PIERO DI COSIMO DE’ MEDICI
(1416-1469)
Pietro, or, as he was commonly called, Piero de’ Medici, was forty-eight when his father died in 1464, and had neither the moral nor the physical strength necessary for his position. He was a martyr to gout, from whence his surname il Gottoso. Kindly and indolent by nature, he could be stern, terse, and eloquent when roused, and his political insight was keen. The commencement of his reign, if one may use the word, was unfortunate. Cosimo on his deathbed had recommended his son to consult Diotisalvi Neroni, and to follow his advice. The shrewd old man had been singularly deceived in his estimate of the character of the man he bade Piero take as his right hand. Machiavelli’s account of the conspiracy which so nearly wrecked the power of the house of Medici is as follows:
“Messer Diotisalvi, moved more by his own ambition than by affection for Piero or gratitude for the benefits he had received from Cosimo, thought it would be easy to ruin Piero’s credit, and to deprive him of the authority inherited from his father. He therefore gave him advice which appeared most honest and reasonable, but in reality was meant to lead to his ruin. Showing him the disorder in his affairs, and how much money was absolutely necessary to save his own credit and that of the State, he declared that the most honourable way to remedy his difficulties would be to call in the debts due to his father by both foreigners and citizens. For Cosimo, in order to gain partisans in Florence and friends abroad, had been most generous in the use of his riches, and the moneys owing to him amounted to a very considerable sum. Such counsel seemed good and honest to Piero, who wished to remedy his affairs with his own means. But as soon as he demanded repayment of these loans the citizens, as though he wanted to take what was theirs and not what was his own, complained loudly, and showed small respect in speaking ill of him, and accusing him of ingratitude and avarice. When Messer Diotisalvi saw the universal disfavour his advice had brought on Piero he joined Messer Luca Pitti, Messer Agnolo Acciaiuoli, and Niccolò Soderini, and they conspired to deprive Piero of his credit and his authority. They were influenced by various motives. Messer Luca aspired to fill the position held by Cosimo, having become so great a man that he disdained to obey Piero. Messer Diotisalvi, knowing that Messer Luca was unfit to be the head of the government, thought that once Piero was out of the way the management must of necessity fall to him. Niccolò Soderini desired that the city should enjoy more freedom, and be governed according to the wishes of the magistrates, while Messer Agnolo had private reasons for hating the Medici. Some time before his son Raffaello had married Alessandra de’ Bardi, whose dower was very large. Owing either to her own misconduct, or to the faults of others, she was maltreated by her father-in-law and her husband; so one night Lorenzo d’Ilarione, her kinsman, moved to pity for the girl, with many men-at-arms, took her away from the house of Messer Agnolo. The Acciaiuoli complained of the insult done to them by the Bardi, and the matter being laid before Cosimo he decreed that the dower was to be repaid to Alessandra, and that she was to decide whether she would or would not return to her husband. Messer Agnolo did not think that in delivering this judgment Cosimo had behaved as a friend, and not being able to do anything against him he determined to take revenge on his son. The conspirators, though animated by such diverse motives, agreed to give the same reason publicly, declaring that they desired the city to be ruled by magistrates and not by the uncontrolled will of a few men. The hatred felt against Piero and the reasons for attacking him, were increased by the bankruptcy of many merchants for which he was blamed; his unexpected demand to be repaid having caused these men to fail, and thus brought great discredit and loss upon the city.”[87]
Anderson
PIERO DI COSIMO DE’ MEDICI.
Detail from the fresco by Benozzo Gozzoli in the Chapel of Palazzo Riccardi, Florence.
Florence was divided into two camps, the Party of the Hill, so-called because Luca Pitti’s palace was being erected on the highest part of the city, and the Party of the Plain, because the palace of the Medici was on the flat. “While things were in this disorder,” continues Machiavelli, “the time arrived for renewing the chief magistrate, and Niccolò Soderini was elected Gonfalonier of Justice.” But Niccolò wasted his two months’ tenure of office in futile attempts to “reform” the government, accomplished nothing, and quitted office a discredited man. The conspirators then determined to murder Piero as he returned to Florence from his villa of Careggi. He was only saved by the presence of mind of his young son Lorenzo, who preceded him on horseback, and noticed armed men loitering on the road. Lorenzo rode quietly on announcing that Piero was close behind him, but sent back in hot haste a messenger to order his father’s litter to take an unfrequented lane. Luca Pitti, perceiving that if the Medici were swept away Neroni and not himself would be the head of the Republic, betrayed his fellow-conspirators, and made peace with Piero. His defection was a death-blow to the conspiracy and to his own fortunes. Neroni and Niccolò Soderini fled to Venice, Acciaiuoli to Siena first and then to Naples, and the power of the Medici was once more firmly established.
Piero inherited his father’s love of letters and of art. He was the first to employ Luca della Robbia, who decorated the ceiling of his study in the Medici palace and made tiles for the floor, which, as Vasari says, “was a new thing and most excellent for summer.” Luca also made the vaulted roof of the marble chapel of the Crucifix inside the ancient church of S. Miniato a Monte, erected by Piero’s orders by his father’s faithful friend, Michelozzo Michelozzi.
Whatever currents of opinion disturbed the city of Florence at the death of Cosimo de’ Medici, foreign powers universally recognised his son Piero as his successor in the rule of the Republic. The Pope sent him a letter of condolence on his father’s death, while the King of France, Louis XI., testified his regard for the Medici by creating him a Privy Councillor, and giving him the right to add the Lily of France to the arms of his family.
Pope Pius II. to Piero de’ Medici
Beloved Son,—Greeting and apostolic blessing. We have just heard that Cosimo, your father, has departed this life. This is indeed bitter and mournful news, and most grievous to us. For we loved him with sincere affection as a man whom we always found devoted to ourselves and to the Apostolic See, whom we knew to be gifted with unusual insight and kindness. Yet, my son, though many besides yourself will mourn his death, you must bear with a brave heart this fate which divine law has ordained for mortals. Accept this expression of God’s will patiently, and do not give way to grief. If you consider the course of human existence, Cosimo has had a long life; he has paid his debt to nature, and in his old age he has gone the way of all flesh. His life was full of honour; his glory extended beyond his own city to all Italy, nay, to the whole world; he has lived in the highest esteem and, what we must value more, in piety, and abiding in the fear of God. It is not right to mourn the death of a man who has lived righteously and justly, since we must believe that he has gone from this troubled human existence to one that is full of peace and tranquillity. As for us, beloved son, we intend to preserve towards you the feelings we had for your father, and for him we had a singular paternal affection. We promise that we shall always do what in our judgment will be conducive to your honour and your interest, and to that of the house of Medici. This we wish you to understand.—Given at Ancona under the seal of the Fisherman, the 8th day of August 1464, in the sixth year of our pontificate.[88]
Louis XI., King of France, to Piero de’ Medici
Dilecto Filio Nobili Viro Petro de’ Medicis. Louis, by the grace of God King of France.
Most dear and great Friend,—We have received by our beloved and faithful courier Francesco Nori your letters which you sent to us by him. From him and from your letters we have learned how kindly you have acted in our favour towards our dear and beloved uncle the Duke of Milan about the affair of the Marches of which we wrote, and we are much pleased and very grateful to you. We also heard of the death of the late Cosimo de’ Medici, our great friend and your father, which has given and does give us much sorrow, both for the singular love we bore him and for the great and laudable services he rendered to us and to the French crown during his whole life. For the enduring memory thereof and of the friendship he showed to us and to the crown, and in order to honour him and you and all his relatives and family, and for the salvation of his soul, we beg you to dedicate to the service of your said dead father banners with our arms, of such number as seems best to you and is customary in such cases. We have also, in order to show the confidence we place in you, in your wisdom, loyalty, goodness, and diligence, and for the preservation of the friendship and goodwill which always existed between your late father and ourselves, appointed you one of our privy councillors, and have ordered the letters patent to be made out, which we send by the bearer; and when you desire anything for yourself, for your family or for your Commune, we shall grant it in your favour if you signify it and let us know by the said Franceschino, for whom we have always felt and feel singular affection and esteem.[89]
Privilege granted by Louis XI. to the Medici to quarter the Lily of France in their arms
Louis, by the grace of God King of France. We make known to all present and for the future: Bearing in mind the great, praiseworthy, and much to be commended fame enjoyed by the late Cosimo de’ Medici during his life in all his actions and his affairs, which he conducted with such great virtue and prudence that his children and other relatives and friends must be commended and held in high honour. For these reasons and moved by the supplication and prayer which has been addressed to us by our friends, and by our loyal Councillor Piero de’ Medici, son of the said late Cosimo de’ Medici, we by our own will, special grace, full power and royal authority decree and command by these presents that the said Piero de’ Medici ... his heirs and successors born and to be born in legal wedlock may henceforward and for ever have and bear in the arms three Fleur de lis of the shape and manner herein portrayed.... And these arms we have given and give to them by these said presents, to use as seems good to them in all places and among all people, in time of peace or in time of war, without any impediment either now or hereafter being placed to their so doing. And in order that this thing should be firm and stable for ever, we have caused our seal to be set to these two presents, reserving our rights in all other things and our authority in everything.—Given at Mont Luçon in the month of May, the year of grace 1465, and the fourth year of our reign.[90]
Owing to Piero’s miserable health, his son Lorenzo was sent, even as quite a lad, to visit foreign courts and to receive foreign princes who passed through Tuscany. Thus in April 1465 he met Don Federigo d’Aragona, second son of the King of Naples, at Pisa, on his way to Milan to escort his eldest brother’s bride, Ippolita Maria, daughter of Francesco Sforza, to Naples. The two youths formed a lasting friendship, and on Federigo’s return with his sister-in-law they came to Florence and stayed in the Medici palace. Ippolita and Lorenzo then became such friends that she never hesitated to appeal to him when, as often happened in the needy Neapolitan court, she wanted money. They often corresponded, and when Lorenzo went to Naples in 1479, the Duchess of Calabria and Don Federigo were his powerful allies. The following letter, a remarkable one for a lad of seventeen, was sent to Don Federigo with a volume of poems selected from those writers Lorenzo considered to be masters of the Tuscan tongue. There are two copies in Florence, one in the Nazionale Library,[91] the other in the Riccardiana.[92]
The Magnificent Lorenzo to the Illustrious Lord Federigo, son of the King of Naples
Often have I reflected, Illustrious my Lord Federigo, which among the many and infinite poems of antiquity is the most excellent. Certes, one must have been more admirable than the others. It has always been a matter of surprise to me that no great and fine work was originated in ancient times, either of hands or head, which did not receive private and public recognition and reward. So as all rivers and springs are said to have their origin from the great Ocean, all the famous deeds and marvellous works of bygone men may be said to derive from this laudable habit. The nutriment of every art is honour, and by the desire of glory alone are men’s minds spurred to produce admirable works. Thus in Rome we see magnificent triumphal entries, in Greece the famous Olympian games, and both are celebrated by poets and orators with infinite mastery. For this alone were the chariot and the triumphal arch, the highly decorated theatres, the statues, the palm branches, the garlands, the funereal honours; for this alone were devised other splendid ornaments, and thus were encouraged high and noble deeds of the intellect and of the sword, all the marvellous works of the great men of ancient days, who assuredly (as our Tuscan poet says) will never lack fame so long as this world lasts. These of a truth were great and divine men, desirous of enduring fame and supremely grateful to those who, by celebrating the valour and noble deeds of great men in fine poetry, made their names immortal. Inflamed by such desire, Alexander the Great on seeing the tomb of the famous Achilles with a sigh uttered those memorable words: “Fortunate art thou to have so glorious a sepulchre and to have been sung by such a pen.” Fortunate indeed. For without the divine poet Homer Achilles’ body and fame would have been buried in one tomb together. And even this poet, excellent above all others, would not have attained such honour and glory had he not been so admired by a learned Athenian, almost one may say raised from death to life. For after his death the great poet’s noble work was scattered and dismembered until Pisistratus, prince of Athens, a man endowed with many virtues and of noble presence, offered large rewards to whosoever brought him verses by Homer. Thus with great diligence and care he collected and reconstructed the glorious poem, giving to it eternal life and to himself everlasting glory. For this reason the only epitaph on his statue is the record that he collected the poems of the great Homer. Oh, truly divine men, born for the good of humanity and of the world. The prince knew that his other deeds, however admirable, were as nothing compared with this one poem. Such were these antique men, whose deeds are not to be equalled in later times, and indeed are hardly believed. For as rewards for noble deeds no longer exist the flame of courage is extinguished; and as men do nothing worthy of praise the singers of great deeds are despised. If this had not been the case we should not now mourn the loss of so many Greek and Latin writers. With them have also perished many of our own old poets, who had begun to cultivate the desert fields of the Tuscan tongue, which now again, in our century, are covered with wild flowerets and weeds. But thy gracious hand, Illustrious Federigo, which thou hast deigned extend to them will, after their long struggle, lead them safely into port.
