Emilia Pia--The _Cortegiano_--Death of Duke Guidobaldo,
succeeded by Francesco Maria della Rovere.
Such were the eminent men, with whom Guidobaldo is described in the
_Cortegiano_ as living in easy but dignified familiarity, joining
their improving and amusing conversation, or admiring their dexterity
in exercises which his broken constitution no longer permitted him
to share. Thus passed the days in the palace; and, when the Duke was
constrained by his infirmities to seek early repose, the evenings
were spent in social amusements, over which the Duchess gracefully
presided, with her ladies Margherita and Costanza Fregoso, the Duke's
nieces, Margherita and Ippolita Gonzaga, the Signor Raffaella, and
Maria Emilia Pia.
[Illustration: ELISABETTA GONZAGA, DUCHESS OF URBINO
_From a lead medal by Adriano Fiorentino in the British Museum_]
[Illustration: EMILIA PIA
_From a medal by Adriano Fiorentino in the Vienna Museum_]
Of the social position of Italian women in this century[*50] we
may gather many particulars from Ludovico Dolce's _Instituto delle
Donne_: for although, like most writers on similar themes, he
represents them "not as they are, but as they ought to be," still,
knowing the then received standard of female perfection, we can form
a pretty accurate estimate of their actual qualities. His views
as to education are exceedingly orthodox. The Holy Scriptures,
with the commentaries of the fathers, Ambrose, Augustin, and
Jerome, ought to be day and night before a girl, and suffice for
her religious and moral discipline. She should be familiar with her
own language and with Latin, but Greek is an unnecessary burden.
For mental occupation, Plato, Seneca, and such other philosophers
as supply sound moral training are excellent, as well as Cicero for
bright examples and wholesome counsels. History being the teacher
of life, all classical historians are commended, but the Latin
poets are vetoed as unfit for honest women, except most of Virgil
and a few selections from Horace. Many modern Latin writers are
commended, especially the _Christeida_ of Sannazaro and Vida, but
all such prurient productions in Italian as Boccaccio's novels are
to be shunned like venomous reptiles. On the other hand, the poetry
of Petrarch and Dante is extolled beyond measure, the former as
embodying with singular beauty an instance of the purest and most
honourable love, the latter as an admirable portraiture of all
Christian philosophy. Yet such literary occupations should never
intrude upon more important matters, such as prayer, nor upon the
domestic duties of married women.
[Footnote *50: The books, pamphlets, poems, and stories, both
contemporary and subsequent, dealing with the position, beauty,
learning, dress, etc., of women would fill a library. I shall content
myself by naming a very few among them under a few headings for
the entertainment of the reader. The list of works I give is, of
course, in no sense a bibliography. The best source is _Castiglione_
himself--for the sixteenth century and for court life, at any rate.
But the picture he paints, remarkable as it is, was by no means
altogether realistic, as a consultation with the following works will
show. I have included a few dealing with earlier times, and have only
quoted works with which I am familiar.
GENERAL LIFE.
CECCHI, _La Donna e la famiglia Italiana del Secolo XIII. al
sec. XVI._, in _Nuova Antologia_ (new series), vol. XI., fasc. 19-20.
FRATI, _La Donna Italiana secondo i più recenti studi_
(Torino, 1889).
VARCONI, _La Donna Italiana descritta da Scrittrici Italiane
in una serie di Conferenze_ (Firenze, 1890).
VELLUTI, _Cronica Domestica_ (Firenze, 1887).
DAZZI, _Alcune lettere familiari del sec. XIV._ in
_Curiosità Letterarie_, fasc. XC. (Bologna, 1868).
ANON., _Difesa delle Donne_ (Bologna, 1876).
BIAGI, _La vita Italiana nel Rinascimento_ (Milano, 1897).
BIAGI, _La vita privata dei Fiorentini_ (Milan, 1893).
DEL LUNGO, _La Donna Fiorentina del buon tempo antico_
(Firenze, 1906).
GUASTI, _Lettere di una gentildonna Fiorentina del sec. XV._
(Firenze, 1877).
LIBORIO AZZOLINI, _La Compiuta Donzella di Firenze_
(Palermo, 1902).
ZDEKAUER, _La vita privata dei Senese_ (Conf. d. Com. Sen.
di St. Pat.), (Siena, 1897).
CASANOVA, _La Donna Senese del Quattrocento nella vita
privata_ (Siena, 1895).
FRATI, _La vita privata in Bologna_ (Bologna, 1900).
BELGRANO, _La vita privata Genovese_ (Genoa, 1866).
