The Duke's domestic affairs--Policy of Paul IV.--The Duke
enters the Spanish service--Rebellion at Urbino severely
repressed--His death and character--His children.
This somewhat barren portion of our narrative may be appropriately
enlivened by the marriage of Princess Elisabetta, sister of
Guidobaldo, to Alberico Cibò, Prince of Massa. The bride left Urbino
on the 26th of September, accompanied by the Duke and Duchess, and
remained at Castel Durante for two days. She was convoyed for some
miles farther by the court, and parted from her family with copious
tears on both sides. That night she slept at S. Angelo, and next
day reached Città di Castello, escorted by an immense train of the
principal residents to the Vitelli Palace. There she was entertained
at an almost regal banquet, with about fifty gentle dames, each more
beautiful than the other, and all richly dressed; after which there
followed dancing, to the music of many rare instruments and choruses,
till near daybreak. Travelling in a litter by easy journeys, she
reached Florence in four days, and was welcomed with magnificent
public honours. She entered the city in a rich dress of green
velvet, radiant with jewels, and passed two days there, the guest
of Chiappino Vitelli, who spent 2000 scudi upon four entertainments
in her honour, including a ball and masquerade. On going to court,
she was received by the Grand Duke and Duchess as a sister, with
much kindness, and a world of professions. Near Pisa she was met by
her bridegroom, at the head of a cavalcade which resembled an army
marching to the assault of the city; and his mother, though almost
dying, had herself carried to the bed in which the bride had sought
repose, to embrace her with maternal affection. More acceptable,
perhaps, than this singular visit, was the present received from her
in the morning, of two immense pearls, and a golden belt studded with
costly jewels. The pair entered the capital next day, amid a crash
of artillery, martial music, and bells, preceded by fifty youths in
yellow velvet and white plumes. The festive arches delighted the
narrator, but still more the palace furniture, "where nothing was
seen but armchairs brocaded in silk and gold, and one everywhere
stepped on the finest carpets." The community offered six immense
vases, and a donative of bullocks, fowls, and wax. "But all this is
nothing to the excessive affection which the Lord Marquis bears to
his most illustrious consort: he does not merely love her, he adores
her. May God continue it, and maintain them in happiness."[57] This
kind wish had scanty fulfilment, for the Princess died nine years
later, her husband surviving to the patriarchal age of ninety-six.
[Footnote 57: TONDINI, _Memorie di Franceschino Marchetti_, App., p.
16.]
In 1556, Guidobaldo finished the citadel and fortifications of
Sinigaglia, which had occupied him during ten years, and which were
considered an important bulwark against Turkish descents on the
Adriatic coast. There also he instituted a college for the study of
gunnery; and he commemorated the completion of these establishments
by striking four medals, of which three are described by Riposati;
none of them, however, merit special notice, the beauty of Italian
dies being already on the wane. The court was now for the most part
resident at Pesaro, a situation excelling in amenity and convenience
the original capital of the duchy. Among its attractions may be
numbered the palace-villa of Imperiale, which has been described;
but it became necessary to provide a town residence, that in the
citadel, which had sufficed for the Sforza, being far too restricted
for the demands of growing luxury. Of the palace at Pesaro,
Guidobaldo II. may be considered the entire author,[*58] and if it
seem scarcely suited for the accommodation of so famed a court,
we must recollect that the golden days of this principality were
already passing away, that the military qualities of its sovereigns
and people had become less gainful, and the devotion of its dukes to
letters and arts was beginning to languish. Although extensive, the
aspect of this residence is mean, its buildings rambling. It exhibits
no appearance of a public edifice except the spacious _loggia_ or
arcade. Over this, its single external feature, is the great hall,
measuring 134 by 54 feet, and of well-proportioned height. Here we
find some interesting traces of the della Rovere, in those quaint
and significant family devices which it was their pride unceasingly
to repeat. The manifold compartments of its richly stuccoed ceiling
contain their heraldic badge, the oak-tree; the ermine of Naples; the
half-inclined palm-tree; the _meta_, or goal of merit, and similar
fancies.[59] These recur among delicately sculptured arabesques on
the internal lintels, and ornament the imposing chimney-pieces,
varied by figures of Fame strewing oak-leaves and acorns. This palace
was later the winter residence of the cardinal legates of Urbino and
Pesaro, of whom portraits, from the Devolution of the duchy to the
Holy See, in 1626, surround the great hall. In 1845, Cardinal della
Genga was the forty-eighth of this long succession.