When we were together last year in the ancient city of Pisa we spoke of those who had written poetry in the Tuscan tongue, and thy Lordship expressed a desire that I should collect their works in one volume for thee. Being desirous in this, as in all other matters, to fulfil thy wishes I have, not without great labour, caused search to be made for the works of all the old poets, and choosing the less rugged pieces have gathered them into the volume I now send thy Lordship, in the hopes that my efforts, such as they are, may please and that thou wilt accept it in memory of me and as a proof of my true affection. Let no one, however, despise this Tuscan tongue as unadorned or diffuse. For if its richness and beauty be rightly understood it will not be accounted rugged but rich and refined. There is nothing delicate, elegant, graceful, or ornate, nothing witty, ingenious or subtle, nothing ample and rich, nothing magnificent and sonorous, finally nothing ardent, bold, or moving, that is not found in those two magnates Dante and Petrarch, and even in others of whom thou, my Lord, didst cite brilliant examples. Poetry (according to what Petrarch writes in a Latin epistle) was held in high honour by the old Romans, and after long neglect appeared again in Sicily not so many centuries ago; then passing into France finally came to Italy as though to its own home. The first who courted the new style was Guittone of Arezzo, and about the same time the famous Bolognese, Guido Guizzinello. Both were learned in philosophy, serious, and sententious. The first rather harsh and severe and without the gift of eloquence, the second far more lucid, suave, and ornate, so that our honoured Dante did not scruple to call him his father and also father of others who wrote love songs of great sweetness and charm. He was certainly the first to colour and soften our language, which had only been roughly sketched out by the rude Aretine. After them emerged the elegant Florentine, Guido Cavalcanti, a subtle logician and philosopher, an honour to his age. As he was handsome and graceful in person and of most noble blood, so there was in his writings something, I know not what, more beautiful, noble, and rare, than in others. Acute in reasoning, sonorous, admirable, and grave in his sentences, rich and elevated in composition, wise and prudent; and all these gifts are enhanced, and as clothed in a precious garment, by a rare and exquisite style. Had he used this on a wider field no doubt he would have attained to the highest honours. One of his most admirable works is a song in which this subtle and charming poet describes every quality, virtue, and precedent of love. This was held in such high estimation that it was commentated by three renowned philosophers, his contemporaries, among them the Roman Egidio. We must not forget Bonagiunta of Lucca and the notary of Lentino, both grave and sententious writers, but so devoid of charm that they may be proud to be mentioned in the company of these honoured men. They, and Pier delle Vigne in the time of Guittone, were celebrated. The little written by the latter is not without solemnity and erudition. He was the keeper (as Dante says) of the keys of Frederick’s heart, and locked and unlocked it at his pleasure. After these shone those two great men who illumined our tongue, Dante and Petrarch. Of them (as Sallust says of Carthage) I think it better to say nothing than to say too little. Onesto the Bolognese and the earlier Silicians who flourished before them and were therefore less versed in their art, did not lack talent or ambition. Cino da Pistoja, in my estimation, well deserves his high reputation; tender and loving, he was the first to entirely shake off the antique ruggedness of which the divine Dante was not altogether free. Then comes a long line of more modern writers who are far behind those two great ones. All these, and with them some of our own time, come to thank thee, who art more worthy of praise than that ancient Athenian already mentioned. He only gave immortality to one, whilst thou givest it to many. At the end of the volume (as seemed to be thy desire) we have copied a few of our own sonnets and songs, so that when reading them thou canst remember my loyalty and affection. Although not worthy to be placed among the splendid works of the old poets, yet they may serve as a foil to show their greater beauty. Receive, therefore, Illustrious Lord, this volume and myself, not only in thy house, but in thy heart and soul, as thou hast a blithe and enduring abode in ours.
In the commentary Lorenzo wrote on some of his sonnets he not only, as in the above letter, praises Italian, but affirms its equality with the classic languages, and declares that neither Ovid, Tibullus, Catullus, or Propertius wrote love songs of such beauty and grace as Petrarch. It was by this enthusiastic participation in the intellectual pursuits and interests of his day that Lorenzo, even as a youth, attained such popularity with his fellow-citizens. They were proud of the lad who was already known as a poet, who excelled in all bodily exercises, and who was treated by foreign princes and potentates as an equal. The above letter to Federigo d’Aragona shows that he was, to quote John Addington Symonds: “A Florentine of the Florentines. Tuscan to the backbone, imbued with the spirit of his city, a passionate lover of her customs and pastimes, a complete master of her vernacular. His education, though it fitted him for Platonic discussions with Ficino and rendered him an amateur of humanistic culture, had failed to make a pedant of him. Much as he appreciated the classics, he preferred his Tuscan poets; and what he learned at school he brought to bear upon the study of the native literature.”[93]
Soon after his return from Pisa Lorenzo was despatched by his father to Bologna, Ferrara, Venice, and Milan. Piero calls the journey “the touchstone of thy abilities.” The letters show that the boy of seventeen was received as a prince, and discussed with the rulers of the various states he visited important political matters, in all of which he was kept carefully informed by his father. At the same time, with characteristic Medicean shrewdness, Lorenzo was instructed to place himself in the hands of his father’s agents in each city visited, and the whole journey could be represented as a tour of inspection of the various agencies of a great banking-house, and the introduction of the heir to the business of the family.
Piero de’ Medici to his son Lorenzo at Milan
Thou hast arrived at Milan later than I thought, and perhaps than thou didst wish, on account of the delay caused by the honours paid thee by the Duke at Ferrara. I have written to thank him, and to say we are his debtors, and also to Messer Giovanni Bentivoglio I have sent thanks, &c. Thou art to follow the advice of Pigello[94] and his written instructions; be careful not to worry the Duke, he will have enough of that with this marriage.[95] Thou art to consider thyself as the servant and as belonging to the household of his Excellency, and to ask Pigello’s advice as to what visits to pay, and what to say. Remember to be civil and alert; act as a man and not as a boy. Show sense, industry, and manly endeavour, so that thou mayst be employed in more important things, for this journey is the touchstone of thy abilities. I sent by carrier the rest of the silver [plate] to Pigello, but have not yet heard of its arrival. If thou needst aught else let me know, but Pigello will provide all that is necessary. Consult with him about inviting Don Federigo one day to the house there, or anything else thou thinkest needful. Arrange with him after due reflection, and whatever is settled do with splendour and in honourable fashion. Gugliemo,[96] thou, and Pigello can settle together, and whatever is decided will please me, only, as I said, do not stint money, but do thyself honour. When thou hast time, after having paid thy visits, commend me to the Duke and to Madonna, to Count Galeazzo and to whoso else thou thinkest right. Amuse thyself and do not worry about us here, the time will come soon enough when thou wilt have to do so. Nannina is well again; we will talk about her marriage after thy return from Naples. Gugliemo’s family are all well; tell him not to forget them entirely, and be not so taken up with all those festivities as to forget thyself. I think thou hast better leave there a few days before the others, because as I have Madonna the Princess here in our house, and Gugliemo and thyself being absent, I shall be as a man without hands, but of this I will write later. No more at present. Christ guard thee.—Florence, May 4, 1465.[97]
Da Vinegia ho la tua de 2 dì et dovevi partire el dì seguente et così da Allessandro a dì 3 m’avisa essere seguito et quanto haveir seguito a Ferrara nel soprastare a complacentie di quel Signore et a Vinegia nel vicitare el doge et quelli altri gentiluomini che tucto lodo et commendo et cosὶ credo che harete facto la più parte delle vicitationi harj trovato una mia lettera scrittati a dì 4 e per quella dettoti come t’abbi a governare per questa el simile ti ricordo et per dire con una parola a te bisogna fare conto essere huomo et non garzone le parole e gesti et modi sieno circa quest’ effecto et bisognando convitare o fare alcuna altra cosa per farti honore non perdonare a spesa o cosa che facci di bisogno per ora non entrerò in altro Innanzi che parta di costì sarai avisato di quello che haraj a fare da poi la partita ma mi sono ristretto con questi cittadini et a ciascuno è paruto jo debba ricevere alla tornata questi S. qui in casa nostra et così m’a commandato la S. la quale ho ubbidito volentieri et era mestieri che tu o Gugliemo vi trovassi di qua che m’aresti levato assai noje pur si farà el melglio che si potrà Sarà necessario che vi partiate qualche giorno innanzi alla brigata di costà et a tempo ne sarete avisati. Io non ti scrissi a Vinegia perché ’l soprastare tuo a Ferrara ruppe l’ordine benché poco porti la brigata qui nostra grazia di Dio tutti siamo sani et sta bene la Nannina in tucto guari la brigata di Gugliemo similmente sta benissimo così atendete voi acciò che ritorniate qui in buon ordine qui s’aparecchia per venuta di cotesti S. fare una bella festa per San Giovanni et così si cerca per altra via fare loro grandiximo honore essi levato su Giuliano nostro messo al punto da Baccio Benci at da altri et vorrebbono armeggiare ma farla altrimenti Mca. che non s’è usato La S. vuole che faccino io non me ne contento vedrò di sgabellarmene se potrò non vorrei tante noie a un tracto et maraviglomi di Giovanni de’ Pazzi che havendo facto una volta ci si rimette la seconda che seguira sapraj Ne altro al presente Xpo ti guardi In Firenze a dì XI di maggio 1465.
Non ti scordi racomandarmi al Mco. conte Guasparre.
Piero de Medici.[98]
Piero de’ Medici to his son Lorenzo at Milan
I have thy letter of May 2nd from Venice, saying thou wert to leave the next day. Alessandro wrote on the 3rd and told me of thy departure, and of what thou didst at Ferrara to please the Duke, and of thy visits at Venice to the Doge and other gentlemen, all of which I approve and commend, and I think thou hast paid nearly all necessary visits. Thou wilt have received my letter of the 4th telling thee what conduct to pursue, all of which remember; in a word, it is necessary for thee now to be a man and not a boy; be so in words, deeds, and manners, and if thou givest dinners or other entertainments do not let there be any stint in money or whatever else is needful to do thyself honour. For the present I say no more. Before leaving thou shalt hear what to do. I have consulted with the citizens here, and they all agree that I must receive the princes[99] in our house on their return, and the Signoria has commanded me to do so: I obey willingly, but it would have taken much trouble off my hands hadst thou and Gugliemo been here; however, we will do the best we can. It will be better for thee to leave a few days before the others, thou shalt be warned in time. I did not write to Venice because the delay at Ferrara threw out all arrangements, but it is of no consequence. All our family here are well, and we hope thou art the same and wilt return in safety. We are preparing great festivities for these princes on S. John’s day, and shall try and do them honour also in other ways. Our Giuliano has been persuaded by Baccio Benci and others to arrange a tournament, but in more magnificent fashion than usual. The Signoria wishes it; I am against it, and shall try to get out of it if possible. I do not want to have so many bothers at the same time, and am astonished that Giovanni de’ Pazzi, having done it once, undertakes to do it again. Thou shalt know what is decided. No more at present. Christ guard thee.—In Florence on the 11th day of May 1465.
Do not forget to commend me to the Magnificent Count Guasparre.
Piero de’ Medici.[100]
S. John’s Day (24th June) is still a great holiday in Florence. The cathedral and the baptistery are illuminated, and fireworks (the scaffoldings for which used to be erected on the Ponte della Carraja until the tramway took possession of the bridge) are now let off on the Piazza Michelangelo. An old chronicler writes: “On the day of S. John, the patron saint of the city, and on the vigil thereof, not only are there infinite demonstrations of spiritual joy, but everything that can be done in such a city is done to show temporal happiness and gaiety. Swift horses called Barberi race in public for a palio, or banner, of cloth of gold lined with precious fur. Merchants display untold riches in gold, jewels, pearls, and money, and in cloth of gold, silks, and woollen goods of incredible value. There are illuminations, bonfires, and fireworks, both public and private, and the whole city is given over to rejoicing. Among other diversions is jousting. This is a game played by men clothed in the richest damasks and costumes and varied liveries, according to the costumes and liveries of their families, who place themselves in proper order in the field (having first triumphantly escorted an emperor in a gilded car, with a fine and noble procession of kings, dukes, marquesses, counts, soldiers, and baggage waggons), on splendidly caparisoned horses, well trained to race. First they race in the public squares, and then in certain places set apart for breakneck exercises they break lances with no small dexterity.”
On that day also the Signori, surrounded by their attendants, and the soldiers and trumpeters of the Commune, sat on the ringhiera[101] of the Palazzo Vecchio, in their magnificent official costumes, which must have been rather trying in hot summer weather. The Gonfalonier was clad in a long loose crimson velvet coat lined with ermine and embroidered with golden stars; his berretta, or cap, was turned up with ermine and trimmed with gold lace, pearls, and silver embroidery, like the rays of stars. The crimson coats of cloth worn by the Priors were also lined with ermine, and had ermine collars and cuffs, and they wore a large red berretta or a hood. The Podestà dressed like the Priors, but without a hood; the Preposto’s coat was of black satin, and his lucco of black velvet was lined with satin of various colours, and he always wore a hood. Seated thus in state, the Signori received tribute from all the cities, castles, and villages that were under their rule or protection.
