The Court of Urbino, its manners and its stars.
The taste for philosophy, letters, and arts, and the patronage of
their professors which Cosimo de' Medici and his son Lorenzo the
Magnificent had introduced among the merchant-rulers of Florence,
were, as we have already seen, adopted by several petty sovereigns of
the Peninsula, but chiefly by those in the district of Romagna.[26]
Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta was the first to engraft these fruits
of peace upon a military despotism, which his restless ambition and
fierce temper ever rendered the torment of his neighbours, and the
scourge of his people. The d'Este of Ferrara, the Sforza of Pesaro,
but, above all, Duke Federigo of Urbino, improving upon his example,
had shown how mental cultivation might be brought to modify, or, as
the Latin idiom has it, to humanise, without enervating, a martial
character. The reign of Guidobaldo was peculiarly favourable to
the development of this new and attractive principle; for though
enabled partially to sustain the fame in arms which his father had
bequeathed him, his feeble health gave him greater opportunity for
the cultivation of letters, and for the society of the learned,
to which he was naturally partial. Seconded by the sympathies of
his estimable Duchess, his palace became a resort of the first
literary and political celebrities of the day, who during the few
years that succeeded his restoration, diffused over it a tone of
refinement elsewhere unrivalled. To fix for the contemplation of
posterity those graceful but transient images which flitted across
this gay and brilliant society was the pleasing task undertaken by
Castiglione,[*27] one of its most polished ornaments.
[Footnote 26: See above, ch. viii., ix., x.]
[Footnote *27: The following is a short bibliography of _Il
Cortegiano_, and of works relating to it:--
SALVADORI, _Il Cortegiano_ (Firenze, 1884).
CIAN, _Il Cortegiano_ (Firenze, 1894).
OPDYCKE, _The Book of the Courtier_ (New York, 1901).
BOTTARI, _Studio su B.C. e il suo Libro_ (Pisa, 1874).
LUZIO E RENIER, _Mantova e Urbino_ (Torino, 1893).
CIAN, in _Giornale Stor. d. Lett. It._, vol. XV. fasc. 43 e
44.
CIAN, _Un Codice ignoto di Rime volgari app. a B.C._ in
_Giornale cit._, vol. XXXIV., p. 297, XXXV., p. 53.
SERASSI, _Lettere_, 2 vols. (Padova, 1769-71).
RENIER, _Notizia di Lettere ined. di B.C._ (Torino, 1889).
MARIELLO, _La Cronologia del Cortegiano_ (Pisa, 1895).
JOLY, _De B.C. opere cui titulus Il Cortegiano_ (Cadomi,
1856).
TOBLER, _C. und sein Hofmann_, in Schweizer Museum, 1884.
VALMAGGI, _Per le fonti del Corteg._, in _Giornale cit._,
XIV., 72.
GERINI, _Gli scrittori pedagog. ital. d. Sec. XVI._ (Torino,
1897), p. 43.]
The title _Il Cortegiano_,[*28] literally the Courtier, may be
appropriately translated, "the mirror of a perfect courtier."
The author intended it, to use the words of his preface, "as a
portraiture of the court of Urbino, not by the hand of Raffaele or
Michael Angelo, but by an inferior artist, whose capacity attains no
further than a general outline, without decking truth in attractive
colours, or flattering it by skilful perspective."[*29] But laying
aside metaphor, he thus accounts for the origin of his undertaking.
"After the death of the Lord Guidobaldo of Montefeltro Duke of
Urbino, I, with several other knights who had been in his household,
remained in the service of Duke Francesco Maria della Rovere, his
heir and successor in that state. And as the fragrant influence
continued fresh upon my mind of the deceased Duke's virtues, and of
the pleasure I had for some years enjoyed in the amiable society of
the excellent persons who then frequented his court, I was induced
from these reflections to write a treatise of THE COURTIER.
This I accomplished in a few days, with the intention of subsequently
correcting the errors incidental to so hasty a composition."
[Footnote *28: In the _Lettera Dedicatoria_. Cf. Ed. Cian, _op.
cit._, p. 4.]
[Footnote *29: This is the opening of the _Lettera Dedicatoria_ to
Don Michel de Silva, Bishop of Viseo.]
[Illustration: _Alinari_
PORTRAIT OF A LADY, HER HAIR DRESSED IN THE MANNER OF THE FIFTEENTH
CENTURY
_From the picture by ? Verrocchio [Transcriber's Note: now attributed
to Piero del Pollaiolo] in Poldo-Pezzoli Collection, Milan_]
The point which he undertakes is "to state what I consider the
courtiership most befitting a gentleman in attendance on princes,
whereby he may best be taught and enabled to perform towards them all
seemly service, so as to obtain their favour and general applause; to
explain, in short, what a courtier in all respects perfect ought to
be."[*30]
[Footnote *30: Opening paragraph of first book. Ed. Cian, p. 11.]
We cannot here follow the Count into the wide field which he thus
indicates, nor is it necessary, since his own work is accessible in
several languages. But from various passages we may offer a sketch of
the manners approved at the pattern court of Urbino, which will not
be deemed misplaced in these pages. The men who figured there were
chiefly distinguished in arms or letters. Whilst the former spent
their leisure in recollections of war and love, or in the congenial
pastimes of the field and the chase, the conversation of the
latter was often warped towards scholastic disputation, or tainted
by classic pedantry. Such manners have often been described, and
their interest has long passed away; but in a society where female
influence prevailed, and in an age when female intellect was fruitful
in prodigies, it may be well to see what were the graces expected
from a palace-dame.[*31]
[Footnote *31: Concerning Elisabetta Gonzaga. Cf. LUZIO E
RENIER, _Mantova e Urbino, Isabella d'Este, ed Elisabetta
Gonzaga_ (Torino, 1893).]
