Time:
The latter half of the XV. Century.
_THE ROYAL PAWN
OF VENICE_
I
Among the day-dreams of the Rulers of Venice the island of Cyprus had
long loomed large and fair--Cyprus, the happy isle of romance, _l'isola
fortunata_, sea-girdled, clothed with dense forests of precious woods,
veined with inexhaustible mines of rich metals; a very garden of
luscious fruits, garlanded with ever-blooming flowers--a land flowing
with milk and honey and steeped in the fragrance of wines that a god
might covet.
_Kypros_--_Paphos_--a theme for poets, where Aphrodite rose from the
foam of the sea, and the fabled groves of the mysteries of Venus gave
place to primitive shrines of Christian worship, while innumerable
Grecian legends were merged in early Christian traditions, imparting
some of their own tint of fable, yet baptizing anew the groves and
hillsides to sanctity. Beautiful hillsides, rippling down to the
sea-coasts; and plains, nestling among the mountain slopes, littered
with remnants of vast temples of superb pagan workmanship and with
priceless pre-historic remains: wonderful, ancient marbles,
time-mellowed and crumbling, inwrought rather with barbaric symbols of
splendor than with the tender grace of poetic suggestion.
And this land of many races and dynasties, of conflicting ideals and
religions, as of many tongues--where domination was largely a matter of
the stronger hand--still held among the nations her ancient soubriquet
of _the happy isle_.
But less for her romance and beauty than because this _notissima famae
insulae_ was a possession to be envied by a diplomatic nation, since its
position lent it importance, the Republic had looked upon it with
longing eyes--and because of its commerce, which equalled that of
Venice, long ago the far-seeing Senate had sought to purchase it from
the Greek Emperor, but the agreement had come to naught by treachery of
the Emperor's son.
Nevertheless, Cyprus had not been forgotten; and the time for Venice to
make good this remembrance had now come uppermost on the calendar of the
years.
So they were ready to give rapt attention to the flattering proposals of
the young Cyprian Monarch, as presented by his dignified ambassador, the
Signor Filippo Mastachelli, when he appeared before the Signoria with
the retinue and splendor of an Eastern Prince, bearing gifts of jewels
meet for a royal bride, to claim the hand of a patrician maid of Venice,
to make her Queen of Cyprus.
Janus the Second was young and brave, the idol of a party of his
people--and where was the kingdom in which there were known to be no
discontents? He was upheld by the great Sultan of Egypt to whom he owed
suzerainty and, if in disfavor of the Holy Father for this allegiance,
Venice had always permitted Rome to question her own supremacy and was
not disconcerted thereby. He was beautiful as a young god, with a face
full of laughing appeal, and not less charming than the miniature set in
crystals which Mastachelli bore among the wedding gifts; and the grace
of him could not be matched, for his power of winning, when he had set
his heart to the task. In whatever deed of skill and daring his prowess
went before his knights and nobles--as, from childhood up, in whatever
teaching from books or men, he had distanced all his comrades--with that
strange facility and fascination with which the Genius of Cyprus might
have endowed her favorite in that lavish land, beloved of the gods,
where her great sea-bound plains were billows of flowers under a long
summer sky, and Nature's gifts came crowding, each upon each, in
bewildering redundancy.
Laughter-loving, born to conquer, quick to reward, Janus was tender and
generous to a fault; for it was whispered that he could take what lay
nearest to give to those who offered him adoring service on his
triumphal march, and that the murmur of the wronged belonged to the more
serious side of life for which his full-flowing Greek blood had small
patience. Such strange, unlikely tales one's enemy may tell!
And for his religion--be it Greek, or Latin, or whatever else--had he
not been named Archbishop of Nikosia at the responsible age of fifteen,
before he had exchanged the Episcopal Mitre for the Royal Crown?
These things were told, in all truth, of Janus II, King of Cyprus: and
if some others were known, they were not discussed. For the monarch had
lost his heart to the rare charm of the youthful Caterina, niece to a
Venetian noble who had become his friend in Cyprus, and had more than
once stood his helper with good Venetian gold; and who, in innocence or
wile, had one day given him sight of the girl's fair face with its
tender flush like a flower in spring, painted with rare skill by the
greatest artist of Venice. The breeze might have toyed with that mist of
golden hair, and the great dark eyes--softly luminous--had the
expectancy of a gazelle awaiting the joy of the daydawn. She was
daughter to one of the most ancient and noble of the patrician houses,
in direct descent, so the Cornari claimed, of the Cornelii of Rome.
"There need be no haste," the Signor Andrea had said lightly, as he
returned the miniature to its case blazoned in pearls with the arms of
the Cornari, "for the child is but fourteen, though she hath the
loveliness of twenty. But it is the way with our patricians of Venice,
and Messer Marco of the Cornari, father to Caterina, is already planning
with an ancient noble house of the elder branch with estates of unknown
wealth, for the marriage of his daughter. Thus the fancy of the King
must pass--there will be another--in Venice or Cyprus--the world is
large."
"Nay, none so beautiful," the King made answer; "and for me none other.
And for the matter of birth----"
"Naught hindereth that she might be Queen," Messer Andrea replied with
nonchalance, having a scheme somewhat more deeply laid than the casual
dropping of the miniature would seem to imply. "For the matter of
birth--it is a trifle--and doubtless the Republic would make her, by
adoption, Daughter to Venice--if there were aught in a created title to
enhance her princely name with semblance of royalty. But there are
already quarterings enough to match with the arms of Cyprus, and the
Lusignans are a house far less ancient than the Cornelii."
Messer Andrea could say things with a certain facile grace that kept
them from rankling, and at the moment the utterance of this truth was of
consequence.
The King threw him a quick glance, half in amusement, half in admiration
of his easy insolence, while Messer Andrea placidly explained that the
Casa Cornaro was one of the twelve original families which composed the
ancient ruling class of the Republic.
"And if the matter hath an interest for your Majesty," he continued,
"our great-grandfather on our father's side, was that Marco Cornaro who
was Doge of Venice; and the most noble Lady Fiorenza, mother to the
child Caterina and wife to my brother Marco, was grand-daughter to
Comnene, Emperor of Trebizonde. But that counteth little," he added
magnanimously; "since the Empire of Trebizonde hath ceased to be."
"For the matter of birth--verily, as thou hast said, 'it is a trifle,'"
the King admitted with a laugh: "but I must create thee Master to the
Pedigree of the House of Lusignan--a right royal post--and at thy
discretion thou mayest find or _make_ it of a color noble enough to mate
with thy fair maid of Venice."
"It pleaseth your Majesty to be of a merry mood. And for the dowry----"
Thence followed this embassy to Venice, for Janus was of those who would
bear no thwarting nor delay. The princely dowry was forthcoming, for it
had been offered by Messer Andrea Cornaro himself, and the condition of
adoption by the Republic, "that the bride might be of a station
befitting the royal alliance," well became the pleasure of the dignified
Signoria.