Dati enlarges on the magnificent and marvellous aspect of the Piazza della Signoria, “with one hundred towers, which shone like gold, some on waggons, some borne on the shoulders of men. These last, made of wood, pasteboard, and coloured wax figures, are called tapers (ceri). Inside the towers are men, who cause these figures to move and to turn round. They represented horsemen tilting, foot-soldiers with spears or waving banners, and girls dancing in a ring. Near and around the ringhiera hung a hundred or more palii or banners, their staves being stuck into the iron rings on the walls. First were those of the chief cities who send tribute to the Commune, as Pisa, Arezzo, Pistoja, Volterra, Cortona, Lucignano, and Castiglione Aretino, and of certain lords of Poppi and Piombino, who are under the protection of the Commune, made of thick velvet, lined with satin or with silk; the rest are of strips of thinner velvet, or of other cloth or silk; so that the sight is truly marvellous. The first offering in the morning is made by the Captains of the Guelph party, with all their knights and gentlemen, and ambassadors and foreign knights who accompany them, and a great number of the most honourable citizens of Florence; the great banner of the Guelph party being borne before them by one of their followers on a tall horse, caparisoned in white cloth embroidered with the device of the Guelph party. Then followed the afore-mentioned palii, or banners, each one carried by a man on horseback, and both man and horse are clothed in silk. One after another they go in the order in which they were called to offer the said palii to the church of S. Giovanni, which are the tributes paid by the places conquered by the Florentines.
“The ceri, or tapers, which resemble golden towers, are the tributes of the most ancient possessions of the Florentines, and according to their rank they proceed one after another to offer them to S. Giovanni, and the next day the tapers are all stuck up round the inside of the church where they remain until the next feast-day, when they are removed and used for the altars, and some are sold by auction. After the tapers a marvellous quantity of large wax candles are offered, some of a hundred pounds weight, some of fifty or less, carried by the peasants belonging to the villas from whence they are sent. Then the Masters of the Mint offer a splendid taper, borne on a richly adorned car drawn by a pair of oxen whose loin-cloths bear the device of the Mint, and the said Masters are accompanied by about four hundred venerable men, all matriculated in and belonging to the Guild of Cloth-weavers. The last to make offerings are the Signori, the Priors, and their colleagues, with the Podestà and the Captain, in great pomp with many servants, and so many instruments, fifes and trumpets, that the whole world seemed to resound. After the Signori had left, all the horses that have come for the race are presented, and then the Flemings and Brabanters—weavers of woollen cloth—who are in Florence make their offering; and lastly, twelve prisoners, delivered from gaol for love of God in honour of S. Giovanni, are offered to him. When all this has been done, men and women return home to dine, and in all the city that day are so many marriages and great banquets, with innumerable fifes, music, songs, dances, and gaiety, that it seemed as though the place was Paradise.”
In 1466 Piero sent Lorenzo, then eighteen years of age, to Rome on a mission of great moment both politically and commercially. Perhaps the most important part of the private business was to secure from the Pope a monopoly of working the alum mines discovered not many years before in the short range of volcanic hills lying round the little village of La Tolfa (Tofa), about eleven miles due west of Civita Vecchia and within the Pope’s dominions. A few deposits of alum had been known and partially worked in Europe, i.e. at Volterra and Ischia: but for all practical purposes almost all the alum used in Christendom came from Asia Minor, and the supply was always inferior to the increasing demand. A certain Giovanni di Castro prospecting among the hills round La Tolfa found what he believed to be an inexhaustible supply, “seven hills of alum.” Castro made sure of his find by calcinating the stone. He then hastened to Rome, appeared before the Pope, and somewhat grandiloquently announced his discovery. “I make known to you a victory over the Turk. He draws yearly from the Christians more than 300,000 pieces of gold, paid to him for the alum with which we dye wool of various colours, because none is found in Italy, save a little at Ischia.... I have found seven hills so abounding in alum that they might supply seven worlds. If you will send workmen, cause furnaces to be built and the stone to be calcined, you may furnish almost all Europe, and what money the Turk used to acquire will fall into your hands.” The Holy See made haste to secure the newly-found treasure, and in order to have a monopoly in the sale the Pope excommunicated every one who tried to import alum into Europe from the Turkish dominions. So determined were the Popes to maintain what in modern language would be called their “corner in alum,” that in the proclamation of Indulgences it was always expressly declared that the pardon promised did not include those who imported alum into Europe from the Turkish dominions.
Such a deposit needed capital to work it properly and the Holy See farmed out the monopoly, protected by excommunication, to a firm of capitalists. Young Lorenzo was instructed to secure, and did obtain, this very valuable concession for his family. Hereafter the profits of the monopoly of alum were a source of great wealth to the Medici.
The political problem, overshadowing all others, entrusted to the youthful Lorenzo was the maintenance of the league between the King of Naples, Milan, and Florence. This was the keystone of Piero’s foreign policy. He believed it to be essential to the balance of power and the preservation of peace in the peninsula. The alliance received an almost deadly blow in the somewhat sudden death of Francesco Sforza, the Duke of Milan, and Piero’s fears are reflected in the despairing letters he wrote to his son. The league between the three powers survived the shock. Francesco Sforza’s son Galeazzo was, after some little delay, universally recognised as his father’s successor, and the foreign policy of Piero de’ Medici was maintained.
But the note of despair in Piero’s letters was probably occasioned by a presentiment of what might, and what actually did, occur within Florence herself. As has been said, many of the hitherto strenuous supporters of the Medici within the Republic were inclined to revolt against the continuance of their rule, and the death of Francesco Sforza furnished the occasion for testing their strength. It had been part of Cosimo’s foreign policy to support Sforza at Milan by a subsidy from the Florentine treasury. On his death the question was at once raised whether the grant was to be continued to his successor Galeazzo. Piero supported its continuance. It was part of the Triple Alliance and an essential portion of his foreign policy. Yet it was also capable of being represented as something which concerned only the internal affairs of the city. This was at once seized upon by Luca Pitti and Diotisalvi Neroni. We see all these fears reflected in the letters of Piero to Lorenzo while the latter was at Rome.
The letter from Luigi Pulci shows how the young Lorenzo was already recognised as one of the foremost citizens of Florence and the future lord of the city, round whom aspiring men desired to rally. Pulci had been banished from Florence and was in hiding on account of his brother’s debts for which he had become surety.
Luigi Pulci to Lorenzo de’ Medici[102]
Sis felix, mi Laurenti, &c.—Thou hast decided to leave me in these woods among the snow, so lonely and so desolate, and to go to Rome. Such is my destiny that to all my other troubles is added this one, that I am never to go a journey with thee on horseback. When shall I go? When I am quite old? What more faithful servant or companion canst thou find who is more maltreated and repulsed by heaven? How many times have we talked together about Rome, and that I was to be there with thee: why dost thou leave me, art thou afraid I should be an expense to thee? Do not fear, for in spite of my adverse fortune I should still do thee honour. From thee I should only need a horse. I have so many friends in that city and enough wits not to shame thee as perhaps thou fearest. Of a truth thou drivest me from thee wrongfully, and it would be unjust to leave me so unhappy: this hurts me more than anything else. Do not cast me aside like old broken iron, I shall be sound enough if thou lovest me. And even were I broken to bits I should have the more need of help and comfort. In the midst of thy prosperity remember my misfortunes. Generous hearts and true friends act thus; and my old affection and well-tried fidelity merit it. Time will pass. It would be a great restorative after so many troubles which I have now unjustly suffered for sixteen months. It will prevent me from going to the devil, or into exile in strange lands with strange thoughts. Denique, by all the Gods, by everything, I pray thee to include me among the number of thy elected for Rome; it will be enough, as I said before, if thou lendest me a horse. If thou dost not want me, I will never more be thine nor any one’s. So good-bye. I leave thee for a long time, thou wilt not see me again, nor wilt thou know where I am, and God will pardon thee for me, for I will never pardon thee. Also, if thou willst, surely some means can be found for my security. The magistrates can protect me, and if they set me free, as would only be just, a safe-conduct voted by six of the Signori would be sufficient, or it would be enough if the creditors promised thee not to molest me. But thou hast forgotten me and art occupied, and thy mind is set on greater things. Thou art right, but also, certes, I am not in the wrong to trust in thee alone, because I am entirely thine and turn to thee as I have always done. If thou dost not help me I have lost all hope. What am I to do? Give myself to three hundred thousand devils?
If thou hast not received the swords tell me and I will go and wake the man up; and if thou wilt send me a line written by thee, so that I may know whether thou still lovest me or not, I should be very glad. Many times have I taken my pen in hand for love of thee, so I wish thou wouldst deign do the same for love of me. This alone will be to me, among these mountains, what the Holy Ghost was to the Apostles who thought God had forgotten them until the dove came to them. If thou dost not do it no more verses, no more gossipings, never more shall we be boon-companions. Tell me whether the affair we talked about under the Tetto de’ Pisani is concluded and whether it will be necessary; thou hast probably already tried a portion of it. Commend me to our Magnificent Piero and to Madonna Lucrezia, and greet and bless my Giuliano a thousand times, and also my Piero Allamanni and Berlinghieri and Braccio and Gismondo, and all our friends, not forgetting Messer Gentile.—At Vernia, February 1, 1465 (1466).
Thy Luigi, as content as he can be.[103]
Piero de’ Medici to his son Lorenzo at Rome
I am in such affliction and sorrow for the sad and untimely death of the Illustrious Duke of Milan that I know not where I am; thou canst imagine what it means to us both in private and in public matters. Condole most heartily in my name with his ambassador, and take comfort in thine own thoughts and do not give way to melancholy, which is of no service; thoughts are sometimes useful when they are good. I, although it is a hard blow, am trying to bear it and I hope time will accomplish what as yet reason cannot. There are letters from Milan of the 9th and the 10th which I send, so that thou canst see how things are there. They may perhaps turn out better than many people think. I wrote at once to the Holy Father to beg him, as head and leader not only of the League but of all Christians, to think how best to preserve the stability of that State, for His Holiness can do more than any one else, if only for the preservation of peace and tranquillity in Italy. Although I think His Holiness is well disposed yet we must do our utmost, for thou knowest what we owe and what is our duty to the blessed memory of the late Lord and towards Her Excellency Madonna and her noble children. Put an end to all playing on instruments, or singing or dancing, for Malatesta has arrived, so let all be at least until after Easter. Do not talk about it because I think we may have to change our plans. But thou shalt know what I decide; meanwhile keep silence with all save Giovanni [Tornabuoni] and Malatesta.
I see that thou hast arrived safely by thy letter of 8th, of which I am glad, and that great honours were paid thee, for which we must be grateful to God and to the men of this world to whom we owe much. Thou must study to merit this by deeds and be old beyond thine years, for the times require it.
Of what happens there day by day, as I said before, take counsel with Giovanni, and study the condition of that region and what state it is in, so that on thy return thou canst give a clear report. No more at present. Christ guard thee.
I forgot to say that last night letters of the 11th came from Mantua, saying how that lord had agreed and stipulated to remain in the service of King Ferrante [of Naples]; this is a good and useful thing. We have also letters of the 11th to-day from Genoa, with news that all those citizens have determined to be faithful to Madonna and her children as they were to the Duke of blessed memory, and that they have elected eight citizens to act with the governor in case of need.—Florence, March 15, 1465 (1466).[104]
Piero de’ Medici to his son Lorenzo at Rome
I wrote fully to thee lately, and now have thy letter of 15th saying that the death of the Duke of Milan was known there, may God be merciful to him, and of the arrangements made to send to Milan and to write to others, and also of the Holy Father’s decision as to the safety of that State, which satisfies every one. We are of the same opinion; to do all that is possible for the Illustrious Madonna and their noble children that accords with our own liberty. Probably nothing more will be needed than the intimation of our intentions, as up to the 17th, the last news I have from Milan, nothing had happened, all passed off quietly. From what one hears from Venice the Signoria there shows a desire to live in peace and quiet with Madonna and her sons, as they did with the father of blessed memory. I am inclined to believe this, it being their interest. I say no more, having told thee enough in my other letter, and also because I send thee the letter I have received from Venice. It is however of the greatest importance and utility that His Sanctity our Holy Father should desire to preserve peace and quiet in Italy, in which I conceive he will have the aid of us all. I am sure that this is his desire, he having always shown it, so I do not dwell on it, hoping that by the grace of God and the help of His Holiness everything will go well.
I note that thou hast seen His Sanctity the Pope, and spoken about the affair of Stefano da Osimo, and that His Holiness is satisfied; it is necessary for the common good of the different parties and of the whole city, and it seems to me that our Holy Father has understood rightly and sagely that the affair cannot be ended but must be maintained. It may be that time will make a change also in my views. It is enough to know that it was not de motu proprio of His Holiness, but was suggested by others. But above all see that he is satisfied and content; were it otherwise I should be uneasy.
I know not what thou hast done about the deposit of alum, as I said before I am content that thou shouldst accept it in my name, and there can be no doubt that our conduct will be to the satisfaction and the interest of our Holy Father. Consult about this with Giovanni Tornabuoni, and settle this and other matters as you both think best.
About continuing thy journey beyond Rome I think, as I said before, it would be better to wait until after Easter; we shall meanwhile know more and be better able to decide. Thou hast done well to urge Messer Agnolo to make haste, we expect him here every day. Return the letters from Milan which I sent in my last letter, and those which I now send. Here we are expecting to hear of the entry of the Illustrious Galeazzo Maria. The Count of Urbino was at Scarperia on the 18th but did not come here, probably not to lose time. By now he must be at Milan, as well as the Lord Alessandro. Thou shalt hear what occurs. The Lord Gismondo had arrived at Venice.
