines of the respective
territories it was delivered over to the authorities and clergy of
that city, preceded by mutes and mourners of various grades; among
whom was led the Duke's favourite jennet, covered with black velvet,
his ducal mail and morion being carried by a page in deep weeds.
Reaching the city at sunrise, the procession was joined by the
chief magistrates, nobility, clergy, and citizens, and so arrived,
through tearful crowds, at the church of Sta. Chiara, again to lie
in state until evening, when it was stripped of its armour, and
there committed to the dust at the left horn of the altar. It was
subsequently deposited, by his grandson Francesco Maria II., in a
tomb raised over the spot by Bartolomeo Ammanati, from the design
of Girolamo Genga, which was eventually removed as inconveniently
cumbering the church. The following epitaph, written by desire of the
widowed Duchess, and ascribed to the pen of Bembo, is panelled into
the wall:--
"To Duke Francesco Maria, endowed with the most comprehensive
capacity for war and peace. His hereditary states, thrice lost
by violence, he thrice by valour regained, and ruled them, when
reconquered, with moderation; he commanded the Ecclesiastical,
the Florentine, and the Venetian forces; finally, he was chosen
general-in-chief for the Turkish war, but was cut off ere it opened.
Leonora, his most devoted wife, placed this to her most meritorious
lord, and to herself."
One more ceremonial was wanting to complete the measure of respectful
duty to the deceased sovereign. On the 13th [or 22nd] of November,
his obsequies were celebrated in the cathedral of Urbino. The church
decorations, the catafalque, the vast concourse of clergy, of
deputations, and of people of all classes, were such as the mournful
solemnity required, and the sincere grief of his subjects dictated.
The function was conducted by Federigo Fregoso, Archbishop of
Salerno, whom we have formerly known at the court of Duke Guidobaldo
I., and the funeral oration was spoken by Maestro Benedetto Milesio.
Another, by Lorenzo Contarini, was pronounced at Venice, where
the Signory ordered a celebration of his obsequies with unwonted
splendour, besides voting him an equestrian statue in bronze. This
was never executed, but another statue of him, made by Bandini
for his grandson, the last Duke of Urbino, was presented to the
Republic under touching circumstances, which we shall detail in the
fifty-fourth chapter of this work.
* * * * *
The life of Francesco Maria affords a remarkable instance of
the extremes of fortune. He was deprived of parental care at an
early age, when it was peculiarly desirable as a restraint upon
his naturally fiery temper. Soon after, he was hurried from his
hereditary state, and compelled to seek safety in France. In the
outset of manhood, his ungoverned passion involved him in the stigma
of a sacrilegious murder. Twice was he deprived of the influential
sovereignty to which he had attained, and recovered it only after
years of exile, and at a ruinous pecuniary sacrifice. The lustre of
a brilliant position, and of a distinguished military career, was
veiled by his utter failure to save or rescue Rome. Finally, he was
snatched from life just as a new and nobler field was opening for his
martial glories. Reversing the picture, we find a youth of ardent
temperament, born to princely sway, and becoming at eighteen the heir
of one uncle in an important duchy, and the favourite of another,
who, by virtue of his triple tiara, conferred upon him yet a third
state. A military hero ere he escaped from his teens, his renown
ever extended with his age. Thirty years after his star had set, a
Venetian ambassador called him the light and splendour of Italy; and
notwithstanding some palpable blunders, he is still ranked with the
first commanders of his native land. He died when his fame was at its
height, and transmitted unquestioned to his son, that sovereignty
which thrice had been wrested from him.
It is from posthumous influences that his reputation has suffered
most severely; and the three standard historians of his times, in
Italy, England, and France, have meted him sparing justice. Without
questioning the value of Guicciardini's narrative as the fullest
exposition of the age in which he lived, and the most graphic
portraiture of many of its features and incidents, we must demur
to the "fearless impartiality" too hastily allowed him in modern
times. True, he was not, like Machiavelli, a practised intriguer,
acute to detect perverted purpose, or prone to assume its existence;
nor did he, like Giovio, employ the iron stylus of vengeance, or
the golden pen of flattery, as passion might prompt or venality
dictate. But, born a Florentine, and favoured by the Medici, he was
the partisan of that house in the closet as in the field; and no
one thus shackled could write impartially of Francesco Maria della
Rovere. Roscoe, with similar predilections, though far less biased,
had no inducement to become champion of a sovereign whom Leo X. had
twice expelled; whilst Sismondi, enamoured of nominal republics, is
ever ready to echo taunts or calumnies pointed at an Italian prince.
