The Prince's marriage--The Duke entrusts to him the
government and retires to Castel Durante--His dissolute
career and early death--Birth of his daughter Vittoria--The
Duke rouses himself--He arranges the devolution of his
state to the Holy See--Papal intrigues.
The anxiety of Francesco Maria for continuance of his line, and for
the maintenance of his state against the risk of a minority, led him
to select a match of policy for his son while yet a mere infant. In
October, 1608, he sent a confidential adviser, Count Francesco Maria
Mammiani, to attend on his behalf the marriage of Cosimo Prince of
Tuscany; and during its prolonged festivities, a negotiation was
happily concluded for the betrothal of Princess Claudia, youngest
daughter of the Grand Duke Ferdinand II. to Prince Federigo. The
death of her father, soon after, did not delay the ratification of
an engagement so advantageous to all parties, and on the 24th of
April following, it was publicly announced,--the united ages of
the childish couple amounting to eight years and a half, and the
Princess being the elder by eight months. In November, she sent
to "her husband" the appropriate presents of a nicely accoutred
pony, a poodle taught to leap, a jackdaw, and an inkstand in the
form of Mount Calvary containing various conveniences. In honour,
probably, of the same auspicious occasion, was a gift of jewels from
Philip III. of Spain to the Duke and Duchess in 1609, consisting
of a girdle, necklace, and brooch of gold; the girdle containing
twenty-eight, and the necklace eighteen links, studded with a
hundred and twenty-six diamonds; sixty gold buttons enamelled in
white and red, each with three diamonds; and a string of two hundred
and twenty-six pearls of various sizes.[101]
[Footnote 101: Oliveriana MSS. No. 375, vol. XXXI., p. 62.]
[Illustration: FEDERIGO, PRINCE OF URBINO
_From the picture once in the possession of Andrew Coventry of
Edinburgh_]
The long and friendly intercourse of the Dukes of Urbino with the
crown of Spain had moulded their court to a tone of Spanish gravity,
and a certain severity of manner, which the cold character, reserved
habits, and strict morals of Francesco Maria had served to confirm.
To this the conduct of the youthful Prince soon offered the strongest
contrast. Wilful in all things, and impatient of control, he endured
no constraint upon his gratifications. These were generally of the
most trifling and childish description; and in one respect alone,
and that an unfortunate one, did he exhibit any manly quality. His
precocious gallantry was a scandal to the staid manners of the court,
and proved ruinous to his own constitution. Too late was his father
made aware of follies and vices which he had allowed to attain a
dangerous height; and to the counsels of his advisers, that even
yet a decided check should be applied, he weakly replied, in the
subtleties of a false philosophy, that restraints now imposed would
but irritate his son, and surely lead to greater excesses so soon as
they could be removed or burst. In truth, the old man shrank from
the exertions which his interference would require, and selfishly
calculated on being removed from the scene ere the mischief was fully
matured. But, whatever may have been the Duke's motives, his refusal
to interfere was quickly reported to the Prince, who, thus secured
against control, was emboldened to new excesses.
Finding that years only confirmed those vicious symptoms which the
Prince had manifested from childhood, and which a bad education had
not even attempted to eradicate, his father thought fit to try the
experiment of sending him forth to see the world, where, in the
intercourse of courts, and in contact with men of distinction, he
might observe those qualities which mankind deem worthy of honour,
and might learn the reputation acquired by his ancestors. This plan,
which had more good sense than most of those which Francesco Maria
was in the habit of forming, unfortunately failed, and brought about
results exactly the reverse of those which had been anticipated.
On his journey through Romagna towards Florence, Federigo's evil
genius brought him into the company of some strolling comedians
returning from Venice. Delighted with their loose manners, he threw
himself among them without reserve, and a taste for their pursuits
was formed at first sight, which disgracefully occupied the few
remaining years of his life. Such is the account given by Passeri;
and two entries in the Duke's Diary mention that the Prince set out
to visit Florence on the 1st and returned on the 22nd of October,
1616. During the following month the Grand Duke Cosimo II. arrived
from Loreto on a visit to Pesaro, with his brother the Cardinal; they
travelled with a large suite partly in coaches and six, partly in
litters, or on horseback, escorted by a guard of cuirassiers, being
in all not less than six hundred persons. The Prince met and welcomed
them at the head of a hundred mounted gentlemen, and accompanied
them on a hunting party. They stayed six days at Pesaro, and thence
proceeded to Rimini, leaving many presents, among which the Grand
Duke gave Federigo a beautiful little office-book in a case, worth
1000 golden scudi. Regarding his youthful irregularities the Journal
maintains a uniform silence, and the few notices of amusements at
court scarcely afford us any index of his tastes. It would seem that
up to his marriage he rarely left his parents' residence. During that
time we find but two theatrical representations mentioned. In the
carnival of 1617 nine couples of knights fought within a barrier,
where there were also two chariots, one of Pallas, the other of
Venus. The following year a wild boar, caught near Mondolfo, where
it had attacked various peasants, was baited in the palace-yard at
Pesaro with large dogs and spears; and some days thereafter the
Prince, with five others of his age, held a mimic tourney in the
great hall.