The Archdeacon was at the point of death, but he is so much better that it is not expected he will die of this illness. I highly approve of thy thought of Pellegrino, and if the occasion had arisen would have shown him how greatly I desire to please and to serve him. When thou seest the Bishop of Raugia commend me to him, and also to Messer Lionardo Dati. No more. Christ guard thee.—On the 22nd day of March 1465 (1466).[105]
After the conspiracy against Piero de’ Medici had been discovered, Agnolo Acciaiuoli fled to Siena on his way to Naples. There he waited some time in the vain hope that Piero would relent and permit him to return to Florence. At last he wrote the following letter, which as given by Fabroni, who copied from the archives, differs somewhat from the more literary version given by Machiavelli.
Agnolo Acciaiuoli to Piero de’ Medici. Siena, 17th Sept. 1466
Spectabilis vir Frater honorande,—I laugh at what I see. God has put it in thy power to cancel all the debts I have against thee, and thou dost not know how to do it. I lost my country and my estates for thy father, thou art in the position to restore all to me. I prevented his being despoiled, now corn and other belongings are taken from me; thou canst save them; be not tardy in showing thou art not ungrateful; I do not say this for my belongings, although I have need of them, so much as for thy reputation. I commend myself to thee.[106]
Piero de’ Medici to Agnolo Acciaiuoli. Florence, 22nd Sept. 1466
Magnifice eques tanquam Pater honorande,—Your laughter is the cause of my not shedding tears, although I am sorry for your ill fortune. You have not shown your accustomed good sense, which in such cases is necessary. Your guilt, as I said in a former letter, is manifest and so great that neither my intercession nor that of any other person would be of any avail. My nature is to forget and forgive you, and all who have shown me enmity and hostility. I have pardoned every offence; the Republic cannot and may not lightly do so on account of the bad example, as you know better than I, having had experience of such matters and having proclaimed it in public and in private. You say you were exiled on my father’s account, and for having saved what belonged to him. I do not deny your friendship with my father and with us, which ought to have made you regard me as a son, and as such I considered myself. You were banished with my father and were recalled with him, according to the pleasure of the Republic, which has full power over us. I do not conceive that our friendship was in any way hurtful or dishonourable to you as can be clearly demonstrated, and if obligations and benefits were weighed, perhaps the scale would not be equal, although from what you write you do not seem to think so. I always considered myself beholden to you, but if you examine your conscience you will see that you have exempted me from any obligations; nevertheless I am willing to remain your debtor in so far as it touches me privately, but the public injury I cannot, will not, and may not pardon. For myself personally I forget everything, forgive all wrongs, and remain as a son ought to be towards such a father.[107]
In 1466 Piero de’ Medici’s daughter Nannina was married to Bernardo Rucellai, son of Giovanni, who built the beautiful palazzo Rucellai after the designs of his friend Leon Battista Alberti. Giovanni spent 3686 golden florins on the festivities for his son’s wedding, and for three days the Florentines danced, ate, drank and listened to music, in Via della Vigna Nuova. The street, and the loggia (one of the few still existing in Florence), which was temporarily enlarged so as to cover the small triangular square in front of the palace, were hung with blue cloth and decorated with flowers. One of Nannina’s sons, Giovanni, is well known as the author of Rosmunda and of Le Api, the poetical gifts of Lucrezia thus descending to a second generation.
Luigi Pulci, from Pisa, to Lorenzo de’ Medici at Florence
Salve, &c. I send thee some poems so that thou mayst remember me. I have a thousand phantasies in my head which thou shalt hear some day and which will please thee. The poem is nearly finished; then we must do a more important work, and perhaps three nymphs, who are here, will come to be judged by a better man than Paris, and we will bestow the prize to our liking. Whoever is ill pleased shall pay the expenses of a ball; but I mean to prepare a triumph which shall be praised by thee and that for me is always sufficient.
I have nought to say save that I am thine as ever. Scriptum est. Commend me to the Magnificent Piero and to Madonna Lucrezia, and to all at home. Salutam Vale, et me dilige.—From Pisa, January 12, 1466 (1467). Tuus servitor,
This day Tanai[108] and his wife with about a hundred horse entered Pisa in great triumph, and Palle resounded everywhere; we shall amuse ourselves and talk much of thee.[109]
Several brides had been proposed for Lorenzo, and at last Piero decided for a daughter of the proud house of Orsini. The suggestion was first made by his brother-in-law Giovanni Tornabuoni, head of the Medici bank at Rome, and treasurer to Sixtus IV. But Lucrezia insisted on seeing the girl with her own eyes before coming to a final decision, and in March 1467 set out for Rome, from whence she wrote to her husband:
Lucrezia de’ Medici to her husband Piero
On the way I wrote to thee often and told thee about the roads. I arrived on Thursday, and was received with much joy by Giovanni, as thou canst imagine. I have had thy letter of the 21st which consoled me greatly, hearing that the pains had ceased. But every day seems to me a year until I return for thy and my consolation.
On the way to S. Peter on Thursday morning I met Madonna Maddalena Orsini, sister to the Cardinal [Latino Orsini], with her daughter, who is about fifteen or sixteen years old. She was dressed in the Roman fashion with a lenzuolo [long loose shawl or cloak]. In this dress she seemed to me handsome, fair, and tall, but being so covered up I could not see her to my satisfaction. Yesterday I paid a visit to the said Monsignor Orsini in his sister’s house, which adjoins his. When I had saluted him in thy name his sister came in with the maiden, who had on a tight frock of the fashion of Rome without the lenzuolo. We talked for some time and I looked closely at the girl. As I said she is of good height and has a nice complexion, her manners are gentle, though not so winning as those of our girls, but she is very modest and would soon learn our customs. She has not fair hair, because here there are no fair women; her hair is reddish and abundant, her face rather round, but it does not displease me. Her throat is fairly elegant, but it seems to me a little meagre, or to speak better, slight. Her bosom I could not see, as here the women are entirely covered up, but it appeared to me of good proportions. She does not carry her head proudly like our girls, but pokes it a little forward; I think she was shy, indeed I see no fault in her save shyness. Her hands are long and delicate. In short I think the girl is much above the common, though she cannot compare with Maria, Lucrezia, and Bianca.[110] Lorenzo has seen her and thou canst find out whether she pleases him. Whatever thou and he determine will be well done, and I shall be content. Let us leave the issue to God.
The girl’s father is Signor Jacopo Orsini of Monte Rotondo, and her mother is the Cardinal’s sister. She has two brothers; one a soldier in the good graces of Signor Orso, the other a priest, sub-deacon of the Pope. They own the half of Monte Rotondo, the other half belongs to their uncle, who has two sons and three daughters. Besides this there are three other castles belonging to her brothers, and as far as I can learn they are otherwise well provided. They will be still better off in the future because besides the Cardinal, the Archbishop, Napoleon, and the Cavalier, being their uncles on the mother’s side, they are cousins through the father, who is a second cousin in direct line of the aforesaid gentlemen, and they are all very fond of them. This is what I have heard. If before treating this matter it seems well to thee to await our return do as thou thinkest best.
I intend to leave on Monday week and shall write on the way. So I shall be at home at the time fixed. I pray God in His mercy to guide me safely and to keep thee in good health. I do not write to Madonna Contessina, it seems to me useless. Commend me to her and salute the girls and Lorenzo and Giuliano.—In Rome, 27th March 1467.
Thy Lucrezia.
A few days later Lucrezia wrote again on the subject which engrossed all her thoughts:
Lucrezia de’ Medici to her husband Piero
As I told thee in my last letter dictated to Giovanni, our seeing the girl was managed quietly, without ceremony; so should nothing come of it thou wilt lose nought, as there has been no parleying. The maiden has two good qualities, she is tall and fair; her face is not pretty, but it is not common, and her figure is good. Lorenzo has seen her, find out whether she pleases him, there are so many advantages that if he likes her we may be content. Her name is Crarice.
Thy Lucrezia.
Like a true Florentine, Lucrezia turns the l in Clarice into an r. Lorenzo had seen the girl without her mother’s knowledge one day at mass. On the homeward journey Lucrezia writes in answer to a letter from her husband:
Lucrezia de’ Medici to her husband Piero
I have thy letter by Donnino and see the determination thou hast taken, which pleases me. I am sure when I get home and tell thee all thou wilt be well satisfied, particularly as Lorenzo is pleased. We did not see the girl again, but that does not surprise me. Thou sayest I write coldly about her: I do it not to raise thy hopes too high: there is no handsomer girl at present unmarried in Florence. On my return I will tell thee all, and as I said before we shall be able to arrange matters, so at present I will say no more. I arrived here very tired, the road was so bad, and we had so much rain that little was left of me, but after resting I am well. We were to have left on Monday, but it does nothing but rain, so they have persuaded me to wait a little. All is ready, and as soon as the weather is favourable we shall start, for it seems to me a thousand years since I left. I commend myself unto thee.—April 1, 1467.
Thy Lucrezia.[111]
The long journey and the damp told on Lucrezia who was never strong, and at Foligno she fell seriously ill.
Lucrezia de’ Medici to her husband Piero
I know not, she writes, whether it is thanks to these doctors or to thy letter received last night, but this morning I felt so well that I hope to set forth in three days. Maestro Girolamo will tell thee exactly the state of my health, which I think will content thee. I only lament the many annoyances I have caused thee on my journey. But believe me, wherever I might have been I should have been ill, for I have brought up much phlegm and nastiness which must have been there for a long time. Commend me to Mona Contessina and beg her to have patience, for soon, as soon as it pleases these doctors, I shall return to her and maybe she will take better care of me, though here, thanks be to God, I have wanted for nothing. I know not whether I should even have had such conveniences at home, certainly not at Rome. If it seems good to thee that I should send back Messer Gentile for Giuliano let me know before we start.[112] I shall wait to get quite well as thou sayest, and to recoup. Meanwhile and always I commend myself to thee and beg thee to be patient with me.—In Foligno, May 4, 1467, at 1 o’clock.
Thy Lucrezia.
Yesterday and last night I slept, as the Maestro will have told thee, as though quite well.[113]
After her return to Florence the doctors sent Lucrezia early in September to Bagno a Morba, a place already mentioned in earlier pages. But here, where several letters are given written by Lucrezia from that celebrated spring, a few words may be added on the bathing habits of the fifteenth century to show how large a part they played in the social life of the time. For it is a delusion to think that the frequent use of water, cold or hot, is a modern virtue. It is true that from the middle of the sixteenth century till the end of the eighteenth men and women washed but sparingly. Marguerite de Valois could say to her lover, “See these fair hands. Though they have not been washed for eight days, they are cleaner than yours.” Manuals of Etiquette, published in 1667 and in 1782, recommend ladies and gentlemen to clean their faces with a dry white linen cloth, because to wash the face with water makes it more susceptible to cold in winter and to tan in summer. But in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the use of water was nearly as common as it is now. The whole population, whether north or south of the Alps, rejoiced in bathing. They used cold baths, hot baths, and steam baths; they gathered to bathe in mineral water; above all they delighted in baths when the water came from hot springs, and those were most prized which were strongly impregnated with sulphur, as was the case at Morba. The site of many an Italian monastery was selected simply because it was near enough a hot spring for the monks to enjoy what was looked on almost as necessary to healthy living. Indeed one of the punishments inflicted on unruly members of the community was a prohibition to use the bath. The Italian doctors distinguished between Stupha, or hot air, and Balneum, or hot water baths. Rubbing and even scratching whilst bathing was recommended, and Arnaldo di Villa Nuova (1300-1366) ordered his elderly patients to be well rubbed when in the water, and to take a herb-bath four times a month. Soap, and sometimes lye, was used, and Italian soap was in great request, particularly in Germany.
The hot sulphur springs of Morba had been known for centuries, and belonged to the Commune of Volterra, as is mentioned in a document of 1297. They lie some ten miles south of the old Etruscan city, in that part of the Apennines dominated by the imposing Monte Cerbole, in a region which then and now produced borax and alum. The wild desolate scenery gave rise to legends. It was said that on stormy nights a fiery chariot drawn by fiery horses rushes along the mountain side, and then with a terrific noise which drowns thunder and wind, dashes down into the valley leading to the lagoons of Larderello, which were supposed to be the mouths of hell, and disappears. After the apparition of the chariot, the jets of white sulphureous smoke which always rise more or less from the grey soil are more dense and hiss like great serpents as they curl upwards to the sky. It is altogether an uncanny place. Here and there the black mud bubbles and boils, rising up in small cones which subside with a strange rumbling noise like the hoarse barking or growling of a distant watchdog. The ground sounds hollow under foot, and shakes if you walk near any of the blowholes, while the smell of rotten eggs, so characteristic of sulphur springs, is overpowering, particularly after rain.
