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Title: The Tragedies of the Medici

Author: Edgcumbe Staley

Release Date: January 30, 2004 [EBook #10877]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRAGEDIES OF THE MEDICI ***

Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Linda Cantoni and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

THE TRAGEDIES OF THE MEDICI

BY EDGCUMBE STALEY

AUTHOR OF "THE GUILDS OF FLORENCE," "RAPHAEL," "FRA ANGELICO," ETC.

ILLUSTRATED

TO THE MEMORY OF MY FATHER THOMAS STALEY

PREFACE

When Alexandre Dumas wrote his Crimes of the Borgias—and other "Crimes"—he fully intended to compile a companion volume, treating of episodes in the great family of the Medici. With this project in view, he collected much material, and actually published, tentatively, two interesting brochures: Une Année à Florence—in 1841, and Les Galeries de Florence—in 1842.

Nothing, however, came of his more ambitious "idea," and, until to-day, no one has taken in hand to write The Tragedies of the Medici. My attention was first directed to the omission during the preparation of my Guilds of Florence, published in 1906; and I determined to address myself to the forging of that lurid link in the catena of Florentine romance.

In the following pages my readers will see that I have entirely departed from the conventional conceits of the ordinary historian. I have sought to set out the whole truth—not a garbled version—whilst I have fearlessly added decorative features where facts were absent or were too prosaic.

The short "Introduction," dealing with the rise and progress of the house of Medici, will be useful to my public, and the "Chart of the Tragedies" will assist students and others in their appreciation of my enterprise—it is my own compilation and as complete as possible.

The "Bibliography" will help serious readers to a wider reading of my authorities, and the Illustrations—the best procurable—will fix in all my readers' minds something of the actual personalities of my "Tyrants" and my "Victims."

EDGCUMBE STALEY.

CONTENTS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I

The Pazzi Conspiracy—Lorenzo, "Il Magnifico"—Giuliano, "Il Pensieroso".

CHAPTER II

The First Tyrannicide—Ippolito, "Il Cardinale"—Alessandro, "Il Negro"—Lorenzino, "Il Terribile".

CHAPTER III

A Father's Vengeance—Maria, Giovanni, and Garzia de' Medici—Malatesta de' Malatesti.

CHAPTER IV

Three Murdered Princesses—Lucrezia, Duchess of Ferrara and Creole de' Contrari—Eleanora Garzia, wife of Piero de Medici, Alessandro Gaci, and Bernardino degl' Antinori—Isabella, Duchess of Bracciano—Troilo d'Orsini and Lelio Torello.

CHAPTER V

True and False Lovers—Francesco, "Il Virtuoso"—Bianca Cappello, "La Figlia di Venezia"—Pietro Buonaventuri—Cassandra de' Borghiani—Pellegrina Buonaventuri, wife of Ulisse Bentivoglio—Antonio Riario.

CHAPTER VI

Pathetic Victims of Fateful Passion—Eleanora degli Albizzi and Sforza Almeni—Cammilla de' Martelli—Virginia de' Medici e d'Este—Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

CHART OF THE TRAGEDIES

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Bianca Cappello-Buonaventuri
Giovanni d'Averardo de' Medici
"Journey of the Magi" (Medici)
"Adoration of the Magi" (Medici)
Lucrezia de' Medici
Lorenzo Il Magnifico
Giuliano Il Pensieroso
Ippolito—Cardinal
Alessandro—First Duke of Florence
Giovanni—"Delle Bande Nere"
Eleanora de' Medici
Maria Lucrezia de' Medici
Giovanni—Cardinal
Garzia de' Medici
Lucrezia—Duchess of Ferrara
Eleanora—Wife of Piero de' Medici
Piero de' Medici
Isabella—Duchess of Bracciano
Francesco—Grand Duke of Tuscany
Giovanna de' Medici
Don Antonio "de' Medici"
Pellegrina Buonaventuri-Bentivoglio
Cosimo I—"Tyrant of Tyrants"
Cammilla de' Medici
Ferdinando de' Medici—Cardinal

INTRODUCTION

The origin of the Medici family is lost in the mists of the Middle Ages, and, only here and there, can the historian gain glimpses of the lives of early forbears. Still, there is sufficient data, to be had for the digging, upon which to transcribe, inferentially at least, an interesting narrative.

Away towards the end of the twelfth century,—exact dates are wholly beside the mark—there dwelt, under the shadow of one of the rugged castles of the robber-captains of the Mugello in Tuscany, a hard-working and trustworthy bonds-man—one Chiarissimo—"Old Honesty," as we may call him. He was married to an excellent helpmeet, and was by his lord permitted to till a small piece of land and rear his family.

In addition to intelligence in agriculture, it would seem that he, or perhaps his wife, possessed some knowledge of the virtues of roots and herbs, for, in one corner of his podere, he had a garden of "simples." The few peaceable inhabitants of that warlike valley, and also many a wounded man-at-arms, sought "Old Honesty" and his wise mate for what we now call "kitchen remedies."

Those, indeed, were happy days with respect to suffering human nature. "Kill or Cure" might have been the character of the healing art, but certainly specialists had not invented our appendicitis and other fashionable twentieth-century physical fashions! A little medical knowledge sufficed, and decoctions, pillules, poultices, and bleedings made up the simple pharmacopoeia.

All the same, the satirical rhyme, which an old chronicler put into the mouths of many a despairing patient, in later days, may have been true also of "Old Honesty" and his nostrums:

"There's not a herb nor a root
Nor any remedy to boot
Which can stave death off by a foot!"

Of that good couple's family only one name has been preserved—Gianbuono, "Good John." Passerini says he was a priest—probably he means a hermit. Anyhow, he acquired more property in the Valle della Sieve and founded a church—Santa Maria dell' Assunta—possibly the enlargement of his cell—upon Monte Senario, between the valley of the Arno and that of the Sieve.

Ser Gianbuono—ecclesiastic or not—had two sons—Bonagiunto, "Lucky Lad," and Chiarissimo II. In those primitive times nobody troubled about surnames—idiosyncrasy of any kind was a sufficient indication of individuality. The brothers were