36
ومه
The court of Anna Carafa
Mrs. Horace St. John
PKMICU

O. M. BARNES
LIBRARY.
No.
0000d

e.
aju
dxf

2012
ARTES
SCIENTIA
LIBRARY
VERITAS
OF THE
2 ou
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
TUE BOR
StOVERIS PENINSULAN-AMOL NAM
CLICUMSPICE
FROM THE LIBRARY OF
EDWARD A. BARNES
AB 1883
THE GIFT OF
MRS. BARNARD PIERCE
MRS. CARL HAESSLER
MRS. HOWARD LUCE
Miss MARGARET KNIGHT
CORO
DG
848.12
.S14
THE
COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
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ANSA CARAFA.
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THE
COURT OF ANNA CARAFA;
In Historical Narrative.
BY
Staffing
MRS. HORACE ROSCOE ST. JOHN.
AUTHOR OF “MASANIELLO OF NAPLES,"
AUDUBOX THE NATURALIST IN THE NEW WORLD," ETC.
WITH PORTRAIT.
LONDON:
TINSLEY BROTHERS, 18, CATHERINE ST., STRAND.
1872.
LONDON:
BRADBURY, EVANS, AND CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS
Library of
&, a. Paines
5-3-40
PRE FACE.
CERTAIN portions of the narrative contained in
the present volume are so strongly tinged with
an appearance of romance, that a doubt might
naturally arise as to their authenticity. The
entire record is, however, strictly based upon the
testimony afforded by the works of the standard
historians of Italy, together with those of the
,
③ 5-6-40 nm.
numerous chroniclers whose pages tell the fortune
of noble Italian families; while abundant informa-
tion respecting the former aspects, political and
social, of the Italian Peninsula, has been supplied
by the inexhaustible resources contained in the
Archivio Storico Italiano, which are as inestimable
in their relation to the History of Italy, as are
vi
PREFACE.
the State Papers to that of England. To all the
authorities mentioned, reference is made through-
out the ensuing pages.
In a concluding chapter, entitled “ Free Italy,"
while I have expressed my admiration for the
renowned Chief of the Cacciatori dell'Alpi, who
so nobly earned the title of the Italian Liberator, I
have been eager to do honour to other illustrious
men whose names are conspicuously associated with
the emancipation of Italy.
The portrait of Anna Carafa, which forms the
frontispiece to this volume, is from a choice and
authentic miniature by an artist eminent in the art
of portrait painting, Mr. Charles Mercier.
SYDENHAM,
March 19th.
CONTENT S.
CHAPTER I,
PAGE
The Palace of the Syrens—Traditions connected with it-Its
Inhabitants-Roberto Bonifacio, Marquis of Oria-Anec-
dote of the Emperor Charles the Fifth-The Palace
bought by the Ravaschieri—Sold to Luigi Carafa, first
Prince of Stigliano and Duke of Mondragone-The Palace
inherited by Anna, Princess of Stigliano—The Palace
partially destroyed by Earthquake in 1686–Its Restora-
tion by Carlo Mirelli— Inscription on the Eastern Gate
1
.
CHAPTER II.
Origin of the Family of Carafa-Armorial Bearings—Joanna I.
of Naples-Her Character-Pandolfo Alapo—The Count
de la Marche, husband of Queen Joanna-Execution of
Alapo—Conduct of Joanna-Its effect on Naples-Ser-
gianni Caracciolo, Grand Seneschal of the Kingdom-
Sforza, his Rival-Imprisonment of the Count de la
Marche by Caracciolo-Power of the Grand Seneschal-
Siege of Naples by Louis of Anjou— Disorders in the
Capital — Joanna's Appeal to Pope Martin the Fifth-
Malizia Carafa His Mission to the Court of Rome-
Policy of the Pope-Alphonso I. of Aragon-Cavaniglia,
his Agent--Alphonso the ally of the Queen-She nomi-
nates him her Successor—Jealousy of Caracciolo – His
Intrigues--Conduct of Joanna-Covella Ruffa, Duchess
-
viii
CONTENTS.
PAGE
of Sessa — Conspiracy against Caracciolo-His Assassi-
nation- Loyalty of Malizia Carafa to the House of
Aragon-Death of Malizia
17
.
CHAPTER III.
Diomed Carafa, Count of Maddaloni — Entrance of Alphonso
of Aragon into Naples-Conduct of the King-Campaigns
of Alphonso-- Victories of Diomed-Elenora, Duchess of
Ferrara - Diomed at the Court of Ferrara-Death of
Alphonso—Accession of Ferdinand, the “ Fox of Aragon”
- Origin of the Barons' War-Antonelli Petrucci--Fran-
cesco Coppola—The Barons' War favoured by Pope Inno-
cent-Demonstration in favour of Don Frederick—Treaty
of Peace - Fate of Petrucci and Coppola — Wealth of
Diomed Carafa — The Count's “Palace of the Bronze
Horse"--Anecdotes-Death of Count Dicmed of Madda-
loni .
48
CHAPTER IV.
Ferdinand the Catholic of Spain-Scheme for the Partition of
the Neapolitan Kingdom - Gonsalvo di Cordova first
Viceroy of Naples-Nature of Viceregal Rule-Municipal
Institutions-Confusion of the Laws-Forfeiture of Political
Rights-Influence of Spanish Rule on Finance-Condi-
tion of the Feudal Lords—Ecclesiastical Authority — In-
trigues of the Popes—Licence of their Lives—Cardinal
(arafa-Father Paul
. 72
-
.
CHAPTER V.
Descendants of Diomed, Count of Maddaloni-Gian Pietro
Carafa, or Pope Paul IV.-Diversity of Opinion respect-
ing his Character — His Visit to the Court of Spain-
Ferdinand the Catholic-Council of Ecclesiastics—Gian
Pietro elected Cardinal-Succeeds to the Papacy in 1555
-Paul's Hatred of the Spaniards-His Policy–The Duke
of Alva Viceroy of Naples--Measures taken by the Popo
CONTENTS.
ix
PICE
-
Camillo Colonna - Cardinal Carafa at the Court of
France-The Duke of Guise—Joins Paul's Conspiracy
against the Spaniards—Military Preparations at Rome-
Measures taken by the Imperialists—Alva's Tactics—War
declared in September, 1556–Victories of Alva-Disorders
at Rome-Renewal of Hostilities—Siege of St. Quentin-
Surrender of the Town—Triumph of Spain-Philip the
Second and the Emperor Charles the Fifth
86
CHAPTER VI.
Alva at the gates of Rome-His retreat-Alva's visit to the
Vatican—Peace concluded at Cave, 1557–Negotiations
concerning Palliano-Paul's change of feeling towards
the three brothers Carafa—Their conduct—Edicts issued
by the Pope-He rebukes the College of Cardinals-His
severity towards his nephews-Banishment of the Carafas
--Accusations made against them-Death of Paul-Re-
turn of the brothers Carafa to Rome-Their arrest and
imprisonment–The Indictment-Alessandro Palantiere-
Execution of the brothers Carafa
117
CHAPTER VII.
Luigi Carafa, first Prince of Stigliano-Roberto Carafa—Edu-
cation of the Prince-His Marriage with Isabella Gonzaga
-Her rich Inheritance-Antonio, Son of the Prince-
Elena Aldobrandini, his Bride-Dowry of Elena—Luigi
inhabits the Syrens' Palace—Death of his Three Sons-
Luigi enters a Monastery-Anna Carafa his sole Heiress
-Her Youth and Beauty-Italian Women of the Seven-
teenth Century-Conventional Education-Social condi-
tion of Naples.
· 139
.
CHAPTER VIII.
Anna Carafa's suitors — Their claims to favour-Don Taddeo
Barberini - Diomed Carafa, Duke of Maddaloni-His cha-
racter–The Duke of Modena-Fortune-hunters_Visit of
х
CONTENTS.
PAGE
the Duke of Nocera to Naples — Ciccio Loffredi Ilis
passion for the Princess-His banishment by the Viceroy
— The Marquis Castelvetre—His rivalry with Don Diomed
-Entertainments of the nobles—Visits of Royal rereon-
ages to Naples-A love chase-Anna's preference for her
cousin Diomed-His conduct.
157
.
CHAPTER IX.
Jealousy respecting the Marriage of the Princess-Wishes of
her Relatives-- The Duke of Alva and the Constable of
Navarre-Count Olivares, Minister of Philip the Fourth
of Spain-Count Olivares, surnamed the "Masked Nero”
-Character of the Minister–His Education-Made Rector
of Salamanca–His Appointment in the Royal Household
of Spain--First Acts of his Administration–The Duke of
Ossuna-Public Measures—Splendour of the Court at
Madrid-Distress of the Spanish People—External Mag-
nificence of the Spanish Empire in the Seventeenth Cen-
tury-Its Degeneracy within-Influence of Olivares-
The Count and Richelieu-Declaration of War--Revolu-
tion in Catalonia and Portugal-Conduct of Olivares to-
wards the Insurgents-Mismanagement in the Adminis-
tration-Decline of the King's Regard for the Count,
Isabella, Consort of King Philip IV.—Her Counsel to the
King-The Infanta of Savoy-Her Visit to Madrid-Dis-
content of the Spaniards—Dismissal of Olivares from
Office- Anecdotes-Departure of the Count-Don Filippo
de Gusman, Son-in-law of Olivares-Death of Don
Filippo's Wife-Machinations of the Spanish Minister
with respect to the Marriage of Anna Carafa
178
.
CHAPTER X.
Arrival of the Duke of Medina in Naples-His presents to the
Princess Carafa—Reception of the Duke at the Syrens'
Palace-Marriage of the Duke and the Princess Carafa-
CONTENTS.
xi
PAGE
Correspondence of Olivares and Count Monterey-Des-
patches—Consternation at the Syrens' Palace—Death of
the Princess Isabella Gonzaga-Her affection for the Duke
of Medina-His appointment as Viceroy-Departure of
Monterey—Delight of the populace--Policy of the Duke
of Medina-Disorders during his Administration-Dissen-
sions of the Ecclesiastical and Temporal Powers . 207
CHAPTER XI.
The Duchess of Medina's Court at the Syrens' Palace-Taste
for Theatrical Entertainments-Balls and Masques-In-
fluence of Spain on Drama at Naples—Espionage of
Dramatic Literature under Philip the Second-Encourage-
ment of the Drama by his Successors-Lope de Vega,
Heroic Dramas, and Dramas of the Cloak and Sword-
Cervantes-Sacred Comedies, or Mysteries—Their Origin
and Development–Their Adoption in Italy—Their Repre-
sentation in France and England-Their Degeneracy-
The Passsion Play
. 228"
CHAPTER XII.
Feudalism in Southern Italy–Benefits of Feudalism in Early
Ages-Oppression of “Free Men" under the Feudal
System-Its rapid Development, and Deterioration in
later Times--Tyranny of Feudal Lords-Edict of Charles
the Fifth-Emancipation of Towns-Abuses of Feudalism
in Naples-Feudal Commission under Murat-Arbitrary
Exercise of Feudal Rights by the Duchess of Medina 255
CHAPTER XIII.
The Duchess of Medina's Creditors—Contest in the Regio Col-
laterale—The Duchess appeals to King Philip the Fourth
-Lawsuit respecting Sabioneta—Triumph of the Duchess
_Her Chagrin at the Duke's Dismissal-Administration
of the Duke of Medina-Plot against Anna d'Acquaviva-
xii
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Her Rescue by Diomed, Duke of Maddaloni-Medina's
departure for Spain-Death of the Duchess of Medina at
Portici
281
CHAPTER XIV.
Free Italy
295
APPENDIX .
319
.
THE
COURT OF ANNA CARAFA:
AN HISTORICAL NARRATIVE.
CHAPTER I.
The Palace of the Syrens_Traditions connected with it-Its In-
habitants—Roberto Bonifacio, Marquis of Oria-Anecdote of
the Emperor Charles the Fifth— The Palace bought by the
Rayaschieri-Sold to Luigi Carafa, first Prince of Stigliano
and Duke of Mondragone—The Palace inherited by Anna,
Princess of Stigliano-The Palace partially destroyed by
Earthquake in 1686—Its Restoration by Carlo Mirelli-
Inscription on the eastern Gate.
To the left of the promontory of Posilippo rises
a group of rocks crowned by a building, which,
though ruinous and desolate, is significant of former
splendour. If we quit the busy life of the Chiaja
at Naples, and follow the continuance of this
charming roadway, which; bounded by hill and
sea, as it grows narrower and narrower, becomes
increasingly picturesque, we reach, by many a
winding of the road, a point commanding a view
B
2
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
of much that is magnificent, in addition to this
palatial ruin.
Cape Miseno and the islands of the Neapolitan
Bay, Procida, Ischia, the colossal rock of Capri, and
the little rugged island of Nisida that tempted
Henry of Guise to fatal enterprise-all these lend
their beauty to the sun-bright waters of Sicily and
Naples. In the midst of this radiant, verdant
scene, stands the mass of cliff known as the Syrens'
Rock—a fantastic title suggestive of the ill-omen
supposed to be connected with the spot. The rock
gives its name to the edifice erected on its summit,
which has been called the Palace of the Syrens,
those treacherous Graces of the sea whom tradition
has delighted to associate with the annals of
Naples.
The Palace of the Syrens, destined, notwithstand-
ing its magnificence of structure, to remain un-
finished, rests upon a strong sea-washed foundation,
as it was built in accordance with the fanciful plan
adopted by nobles of the Augustan age, who raised
their lofty mansions around the Gulf of Naples on
vaulted ranges of piles deeply sunk into the water,
either in order to avoid the costly expenditure of
THE PALACE OF THE SYRENS.
3
reclaiming for building purposes the unyielding soil
of the shore, or, more probably, to enjoy the luxu-
rious pleasure of listening to the ripple of the sea
around their wave-washed habitations. Of the
succession of palatial edifices, however, which once
covered the entire line of the bay, but little remains
to tell of the splendour that gratified the eyes of
patrician Romans. The caprice of the waves,
changing the coast-edge as they alternately ad-
vanced or receded, has swept away even the site of
those sea-girt palaces; while cypress avenues and
plane groves have, in obedience to modern require-
ment, given place to the lofty houses of the Chiaja.
Submarine ruins are the sole vestiges of those classic
structures which have vanished like the Enchanted
Palace in the vision of the painter of Lorraine. The
Lucullian luxury of the Neapolitan nobility repro-
duced in modern times those aquatic abodes; and
the commencement of the sixteenth century saw the
erection of the Syrens' Palace.
Somewhat more than a hundred years later, the
Duke of Medina, then Viceroy, anxious to excel the
aristocracy surrounding him, in the costliness of his
possessions, and to display a magnificence worthy
a
12
4
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
the united arms of Carafa, Gonzaga, Aragon, and
Gusman, commissioned Cosimo Fansaga, the most
distinguished architect of the time, to rebuild, on a
scale of greater splendour, the Palace of the Syrens.
Its artistic ruins bear testimony to the original genius
of Fansaga; for though the style adopted is marked by
an absence of the purest and highest principles of art,
it boasts the imposing massiveness and elaborate
adornment that imparted grandeur to the stately
structures of that age. .
The building, sea-surrounded on the south, east,
and west, is, on the northern side alone, con-
nected with the land by a roadway cut through
the mountain heights by which it is backed.
Square in form, it is somewhat less elevated at
the sides. A basement supports three storeys.
The central portion of the façade is marked by
three divisions, each containing three broad and
lofty arched windows alternating with smaller ones,
and with recesses enriched by statues. To east and
west the façade is ornamented in the same manner.
The ample windows convey a refreshing sense of
light and freedom; while the somewhat lower ex-
tremities of the building perpetuate the design.
THE PALACE OF THE SYRENS.
5
Adjoining, terraces once glittered with fountains
and sculpture. Certain features in the construc-
tion of the building are in striking accordance with
the peculiarity of its position and the fantastic
grace of this singular creation of the Middle
Ages. Three spacious gates, corresponding with
the three divisions of the façade, form entrances to
the lower portion of the palace; and here the sea
washes the marble steps of the Gondola Hall, where
visitors, alighting, ascended to the first floor of the
building. Spacious corridors, decorated with foliage,
flowers, and treasures of antique art, led to the first
series of saloons, and thence by broad flights of
marble stairs to the second series. In the midst of
this regal suite of rooms--two hundred in number
—the architect planned a vast hall communicating
with the entrance by land on the northern side. At
this point the rocky earth was made, through ad-
mirable dexterity, to succumb to the demands of
luxury, and a way was opened sufficiently spacious
to admit the entrance of carriages and horses into
the inner court or hall of the second storey.
In the very heart of the edifice, an ample arena
was devised to serve as a theatre, in order that,
6
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
without leaving the walls, its owners might indulge
their taste for histrionic display; for, amidst the
endless diversions in which Neapolitan lords and
ladies passed their time, none was the cause of such
infatuation, and the subject of so much scandal, as
theatrical entertainments.
There remains only the memory of that magnifi-
cence which once shed lustre on the halls and
saloons of the Syrens' Palace. The glittering and
courtly throngs who feasted with its occupants
have long since given place to the squalid aspects
of poverty. Vendors of maremma and frutti di
mare now make the outer portions of the building
their resort, while its reception-rooms have been
metamorphosed into a manufactory.
The Palace of the Syrens is, nevertheless, fraught
with a wild romance, and is most impressive, per-
haps, when seen by night, as the moon's rays,
glancing on its massive walls, irradiate its reflection
in the waters. Years since, while still desolate and
deserted, the screech of owls and the cry of other
night-birds, proceeding from the spot, aroused the
superstitious sense, and credence was given to
strange rumours associated with the tragic annals
THE PALACE OF THE SYRENS.
7
of this desolate abode, whence, it was said, the
clash of arms and the groans of women echoed
on the ear. Therefore did the Neapolitan at sea
by night, as he passed along the coast where the
Syrens hold sway, keep his little boat as far off
as he could from the dreaded walls, and, while
making the sign of the cross, invoke St. Januarius
and the beneficent Lady of Carmel.
Notwithstanding the fact that the Palace is
proved to have been the inheritance of Donna
Anna, of the house of Carafa, it is sometimes
referred to as having been the residence of Queen
Joanna; but whether the first or second royal
lady of the name that has gained so unenviable a
distinction in the history of Naples is not deter-
mined by repeaters of tradition. The most diligent
questioning with respect to the matter would doubt-
less elicit from the idle, incurious Neapolitans only
the inevitable “chi sa ?”* The vices and misfor-
tunes of both Joannas, and the lamentable effects
of their crimes upon the country over which they
ruled, constitute a sufficient reason why their me-
* Volpicella, “Discrizione Storica della Citta di Napoli,” pp.
116, 117.
8
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
mories should remain deeply fixed in the mind
of the people, if they have not other and better
cause to remember the haughty lady called-
through a vulgarism of the Southern tongue-
"Dognianna," by which is meant Donna Anna
Carafa. A variety of names is associated, however,
with the Palace, including those of the Sireni
Medina, the Mirelli, Teora, and Stigliano. What
is not to be learnt from the uncertainty of local
gossip we are enabled to accept upon the surer
ground of historical testimony, whence we discover
that the Palace of the Syrens passed at a certain date
into the hands of Luigi Carafa, and subsequently
to Donna Anna, whose name has thus become
linked with the spot.
(The Palace of the Syrens was, however, in exist-
ence more than a hundred years before the time
of its occupation by the ancestor of Anna Carafa ;
for at the beginning of the sixteenth century it was
inhabited by Roberto Bonifacio, Marquis of Oria,
a warlike retainer of that King Frederic, last and
best monarch of the dynasty of Aragon, who ruled
in Naples. The Marquis of Oria purchased also
Casal Nuovo and Francavilla, but was not long per-
THE PALACE OF THE SYRENS.
9
manner.
mitted to enjoy his good fortune. Denounced by
Philibert of Orange as a traitor after the siege of
Naples by Lautrec, he was outlawed, and his
estates were confiscated. They passed into the
hands of Giovanni d'Urbino. His untimely fate
first darkened the annals of the Syrens' Palace, the
shadows of which deepened as they advanced.
The estates forfeited by the Marquis of Oria
passed twice into the possession of others during
his banishment; and each succeeding occupant of
the palace died in a sudden and inexplicable
Did not the Syrens reign over a spot as
ill-fated as the wondrous Palace of Tears in the
Kingdom of the Black Isles ?
The Marquis of Oria was, however, an intrepid
man, a sturdy soldier-knight of the feudal days, by
no means superstitious, and very desirous of having
his confiscated property restored. He, therefore,
,
entreated the Emperor, Charles the Fifth, to allow
him to become once more the owner of the palace,
offering to pay the sum of twenty-five thousand
ducats. The Marquis, though little credulous him-
self, was sufficiently cunning to seek to play upon
whatever imaginative weakness lurked in the impe-
10
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
--
rial mind, and pleaded for the restitution of his
property, on the ground that “it might prove an
ill-omened possession to his majesty, since such
swift misfortune had visited its latest inmates."
The Emperor smiled at the transparent stratagem,
and, without declaring from what motive, restored
the estates. * The consideration of ducats, rather
than superstitious doubts, it is probable, induced
him to consent to the request of Bonifacio, whose
fortunes, notwithstanding his dauntlessness, were
sacrificed to the spell that hung over the Syrens'
Palace.
A fate as singular as it was melancholy awaited
the three sons of the Marquis of Oria. Dragonetto,
the eldest, a poet, and versed in the scientific and
literary lore of his time, was devoted to the study
of chemistry. At the age of twenty-one he had
obtained no inconsiderable repute for his noble
achievements and nobler aspirations, when he was
suddenly cut off. A victim to his love of science,
he was killed by the fumes of a poison he was
distilling in order to make an experiment.
Antonio Terminio da Contorsi, “Apologia di tre Seggi illustri
di Napoli," p. 59.
THE PALACE OF THE SYRENS.
11
Andrea, the second, endowed with rare beauty,
died in early youth.
Giovanni, the only remaining son, thus became
the inheritor of vast property. Giovanni united a
bold and speculative cast of mind with a decided
arrogance and audacity of moral nature. These
were dangerous characteristics, not without in-
fluence on his destiny. Absorbed in philosophic
researches, he avowed doctrines so wild as to gain
him the repute of Cagliostro. He was accordingly
shunned by devout Neapolitans as a renegade and
heretic. Entrenched in his palace, on the Rock of
the Syrens, he lived like Manfred, in solitude, but
surrounded with all the luxury of Sardanapalus.
Habitually haughty and reserved, his sole com-
panions and confidants were two Turkish slaves, at
whose instigation he relinquished his country and
his riches. Ere long he was deprived of the society
of both these dependents, one having married and
the other having died. Owing to the extravagance
of Giovanni's manners, and his contempt for all
civilised customs, he found it difficult to meet with
any one who would serve him. He was accustomed,
indeed, to prepare his own repasts, and might have
12
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
1
eggs and
been seen, during his fitful wanderings, bending over
the embers to prepare a simple meal of
milk, though usually his refreshment consisted of
dried fruits and vegetables, with water for his only
beverage. This singular man, by his own will made
poor and homeless, was insensible to the outer
world of action, having lost the stimulus natural to
healthy life, which would have prompted him to
take part in it. Wrapt in studious contemplation,
wherever he turned his pilgrim steps, his books
were at his side.
Another invariable accompaniment was a dog of
an aspect as extraordinary as his owner; and this
creature, pampered in its canine propensities, was
accustomed to bring the bones of animals and
refuse of the streets to devour upon his master's
bed. Giovanni's clothing was of the most scanty,
inexpensive kind. Poorly clad, emaciated in ap-
pearance, with long flowing beard and hair, this
aged man was seen to ramble forth, solitary with
the exception of his dog, and thus transformed
would scarcely have been recognised as the inhe-
ritor of lordly wealth. The character of Giovanni,
indeed, was marked by that infirmity of purpose
THE PALACE OF THE SYRENS.
13
a
not unfrequently united with perverse self-will. In
his aimless life he was unsettled everywhere, and
subsequently, either through a freak of his untamed
fancy or remorse for his profitless misdirected
career, he enrolled himself a pilgrim follower of the
Lutherans, and died in exile at Dantzig.* Gio-
vanni was the last representative of the Marquis of
Oria, and thus the Syrens' Palace again lapsed to
the imperial treasury. It was a curious and costly
gem, which comparatively few were sufficiently
affluent to secure.
A Genoese trader it was who,
by having preyed upon the resources of Naples, had
enriched himself at her expense, and was in a posi-
tion to occupy one of her most sumptuous abodes.
The Ravaschieri purchased the renowned Palace, but
sold it not long after, doubtless at an advantage to
themselves, to Prince Luigi Carafa of Stigliano-a
title which was conferred, together with Duke of
Mondragone, on Luigi's ancestor, Antonio Carafa.
Honours increased with the descendants of
Antonio. His great-grandson, Luigi, having dis-
tinguished himself in military service in Africa,
Italy, and the Low Countries, under the Emperor
. Scipione Ammirato, “Famiglie Nobili Napolitane," p. 378.
a
14
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
Charles the Fifth and his son Philip the Second,
was created a Knight of the Golden Fleece.
The repute of the Syrens' Palace still continued
to be justified by the doom that invariably attended
its inhabitants. Luigi was followed by ill-fortune
as relentless as its causes were incomprehensible.
His only son, Antonio, married Elena Aldobrandini,
afterwards the mother of three sons, all of whom
died at an early age. So terror-stricken was the
Prince of Stigliano at this fresh proof of the fate
which hung over the Syrens' Palace, that he fled
without delay from the spot. Incredulous of happi-
ness in the future after so many shocks of fortune,
he retired into a monastery.
The Palace of the
Syrens was again inhabited by one of the family of
Carafa, when Anna, granddaughter and sole heiress
of Prince Luigi, entered it as the newly wedded
wife of Ramiro Filippo de Gusman, subsequently
viceroy at Naples. Under his rule the court of the
Syrens' Palace was celebrated for its regal mag-
nificence and indulgence. The brief career of
tyranny and licence pursued by Ramiro Filippo de
Gusman, Duke of Medina de Las Torres, and his
wife, ended in misfortune, suffering, and flight; and
;
THE PALACE OF THE SYRENS.
15
the strange palace was once more left desolate.
The additional splendour which it had acquired
during the Duke of Medina's residence there, was
destroyed by earthquake in 1688. It was after-
wards purchased by the Prince of San Lorenzo, who
was a descendant of the lords of Stigliano. Thence
it passed into the hands of Carlo Mirelli, Marquis
of Calitre and Prince of Teora. He, having wedded
a member of the Carafa family, and wishing to
renew the splendour that had reigned in the palace,
restored those portions destroyed by earthquake.
In order to signalise this meritorious act, and to
perpetuate the fame of the Syrens' Palace in the
sight of succeeding generations, Carlo Mirelli in-
scribed on the eastern gate of the building the
following memorial, as imperishable as the marble
upon which it is imprinted :-
“This structure, erected with rare and wondrous
ingenuity under the direction of the powerful
Princes of Stigliano, has, through the lapse of
years, fallen into decay. In order to preserve it
from entire ruin, and to prevent its lending honour
to other names, in reverend memory of his most
dearly loved wife, Madalena Carafa, this building
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
16
is restored by Carlo Mirelli, Prince of Teora, Mar-
quis of Calitre and Lord of Cousa. Whosoever
thou art, enter. He wishes the palace to be open
not only to himself and his kindred, but also to all
who are not of his race.'
CHAPTER II.
Origin of the Family of Carafa-Armorial Bearings—Joanna I. of
Naples—Her Character—Pandolfo Alapo—The Count de la
Marche, husband of Queen Joanna-Execution of Alapo-
Conduct of Joanna-Its effect on Naples—Sergianni Carac-
ciolo, Grand Seneschal of the Kingdom-Sforza, his Rival-
Imprisonment of the Count de la Marche by Caracciolo-
Power of the Grand Seneschal—Siege of Naples by Louis of
Anjou, Disorders in the Capital—Joanna's Appeal to Pope
Martin the Fifth-Malizia Carafa–His Mission to the Court
of Rome-Policy of the Pope- Alphonso I. of Aragon-
Cavaniglia his Agent--Alphonso the ally of the Queen-She
nominates him her Successor-Jealousy of Caracciolo—His
Intrigues—Conduct of Joanna-Covella Ruffa, Duchess of
Sessa — Conspiracy against Caracciolo-His Assassination —
Loyalty of Malizia Carafa to the House of Aragon-Death
of Malizia.
The origin of the family of Carafa, like that of
many another ancient and heroic race, remains
,
veiled in obscurity, notwithstanding the researches
of successive writers; for what has been left un-
determined by Aldimari and Ammirato has not
been brought to light in the imposing work of
Litta. Considerable diversity of opinion exists on
the subject. One * chronicler affirms that the
+
Zazzera, “Nobilità dell'Italia,” parte seconda.
C
18
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
marble monuments of San Domenico record as
synonymous the names of Caraccioli and Carafa as
late as the fourteenth century; while another
declares that as early as the thirteenth, monumental
inscriptions bear the name of Carafa simply and
distinctively.. Again, both are said to have de-
scended from Sigismund of Pisa, who became ruler
of Sardinia.
The armorial bearings of the respective houses are
not similar. The arms of the Carafas represent
three silver sheaves on a field of crimson, with
sometimes a prickly bush, the insignia chosen by
the elder branch of the family known as the
Carafas of the Thorn ; and sometimes with the
outstretched scale, peculiar to the younger, who
,
adopted the sign of the Balance.
The arms of the Caraccioli are marked by three
crimson banners surmounted by a crown of gold
upon a field of azure.
It is undoubted, however, that the Carafas, the
Caraccioli, and the Capeces, formed a triumvirate of
noble families, so numerous in their several branches,
and so influential, as to cause it to be said that “the
triple C. represented the entire aristocracy of Naples.”
THE HOUSE OF CARAFA.
19
Assuming the three families to have owned the same
origin, it would tax the most subtile efforts of
genealogists to trace the several degrees of relation-
ship even as far up as the mediæval age. The
Houses of the triple C., if they did not possess a
monopoly of nobility, at all events contributed to
the State those who yielded in honours and influence
to none of the illustrious races conspicuous in the
Libro d'Oro of the Neapolitans.
As early as the twelfth century, history signalises
Filippo of the family of Carafa, for having taken an
honourable part in the ceaseless vicissitudes which
marked the annals of Naples. This discord in the
State was the result of the constant change of rulers
to which it was subjected. Early in the twelfth
century it passed from the government of the Greek
Empire to that of the Normans under Robert Guis-
card; and thence was transmitted to the sovereignty
of King Roger, who had conquered Sicily from the
Greeks. His latest survivor, the young Princess
Constance, marrying the Emperor Henry, of the
House of Swabia, established that dynasty in
Southern Italy towards the close of the twelfth
century; and the rule of this lineage again gave
C 2
20
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
way to that of the French, when Conraddin, who
was basely betrayed at Tagliacozzo, was superseded
by the race of Anjou. The kingdom then became
a prey to civil strife ; and the hatred of the French
rule that continued to exist in Southern Italy
culminated in the attempt to exterminate the race
of Anjou at the memorable massacre of the Sicilian
Vespers.
Disorder still prevailed under the turbulent reign
of the second Joanna of Anjou, who ascended the
throne of Naples in the year 1414. The
The government
of this queen retained the worst features of the rule
of her predecessor, Ladislaus, without the strength
which his military genius had imparted, and the
lustre shed by brilliant military triumphs. Great,
however, had been the sacrifice accompanying them ;
and such victories were but inadequate reward for
the financial disorder occasioned by them, and the
forfeiture or sale of a large number of important
territories within the kingdom of Naples. The
accession of Ladislaus had secured the ascendancy
of the collateral branch of Anjou-Durazzo—a dy-
nasty which bore within itself the seeds of disgrace
and decay. Nor could degeneracy be more forcibly
THE HOUSE OF CARAFA.
21
exemplified than in the persons of Ladislaus and his
sister Joanna; for the profligacy of both was so
notorious as to cause it to be said that the wife of
Charles III. of Durazzo had “given birth to two
monsters of iniquity” when she became their
mother. *
The unbounded licentiousness of Joanna was not
accompanied by that energy of character or vigour
of intellect that in the case of women such as the
second Catherine of Russia or Catherine de Medici,
though it did not extenuate their crimes, yet pre-
vented them from appearing so utterly despicable
in the sight of posterity. With Joanna II. the
attainment of sovereignty did not incite to a nobler
course of action; and the dignity and respon-
sibility of her regal position were flung aside with
the same contempt as her modesty, her conscience,
and her womanly pride. Neither a lofty ambition,
nor a love of power for its own sake, actuated this
fickle, weak, and sensual woman, who, the sport of
her own passions, was a toy in the hands of others.
If the ability of her predecessor, Ladislaus, had ac-
complished much on behalf of the Anjou-Durazzo
Giannone, “Storia di Napoli,” vol, iii. p. 409.
22
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
faction, the effect of his policy was entirely undone
the moment in which Joanna succeeded him, when
again ensued an equipoise of contending parties,
prolific of unqualified mischief to the State.
The army, wanting the unity and discipline it
had acquired under Ladislaus, was distributed in
various parts of the kingdom, and finally sought
fresh leaders in foreign service.
The despicable character of the Queen was the
primary cause of the misfortunes that visited the
Neapolitan kingdom, exposed to perpetual and ig-
noble strife through the hostilities of Joanna’s rival
favourites, who, acting solely from a desire of per-
sonal aggrandisement, cared little by what means it
was secured ; and the aid they too frequently suc-
ceeded in obtaining from foreign Powers, introduced
that dominion of the stranger that proved for so
many years the bane of the country for whose inte-
rests they affected enthusiasm.
The favour of Joanna was but little matter for
congratulation. Not the smallest reliance could be
placed on its continuance. Moreover, the object of
the Queen's regard at once became a mark of sus-
picion and envy, and was surrounded, consequently,
,
THE HOUSE OF CARAFA.
23
by a network of intrigue to be defeated only by
counter intrigue. In spite of the brief authority
enjoyed by Joanna's lovers, not one of the consider-
able number honoured by the Queen with her pas-
sionate preference escaped imprisonment, exile, or a
sadder destiny. The higher the aim, the greater
the recoil; and among all Joanna's favourites, he of
the most powerful intellect, the most vigorous
character, and who succeeded in maintaining longest
the proudest sway, met with the most cruel doom.
This was Sergianni Caracciolo, a man remarkable
for profound political sagacity, and the ingenuity
with which he baffled the machinations of others,
while he secretly carried out, and ably, his own
determinations.
The schism in the Church, caused at this period
by the presence of three pretenders to its throne at
Rome, had its parallel in the Neapolitan State, which
was torn by perpetual conflicts of the opposing
factions of Anjou-proper and Anjou-Durazzo, not
to speak of a third and more powerful one-that
of the Spanish party introduced by Alphonso of
Aragon. The Angevins were represented respectively
by Joanna and Louis of Anjou. The chosen policy
24
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
a
of Joanna's favourites, therefore, was for each to
denounce the other to his mistress as a supporter of
the party inimical to her interests. Joanna, wanting
in penetration and judgment, was helplessly a victim
to these machinations; now incited to one course,
and now to another, as the more subtle and specious
among her counsellors advised. Thus Pandolfo
Alapo, the object of the Queen's earliest infatuation,
stigmatised as a partisan of Louis by the jealous
Sforza, was at once imprisoned by Joanna.
The ranks of the Neapolitan nobility were not so
utterly demoralised as not to be scandalised by the
conduct of their Queen. Pride of ancestry, love of
country, a just sense of self-respect, would not permit
them to be passive spectators of their sovereign's
degradation and their own. How, they reflected,
could this erring woman, so unfitted by nature for
the exercise of royal command, be guided and
guarded from the aims of unscrupulous adventurers?
By an alliance, it was thought, with one who would
grasp more firmly, and uphold with greater dignity,
the sceptre of the kingdom. Accordingly, a depu-
tation of nobles waited upon Joanna, and sought to
impress upon her the expediency of selecting a
:
THE HOUSE OF CARAFA.
25
*
suitable consort, who, with plausible representation,
they affirmed, "might assist her in fulfilling the
onerous duties of her high position." Great was
their satisfaction upon obtaining Joanna’s consent
to an union with Count Jacques de la Marche, of
the Royal House of France.* Joanna would not,
however, entertain the idea of allowing the Count
to assume the title of King, but only that of
Governor-General. Notwithstanding this reserve
with respect to the surrender of her regal inde-
pendence on the part of Joanna, the course of
events proved that the Neapolitans, when selecting
a mentor for their Queen, could not have pointed to
a more appropriate one than the Count de la Marche.