BRAGGIO, _La donna Genovese del sec. XV._, in _Giornale
Linguistico_, Ann. XII. (1885).
MOLMENTI, _St. di Venezia nella Vita Privata_ (Torino, 1885).
CECCHETTI, _La donna nel Medio Evo a Venezia_ in Arch. Ven.
Ann., XVI. (1886).
THEIR BEAUTY AND ADORNMENT.
In Florence, Siena, and Venice certainly there were regulations of
the fashions; but not in Naples.
FIRENZUOLA, The two discourses, _Delle bellezze delle donne_
and _Della perfetta bellezza d'una donna_, in ed. Bianchi, _Le Opere_
(Firenze, 1848).
MORPURGO, _El costume de le donne con un capitolo de le
XXXIII. bellezze_ (Firenze, 1889).
ZANELLI, in _Bolletino di St. Pistoiese_, vol. I., fasc.
II., p. 50 _et seq._
ARETINO, _Il Mareschaio_, atto ii., sc. 5, and _I
Ragionamenti_.
CENNINO CENNINI, _Trattato della Pittura_, cap. clxi.
Warning against the general use of cosmetics.
L.B. ALBERTI, _Opere Volgari_ (Firenze, 1849) (Del Governo
della Famiglia), vol. V., pp. 52, 75, 77. How a wife ought and ought
not to adorn herself.
FRANCO SACCHETTI, _Novelle_, 99, 136, 137, 177. "Formerly
the women wore their bodices cut so open that they were uncovered to
beneath their armpits! Then with one jump, they wore their collars
up to their ears! And these are all outrageous fashions. I, the
writer, could recite as many more of the customs and fashions which
have changed in my days as would fill a book as large as this whole
volume," etc. etc., with a long description of the dress of the women
of his time. Consult all the novelists.
DANTE, in _Il Paradiso_, XV.
GIO. VILLANI, _Cronaca_, lib. X., caps. x., xi., and cl.
MATT. VILLANI, _Cronaca_, lib. I., cap. iv.
BOCCACCIO, _De Casibus virorum illustrium_, lib. I., cap.
xviii. He gives a list of the arts of the toilet of women.
BIAGI, _Due corredi nuziali fiorentini_ (1320-1493). (Per
nozze Corazzini-Benzini, Firenze, 1899.)
CARNESECCHI, _Donne e lusso a Firenze nel secolo XVI._
(Firenze, 1903).
ALLEGRETTO, in _Muratori R.I.S._, XXIII., col. 823.
_Diario Ferrarese_, in _Muratori R.I.S._, XXIV., cols. 297, 320, 376
_et seq._, speaks of the German fashions--"Che pareno buffoni tali
portatori."
GENTILE SERMINI, _Le Novelle_ (Livorno, 1874), Nov. XXI.
MARCHESINI, _Quello si convenga a una donna che abbia
marito_ (Firenze, 1890, per nozze). And _Dialogo della bella creanza
delle donne_ (Milano, 1862), pp. 30, 31.
ON WATERS FOR THE FACE, AND PERFUMES.
FALLETTI FOSSATTI, _Costumi Senesi_ (Siena, 1882), p. 133
_et seq._
PELISSIER, _Le Trousseau d'une Siennoise en 1450_, in _Boll.
Senese_, vol. VI., fasc. 1.
SANSOVINO, _Venetia città nobilissima e singolare_ (1663),
fol. 150 _et seq._
YRIARTE, _La vie d'un Patricien de Venise au 16me siècle_
(Les femmes à Venise) (Paris, 1874), and see rare authorities there
quoted. In Venice, the prescribed bridal dress seems to have been
that of Titian's Flora--the hair fell free on the shoulders. The
_Proveditori alle Pompe_ were established in Venice in 1514.
On the whole subject see, for earlier time, HEYWOOD, _The
Ensamples of Fra Filippo_ (Siena, 1901), cap. iii.; and for later
time, BURCKHARDT, _op. cit._, vol. II., part V., caps., ii.,
iv., v., vii.]
It is unnecessary to follow our author into abstract qualities and
common-place graces, but the emphasis with which certain things
are decried affords a fair presumption of their prevalence. Thus,
excessive luxury of dress, and, above all, painting the face and
tinging the hair, are attacked as impious attempts to improve upon
God's own handiwork. In like manner, the assiduity with which modesty
and purity of mind and person are inculcated confirms what we
otherwise know of the unbridled licentiousness then widely diffused
over society. Gaming of every sort is scouted; music and dancing are
set down as matters of indifference.
