The unsatisfactory results of his marriage--He separates
from the Duchess--His court and habits--Death of the
Duchess--He remarries.
Having thus thrown together all that the Duke has thought fit to
detail regarding the principles of his government and the early
events of his reign, we now proceed to narrate in their order, from
his Diary and from other sources, the few incidents afforded by
those peaceful and monotonous pursuits wherein many subsequent years
were passed. The first of these was of a painful domestic character,
arising out of the unsatisfactory terms upon which he had during
several years been with the Duchess. That love formed no ingredient
in the match has been already shown, and perhaps his speedy and
voluntary departure on a distant military expedition may be taken
as a proof that his indifference did not diminish after wedlock had
riveted his chains. In 1573, Lucrezia was laid up at Novilara with
a feverish cold, and was attended by her husband, who with great
reluctance consented to her return to Ferrara, on the excuse of
change of air being requisite for re-establishment of her health. The
truth seems to have been, that her marriage appearing unlikely to
give an heir to the family, the Prince was confirmed in his original
distaste, and this is said to have occasioned some disagreeable
scenes with his father, whom he blamed for having forced upon him
so unfortunate an alliance. The scandal to which these probably
gave rise, and the example of coldness towards her which he most
assuredly set, had, no doubt, rendered her position sufficiently
unpleasant, and, after exchanging it for the freedom of her brother's
elegant court, it is scarcely to be wondered that she hesitated to
return, even after her husband had succeeded to the sovereignty of
Urbino. That rumour was busy with gossip and conjectures is pretty
obvious, and the countenance which Muratori gives to an allegation
of Lucrezia's jealousy of his supposed infidelities may be taken as
the version current at Ferrara of their mysterious non-adherence. Of
this suspicion the life and character of Francesco afford an ample
refutation, but its existence induced an endeavour on his part to
bring about a better understanding with his wife.
In 1577, accordingly, he employed the Bishop of Pesaro and
Father-general del Carmine to persuade her to return to his home.
In a paper of instructions for their guidance, preserved among the
Oliveriana MSS., he declares that the excuses she pleaded were of
no weight, and could not be the real motives of her absence. In
reference to pecuniary arrangements, he urges the great economy and
self-denial which his father's embarrassments imposed upon him, but
offers her the same establishment as his mother enjoyed, besides
Novilara and its dependencies, in all about 6000 scudi a-year.
But, in consideration of the slanderous and groundless imputations
against himself to which her absence had given rise, he intimates his
intention to select for her a suitable suite of respectable persons,
leaving her, however, to choose eight or ten from them to be more
immediately about her person. This negotiation having failed, the
affair was next year submitted for the decision of Cardinals Farnese,
Sforza, and d'Este: it would appear that an amicable separation was
then determined upon; at all events, the Duchess returned no more to
her husband's state.
The notice of this disagreeable topic in the diary of Francesco
Maria is as follows:--"Meanwhile the Duchess wished to return to
Ferrara, where she subsequently chose to remain, a resolution which
gave no annoyance to her husband; for, as she was unlikely to bring
him a family, her absence mattered little. Her provision was amicably
arranged, and their intercourse continued uniformly on the most
courteous terms." In support of this last statement the following
letter from Lucrezia is conclusive.
"To the most serene Lord my Consort the Duke of Urbino.
"My most serene Lord and affectionate Consort,
"I could not have heard any message with more satisfaction
than that which Count Alessandro della Massa has brought me
in your Highness's name, on presenting your affectionate
letters, nor could any present have been more gratifying
than the picture which you were pleased to send me: both
on account of its subject, and as coming from your hands,
it will be ever the most valued that I possess. On all
accounts, therefore, do I kiss your Highness's hand,
recommending myself to your goodness; and I pray the Lord
to preserve you ever in all happiness. From Ferrara, 28th
of May, 1586.
"Your most loving and obedient consort and servant,
"LUCREZIA D'ESTE."