He, it is to be inferred, was not altogether ignorant,
previous to the marriage, of the nature of the
Queen’s conduct, and of the disorder it had already
introduced into the State. Certain Neapolitan
nobles declared to him that they rested all their
hopes upon his influence, and expressed their desire
that he would boldly exert that influence for the
good of the kingdom.
The Count did not hesitate to adopt their sugges-
* Giannone, "Storia di Napoli," vol. iii. p. 414.
26
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
tion, and one of the first acts of his practical as-
sumption of power, was the execution of Pandolfo
Alapo, who, already a captive, was tortured into con-
fession, and then sentenced for what he had con-
fessed.
The grief shown unmistakeably by the Queen at
this event, convinced the Count of the truth of his
suspicions, and of the rumours he had heard. He,
accordingly, exercised a stricter surveillance than
ever over his consort, who, under the tutelage of the
Count, was, to all intents and purposes, a prisoner
herself ; and one who feared to offend by unguarded
look or word. Even ladies, the personal attendants
of the Queen, to whom she was especially attached,
were banished by the Count from the Royal Palace.
The Court, indeed, as a centre of fashion and bril-
liant display, no longer existed, and the animation
which is supposed to radiate from royal circles,
failed to enliven the gaiety-loving capital of the
Neapolitan kingdom.
This position of affairs became unsupportable
alike to the higher and the humbler classes of
society—to the nobility, who delighted in magnifi-
cent entertainment, and to the populace eager for
THE HOUSE OF CARAFA.
27
public spectacles and the excitement attending
them.
A large majority of the upper ranks were, more-
,
over, irritated by the fact, that under a government
which was now in reality that of the Count de la
Marche, official employments were monopolised by
the French.
A party of nobles who repaired to the palace, in-
tent on obtaining an interview with the Queen, were
refused their request; and this ill-advised measure
contributed not a little to strengthen the reaction of
feeling already in existence against the Count. He
was, indeed, unwittingly doing his utmost to render
his consort popular at his own expense, for very
much that had been guilty in the conduct of
Joanna when she had acted as a free agent, was
forgotten upon seeing her the object of a watchful-
ness and suspicion which amounted to positive
tyranny.
It is said that great events often from little causes
spring, by which we mean appear to spring, since
these little causes are but minute links in a chain of
circumstances leading infallibly to one result.
Thus it was with the apparently insignificant fact
28
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
of a visit paid by the Queen to the house of a mil-
lionaire in the city. The appearance of Joanna in
public at all was an incident, remarkable owing to
its infrequency, and argued relaxation of discipline
on the part of her Argus-like custodian—the Count.
The Queen, with a cunning calculation often met
with in those of unstable nature, who have no de-
fence in their own firmness and integrity, deter-
mined to (profit by the occasion. The enthusiasm
of the assembled crowd, eager to look upon their
sovereign, was propitious to her design. Joanna's
appearance of melancholy, her sighs and tears, in-
voked the sympathy of the spectators; and her
appeal to her faithful subjects to assist her in the
maintenance of her rights as the ruler of her people
was received with shouts of applause, and followed
by a popular demonstration in her favour so vehe-
ment, that the Count de la Marche willingly acqui-
esced in Joanna's expressed desire to enjoy the pri-
vilege of occupying a separate residence. The Count,
consequently, repaired to Castel Nuovo, and the
Queen to that time-honoured abode of kings-
founded by the wicked William the First, of Norman
race-the Castle Capuano.
THE HOUSE OF CARAFA.
29
The Count, under pressure, bound himself by a
solemn guarantee to the nation to consult for the
future the wishes of the Queen, to allow her the
exercise of her royal prerogatives, and the free
selection of a Court suitable to her illustrious rank.
Not the least important clause of this agreement,
was the promise of official employment to Nea-
politans.
Some “faithful subjects” of Queen Joanna, en-
dowed with superior discernment, were haunted by
grave doubts as to the use she would make of her
newly-acquired freedom. They, probably, were not
surprised, therefore, at the Queen's first act, which
was to nominate Sergianni Caracciolo—a fresh ob-
ject of her infatuation—Grand Seneschal of the
kingdom! This was an important step in the eleva-
tion of Caracciolo, which subsequently became the
source of perplexities and embroilments innumer-
able, and which continued, indeed, to the close of
Joanna's reign. Caracciolo was no silken courtier
of a season to be easily supplanted and crushed. A
man of vigorous character and commanding intel-
ligence, he possessed a signal capacity for the con-
duct of public affairs, and the greatest adroitness
30
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
in making himself master of whatever opportunities
presented themselves propitious to his interest, and
the accomplishment of his designs. He knew the
value of popularity with the masses, and the means
by which to secure it. Neapolitans rejoiced at the
concessions apparently granted by a grateful sove-
reign, and were well content with a government
which was in reality that of Caracciolo. Place-
hunters, self-seekers, and adventurers, were satisfied
with a policy of wholesale bribery that distributed
sinecures without question or stint.
But it was precisely these doings that at length
gave umbrage to the higher minded portion of the
community, who, invariably in a minority yet pos-
sess in their superior enlightenment and more honour-
able feeling, and in the unflinching courage usually
accompanying these qualities, a strength by no
means to be despised.
Another obstacle to the ambition of the Grand
Seneschal, although one which his penetration and
unscrupulousness promised speedily to remove, was
the presence of the soldier Sforza, who had repaired to
Naples upon the death of Ladislaus, and enrolled
himself in the military service of the young Queen.
THE HOUSE OF CARAFA.
31
Whether Sforza owed the allegiance of a lover is
well as that of a knight, is doubtful; but whatever
his relations with Joanna, he became an object of
jealousy to Caracciolo.
An opportunity soon presented itself affording an
admirable pretext for the removal of Sforza from
the kingdom. Martin V., whose accession as Pope
had healed the existing schism in the Church, was in
sore need of a champion to defend his possessions
against the attacks of the buccaneer Braccio, whose
successes had been so continuous and remarkable,
that he was on the point of besieging the castle of
St. Angelo itself. Sforza, flattered by the assurance
that he alone could adequately fill a post so im-
portant as that of defender of the head of the
Church, readily departed; and Caracciolo by this
means accomplished his twofold object of propi-
tiating the Pope and getting rid of his rival.
Already Joanna had despatched ambassadors to
Rome to declare her delight at the election of
Martin, and her willingness to place whatever mili-
tary forces she commanded at his disposal, for the
recovery of his domains, and the restoration of the
Church to its full dignity as a temporal power. She
32
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
had, indeed, relinquished all the territories acquired
by Ladislaus in the Papal States. Caracciolo him-
self had visited the Pope, who, impressed by his
commanding qualities, was anxious to secure his
good-will; and Caracciolo, taking advantage of the
favour shown, had succeeded in persuading Martin
to enter into a league of perpetual amity with
Joanna.
But while exacting assurances from others, Car-
acciolo was utterly unmindful of promises made by
himself. Sforza, cramped in his movements for
want of the re-inforcements pledged by Caracciolo,
was at length utterly routed by the indomitable
Braccio. The course of events thus gradually re-
vealed to Sforza the true nature of Caracciolo's
policy, which was to temporise and deceive, until
such time as he should deem himself sufficiently
strong to defy all rivals. Sforza now determined to
resist the increasing influence of the Grand Senes-
chal, and took advantage of a certain question at
issue to incite general animosity against him.
One of the first measures taken by Caracciolo
upon his acquisition of authority had been to im-
* Giannone, “ Storia di Napoli,” vol. iii. p. 427.
THE HOUSE OF CARAFA.
33
prison the Count de la Marche, who still remained
a captive. A considerable party, consisting chiefly
of the countrymen of the Count, resolved to effect
his liberation, and with this object in view, appealed
to the Pope. Hence arose a position of extreme
perplexity to Caracciolo, who was not free to follow
out his wishes with respect to the Count de la
Marche, at the cost of defying a power which it
had been his ambition to conciliate.
The representatives of Martin were most urgent
on the subject. Antonio Colonna, the bearer of
inis instructions to Naples, even supplicated the
Queen to acquiesce in the expressed desire of the
Pontiff. Conjointly with this demand from Rome,
i deputation at home addressed a fervent appeal
to the Queen, the substance of which was a re-
quirement of the dismissal of Caracciolo. Joanna
consented to deliberate on the matter, and to an-
nounce her decision in two days' time.
The counsel of the Grand Seneschal in this emer-
gency accorded with the policy he habitually pur-
sued, which was, when not strong enough to avoid
open hostility, to feign compliance with the wishes
of the nation. He therefore determined on a tem-
D
34
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
porary exile, to be endured at no great distance from
the capital, where, constantly informed of the state
of affairs by the Queen, he should have leisure to
devise fresh plans for the defeat of opponents, while
they, lulled into security by his apparent submission,
should thus be rendered defenceless. Joanna was
perplexed between the double difficulty of finding
herself called upon to liberate her husband and
banish her lover, and took refuge in procrastination.
At length the release of the Count was followed
by the recall of Caracciolo ; but these two events
led to results completely opposite to what might
have been reasonably anticipated.
The Count,
upon his release, instead of attempting again
to assume the authority to which he was justly
entitled, quitted Naples and repaired to France,
where he entered a monastic order.
Caracciolo, on the other hand, passing from out
the temporary eclipse in the popular esteem, enjoyed
a power more absolute than before. Inflated by
overweening egotism, his conduct became intoler-
able. The Court was repeopled by his parasites, he
visited a swift revenge on all whom he imagined
had sought to thwart him, and assumed a haughty
THE HOUSE OF CARAFA.
35
demeanour towards the Queen herself. The powerful
Grand Seneschal, who now disposed, at his pleasure,
of honours, wealth, and influence, was resisted alone
by the daring Sforza. But the antagonism of this
restless soldier was dangerous; and so intense did
party feeling become, and so violent the dissensions
accompanying it, as to furnish abundant cause for
strife.
Although a descendant of the Durazzi was en-
throned at Naples, the prestige of this newly-
crowned dynasty, which was not honourably repre-
sented in Joanna, was not equal to that of the primary
race of Anjou, whose claims were centered in Louis
III. of that house. To Louis, therefore, Sforza now
appealed, and besought him to lead on the faithful
troops at his command to the siege of Naples. The
Pope was not ignorant of the plans in operation.
Foiled in his hopes of the aid he desired, and indig-
nant at finding himself the dupe of an intriguing
aspirant to unwarrantable sway, he secretly favoured
the enterprise. The disorder was extreme in the
Neapolitan capital, where the people were on the
brink of revolt. The troops of the enemy were
speeding on to the very walls of Naples. Great,
D 2
36
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
indeed, was now the dismay of Joanna, whose only
resource was a fresh appeal to the Pontiff, who had
received at the hands of her favourite treatment so
insulting and injurious. Much depended on the
diplomatic skill of the envoy who should be charged
with instructions to the Court of Rome, a conviction
which led to the appointment of Malizia Carafa by the
Queen. This representative of the house of Carafa
belonged to the younger branch of the family,
known by the sign of the Balance, and he had re-
ceived the name of Malizia, on account of the art
and sagacity he evinced in political affairs.*
The most important fiefs of the Neapolitan king-
dom had, during the reign of Ladislaus, been' mort-
gaged or forfeited in order to obtain men and
money to carry on perpetual campaigns ; nor had
this mischievous system ceased under the govern-
ment of Joanna.t Malizia Carafa had, indeed,
assisted her with a loan, and as a recompense had
received in pledge Torre del Greco, a noble natural
fortress, overlooking the splendours of sea and land,
*
a
• Aldimari, “Istoria della Casa Caraffa,” p. 58.
Campanile, “Notizie di Nobilità," p. 60.
| Scipione Ammirato, “Famiglie Nobili Napolitane," p. 144.
THE HOUSE OF CARAFA.
37
a
*
grouped around the Villa of Alphonso II. of
Aragon, who so rejoiced in the atmosphere and
scenery
of Naples.
Malizia was zealous in the fulfilment of his em-
bassy. Kissing the Pontiff's feet, he implored his
aid. But Martin, indignant with the perverse
Joanna, found an excellent pretext for refusing her
request in the circumstance that his own territories
were then still harassed by Braccio ; nor could he
protect them efficiently, he declared, against a
leader who had routed the veteran soldiers of Sforza.*
In effect the Pope took care to inform him that the
Queen had only herself to blame for the position of
affairs. “Those bad counsellors,"continued Martin,
“who had advised her to delay in sending reinforce-
ments to Sforza were really the cause of all the
misfortune; and they themselves had put it out of
his
power
to render assistance, since it was only the
goodwill of Florence which had supported the
Papacy in distress and kept it from disgrace.”
Malizia Carafa had been instructed to apply, if
unsuccessful at Rome, to Milan or Venice for
succour; but Martin was careful to assure him that
Aldimari,
“ Istoria della Casa Caraffa,” pp. 61, 62.
38
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
it would certainly be useless for him to attempt to
enlist the good offices of other powers, when he
himself had not been able to obtain the least help
in defending his possessions against the unscrupu-
lous invader of the ecclesiastical states.
Another ambassador to the Court of Rome at the
time was not more fortunate in his negotiation.
This was Cavaniglia, the agent of Alphonso I. of
Aragon, who was then attacking Corsica. Ca-
vaniglia, like Malizia, was not content with the
result of his mission. The two envoys, therefore,
frustrated in their original plans, entered into a
scheme which they hoped, not in vain, would prove
more satisfactory in its consequences, both as
,
regarded their own aggrandisement and the interests
of their royal patrons. Malizia communicated with
Joanna, and she still besought him with prayers
and tears to gain help, no matter whence it came.
Cavaniglia undertook, meanwhile, to negotiate with
Alphonso, and to demonstrate to that monarch by
plausible argument how unworthy an enterprise for
so powerful a sovereign was the assault of Corsica,
and how much better Alphonso would do to place
his valuable army at the service of Joanna, who was
THE HOUSE OF CARAFA.
33
then advanced in years, and would in all probability
nominate him her successor.
It is doubtful whether the persuasions of the
Queen moved Malizia so strongly as other less
disinterested considerations ; for, knowing the am-
bitious nature of the Aragonese monarch, he left no
means untried to bring about the fulfilment of an
enterprise on the success of which his own fortunes
depended. Alphonso, notwithstanding the dis-
approval of the measure expressed by state coun-
sellors, martial commanders, and feudal lords, who
augured ill from the capricious character of Joanna,
and the fact that a large majority of her subjects
favoured an opposing faction, at once constituted
himself an ally of the Queen.* Cavaniglia accord-
ingly informed Carafa of the King's decision, which
was conveyed in the most courteous terms; for,
said Cavaniglia, “ His Majesty, prompted by no
self-interest, would gladly rescue the oppressed and
suffering Queen.”
Joanna, in the first enthusiasm of her gratitude,
nominated Alphonso her successor.f Alphonso
* Aldimari, “ Istoria della Casa Caraffa,” p. 63.
† Zazzera, “ Nobilità dell'Italia."
)
40
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
manded a large number of adherents, and the bold
and restless Sforza was everywhere loud in his
praise. To this ill-advised championship, and to
the envy
awakened in Caracciolo by the increasing
influence of Alphonso and the Queen's act of nomi-
nation in his favour, was doubtless to be attributed
the intrigue that resulted in breaking up altogether
the alliance between Joanna and Alphonso. The
Grand Seneschal set himself diligently to work to
discover means by which to thwart a threatened
rival, and at the same time to annoy his opponent
Sforza. Caracciolo was indefatigable in his efforts,
therefore, to instil suspicion in the weak mind of
Joanna, over whom he still exercised great influence,
and he succeeded in persuading her that the object
of Alphonso—traitor and ingrate as he declared him
to be—was to usurp the throne during the lifetime
of the Queen. It was artfully rumoured by Carac-
ciolo that he wished to send her captive into
Catalonia.
In Alphonso of Aragon the Grand Seneschal, for
the first time, found an opponent he could not
easily intimidate; and now commenced that
sternly - contested struggle for ascendancy which
THE HOUSE OF CARAFA.
41
cannot but be fatal in result to one or other
of the combatants. They were equals in
ability, energy, and, it might almost be said, in
position ; for the hereditary dignity boasted by
Alphonso was rivalled by the acquired distinction
of Caracciolo. The Grand Seneschal was, however,
entirely wanting in his usual sagacity upon this
occasion, and was the betrayer of his own interests
when he provoked the wrath of the sleeping Lion of
Aragon. Alphonso understood perfectly well at
whose instigation Joanna was about to repudiate
her promises, and exchange gratitude for sus-
picion, and the conviction determined Alphonso to
effect the arrest and imprisonment of Caracciolo.
Having accomplished this step, Alphonso thought
it prudent to seek to justify his conduct in the
sight of the Queen ; but upon endeavouring to
obtain an interview, found the gates of the royal
residence closed against him, so incensed was
Joanna at the course he had pursued. Such were
the vicissitudes of the contest between two aspi-
rants to the Queen's favour, in which, though
Alphonso was finally triumphant, it was not before
he had encountered vexations, difficulties, and perils
42
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
innumerable; while Caracciolo, through an
scrupulous use of power, tempted the doom that
awaited him.
The Queen now formally revoked the act of suc-
cession which she had made on behalf of Alphonso,
in favour of the artist-knight, René of Anjou, who
found solace for lost possessions in poetry. Al-
phonso, in disgust at the waywardness of Joanna,
quitted Naples, accompanied by his faithful adhe-
rent, Malizia Carafa. Alphonso acted
upon
the
principle “reculer
pour
mieux sauter.” Although
disowned by his ungracious ally, his invincible re-
solve was to plant the Spanish rule in Naples, and
subsequent events proved the tenacity with which
he cherished the resolve.
Joanna chose the moment of Alphonso's depar-
ture to insure the liberty of the Grand Seneschal.
The exactions of Caracciolo, henceforward, knew no
limits. Persistently he reiterated demands with
regard to the cession of certain territories, knowing
his request to be offensive to the Queen, who,
although advanced in years and drawing to the close
of her ill-starred reign, yet retained an attachment
for this man who was determined, at his own cost,
THE HOUSE OF CARAFA.
43
to tax her patience to the utmost.
Again and
again the Seneschal persevered in proffering his
request, and Joanna in denying it; when Carac-
ciolo, enraged at what he was pleased to term the
Queen's “ obstinacy,” assailed her with reproaches
and the most unseemly invective.
Yet even now it required the support of a mind
stronger than her own to incite Joanna to the ex-
pression of a just resentment. A will as strong, a
temper as haughty, and a conscience as unscrupu-
lous as that of the Seneschal himself, were united in
Covella Ruffo, Duchess of Sessa. Her rank, her
wealth, the pride natural to her character, alike
rendered her impatient of the overbearing de-
meanour assumed by Caracciolo. Consequently,
taking advantage of the disagreement she knew to
exist, she spared no pains to incite the animosity
of the Queen against Caracciolo, descanting inces-
santly on the baseness of his ingratitude. He, as
unceasingly continued to upbraid Joanna with her
refusal of his request, and so painful and humilia-
ting had these altercations become that upon one
occasion the Queen was found by the Duchess of
Sessa, after the departure of the Seneschal, in tears.
44
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
The Duchess rightly divined that the present mood
of the Queen was propitious to her design. Nor
was she mistaken. Joanna, smarting under a sense
of wrong by which her sensibilities were acutely
wounded, was peculiarly accessible at the moment
to the influence of the Duchess, whose apparent
devotion delighted her.
The Duchess resolved the opportunity should not
be lost; and openly charged the Seneschal with
treason to his sovereign, advising the Queen, as she
valued her crown and perhaps her life, to deal
severely with the offender. Arrest, and not only
arrest, but the death of a traitor, she declared, was
his fitting punishment. Thus, by a singular coinci-
dence, the very same expedient by which Carac-
ciolo had endeavoured to crush Alphonso, was now
employed against himself. Joanna was impressed
by the discourse, but not to the extent desired.
She confessed her wish to dispossess the Seneschal
of his power in the government, but refused to say
And now the Duchess determined to take
the initiative, and follow her own course, a course
fatal to the fortunes of the Seneschal. Whether in
thus acting she imagined herself to be interpreting
more.
THE HOUSE OF CARAFA.
45
the real wishes of the Queen, which she had hesi-
tated to express in their full measure, or whether,
by suggesting the punishment of Caracciolo in the
Queen's presence, she thought to shift the re-
sponsibility from her own shoulders, and in this
way find an excuse for conduct, the real motive
of which was personal hatred of Caracciolo, is
doubtful.
Certain it is that the Duchess at once proceeded
to conspire with the sworn foes of the Seneschal,
and his assassination was agreed upon.
A marriage festival at the Castel Capuano was
the occasion selected by the conspirators for the
perpetration of their villainous intention. The en-
tertainment, kept up far into the night, was still
proceeding when the Seneschal retired to his
chamber, unsuspicious of the watch severally kept
upon his movements. Shortly after Caracciolo was
aroused by knockings at his door, and by the news
that the Queen, suddenly and dangerously ill, de-
sired to see him. So entirely unsuspecting was the
victim, and so successful the base plot, that Carac-
ciolo fearlessly and at once bade the conspirators
“enter,” in order to let him know more particularly
46
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
the nature of the Queen's illness. Rushing in, the
assassins slew the unfortunate Caracciolo with their
swords; and thus miserably died the man whose
;
influence had so recently been paramount in the
kingdom.*
Joanna, though grieved at the tragedy which she
persistently denied ever having sanctioned, even in
thought, yet signified her belief in the treachery of
Caracciolo by granting pardon to the conspirators,
and, above all, by not repudiating the Duchess of
Sessa, whose influence over the weak mind of the
Queen was now complete.
Malizia Carafa, who had shown himself a devoted
adherent of the House of Aragon, received in
return for an allegiance so unswerving, the greatest
reward that Royal favour could bestow. He died
in 1438, and in his last hours commanded his
children, under the penalty of a terrible malediction,
never to abandon the cause of the Aragonese.f
In the Neapolitan church of San Domenico Mag-
giore, replete with monumental glories, amidst the
many tombs of the Carafas, is that of Malizia, and
a
Giannone, “ Storia di Napoli," vol. üi. p. 451.
+ Ammirato, "Famiglie Nobili Napolitane," pp. 144, 145.
THE HOUSE OF CARAFA.
47
upon it are inscribed his services to the House of
Aragon; services so important that no narrator of
the entrance of Alphonso into Italy omits to record
them.
CHAPTER III.
Diomed Carafa, Count of Maddaloni-Entrance of Alphonso of
Aragon into Naples—Conduct of the King-Campaigns of
Alphonso— Victories of Diomed-Elenora, Duchess of Ferrara
- Diomed at the Court of Ferrara-Death of Alphonso-
Accession of Ferdinand, the “Fox of Aragon”– Origin of
the Barons' War-Antonelli Petrucci--Francesco Coppola-
The Barons' War favoured by Pope Innocent-Demonstration
in favour of Don Frederick - Treaty of Peace-Fate of
Petrucci and Coppola Wealth of Diomed Carafa – The
Count's “Palace of the Bronze Horse"-Anecdotes-Death
of Count Diomed of Maddaloni.
The good-will of Royalty that Malizia had ac-
quired was continued to the House of Carafa, and
enjoyed by its successive representatives. Antonio,
third son of Malizia, became Duke of Mondragone,
and the first Prince of Stigliano. He gloried in the
fact of having introduced so illustrious a title into
the family of Carafa, and lived' in princely
splendour.
Diomed, the youngest son of Malizia, was the
first Count of Maddaloni, a little village of the
fertile Terra di Lavoro, giving its name to the ruins
of the once noble castle erected a few miles to the
THE BARONS' WAR.
49
north of Naples.* A lofty watch-tower, flanked by
side turrets, within an encircling wall that marked
the limits of the domain, constitutes the scanty but
picturesque relics of this feudal stronghold, com-
manding a noble prospect from Mondragones Rock
to Mont St. Angelo. | Diomed, once lord of the
Castle of Maddaloni, is to be regarded as the chief
promoter of the power and influence acquired by
the family of Carafa. | He owned allegiance to more
than one of the Spanish rulers of Naples. His
father, perceiving in childhood indications of supe-
rior intelligence, heroic spirit and courage, dedicated
him, in his earliest youth, to the service of Al-
phonsoț of Aragon ; and Diomed it was who, by
his ingenuity, assisted in effecting the entrance of
the Aragonese monarch into Naples.
Regarding strategy as no less essential than
valour to the service of the King, Diomed, like
Belisarius, contrived to introduce the followers of
Alphonso into the city by means of an aqueduct.
A well in an orchard immediately without the
capital fed this aqueduct, the other outlet of which
Campanile, “ Notizie di Nobilità,” p. 454.
+ Zazzera, “Nobilità dell'Italia."
R
50
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
*
communicated with a house well calculated to serve
as a rendezvous for the invaders in this singular
enterprise. Its success was complete, and anni-
hilated the hopes of the Angevins in Naples.*
The conduct of Alphonso on this occasion merits
the highest praise. No sooner were his troops
within the city, than they, irritated by the long
resistance it had shown, began to indulge in
licence and plunder. But the King, accompanied
by a chosen body of nobles, at once put a stop to
these proceedings, by riding through the town, and
forbidding, under the severest penalties, the sack of
houses, or the commission of any violence whatso-
He likewise ordered the soldiery to restore
what had been appropriated by them.
/
The success of this curious exploit was chiefly,
due to the skill and intrepidity of its commander,
Diomed Carafa, who was thus raised so high in the
King's esteem, as to take precedence, sometimes, in
his interviews with Alphonso, of the Queen Consort
herself.t In the crusades of Alphonso against the
Florentines, Diomed was the scourge of his many
ever.
>
* Aldimari, “ Istoria della Casa Caraffa,” p. 76.
+ Campanile, “ Notizie di Nobilità,” p. 455.
THE BARONS' WAR.
51
a
>
foes. When the King commissioned his son Ferdi-
nand to lead on one of these campaigns, the aid of
Diomed was invaluable. At the head of three
hundred cavalry and five hundred infantry, he ap-
proached within a mile of the adversary's quarters,
unperceived except by the neighbouring rustics and
their flocks, whom he scattered in his course. Simo-
netto, a Florentine captain, came to the rescue of
the peasants, and a skirmish ensued, in which Diomed
was victorious, carrying off, in addition to the
honour of the engagement, several prisoners and a
rich booty of oxen, which was joyfully welcomed
by the Royal forces, who, fighting in mid-winter and
nearly starving, were rapidly becoming demoralised,
but were saved from an ignominious defeat.*
So great was the confidence of Alphonso in the
ability and integrity of Diomed, that he entrusted
him with the education of his son Ferdinand, whom
the Count instructed not only in military science,
but in that scholarly lore, a knowledge of which
was essential to the illustrious position of his pupil.
For Diomed of Maddaloni was not distinguished only
for chivalric triumphs in the field. The same talent
* Ammirato, “Famiglie Nobili Napolitane,” p. 158.
E 2
52
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
and
energy which characterised his martial achieve-
ments were directed successfully to gentler pursuits.
The evidences of his literary taste are varied, in-
cluding despatches and correspondence, in which
didactic letters to a son of the King alternated with
maxims of advice to the daughter of Ferdinand.
This was the brave, spirited wife of Ercole d'Este,
first Duke of Ferrara, who governed her husband's
subjects during his absence, and to whom the Count
remarks, when writing to her, that “loquacious,
lively women are well enough, but not in their own
houses.” The tone adopted by Diomed Carafa in
this epistle, is obviously less the language of a
courtier to a royal lady than of an instructor and
guardian to his pupil ; for Eleanora had been under
the tutelage, morally and intellectually, of Diomed,
from her earliest years.
When an alliance was arranged between this lady
and the Duke of Ferrara, Diomed held a distin-
guished and honourable place amongst the retinue
that escorted Eleanora to her affianced at Rome,
and subsequently to Ferrara. The Court of Ferrara
was famed for the splendour and hospitality dis-
Aldimari, “ Istoria della Casa Caraffa,” pp. 87, 88.
À
THE BARONS' WAR.
53
played there on all occasions of festivity, when
magnificence reigned throughout the capital—in
galas, in tournaments, in cortége, brightening the
streets, or stately concourse by water to the re-
nowned Villa Belvidere, on an island of the Po,
which, with its frescoed galleries, saloons, and foun-
tains, rose in the midst of verdure and foliage and
bloom of flowers so exquisite, as to suggest to the
mind of Tasso, the garden of Armida. At Duke
Ercole’s Court, Count Diomed received especial
marks of honour and regard as an appropriate re-
cognition not only of his superior merits, but as an
evidence of the kindly affection that had sprung up
from his intimate relations with the Royal family as
the tutor of the
Princess.
Upon Count Diomed's departure for Naples,
Eleanora requested him to write a treatise, wherein
he might develop the idea as conceived by him,
of a faultless ruler whose government should be
irreproachable. In the course of a few months,
Diomed had propounded his theory of perfect rule,
and the little volume containing it was received and
read with applause by the Duchess of Ferrara and
her Court. Duke Ercole, thinking so excellent a
young
54
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
work, rich in salutary precepts, of value, not to
Italy alone, but to the whole world, had the book
translated from Tuscan into Latin. The sympathy
which Count Diomed met with, he himself showed
towards men of letters.* The Count, who was also
a poet, and essentially classic in taste, centred his
principles of æsthetic culture in the teachings af-
forded by the philosophy and poetry of the Greeks.
The influence of the Angevins in Naples was not
by any means extirpated, although it had been kept
in check by the conquest of Alphonso of Aragon.
The sovereignty of this monarch was a splendid
one, including, as it did, rule over Aragon, Valencia,
Catalonia, Majorca, Corsica, and Sardinia. Το
these rich territories of a sunny realm were added
Naples, the queen of southern cities, and Sicily,
which, separated since the fatal night of the Vespers,
was once more united under the sceptre of Alphonso,
and gave to his other titles that of King of the Two
Sicilies. Naples seems to have been preferred by
Alphonso to all his other possessions, as a place of
residence, and no sooner was he established on the
throne than he fixed his Court permanently there.
* Aldimari, “ Istoria della Casa Caraffa,” p. 93.
THE BARONS' WAR.
55
*
If it cannot be conceded, as alleged by one his-
torian,* that the Neapolitan kingdom was never so
flourishing as during the reign of this monarch,
its history records, notwithstanding, the name
of many a less meritorious ruler than the first
Alphonso of Aragon. He died in the year 1458,
and was succeeded by his natural son Ferdi-
nand the First, whose crafty, intriguing spirit
gained for him the well-deserved title of the “Fox
of Aragon.”
The claims of the House of Anjou were supported
by a considerable party, whose ambition was partly
the origin of that direful conflict, known as the
War of the Barons. Personal motives, no less than
political partisanship, gave rise to this civil strife.
The Duke of Calabria, son of King Ferdinand,
cruel and suspicious by nature, was habitually dis-
trustful of the barons, against whom his animosity
was exhibited in the most unscrupulous manner.
He did not dissimulate in the least his. desire to
abase them; and this sentiment, perfectly well un-
derstood by the barons, was met with indignant
defiance. Had not the near ancestor of this inso-
• Giannone.
56
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
tracted war,
lent heir-apparent depended for the possession of his
crown on their goodwill and support, and would
they tamely submit to degradation at the hands of
his ungrateful descendant?
The Duke of Calabria, upon discovering the im-
poverished condition of the Treasury, which had
suffered through the expenses consequent on a pro-
attributed it to frauds practised by the
ministers of the Government. Accordingly Alphonso,
Duke of Calabria, lamented the fact to his father,
King Ferdinand, openly confessing his suspicions,
and even reproving the King for the too great laxity
of his rule, which had permitted the practice of
such deceptions.
“ Surely now, however," he exclaimed, “when
the State is reduced to extremity, your Majesty will
think it a duty to discover and punish the wrong-
doers—those who, it is easy to perceive, have speedily
risen by mysterious means from indigence to honours
and riches."*
Such was the language held by the
pampered favourite son of Ferdinand, who at length
resigned his authority almost entirely into the Duke
of Calabria's hands.
»
• Aldimari, “ Istoria della Casa Caraffa,” pp. 88, 89.
THE BARONS' WAR.
57
The Duke was overheard to say, also, that “since
the barons evidently did not know what allegiance
meant, and failed to assist with grants of money the
needs created by war, he should like to make them
understand what faithful service was, or let them
feel a just chastisement for their neglect.” By way
of insult to the barons, Alphonso was accustomed
to wear a broom, as an emblem, in his helmet, with
manifest reference to the Augean stables of bribery
and corruption, which it was necessary to sweep
away, like the veteran Dutch Admiral, Von Tromp,
,
who, victor in more than thirty sea-battles, and con-
queror of the British fleet under Blake, sailed
through the Channel with a broom at his mast-
head, to signify that he had swept the sea of the
English.
These malicious proceedings were resented to the
utmost by the barons, and by those engaged in
the administration. Two, who occupied important
posts of trust in the Government, resolved to chal-
lenge boldly the calumny. These were Antonello
Petrucci and Francesco Coppola, whose names have
become unenviably conspicuous in connection with
the War of the Barons, since history, though with-
1
58
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
out justice, has accused them of ingratitude towards
their kingly patron.
Antonello Petrucci was of humble parentage. In
early youth, he filled a situation, probably as clerk,
to Ammirato Aversano, who, prophesying a suc-
cessful future for the boy, should he command
opportunities of improvement, obtained employment
for him under the Secretary of Alphonso I. The
Secretary, also interested in Petrucci, introduced
him to the learned Lorenzo Valla.* Petrucci had
too much good sense not to profit by the advan-
tages he enjoyed. He speedily rose to the position
of Assistant-Secretary, and was honoured with an
introduction to the King. Petrucci was highly
esteemed by Alphonso, and subsequently by Fer-
dinand, who entrusted him with the transaction of
the most important public affairs.
It is scarcely surprising that, under these circum-
stances, he should have acquired wealth and a
position of eminence. His children were ennobled
as Counts of Carniola and Policastro. One of his
family was created an archbishop, another a bishop,
another prior of Capua. The insinuations against
* Giannone, “Storia di Napoli,” vol. iii. p. 609.
THE BARONS' WAR.
59
his integrity, therefore, made by the Duke of
Calabria in a petulant mood, constitute but a
slender basis for obloquy.
Francesco Coppola, though the descendant of an
ancient and honourable family, was originally poor ;
but he, too, by means of commerce—the universal
source of aggrandisement in those days-had ac-
quired riches so extensive that the King himselí
became a partner in his gains, and held the right of
a royalty on all Francesco's mercantile transactions.*
Coppola acquired the title of Count of Sarno, and
filled the office of Lord High Admiral of the king-
dom. Contrary to precedent in such cases, the
scholarly Petrucci, and his associate Coppola, grew
more liberal as they advanced in life. Through the
official employments in which they were engaged,
they were well acquainted with the secrets of the
Administration, and knew, to the full, what were
the agencies at work inimical to the national
interests.
Among the number who were jealous of the
prosperity and influence enjoyed by Petrucci was
Count Diomed of Maddaloni. Petrucci and Cop-
• Aldimari, “Istoria della Famiglia Caraffa,” parte seconda.
60
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
pola, aware of the animosity that existed on his
part, complained to King Ferdinand, who treated
the matter lightly, and was lavish in his assurances
of impartiality and unchanged regard for them-
selves. But of what value were words from the
lips of Ferdinand of Aragon ? Petrucci and Cop-
pola could not but be convinced of the decline of
the royal favour, and the fact was fraught with
ominous meaning. Incensed, moreover, at the mis-
trust expressed by the son of Ferdinand, after years
of faithful service, they determined to snap
asunder
the tie of allegiance to ungrateful masters, and to
brave combat for the right by engaging in an open
crusade against monarchical authority. Thus Pe-
trucci and Coppola signalised themselves as the
leaders of the Barons' War. Duke John, son of
René of Anjou, headed the movement; and round
his standard the partisans of the Angevins rallied.
The Papal sanction was conferred on the representa-
tives of the Guelphic principle. Indeed, Innocent
VIII. had, for reasons of his own, favoured the
enterprise from the first.* Emulous of strengthen-
ing the temporal power of the Papacy, he, like
*
* Giannone, “Storia di Napoli,” vol. iii. p. 610,
THE BARONS WAR.