At the head of a string of common-place endowments we find a noble
bearing, an avoidance of affectation, a natural grace in every
action. Beauty is considered as most desirable, not indispensable;
and its improvement by such artificial means as painting and
enamelling the face, extirpating hairs on the eyebrows or forehead,
is derided. White teeth and hands are fully appreciated, but
their frequent display is censured. A neat _chaussure_ is lauded,
especially when veiled by long draperies. In short, natural elegance
and the absence of artifice are primary qualifications. A high-born
lady must be circumspect even beyond suspicion, avoiding ill-timed
familiarity, and all freedom of language verging upon licence; but
when casually exposed to discussions tending to pruriency, a modest
blush would be becoming, whilst shrinking or prudery might expose her
to sneers. Willingly to listen to or repeat slander of her own sex
is a fatal error, which will always be harshly construed by men. Her
accomplishments and amusements should ever be selected with feminine
delicacy, verging upon timidity; her dress chosen in tasteful
reference to what is most becoming, but with apparent absence of
study. In conversing with men she should be frank, affable, and
lively; but modest, staid, and self-possessed, with a nice observance
of tact and decorum. Noisy hilarity, a hoyden address, egotism,
prolixity, and the unseasonable combination of serious with ludicrous
topics are equally objectionable, but most of all affectation. Yet
she ought to be witty, capable of varied conversation in literature,
music, and painting, skilled in dancing and festive games. Nor should
that of a good housewife be wanting to her other qualities. In short,
the theory of a paragon lady of the 1500 might equally suit for one
of the present day. We should come to a very different conclusion
as to her real character, were we to test it by some passages of
the _Cortegiano_, wherein the Duchess Elisabetta, in chastity the
mirror of her age, listens approvingly with her courtly dames to long
passages of prurient twaddle, ever skirting and often overstepping
the limits of decency. Nor were the morals around her conformable to
her own pure example, and that of the immaculate Emilia Pia.[*32]
One sad instance in the ducal family we shall have to note, while
narrating the early life of Duke Francesco Maria I.; another,
remarkable from the subsequent status of the personage to whose birth
the scandal attaches, will immediately be mentioned in connection
with Giuliano de' Medici.[33]
[Footnote *32: This lady was the inseparable companion of the Duchess
Elisabetta. She was the daughter of Mario Pio, of the Lords of
Carpi. Early the widow of Antonio of Montefeltro, natural brother
of Guidobaldo, she remained at Urbino. She died, as it seems, a
true lady of the Renaissance. "Senza alcun sacramento di la chiesa,
disputando una parte del Cortegiano col Conte Ludovico da Canosso."
Cf. Rossi, _Appunti per la storia della musica alla Corte d'Urbino_,
in Rassegna Emiliana, Ann. I. (fasc. VIII.), p. 456, n. 1.]
[Footnote 33: See below, p. 57.]
But it would not be just, after adorning our narrative with
flattering sketches from Castiglione's pencil, to exclude one or
two anecdotes of the manners actually permitted among the polished
society he professes to portray, although their coarseness and
vulgarity, scarcely redeemed by their humour, may be considered as
staining our pages. They occur in some memorials of the conversation
of Francesco Maria, noted by a contemporary from personal
observation.[34]
[Footnote 34: Vat. Urb. MSS. No. 1023, art. 21. There is a copy of
this MS. in the library of Newbattle Abbey, Scotland.]
The subject of discussion happening to be Mark Antony's weakness
in permitting Cleopatra to accompany him to the fight of Actium,
the Duke said, "My father-in-law, the Marquis of Mantua, being at
Mortara, in the service of France, Ludovico il Moro was in the
camp with his Duchess, and one day, seeing the Marquis suffering
from violent pain in the shoulder, said to him, 'Sir, I have
the Duchess here, what shall I do with her?' The Marquis, being
otherwise occupied, and suffering great pain, replied, 'How can I
tell? send her to a brothel!' an answer quite off-hand, and truly
appropriate"--from the brother of our paragon Duchess Elisabetta.
Niccolo de' Pii, a condottiere in the service of the Duke's father,
was very fat and overgrown. Dining one day with some Spanish
officers, after finishing a trout, he sent the head and back-bone
to one of them called Pedrada, who thereupon caustically retorted,
"It is yourself that has more want of head than of stomach," a reply
applauded as most cutting, for, "having more size than sense, he
needed the brains rather than the belly." The same Spaniard one day,
at a cardinal's reception, began to eat a candle, which, though
apparently of wax, was in the centre of tallow; finding it greasy
between his teeth, he seized the candlestick, and dashed it on the
floor, muttering, "I swear to God it is not silver:" the candle being
counterfeit, he fancied the candlestick must needs be so too. When
talking of absent men, the Duke told these anecdotes of Ottaviano
Fregoso, a star of the Urbino circle. As he conversed with his aunt
Duchess Elisabetta, holding her hand, his mind wandered to other
matters, and he began to twist about her fingers as he would have
done a switch, finally thrusting one of them into his nose, when a
burst of laughter from the bystanders recalled his thoughts. Dining
one day at the table of Julius II., he sheathed and unsheathed his
poignard, jingling the handle, until the Pope, losing all temper,
exclaimed, "Begone to a brothel, pox take you! Be off, and the
devil go with you!" Whereupon Signor Ottaviano began to make humble
excuses for his natural defect of recollection, to the infinite
glee of many church dignitaries who witnessed the scene. Yet only
two days thereafter, chancing to converse in the papal antechamber
with an ambassador who wore a massive gold chain, he, in a fit of
abstraction, thrust his finger into one of the links. Just then,
his Holiness appearing, the courtiers drew aside to make way, and
Fregoso was dragged along, throwing them all into confusion; nor
could he get free until he had well "salivated" his finger. Yet when
his wits were not a wool-gathering, this was considered the most
finished gentleman in Italy, and the most ready in reply. Thus, his
uncle, Duke Guidobaldo appearing one day in a violet satin jerkin
of unexceptionable fit, Ottaviano exclaimed, "My Lord Duke,
you really are _the_ handsome Signor!" "How disgusting are dull
flatterers who thus openly display their adulation," was the stinging
reply. "My Lord Duke," rejoined the courtier, "I meant not to say
that you are a man of worth, though I pronounced you a fine man and a
handsome nobleman;" an answer which made the Duke wince, and brought
credit to its author.
[Illustration: _Alinari_
A LADY OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY]
But enough of this gossip: the reader of the _Cortegiano_, and its
author's charming letters, will find there many more attractive
and not less veracious touches of the Montefeltrian court, where
learning and accomplishment were often called upon to give dignity
and grace to social pastimes. Thus, the Duchess is represented as
singing to her lute those verses from the fourth _Æneid_, in which,
at the moment of self-immolation, Dido apostrophised the garments
forgotten by her faithless lover when he fled from her charms, until,
Orpheus-like, she had wiled the savage animals from their lairs, and
set the stones in sympathetic movement. At her court there were no
lack of pens to clothe in verse the passing fancies of the hour, and
adapt them to the musical or melodramatic tastes which gave a tone
of refinement to its amusements. Thus, for the carnival of 1506,
Castiglione and his messmate Cesare Gonzaga composed the pastoral
eclogue of _Tirsis_, which was acted by them before the court, with
choruses and a brilliant moresque dance. The personages of the
dialogue are Iola (Castiglione) and Dameta (Gonzaga), who describe
to Tirsi, a stranger shepherd, the ducal circle of Urbino, with the
Duchess at its head as goddess of the river Metauro. The Moresca, so
named from its supposed Moorish origin, was perhaps borrowed from
the ancient Pyrrhic dance, and consisted in a sort of mock fight,
performed to the sound of music with measured tread, and blunted
poignards. Next spring a somewhat similar pastoral, from the pen of
Bembo, was recited by him and Ottaviano Fregoso to the same audience.