The Oliveriana MSS. contain many other letters from Lucrezia; but, as
usual with such princely documents, they are more rich in mannered
phrases of compliment than in those natural sentiments which form
the charm of epistolary composition, and afford a correct index of
individual character. Most of them are commendatory introductions
of priests and friars, a class of acquaintances more congenial
to her husband's disposition than her own, the chief foible in
her character being an immoderate addiction to those festive and
exciting pleasures, which, although the business of her brother's
court, met with little encouragement at that of her consort. Her
intercourse with Tasso will fall to be noticed in our fifty-first
chapter, when describing the sorrows of that wayward genius. After
her return to Ferrara, she interested herself in establishing at
San Matteo an asylum for wives, who, like herself, were separated
by incompatibility of character. Soon after his separation from
the Duchess had been arranged, Francesco Maria paid a visit to the
court of Tuscany, where he met with a distinguished reception, and
spent fifteen days very agreeably amid the many attractions of
Florence, varied by comedies and amusements of the chase. During the
ensuing carnival he introduced unwonted gaiety at Pesaro, holding
a tournament, at which he entered the lists in person. About this
time, too, his finances were recruited by a donative of 10,000 scudi
granted to him by that city.
[Illustration: _Anderson_
FRANCESCO I. DE' MEDICI
_After the picture by Bronzino in the Pitti Gallery, Florence_]
The Duke's autograph Diary, from which we have recently quoted,
and to which we shall frequently refer, having been carried to
Florence with his other personal effects in 1631, remains in the
Magliabechiana Library (Class xxv., No. 76). It is a narrow folio
volume, like an index book, containing about two hundred pages
entirely in his own hand. The entries are limited to a bare notice
of facts without comment. The topics most frequently registered are
the passage of remarkable strangers through Pesaro; the births,
marriages, and deaths of persons of rank; his own periodical
movements to his various residences, and visits to other parts of the
duchy; his frequent hunting parties in autumn and winter, chiefly
from Castel Durante; his taking medicine, including regular semestral
purgations in spring and autumn. His taste for the physical sciences
is illustrated by noting the occurrence of earthquakes, unusual
storms, or other phenomena of nature, the recurrence of frost and
snow, of the cigala and the nightingale, of mosquitoes, and similar
signs of the seasons; also the appearance of any rare animal or
monstrous production of nature. The Journal commences in April, 1583,
and is continued without interruption until March, 1623, when it
terminates abruptly.
The disappointment felt by the Duke at the fruitlessness of his
family friendship with the crown of Spain was removed by receiving,
towards the close of 1582, a military commission from his Catholic
Majesty. This was the only relic of the condottiere system that
survived the changes of the sixteenth century upon the political
and military aspect of Europe. It was the intervening link between
mercenary bands of the middle ages and standing armies of modern
times. No plan could have better suited all parties. The great
powers were thus enabled to command on sudden exigencies an ample
force, without waste of time or treasure. The petty sovereigns by it
eked out their inadequate revenues, without further burden to their
subjects than an occasional call upon the military services of those
who regarded arms as a pastime, and whose restless spirits, if not
thus employed, would have been dangerous at home. The people, without
abandoning the arts of peace, reaped a portion of the fruits of war.
These benefits were, indeed, purchased by a surrender of the last
vestige of independence, for the salary paid to the princes in name
of stipend was, in fact, the price of their political subserviency.
Yet it was but a nominal compromise, to sell the shadow when the
substance had long departed; and we find the example of Spain in
retaining friends throughout La Marca, for pecuniary considerations,
recommended for the imitation of Venice by one of her ambassadors
about this very time. The conditions of the Duke's service were
an annual pay of 12,000 scudi, which, in 1599, was augmented to
15,000, a company of men-at-arms in the kingdom of Naples, and ample
protection in all his undertakings; in return for which he was bound
to provide, when called upon by Philip II., three thousand militia,
and to take the field with them when his Majesty appeared there in
person. The amount of troops thus actually raised in the duchy for
the Spanish service during the next thirty years has been calculated
at seven thousand two hundred men, a sufficient proof that the
benefits accruing from the arrangement were mutual. The Pope now
granted Francesco Maria the honourable prefix of "Most Serene" to the
title of Highness, which he had enjoyed in common with other minor
sovereigns, a distinction said to have been accorded with difficulty,
and after long entreaty. The establishment of a Swiss guard is
another illustration of his partiality at this period to pomps which
he subsequently little esteemed.