In regard to marriage, the selection of a husband is left as matter
of course to the parents, since a girl is necessarily too ignorant
of the world to choose judiciously for herself; a reason resulting
from the education and social circumstances of young women in Italy,
which sufficiently accounts for this apparent solecism continuing in
the present day. A prolix exposition of the principles which ought to
guide fathers in their discharge of this delicate duty may be summed
up in the very pertinent remark, that few prudent damsels would
rather weep in brocaded silks than smile in homely stuffs.
But it is time to return from this digression to the LADY
EMILIA PIA, who merits more special notice in a sketch of the
Montefeltrian court. She was sister of Giberto Pio, Lord of Carpi in
Lombardy, and wife of Antonio, natural brother of Duke Guidobaldo.
After losing her husband in the flower of youth, she remained at
Urbino, and became one of its prime ornaments, not only by her
personal attractions, but by a variety of more lasting qualities.
The part she sustains in the conversation of the _Cortegiano_ amply
evinces the charm which attached to her winning manners, as well as
the ready tact wherewith she played off an extent of knowledge and
graceful accomplishment rare even in that age of female genius. She
was at all times ready and willing to lead or second the learned
or sportive pastimes by which the gay circle gave zest to their
intercourse and polish to their wit, and thus was of infinite use to
the Duchess, whose acquirements were of a less sparkling quality, and
of whom she was the inseparable companion. Still more singular and
proportionately admired were the decorum that marked her conduct in
circumstances of singular difficulty and the virtue which maintained
a spotless reputation amid temptations and lapses regarded as venial
in the habits of a lax age. Her death occurred about 1530,[*51]
and an appropriate posthumous tribute was paid to such graces and
virtues in this medallion bearing her portrait, with the Latin motto,
"To her chaste ashes," on the reverse. Even the luscious verses in
which Bembo and Castiglione sang the seductions of the Feltrian
court assumed a loftier tone in their tribute to her heart of
adamant, which, "pious by name[52] and cruel by nature," and spurning
the designs of Venus upon its wild freedom, would impart its own
severity generally to the slaves of the goddess. Yet it was under the
guidance of this able mistress of the revels, that joy and merriment
supplanted rigorous etiquette in the palace of Urbino, where
frankness was restrained from excess by the Duchess' example, and
where all were free to promote the common entertainment as their wit
or fancy might suggest. Among the sports of these after-supper hours,
Castiglione enumerates questions and answers, playful arguments
seasoned with smart rejoinders, the invention of allegories and
devices, repartees, mottoes, and puns, varied by music and dancing.
[Footnote *51: She died in 1528, not as Serassi, whom Dennistoun
follows, says, in 1530.]
[Footnote 52: Her maiden surname, Pio, was habitually punned into
Pia.]
[Illustration: _Alinari_
HAIR DRESSING IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
_After a picture by Bissolo_]
Such was the mode of life described in the _Cortegiano_, with ample
details, which we shall attempt slightly to sketch. The scene is
laid in the evenings immediately succeeding the visit of Julius II.
The usual circle being assembled in her drawing-room, the Duchess
desired Lady Emilia to set some game a-going.[*53] She proposed
that every person in turn should name a new amusement, and that the
one most generally approved should be adopted.[54] This fancy was
sanctioned by her mistress, who delegated to her full authority to
enforce it upon all the gentlemen, but exempted the ladies from
competition. The courtiers so called upon thus acquitted themselves
of their task. Gaspar Pallavicino suggested that each should state
the peculiar excellence and special defect which he would prefer
finding in the lady of his love. Cesare Gonzaga, assuming that all
had some undeveloped tendency to folly, desired that every one should
state on what subject he would rather play the fool. Fra Serafino
sneeringly proposed that they should successively say why most women
hate rats and like snakes. The Unico Aretino, whose turn came next,
thought that the party might try one by one to guess at the occult
meaning of an ornament, in the form of an S, worn by the Duchess
on her forehead. The flattery with which this odd suggestion was
spiced, gave a clue to the Lady Emilia, who exclaimed that, none but
himself being competent, he ought to solve the mystery; on which,
after a pause of apparent abstraction, he recited a sonnet on that
conceit, giving an air of impromptu to what was, in fact, a studied
composition clumsily introduced. Ottaviano Fregoso wished to know on
what point each would be most willing to undergo a lover's quarrel.
