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 FROM THE 
 
 %%\i^xi tA \\i ''^i\mmU\ irt t^xmti ui fdalg. 
 
 REV. CARL'STRACK, 
 
 Pastor near Giesseit, Germany. 
 
 Translated from the German, 
 
 BY CATHERINE E. HURST. 
 
 CINCINNATI: >'^ 
 
 HITCHCOCK* AND VSTALDBN. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 NELSON AND PHILLIPS. 
 
 1873. 
 
32 G- 537 
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, 
 
 BY HITCHCOCK & WALDEN, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
p 
 
 ONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER. PAGE. 
 
 I. Childhood and Youth, 5 
 
 II. The Reformation in France — Marguerite 
 
 of Valois, 37 
 
 III, Literary and Religious Life in Italy, . 66 
 
 IV. Happy Days at Ferrara, .... 96 
 V. Divine Visitations, . . . . . .127 
 
 VI. Renata's Return to France — Her Happy 
 
 Death, 180 
 
 VII. Renata's Children— Their Relation to the 
 
 Poet Tasso, 221 
 
RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 
 
 " The knowledge of all languages and of the richest 
 treasures left us by the ancient world, I ow^e to my mother. 
 Yet in science and real perception neither of her two daugh- 
 ters was ever equal to herself. And yet, if either one could 
 be at all compared to her, certainly to Lucretia belonged 
 that right." 
 
 HUS Leonora of Este expresses her 
 opinion, in Goethe's " Torquato Tasso/' 
 concerning her mother ; and that 
 mother is the Christian woman whose biog- 
 raphy we wish now to present to the reader. 
 She was descended from a royal family, and 
 
 the consciousness of the high position in 
 
 5 
 
6 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 which she was placed by birth and circum- 
 stances never left her during her life. It is 
 not, however, on account of any royal virtues 
 that she possessed that she occupies a place 
 in history, but because of those excellences 
 of heart and mind which, possessed by women 
 of any rank, make them worthy of imitation. 
 
 She was a Christian whose strength and 
 faith were proved in the fire of tribulation, and 
 on whose life not even her bitterest foes could 
 cast the slightest censure. 
 
 Renata of Este was born on the 29th 
 of October, 15 10, in the Palace of Blois, 
 which was situated in the north-western part 
 of France. Her father was Louis XII, the 
 justly celebrated King of France, who, before 
 his ascent to the throne, was Duke of Orleans. 
 As early as his twelfth year he was betrothed, 
 on political grounds, and entirely against his 
 will, to the Princess Joanne, daughter of Louis 
 XI. It is reported that corporal punishrrtent 
 was inflicted upon him to force him to consent 
 
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 7 
 
 to the alliance. How could it be expected that 
 such a marriage could do any thing more than 
 have an injurious effect upon his character? 
 His heart is said to have been attracted to 
 the wealthy and beautiful heiress of Brittany, 
 Duchess Anne, who reciprocated his affections. 
 Notwithstanding he saw the necessity of ful- 
 filling his engagement with the Princess Jo- 
 anne, the marriage, as may be supposed, was 
 not a happy one. The most noticeable feature 
 in Joanne*s character was her gentleness and 
 meekness ; but she was destitute of all per- 
 sonal attractiveness, so that, in this respect, 
 she won very few admirers, especially among 
 the opposite sex. 
 
 The Duchess- Anne of Brittany had also a 
 marriage contract to fulfill against her will. 
 She had been in every respect legally be- 
 trothed to the brave Emperor Maximilian ; 
 and this marriage was, as is frequently the 
 case with princesses and princes, arranged by 
 embassadors. Maximilian was, just at that 
 
8 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 time, busily engaged in Hungary protecting 
 the boundaries of his country against the re- 
 peated attacks of the Turks, and was, there- 
 fore, prevented from visiting his affianced 
 bride, or, more strictly, his wife. 
 
 Charles VIII, the French king, who also 
 wished to marry Anne, was very desirous of 
 breaking this engagement, and taking the place 
 of Maximilian at Anne's side, so that he might 
 thus unite the dukedom of Brittany with the 
 French Crown. In order to accomplish his 
 purpose, he led large forces of troops into 
 Brittany, and, by cruelly desolating the coun- 
 try and besieging its capital, compelled the 
 young duchess, out of sympathy for her sub- 
 jects, to yield all opposition, and consent to 
 his proposals. He died, however, in 1496, 
 without an heir to the throne. His successor, 
 who was his nearest relative, as we have be- 
 fore mentioned, was the Duke of Orleans, 
 Louis XII, who now took possession of the 
 French Crown. He had already passed the 
 
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 9 
 
 excited and passionate period attending youth, 
 and reached that time in life when self-control 
 and discretion had gained the ascendancy. 
 Immediately on the commencement of his 
 reign the highest hopes were awakened for 
 him on the part of his subjects. 
 
 After entering upon his new position, he 
 was advised by one of his courtiers to retal- 
 iate the unkindnesses which had previously 
 been dealt him by his enemies. He replied, 
 "It is not becoming the king to inflict pun- 
 ishment for improprieties that have been com- 
 mitted against the Duke of Orleans^ He 
 immediately gave striking proof that he had 
 the welfare of his subjects at heart. In all 
 branches of his administration, and especially 
 in awarding justice, he carried all the essen- 
 tial reforms into action. This principle was 
 firm and unshaken in later life. He was 
 kindly disposed to all, and possessed the wis- 
 dom of the true ruler. During his entire reign 
 he pursued the same course, always ready to 
 
10 RENATA OF ESTE, 
 
 observe order and right, and to contribute to 
 the happiness of his subjects. 
 
 Very soon after he ascended the throne he 
 was induced to perform an act which, from a 
 Christian point of view, was certainly wrong. 
 It was to separate from his present wife, Jo- 
 anne, and be united with the widowed Queen 
 Anne. Perhaps the old love was kindled anew 
 in his heart, or, it may be, he feared that, if 
 Anne were united to another, Brittany would 
 be lost to France. It is believed generally, 
 however, that he had both objects in view. 
 Which was the greater, we are not prepared to 
 say. Being separated from Joanne was a very 
 trying ordeal for King Louis. It is well 
 known that sometimes, in Rome, when the 
 circumstances require it, more shrewdness is 
 employed than unshaken adherence to fixed 
 principles. We will give two of the king^s 
 principal reasons for the separation. One was, 
 that he was too nearly related to Joanne, as 
 her father had. stood for him in baptism ; the 
 
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. II 
 
 other was, that the marriage was not a real 
 one, as it was enforced. In addition to facti- 
 tious reasons, the Pope was more easily influ- 
 enced by the circumstances that he regarded a 
 friendly alliance with the King of France as 
 highly advantageous to himself 
 
 The separation was determined upon on the 
 seventeenth of December, 1498, and as soon 
 as the following month, January, King Louis 
 and Anno^^ere formally united in marriage. 
 They now went to reside in the palace of 
 Blois, where they spent many happy days. 
 Louis had this home of his ancestors restored 
 at great expense. By the aid of the best Ital- 
 ian artists, he had it arranged in the latest and 
 most magnificent style. The new piazzas were 
 decorated with arabesques. The many es- 
 cutcheons combined the lilies of France with 
 the ermine of Brittany. 
 
 The king's engagements in the Italian war 
 so occupied his time that it was only occasion- 
 ally, and then for rest and recreation, that he 
 
12 REN ATA OF ESTE, 
 
 could give brilliancy and pleasure to his kingly 
 household at Blois, so that the queen was left 
 much alone. Whether, however, he was pres- 
 ent or absent, Queen Anne was the very spirit 
 and life of the court. She showed in her 
 whole demeanor a queenly bearing, which was 
 dignified and firm, as it was founded upon no 
 mere fancy, but upon real superiority of char- 
 acter. She had inherited from her father, Duke 
 Francis II of Brittany, a great love for the 
 sciences and fine arts ; and this love had not 
 diminished with years. She sought the soci- 
 ety of the most learned and attractive spirits 
 of the times, and assisted and sustained them 
 wherever it was in her power. Beside, she 
 brought to the palace several of the daughters 
 of French noblemen, and had them almost 
 constantly in her presence. The young ladies 
 found in the society of this queen an excellent 
 school. In regard to discipline and good mor- 
 als, she was inexorably firm, but, at the same 
 time, elegance and refinement were decidedly 
 
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 1 3 
 
 apparent. She demanded from all who sur- 
 rounded her, whatever had been their previous 
 standing, absolute obedience. 
 
 So long as she lived she retained the entire 
 control of the Duchy of Brittany, and knew 
 well how to conceal every uncalled for, or what 
 appeared to her unpleasant, influence against 
 her proceedings. The king himself scarcely 
 ever, if ever, was permitted to share in the 
 government of this province. 
 
 Yet Anne was universally beloved, not only 
 by those in her immediate circle, but also by 
 the people in general. Though fully con- 
 scious of her dignity as queen, she was nev- 
 ertheless condescending, and closed neither 
 heart nor hand to the poor and needy. She 
 knew exactly how to temper the natural par- 
 simoniousness of her husband, and to change 
 it to prudent economy. She harmonized least 
 of all with him in matters of religion. He 
 was frequently in arms against the reigning 
 Pope, Julius II, who exerted himself in every 
 
14 REN AT A OF ESTE, 
 
 way to break the dominion of the French in 
 Ital)^, while Louis made every effort to in- 
 crease and strengthen it. The reciprocal an- 
 tipathy became so great that the Pope excom- 
 municated the king. Louis would have gone 
 much farther in hostile acts against the Pope 
 if Anne had not restrained him. 
 
 A historian of that time, Bernier, in his 
 " Histoire de Blois," gives us the following ac- 
 count of his religious state : " He is pious and 
 Catholic, without being hypocritical ; for he is 
 always careful not to offend God, and on every 
 occasion expresses his gratitude rather with 
 deeds than with words. It likewise seems to 
 him that God is much better pleased when 
 one manifests toward him a pure and undis- 
 guised will, rather than a long speech and 
 elaborate gesticulations." 
 
 He founded but few new cloisters, being 
 more intent on the refarmation of those al- 
 ready existing, He re-erected a number of 
 dilapidated churches. 
 
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 15 
 
 Anne, on the contrary, had been trained in 
 the strictest obedience to the Catholic Church, 
 and therefore frequently disapproved the con- 
 duct of her husband. She even called forth a 
 strong declaration of the people of Brittany 
 against the Council to be held in Pisa in 
 15 1 1, because at this Council measures would 
 be taken to raise a barrier against the assump- 
 tions of the Pope, and to inaugurate improve- 
 ment of the strongly rooted evils prevailing in 
 ecclesiastical affairs. In this controversy, the 
 scruples of Anne's conscience gained the as- 
 cendancy over the feelings of her heart and 
 over her patriotism. Her husband was strongly 
 opposed to her course, and on this occasion ad- 
 dressed these serious words to her : *' Do you, 
 Madame, think that you are more learned than 
 so many doctors, who have given their ap- 
 proval to this Council } Has not your chap- 
 lain taught you the doctrine that women should 
 have no voice in matters of the Church T' 
 Louis allowed himself to be persuaded as 
 
1 6 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 little by the remonstrances of his wife as by 
 the threats of the Pope. He labored with 
 great earnestness for the sundering of the 
 French Church from Rome, and the French 
 people generally supported him, for they knew 
 very well that only in this way could great 
 accessions be made to the power of France. 
 Anne's attachment to the Catholic Church not 
 unfrequently took the form of impatience, and 
 sometimes led to oppressive measures against 
 the Jews. 
 
 A grief more profound than this, however, 
 weighed upon Anne's heart through her entire 
 life. During her first marriage she had three 
 little sons, all of whom died in their infancy. 
 By her second marriage she was called to 
 mourn the loss of two more, being left now 
 with only one little daughter, Claude, upon 
 whom, alone, she lavished her heart's warmest 
 affections for several years, until Renata, the 
 subject of this book, was born. The mother 
 had selected this name, signifying the new- 
 
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 1 7 
 
 born (Renee), with the fond anticipation that 
 her much-hoped-for desire would be gratified. 
 The baptism of this little princess was cele- 
 brated with. unusual splendor in the chapel of 
 the palace. The entire palace, on this occa- 
 sion, was decorated with the most beautiful 
 tapestry, upon which were representations from 
 both sacred and profane history. 
 
 Anne loved her children with the most ar- 
 dent tenderness, always calling them, contrary 
 to court etiquette, by their first name. She 
 would never be absent from them but a few 
 days at a time, and even then would arrange 
 to receive intelligence as frequently as pos- 
 sible. 
 
 Claude was ten years older than Renata. 
 She had been well trained, and possessed an 
 open heart and loving disposition. She could 
 not boast of a beautiful exterior; and was, 
 therefore, in this respect, much inferior to her 
 sister, which unavoidable fact was not very 
 agreeable to her in her earlier days. 
 
1 8 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 At one time, in a conversation that the 
 king had with his wife upon the difficulty of 
 finding a suitable husband for their daughter 
 Renata, the queen made the following reply: 
 "The love which is excited only from a beau- 
 ful exterior soon passes away; but the love 
 generated from a sweet disposition and loving 
 heart can not be exchanged or thrown away." 
 
 The public had already become interested 
 in this marriage, and were desirous that no 
 opportunity should be lost for the temporal or 
 spiritual advancement of the young princess. 
 There was no difficulty, however, in finding a 
 suitable person for her; for while she was yet 
 in her infancy the Emperor Maximilian de- 
 sired one of the two, and especially the elder, 
 for his grandson Charles. Anne was exceed- 
 ingly pleased with this proposition. As she 
 had been prevented a few years previous from 
 marrying Maximilian, it was a great satisfac- 
 tion to her to know that one of her children 
 might become the affianced of his grandson. 
 
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 1 9 
 
 A treaty was made in Blois, in 1504, that, 
 if Louis XII were to die without a male heir 
 to the throne, Claude, who had become the 
 affianced of Prince Charles, should have, for 
 her marriage dowry, Burgundy, Brittany, Mi- 
 lan, Genoa, and a claim to Naples. 
 
 This proposition was very disadvantageous 
 to France, and the French people were op- 
 posed to its consummation ; it was, therefore, 
 abandoned in the following year. Anne then 
 exerted herself to carry out a much-cherished 
 desire that she had entertained for a long 
 time, and this was to unite her family with 
 the house of Austria. But the king and the 
 French people had another plan, which was 
 to unite Claude with Duke Francis of An- 
 gouleme, who would probably be heir to the 
 French throne. Although Anne was opposed 
 to this engagement, she comforted herself with 
 the thought that perhaps through Renata her 
 much-cherished wish might be fulfilled. This 
 prospect, too, was blighted, as will be seen 
 
20 REN ATA CTF ESTE. 
 
 hereafter, but without any unpleasant re- 
 sults. 
 
 It was Maximilian's desire that, as his en- 
 gagement with Anne had been so wantonly 
 broken at a previous time, the Princess Claude 
 be sent to Austria as the affianced of his 
 grandson. But this could not be accom- 
 plished, as there was a strong party in France 
 strictly opposed to it, and especially Louise of 
 Savoy, the mother of the probable heir to the 
 throne. 
 
 This cunning and intriguing woman lived 
 apparently in strict seclusion, as an exile, 
 several miles from Blois, at the Castle of 
 Amboise, as the widow of the Count of An- 
 gouleme. 
 
 But she- could ill suppress her ambitious 
 thoughts and plans, and labored in every way 
 that she could against Queen Anne, who was 
 very odious to her. These two persons, not- 
 withstanding some points of resemblance, were 
 of very different character. 
 
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 21 
 
 The Countess of Angouleme was devoid of 
 the moral earnestness and dignified bearing 
 of the queen, and this may have contributed 
 not a little to the mutual hostility. In vain 
 did the king employ his efforts to bring about 
 a reconciliation between the two women. No 
 one knows what would have been the result 
 of this enmity if, on the 9th of January, 15 14, 
 the death of the queen had not prevented any 
 farther disturbance. 
 
 Almost all historians who have described 
 the life of Anne unite in the testimony that 
 she was one of the most perfect queens of 
 her age, and that she by far excelled all her 
 royal sisters by wisdom, piety, pure morality, 
 and other virtues ; and to her belongs the 
 great merit of having brought back her hus- 
 band from an unrestrained youth to a well- 
 regulated and moral life. 
 
 The king had the following inscription 
 placed upon her grave: "Earth and heaven 
 have divided Queen Anne between them. The 
 
22 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 earth has taken her body, which lies under 
 this tombstone — the world will ever take the 
 honorable rights of the queen — and Heaven 
 has received her spirit for a permanent pos- 
 session." 
 
 The king, at first, was inconsolable over this 
 affliction, and secluded himself for several days 
 in his room, without even allowing his most 
 attached servant to come to him ; and we have 
 every proof that this grief was sincere. He 
 soon recovered, however, to all appearance, his 
 usual cheerfulness, and sought out, with a view 
 to marriage, his deceased wife's most intimate 
 friend. He thought, perhaps, by a third mar- 
 riage a prince might be born, who would be 
 heir to the French throne; and in this case he 
 would have the pleasure of disappointing the 
 Countess of Angouleme, who was making great 
 calculations upon seeing her son Francis the 
 ruler of the French. The king's friends made 
 several marriage proposals to him, but none 
 met with his approbation. 
 
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 23 
 
 Finally, he married Marie, sister of the En- 
 glish king, Henry VIII. But this marriage 
 was of very short duration ; for as soon as 
 the first of January, 15 15, King Louis died. 
 His death was mourned by the whole country, 
 both by high and low. Every body felt it, 
 and especially the French people ; for he had 
 won for himself the title of " Father of the 
 People." The love of the country people for 
 him was so great during his life-time that, 
 when he made a journey through the country, 
 they would travel several miles to see him, 
 and considered themselves very fortunate if 
 they could come near enough to wave their 
 pocket-handkerchiefs so as to touch his person 
 or clothing. This handkerchief was then pre- 
 served by the fortunate owner as a most sa- 
 cred relic. 
 
 Renata was yet too young to appreciate the 
 blessing or the full advantage of having had 
 such parents. But this blessing was not with- 
 out its traces in her character and life. We 
 
24 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 see in her what is so frequently overlooked in 
 training, that the earliest years are of special 
 importance in the formation of character, and 
 that the impressions that one then receives 
 can not be fully dissipated by any of the influ- 
 ences of subsequent life. 
 
 Renata preserved a loving remembrance for 
 her parents. It was found later that she had 
 expressed her thoughts, at that time, in her 
 journal in the following manner: '' In the first 
 place, I am under obligations to my Heavenly 
 Father that it has pleased him to create me, 
 and to permit me to appreciate the magnifi- 
 cence of his works ; and, further, I am grate- 
 ful to him that he gave me a father who won 
 for himself the name of ' Father of the Peo- 
 ple;* and that, too, I was born of a queen 
 whose goodness and dignity were acknowl- 
 edged by all who knew her, and that she be- 
 stowed upon me, from my earliest infancy, the 
 tenderest affection. In addition to all these 
 mercies, I am grateful that through severe 
 
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 2$ 
 
 affliction he has sustained and kept me hum- 
 ble and lowly." 
 
 Undoubtedly, the chief virtues of Renata's 
 parents were reflected in her character. From 
 her mother she inherited that dignity which, 
 according to circumstances, could ascend to 
 heroism, and which was connected with a 
 laudable sense of her position and birth. 
 From her father she received her goodness 
 of heart and love of righteousness, and a 
 mildness and submissiveness which she exer- 
 cised whenever it was necessary. 
 
 Upon the entrance of the new king, Francis 
 I, to the throne, the life of the court assumed 
 an altogether different character ; and we can 
 not assert that a change for the better oc- 
 curred. Immediately after Anne's death Fran- 
 cis married Claude, the daughter of his prede- 
 cessor. But she was not able to exercise over 
 those amidst whom she was surrounded that 
 spirit of strict morals which she had imbibed 
 in her parental home. She had not been long 
 
26 RENATA OF ESTE, 
 
 in her new position before she expressed a 
 wish to return to Blois, which had become so 
 dear to her, and here, far removed from the 
 dissipations of the court, to spend the greater 
 part of the year. The king complied with her 
 wishes, and troubled himself very little about 
 her as long as she did not interfere with his 
 dissolute life. 
 
 It was then customary among the French 
 nobility to send their daughters to the court 
 of the king for education and culture. But, 
 alas ! the young ladies no longer learned here, 
 as formerly, a correct view of life, but, rather, 
 a frivolity and love for the world and its 
 gayeties. The king himself took the lead by a 
 bad example; even his mother stood in bad 
 repute, and, by her general conduct, gave suf- 
 ficient occasion for it. Only in one respect 
 were the old times maintained or even im- 
 proved. There prevailed among the royal 
 families and the courtiers an ardent desire for 
 learning, and a zeal in the pursuit of it. As is 
 
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 2/ 
 
 well known, that was the period when the 
 study of the ancient classics received new 
 attention among the Western nations. Even 
 ladies cultivated with ardor the Latin and 
 Greek languages, in order to be able to under- 
 stand the chief authors who had written in 
 them. This taste for ancient learning was 
 diligently promoted by King Francis, and es- 
 pecially by his sister Marguerite. Men of 
 science and art received abundant encourage- 
 ment and support from the royal family, and 
 in consequence thereof their number greatly 
 increased. 
 
 Renata was so fortunate as to experience 
 only the beneficent, and not the deleterious, in- 
 fluence of the life of the French court. The 
 atmosphere which she breathed was not laden 
 with the pestilential spirit of the increasing 
 moral corruption. Her sister Claude occupied 
 still, as at her father's time, the castle of Blois ; 
 and she labored, as far as she could, for the 
 welfare of the subjects, and the inhabitants of 
 
28 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 the district of Blois, who had been committed 
 to her management. She acquired universal 
 love and respect because of her humane 
 efforts ; and she was called simply the " Good 
 Queen " by all who knew her. 
 
 She regarded the care of her sister, now five 
 years old, as one of the most sacred duties 
 that her parents had imposed upon her. She 
 could take the place of a mother, and she did 
 it, notwithstanding her own youth. Renata 
 lived within her immediate circle, and found 
 just what she needed in order to increase as 
 in years so also in wisdom and the favor of 
 God and man. She received all necessary in- 
 struction in every thing that cultivated and 
 royal ladies of that period were accustomed to 
 learn. All the persons who had any influence 
 in. her education were so carefully selected that 
 they could not do otherwise than work for the 
 development of the excellent talents of mind 
 and qualities of heart of the young princess. 
 Her real teacher, Michaele de Saubonne — 
 
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 29 
 
 Madame de Soubise — spared no pains to dis- 
 charge the duty with which she had been 
 intrusted. Since the deceased king had in- 
 structed her to educate his daughter aright, 
 how could she fail in carrying out his impor- 
 tant request ? 
 
 Among the associates of Renata there was 
 a young English noble lady, who has acquired 
 a sad celebrity in history. This was Anne 
 Boleyn, subsequently the unfortunate wife of 
 Henry VIII of England, and who fell a victim 
 to her husband's caprice. Renata was espe- 
 cially attracted to her, and cherished the most 
 friendly recollection of her to old age. 
 
 A new and painful loss was soon to befall 
 Renata. On the twentieth of July, 1524, her 
 motherly sister Claude died, who, with her 
 . royal name, had found more thorns than 
 roses. Even the king was overwhelmed with 
 sorrow, at least for the moment, on receiving 
 the news of the death of his good and virtuous 
 wife. It did seem as if his conscience awoke 
 
30 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 within him, and recalled to him the pains and 
 sorrows that the queen had suffered on ac- 
 count of him. Yet this better feeling was 
 merely transitory. 
 
 From this time forth, Marguerite of Valois, 
 the king's sister, exercised so decisive an influ- 
 ence on the training of Renata that it is 
 important that we should devote some pages 
 to her in the present and following chapters. 
 Born in the year 1492, she exhibited very 
 early extraordinary endowments and an insa- 
 tiable thirst for learning. She not only ac- 
 quired a knowledge of a number of the modern 
 languages, but of the Latin, Greek, and He- 
 brew. Besides this, she spent much time in 
 cultivating a knowledge of the belles-lettres 
 sciences ; such as history, philosophy, and 
 even theology. 
 
 In 1509, she was married to the last Duke 
 of Alencon, in whose castle she spent the first 
 years of her married life. When her brother 
 Francis ascended the throne, he gave her a 
 
CHILDHOOD AND youth: 31 
 
 home in his palace. Here she shone by vir- 
 tue of her goodness, and especially by her 
 learning, gentleness, and personal dignity. 
 The king frequently sent to her the foreign 
 embassadors, and particularly such as he 
 wished to win to his interests ; for he knew 
 that no one could resist the power of her elo- 
 quence. Both brother and sister, Francis and 
 Marguerite, were so attached to each other by 
 the bonds of real love as, in this respect, to be 
 almost without an example in history. But 
 Marguerite's life was elevated far above that 
 of her brother. She was a noble exception to 
 the corruption prevailing at the royal court, 
 and hence the better spirits were especially 
 attracted to her. Poets from all quarters lav- 
 ished praises upon her. If there was any 
 body capable of supplying to Renata the loss 
 of mother and sister it was Marguerite. 
 While she did not possess that moral earnest- 
 ness that we have seen in Anne and Claude, 
 she nevertheless withstood all the temptations 
 
32 RENATA OF ESTE, 
 
 of a corrupt court. In every respect she found 
 herself a true friend and reliable counselor for 
 the orphan princess. Particularly in Renata's 
 studies did she render important service, be- 
 cause of her great soundness of judgment in 
 regard to education. 
 
 It is not surprising that Renata was very 
 early lauded by her contemporaries for her 
 remarkable progress in all branches of knowl- 
 edge. Notwithstanding her want of outward 
 beauty, she was, nevertheless, a lovely charac- 
 ter, and whoever came in contact with her 
 immediately forgot the want of physical charms 
 when he saw how abundantly they were sup- 
 plied by sterling inward qualities. 
 
 Many offers for her hand furnish abundant 
 proof that foreign princes knew her worth. 
 Once more a union between herself and the 
 Emperor Charles V was talked of. Political 
 grounds, however, decided against it, as they 
 still do in Europe in matrimonial alliances of 
 crowned heads. She was likewise desired by 
 
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH, 33 
 
 the Elector James I of Brandenburg, to be- 
 come the wife of his son, James II. Yet this 
 plan, too, failed of consummation, as King 
 Francis I found it would not be to his interest ; 
 and he had it in his power to arrange the mar- 
 riage of this princess. 
 
 At this time, a totally different marriage 
 project, and one quite in harmony with 
 French interests, presented itself. It was 
 this : That Renata should win to her side, 
 and again to his country, General Charles of 
 Bourbon, who had gone over to the Emperor 
 Charles V. But it was reported, and with 
 truth, that the king's mother, Louise of Sa- 
 voy, had been casting a longing eye toward 
 this stately man, and, by her cunning efforts, 
 had made considerable progress toward the 
 execution of her plan. 
 
 So Renata, at last, was obliged to become 
 a sacrifice to French policy. King Francis 
 wished to unite to himself the princely fami- 
 lies of Italy, and especially the illustrious and 
 
34 RENATA OF ESTE, 
 
 influential house of Este, which reigned at 
 Ferrara; and when Hercules II, in 1527, 
 desired the hand of the Princess Renata, 
 Francis immediately gave his consent. A 
 few months later, on the 28th of June, 1528, 
 the wedding was celebrated, and Renata made 
 the journey to Italy. She received, as a mar- 
 riage dowry, thirty-six thousand dollars, and, 
 besides this, an annuity of seven thousand 
 two hundred dollars, as a revenue from sev- 
 eral estates and castles that had been as- 
 signed to her. In return, she was obliged to 
 renounce all other claims that she, under any 
 pretext, could otherwise urge. On the occasion 
 of the marriage, the duke, the father of Prince 
 Hercules, presented to his daughter-in-law a 
 jewel valued at one hundred thousand dollars. 
 In Reggio, they were received by Duke 
 Alphonso, attended by the most brilliant of 
 the nobility; and, on the 12th of Novem- 
 ber, in the same year, the princess entered 
 Modena, where, sitting under a canopy of state, 
 
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 35 
 
 she was received by the clergy and the peo- 
 ple. They remained in this city until the 
 22d of the same month, where all was gayety 
 and rejoicing. The city had been splendidly 
 adorned, and great feasts and entertainments 
 were made every day. The multitude of 
 presents made by communities and indi- 
 viduals to the prince and princess can not 
 be described. But still more magnificent 
 were the festivities and splendor that charac- 
 terized their reception in Ferrara. Amid the 
 ringing of all the bells and the thunder of 
 many cannon that had been placed on the 
 banks of the Po and the ramparts of the 
 fortifications, she entered beneath a canopy, 
 her head adorned with a golden crown. After 
 this, they were borne in a sedan-chair through 
 the principal streets of the city, which had 
 been decorated with red, white, and green 
 flags, attended by eighty boys, sons of noble- 
 men, who were dressed in carmine-colored 
 cloth, wore red caps, and carried red staffs. 
 