Such and such-like were the favourite court diversions of Urbino.
Their stately conceits and solemn pedantry suited the spirit of that
classic age and the genius of a pomp-loving people; but it would be
scarcely fair to regard them as fully embodying the tone of manners
prevalent in the palace of Guidobaldo. In it were harmoniously
mingled the opposite qualities which then predominated at the various
Italian courts. Scholastic pretensions, still esteemed in many of
them, here thawed before the easier address of the new school.
Those abstruse studies which the Medici had brought into vogue were
eclipsed by a galaxy of brilliant wits. Even the ruthless bearing of
the old condottieri princes mellowed under the charm of female tact,
while the sensual splendour indulged by recent pontiffs was chastened
by the exemplary demeanour of the ducal pair.
Our appreciation of this picture would, however, scarcely be
correct or complete, did we not bear in mind the inner life of
contemporary sovereigns. We need not dwell on the contrasts afforded
in other Peninsular capitals, for these were rather of degree than
character, and would only show us the prevalence here of a gentler
courtesy and more pervading refinement. But we may fairly compare
the palace-pastimes of Urbino with those held in acceptance by
the princes and peerage of northern states, where deep potations
dulled the senses, or brutalised the temper; where intellect rarely
sought a more refined gratification than the monotonous recital
of legendary adulation; and where wit was monopolised by dwarfs
and professional jesters. In order better to preserve the form and
fashion of this pattern for princes, we shall transfer to our pages,
from Castiglione's groupings, some outlines of its chief ornaments,
beginning with himself.[35]
[Footnote 35: Castiglione was related through his mother to several
of the Urbino stars,--the Fregosi, Trivulzio, and Emilia Pia.]
* * * * *
[Illustration: COUNT BALDASSARE CASTIGLIONE.
_Raffaele pinx._ _L. Ceroni sculp._
_From a picture in the Torlonia Gallery, Rome_]
From CASTIGLIONE, in Lombardy, sprang the ancestry of
COUNT BALDASSARE, and among them were numbered not a few
names of note in church and state. His father was no mean soldier,
in times when the captains of Italy bore a European reputation;
his mother, a Gonzaga of the Mantuan house, was descended from the
haughty Farinato degli Uberti, who, when accosted by Dante in _The
Vision_,--
"His heart and forehead there
Erecting, seemed as in high scorn he held
E'en hell."
The Count was born at Casatico, in the Mantuese, on the 6th of
December, 1478.[*36] His education, besides including the various
studies and accomplishments usual to an Italian gentleman of the
fifteenth century, was specially directed to those classical
attainments which entered into the literary pursuits of the age. The
death of his father left him early master of a handsome patrimony,
and he at once embraced that courtier-life for which he was
peculiarly fitted,--a life, which in a land subdivided into petty
sovereignties, constituted the only profession open to civilians of
noble birth and distinguished endowments, and on which his pen was
destined to confer perpetual illustration. After a brief visit to
Milan,[*37] and a short campaign in Naples with his relative the
Marquis Francesco of Mantua, he repaired to Rome in 1503, where, by
discretion and winning address, he quickly gained the new Pontiff's
favour. In Count Castiglione, the penetration of Julius recognised
a fit instrument for promoting his favourite scheme of securing
Urbino to his nephew Francesco Maria della Rovere; and by attaching
him to Guidobaldo, he fixed at that court a friend whose influence
was certain to extend itself, and whose example would benefit his
youthful relation.
[Footnote *36: For the biography of Castiglione, see
MARLIANI in the Cominana edition of the _Opere Volgari_
(Padua, 1733), and SERASSI, in _Poesie volgari e latine del
Castiglione_ (Roma, 1760), as well as the following works:--
MAZZUCHELLI, _Baldassare Castiglione_ (Narducci, Roma).
MARTINATI, _Notizie Stor. bibliogr. intorno al Conte B.C._
(Firenze, 1890). Cf. on this CIAN, in _Giorn. St. della
Lett. It._, XVII., 113.
BUFARDECI, _La vita letter. del c. B.C._ (Ragusa, 1900). Cf.
on this _Giorn. St. della Lett. It._, XXXVIII., 203.
CIAN, _Candidature nuziali di B.C._ (Venezia, 1892, per
nozze Salvioni-Taveggia).]
[Footnote *37: He was educated at Milan, where he probably learned
Latin from Giorgio Merula, and Greek from Demetrio Calcondila, and
cultivated at the same time the _poesia volgare_ (see CIAN,
_Un Cod. ignoto_, cited on p. 44, note *1). While he was still very
young he was attached to the Court of Il Moro. His father died in
1499 from a wound got at the battle of the Taro. He returned to
Casatico on the fall of Sforza, and then joined Marchese Francesco.]
The court of Urbino had already been for half a century the brightest
star in the constellation of Italian principalities, and under
its fostering influence were fully developed those fine qualities
which nature and early training had formed in Castiglione. His
first essay was as captain of fifty men-at-arms, with 400 ducats
of nominal pay, besides allowances; and his earliest exploit in
this new service was the reduction of Forlì, in 1504. The finances
of Guidobaldo were necessarily at a low ebb, and it is amusing to
find Baldassare's frequent lamentations to his mother, over the
arrears of his pay:--"Our doings are jolly but inconsiderable, that
is, on small means; we have never yet seen a farthing, but daily
and most devoutly look for some cash." It was not, however, till
nearly a year later that he received twenty-five ducats to account,
having often in the interval asked her aid, representing himself as
penniless, and living upon credit. In 1509,[*38] after returning
from his mission to England, which peculiarly required the graces
of a finished cavalier, and of which some account will be found in
II. of the Appendix, he attached himself to the Duke's immediate
person during the brief remainder of his life, and when it closed,
was sent to Gubbio, to maintain the interests of the succession, in
event of any popular outbreak. The favour which he had enjoyed from
Guidobaldo was amply continued under his nephew, whose fortunes he
followed during several years, sharing his successes in the field,
and sustaining him under his disgrace at the pontifical court. These
events must, however, be here touched with a flying pen, that we may
not anticipate details on which we shall afterwards have to dwell.