Bembo, refining on this idea, was of opinion that the question ought
to be whether the cause of quarrel had best originate with oneself
or with one's sweetheart--whether it was most vexatious to give or
receive the offence. Federigo Fregoso, premising his conviction that
nowhere else in Italy were there found such excellent ingredients of
a court, from the sovereign downwards, proposed that one chosen from
the party should state the qualities and conditions required to form
A PERFECT COURTIER, it being allowed to the others to object
and redargue in the manner of a scholastic disputation.
[Footnote *53: Cf. _Il Cortegiano_, lib. I., cap. vi.]
[Footnote 54: DOLCE, in the _Instituto delle Donne_,
mentions a lady who, being asked to name some pastime at a party,
sent for a basin and towel, that all of her sex might wash their
faces, she being the only one present without paint.]
This idea being approved by the Duchess and her deputy, the latter
called upon Count Ludovico Canossa to begin the theme. Its discussion
(our observations upon which must be reserved for a future portion
of these pages) is represented by Castiglione as having been
prolonged during successive evenings; Federigo Fregoso, Giuliano the
Magnificent, Cesare Gonzaga, Ottaviano Fregoso, and Pietro Bembo,
following the cue with which Canossa had opened. At the close of the
fourth sitting, an argument on love was interrupted by daylight.
"Throwing open the eastern windows of the palace, they saw the summit
of Monte Catri already tipped with rosy tints of the radiant Aurora,
and all the stars vanished except Venus, the mild pilot of the sky,
who steers along the limits of night and day. From these far-off
peaks there seemed to breathe a gentle breeze, that tempered the
air with bracing freshness, and, from the rustling groves of the
adjacent hills, began to awaken sweet notes of wandering birds." The
same golden sun continues to dawn upon Urbino, but, ere many months
had passed, the bright galaxy of satellites that circled round Duke
Guidobaldo was scattered, for their guiding star had gone to another
sphere.
* * * * *
During fifteen years his fine form and robust constitution had been
wasted by gout, for such was the name given to a disease hereditary
in his family. Physiologists may decide upon the accuracy of
this term, and say why, in an age of incessant exposure to severe
exercise under all weather, and when luxuries of the table were
little known or appreciated, the ravages of that malady should
have been more virulent than in our days of comparative indulgence
and effeminacy.[55] At first he struggled against the symptoms,
continuing his athletic sports; but in a few years he was reduced to
a gentle pace on horseback, or to a litter. At length, about the time
of which we are now speaking, his intervals of ease rarely extended
to a month, during which he was carried about in a chair; but, when
under a fit, was confined to bed in great agony. Yet, ever tended by
his wife, his fortitude never forsook him, and his mind, gathering
strength in the decay of nature, sought occupation in the converse
of those able men who made his palace their home, or, in the moments
of most acute suffering, fell back for distraction upon the vast
stores of his prodigious memory, whiling away long hours of agony by
repeating passages from his favourite authors. The palliations of
medicine lost their effects; his enfeebled frame became more and more
sensitive to acute pain; in his emaciated figure few could recognise
the manly beauty of his youthful person; life had prematurely become
to him an irksome burden.
[Footnote 55: Sanuto strangely ascribes his death to _mal Francese_,
an example of the way in which that ill-understood scourge was then
assumed as the origin of many fatal maladies.]
There occurred in Italy at this period a very unnatural change of
the seasons. On the 7th of April, 1505, snow fell at Urbino to the
depth of a foot, and scarcity prevailed, followed in June by a
murrain among cattle. From September, 1506, until January, 1508,
it is said that no rain or snow fell, except during a few days of
violent torrents in April. The fountains failed, the springs became
exhausted, the rivers dried up, grain was hand-ground for want of
water. The crops were scarcely worth reaping, the pastures were
scorched, and the fruitless vines shrivelled under an ardent sun.[56]
[Footnote 56:
"Una stagion fu già, che sì il terreno
Arse, che 'l sol di nuovo a Faetonte
De' suoi corsier parea aver dato il freno:
Secco ogni pozzo, secco era ogni fonte,
Gli stagni, i rivi, e i fiumi più famosi,
Tutti passar si potean senza ponte."
ARIOSTO, _Satira_ iii.
*Cf. MADIAI, _Diario_, in _Arch. cit._, vol. _cit._, p. 455.]
On the other hand, December was turned into July; the orchards
bore a second crop of apples, pears, plums, and mulberries, from
which were prepared substitutes for wine, then worth a ducat the
_soma_; strawberries and blackberries ripened in the wood-lands,
and luxuriant roses were distilled in vast quantities at Christmas.
With the new year things underwent a sudden revolution, and January
set in with unwonted rigour. The delicacy of the Duke's now reduced
frame rendered him peculiarly sensitive to the atmospheric phenomena.