36 RENA TA OF ESTE, 
 
 Princess Renata, though but eighteen years 
 of age, soon succeeded in winning the hearts 
 of her new subjects. She was friendly and 
 kind toward every body, and, whenever she 
 had occasion, opened wide her hand for the 
 support of the needy. 
 
 Among persons of education she soon be- 
 came beloved and respected, since she her- 
 self had attained a height of learning that 
 was reached by few of her sex of any class. 
 She had an extraordinary knowledge of the 
 Latin and Greek, so that she was able to 
 read the most difficult authors in these lan- 
 'guages. In theology and philosophy she had 
 made great progress. She had even studied 
 astronomy and astrology. Hence, as might 
 be expected, she was regarded as an equal 
 by the learned men of her age. In one 
 word, Renata, now of Este, was a remarkable 
 phenomenon. 
 
11. 
 
 THE REFORMATION IN FRANCE— MARGUERITE 
 . OF VALOIS. 
 
 ENATA'S youth, therefore, occurred 
 at a time when a spiritual movement, 
 like a continuous flowing of waters, 
 inundated all lands, especially those of West- 
 ern Europe. France could not remain un- 
 moved by it ; and, indeed, all the less so, 
 because a century before a similar movement, 
 although not to so great an extent, had taken 
 place in the central part. In France, the 
 hierarchy and the Church had met with no 
 insignificant opponents to the prevalent eccle- 
 siastical forms, who could hardly be suppressed 
 by the power of arms. Who does not here 
 
38 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 call to mind the Waldenses and Albigenses, 
 and the crusade which was preached and con- 
 ducted against them ? The Waldenses lived 
 in some of the mountain valleys of Piedmont, 
 as well as on French soil, and the quiet and 
 peaceful life which they lived, in all honesty 
 and godliness, led the best members of the 
 Church to meditation. 
 
 The French kings were often in battle 
 against the assumptions and encroachments 
 of the ecclesiastical power, as we have seen 
 in the case of Louis XII, the father of Re- 
 nata. It was necessary- that this should be 
 carried on with spiritual weapons, if it would 
 arrive at a happy result ; with the edge of the 
 sword it was not possible to break the power 
 of Rome. For this reason the Augustine 
 monk of Wittenberg, Martin Luther, had 
 done it more injury than a princely antago- 
 nist could possibly have done. 
 
 France had, at the same time, and even 
 before Luther, produced learned men who, by 
 
REFORMATION IN FRANCE. 39 
 
 their investigations into the Scriptures, had 
 arrived at the conviction that the doctrines 
 held by the Church as valid, stood in manifold 
 opposition to the Word of God. 
 
 One of these honest inquirers after the 
 truth was Jacob Lefevre, a native of Etaples, 
 a small town in Picardy. He had made him- 
 self extensively acquainted with the then 
 known sciences, and the rich treasures of ex- 
 perience which he had gathered in his travels 
 had freed him from many of the prejudices of 
 his contemporaries. When he was intrusted 
 with a professorship in Paris, he had no 
 intention of entering into opposition with the 
 Church. His lectures met with extraordinary 
 approval, and were listened to by great num- 
 bers. For that very reason he excited the 
 envy and suspicion of the theological faculty 
 at Paris, the so-called Sorbonne. He was 
 closely watched ; but up to the time in ques- 
 tion no cause of complaint had been found 
 against him. He proved himself to be a 
 
40 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 true member of the Church, especially as a 
 worshiper of the Virgin Mary, and even had 
 in view to rewrite the legends of the saints. 
 He, therefore, made further investigations 
 into the Scriptures, in order to be able to 
 establish his account on a sure foundation. 
 The result of his researches was, however, 
 quite different from what he had expected. 
 He was convinced that the doctrine of justi- 
 fication by works did not harmonize with his 
 proposed work, and announced, independently 
 of Luther, and even before his time, as early 
 as 1512, the doctrine that man is justified only 
 by faith in Christ. 
 
 Among the scholars in whom this living 
 spark found fuel, who deserve special atten- 
 tion, is William Farel, who was born in the 
 same year as Luther. He had inherited from 
 his parents, and especially from his mother, an 
 earnest religious feeling and a deep reverence 
 for the Church and its requirements. He was, 
 therefore, not a little shocked when his beloved 
 
THE REFORM A TION IN FRANCE, 4 1 
 
 teacher expressed and defended the opinion 
 that the exercises of the Church were without 
 meaning, and that under some circumstances 
 they were even pernicious, and that true salva- 
 tion was only to be found by faith in Christ. 
 William Farel searched the Scriptures for him- 
 self, and the result was, that he became more 
 intimately attached to his teacher. They mu- 
 tually encouraged each other. The old man 
 moderated the fiery zeal of the youth, while 
 the latter animated the courage and persever- 
 ance of the former. 
 
 A third associated himself with them, being 
 of the same mind, and found a peaceful res- 
 idence in a cloister near the city. This was 
 William Briconnet, Abbot of the Cloister of 
 St. Germain, in the neighborhood of Paris, for 
 a long time previously the royal embassador 
 to Rome. In this capacity he had become 
 acquainted with the errors at the seat of 
 its rulers. He determined, if it were in his 
 power, to bring about a better state of things. 
 
42 REN ATA OF ESTE, 
 
 He, therefore, willingly extended the hand of 
 friendship to these men. In the year 15 16, he 
 became Bishop of Meaux. In this position he 
 was soon convinced how much room for im- 
 provement there was. Most of the priests lived 
 far away from their parishes and their livings, 
 in the rioting of city life, while badly paid and 
 ignorant representatives, mostly monks, car- 
 ried on the business of the parish in the true 
 spirit of hirelings. Briconnet wished to do 
 away with this crying evil, and made use of 
 the necessary measures ; but he found more 
 opposition than he had expected. These jeal- 
 ous ecclesiastics refused to comply with his 
 arrangements. Since all his exertions ap- 
 peared to be lost on the priests, the bishop 
 endeavored to replace the unsuitable vicars by 
 better ones. He needed, for the prosecution 
 of this plan, some zealous assistants ; and 
 whom he called around him, in preference to 
 all others, we need scarcely mention. They 
 were Lefevre and Farel, and, besides, Michael 
 
THE REFORMA TION IN FRANCE. 43 
 
 d'Arande and Gerard Roussel. These men 
 preached in quite a different manner from 
 what the people had been accustomed to hear- 
 ing, and excited extraordinary attention. The 
 bishop often entered the pulpit, and instructed 
 the people, by taking the Word of God for his 
 foundation, as to the true way to salvation. 
 He also expressed the wish that the people 
 might not follow his example, if he should ever 
 speak contrary to this opinion. 
 
 Lefevre, at the suggestion of the bishop, 
 translated the four Gospels into French, and 
 the bishop distributed this translation through- 
 out his diocese at his own expense. The con- 
 sequences of these measures were very grati- 
 fying. Blasphemers, drunkards, sinners, and 
 vicious persons of all kinds, changed their 
 manner of life ; bitter enemies offered the 
 hand of reconciliation, and peace reigned in 
 place of domestic and public strife. But this 
 happy time was destined to be of short dura- 
 tion. Among the priests there were not a 
 
44 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 few, as we know, who were much displeased 
 with the reforms of the bishop. They made 
 loud complaints against him and his colabor- 
 ers, and bore their charges even to Paris. The 
 Sorbonne made use of these complaints in or- 
 der to cause the bishop to be suspected at 
 court. 
 
 Bri9onnet did not possess courage and reso- 
 lution enough to steer firmly and immovably 
 through the storm — which was arising on 
 every hand — to the appointed haven. He had 
 not aimed at a reorganization of the Church, 
 in the spirit of the reformers ; but rather afe a 
 moral improvement, in the spirit of contem- 
 plative piety. He was a mystic of the better 
 kind. When he saw that his reforms could 
 and must be carried further than he had in- 
 tended, and that disquiet and inconvenience 
 would arise to himself from them, he forbade 
 his former companions to preach, and sent 
 them out of his diocese. Some repaired to 
 foreign lands, and others found protection with 
 
THE REFORMATION IN FRANCE. 45 
 
 Marguerite, the sister of the king. Only those 
 dared remain and ascend the pulpit who had 
 received permission afresh from the bishop. 
 
 Briconnet was even weak enough to bring 
 about a synod, in order to condemn the doc- 
 trines of the so-called Lutherans. He begged 
 for a commission to visit his diocese and pu- 
 rify it from heresy. Lefevre's translation of 
 the Bible was condemned to be burned. The 
 bishop received pardon in consequence of his 
 recantation and his new measures, while some 
 of those, on the contrary, who, by his influ- 
 ence, had conceived an affection for the Gos- 
 pel, paid for their conviction by banishment or 
 death. Lefevre was also accused of being a 
 heretic, and he would have shared the fate of 
 his associates if the king had not protected 
 him. The king wrote a letter to the Sorbonne, 
 in which he eulogized him, and commanded 
 further proceedings against him to cease. 
 
 King Francis had not won a firm religious 
 stand-point. He was, as may be inferred from 
 
46 REN ATA OFESTE. 
 
 what we have said, no blind, submissive ad- 
 herent of Rome; on the contrary, he some- 
 times appeared to favor the ecclesiastical in- 
 novations. At last he believed he could make 
 use of the teachings and principles of the Re- 
 formers against the monks — whom he thor- 
 oughly abominated — and against the hierarchy 
 in general. He frequently brought the efforts 
 of the persecutors to naught, and snatched 
 from their hands those in danger. His 
 mother, Louise of Savoy, appeared for a long 
 time undetermined as to what course to take 
 in regard to ecclesiastical progress. Margue- 
 rite, however, could make the communication 
 to the Bishop of Briconnet that, at the court, 
 they were ever becoming more desirous for ec- 
 clesiastical reform. In reality, neither mother 
 nor son had any idea of offering assistance to 
 the evangelical Christians. The king thought 
 he would have need of the Pope in his war 
 with the Emperor Charles V. He also per- 
 ceived that most of the French people were 
 
THE REFORMATION IN FRANCE. 47 
 
 resigned to the Papacy, and that it would be a 
 hard battle for the Reformation to spread as 
 in Germany. He feared the effect of dissen- 
 sion among his vassals and subjects, and 
 thought if he were to defend heresy many 
 would use it as a pretext for disobedience and 
 refractoriness. In France the principle should 
 be, one kiitgy one faiths one law. 
 
 If the king did not leave the so-called 
 fanatics at liberty, we must thank his sister 
 Marguerite, who was the cause of it. This 
 excellent woman had, with the greatest firm- 
 ness, espoused the principles of the Gospel. 
 She was in close connection with Briconnet 
 and his companions in faith, and had carried 
 on with them a long correspondence. This 
 correspondence shows us, in a remarkable 
 manner, the shady side of the contemplative 
 method of the bishop, and makes clear to us 
 not only his conduct, but that of Marguerite, 
 and, later, that of Renata. The mystical 
 views of Briconnet, according to which the 
 
48 REN ATA OF ESTE, 
 
 primary idea of Christianity is the spiritual 
 communion with Christ and a quiet and con- 
 templative life, are expressed in letters, some- 
 times from twenty to sixty pages in length. 
 The doctrines of the Church and external 
 forms are but seldom mentioned. From this 
 correspondence, however. Marguerite had at 
 least this advantage, that she was more and 
 more drawn to the reading of the Scriptures. 
 She sometimes read them for several hours 
 daily, and induced her brother to follow her 
 example, for a time, at least. At her sugges- 
 tion, Briconnet sent Michael d*Arande to the 
 court, where he explained the Scriptures in 
 presence of the king, which created no little 
 surprise among the courtiers. 
 
 In 1524, when the king went to the south 
 of France, in order to protect Provence 
 against the invasion of Charles V, he was 
 accompanied by his mother and sister; and 
 in the suite of the latter was the preacher, 
 d'Arande, who allowed no opportunity to 
 
THE REFORMATION IN FRANCE, 49 
 
 escape in referring his hearers to the one 
 thing needful. 
 
 Francis, in the following year, joined the 
 army in Italy, where he was taken prisoner, 
 in the unfortunate battle near Pavia. Charles 
 caused him to be conducted to Spain, where 
 he was taken severely ill. During his absence, 
 the dowager-queen, Louise, held the reins of 
 government, in which she was supported by 
 her daughter. Marguerite found opportunities, 
 in that position, of showing her amiability of 
 disposition. She made it a principle that no 
 one ought to leave a princess sorrowfully, 
 and conducted herself according to this rule. 
 Where she could not assist, she knew how, 
 by her affability and condescension, to comfort 
 and win the heart. Her brother had a great 
 longing, in his seclusion, to see her. She pro- 
 cured a safe convoy, and hastened, as quickly 
 as she could, to Madrid, in order to comfort, 
 and, if possible, to release him. While the 
 emperor recognized the excellence of the 
 
50 RENATA OF ESTE, 
 
 intercessor, and felt well disposed toward her, 
 he relaxed none of his strong conditions. 
 - In France, the enemies of the Gospel had 
 taken advantage of the absence of the king 
 and Marguerite to regain once more a firm 
 position. They maintained that the defeat 
 they had sustained was a manifestation of the 
 anger of God against them, because they had 
 not strenuously persecuted the heretics. Now 
 the time had come to retrieve the error and 
 fully make amends for the neglect. Moreover, 
 it was thought that the Pope was more than 
 ever necessary, in order to assist them to arise 
 out of this need and embarrassment. As long 
 as Marguerite was in Spain, there was not 
 one at court who had rendered any assistance 
 whatever to the persecuted ; and it was evi- 
 dent, on her return, that her hands, on account 
 of her position, were more than ever bound, 
 so that she could not do what she otherwise 
 would have done. 
 
 Her husband had died, in consequence of 
 
THE REFORM A TION IN FRANCE. 5 i 
 
 the defeat near Pavia, and negotiations were 
 being made with Charles, in order to insure 
 peace by an alliance between him and Mar- 
 guerite ; but nothing resulted from it, although 
 the emperor was personally favorable to it. 
 Whoever came in contact with Marguerite 
 could not remain cold toward her. On the 
 24th of January, 1527, Marguerite married 
 again. Her second husband was Henry d'Al- 
 bret, King of Navarre. In this new position, 
 she labored beneficently as patroness of sci- 
 ence and protectress of her fellow-believers. 
 It is maintained that she had to suffer many 
 annoyances from her husband, because of her 
 love of the Gospel ; but, if we recall what she 
 actually did, and that boldly and openly, we 
 can not do otherwise than suppose that it was 
 done with Henry's consent. 
 
 The country began perceptibly to bloom 
 under her influence. Education and order 
 were maintained every-where. Whoever was 
 persecuted on account of his religious opin- 
 
52 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 ions, found safety and protection at the court 
 of Nerac, for a shorter or longer time. The 
 aged Lefevre, who was too far advanced in 
 years to be able to win laurels in the battle- 
 field of religious liberty, was, by the interces- 
 sion of Marguerite, made librarian at Blois ; 
 but, as he was there exposed to the hate of 
 his opponents, his patroness drew him into 
 her vicinity, and transferred to him the super- 
 intendence of the library of Nerac. He died 
 in peace, in the year 1534. He often re- 
 proached himself for not having fought and 
 suffered more for the Gospel. 
 
 Marguerite appointed one of the fugitives 
 from Meaux, the above-mentioned Gerard 
 Roussel, as her court chaplain. She trans- 
 ferred to him, with the consent of her brother, 
 the abbacy of Clairac, and, later, made him 
 Bishop of Oleron, in Beam. Roussel could 
 not deny that he had belonged to the mystical 
 school at Meaux. He therefore occupied an 
 intermediate position between Catholicism and 
 
THE REFORMATION IN FRANCE, 53 
 
 the Reformation. He expressed his religious 
 principles in an explanation of the Apostolic 
 Confession of F'aith. At the head of his doc- 
 trines he placed that of justification by faith, 
 and he considered the Scriptures as the only 
 guide for our faith. Christ is the sole Head 
 of the Church, and he assigned to the apos- 
 tle Peter no place above the other apostles. 
 The true Church is the invisible communion 
 of saints. He expressed himself indefinitely 
 concerning the Lord's-supper, in order not to 
 be involved in further controversy about it. 
 Marguerite shared these views, without 
 doubt. Still she was of the opinion that 
 mass should be celebrated with the hitherto 
 customary ceremonies, but only as a congre- 
 gational act of worship, never as private 
 mass. The raising and worshiping of the 
 host must then be discontinued. Ordinary 
 bread should be used at communion, and the 
 same should be broken. The chalice should 
 be presented to all. Neither the Virgin Mary 
 
54 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 nor the saints should be mentioned. It is 
 scarcely possible to conceive how any one can 
 entertain a doubt concerning the Protestant 
 opinions of Marguerite, after such expressions. 
 The Sorbonne declared the above-mentioned 
 book of Roussel as highly pernicious and objec- 
 tionable, and filled with abominable principles. 
 Marguerite was also a stumbUng-stone and 
 vexation for the Roman Catholic zealots. 
 When she was in Paris, in the year 1533, 
 and Roussel made known the Word of God 
 in the chapel of the Louvre, a great tumult 
 arose in the city. She was preached against 
 on almost every side ; one monk did not hesi- 
 tate to say that she ought to have been tied 
 up in a sack long ago, and drowned. A play, 
 full of revilings against her, was written and 
 performed in the theater. The Sorbonne con- 
 demned a much-read book of Marguerite's, 
 called ^'The Mirror of a Sinful Soul," because 
 the means of grace of the Catholic Church did 
 not happen to be mentioned in it. 
 
THE REFORMATION IN FRANCE. 55 
 
 King Francis was exceedingly indignant at 
 this outbreak of fanaticism against his sister. 
 The monk who had adjudged to her the pun- 
 ishment of the sack, was condemned to the 
 same punishment himself, and he was only 
 pardoned at the urgent plea of Marguerite. 
 The Sorbonne was obliged to revoke its judg- 
 ment. On the side of the Protestants, the 
 greatest confidence was placed in the influ- 
 ence of this woman. The dean of the Stras- 
 burg Cathedral, who was disposed to Prot- 
 estantism, commenced a correspondence with 
 her, and transmitted to her some of the writ- 
 ings of Luther, translated into French. He 
 hoped to be able, by her mediation, to give 
 free scope to the reformatory doctrines in 
 France. The answers of Marguerite prove 
 that she was no|: averse to the undertaking. 
 
 The Swiss Capito dedicated to her his 
 ''Exposition of the Prophet Isaiah." He says 
 in his dedication that all eyes were hopefully 
 directed to her ; and he hoped that she might 
 
56 RENATA OF ESTE, 
 
 overcome the hinderances which rendered a 
 knowledge of the truth difficult among women, 
 and especially among princely women. Even 
 the stern Calvin could not forbear observing in 
 a letter to her, "I recognize the remarkable 
 gifts which God has given you, worthy lady ; 
 how he has made use of you for the advance- 
 ment of his kingdom." The not less stern 
 Theodore Beza expressed himself thus con- 
 cerning her : " If she is equal to her brother 
 in spirit and sagacity, she is in advance of 
 him by her knowledge of eternal truth and 
 her zeal for the Church of Christ.'* 
 
 We will not and can not say that she was 
 a decided Protestant, and that she had totally 
 renounced the Catholic Church. On account 
 of her mystical opinions, she placed little 
 value on externals. She never relinquished 
 the hope that by proper reforms within the 
 Church the schism could be corrected. It 
 was her influence chiefly which determined 
 her brother to negotiate with the German 
 
THE REFORMATION IN FRANCE, 57 
 
 Protestants, and especially with Melanchthon 
 and Luther, as to how the separated Churches 
 could again be united. Notwithstanding her 
 repeated intercessions, many of the followers 
 of the Gospel became martyrs. A nobleman 
 by the name of Berquin escaped four times 
 from prison and condemnation through her 
 influence; but, on being indicted the fifth 
 time, he ended his life on the scaffold. 
 
 The condition of affairs in Paris, in the year 
 1529, can not better be illustrated than by 
 giving a description of a certain procession 
 that took place at that time. All the relics 
 of the city were collected together, as well 
 as every thing at the service of the priests 
 which was calculated to fascinate spectators. 
 Bishops and common priests in great num- 
 bers bore the sacred relics through the 
 streets. The king and the highest officers 
 of the State accompanied them with uncov- 
 ered heads ; then followed a great multitude 
 of believers. Six Lutherans were burned 
 
58 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 that day on a movable gallows, with fearful 
 torture. The king then affirmed *'that he 
 would pardon no one, not even his children 
 and relatives, for the crime of heresy. If he 
 knew that one of his limbs were affected with 
 this spirit, he would hew it off with his own 
 hand." Marguerite became constantly more 
 and more alienated from her brother, the 
 farther he proceeded in this course. Still 
 she could never lose her earlier love for him, 
 and he was not wrong when he thus an- 
 swered the accusations that Marguerite had 
 fallen away from the Romish Church : " She 
 loves me too much for this ever to be possible." 
 Marguerite sought to make her court at 
 Nerac a place of true Christian virtue. 
 Clothed simply, like an ordinary citizen^s 
 wife, she showed her royal dignity only by 
 her behavior. At her table the topics of con- 
 versation were, for the most part, upon relig- 
 ious and scientific questions, and foreigners 
 who were admitted, were surprised at the 
 
THE RE FORM A TION IN FRANCE. 59 
 
 erudition and condescension of the queen. 
 From time to time she withdrew to the clois- 
 ter of Yusson, which she had caused to be 
 built at Angoumois, in order, surrounded by 
 pious men, to abandon herself undisturbed to 
 contemplative prayer. Notwithstanding her 
 retired mode of life, she was no devotee, or 
 enemy to pleasantry. She wrote small come- 
 dies, and caused them to be performed by her 
 maids of honor. Whenever she sewed or em- 
 broidered, she had some one about her to read 
 aloud, or else she dictated to an amanuensis 
 her thoughts, sometimes in prose and some- 
 times in poetry. She was never idle on 
 a journey ; even in her sedan-chair she in- 
 dited letters or wrote on a book that she was 
 composing. 
 
 The death of her husband, which took place 
 in 1544, did not change her manner of life. 
 She only cared more zealously for the welfare 
 of her subjects, since now she could follow the 
 impulses of her heart without any hinderance. 
 
6o REN ATA OF ESTE, 
 
 In 1 547, when her brother was taken ill, she 
 hastened immediately to him, and she had the 
 great pleasure of seeing that her presence, in 
 some measm*e, revived him again. Scarcely, 
 however, had she returned home, when she 
 received the news of his death, which took 
 place on the 31st of March, 1547. Her sor- 
 row was deep and unfeigned. She expressed 
 her frame of mind in the verse : 
 
 " Thou messenger of fear to man, 
 
 Hast taken my brother dear away ; 
 
 Come soon, and bear me unto death. 
 
 And do not long thy steps delay." 
 
 But before this wish was fulfilled she was 
 obliged to experience many trials and sor- 
 rows. The new king, Henry H, the son of 
 her brother, transferred the management of 
 the affairs of State to her bitterest enemies, 
 and soon forgot how much he was indebted 
 to the beloved sister of his father. He tried 
 to take away from her the annuity of twenty- 
 four thousand livres which her brother had 
 
THE REFORMATION IN FRANCE. 6 1 
 
 allowed her. On the 21st of November, 1549, 
 death released this rare woman from further 
 strife and annoyances. 
 
 A French writer gives the following eulo- 
 gium on her character: "Envy, which invaria- 
 bly attacks princes, could not impute a single 
 evil deed to Marguerite of Valois. In order 
 to perceive a stain in her character, we must 
 invent one. A stranger to the vices of her 
 mother, the folly of her brother, and the per- 
 versity of her times, beautiful and a .queen 
 without arrogance, virtuous without prudery, 
 learned without pedantry, gentle and good 
 without being weak, chaste in the midst of a 
 depraved court, superior and true to both her 
 husbands, she is, without contradiction, the 
 most amiable princess and wife which the 
 royal family of France has produced." An- 
 other writer says, "I fear I should never end 
 if I were to enumerate all those whom she 
 saved from the punishment of death and upon 
 whom she lavished benefits." 
 
62 RENATA OF ESTE, 
 
 Her enemies have sought to render her 
 character suspected, on the ground of her lit- 
 erary activity. We will, therefore, cast a glance 
 at her most important works. We have al- 
 ready directed attention to her " Mirror of a 
 Sinful Soul — Miroir de Tame Pecheresse" — 
 which appeared in the year 1533. It is main- 
 tained by some that this book contains con- 
 fessions of her own life-experiences. But how 
 can we suppose that Marguerite would lay her 
 sins before the world "i Would she not, in con- 
 formity with her whole character, have been 
 satisfied with confession before God } The en- 
 tire keeping of the book shows that it repre- 
 sents the universal sinfulness of man, and re- 
 fers to the comfort which, on account of the 
 consciousness of our sins, may be found by 
 faith in Christ. The spiritual poems, which 
 some one published in the year 1547, under 
 the title of "Pearls of the Pearl of Princesses," 
 show an earnest moral character. We per- 
 ceive from it that she aimed more at edifi- 
 
THE REFORMATION IN FRANCE, 63 
 
 cation than at entertainment. The little com- 
 edies, also, which Marguerite wrote, had, for 
 the most part, a religious tendency. Her ro- 
 mances, which appeared first after her death, 
 in the year 1558, under the title of "Histories 
 of Fortunate Suitors,'' and which, in the fol- 
 lowing year, were dedicated to her daugh- 
 ter, Joan d'Atbret, under the altered title of 
 '' Heptameron of Novels," afford the strongest 
 grounds for suspicion. 
 
 These stories treat throughout of such love 
 adventures as hardly any religiously educated 
 woman of the present day would communicate. 
 But we must judge of every work by the 
 standard of the times to which it belongs. 
 Besides, we must not overlook the fact that, 
 by an admonition annexed to each story, Mar- 
 guerite seeks to keep the reader free from vice. 
 From the examples of human weakness she 
 derives the doctrine that man must not aban- 
 don himself to his own strength ; but that, in 
 all cases, he should invoke the assistance of 
 
64 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 God, since our strength rests in him. Mar- 
 guerite may have committed a fault in these 
 stories ; she may, through the desire to appear 
 witty, and to win literary fame, have been mis- 
 led into writing these romances. Whatever 
 may have been her intention, it is not neces- 
 sary for us to express doubt, as some writers 
 do, on account of them. Her memory still 
 remains as that of one who was righteous, and 
 therefore blessed. 
 
 We believe we have given the best answer, 
 by what has now been written, to two ques- 
 tions with regard to Renata, which have hith- 
 erto been much discussed, and, according to 
 the stand-point of the writer, with various re- 
 sults. They are these: By what means was 
 Renata drawn to the side of evangelical 
 Christians ? and. What was her religious po- 
 sition when she came to Italy 1 
 
 Renata could not have remained vmtouched 
 by the religious movements which took place 
 around her, especially when her second, or, if 
 
THE REFORM A TION IN FRANCE, 65 
 
 we can say, her third, mother played so influ- 
 ential a part in this movement. She was 
 bound to her mother by the most intimate 
 ties of friendship and love ; and did she not 
 owe to her many of those suggestions and in- 
 structions on topics which occupied the best 
 minds of her time ? The remembrance of her 
 father and his war with the Pope was not cal- 
 culated to fascinate her with Catholicism in 
 the form it had hitherto borne ; neither could 
 we expect that Renata would so soon show 
 herself a decided Protestant. The relations 
 in which she now lived were permeated with 
 another spirit. It depended upon her further 
 relations in life whether the religious ideas 
 which she had chosen should be maintained. 
 She still stood undecided between Rome and 
 the Protestant Churcb. She had imbibed 
 Protestant principles, but she believed, with 
 many of her contemporaries, that she still 
 could consider, and prove herself to be, a 
 member of the Catholic Church. 
 
 5 
 
III. 
 
 LITERARY AND RELIGIOUS LIFE IN ITALY. 
 