61
)
Martin V., preferred to have a weak and vacillating
member of the House of Anjou on the throne of
Naples, to the more vigorous rulers of Aragon, who,
instead of looking to the Popes for succour, would
dictate to them and the other States of Italy. The
crisis was imminent, and called for all the assistance
that liege nobles could render their sovereign.
The conspirators had assembled at Melfi and at
Nola, and were already masters of several important
positions without the city. Ere their plans were
matured, however, the Duke of Calabria, who had
boasted how he would put affairs in order, at once
proceeded to quell the movement, as he imagined,
by marching against Nola, and taking the wife and
two sons of the Count of that place, prisoners to
Castel Nuovo. This measure on the part of the
Duke produced an effect precisely opposite to what
he intended. The challenge once thrown down,
the insurgents flew to arms. The war spread rapidly,
and the greatest disorder ensued.* The blockade of
roadways, the stoppage of commerce, the march of
armed men amidst dismal forebodings of strife, pro-
duced panic among the citizens for whom industry
Giannone, “Storia di Napoli,” vol. iii. p. 611.
62
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
E
and peace were banished. The castle of Charles of
Anjou, still in the bassi rilievi adorning its brazen
gates, perpetuates the stirring scenes that marked
this time of tumult.
A singular incident connected with the outbreak
was the demonstration made by the insurgents in
favour of Don Frederic, second son of King Fer-
dinand ; an incident which proves the insurrection
to have sprung not from any opposition to the
principle of monarchy in itself, but to have been
directed solely against the abuse of regal authority
by its representatives.
The virtues of Don Frederic, whose justice, tem-
perance, and kindliness were generally acknow-
ledged, justified the enthusiasm expressed by the
barons with regard to him,--an enthusiasm in-
creased by the fact that his character afforded so
striking a contrast to that of Alphonso, Duke of
Calabria, and heir-apparent to the throne. Frederic,
with the object of concluding the pacific negotiations
pending between the royal party and the disaffected
barons, repaired to Salerno. Here the greatest ex-
citement prevailed. Don Frederic was welcomed
with shouts and plaudits as “the deliverer of the
THE BARONS' WAR.
63
nation” by those assembled, who entreated him
“not to repudiate the allegiance they offered," de-
claring that they were ready to sacrifice their lives
and possessions to secure, by force of arms, the
accession of Frederic in place of Alphonso. The
sanction already given by Innocent VIII. would,
they continued, justify the movement in the public
sight; and King Ferdinand, who was now aged,
and had practically resigned his authority into the
hands of another, could scarcely feel dissatisfaction
at a change which answered the ardent wishes of
his subjects, placed at the head of the Government
the one most fitted to reign, and whom Providence
had sent to save them from despair; for “once
delivered, they declared, and released from the
fear of the cruel Alphonso, they should live in
peace under the beneficent rule of Frederic."
The reply of Don Frederic was consistent with
the nobility and disinterestedness of his nature ;
and it is strange that, appreciating his character as
they did, the insurgents should not have anticipated
the answer they received. Don Frederic replied,
his reasons for refusal were numerous.
In yield-
ing to their proposal, he should not only violate the
64
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
ensue.
laws, but the wishes of his father, and the rights of
his brother; and so far from such a step bringing
peace to the State, it would infallibly produce an
opposite effect, since the Duke of Calabria was, at
least, popular with the army, and having it at his
command, terrible indeed would be the misery
resulting from the strife which would probably
“Nor could he with justice,” he affirmed,
accept the praise they were pleased to accord him ;
since a comparison could not be fairly or wisely
instituted between himself and his brother. It was
but natural that a life devoted to studious pursuits,
as his had been, should exercise a softening influence
upon his character; while the Duke, dedicated to
arms and the enforcement of military discipline,
had, as an inevitable consequence, become more
severe and unbending.
Don Frederic concluded by exhorting those as-
sembled to accept the terms of peace which he had
been instructed to offer.* This language failed to
propitiate the opponents of Alphonso, who declared
themselves irreconcilable. Upon this King Ferdi-
nand resolved to prosecute the war with vigour,
a
5
* Giannone, “ Storia di Napoli,” vol. iii. p. 613.
--
THE BARONS' WAR.
05
and immediately despatched an armed force, headed
by the Duke of Calabria, to attack the States of
the Church. This was followed by another body
of troops under the command of Alphonso's eldest
son, the Prince of Capua. · As his extreme youth
rendered some guardianship advisable, the Count
of Maddaloni was deputed to accompany him as
Mentor.
Meanwhile, René, Duke of Lorraine, whom Inno-
cent VIII. had incited to attempt the conquest of
Naples, had appealed without success in several
quarters for assistance in the enterprise. His final
appeal to Venice was also in vain ; and now Inno-
cent saw good reason for encouraging the idea of
a peace ; for the citizens of Rome, harassed by a
three-months' siege, indulged in murmurs and re-
proaches, which neither the Pope nor the entire
College of Cardinals could appease.
Cessation of
hostilities was at length formally announced, and
an amicable treaty entered into on the 12th of
August, 1486. A leading feature of the condi-
tions attending it was a promise on the part of
Ferdinand of pardon to the insurgents. Ferdinand
had, indeed, been lavish in assurances of forgiveness
F
66
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
which he determined should never be accorded;
and his conduct subsequently fully proved the falsity
of these professions on the part of the “Fox of
Aragon.” Indeed, a general mistrust of them at
first prevailed, and the feudal lords, united in a
common peril, entrenched themselves in their forti-
fied castles, and continued to employ secret agents
in Rome, Venice, and Florence, to ensure assistance
in case of need.' But their suspicion was not proof
against the craft of Ferdinand, who for some time
after the conclusion of the war appeared totally
oblivious of past offences, and sought with assiduity
to reassure the barons until the entire restoration of
their confidence should leave them unguarded, and
present an opportunity for a dire revenge, which
was not slow in visiting its victims with death.
The Market Place at Naples—a spot linked with so
many tragic memories—was chosen as the scene of
sacrifice; and here the once influential statesman
Petrucci, known as the “Secretary” in the history
of Naples, as is Machiavelli in the history of Flo-
rence, met a cruel doom, which was shared by his
associate, Coppola.
• Giannone, “Storia di Napoli,” vol. iii. p. 618.
a
THE BARONS' WAR.
67
It would have been well for the fame of Diomed
Carafa, Count of Maddaloni, had the part enacted
by him in the Barons' War ended with his military
achievements; but it remains an indelible blot upon
his name that he made an ungenerous, if not indeed
a malignant, use of the influence he possessed with
respect to the judgment passed on the two hapless
insurgents, Petrucci and Coppola.* The gratitude
.
of the perfidious Ferdinand was doubtless awakened
more by this one deed of baseness than by the many
other meritorious acts of the Count's career. Sub-
stantial rewards were conferred upon him. Diomed
of Maddaloni was the first who filled the office of
Keeper of the Records under the Aragonese Govern-
ment. He was created also Lord High Chancellor
of the Realm, an important post that gave absolute
authority into his hands.
Maddaloni was not the only endowment which
rewarded Diomed's loyalty to the House of Aragon.
The Count owned fiefs, castellaines, and manors; and
one entire outskirt of Naples, subsequently enclosed
within the walls of the city and crowded with build-
ings, but then a delicious retreat, fragrant and bright
a
• Aldimari, "Istoria della Famiglia Caraffa," p. 89.
F 2
68
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
with the bloom of fruits and flowers, was known as
the “Count's Orchard.” *
In the time of this Diomed the Loyalist, the
wealth of the House of Carafa was abundant; and
the luxury in which courtiers of that family indulged
was attested by the sumptuousness of the palace in
which Diomed dwelt, called by the populace of
Naples the “ Count's Palace of the Bronze Horse,” +
in allusion to a statue of Ferdinand on horseback,
a work which has been ascribed to the sculptor
Donatello. The power of the owner is remarkably
illustrated by a tradition attaching to this regal
habitation constructed of grey marble from the
quarries of Sorrento. In its courtyard a pillar
marks the spot where the Aragonese monarch once
waited for Count Carafa, like patient Henry of
Luxemburg, who once held the stirrups of his horse
for an arbitrary Pontiff who brooked no limit to his
exactions. Diomed was still in bed when summoned
one morning by Royalty ; but the King remained
in attendance till his favourite courtier had arisen
and attired himself for the chace. On the other
• Aldimari, "Istoria della Famiglia Caraffa," p. 87.
+ Campanile, “Notizie di Nobilità,” p. 455.
THE BARONS' WAR.
69
.
1
hand, Diomed's shrewdness enabled him often to
divine the wishes of the King, who was delighted
when about to issue his commands, to find the fulfil-
ment of his desires forestalled.
A stratagem practised by Diomed proved the
readiness of his wit, as well as the affection enter-
tained for him by the King. Diomed's secret wish
was to recommend his relative, Alberico Carafa, to
the favour of the Sovereign. He entreated the King,
on the plea of his own advanced age, to allow him to
have a confidential assistant, in order to lighten the
toil and responsibility of statesmanship in his office
of Keeper of the Records. The King assented, and
asked the Count whom he thought best fitted for
The Count named not less than four
persons, but said he knew of another far better
suited, “ whom,” he added, “ he not only did not
wish to name, but whom he did not on any account
wish to be employed.” The King's curiosity was
immediately aroused, and he urgently demanded
who this person was.
Diomed replied, “ Alberico
Carafa ;” but again declared“ he did not want his
Majesty to give occasion to the world to say that
his court was peopled only with Carafas.” Where-
the post.
70
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
1
1
upon the King smiled and made the desired ap-
pointment.*
Count Diomed did not long survive the triumphant
issue of the Barons' War, in connection with which
he had permitted one base act to sully an otherwise
honourable career. He died in 1487, and his last
resting-place was beside that of his ancestor Ma-
lizia in San Domenico Maggiore. This monument is
a noble one. Its armorial emblazonings and the
three sheaves on a crimson field with the outstretched
scale prove it to be the tomb of one of the race of
Carafa. Diomed, first Count of Maddaloni, married
twice,-once into the family of Caracciolo, and
again into that of Sanseverino.
Under the rulers of the House of Aragon, so
faithfully served by the family of Carafa, no less
than under the race of Anjou, there was perpetual
change. During the sway of the former dynasty,
five kings succeeded one another in sixty years. In
little more than three centuries and a half four
dynasties had held sway, giving inclusively twenty-
two sovereigns to Naples.
The great defect attributed to the Neapolitans has
1
1
• Zazzera,
"Nobilità dell' Italia."
THE BARONS' WAR.
71
been political inconstancy, which is scarcely to be
wondered at under political conditions made up
of
perpetual change, altercations, warfare, and un-
certainty involving the gradual perversion of all
institutions calculated to nourish a lofty nationality.
The chronicler who blames them most unmercifully
for this unsteadiness shows an equally irrational in-
justice in his partiality as in his prejudice, since he
lauds with servility“ the sublime genius, the divine
judgment” of that most unscrupulous of all un-
scrupulous rulers — the Spanish Viceroy, Count
Monterey.
CHAPTER IV.
Ferdinand the Catholic of Spain-Scheme for the Partition of
the Neapolitan Kingdom-Gonsalvo di Cordova first Viceroy
of Naples-Nature of Viceregal Rule Municipal Institutions
Confusion of the Laws—Forfeiture of Political Rights-Influ-
ence of Spanish Rule on Finance-Condition of the Feudal
Lords— Ecclesiastical Authority - Intrigues of the Popes-
Licence of their Lives-Cardinal Carafa-Father Paul.
The unfortunate Frederic, last and not least
worthy of the Aragonese monarchs who reigned
over Naples, fell a victim to the united efforts
against him of two of the most formidable powers
then in Europe, represented by Louis XII. of
France, and Ferdinand the Catholic of Spain,
uncle of Frederic. This treacherous kinsman had
long cherished in secret a scheme fatal to the in-
terests of his nephew. An alliance, in fact, had
been concluded by the two monarchs at Granada,
together with a treaty of partition by which the
Neapolitan kingdom was to be divided. According
to the terms of this treaty, Louis was to reign
as King of Naples, ruler over the Terra di Lavoro
VICEREGAL RULE.
73
and the Abruzzi, while Ferdinand was to be in-
stalled as Duke of Calabria and Apulia.
In violation of a distinct promise made to Fre-
deric after his capture and imprisonment by his
uncle Ferdinand, he was most ruthlessly betrayed.
Ferdinand remained master of the Neapolitan
kingdom, thenceforward to be governed as a pro-
vince, and subject to that cruel viceregal rule by
which it continued to be oppressed for more than
two centuries. Gonsalvo de Cordova was the first
viceroy, and this triumphant leader in the Moorish
wars inaugurated the misery of Spanish sove-
reignty, which far surpassed in enormity the mis-
doing of all governments that had preceded it;
for neither Norman, Angevin, or Aragonese could
be compared in licence and tyranny with the vice-
roys. A system which studiously sought to under-
.
mine the national virtue—to demoralise the citizens
by inciting them to seek in frivolous pleasures
forgetfulness of their duties and interests—to de-
grade them by subjection to endurances, vexations,
and hardships, humiliating to the spirit and griev-
ous to the sense, to render them the sport and
the prey of tyranny-teaching them to regard their
74
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
native land as an appanage of a crown overweening
in its absolutism and insatiable in its avarice-to
deprive them of their rights, and to mock at their
appeals for justice ; such was the policy of Spain
in Naples, as interpreted by vice-regal government.
Those political institutions which had grown up
with the growth of the country then underwent a
change, but not in the sense of progress. First,
and most injurious in effect, was the transformation
of the municipal institutions.
Whatsoever repre-
sentative value was embodied in the old magis-
tracies was now lost by the substitution in their
stead of the Collateral Council, the supreme body
in the legislature, the highest court of legal appeal,
and the head of the executive. As it was com-
posed chiefly of Spaniards, it could not be consi-
dered to represent the requirements of the nation,
while another assembly, miscalled the Italian or
Supreme Council, was essentially Spanish, and
existed under the direct supervision of the king in
Spain.
Not less than eleven different methods of legis-
lation operated in the kingdom of Naples; and the
confusion consequently entailed created the greatest
VICEREGAL RULE.
75
difficulty in obtaining redress of wrongs. Succes-
sive dynasties had established different codes of
law, not one of which had become obsolete ere
the introduction of another. While some were
founded on recognised systems, others had emanated
solely from the arbitrary decrees of princes. In
Amalfi and Gaeta, certain usages, remnants of the
Greek jurisprudence, prevailed. There existed, in
addition, the Roman law, the Lombard, the Nor-
man, the Swabian, the Angevin, and the Aragonese.
Great, indeed, was the glorious uncertainty of
judicial procedure under the complications that
inevitably arose out of the contradictory clauses
marking the several systems. In the absence of
fixed laws for the direction of verdicts, where was
the utility of appeal, and how could the rights
of the citizen be enforced ?
Three courts of judicature existed in cities, and a
single tribunal in every province; but one, or
twenty, would have been equally inadequate to
the administration of justice under such conditions.
Another grievance added to the inefficiency of the
law courts was, the depravity of those who prac-
tised in them. Neither a course of study nor
76
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
certified ability was requisite to enable a man to
enter the legal profession ; since the lowest of the
populace could assume the robes and profess him-
self an “advocate ”-a fact which accounts for the
ill repute invariably attaching to lawyers in Naples.
If the political rights of the citizens had been
upheld with difficulty under Norman and Swabian
rulers, when it was permitted the different orders of
the community to assemble and make their voices
heard in determining the sums of money that they
should
pay into the Exchequer, such a privilege
was almost annihilated under the viceroys, who
would gladly have proscribed the time-honoured
seggi or municipal corporations of extreme anti-
quity ; since they understood only too well the
menace to tyranny connected with all free inter-
change of thought; and the power of a veto in the
case of monetary grants, was an all-important
prerogative in these institutions. Some of the
greatest evils associated with finance afflicting
Naples, were of Spanish origin; for example, the
arrendamenti, a kind of indirect taxation, in con-
nection with which unofficial persons could pur-
'chase the right of collecting the public revenue.
1
VICEREGAL RULE.
77
The deputies, or eletti, supposed to represent the
wishes of the people in administering the public
funds of a district, were oftener than not, the
most devoted agents of the viceroys, who dedicated
vast sums, which were wrung from the suffering
people, to their own luxury, and to enriching the
coffers of Spain.
Feudalism, one of the powers of the State, gra-
dually lost whatever semblance of honour and
chivalry had characterised it. Hitherto, the barons
or lords of the soil had been of real service as
the opponents or supports of kingly authority. But
now no longer ambitious of those deeds of renown
which had once distinguished them, and which in
some measure entitled them to the popular admi-
ration and allegiance, they lived to themselves idly
and ingloriously within their strongholds as despots
over degenerate vassals. The introduction of the
adva or feudal tax, through which sums of money
were accepted by rulers instead of that military
service which originally constituted the basis of
relations between feudal lords and their monarchs,
contributed not a little to their abasement. The
insatiable avarice of viceroys necessarily estimated
78
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
everything at a marketable value. Thus fiefs,
titles, and offices were sold. The highest bidder
succeeded in obtaining the most illustrious baronage,
and the dignity of the feudal rank was obliterated.
In the midst of this demoralisation of the aristo-
cracy and oppression of the people, of chaos in the
laws, and exhaustion of the finances, one order
in the State increased in wealth and influence.
This was the clerical, which sought, and not with-
out success, to extend the temporal authority of
the Church, no matter at what sacrifice to the
interests of other classes of the community. The
chief support of its pretensions was enormous wealth
-wealth which had flowed into Apostolic hands
through channels as numerous as the superstitions
which enslaved the minds of devotees; for the
ecclesiastical, no less than the civil power, had its
market. Innumerable was the company of traders;
since, in the kingdom of Naples, the various reli-
gious orders numbered one hundred and thirteen
thousand ; and the most conscientious writers esti-
mate the possessions of the Church at two-thirds of
the property of the country.
But the guardians of the people's conscience were
VICEREGAL RULE.
79
not content with pilfering their flocks of money
only. They were as interested in reducing them to
servile bondage as were the lords of vassals, or vice-
roys themselves.
The intrigues of the Court of
Rome had done much to ensure the forfeiture by
Neapolitans of whatever rights had been conferred
by successive dynasties ; and indeed the Papacy
might truly then as now be regarded as the great
moral obstructive to progress, ever determined to
impede, ever diligent to arrest, civilisation, and
the spirit of freedom. Devout souls who were ac-
customed to look to the Popes as head of the
Church for example of pure life and singleness of
purpose, saw but little to invite confidence in the
teachers and interpreters of that spiritual kingdom
which is not of this world,” and “cometh not
with observation.” The successors of St. Peter
displayed indeed feelings more essentially mundane
than those of other classes. Luxury and licence
of the wildest kind usually marked the career of
the Pontiffs, even when not stained by crimes of a
deeper dye. And this excess of sensual indul-
gence in no way disturbed the conscience of these
pastors of the people, who while pretending to
80
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
1
trace their descent from a humble fisherman, re-
garded their sumptuousness of life as a becoming
means of utilising that heritage of spiritual power
which they believed, or feigned to believe, was
given by heaven on their behoof as unquestionably
as the manna which fed the wanderers in the wil-
derness. “Since God has given us this glorious
Papacy,” said Leo the Tenth, “let us enjoy it.”
Accordingly this patron of classic literature and
philosophy took care that no pains should be
spared to render the ecclesiastical office a sinecure.
Amusements, theatres, and little marks of favour
which are bestowed so freely on court favourites by
those who do not own the responsibility of paying
for them, all such amiable pleasantries required only
one thing—money, and this was commanded by the
descendant of the Magnificent, even though bor-
rowed at forty per cent. So complete was the
satisfaction of those dignitaries who surrounded
the sovereign of the Church, that one of the car-
dinals wrote to a friend, “Here we lack nothing
but a court of ladies !” Banquets and dinners
of a costly kind were given almost daily by the
cardinals to the different members of the sacred
VICEREGAL RULE.
81
college. A Venetian Cardinal gave a repast con-
sisting of sixty-five courses, including three dishes
to each guest; and as all these were served on
plates of precious metal, superb was the array of
silver! Hours innumerable were whiled away at
these convivialities. Dramatic and other enter-
tainments alternated with hunting parties, and the
produce of these exploits was frequently handed
over to the Venetian ambassadors. Tokens of
courtesy were bestowed lavishly upon the repre-
sentatives of the uncompromising Republic of St.
Mark, which the Court of Rome desired, though at
length in vain, to propitiate. What wonder then
that Adrian, who lived in hermit fashion on fruit
and vegetables, spent but a single ducat on his
dinner, and gave his life to prayer, was little
popular among his order as Pope !
Not alone with the “sword of the spirit" did
those warrior-prelates, Urban, Innocent, and Paul,
The two grand political antagonisms of
Europe were headed by Pope and Emperor, Guelph
and Ghibelline; and this unholy alliance of church
and state was ever likely to be dissolved if it could
not be maintained to the temporal advantage of
wage war.
G
82
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
each. When the divine right of monarchs re-
quired to be signalised afresh in the public sight,
royalty supplicated the blessing of the Head of the
Church ; and when the enlightenment of states re-
pudiated clerical encroachment, pontiffs in their
turn sought support in the armies of kings or the
fleets of whatever Bajazet or Sulyman could be of
service to them. By both these powers—the eccle-
siastical and civil—the people, for whose benefit
they were originally instituted, and whose interests
they were supposed to interpret and uphold, were
regarded only as the instrument of their elevation.
Political oppression and religious persecution went
hand in hand in pursuance of one object at least.
This was subjection of the masses, and woe to that
nation whose ruler was like the second Philip of
Spain, a puppet under the influence of the Papacy.
His creed, political and religious, might be summed
up in one word-annihilation of human right and
liberty. There remained for the victims under his
remorseless sway-orthodoxy or the flames. The
sovereigns of the church knew well enough that the
maintenance of just prerogatives on the part of
citizens was inconsistent with the prostration of
VICEREGAL RULE.
83
intellect implied by slavish submission to their
decrees; and were well content to encourage the
tyranny of princes, while these were sufficiently
wily to know that the conscience of the crowd was
the most powerful agency by which to secure
unquestioned compliance with authority.
Naples constituted a chosen arena for the in-
trigues carried on by popes, who did their utmost
to extirpate whatever political advantages the cle-
mency
of the Swabian or the vacillation of the
Angevins, had permitted them to enjoy. They fos-
tered the factious spirit which was the bane of the
Neapolitan kingdom under the dynasty of Anjou.
In the time of the Aragonese, they encouraged civil
strife, and Innocent the Eighth promoted to the
utmost of his power the War of the Barons ; nor
was the infamous Alexander the Sixth the only one
who conspired with the Sultan of Turkey. Blood-
shed, licence, and dire treachery, mark the annals
of that Church whose weapon was the Inquisition,
and whose triumphs were the St. Bartholomew
Massacre and the fires of Smithfield.
At the time of the elevation of John Peter
Carafa, better known as Paul the Fourth, to the
G 2
81
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
a son.
throne of the Pontiffs, the terrors of the Romish
Church, had reached their climax. Its ruthless
policy was represented in excelsis by Philip of
Spain, by Paul himself, and by Catherine de Medici,
as devout a daughter of the Church as Philip was
While Paul gratified his rancour against
heretics by the erection of a pet asylum, fitted up
with every appliance known to torture, and en-
joyed the spectacle of victims writhing on the rack,
Philip, with the ruthless Alva as his minister, insti-
gated the Council of Blood, and Catharine was
weaving her meshes of destruction for the
Huguenots.
Whatever the different political relations arising
out of contending interests that existed at the time
between the leading powers of Europe, they were
allied in one terrible ambition to extirpate heresy,
no matter through what enormity of persecution.
It would shake our faith in the moral govern-
ment of the world did not history prove how these
atrocities recoiled upon those who committed them,
by striking at the very foundation of the systems
upon which they ruled. Insurrection in the south
of Italy, insurrection in the Netherlands, dismissal
VICEREGAL RULE.
85
>
of the various Nuncios, schism in the Church, and
open contempt of its anathemas, its decrees, and its
councils, illustrated the revolt of the civil power
against the overweening encroachments of the
Papacy. By those of her own order, the practices
of the Romish Church were condemned, and its
edicts despised, for contumacy was counselled by
the dauntless Paolo Sarpi. Again, the glorious
monk, Martin Luther it was, who raised the pro-
test that resounded with mighty force throughout
Christendom. Councils provincial or councils Ecu-
menical, it is true, may again be held ; but it is
questionable, whether the Church of Rome, power-
ful institution as it still is, subtile and complex as
are its agencies, far-seeing and far-reaching as is
its policy, and unscrupulous as are the means by
which that policy is carried out, has ever reco-
vered the defiance hurled at its interdict by the
noble Venetian Republic at the dictation of Father
Paul.
CHAPTER V.
Descendants of Diomed, Count of Maddaloni-Gian Pietro Carafa,
or Pope Paul IV.-Diversity of Opinion respecting his Cha-
racter — His Visit to the Court of Spain — Ferdinand the
Catholic-Council of Ecclesiastics-Gian Pietro elected Car-
dinal-Succeeds to the Papacy in 1555—Paul's Hatred of
the Spaniards—His Policy-The Duke of Alva Viceroy of
Naples-Measures taken by the Pope-Camillo Colonna-
Cardinal Carafa at the Court of France-The Duke of Guise
Joins Paul's Conspiracy against the Spaniards — Mili-
tary Preparations at Rome-- Measures taken by the Im-
perialists-Alva's Tactics-War declared in September, 1556
- Victories of Alva-Disorders at Rome-Renewal of Hos-
tilities—Siege of St. Quentin-Surrender of the Town—Tri-
umph of Spain-Philip the Second and the Emperor Charles
the Fifth.
GIAN TOMMASO, eldest son of Diomed, first Count
of Maddaloni, succeeded him as lord of that feudal
stronghold. Gian's cousin, owner of Mondragone,
,
founded the line of Stigliano, the elder branch of the
Carafas, distinguished by the sign of the Thorn, and
still represented by their descendants existing at
Naples. The fortunes of both these families were
intimately connected with those of the Aragonese
dynasty; and during the time that the Spanish
THE CONSPIRACY OF POPE PAUL.
87
rulers were supreme in Naples, they enjoyed almost
absolute authority.
While the direct descendants of Diomed through
his eldest son Gian Tommaso, continued the succes-
sion of Counts of Maddaloni, Antonio, the second
son of Diomed, established the line of the Counts of
Montorio. The son of this Antonio, Count of Mon-
torio, received the name of Gian Pietro, though he
afterwards assumed the title of Pope Paul the Fourth.
Gian Pietro, even in early youth, gave promise by
his superior talents, of an illustrious future. He was
learned in science, in theology, and in classic and
modern languages, to which he added a knowledge
of Hebrew. Cardinal Oliviera Carafa, proud of the
rising genius of his young relative, took him to the
Court of Julius the Second. There, realising the
hopes of his patrons, he became bishop of Chieti.
He was then sent as Nuncio to England, and was
afterwards offered an Archbishopric. But Gian
Pietro declined the proffered honour, appeared de.
voted to monastic simplicity, and retired to an
austere solitude at Monte Pincio.* This refusal on
the part of Gian Pietro is thought by some writers
* Giannone, “Historia di Napoli,” pp. 198, 199.
88
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
to have been a mask for the true nature of his
ambition; and it is supposed that he sought by an
assumed indifference to temporal advancement, to
disarm suspicions which he knew to be current,
and thus awaited an opportunity propitious to
revolt.* The charge of dissimulation, however,
seems at variance with the whole tenor of his
carcer.
History offers the most contradictory testimony to
the character of Gian Pietro Carafa. Jesuit writers
whose opinions might naturally be supposed favour-
able to so uncompromising a member of their order,
do not bear out this assumption ; since they impute
the unworthiest motives to the Pontiff, even in the
most ordinary acts of his life, significant neither for
good nor ill when reasonably regarded, and which
only the ingenious malice of detraction would assign
to peculiar baseness. Vello and Giordani defend his
memory with zeal against the evil report of those
who misrepresent his best actions; though who in
;
the face of undeniable facts could possibly be so
blind or unscrupulous as to affirm that his life
Nores, “ Storia della Guerra contra Papa Paolo,” Archivio
Storico Italiano, vol. xii.
THE CONSPIRACY OF POPE PAUL.
89
1
was free from stain ?* In the face of much that
deserves odium, however, admiration cannot
honestly be denied to one trait in the character of
Gian Pietro--the love of country that exercised a
paramount influence over his actions. Indeed, had
he not been execrable as a priest, he would have
been glorious as a patriot. Never was nature more
outraged than when Gian Pietro Carafa adopted the
religious vocation.
Of ardent passions, haughty
and unyielding, his character required pre-emi-
nently the softening influence of domestic ties,
which would have given scope for the development
of a righteous ambition in founding the fortunes
of a family, and counteracted by the amenities of
home, the irascibility of a too fervid and impetuous
temperament. Gentleness would have disarmed a
harshness habitual, and tenderness would have
overcome an inflexibility, which opposition and
contact only with the outer world, inflamed into
rancorous bigotry. As head of the Catholic faith,
Paul carried out with all the intensity of his
nature, its leading principle of intolerance, and
a
• Relatione dell'Ambasciatore Bernado Navagero al Senato
Veneto.
90
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
hence he became one of the most remorseless per-
secutors known to history.
One grand idea inspired his political policy
throughout, an idea ever cherished by true-hearted
Italians, and to which they have freely offered
through succeeding generations a sacrifice of tears
and blood, until its realisation in the triumphs of
later time. This was the emancipation of the
Peninsula from the domination of strangers.
A variety of obstacles militated during the reign
of Pope Paul against the accomplishment of this
magnanimous desire, for which those among his
biographers least disposed to panegyric award him
their praise. * The tardy and insufficient succour
afforded by France, half-hearted at first and treache-
rous in the end ; the irresolution of rulers over the
minor Italian states, the coldness of Venice isolated
in selfish prosperity, the indifference of Cosmo de
Medici, who centred all his hopes of aggrandisement
in Spain ;-all these were as drags on the wheels of
that ambition by which Paul would have sped to
national independence. The entente cordiale which
* Carlo Bromato, “ Vita di Paolo.” Caraccioli, “ Vita di Pietro
Caraffa."
THE CONSPIRACY OF POPE PAUL.
91
had hitherto existed between the
powers
ecclesiastical
and imperial, was now extinguished in mutual hatred.
This originated in the case of Pope Paul upon the
occasion of his first visit to the Court of Spain.
King Ferdinand the Catholic, grandfather of
Charles the Fifth, was then at the point of death ;
and overwhelmed with remorse for having usurped
the kingdom of Naples to the detriment, as it has
been shown, of Frederic of Aragon, and his son, the
Duke of Calabria, whom Ferdinand had made pri-
soner in contempt of promise given, and in utter
disregard of justice. Ferdinand, prompted by con-
science to seek the peace of Heaven, or desirous of
leaving a memory justified in the sight of posterity,
summoned a council of ecclesiastics to confer on the
momentous subject of the spiritual welfare of his
Majesty, and to advise him according to their judg-
ment. Amongst the members of this clerical assem-
blage was Gian Pietro Carafa, who, uncompromising
in his verdict, and implacably outspoken, counselled
Ferdinand to restore the kingdom at once to its law-
ful inheritors, if he had regard for his spiritual in-
terests, or his royal renown.
The enthusiasm and eloquence of Gian Pietro
92
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
were not without effect. The king was visibly
moved by his discourse, and not less agitated was
the conclave met together, though by other emotions
than those affecting the king. Discussion succeeded
to the consternation that had ensued upon the
verdict given by Gian Pietro. Reasons of state were
urged against the consideration of immortal interests
The king's feelings swerved as he listened to the
plausible arguments of these prophets of deceit. It
is easy to conceive how Gian Pietro the inflexible,
having once spoken emphatically, remained calm
and resolved to abide by his decision. Like
Savonarola when summoned to the death-bed of the
incredulous Lorenzo, nothing remained for him but
silence and scorn. Henceforward the king's coun-
sellors turned their eyes with the watchfulness of
suspicion upon Gian Pietro Carafa.*
During the reign of Pope Paul the Third, in the
year 1636, Gian Pietro was elected Cardinal, and in
the enjoyment of that dignity was distinguished as
one of the most zealous supporters of the Sacred
College. In conjunction with St. Cajetan of Tiene,
* “Storia della Guerra contra Paolo IV.,” Archivio Storico
Italiano, vol. xii.
THE CONSPIRACY OF POPE PAUL.
93
he founded the Theatine order of monks, who too
soon exchanged the intellectual activity and saintli-
ness of life which at first characterised them, for
a ferocious bigotry worthy the advocates of the
Inquisition.
Cardinal Gian Pietro now made bold through
increase of authority, and stimulated by that haughty
impulse which leads men of his character to spurn
the instruments of their elevation, at once rejected
the loyal traditions of the House of Carafa, and
openly showed bis hostility to the Spanish rule in
Naples. He was lavish of expressions of contempt
for the Spaniards, whom he designated “vile and
base, the very scum of the earth."*
When at the death of Julius III., the ecclesiastical
conclave directed its attention to Cardinal Carafa as
his successor, the imperial ambassadors distinctly
stated that his election would not be permitted.
The reply of the Cardinal was characteristic. “If
God wills me to be Pope, no emperor can hinder it ;
but for myself it will be so much the better, for then
I shall owe my elevation to no human power.” |
* Archivio Storico Italiano, vol. xii. p. 9.
+ Relatione di Bernardo, “Navagero al Republica di Venetia.”
94
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
In spite of opposition, on Ascension Day of the
year 1555, Gian Pietro Carafa, whose age was
seventy-nine, but whose eyes still glowed with the
fire of youth, assumed the title of Pope Paul IV.
Although at an age sufficiently advanced, the sub-
sequent events of Paul's career do not by any means
lead us to regard him as the “peevish, querulous
dotard”-a prey alike to the machinations of his
opponents, and the intrigues of his relatives, which
a a certain historian* represents him. Prosperity did
not conciliate him. Indeed, his triumphant acces-
sion seemed to augment that antagonism to Spain
which was a leading feature of his stormy reign.
The result of this antagonism was a war, which,
though not marked by length of action or revolu-
tion of states, yet, owing to the singular nature of
the events characterising it, and its fatal conse-
quences in connection with certain members of the
House of Carafa, is deservedly memorable.
Upon the clevation of Gian Pietro to the Pa-
pacy all the professed humility of the Hermit of
Monte Pincio disappeared. Austerity was exchanged
for indulgence. When asked how he would be
* Motley, "Rise of the Dutch Republic."
THE CONSPIRACY OF POPE PAUL.
95
» *
served at table, this Pope replied, “As a great
prince. He usually drank—and drank with
great relish—a thick, black, fiery wine of Naples,
which he called “mangia guerra” (champ the war).
Aristocratic by birth, and accustomed to ecclesias-
tical command, priestly and patriotic pride alike
induced him to revolt against the overbearing sway
of the Spanish Emperor. Enthusiastically Italian
in sympathy, he wished to inaugurate a broad and
independent national policy. He declared Italy to
be an harmonious instrument, of which the several
strings were Milan, Venice, Naples, and Rome.t
And he added, “Woe to those most unhappy souls,
Alphonso of Aragon and Ludovico of Milan, who
were the first to injure this noble instrument of
Italy.” He insisted, too, that Philip the Spaniard
was not master at Naples, which he declared was an
appanage of the Holy Roman Empire."
The ambition of Pope Paul was to ally himself
with France, and, in conjunction with that power,
to attack the Spaniards and deprive them of the
Government of Naples. Accordingly, he proceeded
* Giannone, “Historia di Napoli,” vol. iv. p. 20.
† Ranke's “ History of the Popes," vol. i. p. 215.
96
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
1
1
to try the temper of rulers and feudal lords in the
several Italian states, and invoked the aid of those
Florentine exiles who, ardent in their patriotism
as their own Tuscan poet had been, hated their
bondage, and were ready at any moment to give up
their lives in defence of liberty.
But the designs of the Pontiff were penetrated by
the Viceroy Alva. Each, however, assumed secresy
to be on his side, while absorbed in privately pre-
paring for hostilities to come ; though each delayed
open acts of aggression, in order to let the responsi-
bility of declaring war rest with the other. The
Emperor, knowing that the seeds of revolt were slum-
bering, made himself more odious than ever to his
Italian subjects by a suspicion which incited him to
place only his own partisans in office, who carried out
but too closely a régime opposed to all concession.