The famous baths are not far off. They had been largely deserted, conduits broken, bathing-houses tumbling down, everything neglected and falling to ruin. The sulphureous springs, left to find their way through the rocks and the soil, were wasted and produced nothing but evil-smelling ooze. When the Florentines became masters of Volterra they sent Doctor Ugolino da Montecatini with their Chancellor Colucci da Salutati to report on the virtues of the waters in 1388. Something was done to render the baths useful and productive. The village with its small castle was rebuilt and surrounded with a sheltering wall. Visitors were protected from the sudden assaults of the robber nobles whose castles crowned neighbouring heights, and who swooped down on the bathers in hopes of plunder and ransom. The baths regained some of their old prosperity, and gouty or rheumatic Florentines braved the discomforts of the road to make use of the waters. Cosimo Pater Patriæ visited them frequently, and on a memorable occasion a favourite pair of scissors were left in his lodgings, which Contessina tells her son Giovanni to send back to Florence (p. [55]). The probability is, however, that the arrangements were anything but luxurious when Lucrezia first tried and found the benefits of the healing springs.
She soon saw the advantages of the position, and after buying the village and baths of Morba in 1477 from the Commune of Florence, in true Florentine fashion at once made plans which would benefit the place, its visitors, her own health, and her pocket. The valuable water was largely wasted; cisterns were needed; more springs might be discovered. Accordingly experts were engaged, the ground was investigated, and work was carefully planned. The known springs were cleared, the water was carefully collected and brought into a great covered cistern built of well-burnt bricks and covered with tiles according to the most approved pattern of the day. Search was made for other springs; the streamlets were followed back to their sources in neighbouring rocks. Soon the supply of water was more than doubled. Meanwhile the bathing-houses with their twelve separate baths were rebuilt. Old engravings enable us to form some idea of these Italian baths, which were made much more luxurious than those north of the Alps. There is no trace of that promiscuous bathing so common in Germany. Either the sexes had separate bathing-houses or, what is more probable, used the same baths at different hours. We see a room with one or more oblong baths set in the floor, and to each bathroom was attached a smaller apartment with a bed for the hour of repose enjoined after bathing. The bathing establishment was a long row of such bathrooms completely separate from each other. At first the same stream of water served all the baths at Morba, but it was found that those nearest the cisterns were too hot, while those furthest from them were too cold. The defect was remedied by an ingenious system of conduits. Provision was made in each bathroom for shower or douche baths, the water being conducted along the walls in open gutters pierced with holes above each wooden tub. Lucrezia also built a large house which served as an hotel and, as at Cauterets—the favourite bathing resort of Marguerite d’Angoulême, the Queen of Navarre, where there was a Maison du Roi, while the other bathers lived in cabanes et logis—there was a “small palace” for her own use and that of her family. It must have been a thorough holiday for the energetic and busy woman, for, as the Queen of Navarre said, “while at the baths one must live as free from care as a child.”
Lorenzo accompanied his mother to Morba, but there was a report which seems to have been well founded, though Piero in his letter to her treats it as an idle dream, that the Florentine exiles had resolved to attack the place and capture both mother and son. So Lucrezia invented some pretext to send him back to Florence, and the family doctor prevented his return. It will be noticed that although children in those days spoke of their parents by their Christian names, yet they almost always wrote voi (you) in addressing them. Only husband and wife and parents used the familiar tu (thou). Lei, now universally used to all but near relations or great friends, is never met with.
Lorenzo de’ Medici to his mother Lucrezia at Bagno a Morba
I thought I should have been with you by now, but the weather has become much cooler, and Maestro Mariotti does not think it would be good for my eczema to return there. Therefore I have determined not to come. Piero has promised to go and see you either with Messer Benedetto or soon afterwards. Let us find that you are so improved in health that nothing more will be necessary. We are all well here, particularly Piero, whose only need is to hear oftener about you; in truth, whether from the negligence of the writer or perhaps of the messenger, till now we have had but scant news. Therefore to satisfy us all, more particularly Piero, see that we get your answers more quickly, and apply yourself diligently to benefit from your sojourn there. I commend myself to you.—In Florence on the 19th day of September 1467.
I should be glad if you send me back my purple cioppetta (tunic) as I have nought to wear, the other things I do not want.
Your Lorenzo de’ Medici.[114]
Piero de’ Medici to his wife Lucrezia at Morba
I wrote to thee a few days ago, and soon afterwards Lorenzo arrived. It was wiser to send him away from there, although I think they are all dreams. From him and also from thy letter to Mona Contessina I learn that thou art better, so I hope for thy complete recovery, which is indeed certain. It cannot be otherwise after the prayers and supplications which have been and are being made in places some of which thou knowest, and in others which thou knowest not. But what must be attributed to the grace of God is that prayers have been made by those who know us not, and whom thou hast never known: a wonderful thing truly, more divine than human, and I steadfastly believe that owing to these prayers we shall receive grace from God: but as thou in thy wisdom knoweth we shall remain deeply in debt. God make us grateful and send us the power to satisfy all. Have faith and be obedient to the doctors, do not depart one drachm from their commands, submit and suffer all things, if not for thyself and for us, for the love of God who shows He will help us. Attend to nought but to the reason for which thou art there ...[115] give no thought to us, for we are well and want for nothing ...[115] return well, in better health than when thou wentest ...[115] are prosperous, and there is good hope of peace. Giovanni Tornabuoni, if it pleases God, leaves for Rome to-morrow. Do not trouble to write if thou canst not. Nought else.—October 1, 1467.
Piero di Cosimo de’ Medicis.[116]
Lorenzo de’ Medici to his mother Lucrezia at Bagno a Morba
I have your letter and am most grieved to hear that your pains have returned, but as you say they are not so severe I do hope that this time they will take leave of you, and depart for good. Please God it may be so, also in the future. I wrote to you that Giovanni had to go; he went on Saturday; but he could not pass by Bagno a Morba because he was obliged to leave in great haste; so he will not do as I said.
I have been too long absent and therefore I shall not be able, as I wished, to come and see you again, and you will probably not remain there long. Please God that you return in good health, as you and we hope. We are all well, Piero especially, and we long to see you soon, and as we trust well. I commend myself unto you.—In Florence, October 4, 1467.
Your Lorenzo de’ Medici.[117]
Contessina de’ Medici to her daughter-in-law Lucrezia at Bagno a Morba
Dearest as a Daughter,—This morning I received thy letter by which with great joy I learn that thou art better, for this we must give thanks to God and pray with all our hearts that He may restore thee to perfect health. From Piero I hear continually about thee, so thou must not tire thyself by writing to me. I sent back by the messenger the spices asked for, and I received the knives, which shall be looked to. Do not worry about Ginevra, for I have arranged and will continue to arrange for her family. The visits in thy name to Laudomina[118] have been paid and all that was necessary has been done. She is very discontented although it was a boy. Here all are well, thanks be to God. I hope it is the same with all of you. No more at present.—October 25, 1467.
Mona Contessina.[119]
Piero de’ Medici to his wife Lucrezia at Bagno a Morba
Lucrezia mine,—As I know thou wilt understand the letter I have written to Niccolò I shall not write to thee at length; also because thy return is nigh at hand, which I await with infinite longing. I enclose a letter from the Illustrious Madonna Duchess, thou wilt understand what she says. Show it to Messer Benedetto. See how much we are beholden to her. We must give thanks to Almighty God, and also to her when the time comes. No more at present. Christ give thee health—At Florence on the 12th day of November 1467, at the fifth hour.
Piero di Cosimo de’ Medici.[120]
Luigi Pulci from Pisa to Lorenzo de’ Medici at Florence
Salve amicissime, &c.,—I have been delayed, and shall remain here several days. I know not whether Tomaso Capponi or my Bernardo[121] will ask thee to help them about that business; if they do I beg thee to do so, as is thy wont. If my presence is necessary let me know. Anyhow I shall come on Saturday, but if I am wanted I am always ready to leave everything at thy bidding.
If Gualterotto has not replied about my dog, or if his reply calls for another letter, I beg thee as warmly as ever I begged for anything to answer.
On Friday the Illustrious Duke of Calabria and the Magnificent Luigi de’ Pulci talked of thee all day long, and said much ill. Thou hast gained great honour by thy letter given to him by the Captain, he has followed thy advice, and told me what an admirable letter it was; so the Captain and he have made a warm friendship. On Sunday night I sup here with him, and the Captain has charged me to thank thee by letter and by word of mouth, so he has not written. As I do now by letter, so will I also do later with my tongue.
The Illustrious Duke spoke to me about the festival of St. John which he is most desirous to see, and he charged me to tell thee to help him and to order that it shall be a fine festival, and said many other things which I cannot now repeat or give thee to understand, as said Betto della Centina.
I have no more to say save that I commend myself to thee. Salute our Dionigio from me, and tell him this letter is not from Pini,[122] and that he is to think of me at Pietra al Migliaio. If there is any fear that the wine should be finished ere I arrive with his own hand he must measure what remains in the butt, and keep two flasks against my return, for if I thought I was not to see it any more I should be in despair.—Pisa, May 30, 1468. Vale.
Thy Luigi Pulci.[123]
Luigi Pulci at Pisa to Lorenzo de’ Medici
If thou dost not wish it to be known or thought that I am thy friend and can have all I want from thee, cause it to be published everywhere at thy expense. As I have had no money to spend I have spent (traded on) thy reputation. Here I am pointed at wherever I go: that is Lorenzo’s great friend. Therefore three peasants from Buti will come to thee, certain Giovanni and Piero and Mariano of Buti, friends of Piero Vespucci; they have some business about which he has written and I am requested to recommend them to thee. For love of me be good to them, for it would give me much pleasure, either with a promise, or hand them over to whomever thou wilt: only help them in some way. I will then inscribe it in the book of benefits and obligations I owe thee.
No more, I commend myself to thee as usual. God be with thee. Vale et me dilige.—From Pisa, May 31, 1468.
On Sunday evening the Duke and I shall be together. If I am to tell him aught from thee let me know.
Thy Luigi de’ Pulci.[124]
Cardinal Latino Orsini to Piero de’ Medici
Magnifice vir, affinis tanquam frater carissime, salutem,—With great joy we have signed what our Johanni Tornabuoni brought us from you. I hope, thanks be to God, that this thing will conduce to the well-being of your house and of ours, for it pleases us old people, also the youth and the maiden, and indeed all. We should be glad to see our nephew Lorenzo, or saltem his brother, at the feast of the Nativity. We should give him a magnificent, a quiet, or a middling reception, according to your wishes, for we only desire to please you in this: and you may rest assured that all we have is at your disposal and pleasure. Be careful, I beg of you, to keep well and joyful, thus nought will be wanting to you or to us.—Ex Urbe, die 26 Novembris 1468.
L. Cardinalis De Ursinus,
Manu propria, Episcopus Tusculanus.[125]
Filippo de’ Medici, Archbishop of Pisa, at Rome, to Piero de’ Medici
Magnifice vir, tanquam pater honorande, post commendationem, &c.,—By Giovanni Tornabuoni I received your letter, and he has given me the message from Your Magnificence. It pleases me mightily; I do not think that in these times Your Magnificence could have done better. I could not be better pleased or more gratified, considering that it is for the benefit and the common good of all; therefore I congratulate Your Magnificence. And that Your Magnificence may be amply informed about everything, although I know you will hear all from Giovanni, nevertheless it is my duty to tell you that this very day, in the name of God, everything has been concluded. The reason why the contract is not per verba de presenti is that Monsignore [Cardinal Orsini] does not wish it to be divulged, therefore we send a sketch of the contract according to his desire; the one sent to us was simple enough. Everything has been agreed to in the following fashion, videlicet: That they give a dower of 6000 Roman florins in money, jewels, and dresses; which they stipulate should return to their heirs should she not have children or dispose of it by will. They agree that you should not give her the fourth part of the dower, as is customary here; and in this and all other matters, the Florentine usage and custom is to be followed save in the restitution of the dower if she dies sine filiis et intestata. Thus neither the custom here nor the custom there will be absolutely adhered to, so that both parties will be content. I have been present at all the arrangements, and they seem to me honest and reasonable; for you do not need her fortune, and your own remains to you. It is but reasonable that they should have their way in something.
Magnificent Piero, I value the connection much, but they are even more desirous and glad to be related to you. Of a truth their pleasure is not to be described. This must be a satisfaction to you, and every day, if it pleases God, you will be better satisfied, and we also; for truly if I had a hundred tongues I could not tell Your Magnificence how pleased I am. Send the contract soon, for it will be impossible to keep this affair secret, as Pietro d’Arcangelo, chancellor of the Duke of Urbino, has spoken of it, and these Pazzi have begun to spread the news.
You have not sent the letters I asked Your Magnificence for; probably because you had letters from the King to send here concerning the affair about which I wrote. If you have them it would be well to send them as I can assure Your Magnificence that if the friend takes up the business I have good hopes of success. Whatever Your Magnificence does in this and other matters about which I shall write will be well done, as I am certain that Your Magnificence values my well-being and my honour as much as I do myself. I commend myself to Your Magnificence, et quam Deus felicem conservet.—Rome, November 27, 1468. Magnificentie Vestres,
Filius Phy. Archiepiscopus Pisanus,
manus propria.