[Footnote *58: It was probably the work of Girolamo Genga (1476-1551)
and his son Bartolomeo (1518-58). It is now the Prefettura. It has
never struck me as "mean," but rather as being a somewhat imposing
building.]
[Footnote 59: See these devices explained in No. V. of the Appendix
to Vol. I. The respective importance of the ducal residences is
marked by their colloquial epithets,--the _corte_ at Urbino, the
_palazzo_ at Pesaro, the _casa_ at Gubbio.]
Paul IV. was seventy-nine years of age when he assumed the triple
tiara. His life had been one long exercise of holy zeal and ascetic
observance, and the Romans, again sunk in those habits of luxury
and indulgence from which Bourbon's army had roused them, saw with
little satisfaction the accession of one so intolerant. But they
were ill-prepared for a turbulence unparalleled during many years.
His policy leaned to the once favourite, but long dormant, idea of
expelling the Spaniards from Lower Italy; while, to the astonishment
of mankind, the almost abandoned pretensions of nepotism were revived
with unflinching fierceness by this octogenarian founder of the
strictly devotional order of Theatins. A trumpery outrage on the
French flag by the Sforza of Santa-fiore,[*60] in which the Colonna
were alleged to have participated or sympathised, supplied a pretext
for putting the latter to the ban; and their vast possessions, which
in the ecclesiastical states alone numbered above a hundred separate
holdings, were conferred upon the Pope's nephew, Giovanni Caraffa,
Count of Montorio. The Colonna flew to arms, and, being under the
avowed protection of Spain, were supported by troops from Naples,
against whom the Duke of Urbino was ordered to march; but fortunately
the ashes of civil broils were nearly cold, and peace would have
continued undisturbed, had not Paul, in the following year, issued
his monitory against Philip II. Although the Spanish intervention
in behalf of the Colonna formed an ostensible ground for this
aggression, its true motives are traced by Panvinio to more remote
and personal considerations, dating from the viceroyalty of Lautrec,
by whom the Caraffa, always adherents of France, had been harshly
treated. Reverting to the papal policy of half a century before, Paul
sought to avenge this quarrel through French instrumentality, and
although a pacification of unusual solemnity had been concluded in
February of this year between Charles V. and Henry II., preparatory
to the former retiring from the cares of sovereignty, he contrived,
by successful intrigues, to bring the two great European powers
once more into hostility, and to revive in the Bourbon King those
ambitious projects which had formerly brought his predecessors across
the Alps for the conquest of Naples.
[Footnote *60: For all that concerns Santa Fiora and the
Sforza-Cesarini, see a forthcoming work by EDWARD HUTTON, with notes
by WILLIAM HEYWOOD, entitled _In Unknown Tuscany_ (Methuen). It deals
with the whole history of Mont'Amiata and its castles and villages.]
Anticipating this threatened danger, the Duke of Alva marched an
army of fourteen thousand men into the Comarca, which he overran
in September, occupying Tivoli on the one hand, and Ostia on the
other, whilst Marc-Antonio Colonna scoured the Campagna, to the
gates of Rome. Guidobaldo, who appears to have been about this time
superseded, and his truncheon of command transferred to the Pontiff's
favourite nephew, contented himself with sending a contingent of two
thousand troops, under Aurelio Fregoso, for his Holiness's support.
The efforts made on all sides to conclude a harassing and useless
war, were rendered unavailing by the Pope's obstinacy and ambition;
the only terms he would agree to including an investiture of his
nephew as sovereign of Siena, in compensation for the Colonna estates.
During the winter months, a horde of northern barbarians were once
more mustered to invade unhappy Italy. Fourteen thousand Gascons,
Grisons, and Germans, under command of the Duc de Guise, marched
early in the spring upon Romagna, which, though a friendly country,
they cruelly ravaged. Faenza having escaped their brutality by
denying them entrance, its citizens testified their gratitude for
the exemption, by instituting an annual triduan thanksgiving, and
dotation of two of their daughters. The Duke of Urbino did his best
to secure his people during the transit of this army, which crossed
the Tronto in April. It would be tedious to follow the fortunes of a
campaign in which he took no part, and which, whoever gained, was
the scourge of Italy. On the 26th of August, the Duc de Guise placed
his scaling ladders against the San Sebastiano gate, and Rome had
nearly been carried by a coup-de-main. At length the representations
of Venice and Florence, which had remained neutral, prevailed with
his Holiness, and, on the 14th of September, peace was restored,
leaving matters much on their former footing. Riposati assures us
that during this war the French monarch would gladly have secured the
services of Guidobaldo, now free from his engagements to the Pontiff,
but that Duke Cosimo of Florence interested himself to procure for
him an engagement from Spain. This was at length arranged, in the
spring of 1558, previously to which Charles V. appears to have
bestowed on him the Golden Fleece, the highest compliment at his
disposal.[61]
[Footnote 61: Some authorities represent him as receiving this Order
eleven years later from Charles V., but that Emperor died in this
very year. He is said to have had knighthood from the Pope in 1561.]