The long drought had especially affected all gouty patients, and
the severe weather so aggravated his sufferings that, on the 1st
of February, he was, by his own desire, removed in a litter to
Fossombrone. That town is situated on the north side of the Metauro,
lying well to the sun, and little above the sea level, from which
it is distant about fifteen miles, and has thus the most genial
spring climate in the duchy. At first the change was in all respects
beneficial, and revived the hopes of an attached circle who had
accompanied the Duchess. But in April winter returned, and with it a
relapse into the worst symptoms, which soon carried him off. Although
his great sufferings were borne with extraordinary fortitude, he
looked forward to death as an enviable release; and when his last
hour approached, he regarded it with calm resignation. To his
chaplain he confessed, as one whose worldly account was closed; and
he acquitted himself of those testamentary duties to his church and
to the poor, which his creed considers saving works; directing at
the same time the disposal of his body. Then calling to his bedside
(where the Duchess and Amelia were in unwearied attendance) his
nephew the Lord Prefect, Castiglione, Ottaviano Fregoso, and other
dear friends, he addressed to them words of consolation. Their hopes
for his recovery he mildly reproved, adapting to himself the lines of
Virgil:--
"Me now Cocytus bounds with squalid reeds,
With muddy ditches, and with deadly weeds,
And baleful Styx encompasses around
With nine slow-circling streams the unhappy ground."[57]
[Footnote 57:
"Me circum limus niger et deformis arundo
Cocyti, tardaque palus, inamabilis unda,
Alligat, et novies Styx interfusa coercet."
VIRG. _Georg._ iv. 478.]
To the Duchess and to his nephew were chiefly addressed his parting
injunctions, the object of which was to recommend them to each
other's affection and confidence, to comfort them under their
approaching bereavement, and to counsel implicit obedience on the
part of Francesco Maria towards his uncle the Pope. It seems enough
to allude thus generally to his closing scene, for the accounts which
we have from Castiglione and Federigo Fregoso, one a spectator, the
other a dear friend, who quickly reached the spot, are unfortunately
disguised in Ciceronianisms, necessarily inappropriate to a Christian
death-bed, and in which the spirit of his words has probably
evaporated.[58] We may, however, trust that
"They show
The calm decay of nature, when the mind
Retains its strength, and in the languid eye
Religious holy hope kindles a joy;"
for we have seen him neither indifferent nor neglectful of the
observances dictated by his Church, and, ere the vital spark fled, he
received its rites and besought the prayers of the bystanders. His
passage from mortality was peaceful, and death, which he considered
desirable, spread like a gentle slumber over his stiffening limbs
and composed features. At midnight of the 11th of April his spirit
was released from its shattered tenement.[*59] Over the agonised
and uncontrolled lamentations of the Duchess we draw a veil; the
description of such scenes must ever degenerate into common-place
generalities. She felt and suffered as was natural to the best wives
prematurely severed from the most attached of husbands.
[Footnote 58: What are we to make of the words of Fregoso (as
preserved by Bembo)--an archbishop who, in describing to the Pope his
uncle's death, mentions his partaking of the last sacraments from the
Bishop of Fossombrone, in these terms, "Quiquidem Deos illi superos
atque manes placavit"? Such idioms will not bear retranslation. The
expression employed by Castiglione, though tinged with the cold
formality of classicism, is less startling: "Ut ungeretur more sanctæ
matris ecclesiæ rogavit." But a pagan taint may often be sadly traced
upon the devotion of this age. In the first volume of Vaissieux's
_Archivio Storico d'Italia_, the last hours of a convict, condemned
at Florence in 1500, are thus narrated by an eye-witness:--Pietro
Paolo Boscoli, a political reformer of the school of Savonarola,
thirsted in his dying moments after the living waters of evangelical
truth, and sought some better solace than the cold formalities of
an ordinary _viaticum_. Refusing to be shriven by any but a friar
of St. Mark's, he adjured an attendant friend to aid in getting
Brutus out of his head, in order that he might make a Christian
end. Nor was this heterodoxy exclusively Italian. Cervantes, in a
recently recovered fragment, _El Buscapié_, says, "I dislike to see
the graceful and pious language befitting the Christian muse mingled
with the profane phraseology of heathenism. Who can be otherwise
than displeased to find the name of God, of the Holy Virgin, and
of the Prophets, in conjunction with those of Apollo and Daphne,
Pan and Syrinx, Jupiter and Europa, Vulcan, Cupid, Venus, and
Mars?"--_Bentley's Mag._, XXIV., p. 203.]
