But more trustworthy than the rhymes of court poets is the evidence to be found in the letters describing the daily round of life at Milan or Pavia and Vigevano. Here Isabella and Beatrice are mentioned as joining in the same games and sports, whether playing at ball, sometimes even trying their strength in wrestling matches.
"The two duchesses," writes the Ferrarese ambassador, on the 28th of April, "have been having a sparring match, and the Duke of Bari's wife has knocked down her of Milan."
Sometimes their escapades were of a decidedly undignified order. But practical jokes were much in vogue among these exalted lords and ladies of the Renaissance. For instance, we find Beatrice's brother Alfonso and Messer Galeazzo, disguised as robbers, breaking into the house of Girolamo Tuttavilla, one of Lodovico's favourite ministers, at midnight, and leading him blindfold on a donkey through the streets of Milan and into the Castello, where he was released amid peals of laughter. And the two young duchesses seem to have celebrated this Eastertide, which they spent at Milan, by the wildest freaks.
"There is literally no end to the pleasures and amusements which we have here," writes Lodovico, on the 12th of April, to his sister-in-law at Mantua. "I could not tell you one-thousandth part of the tricks and games in which the Duchess of Milan and my wife indulge. In the country they spent their time in riding races and galloping up behind their ladies at full speed, so as to make them fall off their horses. And now that we are back here in Milan, they are always inventing some new forms of amusement. They started yesterday in the rain on foot, with five or six of their ladies, wearing cloths or towels over their heads, and walked through the streets of the city to buy provisions. But since it is not the custom for women to wear cloths on their heads here, some of the women in the street began to laugh at them and make rude remarks, upon which my wife fired up and replied in the same manner, so much so that they almost came to blows. In the end they came home all muddy and bedraggled, and were a fine sight! I believe, when your Highness is here, they will go out with all the more courage, since they will have in you so bold and spirited a comrade, and if any one dares to be rude to you, they will get back as good as they give! From your affectionate brother,
"Lodovico."[15]
Isabella, for all her wisdom and prudence, does not seem to have been in the least scandalized by her sister's behaviour, and replied that she would have done worse if any one had ventured to insult her; upon which Lodovico remarked—
"Your letter in answer to my description of my wife and the duchess walking about Milan with cloths on their heads, delighted me. I am sure you have far too much spirit to allow rude things to be said to you, and when I read your letter, I could see the angry flash in your eye, and hear the indignant answer that you would have had in readiness for any one who dared insult you."
The next letter we give was written on the 12th of June, from the Castello di Pavia, where the ducal family spent that summer, and is of special interest on account of the allusions which it contains to the famous sanctuary of the Certosa.
"I have spent several days lately at the Certosa, which your Highness, I know, visited when you were last here. And since I did not think the choir-stalls in the church were in any way suitable or equal in beauty to the rest of the building, I went back there the day before yesterday and had them taken down, and have ordered new stalls to be designed in their place. And as I was returning, the duke and duchess and my wife came to meet me, and attacked me suddenly, and in order to defend myself, I divided my retainers, who were most of them riding mules, into three squadrons, and charged the enemy in due order, so there was a fine scuffle! Then we came home to see some youths run races, with lances in their hands, and after that we went to supper. And since those illustrious duchesses took it into their heads to return again to the Certosa, they went back there yesterday morning, and when it was time for them to return, I went out to meet them, and found that both duchesses and all their ladies were dressed in Turkish costumes. These disguises were invented by my wife, who had all the dresses made in one night! It seems that when they began to set to work about noon yesterday, the Duchess of Milan could not contain her amazement at seeing my wife sewing with as much vigour and energy as any old woman. And my wife told her that, whatever she did, whether it were jest or earnest, she liked to throw her whole heart into it and try and do it as well as possible. Certainly in this case she succeeded perfectly, and the skill and grace with which she carried out her idea gave me indescribable pleasure and satisfaction."[16]
The passage is eminently characteristic both of the Moro and his wife. We see on the one hand the spirit and resolution which made Beatrice, in the words of the Emperor Maximilian, not merely a sweet and loving wife to her lord, but a partner who shared actively in all his schemes and lightened every burden; and on the other, we understand the admiration which this force of character and tenacity of purpose excited in Lodovico's weaker and more easily swayed nature. Beatrice's masquerade recalls another curious feature of the day—that taste for Turkish costumes and interest in Oriental habits which had sprung up in Italy during the forty years which had elapsed since the fall of Constantinople. In Venice, Gentile Bellini and Carpaccio were already showing signs of this familiarity with Eastern habits by the Turkish costumes and personages who figure in their pictures; and a troop of Turks were introduced into a masque written by the Milanese poet, Gaspare Visconti, and acted before the Court. These strangers from the far East, attracted by the fame of the great city of Milan, were supposed to arrive in a boat on the Lombard shores, singing the following chorus:—