 HEN Renata arrived in Italy, the 
 arts and sciences were in a state of 
 great prosperity. A knowledge of 
 the Greek and Latin languages was almost uni- 
 versally diffused among the educated classes, 
 and many scholars had won great fame by their 
 thorough acquaintance of these tongues. The 
 many small princely courts which existed on 
 the Apennine peninsula, had a tendency to 
 promote scientific rivalry. They strove to sur- 
 pass each other in their patronage of artists 
 and scholars. Many rulers were obliged to 
 oppress their subjects, in order to enable them- 
 selves to carry out this purpose. It is well 
 
 66 
 
NE W LIFE LIFE IN ITAL V, 67 
 
 known what the Medici family, of Florence, 
 accomplished by their love for art ; in Mantua, 
 the Gonzaga family showed a similar zeal ; and 
 the Este family, of Ferrara, into which Renata 
 was received as of equal rank, did not remain 
 behind its contemporaries. It belonged to one 
 of the oldest families in Italy, although the 
 tracing of the family back to the time of the 
 Roman kings appears quite an effort of the 
 imagination. Its possessions — Ferrara, Reg- 
 gio, and Modena — were not of great extent, 
 nor particularly lucrative ; still they could 
 compare favorably with most princely Italian 
 houses. If the Medici family patronized paint- 
 ing more especially, the Duke of Ferrara 
 proved himself the protector of poetry and 
 science. 
 
 Hercules I, of Este, an old contemporary of 
 the Emperor Maximilian I, translated into 
 Italian one of the comedies of the old Roman 
 poet Plautus, and suggested the translation of 
 other comedies and tragedies from the Greek 
 
68 REN ATA OF ESTE, 
 
 and Latin ; he also caused many to be per- 
 formed with all the magnificence of the an- 
 cient theaters. In the courts of Alphonso I 
 and Hercules I, lived Ariosto, the poet of 
 "Orlando Furioso." His house is still shown, 
 near the library of Ferrara ; it bears the in- 
 scription, written by the poet himself, " Small, 
 but suited to me, and clean." 
 
 The father of the renowned Torquato Tasso, 
 Bernardo Tasso, lived also for a long time at 
 Ferrara. We can venture to say that scarcely 
 a man of science had lived in Italy who had 
 not received support, or at least proofs of es- 
 teem, from the family of Este. The Univer- 
 sity of Ferrara took a very prominent place 
 among the universities of Italy, and it knew 
 how to maintain itself as such amid the 
 conflicts of the time. Not only did young 
 men of Italy study there, but students came 
 from almost every country of Europe, espe- 
 cially from England. 
 
 Hercules II, the husband of Renata, was 
 
NE IV LIFE IN ITAL K 69 
 
 true to the scientific spirit of his ancestors. 
 He could express himself with great felicity 
 in prose and verse, and delighted to converse 
 with learned men. He made a new collection 
 of coins, at a great expense, and with it 
 founded the celebrated Este Museum of Fer- 
 rara. He exhibited his taste for art by build- 
 ing several palaces in the city, and several 
 villas on the banks of the Po. Unfortunately, 
 there were but few agreeable traits in his 
 character or morals. He allowed himself to 
 be governed less by moral principles than 
 by temporary circumstances, or caprice and 
 passion. 
 
 His brother, Cardinal Hippolyte of Este, was 
 not less known as a friend and promoter of 
 science. He was Bishop of Ferrara, and Arch- 
 bishop of Milan and of Auch in France; he 
 was at the same time in possession of rich 
 revenues, which he expended freely in the 
 manner already intimated. He spent the most 
 of his time at the beautiful villa of Belriguardo 
 
70 RENA TA OF ESTE, 
 
 and in the renowned gardens of TivoH, in the 
 embellishment of which he found pleasure and 
 entertainment. 
 
 A historian of the house of Este, Muratori, 
 says of him: "The table of the prince knew 
 no more pleasant concert than the voice of a 
 scholar, which was heard amid the silence of 
 the guests. Intellectual conversation with the 
 most excellent men formed the seasoning of 
 the banquet. The prince, according to the 
 judgment of all, deserves to be named the 
 Father of Science." 
 
 Lollio, a Professor in the University of Fer- 
 rara, called the youths happy who studied in 
 .that institution, because it enjoyed the labors 
 of the most learned and eloquent men, be- 
 cause it possessed great treasures in the Greek 
 and Latin languages, and because so many 
 strangers came to the town seeking improve- 
 ment in science. On the other hand, the 
 house of Este gave but little encouragement 
 to improvements in accordance with the jorac- 
 
NE W LIFE IN ITAL K 71 
 
 tical spirit of the times. The dukes imme- 
 diately preceding had, it is true, several con- 
 flicts with the Pope, whose liegemen they 
 were; and so it had been expected that they 
 would join the movements which were directed 
 against him. 
 
 But they knew better how to judge, under 
 these circumstances. It could not be expected 
 that these efforts would be crowned with suc- 
 cess in Italy, especially when a powerful for- 
 eign prince stood on the side of the Pope, and 
 granted him his support. No continuous co- 
 operation of the Italian people in conflict with 
 the hierarchy and its perversions was to be 
 expected. A proper regard for self-preserva- 
 tion, therefore, caused the small princes to 
 strive to keep up a good understanding with 
 the Pope. The father-in-law and the husband 
 of Renata also found it to their interest to 
 preserve this connection. Still they were as 
 little able to hinder the entrance of Protestant 
 ideas as the Pope himself. The doctrines of 
 
72 REN ATA OF ESTE, 
 
 the Reformation were promulgated in Ferrara 
 as early as the year 1528, and in 1530 the 
 inquisitor of the city complained that there 
 were Lutherans among both clergy and laity. 
 They could have said the same of the whole 
 of Italy. 
 
 How, then, would it have been possible to 
 suppress the yearnings and endeavors of a 
 people for relief from the ecclesiastical griev- 
 ances, who had more opportunities than others 
 to observe them? The See of the Supreme 
 Bishop in Christendom was not by any means, 
 as it should have been, the scene of all Chris- 
 tian virtues. One might, with much more 
 truth, have maintained that moral depravity 
 was there at home ; and it is a remarkable 
 circumstance that, just toward the end of the 
 fifteenth century and beginning of the six- 
 teenth, the worst Popes that history is ac- 
 quainted with had won the triple crov/n. 
 Along with the deepest superstition, the most 
 insolent unbelief had taken root. Even Pope 
 
NEW LIFE IN ITALY. 73 
 
 Leo X, who reigned from 15 15 to 1521, and 
 to whom belongs a renowned place in the 
 history of art and science, as well as in the 
 history of Christian belief and life, more than 
 once made use of the expression, that the "fa- 
 ble of Christ had brought him much money." 
 The most learned cardinal of his century, 
 Bembo, thought that he had never employed 
 his time more disadvantageously than when he 
 spent it in reading the Bible. Other learned 
 Italians — as, for instance, Plethon, the Floren- 
 tine — prophesied that the happy time would 
 soon come when the Bible and the Koran 
 w^ould be looked upon as teaching religions 
 similar to heathenism. 
 
 Truly, Christian minds must be most pain- 
 fully moved by such expressions of unbelief; 
 and still we shall find them explicable when 
 we consider how little pleasing fruit Christian- 
 ity bore at that time. Immorality had become 
 much more general among all classes in Italy 
 than in any other Christian country. The 
 
74 RENATA OF ESm, 
 
 episcopal courts imitated the Papal, and the 
 common parish priests found in their superiors 
 excuses for their own bad stewardship, and, 
 indeed, all manner of iniquities. There were, 
 however, better disposed men, who deplored 
 the deep decline of morality and true religion. 
 The preaching of the Florentine, Hieronymus 
 Savonarola (died 1498), who, with unwearied 
 zeal, had labored for a better state of morality, 
 and with the greatest earnestness had proph- 
 esied that the righteous God would very soon 
 bring a scourge upon Italy, and thereby bring 
 about a change in the Church, was not wholly 
 forgotten. At the time of Leo X, between 
 fifty and eighty pious and learned men formed 
 themselves into a society, called the Orato- 
 rium of Divine Love, who made a solemn 
 promise among themselves to work with united 
 strength against the corruption of the Church. 
 Since the year 1471, an Italian translation 
 of the Bible had been circulated; and this 
 passed through nine editions in twelve years. 
 
JVEW LIFE IN ITALY, 75 
 
 It is not surprising that Luther found many 
 friends and admirers among the Italians, and 
 that many copies of his writings wandered 
 over the snowy summits of the Alps. In the 
 year 1519, the book-seller, Calvi of Pavia, 
 sought to distribute the New Testament of 
 Erasmus and several of the smaller writings 
 of Luther, not only in his own vicinity, but 
 also in other Italian cities. He was success- 
 ful in selling the greater part of an edition of 
 the smaller treatises of the German Reformer. 
 The most of them were disposed of and read 
 at Venice. The Papal Bull against Luther 
 was read in this city only after every one had 
 left the Church. 
 
 In the year 1500, a monk from the neighbor- 
 hood of Lake Maggiore wrote to the Protest- 
 ant Churches of Germany: *' Ye believers and 
 beloved in Jesus Christ ! Remember poor Laz- 
 arus ; remember, also, the Canaanite woman, 
 who hungers for the crumbs that fall from 
 her Master's table. A languishing wanderer 
 
^6 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 thirsts for living water. Sitting in the shadow 
 of death, and bathed in tears, we pray you, 
 who know the mysteries, to send us the writ- 
 ings of your excellent teachers, Zwingli, Lu- 
 ther, Melanchthon, CEcolampadius. Noble 
 princes, pillars of the renewed Church ! hasten 
 to deliver a Lombardic city ! We are only 
 three brothers, united in the contest for truth ; 
 but the strokes of a small number of men 
 chosen by God, and not the swords of the 
 thousands of Gideon, defeated Midian. Who 
 knows but God, out of this little spark, may 
 kindle a great flame ?" 
 
 The works of the Reformers made their 
 way to Rome, and even into the Papal palace, 
 although under fictitious names. The first 
 connected exhibition of the Protestant system, 
 which Melanchthon published under the title 
 of " Loci Theologicae," was printed as the work 
 of Ippofilo de Terra Nigra, an Italian transla- 
 tion of the author's German name, and publicly 
 sold in Rome for a year, and was read with 
 
NE W LIFE IN ITAL K "J^ 
 
 great approval. When the ruse was at length 
 discovered, the remaining copies were burned. 
 Luther's Preface to the Epistle to the Romans 
 and his treatise on the Doctrine of Justification 
 were praised even by the cardinals and bish- 
 ops as the writings of Cardinal Fregoso. 
 Zwingli's writings were circulated under the 
 name of Corigio Logelio. Calvin's " Insti- 
 tutes of the Christian Religion'' were distrib- 
 uted without acknowledgment of the author or 
 the place of printing. 
 
 It was all the more difficult to prevent the 
 ingress of Protestant works into Italy, as the 
 communication between Germany and Italy, 
 at that time, was very frequent. Young Ger- 
 mans studied at the Italian universities, par- 
 ticularly at that of Bologna, which was then 
 greatly celebrated. Young Italians, on the 
 other hand, were attracted by the fame of Ger- 
 man scholars, especially of Melanchthon, and 
 they, therefore, found their way to Wittenberg 
 and other towns of the Father-land, in order 
 
78 RENATA OF ESTE, 
 
 to seek advantages which they could not find 
 in their own country. 
 
 The circumstance that the German Empe- 
 ror, Charles V, ruled over a part of Italy, and 
 that he had to sustain many conflicts there, 
 was of especial 'importance. His commander- 
 in-chief, Charles de Bourbon, without any fear 
 of ecclesiastical censure, marched, in the year 
 1527, against Rome, and, after conquering the 
 city, held the Pope a prisoner in the castle 
 of St. Angelo. 
 
 On this occasion the Catholic Spaniards did 
 not prove any better than the German Luther- 
 ans and the Reformed Swiss. They made no 
 scruples in mocking the opponent of the em- 
 peror. A person disguised as the Pope w^as 
 led about the streets of Rome, while others 
 disguised as bishops followed him. Speeches 
 were made in the procession, in which the 
 unjust wars which had been occasioned by 
 the Pope were hinted at. The Emperor 
 Charles was chosen by God to revenge these 
 
NEW LIFE IN ITALY. 79 
 
 acts of violence. At length the soldiers cried, 
 ** Long live Pope Luther !'' 
 
 We hear many complaints from zealous 
 Catholics that the Protestant spirit was contin- 
 ually gaining ground. In 1530, Pope Clement 
 VII complained that, in several countries, 
 Luther's heresy was making rapid way, not 
 only among the laity, but also among the 
 priesthood and monks. Cardinal Caraffa, who 
 afterward became Pope Paul IV, says, in a re- 
 port, " that the whole of Italy is tainted with 
 the Lutheran heresy, and that not only States, 
 but many ecclesiastics, have gone over to it.'* 
 We know that expressions of this kind were 
 well founded when we compare them with 
 those made by the friends of the Gospel them- 
 selves. The German Reformers won great 
 applause and support on every side. Epithets 
 such as *' Great Luther!" are no rarity. In 
 several of the Italian towns Protestant com- 
 munities were formed, that of Venice being 
 the most thriving. In this great and wealthy 
 
80 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 city the sense of freedom and independence 
 had been maintained with the consciousness 
 of right, and the chief magistrate had often 
 shown the Pope that he was not willing to 
 submit unconditionally to his domination. Ven- 
 ice had formerly made a determined resistance 
 against the introduction of the Inquisition, 
 and only allowed the publication of the Papal 
 indulgence, after a mature examination of 
 them. 
 
 A letter which an eminent Venetian, Lucio 
 Paolo Rosselli, sent to Melanchthon, fully tes- 
 tifies to the spirit which asserted itself in 
 Venice. It had been reported in Italy that 
 this fellow-champion with Luther, for peace's 
 sake, was on the point of yielding too much 
 to Catholicism, at the Imperial Diet at Augs- 
 burg. Rosselli, therefore, wrote to him : " O, 
 Melanchthon ! Let neither threats nor appre- 
 hensions cause you to forsake the banner of 
 Jesus Christ. If you must suffer death in 
 order to defend the honor of Christ, do not 
 
NEW LIFE IN ITALY, 8l 
 
 delay. O, it were better to die honorably than 
 to live and be covered with shame !" 
 
 A great number of Italians, of every age 
 and position, from all parts of the Peninsula, 
 were of the same opinion. In Piedmont, the 
 ground was already prepared for the diffusion 
 of Protestant principles, because of the near- 
 ness of the Waldenses. Collio Curione Se- 
 cundo made his name famous in the history of 
 the Reformation in Italy. He was born in the 
 year 1503, near Turin. Besides the study of 
 classical literature, he occupied himself with 
 the reading of the Scriptures ; and the conse- 
 quence of this employment was soon apparent, 
 as he refused to join in the condemnatory 
 judgments of those surrounding him concern- 
 ing the writings of the Reformers. He wished, 
 therefore, to see and read and examine for 
 himself several treatises of Luther, the doc- 
 trinal system of Melanchthon, and the letter 
 of Zwingli relating to true and false religion. 
 
 '' When I was still a young man," he wrote, 
 6 
 
82 REN ATA OF ESTE, 
 
 later, to Melanchthon, ''after having read sev- 
 eral of your writings, I was seized with such 
 a love for you that it seemed impossible that 
 it could increase." His longing drove him to 
 Germany, in order to purify his religious views 
 by communication with her godly men. On 
 his way he divulged his opinions in an impru- 
 dent manner, and was seized in the Valley of 
 Aosta, and thrown into prison. The bishop 
 recognized the distinguished talents of the 
 young man, and determined, if possible, to 
 bring him back into the bosom of the Catholic 
 Church. Curione, therefore, was placed in a 
 convent for instruction and conversion. But 
 all in vain. The young man, in his zeal 
 against the Catholic superstitions, went so far 
 as to withdraw clandestinely from a chest of 
 relics its highly-treasured contents, and put in 
 their place a copy of the Scriptures, with the 
 inscription, '* This is the true Ark of the Cov- 
 enant, wherein can be found the genuine or- 
 acles of God." 
 
NE W LIFE IN ITAL F. 83 
 
 We may imagine the horror and anger of 
 the monks when they discovered the sacrilege. 
 Suspicion immediately fell upon the right man, 
 and Curione was obliged to withdraw as 
 quickly as possible, in order to escape severe 
 punishment. He found a place of refuge for 
 a long time in Milan, where he devoted him- 
 self to the instruction of youth. He also ap- 
 plied himself, at a great self-sacrifice, to the 
 care of the sick and the poor. He distin- 
 guished himself particularly for his active 
 Christian love while a pestilence was raging 
 in the country, so that many hearts were full 
 of affection and gratitude toward him. After 
 a time, his love of the home of his childhood 
 and youth reawakened so powerfully in him, 
 that, laying aside every other consideration, 
 he returned at once to Piedmont, where he 
 remained for some time in quiet and peace. 
 Still he could not remain silent when it was 
 necessary to refute false accusations against 
 the Reformers. Being present, on one occa- 
 
84 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 sion, when a Dominican monk misrepresented 
 the doctrines of Luther, in order to be able 
 the better to revile them, he seized the oppor- 
 tunity to show how unfounded the utterances 
 were. Once more he was thrown into prison, 
 and the bishop himself traveled to Rome in 
 order to bring about his sentence of death. 
 But before the bishop returned, Curione had 
 succeeded in getting out of prison. 
 
 He now taught for some time as professor 
 at Pavia, where, by the privileges of the Uni- 
 versity and the assistance of faithful friends — 
 the students having formed a vokmtary watch 
 to protect him — he was secured against the 
 persecutions of Romish fanaticism. The Pope 
 then threatened the University Senate with 
 excommunication, while other complications 
 were to be feared, Curione now took shelter 
 under the protection of our Renata, at whose 
 court he found a great number of kindred 
 spirits. 
 
 By his side stood Bernardino Ochino (born 
 
NEW LIFE IN ITAL Y. 8$ 
 
 in Sienna, in 1483), for a long time the most 
 renowned preacher of Italy. He assures us 
 that he had felt from his youth a deep longing 
 after paradise ; but it was only at a later pe- 
 riod that he recognized the right way thither. 
 He thought by fasting, castigations, and the 
 like, to succeed, and therefore entered the 
 strictest order of Franciscans. This course 
 he did not find satisfactory ; for it went with 
 him as once with Luther, he found not what 
 he sought. When some of the members of 
 the order formed a still stronger sect, under 
 the name of Capuchins, Ochino joined them, 
 in order to make sure his entrance into heaven 
 by thorough mortification of the flesh. 
 
 After many struggles, a new light at length 
 broke in upon him. From this time forth he 
 studied the Holy Scriptures unceasingly, and 
 was convinced that Christ, by his death, had 
 done enough for our sins, and that the Romish 
 Church did not teach in accordance with the 
 Scriptures, and that it was, therefore, an out- 
 
86 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 cast from God. His preaching became more 
 and more zealous, and continually found more 
 hearty approval. It was listened to and won- 
 dered at by the learned and ignorant, by high 
 and low. The Emperor Charles V said, re- 
 specting Ochino, "This man would move 
 stones to tears." He made all the greater im- 
 pression because his life corresponded with 
 his preaching. At the most sumptuous meals 
 he drank no wine ; he ate of one kind of food, 
 and that the most simple. If he were con- 
 ducted into a richly adorned chamber, and 
 adrnonished to rest from the fatigue of his 
 journey on a soft bed, he always smiled, and 
 stretched his mantle out on the floor, and 
 there laid himself on it. 
 
 The churches in which he preached were 
 not large enough to contain the multitudes 
 who gathered together to hear him. Pope 
 Paul III made him his confessor, and, in 
 1538, the chapter of the order of Capuchins 
 at Florence chose him as chief of the order. 
 
NE W LIFE IN ITAL Y. ^J 
 
 He was still permitted to preach, with great 
 success, in dififerent cities and parts of Italy; 
 but his Protestant views constantly exhibited 
 themselves stronger and stronger, and when 
 the powerful opposition to the Reformation 
 commenced in Italy, it was time for Ochino 
 to leave his native land. Previously, however, 
 he repaired to Ferrara, where all those who 
 were oppressed took refuge. Renata provided 
 him with letters of recommendation, and, in 
 1542, he wandered over the Alps to Zurich 
 and Geneva, where he was received in a 
 friendly manner. 
 
 What Ochino attained by his popular 
 preaching, Peter Martyr Vermigli, born at 
 Florence, in the year 1500, effected by his 
 Biblical lectures. This man had, from his 
 earliest youth, received a thorough education, 
 and had been instructed in Latin by his 
 mother. He inherited, also, from his mother 
 that piety which distinguished him above all 
 his contemporaries. His father appears to 
 
88 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 have been no special friend to the Church in 
 its existing state. At least, he was decidedly 
 against his son entering a cloister; and, since 
 the latter would not be withheld, he disinher- 
 ited him, lest his property should fall into the 
 hands of the monks. Peter found himself 
 deceived in his expectations. His scientific 
 efforts found no satisfaction in the narrow 
 sphere of the cloister. At his wish, he re- 
 ceived permission to continue his studies at 
 Padua and other universities. He was beloved 
 and esteemed by every one on account of his 
 modest and blameless behavior, and his scien- 
 tific investigations were of such a nature as 
 to win the pride of his order. He was sent, 
 in 1529, as a preacher, to Rome, Bologna, 
 Pisa, and other cities. His fame increased 
 daily, and the way to the highest spiritual 
 dignities appeared to be open to him. 
 
 In his thirtieth year, he was elected Abbot 
 of Spoleto, and, shortly afterward, provost of 
 a college at Naples. Later, he was appointed 
 
NEW LIFE IN ITALY, 89 
 
 inquisitor-general of the Augustine monks in 
 Italy. In every thing he proceeded with im- 
 movable justice, but at the same time with 
 inexorable strictness. By continued study of 
 the Holy Scriptures and the writings of 
 the Reformers, his views became constantly 
 clearer; and he did not conceal the change 
 which was going on in his mind. His danger 
 was all the greater, because, by his strictness, 
 he had made many enemies among the monks 
 of his order. He was imprisoned ; but not 
 long after, through the influence of some of 
 the nobility, he was again set at liberty. Still 
 he felt the necessity, like so many others who 
 held similar views, of seeking another home. 
 Fortunately he reached Zurich, where he soon 
 received an invitation to Strasburg as profes- 
 sor. He labored there, and, later, in England, 
 with great success. 
 
 Antonio Paleario, the author of the far- 
 famed work, ''Of the Benefit of Christ," is 
 almost still better known, at least in our day, 
 
90 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 than Peter Martyr. This little work, which 
 explains the doctrine of justification by faith, 
 was, during the author's life-time, sold to the 
 extent of forty thousand copies in Venice 
 alpne. The Jesuits and their companions, 
 however, succeeded so well in doing away 
 with this little work, that for several centuries 
 it was considered lost ; and not until lately 
 was it found again, in an English library. 
 Paleario was an esteemed Professor of Latin 
 and Greek, at Sienna University. The zeal- 
 ous adherents of the Pope soon recognized in 
 his teachings the prohibited views of the Ger- 
 man Reformers; and, in order to be certain 
 on this subject, he was obliged to undergo an 
 examination. The question was put to him, 
 ''What is the first means which God gave to 
 man, by which to attain salvation T' Paleario 
 answered, "Christ;" and when asked concern- 
 ing the second and third means, he gave the 
 same answer. From this moment on, he ex- 
 pected the very worst treatment ; for there 
 
NEW LIFE IN ITAL V. 9 1 
 
 was ground of accusation against him. He 
 escaped martyrdom, however, for several years. 
 He received a position at Lucca, where the 
 Inquisition had not yet gained firm ground ; 
 but, after remaining there a short time, he 
 perceived the necessity of leaving. He went 
 to Milan, but found no safety there ; and, on 
 his way to Bologna, he was seized by the 
 emissaries of the Jesuits and conveyed to 
 Rome. In the year 1540, after three years' 
 imprisonment, he was condemned to the gal- 
 lows and the stake. 
 
 At the ducal court of Ferrara, there lived, 
 as surgeon, Pietro Angelo Marzelli, who, un- 
 der the name of Marzellus Palingenius, pub- 
 lished a poem, in which he boldly castigated 
 the depravity of the times, both among the 
 clergy and laity, and expressed pretty clearly 
 his pleasure at the doctrines of the Reforma- 
 tion and their propagation. The book was 
 interdicted ; and, at a later period, the corpse 
 of the author was delivered to the funeral pile. 
 
92 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 Women, also, especially such as had attained 
 the highest culture of their century, and had 
 made themselves acquainted with classical lit- 
 erature and philosophy, placed themselves, and 
 in some cases v^ith masculine firmness, on the 
 side of Protestant Christians. We v^ill men- 
 tion the Duchess Vittoria Colonna, of Naples, 
 who, celebrated as a poetess, lived, after the 
 death of her husband, in retirement from the 
 world, and gave herself up to study and relig- 
 ious contemplation. We must not forget Julia 
 Gonzaga, also of Naples, the most beautiful 
 Italian woman of her time, who gave protec- 
 tion and support to many of the disseminators 
 of the Gospel, and for that reason was enu- 
 merated among the ** women suspected of a 
 godless heresy;" nor Isabella Manrecha, of 
 Bresegna, who, pressed by her relatives either 
 to renounce her faith or forsake her country, 
 chose voluntarily the latter, and first in Ger- 
 many, then in Zurich, then in Chiavenna, in 
 the canton of the Grisons, seemed to forget 
 
NEW LIFE IN ITALY, 93 
 
 her earlier splendor, and lived in poverty and 
 retirement. 
 
 Of two other women to whom place of 
 honor belongs in the history of the Reforma- 
 tion in Italy — the Princess Lavinia de Rovera 
 and Olympia Morata, the most learned females 
 of Italy — we shall hear more when we con- 
 sider intellectual life in Ferrara. 
 
 If we place our ej^es upon such persons as 
 those mentioned, if we consider how many 
 thousands in all Italy agreed with them, and 
 what stirring life there was in the Protestant 
 communities, we would come to the conclu- 
 sion that but little was required to give the 
 Gospel the victory; but it was not to be so. 
 
 Among those inclined to the Gospel, there 
 were some who did not wish to come to 
 an open rupture with the Romish Church. 
 They wished to improve its doctrines, and 
 especially to procure the admission of the 
 Protestant doctrine of justification by faith. 
 They wished to do away with the crying 
 
94 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 abuses in the regulations of the Church, as 
 well as the ignorance and immorality of the 
 clergy ; but they wished to preserve the Cath- 
 olic hierarchy, the Catholic worship, and other 
 institutions. They did not wish to be con- 
 vinced that in this manner no benefit could 
 be derived. There were some of the most 
 celebrated dignitaries of the Church who 
 shared this opinion ; for instance, the Vene- 
 tian Contarini, and the learned Marco Anto- 
 nio Flaminio. 
 
 In general, Italy was not a favorable 
 ground for the success of Protestant princi- 
 ples. The people lived in total ignorance, 
 not to say in thoughtless stupidity. CathoHc 
 worship, with its ceremonies, so flattering to 
 sensuality, pleased them more than plain and 
 sober evangelical Christianity. The legends 
 and miracles of the saints, which are always 
 so captivating to the Catholic people, quite 
 satisfied them. The moral earnestness which 
 animated the Reformers to make their bold 
 
NE W LIFE IN ITAL K 95 
 
 endeavors, was not to be found among the 
 Italians ; and the affairs of the Pope were 
 still considered a national concern, so that 
 the Italians looked upon any attack made on 
 his power and dignity as directed against 
 themselves. It might, therefore, be foreseen 
 with certainty that, if the reaction should 
 anywhere ever gain the victory, this would 
 be the case in Italy. Calculating prudence, 
 therefore, required at least a want of sympa- 
 thy with religious conflicts. Whoever, on the 
 contrary, mixed himself with the combatants, 
 and particularly with those who bore the ban- 
 ner of the Gospel to the field against the 
 Chair of St. Peter, undertook an enterprise 
 which brought him into great danger. The 
 Protestant confession demands courage and 
 self-denial. 
 
IV. 
 
 HAPPY DAYS AT FERRARA. 
 
 ERRARA was a place in which 
 Renata, by the peculiarities of her 
 nature, could not feel otherwise than 
 at home and happy. She was permitted to 
 live agreeably to her inclination, and to satisfy 
 her thirst for knowledge. With the large rev- 
 enues which she drew from France she was 
 enabled to perform many beneficent acts, for 
 doing which her new position gave her abun- 
 dance of opportunities. 
 