His reward was a grant of Novillara, near Pesaro; and when Francesco
Maria had exchanged sovereignty for exile, he returned to the service
of his natural lord, the Marquis of Mantua, whom he long represented
at the court of Leo X. To this Pontiff, Baldassare had nearly become
related, by a marriage with his niece Clarice de' Medici, which was
greatly promoted by Giuliano, during their residence at Urbino.
The negotiation was, however, broken off in January, 1509, by the
intrigues of her aunt, Lucrezia Salviati, who persuaded her uncle,
the Cardinal Giovanni, that, by bestowing her hand upon Filippo
Strozzi, he would strengthen the interest of his family at Florence.
The match having been, according to Italian usage, an interested
arrangement, its dissolution was borne with great philosophy by the
intended bridegroom; who some seven years later married Ippolita,
daughter of Count Guido Torelli, a celebrated condottiere, by
Francesca, daughter of Giovanni Bentivoglio, Lord of Bologna.[*39]
The ceremony was performed at Mantua, and was celebrated with
tournaments and pompous shows, in which the court and people took a
lively interest. But their happy union was of brief duration. The
Countess died four years after, in childbed of a daughter. Her name
has been embalmed in a beautiful Latin ode, wherein her husband
embodied those laments for his absence which he doubtless had often
heard from her lips, expressing all the tenderness of nuptial love,
and adorning a woman's pathos with a poet's fire. Nothing can be more
beautiful than the allusion to her husband's portrait:--
"Your features portrayed by Raffaele's art
Alone my longings can solace in part:
On them I lavish jests and winning wiles,
As if their words could echo back my smiles;
At times they seem by gestures to respond,
And answer in your wonted accents fond:
Our boy his sire salutes with babbling phrase.
Such are the thoughts deceive my lingering days."
[Footnote *38: He was in England in 1506. Guidobaldo died in 1508. It
was to Duke Francesco he attached himself on his return.]
[Footnote *39: On the various designs for Castiglione's marriage, see
CIAN, _op. cit._, p. 46, note 1.]
In her epitaph, the Count summed up his wife's character and
endowments, with a doubt whether her beauty or her virtue were more
remarkable; to which her eulogist, Steffano Guazzo, has added a third
grace--her learning. During the first anguish of widowhood he was
supposed to have turned his thoughts to ecclesiastical orders; but
whatever views of that nature he may have entertained were speedily
abandoned; and in 1523 we find him again in Lombardy, with his
gallant company, under the banner of the Gonzagas.
On the accession of Clement VII., the Marquis of Mantua again sent
him to represent his interests at Rome, where he was not long in
obtaining from the new Pope the same favour which he had enjoyed
under his uncle, Leo X. His diplomatic talents were now acknowledged
as of the first order; and Clement, foreseeing, perhaps, the
impending difficulties of his position with the Emperor, prevailed
upon Castiglione to accept the nomination of nuncio to Madrid. His
courtly qualities were not less agreeable to Charles V. and the
grandees of Spain than they had been in Italy; and in the romantic
project by which the Emperor proposed to decide in single combat
his unquenchable rivalry with Francis I., the Count was selected as
his second,--an honour which his diplomatic functions prevented his
accepting. Even while the troops and name of Charles were used by
Bourbon to inflict upon the Apostolic See the greatest blow which
its capital had suffered since the temporal power of the Church
rose on the ruins of the Roman empire, the Nuncio was receiving new
honours at Madrid, and was only prevented by his own scruples
from obtaining the temporalities of the bishopric of Avila, one of
the richest in Spain. In this most delicate position he retained
the confidence of his master, who seems to have been satisfied that
to no remissness on his part were owing the horrors of the sack of
Rome. But these miserable results of jealousies between the Pope
and the Emperor, which all his tact and influence were powerless to
remove, rendered his position anything but enviable, and appear to
have preyed alike upon mind and body. He sank under a short illness
at Toledo, on the 2nd of February, 1529,[*40] and was lamented by
Charles as "one of the best knights in the world." A letter of
condolence, written to his mother by Clement, affords ample evidence
that the fruitless results of his diplomacy in Spain had nowise
diminished the Pope's confidence in his good service and attachment
to his person.
[Footnote *40: He died on February 7th, not 2nd.]
[Illustration: _Alinari_
HAIR DRESSING IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
_Detail from the fresco by Pisanello in S. Anastasia of Verona_]
In the _Cortegiano_ of Castiglione we are furnished with an
elaborate, and in the main faithful, delineation of the men, the
manners, and the accomplishments which rendered the court of Urbino
a model for his age, and also with an interesting picture of the
immediate circle which Guidobaldo and his estimable Duchess formed
around them. We have drawn upon it amply for this portion of our
volumes, but the notices which it affords of the Duke are of the
most vague and disappointing character. This deficiency would be
of little consequence, did the accounts which the same author
has left in a Latin letter to Henry VIII. do full justice to his
early patron. But from one whose opportunities of collecting ample
and authentic particulars were unusual, the passing allusions to
many momentous incidents are truly unsatisfactory. His details of
scholarship and accomplishments would be more valuable, if divested
of an air of exaggeration which even solemn asseverations of veracity
scarcely remove. With all their faults, these are preferable to the
compilation of Bembo, to which we shall in due time more particularly
advert. Those who wade through its laboured and redundant expletives
will probably come to the conclusion that Castiglione has preserved
whatever they contain worthy of notice.
The Count was a finished gentleman, in an age when that character
included a variety of mental acquirements, as well as many personal
accomplishments. His verses in Latin and Italian breathe a fine
spirit of poetry; his letters merit a distinguished place as models
of correspondence; his diplomatic address was highly approved by
the sovereigns whom he served, as well as by those to whom he
was accredited; he has been complimented as the delight of his
contemporaries, the admiration of posterity.