I said above that I had good hopes if the letters are sent, not because I rely on the benevolence of him who is to do the affair, but because he, if he wishes to gain a place, must give his companion a share, who will either do nothing or be obliged to act according to the will of the other. But he has a great desire to succeed, and will not give heed to what people say, and therefore will not care much for those who may claim their share at any cost. The afore-mentioned affair [the marriage] has not been announced yet to our Lord the Pope, because it did not seem good to Monsignore to do so before the contract is here.[126]
Francesco Tornabuoni, Lorenzo de’ Medici’s uncle, who together with his brother Giovanni was in the Medici bank at Rome, did his best to inspire his nephew with love for the girl suggested by Giovanni as his bride by writing flowery descriptions of her.
Francesco Tornabuoni to his nephew Lorenzo de’ Medici
Not a day passes that I do not see your Madonna Clarice, who has bewitched me: she improves every day. She is beautiful, she has the sweetest of manners and an admirable intelligence. It is about eight days since she began to learn to dance, and each day she learns a new one; no sooner is it shown her than she knows it. Master Agnolo had begged her to write to you with her own hand, but nothing would induce her to do so. Then I begged of her, and she said she would, only she told me you were evidently extremely occupied with this tournament; and then arrived Donnino who brought no letter from you. As you cannot visit her in person at least write to her often, it would give her great pleasure. Of a truth you have the most perfect bride in Italy.—January 4, 1469.
Your Francesco di Filippo Tornabuoni in Rome.
Francesco’s letter had the desired effect, and Lorenzo wrote to his bride. Unfortunately his letters are not to be found. Her answers are touching in their girlish simplicity, but they show that Clarice, brought up in strictly clerical surroundings, was not the woman to captivate the brilliant, rather sceptical Lorenzo.
Clarice Orsini to Lorenzo de’ Medici
Magnifico consorte, recommandatione, &c.,—I have received a letter from you and have understood all you write. That you liked my letter rejoices me, as I am always desirous to do what pleases you. Then you say that you write but little; I am content with whatever is your pleasure, living always in hope for the future. Madonna, my mother, sends you her blessing. I beg you to commend me to your and my father, to your and my mother, and to the others you deem right. I always commend myself to you.—At Rome the 28th day of January 1469.
Your Clarice De Ursinus.
Francesco Tornabuoni to Lorenzo de’ Medici, his nephew
In the name of God, on the 16th day of February 1469.
Magnifice vir et maior honorandissime,—This day letters from Giovanni have come, saying how you jousted in the tournament, and that Your Magnificence was unhurt and had achieved great honour. As soon as I heard the news, I went to tell your Madonna Clarice, and took her a letter from Giovanni, which gave her more pleasure than I can describe. For four days she has been sad by reason of her fear for Your Magnificence in the tournament, she also had a slight headache; as soon as she heard the news the headache disappeared and she was quite merry. Of Madonna Maddalena [Orsini] I say nought, for it is impossible to say how contented and happy she is; the only thing she desires is that you should come here for Lent, for she says she wants you to see your merchandise before you take it home: it improves every day. Enclosed you will find a letter from her. Madonna Clarice would not write, and she bids me say from her that she has a great secret to tell you which she will entrust to no one, neither will she write it for fear the letter should go astray. Indeed she longs to see you, and now the tournament is over you have no valid excuse. She commends herself to Your Magnificence, and to the Magnificent Piero and Madonna Contessina, and to Bianca, Nannina, and Giuliano. I have bought some purple cloth from London for a petticoat a la romanesca, which will I think suit her; she intends to visit all the perdoni (relics) to pray God for you.
Nought is talked of here but the splendour of the entertainment given by you and especially of your own doings; they say no paladin ever did more than Your Magnificence, and every one rejoices, particularly your friends. Messer Giovanfrancesco, son of the Marquess of Mantua, commends himself to Your Magnificence, and sends you many compliments. I have no more to say at present save to commend myself to Your Magnificence, praying that God may keep you from all ill.
Your Francesco di Filippo Tornabuoni, in Rome.[127]
Clarice Orsini to Lorenzo de’ Medici
Magnifice consorte, recommandatione, &c.,—I have received a letter from you which was most pleasing to me, telling me of the tournament wherein you gained much honour. I am most glad that you have been satisfied in a thing which gives you pleasure; and if my prayers have been granted in this, I, as a person who desires to do something to give you pleasure, am well satisfied. I beg you to commend me to my father Piero, to my mother Lucretia, to Madonna Contessina, and to all others you think right. I commend myself to you. No more.—In Rome the 25th day of February 1469.
Your Clarice de Ursinus.
The tournament of which Clarice writes was held on February 7, 1469, in honour of the marriage of Lorenzo’s great friend, Braccio Martello, and is recorded in a poem by Luigi Pulci.[128] It took place in the Piazza S. Croce, and cost, as Lorenzo notes in his Ricordi, 10,000 ducats. This estimate, however, can only refer to the structures and decorations in the Piazza S. Croce, and cannot include the money expended on personal adornment. The dress of Giuliano alone, then a handsome boy of fifteen, was said to have cost 80,000 ducats. It was made of silver brocade strewn with pearls. Lorenzo’s, with its jewels, must have cost a great deal more. He rode to the lists on a magnificently caparisoned horse given to him by Ferrante, King of Naples. Over his surcoat he wore a broad silk scarf, with fresh and withered roses embroidered round his motto, Le Tems Revient, written in pearls. In his black velvet cap studded with pearls was a feather of gold filagree set with diamonds and rubies, and on his shield were displayed the three golden lilies of France on an azure ground, the privilege of bearing which was granted to his father Piero in 1465 (see p. [86]), while in the centre of the shield blazed the great Medici diamond, Il Libro. In the Piazza he mounted a charger presented to him by Borso d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, and buckled on armour sent by the Duke of Milan. His prowess is celebrated by Luigi Pulci as rivalling the deeds of Orlando and Achilles, and the first prize, a helmet of silver with a figure of Mars, was assigned to him. Lorenzo more modestly states that he was not well versed in the use of weapons and the delivery of blows.
These Italian tournaments, which we read about so frequently as forming part of the festivities attending weddings among the richer citizens of Florence and other Italian towns, were more processions and pageants than the rough-and-tumble feats of arms among northern nations. At one of the tournaments held during the sitting of the Diet of Augsburg we are told by a spectator that six competitors were killed: at another that Ferdinand, King of the Romans, was thrown violently and his horse rolled on him, endangering his life. We never hear of such accidents attending the tame tournaments of Italy.
Rinaldo Orsini to Lorenzo de’ Medici
Magnifice affinis ac frater honorande, salutem, &c.,—A few days ago I heard, but not by any letter of yours, of the tournament and the honour done to you. God be praised for all, and especially that you emerged safe and unhurt; in which I think you were aided by the prayers of your Clarice. Now I have been informed of the wishes of the Magnificent Piero and your own as to Clarice’s journey to Florence. Although I should have certainly desired, albeit I have not been consulted, that your wishes should be followed in this matter, always subordinate to those of Madonna our mother, who is very sorrowful at her departure, yet it would only have been seemly if I, as well as other people, had been written to about this business, for you have no nearer relation here, nor one who is more desirous to please you in this and in other matters. So when you want an explanation or anything done, write openly to me and I shall do my best to satisfy you. Say also to the Magnificent Piero that in future he is not to apply to middle-men, for he must dispose of me as he would of a son. Bene valete.—Rome, February 26, 1469.
Rainaldus De Ursinus,
Apostolice Sedis subdiaconus.[129]
Maddalena Orsini to Lorenzo de’ Medici
Magnifice vir, et mi fili benedicte, salutem,—I have had a letter from you which is most welcome, in which you say that your coming here depends upon the will of the Magnificent Piero and the opinion of his Lordship the Cardinal. I am quite content with whatever pleases them. How glad I should be to see you before sending my daughter I cannot express, but I am sure the Magnificent Piero knows best, and that we shall never err by carrying out his commands. At all events I hope you have the wish to know me and all your relations here. No more. God preserve you ever in good health and happiness. Clarice is well and commends herself to all.—Rome, March 4, 1469.
Maghdalena De Ursinus.[130]
Filippo de’ Medici, Archbishop of Pisa, to Lorenzo de’ Medici
Magnifice vir et frater honorande, &c.,—I hardly know how to express to Your Magnificence with what pleasure and contentment I have this day espoused in your name the Magnificent and noble Madonna Clarice degl’ Orsini, a maiden whose looks, carriage, and manners I conceive merit the bridegroom who was I think destined for her by Heaven. For this Your Magnificence ought devoutly to thank God who in this, as in other matters wherein you have been so well treated by fortune, has protected you; and I, who desire your well-being and honour as ardently as any one, for many reasons have longed for this day and congratulate Your Magnificence ex intimo cordis; may it be productive of all good. I pray our Lord Jesus Christ to grant to both a happy and a long life together and to let you see filios filiorum vestrorum usque in quartam et quintam generationem. I will say no more because from Giovanni [Tornabuoni] you will have heard everything. If I can do aught for your service let me know, and I will do it as willingly as any one alive, as I am sure Your Magnificence knows quam Deas diu felicem conservet.[131]
Lorenzo in his Ricordi writes: “I, Lorenzo, took to wife Clarice, the daughter of Signor Jacopo Orsini, or rather she was given to me (i.e. betrothed), in December 1468 and the marriage was celebrated in our house on the 4th June 1469. Till now I have by her two children, a daughter called Lucrezia ... years old, and a son called Piero ... months old. King Ferrante is the godfather of the girl. She is again with child. God spare her to us for a long time and preserve her from all ill” (see p. [153]).
The following description of Lorenzo de’ Medici’s wedding is taken from a contemporary manuscript existing in Codex 574, Class xxv. of the Strozziani MSS. in the National Library of Florence. There is no record of the writer in the manuscript, but his name appears in the catalogue of the Library as Piero di Marco Parenti, and it may be that it was on the cover which is wanting. Born in Florence in January 18, 1450, Parenti died in May 1519, and according to Moreni was the author of several other works which still exist in manuscript in the Library. The name of the person to whom the letter was written does not appear, but from people mentioned, and other indications, he may have been Filippo di Matteo Strozzi, the builder of the fine Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, who was then in Naples.
An Account of the Wedding of Lorenzo di Piero di Cosimo, according to what was told me by Cosimo Bartoli, one of the principal Directors of the Festival, particularly as regards Sweetmeats and Sugar-plums, and also what I saw myself.
On Friday, which was the 2nd of June, the presents offered by the countryside began to arrive from the principal towns, Pisa, Arezzo, and other communes, villas, and castles. All presented eatables, such as calves, fowls, geese, wine, sweetmeats, wax, and fish. I send you the exact list as far as I could get it. The presentations of these went on all day on Saturday with great noise and rejoicings: and on that day pieces of veal of from 10 to 20 lbs. in weight were given to 800 citizens. You and I were among the number.
Calves, 150.
More than 2000 couples of capons, geese, and fowls.
Sea fish and trout in large quantities. I do not yet know how many.
Sweet things in abundance; sugar-plums as big as arbutus berries, almonds, pine-seeds, sweetmeats, also the imitations thereof from there [Naples?]. The number I do not yet know.
Wax I know not how much.
Many hundreds of flasks of wine and several casks of foreign wines, such as malvasy and the like, and of native red wine.
Of corn, oats, and the like, I do not think there was much.
On Sunday morning the bride left the house of Benedetto degl’ Alessandri on the big horse given to Lorenzo by the King [of Naples], preceded by many trumpeters and fifers, and surrounded by the youths usually in attendance on marriage festivities, well clothed. Behind her came two cavaliers, Messer Carlo and Messer Tommaso, on horseback with their retainers, who according to the usage of the city accompanied her to her husband’s house which was most sumptuously adorned, and where a stage had been erected in the street for dancing. As she dismounted the bride’s retinue arrived from the house of the Alessandri: thirty young matrons and maidens most richly dressed, and among them was your Fiammetta, one of the two handsomest there. They were accompanied by another set of youths dressed for dancing and preceded by trumpeters. Thirty other maidens were in Lorenzo’s house to receive the bride and her retinue. After the olive tree, to the sound of much music, had been hauled up to the windows, all went to dinner. The tree was arranged in a vase like those used on the triumphal cars for the feast of S. Giovanni and was almost like a trionfo.
The order of the banquets, of which there were five, was alike on the mornings of Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.
The bride, with about fifty maidens who were the dancers, ate in the garden under the loggia which you know, and the tables were set at the sides as far as the doors, one of which leads into the house, the other outside. In the loggia which surrounds the courtyard of the house sat the citizens who had been invited. The tables were placed on three sides, beginning from the garden, and following the wall were six tables: here sat from seventy to eighty citizens. In the ground-floor hall the youths who danced, about thirty-two or thirty-six, were seated. Forty or more men of more mature age were occupied in marshalling the banquet, and at every table were two who acted as seneschals. On a balcony in the great room upstairs dined the women of a certain age, among them was your mother-in-law Monna Antonia, and like her were about forty others in the company of Monna Lucrezia. In short, at the principal tables dined about two hundred people.
The order observed in serving was marvellous. For all the dishes were brought in at the door opening into the street, preceded, as is the custom, by trumpets. The bearers turned to the right in the loggia and returned to the foot of the staircase up which some went, while others passed into the hall to the youths, and others to the maidens in the garden, and others again remained under the loggie where were those who had been invited, so that all were served at the same time. The like order was observed in taking away the dishes, and each man knew his service and his place and did nought else. The dishes were according to the tables, and among those who brought them in were the stewards, each of whom directed his own men to the proper table. There were fifty large dishes, the contents of each of which were sufficient to fill two trenchers, and one trencher was placed between every two guests, a carver being in attendance.