 We will not conceal the fact that, under the 
 sway of the family of Este, neither the better 
 classes nor peasants rejoiced in any particular 
 
 prosperity. The dukes carried on, as was the 
 96 
 
HAPPY DAYS AT FERRARA. 97 
 
 custom of people of their rank, an altogether 
 too expensive court life, and did not calculate, 
 in supporting artists and scholars, whether 
 their revenues were sufficient for the purpose. 
 They were, therefore, necessitated to burden 
 their people with oppressive taxes. They also 
 neglected, which was the most unpleasant of 
 all, to make regulations which were necessary, 
 or at least desirable, for the welfare of the 
 country ; and if Ferrara and the neighboring 
 country had to contend with financial difficul- 
 ties for centuries, it is to be attributed to the 
 extravagance of their dukes. 
 
 It may be easily imagined that one sympa- 
 thetic heart, at least, was frequently and 
 severely taxed. Renata did not belong to 
 that class of individuals who possess worldly 
 goods and close their heart and hand against 
 a needy fellow-being. One of her biographers 
 says of her: *'If this princess was intelligent, 
 witty, and virtuous, she was at the same time 
 distinguished for the benevolence which she 
 
 7 
 
98 RENA TA OF ESTE, 
 
 extended to her new subjects. Every one that 
 I have seen in Ferrara is rejoiced at her, and 
 say all the good in the world of her, for all 
 have shared her love, and the French espe- 
 cially have been the recipients of it. She 
 had the goodness never to forget her native 
 country, although she was far distant from 
 it.*' She granted bountiful assistance to every 
 Frenchman who traveled through Ferrara and 
 appealed to her for help in time of need ; 
 she at least gave the traveler sufficient money 
 to enable him to continue his journey home. 
 When one was too sick to travel she had him 
 carefully nursed until he was well again. If 
 the manager of her house remonstrated con- 
 cerning her great expenditure, she answered : 
 " What would you have me do } They are 
 poor French, my own people, who would all 
 be my subjects if the Salic law did not keep 
 me from the throne with too great strictness.'* 
 It is said that she extended a helping 
 hand to many thousands of her countrymen, 
 
HAPPY DAYS AT FERRARA. 99 
 
 in one way or another. Still no one could 
 reproach her with neglecting her new sub- 
 jects. Whoever needed help she regarded as 
 her "neighbor." Her domestic life, during 
 the first years of her marriage at least, was 
 very happy. Her husband was a remarkably 
 handsome man, and he knew how, by his 
 noble bearing, to win the hearts of those with 
 whom he came in contact. Still he was not 
 adapted to quiet domestic life, and the bounds 
 of matrimony were far too narrow for his 
 restless spirit. He was also betrayed by his 
 ambition into adventures which caused him 
 and his relatives many troubles and vexations. 
 Nevertheless, he did not fail in expressions 
 of tender love for Renata ; he wished by 
 them to compensate, in a measure, for the 
 cares with which he burdened her tender heart. 
 He placed no impediment in the way of her 
 following the best promptings of her nature. 
 She was permitted to retain the people of 
 her country who had accompanied her to 
 
100 REN ATA OF ESTE, 
 
 Italy, and who had, in part, been her friends 
 and teachers in youth. The chief ones of the 
 number were her former governess, Madame 
 de Soubise ; this lady's son, Jaques de Parthe- 
 nay, who was, at a later period, one of the 
 first Protestant champions in the French re- 
 ligious war; and Anton cfe Pons, her son-in- 
 law. The wife of Anton de Pons deserves 
 especial attention. The learned Lilio Gi- 
 raldi says of her, in the dedication of one of 
 his Dialogues : '' She was not only well versed 
 in Latin, but also so well in Greek that she 
 was able to read the most difficult authors. 
 She was more learned in this department 
 than we can imagine. What shall we say of 
 her poetical talents, and of her wonderful 
 gifts in music, which astonished every one ? 
 Yet these were merely trifles, only gifts for 
 pleasure. Her most wonderful endowment 
 was her clear knowledge of the Scriptures, 
 which was so great that professional theo- 
 logians desired to learn of her." 
 
HAPPY DAYS AT FERRARA. \ o I 
 
 The poet Clement Marot, who had at that 
 time already acquired a reputation by his 
 translation of the Psalms, and who, because 
 of his Protestant proclivities, had been obliged 
 to flee from France, also found a friendly re- 
 ception at Ferrara. He became secretary of 
 the duchess. 
 
 An admirable young Frenchwoman, Anna 
 de Beauregard, died in Italy, and Renata had 
 the following inscription placed on her tomb- 
 stone : " Here rests Anna de Beauregard, who, 
 in joyous childhood, left parents, father-land, 
 friends, and France, and promised to follow 
 here the Duchess Renata, to whom she dedi- 
 cated her whole life, and for whom she sacri- 
 ficed companions, beauty, and blooming youth, 
 until she went to seek in heaven the better 
 inheritance, and left the world with less re- 
 gret than she had once left France, with her 
 pilgrim staff in hand." 
 
 Renata sought comfort among these her 
 countrymen and women, when sadness and 
 
102 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 grief overwhelmed her tender heart. She 
 communicated to them all the news from 
 France, whether joyful or sorrowful, and par- 
 ticularly that concerning the fate of the Prot- 
 estant Christians, to whom she never ceased 
 to devote much attention and sympathy. She 
 found abundant compensation for the many 
 sorrows which oppressed her heart in the joy 
 she had in her five children, who were richly 
 endowed in both body and mind. They were 
 as follows : Anna, born on the i6th of No- 
 vember, 1531 ; Alphonso, born on the 22d of 
 November, 1533; Lucretia, born on the i6th 
 of November, 1535 ; Leonore, born on the 
 17th of June, 1537; and Luigi, or Louis, born 
 
 in 1539. 
 
 The mother expended the greatest possible 
 care and attention on the training of these 
 children ; she spared neither trouble nor ex- 
 pense in order to give them such a degree 
 of culture as, according to her view, was 
 befitting the scions of a noble, princely house. 
 
HAPPY DAYS AT FERKARA. 1 03 
 
 The most celebrated teachers that could be 
 procured were employed, in order to impart 
 the necessary instruction. Among the num- 
 ber were Celio Calcagnini, Lilio Giraldi, Bar- 
 tolomeo Riccio, Marcelli Palingenio, Marco 
 Antonio Flaminio, Kilian and Jean Sinapi 
 (these two were Germans and brothers, their 
 real name being Senft), Fulvio Peregrino 
 Morato (formerly tutor of the younger broth- 
 ers of the duke). The eldest daughter, Anna, 
 met, at an early age, the wishes and expecta- 
 tions of her mother. She made surprising 
 progress in her knowledge of the Latin and 
 Greek languages, and could express herself 
 with precision and skill in Italian. 
 
 In her tenth year, an age when most chil- 
 dren can barely speak their mother-tongue 
 correctly, she could repeat by heart select 
 quotations from Demosthenes and Cicero. 
 She also made, about this time, a translation 
 of -^sop's Fables. She was greatly aided in 
 her studies by a companion, who was five 
 
I04 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 years her senior, and really a prodigy of her 
 sex. This was Olympia Morato, the daughter 
 of Peregrin o Morato, whom we have men- 
 tioned, and who has a place of distinction 
 among the scholars of Italy. Olympia was 
 born in the year 1526, at Ferrara, and was 
 instructed during the early years of her life 
 into the sources of classical education. The 
 German, Kilian Sinapi, was her first instruc- 
 tor in Greek and Latin, and, in an incredibly 
 short time, she comprehended the languages 
 of Homer and Virgil. The most learned men 
 of the city sought the acquaintance of this 
 rarely gifted girl. Every one was -astonished 
 at the learned responses she gave. Her name 
 and fame could not remain concealed from the 
 Duchess Renata. Whom could she have ap- 
 pointed as companion to her children better 
 than this most distinguished young lady of 
 the city, and perhaps of all Italy. Olym- 
 pia was also happy to receive the honorable 
 invitation to become a companion of the prin- 
 
HAPPY DAYS AT FERRARA. 10$ 
 
 cesses, and to assist them in their studies. 
 At home she had frequently been obliged 
 to bestow attention on domestic affairs, and 
 she deplored each hour that was taken from 
 , her learned labors. 
 
 Celio Calcagnini, one of the most brilliant 
 meteors among the many luminous phenomena 
 of Ferrara, wished Oylmpia every success on 
 her entrance into the ducal palace. "Thou 
 canst," he wrote, " devote thyself in future to 
 thy chosen studies, change the distaff for the 
 pen, linen for books, the needle for the imple- 
 ments of thought. Behold, in order to facili- 
 tate the accomplishment of thy wishes, and to 
 increase thy fame, fate has called thee by a 
 special favor to the court of the duchess and 
 the society of her daughter, whose rare talents 
 seem to promise an honor to her parents equal 
 to that which she has received from them. 
 Thy business is to preserve the treasures 
 which thou hast received from thy parents — 
 namely, morality, modesty, and piety — and to 
 
I06 RENATA OF ESTE, 
 
 combine with them female delicacy, gener- 
 osity, and the contempt of all littleness." 
 Thirst for learning did not undergo any 
 change by Olympiads residence at the court, 
 but, on the contrary, received a new impetus. 
 The Princess Anna became very fond of her 
 young instructress. The difference of age and 
 position appeared to be forgotten by both. 
 
 There lived another young lady at the court 
 who was worthy of being the third in this 
 beautiful trio, and this was the princess La- 
 vinia de Rovera, who was likewise endowed 
 with rare mental gifts, and of the noblest 
 qualities of heart. Olympia became her most 
 intimate friend, and the tie which united them 
 was so firm and enduring, that, at a later pe- 
 riod, neither time nor distance was able to 
 loosen it. The fame of the young scholar 
 soon became so universal that she was neces- 
 sitated to give public lectures, and to take part 
 in scientific disputations. The learned Celio 
 Secundo ' Curione made the following report 
 
HAPPY DAYS AT PER PAR A, \ 0/ 
 
 concerning that time : " Then we heard her 
 lecture, now on Latin studies, now speak ex- 
 tempore in Greek, and now explain orator or 
 poet, and answer all questions which were put 
 to her." 
 
 At the age of fourteen she wrote a masterly- 
 defense of Cicero against the attack of a cer- 
 tain scholar, and the already-mentioned Cal- 
 cagnini assigned this little book a place among 
 the precious treasures of his library. Soon 
 afterward, she recited poems in Greek and 
 Latin, among which was a hymn which she 
 had composed in the style of the Greek poets, 
 Pindar and Sappho, and which became very 
 celebrated. Such a young lady could not fail 
 to receive appreciative and flattering acknowl- 
 edgements. We will give extracts from a let- 
 ter which Lilio Gregorio Giraldi addressed to 
 her, because, at the same time, Renata is 
 mentioned in the most complimentary manner. 
 He says : " Gloriously and in lovely grace thou 
 standest, thou who wert educated in the courts 
 
I08 REN ATA OF ESTE, 
 
 where virtue has its home, among the female 
 choir of the children of Renata, and in con- 
 stant communication with the muses ! Happy 
 the princess who is served by such a lady ! 
 Happy the parent who gave thee life and 
 blessed thee with the significant name of 
 Olympia ! Happiest of all, the man to whom 
 thou shalt extend thy hand as wife — if 
 ever a man shall have that fortune ! I, my- 
 self, feel fortunate if, in the midst of pain, 
 such a maiden shows me favor in my gray 
 old age/* 
 
 The duchess did riot fail to prove her love 
 and good-will toward Olympia. When the 
 latter was ill, and in need of motherly care, 
 Renata allowed her, although with a heavy 
 heart, to be carried to her parental home in 
 the ducal sedan, and in the same manner se- 
 cured her return, which was celebrated by the 
 whole court as a joyful event. The children 
 of the duke could not keep pace with this 
 favorite of the muses ; but her influence over 
 
HAPPY DAYS AT PER KARA. 1 09 
 
 them could not be mistaken. Anna made 
 translations of the old writers into Italian, and 
 vice versa, and in this way won the highest 
 praise. The learned Galcagnini wrote to her : 
 " I have 'read the fables which thou hast trans- 
 lated from the Tuscan into the Latin language 
 in such an elegant and beautiful style as be- 
 comes a royal hand. I only experienced pain 
 when I had finished reading them, because I 
 came so soon to the end, and because my 
 curiosity could not longer be satisfied. I hope 
 these efforts, as a seed of thy future perfection, 
 will ripen and bear fruit to the honor of thy 
 name. I have been pleased to-day to applaud 
 thy first work on the stage of fame." 
 
 In the year 1541, the same scholar gave 
 expression to the following language : " The 
 cheerful leaves which thou hast presented to 
 me appear to deserve Roman citizenship and 
 the honor of the toga, with which they might 
 appear before the senate and the patrician 
 courts. I have retained them in order to 
 
no RENATA OF ESTE, 
 
 rejoice in their society a little longer, and, in 
 order to be comforted for thy absence, I have 
 promised them symbols which will make them 
 still more beautiful. They have begged of me 
 the favor to be allowed to return to thee. It 
 is enough for them that they have received 
 adornment from a hand which could even 
 have beautified the graces." 
 
 We can not regard this as an overdrawn 
 piece of flattery, when the historian Brantome 
 says of the princesses, ** The daughters of 
 Renata were very beautiful, but their mother 
 gave them a still greater beauty, inasmuch as 
 she had them instructed in the arts and 
 sciences, in which they became so perfect as 
 to shame the most learned, and while they 
 possessed beautiful features, they possessed 
 still more beautiful souls.'' 
 
 When Pope Paul III visited Ferrara, in the 
 year 1544, an opportunity was offered of giv- 
 ing evidence of the talents of Renata's chil- 
 dren. Duke Hercules wished to make the 
 
HAPPY DAYS AT FERRARA. 1 1 1 
 
 relations of his family to his liege lord better 
 than they had been under his father and 
 grandfather. He gave, therefore, all neces- 
 sary orders to prepare for his high guest not 
 only a splendid reception, but also to make 
 his residence as agreeable as possible. First 
 of all, he welcomed and lodged him in the 
 charming villa of Belvidere, where he and his 
 whole family were stopping. 
 
 The villa and its surroundings were adorned 
 in such a magnificent manner that one could 
 almost imagine himself transferred into fairy- 
 land. Among other festivities, there was to 
 be the performance of a Latin comedy, "The 
 Brothers of Terence," in order to celebrate 
 the presence of the Pope, and to pass away the 
 time. The duke's children were among the 
 actors, and the chief parts devolved upon 
 them. The Pope, as well as all the other 
 spectators, were astounded at the perfection 
 of the representation and diction, which they 
 had not expected from children of such a 
 
112 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 tender age. This high and distinguished guest 
 remained at Belvidere and Ferrara for several 
 days ; and each day, and we might say each 
 hour, presented fresh festivities, so that the 
 Pope was greatly delighted with his visit. At 
 this time he had several confidential confer- 
 ences with the duke, the results of which 
 were, after a time, plainly visible. 
 
 Renata did not show, in the exercise of her 
 hospitality, that she was of a different mind 
 from her husband in regard to the Papacy. 
 She willingly exerted herself to the utmost to 
 preserve the honor of her house. She appears 
 to have interfered but little in affairs of State. 
 She let the duke do as he pleased in this re- 
 spect ; and, indeed, if she had tried, she would 
 have exejcised but little influence upon him. 
 She vied with the learned men in declarations 
 of good-will, but from quite a different motive. 
 She did it more for the sake of the thing itself 
 than for the honor of receiving the name of a 
 feminine Maecenas in history. 
 
HAPPY DAYS AT FERRARA. 1 1 3 
 
 Among the celebrated scholars who sym- 
 pathized and rejoiced in her proceedings, the 
 following are the best known: Bembo, Sodo- 
 let, Paleario, Peregrino, Morato, Lilio and Gio- 
 vanni Battista Giraldi, the brothers Sinapi, 
 and others. She communicated with these in 
 the most kindly and confiding manner. She 
 listened to their discourses, and drew them 
 into her society at court. She gave earnest 
 attention to their writings, and offered them 
 her helping hand whenever they needed it. 
 A learned life and effort at Ferrara required 
 her fostering care, such as has been seldom 
 repeated in a town of that size. Volumes 
 might be written, containing the names and 
 services of the masters of science and art 
 who were then congregated at the residence 
 of the Duke d'Este. All these men gratefully 
 recognized the encouragement and advance- 
 ment which they owed to their patron, and 
 especially to their amiable patroness. They 
 contributed much, by the dedication of various 
 
114 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 works, by poems and letters to her, toward 
 making the name of Renata immortal. 
 
 In the year 1540, Andrea Bruccioli dedi- 
 cated to Renata his Italian translation of 
 the Bible. He bestowed upon her, in the 
 dedicatory letter, the most beautiful testi- 
 mony to her unshaken courage, her extensive 
 knowledge, her fervent piety, and her charity. 
 Most of these learned men at the court of 
 Ferrara were attached to the Protestant doc- 
 trines, and had sought protection in that city 
 against the persecutions of religious fanati- 
 cism. All were not equally decided antago- 
 nists of Rome. Marco Antonio Flaminio, for 
 instance, sought to occupy an intermediate 
 position. Others, on the contrary, expressed 
 themselves determinedly, and none more so 
 than the brothers Sinapi and Lilio Giraldi. 
 There was no formally organized Protestant 
 community at Ferrara; but those possessing 
 these sentiments often met together, in order 
 to strengthen each other. Renata was in 
 
HAPPY DAYS AT FERRARA. 1 1 5 
 
 frequent communication with them, although 
 she constantly took part in the Catholic serv- 
 ice. She proved herself a worthy scholar of 
 the well-known Marguerite de Valois, and was 
 as indifferent to outward forms as the latter. 
 At first, the duke did not notice how much 
 the seed of the Gospel was being dissemi- 
 nated in his neighborhood, or perhaps he did 
 not wish to notice it. An open rupture with 
 the Church of Rome was not to his interest. 
 Besides, he cared but little for religion. He 
 was too much given to unbelief to be con- 
 sidered a faithful member of the Romish 
 Church ; and he only sought to maintain 
 peace and friendship from political motives. 
 So long, therefore, as his wife fulfilled out- 
 wardly the demands of the Church, and so 
 long as the learned men in Ferrara attempted 
 no direct hostility against the Pope, he re- 
 mained quiet. He cared very little whether 
 these men were of the Catholic or Protestant 
 faith. He was conscious, however, that he 
 
Il6 REiVATA OF ESTE, 
 
 could not sustain a critical examination of 
 the thoughts of his heart, and that in other 
 respects Renata had to reproach him. Per- 
 haps this state of things would have contin- 
 ued for some time, if Renata had not been 
 driven from her accommodating position to 
 greater resoluteness. 
 
 In the Autumn of 1535, there appeared a 
 man at the court of Ferrara who knew well 
 what he wanted, and to whom the halting be- 
 tween two opinions was a crime. This was 
 John Calvin, the second founder of the Re- 
 formed Church, but the most important of 
 all. He had been obliged to flee from France 
 because of his religious views, and since he 
 had heard of the religious movement in Italy, 
 and of the Protestant sentiments of Renata, 
 he came to the conclusion to cross the Alps, 
 in order to*convince himself if matters actually 
 were as they had been represented to him. 
 He also wished to see if he could not do some- 
 thing to aid in the extension of the Gospel on 
 
HAPPY DAYS AT FERRARA. 1 1 7 
 
 Italian soil. If it were possible to overthrow 
 the dominion of the Pope there, the victory of 
 the Reformation would then be secure in all 
 the countries of Europe. He, therefore, started 
 joyfully on the way, and arrived at Ferrara 
 under the name of Charles d'Espeville. He 
 had concealed his true name because he feared 
 that, if it were known, so strong a prejudice 
 would be raised against him that he would not 
 be able to accomplish any thing. Nor did he 
 dare to conceal from himself the fact that he 
 would be subjected to the greatest danger of 
 being seized or put to death by the adherents 
 of the Pope. 
 
 .But, with his name, John Calvin had not laid 
 aside his nature. He had frequent conversa- 
 tions with Renata, and he did not neglect, on 
 these occasions, to represent earnestly to her, 
 her former irresolution, and to admonish her, 
 openly and without fear, to recognize the Gos- 
 pel, and entirely renounce any participation in 
 the Catholic worship. During his residence 
 
Il8 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 in Ferrara, the friends of the Reformation 
 assembled in a small chapel belonging to the 
 ducal palace, in order to pray in common, to 
 read the Bible, and to listen to the discourses 
 of the Reformer. His countrymen at the ducal 
 court, and the Duchess Renata herself, were 
 very attentive auditors. But Italians of both 
 sexes attended in great numbers. For some 
 time, the duke appeared to be ignorant of what 
 was going on ; and, indeed, did not know who 
 the stranger was who made such a commotion 
 in the little circle. Whenever he came in 
 contact with him, he was astonished at his 
 acute and profound mind. He recognized in 
 him only the man of science, not the zealous 
 Reformer. 
 
 But the influence of Calvin and the effect of 
 his preaching could not long remain concealed. 
 In place of the former uncertainty, there was 
 now great resolution. The Protestant Chris- 
 tians manifested their belief in word and deed. 
 The mask of Roman ecclesiasticism fell,. and 
 
HAPPY DAYS AT FERRARA, 1 1 g 
 
 disclosed the countenance and bearing of the 
 true believers of the Gospel. 
 
 The duke could remain passive no longer, 
 if he wished not to break with Rome. At 
 first he thought it would be enough to remove 
 the guest, who was manifestly the principal 
 cause of the growing revolution. Calvin, or 
 rather Charles d'Espeville, as he was always 
 called, was obliged to leave Ferrara, after a 
 residence of about six months. It must, how- 
 ever, ever remain undecided whether he, aware 
 of the threatening danger, departed voluntarily, 
 or whether he was formally banished. It was 
 reported that he was arrested in Ferrara, in 
 order to be conveyed to Bologna, but that on 
 the way he was overtaken by masked horse- 
 men, and freed, as Luther was on his return 
 from Worms. 
 
 But the removal of Calvin did not destroy 
 Ms influence. The seed sown by him could 
 rot be extirpated. Even when Clement Marot 
 was compelled to leave the city, many still 
 
120 REN ATA OF ESTE, 
 
 remained behind, who did not waver in the 
 faith, but, on the contrary, helped to strengthen 
 others. From that time to the end, Renata 
 preserved the strictest adherence to, and the 
 highest esteem for, Calvin. She was in fre- 
 quent correspondence with him, and was, 
 therefore, greatly comforted and encouraged. 
 Even at this time she did not, according to 
 external appearance, leave the Catholic Church. 
 In one respect, she was obliged to have regard 
 for her position, and avoid every thing which 
 could cause surprise; another cause of her 
 course was, that the impressions of her child- 
 hood and youth continued to exist and to 
 have their influence. She also believed that 
 she was able to set Protestant piety at work 
 in the midst of Catholic forms. Calvin had 
 always some fault to find with her, and some- 
 thing to improve. She still extended her pro- 
 tecting hand, where it was possible, toward 
 all French and Italians who had been obliged 
 to suffer persecution for the sake of their faith 
 
HAPPY DAYS AT FERRA RA, 1 2 1 
 
 Calvin, from a distance, continually kept a 
 watchful eye upon her, and came quickly to 
 the rescue whenever she was on the point of 
 yielding at the expense of Protestant truth. 
 We are much astonished when we consider 
 the candid expressions and the imperious de- 
 meanor of the Reformer toward the duchess. 
 The superiority of mind over the advantages 
 of external position is here strongly mani- 
 fested. Calvin felt himself called, no matter 
 how or when circumstances demanded it, to 
 devote much attention to a princess who was 
 exposed to temptations from every source. 
 
 A priest named Francois found admission 
 to Renata, and persuaded her and the court- 
 iers, that they could attend mass in the 
 Reformed manner, and in the same way cele- 
 brate the Lord's-supper. Calvin, therefore, 
 wrote a long letter to the duchess, in the year 
 1 541, from which we will make a few quota- 
 tions. '' Worthy lady," he wrote, '^ I beg most 
 humbly that you will not misjudge my bold- 
 
122 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 ness, inasmuch as I take the liberty to address 
 these lines to you ; for you must consider that, 
 if there is too much candor, it does not pro- 
 ceed from arrogance, but from a pure and 
 sincere desire to serve you. Since I have 
 confessed myself as an unprofitable servant of 
 the Church, it has appeared to me advisable 
 to render any service to you, according to the 
 grace which the Lord has given to me. I 
 have even thought that it was indispensable 
 on my part so to act, if I would perform the 
 duty which I feel that I owe you, and to care 
 for you spiritually as far as possible. When 
 I consider what a high and important place 
 the Lord has given you, it appears to me that 
 all who are called to serve the Lord must feel 
 compelled to offer you assistance, and all the 
 more so, because princely persons like yourself 
 are able to promote God*s kingdom greatly. 
 Besides, I have found in you such a fear of 
 God, and such a longing to serve Him, that, 
 apart from the elevation which God has given 
 
HAPPY DAYS AT FERRARA. 1 23 
 
 you among men, I regard God's manifestations 
 of grace toward you as abundant and signifi- 
 cant, so that I should hold myself accursed if 
 I allowed the opportunity of serving you to 
 pass by unimproved. And this I say without 
 flattery, but with a sincere heart." 
 
 Calvin then characterized the priest, whom 
 we have mentioned, in any thing but a favora- 
 ble manner, and gave the assurance that he 
 had heard of this offense, and had been im- 
 pelled to write this letter. The news had 
 been communicated to him by travelers, who 
 did not know that he would write to her. 
 He did not indulge the least hatred against 
 Fran9ois ; but, as he had noticed that he dis- 
 torted the Word of God, and extinguished the 
 light of truth in it, he could not overlook the 
 matter. Francois had ever been ambitious, 
 and labored for his own interests, and con- 
 ducted himself according to the men with 
 whom he came in contact ; he had even sol- 
 emnly boasted never to take part in the 
 
124 REN ATA OF ESTE, 
 
 mass, since it was an abominable action. He 
 preached the Gospel only to procure favor 
 and benefit, and proceeded on the principle of 
 displeasing no one who could ignore him. 
 
 Concerning the mass, Calvin said it was, 
 according to the doctrine of the Catholics, a 
 sacrifice for the redemption and salvation of 
 the living and the dead. It was a blasphemy 
 not to be endured, by which the suffering of 
 Christ lost its significance. If the death of 
 Christ was to be recognized as the single 
 sacrifice which was offered once for all, its 
 intrinsic worth was taken from it by the sac- 
 rifice of the mass. In the Bible the curse of 
 God is pronounced on those who should serve 
 strange gods and idols. According to the 
 prophet Ezekiel, the Lord would rather that 
 a man give himself entirely to the worship of 
 idols, than that he should hesitate between 
 His laws and human ordinations. We must 
 not vacillate between those things v/hich 
 God has required and forbidden, nor direct 
 
HAPPY DAYS AT FERRARA, 1 25 
 
 ourselves according to the judgment of the 
 world. We must especially avoid those things 
 whereby we may become a stone of stum- 
 bling and vexation to others. If we would 
 flee from all at which the world stumbles, 
 we must forsake the world. Christ also had 
 been a stone of stumbling and vexation to 
 many. 
 
 Renata was not angry at the bold language 
 of the man, who, under a rough exterior, con- 
 cealed a benevolent heart. She could not, in 
 all cases, immediately comply with all his de- 
 sires ; but his admonitions were never given 
 to her in vain. She ever became firmer and 
 more decided in her Protestant sentiments. 
 She only sought to avoid all unpleasant rela- 
 tions with her husband. It was her duty, 
 for the sake of her children, to do whatever 
 she could to preserve peace and unity in 
 her marriage relations. We, therefore, be- 
 lieve ourselves fully justified in considering 
 the duchess, at this time, an evangelical 
 
126 
 
 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 and Protestant Christian, which she was re- 
 garded as by her contemporaries, and loved 
 and praised, or blamed and persecuted, accord- 
 ingly. 
 
(^^^ 
 
 V. 
 
 DIVINE VISITATIONS. 
 
 a^HE reader may have anticipated, from 
 
 the conclusion of the last chapter, 
 that the delightful days at Ferrara 
 would soon come to an end, and that sorrows 
 and afflictions would take their place. The 
 ecclesiastical reaction was soon in full prog- 
 ress, and its path was marked by imprison- 
 ment and blood. During the reign of Paul 
 III (1534-49), or at least during the first part 
 of it, men of wavering disposition had re- 
 ceived influential ecclesiastical positions, and 
 had even been invested with the dignity of 
 cardinal. One of them, Contarini, was pres- 
 ent as Papal Legate at the Imperial Diet at 
 
 127 
 
128 RENATA OF ESTE, 
 
 Ratisbon, in the year 1541, so that it was 
 hoped that in some measure a satisfactory- 
 agreement would be arrived at. 
 