The old principle of Guelph and Ghibelline was
actively at work ; and great was the clamour of
faction. A grand assembly of cardinals and persons
devoted to the Spanish interest took place by night
at the palace of Cardinal Santafiore, brother of Carlo
Sforza. The halls, saloons, and ante-chambers were
thronged within ; without, the squares and streets
THE CONSPIRACY OF POPE PAUL.
97
re
were crowded with eager citizens who awaited in-
telligence as to the result of the meeting. The
resolution taken was no longer to tolerate Paul as
the Head of the Christian Church, and it was de-
cided to appeal to the Emperor for his practical co-
operation in order to carry it into effect. “Whether
he would support them or not,” declared the mem-
bers at this meeting, “ they were ready and they
were strong enough to depose this sham Pope.”
Paul had an opponent as determined and far more
wily than himself, in the Viceroy of Naples, the
Duke of Alva.
Ferdinand Alvarez di Toledo came of a family
that boasted imperial descent. One of his ancestors,
the conqueror of Toledo, had transmitted the title
of the city to his posterity. Ferdinand of Toledo,
second Duke of Alva, was the indefatigable soldier
of Ferdinand the Catholic of Spain, in his crusade
against Portugal, and in the wars of Granada and
Navarre. The wife of this Duke it was, the lovely
Isabella de Zuniga, who, tall and slight in form,
said, “she had come to give a loftier stature to the
little people of the House of Alva.” Ferdinand Al-
varez de Toledo, third Duke of Alva and Viceroy of
.
98
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
Naples, had, in boyhood, given proof of the indomit-
able courage and tenacity that subsequently secured
for him his warlike renown. Though but sixteen
years when at the battle of Fontarabia, he was consi-
dered to have contributed essentially to the success
of the Spanish arms. The warlike sympathies of the
Emperor Charles V. led him to appreciate the abili-
ties of the young soldier, and Alva invariably ac-
companied the Emperor in his campaigns, whether
against Turk or Christian. One episode connected
with his early life, would lead us to suppose that
not even Alva the Ruthless was by nature destitute
of the gentler sentiments of humanity; for perhaps
not the least memorable incident of his career was
the ride he is said to have taken from Hungary to
Spain and back again in seventeen days, for the
sake of a passing visit to his wife!
At the period of that campaign in Italy instigated
by Paul, the Duke of Alva was at the zenith of his
mental powers, and in the full tide of a successful
experience. Deservedly distinguished as the most
illustrious military commander in Spain, if not in
Europe, deeply versed in the science of the battle-
field, and devoted to warlike pursuits, the achieve-
THE CONSPIRACY OF POPE PAUL.
99
ments of his later years amply fulfilled the promise
of his youth ; and the victory of Mühlberg com-
pleted a series of triumphs commenced at Fontarabia.
His greatness as a commander lay chiefly in the fact
of his unrivalled powers of discipline. In character
overweeningly avaricious, callous, and implacable,
these attributes were quite sufficient, in the absence
of statesmanlike qualities, to recommend Alva to
the Court of Spain as a suitable minister at Naples ;
and it is not at all surprising that after seven years'
enjoyment of viceregal office, his income-at the
time of his appointment not large-should have
increased to forty thousand a year.
Ferdinand
Alvarez de Toledo was never forgetful of the
hereditary honours he owned which gave him a
right to remain with covered head in the
presence
of royalty; and so haughty was his nature, and so
unbending his demeanour, that he was with difficulty
induced to waive this privilege in his interviews
with the Emperor. Such was the stern and wily
antagonist of Pope Paul.
There certainly can be no question as to the un-
scrupulousness with which cach faction in this im-
perial and papal feud sought to ensure the fulfilment
.
1 2
100
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
of its aims. If Spanish emissaries were instructed
to thwart and to annoy Paul, and even secretly to
menace his life, and if all such instructions were
indefatigably seconded by Alva; the Pope, and his
adherents, on the other hand, did not hesitate to
employ the meanest and basest stratagems. Not
only did Paul seize the fortress of Palliano, in the
Abruzzi—the possession of Marc Antonio Colonna-
on the pretext that he was guilty of secret political
intrigues, but he transferred it to his nephew on the
plea that “he only who was strong enough to defend
the fortress: was worthy to retain it.”
Camillo Colonna was imprisoned surreptitiously
for having taken part in the resolution passed by the
assembly of Cardinals at the Palace of Cardinal San-
tafiore; while he was basely entrapped by Cardinal
Carafa, who, under pretence of making an excursion
in his own carriage with Santafiore, hurried him as
a captive to the very same Castle in which Cardinal
Carafa was himself subsequently a prisoner * at the
mercy of his accusers, chief
whom were the
Colonnas. A perpetual feud existed between the
Carafas and Colonnas, and no opportunity was
*
among
* " Archivio Storico Italiano,” vol. xii. p. 20.
THE CONSPIRACY OF POPE PAUL.
101
a
lost on cither side by which hatred could be
manifested.
Paul was diligent in his efforts to obtain the aid
of France. His nephew, the Cardinal, at the head
of a stately procession, made a public entry into
Paris as legate of Paul, when the people crowded
around him eager for a benediction from the repre-
sentative of the revered successor of St. Peter. The
most elaborate arguments were employed to persuade
Henry II. that an alliance with the Pope was ex-
pedient; and letter3* were addressed to the several
dignitaries of the Court of France—not omitting
Madame de Valentinois, whose influence in State
affairs was
as invariably recognised as it was
incessantly exerted.
Catherine de Medici favoured the suggestions of
Paul in the idea that war would give employment
to her reckless cousin, Marshal Strozzi ; and a
campaign--no matter what its object--suited the
speculations of this soldier of fortune. The Duke
of Guise also desired the war; but although he
seconded, so far, the wishes of Cardinal Carafa, he
was destined hereafter, strangely enough, to facili-
• Aye.dix, p. 319.
102
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
a
tate the Cardinal's destruction. So influential was
the position subsequently assumed by the Duke of
Guise throughout the hasty campaign in Italy, that
it was likened to a scientific duel, in which the
combatants were Guise and Alva; though the
latter observed to a friend that “he had no intention
of staking the whole kingdom of Italy against the
brocaded coat of the Duke of Guise."
Notwithstanding the support given by Catherine
and the Duke to the appeals of the Pontiff, they were
met with cynical indifference by Henry of France
who was more effectually influenced by other coun-
sellors. A reply consisting of plausible generalities,
little to the purpose, was given accordingly by the
French ambassador at Rome. The suspicions of
Paul were about to be verified; for he had remarked
to his nephew, the Cardinal, “let us take heed we
do not confide too much in the French, and that in
spite of their assurances they do not abandon us, as
it is notoriously their custom to do.”. Paul dis-
covered, too, an indisposition on the part of France
to break the five years' truce secretly entered into
with the Imperial Power : "five years,” declared the
*
Guerra contra il Papa Paolo da Pietro Nores, p. 11.
THE CONSPIRACY OF POPE PAUL.
103
Pope to his relatives, "full of torment for us and
the Apostolical Chair.” Cardinal Carafa, who had
encouraged the Pope to hope much from this
quarter, spared no pains to press Henry into his
service, and dispatched a letter to the King so
pungent in expression, and so telling in the truths
it contained, that his Majesty of France reddened
in his countenance more than once with unpleasant
consciousness during its perusal aloud.*
Paul was not less outspoken than his nephew in
his personal conferences with the representatives of
other Powers of whom he sought assistance. Ad-
dressing the Venetian ambassadors, he declared
Repentance will reach you one day, my lords of
Venice, and all the rest of you who will not take
advantage of this opportunity to rid yourselves of
the foreign pestilence.”+
Paul, meanwhile, strengthened his cause at home
by appointing eight of his supporters to the dignity
of the Cardinalate. He also conferred nobility on a
hundred Roman gentlemen whom he constituted his
personal guard of honour.
Pietro Nores, "Guerra degli Spagnuoli contra Paolo," p. 51.
+ Archivio Storico Italiano, vol. xi. pp. 307, S.
104
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
Less pacific measures were also on foot. Military
preparations were commenced. The commands of
the Pope were obeyed with celerity, and the citizens
of Rome looked upon the strange spectacle of eight
thousand armed men congregated in the square of
the Eternal City to receive the blessing of their
revered Pontiff.
While Paul thus prepared for hostilities, the
Imperialists were not idle. Their efforts were
stimulated by a knowledge of the many difficulties
of the Pope's position; for now Paul found himself
committed by his policy--openly expressed--to a
war which the desertion of the Power upon which
he had mainly relied, and the inadequacy of his
own resources, left him little chance of carrying out
successfully.
The arrogance of the Spaniards increased with
their confidence, and they did not refrain from
expressions of insolence and contempt which had
precisely the effect they desired of provoking Paul
to rash and premature contest.
The Duke of Alva persevered in his habitual
duplicity. He commissioned Giulio del Tolfo,*
Appendix, pp. 320-321.
THE CONSPIRACY OF POPE PAUL.
105
Count San Valentino, to express to the Pope his
deep regret that misunderstanding should have
arisen of late between the Empire and the Church,
and pretended to hope that means of reconciliation
might be found. His course of action, meanwhile,
was little suited to his words. In all parts of the
kingdom he was seeking resources with which to
inaugurate a triumphal campaign.
Large sums of money were extorted from the
people, as well as provisions for the service of the
troops. Five hundred thousand Spaniards were at
once recalled from Lombardy, and a body of troops
also from Germany. Three thousand infantry, which
had been promised by the Duke of Tuscany, were
demanded; their organisation was promptly en-
forced, and every means were taken to ensure the
efficiency of the entire army, and its readiness for
immediate action.
Alva's plan was, by a rapid series of victories, to
overpower his adversaries ere succour could be ob-
tained. Having completed necessary preparations,
he could afford to await a favourable opportunity
for the practical operation of his tactics. So wretched
was the condition of the country as to make an
106
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
appeal to arms highly unpopular in the sight of its
inhabitants. The dearth of money was extreme,
the troops were ill-paid, the people overburthened
with taxes, and the financial relations of the land
utterly demoralised. Alva thought it expedient,
therefore, to delay, affecting, meanwhile, a strong
desire for peace, * though at the same time proposing
terms of reconciliation to the Pope which he well
knew would not be accepted.
In September of the year 1556, the moment for
action had arrived, and Alva quitted Naples at the
head of twelve thousand infantry and five hundred
horse on the march to San Germano. The com-
mand of these troops, a considerable portion of
whom were veterans of repute, was entrusted to
leaders whose names were synonyms for valour and
military skill. Among them were Marc Antonio
Colonna and Vespasian Gonzaga.
Alva's first conquest was Ponte Corvo, on the
Garigliano, which was taken without resistance ;
and the resources of the Imperial army were
enriched by the capture of the flocks fed by the
pastures of the Ecclesiastical States. This rapidly
* Appendix, p. 324—329.
THE CONSPIRACY OF POPE PAUL.
107
achieved victory on the 5th of September caused
general surprise at Rome. Paul denounced the
perfidy that had misguided him by overtures of
peace in the very face of attack. Notwithstanding
the arrival of Cardinal Carafa in Rome at the head
of a body of Gascons, only too evident was the
inadequacy of the Papal forces, and these were
weakened still more by the necessity of distri-
buting them over several points so as to keep
guard within the city and in its environs. It was
essential to garrison the outposts; it was no less
imperative to retain a reserve within the walls.
Nor could the calibre of these troops, untried and
hastily enrolled, and wanting, moreover, the prestige
of competent leaders, be compared to the trained
bands at the service of Alva, who governed his
army by the force of an incomparable discipline,
and the power of a name glorified by abundant
victory
The capture of Ponte Corvo was speedily followed
by the surrender of Frosinone and Anagni, where a
welcome stock of corn fell into the hands of the
Imperialists. The Duke of Alva did not, whilst
most energetic in soldierly exploit, forget the crafty
108
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
diplomacy for which he was renowned. His policy
was to take possession of his conquests in the name
of the Sacred College, professing his readiness to
restore them to the College or to whatever Pontiff
they might select in place of Paul. Thus he sought
to exonerate his own course of action, and at the
same time to create discord between the ecclesias-
tical body and Paul.
To his other gains, Alva soon added Tivoli—an
important acquisition since it afforded him fresh
means by which to impede the operations of his ad-
versaries. But a blow more formidable still to
them was the success of Alva in making himself
master of Ostia, a stronghold which, like Anagni,
was thought by the Pope invincible. The dejection
caused by this mischance produced a state nothing
short of panic at Rome. All was perplexity and
disorder. Many of the inhabitants took to flight,
and those who remained were in despair at the pro-
spect of a siege, without means of defence, without
sufficient resources, and without hope of succour in
the coming crisis. In spite of the zeal of the Cardinal,
who alternately exhorted the populace to courage
and confidence, and issued proclamations forbidding
THE CONSPIRACY OF POPE PAUL.
109
the departure of any from the city, order and tran-
quillity could not be restored. Tumults and riots
were perpetually taking place. The militia broke
out into open revolt, and anarchy prevailed as
nearer and nearer pressed the danger threatening,
and more imperative became the need of union and
fortitude.
Paul still would not listen to the terms proposed.
He declared he would consent to no treaty which
should compromise the dignity of the Apostolical
chair. “Rather,” he exclaimed, “would he see the
whole world perish, than concede one jot, and this
was not in order to glorify himself, but the Church,
which it was his duty and his right to uphold.”
A temporary truce threw oil upon the troubled
waters at Rome, where jubilant demonstrations by
command of the Pope deluded some into the belief
that they constituted an inauguration of peace.
Meanwhile Cardinal Carafa was despatched to
Venice, to Bologna, and to Ferrara, to seek supplies
with which to carry on the campaign.
The renewal of hostilities in the spring ended in
the final victory of the Imperialists at St. Quentin.
* Giannone, “Historia di Napoli," vol. iv. p. 219.
.
;
110
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
This city of the Somme stands upon an elevation
rising out of that river. The bloom of orchards
and gardens adorning it, has rewarded a diligent
cultivation of its low and marshy soil, for the place
is surrounded by a lake, deep at some parts, but
resembling a morass at others. Its inhabitants,
devoted to pursuits of peace and industry, had be-
come wealthy, through manufactures and merchan-
dise. They were consequently little inspired by
warlike genius, nor was the city, ill conditioned in a
military sense, without troops and wanting supplies,
in a condition to withstand a siege by the united
ranks of England, France, and Spain.
The names most distinguished, whether for stra-
tegy or valour, in the army of France, were present
at St. Quentin ;-—Nevers, and Montpensier, Enghien,
and Condé, Vendôme and Rochefoucauld, Admiral
Coligny and Constable Montmorency. The English
auxiliaries were represented by Lords Pembroke,
Clinton, and Grey.
The dauntless Egmont, the Counts Mansfeld and
Horn, the Dukes Eric and Henry of Brunswick,
jvere commanders of the Imperial cavalry, while the
indomitable Alva was the inspiring genius of the
THE CONSPIRACY OF POPE PAUL.
111
campaign, carried on by a choice, though compara-
tively small array of troops, who boasted the most
illustrious patriotism and chivalry of Europe.
Notwithstanding the prestige of its commanders,
the French army was from the onset of the conflict,
menaced with disaster. Coligny entrenched within
the city of St. Quentin, found himself without
adequate resources, and the route by which supplies
could most easily be commanded, blocked up by the
English forces. The young and brave Teligny ven-
tured a sortie, but paid a terrible penalty for his
imprudence. Mortally wounded, he was brought back
in a dying state to expire at the feet of his father.
As time went, on, the situation of the besieged
grew desperate. So great were the sufferings of the
women, that they were ordered to be locked in the
churches, lest the sight of their tears and misery
should unnerve their defenders. Coligny at length
struck upon a route by which it was thought it
would be safe to introduce reinforcements. A few
narrow, hazardous pathways intersected the morass
at a certain point; at another it was traversed by a
running stream, only practicable for boats. Mont-
morency undertook to reconnoitre, and then to de-
112
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
vise the plan of operation. But the project could
not be effected, they found, without the knowledge
of their ever watchful foe. In attempting to carry
it out they met with immediate resistance. Two
companies of Spanish troops advanced to the attack.
A fierce cannonade ensued on the quarters of the
Duke of Savoy, whose tent was torn to pieces, while
the duke having barely time to buckle on his cuirass,
took refuge with Count Egmont.
The scheme of Coligny, whether owing to want
of dexterity in its projectors, or the insuperable dif-
ficulties of the enterprise, was destined to failure.
The boats, filled in haste, were overladen, and
several of them capsized, so that many an unfortu-
nate one was suffocated in the quagmire, while a
small number only succeeded in effecting a landing.
A council of war meantime was held in Egmont's
tent. The Count, fiercely zealous to ensure a tri-
.
umph no less brilliant than the annihilation of the
French army, desired a speedy engagement, confi-
dent in the fulfilment of his hope.
There is an aphorism to the effect that a man's cha-
racter or constitution is no stronger than its weakest
point. So was it with the noble army of France in
a
THE CONSPIRACY OF POPE PIUL.
113
its position. This weak point was not unmarked
by Montmorency after his memorable sortie for the
purpose of opening a way of communication which
should command reinforcements. As the Constable
advanced one morning through the narrow pass,
hedged in by steep declivities, he observed the case
with which he might be at this spot intercepted and
overcome. He resolved to strengthen the guard
there, but the precaution was futile, because too
late. At the very moment two thousand Imperial
cavalry pressed on, and took up their position in
the fatal pass. Spaniards and Flemings poured in
until it was completely blocked. The French
attempted a retreat, but they found themselves
encircled on every side, and the signal of attack was
given. The impetuous Egmont, at the head of two
thousand light horse, charged on the one hand; on
the other, the Dukes of Brunswick, each at the head
of a thousand dragoons, supported by Count Horn,
with his regiment of mounted gendarmerie. Count
Mansfeld led the attack at a third point.
The French wavered under the shock of this
united movement. Panic seized the hangers-on of
the army, and their tumult and disorder caused
I
114
THE COURT OF ASXA CARAFA.
confusion throughout the entire ranks. A complete
rout ensued, in which the regiments of France were
remorselessly slaughtered. Of more than twenty
thousand, six thousand only remained. The rest
were slain or captured. Misfortune darkened the
glory of the ancient house of Montmorency, for the
Constable was taken prisoner.
Only a very small portion of the army of Spain
was sacrificed, and the erection of the palace of the
Escurial, dedicated to the saint on whose festival
day the battle was fought, commemorated this vic-
tory of the Spanish arms.
Notwithstanding these reverses without, the town
of St. Quentin was still defended within, by a body
of eight hundred men. Coligny held his post with
heroic bravery. A sharp fire, however, was opened
afresh upon the city, and continued ceaselessly until
its surrender. The citizens, worn out with endur-
ance, lost confidence.
Yet what they had suf-
fered was but a prelude to severer pains. At length
the assailants having effected an entrance, a short,
tough contest ensued—a hand-to-hand encounter-
in which the valiant deeds of Coligny did full jus-
tice to his fame. He, too, like Montmorency, was
THE CONSPIRACY OF POPE PAUL.
115
made prisoner. Upon his capture the town at once
succumbed, and the prosperous St. Quentin became
the scene of desolation and misery unspeakable. In-
discriminate carnage
and plunder continued for
days. The swords of the brutal soldiery slashed
the faces of unhappy women. The city was fired
in a hundred places, and those of its inhabitants
who were not slaughtered, maimed, and heart-
broken, passed along its blazing thoroughfares, over
the bodies of their kinsmen dead or dying.
In accordance with an order given out by the
Spanish monarch, the women were immediately to
be driven out of the city into French territory.
Throughout this exodus of woe more than three
thousand—the mother and the infant, the young
and the aged, the gently nurtured and the poor-
alike only in the terrible sympathy of suffering, de-
solate and destitute, fled for ever from the place of
their birth, under the guard of Alva's troopers.
Philip, of the bigot head and craven heart, had
not permitted his habitual impassiveness to be dis-
turbed by making the slightest effort to repress the
barbarities enacted. He, however, like a true son
of the Romish Church, did not forget his duty to
I 2
116
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
.
the patron saint of the city, but, while its inhabitants
were consigned to a wretched fate, caused the bones
of St. Quentin to be rescued at once from the flames.
Such was the victory, rapid, brilliant, and complete,
which crowned the campaign of 1557.
Egmont and Gonzaga desired to follow it up by
fresh achievements, and to strike terror into France
by an immediate march upon Paris. But to this
Philip of Spain demurred, and the Emperor,
Charles V., disgusted at the want of martial ardour
in his son, who failed to follow up his advantages,
it is said, would not read the despatches that told
the tale of triumph.
CHAPTER VI.
Alya at the gates of Rome-His retreat-Alva's visit to the
Vatican-Peace concluded at Cave, 1557–Negotiations con-
cerning Palliano-Paul's change of feeling towards the three
brothers Carafa-Their conduct-Edicts issued by the Pope-
He rebukes the College of Cardinals-His severity towards
his nephews—Banishment of the Carafas—Accusations made
against them-Death of Paul-Return of the brothers Carafa
to Rome-Their arrest and imprisonment–The Indictment-
Alessandro Palantiere-Execution of the brothers Carafa.
The Duke of Alva, in his pride of conquest, was
as uncompromising as Paul had ever been. He
would listen to no terms, but resolved to crown
his triumphant course by appearing before the very
gates of the Eternal City. The Duke, with Marc
Antonio Colonna at his side, advanced within sight
of Rome, under the darkness of a stormy night.
The stirring aspect of the city, where lights were
kindled, and whence proceeded the hum of voices,
the tramp of feet, and the clatter of arms signified
from the first point of view that a vigilant watch
was kept. Alva paused to take counsel. It was
proposed to reconnoitre from another position, and
118
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
" **
the quarter of Porta Maggiore was selected. Here
appearances were so encouraging that Berardi, the
officer commissioned to the task of surveillance,
exclaimed, “I wager, if we proceed, that Rome is
ours before daybreak.”
The only answer to this hardy assurance was a
look of mutual understanding between the com-
manders Alva and Colonna, who at this moment
agreed, without the utterance of a single word, to
abandon the idea of besieging Rome; not, it is
to be inferred, from want of confidence in the
result, but from reverence for the walls of the
Sacred Capital. Such a step, moreover, was unne-
cessary for the attainment of the object they had
in view ; for Paul was already convinced of the
hopelessness of the contest. He was therefore a
little more tractable. He required, however, as an
indispensable preliminary condition of any pacific
treaty whatsoever, that the Duke of Alva should
come in person, to ask pardon and receive absolu-
tion for his contumacious defiance of the Church.
Alva accordingly visited Rome, and rode directly
to the Vatican, where, with mock humility, he
* Pietro Nores, “Guerra degli Spagnuoli contra Paolo," p. 211.
THE INDICTMENT.
119
reverently kissed the feet of the Pope, and im-
plored forgiveness in his own name and that of his
sovereign, for the crusade which had been entered
into against the Apostolical Chair.*
On the 8th September, 1557, a treaty of peace
was concluded at Cave, by which the Pope was
pledged to neutrality, and certain cities, territories,
and fortresses of the Ecclesiastical States were re-
stored. The greatest difficulty in arranging the
terms of this treaty was with respect to the strong-
hold of Palliano, the restoration of which to Marc
Antonio Colonna, Paul would not consent to as an
article of capitulation. The arrangement of this
matter was entrusted, therefore, to the Pope's
nephew, Cardinal Carafa, who entered into a private
and special negotiation with Colonna on the subject,
presumably, although not virtually, without the
knowledge of the Pontiff.
The transaction is noteworthy for two reasons-
as illustrating the influence of personal enmity in
those days, and as furnishing the source of that
suspicion on the part of the Pope which ultimately
proved the cause of his nephew's ruin. Indeed,
* « Archivio Storico Italiano,” vol. xii. p. 219.
120
THE COU'RT OF ANYA CARAFA.
this very matter of Palliano was the turning-point,
so to speak, in the fortunes of the Cardinal and his
two brothers, for from this moment dated the mis-
trust which deepened into unrelenting animosity in
the heart of the Pope. If there still remains subject
for speculation as to the motives of Paul's hostility
towards his relatives, its results are chronicled
as historical facts, infinitely discreditable to his
Pontificate.
Foiled in his struggle for temporal sovereignty,
Paul then aspired to exalt that spiritual govern-
ment of which he was the head. It was his desire
that an attempt at revolution should at once be
superseded by a signal reform, in order that his
memory should descend to posterity, not as a
rebellious subject of the Empire, but as an irre-
proachable representative of the Church. He did
not scruple as to the means by which to carry out
this reformatory policy. It was a time of transi-
tion, in which prelates were no longer permitted to
bask in unthreatened prosperity. Every crisis of
the kind requires some expiatory offering, and the
question arises, who and what shall at length be
sacrificed to an inexorable necessity ? In this
THE INDICTMENT.
121
instance it was the Cardinal Carafa and his two
brothers who underwent the full punishment due to
the multiplied offences committed by the majority
of ecclesiastics, no less than by themselves.
The authority of Pope Paul, at the outset of his
career, had been great. His adherents were numer-
ous and influential, and his illustrious position had
opened a path of promise to the younger scions of
his race—the three sons of his elder brother, the
Count of Montorio, the youngest of whom, Cardinal
Carafa, was thirty-six at the time Paul became
Pope. He at first loaded his nephews with benefits,
and did not hesitate to rob others in order to enrich
them. Thus one of the brothers became Duke of
Palliano, another was created Marquis of Monte-
bello, and the third, Charles, was made a Cardinal.
There is little doubt that they did not make the
best use of the dignities bestowed upon them, nor
did they remember the responsibility attaching to
preferment. Hence their own lawlessness had
much to do with their subsequent misfortunes,
and the disgrace which, in visiting them, dark-
ened the hitherto brilliant annals of the House of
Carafa. Whether as Captains-General of the Church
122
THE COURT OF ANYA CARAFA,
a
or lords of the soil, they were regarded with sus-
picion by the people of Rome, as men who abused
authority, and were the cause of multiplied vexa-
tions.
At the moment that Paul, convinced of the in-
utility of his efforts to extend the temporal authority
of the Church in Italy, had entered into a pacific
treaty, his nephews, not yet weaned from aspira-
tions of a mundane kind, had little sympathy with
a change of mood in their uncle that caused him
to cry incessantly “Reform, reform,” which a daring
commentator supplemented one day by the excla-
mation, “ Reform, your Holiness, should come from
ourselves." *
Paul's kindred, therefore, kept out of his sight;
for, aware of the Pope's altered sentiments, they
wished to avoid openly-expressed opposition, where
they were not disposed to please by acquiescence.
This was
a fatal misapprehension of the right
course to be pursued. Avoidance only increased
alienation, and gave occasion to the numerous ad-
versaries of the brothers Carafa to poison the Pope's
mind against them. The Duke of Guise, who had
* " Archivio Storico Italiano,” vol. xii. p. 259.
THE INDICTMENT.
123
headed a body of French auxiliaries during the
campaign, did not scruple to take advantage of the
opportunity; and on his return from an interview
with the Pope remarked to Marshal Strozzi, “Now
I have succeeded in making the Pope understand
clearly it is his nephews, not I, who have betrayed
the Apostolical Chair. "*
Many and stringent were the edicts issued by the
Pontiff
' to amend the prevailing licence in morals
and manners. Visiting one day his nephew, the
Cardinal, unexpectedly, he found him conversing
with two prelates of the most notoriously dissolute
lives. “Old people,” exclaimed Paul, after this
occurrence, “are mistrustful, and I then saw things
which opened a wide field before me.”
At the commencement of the year 1559, an
incident occurred which, at so. critical a juncture,
proved of the utmost importance in its conse-
quences to the brothers Carafa.
Its significance
historically is the proof it affords that the reform
so much talked of was imperatively needed. A
supper of luxurious description was given by Lan-
franchi, secretary of the Duke of Palliano, in
* “ Guerra degli Spagnuoli contra Paolo," p. 256.
12+
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
honour of Cardinal Montorio, whose character, it
is to be inferred, was not exemplary, since one of
the guests at the festival was la Martuccia, a
notorious courtesan of the time. Marcello Capece,
a retainer of the Duke of Palliano, and greatly
esteemed by him, was enamoured of la Martuccia.
He, having sought her in vain during the evening
of the entertainment, heard accidentally of her
presence at the supper, and suspected his rival to
be her companion. Accordingly he hastened to the
house of Lanfranchi, but not alone. Admitted to
the festival, he intimated by a sign to la Martuccia
that she should quit the assembly at once, which
she hesitated to do. Capece, upon this, took her
hand and attempted to lead her away. La Mar-
tuccia's desire to remain was seconded by some of
the guests.
This infuriated Capece still more.
High words ensued, and the band of armed fol-
lowers who had accompanied Capece taking part
in the affray, swords were drawn. The combatants,
numbering amongst them Cardinal Montorio, rushed
into the open air, when, amidst the confusion con-
sequent on the outbreak, the lovely Martuccia took
to flight.
THE INDICTMENT.
123
The rumour of this occurrence, in the scandal of
which every member of the party who had assem-
bled was inevitably more or less involved, soon
reached the Pope's ears. Paul publicly rebuked the
whole body of Cardinals for tolerating such proceed-
ings amongst their order, and threatened to deprive
Cardinal Montorio of his office. No one ventured to
reply. The nephews of Paul were soon made to
understand the full extent of the Pope's wrath.
Cardinal Carafa, after waiting for five hours in an
antechamber for an audience with his uncle, was
told to depart at once, nor dare again to present
himself. The right granted formerly to the Cardinal
of inhabiting certain apartments in the Vatican was
withdrawn. In full Consistory, Paul censured the
conduct of his relatives, whom he denounced as
" base men, incorrigible rebels against God and the
Church, who, he declared, had ruined the whole
world by the ruin of the Apostolical See. His
hope was that a just God and his successors would
chastise them.” The irascible old man forgot the
temptations he himself had put in the way of these
“ base men.”
Paul did not, however, leave altogether to his
126
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
successors the task of chastising them, but issued a
decree, declaring that the three brothers Carafa had
forfeited their offices and emoluments, and ordered
their departure with their families from Rome within
twelve days. The aged mother of the offenders,
bent with infirmity though she was, threw herself at
the Pope's feet imploring his pity, but the inflexible
Paul passed her by with harshness. He had no
compassion either for young or old in this matter ;
for when the youthful Marchese Montebello arrived
in Rome, she found her palace closed against her,
and so busy had slander been with her many tongues,
in defaming misfortune, that the Marchese could
not find an innkeeper who would give her shelter,
but was compelled to wander on through a stormy
night seeking refuge.
All who frequented the papal palace were forbidden
under the severest penalties to mention the names
of the outlawed Carafas. This was the final stroke
in the severe sentence of chastisement passed upon
his nephews by Paul. It was but ominous of the
greater misfortunes that subsequently visited the
brothers Carafa, but with which the influence of
Pope Paul was not directly associated.
THE INDICTMENT.
127
The history of Paul, however, is inseparably con-
nected with that of the brothers Carafa. What were
the precise motives by which the Pope and his rela-
tives were respectively actuated, and what the
influence mutually exercised ? An answer to these
questions would tell us the rôle to be assigned to
the several actors in the tragedy that ensued. It is
not easy to determine the part really played by
Cardinal Carafa in the war of Paul with the
Spaniards. Whether he was accused on sufficient
grounds or not, whether the charges made by his
enemies were true or false, and whether just or
unjust was the punishment inflicted upon him in
consequence, constitute one of the causes célèbres of
Italian history still likely to be discussed, although
abundant speculation has already given rise to so
many varying statements, that scarcely an archive
of Italy containing MSS. remains without some
account of the process by which the Cardinal and
his brothers were condemned to an ignominious end.
An act of chastisement at once so severe and so
arbitrarily enforced as that which closed the career
of the Pope's nephews, was not usually visited on
the crimes of aristocrats in those times ; and the
128
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
event, startling the public consciousness, made its
mark also on the chronicler's page.
Paul invariably complained that his idea of eman-
cipating Italy had not been honestly seconded by
his nephews. They had acted, he affirmed, on their
own judgments heedless of responsibility, and had
placed him consequently in anomalous positions in
which he was driven to adopt measures ruinous to
his interests. Hence, he declared the French had
been disgusted and the Romans disheartened. The
Cardinal was accused of having conducted important
treaties without the authorisation of the Pope, whom
he had wilfully deceived by false accounts of the
conditions under which they were negotiated. Paul
had also, he affirmed, been kept in ignorance by his
nephews of evils crying for redress, and which he
professed himself prepared to remedy. Thus, when
a deputation once waited upon him with a financial
grievance, he exclaimed, “My children, I did not
know of these things; and no wonder, since those
base nephews of mine have kept me in ignorance of
all that they wished. Otherwise, I would certainly
have listened in audience to the complaints of the
suffering poor."
THE INDICTMENT.
129
In this way it became easy for the Pope to excuse
his own shortcomings, while the odium they incurred
was visited on others.
It is quite possible that without the intention on the
part of the Cardinal to deceive the Pope, his uncle was
misled. The nephew, younger and more sanguine,
and by nature as ardent as Paul himself, would
naturally regard affairs in the somewhat delusive
light of a fervid fancy, untempered by judgment,
and at variance with the conclusions of more matured
experience. Thus, when the Cardinal had incited
his uncle to place greater confidence in France, the
Pope had warned him of the notorious fickleness of
that power. It is also possible that the Cardinal, in
all good faith, and out of consideration for his rela-
tive, oppressed with the weight of years and multi-
plied cares, had taken upon himself the sole conduct
of certain affairs, seeking the same end as did the
Pope, though endeavouring to realise it by different
means. Doubtless, he had for sufficient reasons kept
back the knowledge of events on more than one
occasion, as long as he considered it practicable or
expedient to do so. Such is proved to have been
the case with respect to a circumstance which
K
130
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
occurred at this critical moment, when, political
negotiations pending, and special interests involved
therein, gave to comparatively unimportant events
a more than ordinary significance.
In those times, full of watchfulness and suspicion,
it was customary to keep the gates of Rome closed
and guarded, and to open them only on special occa-
sions. The Marquis of Saria wished to hunt one
morning early, and accordingly requested the Count
of Montorio to instruct the custodian of the Santa
Agnese gate, through which he desired to pass, to
permit him to do so without hindrance. The order
requested was given by the Count of Montorio on
the day before that on which the Marquis intended
to hunt. The sentinel who received the order from
the Count, failed, however, to transmit it to the one
next on duty with whom he changed places. Thus
it happened that the Marquis at daybreak reached
the Porta Agnese, but met with an obstinate re-
sistance, since the custodian had not heard of the
arrangement between the Marquis and the Count.
The Marquis, who was followed by a crowd of armed
retainers, did not scruple to employ violent measures
with those who continued to oppose his egress; and
THE INDICTMENT.
131
having disabled the keeper of the gate, he withdrew
its fastenings, and passed through on his way. The
guard of the Porta Agnese was notoriously anti-
Imperialist, and the outrage committed by the
Marquis was regarded as an intentional insult by
partisans of the Pope.
Cardinal Carafa, well aware of the extreme indig-
nation the knowledge of such an act on the part of
the Marquis of Saria would awaken in the Pope,
and fearing the impolitic violence to which he would
be incited, studiously concealed the fact as long as
it was possible to do so from Paul. The conduct of
the Pope on discovering the incident that had taken
place justified the precautions of his nephew, since
the violence indulged in both by Paul and the
offender very nearly gave rise to a popular tumult,
which at that juncture might have been fraught
with most mischievous effects.
The negotiation concerning Palliano having been
entrusted solely to the Cardinal, much necessarily
was left to his judgment, and his discretion might
have failed where his integrity did not. But the
irascibility and tendency to extremes that marked
the character of Paul, made him, while he professed
K ?
132
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
to be inflexibly just, essentially unjust; and he was
the last man to excuse, even if he were not the first
to condemn. Moreover, the campaign on which
the Pope had staked so much, had failed to accom-
plish the object of his first ambition. In the bitter-
ness of his disappointment, Paul visited with swift
and sharp rebuke his nephews, who had, whether
justifiably or not, contributed to this disappointment
by fostering hopes not to be realised. These reasons
suffice, perhaps, to account for the unnatural hos-
tility-sudden, inveterate and unrelenting-con-
ceived by the Pope against his kinsmen.
the death of Paul, in August of the
year 1559, the brothers Carafa were permitted to
return to Rome, it was only to find a fresh conspi-
racy organised against them. They had
They had many
opponents, but, vindictive above all others, were the
Colonnas. Giovanna d'Aragona, the high-spirited
mother of Marc Antonio Colonna, was so well aware
of the machinations of the anti-Carafa party, and so
confident in the success of those intrigues in which
she herself had been actively engaged, as to ex-
claim, on her departure from Rome, in order to
mask the satisfaction she really felt, “I go,
When upon
in
THE INDICTMENT.