* * * * *
GIULIANO DE' MEDICI was third son of Lorenzo the
Magnificent, and was known in the circle of Urbino by the same
appellation. Born in 1478, he passed at that court several years
of his family's exile from Florence; nor was he ungrateful for the
splendid hospitality he there enjoyed, for, while he lived, his
influence with his brother, Leo X., averted those designs against
the dukedom, which were directed to his own aggrandisement. After
the restoration of the Medici, Leo confided to him the government of
Florence, which he endeavoured to administer in the spirit of his
father, and succeeded in gaining the good will of the people. But
the Pope was not satisfied with the re-establishment of his race as
sovereigns of that republic; and the fine qualities and vast ideas
of Giuliano suggested him as a fit instrument of further grasping
schemes. To realise these, Leo coquetted between France and Spain,
and, like his predecessors, sacrificed the peace of Italy. The prizes
which he successively proposed for Giuliano, who, by resigning
Florence into the hands of his nephew Lorenzo, the heir-male of his
house, was free to accept whatever sovereignty might be had, were
the duchy of Milan, a state in Eastern Lombardy and Ferrara, or the
crown of Naples. In June, 1515, the Pontiff conferred on him the
insignia of gonfaloniere and captain-general of the Church; but he
was prevented from active service by a fever which cut him off in
the following March, when only thirty-eight, not without suspicion
of poison at the hands of his nephew Lorenzo. His name is enshrined
in Bembo's prose and Ariosto's verse, whilst his tomb by Michael
Angelo in the Medicean Chapel, which Rogers, with a quaint but happy
antithesis, calls "the most real and unreal thing which ever came
from the chisel," is one of the glories of art.[*41] Shortly before
his death he had married Filiberta of Savoy, whose nephew, Francis
I., created him Duke of Nemours, and, had his life been prolonged,
would probably have aided him to further aggrandisement.
[Footnote *41: Giuliano was not so bad a poet himself. Cf. on this
subject SERASSI, in the Annotazioni to the _Tirsi_ of Castiglione at
stanza 43, and the five sonnets contained in _Cod. Palat._, 206 (_I
Cod. Palat. della Nazionale Centrale di Firenze_, vol. I., fasc. 4),
and the six of _Cod. Magliabech._ II., I., 60 (BARTOLI, _I manoscritti
della Bib. Nazionale di Firenze_, tom. I., p. 38).]
During his residence at Urbino, from an intrigue with Pacifica
Brandani, a person of high rank or base condition, for both extremes
have been conjectured to account for the mystery, there was born to
him a son, who, after being exposed in the streets in 1511, was sent
to the foundling hospital, and baptized Pasqualino. Removed to Rome
and acknowledged in 1513, the child received an excellent education;
and under the munificent patronage of the Medici became Cardinal
Ippolito, whose tastes were more for arms than mass-books, and whose
handsome features and gallant bearing, expressive of his splendid
character, are preserved to us in the Pitti Gallery by the gorgeous
tints of Titian, alone worthy of such a subject.
* * * * *
The next personage of this goodly company was CESARE
GONZAGA, descended from a younger branch of the Mantuan
house, and cousin-german of Count Baldassare, whose quarters he
shared in 1504, when they returned together from the reduction of
Valentino's strongholds in Romagna, where he had the command of fifty
men-at-arms. We know little of him beyond his having been a knight of
St. John of Jerusalem, and ambassador from Leo X. to Charles V.[*42]
Baldi describes him as not less distinguished by merit than blood,
and Castiglione assigns him a prominent place in the lively circle
whose amusements he depicts. He was no unsuccessful devotee of the
muses: a graceful canzonet by him is preserved in the Rime Scelte of
Atanagi, and he shares the credit of the eclogue of _Tirsis_ already
alluded to, and printed among the works of Castiglione. Recommended
by military talent, as well as by diplomatic dexterity and business
habits, he remained in the service of Duke Francesco Maria during his
early campaigns; and in September, 1512, after reducing Bologna to
obedience of the Pope, died there of an acute fever in the flower of
his age.
[Footnote *42: SERASSI, in _Poesie volgari e latine del B.C.
aggiunti alcune Rime e Lettere di Cesare Gonzaga_ (Roma, 1760), gives
a full notice of his life, and CASTIGLIONE, in the Fourth
Book of the _Cortegiano_, speaks affectionately of him.]
* * * * *
The brothers OTTAVIANO and FEDERIGO FREGOSO were
of a Genoese family, who for above a century had distinguished
themselves in the military, naval, and civil service of their
country, and had given several doges to that republic. Their father,
Agostino Fregoso, had married Gentile, natural daughter of Duke
Federigo, and the young men were consequently much brought up at
the court of Urbino, where their sisters Margherita and Costanza
were long in attendance on Duchess Elisabetta. In 1502, Ottaviano
accompanied his uncle on his first return from Venice, and we have
seen him then defending S. Leo during a lengthened siege, sustained
with great gallantry and skill. For that good service he had from
the Duke the countship of Sta. Agatha in the Apennines, afterwards
confirmed to him by an honourable brief of Leo X., and continued to
his descendants, with the title of Vicar, until their extinction in
the third generation.
The latter period of Ottaviano's life was actively passed in his
native city. From 1512 his endeavours were directed to abolish the
French domination maintained at that time by aid of the Adorni,
long hereditary rivals of his family. In this he finally succeeded,
and next year was elected doge, the only one, in Litta's opinion,
"who gloriously manifested a desire for the public weal." He held
that dignity during two years of tranquillity to his country, over
which the benign influence of his mild and impartial sway diffused a
temporary calm, long unknown to its factious inhabitants. So obvious
were these beneficial results, that Francis I., on becoming master
of Genoa in 1515, continued to him a delegated authority as its
governor. But, seven years later, the restless Adorni, having adhered
to the Emperor, aided the Marquis of Pescara to carry the city,
with an army of imperialists, who mercilessly sacked it. Ottaviano
remained a prisoner in the enemy's hands, and died soon after. He is
called in the _Cortegiano_ "a man the most singularly magnanimous
and religious of our day, full of goodness, genius, prudence, and
courtesy; a true friend to honour and virtue, and so worthy of praise
that even his enemies are constrained to extend it to him." The
revolution effected by Andrea Doria, in 1528, forcibly closed the
feuds of these rival families, which, during a century and a half,
had outraged public order, and, both being compelled to change their
name, the Fregosi adopted that of Fornaro.
* * * * *
FEDERIGO FREGOSO, the younger brother of Ottaviano,
born in 1480, was educated for holy orders under the eye of his
maternal uncle Guidobaldo. In the lettered society of Urbino he
perfected himself in various accomplishments, as well as in a
thorough knowledge of the world, which enabled him afterwards to
acquit himself usefully and creditably in many diversified spheres
of action. It was to the great satisfaction of that court that in
April, 1507, Julius II. conferred upon him the archbishopric of
Salerno, a benefice which the opposition of Ferdinand II., founded
on his leaning to French interests, apparently prevented him from
enjoying. His life of literary ease remained uninterrupted until
his brother's elevation as doge of Genoa in 1513, when he hastened
to support him by his counsels and influence. During the next nine
years he alternately commanded the army of the republic, led her
fleet against the Barbary pirates, whom he annihilated in their own
harbours, and represented her as ambassador at the papal court.