 But this was not the case. It soon became 
 clear that not a hair's-breadth of concession 
 could be expected from the Pope. Even the 
 little which Contarini had yielded did not 
 meet with his approval. The stricter party 
 became stronger and stronger, and they never 
 ceased to insinuate to the Pope that it was 
 just by those men of Protestant leanings 
 that the Reformation was nourished and the 
 enemies of the Papacy strengthened. The 
 approaching change soon showed itself. All 
 the more mildly disposed persons lost their 
 influence, and some inclined once more to 
 strict Catholicism. 
 
 In the year 1542, the Catholic zealots ob- 
 tained the introduction of the Inquisition for 
 the suppression of heresy on both sides of the 
 Alps. The inquisitors received the power to 
 examine every one at pleasure, without refer- 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS, 1 29 
 
 ence to position, honor, sex, or age, to throw 
 the suspected into prison, and to punish the 
 guilty with the confiscation of their property, 
 or even with death. 
 
 From the year 1534, no book was allowed to 
 be printed without permission of the Inquisi- 
 tion. Moreover, all heretical writings, which 
 were carefully searched for, were seized and 
 burned. Some books, as the one already 
 mentioned, on the "Benefits of Christ,'* were 
 destroyed almost to the last copy, so that, 
 for a long time, they were considered as lost. 
 The successor of Pope Paul III, Pope Julius 
 III, who reigned from 1550 to 1555, led an 
 idle and sensual life, and chiefly occupied him- 
 self in the arrangement and beautifying of a 
 garden. The enemies of the Reformation 
 were able to act with less control, and they 
 left nothing undone which they thought could 
 finally bring about the total annihilation of 
 the Reformation. 
 
 In the year 1555, when Cardinal Giovanni 
 9 
 
130 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 CarafFa, at the age of seventy-nine, ascended 
 the Papal Chair as Pope Paul IV, affairs were 
 conducted in a still worse manner than be- 
 fore. His great aim was to destroy the last 
 trace of Protestantism, particularly in Italy, 
 and to restore the Papacy to its former power 
 and magnificence. He boasted that, during 
 his entire reign, he allowed no day to pass 
 without issuing some decree tending to the 
 restoration of the Church to its former purity. 
 At his command, whole heaps of Protestant 
 books were burned. Neither private nor pub- 
 lic libraries escaped such violence. The con- 
 ducting of the Tribunal of the Inquisition, for 
 whose foundation he had labored when car- 
 dinal, was his favorite occupation. He ex- 
 tended its authority, and imparted to it the 
 right of using the rack for the discovery of 
 accomplices, and even to interfere with the 
 noblest and most distinguished people. 
 
 All endeavors to suppress the Protestant 
 movement would have failed to have the 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS, I31 
 
 desired result if there had been men among 
 the Italian princes such as the Elector of 
 Saxony or the Landgrave Philip of Hesse. 
 There were, however, no such noble men, for 
 the small Italian princes had not the courage 
 to differ with the Pope, on whom they were 
 more or less dependent. There were also 
 many lukewarm and indifferent Protestant 
 Christians, who did not wish matters to come 
 to a decided issue. They were those who 
 received the new views in ^ general sense, 
 but still did not accept the principles of the 
 Reformation with decision and consistency. 
 These people did not wish for a schism in 
 the Church, and still less believed themselves 
 called to a martyr's death. Many embraced 
 the principles which a scholar, to whom we 
 have been introduced at Ferrara, Celio Cal- 
 cagnini, had expressed: "It was dangerous to 
 give expression to such things before the mul- 
 titude or in open conversation." 
 
 Besides, there were, among those who had 
 
132 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 thrown off the fetters of the Papacy, some 
 prominent and influential persons, who had 
 been misled, by their acute understanding, to 
 deny such doctrines as were then considered 
 to be incontestable fundamental doctrines 
 of Christianity; for instance, the Divinity of 
 Christ. Even Bernardino Ochino, the two 
 Lilios, and Faustus Socinius, whom we have 
 mentioned before, the founder of the so-called 
 Socinians, belonged to the opponents of the 
 doctrine of the Trinity. It was then said, 
 "When once the authority of the Church is 
 denied, see how every thing is disarranged!" 
 How many hearts which had been inclined 
 to the Reformation were again alienated ! And 
 the friends of Protestantism in Italy failed all 
 the more to make a firm stand, because they 
 had no common confession about which they 
 could rally as around a common flag. The 
 strifes concerning the Lord's-supper also pro- 
 voked hostile divisions among them, espe- 
 cially in Venice; and all this contributed 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS, 133 
 
 toward facilitating the opposition of the Pope. 
 Hundreds, we can say thousands, lost their 
 freedom and life by this means ; and a still 
 greater number were obliged to forsake hearth 
 and home and seek refuge in foreign lands, 
 especially in Germany and Switzerland. 
 
 But there were not wanting instances of 
 firm adherence to faith among the Reformers 
 of Italy. Cardinal Morone, when Bishop of 
 Modena, had sought, with great earnestness, 
 to distribute the book of Paleario on '^The 
 Benefits of Christ." He w^as taxed with hav- 
 ing embraced the doctrine of justification by 
 faith, and with placing and maintaining his 
 trust in the blood of Christ alone, which 
 amounted to denying the worship of the 
 saints. He was compelled to languish in 
 prison, for such evangelical principles, until 
 the death of Paul IV. 
 
 In Venice, Baldassare Altieri had been one 
 of the most enthusiastic partisans of the Ref- 
 ormation. When the reaction began to gain 
 
134 REN ATA OF ESTE, 
 
 ground in that place, he hastened to Zurich, 
 and to other towns of Switzerland, in order to 
 obtain letters of introduction to the Council 
 of his native city. He received them, but 
 was deceived in his hope of their efficacy, 
 being obliged to leave the Venetian territory. 
 In Bergamo, he again met with his wife and 
 children, and thought that he would find shel- 
 ter and safety with Renata. She, however, 
 could no longer stretch forth her protecting 
 hand over her companions in faith, as she had 
 done formerly. Altieri was obliged to go still 
 farther. At Florence and other places he 
 was also dismissed. At length he concealed 
 himself in a little town in the territory of 
 Brescia, but was still active for the cause of 
 the Gospel. He returned again to Venice, for 
 the purpose of taking away what little prop- 
 erty he had there. In October, 1550, death 
 released him from all future sufferings. 
 
 Pietro Carnesechi, of Florence, thought, 
 when he was persecuted by the Inquisition, 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS, 1 35 
 
 that he would be able to live unmolested at 
 the court of the friendly Duke Cosmo de 
 Medici ; but he was as unsuccessful as Altieri. 
 The duke, on the receipt of a Papal letter, 
 had him seized at his table and sent in chains 
 to Rome. Here it was thought that he could 
 be moved to recant; but he could not be in- 
 duced to do so, either by threats or torture. 
 He was therefore executed and burned. 
 
 In Calabria there were two communities of 
 Waldenses, at Santa Visto and at La Guardia, 
 who, by their diligence and moral conduct, 
 had won the love and esteem of all around 
 them, particularly of their landlords. How 
 they were treated in the year 1560, an eye- 
 witness, and even a Catholic, reported as fol- 
 lows: "Having communicated to you, from 
 time to time, what has happened here on 
 occasions of heresy, I have now to tell you 
 what fearful judgments have been visited on 
 the Lutherans in our neighborhood. To tell 
 the truth, I can only compare it to the 
 
136 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 slaughtering of sheep. They were all cooped 
 up in a house, as in a sheep-fold. The execu- 
 tioner brought them out, one after another, 
 led them to an open place, bade them kneel 
 down, and then severed their heads from 
 their bodies. In this manner eighty-eight 
 were murdered. I can scarcely refrain from 
 tears as I write this. No man who had 
 looked on the execution of one could be 
 present at that of a second. To-day another 
 command has appeared, according to which 
 one hundred and sixty grown persons are to 
 be executed. The number of heretics impris- 
 oned in Calabria are six hundred. I did not 
 know that they had behaved themselves im- 
 properly; for they are a simple and well- 
 instructed people,- who occupy themselves 
 altogether with the spade and the plow.** 
 
 In other places, the most inhuman cruelties 
 were inflicted on the unfortunate ones. A 
 certain Bernardino Conte, of Cosenza, was 
 smeared with pitch, and then burned before 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS, 1 37 
 
 the eyes of the people. Another, named Mor- 
 zone, was stripped of his clothing, scourged 
 with rods, and then beaten to death with 
 burning torches. One of his sons, who had 
 resisted all attempts to make him recant, was 
 led up to a high tower, and commanded to 
 embrace a crucifix if he did not wish to be 
 cast down. He refused, and the threat was 
 carried out. After indescribable dangers and 
 sufferings, were some enabled to escape to 
 foreign lands. How Renata's heart must 
 have bled to hear of such cruelties, and yet 
 to be unable to prevent them ! She could 
 only assist a few fugitives in escaping from 
 their persecutors. 
 
 Her position had become a lamentable one, 
 and these changes for the worse had com- 
 menced with the departure 6f Calvin. Renata 
 was soon after obliged to send away her secre- 
 tary, Clement Marot, who had pleased her 
 very much on account of his beautiful hand- 
 writing. Another Frenchman, Lion Jamez, 
 
138 RE NAT A OF ESTE, 
 
 who seemed less suspicious, took his place. 
 But this man, as well as the remaining French, 
 were obliged to yield, partly on political and 
 partly on religious grounds. Hercules had 
 separated himself from the French party, and 
 would therefore no longer endure any of these 
 people in his court. It was not known to him 
 that the countrymen of his wife were firm 
 adherents to the Protestant doctrines, and for 
 that reason Renata was confirmed in her re- 
 gard for them. The much tried wife found it 
 the hardest to part with her old governess, 
 Madame de Soubise, and to find herself -sur- 
 rounded by servants in whom she had no 
 confidence. 
 
 In the year 1539, she expressed the wish to 
 her brother-in-law, through the Constable de 
 Montmorency, that he would intercede for her, 
 so that she might receive better treatment; but 
 this appeal was seemingly unnoticed. Matters 
 continued in this way for some time, until 
 religious persecution commenced in a more 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS. 1 39 
 
 extended manner in Ferrara. The few days 
 which the Pope spent in Belvidere and Ferrara 
 contributed, apparently, to stimulate the fanat- 
 icism of the duke, and to procure full validity 
 for the Papal decrees. Nor did other persons 
 fail to represent to the duke what a disgrace 
 heresy was to the house of Este, which had so 
 long been famous for its adherence to the 
 Papal Chair, and what a dangerous example the 
 mother was setting before her children and 
 the whole court ; how the respect of the house 
 was lost among other Catholic powers ; and 
 how effectually the Pope could manifest his 
 displeasure. 
 
 In 1545, the Inquisition was commenced in 
 Ferrara. The Pope directed an earnest and' 
 urgent letter to the inhabitants of the city, in 
 which he charged them, under heavy penalties, 
 to watch all persons in the most critical man- 
 ner, no matter what their rank or station, 
 whose religious sentiments were suspected, 
 and to examine whether any such reasons 
 
I40 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 were founded on truth. They should not 
 hesitate to use torture until every thing was 
 discovered. They should then send their re- 
 ports to Rome, that judgment might be pro- 
 nounced. Spies' went about Ferrara, as well 
 as over the whole of Italy, insinuating them- 
 selves, under cover of love and friendship, 
 nto the favor of those who were suspected, 
 and enticing them into expressions which 
 could be used against them as reasons for 
 persecution. As the duke was anxious to 
 clear himself from the suspicion that he was 
 in sympathy with his wife, and, like her, af- 
 forded protection to Protestants, the prisons 
 w^ere filled. 
 
 Whoever wished to save himself, hastened 
 away. Others were driven away by official 
 command ; but many were obliged to suffer 
 martyrdom ; so that, after a short time, the city 
 and its neighborhood were, in the main, puri- 
 fied from heresy. No matter what merit any 
 any one had acquired in earlier days in the 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS. 141 
 
 ducal family, it did not protect him if he were 
 now suspected of Protestantism. The brothers 
 Sinapi, too, were obliged to leave the city, 
 although, as the former teachers of the princes 
 and princess, the duke should have shown 
 them more leniency. Among those who sealed 
 their jiove of the Gospel with death, was Fan- 
 nio Faventino, who belonged to Faenza, in 
 the Papal states. When he became convinced 
 of the truth of the Protestant doctrines by 
 reading the Scriptures, he felt compelled to 
 enlighten others, in order to lead them back 
 from their heterodoxy. He was cast into 
 prison, and compelled to recant. 
 
 When by this weakness he had again re- 
 ceived his liberty, he was all the more zealous 
 in the confession of his faith, in order to make 
 amends for his past offense. He preached 
 from place to place in the Romagna. The 
 consequence was, that he was again seized 
 and placed in safe-keeping. This time he was 
 steadfast. His wife and sister visited him in 
 
142 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 prison, and besought him, for their sakes, again 
 to recant. He answered: **It ought to be 
 enough for you that I have once denied my 
 Savior for your sake. Had I then known 
 what I have experienced by my fall, through 
 the grace of God I should not have yielded to 
 your wish. Go home in peace !" Even in his 
 imprisonment he took measures to strengthen 
 others in their faith. 
 
 Olympia Morata and the Princess Lavinia 
 visited him in prison, in order to profit from 
 his conversation and his example. The influ- 
 ence of his piety and of his impressive words 
 was lasting on his fellow-prisoners, so that 
 those who^ were afterward set free openly 
 acknowledged that they had not known what 
 freedom and happiness were until, through 
 Fannio, they found it within the walls of the 
 prison. He was, therefore, placed in solitary 
 confinement. Here he wrote Christian es- 
 says for the instruction and edification of his 
 friends. So much was the influence of his 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS, 143 
 
 conversation on those who came in contact 
 with him feared, that his jailors were fre- 
 quently changed. It was some time during 
 the year 1550 that he was first strangled, and 
 then burned, on account of his being a dan- 
 gerous heretic. 
 
 Renata was obliged to witness all these out- 
 breaks of fanaticism quietly, and be consoled 
 with the thought that she was still left un- 
 molested. She was, however, constantly re- 
 strained more and more. Her husband was 
 afraid to put her, the daughter of a king of 
 France, under greater restraint than that of 
 isolation and restriction. 
 
 Almost forsaken in her princely apartments, 
 she was obliged to close her troubled heart, 
 and could only seek comfort and tranquillity 
 among the few faithful ones left hen Among 
 these was the daughter of Madame de Sou- 
 bise and Madame de Pons. She read will- 
 ingly and frequently in the Scriptures, and 
 could truly say, ''Unless thy law had been 
 
144 RENATA OF ESTE, 
 
 my delight, I should then have perished in 
 mine affliction." 
 
 Even the marriage of her daughter Anna 
 was, in many respects, an event of little pleas- 
 ure to her. It was thought that this was her 
 favorite daughter, and was best qualified to 
 give her mother comfort and advice. Anna 
 was joined in matrimony, in 1548, to Duke 
 Francis of Lorraine, who, under the name of 
 Francis de Guise, had acquired an unfortunate 
 celebrity as the principal persecutor of the 
 Protestants in France. From history we can 
 not learn whether Renata was perfectly satis- 
 fied with this union or not. If she were not 
 at first, she must have been brought to con- 
 sent to it in the hope that some amelioration 
 of the oppression which the Protestants suf- 
 fered might be the result; for it was the 
 universal opinion that Anna was inclined to 
 the Reformation. But whether this was so or 
 not, she could neither promote nor hinder the 
 marriage, as sTie had lost all influence with 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS. 145 
 
 the duke. One thing was very evident, how- 
 ever, that her sad condition was mcreased by 
 the pain of Separation. 
 
 It can be said, with truth, that all who had 
 been associated with Anna in any way were 
 thrown into deep grief by her departure. She 
 was universally beloved because of her vir- 
 tues, but especially because of her affability 
 and sweet disposition. 
 
 Soon after the marriage, Olympia Morata, 
 
 the faithful friend of Anna, was obliged to 
 
 leave the court. Even before the departure 
 
 of the princess, she had been called to the 
 
 sick-bed of her father, and by her care of him 
 
 had given proof that she had neither forgotten, 
 
 in the midst of her scientific occupations, hov/ 
 
 to attend to domestic matters, or to cherish 
 
 the most ardent filial affection. Yet all her 
 
 devoted and self-sacrificing care was not able 
 
 to save the life of her father. He died in 
 
 the faith in which he had lived, full of joyous 
 
 peace. 
 
 10 
 
146 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 Olympia did not return again to her former 
 position. She had lost her former favor with 
 the duke by means of a Carmehte monk, Hie- 
 ronymus Bolsec, from Paris. He had gone 
 to Ferrara, in order to find a place of 
 refuge. Renata received him with good-will, 
 as one of her banished people, and appointed 
 him her almoner. In doing so, she placed a 
 viper in her house. Bolsec sought, above all, 
 to destroy Olympiads influence, apparently be- 
 cause of her Protestant opinions. He caused 
 her to be suspected by the duchess, and still 
 more by the duke. Olympia was resolved to 
 defend herself from the accusations brought 
 against her; she stood alone before her ene- 
 mies and foes. Her friend Anna had already 
 been absent from the city for some time, and 
 could no longer say a word in her defense. 
 The duchess was silent — we believe less be- 
 cause she had any mistrust than because she 
 dared not venture any step in opposition to 
 the duke. 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS, 147 
 
 Olympia remained as one banished by her 
 family. She thus expresses her pain in a let- 
 ter written afterward : '* After the death of my 
 father, I stood alone, betrayed and forsaken 
 by those who should have supported me. I 
 was exposed to the most unjust maltreatment 
 in return for my faithfulness and affection ; but 
 my sisters took my part. You may think 
 how great was my pain, when of all those 
 who called themselves our friends, none ven- 
 tured to show us any sympathy. It was 
 almost as we had been thrust into the lower 
 regions, from which there was no escape." 
 
 Renata's silence and inattention in the mat- 
 ter had given others cause for suspicion. We 
 can not think that, in this case, she proved 
 herself untrue, and had forgotten how near 
 Olympia, a short time before, had stood to 
 her and her daughter. The character of this 
 noble princess, which afterward showed its bet- 
 ter features, contradicts this supposition. Her 
 firm courage and steadfast resolution seemed, 
 
148 REN ATA OF ESTE, 
 
 indeed, to fail her; but her loving heart re- 
 mained with her until the latest moment of 
 her life. 
 
 In August, 1554, Calvin wrote a letter to 
 the duchess, which shows us in what disquiet 
 he lived in relation to her constancy. He 
 sent her a curate, Francis de Morel, Lord of 
 Colanges, and expressed his regret that he was 
 so restrained that he could not come himself 
 to comfort and strengthen her. He said, 
 further, that he should consider that he had 
 deeply sinned if he did not support her in 
 this time of need. Colanges proved to be 
 the right man for her. He was a nobleman 
 of an illustrious house, but without pride or 
 vanity, humble and modest, as the children of 
 God should always be. This man had long 
 had an earnest desire to serve her in the Lord 
 and to participate in her sorrows. She bade 
 him welcome as a messenger of God, and she 
 learned later that God had certainly sent him 
 for her salvation. 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS. 1 49 
 
 Calvin, at the same time, informed the duch- 
 ess that an honorable Christian woman was 
 ready to enter her service, in order to have 
 control over her other attendants. She was 
 not of a great name, and for that reason would 
 be less likely to be an object of suspicion. 
 Her previous conduct had been of such a 
 character that the home of Renata could not 
 fail in being blessed by her services. 
 
 Renata was in need, at this time, of con- 
 stant support, for the trials to which she was 
 subjected threatened to be too heavy for her. 
 Until now she had resisted all demands for 
 her participation in the mass or in the Cath- 
 olic confession ; but it was a question whether 
 she could withstand successfully the renewed 
 contest. 
 
 Her nephev/, Henry H of France, deter- 
 mined to give his assistance toward the con- 
 version of his aunt. He, therefore, sent the 
 Inquisitpr Du Oris, with an autographic let- 
 ter to the Duchess of Ferrara, in which he 
 
150 REN ATA OF ESTE, 
 
 expressed his pain that his dear relative had 
 become involved in such a labyrinth of un- 
 holy errors. She should, while there was 
 yet time, think of the salvation of her soul, 
 and return penitently to the bosom of the 
 Chiu'ch. Du Oris had such peculiar written 
 instructions in his pocket that we can not 
 forbear gi\'ing them. " He shall first," it is 
 written, " instruct himself precisely as to what 
 degree of heresy the duchess has reached. 
 Then he shall demand a conference with her, 
 and express to her the great pain which His 
 Most Christian Majesty, the King of France, 
 felt on hearing the news that his beloved aunt 
 had fallen into the participation of damnable 
 and godless errors. If she can not be turned 
 from her heresy by gentle means, by friendly 
 remonstrances, it shall be brought about, with 
 the help of the duke, by force. Du Oris 
 shall preach to her, especially concerning 
 those parts of the Bible by which she has 
 allowed herself to be misled. She must be 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS, 151 
 
 compelled to be present, together with her 
 household, at these discourses, no matter what 
 her objections may be. If, however, these 
 proceedings are without success, then he 
 shall beseech the duke in the name of His 
 Majest}^, to isolate her from all society and 
 intercourse with mankind, in order that she 
 can not affect others with her sentiments. 
 Above all, her children should be taken away 
 from her, and none of her people who have 
 been suspected of heresy allowed to go near 
 her. Lastly, he should bring the latter to 
 trial, and punish those who were found 
 guilty. The punishment of the duchess her- 
 self should be left to her husband, in order 
 that it might be regulated, as far as justice 
 would allow, without public outrage to herself 
 or her relatives." 
 
 The inquisitor found greater resistance than 
 he had expected. The sorely tried Renata 
 resisted all the demands of her country- 
 man's fanatical persuasions. She was, there- 
 
152 REN A TA OF ESTE. 
 
 fore, formally declared to be a heretic. They 
 brought upon her maternal heart the inde- 
 scribable pain of seeing all her children 
 removed from her. She, at the command of 
 her husband, who was authorized by the King 
 of France to act thus, was conveyed, on the 
 7th of September, 1554, to the old Castle of 
 Este, by Bishop Rosetti and the Chevalier 
 Ruggieri, where she was held in close custody. 
 Only two waiting-women and her steward 
 were allowed admittance to her. Her daugh- 
 ters Leonore and Lucretia were placed in a 
 convent. The duke made the most bitter 
 complaints concerning her conduct, declaring 
 that she had ruined herself and the whole 
 family. Her position was wretched, as there 
 was no one near to comfort or advise with 
 her. She did not feel strong enough to per- 
 severe, solitary and forsaken, in the contest 
 which she had to sustain, especially as those 
 around her were continually pointing out to 
 her that, by a little submission, she could 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS, 153 
 
 return to the bosom of her family. She 
 thought much of the instructress of her 
 youth, Marguerite of Valois, whom she so 
 highly honored, and how she had submitted 
 to the outward ordinances of the Catholic 
 Church. She yielded, and Father Palletario 
 came to her, on the 23d of September, for 
 the purpose of receiving her confession, and 
 to administer to her the Lord's-supper in the 
 Catholic form. She repeated both on the ist 
 of November, and received, in consequence, 
 permission to return to the ducal palace. 
 Universal exultation prevailed among the 
 CathoHcs in consequence of this victory. If 
 such a gifted and virtuous woman, in high 
 position, submitted to the persecutions car- 
 ried on against her, how could it fail to have 
 the further success of almost fully suppressing 
 Protestantism.? The news of Renata's fall 
 depressed the Protestant Christians far and 
 near. Whom, however, did the new^s affect 
 the most.'* 
 
154 RENATA OF ESTE, 
 
 In February, 1555 — we may think how long 
 it then took news to spread — Calvin, the true 
 curate, wrote to the duchess : " Worthy lady, — 
 As, since the time when it pleased God to try 
 your faith, I have not received any news from 
 you except through general rumor, I do not 
 know what I ought to write to you. I could 
 not, however, let the opportunity which the 
 bearer offered me go unimproved. You have 
 deviated from the true path for the sake of 
 the world. The enemy triumphed. We must 
 sigh and droop our heads. Moreover, worthy 
 lady, since our God is ever ready to take us 
 into favor, and to extend his hand toward us 
 when we have fallen, in order that the fall 
 may not prove our death, I pray you to take 
 new courage; and, if the enemy has for a 
 moment profited by your weakness, and thus 
 won some advantage over you, do not let him 
 gain the eternal victory; but let him feel that 
 those whom God hath comforted are doubly 
 strengthened by him, so they are enabled to 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS. 1 55 
 
 sustain every contest. If you will consider 
 that God, while he humbles, his own, will not 
 forever confound them, this will instill hope 
 into your heart, so that your courage will be 
 increased. I well know that the same storms 
 which have caused you to fall are still contin- 
 ually prepared for you. I pray you, therefore, 
 to think how much you are indebted to Him 
 who has bought you so dearly, and who in- 
 vites you daily to the heavenly inheritance. 
 He is not a master in whose service we con- 
 ceal any thing, particularly when we consider 
 the end of all for which we endure sorrow 
 and shame in his service. . . . Worthy 
 lady, I pray you, in the name of God, not 
 only to surrender your person as a witness 
 of the Gospel, but recommend you and your 
 sympathizers in your household to silence all 
 calumniators in that way." 
 
 The exhortations of Calvin do not appear to 
 have been in vain, although they did not pro- 
 duce the resoluteness which he had wished. 
 
156 RENATA OF ESTE, 
 
 In his next letter, on the lOth of June, 1555, 
 he says : 
 
 "Worthy lady,— Right well could I have 
 wished to receive better news from you ; 
 that is, that you had acquired true peace of 
 mind through the service of God. Neverthe- 
 less, I am much rejoiced to know that you do 
 not cease to cry to God, and that you are en- 
 deavoring to fulfill your sacred duty. That is 
 the way in which we must fight in order to 
 imitate the Son of God. It is indeed true 
 that we have not all to sustain a like battle ; 
 yet Satan will never allow us to serve God 
 without temptations. You experience this 
 more than many others ; but God has his 
 reasons for placing these afflictions upon you. 
 The position in which you find yourself is a 
 trial of your faith, in order that you may expe- 
 rience the more what a precious treasure the 
 Gospel is. Preserve, now, the same courage 
 for the future, and, no matter how long your 
 trials may endure, expect a good result from 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS. 157 
 
 your labors ; for it is certain that God will at 
 last hear your sighs and prayers ; and he will 
 offer you his hand if you do not become weary 
 in the attempt. Be troubled only because it 
 is not permitted you to use all that you pos- 
 sess to the glorifying of his name. Such 
 anxiety as yours is a hundred times more 
 desirable than the quiet hours which those 
 have who are contented with mere charity in 
 his service without any thing farther. 
 
 *' You must not be satisfied simply with 
 striving. You must, rather, have regard for 
 every favorable opportunity which God gives 
 you, with the strictest attention, in order to 
 make continual progress. Do not be weary 
 of bringing into use, day by day, every means 
 which can indicate to you the right way. . No 
 matter how far you are yet from the goal, it 
 will not be in vain that you strive after it. 
 The result of our course is sure, if we contin- 
 ually follow the appointed path. This, indeed, 
 must give us strength to overcome all tempta- 
 
158 REN ATA OF ESTE, 
 
 tions. If the children of the world venture 
 on undertakings in a hope which too often 
 deceives them, how different should it be with 
 us, when we have the promise of God that we 
 can be certain of our salvation! I do not 
 write this to lull you into a feeling of security, 
 but that you may ever be sorrowful concerning 
 the oppressive slavery into which you are 
 brought ; for a sense of our bondage is one 
 means by which w^e can become freed from it. 
 On the other hand, he who is pleased with his 
 evil doings, closes the door against God, who 
 withdraws his mercy. Worthy lady, I will, 
 for my part, ever pray to God to take you 
 under his protection, ever increase your knowl- 
 edge, and strengthen your zeal to sen^e him 
 for evermore." 
 