133
order not to be present at the tragedy of these
miserable Carafas." **
They had not a friend in the new Pope, Gian
Angelo di Medici, although the Cardinal had actively
assisted in gaining the Pontificate for him. The
Carafas were summarily arrested and imprisoned in
the castle of St. Angelo. Whatever their misdeeds,
the mode of their impeachment was unwarrantable.
Measures were at once taken to secure all the private
documents in their possession, and especial haste
was displayed in appropriating those of the Cardinal,
whose house was invaded, directly he was imprisoned,
by sbirri and the agents of the adverse cabal, in
order by this step to deprive him of the means of
self-defence. Chief among those employed to draw
up the indictment against him was a man notoriously
This was the attorney Alessandro
Palantieri. “Attorney,” the Cardinal had once re-
marked to him, “if ever in future you support my
interests I shall open my eyes.” †
The attorney did not forget that he had long
reckonings to make up, and it is not surprising that
his enemy.
* “ Archivio Storico Italiano,” vol. xii. p.
+ Pietro Nores, “ Guerra degli Spagnuoli contra Papa Paolo,"
285.
P. 286.
134
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
the voluminous process of accusation drawn up by
him should have set the seal to his victim's fate by
imputing crimes of which, even if he were guilty,
the Cardinal was certainly not judicially convicted.
These facts suffice to prove the nature of the plot
organised against the Carafas, and also the malignity
of its fabricators. The Cardinal was accused of
having incited Pope Paul to the war with Spain. He
was also charged with frauds in connection with the
payment of certain troops, and was alleged to have
robbed the Apostolical Chamber in order to make
these payments. A third point of indictment was
that he had concluded the negotiation relative to
Palliano on his own authority, and had been instru-
mental in causing the two Spanish spies, Nani and
Spina, to be executed.
The gravest charge, however, was preferred against
the Duke of Palliano,* who pleaded guilty to no less
a crime than the assassination of his wife and her
confessed paramour, the very man, Marcello Capece,
so much esteemed by the Duke, and who had figured
so prominently in the strife at the festival given to
Cardinal Montorio, of which the beautiful Martuccia
Appendix, pp. 337-312.
THE INDICTMENT.
135
had been the cause. The Duke, it is recorded,
nevertheless deeply loved his wife Violante, but his
too frequent absence and lawless mode of living had
resulted in alienating her affection. In love, to doubt
is to despair, and despair is reckless. Such moments
are dangerous to fidelity. It was during one of the
Duke of Palliano's many wanderings abroad that
Capece, emboldened by the solitude in which he
frequently found himself with the Duchess, or by
unequivocal signs of her preference, revealed his
passion for her--a passion which finally was not
unreturned.
Not long afterwards Capece found himself in the
dungeons of Soriano. The Duchess also was a
prisoner closely guarded. Capece at first denied
the accusation made by the Duke, but when threat-
ened with the rack, confessed that "he was the
betrayer of his lord, the Duke of Palliano,” upon
which the Duke with deadly aim struck Marcello a
mortal blow.* Had not his kindred besought him at
all hazards to obliterate his dishonour?
The Duchess Violante, meanwhile, was not so
guarded but that she found an opportunity of assur-
• « Archivio Storico Italiano," vol. xii.
136
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
>
ing Marc Antonio Colonna “of her willingness to
deliver
up
her husband dead or alive into his hands."
The Duchess, however, perished miserably in capti-
vity by the Duke's command. Upon hearing the
fatal order, Violante exclaimed, “And does the
Duke really wish me to die?” The question was
answered by an assent, upon which the Duchess,
pressing a crucifix to her breast, bowed her neck to
the silken cord, and expired.
A second point of impeachment against the Duke
of Palliano was his having caused the imprisonment
of the Imperialist agent, Lottino, whose letters of
instruction intercepted by the Pope had convinced
him of the stratagems employed to take away his
life. This charge the Duke persisted in denying
even when threatened with torture, as he exclaimed,
“ Alas ! the nephew of the Pope, a General of the
Church, a Duke, one who has three Royal quarter-
ings on his arms, menaced by the torture of the
rack !”*
Those who had flocked round the Carafas in the
days of their prosperity to flatter and court them-
* Pietro Nores, “ Guerra degli Spagnuoli contra Papa Paolo,"
p. 289.
THE INDICTMENT.
137
a
partisans, associates, and dependants alike—now
not only abandoned them, but exchanged courtesies
for detraction and contempt.
Seldom does fate
send misfortune without her attendant calumny.
After a deliberation of eight hours, a verdict was
delivered by the assembly who had been appointed
to sit in judgment on the Carafas. A sentence of
capital punishment was passed. The Cardinal,
like his sister-in-law, the Duchess Violante, was
strangled with a silken cord. In his last moments
he exhibited an intrepidity which proved he knew
how to die, if he had not known how to live, as a
wise and valiant man. After having confessed and
received the last sacrament of the Church, he
exclaimed, as the fatal cord was about to encircle
his neck, “I die. Oh Pope ! oh King ! I did not
expect this !” *
The Duke of Palliano and his brother, the
Marquis Montebello, were then at once beheaded
within the walls of the venerable Castle of St.
Angelo.
It is a significant fact that every possible effort
* Pietro Nores, “ Guerra degli Spagnuoli contra Papa Paolo,"
p. 298.
138
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
was subsequently made to redeem the memory of
the Cardinal, upon which obloquy so grievous
rested, by Pius the Fifth, during a pontificate that
shines out as signally honourable and exemplary
amidst the dark annals of the Papacy. The process
of indictment, drawn up by Palantieri, the attorney
through which the Cardinal had been doomed, was
pronounced a fraud, and the sentence passed upon
him was declared to have been contrary to all
justice. By command of Pope Pius the original
copy of the famous process was burnt. Alessandro
Palantieri; its author, died as a common thief.
a
1
1
CHAPTER VII.
Luigi Carafa, first Prince of Stigliano-Roberta Carafa-Educa-
tion of the Prince-His Marriage with Isabella Gonzaga-Her
rich inheritance-Antonio, son of the Prince-Elena Aldo-
brandini his bride—Dowry of Elena—Luigi inhabits the Syrens'
Palace—Death of his three sons-Luigi enters a monastery-
Anna Carafa his sole heiress--Ier youth and beauty_Italian
women of the seventeenth century-Conventual education-
Social condition of Naples.
Luigi, great-grandson of that Antonio who had
introduced the title of Prince of Stigliano and Duke
of Mondragone into the family of Carafa, added by
his valour and attainments to the honours of his
House. For his brilliant martial service under the
Emperor Charles the Fifth, and his son Philip the !
Second, Luigi was created not only Knight of the
Golden Fleece, but most noble Prince of the Holy
Roman Empire. One of the few privileged grandees
of the Court of Spain, he was permitted to remain
seated in the presence of his sovereign, and was
saluted as “ Most Illustrious.” A true Carafa by
”
nature, he delighted in sumptuous display, and the
140
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
indulgence of costly tastes. He was fortunate,
therefore, considering these somewhat dangerous
characteristics, to have been placed, in early youth,
under the care of his grand-aunt, Roberta Carafa,
whose admirable qualities are invariably extolled
by the chroniclers of the time.* By her prudence
amiability, and feminine dignity, she signally illus-
trated the pricelessness of domestic qualities in
women. Sagacious and discreet, she succeeded in
diminishing the debts incurred on behalf of her
ward Luigi, and considerably increased his patri-
mony. Through the exercise of the same practical
ability and economy on her part, her husband was
released from a load of debt, and restored to a
position of affluence. Nor were these the highest
triumphs of the wise Roberta.
Emulous of sus-
taining worthily the renown of her ancestors, she
diligently sought to direct the mind of her ward
Luigi to the achievement of noble aims, and to
develope in him tastes and wishes more consonant
with greatness, than a desire to lavish expenditure
on the outward vanities of the world. The efforts
“ Illustriorum Mulierum, &c.,
Aldimari, G. C. Capaccio,
Elogia.”
ANNA CARAFA.
141
of Roberta were not in vain ; for not only were
honours acquired by Luigi as a faithful soldier of
the Empire, celebrated for dashing gallantry in the
field, but he was distinguished for learned specula-
tions in science, and for a profound knowledge of
mathematics and astronomy, with which he com-
bined the grace of literary culture.
These were
unwonted accomplishments in an age when to ride
well, throw the spear, and recite the verses of a
national poet, constituted perfect education in the
heir-apparent of any royal house.
It was this Luigi, fourth Prince of Stigliano, who,
in association with the scholars of the age, founded,
under the singular name of the Otiosi,* one of
those innumerable academies of mediæval Italy,
where intellectual tournaments took place in
which the subjects of contention were dressed
with arguments so ingenious and eccentric that
Love himself could hardly be recognised under the
disguise.
Exceedingly rich were the endowments of Luigi's
bride, the daughter of Vespasian Gonzaga, Duke of
Sabioneta ; for Isabella, who was left sole heiress
Aldimari, “Istoria della Casa Caraffa,” p. 392.
142
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
through the death of her brother, owned, in addition
to Sabioneta, Trajetto, Fondi, Itri, Castel Nuovo,
Campo di Mele, Monticelli, and Marandola. Sabio-
neta, in Lombardy, a spot originally remarkable
only for its castle and a few straggling huts, was
converted by the benevolence and good judgment
of Isabella's husband, Luigi, into a model mediæval
town, which flourished at least during the life of its
benefactor.
Wealth, again, was brought in abundance to the
House of Carafa by the marriage of Luigi's son,
Antonio, with Elena Aldobrandini, niece of Pope
Clement the Seventh, and Elena arrived in Naples
as a bride with a regal dowry from Rome, for the
power of the Aldobrandini family was at its height,
and the coffers of the Pontificate at their command.
Great formality, therefore, attended the signature
of the nuptial contract.
As yet no presage had reminded Luigi, lord of
Stigliano, that he, too, was not exempt from the
strange and terrible spell that hung over the Syrens'
Palace. Misfortune for the first time darkened the
hitherto brilliant career of Prince Luigi in the death
of his only son Antonio, who is described as having
ANNA CARAFA.
143
»* and
grief and
been of a “magnanimous and heroic nature,
whose short existence, devoted to lofty enterprise,
was full of excellent promise. Antonio's three sons
also died at an early age. One daughter only,
Anna, survived.
Then did the aged Prince Luigi, stricken with
years, retire to end his days in the Jesuits'
monastery of Santissima Annunciata, far
away
from
the haunted air of the Syrens' Palace. Under this
monastic shelter he died in the year 1630. His
obsequies were celebrated with the pomp accorded
to sovereign rank. The body of the departed Prince
was arrayed in a suit of crimson silk, adorned with a
collar of ermine ; the ducal coronet, the sceptre, and
insignia of illustrious rank were laid upon the bier,
,
which was borne to its resting-place in the Chapel
of San Domenico amidst a crowd of followers, noble
and monastic.
Anna Carafa, thus left sole heiress of the lords of
Stigliano, was, it is said, a young maiden at the
time of Prince Luigi's death. It is to be inferred
from this that she was still in her teens. What was
her precise age, however, remains uncertain ; since
.
Zazzera, “Nobilità dell'Italia."
144
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
>
writers, who have made the Italian Princess the
subject of their laudation, and who have dwelt at
some length upon the events of her life, have
allowed the point to remain undecided. Celano,
although he alludes to the native place of the
young Princess, omits the date of her birth. One
reliable chronicler * mentions Anna before referring
to her two brothers, Guiseppe and Onofrio, who
died in childhood; and hence some authors have
concluded that she was their elder, though it is not
obvious why the fact of his earlier mention of
Anna should lead to the conclusion. Above all, a
later inquirer, and one most diligent and consci-
entious, confesses his inability to discover the exact
year in which the Princess was born.t One of the
most enthusiastic of her admirers states that the
marriage of Anna's parents, Antonio, son of Luigi
of Stigliano, and Elena Aldobrandini took place in
the year 1602. Assuming Anna to have been
born during the earlier years of their married
life, she could scarcely have been termed a young
* Zazzera, “Nobilità dell'Italia.”
+ Volpicella,“ Discrizione Storica della Citta di Napoli.”
Author's note.
| Aldimari.
6
ANNA CARAFA.
145
a
maiden at the time of her grandfather's death in
1630.
It is a curious circumstance that while the exact
date of Anna's birth is unknown, the years in which
she married and in which she died are generally
agreed upon. Her marriage took place in 1636. So
assuming Anna to have been fifteen only at Luigi's
death, she would have been of full age before she
became a bride. This was in all probability the fact
in the case of an heiress of magnificent possessions,
who was zealously guarded from other than the most
exalted alliance, whose hand was a prize, the attain-
ment and bestowal of which gave rise to a system
of manœuvring and intrigue among fortune-hunters
on the one side, and ambitious matrimonial schemes
on the other, as to be unrivalled in the Chronique
Scandaleuse of match-making.
If the personal charms of the Princess corre-
sponded at all to the praise so lavishly bestowed
upon her by some writers, she was undoubtedly a
beautiful woman. Though these eulogiums are
evidently not altogether trustworthy from their
extravagance, it is probable they convey, to some
extent, the true characteristics of the Princess, and
1
116
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
as the salient traits of the physiognomy ascribed to
her harmonise precisely with what history tells us
of her temperament and disposition, it is scarcely
wise to discard these laudatory tributes as entirely
worthless. In the air of regal command stamped
on the broad and ample forehead, the haughty-
arched eyebrow, the curved and full lips, are evi-
dences of the proud and sensuous nature, and the
arbitrary will characterising the woman. But these
aspects we are led to believe were entirely redeemed
from ungraciousness, and made attractive by the
feminine loveliness of rich golden locks, complexion
of brilliant blonde, and eyes of deep dark blue. The
portrait of the Princess * certainly conveys but an
inadequate idea of the surpassing loveliness extolled
by the poets of the time, who discovered the splen-
dour of the sun's rays in her gleaming tresses of
gold, queenly majesty in the intellectual pride of
her countenance, radiant with bloom, where beneath
her arched brows Love was triumphantly enshrined,
while the red rose, most royal of flowers, bloomed
* “ Istoria della Famiglia Caraffa,” di Biagio Aldimari,
seconda parte. There too are the fervid lines to the Princess,
commencing “Miro ne la tua chioma."
ANNA CARAFA.
147
in perpetual fragrance upon her lips. Such are the
testimonies of the chivalrous laureates of the age;
but can poetry be truth when poets are courtiers ?
How far the mental endowments of the Princess
Anna Carafa accorded with the excellence of her
physical graces we are not informed. There ap-
pears no reason, however, for supposing her less
liberally cultured than other foreign or English
feminine dignitaries of the time. More than one
example of intellectual superiority amongst women
ennobled the courts of the Italian States. If there
were few like Christina of Sweden, who outstripped
the learning of her tutors at fourteen, and in early
womanhood surpassed the sagacity of her ministers,
there were comparatively many who exercised a
signal influence in society and politics. Christina
herself admitted the debt she owed to the literature
of Italy—the land of her love and her adoption ;
and the Italians indeed complained that ships, laden
with the spoils of their libraries, departed for the
north.
Women, undeniably, took a prominent part in
the intellectual life of Italy throughout the six-
teenth and seventeenth centuries; and whether in
L 2
148
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
the domain of poetry, art, or drama, reflected in
their essays, pictures, and poems,
the characteristics
stamped on the mind of the age. Then, as now,
there were ladies who lectured to the delight of
crowded audiences.) Not only did Olympia Morata,
with learned ardour, write in defence of the para-
doxes of Cicero, declaim in Latin and improvise in
Greek to the courtly circles of Ferrara, but by her
ingenious retorts baffled the subtile questionings of
the most revered doctors of Padua. The dramas
of Donna Isabella Andreini, famous beyond the
limits of her own country, were popular in the
most polished capitals of Europe. The bold and
facile hand of Elisabetta Sirani, the historical
painter, worked so rapidly and so well that it was
considered one of the most interesting sights in
Bologna to see her paint, which she did with a
precision and quickness described by Lanzi as
“truly wonderful.” So indefatigable was her per-
petual industry, that in the nine years from the
seventeenth to the twenty-sixth of her age, she had
produced one hundred and fifty pieces. Nor did
the Italy of that day withhold the highest homage
to women so distinguished, but permitted them to
!
ANNA CARAFA.
149
share in the rewards conferred upon the most
illustrious ; and later, in the eighteenth century, we
find a woman's name in Italy associated with an
honour rarely won, when La Corilla, poetess and
improvisatrice, received the laureate's wreath at the
Capitol two centuries after the coronation of Tasso
on the same spot.
As a rule, however, the mechanical routine and
discipline of the convent, enfeebling to mind and
morals; was the only medium of education for
women. The essential features of the conventual
system, no less than the principles upon which it
is founded, differ but little in the modern from the
mediaeval times. Its catechism lays stress upon the
value of the external in all things, and the para-
mount need of the outer cleansing of cup and
platter; hence incessant observance of forms and
ceremonies. Implicit faith is required, but in what?
The teachings of the Church,—the Scripture inter-
preted by her priests in preference to the pure milk
of the Word as it fell from the lips of the Redeemer.
Its creed requires unquestioning adoption of certain
dogmas ; its formula demands unhesitating submis-
sion to given rules. It is pre-eminently adapted to
150
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
the unreasoning; and thus the ignorant, the mentally
indolent and the weak, are tempted to allow the
choice between truth and falsehood, right and
wrong, to be decided by another intellect than their
own, thus ignoring the light which lighteth every
man; not one nor two, but every man who cometh
into the world. By yielding this noblest preroga-
tive of humanity to another, the idle are willingly
freed from an exhausting sense of responsibility in
thought and action.
Yet not the most commendable regularity in the
counting of beads, attendance at masses, matins,
and vespers -- not the incessant supplication of
Virgin or saints can obliterate a nature given by
God; nor does the serenity fondly pictured by
sentimentalists attend the isolation of the cloister,
which, far from extinguishing the passions, nourishes
the most formidable above all-spiritual pride.
What remedy then for natural impulses perhaps
innocent, infirmities perhaps excusable, but which
are, nevertheless, inconsistent with the exactions of
an artificial and burthensome code? What, indeed,
but deception and falsehood, too often the resource
of the enslaved victims of conventual tyranny, or,
ANNA CARAFA.
131
worse, the confessional! Let him who does not
wear his heart upon his sleeve for daws to peck
at” reflect upon the workings of his spiritual con-
sciousness in those phases least condemned by him-
self, and consider the relationship in vhich he
would be bound with one whose mortal eye was
permitted to scan the recesses of his soul, and he
will understand the utter surrender of independence
it would imply, and the bondage that would result
to him from such an association. He who yields
his heart to another, entrusts his happiness; he who
relinquishes his property, forfeits his worldly estate:
but who can estimate the extent of the surrender
when the conscience itself is given into another's
keeping! He indeed is a prisoner in the most piti-
able sense. And is not this stamped on the outward
bearing of the conventuai devotee? In the shuffling
gait, the cowed demeanour, and the furtive glance,
do we not perceive that individuality is suppressed,
and true freedom, with its ennobling consciousness,
departed ? And the one grand aim of the Romish
Church is to foster this intellectual nullity, an aim
only too easily accomplished in the case of women,
whose tenderest and most endearing qualities render
132
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
them the ready victims of duplicity and imposture.
Naturally emotional, their susceptibilities are stimu-
lated, under the conventual system, to enervating
excess. Urged by an instinctive piety, they are
quickly led into superstition ; trustful, they are
credulous ; admiring, they worship ; loving, they
adore. According to the influences that develop
these capacities are they potent ministers of good
or ill.
It has often been said that priests are not the
only men who have exercised power over the minds
of women, and it is said with truth; yet it remains
a question still whether any class of men have ex-
ercised it so universally and so mischievously.
Tout les hommes sont des hommes, et les moines
surtout. Thus it is that unwarrantably biassed,
with reason led captive and fettered affections,
members of noble and affluent families are induced
to renounce what, in monastic jargon, is called the
“ world.” To gratify the selfishness or avarice of
others, they are to sink heart and mind in an
unnatural seclusion; and debarred alike the per-
formance of social duties, and the enjoyment of
social privileges, they are commanded to immolate
ANNA CARAFA.
153
their purest aspirations in fulfilment of the precepts
of a perverted creed. The elevating stimulus to
action that springs as an inevitable consequence
from our relations with human kind is wanting, and
expansion of the intelligence, which is the result, is
forfeited. In an unhealthy isolation the soul is
without incentive, and the mind without ideas, or
• fed on phantasms injurious to both. Indeed there
can be little doubt but that the sense of imprison-
ment and aimlessness of existence lead, in many
cases, to partial or positive fatuity; and the hy-
gienic statistics of the cloister would be useful in
results for physiological study.
No wonder, then, that in process of time the con-
fessional is felt to be an indispensable condition of
conventual existence to relieve the tedium of more
vapid ceremonies. It is said that it is better to
express one's thoughts to a statue than not to give
utterance to them at all; and the confessional to
those denied communion with the outer world, re-
stricted to common-place trivialities of conversation,
or unbroken silence during “retreat,” to the op-
pressed heart and the overcharged mind is a
relief.
most intimate association,
Thus a
а
154
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
secret and mutual understanding, is established
between the confessor and the confessed, and no
more is needed to stamp the confessional as an
institution dangerous in the extreme, since liable, in
the hands of the unscrupulous, to abuses the most
scandalous.
The character of the Princess Anna Carafa, illus-
trated in the events of her career, does not redound
to the credit of conventual training. Indeed, Anna
was remarkable for qualities the very opposite of
those primary virtues, meekness, justice, and tem-
perance, against which there is no law.
Not all the rigours of the Convent of the Murate,
so named from the custom of passing in novices
through a hole in the wall, which, upon their entry,
was immediately bricked up, could temper the ori-
ginally malicious propensities,—dark and baneful
inheritance of ancestral vice,—which stamped the
nature of Catherine of the House of Medici. How
much, indeed, of Jesuitical precept and unscrupulous
practice did not she, an adept in dissimulation, learn
from the deceit and intrigue at work in the Murate,
where pride and licence represented, in living cle-
ments around her, the mingled tyranny and indul-
a
ANNA CARAFA.
155
gence which marked the age of the Borgias, and the
traditions of Pedro di Toledo.
Yet convent education was almost invariably
adopted in Naples, where religious communities
abounded, although there, perhaps, more than else-
where, owing to the lawless social condition of the
capital, ignorance of the realities of life, and the
false views engendered by seclusion, were pernicious.
Women immured during girlhood, and trammelled
by unnatural restrictions, suddenly emerged out of
a convent to sacrifice themselves as victims of the
odious system of mariage de convenance. At once
they were surrounded by the temptations which
wait on ignorance and want of self-reliance. Led
to the altar without that love which is as an unresting
angel to guard the heart, they were launched into
a society dominated by false codes, where luxury
reigned paramount and flaunted its sway in a
thousand senseless vanities, where dishonour raised
erect an unblushing head, and where ignominy
masqueraded in sumptuous array.
What remained
for the vacant, untaught mind, the unaspiring soul,
but refuge in levity, excitement, amusement,--the
abandon of the hour in which reflection, the knell
156
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
of passion, would of necessity be impossible. These
were the social conditions that shamed the noble-
hearted but encouraged the depraved, and disfigured
the sweet Italian tongue with the vile term
Cicisbéo.
CHAPTER VIII.
Anna Carafa's suitors - Their claims to favour-Don Taddeo
Barberini-Diomed Carafa, Duke of Maddaloni-His character
—The Duke of Modena-Fortune-hunters—Visit of the Duke
of Nocera to Naples—Ciccio Loffredi—His passion for the
Princess-His banishment by the Viceroy - The Marquis
Castelvetre-His rivalry with Don Diomed— Entertainments
of the nobles—Visits of Royal personages to Naples-A love
chase — Anna's preference for her cousin Diomed — His
conduct.
The number of suitors who aspired to the hand
of the Princess Carafa would lead us to regard her
as having been a veritable Andromache among
heroines. But however large the circle of her ad-
mirers, however contrasted the characteristics of
those who sought to engage her favour, might rea-
sonably have remained a matter of indifference to
Anna, since, notwithstanding all other prerogatives
of her illustrious position, she was denied one
privilege,-a privilege which, though set aside by
the policy of courts, is undeniably dear to the heart
of woman,—this is the free choice of the companion
of her life. Not one of royal blood could have been
158
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
more jealously guarded than the charming Carafa ;
nor could the history of aristocratic alliance afford a
more striking example of the sacrifice of sentiment
to the exigences of political ambition, which found
it difficult to select a suitable consort for the heiress
even from among the various distinguished members
of noble houses who desired the honour of a close
relationship with the family of Carafa.
Among these suitors, one was Taddeo Barberini,
nephew of Urban VIII. ; a second, the brother of
the Grand Duke of Florence; a third, the heir to
the throne of Poland; another, the eldest son of
Duke Esté of Modena; and, in addition to these,
the Duke of Nocera, the Duke of Maddaloni, and
the Marquis Castelvetre, the two latter, sons of the
Prince of Roccella." Indeed the first dignitaries of
the land, sometimes as avowed admirers of Anna,
sometimes seeking to veil their real object under
cover of their diplomatic appointments,-sought
the soil of Naples, and the good-will of the Carafas,
with the view of ensuring a marriage with the
Princess.
If we examine into the claims of the several
• " Annali della Citta di Napoli dal Caputo."
ANNA'S SUITORS.
159
candidates, it is easy to perceive the objections that
might have weighed against their suit; objections
more substantial than those raised against the lovers
of Vittoria Colonna who aspired to her widowed
hand, that “one was too old, another too young,
and another too far off.”*
Among the suitors of Anna one, it has been said,
was a close kinsman of the reigning ruler of Tus-
cany, a state which, under the sway of the Medici,
had risen to a magnificence which had won the
admiration of the civilised world ; and as the lover
in question was so nearly connected with a power
second to none in the Peninsula, he might have
been reasonably regarded as no unworthy aspirant.
But the diplomacy of aggrandisement is far-sighted,
and the guardians of Anna perceived that the glories
of the Florentine Court had passed their zenith, and
that the policy of Cosmo and Lorenzo, transferred
to feebler hands, was gradually but surely involving
the decline of the state over which they had ruled.
Taddeo Barberini was member of a family whose
influence, then increasing, speedily rose to no con-
Giovio-quoted in Mrs. Henry Roscoe's “Life of Vittoria
Colonna."
160
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
temptible height under the pontificate of Urban VIII.
The Florentine family of the Barberini, of whom
Maffeo, afterwards the Pope, was the most dis-
tinguished representative, had acquired riches by
commerce carried on chiefly through the then
flourishing trade of picturesque Ancona, whose har-
bour swarmed with caravels, carrying the commerce
of nearly every nation. Armenians, Greeks, Turks,
Venetians, Jews, and merchants of the East and of
the West directed thither their costly traffic in silk
and cloth and wool.
Urban, the Absolutist, obtained distinction as
Nuncio to the Court of France. Cardinals at Rome
approved, moreover, of his eager defence of those
papal jurisdictional rights which were the bane of
Neapolitan prosperity, and at the age of fifty-five
he was declared Pope. Unlike his predecessors,
Clement and Paul, Urban cared not for the pious
teachings of Justinian and Bernard. Plans of forti-
fications, by which to defend the temporal power of
the papacy, were the studies of a pontiff who de-
clared “his monuments should remain in iron, not
in marble ;” and who, accordingly, built Fort Ur-
bano, established a manufactory of arms at Tivoli,
ANNA'S SUITORS.
161
and converted the rooms under the Vatican into an
arsenal. Indeed he would gladly have metamor-
phosed the City of the Seven Hills into a camp, and
would have outraged the solemnity and grandeur
of Rome's immemorial glories by the uproar, the
,
riot, and disorder of a military occupation. The
mundane tendencies of this Pope subjected even the
Scriptures to a singular transformation, since his
leisure was employed in adapting Simeon's song of
praise to the measure of Sapphic verse !
Don Carlo Barberini, elder brother of Pope Urban
and General of the Church, was a man of grave de-
meanour and earnest purpose, whose energies were
absorbed in supporting the illustrious position at-
tained by his family. He had three sons, but his
hopes centred chiefly in Don Taddeo, the suitor of
the heiress of Stigliano. Taddeo found himself, on
,
the death of his father, in possession of a noble
income and numerous estates. Acquisitive by nature,
his wealth and position commanded opportunities
by which he was enabled to add to his resources.
In this way he became proprietor of Monte Rotondo
and Valmonte, which the families of the Sforza and
Colonna were compelled to part with in liquidation
162
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
of their debts. So enormous, in fact, was the
wealth that had passed into the hands of the Bar-
berini under the sway of Urban, that he himself
instituted a commission to inquire whether it was
lawfully retained.
The disposition of Don Taddeo and his habits
life were well calculated to augment his riches. He
lived in retirement, and his household was ruled
with the strictest regard to economy, notwithstanding
the several important posts he held as Prefect
of Rome, General of the Church, and Governor of
the Borgo. When Urbino was declared a fief of the
ruling Pope's, Don Taddeo hastened to occupy the
newly acquired territory, never losing sight of an
opportunity by which to advance his own interests.
It is indeed probable that a sense of expediency far
more than affection prompted his suit to the
illustrious heiress Anna Carafa. A marriage with
the lovely young Princess was eagerly desired by
the relatives of Taddeo, who promised him three
hundred thousand tallari and the three hats of a
cardinal should he succeed in his overtures. Failing
in these, however, he at no very distant period
became the husband of Donna Anna Colonna, thus
ANNA'S SUITORS.
163
uniting himself with a family even more influential,
if far less wealthy, than the Carafas.
The son of the Duke of Modena, one among the
many suitors of the charming Princess Carafa, was
favoured by her grandmother, Isabella, wife of
Prince Luigi. It is not easy to see, however, what
,
reasons existed in recommendation of an alliance
with a Power of secondary importance even then in
the Italian Peninsula, too often for its own pros-
perity tempted into the petty political conflicts, which
though waged on pretexts so frivolous as to appear
almost ludicrous, illustrate forcibly the system
of that mediæval warfare which was sufficiently
injurious in its effects on the fortunes of Italy.
It was scarcely expedient for the heiress of so many
hopes to risk alliance with a dynasty whose
political influence, and even whose existence, was
retained on so precarious a tenure as that varying
with every turn of the fortunes of war on so petty
a scale.
Three among the admirers of the Princess, the
Duke of Maddaloni, the Duke of Nocera, and the
Marquis Castelvetre, were of the family of Carafa,
the honours of which Prince Luigi had desired to
M 2
164
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
a
keep intact by the marriage of his granddaughter
with a relative. One of the most distinguished feuda-
tories of the Italian Peninsula was the Duke of
Nocera—a territory of rich soil abounding in all kinds
of fruitfulness, and which, antique in its celebrity,
and splendid in its architectural endowments, had
since the time of Constantine to that of the second
Frederick of Germany been appropriated to im-
perial needs, until ceded as a Duchy to the Count
of Montorio, Grand Seneschal of the Kingdom, thus
passing into the possession of the family of Carafa.
So important was the matter of the Duke of
Nocera's nuptials considered, that he incurred the
odium of the king and the punishment of temporary
captivity, for marrying without the Royal consent,
upon finding his suit to his kinswoman, the
young
Princess Anna, unsuccessful.
Diomed, Duke of Maddaloni, born in the year
1611, was probably about the same age as his
cousin Anna, neither having attained majority at
the time of Prince Luigi's death in 1630. While
yet in his teens, Don Diomed found himself,
like the Princess Carafa, the possessor of lands,
vassals, and enormous wealth. The supremacy
ANNA'S SUITORS.
165
a
of the Spanish rale in Naples, augured continued
prosperity to him, and he, in return, like more than
one of his ancestors, showed a devotion to the cause
of Spain, for which he paid a bitter penalty in the
vicissitudes of his later life whilst Revolution
reigned. Don Diomed of the House of Carafa was
educated conformably to the requirements of aristo-
crats of that day, and united an acquaintance with
military science to a knowledge of letters and art.
He had not, like the Princes of our time, the
enlightenment that follows upon acquaintance with
the varied phases of the life of man in the high and
low latitudes of the globe-on the Equator, in
Hindostan, or in the far East. Territories around
the gorgeous thrones of Tamerlane and Baber, the
quaint and costly shows of the Vermilion Empire,
were splendours so remote as to be almost fabulous,
instead of objects which are familiar to the every-
day experience of travellers in this nineteenth
century.
Naturally vivacious, enthusiastic, and ambitious,
however, Don Diomed Carafa owned the ability and
the temperament that fitted him to excel in varied
accomplishments. In common with those of his
166
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
class, his hours were passed alternately in martial
exercises, or the endless succession of feasts, shows,
celebrations, and excursions, in which Neapolitan
nobles, when not politically and more mis-
chievously engaged, considering the nature of the
Government they served, spent their lives. Under
social conditions such as these Don Diomed grew to
manhood. Of passionate temper and imperious
will, it is not surprising that he should have been
sometimes a participator in the lawless incidents
that were perpetually causing strife in the streets of
Naples. On one occasion he fought a duel with a
rival in the house of a mutual innamorata, which
fortunately, fierce as was the encounter, was not
attended with fatal consequences. Another affray
took place shortly after, of which it was recorded,
“Thank heaven, only one groom had his skull
broken." Scenes of festivity in those wild times
oftener than not ended in brawls, when the antago-
nists engaged would repair in the dead of night
to retrieve an imaginary slur upon their honour, cast
by some insignificant if not unintentional offence.
Diomed Carafa, Duke of Maddaloni, was in all
respects a type of the nobles of his age. Lord of a
ANNA'S SUITORS.
167
large number of vassals, his extortion and violence
with respect to his feudatories were well known, but
this tyranny was regarded as the inevitable pre-
rogative of his rank, though the Neapolitans were
not slow, when the occasion offered, to avenge the
wrongs they endured upon their perpetrators, and in
the tumult of a later date the kinsman of Diomed,
Don Giuseppe Carafa, paid the penalty of his con-
duct with his life.
In spite of Don Diomed Carafa's lawless doings,
there was in his nature a generosity, fearlessness,
and indomitable persistency, which were calculated
to win the admiration of such a woman as Anna
Carafa, especially when these qualities were united,
as in the case of Diomed, with the charm of a frank
and gracious demeanour, which indeed carried
weight even amongst those orders of the people who
suffered from the cruel exactions of the aristocracy,
and led them to excuse much that was unwarrant-
able in Don Diomed's conduct. Naturally free-
hearted, his liberality conciliated many, and the
sumptuous appointments of his household corre-
sponded with his wealth and rank. Given other
social conditions than those under which he lived
168
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
1
1
and became an agent in the policy of despotism
common to the feudal era, Diomed Carafa might
have earned a better renown in history, and have
merited the name of a benefactor instead of an
oppressor of his fellow men.
Isabella, wife of Prince Luigi desired her grand-
daughter to marry either a member of the family of
Gonzaga or the Duke of Modena, whose suit she
eagerly seconded. But a powerful influence was
exerted in other quarters in favour of Ferdinand
di Toledo, brother of the Duke of Alva, and Con-
stable of Navarre. Alva had assumed the viceregal
office at Naples in the year 1622, when the famished
population had saluted their new ruler with cries of
"bread; bread!” His government had continued
until 1629, within one year of the death of Prince
Luigi, who had made known to Alva his wish that
his granddaughter Anna, in case of her refusing to
wed a member of the House of the Princes of
Stigliano, should marry the Constable of Navarre.
The idea was eagerly entertained by the Duke of
Alva, who relied upon the fulfilment of his wishes
when his manoeuvres had succeeded so far as to
cause the scheme then on foot of betrothal between
ANNA'S SUITORS.
169
Anna and the favoured Duke of Modena to be
abandoned even by the Princess Isabella, who had
so strenuously supported the Duke of Modena's
cause.