The melancholy turn which the Prince's folly had taken determined his
unhappy parent at once to conclude his marriage, which, even should
it unhappily fail in rescuing him from a disgraceful career, might
at least secure the continuance of his family. The Princess had a
character for high spirit, not free from hauteur, but accompanied
with decided talent; qualities that seemed likely to influence her
destined husband, or, at all events, to maintain his dignity against
the debasing tendency of dissolute habits. An intimate alliance with
so powerful and so close a neighbour was in every view politic, but
especially at a time when the duchy of Urbino had become a more
than ever desirable adjunct to the Papal States. If any further
inducements were wanting to render this the most advisable marriage
for the Prince, it was supplied by the dowry of 300,000 crowns of
gold. But an arrangement so eligible seemed fated at every step to
be thwarted by the unsparing hand of death. When all was ready for
publishing the betrothal, the bride's father was, as we have seen,
called away; just as the nuptials were on the eve of celebration,
thirteen years later, her brother, the Grand Duke Cosimo II., died on
the 28th of February, 1621. The urgent and advantageous circumstances
of the connection again superseded the formality of court etiquette,
and an early day was fixed for the marriage.
On the 19th of April the Prince sent on a confidential envoy with the
following letter to his bride[102]:--
"To the Princess Claudia, Consort of the Prince of Urbino.
"Most serene Highness, my Lady, and most affectionate
Consort,
"Giordani precedes me, and will give your Highness certain
assurance of my arrival next week, by the favour of God. I
beseech your Highness to accompany me on this journey with
the favour of your good wishes and prayers; and meanwhile
I, with all my heart, kiss your hands. From Pesaro, the
16th of April, 1621.
"Your Highness's most affectionate servant and husband, who
loves you more than himself,
"THE PRINCE OF URBINO."
[Footnote 102: Bibl. Oliveriana MSS. No. 396, p. 131.]
The same day Federigo went to visit his father, and on the 22nd left
Castel Durante. At the Alpine frontier he was met by a guard of
honour, under whose escort he arrived on the 25th in Florence, where,
after a pompous entrance into the city, the Villa Baroncelli was
assigned for his reception. The ceremony was performed on the 29th,
the respective ages of the parties being sixteen and seventeen.[*103]
The public joy felt in the duchy at a step which promised to secure
the continued succession of the ducal house, and with it the
nationality of the state, was proportioned rather to the importance
of those objects than to the merits of Federigo. As yet, however, his
faults had been shown to but a limited extent, and by most of those
who were cognisant of them were generally believed the exuberant
but passing growth of boyish folly, which time, and, above all, a
respectable marriage, would surely eradicate. The Duke was willing
to second the manifestation of these feelings, and the festivities
wherewith the event was celebrated at Pesaro were consequently very
elaborate. Among the most striking novelties was a device by
which discharges of artillery were so regulated as to harmonise,
or rather to beat time with the military bands, and the great hall
of the palace was fitted up as a theatre for the performance of
entertainments similar to what we have lately described.[104]
[Footnote *103: The ceremony was performed on the 28th February
without any pomp. Cf. UGOLINI, _op. cit._, vol. II., p. 437.]
[Footnote 104: See p. 177.]
[Illustration: FACSIMILES OF SIGNATURES AND MONOGRAMS]
The Prince preceded his bride, and, after passing a day with his
father at Castel Durante, reached Pesaro on the 15th of May. On the
21st, she set out on her ill-fated journey, and on the 26th was met
at Lamole by her husband. Although it is only within the last few
years that the Apennine range has been there opened up by a road
equalling in convenience any of the celebrated Alpine passes, a
hasty effort was made to render her route practicable for a carriage
from the frontier to her new capital. In the communal records of
S. Angelo in Vado, I noticed an instruction that the town should
bear its portion of the repairs of the way from Borgo S. Sepolchro,
preparatory to her passage, and should contribute towards the public
rejoicings, triumphal arches, and other complimentary demonstrations.
Among the ingenious devices adopted in honour of the occasion, was
the construction in wood of a colossal equestrian figure of the
Prince on horseback, part of which still remains in the public hall
of S. Angelo. Tradition ascribes it to Frederico Zuccaro, but his
death in 1609 places him beyond the suspicion of executing what seems
to have been little creditable to the artistic skill of his townsmen.
The bridal party, after sleeping at Mercatello, proceeded by easy
journeys to Pesaro, spending only a forenoon at Castel Durante with
the Duke, who, unequal to the journey, had deputed his principal
courtiers, escorted by a hundred gentlemen on horseback, to receive
the Princess on the Apennines, and conduct her home. Among the
deputations which on this occasion attended to welcome her to her
future dominions, was one from S. Leo, the ancient capital of the
original fief of the Feltrian race, bringing a donative of twelve
silver cups valued at 500 scudi, to whom she returned the following
answer:--
"To the most magnificent and my much loved the Gonfaloniere
and Priors of the city of S. Leo.
"Most magnificent and well-beloved,
"On entering this state, I brought with me a firm
resolution impartially to favour all, but this I shall
especially observe towards you; for I have particularly to
acknowledge your affectionate devotion, and gratefully to
accept the duty you have expressed towards me by the mouth
of your deputation, and by the compliment of plate you have
given me in token of your attachment. I shall ever cherish
towards you the like good will, and a desire of usefully
testifying it. May God preserve you. From Pesaro, 19th
December, 1621.
"Your most loving,
"CLAUDIA, PRINCESS OF URBINO."[105]
[Footnote 105: MARINI, _Saggio di S. Leo_.]
With infatuation unequalled perhaps in the long catalogue of
parental errors, Francesco Maria now gave the finishing stroke to
a system which had trained up his only child to become the scourge
of his people and the ruin of his house. We have seen him deprecate
a minority as a national misfortune; we have now to witness him
anticipating all its evils, by voluntarily entrusting the reins to
one whom youth, education, inexperience, and follies combined to
render utterly inefficient for their management. That this plan had
long been cherished as a favourite speculation, may be gathered from
those instructions to his son which have been already quoted; that
its most attractive feature was the escape it secured to him from
the business and duties of his station, admits not of a doubt.