The revolution of 1522 compelled him to fly from his native city,
and, taking refuge in France, he received protection and preferment
from Francis I. He returned to Italy in 1529, and was appointed to
the see of Gubbio, where his piety, and devotion to the spiritual
and temporal welfare of his flock, were equally commendable, and
gained him the appellation of father of the poor and refuge of the
distressed. A posthumous imputation of heretical error cast upon his
name had no better foundation than the accident of his discourse
upon prayer happening to be reprinted along with a work of Luther,
which occasioned their being both consigned to the Index. In 1539 he
was made cardinal by Paul III., and died at Gubbio two years after.
His attainments in philology were eminent, including a profound
knowledge of Hebrew, with the study of which he is said to have
consoled his exile in France. Equal cultivation might have gained
him much fame as a poet, but the works he has left are chiefly of
a doctrinal character, and his eminence in the literary circle of
his day rests more upon the correspondence of Bembo, Sadoleto, and
Cortesio than upon his own writings.[*43] By the first of these, the
sparkle of his measured wit, the general moderation and suavity of
his manners, his gentle consideration for other men's habits, his
personal accomplishments, and the zeal displayed in his studies,
are all spoken of with warm admiration. The following letter of
sympathy, addressed to the dowager Duchess by that rhetorician is an
interesting though mannered tribute to his long friendship:--
"My most illustrious and worshipful Lady,
"I had somewhat dried the tears elicited by the death
of our very reverend Monseigneur Fregoso, so suddenly
and inopportunely taken from us, when your Excellency's
autograph letters recalled them to my eyes, and still
more abundantly to my heart, on finding that you condoled
with me so sensibly, and with so much unction. Not only,
indeed, has your Ladyship been bereaved of a rare friend
and relative, a most wise and religious gentleman, but,
as you observe, all Christendom has thus sustained a loss
incomparably great in times so evil and convulsed. Of
myself I shall say little, having already written a few
days ago to your Excellency; and, knowing the affection
and respect mutually existing between you, I appreciate
the weight of your grief from my own. Nor can I doubt
that your Ladyship is aware of my emotion consequent upon
his long kindness towards me, and my respectful but warm
affection for him, sentiments never interrupted by a single
word on either side, from his early youth and my manly age
down to this day. I am further pained to observe that your
Ladyship, lamenting for long years your Lord's death of
happy memory, and now that of the Cardinal, entertains an
impression your life will be short. This is no fruit of
that good sense I have ever noticed in you, and which the
Cardinal himself inculcated; for the more your Ladyship
is left alone to promote the welfare and advantage of the
tender plants by your side, you should be more anxious to
live on; for, while life is given you, you may benefit
their souls by prayers and good deeds, as well as promote
the interests of many who look to your pious spirit for the
prosperity of their lot. Let not, therefore, your Ladyship
speak thus, but bless (_si conforti_) the Heavenly King
that he has so willed it, and conform yourself to his
infallible will and judgment. As to your observation that
I am left to you, in place of this good gentleman, as a
protector, father, and brother, be assured that the day
shall never come when it will not be my desire to dispose
of myself in all respects according to your Excellency's
pleasure, yielding therein not even to your [late] most
reverend brother. Your Ladyship will consider me as truly,
really, and justly your own, to use and dispose of me
unreservedly; and for this end I give, grant, and give over
to you full leave and power, not to be reclaimed by any
change of fortune so long as life remains to me. In return
I shall now pray you to attend to your health, and not only
to live on, but live as happily as you can, thus avenging
yourself of fate, which has done so much to vex you....
From Rome, the 2nd of August, 1541."
[Footnote *43: Cf. TIRABOSCHI, _Storia della Lett. Ital._
(ed. Class. It.), vol. VIII., p. 3.]
* * * * *
PIETRO BEMBO[*44] was born at Venice in 1470, and had the
first rudiments of education at Florence, whither his father Bernardo
was sent as ambassador from the Signory. Having learned Greek at
Messina under Constantin Lascaris, and studied philosophy at Padua
and Ferrara, he devoted himself to literary pursuits. At the court
of the d'Este princes, where he was introduced by his father then
resident as envoy from Venice, he met with the consideration
due to his acquirements, and found a brilliant society, including
Sadoleto, the Strozzi, and Tibaldeo. There he was residing when the
arrival of Lucrezia Borgia threatened to establish for it a very
different character; but the dissolute beauty seems to have left
in the Vatican her abandoned tastes, and adopting those of her new
sovereignty she became distinguished as a patroness of letters.
The intimacy which sprang up between this princess and Bembo has
given rise to some controversy as to the purity of its platonism, a
discussion into which we need not enter. The life of the lady, the
writings of the Abbé, and the morals of their time combine to justify
suspicion, where proofs can hardly be looked for.[*45]
"But if their solemn love were crime,
Pity the beauty and the sage,--
Their crime was in their darkened age!"
[Footnote *44: For a splendid account of Bembo, cf. GASPARY,
_Storia della Lett. Ital._ (Torino, 1891), vol. II., part II., pp.
60-7, and the _Appendice Bibliographica_ there, pp. 284-5.]
[Footnote *45: This is altogether unfair, uncalled for, and untrue.
Dennistoun is not to be trusted where a Borgia is concerned; like
Sigismondo Malatesta they hurt the Urbino dukes too much.]
[Illustration: _Anon. des._ _L. Ceroni sculp._
CARDINAL BEMBO
_From a drawing once in the possession of Cavaliere Agricola in Rome_]
Their correspondence lasted from 1503 to 1516, and many of his
letters are published.[*46] The prevailing tone of these is
rhetorical rather than passionate, and is quite as complimentary
to her virtues as to her beauty. The Ambrosian Library at Milan
possesses nine autograph epistles in Italian and Latin from Lucrezia,
addressed "to my dearest M. Pietro Bembo," with the dates supplied in
his hand. A tress of fair auburn hair, originally tied up with them,
and doubtless that of the Princess, is now shown in the adjoining
museum. That her tastes and accomplishments were not unworthy of such
a friendship appears from many dedications of works to her while
Duchess of Ferrara, including the Asolani of her admirer.
[Footnote *46: Cf. MORSOLIN, _P. Bembo e Lucrezia Borgia_,
in the _Nuova Antologia_ (Roma, 1885), and BEMBO, _Opere_
(Venice, 1729), vol. III., pp. 307-17; also CIAN, in _Giorn.
Stor. della Lett. Ital._, XXIX., 425.]