The terms upon which the Duke took service under Philip II. are
thus stated in a letter of Bernardo Tasso. The King guaranteed him
protection for his territories against all hazards, and bound himself
to supply and maintain for him a body-guard of at least two hundred
infantry, besides a company of a hundred men-at-arms, and another
of two hundred light horse. He further engaged to pay him monthly
1000 golden scudi for his appointments as captain-general, besides
maintaining for him four colonels and twenty captains. In return,
the Duke took an oath to serve his Majesty faithfully against all
potentates, the pontiffs alone excepted. The political results of
this arrangement were strongly and painfully felt by Bernardo,
who regarded it as establishing the tranquillity of Naples, the
security of Tuscany, and, in a word, the Spanish domination in
Italy. Inclined to the French interests (for there was no longer
an Italian party in existence), he would have gladly seen the
sovereign of a highland population, whose warlike sinews were not yet
quite relaxed, preserve his neutrality, or rather, like his father,
attach himself to the republic of Venice, which still possessed much
external power and internal independence. Indeed, he laments the
short-sighted policy of the Signory, in omitting this opportunity
of securing, as an available check upon Spanish influence, an able
confederate, and corn-growing neighbour; a blunder which was the
more unaccountable, as, in the opinion of Mocenigo, who was Venetian
envoy at Urbino many years later, the prepossessions of Guidobaldo
were even then in favour of a connection which had hereditary claims
upon his preference. On the first days of May the convention was
published at Pesaro, after solemn thanksgiving to the Almighty
for a dispensation so acceptable to the Duke.[62] The importance
to Spain of this condotta may be understood from a fact mentioned
by Riposati, that Gubbio alone sent forth, between 1530 and 1570,
three captains-general, two lieutenants-general, six colonels, and
sixty-five captains of note. Mocenigo says, there were in 1570 twelve
thousand soldiers in the duchy, ready at call.
[Footnote 62: From an account of this engagement preserved among
the Oliveriana MSS., and slightly differing from that by Bernardo
Tasso (II., letter 166), we learn that the pay of officers was from
15 to 40 scudi a month, that of cavalry privates 5, and of infantry
3 scudi. It appears to have been worth to Guidobaldo in all about
35,000 scudi a year, but to have been irregularly received.]
Our notices of Guidobaldo become ever more barren. In 1565 the
armament of Sultan Solyman against Malta spread consternation
throughout Western Europe, and, by desire of Philip II., the Duke
of Urbino sent four or five thousand troops to aid in the defence
of the knights. Prince Francesco Maria asked leave to accompany the
expedition, but his father, considering his time better bestowed in
visiting courts, sent him in this year to Madrid, with commission
to recover a long arrear of his own military allowances. In this he
was successful, but the sum scarcely sufficed to clear the expenses
of his journey. Particulars of this visit, and of his marriage in
1571, will be told from his own pen in next chapter. But there was
no lukewarmness on his father's part on the question of the Cross
against the Crescent. After the Prince returned from the naval action
off Lepanto, which will also be narrated from his Autobiography,
Guidobaldo prepared a Discourse on the propriety of a general war
against the Turks, the means of conducting the proposed campaign with
due regard to the security of Italy, the preparation of adequate
munitions, and the best plan for carrying the seat of war into
the enemy's country. It is unnecessary to dwell upon a matter now
so completely gone by: the paper emanates from a mind capable of
enlarged views, and fully conversant with the belligerent resources
and general policy of his age, as well as experienced in military
operations.[63]
[Footnote 63: Vat. Ottob. MSS. No. 2510, f. 201.]
