The Tragedies of the Medici

CO-"Il

LLO-"La Figl

-"La Bella

vers-an

one of her am

of Poggio a Caiano on the morning of 21st October 1587. They formed the curt

cceeded Francesco as third Grand Duke of Tuscany, sent

Duchess passed to another life. The present messenger aw

e b

nsorts, and one of the most generous of benefactresses. It was "the body" of as unselfish a sister-in-law as any man, high or low, ever h

ad accomplished his dastardly design-a design which also m

Medici and his wife Bianca were assigned to natural causes by well-paid dependants upon Ferdinando's bounty and favour. The bloodguiltiness of fratricidal Fer

which-to charge the princely murderer with his deeds, he tacitly accepted the finding of his commission of inquiry:-"Ferdinan

is a story which brings a blush to the cheek and a lump in the throat, and calls forth feelings of d

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he church of Sant' Appolinare, upon the Rio della Canonica, in Venice, dipped under

was unimpeded in its course. Crossing the Grand Canal the helmsman made for the Guidecca, and on past the Pu

etheart in a strong embrace: he would guard her with his life, come what might. He knew they were safe from present pursuit, for to none had he revealed his plans; but he also knew that a price would be set upon their heads, and daggers dodge their course. Stepping lightly ashore with his sweet

at the hand of her faithful maid, Maria del Longhi, and laid the matter at once before the Supreme Council. On enquiry, Pietro Buonaventuri,

punish them, and all who had assisted their flight. Messer Giovanni Battista Buonaventuri, Pietro's uncle, the manager of

Pietro, dead or alive. Assassins bought for gold followed on the road to Florence, but never caught up their quarry. Messer Bart

r Zenobio Buonaventuri sat at his table, in his modest little one-storied house on the Piazza San Marco, putting the finishing touches to his précis of the day's notarial work, in the Corte della Mercanzia. His worth

them very satisfactory reports of his application to business, but he named one subject, which filled the hearts of the doting parents with apprehension-it was, of course, a story of romance. Pietro had a sweetheart-that in itself caused little uneasiness; what healthy-minded young fellow had not! But Pietro had an unusually amorous nature, and his love escapades had not been few in Florence. In Veni

way of meeting-as was his wont-his troubles half way, penned anxious cautions to his son. The Buonaventuri, though by no means an obscure family, were not Grandi like the Capp

ere came a gentle tap-repeated once or twice. Ser Zenobio rose to see what was passing outside his

ome to crave shelt

what are you doing here in Flor

lder, and both of them were greatly agitat

d are very tired. See, fathe

done your parents? Who is Bianca, and what are you doing with her in Florence? You ne

as weeping as Pietro led her into th

ar what they have got to say, without the neighb

w her and Pietro within the door, and then, in sterner

er, Madonna Lucrezia de' Grimani-Contarini-the Patriarch's sister. He described their plight and the perils which threatened them. But, when he went on to hint

he four kept that winter

s the marriage of Piet

Ser Zenobio's, with the

across

treme measures taken by the Serene Republic. If caught, Pietro was to be slain and Bianca enclosed in a conven

gold ducats was a tempting bait for desperadoes and others in need of coin. Everybody wished to see the

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bout Pietro and Bianca reached him. He, of course, knew nothing of the Buonaventuri, nor of the Cappelli, but romance is romance in every age and degre

osimo, "Padre della Patria," a delightful retreat. Francesco received it as a gift

ble dwelling of the Buonaventuri, he chanced, one day, to look up at a half-open window-the

d no eyes in Florence were so bright. Casually asking a member of his suite whose h

the balcony of the house at the corner of the Piazza to make her usual curtsey to the Prince. When the Marchese came home that night, he

ally addressed herself to the diplomatic task of bringing the two young people together. She struck up a passing acquaintance with Madonna Costanza, and upon the plea that she wished

hesa's boudoir, where the Marchese joined them. Calling off Bianca to look at some jewellery, she wh

etected a slight movement behind the arras over the door. The next moment it was ra

on a couch. When she had recovered from her surprise, Bianca fell upon her knees and, weeping, besought Francesco to befriend her and Pi

rness of her voice, and, perhaps more than all, by the undoubting confidence she reposed in him

hey proved abortive, and nothing could be done in Venice for Bianca and Pietro. In Florence Don Francesco