The examination of many less popular historians, and of numerous
unpublished contemporary authorities, has, we trust, enabled us to
place this Duke's character and conduct in a more true light, without
extenuating the manifest errors of either.
Though small in person, Francesco Maria was active and well formed,
with a manly air, a quick eye, and an engaging presence. His manner
and address were mild and pleasing, and his conversation was seasoned
with lively jests. He was strict in religious observances, an enemy
to blasphemous language, and intolerant of those insults to female
honour with which war was then lamentably fraught. In the regulation
of his army, as in the government of his state, justice was his
ruling principle. Of his unhappy violence of temper we have already
had too much reason to speak; it was the bane of his life, the blot
on his fame. Yet he was generous and forgiving, as he proved by
putting his personal enemy Guicciardini on his guard against the
designs of San Severino, Count of Caiazzo, who, having suffered from
the Florentine's captious allegations, had resolved to assassinate
him.[38]
[Footnote 38: LEONI, p. 386.]
A soldier by education, taste, and long habit, his character should
be judged by a military standard; and perhaps the best tribute to his
glory consisted in the public rejoicings ordered by Sultan Solyman
on hearing of his untimely death. In following the narrative of his
campaigns, we have unsparingly pointed out the faults which seemed
to cramp his success. They were obviously systematic, arising from
an excess of that caution, which his natural prudence and foresight
prompted, and which the examples of Fabius Maximus and Prospero
Colonna in some degree authorised. Yet we must not overlook an
important element of consideration, in the quality of troops under
his command from 1523 to 1528. His want of confidence in them was
avowed, and in more than one instance it was justified, when their
steadiness was put to the test. Nor was he less fettered by the
faulty organisation of that army, made up of various contingents
under their respective leaders, without a responsible commanding
officer, and in which civilians were allowed a veto fatal to unity of
action. The verdict of his contemporaries may, however, be admitted
as conclusive upon his military reputation. Ruscelli tells us that
he was, by common consent, called the father and founder of the art
of war, as practised in the sixteenth century; and the opinion of
the only dissentient, Guicciardini, a private enemy and no soldier,
is amply balanced by that of Giovanni de' Medici, who ranked him in
skilful tactics, and in the arts of command, as well as in foresight
and activity, equal to the ablest generals. The testimony of Charles
V. has been already given; and we are assured that after a public
disputation in Padua, sustained by men of the greatest learning, he
was voted a match to any hero of antiquity, in judgment, experience,
ingenuity, and military talent. Promis, with assuredly no friendly
leaning, admits his great skill in military architecture, stating
that he was often consulted by the principal engineers of Italy, and
especially by Sanmichele, upon the fortifications of Corfu, regarding
which that author attributes to him a Report to the Signory of Rome,
now in the Ambrosian Library of Milan.[39] His opinion as to the
defences of their lagoons, and principal garrisons on terra-firma,
was, on various occasions, requested by that Republic, and during his
command in Lombardy the towns of Lodi, Crema, Bergamo, Martinengo,
and Orcinovo were all strengthened after his designs. Tartagli and
Contriotto acknowledged their obligations to his suggestions; but
Promis denies him the invention of baloards, as we have already
seen, when writing of Francesco di Giorgio. The school of military
engineering formed under his eye, during almost continual campaigns,
numbered many distinguished professors of that art, among whom were
Pietro Luigi Escriva, Gianbattista Bellucci, Nicolò Tartaglia,
Girolamo Genga, Gian Giacomo Leonardi, and Jacopo Fusto Castriotto,
the last three of whom were natives of his state.
[Footnote 39: _Trattato di Architettura di Francesco di Giorgio_,
vol. II., p. 67. (Turin, 1841.)]
But let us hear the evidence of contemporaries as to his character.