The _Relazioni_ of the Venetian envoys supply us with some notices of
Urbino about this time, and prove that the Duke's expenses were very
great, partly from frequent calls upon his hospitality by visitors
of distinction, but still more from his maintaining separate and
costly establishments for himself, the Duchess, the Prince, and the
Princess.[64] Mocenigo estimates his income from imposts, monopolies,
and allodial domains, at 100,000 scudi; adding that, "should he think
proper to burden his people, this sum might unquestionably be greatly
augmented, but, choosing to follow the custom of his predecessors, in
making it his chief object to preserve the affection of his subjects,
he is content to leave matters as they are, and live in straits for
money."[65] He also tells us that, though poor in revenues, he was
master of his people's affections, who on an exigency would place
life and substance at his disposal. The accuracy of these impressions
is in some degree impugned by what we are now about to relate.
[Footnote 64: That of Mocenigo, 1570, is printed by Vieussieux,
second series, vol. II., p. 97, and in the _Tesoro Politico_, II.,
169; that of Zen or Zane, 1574, in the same volume of Vieussieux, p.
315.]
[Footnote 65: Of several statements as to the ducal revenue and
expenditure which I have seen, none is distinct or satisfactory. The
most detailed is in a MS. in the public library at Siena, K. III.,
No. 58, p. 240, but the sums have been inextricably blundered by the
transcriber. See Appendix VIII.]
* * * * *
The most remarkable incident in Guidobaldo's reign was an outbreak
of the citizens of Urbino, dignified in its municipal history by
the name of a rebellion, which acquires a factitious importance
as the only symptom of discontent that troubled the peace of the
duchy, from the death of Oddantonio in 1443, to the extinction of
its independence in 1631. We shall condense its incidents from the
contemporary narrative of Gian-Francesco Cartolari, who designated
himself agent of the Duke, and who, notwithstanding his official
position, writes with apparent frankness and impartiality.[66]
[Footnote 66: Vat. Ottob. MSS. No. 3142, f. 165, and Oliveriana MSS.
No. 390, p. 63.]
In August, 1572, the Duke intimated to the council of Urbino that
he had received authority from Gregory XIII. to impose a tax of one
quatrino per lb. on butchers' meat, and of two bolognini upon every
_staro_ of grain and _soma_ of wine;[67] and in October he made
proclamation throughout the duchy of these new imposts. It being
rumoured that the envoys of Gubbio had obtained for that community
a suspension of the obnoxious duties, discontent began to prevail,
and on the 26th December one Zibetto, a cobbler, in an inflammatory
harangue, at a public assembly dignified with the name of general
council, declared that these were exactions under which the poor
could not exist.[*68] On his proposal, forty delegates were chosen
from the nobility, and sworn to represent the matter to the Duke in
person. They repaired to Pesaro, and, on the 29th, had an audience
to present the memorial agreed to by the council, which Guidobaldo
received, and desired them to go home, promising that an answer would
be transmitted when he had considered their statement. They, however,
stayed a week, vainly looking for his reply, during which the council
met daily at Urbino, and at length they were recalled by an express
from the Gonfaloniere. Meanwhile a vice-duke had been sent thither,
who, on the 1st of January, 1573, published a suspension of the new
imposts throughout the whole state. This concession, however, did not
satisfy the discontented, who, in another general council, accredited
two envoys to Prince Francesco Maria, begging his intervention to
procure an answer to their memorial. Having failed in this object,
and finding that troops were being secretly organised to garrison
their city, the people of Urbino rushed to arms, closed the gates,
and, having mustered above a thousand men, began to strengthen
the defences and lay in stores. The Vice-Duke being thereupon
recalled, the general council assembled daily in such numbers, that
adjournments to one of the largest churches were found necessary,
and the inhabitants, setting aside private rivalries, co-operated
with one mind for the public safety, mounting guard, and making every
exertion to render their city tenable. The impossibility of doing so
against the Duke's military levies being however quickly apparent
even to the insurgents, an embassy of six was despatched to Rome to
beseech the Pope's mediation. Nor did the reaction stop there; a
general cry rose for the Prince, or his brother the Cardinal, the
opportune arrival of either of whom would have ended the _émeute_.
On the 29th, however, the Duchess came with a small suite, and was
received with cries of "Long life to the Duke, but death to the
_gabelle_!" The efforts of the magistracy and popular leaders to
make their peace were unavailing, in consequence of their having sent
representations to the Pontiff, and, on the 3rd of February, the
Duchess departed without effecting any arrangement, to the infinite
annoyance of all parties. The envoys could get no other reply from
his Holiness but that they must go home and make submission, and they
were followed by a brief from him, enjoining them to lay down arms
and seek his Excellency's unconditional pardon. As soon as this had
been publicly read by the Gonfaloniere, the people piled their arms
in the piazza, and the peasantry dispersed to their country homes.