Francesco paid his innamorata increasing court. Upon Pietro and Bianca he bestowed a charming palace, on the Lung 'Arno, and provided them with ample means to maintain themselves a

perfectly irresistible. After the fashion of the day, he poured forth h

hining Gem ha

f Heaven's

in a lustrou

it on me, sa

auteous Flora

ovember 1565. Reports of her husband's infatuation for Bianca Buonaventuri had of course travelled to Vienna, and Giovanna had not l

d long ago disappeared from the conventions of Florentine society. Mutual relationships proved that men might live as they pleased, so long as they did not renounce the offspring, even when they were assured that it was not their own. The term "Partiti"-"Sharers" or "Partners"- perhaps less literally but more emphatically, "kindred souls," was bestowed upon this relationship. Still at no time was Francesco a sensuous man or a libertine like his father. His devotionally-affected moth

was ever half so wealthy or so sparing. Avarice came to him through the

laid herself out to propitiate the dour Austrian princess and to stifle slander. Still a mere girl, she was in full command of all the moves in woman's strategy. There was no school like that of Venice for the dis

point of death. At the magnificently immoral Court of the Vatican he had heard the gossip about the lovely Venetian girl who had so completely captured his brother Francesco. Q

sionable age of twenty, the young Prince fell at once under the spell of those bewitching eyes. Who could resist her? In the fulness of her womanh

on Francesco's heir-presumptive? Duchess Giovanna had given her husband none but daughters; she, too, was in delicate health and might die without a son being born. What then? Why, of course, Francesco would marry Bia

l sovereignty, he began to surround himself with all the attributes and circumstances of his position. His palace was regal in its m

Cammilla de' Martelli, and other innamorate. Giovanna was only too delighted to have the invaluable assistance of the young Cardinal in her campaign against "the hated Venetian." At length he took the bold step of expo

that his lavish extravagance had exhausted his revenue and restricted his powers

w into his brother's teeth the fact of his position as heir-presumptive, and insisted upon the purchase of a piece of land at the confluence of the Pesa with the

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o, and all their male kith and kin, were enrolled "inter nobiles, inter agnationes et familias ceusetas et connumeratus." Pietro was now a gentleman of Florence,

length alienated his regard, and he made no attempt to conceal his displeasure. Bianca pleaded

most scheming flirt in Florence, Madonna Cassandra, the wealthy widow of Messer Simone de' Borghiani-born a Riccio. Although well over thirty years of age, she was

bedchamber, pierced with twenty-five savage dagger thrusts. That same night-it was 27th August 1572-Madonna Cassandra was stabbed, in her own apartment,

husband's blood; but, for answer, Francesco drew her gently to his heart and said: "The be

art therein, but it had a distinct bearing upon his line of conduct, and he noted

dmiration and the like. She set about to unmask his real intentions and to circumvent his hypocrisy. Her methods were at once or

ubstantial sum of money was lodged in the Roman Medici bank at his disposal. Ferdinando began to realise that the only way

tumn of 1575. The Grand Duchess Giovanna quite properly was the hostess, but Bianca Buonaventuri, who was installed in a Casino in

f three years before was again transcendent. "The Venetian is irresistible," he said afterwards, "I cannot hate her, try how

