We do not deny that disputes immediately arose between Francesca and her husband, and possibly he threatened her with death. But this was for another reason, namely that she should quit the illicit amours she had begun at the suggestion of her parents, and that she should live with evident chastity as is to be read expressly in her deposition (our Summary, [No. 2], letter A).
It is verified from the fact that Francesca herself, in a letter written to Abate Franceschini, ingenuously confesses (Summary of the Fisc, [No. 4], and our Summary, [No. 3]) that her parents indeed were sowing strife between the couple, and were urging her to have recourse to the Bishop under the false pretence of ill-treatment; and day and night they kept instigating her to poison her husband, her brother, and mother-in-law, to burn the house, and what is still more awful, to win a lover and return to Rome in his company. Nor did she fail to obey them in several of these matters.
And in another letter written to the same Abate, and shown by us, and given in our Summary, [No. 4], we read: "Not now having those here who urge me to evil."
Of no counter-effect is the response that the single characters of the said first letter had been previously marked out by Guido, and were afterward traced with a pen by herself, as she asserts in our Summary, [No. 2], letter K. For proof of this statement she can bring no other evidence than that she does not know how to write. Summary, [No. 2], letters B, H, and K.
In this, furthermore, she stands most clearly convicted of falsehood by her signature, which was recognised by herself at the command of the court while she was in prison, as we find in the prosecution for flight (p. 39). She also stands convicted of falsehood by the signature of her marriage agreement, concerning the truth of which it would be ill to doubt, both because there is along with it the signature of one of the Lord Cardinals, and because her handwriting was recognised by herself who had written it, at the demand of the notary, as is to be seen in the copy filed in the prosecution for flight, p. 132. And, furthermore, she is convicted by the priest with whom she fled, who asserts that more than once at night he has received letters which were either thrown out of the window by her or were sent by a servant; we give his deposition in our Summary, [No. 5], letters A, B, C, and D. This is verified by the Fiscal witness (p. 108), where we read: "And she threw down a note, as I saw very clearly, and the Canon picked it up, and went away." There are, besides, the letters and sheets of paper filled with mutual love, found in the prison at Castelnuovo, where they themselves were overtaken. But it is utterly impossible that the characters of these were also marked by her husband, nor is it told by whom they were written; accordingly it is to be presumed that they were devised by herself, lest she might betray their forbidden love-intrigues, which they would have to hide with the greatest care. And I pray that the abovesaid letter be submitted to our eyes, and it will be clearly seen whether the characters were formed by one not knowing how to write, but forming them in ink in imitation of certain signs, or rather by the expert hand of the woman herself.
In the first place, the truth of the said letter of which we are speaking, we may gather from the letter of the Governor of Arezzo, in our Summary, [No. 1], where we find: "Of much greater scandal were the flights and petitions made by the said wife, their daughter, to Monsignor the Bishop. These were made for no other reason than that neither she nor her parents wished to stay any longer in Arezzo, but desired to return to Rome. When she had been rebuked by that most prudent Prelate, he always sent her home in his carriage."
And this is likewise expressly deducible from another letter of the most reverend Bishop, which is given in the Summary, [No. 6], where we read: "The more she made outcry, that much the more she had been urged thereto by the instigation of her mother." And after a few words: "I have some knowledge of this, because Senator Marzi-Medici, who presides over the secular government of this city for our Most Serene Grand Duke, has told me all."
It is verified still further by another letter of Signor Bartolommeo Albergotti, produced by the other side, which is given in the Summary of that side, [No. 2], at the end. But the letter is not given in its entirety, for, where it speaks of the Secretary of the Bishop urging Count Guido and his mother, we should read there: "Not to maltreat the Signora for the affront offered him. After disputes enough of this kind, he took the Signora back home. And she declared that she was absolutely unwilling to live with Signora Beatrice and with the Canon Girolamo, her brother-in-law." And after a few other matters: "I pray yourself and Signora Violante to be willing to offer a remedy by instilling the wife with a tranquil peace, which will be for the quiet of all" (as we read in page 190).
This is also proved by the letter of the Abate produced on the other side (p. 182), where we read: "By Signor Guido, my brother, several offers have been made to him, but have not been accepted; and they insist that we force our mother and the Signor Canon to leave the house. But this shall never be, even if there do not follow both love and concord. I will never advise that."
And from the letter of Signor Romano, 188, later, where we read (cf. p. liv.): "I have known why she fled to Monsignor, and it was because she did not wish to live with the Canon and Beatrice," etc. (which words are not noted in the Summary of the Fisc, [No. 2]).