[Footnote 67: The _staro_ or _stajo_ corresponded to a bushel; the
amount of a _soma_ is doubtful. A _quatrino_ is 1/5 of a _bajocco_,
that is, of a halfpenny in present value. A _bolognino_ was about
7-1/3 farthings. See vol. II., p. 259.]
[Footnote *68: In 1562 Guidobaldo had augmented the tax on grain
by leave of Pius IV. Cf. UGOLINI, _op. cit._, vol. II., p. 28, and
PELLEGRINI, _Gubbio sotto i Conti e Duchi d'Urbino_ in _Boll. per
l'Umbria_, vol. XI., p. 239 _et seq._, and esp. CELLI, _Tasse e
Rivoluzione_ (Torino, 1892), p. 39.]
Notwithstanding this surrender, Guidobaldo advanced upon the city,
quartering his troops in the surrounding villages, so as to blockade
it, and all the public functionaries were superseded. Dreading a
sack, the citizens rushed to the monasteries with their valuables,
and, about the middle of February, sent fifty of the nobles to
crave pardon of their sovereign. After waiting at Pesaro for three
days, these were admitted to tender submission on their knees,
and were then placed under arrest at their inn for twenty days,
notwithstanding incessant petitions from their fellow citizens
for their release. Six of them were then committed to the castle,
and from time to time other leaders were brought from Urbino to
share their imprisonment. So terrified were the insurgents by
these measures, that those most compromised fled from the duchy,
and but few remained in their houses; a proclamation was therefore
issued that all exiles should return home within two months, under
penalties of rebellion. The property of the prisoners and exiles
was confiscated; the city was disarmed; public assemblies were
prohibited; and the magistracy were discharged from their duties.[69]
Such rigorous measures having inspired a general panic, the imposts
were again proclaimed at Easter, to include retrospectively the
previous year. These severities were perhaps scarcely beyond the
exigencies of the case; at all events, they cannot be justly regarded
as an extreme exercise of the despotic authority which the Duke
undoubtedly possessed; but those which ensued must be viewed with
abhorrence, alike from their own enormity, and from their prejudicial
influence in confounding vengeance with justice.
[Footnote 69: The magistrates of Urbino were four in number, a
gonfaloniere chosen from the city nobles, a prior to represent the
merchants, and two priors of the trades. The general council seems to
have been open to all citizens.]
A judge was brought from Ferrara to sit upon the prisoners, and on
the 1st of July nine of them were beheaded in the castle at midnight;
their bodies, after being flung out and exposed beyond the city, were
huddled together into an unconsecrated pit, until some days later
they were taken up by order of the Bishop of Pesaro, and received
Christian burial. Nor was the indignation of their sovereign appeased
by these revolting cruelties: others implicated were sent to the
galleys or died of hard usage. A commission sat at Urbino for two
months to realise the estates of those attainted, whose widows and
children were deprived of their dowries, and in some instances their
very houses were razed to the ground. The results were fatal to the
whole community, for magisterial business was suspended, the schools
were left without teachers, the town without medical practitioners,
trade of every sort at a stand. At length, in December, permission
was obtained to hold a general council, at which it was determined
once more to send ambassadors to intercede for mercy. For this
purpose about eighty of the principal nobility were selected to
accompany the Gonfaloniere and priors to Pesaro, their cavalcade
amounting to above a hundred persons on horseback. On the 27th of
December, they were admitted to an audience in presence of the whole
court, and the Gonfaloniere, after a very judicious speech, presented
to his Excellency a petition couched in the following terms:--
"Most illustrious and most excellent Lord Duke, our especial lord
and master! Inspired by a most ardent desire for your illustrious
Excellency's favour and good will, and having ever felt the utmost
grief and regret for the recent events, the city of Urbino,
with entire devotion and alacrity, has resolved to send to your
illustrious Excellency its magistrates, and the present numerous
embassy, in order that with every possible humility, they in our
name, and we likewise for ourselves, may supplicate you, with all
reverence and submission, to accord us grace and pardon, entirely
forgetting the provocations received, and, as our clement father and
master, full of charity towards us, to deign willingly to comfort
us, and receive us again, and restore us to your love and benign
grace; assuring your most illustrious Excellency, that this your
city will never, in fidelity, love, and obedience towards your most
illustrious person and house, yield to any other in the world, and
that it is, and ever will be, most prompt at all times and occasions
to expose our lives, and those of our children, and our whole goods
and possessions, in your service and honour; so that, in the event of
our receiving, as we desire and hope, forgiveness from your infinite
bounty and magnanimity, we, the humblest and most faithful of your
servants, thanking God with sincerely joyful hearts, may return,
singing in chorus--'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who hath
visited and redeemed his people,' and may ever keep in remembrance
this trusted day of grace, and render it a gladsome festival in all
time to come."