In the following year, the court of Pesaro was enlivened by the
Princess Lavinia's nuptials with Felice d'Avalos, Marquis del Vasto,
when twelve poetesses were said to have tuned their lyres at the
Imperiale, in honour of the joyous occasion. His marriage presents
to his bride, mentioned in her brother's Diary, consisted of a
necklace of jewels, a bag or muff of sable skin--the head and feet
studded with precious stones, called a _zebellino_, and similar to
that represented in Titian's beautiful portrait of her grandmother,
Duchess Leonora,--a set of fan-sticks, a gem mounted as a sun, two
pearls for ear-drops, a diamond cross and eagle, and an order for
3000 scudi: the whole was valued at 10,000 scudi. The happy pair
spent some months at the court of Urbino, while the Marquis often
joined the hunting parties from Castel Durante. But the sun that rose
thus brightly was soon clouded by his wretched and tyrannical temper,
which embittered his consort's life. Many years after, she married,
in her widowhood, the gallant Marquis of Pescara, her brother's
long-tried friend, and, finally, with her two daughters, sought
repose and peace in the convent of Sta. Chiara at Urbino, where
she died in 1633. In the end of 1583 the Duke began to build the
Vedetta, on the most commanding eminence of Monte Bartolo, which he
had obtained for this purpose from the Gerolimini convent. Of this
casino only the foundation remains, but it would seem to have been an
appendage of the Imperiale palace, whither the court ascended in the
summer heats, to inhale gentle breezes from the blue Adriatic, which
sparkled some hundred feet beneath. For such a purpose no spot could
have been better chosen, and the magnificent prospect, which we have
elsewhere noticed without attempting to describe, renders it probably
the most attractive site in all the fair duchy.
As a further mark of favour, Philip II. of Spain sent him, in 1586,
the decoration of the Golden Fleece; and in order to confer it in
manner at once honourable and complimentary to his personal feelings,
his Majesty requested the investiture to be given him by his uncle
the Duke of Parma. That Duke was then suffering from gout, and
drawing towards his death, which occurred in the following autumn;
so Francesco Maria showed respect at once for the King and for his
relation, whom he revered as a parent, by proceeding to meet him
at Bologna. The two princely guests were magnificently entertained
by the authorities of that city, as well as by the Cardinal Legate
Salviati and the Archbishop Palotta: they were lodged in the
palace of the latter, who performed high mass in the cathedral at
the investiture. The collar and girdle of the order were set with
brilliants, and were accompanied by a rich present of jewels to
the Duchess, consisting of four hundred and twenty-six pearls, and
a handsome necklace, girdle, two pendants, and sixty buttons, all
enamelled in red and white upon gold, and studded with diamonds.
Although, on the whole, a more popular sovereign than his father, we
have seen Francesco Maria subjected, in the early years of his reign,
to seditious movements on the part of some discontented nobles. Of
a similar attempt in 1586, few particulars have been preserved; but
this notice of it in his Diary exhibits him as a stern dispenser of
justice. "Count Giovanni de' Thomasi was beheaded in the fortress
of Pesaro for homicide, sedition, and bad service towards his
master; he died as a Christian and a brave man, and may God pardon
his sins." But, though of hard, and even stern manners, the Duke
retained the affection of his household, most of whom remained
long in his service. From a catalogue of the chief officers at his
court, compiled by Lazzari, we learn the emoluments belonging to the
principal places.
_Scudi._
The superintendent of the household had yearly 1000
The master of the chamber 400
The master of the household 200
The gentlemen cuirassiers 250
The chamberlains 224
The sewer or carver for visitors 250
The philosopher or dilettante of poetry 300
The physician 250
The chaplain 150
The auditors or judges 500
The eight counsellors 400
The chief secretary 400
The secretary of justice 350
The treasurer 250
The fiscal advocate 350
The captains of the guard 232
The commandants of garrisons 300
The castellans, besides perquisites 150
The ambassador to Spain 1000
The ambassador to Venice 400
The agent in Rome 100
Francesco Maria had now reached the flower of manhood, and this may
be considered the most fortunate period of his reign. During the next
twelve years no untoward incident interrupted the smooth current of
his life, or the prosperity of his government. The healthful exercise
of the chase constituted his favourite relaxation from the cares
of state, and his Diary preserves more minute information on this
than on any other topic. He had within reach of Pesaro eighteen
preserves, stocked with roe-deer, goats, foxes, hares, pheasants, and
partridges, all of which were, in those days, considered fair game.