In 1505 Bembo repaired to Urbino, and sojourned chiefly at that court
during the next six years, where his varied attainments were highly
prized, and where his philological pedantry was probably regarded
as ornamental. Besides enjoying the converse of many congenial
spirits, he there formed a friendship with Giuliano de' Medici, to
which he owed many subsequent honours. Accompanying him to Rome in
1512, he was recommended by him to his brother, the Cardinal, whose
first act on being chosen Pope in the following year, was to name
Bembo his secretary, jointly with his friend Sadoleto. For this
situation he was in many respects well fitted, by the happy union
of great learning with an extensive knowledge of men and manners,
which his residence at Ferrara and Urbino had not failed to impart.
The laxity of his morals, and the paganism of his ideas, were
unfortunately no disqualifications under Leo X. He continued to earn
his master's confidence in the discharge of his regular duties, as
well as in occasional diplomatic missions, but, as Roscoe truly
observes, his success as a negotiator did not equal his ability in
official correspondence. The pensions and benefices which rewarded
his services enriched him for life, and even before that Pontiff's
death he sought at Padua an elegant literary retirement, refusing
from Clement VII., and from the Signory of Venice, all offers of
public employment. He surrounded himself with a most select library,
including many invaluable manuscripts, and a precious collection
of medals and other antiquities, which, with the society of the
learned whom he attracted to his board, gave to his house a wide
celebrity. It was not regarded as at all degraded by the presence
of an avowed mistress at its head, with whom he openly lived for
many years, and had several children; and neither this scandal,
nor the gross indecency of some of his writings, prevented Paul
III. from conferring upon him a scarlet hat in 1539. He is said to
have accepted this dignity unwillingly, but having done so, he had
the good sense at all events to "cleanse the outside of the cup
and platter." His mistress was now dead; he laid aside poetry,
literature, and pagan idioms, and, devoting himself to theological
studies, at which he had formerly sneered in the habit of an abbé,
he entered holy orders at the mature age of sixty-nine. In 1541 he
succeeded Fregoso, his early companion at Urbino, in the bishopric
of Gubbio, to which was added that of Bergamo. How little these
preferments contributed to his comfort appears from a letter to
Veronica Gambara in December, 1543. "Often," he there says, "do I
desire to be the unfettered Bembo of other days, rather than as
I now am. But what better can one make of it? Man's existence,
abounding more in crosses than in gratifying incidents, will have it
so; and wiser he who least desponds and best puts up to necessity,
than one that less conforms to it. Yet I own myself unable to do
this amid these privations, and exiled in a manner from myself.
For verily I am neither at Venice nor Padua, as your Ladyship
supposes, but at my church of Gubbio, a very wild place to say the
truth, and offering few conveniences." He died at Rome six years
after, in his seventy-seventh year, and was buried in the church of
the Minerva, between his patrons Leo X. and Clement VII., where a
modest flag-stone is all the memorial that his natural son and heir,
Torquato, bestowed on one of the most famous men of his age.
* * * * *
At the town of Bibbiena, in the upper Val d'Arno, there were born
about 1470, of humble parentage, two brothers, whose business talents
procured them remarkable advancement. The elder, Pietro Dovizi,
became a secretary of Lorenzo de' Medici, into whose family he
introduced his brother BERNARDO. There this youth gained
for himself so good a reputation, that he was allowed to share the
instructions bestowed upon his patron's younger son Giovanni. A close
intimacy gradually sprang up between these fellow students, which
the similarity of their talents, their tastes, and their pursuits
ripened into lasting friendship. Identifying himself with the
Medici, he followed their fortunes into exile, and attended Giuliano
to Urbino, where he was received with the welcome there extended to
all who, like him, combined the scholar and the gentleman. But this
hospitality met with a very different return from these two guests.
Of Giuliano's generous forbearance to second the evil designs of his
brother, the Pope, against the state which had sheltered him, we have
lately spoken. When we come to narrate the usurpation of the duchy by
the Medici in 1516-17, we shall find in command of their invading army
"That courteous Sir, who honours and adorns
Bibbiena, spreading far and high its fame,"
and who had adopted that town as a substitute for his own
undistinguished patronymic. This ingratitude was the more odious if,
as it was probable, he owed to Guidobaldo, or his nephew, the favour
of Julius II., who first brought him forward in the public service.
At that Pontiff's death he was acting as secretary to his early
friend, the Cardinal de' Medici, and in that capacity was admitted
to the conclave. The intrigues which there effected his patron's
election have given rise to various anecdotes and controversies,
which we pass by with the single remark that, by all accounts, the
address of Dovizi was not unimportant to the success of Leo X. In
return, he was included in the first distribution of scarlet hats
as CARDINAL BIBBIENA. In this enlarged sphere his talents
and tastes had full room for exercise. He was selected for various
important diplomatic trusts, besides filling the offices of treasurer
and legate in the war of Urbino. With his now ample means, his
patronage of letters and arts had ample scope, and he was regarded
as the Maecenas of a court rivalling that of Augustus. Raffaele
enjoyed his particular regard, which he would willingly have proved
by bestowing on him the hand of his niece.
His ambition is alleged to have exceeded even the rise of his
fortunes, and to have prompted him to contemplate, and possibly to
intrigue for, his own elevation to the chair of St. Peter, in the
event of a vacancy. His sudden death in 1520, soon after a residence
of above a year as legate to Francis I. (who had conferred upon him
the see of Constance), when coupled with such reports, was construed
as the effect of poison administered by Leo. Indeed, his friend,
Ludovico Canossa, observed that it was a received dogma among the
French at that very time that every man of station who died in Italy
was poisoned. But such vague conjectures, however specious under
Alexander VI., are less credible in other pontificates; and if the
Cardinal were poisoned, that practice was then by no means limited
to popes. He was an accomplished dilettante when the standards of
beauty were of pagan origin; and his intimacy with Raffaele dated
after the painter's Umbrian inspirations had faded before a gradual
homage to the "new manner." Like his friend Bembo, his morals were
epicurean to the full licence of a dissolute age. His famed comedy
of the _Calandra_,[*47] which was brought out at Urbino in 1508,
and which gave full play to his exquisite sense of the ridiculous,
justifies this charge, and all that we have so often to repeat of the
laxity then prevalent in the most refined Italian circles. A notice
of this, the only important production of his pen, and an account of
its being magnificently performed before Guidobaldo, will be found
in our twenty-fifth chapter. Those who regard the pontificate of Leo
X. as the classic period of Italian letters must feel grateful to
Cardinal Bibbiena for developing a portion of its lustre; the sterner
moralist, who brands its vices, will charge him with pandering
freely to the licence of a court of which he was a notable ornament.
Castiglione tells us that an acute and ready genius rendered him the
delight of all his acquaintance; and Baldi adds, that by practice
in the papal court he so improved that gift, that his tact in
business was unrivalled, to which his mild address, and happy talent
of seasoning the dullest topics with graceful pleasantry, greatly
contributed.
