Part 19 (1/2)
[132] The report of this agent, who signs himself El Prete, is preserved in the archives of Mantua.
[133] The Farrarese agent, Bartolomeo Bresciani, who had been sent to Rome on matters connected with the Church, is no less complimentary. He says, la Excell. V. remagnera molto ben satisfacto da questa Illma Madona per essere dotada de tanti costumi et buntade. (To the duke, October 30, 1501.) He informed him also that Lucretia often conversed with a saintly person who had been secluded in the Vatican for eight years.
[134] Despatch of Gianluca Pozzi to Ercole, Rome, December 25, 1501.
[135] Pozzi to Ercole, Rome, December 25, 1501.
[136] Fu necessario che la abrevia.s.se, Gianluca and Gerardo to Ercole, Rome, December 30, 1501.
[137] E ci nello scopo, che se manca.s.se essa d.u.c.h.essa verso lo Illmo Don Alfonso non fosse piu obbligato di quanto voleva esserlo circa dette gioje. Ercole to Cardinal Ippolito, December 21, 1501. There is a letter of the same date regarding the subject, written by Ercole to Gianluca Pozzi.
[138] Pozzi to Ercole, January 1, 1502. Archives of Modena.
[139] El Prete to Isabella, Rome, January 2, 1502.
[140] Pozzi to Ercole, Rome, December 28, 1501.
[141] Pozzi and Saraceni, Rome, December 28, 1501.
[142] Rome, January 9, 1502.
[143] La Illma Madama Lucrezia porta tutte le bolle piene et in optima forma. Pozzi and Gerardo to Ercole, Rome, January 6, 1502.
[144] In the archives of the munic.i.p.ality of Nepi, where I copied the brief from the records. There is a similar letter in the same form and of the same date, addressed to the commune of Trevi, in the city archives of that place. The latter is printed in Tullio Dandolo's Arte christiana--Pa.s.seggiate nell' Umbria, 1866, p. 358.
[145] Beltrando Costabili to Ercole, Rome, January 6, 1502.
BOOK THE SECOND
LUCRETIA IN FERRARA
CHAPTER I
LUCRETIA'S JOURNEY TO FERRARA
Although the escort which was taking the d.u.c.h.ess Lucretia to Ferrara traveled by easy stages, the journey was fatiguing; for the roads, especially in winter, were bad, and the weather, even in the vicinity of Rome, was frequently wet and cold.
Not until the seventh day did they reach Foligno. As the report which the Ferrarese amba.s.sadors sent their lord from that place contains a vivid description of the journey, we quote it at length:
ILl.u.s.tRIOUS AND HONORED MASTER: Although we wrote your Excellency from Narni that we would travel from Terni to Spoleto, and from Spoleto to this place without stopping, the ill.u.s.trious d.u.c.h.ess and her ladies were so fatigued that she decided to rest a day in Spoleto and another in Foligno. We, therefore, shall not leave here until to-morrow morning, and shall not arrive at Urbino before next Tuesday, that is the eighteenth of the current month, for to-morrow we shall reach Nocera, Sat.u.r.day Gualdo, Sunday Gubbio, Monday Cagli, and Tuesday Urbino, where we shall rest another day, that is Wednesday. On the twentieth we shall set out for Pesaro, and so on from city to city, as we have already written your Excellency.
We feel certain, however, that the d.u.c.h.ess will stop frequently to rest, consequently we shall not reach Ferrara before the last of the present or the first of next month, and perhaps not until the second or third. We therefore thought it well to write your Excellency from here, letting you know where we were and where we expected to be, so that you might arrange matters as you thought best. If you wish us not to arrive in Ferrara until the second or third, it would not be difficult so to arrange it; but if you think it would be better for us to reach the city the last of this month or the first of February, write us to that effect, and we will endeavor, as we have hitherto done, to shorten the periods of rest.
I mention this because the ill.u.s.trious Donna Lucretia is of a delicate const.i.tution and, like her ladies, is unaccustomed to the saddle, and because we notice that she does not wish to be worn out when she reaches Ferrara.
In all the cities through which her Majesty pa.s.ses she is received with every show of affection and with great honors, and presented with numerous gifts by the women. Everything is done for her comfort. She was welcomed everywhere and, as she was formerly ruler of Spoleto, she was well known to the people. Her reception here in Foligno was more cordial and accompanied by greater manifestations of joy than anywhere else outside of Rome, for not only did the signors of the city, as the officials of the commune are called, clad in red silk, come on foot to meet her and accompany her to her inn on the Piazza, but at the gate she was confronted by a float upon which was a person representing the Roman Lucretia with a dagger in her hand, who recited some verses to the effect that her Majesty excelled herself in graciousness, modesty, intelligence, and understanding, and that therefore she would yield her own place to her.
There was also a float upon which was a cupid, and on the summit, with the golden apple in his hand, stood Paris, who repeated some stanzas, the gist of which was as follows: he had promised the apple to Venus, the only one who excelled both Juno and Pallas in beauty; but he now reversed his decision, and presented it to her Majesty as she, of all women, was the only one who surpa.s.sed all the G.o.ddesses, possessing greater beauty, wisdom, riches, and power than all three united.