 After the duchess was restored to liberty, 
 she lived quite aloof from the court. She was 
 obliged to look on quietly and see the many 
 persecutions to which her attendants were 
 exposed. It was not possible for her to take 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS, 159 
 
 any successful step in their favor, to afford 
 them any essential help. She came very little 
 in contact with her husband or her children ; 
 and if a stranger wished to visit her, it was 
 only with hesitation that the request was per- 
 mitted to her or the princesses. From time 
 to time she received a consolatory or admon- 
 itory letter from Calvin, who always sub- 
 scribed himself with the pseudonym, Charles 
 d'Espeville. In almost every line of his let- 
 ters he expressed his anxiety that the duchess 
 was not strong enough to remain faithful to 
 the Protestant doctrines in the midst of the 
 severe trials which she had to sustain. Cal- 
 vin found, however, no further reason to re- 
 proach Renata for her fickleness or for with- 
 drawing her attachment from the Reformation. 
 
 On this point, a letter of the 20th of June, 
 1558, is worthy of notice. We read in it: 
 
 "Worthy lady, — I feel compelled to thank 
 the Lord that the man whom I sent you for 
 your service has acquitted himself nobly, and 
 
l60 REN ATA OF ESTE, 
 
 that you are satisfied with him. I hope that 
 his labors will contribute toward conducting you 
 farther on the way of salvation. Since, how- 
 ever, it is not possible for him to stand any 
 longer by your side, I pray you most earnestly 
 to let yourself be instructed daily in the school 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know that 
 this is necessary, especially since the devil has 
 brought upon you so many sorrows, and has 
 tried to lead you away from the right path. 
 Since you must resist all the wiles which this 
 enemy of salvation places in your path, you 
 must, at the same time, remember that God 
 has used these means in order to try your 
 faith. If you have doubting moments, take 
 refuge in Him who has promised that all who 
 trust in him shall be as a tree which has living 
 roots, which are never dry, no matter what 
 heat it may have to endure ; for it is certain 
 that God v/ill never suffer us to be tempted 
 beyond our strength ; and if he allows Satan 
 to have dominion for a time, he will also 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS, l6l 
 
 increase our strength that we may be enabled 
 to overcome all difficulties. It is good and 
 even useful to know our weaknesses ; not to 
 become careless on account of them, however, 
 but in order to seek more diligently the right 
 means of salvation. 
 
 " Therefore, worthy lady, while you believe 
 that the enemy, notwithstanding all his en- 
 deavors, can do nothing without God's per- 
 mission, do not become weary of fighting 
 against all temptations ; and when weapons 
 are necessary to you, take refuge in the Lord, 
 who is strong enough to strengthen you. Ex- 
 ercise yourself in godly admonitions, and, as I 
 have already said, do not despise the necessity 
 of having about you. a person who daily en- 
 courages you to good deeds. You have already 
 experienced how necessary this means of grace 
 has become. 
 
 **If you commission me to seek you some 
 
 one who would be suitable, I would do my 
 
 best to fulfill your wish. Only take courage, 
 
 II 
 
1 62 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 and do not give Satan the advantage of taking 
 you unprepared. 
 
 "I have also heard that you are not without 
 thorns in your house. This misfortune must 
 be subdued with the others ; and however 
 much danger there is that those who will not 
 accommodate themselves to your regulations, 
 but remain stubborn, will revenge themselves 
 by calumny and suspicion when they are dis- 
 charged, still, it is better to undergo this dan- 
 ger at one blow than to languish continually 
 under it. The principal thing is for you to 
 ask God to purify your heart, as he commands, 
 and as you find the example of David in the 
 one hundred and first Psalm. If you present 
 your soul pure and adorned before so good a 
 King, you may be assured that he will be the 
 protector of it. It matters not how much we 
 exert ourselves, we shall always have imperfec- 
 tions, and for that reason it becomes you all 
 the more to be strong, in order to come at 
 least half-way to. the end. And we have this 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS. 163 
 
 privilege: if we strive to reach the end, God 
 accepts the will for the deed." 
 
 Other cares pressed on the heart of the 
 much tried sufferer. The money which was 
 due her from France did not arrive regularly, 
 or was sometimes intentionally withheld. In 
 the year 1557, Renata thanked the Constable 
 de Montmorency for having received, through 
 him, her annuity for two years. From another 
 letter, to her attorney at Paris, in the year 
 1558, we perceive that she claimed, in part, 
 the annuities of four years. In the mean 
 time she may have been subject to embarrass- 
 ment and want. 
 
 A perfect reconciliation with her husband 
 never took place ; but we need not be surprised 
 at this state of things, since the manner of 
 the duke's life was ill calculated to win back 
 the affection of his wife. He presented, how- 
 ever, the beautiful Castle of Belriguardo to 
 her, a year before his death, on the condition 
 that she should live and die a good Catholic. 
 
1 64 REN ATA OF ESTE, 
 
 She refused with scorn this reward of Judas, 
 as her later life proves. 
 
 Another sorrow constantly gnawed at her 
 heart. Her eldest son, Alphonso, had, for sev- 
 eral years, been on bad terms with his father. 
 In May, 155 1, he left his father's castle, and 
 even Italy, and went to France. The sup- 
 posed cause of their trouble was, that Al- 
 phonso could not agree with his father in 
 breaking off friendly relations with the French 
 and joining the opposite party. In 1557, the 
 Duke of Guise came to Italy with an army, 
 for the purpose of compelling Ferrara to join 
 the alliance between France and the Pope. 
 Alphonso then returned home, and an appar- 
 ent reconciliation took place between the 
 father and the son. Their hearts' remained 
 estranged, however, and Alphonso went once 
 more to France. 
 
 The duke was now approaching his end. 
 His constitution, once so strong, had become 
 weakened in consequence of his excesses. 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS. 1 6$ 
 
 Renata forgot the past, as far as it were pos- 
 sible, and affectionately watched by the bed- 
 side of her. husband. Here, however, her 
 weak and yielding heart once more partly led 
 her astray, which afterward wrung from her 
 many a tear of penitence. Her husband en- 
 deavored to draw from her the promise .that 
 she would break off all immediate relations, 
 and, therefore, all correspondence, with Calvin. 
 She did not think at the moment of the full 
 extent of this promise, and actually consented 
 to it. The duke died on the 3d of October, 
 1559, and Renata assumed the government 
 of affairs in the name of her absent son. 
 Was the sky now to be clear for the rest of 
 her life.^ Had the storm passed away, and 
 the black clouds utterly vanished } Perhaps 
 Renata thought so. But a calm consideration 
 of her circumstances and a glance at the state 
 of Italy shortly deprived her of this gleam of 
 sunshine. She considered it best to go to 
 France the following year, and there reside. 
 
1 66 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 Calvin was not acquainted with this inten- 
 tion. He wrote to her on the 5 th of July, 
 1560. In the introduction of his letter he 
 complained that he had received no reliable 
 news from her, and that he was not willing to 
 rely fully upon the information which he re- 
 ceive^d from messengers, fearing their object 
 might be to deceive him, in order to entrap 
 him into expressions which would prove disad- 
 vantageous to her. He then continued : 
 
 " You have done a great wrong, and offended 
 God by your promise. You are, therefore, 
 not bound to hold it, no more than you are 
 bound to hold the vow of superstition. You 
 know that Herod has acquired no praise be- 
 cause he fulfilled his too hasty oath, but that 
 this will be accounted to him as double con- 
 demnation. I do not say this in order to 
 compel you to write to me, but in order that 
 you may have no conscientious scruples about 
 a matter in which God has allowed you free- 
 dom. As to the thing itself which you wish 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS. 1 6/ 
 
 to undertake, I can not conceal from you, no 
 matter how severe and oppressive the impris- 
 onment in which you have been held, that it 
 does not appear to me any great advantage if 
 one flee from one pit to fall into another, for 
 I do not see how this change could improve 
 your position. The Government into which 
 certain persons would like to see you drawn, 
 is at the present time in such a state of con- 
 fusion that all the world rises against it. I 
 believe if you were allowed to take a real 
 part in it, and people would listen to you, 
 matters would take a better course. But that 
 is not what they have in view. . . . They 
 only make use of your name in order to in- 
 crease the misery which is already intolerable ; 
 and if you cast yourself at this time into this 
 net, you will certainly be tempting God. 
 
 *' I wish you much happiness, worthy lady — 
 as much as it is possible for me to wish 
 you ; but if the grandeur and elevation of 
 this world prevent you from drawing near to 
 
1 68 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 God, I should be a deceiver if I tried to 
 make you believe that white were black. If 
 you were more firm in holding yourself inde- 
 pendent, and were of a still greater steadfast- 
 ness of mind, I would pray to God that he 
 would place you higher than men are dis- 
 posed to place you. But if you will say 
 'Amen* to all that is worthy of Divine and 
 human condemnation, you might well fear lest 
 you fall from one misfortune into a deeper 
 one. I will not advise you to remain in the 
 bondage in which you now are, or that you 
 slumber in it. 
 
 "The reason for my appeal is, that you 
 might place yourself in a position where you 
 can serve God with a full consciousness of 
 his cause, and go straight to the end, and not 
 become entangled in nets from which you 
 would hardly be able to free yourself. What- 
 ever the result be, you have now languished 
 at least long enough, and if you do not soon 
 have compassion on yourself, it is to be feared 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS. 169 
 
 that it will be too late for you to seek a means 
 of salvation. God has for a long time in- 
 structed you by his Word, and age now re- 
 minds you to consider that our inheritance 
 and eternal rest are not to be found on earth, 
 and that Jesus Christ is well worthy of our 
 forgetting both France and Ferrara for his 
 sake. Widowhood has now given you free- 
 dom to devote yourself entirely to the Lord. 
 O, that I could only place before you the 
 matter as it really stands, and not only once, 
 but day by day. But I must leave you to 
 meditate wisely on the matters concerning 
 which I have written." 
 
 Renata would not allow herself to be turned 
 aside from carrying out her plans. All Fer- 
 rara mourned her departure; especially the 
 poor knew what they lost in a princess, who, 
 even in sorrow, did not weary of doing as 
 much good as she could. 
 
 Before we accompany her to France, it is 
 necessary for us to answer a question which 
 
I/O REN ATA OF ESTE, 
 
 many readers may have asked themselves: 
 What has become of Olympia Morata ? Her 
 removal from the ducal court produced a total 
 change in her life, and one that was any thing 
 but pleasant. She was reduced from affluence 
 and superfluity to moderate circumstances — we 
 may say, to actual want. A delicate mother, 
 three sisters not yet of age, and a little brother, 
 claimed her affectionate labors. This tender 
 maiden, who had formerly devoted herself al- 
 most entirely to study, and had been waited on 
 by courtiers, managed her household affairs, 
 like the busy Martha, as if she had been ac- 
 customed to it from her youth. Besides this, 
 she educated her sisters and brother carefully 
 in the Protestant doctrines. 
 
 This change had a beneficial effect on the 
 salvation of her soul. Formerly, in her zeal 
 for scientific studies, she had lost sight of the 
 one thing needful. In regard to this subject, 
 she expressed herself in the following manner: 
 *' O, how much I needed trial ! I had no taste 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS. 1 71 
 
 for godly things. The perusal of the Old and 
 New Testaments only imbued me with repug- 
 nance. If I had remained longer at court, it 
 would have been the ruin of my eternal salva- 
 tion.*' She was almost totally alienated from 
 the ducal family. She remxained on intimate 
 terms only with the Princess Lavinia de Ro- 
 vero, who was married to Paolo Orsino. These 
 friends continued a correspondence until the 
 close of their life. 
 
 Olympia found still another friend in need. 
 This was a German, Andreas Grunthler, of 
 Schweinfurt-on-the-Main. He was well versed 
 in classical literature, and had acquired a no 
 less extended knowledge of medicine. He had 
 become acquainted with the Morata family 
 through the brothers Sinapi. How could he 
 see Olympia, who was one of the most beau- 
 tiful of her sex, to say nothing of her mental 
 charms, without loving her t The misfortunes 
 which had befallen the family was a still 
 stronger magnet, whose attractive power he 
 
172 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 could not withstand. The marriage of Andreas 
 Grunthler with Olympia was celebrated in 
 December of the year 1550. The future, how- 
 ever, of the newly wedded couple was envel- 
 oped in lowering clouds. Grunthler hoped to 
 get a position as Professor of Medicine in 
 Germany. He, therefore, returned to his native 
 • town, but could not send pleasing intelligence 
 of certain employment as soon as he wished. 
 Olympia became melancholy, and thus ex- 
 pressed herself in a letter to him : " I pass my 
 days in tears, and nowhere find any alleviation 
 of my pain, except in constant prayer to Him 
 from whom alone all help comes.'' Grunthler 
 had met with an honorable reception in Ger- 
 many, . especially in Augsburg, and had re- 
 ceived favorable promises for the future. The 
 state of politics, however, which was then so 
 disturbed and threatened only danger, pre- 
 vented his appointment. Nevertheless, he 
 brought his wife from Italy; and for a long 
 time they lived as welcome guests at Augs- 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS, 173 
 
 burg, in the house of the wealthy Fugger fam- 
 ily, and, later, in that of the Imperial Counselor 
 Hermann. After some time, Grunthler's serv- 
 ices as physician were required in his native 
 city ; for it was to receive a large garrison. In 
 October, 1551, he removed thither, and for some 
 time his stay was happy and full of promise. 
 
 He found there persons of similar opinions 
 to his own, who formed a close friendship with 
 his family, and who often convened for the 
 purpose of reading the Scriptures and various 
 religious works; but there appeared a still 
 better prospect for the family of Grunthler 
 when he was called to a professorship in the 
 University of Linz. He did not accept it, 
 however, for the reason that he and his wife 
 were not assured that they would be free to 
 hold their Protestant opinions. Olympia con- 
 tinually occupied herself more and more with 
 the Holy Scriptures, and, among her other 
 employments, made excellent Greek transla- 
 tions of many of the Psalms. 
 
1/4 RENATA OF ESTE, 
 
 In April, 1553, a fearful time began for 
 Schweinfurt and its inhabitants. The town 
 was besieged by Albrecht of Brandenburg, 
 and finally captured. Famine and pestilence 
 had raged within the town during the siege. 
 Grunthler was occupied from morning until 
 night, until he was seized with sickness him- 
 self By the devoted care of his wife, he 
 recovered without the aid of a physician. 
 After the capitulation, Albrecht perpetrated 
 the most inhuman barbarities. An unknown 
 person offered to help Grunthler and his wife 
 to escape. At first they were recaptured ; 
 but Olympia spoke in such persuasive terms 
 to the soldiers that they were set at liberty. 
 
 It was only after the most severe hardships 
 and privations that the fugitives arrived at 
 Hammelburg; and here they could only find 
 shelter for one night, for the inhabitants were 
 in such great fear of the conqueror. In an- 
 other place they were imprisoned, and the 
 sword of Damocles huno^ over their heads. 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS. 175 
 
 Fortunately, the command of the bishop soon 
 procured their liberty. They wandered far- 
 ther, as beggars, until the Lord took compas- 
 sion on them ; and, at the court of Count 
 Eberhard of Erbach, He pointed them a place 
 where they could lay their heads. 
 
 They lost much property ; but the most 
 important of all was the magnificent library 
 of her father, which Olympia, at much ex- 
 pense, had been influential in bringing with 
 her to Germany. Neither was there any 
 hope that the manuscripts of Olympia could 
 ever be restored. The delicate woman was 
 attacked with a severe illness, in consequence 
 of these losses and her many sufferings. The 
 Countess of Erbach, a daughter of the Elector 
 of the Palatinate, assumed the full care of the 
 patient. The Protestant faith of the two un- 
 fortunate ones found sympathy and support in 
 the court of the count. Every day the count 
 assembled the members of his family and his 
 domestics, and read to them from the Bible 
 
1/6 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 and prayed with them. Grunthler, through 
 the influence of the count, was called to Hei- 
 delberg University as professor. Although 
 they were still poor themselves, Olympia 
 thought of their companions in misfortune at 
 Schweinfurt, and exerted herself in procuring 
 support for them. 
 
 Her mind was also directed sympathetically 
 toward Italy. She begged of her country- 
 man, the former Bishop Vergerio, to translate 
 Luther's Catechism into Italian, and to dis- 
 tribute it as widely as possible. She was not 
 willing, notwithstanding all persecution, to 
 give up the hope that the Gospel would yet 
 take root in her native land; but the news 
 which she continually heard from there almost 
 discouraged her. About this time she wrote , 
 as follows to an acquaintance : " The letters 
 which I have recently received from Italy in- 
 form me, unfortunately, that the Christians of 
 Ferrara have been subjected to the most cruel 
 persecution. The nobility and peasantry are 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS. 177 
 
 martyred alike. Some are thrown into prison, 
 and others are driven from the country, while 
 the remainder find safety only in flight. My 
 mother remains firm in the midst of the rag- 
 ing storm. Still I can praise God, and say, 
 ^To Him alone be the glory T I beseech you 
 to leave that Babel, with my sisters, and come 
 to me in this country." 
 
 The vacillation of Renata affected her very 
 much. She thus expressed herself concerning 
 it, in a letter to Vergerio: *'The intelligence 
 which you have given me in regard to the 
 Duchess of Ferrara had reached me already, 
 in the month of December, by a letter from a 
 pious person of the town. I was much grieved 
 at the fall of the princess, whom I knew in 
 former times ; but it did not astonish me." 
 
 Olympiads house in Heidelberg was sought 
 by native and foreign scholars. Through the 
 liberality of certain book-sellers, she again 
 acquired a considerable library. She thus ex- 
 pressed her state of mind in her last letter to 
 12 
 
178 RENATA OF ESTE, 
 
 Lavinia: *' Believe me," she wrote, "there is 
 no one in the world who is not exposed to all 
 manner of suffering, if he tries to live a godly 
 life in this world; but we can not escape the 
 snares which Satan has laid for us on all sides. 
 May the Word of God, therefore, be the rule 
 of your conduct and a light to your path! 
 Fear God, and do not place a high estimate 
 on this mortal nature, whose existence is like 
 a dream, like grass that withers and a smoke 
 that passes away! War is spreading its hor- 
 rors here, and Christians are exposed to a 
 thousand tribulations ; but trials must bring 
 to them the fullness of their joy." 
 
 Olympia did not conceal the fact that death 
 was near her; and it grieves us to know that 
 the evening of her short life was not to be 
 without its sorrows. In the Summer of 1555, 
 the plague raged in Heidelberg. Grunthler 
 could not, on account of his duties as a phy- 
 sician, devote the care to his sick wife which 
 she really needed. She manifested a truly 
 
DIVINE VISITATIONS. 1 79 
 
 Christian spirit until her last breath. She 
 wrote once more to Curione: "My powers 
 are exhausted. I do not enjoy food any more. 
 I am in danger of being suffocated by a cough 
 day and night ; but, until my last sigh, I will 
 think of all those whom I have loved. Do 
 not be sorrowful at the news of my death. I 
 know that the crown of righteousness is pre- 
 served for me, and I long to depart and be 
 with Christ." 
 
 The longing was terminated. Olympia died 
 on the 26th of October, 1555, before she had 
 attained her twenty-ninth year. Her husband 
 said, after her death: "Never have I known a 
 truer and purer soul ! No, never did so much 
 greatness of a human soul, so much purity 
 and grace beam upon this earth 1" 
 
VI. 
 
 RENATA'S RETURN TO FRANCE— HER HAPPY 
 DEATH. 
 
 i'MM 
 
 EN AT A had hoped, after the death 
 of her husband, to be able to profess 
 her faith more freely. But her son 
 declared to her, after he had had a conference 
 with the Pope, that she must either renounce 
 her faith or leave his country. She did not 
 hesitate long in making the choice ; and, pain- 
 ful as it was for her to separate from her chil- 
 dren, she left Ferrara in September, 1560, 
 after she had lived there twenty-two years, 
 through sunshine and gloom. Her departure 
 was deplored by all the inhabitants, and es- 
 pecially by the poor, by whom she was held 
 180 
 
RETURN TO FRANCE— DEATH. i8l 
 
 in grateful remembrance. The mother tore 
 herself from the arms of her daughters, weep- 
 ing profusely. She may also have uttered 
 words of admonition to them ; but, in regard 
 to religion, she only dared express herself 
 with the greatest caution. What rendered 
 her departure the most heart-rending, was the 
 thought that she was banished by her own 
 son; and yet she could not forget him who 
 had always been so near her heart. Where 
 should the banished Renata go 1 
 
 We know that she wished once more to 
 visit her beloved native land ; and she was 
 not dissuaded from carrying out her purpose 
 by the well-meant warning of her pastoral 
 advisor. Had, perhaps, the state of things in 
 France changed, so that the reasons for which 
 Calvin advised her against going there were 
 now void } Were Protestants now allowed to 
 live there undisturbed 1 Or dared Renata cal- 
 culate that, through her influence, her com- 
 panions in faith would gain the desired free- 
 
1 82 REN ATA OF ESTE, 
 
 dom of conscience and religion ? Was at least 
 her daughter Anne pervaded by such a spirit 
 that she could seek her with perfect confi- 
 dence ? Dared she promise herself -a specially 
 favorable reception at the royal court ? She 
 found the latter alone to be the case. All the 
 members of the royal family extended to her a 
 friendly hand, and showed her all the respect 
 that was due her elevated station. They 
 proved, whenever an opportunity offered, that 
 they wished to respect and treat her as their 
 near relative. Renata received the adminis- 
 tration of the Government of Chartres and 
 other territories ; and since many persons 
 sought to place obstacles in her way, King 
 Charles IX determined to remove them. 
 
 In regard to the religious movements in 
 France, however, scarcely any change for the 
 better had occurred. The persecution of the 
 Protestants had continued almost without in- 
 terruption since the death of Francis I, in 
 1547. His son and successor, Henry II, 
 
RETURN TO FRANCES-DEATH. 1 83 
 
 showed, on his solemn entrance into Paris, 
 what the friends of ecclesiastical reform had 
 to expect from him. He wished to afford for 
 himself and his followers, besides other festiv- 
 ities, the spectacle of a burning of heretics. 
 He, therefore, took a number of persons out 
 of the prisons, and commanded that they 
 should be distributed into different parts of 
 the city, and there burned to death. The 
 king passed by, and heard the sighs and 
 groans of the martyrs, but without being 
 moved to compassion. 
 
 In the notorious edict of Chateaubriand, of 
 155 1, the most severe measures were com- 
 manded to be taken against the heretics. 
 Whoever fled from France in order to escape 
 these oppressions, had his property confis- 
 cated, and no one dared, on pain of severe 
 punishment, send money or letters to the 
 fugitives. But, notwithstanding this oppres- 
 sion and persecution, the doctrines of the Ref- 
 ormation continually spread more and more. 
 
184 RENATA OP ESTE. 
 
 There were, in the entire kingdom, about 
 eleven hundred smaller or larger societies, 
 with about one million and a half members. 
 They maintained the most scrupulous purity 
 of morals. They declared themselves the 
 enemies of the luxuries, excesses, and follies 
 of the world. They permitted no dancing at 
 their entertainments, and, instead of immoral 
 songs, they were heard singing psalms. 
 
 Whoever did not become better after receiv- 
 ing admonition and correction, was dismissed 
 from the society. These Reformers, however, 
 notwithstanding their praiseworthy qualities, 
 could obtain neither recognition nor toleration. 
 Almost every year new and stricter measures 
 were employed against them. When the 
 French lost the battle of St. Quentin, against 
 the Spaniards, in 1557, it was said, "We have 
 not been zealous enough for the honor of God ; 
 therefore he has avenged himself by this de- 
 feat." 
 
 In September, 1557, the Protestants of 
 
RETURN TO FRANCES-DEATH, 185 
 
 Paris, numbering from three to four hundred, 
 were convened together in a house which 
 stood by itself in the Rue d'e Jacque. They 
 were there assailed by a furious mob, which 
 had been instigated by a fanatic, and were 
 treated in the most cruel manner. No investi- 
 gation or punishment of the guilty parties fol- 
 lowed ; on the contrary, no judge dared to 
 venture, if Protestants were indicted, to de- 
 clare himself for liberation, or even for a mild 
 sentence ; if he did, he was in danger of being 
 placed on the culprit's bench himself In the 
 year 1559, the Parliamentary Counselor Du 
 Bourg was beheaded, for no other reason than 
 because he had disapproved of the condemna- 
 tion of the Protestant Christians. 
 
 Henry II died in 1559, in consequence of a 
 lance-wound received in a tournament. The 
 affairs of Government remained very much 
 the same after his death as before. During 
 the reign of his successor, Francis II, who 
 was yet a minor, the Guises, those irreconcil- 
 
1 86 REN ATA OF ESTE, 
 
 able enemies of the Gospel, were able to 
 obtain the most important offices of the State, 
 and to make sure their influence in the gov- 
 ernment of the country. Two of six brothers 
 who bore this name deserve special mention-^- 
 Cardinal Charles de Lorraine, Archbishop of 
 Rheims, and Francis de Guise, son-in-law of 
 Renata. It has been said, and not without 
 reason, had it not been for these two brothers, 
 the Protestant doctrines would have gained 
 the victory in France. 
 
 At their instigation there was a "burning- 
 chamber" instituted in all higher courts of 
 justice. This was a special department, whose 
 task it was to condemn heretics without com- 
 passion. Every conceivable method was em- 
 ployed to influence the hatred of the people 
 against the Protestants. We still meet with 
 pictures of that time, in which the Protestants 
 are represented as armed, murdering priests, 
 women, children, and old men. Just such 
 pictures were hung up in public places, and 
 
RETURN TO FRANCE— DEATH. 1 87 
 
 explained to the gaping mob. Here and there 
 images of the Virgin were set up, in order 
 that the Catholic oppressors might have an 
 opportunity of seeing who paid homage to 
 them and who did not. Woe to those who 
 passed by without uncovering the head and 
 putting a coin in the box for the purchase of 
 wax candles ! He was immediately exposed 
 to the ill-treatment of the mob. 
 
 The Guises, who were regarded as the chief 
 promoters of fanaticism, became more and 
 more odious to the Reformers. A conspiracy 
 was formed for their overthrow, which took its 
 name from Amboise. When the design was 
 discovered, the. cardinal proceeded with the 
 utmost severity against his enemies, so that 
 twelve hundred persons lost their lives. But 
 many eminent and influential persons were on 
 the side of the Protestants. Among them 
 were the two brother Coligny, or Chatillon ; 
 namely. Admiral Gaspard Coligny, a man of 
 the noblest principles and tested valor, and 
 
1 88 RENATA OF ESTE, 
 
 his brother Francis, commonly called Mon- 
 sieur d'Andelot, but by the soldiers, "the 
 knight without fear or reproach." He was the 
 means of having the Gospel preached in his 
 neighborhood with still more publicity than 
 his brother; and when the king once took 
 him to task because of his Protestant opin- 
 ions, he replied : " Leave my conscience in 
 peace ; that belongs to me. My body and 
 my talents are devoted to you and your 
 service." 
 
 What was of still greater importance to the 
 Protestants, was that the Bourbon brothers 
 stood on their side. Anton, the elder of the 
 two, had married Jeanne d'Albret, the daugh- 
 ter of Marguerite de Valois, and by this mar- 
 riage became King of Navarre. His character 
 was of a hesitating nature. For a long time, 
 he remained in doubt between the Protestant 
 and Catholic doctrines. He was, however, for 
 a short time, through the influence of his wife, 
 won over to the former ; but, later, he again 
 
RETURN TO FRANCE—DEATH, 1 89 
 
 submitted to Catholic proselytism. His wife 
 was more steadfast than he, as is proved cir- 
 cumstantially in the account of her life. 
 
 Anton's brother, Louis de Conde, had a 
 more vigorous spirit and a more manly char- 
 acter, and was of all the more importance to 
 the Protestant party on account of the attach- 
 ment of the soldiers to him. The Guises 
 were only too glad to put him out of the way. 
 They accused him of being the chief instigator 
 of the Amboise conspiracy, and succeeded in 
 having him imprisoned. 
 