. Two beautiful and accomplished princesses of the ruling

urn come next? The three had been called "The Three Graces of Florence," and certainly each had vied with the other in elegance and fascination,

e might still fall a victim to a Venetian desperado, or to a Flor

in Florence, the "City of Assassins," was as good as a judicial sentence. The Grand Duchess, moreover, it was reputed, followed up her words by action. "One day," the story goes, "in the month of March 1576, her carriage chanced to meet that of Bian

erson of Madonna Buonaventuri, and her progresses henceforward were watched with as much circumstance as his own. At the same time his devotion to the woma

ri's charming retreat, the Orte Oricellari, and her pretty Villa della Tana, which he had lately given her, looking upon the Arno, and I observed Don Francesco's intimacy with the Madonna. I noted also her extraordinary influ

a few quacks and empirics also were sought to for nostrums and charms which should obtain by science what nature had so far withheld. He and Bianca he

was barren of male issue, why should not she herself become

s indefensible. For some time she had been getting stout-her age, her constitution, and her rich living were all conducive to that condi

he left her palace in the Via Maggio, under the shadow of the Pitti Palace, and took up her abode in the Casino of the Orte Orice

ntic with delight, and he hastened to his beloved Bianca's bedside. Picking up his child, he fondled him tenderly and almost smothered him with kisses, and at once gave or

he news was not long in reaching Rome, and it made Cardinal Ferdinando furious. In a moment all the blandishments of "the Venetian" were dissipated; th

d imperil his presumptive title. First it was sought to throw doubt upon

truck, but at once he recognised the emphatic importance of secrecy; for, as Vincenzio Borghini quaintly said: "Florence was the greatest market in the world for tissues and materials of all kinds, and full of evil eyes, and ears, and tongues!" Meanwhile Ferdinando had not let the water run under the Arno bridges for nothing. He discovered the surgeo

were fruitless. Many were the tales rife, in and out of the palaces and markets, but neither the Grand Duke nor Bi

Bianca Buonaventuri. Within nine months, on 9th February, Giovanna died, somewhat suddenly, and the Cardinal failed not to intimate that Bianca was the cause thereof, and to name poison as her means! The

Giovanna, the Grand Duke married Bianca, Pietro Buonaventu

-legitimisation of the child Antonio-a vigorous you

hter of Venice," was enthroned in the Duomo, as the true and lawful Grand Duchess of Tuscany! Cardinal Ferdinando watched all these ceremon

d foiled ambition. His cogitations, however, were very grateful, for he was working out in his intriguing brain a ready method for ridding himself, not alone of the two

ed the new Grand Duchess beside him on his throne. Twelve years of gloo

tilence, no foreign war, black-marked those years. Arts and crafts revived with the increase of population and of confidence, and men began to a

ere reproduced some of the magnificence of its

ca he had given forth an impassioned madrigal, which

rail and bat

ways serene

fully wa

beautiful and p

hielded from

ly wave, I

no longer c

no more from

nied by my lov

ction of hers were marked with unquestioning affection. The loves of Francesco and Bianca at Pratolino recalled those of Giuliano and

Pratolino, in 1580, says: "I was surprised to see her take the place of honour above he

g. The Pucci conspiracy and the vengeance upon the Capponi affected him closely. Francesco was not ignorant of the

mplacently by the uneasy Cardinal. The very fact that she was the admirable cause thereof, embittered his Eminence's soul, and his spleen was mightily enlarged by the cr

a Buonaventuri"-as he always styled her-of causing poison to be administered to poor little Filippo-Giovanna's puny, sickly child! He even had the audacity to accuse Francesco of complicity, b

t of culmination two years later. Bianca's daughter, Pellegrina, the only offspring of Pietro Buonaventuri, gave birth to a child. She had married, shortly after the public nuptials of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess, Count Ulisse Bentivoglio di Magiola of Bologna-a by no means happy

gossip with impassive s

d the Grand Duchess l

erly ashamed of himself

onduct, and Francesco'

e the admirati

pon the Grand Duchess the rare distinction of the "Golden Rose"! At first his Holiness desired the Cardinal de' Medici to head the special mission as Legate, and talked seriously to his

ubted heir-presumptive. Consequently, when the Florentine Mission, under Archbishop Giuseppe Donzelle of Sorrento, returned to Rome, and the Legate conveyed to him a cordial in

