Whatever meaning this volume may have as a legal precedent, it had for Browning, and has for the lay reader, a deep human interest as the incomplete record of a sordid series of intrigues for certain properties, ending at last in a fearful crime.
Guido Franceschini, scion of a noble but impoverished Tuscan family, had sought his fortunes in Rome, and had attained a secretaryship in the household of Cardinal Lauria. His brother, the Abate Paolo, a shrewd and effective man, rose much higher, at last attaining important office among the Knights of St. John. Guido, less astute and less ingratiating, reached middle life with but scant success, and at last was left unprovided. With the assistance of Abate Paolo, he planned to recoup his fortunes by a bourgeois marriage. Though past forty years of age and of unattractive appearance, he won, by his noble name and subtle intrigue and falsification, the thirteen-year-old daughter of the Comparini, of the well-to-do middle class of Rome. After the marriage in December 1693, Pompilia and her parents accompanied Guido back to Arezzo, where, in the ruinous Franceschini palazzo, the Comparini had ample opportunity to repent their folly. Bitter contentions soon arose, and at last the Comparini fled from the brutalities of their son-in-law, and returned to Rome. There they published broadcast the sordid poverty and the ignoble brutality of their persecutors, probably printing and circulating the affidavit of the servant (pp. [49]-[53]). Guido seems to have retorted by circulating the forged letter from Pompilia (pp. [56], [57]). But they struck a more deadly blow at the pride of the Franceschini when they revealed that Pompilia was not their own child, but was of ignominious parentage. And in the spring of 1694 they brought suit before Judge Tomati for the recovery of the dowry monies paid to Franceschini—a bitter humiliation to the greedy poverty of the Franceschini. It must have been a scandalous suit, bringing dishonour to both parties as their domestic difficulties were exposed to the throngs of the curious. In this trial were adduced the letters of the governor (pp. [89], [90]) and of the Bishop of Arezzo (p. [99]). The Comparini lost their suit, but appealed to the Rota, and their case was pending for several years, during which time they may have baited the Franceschini with spiteful scandals.
In the meantime, the child-wife, Pompilia, was left in desperate plight—despised and hated by her husband's family. Her situation grew intolerable. Guido had evidently determined to rid himself of her without relaxing his grip on her property. His brutalities were systematic and cunning. At last she was driven to flee for her life, and on April 29, 1697, made her escape under the protection of Caponsacchi, a gallant young priest. It was a desperate step, gravely reprehensible in the eyes of the world. The fugitives pressed toward Rome, but Guido overtook them at Castelnuovo, fifteen miles short of their destination, and had them arrested.
At Rome, criminal charges of flight and adultery were brought against them. This Process of Flight, as it is repeatedly called in the Yellow Book, continued all through the summer. It was for their defence in this case that Pompilia and Caponsacchi made their affidavits (pp. [90] and [95]), giving their motives for the flight. At the same time Guido urged the evidence of the love-letters (pp. [99]-[106]), which he claimed to have found at the time of the arrest of the fugitives. In September, judgment was rendered against Caponsacchi—relegation for three years to Civita Vecchia—a punishment commensurate with indiscretion rather than with crime. Pompilia was unsentenced, but was retained for a month in safekeeping in the nunnery delle Scalette, and was then permitted to return to the home of her foster-parents, the Comparini, though still technically a prisoner in this home (p. [159]). Here on December 18 a boy was born.
On Christmas Eve, Guido reached Rome with four young rustics, whom he had hired to assist him in the assassination. For a week he lurked in the villa of his brother, Abate Paolo, who had left Rome. Then, on the evening of January 2, he won entrance to the home of the Comparini by using the name of Caponsacchi. The parents were instantly stabbed to death, and Pompilia was cut to pieces with twenty-two wounds. Leaving her for dead, Guido and his cut-throats fled, as the outcries of the victims had given the alarm. That night they travelled afoot nearly twenty miles, but were pursued by the police, and were arrested with the bloody arms still in their possession.