Various were the ways in which the lovers of
Anna Carafa, according to their different characters,
the motives by which they were incited, and the
circumstances in which they were placed, pressed
their suit. Those actuated solely by sordid specu-
lations, who cared little for the Princess, but very
much for her wealth, took small pains, as a matter
of course, to win a personal preference by demon-
strations of devotion. Fully aware of the restric-
tions by which Anna was surrounded, they thought
it expedient to negotiate the matter of her marriage,
on grounds of interest solely, with her guardians.
These fortune-hunters had not the magnanimity to
compete openly with their numerous rivals. In the
absence of love, pride was the ruling sentiment, and
in order to screen themselves in case of the failure
of their plans, these adventurers concealed their
designs under cover of the diplomatic missions
which frequently brought them to Naples. Thus
the Constable of Navarre came as special Envoy of
170
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
>
the Pope, but the secret object of his visit was “to
try his chances with the heiress,"* and so annoyed
was Alva at the defeat of his cherished scheme, that
he gladly resigned even the lucrative post of
Viceroy of Naples.
The Duke of Nocera, not more fortunate than the
Constable of Navarre, repaired to Naples in 1629,
but soon returned to Milan,“ having had little suc-
cess in his suit to Anna.”+ The rebuff he met
with, however, did not induce him to relinquish all
hope. At a later date he again visited Naples,
ostensibly with a political object, seeking aid for
Milan in the shape of men and money, but also to
sue once more for the hand of the heiress.
Very different was the conduct of those who for-
got prudence in passion. Ciccio di Loffredi, urged
by infatuation for the young Princess, wooed her
with an assiduity that could not fail to awaken sus-
picion in her guardians. Although the merits of
Loffredi had hitherto won for him the golden
opinions of society, he was at once declared mad for
his temerity and arrogance. The viceregal govern-
* Capecelatro, “Origine delle famiglie Nobili di Napoli."
† Caputo, "Annali di Napoli."
ANNA'S SUITORS.
171
ment was accustomed to connive at any enormity
practised by the privileged orders. Under the rule
of Pedro di Toledo a lover had been executed for
the crime of putting a ladder to the window of his
innamorata, and a punishment ignoble and cruel
awaited Loffredi, as a caution to aspirants of com-
paratively humble rank. He was forthwith arrested
and banished the kingdom.*
A fierce rivalry meanwhile was kept up between
the three kinsmen of Anna, who sought her love.
The Duke of Nocera, the Marquis Castelvetre, and
above all, Don Diomed, left no means untried to
achieve their aims, diligently seeking to propitiate
Elena, the mother of Anna, no less than the heiress
herself. The Marquis and the Duke especially were
eager in pursuit of the prize they coveted ; and the
extravagances into which they were betrayed, some-
times in amicable emulation, at others in angry con-
tention, proved the source of much amusement to
society at large, which was curious to see who would
triumph in the combat.
On occasions of festivity they indulged in the
most costly display, and scenes more picturesque
* Aggiunti alli Giornali di Scipione Guerra.
172
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
1
1
and animated than those in which the rivals took
part, each by the most ingenious devices endeavour-
ing to outvie the other, can hardly be conceived.
They found an admirable opportunity for the dis-
play of magnificence in those excursions by water
in which Neapolitans delighted, and the delicious
shades of Posilippo—well named “Relief of Weari-
ness ”—was the most frequent spot of sojourn on
these occasions.
Viceroys, nobles, citizens of all classes rejoiced to
linger amidst the radiant landscape round the
heights of Posilippo, at the foot of which stood
the Syren's Palace. The waters around were
brightened by a gay concourse of pleasure-seekers-
aristocrats in feluccas adorned with gilded decora-
tion, glittering with fantastic paintings in gorgeous
colours, and glowing with silken sails of varied hue;
the owners of these dainty craft attired in mariner's
costume, and their numerous retainers wearing the
rich and fanciful liveries of the respective noble
houses to which they belonged.
Conspicuous among these splendid equipments,
differing in charm and costliness according to the
wealth and taste of their originators, were those of
ANNA'S SUITORS.
173
the rival kinsmen of the young Princess Anna.
Diomed Carafa appeared resolved to make good his
pretensions to the hand of the richest heiress in the
kingdom by the display of a regal ostentation. The
felucca in which he constantly haunted the coast
about the Palace of the Syrens exceeded others in
the choiceness of its appointments. Its rowers were
clad in the costly suit that marked the House of
Carafa. An armed escort was always in attend-
ance, and a company of players, who made the
neighbouring hills resound with joyous music.
Thus attended, Don Diomed would alight at his
own villa, at Donna Anna's Palace, or repair to one
of those mansions of the wealthy that dotted the
margin of the waters. In either case, the usual
entertainments of the time, consisting of gladiato-
rial combats, tournaments, and dramatic diversions,
took place, amidst which the fact of mere feasting
and carousing formed no unimportant feature. In-
deed the noble ladies who amused themselves with
occasional visits to the convents, were accustomed
to send provisions in order to secure a good repast
on their arrival; and when the Princess Carafa
went to see a certain royal recluse in the Casa
174
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
Donna Regina, a religious house, as old as the time
of the Hohenstaufens, great care was taken that
the bill of fare should include sufficient luxuries.
Three wild boars, fifteen kids, twelve turkeys, as
many capons, with dainties innumerable were dis-
patched to the convent, with orders that they were
to be served in the refectory upon the arrival of the
Princess and her ladies.
The feasting alone that took place at the Vice-
regal Court constituted no insignificant item in the
public expenditure, for these splendid hospitalities
to illustrious families were returned by the great
feudatories of Naples, and so incessant was the
demand for convivialities of the kind that every
convent required its Francatelli. But did not
Charles V. perform a pilgrimage to the tomb of that
famous Fleming who discovered the art of curing
herrings ? and did not that warlike monarch seek
monastic retirement upon renouncing the cares of
sovereignty, in order to indulge to excess in an epi-
curianism of the palate revealed by the chronicles
of Yuste ?
Royal dignitaries would tarry for weeks at Naples
--sometimes in the capital, or sometimes, to the
ANNA'S SUITORS.
175
were
great relief of the governing viceroy, who was thus
spared the expense of entertainment–in the environs
at Procida or Posilippo, and usually, when these
places, fragrant and bright with the blooms of
summer were made more brilliant still by the
throngs of idlers, who, in glittering feluccas sought
their shores. On the occasion of these royal visits
the exactions of Spanish etiquette gave umbrage to
the pride of high-born Neapolitan ladies, and were
the source of ludicrous contests. Only those who
were members of reigning families, or wives of
certain grandees of the Court of Spain,
allowed to sit on cushions in the presence of
royalty. The Duchesses of Sabioneta and Gon-
zaga, and also the Princess of Stigliano, were among
the privileged few. The visit of the Archduchess
of Austria to Naples gave rise to much dissension,
and the Neapolitan ladies positively refused to
assemble in presence of the Duchess until certain
points of etiquette were arranged to their satisfac-
tion. These matters were sufficiently important to
call for remonstrance from the Viceroy, and to form
the substance of an official report !
Don Diomed and the Marquis Castelvetre were
176
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
near relations of Anna Carafa, were very frequently
in her society, and enjoyed abundant opportunity
of seeking the regard and good-will of the heiress.
The absence of the Duke of Nocera from Naples
was an advantage to his rivals of which they did
not fail to avail themselves. The heroes of this
Love-Chase were equals in age, in rank, and in
position ; but similarity in these particulars was the
sole point of resemblance. Diomed Carafa, Duke
of Maddaloni, of a fervent disposition and indomi-
table spirit, whose very urbanity had in it some-
thing of that condescension which is only another
aspect of pride, was a striking contrast in character
to the grave and placid Marquis Castelvetre, whose
modesty was mistaken by superficial observers for
weakness, and whose reserve—the reserve natural
to a retiring nature-made his affection, notwith-
standing its devotedness and fidelity, seem palo
and cold beside the more passionate demonstrations
of the Duke of Maddaloni. Moreover, there was a
sympathetic attraction existing between Anna
Carafa and her cousin Diomed, whether owing
to ties of kindred or traits of character, and to
Diomed Anna's secret preference was given. He
ANNA'S SUITORS.
177
was ready to dare all for her sake, recognising no
obstacle to his hope, and slighting no means by
which his passion could be proved, accepting a
challenge as readily as he would proffer a courtesy.
On the occasion of a festival at the palace, the
Marquis and the Duke, who were perpetually
clashing in their rivalry, and expressing, either by
looks, acts, or language, their mutual jealousies, fell
into an argument which threatened to end in more
than words. Heated and hostile, the Marquis and
the Duke suddenly left the scene of festivity, in-
tending not to separate until further satisfaction
bad been given. Fortunately their intentions were
divined by a number of the guests in whose pre-
sence they had been, who, following in the direction
the antagonists had taken, towards Chiaja, succeeded
in arbitrating between them, and averting further
mischief.
N
CHAPTER IX.
Jealousy respecting the marriage of the Princess--- Wishes of her
relatives—The Duke of Alva and the Constable of Navarre-
Count Olivares, Minister of Philip the Fourth of Spain-
Count Olivares, surnamed the “ Masked Nero”—Character of
the Minister-His education-Made Rector of Salamanca-
His appointment in the Royal Household of Spain-First
acts of his Administration–The Duke of Ossura - Public
measures-Splendour of the Court at Madrid-Distress of the
Spanish people-External magnificence of the Spanish Empire
in the seventeenth century-Its degeneracy within-Influence
of Olivares—The Count and Richelieu-Declaration of War-
Revolution in Catalonia and Portugal—Conduct of Olivares
towards the insurgents-Mismanagement in the Administra-
tion-Decline of the King's regard for the Count—Isabella,
consort of King Philip IV.-Her counsel to the King-The
Infanta of Savoy–Her visit to Madrid–Discontent of the
Spaniards—Dismissal of Olivares from office - Anecdotes-
Departure of the Count-Don Filippo de Gusman, son-in-law
of Olivares-Death of Don Filippo's wife - Machinations of
the Spanish Minister with respect to the marriage of Anna
Carafa.
It was destined that neither the wish of the
Princess Anna Carafa nor that of her nearest rela-
tive was to be fulfilled with respect to her marriage.
Yet this event had been the subject of cares, in-
trigues, and machinations innumerable. His
Catholic Majesty, King Philip of
Philip of Spain, had ac-
COUNT OLIVARES.
179
tually interested himself in the matter, and, for
sufficient reasons of his own, had prohibited Anna
from contracting an alliance without his consent.
A fine of a hundred thousand ducats was the seal
set upon this restriction, * which proves the active
exercise, in the seventeenth century, of those feudal
laws by which women, especially, were enslaved
and denied the control of their own actions.
There were others besides Diomed Carafa, who so
passionately loved his cousin, eager to pay the
amount of the fine, in order to set royal authority
at defiance. But none could resist the overwhelm-
ing influence of the Spanish Cabinet, that cherished
designs in direct contradiction to the views enter-
tained by the immediate relatives of the heiress.
The desire of her grandfather, Luigi, had been to
unite her to one of the family of Carafa-a
wish seconded, so far as Anna's affections were
concerned, by the heiress herself. The aim of
Prince Luigi's wife, Isabella, was to affiance her
granddaughter either to one of the race of Gon-
zaga or to the Duke of Modena. The views of
Anna's mother, the wily Elena Aldobrandini,
Scipione Guerra, “Aggiunti alle Giornali.”
.
N 2
180
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
were more covertly entertained. Amidst differing
sentiments openly avowed there had been agree-
ment on one point only, and this was hatred of a
Spanish alliance. Anna, also, discountenanced the
idea.
As yet the efforts of Anna's suitors had been
unavailing in securing a declaration of her pre-
ference, and the endeavours of others to secure
the object of their ambition had brought no
definite result. The Duke of Alva flattered
himself, when he had succeeded in preventing
for awhile the betrothment of Anna to the Duke
of Modena, that he had attained the prize
he coveted for the Constable of Navarre. Re-
fusal of the Duke, however, did not lead to
acceptance of the Constable. It was reserved
for the Court of Spain, though its intermeddling
was tenaciously opposed by Anna's relatives, to
exercise an irresistible influence over the destiny
of the Princess. This influence proceeded from
one man, who, deep in the confidence of the king,
was the mainspring of the policy that swayed the
Cabinet of Madrid. This man was the minister
Olivares, who was in relation to Philip IV. of Spain
COUNT OLIVARES.
181
what Don Roderigo Calderon had been to the third
ruler of that name.
The House of Gusman, one of the most ancient
in Spain, dated its honours from the time of the
first sovereigns who ruled in the Spanish Peninsula
after the expulsion of the Moors. Spanish kings
had the blood of the Gusmans in their veins.
Donna Leonora di Gusman, of the House of Toral,
was the consort of Alphonso II., and was, too, the
mother of that Enrico who, having assassinated his
brother, Pedro the Cruel, ascended the throne as
King of Castile. Gaspar Gusman, Count Olivares,
Duke St. Lucar, was son of that Duke Olivares who,
with a keen perception of the delights and emolu-
ments to be enjoyed by viceroys, once said, “No
one should wish to be Governor of Naples, to avoid
the possible pain of losing so enviable a title.”
Gaspar Gusman was born at Rome, in the palace
inhabited by his father, then ambassador of Philip II.
The abode of the elder Gusman was popularly
known as the “ Palace of Nero." There were those
who presaged ill, from the fact of Gaspar having
been born in this building, which, in the sight of
the superstitious, accounted for the malignity that
a
a
182
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
was afterwards displayed in the conduct of Olivares,
who was called the “masked Nero." * Tenacious,
subtle, stealthy, and remorseless by nature, the
actions of Olivares, during his twenty-two years'
reign of almost absolute power as minister, were
invariably cruel, though unmarked by open
violence. His resolves, made in silence, were
ruthless and immutable, and the implacability of a
callous heart was veiled beneath a studied courtesy
of manner. He found a more effectual means of
combating his opponents in simulated friendship
than in avowed hostility.
Liberally educated in his youth, amidst varied
acquirements, an intimate knowledge of law was
an attainment for which he was first distinguished.
A study of involved and tortuous methods of
legal argument was well calculated to develop the
capacity for scheming that characterised Olivares,
the intriguer. A straight line as the nearest course
to a given point was not an aphorism adopted as a
logical necessity in those plottings which occupied
incessantly the indefatigable brain of the minister,
• “Relation de ce qui s'est passé en Espagne et la disgrace du
Comte-Duc d'Olivares,” p. 115.
COUNT OLIVARES.
183
who was so intent upon the success of his aims as to be
insensible to the fatigues and distractions attendant
on mortal state. As unremitting in occupation
as the humblest toiler of the earth depending on
daily labour for his daily bread, this man, who
was practically the ruler of Spain, was accustomed,
it is recorded, to forego all recreation and amuse-
ment in order to dedicate sixteen hours out of every
twenty-four to cares of state. The potent minister,
arbiter in a temporal sense, of fortune, good or ill,
to so many, was in reality the slave of his own
avarice, and the victim of his own ambition.
Working, plotting, and maneuvring throughout
the twenty-two years of his ministry, he was ab-
sorbed by a policy intended by him to be one of
self-aggrandisement, but which was destined to
prove disastrous, above all, to his own fortunes.
It is difficult to conceive how an ascendancy so
complete can be obtained by one mind over another
as that which marked the association of Philip IV.
of Spain and his First Minister, Olivares ; though
in this case to some extent accounted for by the
fact of the extreme youth of Philip, who was but
seventeen years of age when called upon to fill the
184
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
throne of Spain. Olivares, his senior, and immea-
surably his superior in mental capacity, had made
an energetic use of the opportunities of enlighten-
ment at his command; and these had been many,
since, in addition to studies essential to culture,
he had frequently been made the companion of
his father's travels. Olivares the younger became
rector of the University of Salamanca, where he
had received the benefits of that knowledge which
is derived from books. Enriched with the fruits
of diligent research, he commanded also, at an early
age, facilities for the study of human nature, as
exemplified in the characters and manners of the
various types of men with whom his father, in the
exercise of his office, was necessarily brought into
As a son of one of the leading ambas-
sadors of Europe, his position was propitious to
advancement, and, far-seeing and aspiring, wily
and adroit, he devoted the energy of his restless
brain and the determination of his character,
marked by a wondrous power of concentration, to
the accomplishment of his ambitious aims. With
ability incontestably great, he needed only the in-
centive of a lofty purpose, actively directed to pro-
contact.
COUNT OLIVARES.
185
mote the welfare of humanity, instead of restricting
his efforts to incessant self-seeking, to have rendered
the name of Olivares illustrious in the page of
history, of which the true glory is the fame of its
great men.
Upon his entrance into the royal household he
was appointed gentleman of the bedchamber—a
post little in accordance with the dignity of the
future statesman, but which brought him into inti-
mate and frequent ascociation with the king ; and
Olivares had the tact to make good use of every
occasion likely to secure his influence. His first
object was to obtain the regard and confidence of
the young king. This stepping-stone surmounted,
further movements towards the heights of power
would be comparatively easy to overcome. To
secure the command he coveted over the mind of
Philip, it was necessary to guard against rivals, and
few courtiers could compete with Olivares in the
finesse with which he ingratiated himself into the
good-will of others when he desired to do so.
Whoever, therefore, within the limits of the royal
circle appeared to enjoy an exceptional degree of
the king's regard, or whose fortunes had prospered
186
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
under the patronage of the sovereign, incurred his
jealousy. Merit, talent, valour, or indeed any
quality likely to ensure recognition and respect, was
sure to bring persecution upon its owner. No
claim of friendship or tie of kindred was permitted
to weigh against the operation of this sentiment.
Only those who were content to be willing instru-
ments in his hands were tolerated by him ; and
when Olivares was in possession of unchallenged
authority, numbers were summarily dismissed from
administration in order to make room for the
worthless agents of his will.
The Duke of Uceda, whom Olivares had reason
to regard as his benefactor, was expelled the ministry
at Madrid. The Duke of Ossuna, notwithstanding
his assumption of independence and display of regal
magnificence within the gates of Naples, was, at the
bidding of the Spanish statesman, recalled from the
viceroyalty, and left to die a dishonoured captive,
when Olivares might have aided his escape.
Thc
same fate was awarded to the pampered protégé of
Philip III. through his agency, and he is accused, by
more than one chronicler, not without strong presump-
tive evidence, of having assassinated his uncle, whose
COUNT OLIVARES.
187
intimacy with the king had awakened his dis-
pleasure, and of having poisoned an unfortunate
envoy, who was so indiscreet as to be outspoken in
council. *
The public measures adopted by Olivares, when
minister, were in accordance with the policy of dis-
simulation for which he became notorious. In order
to disarm opposition, he sought in the first instance
to gain the popular esteem, only too easily won by
simulated reforms, and acts which, superficial in
their nature, are transient in effect. The avowed
object of his arbitrary enactments was a wise economy
which sought to replenish the exhausted revenues of
the kingdom. Notwithstanding these professed re-
trenchments, the splendour of the Spanish court was
greater under the sway of Olivares than at any former
period. When the young Prince of Wales, Charles,
attended by his tutor, the Duke of Buckingham,
visited Madrid in disguise to seek the love of the
Infanta Maria, sister of Philip IV., festivities of a
costly kind were indulged in. When the heir
apparent to the throne of Hungary, who afterwards
* “ Relation de ce qui s'est passé en Espagne et la disgrace du
Comte-Duc Olivares,” p. 88.
188
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
a
wedded the Infanta Maria, was elected King of the
Romans, the event was made the occasion of re-
joicings innumerable, and a series of entertainments,
in which plays, masques, and dramatic shows were
incessantly celebrated, while the national distress
was so great that thousands of the Spanish people
were dying of famine. Then speedily fell the scales
from the eyes of the multitude, who had looked
forward hopefully to a better state of things under
the government of Olivares, called to the highest
office in the state when the sovereignty of Spain
was still externally in full splendour.
Portugal yet formed part of the kingdom, which
it had done since the year 1582, while many terri-
tories far beyond the limits of Europe were subject
to Spanish rule. East and west, on the coast of
America and on the Persian Gulf, were seen the
settlements of the Spaniards. They owned the then
flourishing islands of Ormus, Jamaica, Goa, surnamed
the Queen of the Indies, and, among their numerous
possessions nearer home, Rousillon, Conflans, and
portions of Luxembourg. The enormous empire
consolidated by Charles V., and maintained intact
throughout the long reign of Philip II., had given
>
>
COUNT OLIVARES.
189
to Spain a leading rank amongst the nations of the
earth. The Spanish monarchy was indeed gigantic,
but disunited, since it contained a variety of states,
each of which was characterised by different laws
and customs. Spanish governors ruled in Palermo,
in Cagliari, in Lombardy, in Franche-Comté, in the
Netherlands, Mexico and Lima, the Balearic Islands,
and Sardinia, to which also might be added some
valuable possessions on the north and south coasts
of Africa. To a commanding position in the state
owning this magnificent dominion Count Olivares
was called. But the influence of his almost absolute
power was disastrous in the extreme. The rule of
Philip II. had undermined the internal strength of
the kingdom, and the policy of his minister accele-
rated its decline. It needed only force of circum-
stance to prove the national weakness and degene-
racy. The imperial maxim, plus ultra, was not
adopted by the descendants of Charles V. The calm
and canker of a lengthened peace under the reign
of the third Philip, or rather of the Duke of Lerma,
had brought its inevitable and injurious consequences.
The interval had not been neglected, but turned to
good account by other European powers, whose acts
190
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
still showed the dauntless enterprise indicative of
healthful national life.
It was said that Spain had lost more during a
truce of twelve years, concluded in 1609, than she
had lost during a war of a quarter of a century.
The peace, once broken, was succeeded by events
which proclaimed in the sight of the world the decay
of the fortunes of Spain. Six years after the acces-
sion of Philip, in the year 1601, and the consequent
surrender of power into the hands of Olivares, a
dynastic quarrel in Upper Italy brought Spain into
collision with her old opponent, France, and Olivares
into contact with his powerful rival, Richelieu, who
wielded the destiny of tbe French monarchy, and
whose commanding intellectual ability gave him on
this occasion the victory over Olivares, and the
opportunity of humiliating Spain.
In the year 1635, the triumphant minister of
France again declared war. Once kindled, it flamed
along the frontier; but when a vast body of troops,
under Louis XIII., challenged the Spanish army,
neither the king nor his minister showed sufficient
courage to meet the foe. The losses of Spain during
this campaign were rapidly followed by greater
COUNT OLIVARES.
191
disasters. Holland, while she threatened the
Spaniards in the East, had commenced the bold
and indomitable struggle, glorious for ever on the
page of history, which ended with the independence
of the United Netherlands.
In the year 1640, the empire of Spain was
menaced on all sides. The terrible insurrection in
Catalonia was speedily followed by revolution in
Portugal. The inhabitants of fertile though moun-
tainous Catalonia were a hardy, valiant people,
whose nature was incompatible with subjection to
tyranny. Energetic and industrious, they fretted
under countless obstacles to prosperity—the constant
quartering of troops throughout their villages, the
innumerable financial burthens due to the expenses
of protracted warfare ; but, above all, they smarted
under the severity with which Olivares enforced his
enactments. The minister was aware of their dispo-
sition, and wrote respecting them, “The Catalans
are sometimes well disposed, sometimes obstinate;
but the welfare of the army is of more importance
than the laws and privileges of the provinces.” The
desperate rebellion, commenced in Barcelona, soon
spread over the entire country, of which Louis
192
THE COURT OF AXXA CARAFA.
а
XIII., at the desire of its inhabitants, assumed
the Protectorate, under the title of Count of Barce-
lona. Then followed a still heavier loss to Spain.
The Portuguese, incensed past endurance by the
rule of Spain, revolted ; and, in alliance with the
English, Dutch, and French, commenced a series of
campaigns, fought with the irresistible valour that
marks a thirst for independence, and finally
triumphed at Villaviciosa, where the humiliated
royal troops abandoned ineffectual hostility.
The fainéant character of King Philip, as well as
the indifference of Olivares to the welfare of the
monarch whom he affected to serve so zealously, is
shown in the fact that Philip was for a considerable
time in ignorance of the result of the momentous
events which had taken place in Portugal. One
day the Count exclaimed, with studied carelessness,
“Your Majesty, the Duke of Braganza has gone
stark mad, and has proclaimed himself King of
Portugal.” Philip replied hastily, “We will put
an end to this mischief.”
The accession of the fourteenth Louis to the throne
of France was not favourable to the destinies of the
1
.
* *
• “L’Espagne depuis la règne de Philippe IV.," p. 385.
COUNT OLIVARES.
193
Spanish peninsula. Cardinal Mazarin persevered in
the policy of his predecessor, Richelieu. The in-
fluence of Spain was still paramount throughout
Italy, in spite of the dauntless attitude assumed by
Venice and Savoy; and the great ambition of France
was to attack Spain in the most cherished strong-
hold of her power, the scene of so many struggles
between those contending states. Thus engaged in
perpetual warfare, menaced by insurrection and
hostility in all directions, Philip had reason to ex-
claim, “ All are against us ; we are against all.”
For very
much of this misfortune he had to thank
his chief counsellor, whose persistence in obnoxious
measures had driven the Catalans to rebel, and whose
blind belief in absolutism, which had sought to
magnify the prerogatives of the Crown, had im-
perilled its
existence.
In addition to loss of territory so important,
enormous sums had been lavishly and uselessly ex-
pended in organising armies and fleets destined to
defeat under the command of the incompetent mer-
cenary nominees of Olivares, who, without respect for
their country, cared only to fill their pockets at the
cxpense of the public. Vessels were constantly lost
very
194
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
on the high seas, while ruin attended the battalions
fighting in Catalonia and elsewhere. The Counts
Monterey and Segancey, who were invariably
appointed by Olivares to fill important, responsible
posts, were notorious as the "two thieves.” *
Every possible means were resorted to by the
minister to insure his own aggrandisement and that
of his relatives, of whom Count Monterey was one.
Olivares hesitated at no scheme, however unscru-
pulous ; he disdained no expedient, however paltry,
to secure this end. In this spirit he traded on his
own account, exporting from the County Olivares, his
territory, grain, oil, and other products, which were
either sold at high prices in the ports of the East, or
exchanged for the choicest fruit and fragrance of the
earth, upon the arrival of which Olivares usually
contrived to avoid payment of the ordinary customs.
Innumerable small channels of emolument were open
to him, besides those on a larger scale. For simply
holding command of the three military Orders of
Merit, and bearing the crown of Alcantara on special
occasions, he received an income of four million
“Relation de ce qui s'est passé en Espagne et la disgrace du
Comte-Duc Olivares," p. 77.
COUNT OLIVARES.
195
crowns annually. As Equerry of the Household
and Keeper of the King's Wardrobe he was liberally
recompensed, and moreover owned the imposing
title of Grand Chancellor of the Indies.
While persevering in measures destructive to the
interests of his country, Olivares was precipitating
his own downfall. Even careless and indolent King
Philip could not brook repeated reverses by land and
sea that encouraged the smallest states to set his
power at defiance; even he could not endure the
profound humiliation of the Spanish monarchy, but
lately so resplendent. Thus, when the King was
told of the miserable condition of the armies in
Catalonia, headed by one of the “two thieves,” he
remarked indignantly, “Henceforth I, and no one
else, shall take charge of affairs so important.'
At the same time an influence inimical to the
minister was busily at work within the Court itself,
and proceeded from one not without authority,
owing to her illustrious position. This was Queen
Isabella, consort of Philip IV. Olivares, at first
blind to the fact of the Queen's antipathy to him,
at length perceived only to despise it, as a matter
“ Relation de ce qui s'est passe en Espagne," p. 81.
" **
o 2
196
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
of little consequence. He entertained, indeed, a
profound contempt for women, and was accustomed
to say, “Monks are made to pray, and women to
become mothers." Isabella's keen intelligence
enabled her to penetrate the character of Olivares,
and the superiority of her nature led her to detest it.
She determined to thwart his object, and to baffle
his designs. Whether or not Isabella, observing the
resentment of the King with respect to events in
Catalonia, thought the moment propitious in order
to open the King's eyes to the conduct of his minis-
ter, or whether she in the first instance had excited
Philip's indignation, it is certain that a decline of the
King's regard for his trusted minister now became
apparent to the Count himself, who attributed it to
the influence of the Queen. In order to frustrate
her intentions, he induced the King to join him in
a visit to ·Aranjuez, where, amidst the delicious
gardens and palaces of New Castile, he encouraged
Philip, only too susceptible to the delights of case,
to forget the claims of duty in the charms of plea-
sure. The suspicion of Olivares aroused, he sought
to regain his former supremacy over the King by
guarding him from association with others; and it
.
COUNT OLIVARES.
197
1
was said that, to “gain an audience of the King, it
was necessary to obtain the consent of his minister.”
The Infanta of the House of Savoy—the unhappy
young Princess Margarita—long endeavoured in-
effectually to obtain an interview with the monarch
of Spain. Olivares, who hated the dynasty of
Savoy for their independence, was resolutely set
against the meeting of Philip and Margarita. Vice-
queen of Portugal only in name, the revolution had
left her the sport of political intrigue. Virtually a
captive through the agency of Olivares, she had
continued to live in solitude at Orcagna under the
surveillance of the Marquis de Puebla, whom the
Count had appointed her custodian. Olivares, with
habitual duplicity, continued to meet any remon-
strances of the Princess by feigned compliance with
her views, and misrepresentations as to the best
plan of carrying them out. Her statements made
to the King by letters, in which an interview was
repeatedly asked for, invariably intercepted, brought
no reply.
The aim of this dissimulation on the part of
Olivares was to prevent or postpone decisive action
on the part of the Infanta, whilst he gained time
198
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
a
to carry out his intrigues on behalf of the Duke of
Branganza, whom he had already nominated Com-
mander-in-Chief of the Royal troops in Portugal.
Thus he dreaded above all that a meeting of Philip
and the Infanta should bring about a disclosure of
the true state of affairs. Meanwhile the Infanta,
incited by a desperate courage, resolved to make
a journey to Madrid.
This unfortunate young
Princess, left entirely without resources, was com-
pelled to sell her wardrobe in order to defray her
travelling expenses, and, in secret and as a fugitive,
set out for Spain. Her sudden appearance in
Madrid disconcerted Olivares immeasurably; and
with cruel malice he kept poor Margarita, who
arrived in the middle of the night, wet, cold, and
worn with fatigue, waiting for five hours before he
accorded a wretched suite of apartments, little in ac-
cordance with the rank of their occupant, for her use.
These incidents, added to the calamitous state of
public affairs in Spain, which not even the craft of
Olivares could conceal from the King, concurred in
awakening the distrust of Philip, which, once
aroused, sought confirmation. Continued inquiries
brought fresh proof of the destructive and discredit-
COUNT OLIVARES.
199
able nature of the administration. It was no longer
possible, indeed, to conceal the distress and discon-
tent of the populace, who, surrounding the royal
chariot, exclaimed, “ Long live the King and Queen,
but down with the bad government.” Isabella, who
neglected no means of conciliating the multitude,
was beloved by the Spanish people, who, in contra-
diction to the sentiment they manifest at the present
day, blessed the name of Isabella, which they had
looked upon with reverence since the time of Ferdi-
nand of Castile.
When, at length, the influence of the Queen,
which Olivares had regarded so contemptuously,
triumphed, and the Count was called upon to resign,
his wife threw herself at the feet of Isabella, im-
ploring her to intercede on her behalf, and secure
the reinstatement of her husband in office, pleading
the “indefatigable service rendered by the Count to
the monarch of Spain.” The Queen replied with
characteristic dignity, “ What God, our people, and
misfortune have done, neither the King nor I can
undo." *
»
* “Relation de ce qui s'est passé en Espagne et la disgrace du
Comte-Duc d'Olivares," p. 89.
200
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
So great was the odium in which Olivares was held
by the nation, and so convinced was he of the fact,
that when about to take his departure, he ordered his
six-horsed chariot to be in attendance at a certain
hour at the great gate of the Palace at Madrid.
There he wished the multitude to assemble, and
indulge in any demonstration they might feel dis-
posed to make, while the imagined occupant of the
ducal chariot escaped through a back door into a
shabby vehicle, the curtains of which he drew
closely around him, and desired the driver to pursue
the least frequented route. The act was in keeping
with the falsity which was the leading characteristic
of the Spanish minister. Duplicity was the medium
through which he invariably sought to realise his
projects; and though a man of strong passions, self-
confident, and daring, the violence of his feelings
never led him to throw off whatever form of dis-
guise he chose to assume. Writers who have
desired to laud the memory of Count Olivares have
committed themselves to the statement of certain
facts, however, which carry irresistible conclusions
with them; and those not favourable to the cha-
l
racter of the powerful minister of Philip of Spain.
COUNT OLIVARES.
201
But lavish praise bestowed upon the most reckless
of administrators for his “ prudent management of
the King's revenues” is a mockery of truth, which
is quite intelligible from the pen of a writer suffi-
ciently blind or perverted as to magnify the reign
of the fourth Philip as “ glorious.” *
Olivares, whilst in office, had desired nothing so
much as to increase his authority at Naples. For
this reason he had intrigued for the recall of the
Viceroy, the Duke of Ossuna; and for this reason
he used every possible means to retain the govern-
ment of that country in the hands of his own
connections. Count Olivares, like Prince Luigi of
Stigliano, the ancestor of Anna Carafa, had an only
daughter whom he wished to unite to a relative, for
the same reason that had incited in Prince Luigi a
similar desire, which was to keep intact within the
family, ancestral possessions, as well as those
recently acquired through royal beneficence.
Not succeeding in obtaining the son of the Duke
of Medina Sidonia for his daughter, Olivares turned
his thoughts to another of his kinsmen, Don Ramiro
* “ Portrait of the Politike Christian Favorite, drawn from some
of the actions of the Duke of St. Lucas. Written to his Majesty
King Philip the Fourth, by the Marquis Virgilio Malvezzi.”
202
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
Filippo de Gusman, for whom he obtained a new
dignity, in the title of Duke of Medina de las
Torres. He had then in view the alliance, to secure
which he plotted so successfully. Don Ramiro
Filippo de Gusman, Signor del Toral, notwithstand-
ing the antiquity of his house, and the fact that
other members of his family were wealthy, espe-
cially the Duke of Medina Sidonia, whom the elder
Gusman, Olivares, had sought for a son-in-law, was
in straitened circumstances, and he, like his richer
relative, did not hesitate to form an alliance that
offered fresh paths of promise for the amendment
of his shattered fortunes. No sooner was he united
to the daughter of Olivares, than, in conformity
with his hopes, he enjoyed a full share of the pros-
perity that shone upon the chief adviser of his
Spanish Majesty. Don Ramiro basked in this
newly found affluence, which was to him as “sun-
shine in the shady place.” But while he looked
for an heir to the honours lavished upon him, his
wife, the daughter of Olivares, died. The event
was full of significance to those who, it seemed,
had little reason to imagine their destinies would
be affected by it.
COUNT OLIVARES.
203
Not long elapsed ere Olivares perceived that the
juncture of affairs was congenial to fresh scheming.
His indomitable arrogance could not endure that
the man to whom the hand of his daughter had
been given, should ally himself with one of less
illustrious rank. Actuated by far other motives
than consideration for his kinsman, for whom he
had but little regard, he resolved nevertheless to
win for him a peerless bride. The statesman was
in his chosen clement when conspiring; and so
effectually did his machinations carry out his aims
as to make him, in this instance, successful in his
design.
The richest heiress in Italy was the prize he
sought for his son-in-law, Don Ramiro Filippo de
Gusman. Anna's mother, Elena, became the ally of
Olivares in his plot, actuated, on her side, by the
Aldobrandini at Rome, who, in their turn, lent
themselves to the conspiracy of Olivares in order to
secure his co-operation in their own particular aims.
Thus a network of maneuvre was closing round
one unfortunate object, yet not so potently but that
a firm will and decisive action on the part of Anna
would have cnabled her to escape it. Elena, know-
204
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
1
ing the weak point in the character of her daughter,
did not scruple to tempt her through the medium
of her pride, a passion superior to love itself in the
breast of Anna Carafa ; and thus, in a great degree,
through the intrigues of one whose sole desire, by
right of every natural sentiment, should have been
to protect her child from baneful influence, whether
springing out of the defect of her own nature or the
vice of others, was Anna made in a twofold sense
a victim.
Count Monterey, a member of the Gusman family,
filled the viceregal office at Naples. It was repre-
presented to Anna that Don Ramiro, the son-in-law
of Olivares, who sought her hand, should be his
successor. Not only were the most solemn pro-
mises made to this effect, but Anna was led to
believe that measures were already on foot to en-
sure their fulfilment. The bait was too alluring
for the ambitious descendant of the Carafas to
withstand.
