Lucretia Borgia According to Original Documents and Correspondence of Her Day

by Ferdinand Gregorovius

The following day the eagerly expected dramatic performances were given. First the duke had the actors appear in masks and costumes for the purpose of reviewing them. The director of the troop then came forward in the character of Plautus and read the program and the argument of each piece which was to be rendered during the five evenings. The selection of comedies by living dramatists in the year 1502 could not have cost the duke much thought, for there were none of any special importance. The Calandra of Dovizi, which a few years later caused such a sensation, was not yet written. It is true Ariosto had already composed his Cassaria and the Suppositi, but he had not yet won sufficient renown for him to be honored by their presentation at the wedding festivities.[169] Moreover, the duke would have none but classic productions. He wanted to set all the world talking; and, in truth, Italy had never seen any theatrical performances equal to these. We possess careful descriptions of them which have not yet been incorporated in the history of the stage. They show more clearly than do the reports regarding the Vatican theater in the time of Leo X what was the real nature of theatrical performances during the Renaissance; consequently, they constitute a valuable picture of the times.

If one could follow the reports of Gagnolo, Zambotto, and Isabella, and reproduce in imagination the brilliant wedding and the guests in their rich costumes seated in rows, he would behold one of the fairest and most illustrious gatherings of the Renaissance. This scene, rich in form and color, taken in conjunction with the stage, and the performances of the comedies of Plautus, and with the pantomimes and the moresche which occupied the time between the acts, is so romantic that we might imagine ourselves translated to Shakespeare's Midsummer-Night's Dream, and that Duke Ercole had changed places with Theseus, Duke of Athens, and that the comedies were being performed before him and the happy bridal pair.

According to the program, from February 3d to February 8th—with the exception of one evening—five of the plays of Plautus were to be given. The intermissions were to be devoted to music and moresche. The moresca resembled the modern ballet; that is, a pantomime dance. It is of very ancient origin, and traces of it appear in the Middle Ages. At first it was a war dance in costume, which character it preserved for a long time. The name is, I believe, derived from the fact that in all the Latin countries which suffered from the invasions of the Saracens, dances in which the participants were armed and which simulated the battles of the Moor and Christian were executed. The Moors, for the sake of contrast, were represented as black. Subsequently the meaning of the term moresca was extended to include the ballet in general, and all sorts of scenes in which dances accompanied by flutes and violins were introduced. The subjects were derived from mythology, the age of chivalry, and everyday life.

There were also comic dances performed by fantastic monsters, peasants, clowns, wild animals, and satyrs, during which blows were freely dealt right and left. The classico-romantic ballet appears to have reached a high development in Ferrara, which was the home of the romantic epics—the Mambriano and the Orlando. It is needless to say that the ballet possessed great attraction for the public in those days, just as it now does. The presentation of the comedies of Plautus would have no more effect upon people of this age than would a puppet show. They lasted from four to five hours—from six in the evening until midnight.

The first evening the duke conducted his guests into the theater, and when they had taken their seats, Plautus appeared before the bridal couple and addressed some complimentary verses to them. After this the Epidicus was presented. Each act was followed by a ballet, and five beautiful moresche were given during the interludes of the play. First entered ten armed gladiators, who danced to the sound of tambourines; then followed a mimic battle between twelve people in different costumes; the third moresca was led by a young woman upon a car which was drawn by a unicorn, and upon it were several persons bound to the trunk of a tree, while seated under the bushes were four lute players. The young woman loosed the bonds of the captives, who immediately descended and danced while the lute players sang beautiful canzone—at least so says Gagnolo; the cultured Duchess of Mantua, however, wrote that the music was so doleful that it was scarcely worth listening to. Isabella, however, judging by her remarkable letters, was a severe critic, not only of the plays but of all the festivities. The fourth moresca was danced by ten Moors holding burning tapers in their mouths. In the fifth there were ten fantastically dressed men with feathers on their heads, and bearing lances with small lighted torches at their tips. On the conclusion of the Epidicus there was a performance by several jugglers.

