MURDER OF ERCOLE STROZZI—DEATH OF GIOVANNI SFORZA AND OF LUCRETIA'S ELDEST SON
Alfonso's hopes of having an heir had twice been disappointed by miscarriages, but April 4, 1508, his wife bore him a son, who was baptized with the name of his grandfather.
Ercole Strozzi regarded the birth of this heir to the throne as the fulfilment of his prophesy. In a genethliakon he flatters the duchess with the hope that the deeds of her brother Cæsar and of her father Alexander would be an incentive to her son—both would remind him of Camillus and the Scipios as well as of the heroes of Greece.
Only a few weeks after this the genial poet met with a terrible end. His devotion to Lucretia was doubtless merely that of a court gallant and poet celebrating the beauty of his patroness. The real object of his affections was Barbara Torelli, the youthful widow of Ercole Bentivoglio, who gave him the preference over another nobleman. Strozzi married her in May, 1508.
Thirteen days later, on the morning of June 6th, the poet's dead body was found near the Este palace, which is now known as the Pareschi, wrapped in his mantle, some of his hair torn out by the roots, and wounded in two and twenty places. All Ferrara was in an uproar, for she owed her fame to Strozzi, one of the most imaginative poets of his time, the pet of everybody, the friend of Bembo and Ariosto, the favorite of the duchess and of the entire court. On his father's death he had succeeded to his position as chief of the twelve judges of Ferrara. He was still in the flower of his youth, being only twenty-seven years old.
This terrible event must have reminded Lucretia of the day when her brother Gandia was slain. The mystery attending these crimes has never been dispelled. "No one named the author of the murder, for the pretor was silent," says Paul Jovius in his eulogy of the poet. But who, except those who had the power to do so could have compelled the court to remain silent?
Some have ascribed the deed to Alfonso, stating that he destroyed Strozzi on account of his passion for the latter's wife; others claim that he simply revenged himself for the favor which Lucretia had shown the poet. Recent writers who have endeavored to fathom the mystery and who have availed themselves of authentic records of the time regard Alfonso as the guilty one.[216] One of the strongest proofs of his guilt is found in the fact that the duke, who not only had punished the conspirators against his own life so cruelly, and who had always shown himself an unyielding supporter of the law, allowed the matter to drop.
Lucretia has even been charged with the murder on the ground of her jealousy of Barbara Torelli, or owing to her fear that Strozzi might disclose her relations with Bembo, especially as he had hoped to obtain the cardinal's hat through the influence of the duchess, in which he was disappointed. None of the later historians has given any credence to this theory. Ariosto did not believe it, for if he did how could he have made Ercole Strozzi the herald of her fame in the temple of honor in which he placed the women of the house of Este? Even if he wrote this stanza before the poet's death—which is not probable—he would certainly have changed it before the publication of the poem, which was in 1516.
Nor did Aldo Manuzio believe in Lucretia's guilt, for in 1513 he dedicated to her an edition of the poems of the two Strozzi, father and son, accompanied by an introduction in which he praises her to the skies.
In the meantime Julius II had formed the League of Cambray, which was to crush Venice, and which Ferrara had also joined. The war kept Alfonso away from his domain much of the time, and consequently he made Lucretia regent during his absence. In former days she had occasionally acted as regent in the Vatican and in Spoleto—but in a different way. In 1509 she saw the war clouds gathering about Ferrara, for it was in that year that her husband and the cardinal attacked the Venetian fleet on the Po. August 25th of this same year Lucretia bore a second son, Ippolito.
The war which convulsed the entire peninsula immediately drew Ferrara into the great movement which did not subside until Charles V imposed a new order of things on the affairs of Italy. Lucretia's subsequent life, therefore, was largely influenced by politics. Her first peaceful years in Ferrara, like her youth, were past. She now devoted herself to the education of her children, the princes of Este, and to affairs of state whenever her husband entrusted them to her. She was a capable woman; her father was not mistaken in his opinion of her intellect. She made herself felt as regent in Ferrara. She was regent for the first time in May, 1506, and she acquitted herself most creditably. The Jews in Ferrara were being oppressed, and Lucretia had a law passed to protect them, and all who transgressed it were severely punished. In the dedication of the poems of the Strozzi addressed to her by Aldo, he lauds, among her other good qualities, not only her fear of God, her benevolence to the poor, and her kindness toward her relatives, but also her ability as a ruler, saying that she made an excellent regent, whose sound opinions and perspicacity were greatly admired by the burghers. Even if we make allowances for the flattery, there is still much truth in what he says.
ALDO MANUZIO.
From an engraving by Angustin de St. Aubin.