Urbano Urbani, then his private secretary, thus describes him on
succeeding to the dukedom:--"He was naturally low in stature, but
well-proportioned, and of fine complexion. The short distance from
his heart to his brain rendered his disposition choleric. Ever in
movement, he was impatient of repose. Thoughtful, his ideas and
discourse tended to lofty themes. Ready of hand, he dexterously
managed, on horseback or afoot, the arms then in use. Of high
courage, he invariably bent his mind to objects conducive to his
honour and renown, especially in war. He was just, honest, averse
to swearing, liberal, incorruptible, and no boaster. He loathed
incontinence, and youthful excesses. In his household he was fond of
splendour, and he generally entertained, in his almost regal court,
a large attendance of distinguished gentlemen, such as Ottaviano
Fregoso, Ludovico Pio, Gaspare Pallavicino, Giuliano de' Medici,
Pietro Bembo, Baldassare Castiglione, Cesare Gonzaga (all of whom had
been attached to his uncle Guidobaldo), Ambrogio Landriano, Febo da
Cevi and his brother Gherardino, Filippino Doria, Benedetto Giraldi,
and others conspicuous in arms, letters, or music; among whom Baldi
names also Matteo della Branca, Carlo Gabrielli, Father Andreoni,
Troiano and Gentile Carbonani, Count Gentile Ubaldini."[40]
[Footnote 40: Vat. Urb. MSS. No. 489, f. 61. See for many of these,
vol. II.]
Had his lot been cast in less turbulent times, it would have been
his pride to maintain about him this goodly company, although he
pretended not to his predecessor's literary tastes, and, if we may
credit Sanuto, was unable to follow an oration delivered in Latin,
on his arrival at Venice, in 1524. Yet, he was not indifferent
to letters when connected with the engrossing occupation of his
mind; and it was his habit, when time permitted, to have passages
of ancient history read to him during several hours a day.
This relaxation was varied by discussions arising out of these
prelections, which he generally directed to military points, drawing
out the opinions of his officers in attendance. Hence probably were
suggested the Military Discourses, published in his name, of which we
have already spoken; and various memorials of his conversation are
preserved in a manuscript, which has supplied us with the anecdotes
formerly quoted.[41] These were selected as illustrative of manners,
from notes apparently made by a bystander; the others are almost
exclusively upon military tactics and fortification, in which he was
quite an adept.
[Footnote 41: See Vat. Urb. MSS. No. 1023, art. 21.]
Leonardi[42] confirms what we have stated of his character, dwelling
much on his tendency to practical views. The sketch of Cristofero
Centenelli must close these remarks:--"Though considered somewhat
overbearing and hasty, he was at all times just. Even in youth,
he was singularly self-denying of personal indulgences: guarding
himself from the temptations of luxury and indolence, he sought daily
occupation in the practice of arms, athletic sports, and equestrian
exercises. He was liberal and magnificent, but grave and magnanimous;
kind and affable to his friends, equitable and compassionate to
his subjects. His courage was fiery and indomitable; of cold and
heat, fatigue, watching, and privation, he was most enduring. He
combined, to a rare degree, boldness in the field with prudence in
the council-room, avoiding equally their extremes of temerity and
timidity. To great skill in military discipline, he united uncommon
perspicacity in discovering the snares of seeming friends or of open
foes: astute with enemies, he was guarded with all. His eloquence
commanded general admiration by its studied brevity, expressing the
clearest views in fewest words."[43]
[Footnote 42: Vat. Urb. MSS. No. 1023, f. 85.]
[Footnote 43: _Ibid._ No. 907.]
The Duke's constant and dutiful affection to his predecessor's
widow deserves special notice. While she lived she shared his home,
in prosperity or adversity, in sovereignty or in exile; and he
occasionally availed himself of her prudence and popularity in the
administration of the state during his absences. An interesting
memorial of this filial affection is afforded by the following
letter, which seems to have been written by Duchess Elisabetta.
"To the most illustrious Lord, my most esteemed Son, the
Duke of Urbino, &c.