The banquets were prepared for a marriage rather than for a magnificent feast, and I think this was done de industria as an example to others not to exceed the modesty and simplicity suitable to marriages, so there was never more than one roast. In the morning a small dish, then some boiled meat, then a roast, after that wafers, marzipan and sugared almonds and pine-seeds, then jars of preserved pine-seeds and sweetmeats. In the evening jelly, a roast, fritters, wafers, almonds, and jars of sweetmeats. On Tuesday morning, instead of the roast were sweet pies of succulent vegetables on trenchers; the wines were excellent malvasy, trebbiano,[132] and red wine. Of silver plate there was little.
No sideboards had been placed for the silver. Only tall tables in the middle of the courtyard, round that handsome column on which stands the David,[133] covered with tablecloths, and at the four corners were four great copper basins for the glasses, and behind the tables stood men to hand wine or water to those who served the guests. The same arrangement was made in the garden round the fountain you know. On the tables were silver vessels in which the glasses were put to be kept cool. The salt-cellars, forks, knife-handles, bowls for the fritters, almonds, sugar-plums, and the jars for preserved pine-seeds were of silver; there was none other for the guests save the basins and jugs for washing of hands. The tablecloths were of the finest white damask linen[134] laid according to our fashion.
About four hundred citizens were invited to these five banquets, and among them the first of your house was your Lorenzo, and then Agnolo and Lodovico; I was also there.
On Monday morning to all who had received veal, jelly was given, and then about 1500 trenchers full were presented to others. Many religious [monks and nuns] also received gifts of fowls, fish, sweetmeats, wine, and similar things.
After the guests at the first tables had finished many hundreds ate. They say that between the house here and that of Messer Carlo[135] more than a thousand people ate, and at Messer Carlo’s every day one hundred barrels of wine were drunk.
In the house here, where the marriage feast was, every respectable person who came in was at once taken to the ground-floor hall, out of the large loggia, to refresh himself with fruit, sweetmeats, and white and red wine. The common folk were not invited.
The feasting began in the morning a little before dinner-time, then every one went away to repose. At about the twentieth hour (4 o’clock) they returned and danced until supper-time on the stage outside, which was decorated with tapestries, benches, and forms, and covered in with large curtains of purple, green, and white cloth, embroidered with the arms of the Medici and the Orsini. Every time a company came on to the stage to dance they took refreshments once or twice, according to the time. First came the trumpeters, then a great silver basin, then many smaller ones full of glasses, then small silver jars full of water, then many flasks of trebbiano and then twenty-three silver bowls full of preserved pine-seeds and sweet conserves. To all was given in abundance and all the dishes were emptied; and the same with the flasks of wine. The account has not been made, but from five to ... thousand pounds of sweetmeats and sugar-plums were consumed.
The bride has received about fifty rings, costing they say from ten to fifty or sixty ducats each; one piece of brocade; a sweetmeat dish of silver, and many other such things; and a small book of the offices of Our Lady, most beautiful, the gift of Messer Gentile,[136] written in letters of gold on blue vellum and covered with crystal and worked silver, which cost about two hundred florins. On Tuesday the bride left (a tournament was held first), and returned to the house of the Alessandri in the same dress in which she came to be married. This was a robe of white and gold brocade and a magnificent hood on her head, as is used here. She rode the same horse and was accompanied by the same youths, whose rich dresses of silver brocade embroidered with large pearls and jewels baffle description. From what they tell of courts of great princes nothing was ever seen like it save certain jewels of great value worn by some great Lords. Of the women I say nothing! Such jackets and robes of silk, all of them embroidered with pearls. I rather blame than praise this height of civilisation. And thus ended this marriage.
One day it rained; on the Monday, just when the feast was at its highest. It seemed as though done on purpose. It enveloped everything and wet the beautiful dresses, for the rain was so sudden and so heavy that many could not get under shelter soon enough. But the youths and the women had not put on the finest clothes which they had reserved for that day, the most important of the feast, so that to many it seemed their money had been spent in vain, not being able to wear them. However, on Tuesday morning when the bride went to hear mass in S. Lorenzo, accompanied by all the youths and maidens who had attended her at the wedding, every one was in their finest clothes. I warrant you that there were about fifty maidens and young girls and as many or more youths, so richly dressed that I do not think that anywhere among so many people could such a splendid and fine spectacle be seen.
I know that though I have written you many things and in much detail there is much still to be said; and although it is not worth your reading or my writing, yet I have done so for your information, as I know you to be curious, and that you like to know exactly how things went. So I have written thus thinking it would please you better than a more serious style.[137]
Rinaldo Orsini to his sister Clarice de’ Medici
Magnificent sister, salutem. From Messer Giovanni [Tornabuoni] we have heard all the excellent news about your family, so that we are most happy and contented, and could have received no better news. We all beg and advise you to conduct yourself in such manner with every one that you will become even dearer to Piero, Lorenzo, Giuliano, Madonna Contessina, and Madonna Lucrezia, and to your sisters-in-law, and generally to all relations and other persons you meet. If we can do anything here for Lorenzo or any of your family offer me to them, for nothing shall be left undone to fulfil any desire of theirs. Also if there is aught you wish done tell me, and I shall show that I hold you as dear as I do Organtino, who, as a male, and careful of the interests of our house, I love as I do my own life. Commend me to the Magnificent Piero and the ladies, and salute Lorenzo and Giuliano from me. Item it is necessary that Messer Baptista da Augubio [Gubbio] should go to Florence, you know how devoted he is to us; if needs be ask Piero and Lorenzo, for love of us, to favour him.—Rome, June 1469.
Rainaldus de Orsini.[138]
Giovanni di Bentivogli from Bologna to Piero de’ Medici at Florence
Magnifice et Prestantissime Pater honorande,—I have not written to Your Magnificence in these last days about the affair at Rimini, because I was sure you would hear of it from diverse sides, and that the Illustrious League would take proper steps. But as I neither see nor hear that the Illustrious League has made any sign of life and considering the great injury to us, to the friends of the League, and to yourself, which will be occasioned in the future, I am moved to note it and to impart my thoughts to Your Magnificence; although I do not esteem myself of sufficient capacity to write such notes. But anxiety, and devotion to the Illustrious League, and the love I bear Your Magnificence induce me to warn you. I have also written this my opinion to H.E. the Duke, and should have done the same to H.M. the King, only the road is long and our messengers pass with difficulty; also I thought Your Magnificence would have sent the news from there. Your Magnificence must have heard that the Signoria of Venice has again made an alliance with our Lord the Pope, et inter alia has promised to send, whenever he demands them, 4000 horse and 3000 foot-soldiers into Romagna. From good authority I hear that the Pope has just asked for them, and that the Signoria is arming them and has ordered His Magnificence Ercole [Duke of Ferrara], the Lords of Carpi and of Mirandola, to hold themselves in readiness to march; and that yesterday they were to receive their pay. Also I hear that bridges are being thrown across the Po near Ravenna, for the passage of the troops of the Signoria of Venice, and that the picked squadrons and Antonello da la Corna were advancing to meet these others. What all these preparations mean I leave to the judgment of Your Magnificence. I can only imagine that the Pope and the Signoria of Venice intend to occupy Arimino and the rest of Romagna and then Bologna. Should Rimini fall this will probably happen, and where Bologna and Imola would be Your Magnificence and the League may, like prudent men, calculate. He who does not put a stop to such beginnings will spend a hundred instead of one, and God grant things may go well. I therefore beg and entreat Your Magnificence to succour little Arimino in order that the wound may not fester and increase in such wise that none can heal it. The Illustrious League must not allow its friends to lose courage and faith, else the end will be our perdition. To me it seems this is not a moment for losing time. Your Magnificence must remember that the Pope and the Signoria of Venice have been preparing this for a long time, otherwise the Pope would not have spent so much money, a thing quite against his nature. Had the move been only against Arimino; but it is more especially against Bologna and the rest of Romagna, and more considerable events may follow. I commend myself to Your Magnificence.—June 17, 1469.
Johannes di Bentivolis.[139]
A few weeks after his wedding Lorenzo had to leave his bride and undertake an embassy to Milan. A son had been born on June 20th to Galeazzo, Duke of Milan, and Piero de’ Medici was asked to stand sponsor to the child. He was too ill to travel, and “somewhat unwillingly,” he confesses, sent Lorenzo to act as his proxy. The embassy went by Prato, Pistoja, Lucca, and Pietrasanta to Sarzana, which town and district had been recently purchased by Pietro and added to the Florentine dominions. Thence the company travelled by Pontremoli to Milan. The preparations for the journey were evidently on too magnificent a scale to please the cautious father, and we find him complaining to his wife Lucrezia in a less affectionate tone than usual. The following three letters refer to the journey. To it also belongs the passage in Lorenzo’s Ricordi or memoranda, in which he states that Sforza proposed that he should stand godfather to all his other children.
Piero de’ Medici at Careggi to Lucrezia his wife in Florence
Thou knowest how unwilling I was for many reasons, particularly in order not to give any importance to this mission, to allow Lorenzo to go. Yesterday we agreed about this, but I have not heard what thou hast done; it has been much talked about, which displeases me. Herewith I repeat that they must be here this evening and start infallanter to-morrow morning. If they do not, I shall arrange in some other way. Meanwhile see that everything is ready, and tell Lorenzo that he is not to exceed his orders, or to make any great show;[140] he is not an ambassador. I am determined that the gosling shall not lead the gander to drink. Make haste, for thou must return here without fail this evening. No more.—Careggi, July 13, 1469.
Piero di Cosimo.[141]
Gentile Becchi to Clarice de’ Medici
Magnifica Domina, &c.
Your Magnificence commanded me to send you news of your Magnificent Lorenzo every eight days. I now begin to recount the first week. As you will have heard from Francesco Nori and Gugliemo de’ Pazzi, after leaving you in the early morning we arrived at Prato during the cool. He dined with the Protonotary of the Medici, together with the Podestà of the place, his own people and Giuliano. There was some wind when we left about the 20th hour [4 P.M.], and he reached Pistoja on Friday evening, being met by several citizens of the town. He dismounted at the Bishop’s palace, as a messenger had said that Monsignore expected him. Having saluted the Bishop he went, while the luggage was being unloaded, to visit the two governors (Rettori), the Captain and the Podestà of the town, who were all invited by the Bishop to keep him company at supper. Four citizens came on behalf of the Priors to excuse themselves in the name of the townspeople, that on account of his unexpected arrival they had not, &c. &c., and begged him with affectionate words that on his return, &c. On Saturday he mounted at nine in the morning, and dined at Pescia with the governor, Baptista Nasi, there being no better inn; the heads of the Commune came to pay their respects, and presented wine, marzipan (cakes made with sweet almonds), and corn, and some private citizens did the same. After resting in the house of the Grand Master of Altopascio, who had accompanied him for dinner, he left at 20 of the clock, and met several chief citizens who had come to do him honour in their houses. Passing through Lucca at 23 of the clock, he dismounted at the inn della Corona,[142] outside the town on the Pisan road, intending to leave the next morning (Sunday). But after supper came six citizens of Lucca, with torches and servants of the Signoria, and finding Lorenzo on the square in the cool receiving visits from private acquaintances Paolo Trenta and Piero Guidiccioni addressed him, complaining that he had not deigned to dismount in a city where he was so welcome and had such influence, but had gone outside, and then in a long oration they prayed him to wait until the Signoria had, &c. &c. Lorenzo replied that to see them, whom he reverenced as fathers, gave him patience to undertake these visits, and perceiving that he was expected to reply in person he would put off his departure until after dinner, and next morning would come and demonstrate his affection towards the Signoria. Messer Niccolò da Noceto, Paolo di Poggio, and many other citizens came on Sunday morning to fetch him, and placing him first in their midst, and then Bernardo Rucellai, and then the Chancellor, they accompanied him to mass in the chapel of the Volto Santo, and then to the Signoria, where he spoke so fluently and so well that he drew to himself the hearts of all the people. When he returned presents began to arrive, torches, large and small, marzipan, boxes of sweetmeats, and wine. He thanked, bestowed gifts, kept a few of the gentlemen to dinner, spread out his silver, and as some showed symptoms of moving the wind having risen, he left before the time fixed; yet many of the citizens rode after him, and insisted on accompanying him and talking much. On the way he rested at Chiesa, Mazzarosa, and Capezzano, all very pretty places. At Pietrasanta he arrived at 23 of the clock, and lodged at the inn of the Campana outside, for it is an untrustworthy town; S. George had not much faith in S. Zita.[143] But the governor, who is a gentleman from Fiesco, sent to offer to pay his respects, and to do anything in his power. He saw him, thanked, and then, accompanied by all those men who could not take their eyes off him, supped with some of the citizens under an arbour; the place is beautiful with the sea in front and fertile plains behind. At 8 of the clock he mounted and rode sixteen miles most gaily. Under Monte Tignoso he met an envoy of the Magnificent Marquess of Fosdinovo, who invited him in the name of his master, and at Lavenza, or a little before reaching Luni, the Marquess Gabriello himself, who conducted him to his house at Sarzana. On dismounting he visited the governor who rules here for the Florentines, then we dined, and after resting a little went to see Sarzanella, which seen from the castle seemed to him a good purchase.[144] When he had supped he went to visit Messer Francesco, ducal Cameriere, who lives out of the town, and finding him ill provided for supper, he supplied him bountifully. To-morrow he goes to dine at Villa Franca, and in the evening will be at Pontremoli. The journey has been so arranged that he will be at Milan on Saturday, and after fulfilling his Magnificent father’s commission he will return at once to you who are the only one he regrets being absent from. He is very well and gay, and so is Bernardo.[145] Tell Nannina this. Our party is as when we left all good friends and obedient; we have had no drawbacks, for not even a nail is wanting. We have had no delays or frauds. All goes well and happily: please God we shall find you the same, to whom we all commend ourselves.—The 18th day of July 1469.[146]
Lorenzo de’ Medici to his wife Clarice
I have arrived here safely and am well. I am sure this will please thee more than any other news save that of my return, judging by my own feelings of longing for thee and for home. Make much of Piero, Mona Contessina, and Mona Lucrezia; I shall hasten to finish here and return to thee, for it seems to me a thousand years since I saw thee. Pray to God for me, and if thou wantest aught from here let me know, so be I have not already left Milan.—July 22, 1469.