[Footnote *59: He died, says the anonymous author of the _Diario_
cited above (note *, p. 80), between the fourth and fifth hour of the
night, that is, between 10.30 and 11.30 p.m., and it was Tuesday. The
news came to Urbino on the 10th, so, according to the Anonimo, he
died on the 9th.]
Since the Duke's departure to Fossombrone, his state had been
administered by the Duchess and Francesco Maria. The former, alive to
the duties committed to her, wrote thus to the priors of Urbino, when
the danger became imminent.
"Worthy and well-beloved,
"The illness of the most illustrious Duke our consort
having so increased that the physicians, though not
despairing, doubt of his recovery, we have thought fit,
by these presents, to exhort and charge you that you be
watchful and diligent in regard to whatever may occur,
so as to maintain the tranquillity of your citizens; who
having, in the recent unhappy times, ever maintained their
faith unshaken towards us and our said consort the Duke, we
desire that they shall, at the present juncture, persevere
in the like mind, whereby we may ascertain the worth of
those really deserving. At the same time, if, as we do
not believe, any riotous and ill-conducted persons should
attempt or plot any disorders, we have taken such steps
and means as must put down and chastise their insolence,
and leave them a signal example to others. And, as it is
necessary to provide against such a contingency, we desire
that you forthwith let this be understood in the most
fitting manner, it being our intention to maintain the
peace in this our well-beloved city.
"From Fossombrone, 1508.
"ELISABETTA GONZAGA, DUCISSA URBINI."
Upon hearing from Ludovico Canossa that the Duke's illness approached
a fatal termination, Julius had, on the 13th, instructed Federigo
Fregoso to repair to Fossombrone with his own physician, Archangelo
of Siena, and, after administering such aid and consolation as the
case might require, to take fit measures for insuring the quiet
succession of Francesco Maria della Rovere in the dukedom, and for
the interim administration of affairs by the Duchess. But, ere they
arrived, mourning had succeeded to suspense, and their sympathies
were demanded for the widowed Duchess, who had passed two days
since her bereavement in utter despair, refusing food and sleep. So
entirely, indeed, were the functions of life suspended, that for some
time it was feared the vital spark had followed its better half, and
it was very long ere her ghastly and spectral form gradually resumed
the aspect of an existence in which all interest was for her gone
by, and which, but for the representations of her friends, she would
have wished to quit.[*60]
[Footnote *60: Capilupi, whom Isabella d'Este had sent to Urbino,
describes in a long letter the mourning and grief he found there.
It is too long to quote. Cf. LUZIO and RENIER, _Mantova e Urbino_
(Torino, 1893), p. 185.]
The body was borne on shoulders to Urbino during the following night,
surrounded by multitudes carrying torches, their numbers swollen, as
they advanced, by influx of the country population through which the
funeral cortège passed. Castiglione, who accompanied it, describes
the night as one of mysterious dread, in which the wailing of the
people ever and anon was broken upon by piercing shrieks echoed
from the mountains, and repeated by the distant howling of alarmed
watch-dogs. The inhabitants of the capital issued forth to meet the
melancholy procession, headed by their clergy, the monastic orders,
and the confraternities. In the great hall of the palace the Duke
lay in state, during two days, upon a magnificent catafalque with
its usual but incongruous decorations of sable velvet, gold damask,
and blazing lights. His dress is minutely described by the anonymous
diarist as consisting of a doublet of black damask over crimson hose,
a black velvet hat over a skull-cap of black taffetas fringed with
gold, and black velvet slippers; to which was added the mantle of the
Garter, in dark Alexandrine velvet, with a hood of crimson velvet,
lined with white silk damask.
[Illustration: _R. Tammé_
PORTRAIT OF A LADY IN MOURNING
_After the picture by Pordenone in the Dresden Gallery_]
But, with that strange blending of opposite feelings which marks
the visits of death to regal halls, the mourners were soon summoned
from this vision of departed greatness to contribute far other
honours to its living representative. One day having been devoted
to lament the general loss, the Lord Prefect, Francesco Maria,
repaired, with the principal authorities, to the cathedral, and,
after solemn mass, published the will, by which his uncle named him
heir and successor to his states and dignities, nominating his widow
to the regency during the nonage of his heir, and leaving her
Castel Durante, with a provision of 14,000 ducats, besides her own
dowry of 18,000. During the afternoon succeeding the proclamation of
Francesco Maria, he visited the Duchess, who was "transfixed with
grief." He was accompanied by a small deputation of citizens, to
offer their duty and condolence, and receive her tearful thanks for
the happy accomplishment of her husband's testamentary intentions,
with entreaties that they would transfer to his successor the loyal
affection they had borne to their late sovereign. About four o'clock
a funeral service was performed in the great hall, from whence,
at eight, the body was conducted by an again mournful host, to
remain for the night in the church of Sta. Chiara. Next day it was
transported, during continual rain, to the Zoccolantine church, in
the groves around which he had been surprised by the first aggression
of Cesare Borgia. In its small nave his remains were entombed
opposite those of his father; and over both there were subsequently
placed two modest monuments in black and white marble, surmounted by
busts of the Dukes. The inscription to Guidobaldo is to this effect:
"To Guidobaldo, son of Federigo, third Duke of Urbino, who, emulating
even in minority his father's fame, maintained his authority with
manly energy and success. In youth he triumphed over adverse fortune.