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eir thrones, are always exposed to vicissitudes of fortune. The Papal Mission had scarcely passed out of recollection, and everything in Florence was happy and

up," for the harvest had been gathered in, and the new luscious grapes were in the vat. Pheasant awaited the coming of the sportsmen in the home-coppices,

e, she had, from the moment of her elevation, sympathetically entered into the joys of horsemanship and the pastimes of the country

ead at my feet." The Grand Duke, of course, as became "a perfect gentleman," was at one with Bianca in love for

t her scornful entry into Florence, twelve years before. But Bianca had wrought a vast change in his disposition and environment. She had interwoven fancy an

ye birds I

'mid your te

fain join your

the face of

ve'-I fix my

er part, laid herself out to entertain her brother-in-law, and made herself especially attractive and gracious. The presence of the Archbishop of Florence added greatly to her satisfaction and Francesco's. Very wisely, young Antonio was sent to Pratolino with his governor and tutors, and in the merry com

frolics of the Orte Oricellari were transferred to the delightful hunting-box, and eve

taken ill with severe spasms and violent sickness. The Grand Duchess was summoned to his side, and full of alarm and devotion, she at once despat

had not been well prepared-but they considered that all ill effects would disappear as suddenly as they had arisen. The report of Francesco's illness reac

r husband, and no one was better fitted for the post. Torquato Tasso, her Poet-Laureate, noted her tender, compassionate character and her sweet

evil fortune, you could not so perfectly understand, as you do, the m

nca, a ki

rs one in sad

he Grand Duke, whose condition by no means warranted the confidence of the physicians. Alarm spread through the villa and the guests departed in the greate

, and ordered out his Florentine bodyguard. Urgent messages passed to and fro between him and his brother Piero de' Medici, and communicati

uted the idea-already being translated into words-that the sudden attacks of the Grand Ducal

d suffering exactly as was he, she penned, propped up with pillows, a piteous appeal to the Pope, in which she craved his Holiness's prayers and benedictions, and also his fatherly protection fo

reed that the cause of his seizure was poison, but-looking from the clenched hand of the dying prince to the open palm of his successor-they, in sordid self-interest

cries for her husband, they returned deceptive answers. None of her kith and kin were near to comfort her. Her only brother, Vettor, had been dismissed the Tuscan Court in the year of her coronation for unseemly and presumptuous behaviour, and his w

ppy Giovanna's daughters. The former, just fifteen years old, had been Bianca's special care. She was a precocious child, and her stepmother imparted to her

red no little solace. Could she but have seen her own example and her precepts reincarnated in a Queen of France-for Maria became

to protect the little boy Antonio and his two young daughters, Maria and Eleanora, and to treat kindly all who had been faithful and true to Bianca and himself. Then he gave him the password for the Tuscan fortresses, and asked for his confessor, and so he passed away. As s

Abbioso; you may as well make your confession

ion in Ferdinando's breast. He gloated, fiend-like, over his victim's sufferings. It was not by chance he procured the potent poison he had used. The empiric-medico at Salerno had been well paid to furnish a potion that should, by its slow but deadly action, prolong the tortures of the sufferers! A less vind

moments the terrible truth, and she had no longer any wish to live-parted from Francesco. Bianca was already dead. She called the bishop and made a full confession of her whol

olommeo Cappello at Venice. After absolution and last communion, Bianca Cappello, "Daughter of Venice," Grand Duchess of Tu

sdom in the use of cordials and elixirs! With the connivance of the Court physicians, Ferdinando put out a proclamation that the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess-