Flattering himself that, in providing the Prince with an honourable
and eligible match, he had done his utmost to retrieve past errors
and secure a prosperous future, he hurried the execution of his
scheme, apprehensive perhaps that delay would render its absurdity
more glaring, or bring to light some new disqualification in
Federigo. In absence of any rational explanation of such a step, it
has been supposed a secret stipulation with the Grand Duke at the
time of the marriage, but of this there is not a shadow of evidence.
The motive imputed by Gozzi, that it was a device of the Duke to
prevent his son from longing for his death and for the delights of
sovereignty, seems quite reconcileable with the false philosophy by
which he so perversely regulated his general conduct. We turn with
interest to the Diary at a moment thus important to his history
and that of his state, but find it here more than usually meagre,
alluding neither to the fact of his abdication, its manner, nor its
motives.[106] Like King Lear, the old man already felt--
"How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is
To have a thankless child,"
and his Memoirs abruptly conclude with the negotiation for the
Prince's marriage. From Passeri's investigations, we only learn
that he one day called round him his son and principal officers,
and, after addressing to both a long exhortation on the new duties
about to be devolved upon them, made over to the former the reins of
government.[107] Reserving for his own use one-third of the private
revenues of his family, which from various documents seem to have
amounted to about 300,000 crowns, he shut himself up more closely
than ever in his--
"Boasted seat
Of studious peace and mild philosophy."
Among the Oliveriana MSS. I found a list of his court taken to Castel
Durante, which, though undated, probably refers to the arrangements
made at this period.
1 counsellor, 1 secretary, 5 gentlemen of the household 7
4 captains, 5 chamberlains, 4 assistant chamberlains 13
1 dwarf or hunchback, 1 watchmaker, 1 barber 3
1 master of the wardrobe, 2 porters, 4 pages and their 2 servants 9
1 physician, 1 apothecary, 2 chaplains, 3 readers 7
18 household servants, 10 stable servants 28
__
Total 67
[Footnote 106: As a specimen of the style of this most disappointing
MS., and in proof of its small historical importance, I extract
all the notices for August 1621, the month in which, according to
Passeri, this transaction took place.
"6. News arrived of the death of the Archduke Albert, which happened
at Brussels on the 13th ult.
15. Vespers began to be performed in the church of S. Rocca of Castel
Durante.
21. A stag was killed, weighing fully 530 lbs.
26. Four large English dogs coursed in the park, which belong to the
Prince; they killed two fallow deer."]
[Footnote 107: It appears that on the 25th of July the Prince arrived
from Urbino, and stayed two days, during which probably this scene
took place.]
Yet the theoretical tendencies of his mind had not prevented him
from establishing, in the early portion of his reign, many practical
regulations conducive to the acceleration of business, and to the
due order of public affairs. His sway had been upon the whole a
mild one; and on a retrospect of two centuries, the government of
his predecessors must be pronounced to have promoted, in a degree
rarely paralleled, general happiness and public decorum, and at the
same time the true glory of their state. But all this was now to be
changed, and the brilliant dynasty of Urbino was doomed to expire,
exhaling a vile and loathsome odour. That court which the refined
tastes of the Feltrian Dukes and the polished pen of Castiglione had
rendered a model to the world, which the literature and conduct of
its later sovereigns had maintained in like honourable distinction,
was about to present a melancholy spectacle of unexampled
degradation. To enumerate the debasing excesses successively
introduced by Federigo is a sad and sickening task, which it were
well briefly to go through. His fancy for music was indulged, to the
exclusion of more serious avocations. His casual acquaintance with
the company of Venetian comedians was ripened into an intimacy, which
gradually monopolised his time and thoughts, and was followed out
with frenzied enthusiasm. These persons, belonging then to the vilest
classes, and treated accordingly, became the Prince's associates in
public and in private. Conforming his morals to theirs, he admitted
the actresses into his palace in daring defiance of decency, and
openly established one, named Argentina, as his mistress, fêting her
publicly in Pesaro, and lavishing upon her large sums. Advancing
from one extravagance to another, this petty Nero of a petty court
delighted to bear a part in their dramatic representations before
his own subjects, generally choosing the character of a servant or a
lover, as most congenial to his degraded capacity. His people, imbued
with respect for the traditionary glories of their former Dukes, and
accustomed to the gravity of Spanish manners, stood in consternation
at such spectacles. But they scarcely dared express their feelings or
hope for redress, for, whilst he thus
"Moiling lay,
Tangled in net of sensual delight,"
the Prince had adopted the most severe precautions to prevent his
father becoming cognisant of what was passing.
But, however he might succeed in blinding one who was probably too
happy to shut his eyes and ears against all that occurred beyond the
limits of his favourite park and convent at Castel Durante, those
who owed the youthful tyrant no allegiance of apprehension carried
rumours of his doings to Florence. The family of the Princess anxious
to interrupt a career so disgraceful to her husband, so miserable for
herself, invited Federigo to visit them; and we find from the Diary
so often quoted, that he went to Florence on the 12th of September,
and returned on the 3rd of December, 1622.