[Footnote *47: For all concerning this play and its performance at
Urbino in 1513, see VERNARECCI, _Di Alcune Rappresentazioni
Drammatiche alla Corte d'Urbino nel 1513_ in _Archivio Storico per
le Marche e per l'Umbria_, vol. III., p. 181 _et seq._ The original
prologue, by Bibbiena, was only recently made known by DEL
LUNGO, _La Recitazione dei Menaechmi in Firenze e il doppio
prologo della Calandria_, in the _Arch. Stor. Ital._, series III.,
vol. XXII., pp. 346-51. Machiavelli's estimate of Bibbiena will be
found in _Lettere Famil. di N. Machiavelli_, Firenze, 1883, p. 304,
"Bibbiena, hora cardinale, in verità ha gentile ingegno, ed è homo
faceto et discreto, et ha durato a' suoi di gran fatica."]
His personal beauty obtained for him the adjunct of _bel_ Bernardo,
and he is represented in the _Cortegiano_ as saying, in reference to
the amount of good looks desirable for a gentleman, "Such grace and
beauty of feature are, I doubt not, mine, in consequence whereof,
as you know, so many women are in love with me; but I have some
misgivings as to my figure, especially these legs of mine, which, to
say the truth, don't seem to me quite what I should like, though I am
well enough satisfied with my bust, and all the rest." This, however,
having been introduced as a jest, may perhaps be understood rather as
complimentary to his person, than as a sarcasm on his vanity.
A contemporary and unsparing pen thus sketches his qualities, in a
manuscript printed by Roscoe, from the Vatican archives:--"He was a
facetious character, with no mean powers of ridicule, and much tact
in promoting jocular conversation by his wit and well-timed jests.
He was a great favourite with certain cardinals, whose chief pursuit
was pleasure and the chase, for he thoroughly knew all their habits
and fancies, and was even aware of whatever vicious propensities they
had. He likewise possessed a singular pliancy for flattery, and for
obsequiously accommodating himself to their whims, stooping patiently
to be the butt of insulting and abusive jokes, and shrinking from
nothing which could render him acceptable to them. He also had much
readiness in council, and was perfectly able seasonably to qualify
his wit with wisdom, or to dissemble with singular cunning." Bembo,
with more partial pen, says in a letter to Federigo Fregoso, "The
days seem years until I see him, and enjoy the pleasing society, the
charming conversation, the wit, the jests, the features, and the
affection of that man."
* * * * *
Among the distinguished literary names which have issued from Arezzo,
several members of the ACCOLTI family were conspicuous in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries. BERNARDO,[*48] of whom we are now to speak,
had a father noted as a historian, a brother and a nephew who reached
the dignity of cardinal, and were remarkable in politics and letters.
He obtained from Leo X. the fief of Nepi, as well as various offices
of trust and emolument; of these, however, his wealth rendered him
independent, enabling him to indulge in a life of literary ease. His
poetical celebrity exceeded that of his contemporaries, and seems
to have been his chief recommendation at the court of Guidobaldo.
There, and at Rome, he was in the habit of reciting his verses in
public to vast audiences, composed of all that was brilliant in
these cultivated capitals. Nor was his popularity limited to a
lettered circle. When an exhibition was announced, the shops were
closed, the streets emptied, and guards restrained the crowds who
rushed to secure places among his audience. This extraordinary
enthusiasm appears the more unaccountable, when we find his printed
poetry characterised by a bald and stilted style, which leaves no
pleasing impression on the reader. The mystery seems explained by a
supposition that his talent lay in extemporary declamation.
[Footnote *48: On the Unico Aretino Bernardo Accolti, see especially
D'ANCONA, _Studi sulla Lett. Ital. de' primi secoli_ (Ancona, 1884),
in the essay, _Del Seicentismo nella poesia cortigiana del Secolo XV._,
pp. 217-18. He professed an extraordinary devotion for the Duchess of
Urbino.]
Instances are far from uncommon in Italy, of similar effects produced
by the _improvisatori_, whose torrent of melodious words, directed
to a popular theme, and accompanied by music and impassioned
gesticulation, hurries the feelings of a sympathising auditory to
bursts of tumultuous applause, whilst on cool perusal, the same
compositions fall utterly vapid on the reader. Be this as it may,
the success of Accolti had the common result of superficial powers,
and so egregiously inflated his vanity, that he assumed as his usual
designation "the unique Aretine," by which he is always accosted
in the _Cortegiano_. Nine years later we find him devoting to
Duchess Elisabetta attentions which were attributed to a passion
more powerful than gratitude, but which, knowing as he well did,
her immaculate modesty, could only have been prompted by despicable
vanity, and hence exposed him to keen ridicule.
* * * * *
To few of the pedigrees illustrated by Sansovino is there attributed
a more remote origin, or a brighter illustration, than to that of
CANOSSA.[*49] A younger son of the family was COUNT LUDOVICO, who,
being cousin-german of Castiglione's mother, was perhaps by this
means brought to Urbino, and thence recommended to Julius II., under
whose patronage he entered upon an ecclesiastical career. From Leo
X. he obtained the see of Tricarico, and was sent by him as nuncio
to England and France, a service which earned him promotion to the
bishopric of Bajus. Adrian VI. and Clement VII. continued him in this
post; and during a long residence at the French court, he entirely
gained the confidence and favour of Francis I. Many of his diplomatic
letters are printed in various collections; and to him is addressed
Count Baldassare's curious description of the performance of the
_Calandra_, at Urbino.
[Footnote *49: For Canossa, cf. LUZIO E RENIER, _op.
cit._, p. 87, and especially ORTI-MANARA, _Intorno alla
vita ed alle gesta del Co. Lodovico di Canossa_ (Verona, 1845), and
CAVATTONI, _Lettere scelte di Mons. L. di Canossa_ (Verona,
1862).]
* * * * *
ALESSANDRO TRIVULZIO was nephew of Gian Giacomo, the
distinguished Milanese general of that name, and himself a famous
captain in the service of Florence, and of Francis I. Sigismondo
Riccardi, surnamed the Black, Gasparo Pallavicini, Pietro da
Napoli, and Roberto da Bari,--the last of whom died in the camp of
Duke Francesco Maria, in 1510,--are mentioned among the military
notorieties of the Feltrian court. Giovanni Cristoforo, the sculptor,
may be added to the list of its literary dilettanti; and among its
musical ornaments were Pietro Monti and Terpandro, with Niccolo
Frisio, a German, long resident in the land of song, whose exertions
were often in request by Monti and Barletta, both dancers of note.