To this petition the Duke returned the following gracious answer:--"I
hear with much good will and satisfaction the duty which you pay, the
free pardon which you ask, and the penitence which you exhibit, all
which induce me to confirm to you, as I now do most willingly, the
forgiveness I already have accorded: and the promise which you make,
of being ever faithful and loyal to me, proves you ready to second
your words with good purposes, as I readily believe you will do. I
also promise you from henceforward entirely to forget the past, and
to receive you into my pristine affection; and had it pleased God
that the warnings and persuasions which you received from my lips had
been taken by you at first, you would have been spared many evils,
annoyances, and losses, and I much displeasure. Nevertheless, take
courage, and, as I have already said, so long as you do your duty,
you will find me as loving in time to come as I have ever been, all
which you will report to your city."[70]
[Footnote 70: Vat. Ottob. MSS. No. 3141, ff. 160, 165, dated December
27, 1573.]
This reply gave great satisfaction to the deputation, and after
being suitably acknowledged by their head, all of them knelt to
their Sovereign, the Duchess, and the Prince, kissing the hems of
their garments in humble attitude. Next day they returned home,
and summoned a general council, to which there was read a letter
from Guidobaldo, reinstating the city in its former privileges,
and removing the obnoxious imposts. Four deputies having been
commissioned to thank his Highness for these demonstrations of
returning favour, they were honourably received and entertained at
Pesaro. The council next voted a peace-offering of 50,000 scudi
towards paying the Duke's debts, which had been the primary root
of the evil; but, in consideration of their recent sufferings, he
accepted of but 20,000, payable in seven years. Although there
remained some symptoms of smouldering sedition, the Duke on the
14th of June suddenly started for Urbino, and was welcomed by a
deputation, and such other marks of respect as the short notice would
permit. During a residence of twelve days, he renounced 8000 scudi of
the donative, and conceded several privileges to the community, whom
he did not again visit during the brief residue of his life.
The Urbino rebellion holds a place in the history of that state which
neither its incidents nor its issue deserve. It originated in a sore
of old standing, the Duke having for years comparatively deserted
the ancient capital of his duchy, and transferred his residence to
Pesaro. Influenced by this grudge, its citizens, instead of, like
the other communities, resting satisfied with his remission of dues
in January, 1573, kept up an agitation, and finally piqued their
sovereign by carrying their grievances to the papal throne. On the
whole, these transactions were in all respects most unfortunate, and
it was long ere the duchy recovered from the heart-burnings they left
behind. The Duke then forfeited the popularity of a lifetime, and
his fame continues blackened by the scurrilous traditionary nickname
of Guidobaldaccio, a usual diminutive expressing contemptuous
disparagement. Grossi says that, when too late, he regretted the
harshness of his after measures; and some doubt as to his good faith
in regard to an amnesty is hinted in the following letter from his
cousin-german Ludovico Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers and Rethel, which I
found among the Oliveriana MSS. at Pesaro.
"Most illustrious and most excellent Lord,
"Your Excellency's letters of the 15th of June and 9th of
July reached me together, at the forest of Vincennes, only
on the 10th instant, along with another addressed by you to
the most serene King of Poland, which I have not failed to
deliver in person to his Majesty, with such expressions as
seemed suitably to convey your Excellency's good wishes.
With these his Majesty was much satisfied and pleased, and
he returns to your Excellency many thanks. I have not as
yet been able to obtain his answer, as he went off suddenly
to Fontainebleau, whither I now am on my way, and on my
arrival shall get it sent you as soon as possible.
"I have read the summary of the trials of these rebels,
of whom your Excellency advises me you had nine beheaded,
as to which matter I have been glad to be informed, in
order satisfactorily to answer those who occasionally
speak of it; and also being at all times glad to learn
that your affairs go on well and to your contentment. It
is my conviction that you have acted most justly, and done
everything for clear reasons; yet, I do not omit telling
you that some people are perplexed at these events, saying,
that your Excellency having granted a general pardon to
all the conspirators, they cannot see by what right you
afterwards let justice take its course against them. This I
mention purposely that you may be informed of everything.