Meanwhile it was arranged between the tri-
umphant minister and King Philip, that in case of the
Princess Anna's refusing to celebrate the marriage
until Don Ramiro should have become Viceroy, the
COUNT OLIVARES.
205
Count Monterey, then in office, should allow Don
Ramiro to fill his post until the nuptials were per-
formed. It was agreed to represent subsequently
to Anna that the royal command ordered the return
of Monterey to office, and the reason to be alleged was
the critical condition of public affairs, which made
it expedient to retain an experienced ruler at Naples
during the crisis. A feint of departure was the
course to be pursued by Count Monterey, who ac-
cordingly directed that the numerous and costly
possessions which he had appropriated at the ex-
pense of the Neapolitans should at once be put in
readiness for his journey. The people of Naples,
trusting in these assumed appearances, rejoiced in
the hope of seeing another ruler in place of the
Count; for Monterey, like so many of his prede-
cessors, had rendered himself odious to the nation
he despoiled. Indeed, the extortions of this governor
surpassed all former precedent. Out of the forty-
three millions of ducats that found their way into
his hands during the six years of his administration,
it is calculated by one of the most accurate of
Italian chroniclers, only seventeen millions enriched
the royal coffers. When this viceroy left Naples,
206
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
forty ships were necessary to carry away
his
pos-
sessions of costly furniture, gold and silver vessels,
sculpture, and works of art.
In every possible manner he drained the country;
for under Monterey's government the number of
troops sent out of the kingdom distanced all former
example. They fought in the Pyrenees, in Provence,
in Germany, and at Nordlingen. In six years he
had sent into the field not less than forty-eight
thousand infantry and fifty-five thousand cavalry.
What wonder indeed, then, that at the close of his
term in office the capital was burthened with a debt
of fifteen millions of ducats, and a great part of this
sum had been spent on equipments and supplies !
1
H
CHAPTER X.
Arrival of the Duke of Medina in Naples—His presents to the
Princess Carafa— Reception of the Duke at the Syrens' Palace
-Marriage of the Duke and the Princess Carafa-Corre-
spondence of Olivares and Count Monterey - Despatches-
Consternation at the Syrens' Palace-Death of the Princess
Isabella Gonzaga-Her affection for the Duke of Medina–His
appointment as Viceroy-Departure of Monterey—Delight of
the populace - Policy of the Duke of Medina -- Disorders
during his Administration-Dissensions of the Ecclesiastical
and Temporal Powers.
1
Don RAMIRO FILIPPO DE GUSMAN, Duke of
Medina de las Torres, was meanwhile using all
diligence to hasten his entry into Naples, which he
resolved should be attended with a pomp becoming
the bridegroom elect of the richest heiress in Italy,
and, moreover, suitable to one who aspired to the
highest official dignity in the kingdom. The
entrance of the viceroys into the capital was
usually attended with great magnificence. Music
and martial volleys saluted their approach ; and
a brilliant but miscellaneous crowd of celebrities,
naval, military, and civil, awaited them ; after
208
THE COURT OF AXXA CARAFA.
which salutation, the new governor and his suite,
followed by an imposing cavalcade, proceeded to
the Royal Palace.
The ceremony of “taking possession ” was not
completed till the following day, when the Viceroy,
attended only by nobles of the highest rank,
repaired to the great cathedral, where he was
received by the Archbishop and superior ecclesias-
tics of the realm. Then the Te Deum was sung,
and the necessary oaths upon inauguration were
taken by the newly appointed ruler-it is to be
supposed with "mental reservation,” since the con-
duct of viceroys was so proverbially a violation of
their vows. The whole ceremony was more or less
brilliant in its display, and occasionally a vain-
glorious ruler would indulge in an excess of splen-
dour, as the Duke of Ossuna, who appeared on the
occasion clothed in a suit of white silk, with his
sword-belt, spurs, stirrups, and even the trappings
of his horse, richly weighted with gold.
The Duke of Medina bad, previously to his arrival
in Naples, despatched two heralds—his secretary and
-
major domo—to offer his homage to the Princess
Carafa. They were the bearers of jewels to the
MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS.
209
value of a hundred thousand ducats, in addition to
which they carried costly presents from Count
Olivares.
It was the custom for newly appointed viceroys
to remain in the vicinity of the capital until their
predecessors had formally quitted the Royal Palace.
Generally, they resorted to the villa of one of the
Neapolitan nobility at Posilippo during the interval
between their arrival and their installation as rulers.
The Duke of Medina accordingly repaired at once
to the palace of his future consort at the end of
May, 1636.* Anna had given her command that
exceeding splendour should accompany the Duke's
reception at the Syrens' Palace. The attendants of
the household, a numerous company, appeared clad
in the rich livery of the House of Carafa. The
interior of the palace was hung with embroideries
wrought in gold ; its vast halls and galleries,
resplendent with marvels of art, were fragrant
and gay with the sweet blossoms of spring ; and
the mirrors of its magnificent saloons, thronged
with guests in costly attire, reflected scenes of
festivity so dazzling as to be worthy the court of
#
Caputo, “Annali della Citta di Napoli.”
P
210
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
;
that haughty Princess who reigned in the Syrens'
Palace.
Anna, relying on the assurances given by the
several conspirators in the plot originated by
Olivares, consented that her marriage with the
Duke of Medina should take place during the
interval in which he awaited his public inauguration
as Viceroy; and the nuptial ceremony was accord-
ingly performed within the walls of the Palace at
Posilippo, by Benedetto Mandino, an ecclesiastic of
the Order of Theatines.*
No sooner was Count Monterey informed of the
event than he despatched the news to Olivares,
assuring him that all had progressed as he desired,
and that no further measures were necessary to
ensure the fulfilment of his wishes. The Spanish
minister, upon receiving this intelligence, wrote to
the Duke of Medina stating to him that, in con-
sequence of certain important reasons in connection
with state affairs, it was expedient for the King's
interests that no change should for awhile take place
in the Government at Naples. Monterey, it was
alleged, had proved himself invaluable for having
* Caputo, “Annali della Citta di Napoli.”
MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS.
211
was
obtained much needed aid for Milan, and for having
kept the aggressive policy of France in check.
“ The Duke of Medina,” wrote Olivares, “
necessarily inexperienced, and in the critical condi-
tion at that time of public affairs, all would cer-
tainly be imperilled if the Count resigned at once."
In the midst of the festivities at the Duchess of
Medina's Palace came the startling disclosures con-
tained in these despatches from Spain, which arrived
on the 27th of June, 1636. It is said that Count
Monterey gave a liberal reward to the messenger
who brought him his portion of the documents, so
rejoiced was he to find the affair concluded to his
satisfaction.
Very different was the effect of the news upon
the occupants of the Syrens' Palace, where merri-
ment was exchanged for a state of consternation so
extreme, that even amidst the rights of regal hos-
pitality, courtesy could not repress the annoyance
which agitated the chief actors in the scene. Amongst
these the Duke of Medina was perhaps in the most
unenviable position-humiliated in his own esteem
at finding himself the dupe of intrigue, and mortified,
moreover, beyond expression by the sentiments only
P 2
212
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
too openly manifested on the occasion by his newly
wedded wife.
Anna was so prostrated by melancholy at the
tidings from Spain, which seemed the annihilation
of her lofty hopes, that she refused to eat or drink.
Like Queen Elizabeth of England, who, too late,
felt remorse for the fate she had herself inflicted on
her lover, Anna was conscious that this blow to her
aspirations struck at a wound unhealed in her
heart. For this end-to find herself the dupe of
treachery, the victim of a snare—she had renounced
her love, fond though unconfessed, for her cousin
Diomed. In order to wed a man who was but the
puppet of Olivares's pleasure she had discarded
others more illustrious. For him she had re-
linquished her happiness and independence, and
into his keeping her fortunes and her hopes were
for the future confided.
Elena, the mother of the heiress, who had been a
leading agent in the scheme connected with Anna's
marriage, could find no repose, so bitter were her
reflections, and so perturbed her feelings at finding
herself and her nearest relative sacrificed to a per-
fidious stratagem. The Duke of Medina indulged
MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS.
213
a
alternately in lamentations and protests against the
injustice done him by Philip of Spain, to whom
Cardinal Cintio Aldobrandini, a member of the
Duke's suite, undertook to write a letter of expostula-
tion. Isabella, Duchess of Sabioneta, who had never
favoured the idea of an alliance between her grand-
daughter Anna and Don Ramiro Filippo de Gusman,
openly censured, not only Olivares, but Elena, and
all who had participated in the unworthy deceit.*
On the 11th day of February in the following
year to that of the Duke of Medina's marriage, the
widow of Prince Luigi, of Stigliano, breathed her
last. So indignant had Isabella continued to feel
with her granddaughter for having married in op-
position to her wishes, and so intense had been her
mortification at the course of events, that she had
determined to disavow all claims or hopes of the
young Duchess, with respect to her will, which she
made without reference to Anna.
For the Duke of Medina she entertained a strong
affection, and it is not by any means probable,
therefore, that she ascribed to him a culpable
share in the unscrupulous intrigues that had so
Giannone, “ Storia di Napoli,” p. 472.
214
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
successfully been carried on. The Duke, who dis-
covered in some way the intentions of Isabella with
regard to her possessions, induced her to modify the
severity of her decision. To the entreaties of her
son-in-law were added those of her spiritual adviser,
Olimpio--a man whose blameless life caused him
to be invariably listened to with reverence. Thus
counselled, Isabella allowed herself to be persuaded
to alter her previous determination, and the
Duchess of Medina was a second time the chief
inheritor of a considerable fortune. In accordance
with the wishes of the Princess, a sum of sixteen
thousand ducats was reserved in order to expend in
works of charity.* The remains of the Princess
were interred in the cathedral San Domenico, where
lay the ashes of her husband, Prince Luigi, whom
she had so long outlived.
In the month of March, marked by the death of
the aged Princess of Stigliano, occurred an event of
different import ; for a son was born to the Duke
and Duchess of Medina. This cause of rejoicing
was quickly succeeded by a circumstance which
was the source of even greater satisfaction. On
>
Capecelatro, “Annali della Citta di Napoli,” p. 78.
MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS.
215
>
the 27th of October, 1637, came the welcome
tidings, eagerly received, that the Duke of Medina
de las Torres was actually appointed, by Royal
Letter Patent, to the office of Viceroy at Naples.
Now, for the first time, was Don Ramiro Filippo de
Gusman, Lord High Chancellor of India, Treasurer
of the Crown of Aragon, and Chatelain of Castel
Nuovo, at that summit of power for which his
wife had sighed.
His election to the government was regarded
with very opposite feelings by different classes-
each looking upon the subject from a special point
of view, according to the interests he had at heart.
Adventurers, including many of the Duke's Spanish
retinue, relied upon achieving their own aims
through his accession to the viceregal dignity.
Among the courtiers surrounding the Duchess of
Medina were parasites who hoped to bask in the
luxurious warmth of her abundant affluence, and who
would cling to her fortunes, like limpets to a rock,
so long as it was beneficial to themselves to do so.
Some writers affirm that there was universal
rejoicing throughout the kingdom at the prospect of
relief from the oppressive rule of Count Monterey ;
216
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
and doubtless many were gladdened by the hope of
any change, so grievous were the burthens under
which they groaned. Members of the Neapolitan
aristocracy, who had long been absentees, returned
to the capital with the most loyal demonstrations,
and the populace outvied each other in professions
of good-will and allegiance to the King of Spain.*
Others there were, more keen sighted, who heartily
wished Count Monterey out of the kingdom, but
saw no reason to desire the Duke of Medina in his
stead.t There were certain reasons that led them
to conclude the Duke to be less sagacious, while
quite as unconscionable in most respects as his
predecessor. The Duke of Medina was a younger
man, a pleasure-seeker, ostentatious in the extreme,
and, during the life of luxurious ease he had led at
the Court of Spain, had become notorious for the
irregularity of his conduct. Would he, prone to
excess of every kind, desist from enriching himself
at the cost of the country, and squandering its
resources for the gratification of his own imaginary
* Giannone, “ Istoria di Napoli," p. 492.
† Vincenzio Muzzi, “ di Napoli,” 1636;
Italiano,”
" Archivio Storico
MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS.
217
requirements? The Duke's manners, which were
reserved and haughty, were little calculated to con-
ciliate the masses. It was a change of persons, not
of policy. Yet how sorely reform in the adminis-
tration was needed is to be inferred from facts
demonstrating the wretched condition of the coun-
try at Monterey's departure. French fleets and
Barbary pirates threatened the coasts of Naples,
notwithstanding the statesmanship of Count Mon-
terey, which Philip had declared was “invaluable.”
So incessant and inexorable was the demand for
troops that the very dregs of the population were
recruited to swell their ranks. Culprits and bravoes
formed many an unscrupulous band, only too well
accustomed to pillage and indulgence in the license
of freebooters wherever they were quartered. The
innumerable taxes, tolls, fees, and donatives which
were collected in Naples, were not sufficient to
meet the expenses of military equipments. Fresh
expedients were resorted to, such as taxes on the
incomes of foreigners domiciled in the kingdom,
charges on the salaries of officials, compulsory loans,
to which was added an incessant barter of place,
towns, and titles. Memorials in abundance had
218
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
petitioned King Philip, entreating him to put an
end to the Administration of Monterey, who, when
compelled to resign, took his departure incognito,
like the Spanish minister Olivares, in order to
avoid the vituperations of the people. *
Rulers who were the most arbitrary and avari-
cious invariably advocated the suppression of what-
ever national independence or constitutional right
was represented in the Sediles or Seggi. The power
owned by these assemblies of giving the negative to
calls for monetary supplies was one which gave
them
paramount influence.
Financial questions were
usually the source of protracted debate, during which
a variety of propositions were vehemently discussed.
The exercise of this prerogative with respect to
financial grants, was resented as though it were an
impertinence by some of the viceroys. The Duke
of Medina did not care to disguise his contempt for
the authority of the political assemblies. When
in want of money he appealed to the Collateral
Council, which usually satisfied his requirements by
imposing some fresh burthen on the people. This
he did when unable to carry his point at the
* Giannone, “Istoria di Napoli," p. 491.
MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS.
219
meeting of the Sediles, which recognised as a prin-.
ciple of their constitution that if four of the
existing six consented to a measure, it should pass
into law.
When the members of the Sedile Montagna con-
gregated to discuss the required donative of one
million two hundred thousand ducats, there was so
much disagreement and altercation that no con-
clusion could be arrived at. Then did the Viceroy
Medina busy himself in practising all imaginable
means of bribery, setting his agents to work in every
direction. The most audacious rulers preferred,
however, to have the sanction of the Sediles to what-
ever subsidies they obtained, since any imposts they
necessitated were rendered less objectionable to the
community at large, if approved of by the two most
popular bodies of representatives.
It was by overruling the just claims of the Sediles,
through an appeal to the Collateral Council, that an
increased burthen was levied with respect to wheat.
The Sediles of Capuano and Nido remonstrated when
it was suggested. Opposition was fruitless, but
they remained incorruptible. They then organised
a deputation to petition the Duchess of Medina, and
220
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
in order to do so effectually, applied, in the first in-
stance, to a Theatine monk, father confessor to the
Duchess, by whose intercession it was hoped she
would be propitiated, and use her influence with the
Viceroy to obtain a favourable reply, so irrespon-
sible was the power of the rulers delegated by Spain,
and so abjectly degraded the state of political re-
presentation. Not even by stooping to the most
humiliating entreaties, could the Sediles gain the
least concession. A fresh deputation urged the right
of the assemblies to exercise the prerogatives accorded
to them by royal charter in past time. Their
members were deceived, however, in supposing the
monk would second their views, or that the Duchess,
who was as inflexible an advocate of absolutism as
her husband, would give the slightest consideration
to the matter. In fact, the Theatine father, when
conversing with the Duke of Medina, libelled the
deputies by telling him that they had indulged in
treasonable discourse, whereupon the Duke expressed
his willingness to see them, in order to have the
pleasure of showing his contempt for their request,
and the inutility of their opposition.
So incensed was he upon one occasion with certain
MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS.
221
/
members who boldly entered a protest against his
demands, as to threaten them with imprisonment
and confiscation of their property ; and he ordered
Don Francesco Capecelatro, the historian, not only
to pay a fine of eight thousand ducats, but summoned
him to surrender as a captive, simply for having,
with unflinching determination, maintained his own
opinion. Those who were commissioned to carry
out the Viceroy's threats, however, either could not
discover, or would not reveal, the abiding place to
which Capecelatro had retreated; and the Duke,
when his wrath had somewhat subsided, did not
think it advisable to press the matter further.
To shield themselves from outrages such as these,
the Sediles sought protection much needed from
King Philip, and resolved to despatch a special
embassy to Spain. Bitter complaints were made
respecting the insults endured by the representatives
of the nation, and against the unjustifiable imprison-
ment, by the Viceroy, of the People's Deputy.* This
measure told how great was the popular anger. The
Neapolitans were accustomed to endure much and
* Documenti degli Agenti di Napoli, 1639 ; “ Archivio Storico
Italiano."
222
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
long before they determined upon an address to the
sovereign. But the political relations of the State
were so demoralised, that even special embassies
were practically in vain ; for if, by means of its
representations, one remorseless edict was annulled,
another equally vexatious and ruinous was substi-
tuted. Thus the idea of imposing a higher tax on
corp was abandoned, but the Duke contrived that a
donative of one million ducats should be paid to him
instead. In spite of the abyss of want and suffering
in Naples, he added to the innumerable exactions
by which industry was impeded. Silk, oil, vege-
tables, and salted provisions, were all rendered, in
one sense, articles of luxury to the people.
The Duke of Medina, intolerant, haughty, and
irascible, was perpetually at variance with those
who, in the least degree, thwarted his will ; and he
was at war quite as often with the ecclesiastical as
with the political dignitaries of the realm. Indeed,
the spiritual and temporal courts of jurisdiction
were perpetually engaged in hot contests, and their
disagreements were the cause of infinite mischief to
the public. Contentions arose out of the most
trivial points of etiquette ; for punctilio, whether in
MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS.
223
the religious or social relations of life, was a mask
for all sorts of irregularity. The Duke of Medina,
for example, required Cardinal Filomarino to visit
him and the Duchess, his wife, separately. But
Filomarino, anxious always to resist the exactions
of rulers, even in small matters, persevered, not-
withstanding the precedent afforded by Boncom-
pagni, in visiting the Duke and Duchess ensemble.
The Viceroy continued to request that his interview
with the Cardinal might be strictly private, and
sent word to Filomarino that he would find him
alone at a certain hour. But the Cardinal returned
an excuse for not coming, by his Master of the
Chamber, who awaited in an anteroom of the
Royal Palace the Viceroy's answer. Meanwhile his
Excellency indulged in vituperating the Cardinal
as an “unworthy miscreant,” and declared angrily
that “a red cap did not constitute a dignitary.”
This remark, overheard by the Cardinal's agent, did
not help to heal the breach of peace between his
Excellency and Filomarino.
Habitual animosity resulted not unfrequently in
open violence. On one occasion, when the People's
* Documenti degli Agenti di Napoli, 1613.
" *
224
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
Deputy, whose duty it was to superintend the
weight of provisions, was engaged in examining
the contents of a baker's shop, he was interrupted
by one of the mezzi sbirri, those retainers, half
menials, half bravoes, who were sometimes met with
in the service of the Nuncio Altiero. This official
commanded the Deputy to let the bread alone,
saying it was from the bakehouse of a certain
monastery, and the civil government had no power
to order its inspection. So bold and obstinate was
the
aggressor in the affair that, when the Deputy
persisted in his occupation, the Papal agent aimed
a blow at him with a weapon he carried. The
companions of the Deputy then seized the intruder,
and carried him to the seat of the magistracy at
San Lorenzo, where he received sentence of punish-
ment with the lash, which was to be followed by
imprisonment. The Nuncio was in great wrath
upon receiving news of the occurrence. The
Government officials were not less indignant. At
this crisis the matter was laid before the Viceroy,
and again he was petitioned to protect the people
of Naples from the encroachments of emissaries of
the Pope, who insulted the public officers, and
1
MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS.
225
interfered with the exercise of the laws. The peti-
tioners desired that a despatch should at once be
forwarded to the Court of Rome, demanding the
recall of the Nuncio. The Duke of Medina's reply
was characteristic. He declared "it would have
been a matter of perfect indifference to him if they
had hanged the offender on the spot. As the
matter stood, however, they might, if they pleased,
ask for the recall of the Nuncio; but it was not
the first time that such an occurrence had taken
place.”
The legates of the Pope frequently assumed a
tone of warning, and even of menace, in presence of
the viceregal Governor himself. During several
interviews that had taken place between the Nuncio
and the Duke of Medina, the former had entreated
aid for the Church, urging innumerable reasons
why it should be given. The Viceroy determined,
at length, to be outspoken; and replied by saying
that “ he had always served the Church to the best
of his ability, and still desired to serve it, but that
the promises of the Papal party could not be relied
on, since the assurances given repeatedly in the
course of certain negotiations, had not even been
226
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
fulfilled, and were at length disowned. He, as
Viceroy, could therefore take no further steps in the
affair without the sanction of the King of Spain,
who, like himself, had always shown the best feel-
ings towards the Pope, but had met with no grati-
tude in return.
This the Legate denied, and added that if King
Philip did not grant the required succour, the
embarrassed position of the Pope would necessitate
his appealing to France; and should Naples no
longer be recognised as a Spanish possession, Philip
would have himself to blame for an intractability
which had cost him the fairest territories he owned.
Then he alluded to the expected visit of the Duke
of Orleans to Naples, who, he said, was of a bold,
innovating spirit, and would come as a firebrand
into the kingdom ; and he cautioned the Viceroy
to consider the point well. At this, the Duke of
Medina smiled; but the Legate remarked that he
thought "it was no subject for merriment, but a
matter for
reflection.” *
In the same year, the Viceroy confirmed the
>
grave
* Documenti degli Agenti in Napoli, 1643; “ Archivio Storico
Italiano."
MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS.
227
declaration he had made to the Duke of Tuscany,
that he would not assist the Pope. He would not
countenance a power which had asked aid of
France, and had not scrupled to send a notorious
bravo at the head of a troop of bandits to do all
the mischief he could in Sienna.
Q2
CHAPTER XI.
The Duchess of Medina's Court at the Syrens' Palace-Taste for
Theatrical Entertainments—Balls and Masques—Influence of
Spain on Drama at Naples—Espionage of Dramatic Literature
under Philip the Second-Encouragement of it by his Suc-
cessors-Lope de Vega-Heroic Dramas, and Dramas of the
Cloak and Sword—Cervantes-Sacred Comedies, or Mysteries
-Their Origin and Development—Their Adoption in Italy-
Their Representation in France and England–Their Degen-
eracy—The Passion Play.
The Court of the Duchess of Medina at the Syrens'
Palace became renowned for luxurious indulgence,
and the display of a magnificence truly regal.
Though large sums had been lavished on the Palace
by the Duke of Medina, not all the choice posses-
sions by which he had enriched it, were obtained at
his expense; for many an exquisite adornment of its
recesses-treasures of sculpture and painting—had
been gained by extortion or fraud.
The public
edifices of the capital had been rifled in order that
the works of Giulio Romano and Lucas of Leyden
should be appropriated by the Viceroy. When the
Prior of San Domenico dared to remonstrate, and
ITALIAN DRAMA.
229
sent to Rome complaining that Ridolfo, General of
the Dominicans, had given away a valuable painting
of Raphael's that had adorned the Church, the
Viceroy contrived to have him hurried out of the
city under the escort of an armed company.*
It was not enough that the rulers of Naples thus
enriched their abodes while resident in the country,
but they took good care that the fruits of their
plunder should accompany them when they quitted
Italian soil. The Duke of Medina, by his mar-
riage with the Princess Carafa, had become one
of the richest men in the kingdom. Through the
exercise of the viceregal office, moreover, innumer-
able sources of emolument were open to him, of
which he did not scruple to avail himself. Yet it
was audaciously proposed, at a meeting of the
Seggi, that the Neapolitans should make a present
of fifty thousand ducats to the Duchess !
She and the Duke both emulated a sovereign
splendour, in which they indulged on every occa-
sion; and countless were the excursions, tourna-
ments, processions, masquerades, and theatrical
diversions that contributed to maintain an unfailing
• Documenti degli Agenti in Napoli.
230
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
succession of amusements. Dramatic entertainments
were preferred above all others; and the amphi-
theatre that occupied the heart of the Syrens'
Palace constituted its chief attraction. A
Such was the ruling passion for the sensational
effects of the drama among Neapolitans, that no
season of the Church, however solemn-no cere-
monial, however sacred-no crisis of public affairs,
however disastrous, was permitted to interfere with
displays of histrionic art. In the palaces of princes,
in the mansions of the nobility, in churches and
convents, as well as in the public theatres, these
dramatic performances were perpetually carried on.
Under the government of Count Monterey not a
single day was allowed to pass without them.
Whether the time of fast or festival, was of little
consequence, since the Count was accustomed to
proceed at once from stage spectacle to partake of
the Holy Communion. Every other consideration
was subordinate to this infatuation. Even the
troops were deprived of their pay by Count Monterey,
in order to remunerate a company of actors whom
he had sent for. With the Neapolitans, as with the
Romans under the Empire, the theatre, if not the
ITALIAN DRAMA.
231
arena, was all in all; and they too, regarding the
stage as a vital necessity, might have cried, “Bread
and the circus!”
The influence of the Spanish dramas dominated
the boards at Naples, and thus the intrigues that
form the basis, as in French novels, of these produc-
tions, when adapted to the taste of Italian audiences,
were elaborated in a style of extravagance that was
reflected only too often in the manners of the
Neapolitan aristocracy of that time. Monasteries
and convents found an excuse for licensing the
exhibition of plays in the precedent afforded by the
accustomed enactment, within their walls, of the
mediæval sacred mysteries.
But these had not
preserved their original simplicity or purity of spirit,
and often presented a medley of chronicle, tra-
dition, and sheer fable, little edifying to the
spectator.
The cost of these dramatic representations was not
insignificant; for upon one occasion seven thousand
ducats were expended in arranging a single enter-
tainment in honour of the newly wedded Queen of
Hungary, who visited Naples. Indeed the ex-
penses incurred for the appropriate reception of this
2:2
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
Royal guest were estimated at not less than two
thousand five hundred ducats daily.
Strictly mythological displays picturing the
Elysian Fields or Parnassus, in which classic heroes
and deities were introduced, and the time-honoured
gods of Greece were permitted to appear amidst a
chaos of circumstance, combining the real and fabu-
lous, in a manner truly grotesque, were as little
calculated to promote a true appreciation of Greek
poetry and lore, as were the mysteries and mo-
ralities to foster religious sentiment, and inspire
reverence for the sacred objects of the Christian
fiiith.
The masqued balls so popular at the Court of Anna
Carafa, were remarkable for the scandalous license
indulged in with the view of heightening stage
effects. Venus personated by some fair one with
golden locks, appeared only too airily and daintily
arrayed in garments of sparkling floss! During
Carnival time the Duchess of Medina reigned as the
Queen of a company of Amazons, consisting of young
girls, selected especially for their beauty, but who
were no less distinguished at the entertainment for
the insufficient drapery of their costumes.
a
ITALIAN DRAMA.
233
In June of the year 1641, the procession of the
Vigil of St. John took place by command of the
Viceroy, the Duke of Medina. Great numbers
engaged in the Festival, which was a magnificent
representation of The Seasons.
The city was
illumined with its varied splendours. In the Piazza
Largo, a garden, sparkling with fountains and bril-
liant with abundance of flowers, depicted Spring.
In the Sellaria quarter, a palace rose amidst lawns
and leafy glades and green terraces, where trees
laden with glowing fruits, and waters teeming with
fish, represented Summer. In the Pennino was seen
a vintage flashing with the "silver shoot and purple
branch,” where laughing young vintagers, given up to
the Bacchanalian revelry of the hour, jested with
passers-by, who lingered to admire this mock
Autumn.*
At the theatres of Naples, Spanish influence
ruled the stage as completely as, under viceregal
government, it did the political existence of the
Neapolitans. The social conditions of Italy and
Spain had much in common, and consequently
those illustrations of manners and customs which
* Documenti “ Archivio Storico Italiano,” vol. ix.
234
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
were applauded on the boards of the Spanish capi-
tal, were popular in Naples. It is difficult for the
modern English mind to realise the effect of restric-
tions imposed by monarchical intolerance-jealous
of the slightest political significance in literature-
dramatic literature especially-upon the play-writers
of Spain, who, up till the seventeenth century, had
suffered severely in this respect. Under the second
Philip of Spain this particular phase of persecu-
tion, like every other, had reached its climax; but
espionage of intellect relaxed upon the succession of
the more indolent and tolerant Philip III. until
the fourth monarch of the name, himself an author,
became the patron and friend of the illustrious
Calderon, " in whom,” remarks an eminent critic, *.
“the romantic drama of the Spaniards attained the
summit of perfection.” Philip was eager to do
honour to the national drama, and, in order to
encourage those who cultivated it, forbade the intro-
duction into Spain of the Italian Opera, then in
great favour at various European Courts.
Fortunately for the genius of Cervantes, authors
were already in his day permitted to indulge in
9
* Schlegel, “Lectures on Dramatic Art,” p. 497.
ITALIAN DRAMA.
235
satire.
The dramas of this writer and those of his
less illustrious though not less remarkable associate
in letters-Lope de Vega--fixed for nearly a century
and a half the style of popular dramatic entertain-
ment in Spain and Italy. The productions of Lope
de Vega, if not of so commanding an order as those.
of Cervantes, nevertheless, by their more generally
effective character, boldness, brilliancy, and sparkling
play of fancy, were more calculated to succeed in
action, and for a while completely engrossed the
stage. The creations of Lope de Vega flowed with
an amazing facility; and such was the mental
activity of the Spanish “ Phænix,” as De Vega was
called, that his works alone supplied the Spanish
theatres with an unfailing source of entertainment.
This author is reputed to have contributed as many
as two thousand original dramas to the literature
of his country. For these labours he was rewarded,
strangely enough, with the presentation of the Cross
of Malta from Pope Urban VIII., who, with a still
more surprising patronage, appointed the successful
dramatist to a sinecure connected with the Apos-
tolic Chamber!
The term Comedia, or comedy, bears in the
236
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
Spanish language, as applied by the most illustrious
dramatic authors of that country, a meaning totally
distinct to that ordinarily assigned to it, since it
does not signify other than a generic name for
drama of varied kind ; the Spanish comedy, as in-
terpreted by Lope de Vega, readily adapting itself
to any mode of exciting interest, whether tragic,
comic, historical, mythological, or religious. The
dramas of Lope de Vega, who employed with
signal success the changeable dramatic form under
the title Comedia, are divided into two classes, the
religious plays and the temporal or mundane,
known respectively as the Comedias Divinas, or
Sacred Comedies, and the Comedias Humanas, or
Mundane Comedies. The latter were again sepa-
rated into the Comedias de Capa y Espada,
dramas of the Cloak and Sword, and the Comedias
Ileroycas, or Heroic Dramas.
Under the term heroic were included those alle-
gorical and mythological displays, in which Neapo-
litan audiences, sensual in taste and too indolent to
criticise, were satisfied with a sparkling mise en scene
at the cost of historic truth and fitness of circum-
stance. But while many an unworthy example
ITALIAN DRAMA.
237
**
exists calculated to detract from the dignity of the
Heroic order, some of the noblest and happiest
efforts of Spanish genius have crowned it with
triumphs. Nor can we find more salient instances
of this than in Cervantes's “ Journey to Parnassus,”
which, combining the satiric with the heroic and
poetic, has indeed been, next to “ Don Quixote,”
declared the “most exquisite production"* of its
extraordinary author. Again, Cervantes's “ Destruc-
tion of Numantia,” an allegorical tragedy of the
more strictly Heroic type, is stamped with a
grandeur, purity, and pathos, and well deserves the
praise bestowed upon it, as “the most remarkable
phenomenon of Spanish literature in modern
times.”+
Yet these noble dramas of severe and classic
cast were chased from the stage by the more hete-
rogeneous compositions of De Vega ; and even
his less elevated Heroic dramas were not so
popular as those of the Cloak and Sword, which
illustrated the modes and manners of the age.
These were pre-eminently sensational. Abundant
* Bouterwek, “History of Spanish Literature," p. 244.
+ Schlegel, “ Lectures on Dramatic Art,” p. 491.
238
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
а
and complex intrigue, necessitating the most in-
volved situations, was the prolific source of a series
of stirring incidents and adventures. Thus, com-
plicated in plan, and constantly changing in aspect, ,
these plays resembled rather a dramatised novel
than legitimate drama, in which the object was, by
appealing successively to a variety of emotions,
rather than by maintaining interest in a set direc-
tion, to amuse languid spectators too ennuyé to
bear a continuance of one kind of impression, how-
ever vivid. The dramas of the Cloak and Sword,
utterly different in spirit from the Heroic, were, to
some extent, like certain novels of the present day,
termed “realistic,” in which the ideal was set aside,
and what was seen, not what was approved, was
painted. It is easily conceivable that the lawless,
fantastic manners of Naples, no less than Madrid,
when presented in theatrical guise, were not re-
markable for morality; and Seneca would have
found equal reason to declare of the entertainments
incessantly witnessed by Neapolitans, as of those
looked upon by the Romans, that "in the world
there was nothing so destructive of morals as the
sight of plays.” To gratify a degraded love of the
6
ITALIAN DRAJA.
239
superficial and sensuous, true drama, marked by
powerful delineation of character, unity of time and
place, the dignity of sustained action and intellec-
tual effort, was sacrificed.
The Sacred Comedies were of two kinds, the
Vidas de Santos, or Lives of Saints, and the Autos
Sacramentalos, or Sacramental Acts. Both of these
were akin to the religious plays, mysteries, mora-
lities, or medleys, as they have been variously
entitled, so popular during past ages on the Conti-
nent, to a less extent in England, and illustrated
to this day by the Passion Play represented every
ten years in the Highlands of Bavaria. These
religious dramas, however diversely characterised
in detail, have all undoubtedly a common origin,
dating from a period prior to the Christian era.
Just as the objects of the Pagan creed were significd
by the mysteries of Hellenic worship, and presented
through the medium of spectacle, the sacred reali-
ties of the Christian faith were mirrored in
mediæval stage scenery and action, and are pic-
tured in the diorama of the Passion Play.
The sufferings and joys of classic deities; their
relations with mankind and with another world,
210
THE COURT OF ANYA CARAFA.
portrayed in a series of theatrical effects, consti-
tuted the Greek religious rites. These shows, bril-
liantly elaborated with all the resources of art,
when art was in its golden age—and accompanied
-
by dance and song, were pre-eminently dramatic
and even sensational. Consequently they were in-
tended to address the emotions rather than the un-
derstanding. Truths were not plainly taught by
exposition of doctrines, or these rites would not
have received from the ancients the name of
mysteries. Although the Athenian “mystagogue,”
or interpreter of “ mysteries,” professed to initiate
the spectator, his explanations appear to have been
extremely limited; and if insight and enlight-
enment followed a just application of the sym-
bolism employed, it was the result, not so much of
teaching, as of keen perception and inference on
the part of the spectator. Hence so much con-
tradiction in the views of those who were the
intellectual leaders of the classic age; some of
whom regarded the most favoured celebrations of
the Greek worship, such as the Eleusinian and
Orphic mysteries, as nothing more than allegorical
representation of material phenomena, and the
ITALIAN DRAMA.
241 :
action of those principles by which it is governed.
Thus the mysteries in honour of Ceres were regarded
by some as a manifestation of the fructifying pro-
cesses of agriculture, and so forth ; while others
looked upon these sacred rites as revelations of
the spiritual attributes of the gods, and con-
ceived that initiation alone could teach them the
requirements of their celestial will with regard
to man.
Little reverence was entertained by Greek philo-
sophers for the “Mysteries ;” and if Pindar and
Sophocles approved of them, the contempt of
Socrates was only too obvious. Plato, though he
desired to honour the state religion and its in-
structors, moved by soul-felt aspiration towards a
nobler faith, could not forbear rebuking the popu-
lace for their belief that devout attention to these
ceremonies would expiate unrighteousness; and
Dionysius declaimed against the injurious effect of
these “ mystic fables.”