The Princess still fondly hoped (for women's hopes when fed by their
wishes die slowly) that the case was not desperate; she accordingly
received her husband with the joy and affection of a faithful wife,
and ordered a salute of a hundred cannon to welcome him back. But her
trust was doomed to a grievous disappointment. The recent restraints
of a foreign residence were speedily compensated by new indulgences,
more scandalous, if possible, than before. The buffoonery he had
learned on the stage was carried into the streets, through which
he sallied in some low disguise, insulting all and sundry, and
striking them with the flat of his sword, till frequently obliged
to discover himself to the astonished spectators. The time which he
could spare from such ribaldry, and from his comedians, was devoted
to the stable. Besides driving his own horses, an occupation in those
stately days exclusively menial, he performed about them the vilest
offices of farrier and stable-boy. At length, in executing a feat,
unattempted, perhaps, by subsequent Jehus, that of driving eighteen
horses in hand, he galloped over a poor child. This outrage, having
reached his father, provoked him, in a fit of passionate indignation,
and in forgetfulness of his abdicated powers, to pronounce sentence
of exile from Pesaro against the Prince,--an order which, of course,
was not enforced. The reserved inanity of the Diary throws no light
whatever on the Duke's knowledge or feelings in regard to such
occurrences, though the following notices are scarcely reconcileable
with his ignorance of one excess of his son's headstrong career.
"1623, February 24. The Duchess went to Urbino for the comedy
represented there the following day, and returned on the 26th.
"----, ---- 27. The comedy was performed in Castel Durante."[108]
[Footnote 108: The succeeding entry abruptly concludes the
Journal:--"March 7. The Prince arrived about 10 A.M., having left
Pesaro the preceding day, and returned there the 10th;" probably his
last meeting with his father.]
Resuming Passeri's Memoir, to which, although incorrect in many
details, we are mainly indebted for this portion of our narrative, we
find that the Prince moved to Urbino early in the summer, the company
of actors forming the strength of his court, and there nightly
performed with them, amid the acclamations of a rabble audience. With
a view to conciliate his mother-in-law, the Grand Duchess of Tuscany,
whose interference in behalf of her insulted daughter he had too good
reason to anticipate, he prepared a magnificent coach and six costly
horses as a present to her. On the 28th of June he acted as usual
on the stage, the part which he sustained on this occasion being
(according to Galuzzi) the degraded one of a pack-horse, carrying
about the comedians on his back, and finally kicking off a load of
crockery with which he was laden. About midnight he retired to rest,
worn out by this buffoonery, after giving orders for a chasse next
day at Piobbico near Castel Durante. At dawn, hearing the clatter
of the horses which were setting out for Florence, he rose and gave
some orders from the window in his night dress. In the morning his
attendants, surprised at not being summoned, and fearing he would be
too late to attend mass before noon, knocked in vain at his door.
Three hours passed away in doubts and speculations, and at length two
of the courtiers burst open the door, exclaiming "Up, your Highness,
'tis time for the comedy!" But for him that hour was past; the
well-known and welcome words fell on an ear whose silver cord was
broken. His body was under the icy grip of death; his spirit had fled
to its awful account.
The body was discovered on its back, bleeding at the nose and mouth,
the left hand under the pillow, one leg drawn up, and the mattress
much discomposed. The Prince always slept alone, and locked himself
in, without retaining any attendants in the adjoining apartment.
Six strangers, with the Tuscan accent, had been observed about
the palace the day before. From these circumstances, and from his
odious character, suspicions of foul play were entertained; but most
of the accounts which I have seen attribute his death to apoplexy,
resulting probably from premature and excessive dissipation. The
body was opened, and no traces of poison were detected; but a small
quantity of water was found upon the brain, which the medical
report attributed to over indulgence in athletic sports, and to the
bushy thickness of his hair, which he greatly neglected. The most
probable explanation of this catastrophe was that of the astrologer
Andrea Argoli, who, after an elaborate calculation of the Prince's
horoscope, pronounced him to have died of an epileptic fit, induced
by the chill of the morning air; a conclusion dictated, no doubt,
by medical experience, rather than by the study of those malignant
planetary influences which the quack thought fit to quote as decisive
of the question.
On the first alarm the Princess had rushed to the room, breaking
through all opposition, and exclaiming, "What! my Lord is ill, and
am I not to see him?" but finding him dead, she fainted. The chief
anxiety of all was how to break the dire news to the "way-worn and
way-wearied" Duke, who was suffering from a severe fit of gout, in
his wonted retirement. At length, the Bishop of Pesaro, nominally
head of the court, undertook the painful mission. Having arrived at
Castel Durante, he sent in by a chamberlain a sealed note, containing
the words "The Prince is dead." This the Duke at first desired to
be laid aside till later, with his other letters; but on being told
that the Bishop was in attendance, he read it without emotion,
and exclaimed in Latin, "The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away;
blessed be the name of the Lord." This Christian stoicism might seem
inexplicable, but from the context of the narrative, which states
that to the lamentations of his attendants, he without a sigh or tear
supplied consolation, assuring them that the event was irremediable,
and one for which he had long been prepared; and adding, with Sancho
Panza-like resignation, "He who lives badly comes to a bad end,
and one born by a miracle dies by violence." He then with perfect
self-command gave directions necessary for the funeral, and for the
exigencies of the government; and at supper ordered the reading of
Italian and Spanish books of edification to be continued as usual.
In an age when omens were observed with a heathenish superstition,
the people began to take note of these before they considered the
recent event in its practical and political bearings. It was now
recollected that the journey of the Prince and Princess, on their
return from their marriage, had been interrupted, before they reached
Pesaro, by an extraordinary tempest, which flooded their capital, and
delayed their public entry. On the day month preceding Federigo's
death, a flight of brown moths passed over Urbino towards the sea,
darkening the air for hours. Again, during the fatal night, a strange
and threatening cloud was seen by many to cast its gloomy shadow
over that city, and, after successively assuming the forms of the
eagle of Montefeltro, and the tree of Rovere, to disperse and vanish
in the direction of Rome. Others saw serpents and similar monstrous
apparitions wrestling in mid-air, and contributed their quota to the
strange saws and marvellous instances which fed the popular craving
for prodigies. It is scarcely necessary to observe that these facts,
or at all events their application, had called for no remark until
men's minds were filled with the catastrophe of which they were then
interpreted as the precursors. But it may be thought singular that
those who busied themselves in finding out ominous coincidences
omitted to note a circumstance chronicled by the often-cited Diary,
that, on the 21st of August, 1604, nine months before the Prince's
birth, lightning struck the Duke's chamber at Castel Durante. Thunder
on the left was hailed by the Roman augurs as lucky, but this
visitation seems too violent for a good omen.