The more exciting sport of wild-boar was found in greatest perfection
near Mondolfo, and the following entry occurs in January, 1588.
"Hunted in the chase of S. Costanzo, and, in three hours, killed
nine wild boars, weighing 2580 lbs., besides offal. The largest one
weighed overhead 917 lbs. We cut off its head close behind the ears,
and hung it in the castle window over the great street of Mondolfo;
its weight was 59-1/2 lbs."
But red deer were the Duke's noblest and favourite sport, which,
being only found in the highlands of his duchy, was his original
attraction to Castel Durante, whence the best forest coverts were
easily accessible. It was on that account selected as his chief
residence during his father's life, and continued his annual resort
in autumn so long as he could follow the game. When increasing
years precluded such pastimes, we shall find that he there provided
other appliances more befitting his circumstances, and that these
preserved for Castel Durante a partiality which increased to the
latest hours of his life. He was in use there to spend the autumnal
months, returning to Pesaro before the carnival, and moving to Urbino
towards midsummer. In the interval from the 7th of September, 1588,
till the end of the following January, twenty-eight hunting parties
are mentioned in his Journal, at some of which wolves and smaller
game were killed. Red deer must have been in great abundance: thus,
November, 1587, "We killed a dozen, six of them males, the largest
weighing 464 lbs., besides 380 lbs. of offal. We left Castel Durante
about noon, and returned at dusk, after losing nearly an hour in
watching a hind which took refuge in the broken ground of the Lady's
Park, when fell dead the famous hound Box-cur, the only British one
I had. The twelve deer weighed 2914 lbs., without offal." In the
subsequent season, "hunted red deer in the valley of S. Martino
with greyhounds, but without canvas or nets. Saw twelve, and chased
five of them; but, though the dogs came up with them, they were not
able to hold any." The park which he had inclosed in the beautiful
vale of the Metauro, just out of Castel Durante, was stocked with
fallow-deer: which, however, seem to have been kept chiefly for
ornament, though occasionally resorted to for greyhound coursing,
when age had relaxed his limbs for the rougher mountain sport. The
last hunting party he mentions was in 1615.
Though reserved in manner, and little apt to indulge his court
in amusements uncongenial with his own unsocial temperament, he
sometimes relaxed so far as to have dancing fêtes at the Imperiale,
where he mentions three hundred ladies as having on one occasion
been present. The representation of comedies was a frequent
carnival pastime. The manner of conducting these theatricals, and
the methodical punctuality of the Duke's character, are at once
illustrated in the following extract. In February, 1589, "a comedy
by the late Maestro Fabio Bagnano was recited in the great hall of
Pesaro, beginning at 4 p.m. The first act lasted an hour and ten
minutes; after which came an interlude for twenty minutes, from
the fable of Ulysses hearing his wanderings foretold by Tiresias;
then act second, in fifty minutes, with a musical interlude for ten
minutes; then act third, in half-an-hour, with, for interlude, the
marriage of Eolus and Deiopeia, in twelve minutes; then act fourth,
in forty-eight minutes, and its musical interlude, in seven minutes;
lastly, act fifth, in thirty-eight minutes, with its interlude of the
gods allotting their various dominions; but this was not finished in
consequence of a cloud which, by some mismanagement, did not descend
properly." Among the performances noted about this period are the
comedies of _I falsi Sospetti_ by Pino; another by the Cavaliere
Ludovico Odasio, _I Suppositi_; and an eclogue entitled _La Myrtia_.
The interludes between the acts were frequently moresque dances or
ballets representing mythological subjects, such as the fable of
Prometheus, that of Calisto, the birth of Venus; varied by more
familiar themes, as hunting the owl. In 1597, we find noticed, among
other gay doings during carnival, a tournament in the great hall of
Pesaro, wherein ten or twelve knights ran each three courses, and
which was followed by an exhibition of various pleasing conceits.