Vigorous in mind, although enfeebled by disease, he cultivated
letters instead of arms; he protected men of general eminence instead
of mere military adventurers; and he ameliorated the commonwealth by
the arts of peace, until his court became a model to all others. He
died in the year of God MDVIII., of his age XXXVI."
The solemn obsequies befitting sovereign personages, including six
hundred masses, were performed on the 2nd of May in the cathedral,
which was hung and carpeted with black, and illuminated with five
hundred wax-lights. In the nave was an immense cenotaph, decorated
with representations of the most important events of the Duke's
life, his standards and insignia, with suitable legends, and on
the bier, in place of the body, lay his robes of the Garter. The
function was attended by the court, five bishops, the clerical
dignitaries, with deputies from all parts of the duchy, and most of
the Italian states, as well as the principal inhabitants. Before the
elevation of the host, a funeral oration was recited by his former
preceptor Odasio, in which the wonted wordiness of such compositions
is redeemed by a certain fire of eloquence, mellowed by occasional
touches of fine sentiment, rendering it the best part of Bembo's
compilation regarding Guidobaldo. Its excellence, and the vast
concourse of spectators, estimated at ten thousand, contributed to
make this the most notable ceremony of the sort then remembered in
Italy. On the following day, the oaths of allegiance to the new Duke
were taken, and his predecessor was consigned over to history.
* * * * *
The character of the last Montefeltrian Duke need scarcely be told
to those who have followed this sketch of his life. Gifted by nature
with talents of a very high order, he cultivated them in early youth
with an application rare indeed in his exalted rank, and a success
which his marvellous memory tended alike to facilitate and to render
permanent. In times singularly productive of military heroes and
men of letters, he emulated the celebrity of both, and, had health
permitted him a prolonged and active career, he might, in the
ever-recurring battle-fields of Italy, have equalled the renown left
by his father and earned by his successor.
When disabled from the profession of arms, he fell back with fresh
zest upon his youthful studies, and drew around him men whose
converse harmonised with these tastes. To say that his learning
was unequalled among the princes of his day is no mean compliment.
His palace became the asylum of letters and arts, over which he
gracefully presided. Aldus Manutius, in dedicating to him editions
of Thucydides and Xenophon, addressed him in Greek, of which he was
so perfect a master as to converse in it with ease. To the latter of
these historians the Duke was very partial, calling him the siren of
Attica. Among his other favourite classics, Castiglione names Lucian,
Demosthenes, and Plutarch; Livy, Tacitus, Quintus Curtius, Pliny,
and the Orations of Cicero. Most of these he knew intimately, and
recited entire passages without reference to the book. But besides
these selected authors, he is said to have made himself acquainted
with almost every branch of human knowledge then explored. Nor were
religious studies omitted. The history, rites, and dogmas of the
Church are mentioned among the topics familiar to his versatile
genius; St. Chrysostom and St. Basil were among his chosen books. To
enumerate all the contemporary authors who shared his patronage might
be irksome, but we shall introduce one letter addressed by him to
Paolo Cortesio.
"Most reverend and well-beloved Father in Christ:
"I have received your letter, with your Treatise on
the dignity of Cardinal, which, being full of noble
matter gracefully and eloquently handled, has been most
acceptable, and I have looked over it with much pleasure. I
therefore offer you my best thanks for it, and for having
mentioned me in that work; and if I can do anything for
you, let me know it, that I may have an opportunity of
showing my gratitude for your merits and your services in
my behalf. In October next I mean, God willing, to return
to Rome, and I shall hold myself prompt to forward your
interests there, or wherever else I may chance to be.
Urbino, 18th of June, 1506.