* * * * *
The honours of a royal sepulture were lavished on one whose life had
been thus unworthy of his station; and such was the magnificence
displayed in the trappings of death that, besides many overcharged
narratives of the funeral, portraits were multiplied of the Prince
laid out in his richly-silvered robes. He was deposited in a tomb
which Francesco Maria had destined for himself in the grotto or crypt
of the metropolitan cathedral, with an inscription to the following
purport:--
In this tomb,
Prepared for himself by
Francesco Maria II., Last Duke of Urbino,
Rest the ashes of
His son Federigo,
Who was cut off by a sudden death,
On the 29th June, MDCXXIII.,
Aged XVIII. years.
On a tablet in the church of Sta. Chiara, his fate is thus touchingly
commemorated:--"The waning day saw Federigo Prince of Urbino, in whom
sank the house della Rovere, sound in health, and pre-eminent in
every gift of fortune; the succeeding dawn beheld him struck down by
sudden death, on the 29th of June, 1623. Stranger! pass on, and learn
that happiness, like the brittle glass, just when brightest is most
fragile."[109]
[Footnote 109: See these and other monumental inscriptions of Urbino
sovereigns, Appendix, No. VII.]
* * * * *
The first year of the Prince's marriage had given him a daughter,
born at Pesaro, on the 7th of February, 1622, whose advent, as we
learn from her grandfather's Diary, was marked by the appearance of
three suns in the heavens. She was baptized Vittoria, and was hailed
by the Duke and his people with joyful anticipations of a fruitful
union, which were destined never to be realised. Francesco Maria's
age and infirmities cut off all hopes of a new alliance, and the
male line of the Rovere race, to whom were limited the ducal dignity
and state, was obviously doomed to extinction in his person. It was
true that a similar failure of rightful heirs had, in the preceding
century, been supplied by a substitution of the heir-general to this
very fief; but that transaction was, in fact, a new investiture,
dictated by papal nepotism, and scarcely veiled under the guise of
a heritable title. The spirit of the papacy had, since then, been
greatly changed in the ordeal of the Reformation; and the ambition of
its successive heads, purified from selfish motives, had been long
concentrated upon advancing the spiritual and temporal supremacy of
the Holy See. But here the question rested not merely on such general
principles of law and policy. The foresight of Paul V. had interposed
a barrier clause in the marriage contract of Federigo, whereby the
Grand Duke's solemn renunciation of all pretensions in behalf of the
female issue of that union was distinctly recorded.
As soon as the widowed princess had rallied a little from an advent
which, however shocking to her nerves, could not be supposed
very long to weigh upon her feelings, she despatched a courier
to Florence with the news, and soon prepared to leave for ever a
country which she had adopted with bright hopes, quickly turned to
bitter experience. After paying a brief visit to the Duke, in whose
hands she left her child at Castel Durante, she returned to her
family, to forget the troubled dream of the last two years. That she
succeeded in banishing it from her thoughts may be presumed from her
remarriage, three years after, to the Archduke Leopold of Austria;
and it is interesting to notice that the latest jotting in the Diary
of her former father-in-law, long after its regular entries had
ceased, runs thus:--"On 26th March, 1626, Count delle Gabiccie was
sent to Florence to visit Donna Claudia, Archduchess of Austria."
* * * * *
The situation into which Francesco Maria found himself thrown by the
Prince's death was one requiring the support of all that philosophy
which it had been the chief pursuit of his life to attain. His house
was desolate; his line suddenly extinguished; his sovereignty about
to lapse. But these crushing blows were accompanied by aggravating
circumstances, which called for immediate exertion. The brief reign
of Federigo had proved equally detrimental to his state and ruinous
to himself. The government was falling to pieces, the finances
were in hopeless confusion. Thus was the literary retirement which
the Duke had thought to secure from the residue of his life rudely
interrupted, and the cares of sovereignty he had shaken off were
thrown back upon him, more inextricable than ever. The good order at
home and influence abroad, from thirty-seven years of prudent and
popular sway, had, in two brief years, been scattered, and there
remained to the old man but the choice of recommencing the labours
of a lifetime, or abandoning the reins of government now thrust back
into his unnerved hands. Judging from his dispositions and past
history, it would not be difficult to conjecture which of these
alternatives had the greater attraction; yet at this juncture, sense
of duty for a time triumphed over the dictates of inclination, and
Francesco Maria showed himself every inch a monarch.
After consulting for a few days with the Bishop of Pesaro, Count
Francesco Maria Mammiani, his favourite, and Count Giulio Giordani, a
friend of forty years' tried service, he thus matured his measures.
The papal chair being vacated by the death of Gregory XV., on the 8th
of July, he sent to the College of Cardinals an official intimation
of his son's death, and a full assurance of dutiful devotion. He
accompanied the like notification to his subjects with an injunction
for the election of a new council of eight, to whom he proposed to
commit the administration of civil and criminal justice, for the
burden of which his years were incompetent. To the widowed Princess
he made every overture which affectionate sympathy could suggest.