Of Francesco Maria's literary pursuits we have various pleasing
memorials. Not satisfied with the valuable library of MSS. that
had descended to him from the Feltrian dukes, he formed another
of standard printed works. Indeed, he became an assiduous book
collector; and the letters of his librarian Benedetto Benedetti,
in the Oliveriana Library, are full of lists which his agents in
Venice, Florence, and even Frankfort are urged to supply. In his
own voluminous correspondence, we find constant offers from authors
of dedications or copies of their productions, the tone of which
is highly complimentary to his taste for letters. In 1603, the
Archbishop of Monreale, in Spain, transmits him the regulations he
proposed to prescribe in bequeathing his library to a seminary he
had founded in his diocese, expressing a hope that they might prove
useful to the Duke's collection, "at this moment without parallel in
the world."[85] Instead of quoting the vague testimony of courtly
compliment, as to the use which this philosophic Prince made of
these acquisitions, let us cite the brief records of his studies,
preserved in his own Diary. In 1585, "terminated an inspection of
the whole works of Aristotle, on which I have laboured no less than
fifteen years, having had them generally read to me by Maestro Cesare
Benedetti, of Pesaro." But his reading was not limited to such
speculative topics, and we presently find him imbibing knowledge from
a purer source. In 1587, "I finished my examination of the whole
Bible, with various commentaries, on which I have spent three years
and ten months." Again, on the "15th of December, 1598, completed
my second perusal of the entire Bible, which I read this time with
the commentary of Dionysio the Carthusian, occupying upon it eight
years." A curious inference of the contemplative character of his
mind may be drawn from the devices he successively assumed as
emblematic of his feelings. In youth he used a flame vanishing into
air, with the motto _Quies in sublime_, "There is rest on high:"
after he succeeded to the dukedom, he took a terrestrial globe with
the legend _Ponderibus librata suis_, "Self-poised."
[Footnote 85: Bibl. Oliveriana, No. 375, vol. XI., p. 204.]
The position of Pesaro, on the principal high road to Loreto and
Rome, exposed it to the constant passage of travellers of all ranks.
The former was the habitual resort of Roman Catholics, to whom holy
impulses, the hope of any specific blessing, or gratitude for mercies
vouchsafed, suggested an unusual devotional observance. The annual
functions of Easter, St. Peter's day, and Christmas, besides the
great occasional jubilees, attracted to the latter crowds of pious
pilgrims from all Christendom. The dukes were thus laid open to
frequent calls upon their hospitality, which the state maintained by
passing visitors often rendered most onerous. Thus, in 1589, Duke
Alfonso II. of Ferrara, on his way to and from Loreto, spent four
days at Pesaro, with his suite, consisting of fifty carriages, and
one hundred and fifty mounted attendants, at an expense to his host
of 3000 scudi. All royal pilgrims did not, however, thus mingle
worldly pomp with religious duties: ten years after, Ranuccio, Duke
of Parma, arrived incognito, in company with three others, who wore
red sack dresses, and travelled on foot. After passing the night at
Pesaro, they proceeded to Sinigaglia, on their way to the opening
of the holy door at Rome, in the jubilee of 1600. Eighteen years
later, Francesco Maria's Diary thus notes a more interesting visit:
"9th June, 1618, the Galileo arrived at Pesaro, on his return from
Loreto to Florence." The philosopher was then resident at the Villa
Segni, near his native capital, and suffered much from the effects
of a chronic illness caught in Lombardy some years previously, while
sleeping with an open window. Perhaps his pilgrimage to the holy
house may have been influenced by this circumstance.
"'Twas he who, risking life and fame to crush
The idol-worship that enslaved mankind,
Restored its native freedom to the mind."
In October, 1597, the direct line of the dukes of Ferrara closed on
the death of Alfonso II., whose object had been to secure to his
cousin Cesare, Marquis of Montecchio, the succession of his states,
as well as his private heritage. He had been able to obtain from the
Emperor a new investiture in his favour of Modena, Reggio, and Carpi,
but failed in procuring the like boon from Gregory XIV. as to the
Ferrarese holding. Immediately upon the vacancy, Cesare assumed the
dukedom, with full consent of his people, who dreaded the descent
to provincial rank which must have followed upon their annexation
to the papal state. Clement VIII., who then filled the chair of St.