"It only remains to beseech that you will deign command
my willing services, in whatever respect you consider me
useful, as this is my ardent wish; and so I sincerely kiss
your hands, praying God to grant you all happiness. From
Paris, the last of September, 1573. Your Excellency's most
devoted, and most obliged cousin,
"LUDOVICO GONZAGA."
The account of these disturbances, given by the Prince in his
Autobiography, is as follows: "His father having by great liberality
and magnificence deranged his finances, found it necessary to augment
his revenue, and his subjects, unused to such burdens, began to offer
resistance. The Duke, not to let himself be thwarted in that way,
prepared to use force; but at last matters were restored to quiet,
by their humbling themselves, and receiving his pardon, not without
the punishment of some, as an example to the rest. At this juncture
Francesco Maria contrived so to conduct himself, that his father had
reason to be well satisfied with his services; and the people had
no cause to be discontented with him, his uniform endeavour having
been, to the utmost of his power, to mollify the one and moderate the
other, which was in the end effected."
Of this dull reign little remains to be told. In the words of the
same Memoir,--"Guidobaldo went to Ferrara in the autumn of 1574, to
visit Henry III. of France, who was on his way from Poland, on the
death of his brother Charles IX. Returning to Pesaro during great
heats, he fell ill, and passed to a better life on the 28th of
September, aged sixty. On hearing of his illness, Francesco Maria
hastened to Pesaro from Castel Durante, where he generally stayed
for the hunting season, and finding his father in great suffering,
he attended him assiduously through the fatal malady. The funeral
ceremonies were performed with much pomp, in presence of many
deputies and ambassadors; and Giacomo Mazzoni pronounced a long and
elaborate oration, commending his clemency, liberality, bravery,
prudence, and other princely virtues." We are told by a contemporary
chronicler that his illness was a quartan, which became a putrid
fever, but that he bore it with patient and pious resignation,
supported by the aids of religion. His funeral took place in the
church of Corpus Domini, at Pesaro, in conformity with his own wish,
mindful perhaps, in his last moments, of his recent quarrel with
Urbino, where the ashes of his ancestors were laid.
The character of this Duke, drawn by the Venetian envoys, is quite as
favourable as the few notices given us by Urbino writers. His habits
were free and social, and his liberality to friends and favourites
gave him a popularity at court which extended to his subjects and
soldiery. In affairs of honour his judgment was often sought, and
his decisions generally admitted. Though seldom in the field, he was
considered an authority on military affairs, and, without rivalling
the literary tastes of his son, he was a patron of letters, and
especially of music.[*71] The device which he selected was a goal or
winning-post, with a Greek inscription, "To the most devoted lover of
worth"; and Ruscellai informs us that he acted up to the sentiment
in encouraging merit. His hospitality is alluded to by Ariosto in
Rinaldo's journey to Lapidusa, and Count Litta ascribes to him the
institution of the Pacieri, an association of both sexes for the
purpose of preventing litigation. It is true that his failings of
character or temper were neither gilded by the military renown of his
father, nor redeemed by the pious philosophy of his son; but so far
as the meagre materials within our reach have enabled us to judge,
no great faults have been brought home to him either as a sovereign
or as a man. Indeed, we are enabled to adduce one satisfactory
instance wherein, under circumstances peculiarly irritating to a
person of impetuous disposition, his conduct was marked with great
forbearance and gentleness. His favourite undertaking of fortifying
Sinigaglia had been thwarted in 1556, from the obstinate refusal of
money by a Jew, who, though sent to him for the purpose of effecting
a loan, resisted his urgent persuasions to conclude it.[*72] After
mentioning the circumstance in a letter to his confidential favourite
Marchetti, he thus continues: "We avoided all expressions which might
seem to approve of his discourse, and so left him. However, to you
we shall just say that if they won't lend, may they meet with the
like.[73] We shall seek some other course, and obtain by other means
what is required for the operations. You may, therefore, after doing
your best for this purpose in Sinigaglia, proceed first towards La
Pergola, and then to Fossombrone, but there is no occasion to employ
in this matter threats or severe language. On the contrary, you are
only to seek out the people, to exhort and civilly urge them to what
is wanted, but of their own free will, and by no other means; and
if they will not agree, you need not break out upon them, but let it
stand over, that we may see what can be effected in some other way."