Thy Lorenzo de’ Medici.[147]
In Lorenzo’s Ricordi he writes: “In the month of July MCDLXIX I went to Milan at the request of the most illustrious Duke Galeazzo to stand godfather, as proxy for Piero our father, to his first-born child. I was received with much honour, more so than the others who came for the same purpose, although they were persons more worthy than I. We paid our duty to the Duchess by presenting her with a necklace of gold with a large diamond, which cost near 2000 ducats. The consequence was that the said Lord desired that I should stand godfather to all his children.”[148]
Lorenzo de’ Medici, from Monza, to his father Piero in Florence
Being here at Monza with His Excellency, he wishes me to write to you about sending aid to Arimino, and begs you to arrange that Signor Roberto [Malatesta] with his troop should join the Duke of Urbino. As I know that Messer Luigi is writing fully about this I say no more, and all being in his hands I should not have mentioned it but for His Lordship’s orders. You will see what I write to Sagromora about being careful of your own person, so that nothing unforeseen should happen. It is well to give ear to all, though I do not think the danger is as great as it seems. Still it is better to be prudent, and to imagine danger may be greater than it really is.
I have taken leave of His Excellency, and this evening go to Milan, where I shall spend all to-morrow. On Monday, if it pleases God, I leave by way of Genoa, as after talking to His Lordship he thought it a good plan. I expect to stay two or three days in Genoa and to be with you on the 13th or at the latest the 14th of August. Meanwhile I commend myself to you.—Moncia [Monza], July 28, 1469.
Your Lorenzo.[149]
In the autumn of 1469 Piero de’ Medici was very ill, partly no doubt from anxiety about the state of Florence, “grievously troubled by her own citizens.” He summoned the chief burghers to his bedside, reproached them in the bitter words cited by Machiavelli, and threatened that he would cause them to repent. Fair words in plenty they gave him, but never changed their evil courses. “Whereupon,” continues Machiavelli, “Piero called Agnolo Acciaiuoli secretly to Caffagiuolo and conferred at length with him about the condition of the city. There is no doubt that had he not been prevented by death he would have reinstated all those who had been banished in order to put a stop to the robbery of the others. But death put an end to these most praiseworthy intentions. Tormented by increasing infirmity and anguish of mind, he died in the fifty-third year of his age. His country could not fully recognise his worth and his goodness, because until nearly the end of his life he was associated with his father Cosimo, and the few years during which he survived him were passed in civil contests and constant illness.” Piero died at Careggi on December 2, 1469, and was buried in S. Lorenzo, near his father.
FOOTNOTES:
[87] Delle Istorie Fiorentine, Niccolò Machiavelli, pp. 410 et seq. Milano, 1823.
[88] Cosmi Vita, op. cit. ii. 286.
[89] This document is undated, but was in all probability given in 1464.
[90] Laurentii Medicis Magnifici Vita, Angelo Fabronio, ii. 117. Pisis, 1784.
[91] Palatina Codex 204. The volume bound in white vellum contains 622 pages. There is no title-page. Lorenzo’s letter occupies the first six and a half pages, and without any division or new paragraph follows the Life of Dante by Boccaccio, in the same handwriting. At page 63 the writing changes and continues the same for forty pages. The poems were evidently copied by various scribes, as the writing so often differs.
[92] Codex 2723. A far smaller volume in modern wooden binding. The title-page is: Rime del Poliziano, di Lorenzo de’ Medici, di Dante e d’altri. The famous letter begins on page 71 (really 142, as only the right-hand page is numbered) and above it is written in a different and more modern hand in red ink, Epistola di M. Angelo Poliziano al S. Federigo insieme con raccolto volgare mandatogli dal Magco. Lorenzo. The same scribe has written the names of the various poets in the margin of the letter where they are mentioned in red ink. The Life of Dante by Boccaccio and many of the poems that are in the Palatina Codex are wanting. At page 78 (i.e. 156) the handwriting changes, and at the end of the volume is inserted a Latin autograph letter from Poliziano to Philippu Beroaldus. In 1814 the Abbate Vincenzo Nannucci and Luigi Ciampolini published a collection of Poliziano’s poems and at the end printed Lorenzo’s letter, attributing it to Poliziano. They were evidently misled by the anonymous annotator of this codex. The attribution to Poliziano is absurd, as he was then barely fourteen years of age, and only knew Lorenzo in 1470, when he sent him a translation of part of the Iliad (see p. [157]).
[93] Renaissance in Italy, J. A. Symonds, iv. 323. Smith, Elder, & Co., London, 1898.
[94] Manager of the Medici Bank at Milan.
[95] Ippolita Maria, daughter of Francesco Sforza, was married by proxy to the Duke of Calabria, eldest son of King Ferrante of Naples.
[96] Gugliemo de’ Pazzi, husband of Piero’s daughter Bianca.
[97] Arch. Med. ante Prin., Filza xx. No. 12.
[98] The address is torn, and there only remains:
... entio de Medicis
... ediolani.
(Arch. Med. ante Prin., Filza. 20, No. 157.)
[99] Don Federigo and his sister-in-law, Ippolita Maria.
[100] Arch. Med. ante Prin., Filza xx. No. 15.
[101] A long balustrade of stone raised several feet above the Piazza, with steps leading up to it, which once occupied the front of the Palazzo Vecchio to the left of the door. The erection was decreed on May 27, 1323, of “unam nobilem, pulchram et decentem arengheriam, in muris seu juxta muros Palatii Populi in eo loco seu parte dicti palati ubi videbitur officia dominorum priorum.”
[102] Luigi Pulci was born in Florence on August 15, 1432, of Jacopo Pulci and Brigida de’ Bardi. His brothers Luca and Bernardo were also poets. and Bernardo’s wife Antonia was a poetess of some repute. Luca went into trade but failed, and died in gaol in 1470, leaving his widow and children dependent on his brothers. Luigi, an intimate friend of the Medici family, wrote La Giostra (sometimes attributed to his brother Luca) to celebrate the tournament held by Lorenzo de’ Medici in honour of the marriage of Braccio Martelli, but really of Lucrezia Donati just before his marriage with Clarice Orsini. The poem Driades was first published under the pseudonym of Lucio Pulcro in Florence in 1479, but the later editions bear his name. His greatest work, less read than it deserves, Morgante Maggiore, was, as Mr. Armstrong says, a growth rather than a composition. Stanzas were recited at table, and Lucrezia de’ Medici urged him to collect them into an epic poem. Besides being a poet, Luigi Pulci was an acute and clever politician, often employed by Lorenzo in missions to foreign courts. He died in 1484, probably at Padua whilst on the road to Venice.
[103] Lettere di Luigi Pulci a Lorenzo il Magnifico, Nelle Nozze della Volpe Zambrini, p. 6. Salvatore Bonghi, Lucca, 1868.
[104] Laurentii Medicis Vita, op. cit. ii. 47.
[105] Laurentii Medicis Vita, op. cit. ii. 49.
[106] Ibid., ii. 36.
[107] Laurentii Medicis Vita, op. cit. ii. 36.
[108] Probably Tanai, son of Vieri de’ Medici.
[109] Lettere di Luigi Pulci, op. cit., p. 26. The Palle are the balls in the Medici arms, and the people saluted the Medici by shouting “Palle, Palle.”
[110] Her own daughters.
[111] Tre Letter di Lucrezia Tornabuoni a Piero de’ Medici, Ricordo di Nozze, Cesare Guasti. Firenze, 1859.
[112] Gentile Becchi, tutor to Lorenzo and Giuliano, afterwards Bishop of Arezzo.
[113] Lucrezia Tornabuoni, Donna di Piero de’ Medici, Studio da G. Levantini-Pieroni. Firenze, 1888.
[114] Arch. Med. Miscellanea, p. 6.
[115] Illegible.
[116] Lucrezia Tornabuoni, &c., op. cit.
[117] Ibid., Filza lxxx.
[118] Daughter of Agnolo Acciaiuoli, married to Pier Francesco de’ Medici.
[119] Archivio, &c., Filza xxi. No. 55.
[120] Lucrezia Tornabuoni, &c., op. cit.
[121] Luigi Pulci’s brother.
[122] In the Mugello where Luigi Pulci owned a small property.
[123] Lettere di Luigi Pulci, op. cit. 31.
[124] Ibid.
[125] Tre Lettere di Lucrezia, &c., op. cit.
[126] Tre Lettere di Lucrezia Tornabuoni, op. cit.
[127] La Fidanzata di Lorenzo de’ Medici, per nozze Bondi-Levi. Isidoro Del Lungo, 8th July 1897.
[128] La Giostra di Lorenzo de’ Medici, erroneously attributed by many writers to his brother Luca.
[129] Tre Lettere di Lucrezia, &c., op. cit. Rinaldo Orsini was afterwards Archbishop of Florence.
[130] Ibid.
[131] Laurentii Medicis Vita, &c., vol. ii. p. 39.
[132] A Tuscan white wine still much prized.
[133] Donatello’s David. It was placed in the courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio after the expulsion of Piero de’ Medici in 1494 and is now in the Bargello.
[134] Tela di Renza, or Rensa, so-called because it came from Rheims in France.
[135] The illegitimate son of Cosimo, canon of the cathedral of Florence.
[136] Gentile Becchi of Urbino, tutor to Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici, afterwards Bishop of Arezzo.
[137] Delle Nozze di Lorenzo de’ Medici con Clarice Orsini nel 1469. Informazione di Piero Parenti Fiorentino, per le Nozze di Florestano ed Elisa dei Conti di Larderel. In Firenze, 1870.
[138] Donne Medicee avanti il Principato, Berta Felice, Rassegna Nazionale.
[139] A. Fabronio, Laurentii Medicis Magnifici Vita, Annotationes et Monumenta, p. 45. Pisis, 1784.
In Memoirs of Dukes of Urbino, by J. Dennistoun, vol. i. p. 186, is the following passage: “Federigo’s [of Urbino] condotta in the papal service had just expired, leaving him free to consult the dictates of policy, his views as to which were stated in an appeal to Pietro de’ Medici on behalf of Rimini, in words which may almost be deemed prophetic. ‘I am constrained to believe that the Pontiff and the Venetian Signory intend to occupy Rimini and all Romagna, and eventually Bologna too. Rimini once lost, the rest will readily follow, and your lordship and the league may easily suppose where Bologna and Imola would then be. Those who will not resist such projects at first may have afterwards to pay a hundredfold, and God grant that it be to good purpose.’” Edited by Edward Hutton. John Lane, London, 1909.
It is a curious coincidence that Bentivoglio and Federigo of Urbino should use almost identical words, unless Dennistoun has made a mistake about the writer.
[140] Non fare tante melarancie (Not make so many oranges): an old proverb.
[141] Arch. Med. ante Prin., Avi, No. i. 474.
[142] The inn still exists.
[143] S. George is the patron saint of Pietrasanta, S. Zita a favourite saint in Lucca.
[144] Sarzana and Sarzanella had been bought the year before by Piero de’ Medici from Lodovico di Campo Fregoso. They were valuable to Florence as Sarzana commanded the direct road from Milan to Florence which near there lay between the mountains and the sea. An invasion from the north was thus rendered difficult, while an attack on Lucca could be carried out without fear of her allies being able to come swiftly to her help. Sarzanella, the fine fortress built by the great Lucchese Ghibelline, Castruccio Castrocane, in its turn commanded Sarzana.
[145] Bernardo Rucellai, husband of Lorenzo’s sister Nannina.
[146] Laurentii Medicis Vita, op. cit. ii. 54.
[147] Ibid., ii. 56.
[148] See p. 153, Lorenzo’s Ricordi.
[149] Arch. Med. ante Prin., Filza. vii. No. 411.
LORENZO DI PIERO DE’ MEDICI.
In the Museo Giovio (Villa Soave, Como).