"The chair is so beautiful that neither words nor pen
suffice to express my thanks for this proof of regard;
but most heartily, and with all the good will it merits,
I accept so handsome and gallant a gift, and I shall use
it for your sake as long as God pleases: it is not less
beautiful than dear to me. I have seen the news sent by the
Count: he would have done better to sacrifice something
than to lose all by his imprisonment. We expect you in the
morning. The Duchess kisses your hands and your mouth, and
I commend myself to you with eternal thanks.
"YOUR MOTHER.
"The 8th of August."[44]
[Footnote 44: Oliveriana MSS. No. 375. This may, however, have been
addressed by Duchess Vittoria to Francesco Maria II.]
The widowed Duchess Leonora remained at Pesaro, stricken with grief,
from which she slowly recovered to find a solace in her children.
By her husband's will she had 28,000 scudi, besides the life-rent
of his Neapolitan fiefs at Sora, which were left in remainder to
their younger son Giulio. To each of the daughters were provided
20,000 scudi. She died at Gubbio, in 1543. Her devoted affection to
her husband was accompanied by much sterling worth of character;
but she was especially distinguished for that equanimity of temper
which marks the expression of her admirable portrait in the Florence
Gallery.
The children of Francesco Maria were these:--
1. FEDERIGO, born in March, 1511, and died young.
2. GUIDOBALDO, his successor, born 2nd April, 1514.
3. IPPOLITA, married in 1531, to Don Antonio
d'Aragona, son of the Duke of Montalto, in Naples.
4. GIULIA, married in 1548, to Alfonso d'Este,
Marquis of Montechio, son of Duke Alfonso I. From her
descend the sovereign Dukes of Modena and Reggio.
5. ELISABETTA, married in 1552, to Alberico Cibò,
Marquis of Massa, and died in 1561. From her descended the
sovereign Dukes of Massa Carrara.
6. GIULIO, who was born at Mantua on the 8th of
April, and created by his father Duke of Sora. He was
educated for the Church, where his talents and application
to business merited the shower of preferments which his
high birth insured him, and which began by his nomination
as Cardinal of S. Pietro in Vinculis by Paul III., when
fourteen years of age. In 1548 he was made Bishop of
Urbino, a dignity which he resigned three years later, on
being appointed Legate of Rieti and Terni. In 1560 he had
the see of Vicenza, but soon exchanged it for Recanati.
In 1565, he was promoted to be Archbishop of Ravenna, to
which was added, in 1570, the see of Tusculum; and, in
1578, when within a few months of his death, he became
Archbishop of Urbino, having for some years previously
been Legate of Umbria, and governor of Loreto. In these
high posts he united to excellent business habits, and
great energy in the discharge of his duties, a taste for
magnificence, which made him popular with all classes. By
his own family he was regarded as a valuable counsellor in
every difficulty, and he greatly promoted the government
of his brother and nephew, to whom he served as a sort of
prime minister. His career of honour and utility was closed
by a premature death, on the 5th September, 1578, when but
forty-three years of age. Under his superintendence was
drawn up a code of Regulations [_Riformazioni_] of Justice,
which was published with his name in 1549. It does not
appear in what way the dukedom of Sora and Arci passed
from him, but, before the end of the century, it had been
granted by Philip II. to Giacomo Boncompagno, natural son
of Pope Gregory XIII. From his descendants, the Princes of
Piombino, that fief passed, about the end of last century,
to the Neapolitan government; and its picturesque baronial
towers at Isola, once the scene of their festive revels,
are now degraded into a woollen factory. The Cardinal left
two natural sons, who were both legitimated by Pius V.:--
1. Ippolito della Rovere, who had from his father
San Lorenzo and Castel Leone above Sinigaglia, and
was made Marquis of San Lorenzo in 1584, on his
marriage with Isabella, daughter of Giacomo Vitelli
dell'Amatrice, with 30,000 scudi of dowry. He had
issue, 1. Giulio, who was disinherited for bad
conduct; 2. Livia, born 1585, who became Duchess
of Urbino in 1599; 3. Lucrezia, who married the
Marchese Marc Antonio Lanti, and had issue.
2. Giuliano, Prior of Corinaldo, and Abbot of San
Lorenzo.
BOOK SEVENTH
OF GUIDOBALDO DELLA ROVERE FIFTH DUKE OF URBINO