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into Florence by the Misericordia on the evening of his death, his body was exposed for three days in s

lla Medici of the church. For six brief hours it was suffered to remain, and then, at midnight, agents of Ferdinando, well paid for their profanity, deported all that was mor

last for ever!" The wiles of the serpent and his cruel coils had crushed the "Daughter of Venice": it was the triumph of an unworthy man over a lovable woman. She was not the only victim Ferdinando's poison overpowered-Giovanni de' Pucci, whom the Po

odies also of Maria, the unhappy victim of her father, Cosimo, with the fatal wound; of Eleanora de Garzia de Toledo, Piero's murdered wife; and of Isabella, Duchess of Bra

and Duchess had been snatched. "Was it," they said, "to hide the real culprit and to stifle awkward questions?" The tongues of the night-birds, who had thrown that pr

luctantly that neither Francesco nor Bianca had died from malarial causes, the chitter-chatter of the villa and the palace became unmuzzled,

for a very long time determined that it was absolutely essential to his succession to the Grand D

on making an attempt upon the lives of both Francesco and Bianca. Among his suite was a valet, one Silvio, a man of fiendish ingenuity, who had made himself invaluable to h

-whilst in their cooling wine cups, so much beloved of Francesco, the poison failed of its effect. To be sure, two days before the Grand Duke's actual seizure, he rejected a game-pas

tically declined to partake of the dish, but that he pressed Francesco and Bianca to eat largely of it! Bianca ate sparin

tried to circumvent his death! For this purpose she had herself made a cake, which she urged him to eat, but which Francesco insisted upon tasting, whereup

ed the real truth, for neither Francesco or Bianca

mpanied him. His escort was fully armed and so was Ferdinando. Stopped at the gate by the guard, he gave, to the utter surprise of the subaltern, the Grand Ducal password, and was

intimation to Florence that the Grand Duke Francesco was dead. The Lords of the Council hastened from their beds to

ssed here at length, but of him it has been succinctly said: "He had as much talent for government as is

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Francesco de' Medici, he also yielded up the guardianship of his little daughter, Pellegrina, and she

e took her under his special care, in fact adopted her, and treated her as if she was his own dear daughter. Naturally, the Duchess Giovanna resented this

age of the Grand Duke and the widowed Bianca Buonaventuri, Pellegrina was, of course, a prominent figure. She had grown tall and had inherited the charming traits of her sweet mother. She was fourteen years old, and e

son of Messer Camillo di Matteo negli Strozzi-one of Pellegrina's sponsors at her baptism-was judged worthy of the matrimonial prize. They were accordingly betro

d to be the natural son of Signore Alessandro d'Ercole Bentivoglio, and had been adopted by his maternal uncle, Conte Giorgio de' Magioli. His mother's name was Isotta-a beautiful girl at the Court of the Lords of Bologna, who had romanti

Bianca Buonaventuri. Then it was that he first saw Pellegrina, and was accepted as her betrothed husband. He remained in Florence a conside

chess Bianca paid them several visits, and Countess Pellegrina spent much time in Florence. For example, she took part in the marriage ceremonies of Virginia de' Medici, unhappy Signora Cammilla's child, in 1586, with Don Cesare d'Este

Countess underwent a change, and her husband's love ceased to peep into Pellegrina's heart. The Count was much occupied with military matters, like most young nobles of his ag

ned to Bologna unsettled in his feelings, and looking for excitement and illicit intercourse. His passion for Pellegr

she admonished her husband the more flagrant became the liaison. Cast off and even spurned in her own house, the poor young Countess longed for her dear, dead mother's presence.

dnephew of the infamous creature of reprobate Pope Sixtus IV.-Count Girolamo de' Riari-of the Pazzi Conspiracy a hundred years bef

Antonio was a mere lad of seventeen. The intimacy grew until news of it reached Count Ulisse's ears in the b

egrina told him exactly how matters stood, craved his forgiveness, and begged for the restitution of marital rights. Conscious of his own turpitude and irregularity of life,

e to realise their dastardly purpose. Although the Countess had warned young Riario of the danger which menaced them both, and was,

in person, were his de jure. Two paid assassins chanced upon the loving couple one day, c

h the back, and strangled with cords-dead-with eyes of horror gazing wildly at the pale moon! No shrift h

take personal vengeance upon a faithless spouse and her accomplice! The dark deed was done on 21st September 1589, and Count Ulisse lived on with his evil con