Finally, he resumed the ducal mantle, and the functions which he had
so unfortunately devolved; and, dismissing the whole administration
which his son had employed, he entered upon the government, with
the assistance of a small but select cabinet. His first thoughts
were bestowed upon the destiny of his orphan granddaughter, and,
notwithstanding the suggestion of his counsellors, that he should
keep her as an instrument whereby the policy of neighbouring
powers, who would doubtless aspire to so eligible a match, might be
made subservient to strengthen his relations abroad, he insisted
upon some immediate arrangement, which would relieve him from the
apprehension of leaving unprotected a prize so tempting to papal or
princely ambition. The question was brought to a speedy solution by
a well-timed offer from the Grand Duke Ferdinand II. of Tuscany, to
receive and educate in his family his niece, and eventually to make
her his consort, on condition of her being declared heiress of all
the Duke's allodial and personal property. To secure the intimate
alliance and support of the Medici had, as we have seen, long been
the cherished policy of Francesco Maria, and the importance of a
connection sufficiently powerful to maintain the rights of the
Princess, in that revolution which must succeed immediately upon his
death, was self-evident. But there was another consideration equally
cogent, for, on the extinction of her father's family, nature and
law pointed out her maternal cousin as the most suitable guardian of
her childhood and education. Having decided in favour of a proposal
at once advantageous to his granddaughter, and releasing him from
one of the greatest anxieties of his position, the Duke lost no time
in sending her to the court of Tuscany, under protection of Count
and Countess Mammiani. Indeed, these arrangements were all concluded
within four months of his son's death.
On the 6th of August, the conclave elected Cardinal Maffeo
Barberini, of a family originally Florentine, who had only attained
his fifty-fifth year; a man respectable at once from his talents,
his habits of business, and his moral character. It was observed
that, during the sittings of the conclave, a hive of bees swarmed
under one of their windows, an incident rendered notable from
the Barberini carrying that insect in their arms. On ascending
the chair of St. Peter, the first business which occupied Urban
VIII. was the important accession to the ecclesiastical state
promised by the Prince of Urbino's death. There was no legal doubt
that the fief, limited to the male line of Guidobaldo II., must
lapse on that of the old Duke; but the struggles whereby church
vassals had formerly supplied, by steel or gold, similar defects
of constitutional title, were not forgotten, and the College of
Cardinals looked upon the infant Princess as a subject of keen
interest.[*110] It was, therefore, not without jealousy that they
learned her sudden betrothal to so powerful a sovereign; and the
Pontiff's remonstrances, though avowedly grounded on the conclusion
of that important transaction without enabling him to display his
friendly respect for the parties, were probably intended to keep
the arrangement open for after cavil. A brief interval supplied new
grounds for anxiety, on the arrival of a messenger from Francesco
Maria with tidings of an overture on the part of the Emperor
Ferdinand II., directly at variance with the pretensions of the Holy
See. Ferdinand had accompanied his condolence with a proposal that
the Duke should recognise the imperial title to the countships of
Montefeltro and Castel Durante on his death, as being original fiefs
of the empire, and offered to renew the investiture of these in
favour of the infant heiress. But, faithful to his ecclesiastical
allegiance, the Duke courteously declined availing himself of
a favour which seemed more likely to reawaken the slumbering
controversies (though scarcely now the conflicts) between Guelph
and Ghibelline, than to secure any available benefit to Princess
Vittoria. Pleading a disinclination to open up questions that might
disturb the peace of his declining years, he left it to the Emperor,
when these should close, to transact any such arrangement directly
with the Holy See; a reply which pleased neither him nor the Grand
Duke.
[Footnote *110: Cf. _Memorie istoriche concernenti la devoluzione
dello stato d'Urbino alla Sede Apostolica_ (Amsterdam, 1723).]
The Emperor being uncle of the Grand Duke, his proposition could
not be viewed in any other light than as an attempt to establish a
legal basis for whatever claims on the states of Urbino it might
suit the husband of Vittoria hereafter to make. It was accordingly
met by Urban with very decided measures. He delegated three prelates
of tried fidelity to the circumjacent provinces of the Church, with
instructions to watch closely the affairs of the duchy, and, in case
of any movement adverse to the ecclesiastical interests, to march
troops at once across the frontier. He then made a formal appeal to
the Duke, as the faithful and devoted adherent of the Holy See, to
resign into its safe custody S. Leo, which, besides being considered
the most impregnable fortress in Italy, was capital of the countship
of Montefeltro, and formed part of the mortgage assigned by Clement
VII. to the Medici, in security for alleged debts, still unsettled
since the usurpation of Lorenzo de' Medici. This unceremonious
proposition was accompanied by a distinct avowal of the Pope's
resolve to make sure of the devolution to the ecclesiastical state of
every morsel of the dukedom; and an intimation that any refusal would
necessitate military demonstrations at Rimini and Città di Castello.
So decided, indeed, was his Holiness to abate nothing of the renown
which he anticipated from effecting this important accession to
the pontifical temporalities, that he is said to have avowed his
resolution to fall under the walls of Urbino, or be hanged on its
battlements, rather than yield one tittle of his demands.[*111]
[Footnote *111: It is curious to note the shameless zeal, astuteness,
and cunning of the papacy in this matter. I believe a work on the
subject is promised by Professor C. SCOTONI. The Pope could
not have proved his right to Urbino in any tribunal. His claim was
really more absurd than the claim of the Emperor.]
But this precipitation failed in its object. The Duke was startled
by what seemed at best a harsh return for the leal and true faith
towards his ecclesiastical over-lord which had actuated his conduct.
His suspicions thus aroused placed him on the defensive in his
interviews with the legate Pavoni, whose persuasions were coldly
repelled, and whose tone of menace called up all the old man's pride.