Owing to these facts it is not strange that Lucretia's personality was quite obliterated or eclipsed by the political history of Ferrara during this period. The chroniclers of the city make no mention of her except on the occasion of the birth of her children, and Paul Jovius speaks of her only two or three times in his biography of Alfonso, although in each case with the greatest respect. The personal interest which the early career of this woman had excited died out with the change in her life. Even her letters to Alfonso and those to her friend Isabella Gonzaga contain little of importance to her biographers. No one now questioned her virtues; even the Emperor Maximilian, who had endeavored to prevent her marriage with Alfonso, acknowledged them. One day in February, 1510, in Augsburg, while in conversation with the Ferrarese ambassador, Girolamo Cassola—having discussed the ladies and the festivities of Augsburg at length—he questioned the ambassador about the women of Italy, and especially about those of Ferrara, whereupon "much was said regarding the good qualities of our duchess. I spoke of her beauty, her graciousness, her modesty, and her virtues. The emperor asked me what other beauties there were in Ferrara, and I named Donna Diana and Donna Agnola, one the sister and the other the wife of Ercole d'Este." Such was the report the ambassador sent to Ferrara.[217]
Lucretia's nature had become more composed, thanks to the stability of the world to which she now belonged and owing to the important duties she now had, and only rarely was it disturbed by any reminder of her experiences in Rome. The death of Giovanni Sforza of Pesaro, however, in 1510, served to recall her early life.
On returning to his State, Sforza had been confirmed in its possession as a vassal of the Church by a bull of Julius II. He endeavored to rule wisely, made many improvements, and strengthened the castle of Pesaro. He was a cultivated man given over to the study of philosophy. Ratti, a biographer of the house of Sforza, mentions a catalogue which he compiled of the entire archives of Pesaro. In 1504 he married a noble Venetian, Ginevra, of the house of Tiepolo, whose acquaintance he had made while in exile. November 4, 1505, she bore him a son, Costanzo.[218]
What were his exact relations with the Este, with whom he was connected, we do not know, although they, doubtless, were not altogether pleasant. Sforza could not have found much pleasure in life, for his famous house was fast becoming extinct, and he could not foresee a long future for his race. He died peacefully July 27, 1510, in the castle of Gradara, where he had been in the habit of spending much of his time alone.
As his son was still a small child his natural brother Galeazzo, who had married Ginevra, a daughter of Ercole Bentivoglio, assumed the government of Pesaro. Giovanni's child died August 15, 1512, whereupon Pope Julius II withdrew his support from Galeazzo, and forced the last of the Sforza of Pesaro to enter into an agreement by which, October 30, 1512, he surrendered the castle and domain to Francesco Maria Rovere, who had been Duke of Urbino since the death of Guidobaldo in April, 1508. Pesaro therefore was united with this State. Galeazzo died in Milan in 1515, having made the Duke Maximilian Sforza his heir. The line of the lords of Pesaro thus became extinct, for Giovanni Sforza had left only a natural daughter, Isabella, who in 1520 married Sernigi Cipriano, a noble Florentine, and who died in Rome in 1561, famous for her culture and intellect. Her epitaph may still be read on a stone in the wall of the passageway behind the tribune in the Lateran basilica.[219]
The death of Lucretia's first husband must have vividly reminded her of the wrong she had done him, because she had now reached the age when frivolity no longer dulled conscience; but the times were so troublous that she directed her thoughts into other channels. August 9, 1510, a few days after the death of Sforza, Julius II placed Alfonso under his ban and declared that he had forfeited all his Church fiefs. The Pope again took up the plans of his uncle Sixtus, who, in conjunction with the Venetians, had schemed to wrest Ferrara from the Este. After the Venetians had appeased him by withdrawing from the cities of Romagna, he had made peace with the Republic, and commanded Alfonso to withdraw from the League and to cease warring against Venice. The duke refused, and this was the reason for the ban. Ferrara thereupon, together with France, found itself drawn into a ruinous war which led to the famous battle of Ravenna, April 1, 1512, which was won by Alfonso's artillery.
It was during this war, and on the occasion of the attempt of Julius II to capture Ferrara by surprise, that the famous Bayard made the acquaintance of Lucretia. After the French cavaliers, with their companions in arms, the Ferrarese, had captured the fortress they returned in triumph to Ferrara where they were received with the greatest honors. In remembrance of this occasion the biographer Bayard wrote in praise of Lucretia as follows: "The good duchess received the French before all the others with every mark of favor. She is a pearl in this world. She daily gave the most wonderful festivals and banquets in the Italian fashion. I venture to say that neither in her time nor for many years before has there been such a glorious princess, for she is beautiful and good, gentle and amiable to everyone, and nothing is more certain than this, that, although her husband is a skilful and brave prince, the above-named lady, by her graciousness, has been of great service to him."[220]
Owing to the death of Gaston de Foix at the battle of Ravenna, the victory of the French turned to defeat and the rout of the Pope into victory. Alfonso finding himself defenseless, hastened to Rome in July, 1512, to ask forgiveness from Julius, and, although this was accorded him, he was saved from destruction, or a fate similar to Cæsar Borgia's, only by secret flight. With the help of the Colonna, who conducted him to Marino, he reached Ferrara in disguise.