Peter, answered a conciliatory embassy sent him by the claimant, with
a summons to appear at Rome, and, on his non-compliance, thundered
excommunication against him and his abettors. These decided steps
were followed up by a levy of nearly thirty thousand men, but ere
they could be brought into the field, Cesare d'Este gained some
partial successes near Bologna. Finding, however, that his position
was hopeless, he availed himself of the mediation of Lucrezia
Duchess of Urbino, who succeeded in reconciling him with the Legate.
The devolution of Ferrara to the Holy See was harmoniously completed
in February; but the lady has been accused of sacrificing the
interests of her cousin to an old grudge against his father, and to
a promise of the fief of Bertinoro. She did not, however, live to
receive the bribe, and her death is thus dryly noted in her husband's
Diary:--
"February 14th, I sent the Abbé Brunetti to Ferrara, to visit the
Duchess, my wife, who was sick.
"---- 15th, Heard that Madame Lucrezia d'Este, Duchess of Urbino, my
wife, died at Ferrara during the night of the 11th.
"---- 19, The Abbé Brunetti returned from Ferrara."
In his Memoirs she is the subject of still more brief remark:--"Her
death occurred after some years, leaving him [the Duke] executor
by her will of many pious bequests." Considering that the largest
bequest was in his own favour, a less chilling notice might have
been bestowed! The sum she left him was 30,000 scudi: to her various
attendants and servants she gave 12,000 in small legacies, and 20,000
among several convents, in masses for her soul. There was also a fund
to be mortified for the endowment of poor girls, half at Ferrara and
half at Urbino, and Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, the Pope's nephew,
was named residuary legatee, a selection which has been ingeniously
ascribed to the countenance bestowed by his family on Tasso, in the
closing scenes of that minstrel's troubled life.
The anxiety which had long been generally felt on the prospect of
a failure of the ducal family began to show itself after the death
of Lucrezia. The impediment of a childless marriage having thus
been providentially removed, men's hopes were again awakened, and
their wishes were not long in finding a unanimous expression. When
Francesco Maria appeared in public, his ears were greeted with
murmurs from the populace, which at length broke out in enthusiastic
demands for his marriage, and _Serenissimo, moglie_, "A wife, your
Highness," became the universal cry.[*86] The ferment thus created
was greatly increased by a circumstance which at first sight does
not appear much connected with the welfare of the duchy. In the
spring of 1598, Clement VIII., on his passage to take possession of
Ferrara, paid a visit to the court of Pesaro, where the magnificent
reception accorded him, and the long confidential interviews he had
with the Duke, were construed by popular jealousy into preparatives
for political changes. The extinction of the reigning line would
infer a lapse of their sovereignty to the Pope, similar to that which
had just degraded Ferrara: Francesco Maria's disinclination for
state-toils had already begun to show itself: the readiness of his
Holiness to secure so valuable a reversion, or even to anticipate it
by providing for the Duke an honourable retreat from duties which
he considered onerous, scarcely admitted of a doubt, an appetite
for annexation being naturally whetted by the recent acquisition
of territory. These ideas became a theme of discussion among the
multitudes who crowded from all quarters of the state to witness the
courtly shows at Pesaro; and when the Duke returned to the city from
escorting the Pope towards Ferrara, he was met at the gate by a host
of his subjects, whose loyalty and patriotism burst forth afresh in
tumultuous shouts of "_Serenissimo! moglie_."
[Footnote *86: Cf. CALOGERÀ, _Memorie concernenti Franc.
Maria II._ (Venice, 1776).]