Friday, February 4th, Lucretia did not appear until the afternoon. In the morning the duke showed his guests about the city, and they went to see a famous saint, Sister Lucia of Viterbo, whom the devout Ercole had brought to Ferrara as a great attraction. Every Friday the five wounds of Christ appeared on the body of this saint. She presented the ambassador of France with a rag with which she had touched her scars, and which Monseigneur Rocca Berti received with great respect. At the castle the duke showed his guests the artillery, to the study of which his son Alfonso was eagerly devoted. Here they waited for Lucretia, who, accompanied by all the ambassadors, soon appeared in the great salon. A dance was given which lasted until six in the evening. Then followed a presentation of the Bacchides which required five hours. Isabella found these performances excessively long and tiresome. Ballets similar to those which accompanied the Epidicus were given; men dressed in flesh-colored tights with torches in their hands, which diffused agreeable odors, danced fantastic figures, and engaged in a battle with a dragon.

The following day Lucretia did not appear, as she was engaged in writing letters and in washing her hair, and the guests amused themselves by wandering about the city. No entertainments were given for the populace. The French ambassador, in the name of the King of France, sent presents to the princes of the house. The duke received a golden shield with a picture of S. Francis in enamel, the work of a Parisian artist, which was highly valued; to the hereditary Prince Alfonso was given a similar shield with a portrait of Mary of Magdala, the ambassador remarking that his Majesty had chosen a wife who resembled the Magdalene in character: Quæ multum meruit, quia multum credidit. Perhaps presenting Alfonso with a gift suggestive of the Magdalene was an intentional bit of irony on the part of the French king. In addition to this he received a written description of a process for casting cannon. A golden shield was likewise presented to Don Ferrante. Lucretia's gift was a string of gold beads filled with musk, while her charming maid of honor, Angela, was honored with a costly chain.

Everything was done to flatter the French ambassador. He was invited to dinner in the evening by the Marchioness of Mantua, and was placed between his hostess and the Duchess of Urbino. The evening was passed, according to Gagnolo, in gallant and cultivated conversation. On leaving the table the marchioness sang the most beautiful songs to the accompaniment of the lute, for the entertainment of the French ambassador. After this she conducted him to her chamber, where, in the presence of two of her ladies-in-waiting, they held an animated conversation for almost an hour, at the conclusion of which she drew off her gloves and presented them to him, "and the ambassador received them with assurances of his loyalty and his love, as they came from such a charming source; he told her that he would preserve them until the end of time, as a precious relic." We may believe Gagnolo, for doubtless the fortunate ambassador regarded this memento of a beautiful woman as no less precious than the rag poor Saint Lucia had given him.

Sunday, February 6th, there was a magnificent ceremony in the church; one of the Pope's chamberlains in the name of his Holiness presented Don Alfonso with a hat and also a sword which the Holy Father had blessed, and which the archbishop girded on him at the altar. In the afternoon the princes and the princesses of the house of Este went to Lucretia's apartments to fetch her to the banquet hall. They danced for two hours; Lucretia herself, with one of her ladies-in-waiting, taking part in some French dances. In the evening the Miles Gloriosus was presented; it was followed by a moresca in which ten shepherds with horns on their heads fought with each other.

February 7th there was a tourney in the piazza before the church between two mounted knights, one of whom was a native of Bologna and the other a citizen of Imola. No blood was shed. In the evening the Asinaria was presented, together with a wonderful moresca in which appeared fourteen satyrs, one of which carried a silvered ass's head in his hands, in which there was a music-box, to the strains of which the clowns danced. This play of the satyrs was followed by an interlude performed by sixteen vocalists,—men and women,—and a virtuoso from Mantua who played on three lutes. In conclusion there was a moresca in which was simulated the agricultural work of the peasants. The fields were prepared, the seed sown, the grain cut and threshed, and the harvest feast followed. Finally a native dance to the accompaniment of the bagpipe was executed.