He briefly and indignantly replied that death alone should deprive
him of a sovereignty which he was fully able to maintain; that the
extinction of his family was a dispensation of God; but that the
Pontiff's demand was an insinuation against his good faith, which
was far beyond question; finally, that his Holiness would do well
to await the close of his few remaining days, when he would obtain
everything in the due course of nature. To show that he spoke in
earnest, he the same night despatched a reinforcement to the garrison
of S. Leo; and his jealousy being thoroughly awakened, he refused
to perform the alternative which the Legate had, with modified
tone, suggested as a satisfactory solution of the difficulty, by
writing a formal acknowledgment that his entire state was held under
the Church, and a promise to do no act that might compromise or
prejudice her rights over it. Monsignor Pavoni, interpreting some
hasty expression of the Duke into a dismissal, was about to set out
for Rome the same night; but, having remained till morning to allow
time for cooler consideration, he obtained, under the hand of his
Highness, such a declaration as he had suggested. On his return, he
met Cardinal Cennino, another ambassador whom the impatient anxiety
of Urban had despatched to insist with still greater urgency on the
original terms. It were useless and irksome to follow the thread of
diplomatic intrigue now brought to bear on the poor bereaved Duke. He
felt himself demeaned even by the document which he had consented to
give; but when he found it was but a prelude to new demands,--when
he ascertained that a war establishment was ready along the
ecclesiastical frontier to pounce upon his territory on the slightest
pretext,--and when he was actually called upon to administer to the
governors of his principal fortresses, and to the officers in command
of his militia, an oath ensuring their allegiance to the Pope from
the day of his own death, accompanied with a promise on his part not
to appoint any one to those situations who had not taken a similar
oath, indignation brought on an attack of illness which had nearly
put an end to all difficulties by carrying him to the grave. This
new misfortune, far from obtaining for the old man relief from these
persecutions, stimulated the papal emissaries who surrounded him to
fresh importunities. Urban's apprehensions were augmented by measures
which Francesco Maria had taken for garrisoning his principal
fortresses with troops from Tuscany and Naples, and by rumours of a
new intrigue for transferring the hand of Vittoria to Leopold, son
of the Emperor, thus giving to the latter a direct interest in this
already involved dispute, which Philip IV. of Spain, jealous of the
prospective aggrandisement of the Church, showed every disposition
still further to complicate. The Pope, in order to forward his views
upon the duchy, had, without consulting the Duke, promoted Monsignor
Paulo Emilio Santorio from the see of Cesena to be Archbishop of
Urbino, a man of violent temper and coarse manners, whose nomination
was regarded as an insult by Francesco Maria, and who injudiciously
substituted threats for conciliation in his intercourse with the
Duke. This example was followed by subordinate agents who surrounded
his sick bed, and wore him out by alternately working on his
irritable disposition, his avarice, and his superstitious belief in
astrology. Every turn of his malady was watched, and reported to Rome
as matter of hope or fresh anxiety, whilst his palace was beset by
troublesome and meddling spies.
Nor were his negotiations with the Pontiff the only sources of
irritation which daily accumulated upon the unhappy Francesco Maria.
The cares of state, from which he had of late escaped, returned more
irksomely than before. The brief misgovernment of the Prince had
thrown upon him a greatly aggravated burden of anxiety and labour
in the direction of these affairs; and his old favourites and tried
counsellors were dropping around him, just at the crisis when he most
required their services. His constitution, impaired by years and
broken by gout, gave way under his agony of mind, and a paralytic
seizure made fresh breaches upon his system. With a frame thus
enfeebled, a mind thus disgusted, he sent for Antonio Donato, a noble
Venetian long resident at his court, who had been at various times
employed in political affairs, and addressed him in words which his
Narrative of these events has preserved to us:--
"Your Lordship sees to what a condition God has reduced me. My house
he has left unto me desolate: he has taken from me my dominion, my
health, and my honour. I have sold myself to one skilful in profiting
by my misfortunes: I am reduced to the shadow of sovereignty, and
continually exposed to new inroads. To await death in so miserable
a plight is impossible, to anticipate it were a crime: unable to
recover what is gone from me, all now left me is to die without
disgrace, after living for seventy-six years with nothing to regret.
To you I would impart my ideas, that we may consider whether, by
surrendering what remains, I might mitigate my vexations. I think of
entreating the Pope to send me any one he pleases, who may govern
this country, dependent upon me and by virtue of my authority, which
I shall delegate to him as fully as it is vested in my person.
Thus may his Holiness more effectually secure the return of these
states after my death under the sway of the Church, and thus will
he be enabled to liberate me from the restraint of obligations and
oaths, no longer necessary when his own deputy is invested with the
government, leaving me, in these my last hours, time to think of
death, and to prepare myself suitably to meet it, as I well know it
cannot be distant.... And perhaps this plan, which I own is hard
to digest, may be less irksome in practice than it now seems in
discussion; for in truth, I am no longer what I once was, nor ought
I at this juncture to think but of my people's peace and my own.
After all that has occurred, this ecclesiastical governor may prove
the least annoying expedient; at all events it will free me from the
irritation and slavery which past events have brought upon me."
After having at first argued against the measure thus suggested,
Donato was at length induced to carry the proposal formally to the
Pope, without previous consultation with any one else. Suspicious
perhaps of so sudden a change in the sentiments of Francesco Maria,
the Sacred College raised difficulties in order to gain time for
deliberation; but when, with his wonted impatience, he proposed to
recall Donato and reconsider the matter, with a view to some other
measure, the proffered devolution was accepted without further delay.
The papal brief to that effect was dated the 10th December, 1624,
and on the 20th, the Duke executed a blank warrant, making over his
whole sovereign authority to the governor who might be named, and
reserving only the empty name of his subject's allegiance.