These were anxious days for Lucretia; for, while she was trembling for the life of her husband, she received news of the death, abroad, of her son. August 28, 1512, the Mantuan agent Stazio Gadio wrote his master Gonzaga from Rome, saying news had reached there that the Duke of Biselli, son of the Duchess of Ferrara and Don Alfonso of Aragon, had died at Bari, where he was living under the care of the duchess of that place.[221] Lucretia herself gave this information to a person whose name is not known, in a letter dated October 1st, saying, "I am wholly lost in bitterness and tears on account of the death of the Duke of Biselli, my dearest son, concerning which the bearer of this will give you further particulars."[222]
We do not know how the unfortunate Rodrigo spent the first years following Alexander's death and Cæsar's exile in Spain, but there is ground for believing that he was left in Naples under the guardianship of the cardinals Ludovico Borgia and Romolini of Sorrento. By virtue of a previous agreement, the King of Spain recognized Lucretia's son as Duke of Biselli, and there is an official document of September, 1505, according to which the representative of the little duke placed his oath of allegiance in the hands of the two cardinals above named.[223] Rodrigo may have been brought up by his aunt, Donna Sancia, for she was living with her husband in the kingdom of Naples, where Don Giuffrè had been confirmed in the possession of his property. Sancia died childless in the year 1506, just as Ferdinand the Catholic appeared in Naples. The king, consequently, appropriated a large part of Don Giuffrè's estates, although the latter remained Prince of Squillace. He married a second time and left several heirs. Of his end we know nothing. One of his grandchildren, Anna de Borgia, Princess of Squillace, the last of her race, brought these estates to the house of Gandia by her marriage with Don Francesco Borgia at the beginning of the seventeenth century.
It may have been on the death of Sancia that Rodrigo was placed under the protection of another aunt, Isabella d'Aragona, his father's eldest sister, the most unfortunate woman of the age, wife of Giangaleazzo of Milan, who had been poisoned by Ludovico il Moro. The figure of Isabella of Milan is the most tragic in the history of Italy of the period beginning with the invasion of Charles VIII—an epoch filled with a series of disasters that involved every dynasty of the country. For she was affected at one and the same time by the fall of two great houses, that of Sforza and that of Aragon. The saying of Caracciolo in his work, De varietate fortunæ, regarding the Sforza, namely, that there is no tragedy however terrible for which this house would not furnish an abundance of material may well be applied to both these families. Isabella had beheld the fall of her once mighty house, and she had seen her own son Francesco seized and taken to France by Louis XII, where he died, a priest, in his early manhood. She herself had retired to Bari, a city which Ludovico il Moro had given up to her in 1499, and of which she remained duchess until her death, February 11, 1524.
Donna Isabella had taken Lucretia's son to herself, and from the records of the household expenses of the Duchess of Ferrara it appears that he was with her in Bari in March, 1505, for on the twenty-sixth of that month there is the following entry: "A suit of damask and brocade which her Majesty sent her son Don Rodrigo in Bari as a present."[224] April 3d his mother sent his tutor, Baldassare Bonfiglio, who had come to Naples, back to him. This man is named in the register under date of February 25, 1506, as tutor of Don Giovanni. It appears, therefore, that this child also was in Bari, and was being educated with his playfellow Rodrigo. In October, 1506, we find the little Giovanni in Carpi, where he was probably placed at the court of the Pio. From there Lucretia had him brought to the court of Ferrara on the date mentioned. She therefore was allowed to have this mysterious infante, but not her own child Rodrigo, with her. In November, 1506, Giovanni must again have been in Carpi, for Lucretia sent him some fine linen apparel to that place.[225]
Both children were together again in Bari in April, 1508, for in the record of the household expenses the expenditures for both, beginning with May of that year, are given together, and a certain Don Bartolommeo Grotto is mentioned as instructor to both.[226] The son of Lucretia and of the murdered Alfonso, therefore, died in the home of Donna Isabella in Bari, which was not far from his hereditary duchy of Biselli.
We have a letter written by this unhappy Princess Isabella a few weeks after the death of the youthful Rodrigo, to Perot Castellar, Governor of Biselli:
Monsignor Perot: We write this merely to ask you to compel those of Corato to pay us what they have to pay, from the revenue of the illustrious Duke of Biselli, our nephew of blessed memory, for shortly a bill will come from the illustrious Duchess of Ferrara, and in case the money is not ready we might be caused great inconvenience. Those of Corato may delay, and we might be compelled to find the money at once. Therefore you must see to it that we are not subjected to any further inconvenience, and that we are paid immediately; for by so doing you will oblige us, and we offer ourselves to your service.
Isabella of Aragon, Duchess of Milan, alone in misfortune.[227]
Bari, October 14, 1592.
Rodrigo's[228] mother laid claim to the property he left, which, as is shown by certain documents, she recovered from Isabella d'Aragona as guardian of the deceased, to the amount of several thousand ducats. To do this she was forced to engage in a long suit, and as late as March, 1518, she sent her agent, Giacomo Naselli, to Rome and Naples regarding it. His report to Cardinal Ippolito is still in existence.
Whatever were the circumstances which had compelled Lucretia to send her son away, on whom, as we have shown, she always lavished her maternal care, the unfortunate child's experience will always be a blot on her memory.