Such was the crime, and the Old Yellow Book is the record of the legal battle over the assassins, which was fought through the criminal courts of Rome, presided over by Vice-governor Venturini. The prosecution and defence alike were conducted by officers of the court, two lawyers on each side, the Procurator and Advocate of the Poor for the defendants, and the Procurator and Advocate of the Fisc against them. As the fact of the crime was definitely ascertained, the legal battle turned entirely on the justification or condemnation of the motive of the crime. The defence maintained that the assassination had been for honour's sake, and the unwritten law, to which appeal is made in generation after generation, was urged at every point. That Guido had suffered unspeakable ignominy cannot be denied; that his wife had been untrue to him even in the perilous flight with Caponsacchi is unproved, as the courts had evidently held in the Process of Flight. The prosecution, on the other hand, reiterated in every argument their reading of Guido's motive—greed. Greed had led him to marry Pompilia. Greed had occasioned his disgraceful wranglings with the Comparini. Defeated greed had made him torture his wife into scandalous flight, and calculating greed had led him to commit the murder at a time and in a manner to save the whole property to himself. Still further, said the prosecution, not only was his motive bad, but the crime was committed in a way which involved him in half a dozen accessory crimes, each of them capital. Such is the drift of the argument, which is fortified at every point by citation of precedent from the legal procedure of all ages. Altogether it is a highly skilled legal battle according to the technical limitations of the game, while the simple appeals to equity and to common human feeling hardly enter at all.
The trial proceeded in two stages. The earlier one, during the latter half of January, was opened by Arcangeli ([pamphlet 1]), supported by Advocate Spreti ([pamphlet 2]). The prosecution is opened by Procurator Gambi ([pamphlet 5]), supported by Advocate Bottini ([pamphlet 6]). Arcangeli and Bottini make further argument in [pamphlets 3] and [14]. Two pamphlets of evidence were assembled and printed—for the defence, [pamphlet 7]; and for the prosecution, [pamphlet 4]. The latter part of this stage of the case is much occupied with arguing whether Guido and his companions may be tortured to get a fuller statement from them. In spite of the efforts of Guido's attorneys, the torture was evidently decreed, and fuller evidence was forced from the defendants, though one of them bore the torture till he fainted twice. The trial then enters on its second stage, in which, after some preliminary skirmishing about the legality of the torture and the status of the evidence given under this torture, the lawyers settle to their most masterly work. Arcangeli and Spreti develop an elaborate and skilled defence ([pamphlets 8] and [9]), and are answered by Bottini's masterpiece for the prosecution ([pamphlet 13]). Spreti closes the defence in [pamphlet 16]. [Pamphlet 11] presents some additional matters of evidence.
All these arguments and summaries of evidence were printed by the official papal press (see the imprint Typis Rev. Cam. Apost.), probably overnight, between the sessions of the court, as typewritten briefs would be prepared to-day. Few copies were printed, and these were solely for the judges and attorneys in the case. There would be no popular circulation of them in Rome at large. The particular copies included in the Old Yellow Book were probably gathered by one of these attorneys, and sent to Signor Cencini in Florence (letter iii. p. [238]).
We need but look to our own age to rest assured that outside of the court room all Rome was athrill with interest in this murder case, and was speculating on the fate of the accused. The attorneys for the defence, in the midst of the trial, made a sudden appeal to this public interest and sought the support of public sentiment by means of an anonymous pamphlet ([pamphlet 10]) written in Italian and printed without an imprint or signature, but evidently addressed to the bar of public opinion. It seems to have been written by Guido's lawyers, or their lackeys, for it repeats the various points already made in the arguments. Whether it was distributed free or was sold for a small price, it must have been seized and devoured by all Rome as are the journalistic reports of notorious criminal trials to-day. We can imagine the alarm of the prosecution when they perceived this flank movement against them. With all possible haste they prepared their reply, also in Italian and without signature or imprint, and probably within a day or two had issued this response ([pamphlet 15]), which meets the other pamphlet at every point, and bitterly arraigns the greed of Guido. These two pamphlets evidently suggested to Browning his "Half-Rome" and "Other Half-Rome."
There must have been other popular exploitations of this crime. Two manuscript Italian narratives of it have been discovered. The first of these (pp. [259]-[266]) was found in London and sent to Browning, who used it extensively in writing his poem. The second (pp. [269]-[281]) was discovered a few years ago in Rome. Other accounts may yet come to light.