That the object of Clement's visit had been faithfully construed by
the general voice seems more than probable from the document we are
about to quote; but upon this point the Memoirs throw no light. They
merely notice his reception of the Pontiff with all distinction,
and the remarkably friendly bearing of his Holiness towards himself
and the Duchess mother during a day spent at their court: mutual
presents passed between them, and Clement dwelt on the good service
which his father had afforded to Duke Guidobaldo. From the Duke's
Diary we learn that after meeting his Holiness on his southern
frontier, and again escorting him out of Sinigaglia, where he had
slept with a suite of sixteen cardinals, he took boat and hastened
to Pesaro. Next morning he proceeded to meet his visitor, who had
spent the night at Fano, and welcomed him to his capital. Passing
back to Rome in the end of the year, the Pope halted at Pesaro only
to say mass in the cathedral; and on both occasions he was preceded
one day by the Holy Sacrament. In the following year the Pontiff,
in acknowledgment, perhaps, of these hospitalities, accorded to his
host a dispensation, whereby the indulgences, to which the use of
certain rosary prayers and ave maria's entitled him, were united and
concentrated in a single _cavaliere_.[87]
[Footnote 87: Rosaries, _corone_, and such were helpmates or
promptuaries to prayer, differing in form and varying in supposed
efficacy, according to the special privileges and indulgences
bestowed on them by ecclesiastical gift. A specimen of the nature
and powers of such indulgences will be found in the description of a
corona belonging to the Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1666. See Appendix
VI.]
The predominant feeling of Francesco Maria, even at this period of
his life, appears to have been a selfish attachment to solitary
habits and pursuits, tempered by sincere anxiety to discharge his
public duties for the benefit of his people. An argument addressing
itself to both motives readily occurred to the wily Pontiff. An
immediate abdication would secure to the Duke personal ease, and the
consequent devolution of his government to the Camera Apostolica
might be guarded by stipulations for the public weal, which such
voluntary demission alone could entitle him to dictate. The art with
which these considerations had been urged, and the impression they
made upon the Duke, may be best gathered from a circular he addressed
to the magistrates of each city in his state, curiously exemplifying
him in that character of royal philosopher which it seems to have
been his ambition to attain.[*88]
[Footnote *88: Cf. REPOSATI, _Della Zecca di Gubbio_, vol. II., p.
220 (Bologna, 1772-3). The date of this letter was June 7th, 1598.]
"Most magnificent and well-beloved,
"Ever since we understood that you so affectionately long
for the continuation and maintenance of our house, we have
had no wish more urgent than to conform to your desires;
and although for some time past we have been always anxious
to facilitate this resolution, yet the more we consider
it, the greater do the difficulties daily appear, not only
by reason of our age and infirmities, but much more from
the obligation laid upon us to take no step that might
turn to your prejudice, as we know this would do: for,
upon weighing the advantages that would accrue to you by
being placed after our death immediately under the sway
of the Church, there cannot, in our opinion, be a doubt
that this would be most beneficial; since, besides being
rid of the present inconvenient restrictions on trade in
grain, salt, oil, and similar commodities, you might well
hope, from a sovereign so powerful as his Holiness, many
exemptions and facilities which we, however well-disposed,
cannot, with due attention to the suitable maintenance of
our rank, accord you. Wherefore, we exhort and pray you, to
take all this into your most serious consideration; and,
along with it, those suggestions which your affectionate
devotion may prompt, in conjunction with our delicate and
advanced age, as these might, at all events, render vain
the hope of a succession, or at least might occasion you
to be some day left under a minority (ever a judgment of
God upon a nation), and us to die with such pain as you may
conceive the predicament of leaving a minor would occasion
us: whereas, on the other hand, were we to remain in our
present condition, looking, so long as God may vouchsafe
us life, for no other children than yourselves, we might
the more diligently apply to the cares of our government.
It is therefore our desire that you satisfy yourselves in
this matter, and, after having prayed in all sincerity
to our Lord and Saviour for His inspiration, that you
convoke a full meeting of your usual council, excluding
all officers of our government, and that, after reading to
them this our letter, they should decide by ballot what
they judge most fitting for the common weal, having sworn
the consuls to conceal nothing of the resolution they come
to; and you shall report their decision to the Bishop of
this city, who, keeping it secret from us and all others,
shall declare only the general result of this appeal to you
and to the other principal places of our state, to whom we
write in similar terms: and the opinion so expressed we
shall, in accordance to our love towards you, endeavour
to carry into effect even at the hazard of our life,
thus appealing to the faithful attachment you have ever
displayed towards our house and ourselves, as is well known
to all, but chiefly to us.--May it, therefore, please the
blessed God so to inspire you, that these our exhortations
and commands may be executed so as to bring about the best
results, and may He preserve you. From Pesaro, 7th June,
1598.
