Ottaviano Ubaldini della Carda, will figure in these pages, as the companion and counsellor of his uncle Count Federigo.
In a lengthened sketch of his character, Giovanni Sanzi, the metrical chronicler of Federigo's reign, tells us that his native excellences were amply developed at the court of Filippo Visconti, where he was brought up under that Duke's immediate eye. During many years he was chief minister and treasurer of his uncle, to whose interests he devoted himself with unwearied zeal, discharging his duties with singular dignity and discretion. Nor did he, amid the cares of state, forget the improvement of his intellectual gifts. Francesco Filelfo dedicates a work to him, as a man of great weight and learning. Porcellio, who had probably shared his bounty, calls him an indefatigable reader of the poets; and Sanzi thus extends the catalogue of his acquirements:—
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"Well versed he was in classic literature, And mastered readily theology, Whilst music's gentle art his pastimes shared: The secrets of astrology to him Seemed nature's lesson. Never man than he A heart more trusty or more leal could boast; A shrine of truth his bosom. Friend of peace And justice, merit's steady patron still, Painters and sculptors solace found in him, Their almost father." |
Berni, the chronicler of Gubbio, applies to Ottaviano and to his father the epithet Magnificent, a not unfrequent euphuism in Italy, although with us applied exclusively to Lorenzo de' Medici. In 1473 he had from Sixtus IV. in special guerdon the privilege of using at his devotions a portable altar, and authority to legitimise bastards. When Federigo set forth with sad forebodings on his last fatal campaign of Ferrara, he confided to Ottaviano the guardianship of his boyish heir Guidobaldo, and the government of his state, trusts which appear to have been faithfully and judiciously fulfilled. Yet Bembo has perpetuated what was probably a vile slander, or at best the suggestion of ignorant drivelling, that the alleged impotence of Duke Guidobaldo was occasioned by magical arts resorted to by his guardian, who had been named next heir of his state. Ottaviano breathed his last at Cagli in 1498, leaving by his wife Angela Orsini, an only son Bernardino, on whose early death the estates and townships of La Carda, Mercatello, Sassocorbaro, S. Marco, Rampugnano, Sta. Croce, La Merola, Lamola, Cargine, and Pecchio devolved upon Duke Guidobaldo. Two contemporaries of his name are mentioned, but I have not traced their relationship; Guidantonio Ubaldini, who in 1464 married Altadonna, daughter of Bartolomeo Contarini; and Pietro, whom Duke Federigo sent to England in 1475, as proxy at his installation as Knight of the Garter, and who was killed at La Stellata in 1482. In 1648 there remained to this ancient house but a wreck of their great estates, including Massa Vaccareccia, but in compliment to their descent and connection with the Montefeltri, they retained precedence over the nobles of Urbino. The Counts of Pecorari and Montefiori were branches of the same stock.
[*48] See [page 47]. The latter is correct.
[*49] The chronicle of Gubbio (Muratori, R.I.S., XXI., 982) speaks of Oddantonio's death happening on 22 July, "ob violatum pudicitiam feminarum," as the author of the Annali di Forlì, R.I.S., XXII., 222, writes. It is recorded that he left debts of many thousands of ducats to the Count, his brother, "per soperchierie e trascurate spese, fatte in quel poco di tempo che egli aveva governato." Graziani, however, the supposed author of the Perugian chronicle published under his name, who, as Prof. Oscar Scalvanti has demonstrated (Boll. per l'Umbria, vol. IV., p. 57 et seq.), is not the author, but rather Antonio dei Guarneglie, followed by Pietro Angelo di Giovanni, says in his Cronaca della Città di Perugia that Oddantonio was murdered on 21 July, on Tuesday evening, at the sixth hour of the night, which I take to be about two o'clock on the morning of 22 July. He gives a long and circumstantial account of his murder. The Chronicle of Rimini, R.I.S., XV., 948, names the protonotary and one of the three other friends whom "Graziani" says fell with him. They were Manfredo da Carpi and Tomasso di Ser Guidicino da Arimino. "Graziani," who doubtless wrote from hearsay, says he was killed because "non aveva rispetto a persona e che quando glie piaceva una giovane, o zitola o maritata che fusse, se ne voleva cavare la voglia. Et el conte Guido suo padre fo tutto el contrario." The usual cries rang through the city: "Morto è il signore! Viva la Chiesa e viva el populo!" See Arch. St. Ital., ser. I., tom. XVI., parte I., p. 552 et seq. While fully admitting Sigismondo Malatesta to be capable of any cunning, I do not think we have any evidence against him here. The Malatesti were the enemies of the Montefeltri, and the latter, with their subjects, were afraid of Sigismondo, already a very brilliant soldier. Cf. Marcolini, St. d. Prov. di Pesaro e Urbino (Pesaro, 1885).
[50] In another chronicle, the immediate provocation to this fell outrage is thus tersely stated: "The Duke was slain by the citizens because he had little respect for their wives by night or by day." Sanzi has deleted a portion of his poem, and the substituted passage gives the version we have adopted, passing lightly over the manner in which the victims met their death.
[51] Diario Ferrarese, in R.I.S., XXIV., 194.
[*52] The other in the sacristy is the Flagellation with the Duke's portrait on the right; it is the work of Piero della Francesca.
[*53] For all that concerns the races in Siena see William Heywood, Palio and Ponte (Methuen, 1904), esp. p. 85 et seq.