 We see, therefore, that Renata went right 
 into the midst of the conflict when she pro- 
 ceeded to France. She could not expect any 
 decided and courageous support of the Prot- 
 estants from her daughter. From early child- 
 hood she had imbibed, more than any of her 
 sisters or brothers, Protestant doctrines, and 
 she was looked upon in France as a woman 
 of Reformed opinions. It is very easy for us 
 to see, from the peculiarities of her position, 
 
190 REN AT A OF ESTE, 
 
 that she could exercise no influence over her 
 husband in favor of her companions in faith. 
 It seems strange that she had ceased all con- 
 nection with Olympia Morata, the friend of 
 her youth. When Olympia heard of the op- 
 pression to which the Protestant Christians 
 were subjected in France, she wrote the fol- 
 lowing letter to her, dated June i, 1555 : 
 
 " Illustrious Princess ! Although the dis- 
 tance is great which has separated us for 
 so many years, the remembrance of you is 
 ever present to my mind. I have often 
 thought of writing to you, but for various 
 reasons I have not ventured to do so, until 
 the opportunity of to-day offered itself When 
 a learned and God-fearing man came to Heidel- 
 berg to visit us, there was nothing that I was 
 so anxious to do as to ask for information 
 concerning you. He promised, if it were pos- 
 sible, to have this letter delivered into your 
 hands, and I did not hesitate to trust it to 
 him, in the hope that you might read it with 
 
RE TURN TO FRANCE— DEA TH, 1 9 1 
 
 pleasure, because it came from one who was 
 formerly the companion of your studies. You 
 know with what sweet confidence we lived 
 together in those years; and, although you 
 were my social superior, we were united by 
 literary labors and afl&nity of tastes and senti- 
 ments. The remembrance of all this will not 
 allow our friendship to become cold ; at least I 
 know, and the Lord is my witness, that, not- 
 withstanding distance, I should be ready to 
 give every proof of love, to serve you in any 
 respect, whether by words of comfort or other- 
 wise. That I may be able to do this is a 
 favor which I implore God to bestow upon 
 me. I have no longings for court-life again. 
 My most ardent wish is to know that you 
 devote yourself to the study of the Scriptures, 
 which can alone preserve you in communion 
 with God and console you under the tempta- 
 tions of this world. For me there is no 
 other comfort or enjoyment. Since the time 
 that I was delivered from the depths of Italian 
 
192 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 idolatry by the paternal guidance of Providence, 
 and accompanied my husband to Germany, 
 my soul has undergone a change which will 
 appear incredible to you. Formerly, the read- 
 ing of the Word of God filled me with aver- 
 sion ; now it is my joy and almost continual 
 occupation. Riches, honor, and pleasure, on 
 which I formerly placed so much value, I do 
 not now regard as worthy of thought. O, 
 dear Princess, that I could only direct your 
 attention to this object ! Nothing on earth is 
 durable. Every thing fails, every thing passes 
 away, and we are called, as the poet says, 
 
 * To tread the path of death.' 
 
 This decisive moment is not far distant ; time 
 is transient, and neither riches nor power nor 
 the favor of kings can save us ; faith in Jesus 
 Christ alone can preserve us from condemna- 
 tion and eternal death. This faith is a gift 
 of God, which we must seek from him by 
 prayer. For of what assistance will it be to 
 
% 
 
 RE TURN TO FRANCE— DBA TH. 193 
 
 US to know the history of Christ, if we do not 
 
 possess a faith made active through love, which 
 
 alone gives us strength to confess Christ in the 
 
 midst of his enemies, remembering the Divine 
 
 words, * Whosoever, therefore, shall confess 
 
 me before men, him will I also confess before 
 
 my Father which is in heaven ?* 
 
 " The martyrs were witnesses of the faith, 
 
 and the Church would not number any of 
 
 them in its ranks if they had concealed their 
 
 faith from the world. And you, dear Princess, 
 
 to whom the Lord has vouchsafed the grace 
 
 of manifesting his truth, can you doubt the 
 
 innocence of men who are daily condemned to 
 
 be burned, and who suffer such tortures for 
 
 the sake of the Gospel of Christ ? It is your 
 
 duty to intercede for them, to mediate with 
 
 the king for them, and pray for their pardon. 
 
 If you remain quiet, if you allow them to 
 
 suffer and die undefended, you make yourself 
 
 accessory to their persecution. 
 
 "I know well that your defense of these 
 13 
 
194 RENATA OF ESTE, 
 
 unfortunate people will invoke upon you the 
 ill-favor of the king, the displeasure of your 
 husband, and the hatred of your opponents ; 
 but I know also that it is better to prefer the 
 enmity of men to the anger of God, who can 
 not only kill the body, but condemn the soul 
 to everlasting fire. *If God is for us, who 
 can be against us V This great thought 
 should always be present in your mind. O, 
 how happy I should be to know that the 
 desire for true piety and the favor of God 
 alone filled your heart! 
 
 " Remember that you yourself are mortal, 
 and I beg you to close your ear to those who 
 say to you, ' Life is short ; let us, therefore, 
 follow the desire of our hearts and enjoy the 
 pleasures of the world !' O, rather listen to 
 the words of St. Paul: 'For they that are 
 after the flesh do mind the things of the 
 flesh, ... for to be carn5.11y-minded is 
 death, ... for if ye live after the flesh 
 ye shall die.' If my letter were pleasant to 
 
RETURN TO FRANCE— DEATH, 195 
 
 you, I would write more circumstantially on 
 this subject. I would also supply you with 
 Christian books, if you wish to become in- 
 structed in the school of Christ. Profound 
 emotion compels me to say this to you. I 
 wish you to participate in the eternal bless- 
 ings of God's kingdom, to whose glory he 
 has called me." 
 
 In all probability this letter remained unan- 
 swered ; at least, nothing is known concerning 
 a reply. This silence, as well as the contents 
 of the letter, throw considerable light on the 
 opinions and the relations of Anna. She 
 may have been of service to some few of the 
 persecuted ones, but generally she effected 
 very little for the welfare of the Protestants. 
 Renata had some hope that she herself would 
 be able to afford assistance to her fellow- 
 believers ; she indulged the hope, at least, of 
 being allowed to live undisturbed in the en- 
 joyment of her religious convictions. She 
 arrived in France just as the contest between 
 
196 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 the Guises and the Bourbons broke into a 
 flame. Prince Conde was in prison, and con- 
 demned to death. Renata showed on this 
 occasion that she intended to profess her 
 faith openly, and without fear of men. She 
 did not hesitate to express without reserve 
 her deep displeasure at what had taken place. 
 *'Had I been in France,'* she said to her 
 son-in-law, " such things would not have oc- 
 curred. But care had better be taken for the 
 future. The wound will not bleed long, for 
 no one outrages the royal blood of France 
 unpunished.'' 
 
 After the death of King Francis II, on the 
 5th of December, 1560, Anton de Navarre 
 became regent of France for a short time. 
 The queen dowager, however, Catherine de 
 Medicis, held, in reality, the reins of State. 
 The power of the Guises was, in some meas- 
 ure, broken. Conde was set at liberty, and a 
 new ray of hope for the Protestant Chris- 
 tians relieved a little the dark night of their 
 
RETURN TO FRANCE-— DEATH. 197 
 
 sorrows. A new life seemed to dawn in the 
 societies, for they were once more able to 
 breathe with a little freedom. New members 
 united daily with the little group of believers. 
 Renata not only proved in her own person 
 that she was a true believer in the Gospel, 
 but she also collected a small congregation 
 around her, and, at her request, a Protestant 
 pastor was sent to her from Geneva. 
 
 She was in constant communication with 
 the most eminent professors. She went to 
 Admiral Coligny for advice whenever she 
 needed it. She was united in friendship and 
 love with women of Protestant inclinations, 
 such as Madame de Coligny, Madame de 
 Roye, with the mother-in-law of Conde, and 
 espiecially with Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of 
 Navarre. She was hoping that the latter 
 would favor the Gospel, as her mother, Mar- 
 guerite de Valois, had done, and by their 
 united efforts they would be enabled to ad- 
 vance the Protestant doctrines. Renata took 
 
198 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 up her permanent residence at Montargis, a 
 small town with a castle, in the neighborhood 
 of Orleans. Here, as well as in other places 
 where she resided temporarily, she had the 
 Protestant service performed. - She used every 
 means to guide her ser\'ants in a moral and 
 religious path; and, although she sought, by 
 w^ord and example, to win them to the Prot- 
 estant faith, she exercised no compulsion. 
 She was ver}' liberal in the gi^^ng of alms, 
 never losing sight of the proverb, "Let us do 
 good unto all men, especially unto them who 
 are of the household of faith." 
 
 On the i6th of January, 1561, Calvdn, who 
 had watched her movements closely as possi- 
 ble, wrote to her : " Worthy lady, — How much 
 reason I have to thank God for continuing to 
 keep you in his fear and obedience! Since 
 experience shows how much cause you have 
 to proceed, I hope that you will take it kindly 
 if, in anxious desire for the salvation of your 
 soul, I endeavor to assist you; for I know 
 
RETURN TO FRANCE— DEATH. 199 
 
 that you like to be instructed, and to be 
 reminded of your duty, and that you receive 
 with gladness what you consider as coming 
 from God. It is not necessary for me to 
 specify all the difficulties which can restrain 
 or divert you from serving God, since you 
 know them only too well/* 
 
 He further besought her imploringly to 
 continue to comfort and strengthen her fel- 
 low-Christians, as she had commenced; for 
 this was a service which was well pleasing to 
 the Lord. As a wanderer quickens his pace 
 as night approaches, so it behooved Renata 
 to remember that old age was near, and that 
 she must work more industriously, in order to 
 leave a good memory behind her, but still 
 more to present a good testimony before God 
 and the angels. 
 
 From this time until her death, Renata 
 professed her Protestant opinions on every 
 suitable occasion. She was present at the 
 Religious Conference, at Poissy, in 1561, 
 
200 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 where the Reformers, under the lead of The- 
 odore Beza, with heroic courage drew up and 
 defended their Confession of Faith. She was 
 not in a position, however, to procure freedom 
 of faith and worship, nor could she prevent 
 the soil of France, for almost thirty years, 
 from being drenched with the blood of its 
 children by a religious intemecene war, caus- 
 ing unutterable miser}^ 
 
 But, while they took little heed of her 
 prayers and warnings, she never allowed her- 
 self to be induced, by the entreaties and 
 threats of her Catholic relations and others, 
 to deny her faith. She withdrew more and 
 more from them, in order to worship God un- 
 disturbed, according to her con\4ctions. She 
 positively refused to accede to the demand to 
 remove her Protestant preacher from her pres- 
 ence, and still more decidedly to the require- 
 ment that she should become a Catholic. 
 
 She was threatened wdth confinement in 
 a cloister, if she did not yield; but she 
 
RETURN TO FRANCE— DEATH, 201 
 
 remained immovable. Perhaps she thought 
 that the threat would not be carried into exe- 
 cution. She could, in such a case, rely upon 
 her daughter, with whom she was always on 
 good terms. She was allowed, although not 
 willingly, to have a Protestant pastor in her 
 immediate neighborhood ; but Calvin and Beza 
 were positively forbidden visiting her. The 
 sorrows of her companions in faith gave her 
 indescribable sadness. 
 
 Her son-in-law, Francis de Guise, was 
 seized on a journey to Paris, where he was 
 going for the purpose of breaking the influ- 
 ence of the Bourbons, which was already on 
 the decline. Accompanied by an escort of 
 two hundred cavalry, he arrived in the neigh- 
 borhood of the small town of Vassy just as 
 the bells were sounding for Protestant serv- 
 ice. On hearing them, he exclaimed, *'By 
 the devil, I will alter this !" On the follow- 
 ing day, he entered the town, with twenty 
 horsemen and bowmen, and commanded the 
 
202 REN A TA OF ESTE. 
 
 chief magistrate and the leading ecclesiastic 
 to appear before him, both of whom were 
 decided enemies of the Reformers. The lat- 
 ter, in the mean time, had assembled in a 
 barn for the worship of God/ Suddenly some 
 soldiers of the duke appeared at the door and 
 demanded admittance. They were refused ad- 
 mission ; and, when they attempted to gain an 
 entrance by force, there was a hand-to-hand 
 contest. The Duke of Guise soon approached, 
 and, in the struggle, was wounded by a stone. 
 From that time the soldiers knew no forbear- 
 ance. Nearly sixty persons were killed, and 
 many others wounded. What must have been 
 Renata's feelings during this butchery.? Yet 
 she was compelled to endure and remain silent. 
 Soon after this occurrence, Calvin wrote to 
 her that, since she had a person in her house 
 who was fitted to exhort and strengthen her, 
 it was not necessary for him to do it so often. 
 He complained bitterly of the conduct of the 
 daughter of Renata, who had drawn upon her- 
 
RETURN TO FRANCE— DEATH, 203 
 
 self the universal displeasure of the Protest- 
 ants, because she did not hinder her husband 
 from his bloody persecutions of them. ** I say 
 this to you candidly," he continued, "in order 
 that you may wisely consider what means can 
 be used to prevent your daughter Anna from 
 co-operating with those who intend to annihi- 
 late the true religion." 
 
 In those evil and troublous times, Renata 
 could do nothing but open the doors of Mont- 
 argis to the persecuted Huguenots, and afford 
 assistance and safety to those who came to 
 her. Even Calvin, that strict and undaunted 
 judge of the frailties of great and small, could 
 not refrain from expressing to the duchess his 
 acknowledgment of her firmness of faith and 
 her active love toward her persecuted fellow- 
 Christians. He said, in a letter to her: ''I 
 know, worthy lady, how much God has 
 strengthened you during the violent storm, 
 and that you have firmly withstood all temp- 
 tations, and have not been afraid of bearing 
 
204 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 the cross of Christ. More than this, I know 
 you have received as a mother the poor exiles 
 who have come to you. I know many princes 
 vi^ould have taken it as an offense if one had 
 called their castle a ' hospital of God ;' but I 
 know no way of showing you greater respect 
 than by using the term, and, in this manner, 
 of acknowledging the human kindness with 
 which you have received the children of God.'* 
 In conclusion, Calvin interceded for the daugh- 
 ter of a former Professor of the Greek Lan- 
 guage at Ferrara, who now lived in banishment 
 at Geneva, and whose income was so small that 
 he was not able to live without the assistance 
 of his friends. Renata promised to aid, as far 
 as possible, the professor s daughter. 
 
 The little community at Montargis exhibited 
 a healthy Christian life, even under the most 
 untoward circumstances. Ecclesiastical disci- 
 pline was strictly observed, and the pastor, 
 Francis Morel, took watchful care that no one 
 interfered to hinder the good work. Even the 
 
RETURN TO FRANCE—DEATH, 205 
 
 duchess, who was the stay of the whole com- 
 munity, was obliged to carry out all of his 
 wishes. Morel thought, however, that he had 
 sufficient reasons for complaint. Calvin, there- 
 fore, wrote to her: "Since God has led you 
 back, worthy lady, to your city [Renata had 
 been in Paris a short time before], it behooves 
 you to double your care for the regulation of 
 your subjects, and even of your own house- 
 hold. I therefore pray you to be firm in main- 
 taining a good police for the suppression of 
 vice and scandal. I do not mean any secular 
 police arrangement, but the official punish- 
 ment of the consistory. . . . Especially 
 must no one, no matter who he may be, in 
 what position he may stand, or how much re- 
 spected he may be, be ashamed to submit to 
 the arrangement which the Son of God him- 
 self has instituted ; for I assure you that, 
 without this means, coarseness, looseness, and 
 terrible confusion would be the result. . . . 
 Never allow . yourself ' to be betrayed, as the 
 
206 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 Lord has commanded you, into altering any 
 condition of the Church; for before it each 
 nobleman must bow. Do not allow yourself 
 to be persuaded that your house should be 
 specially privileged. Bear in mind that no 
 one can offer you a greater insult than to 
 attempt to separate you from the body of the 
 Church." 
 
 Calvin sent the duchess, with this letter, a 
 gold coin, which her father had had made at 
 the time of his war with Rome, and which 
 bore the inscription, "I will annihilate the 
 name of Babylon." 
 
 Renata promised, in her answer, to follow 
 the counsel which had been given, although 
 other women, as the Queen of Navarre 
 and Madame de Coligny, had a voice in 
 the exercise of ecclesiastical discipline over 
 their households. She was much pleased with 
 the present which Calvin made her. She 
 had known nothing of this motto of her 
 father, and hoped that what he had not 
 
RETURN TO FRANCE— DEA TH. 20/ 
 
 been able to complete, his posterity would be 
 able to do. 
 
 Peace and quiet during the remainder of 
 Renata's life seemed forbidden. If one un- 
 pleasant event was, in some measure, sup- 
 pressed, another took its place which afflicted 
 her heart no less severely. Such an occur- 
 rence was the murder of her son-in-law, who 
 had made himself hated more than ever by 
 the massacre at Vassy. A Calviuistic fanatic, 
 named Poltrot, fancied that he would do God 
 a service by removing this bitter enemy of 
 the Gospel; so he murdered him at Orleans, 
 in the year 1563. The Catholics found ready 
 fuel in this act of violence for the flame of 
 persecution. 
 
 Although most of the Reformed preachers 
 were unprejudiced and impartial, they exulted 
 with their congregations over the death of 
 their most dangerous enemy, and did not 
 seem to think that the manner in which it 
 had been done could injure their good cause. 
 
208 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 Anna, the wife of the murdered man, was 
 prostrated with grief, and on every occasion 
 expressed her sorrow. The more this was 
 known the more bitter were the Reformers 
 against her. Renata was divided in her feel- 
 ings. She saw the tears of her widowed 
 daughter, heard her moans and complaints; 
 sympathized with her in her bereavement ; 
 how could she join in the shout of joy over 
 what had happened.'^ 
 
 What she experienced we learn from her 
 own words. She wrote to Calvin : " I will 
 not excuse the failings of my son-in-law in 
 not having a true knowledge of God, but 
 only in the charge of his having alone kin- 
 dled the fire. I know that he persecuted 
 the Protestants ; but I neither know nor be- 
 lieve that he was entirely reprobated by God, 
 because he showed signs quite to the con- 
 trary before his death. Some people, I am 
 well aware, wish that this should not be said, 
 and the mouths of those are closed who know 
 
RETURN TO FRANCE— DEA TH. 209 
 
 it ; and do you not see that, even after his 
 death, hatred is not satisfied ?'' 
 
 Calvin answered this letter, and begged the 
 duchess to moderate her complaints, for every- 
 one said that she was entirely too demonstra- 
 tive. David had taught us by his example 
 to hold the enemies of God in derision. Re- 
 nata should remember what the Church of the 
 Lord had been compelled to suffer for years, 
 and that these troubles were produced chiefly 
 by the Duke of Guise, who, for that reason, 
 could find no indulgence. The Protestants 
 had often prayed to God to be delivered from 
 their bitterest enemy. We must not, there- 
 fore, condemn without measure that which had 
 served God as an instrument. If the death 
 of this man be the cause of so much sen- 
 sation, we must not forget the hundred thou- 
 sand who had fallen for the sake of their faith. 
 
 Calvin, on his death-bed, dictated another 
 
 letter to the duchess. It read as follows : 
 
 '* Worthy lady, — I pray you to forgive me if 
 14 
 
2IO RE NAT A OF ESTE, 
 
 I write to you by the hand of another, since 
 I myself am prevented from doing so on ac- 
 count of my great weakness. Now, worthy 
 lady, if my counsel is still of weight with 
 you, I pray you, do not give yourself tip too 
 much to the excitement of your mind ; for 
 too violent passions produce many unpleasant 
 things. I am not a little surprised that you 
 have entirely misunderstood me, as if I, in 
 speaking of the condemned, had not expressly 
 excluded the person of the Duke of Guise, 
 and maintained that those were too bold who 
 condemned individuals according to their own 
 standard. I shall, therefore, forbear to say 
 any thing more to you on this subject, either 
 good or evil. I will only refer to one point. 
 It was very easy for all well-disposed persons 
 to reject you, simply because you are the 
 mother-in-law of the Duke of Guise ; but you 
 are now all the more honored and beloved, 
 because you have not been led away from the 
 knowledge of the true faith by this circum- 
 
RE TURN TO FRANCE— DEA TH. 211 
 
 stance. I also give you the assurance that 
 this has caused me to wonder at your virtues/' 
 Renata could scarcely overcome her grief at 
 the death of her son-in-law; yet she was not 
 led astray in her Protestant sentiments. The 
 above was the last letter which she received 
 from her spiritual father. On the 24th of 
 May, 1564, Calvin was called from this life of 
 turmoil to his heavenly rest. But many dis- 
 turbed days were yet in store for the Duchess 
 Renata. The religious civil war in France 
 raged with almost uninterrupted fury. Many 
 battles were fought, and, especially those which 
 occurred near St. Dreux, Jarnace, and Mont- 
 contour, proved unfavorable to the Reformers. 
 Prince de Conde was shot, without ceremony, 
 against all usages of warfare. Anton de Na- 
 varre, who had previously apostatized to the 
 Catholics, lost his life at the siege of Rouen. 
 Peace was declared several times ; as, for in- 
 stance, at Orleans, or Amboise, in 1563, at 
 Longjumeau in 1566, and at St. Germain-on- 
 
212 REN A TA OF ESTE, 
 
 Laye in 1570. But the most of these treaties 
 of peace were broken almost before they were 
 ratified. The one was called the "halting, or 
 little," so that one could see by the epithet 
 what little value it had. 
 
 The Reformers had their chief power in the 
 towns, where they defended themselves with 
 extraordinary determination. In the begin- 
 ning of the war they possessed exemplary 
 order and discipline. As they resorted to 
 arms for the sake of conscience, they also 
 wished to distinguish themselves by purity 
 of morals. No disorderly persons, no cards 
 or dice, were suffered among them. No one 
 dared utter a blasphemous or an unchaste 
 word ; plundering and robbery were strictly 
 prohibited. Noblemen paid for what they took 
 for themselves and those dependent on them. 
 Whoever committed deeds of violence was 
 punished most severely. Morning and even- 
 ing, public prayer was held ; the king and the 
 royal family were not forgotten in them. 
 
RE TURN TO FRANCE^DEA TH, 2 1 3 
 
 Unfortunately, this exemplary conduct did 
 not last long. The remembrance of wrongs 
 suffered, daily familiarity with cruelty, con- 
 nected with deeply-rooted religious bitter- 
 ness, caused even the Huguenots, though 
 they had conducted themselves on strictly 
 religious principles, to fall into excesses. 
 When money failed, they seized the sacred 
 vessels in the Catholic churches, and they did 
 this with all the less hesitation because they 
 considered them as means for the promo- 
 tion of idolatry. But however much wrong 
 the Reformers may have done, we almost lose 
 sight of it when we compare it with what was 
 done on the side of their opponents. All 
 moral sense appears to have disappeared dur- 
 ing this unholy war. All oaths and contracts 
 were entirely forgotten or unheeded. The 
 conditional surrender of towns or submission 
 of soldiers only served to make more sure 
 their death. There was scarcely a town be- 
 tween the Vosges and Pyrenees which had 
 
214 REN ATA OF ESTE, 
 
 not been the scene of the most revolting 
 cruelties. Fathers and mothers were mur- 
 dered before the eyes of their children, and 
 children were drowned, strangled, or otherwise 
 murdered in the presence of their parents. 
 
 About the year 1570, both parties were ex- 
 hausted, and were at least partially weary of 
 the war.* Peace was therefore concluded at 
 Germain-on-Laye. The Reformers were guar- 
 anteed freedom of worship in all those places 
 which were in their possession ; pardon for 
 all the past was also assured them, as well as 
 the right to participate in public offices and 
 beneficent institutions, and the permission to 
 reside in any place in the kingdom. 
 
 We must take into consideration all these 
 circumstances if we wish to judge aright the 
 behavior of Renata at this time. We can 
 imagine that she had little desire to leave 
 Montargis while this civil war was raging 
 throughout France. Here she lived, as far as 
 it was then possible, undisturbed and at 
 
RE TURN TO FRANCE— DBA TH, 2 1 5 
 
 peace. Wherever she could, she interfered in 
 favor of the Huguenots, either being invited 
 by them, or doing so of her own accord. She 
 was in correspondence with Protestant minis- 
 ters, and especially, with the leaders of par- 
 ties — with Admiral Coligny, Cond6, and oth- 
 ers. Her correspondence was very extensive. 
 For example, she wrote a special letter to a 
 forest steward, who had to procure the wood 
 that was used during her residence in the 
 castle. In the mean time foreign princes ad- 
 dressed themselves to her, that they might 
 better be able to promote their designs in 
 Ftance ; as the Duke of Prussia did, when, in 
 the year 1565, he sent an embassy to the 
 French king. 
 
 In her neighborhood, religious affairs came 
 finally to an open contest between the Catho- 
 lics and Protestants. Peace, however, was 
 again soon restored by Renata's intervention, 
 and the adherents of the different confessions, 
 as even Catholic writers admit, lived at Mont- 
 
2l6 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 argis peaceably together. Renata advanced 
 this peace by giving help to the poor and 
 suffering, without reference to difference of 
 faith. She was greatly alarmed at one time 
 by a body of four hundred Catholic soldiers 
 entering her castle. They were under the 
 command of Captain Malicorne, who was 
 taking the town by force, and threatened to 
 bombard the castle if she did not give up the 
 Huguenots who were in it. Renata, at this 
 time of danger, displayed her royal mind and 
 her fidelity to Protestantism. She declared 
 that only the King of France had power to 
 command her, and if Captain Malicorne should 
 use force she would expose herself, and see if 
 he would dare kill a king's daughter. 
 
 These words had their effect, and from this 
 time forth the Huguenots found peace under 
 the protection of Renata. She traveled but lit- 
 tle at this time ; her last journey of any con- 
 sequence was with King Charles IX, when he 
 made his tour through France. She appears 
 
RE TURN TO FRANCE— DEA TH, 21/ 
 
 to have had the intention to strengthen by 
 her presence the Protestant Christians, to lis- 
 ten to their complaints, and, if possible, pro- 
 cure protection and assistance from the king. 
 'On this journey she experienced, at Toulouse, 
 the outbreak of religious hate ; for a mob of 
 that city insulted and threw stones at her and 
 her curate. 
 
 In the third religious war, which took place 
 between 1568 and 1570, armed men again 
 came to Montargis, and demanded of Renata 
 that she should send away the Huguenots to 
 whom she had afforded an asylum. This time 
 she was obliged to yield to force, and to give 
 up the unfortunate ones. They left their 
 noble-hearted benefactress with tears stream- 
 ing from their eyes. As they went forth, they 
 were in danger of being robbed and murdered 
 by enraged Catholic soldiery. Providentially, 
 there came up at the right moment a patrol 
 of Protestant soldiers, who saved them.. Re- 
 nata saw with her own eyes the cruelties of 
 
2l8 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 St. Bartholemew's night, August 24, 1572; 
 for she was among the number of those 
 whom the marriage ceremony of the daughter 
 of the king had drawn to Paris. She was 
 in imminent danger of falling a victim to 
 the massacre ; but her steadfastness remained 
 unshaken. Through her instrumentality, sev- 
 eral Protestants were saved from death. 
 Among them were Pastor Merlin and his 
 son, and the daughter of the Chancellor 
 L'Hopital. She conducted the latter, with an 
 escort, which her grandson, the Duke of Guise, 
 had procured for her, to Montargis, and pro- 
 vided for her further welfare. 
 
 Her temporal circumstances were, to the 
 last, such as enabled her to live in a manner 
 agreeable to her station, and still to have 
 something left with which to relieve the 
 needy. She complained, however, that her 
 revenues were withheld from her, and her 
 privileges restricted. Several legal docu- 
 ments, which have reference to her affairs. 
 
RE TURN TO FRANCE— DEA TH. 2 1 9 
 
 prove that these complaints were not without 
 foundation. 
 
 The 1 2th of June, 1575, was the day of 
 Renata's happy release. Although she did 
 not die by the executioner's sword, she never- 
 theless bore the martyr's crown. According 
 to her wish, she was interred in the castle 
 church, without any pomp or display, as no 
 amount of ostentation now could comfort the 
 living or be of service to the dead. But the 
 men of the royal family could not forbear 
 paying some honor to the memory of the 
 departed one; they, therefore, had a funeral 
 service for her commemoration in the Bourbon 
 chapel. 
 
 In her will she expressed her deepest regret 
 for the civil war, and for the horrid devasta- 
 tions which it had produced, ^he also re- 
 peated in it her acknowledgement of the Gos- 
 pel, and commended it to her children. She 
 regarded it as the foundation of domestic hap- 
 piness and national prosperity. The town of 
 
220 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 Montargis had much reason to be grateful 
 to its noble inhabitant. She left money for 
 the purpose of having benevolent institutions 
 erected and general improvements made in 
 the town ; so that Montargis soon became 
 much changed, and for many years the in- 
 habitants continued to show marked respect 
 and esteem for the name of Renata. 
 
VII. 
 
 RENATA'S CHILDREN— THEIR RELATION TO 
 THE POET TASSO. 
 