"GUIDO UBALDO, DUKE OF URBINO, and Captain-General
of the Holy Roman Church."[61]
[Footnote 61: Bibl. Magliab. Class. viii., No. 68, p. 132.]
The great endowments he thus admirably developed were united
with a disposition represented as nearly perfect, at all events
as exempted from the failings most perilous to princes. The bad
passions which opportunity and indulgence have, in all ages,
rendered peculiarly fatal to those whose will is law, were almost
strangers to his breast. Prone to no vicious indulgences, he was
ever kind and considerate, as well as just and clement. He may, in
short, be regarded as that rarest of all characters, an unselfish
despot,--despot as regarded the possession of absolute power, but not
so in its use. The nobility had nothing to dread from his jealousy
or his licentiousness; the citizens were spared oppressive imposts;
the poor looked up to him as a sympathising protector. In short, we
may pronounce him a magnanimous, a most accomplished, and, so far as
erring man is permitted to judge, a blameless prince.
Nor was the impression left upon the public mind by the glories of
Urbino under Guidobaldo of a transient character. Mocenigo, Venetian
envoy at the court of his grand-nephew, thus speaks of him above
sixty years after his death:--"Disabled by broken health from active
pursuits, he fell upon the project of forming a most brilliant court,
filled with eminent men of every profession; and by rendering himself
generally popular, with the co-operation of his Duchess, who emulated
him in welcoming and entertaining persons of talent, he brought
around him a greater number of fine spirits than any sovereign had
hitherto been able to attract, and, indeed, gave to all other princes
in the world the model and example of an admirably regulated court."
[Illustration: _Alinari_
S. MARTIN AND S. THOMAS WITH GUIDOBALDO, DUKE OF URBINO, AND BISHOP
ARRIVABENI
_After the picture by Timoteo Viti in the Duomo of Urbino_]
* * * * *
The remaining years of the widowed Duchess were in strict
accordance with a picture sketched of her by Bernardo Tasso, in the
_Amadigi_:--
"She too, whose pensive aspect speaks a heart
By grievous cares molested and surcharged,
An anxious lot shall live; Elizabeth,
Of maiden worth, in whom no blandishment
Or foolish passion ere with virtue strives;
Spouse of our first Duke's son, whose span cut short
By cruel death, his scornful mate bereft
No after tie shall bind."
The circumstances of her wedded life had not been such as to render
new ties distasteful to a lady of thirty-seven, described by Bembo as
still elegant in figure and dress, beautifully regular in features,
and with eyes and countenance of singularly winning expression. The
compliment paid to her character, in that author's sketch of the
Urbino sovereigns, bears upon it a stamp of truthful earnestness
rarely found in his rhetorical periods.[62]
[Footnote 62: "Itaque multas sæpè feminas vidi, audivi etiàm esse
plures, quæ certarum omninò virtutum, optimarum quidem illarum atque
clarissimarum, sed tamèn perpaucarum splendore illustrarentur: in
quâ verò omnes collectæ conjunctæque virtutes conspicerentur, hæc
una extitit, cujus omninò parem atque similem aut etiam inferiorem
paulò, non modò non vidi ullam, sed ea ubi esset etiàm ne audivi
quidem."--Bembo de Guidobaldo.]
An anonymous and now lost complimentary poem, written about 1512,
and formerly in the library of S. Salvadore at Bologna, celebrated
Elisabetta's charitable aid in the establishment of a _monte di
pietà_,[63] at Fabriano, and alluded to her prudent government of
the state in the Duke's absence. The terms of affection with which
she regarded her husband's adopted heir underwent no change after
her bereavement; and his marriage to her niece Leonora Gonzaga
strengthened the tie. We shall find her making great personal
exertions to modify the measures of Leo X. against Francesco Maria;
and she shared his confiscation and exile, which she could not
avert. She lived, however, to return with him to the house she had
twice been compelled to relinquish, and saw his dynasty securely
established in the state which had owned her as its mistress.
[Footnote 63: The Italian name for those public establishments,
at which small sums are lent on pledges under government
superintendence. The Duchess is said to have introduced them
at Urbino, and to have founded there an academy, which rose to
considerable celebrity among similar weeds of literature that long
flourished and still vegetate in Italy.]
Her trials were closed on the 28th of January, 1526, by an easy
death. She left the residue of her property to Duchess Leonora, after
payment of numerous pious bequests to various churches, with liberal
legacies to her household; and she was interred by the side of her
beloved husband in the church of S. Bernardino.
BOOK FOURTH
OF LITERATURE AND ART UNDER THE
DUKES DI MONTEFELTRO AT URBINO