"FRANCESCO MARIA."
The consequence of this singular appeal was a unanimous and urgent
resolution in favour of the Duke's immediate marriage; indeed nothing
else could well be looked for, the alternative contemplated by the
people being loss of their independence, and the substitution of a
foreign legate, changed every few years, for a hereditary and popular
sovereign. Passeri conjectures that this result was in fact less
distasteful to Francesco Maria than the tone of his letter might
infer; and that the whole expedient was adopted in order to obtain
a satisfactory answer to the importunities of the Pontiff, whom the
stern measures lately adopted towards Ferrara had rendered the Duke
peculiarly averse to thwart, by opposition to his scheme. From the
Memoirs so often quoted, we learn nothing beyond the obvious facts,
that the marriage was undertaken in compliance with urgent entreaties
of the Duchess mother and of the people of Urbino, and that the bride
was his own choice.
Of Cardinal Giulio della Rovere's two natural sons we have already
spoken.[89] In the correspondence of Francesco Maria, there occur
some proofs of a bad understanding between him and these cousins,
the origin and circumstances of which it is unnecessary to examine.
To Ippolito Marquis of S. Lorenzo, there was born in 1585, of his
marriage with Isabella Vitelli, Princess dell'Amatrice in the
Abruzzi, a daughter Livia, who was educated in the convent of Sta.
Caterina at Pesaro; and on her fell the choice of Francesco Maria,
as announced in the following extract of a letter to the Archduchess
Maria of Austria. A selection so obviously ineligible may have been
dictated in part by that shrinking from close contact with strangers
which his reserved habits were calculated to generate, and partly too
by the sad experience he had already reaped of a marriage of state
policy.
[Footnote 89: Above, p. 82.]
"Moved by the unremitting entreaties of my subjects, I have been
forced to establish myself by a new alliance: yet as my age and other
considerations would have prevented me from taking this resolution
but for their satisfaction, I have chosen to combine with their
wishes a due consideration for my own, by selecting one of my proper
blood, and brought up in this country, in whom are combined many of
the qualities suited to my views."
Of the domestic life of Francesco Maria after his second union no
record has been preserved to us. The circumstances in which it was
effected were not such as to promise a high degree of matrimonial
felicity, to which his cold nature, advanced age, and reserved
character were virtually impediments. Nor could the monotonous
seclusion of his habits be attractive to a youthful bride,
transported from a convent to the rank of sovereignty with few of its
gauds. That she had the good sense simply to conform to her position
may be inferred from the rare occurrence of her name in the documents
which I have inspected. The brief notices of her in her husband's
Diary merely prove that they were seldom apart, and in one instance
she is mentioned as accompanying him to his favourite pastime of deer
hunting. Regarding preliminaries for their marriage, that record is
silent, and the only allusion to it is in this concise phrase: "26th
April, 1599, I married the Lady Livia della Rovere." But letters of
the Duchess, written long subsequently, to her granddaughter, of
which a specimen will be introduced below, exhibit her character in a
light so amiable as to warrant our regret that it has not been more
prominently brought into view, in the few materials which we possess
for this portion of our narrative.
Francesco Maria's affection to his mother would have been beautiful
in any rank. Besides anxiously providing for her comfort by a
suitable establishment, he made her his friend and confidante through
life; and during his first marriage she filled at his court the place
which in happier circumstances would have been occupied by his wife.
The ailments of her advancing years he tended with affectionate
anxiety, and thus notices her decease on the 13th December, 1602,
after a long indisposition. "Most deep was the public grief for the
loss of this excellent and sainted Princess. She was beloved by
all, but most by her son, who felt her death as no common sorrow,
and testified both in public and in private the sincerity of his
feelings. Her funeral oration, pronounced by Leoni, was very fine,
though his praises necessarily fell far short of her real merits."
The Venetian Relazioni from the della Rovere court bear witness to
her sound judgment and business habits, to her generous disposition
and beneficent charities, as well as to the piety of her character,
and the exemplary conduct observed by her household.
Her remains were interred by those of her husband, with an epitaph
which will be found in No. VII. of the Appendix, and her son appears
from his Diary to have worn mourning for her for upwards of a year.