[Footnote *71: Cf. a letter from Angelo Colocci to the Duke, printed
by MORICI, _Due Umanisti Marchigiani_ in _Boll. per l'Umbria_, vol.
II., p. 152; and for Music, ROSSI, _Appunti per la Storia della Musica
alla Corte di Francesco Maria I. e di Guidobaldo della Rovere_ in
_Rassegna Emiliana_ (Modena, 1888), vol. I., fascicolo 8, and _supra_,
p. 88, note *1.]
[Footnote *72: Cf. CELLI, _Le fortificazioni militari di Urbino,
Pesaro e Senigallia_ (Castelpiano, 1896).]
[Footnote 73: "Tal sia di loro," a phrase which may perhaps only mean
"be it so."]
In absence of any contemporary estimate of this Duke's character,
we may cite one from the pen of a modern writer, himself a citizen
of Urbino, and an enthusiastic student of its history. "Although
possessing not the marvellous sagacity, the untainted justice, the
quick intelligence in public affairs, nor the other brilliant and
rare virtues of his ancestors and of his son, which have rendered
their names great, their authority respected, their memory dear and
popular; he had good sense, military experience, and much fondness
for all liberal acquirements. He protected and honoured the first
geniuses of his time; and his beneficent actions were splendid even
beyond his means. Could one page be blotted from his life, too
fatally memorable from its unjust and slippery policy, too detestable
and disgraceful to his name; and had his manners been more affable,
his nature less impetuous and violent, his temper less overbearing,
and his resolutions less inflexible; the people of Urbino would
probably have attempted no revolutionary movement, and he would have
acquired much of the reputation left by his great-grandfather, and by
his estimable son."[74]
[Footnote 74: Padre Checcucci, Professor of Rhetoric in the
University of Urbino, 1845.]
For the fine arts he seems to have cared little, and his memory has
suffered in consequence of this neglect. Angelo Bronzino is said to
have painted him during the life of his father, but the only original
portrait I have ever found of him is a miniature in the Pitti Palace.
Bernardo Tasso was the laureate of his court, and we shall mention,
in chapter L., the friendly welcome extended to that fortune-stricken
bard during part of his life-long struggle. Bernardo Capello and
Pietro Aretino were among his guests; and Ludovico Domenichini
of Piacenza, having dedicated to him an Italian translation of
Plutarch's _Lives_, visited Urbino in 1555 to present the work to his
patron.
Guidobaldo left by his first wife one daughter,--
VIRGINIA, married in 1560 to Count Federigo
Borromeo, whose premature death is said to have frustrated
a project of his uncle, Pius IV., for investing him with
Camerino. She afterwards married Ferdinando Orsini, Duke of
Gravina, and, dying in childbed, left to her father about
180,000 scudi.
The children of his second marriage were,--
1. FRANCESCO MARIA, his heir.
2. ISABELLA, married in 1565 to Nicolò Bernardino
di Sanseverino, Prince of Bisignano, a Neapolitan nobleman,
with a fine fortune, but greatly encumbered. She was a
princess of generous and attractive character, and died in
1619 without surviving issue.
3. LAVINIA, said in the Venetian Relazione of Zane to
have been betrothed to Giacomo Buoncompagno natural son
of Gregory XIII., but the nuptials never took place. She
afterwards married Alfonso Felice d'Avalos d'Aquino,
Marquis of Guasto, son[*75] of the famous Vittoria Colonna,
and died in 1632, aged seventy-four.
[Footnote *75: This is a mistake. Vittoria Colonna had
no children. There was, however, a Marchese del Vasto, a
cousin of her husband's, whom she adopted as her son, and
to whom she frequently alluded in her poems; one of her
sonnets bewails his death.]
(From similarity of name, this princess has been
confused with her second cousin Lavinia Franciotti
della Rovere, wife of Paolo Orsini, whose intimacy
with Olympia Morata is well known to those who
trace the quickly smothered seeds of Protestantism
in Italy.)
Guidobaldo left also two natural daughters,--
1. ----, married, first, to Count Antonio Landriano of
Pesaro; secondly, to Signor Pier-Antonio da Lunà of
Castella, in the Milanese.
2. ----, married to Signor Guidobaldo Renier.
BOOK EIGHTH
OF FRANCESCO MARIA II. DELLA ROVERE SIXTH AND LAST DUKE OF URBINO