The Devolution was effected on the following terms. Along with all
sovereign rights, there were conveyed to the Holy See the various
fortified places in the duchy, and the residences at Urbino, Pesaro,
and S. Leo. The Camera was allowed a preference in purchasing
such warlike instruments, ammunition, and stores, as these places
might contain, and was to pay to the Duke 100,000 scudi in name of
expenses and ameliorations. To him and his heirs were reserved the
furniture and movables in these three residences, and the whole
allodial possessions of the family, including the palaces of Castel
Durante, Sinigaglia, Gubbio, Cagli, Fossombrone, Novilara, and Della
Carda; the _palazzetti_ or villas of Imperiale, Montebello, Monte
Berticchio, Mirafiori, Velletta, and Barchetto, the three last being
at Pesaro; many parks, forests, vineyards, houses, and particularly
thirty-two mills. The Grand Duke of Tuscany was a party to the deed
of devolution, which was executed on the 30th April, 1624, and he
therein specially renounced for himself and his family all claim
to the dukedom and states.[112] The assertion of Muratori, that
Francesco Maria often regretted this step is not borne out by any
authorities I have consulted.
[Footnote 112: Oliveriana MSS. No. 324. Many documents regarding
these transactions are printed in Riposati, vol. II.]
In these arrangements the party most immediately interested had no
voice, for the consent of the governed was then little studied in
such transactions. Though the eloquent historian of the Italian
republics maintains, upon true Guelphic principles, the blessings
of the ecclesiastical sway compared with that of the petty
seigneurs,[*113] those who have read the preceding chapters may
hesitate ere they apply this doctrine to the duchy of Urbino. Four
times have we seen the people throw off the transient rule of the
Church, and recall their native princes to maintain that microscopic
nationality which, to an Italian, is far dearer than personal
liberty. Guicciardini admits that those who, under the princes,
were maintained in ease with little personal exertion, generally
hated papal domination. But under the popular dynasty of those dukes
whose lives we have endeavoured to sketch, the loyalty implanted
by selfishness was watered by affection, until its mature growth
overshadowed the land. The extinction of their race was therefore
bewailed by a grateful people, whose degradation to provincialism was
felt as a still greater, and, in the circumstances, an irremediable
misfortune.
[Footnote *113: Here I heartily agree with Dennistoun. If the people
preferred the ecclesiastical sway to that of the Signori, why was the
whole state of Urbino so eager to get Francesco Maria II. married?
And if we want another example from more recent times, why, in 1860,
did the people of Perugia turn out _en masse_ and tear down the papal
fortress, leaving a desert, which they still gloat over, in its
place? The temporal rule of the Church has been bad everywhere at all
times and in every way. That is why we have beggared her.]
It is but justice to Urban to contrast his conduct on this occasion
with the eagerness displayed by many of his predecessors for the
aggrandisement of their own houses, by investing them with the lapsed
fiefs of the Church. The obstacles to such an arrangement were no
doubt increased by the altered spirit of the age, by the curtailed
influence of the papacy, by the watchful jealousy of the great
powers, and by numerous bulls directed against such alienations. Yet
other ambitious pontiffs had trampled upon parchments, had braved
public opinion, and had deluged Italy in blood for less tempting
baits, and Muratori hints that such an attempt might, in the present
case, have been sanctioned by Spain. Whilst, therefore, we blame the
discourteous manner in which his Holiness made the aged Duke feel,
with unnecessary acuteness, his bereaved and enfeebled position, we
give him credit for a self-denying policy becoming the head of a
Christian church.[*114]
[Footnote *114: This is amusing of Urban VIII., of whom Pasquino
said--
"_Quod non fecerunt Barbari
Fecerunt Barberini._"]
The first governor delegated by the Pope was Monsignor Berlinghieri
Gessi, Bishop of Rimini, who took possession on the 1st January,
1625. The Duke assigned to him his palaces, and a salary of 2000
scudi, paying also the other officials, and the only internal change
in the government was the dismissal of the council of Eight. Indeed,
the deference shown by the people for those forms under which they
had long been governed, obtained a guarantee for their continuance
during ten years; and we are told that the chief innovation upon
them consisted in an extension of literary academies, which had been
discouraged by Francesco Maria on an apprehension of their taking
a political tendency.[115] In January, 1626, the Bishop received a
scarlet hat, and was succeeded as governor three years subsequently
by Monsignor Lorenzo Campeggi, Bishop of Cesena, afterwards of
Sinigaglia who held that office until the death of Francesco Maria.
[Footnote 115: Brit. Mus. Lib. Add. MSS. Ital. No. 8511, art. 3.]
But, though happy to escape from the personal superintendence of the
government,
"The old man, broken with the storms of state,"
did not consider himself exempted from all concern in the welfare of
his subjects. We accordingly find, in a collection of his letters
made by his secretary Babucci,[116] a very long remonstrance
addressed to Cardinal Gessi regarding certain malversations in the
management of public affairs. His complaints were directed against
abuses of patronage, by conferring places of trust upon young and
inexperienced persons, especially in the army, where many officers
were rather children than soldiers; against a laxity of manners
and conversation among the women, extending even to the nunneries;
against the indiscriminate bearing of arms, which had already led to
numerous homicides, and to the extirpation of game in the preserves.
To Campeggi, the next governor, he complains, in 1628, of an
increasing expenditure with impaired revenues.
[Footnote 116: Dr. Antonio Babucci transcribed for the press a number
of letters written by the Duke after the Devolution, and dedicated
them to the Grand Duchess Vittoria. The MS. is preserved in the
Magliabechiana Library, class xxv. No. 77, and fully bears out the
commendation we have given to his epistolary style at p. 213.]