 O the people of Germany, the children 
 of Renata, and especially Leonore, 
 are known better than Renata herself. 
 Who among us has not read the drama of 
 " Torquato Tasso," by Goethe ? We will, there- 
 fore, make a brief mention of these children. 
 The Government of Ferrara devolved upon 
 Alphonso II, the eldest son of Renata, whose 
 system of management gave occasion to much 
 censure. Travelers who visited the city at 
 that time were much surprised to see the 
 broad streets and the beautifully built and 
 magnificently adorned palaces ; but there was 
 
222 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 no real life among the inhabitants. The 
 streets were empty, and business nearly sus- 
 pended. Almost intolerable taxes oppressed 
 the people. A tenth part of each contract, 
 even if it were only a loan, each sale and 
 purchase — indeed, every thing that brought 
 money — flowed into the coffers of the duke. 
 A similar quota had to be paid upon every 
 thing which was brought into the city. Not 
 only was the sale of salt considered and car- 
 ried on as a ducal monopoly, but also the 
 sale of bread, flour, and other necessaries of 
 life; and the maintenance of this law was en- 
 forced with such strictness that one neighbor 
 hardly ever dared lend any thing of the kind 
 to another. Even noblemen were extremely 
 limited in the exercise of the chase; and 
 the severity with which every transgression of 
 this kind was punished is proved by the fact 
 that, on one day, six of these gentlemen were 
 hanged in the market-place, with dead pheas- 
 ants at their feet. 
 
CHILDREN— TASSO, 223 
 
 Alphonso lived in almost continual hostility 
 and strife with the Duke of Tuscany. Nor 
 was he on the best terms with his liege lord, 
 the Pope. He sought protection against his 
 enemies in Italy by an alliance with the Em- 
 peror of Germany. He went to Germany 
 several times, with a splendid cortege ; and, 
 in the year 1566, he rendered valuable assist- 
 ance to the emperor against the Turks. He 
 also made Ferrara one of the strongest forti- 
 fications in Italy. In his wrath, he spared 
 neither high nor low. A gentleman named 
 Gonzaga had been murdered; and every one 
 accused a young nobleman by the name of 
 Ercole Contrario of having instigated the 
 crime, for the reason that the perpetrator 
 found hospitable reception in his house. The 
 duke demanded the surrender of the crimi- 
 nal, and young Contrario dared not disobey. 
 Fearful of being betrayed by the murderer, 
 he had him murdered, and delivered up his 
 corpse. Alphonso did not for a moment con- 
 
224 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 sider that the family of Contrario belonged to 
 one of the most wealthy and powerful houses 
 of the land, and that Ercole was its very last 
 scion. He gave orders for the latter to come 
 to his court. Scarcely, however, had Ercole 
 entered the ducal palace before he was again 
 borne out, a corpse. The duke maintained 
 that he was suddenly seized with apoplexy, in 
 the course of their conversation, and fell down 
 dead. Traces of violence were, notwithstand- 
 ing, perceived on the body. 
 
 No one, especially among the courtiers, 
 dared to contradict Alphonso. The most tri- 
 fling matter would often result in the loss of 
 favor with the duke. One of the most cel- 
 ebrated preachers of his time, Panigarola, 
 whom the duke had brought to Ferrara at 
 great expense, was banished, without hesita- 
 tion, because he had entered into some nego- 
 tiations with another prince. Fondness for 
 the arts and sciences, which for a long time 
 had been a characteristic of the members 
 
CHILDREN— TASSO. 22$ 
 
 of the house of Este, was not wanting in 
 Alphonso. He made great exertions, in order 
 to prove himself a patron and protector of 
 celebrated men, and to be famed and flat- 
 tered by them in their writings. His younger 
 brother, Luigi, who had become a cardinal at 
 an early age, and had received many ecclesi- 
 astical prebends, among which was the bish- 
 opric of Auch, in France, imitated his elder 
 brother in these nobler endeavors; but he 
 was, also, not free from failings similar to 
 those of Alphonso. 
 
 The two sisters, Lucretia and Leonore, were 
 devotedly attached to one another and to their 
 brother. They constituted, by the purity of 
 their morals and whole life, a striking contrast 
 to the dissolute life of the other courtiers. 
 Otherwise, they were very different from each 
 other. Lucretia manifested more thought and 
 reflection ; Leonore more emotion. The for- 
 mer was more a woman of the world than her 
 sister, and more susceptible to the homage 
 '5 
 
226 REJVATA OF ESTE. 
 
 and flattery which were bestowed upon her 
 by her admirers, Leonore,- on the contrary, 
 had so little taste for the joys of the world 
 that she did not wish to make her appearance 
 even at the marriage festivities of her brother. 
 She lived in retirement, studying first the old 
 poets and then the new. However much, in 
 other respects, she had inherited her mother's 
 traits of character, s]ie ever remained quite 
 free from her Protestant opinions. The Cath- 
 olic religion, with its imposing ceremonial, was 
 particularly agreeable to her mind; and she, 
 as well as all her sisters and brothers, had 
 been educated with all care in this respect. 
 Among the courtiers, she was almost wor- 
 shiped as a saint. The saving of the city 
 from a dangerous inundation was ascribed to 
 her prayers. 
 
 Torquato Tasso, the poet, who was then 
 only twenty-one years of age, came to the 
 court of Ferrara in October, 1561. He had 
 already gained some celebrity by his heroic 
 
CHILDREN— TASSO, 22/ , 
 
 poem, "Rinaldo." Cardinal Luigi had re- 
 ceived him as a courtier. He was already- 
 engaged upon his famous epic, "Jerusalem 
 Delivered/' Soon after his arrival in Ferrara, 
 the poet, as might be expected, became inti- 
 mately acquainted with the two princesses. 
 Both of them were of an age when, especially 
 in Italy, feminine attractions had passed the 
 time of bloom. Lucretia had reached her 
 thirty-second year, and Leonore her thirtieth. 
 Alphonso manifested great friendship and con- 
 descension toward Tasso ; because he hoped 
 that he would contribute greatly toward in- 
 creasing the splendor of Ferrara and the fame 
 of the house of Este. 
 
 The more Tasso ascended in the favor of 
 the illustrious brothers and sisters, the more 
 busy was envy to estrange the hearts of others 
 from him. Tasso may, in some measure, have 
 caused an unfavorable opinion of himself by 
 his somewhat arrogant nature. Ariosto, the 
 poet of " Orlando Furioso," was residing in 
 
228 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 Ferrara, where he had for a long time lived in 
 high esteem. The young poet did not conceal 
 his desire of surpassing his predecessor ; and 
 all his expressions betrayed the consciousness 
 that he was certain of a favorable result. Per- 
 haps, also, the gay courtiers and other people 
 of the world, of whom there were not a few in 
 Ferrara, found no special pleasure in the moral 
 earnestness which appeared in the writings 
 and the whole conduct of Tasso ; so that the 
 number of those who were more inimical than 
 friendly to Tasso was not small. 
 
 Giovanni Battista Pigna, secretary and his- 
 torian of the house of Este, lived at the court 
 of the duke. He was much beloved, and pos- 
 sessed great influence. This man was, there- 
 fore, jealous of Tasso, since the latter, as a 
 star of the first magnitude, threw his inferior 
 political fame, of which he was somewhat vain, 
 far into the shade. His jealousy was still 
 greater when he saw that Tasso was not in- 
 different to a young lady, Lucretia Bendidio, 
 
CmLDREN-'TASSO. 229 
 
 to whom he gave his homage. Even the Prin- 
 cess Leonore suggested to Tasso that it would 
 be prudent in him to try and pacify his op- 
 ponent by some friendly words, and thereby 
 diminish, if possible, the unpleasant feeling 
 which was existing between them. Tasso fol- 
 lowed her advice. In the year 1570, the elder 
 of the princesses, Lucretia, was married to 
 the son of the Duke of Urbino. Tasso made 
 known his sympathy with the joyful event by 
 a special wedding poem. While he mourned 
 her departure, we can not say that a specially 
 sensible void had been produced in his life. 
 
 In the following year, the Cardinal Luigi 
 made a journey to France, where, on account 
 of his position as Archbishop of Auch, he had 
 much business to attend to. Tasso, as his 
 courtier, was obliged to follow him. The cir- 
 cumstances of Tasso could not have been very 
 favorable, or he was a very bad manager. 
 We read in the orders which he made before 
 his journey, that he pawned some articles of 
 
230 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 clothing with a Jew for twenty-five lires, and 
 to another a carpet for thirteen scudi. He 
 made the necessary disposition in regard to 
 his poem, as well as his possessions, in case 
 he should die before his return. It is of par- 
 ticular interest to us to learn that he remarked 
 to the friends whom he appointed as his ex- 
 ecutors, that if any difficulties should be 
 placed in the way of the carrying out of his 
 orders, they might appeal to the Princess 
 Leonore, who, he knew, would not, out of 
 love for him, refuse to render any assistance 
 necessary. 
 
 At Paris, the connection between the poet 
 and his master. Cardinal Luigi, was dissolved, 
 for some unknown reason ; but not long after- 
 ward we find Tasso again in the service of 
 Duke Alphonso. His enemies had not yet 
 succeeded in entirely withdrawing from him 
 the favor of the duke. The sisters may have 
 had some influence in bringing about his re- 
 turn, and procuring him a friendly reception. 
 
CHILDREN— TASSO. 23 1 
 
 He could now proceed with his epic with fresh 
 courage and inspiration. He made some prog- 
 ress, although not to the extent and with the 
 rapidity which the duke wished and hoped. 
 The poet went deliberately to work, and would 
 not allow himself to be often interrupted with 
 other poetical work. On the death of Alphon- 
 so's first wife, he was obliged to fulfill his duty 
 as court poet. He also finished, about this 
 time, a pastoral drama, entitled, "Amyntas." 
 He did not wish to publish this work for sev- 
 eral reasons, and had it represented only in 
 Ferrara. 
 
 Lucretia wished to become acquainted with 
 this new proof of her friend's poetical genius. 
 Tasso, therefore, with the permission of the 
 duke, was compelled to comply with the invi- 
 tation, and repair with his manuscript to Pe- 
 saro. The poet remained for several months 
 with his former patroness, and was affection- 
 ately welcomed by the entire ducal court. As 
 the duchess was obliged to accompany her 
 
232 RENATA OP ESTE, 
 
 husband to an estate where he could enjoy- 
 himself in hunting and fishing, she entreated 
 Tasso to go with them as a companion. In 
 the Autumn he returned to Ferrara, taking 
 with him many expensive presents which he 
 had received. 
 
 In the following Spring, the "Jerusalem De- 
 livered" progressed so far that a poet less exact 
 and critical would have published it without 
 further labor ; but Tasso wished first to hear 
 the judgment of an experienced friend, and 
 therefore sent his work to his patron, Scipio 
 Gonzaga, at Rome, in order that he might read 
 it through with the eye of a critic, and allow 
 other persons of education and taste to do the 
 same. The opinions of these critics were very 
 different, so that Tasso continually became 
 more uneasy and hesitating. His mind seemed 
 much affected by their decisions; and from 
 this time forth he lost all confidence in him- 
 self, and became distrustful of others. He 
 had written several letters to his friends in 
 
CHILDREN-'TASSO. 233 
 
 Rome, and because they were not promptly 
 received, he entertained the suspicion that 
 they had been intercepted on the way, for the 
 purpose of being used to his disadvantage. 
 
 Duke Alphonso noticed, to his great grief, 
 the altered tone of the poet's mind, and ex- 
 erted himself in order to dissipate his mistrust 
 and make him cheerful again. He invited 
 him to read the poem in his presence, and 
 conversed as much as possible with him. He 
 also allowed him to accompany him to his 
 villa of Belriguardo. r 
 
 All this attention, however, seemed to 
 cheer him but for a short time ; even the 
 return home of the Princess Lucretia pro- 
 duced no essential improvement. She made 
 repeated efforts to dissipate his sadness, but 
 his grief could not be appeased permanently. 
 He longed to go to Rome, that he might have 
 an understanding with his critics. The duke 
 gave his consent unwillingly to this journey. 
 But Tasso was not to be moved from his inten- 
 
234 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 tion ; he could not feel comfortable in his ex- 
 isting situation, since he thought that he was 
 surrounded by enemies. His greatest desire 
 was to be placed in other relations, and the 
 most agreeable to him would have been a free 
 and independent position in Rome. 
 
 Alphonso looked forward with impatience 
 to the finishing and publication of the much- 
 discussed epic, and feared that if Tasso were 
 allowed to leave before that took place, he 
 would omit all those places which had refer- 
 ence to the house of Este, and thus rob him 
 of his anticipated fame. He reluctantly gave 
 the desired permission ; but from that hour 
 there remained an incurable wound in his 
 relations to the poet. Unfortunately, Tasso's 
 residence in Rome did not improve his state 
 of mind. Oral explanations produced no bet- 
 ter understanding between him and his critics. 
 To add to the embarrassment of the poet, he 
 was undecided as to whether he should return 
 to Ferrara or not. His conscience dictated 
 
CHILDREN— TASSO, 235 
 
 that he ought not to leave the ducal court 
 before the publication of his epic. He also 
 felt linked to Ferrara by invisible bonds, or 
 he would have chosen Florence for a resi- 
 dence, where he had received assurances that 
 he would have a friendly reception. 
 
 Tasso, moreover, was troubled with religious 
 doubts and scruples. He returned again to 
 Ferrara, and was received in the most friendly 
 manner by his former patrons and patronesses. 
 About this time a young lady, Leonore San- 
 vitale, the wife of Count Scandiano, created 
 much excitement in the city on account of 
 her amiability and intellectual talents. Tasso 
 also was captivated by her lovely appearance, 
 and, of all the admirers of this lady, he was 
 fortunate in receiving the most attention. In 
 this, as might be expected, he aroused the 
 envy and antagonism of the other admirers, 
 but his imagination greatly increased the 
 number. He fancied that, on all sides, there 
 were intentions and designs to injure him. 
 
236 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 On setting out on a journey to Modena, he 
 delivered all the keys of his apartments to a 
 court attendant, with the exception of that 
 belonging to the one in which he kept his 
 books and private papers. On his return, he 
 instantly saw that this room had been opened. 
 His melancholy now became more profound 
 and perceptible. The Princess Leonore took 
 an affectionate interest in the unfortunate 
 poet, and begged him to accompany her to 
 the beautiful villa of Consandoli, eighteen 
 miles from Ferrara. This residence had a 
 good influence on the poet, so that he re- 
 turned to Ferrara invigorated in spirit. An 
 aggravating event occurred about this time 
 which greatly increased his depression of 
 spirits. It was said that he had intrusted 
 his secrets to a man whose faithfulness then 
 appeared beyond suspicion. This individual, 
 however, betrayed his confidence, and so ex- 
 cited his anger that he called him to the 
 ducal palace to give an account of himself. 
 
CHILDREN-- TASSO. 237 
 
 Tasso so far forgot himself as to attack this 
 friend, and give him a blow. The latter did 
 not venture, however, to challenge the poet 
 on the spot, but afterward offered to fight a 
 duel with him. 
 
 When Tasso had repaired to the appointed 
 place, and the duel had commenced, three 
 brothers of his opponent appeared and at- 
 tacked him. According to another account, 
 it did not come to a challenge at all ; but the 
 false friend, some days after he had been 
 attacked, came, with his brothers, and grasped 
 the poet ; but the latter defended himself 
 so bravely that the assassins were obliged 
 to flee. 
 
 This incident remained without further con- 
 sequence. The duke did not appear to be 
 particularly angry; at least the report that he 
 was the cause of Tasso's imprisonment is not 
 corroborated by history. On the contrary, he 
 at that time gave the poet especial proof of 
 his good-will, from which it is evident that 
 
238 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 the ducal family had not been unpleasantly 
 concerned in the discovered secret. 
 
 It was very painful for the poet to learn 
 that his epic had been printed, in several 
 Italian cities, without his knowledge. He 
 thought that it required much improvement 
 before being presented to the public, and saw 
 himself, besides, robbed of considerable pecu- 
 niary compensation. His depression of mind 
 increased from day to day, and he could not 
 banish the fear of being poisoned or murdered. 
 All friendly admonition of the duke and his 
 sisters failed of effect. One day he went into 
 the apartment of the Duchess of Urbino, and 
 attacked, with a drawn dagger, one of her 
 servants, whom he suspected of preparing 
 snares for him. The duke had the poet im- 
 prisoned, to prevent further mischief; but, 
 after a few days, he again set him at liberty, 
 Tasso promising that he would allow him- 
 self to be thoroughly treated by a physician. 
 The duke evidently took much interest in 
 
CHILDREN— TASSO, 239 
 
 the unhappy man. He also influenced him to 
 appear before the Inquisition, in order to put 
 his mind at rest with respect to his orthodoxy. 
 
 Tasso was not willing to keep his promise, 
 and undergo a thorough medical treatment, 
 for fear that poison would be administered 
 with his medicine, and that he would be for- 
 bidden the use of wine, which he loved so 
 much. He wrote to the duke in such a man- 
 ner that the latter felt himself insulted, and 
 forbade the poet to write again to himself or 
 his sisters. Tasso then gave up to despair, 
 and in this state of mind fled to his sister in 
 Sorrento, without money, without his cloth- 
 ing, and without his manuscripts. 
 
 After a while, he reproached himself most 
 bitterly for leaving his former patrons and 
 friends in so imprudent a manner. He wrote 
 to the duke and to his sisters, but only re- 
 ceived an answer from Leonore, and such a 
 one as to inspire him with but little hope. 
 Notwithstanding this, he resolved to return 
 
240 RENATA OF ESTE, 
 
 to Ferrara, and to approach the ducal family 
 with confidence. Alphonso granted his plea 
 for a reconciliation, although on the repeated 
 condition that Tasso should submit to thor- 
 ough medical treatment. 
 
 After a short time, the old disposition re- 
 turned, and, indeed, with all the more force, 
 since his manuscripts were refused him. The 
 duke feared that if he delivered them up the 
 poet would immediately leave the city. His 
 suspicions were correct ; for, not long after- 
 ward, Tasso escaped secretly, like a fugitive, 
 without even his manuscripts. He repaired, 
 after fruitless wanderings, to the court of the 
 Duke of Savoy, at Turin ; but nowhere could 
 he find the desired rest. A secret magnet 
 drew him back to Ferrara. His arrival there 
 occurred just when every body was busy with 
 the festivities incident to the reception of the 
 second wife of the duke. No one in the 
 whole court troubled himself about the unbid- 
 den guest. Indeed, after the festivities were 
 
CHILDREN— TASSO, 24 1 
 
 over, he did not receive that attention he had 
 expected. He was filled with indignation, and 
 did not know how to control himself, so that 
 he uttered many invectives against the duke 
 and the ducal family, and revoked the eulogies 
 on them which he had distributed through his 
 poem. The consequence was that the duke 
 had him placed in the Hospital of St. Anne, 
 in which persons were kept who were of in- 
 sane mind. 
 
 Here he was confined for several years, 
 and, indeed, during the early part of the 
 period, in the closest manner. The principal 
 of the hospital, Augostino Mosti, indulged a 
 personal prejudice against Tasso, and with- 
 held from him even such comforts as he 
 might otherwise have afforded him without 
 hesitation. 
 
 Some time afterward, the poet was again 
 
 allowed to use ink and paper, according to 
 
 his wish. He wrote affecting letters to the 
 
 duke, wherein he begged most urgently to be 
 16 
 
242 REN ATA OF ESTE. 
 
 restored to liberty ; but an answer was never 
 vouchsafed to him. Some poems, also, which 
 he sent to the princesses, were without suc- 
 cess. The intercession of other princes to 
 whom Tasso appealed were of as little effect 
 toward his release. The same answer was 
 always given, "That he was only detained 
 for the cure of his mental derangement, and 
 would be set at liberty as soon as that 
 occurred." The letters and poems which he 
 wrote at this time manifest that this alleged 
 derangement had no real existence. 
 
 In the year 1580, Tasso received a better 
 room, in which he could move about more 
 freely, and could employ himself with litera- 
 ture. Later, he obtained permission to go 
 out and visit some friends in the city; yet 
 he remained virtually a prisoner, and it is not 
 to be wondered at that his health became 
 much impaired, and that his melancholy 
 increased. On the 6th of July, 1586, the 
 unhappy poet again received the liberty of 
 
CHILDREN-^TASSO. 243 
 
 which he had so long been deprived. The 
 Duke of Modena, whose sister Alphonso had 
 married, had given his brother-in-law the 
 promise that no one should have any thing 
 to fear from him. Tasso traveled from Fer- 
 rara in company with his liberator, without, 
 as he wished, having had a farewell audience 
 of the ducal family. 
 
 We can not follow the poet on his long 
 wanderings. We can only say that he re- 
 mained in no place long, as he could not find 
 the rest he sought. Death overtook him on 
 the 25th of April, 1595, at Rome, where he 
 was soon to have received the honor of being 
 crowned with laurel. 
 
 It only remains for us now to answer 
 the question, because it so nearly concerns 
 the family of Este, What was the reason 
 of the long imprisonment of the poet, and in 
 what relation did he stand to his princely 
 patrons, especially to the two sisters, Lucre- 
 tia and Leonore.? The opinion is almost 
 
244 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 universal that Tasso ardently loved Leonore, 
 and that this attachment was the cause of the 
 anger of the duke and the harshness resulting 
 from it. Goethe has followed this view in his 
 drama, and, we think, for reasons that are not 
 to be underrated. 
 
 The first biographer of the poet, Manso, 
 a contemporary and acquaintance of Tasso, 
 hints at this relationship. Shortly afterward, 
 we find in several poems allusions to this cir- 
 cumstance. In an allegorical comedy, which 
 appeared five years after the above-mentioned 
 biography, the poet is presented to the muse 
 Calliope, and reference is made to Tasso's 
 ardent affection for Leonore. In a novel 
 which was published in Venice, in the year 
 1662, it is remarked that the emperor him- 
 self had solicited the hand of the Princess 
 Leonore, and that she gave a refusal, because 
 Tasso had expressed his despair in a poem 
 concerning her removal. This was the secret 
 which Tasso intrusted to his false friend, and 
 
CHILDREN— TASSO, 245 
 
 the discovery of which occasioned so much 
 strife. 
 
 An ItaUan historian of the last century, 
 Muratori, who occupied himself specially with 
 the history of the family of Este, relates that, 
 when a youth, he had heard from the Abbot 
 Frarizesko Caraffa, of Modena, the following: 
 " One day when Tasso was in company with the 
 duke and the two sisters, and had approached 
 Leonore, in order to answer a question, he 
 manifested more than ordinary affection for 
 her. The duke quietly and discreetly turned 
 to the persons present and said: 'See what a 
 great misfortune! So great a man has be- 
 come deranged!' In order to withdraw him 
 from worse treatment, he had him placed in 
 the hospital of St. Anne.'* 
 
 While we dare not ignore this statement 
 altogether, there are, nevertheless, many things 
 which contradict it. How is it to be explained 
 that such a report did not get abroad earlier.^ 
 How can we believe that the many enemies 
 
246 REN ATA OF ESTE, 
 
 of the poet did not hear of this fact; and, 
 if they did hear it, how could they remain 
 silent ? 
 
 We doubt, therefore, after calm considera- 
 tion and examination, much that was said and 
 written. Still w^e do not agree with those who 
 deny the existence of any attachment between 
 the poet and the princess. Leonore was cer- 
 tainly ten years older than Tasso, and was in 
 her thirtieth year w^hen she became acquainted 
 with him, and in her forty-second year when 
 Tasso was placed in the hospital. 
 
 This poet, with all his humility and mod- 
 esty, possessed so much self-consciousness and 
 poetical pride that he could not consider it 
 presumption to make a princess the object of 
 his affections. It is true that he must have 
 been drawn to Ferrara by some powerful at- 
 traction. Otherwise, he would hardly have 
 despised the well-intended and well-grounded 
 advice of discreet friends, and continually re- 
 turned to this city. 
 
CHILDREN'-TASSO, 247 
 
 His poems prove unmistakably that he had 
 chosen Leonore as the object of his love, and 
 some passages point undeniably to the prin- 
 cess. In conclusion, we must not forget that 
 on his journey to Paris he expressed to his 
 friend that Leonore would, out of love for him, 
 give her aid in carrying out his last will and 
 testament We do not believe, however, that 
 any formal and mutual declaration of attach- 
 ment had taken place. His enemies certainly 
 would not have allowed this opportunity of 
 injuring him to pass by unimproved, if they 
 had had the slightest suspicion of such a 
 relation. 
 
 The conduct of the poet toward the duke, 
 when he returned from Turin to Ferrara, is 
 given as the reason of his imprisonment. 
 Tasso alleges, as the cause of much of his 
 unhappiness, the insulting expressions which 
 he had used against the duke; and, in his 
 letters out of prison, he begs Alphonso to 
 pardon all his misgivings in this respect. In 
 
248 RENA TA OF ESTE, 
 
 several of his poems, he complains of his 
 anger, which had urged him on to ruin. 
 
 If we enumerate the many cruelties which 
 the duke permitted to be exercised toward 
 high and low during his reign, we will con- 
 sider the severity with which he treated Tasso 
 as a procedure quite in harmony with his 
 character. 
 
 Leonore died before Tasso gained his free- 
 dom. Her death occurred on the loth of 
 February, 1581, apparently of consumption. 
 No poem on her death, from Tasso's pen, is 
 known to have been written. The princess 
 spent the evening of her life in great retire- 
 ment, and won for herself, by reason of her 
 piety, a kind of saintliness. Her whole life 
 and endeavors were directed to things high 
 and heavenly. 
 
 Lucretia survived her sister, and was a 
 woman of great spirit until her death. When 
 her brother Alphonso died, in 1594, without 
 an heir, she placed hinderances, as far as she 
 
CHILDREN— TASSO, 249 
 
 could, in the way of the succession of her 
 step-Uncle, Caesar of Este, and supported the 
 efforts of the Pope to make Ferrara a Papal 
 fief. Caesar was obliged to be satisfied with 
 Modena. 
 
 Anna, the eldest daughter of Renata, after 
 the murder of her first husband, married his 
 brother Jacob, Duke of Aumale. She was at 
 enmity with the Huguenots ; for she consid- 
 ered them all as participants in the murder 
 of her husband. She was particularly angry' 
 with Admiral Coligny, who was unjustly 
 charged with having secretly incited the as- 
 sassination. It is said that she occasioned 
 the wounding of Coligny, but a short time 
 before his assassination. In her private life, 
 however, she was blameless, so that it could 
 be said that she had carefully guarded her 
 moral conduct as the best inheritance from 
 her mother and grandmother. 
 
 In the contest of the city of Paris against 
 Henry IV, she proved herself the opponent 
 
250 RENATA OF ESTE. 
 
 of the latter; for she urged the citizens to 
 resistance, and supported them, as far as she 
 could. She lived until 1607, gi'eatly esteemed 
 and almost adored by her friends. 
 
 Unprejudiced readers may be in doubt as 
 to whom to give the preference, to the mother 
 or the daughters. What they possessed of 
 goodness they owed to her, while their im- 
 perfections can, without much difficulty, be 
 attributed to another source. 
 
 We think Renata had judged the state of 
 things aright when, as a widow, she left Italy 
 and sought the land of her childhood and 
 youth. Would her son, whom we have not 
 seen from the most advantageous side, have 
 bestowed upon her as much respect and 
 allowed her as much freedom as she enjoyed 
 in France."^ Could she have quietly looked 
 on while her own son, as ruler, entirely lost 
 sight of all care for the well-being of his sub- 
 jects.^ and would there have existed between 
 her and her fanatically Catholic daughters 
 
CH1LDREN--TASS0. 2$ I 
 
 that unity which there should be between 
 mother and daughter? 
 
 Ariosto, however, has interwoven into his 
 epic the following in honor of Renata: 
 
 "For every virtue that hath woman graced, 
 Since fire hath warmed or water hath made wet, 
 Or the heavens have arched above us, I see 
 Adorn Renata, with her sister choir." 
 
 Another Catholic writer says of the duch- 
 ess: "She was adorned with all manner of 
 accomplishments, and stands in history as a 
 clear and shining light; but as, in paintings, 
 light is rendered more conspicuous by shade, 
 so the virtues of the duchess become more 
 prominent by the shade of her heresy. That 
 was the only fault which it has been possible 
 to perceive in her." 
 
 But we, as Protestants, consider this failing 
 as a virtue. We have recorded some weak- 
 nesses in her character; but we must remem- 
 ber her circumstances and the times in which 
 she lived. Let him who can boast that he 
 
252 
 
 RENA TA OF ESTE, 
 
 has done better under similar circumstances 
 be the one to cast the first stone! We feel 
 that we can safely say of Renata, "The mem- 
 ory of the just is blessed!" 
 
 H kb\ 85 
 
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