As the dramas of the Cloak and Sword, with
their plots and counterplots, complicated circum-
stance, and network of intrigue, reflected the social
characteristics of Spaniards and Neapolitans, though
R
212
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
frequently presenting them under an aspect so ex-
travagant as to become ridiculous, so did the sacred
comedies illustrate their religious observances, and
often with no more regard to reason and proba-
bility ; for the populace of Italy and Spain, in
common with the inhabitants of all Catholic
countries, looked for the satisfaction of the eye
and
ear as a primary requisite in all ceremonies con-
nected with their faith. Frivolities, which, tested
by an educated judgment, would certainly have
been repudiated as ludicrous, were overlooked for
the sake of theatrical display. The true objects of
piety were travestied to meet these ideas. A series
of chimeras and anomalies were presented through
the medium of poetic and unpoetic elements com-
bined ; and these were surrounded by an atmos-
phere of operatic display, little in accordance
with the solemn dignity suited to Christian cele-
brations.
But there was another cause as important to be
considered, which accounted for a perversion of the
Scriptural records resulting in a complete change
of the original cast of the religious drama. For
there is reason to suppose that the very earliest
ITALIAN DRAMA.
213
representations of the kind were not disfigured by
the indecencies and anomalies marking the “myste-
ries” of a later period. When we consider who
were the authors of the first sacred dramas written,
and the objects aimed at in their production, it is
scarcely credible that, although they might have
been open to criticism on the score of certain incon-
gruities, the result of misdirected taste, they could
have been stained by impurity. Their authors were
the leaders of the primitive Christian Church, when
that church still retained its Apostolic simplicity,
and were doubtless men of sanctity, whose great
ambition was by thought and act to extend the
knowledge of those truths to the diffusion of which
the labours of their lives were devoted. In the
time of the Emperor Julian, Apollinarius, Bishop
of Laodicea, composed tragedies on subjects from
the Old and New Testaments. Gregorio Nazian-
zen, Patriarch and Archbishop of Constantinople,
also wrote sacred dramas, and in the cases of both
these authors, their plays were formed upon the
models of Aschylus and Euripides. This curious
adaptation of the classic form to the Christian
spirit, was an inevitable consequence of the fact that
R2
244
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
the Greek stage had flourished at Constantinople
until this time, when the antique chorus was to be
transformed into the church hymn, and the influence
of mythologic deities was destined to be superseded
by the inspirations of Christian worship. Thus did
the pastors of the new and pure Evangile seek to
combat the Imperial edict that no Christian should
be instructed in the public schools; nor can we
doubt that the elevation of the teaching afforded by
these reverend men corresponded with the excel-
lence of their intent.
Very different, however, became, in the lapse of
time, the character of these dramas, the idea of which
was borrowed by subsequent writers from the works
of the Christian bishops. With the corruptions
that crept into the Church,—when prelatical power
at its height owned no limits to its encroachments
and excesses during the dark period full of portent
to the Catholic hierarchy that preceded the Reforma-
tion, when traffic in delusions and mockeries of all
kinds was encouraged in order to abase and hold
captive the human mind—then it was that the
mysteries degenerated into shows rivalling ancient
Bacchanalian orgies in their licence. Curiously
9
ITALIAN DRAMA.
245
enough, the name of “Moralities” was not applied
to these plays until they had become so scandalous
as to call imperatively for improvement, and earned
this title, it is to be supposed, on account of certain
superficial corrections applied, which, after all, were
totally inadequate in the sense of reform. As in
the present day, writers sought at all cost to win the
favour of their audiences; and as the religious
dramas were frequently exhibited in monasteries
and convents, monkish cunning, rather than ig-
norance, was in all likelihood responsible for the
apocryphal interpolations, the corruptions, 'mon-
strosities, grossness of manner, and coarseness of
dialogue, through which ridicule was cast upon
subjects the most sacred ; for mummeries were in-
variably employed to serve the ends of Papal rule.
It is not surprising that Italy, the centre of Ca-
tholic influence and Pontificial sway, should, upon
the introduction of the mysteries into Europe, have
been the first to adopt them. One of the spiritual
comedies,” so called, was performed at Padua, in
the year 1243; and, twenty years later, a company
was instituted at Rome for the performance of these
plays, the subjects of which, though illustrating
246
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
various portions of the Scriptures, were oftener than
not selections of incidents in the lives of saints, al-
though the interest of the piece was by no means
confined to a single personage. Even in some of
Lope de Vega's dramas a strangely contrasted
medley of figures is seen upon the stage, comprising
buffoons, peasants, kings, and students, who are
grouped around the central representation of the
Redeemer; while allegorical impersonations of
Justice and Mercy assist in beatifying some pious
monk or friar upon his deliverance from earthly
probation. Far more frequently, however, than the
acts of saints or martyrs, was chosen the scene of
the Saviour's Passion, which, commanding universal
awe and sympathy throughout ages, in its sub-
lime and unfailing attraction, is the only event of
Biblical history that continues the subject of dra-
matic spectacle in the solitudes of Bavaria, where
the piety of the peasantry has cherished the idea
of the Divine suffering in its sanctity, and pre-
served its representation in pure taste and sim-
plicity.
This was not the case with dramatic pageants
which took place at Rome during former centuries,
ITALIAN DRAMA.
2 17
per'sonce
when even the delineation of the most solemn sight
which the world has ever witnessed was not cha-
racterised by dignity or refinement;
or refinement; but was
attended with the meretricious glitter and far more
than the ordinary pomp of theatrical entertainments.
Marvellous was the number of dramatis
at the celebration of the “mysteries," who shone
amidst the most elaborate and fantastic stage
accessories and surroundings. In the year 1313,
Philip the Fair and Royal of France instituted a
series of magnificent festivities, which, for splendour
and variety of amusement, it is said, were unsur-
passed, and in these the “mysteries” were included.
The second Edward of England, with his Queen,
Isabella, accompanied by a large retinue of nobles,
dames, and cavaliers, attended a celebration of the
Glory of the Blessed.” The Mystery of the Con-
ception, Passion, and Resurrection was performed
by edict of Charles V. at St. Maur ; and the same
subject was selected for representation twenty years
later, under royal direction, at Paris. Nowhere do
these celebrations appear to have been exhibited
with greater magnificence than in France. Some-
times, when very elaborate, in order to secure suffi-
;
248
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
cient space, they were held in the open air; and “at
Vexmiel,” says a quaint chronicler, “the park was
arranged in a very noble manner; for there were
nine ranges of seats rising by degrees in height.”
Upon one occasion, stage scenery depicted Paradise,
where the most contrasted impersonations-celestial
and terrestrial, mythological, metaphorical, and fabu-
lous-enacted their respective rôle. Great was the
company of the players, since not less than four to
five hundred, it is recorded, took part in these per-
formances. Frequently they lasted three days, or
longer, when change of locality was necessitated to
relieve the effect; and scene-shifting introduced
successively Rome, Vienna, or some other European
capital.
Throughout Italy, France, and Germany, the
mysteries appear to have been held in far greater
estimation, and to have been celebrated with far
greater splendour, than in England, where, although
religious plays were performed at an equally early
date, it was in comparative obscurity until centuries
later. In other European countries, great import-
ance was attached to these entertainments, which
were popular with all classes-kings, citizens, and
;
ITALIAN DRAMA.
249
peasants alike eagerly flocking to witness them.
Their performance was publicly proclaimed by sound
of trumpet, and arranged under the direction of the
municipal authorities, who appointed certain officials
to report upon the manner in which their orders had
been carried out. In Paris, a building, entitled the
Hall of the Passion, was devoted exclusively to the
rehearsal and celebration of the “Mysteries ;” and
richly hung with tapestry and decorated with
flowers, was invariably crowded by an audience
enthusiastic and illustrious, who eagerly watched
those curious examples of histrionic art contained in
the Acts of the Apostles, or the sacred comedy of
“ David," played amid the shouts of war-songs and
the clash of arms.
No memorable event in the annals of State or
Church sufficed to withdraw the attention of the
public from the “Mysteries ;” for, during the sitting
of the Council of Constance, reverend prelates took
part in a sacred drama called the Massacre of the
Innocents. While the Congress of 1815 sat at
Vienna, the comedy of “David” was again per-
formed with great splendour; and, upon this occa-
sion, the back of the stage, opening into the
250
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
"
air, formed an arena for the evolutions of some
hundreds of Austrian soldiers-infantry and cavalry
--who, in the character of Jews and Philistines,
armed with musket and carbine, charged in emulation
of heroic combats chronicled in the Book of Kings.
In England, although a writer in the year 1174
mentions with emphasis that the “theatrical exhi-
bitions of London consist of religious plays,” which
would lead us to infer that they were frequently
performed, no éclat at that time or subsequently
appears to have attended their exhibition ; nor do
they appear to have been patronised by kings or
courtiers in England, though English monarchs were
frequently present at their representation abroad.
Peculiar restrictions attached to them, apparently,
in this country; and thus it followed that they
were in the hands only of amateurs. The pupils, for
instance, of the Abbey of St. Dunstable performed a
drama written by the Prior of the Abbey; and
there were those, it would seem, even less qualified
to succeed, engaged in the performance of the
Mysteries,” since we find the scholars of St. Paul's
School petitioning King Richard II. to “ prohibit
incompetent people from performing the religious
ITALIAN DRAMA.
251
very brilliant
.
plays.” Tradition tells us that parish clerks were
the chief actors in these “mysteries ;” in which case,
unless parish clerks were very differently char-
acterised from those of the present day, we are not
led to suppose that these dramatic diversions were
. Another cause existed inimical to
the prosperity of the mystery plays in England.
This was the strict censorship exercised by the
Church of Rome. Notwithstanding, however, the
Coventry and Chester mysteries obtained some
degree of celebrity. The Chester mysteries were
put on the stage in that good old city at the expense
of the incorporated trades, the several members of
which took part in their representation ; but not the
authority of all the trades in Chester or in Christen-
dom could justify their proceedings in the sight of
the head of the Catholic Church, who would not
absolve the poor players from the guilt of expound-
ing sacred subjects in the English tongue to a popu-
lation from whom the Scriptures had been kept
sealed; and thrice went the author of a certain
Mystery” to Rome ere he could obtain leave to
have the dialogues of his drama spoken in his native
tongue !
252
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
And this censorship it was that resulted in an-
other evil almost as great as that of withholding all
Biblical knowledge whatsoever. In order to incul-
cate the dogmas of a worship so perverted as that
demanded by the Romish Church, it was imperative
to present Scriptural precepts and doctrines in such
a light as would find favour at Rome. Thus mis-
interpretation and sophistry were intentional on the
part of authors who, by this degrading adaptation,
secured the free use of their pens and the free
production of their pieces. As the scandals of the
Church increased, and the advent of reform was at
hand, more severe grew the Papal surveillance ; and
we find, as a consequence, some of the mystery
plays of the fifteenth century far more disfigured
by false colouring and impurity than those of an
earlier date, which would not be the case were this
degeneracy attributable solely to ignorance or mis-
directed taste.
In the only remaining example of religious
drama still to be seen at rare intervals, such in-
congruities do not exist. They are, indeed, ut-
terly repudiated in that singularly pure type of
the “Mysteries” lately presented in the High-
2
1
.
I
ITALIAN DRAMA.
253
lands of Bavaria. Events—the grandest ever
witnessed on earth—are pictured in a diorama so
curious and vivid as to be unique. The represent-
ation of the Great Suffering is preserved in sim-
plicity and grandeur. Though scenes are pic-
turesquely elaborated and characters graphically
portrayed ; though the telling effects of stage acces-
sories in locality and costume, in the song of the
chorus, and the speech of the players, are not lost
sight of, a sacred solemnity, befitting the subject, is
maintained. And why is this? It is not because
the peasants of the Bavarian mountains are endowed
with superior intellectual power of appreciation that
these celebrations are kept free entirely from tra-
vesty ; but it is because amidst those primitive and
faithful villagers the performance is carried on in
an earnest and devotional spirit. The heart of
actor and spectator sympathise with the impressive
incidents of Biblical history. They linger gladly
in the Paradise they represent; they lament in
the Desert with those fretful wanderers of Israel
whom adversity angered, and prosperity deluded ;
and they grieve with the unspeakable Agony
seen of angels in the garden of Gethsemane ;
254
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
they join in the triumphs of righteous kings,
apostles, and prophets of old; and these curious
illustrations of the Scripture records are sanc-
tified by a deep-felt piety that regards with
exceeding reverence the object of all Christian
worship pictorially represented in the Passion
Play.
CHAPTER XII.
Feudalism in Southern Italy–Benefits of Feudalism in Early
Ages—Oppression of “ Free Men” under the Feudal System
-Its rapid Development, and Deterioration in later Times-
Tyranny of Feudal Lords – Edict of Charles the Fifth -
Emancipation of Towns-Abuses of Feudalism in Naples
Feudal Commission under Murat Arbitrary Exercise of
Feudal Rights by the Duchess of Medina.
young wife.
It is not to be denied that no influence for good
was exercised over the Duke of Medina by his
. As Anna matured into womanhood,
the salient traits of her character were unbounded
avarice and arrogance. The better elements of her
nature had not been encouraged under the guar-
dianship of her mother, the intriguing Elena Aldo-
brandini ; and when, through her artifices, Anna
was induced to forego the impulse of her heart, and
repudiate its deepest emotion, she spurned the only
sentiment that could have ruled her with redeem-
ing sway.' This sentiment was love for her cousin
Diomed Carafa. His character, not altogether
devoid of merit, would have been favourably influ-
256
TIIE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
enced, no doubt, by content in his affections. Anna,
in yielding to her mother's wishes, by one remorse-
less act, hardened her entire nature, and sealed its
only fount of tenderness. Henceforth she lived for
the gratification of a quenchless ambition which
gave her everything but happiness.
Barter of place and title and territory was carried
on more shamelessly than ever under the vice-regal
rule of the Duke of Medina, and his wife encou-
raged these corrupt practices. Tenants on the
numerous estates inherited by the Duchess were
more oppressed than others, at a period when all
were sufficiently enslaved under the despotism of
the feudal seignories. This despotism reached its
.
height during the sixteenth and seventeenth centu-
ries; for the abuses that had crept in with the
extension and development of feudalism proclaimed
the decay of a system which, notwithstanding its
antiquity, its power, and its widely-spread domi-
,
nion, had, then rapidly degenerating, lost its utility,
its significance, and its claim to the admiration of
posterity. The very word feudalism, indeed, con-
veys to the mind of a people freed from its bondage
the idea of tyranny. A more forcible illustration
FEUDALISM IN ITALY.
257
could not be afforded of the fallibility of human
institutions, their merely temporary efficiency, their
tendency to deteriorate and become assistant in
perpetrating that most grievous wrong, the oppres-
sion of the weak by the powerful, than is to be
found in the history of the feudal system. Its rule
was rooted in the soil by right of conquest. Thus
strong in its hold and commanding in its opera-
tions, it swayed the destinies of populations for
centuries.
Those German nations who rushed forth from the
primeval forests of their native land to become the
spoliators of the Roman empire, accustomed to sub-
sist on the triumphs of the chase, cared little for
agricultural products, and still less understood how
to secure them. These races, having penetrated to
the heart of Gaul, compelled its inhabitants to give
them corn and grain. The fruits of the earth thus
yielded, the cession of territory itself soon followed,
and mutual contracts were entered into respecting
partition of land in which we see the origin of fiefs,
which were not at that day given away in an arbi-
trary or capricious manner, but according to regu-
lations formally discussed in assemblies of the
S.
258
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
people. The interests of both nations were con-
sidered, the Teutonic tribes receiving a larger extent
of pasture land, while those who granted it retained
those portions fitted for agricultural purposes.
Under the term “allodial” were included those
territories which, owned by undisputed right of
victory, were absolute property distinct from fiefs,
and were the possessions of free men who were not
bound by rule or bond of any kind to cultivate the
soil. The “free men ” were, however, compelled to
obey the command of those dukes, or counts, or
marquises to whom a reigning monarch had en-
trusted the guardianship of the frontiers, when
summoned by their king in time of need to give
military aid. This support was justly demanded
in return for the protection of life and property af-
forded by the jurisdiction of provincial governors,
who united civil and military powers.
Just as
the scignor or suzerain had the right of adminis-
tering justice throughout the fief he held, so the
count had throughout the county which he held
in trust.
A very striking proof that feudalism in its
earliest phases was salutary and desirable, rather
FEUDALISH IN ITALY.
259
than oppressive, is shown in the fact that free men
sought to become vassals, in order to secure the ad-
vantages which resulted from the relation of tenant
and landowner. In the same way that the nobles
desired to become great feudatories and vassals direct
of the king, did those of humble rank seek to bind
themselves by contract as the servitors of the nobles ;
for the benefit of feudal law was extended chiefly
to those who were positively bound under the condi-
ditions of feudalism. Thus the “free man," or one
”
who was “unattached,” was far less favoured than
the vassal. A free man, if cited to appear in pre-
sence of the local judge, having failed to do so, was
then summoned to account before the king. Neg-
lecting to obey, he was in a manner excommuni-
cated, and put out of the pale of protection even
by the sovereign. No one dared lodge or feed him,
and his goods were confiscated. The free man for a
comparatively trifling offence was sentenced to un-
dergo that most terrible ordeal, the trial by boiling
water, while the vassal paid the penalty of a similar
offence by a small sum of money. A vassal who failed
to fulfil his allotted term of military service was
supposed to be sufficiently punished by the tempo-
a
8 2
260
THE COURT OF AYNA CARAFA.
rary displeasure of his seignor. The free man who
did not obey the summons of the Count was heavily
fined, or placed in ignoble bondage. *
Feudalism, early introduced into Italy by those
Lombard dukes who retained a third of all acquired
territory, was long upheld in the South ; and in the
1
Neapolitan provinces, where rulers, from the time of
the Norman kings, added to its prerogatives on the
one side, and increased its liabilities on the other,
it wrought more grievously than elsewhere, espe-
cially as its evils were fostered under the influence
of a delegated irresponsible rule, like that of the
Spanish viceroy's, who connived at all kinds of mal-
administration. In this case, the existence of
,
feudal laws contributed materially to the national
abasement.
But to say that these laws were founded in
victory, and were imposed rather than accepted, is
only to assert that they were instituted according to
those invariable rights of conquest by virtue of
which dynasties have been enthroned and obeyed
immemorially. Vor can we deny the intrinsic
value of feudalism-its fitness to meet the exigen-
a
* Montesquieu, "Esprit de Lois," p. 557.
FEUDALISM IN ITALY.
261
.
cies of the age to which its creation belonged---nor
its importance as containing the germ of all future
political systems. Only when perverted did it be-
come odious and intolerable. As at first established
it was admirably adapted, by its essential principle
of reciprocal service and protection, to secure the
welfare of communities not yet owning the complex
conditions attaching to a more highly civilised era.
Gradually wrested, however, from its original pur-
pose, which would have bound the powerful to
exercise their influence for the benefit of their
weaker neighbours, the result was that the very
contract entered into by the poor to provide the
means of defence and self-help, in the end be-
cảme a prolific source of their spoliation and
oppression.
According to feudal law in its integrity, duties on
the part of the lord or seignor were bound up
with
his
prerogatives, and the fulfilment of them as im-
peratively demanded as those of his inferior,—the
vassal, in case of transgression, losing certain rights
to which he was entitled, and the lord forfeiting his
claim as suzerain.* Owing to the intimate asso-
* IIallam, “ Europo during the Midille Ages,” p. 85.
262
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
ciation connected with the conditions of feudal
tenure, it might have been termed a private and
social, no less than a public and political, bond, since
its requirements extended even to the domestic
relations of life, and thus contributed to the force
of the tie, rendering it exceedingly influential as an
agency for good or ill. Not only motives of
interest, but attachment and consideration on the
one hand, reverence and gratitude on the other,
were the actuating principles in an allegiance that,
interpreted in its highest sense, gave scope and
opportunity for the display of chivalric generosity
er heroic devotion. If, in the vassal, it was re-
garled as a breach of faith to divulge liis lord's
counsel, to conceal the machinations of others from
him, or to co-operate with them to the injury of his
person or fortune, by the same rule of fidelity
through which he was bound to adhere to his side
whilst fighting, and become bis hostage if made
captive, the lord, on his part, was bound to consider
the interests of his vassal, to respect the sanctity of
his roof and the honour of his family, under penalty
of losing his right of seignory-a regulation well
calculated to elevate public morality in a semi-
FEUDALISM IN ITALY.
263
barbarous age, by visiting with signal resentment
such abuse of confidence and hospitality.
The leading feature, however, of the contract
between lord and vassal was that of military
service; and this primary requirement of feudal
tenures proper was the least ignoble, and the least
arduous in its nature, owing to the fact that its
duties, though varying with different conditions of
tenancy, were far more clearly defined than those
connected with other kinds of employment, since
aid in the battle-field demanded of a feudal retainer
was limited to a certain period according to the sub-
divisions of a fief. Forty days constituted the term
during which a knight's tenant was bound to be at
his post, equipped for efficient action at his own
expense—to fight at his seignor's side, or to yield
himself a prisoner in his stead.
Although in performing homage at the ceremony
of investiture the vassal laid aside sword and spurs
ere he took the oath of fealty, which was followed
by the kiss of goodwill, he was thenceforward
required, at an instant's notice, to assume these
soldierly accoutrements, and use them to good pur-
pose for the benefit of his liege lord.
264
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
Failure in personal attendance was commuted
either by affording a substitute, or by meeting a
(ertain monetary charge ; and monarchs, who found
their campaigns more tedious than they anticipated,
had recourse to the payment of their feudal fol-
lowers to ensure their attendance upon the expira-
tion of the given term of service—an expedient in
which we discern the idea of standing armies. In
the earliest chronicles concerning those dukes of
Lombardy, through whom feudalism was implanted
in the south of Italy, we find this military allegiance
granted to royalty in return for the command of
a certain territory or territories, over which, as duke,
count, or marquis, these martial courtiers ruled with
almost undisputed sway. Holding the most important
privileges, they were cntitled to administer justice,
preserve order, collect the imperial revenue, and
lead combatants into the field in their sovereign's
1
cause.
Essential distinction of rank, as is shown by the
titles connected with the possession of these grants
of land, ensued upon ownership. In Spain, France,
and Italy, the proprietors of large estates were
termed nobles, and formed an element most im-
1
1
FEUDALISM IN ITALY.
265
portant, since out of it arose the landed aristocracy
of European states. Distinction of class is to be
recognised even in the rude codes of the Burgun-
dians and Visigoths, where peculiar privileges were
accorded to persons of high rank; their lives were
held in greater estimation than those of ple-
beians, and severer penalties attached to offences
against them than against individuals of humble
birth.
In the time of the Carafas of Maddaloni, nobles
enjoyed an hereditary claim to lands which had
been in the first instance granted under the name of
benefices, liable to revocation at the pleasure of the
giver. But, as it has been said, the Lombard dukes
acquired, earlier than the aristocracy of other coun-
trics, an entailed right to the government of pro-
vinces. Nobles holding estates directly of the
reigning monarch let out portions of them on terms
similar to those they had themselves entered into;
and thus was introduced the practice of sub-infeuda-
tion which, afterwards generally prevalent, altered
most undesirably the character of feudal relations,
since it allowed scope for the caprice and exactions
of numberless petty owners, and led to involved
266
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
conditions only too propitious to the exercise of
irresponsible authority.
Even in the time of Charlemagne, it was found
necessary to limit the encroachments of the privi-
leged orders; and the wise policy of this ruler never
gave
the
government of more than one province into
the hands of one person. As another check, he
would not permit the administration of justice by
local
governors, but substituted itinerant magis-
trates, to whom was entrusted the settlement of
judicial causes. If, at this early date, the rapacity
of the feudal lords called for restrictive measures,
how much more imperatively were they demanded
later, when, as in the time of Charles the Bald in
France, and the first Charles of Anjou who reigned
in Naples, the power these landowners had attained
rendered them the most formidable rivals of the
throne. In Italy the independence of the dukes
and counts was complete, and their tyranny in
consequence frequently excessive.
The most curious questions arose out of the
mutual liabilities involved in feudal tenures, which,
however, were usually determined to the disad-
vantage of those who were subordinate. For
1
FEUDALISM IN ITALY.
267
example, was a vassal bound to follow the standard
of his lord against his own kindred or his sovereign?
Recourse to the dicta of feudal law tended to in-
crease rather than diminish such perplexities; for
what could equal the glorious uncertainty of legal
interpretation on a subject so complicated as feudal-
ism? Moreover, to meet the exigencies of an
infinite variety of cases, no recorded precedent
existed as a guide. The conditions of feudalism were
<lirected as much by ancient usage as by written
code. Throughout the pays coutumier immemorial
custom ruled as positively as did the letter of the
law in the pays du droit écrit; and though these
distinctions derived their names from France, they
were equally applicable to other countries where
feudalism prevailed.
The claims made by the suzerain became infinitely
more oppressive, because they were undefined in
extent; for although submission and devotion on
the part of his retainer were understood by the
words “homage” and “ fealty,” the interpretation
of these terms practically allowed a wide margin
for innumerable exactions. Thus arose burthens far
more grievous than those attaching to the original
>
268
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA,
a
a
bonds of feudalism. Reliefs, fines upon alienation,
(scheats, aids, wardship, and control of the marriage
contract, were all rendered means of extorting
money.
As benefices or grants of land were not neces-
sarily hereditary, it followed that a fresh investiture
was required in certain cases. This could not be
obtained without the payment of a sum of money.
Even where the right of succession existed, it was
frequently contested by the suzerain, who, upon the
death of a feudal tenant, would seize his estate, and
demand, under the name of “relief,” whatever sum
he thought proper; and hence it happened that the
lawful heir, who could not make good his cause
against the fraudulent pretence of his superior, had
to repurchase what was really his own. Closely
associated with this feudal custom was that of fines
upon alienation or change of residence, since a
vassal was bound to reside upon the fief. The
feudal law of Italy forbade the transfer of residence
without the lord's consent; but such was the avarice
of the landowners, that they readily entered into
any terms which promised them the greatest gain.
It is easy to see how these so-called “rights ”
FEUDALISM IN ITALY.
269
were the source of the most arbitrary requisitions,
and gave rise to some of the worst abuses of feu-
dalism. In addition there was the demand for aids,
or sums to assist in any financial crisis of the suze-
rain-to facilitate his expeditions to other lands, or
to supplement the dowries of his daughters. The
authority obtained in vassalage was greatly increased
by the fact that the lord was entitled to the ward-
ship of his retainer during his minority; while
another and yet more vexatious assumption was the
privilege of selecting husbands for female wards.
This exercise of feudal prerogative we see in the
prohibition by Philip IV., of Spain, of the marriage
of the young Princess Anna Carafa.
These out-
rageous encroachments marked the maturity of the
feudal system, the evils of which, as in so many
other institutions, reached their height, and long
called for redress before they were remedied.
The privileges of the landed aristocracy were enor-
mous, for they were free from the financial burthens
that pressed so heavily on other classes ; they were
exempt to a great extent from legislative control.;
and, moreover, they possessed the right exclusively
of judicature within their own domains. This was
270
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
a terrible prerogative, and one which owned in
different degrees, varying with possession of terri-
tory, sometimes extended to the exercise of la haute
justice, when baron or châtelain held power of life
or death over subjects within the districts where his
sway was paramount.
The great feudatories were permitted also to coin
money, which was adulterated to such a degree in
baronial mints that it was reduced to a sort of black
metal, known as moneta nigra—a curious illus-
tration, among many, of the abuse by the favoured
classes of privileges emulating those of royalty.
False coiners, indeed, were numerous in Italy, in-
cluding members of many illustrious houses.
am ashamed to mention the families," a certain
chronicler remarks.*
The first King William of Norman race who
ruled in Naples issued the most stringent decrees
as a safeguard to the Crown against feudal en-
croachment; and measures to the same effect were
adopted by Frederick, of the House of Hohentaussen.
Among the many evils brought upon the Neapo-
litans by the race of Anjou, not the least was the
" I
Diurnali,” Guerra and Bucca.
FEUDALISM IN ITALY.
271
increasing power of the barons, caused by a change of
policy in this respect. Charles, the first of that dynasty,
gave away a large number of towns and suburbs,
which had been hitherto dependent on the Crown;
and the generosity of the king was compared to
that of Alexander the Great. Charles, the victim,
at length, of his own injudicious measures, was
compelled by the usurpations of the nobility to
enact that all fiefs unlawfully possessed by them
should be restored under severe penalties. These
audacious liegemen, imagining their influence un-
bounded, desired to reserve all political privileges
to themselves. A deputation of Neapolitans, who
sought to know the latest royal command with
respect to certain regulations connected with their
city, received the insulting reply, that "it was no
concern of theirs," since the nobles were the only
people who had a right to make such inquiry, or to
be considered at all in any public measure.
The feudal element predominated also under
Spanish rule, and the rich domains ceded to the
Carafas were equalled by the territories belonging to
the Orsini of Taranto and the Sanseverini of Salerno.
* "Cronica di Notar Giacomo,” r. 191.
272
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
Monarchs of the House of Aragon, like those of
Anjou, had often reason to repent their generosity
towards their powerful subjects the barons, and
were compelled to counteract the results of their
own edicts, by passing laws of very different im-
port. The Emperor Charles V. did not fail to dis-
cern the menace to the throne that was involved in
the extension of baronial prerogative. Hence he
awarded to a large number of towns the right of
purchasing their freedom from the bonds of feudal
tenure, and returning to the immediate protection
of the Crown. Very many hastened to avail them-
selves of the privilege ; for the hostility that arose
out of the desire to tyrannise on the one side, and
to resist such an intention on the other, gave rise to
a chronic state of vendetta.
Gradually, together with the degradation of all
else in the Neapolitan kingdom to a marketable
value, feudal contracts came to be looked upon in a
financial light alone. Owing to the constant sale
and resale of fiefs, they were bandied about to the
highest bidder. Those who had money desired to
become distinguished as titled landowners, while
those who already possessed estates had frequently,
FEUDALISI IN ITALY.
273
through a course of extravagance, exhausted their
resources and become so impoverished as to be ready
to make any sacrifice for money. The old heroic
spirit of chivalry and allegiance had died out.
Worship of the golden idol prevailed, and every-
thing sought a recompense in money-money,
only.
Often when communities desired to emancipate
themselves by purchase in accordance with the Im-
perial Act of Charles V., the sum demanded by an
extortionate suzerain was so large as to render its
payment almost impossible. One hundred and twelve
thousand ducats was asked for the small village of
Somma. In several parts of the kingdom the crown
lands were reduced to a comparatively insignificant
number. In the Terra di Lavoro, for example, the
royal territories amounted to nine, the feudal ones
to one hundred and ninety-seven ; in Basilicata five
were royal, and one hundred and five feudal ; in
Capitana the proportion was five to seventy-six ;
and so throughout Calabria, Terra d'Otranto, and
the Abruzzi. Sometimes communities were so eager
to be free that they contracted fresh debts in order
to pay the required sum, until after a long and vain
T
274
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
attempt to endure these self-imposed financial bur-
thens, they were compelled again to surrender their
independence. Then they would implore that
they might at least be consigned to kind and
Christian lords, in order that their ruin might not
be complete.”* Indeed, the feudal dominion had
made itself hateful to the people of Naples, and
when the Prince of Conca wished to buy Salerno,
its inhabitants exultingly defied his desire to do so,
and produced the special privilege accorded to them
by the Aragonese kings, which declared the investi-
ture of the town could not be granted.
Restrictive measures, intended to keep the
the feudal lords in bounds passed at one time, were
unhappily counterlalanced by the privileges they
obtained at another. Charlemagne, with the fore-
sight of a great ruler, sought to regulate their duties
and diminish their prerogatives and immunities; but
the effect of this policy was destroyed by the weak
conduct of his successor, who yielded to encroach-
ment with a docility which seemed to invite usur-
pation of the throne itself. Louis the Debonair,
when asked why le, the king, was so poor, replied,
Winspeare, "Storia degli Abusi Feudali," p. 998.
“
power of
a
.
FEUDALISM IN ITALY.
275
"he was king only in name, for the great feudatories
had taken all his dominions.”
This reckless encouragement of pretension on the
part of the nobles, was the result often of the warlike
tendencies of monarchs, who, in their mad desire for
conquest, would make any sacrifice in order to
secure the support of their feudal followers. In
the time of Charles the Bald, who was notorious
for his short-sighted policy in this respect, the
demand for military service was so great that the
nobles in self-defence and for fear, they said, “ of the
extermination of their order," obtained a law en-
titling them to refuse to take part in any war except
one of resistance to the aggression of a foreign
power. Charles did not scruple to make concession
in utter disregard of consequences. Thus he ren-
dered certain offices associated with the ownership of
land hereditary as well as the property itself—an
innovation which led to egregious misuse of autho-
rity. Despotism of the feudal aristocracy was
encouraged to a scandalous degree. Through the
existence everywhere of fiefs and sub-fiefs, with the
important military and judicial prerogatives attend-
ant on their possession, the central government, sub-
T 2
276
TIIE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
1
11
ordinate in reality to the local administrations, was
inoperative, and failed to accord protection to the
mass of the people for whose benefit it was supposed
to exist. Feudatories so powerful no longer obeyed,
and kings were at the mercy of those whose fortunes
they had recklessly promoted. Hugh Capet had
taught the lesson that indispensable service is some-
times secured at the cost of a crown.
Through the innumerable prerogatives claimed by
landowners, the people subjected to them were
reduced to a servile state. The liegeman was com-
pelled to remain upon his lord's estate, or to submit
to the “fine upon alienation,” though he might be
transferred at the caprice of his superior to a
stranger. Sometimes he was not permitted to own
or inherit property, nor was he entitled to seek re-
dress for any but the most outrageous injuries.
Although termed a vassal, he was practically a
slave.
Even feudal tenures of the ordinary kind often
involved labour ignoble and arduous in its nature,
and still more oppressive frequently because indeter-
minate in degree. There were no fixed limits in
later times to the aggressions of feudal rulers, who
1
1
1
FEUDALISMI IN ITALI.
277
constantly invented fresh expedients of tyranny. A
passage quoted by Muratori leads to the conclusion
that the lowest order of serfs or villeins had ceased
to exist in Italy during the fifteenth century. Yet
during the seventeenth we find service, varied and
almost unlimited, required of the vassal. Imperious
landowners were not content that the “hewers of
wood and drawers of water,” should only fell timber,
repair roads, and drain marshes, but required that
these devoted toilers should apply a more skilled
industry to the erection of houses and mansions.
So deeply implanted were feudal institutions in
the kingdom of Naples, and so interwoven with its
political and social relations, that no laws, however
peremptory, sufficed to repress the usurpations of the
great proprietors. The endeavours of Charlemagne
to this effect were followed at a later date by those
of the Emperor Charles V. This monarch confessed
that “ since he had entered the Neapolitan kingdom
the complaints of his people respecting the severity
of the feudatories, sounded continually in his ears ;
and it seemed to him grievous that those whom he
had defended by his arms from external foes should
be cppressed by their own countrymen.” An Im-
1
i
278
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
.
perial edict in consequence commanded the abolition
of all unlawful properties, restored large tracts for
pasturage, and forbade further appropriation or
enclosure of woods and moorlands. Feudal subjects
were to be permitted the free sale of their crops
without the previous barter of certain portions of
such produce by the barons, who enjoyed the privi-
lege of thus robbing their tenants under “the right
of pre-emption.”
They were also to be
allowed to grind flour and bake bread without hin-
drance, and were to be free morcover thenceforward
from other personal service than that laid down in
the original Acts of feudal tenure. The nature
of these reformatory measures reveals how painfully
the restrictions of feudation pressed upon the daily
life of the poor; and how powerless were Imperial
enactments to promote the welfare of the people, is
proved by the fact that the very same grievances
were complained of to the Feudal Commission insti-
tuted by Joachim Murat, as had been laid before the
delegates of Charles V. in the year 1536 ! !
The Duchess of Medina, in the exercise of her
feudal prerogatives, did not scruple to make arbitrary
demands not justified even by the harshest letter of
H
FEUDALISM IN ITALY.
279.
the law. This was invariably done with the object
of extorting money.
In addition to the required
licence for the privilege of hunting, the Duchess
levied a tax on one-fourth of the animals taken
in the chase; and in order to carry out an in-
satiable love of gain, imposed fresh labour on her
vassals in addition to the amount prescrib by
statute.
a
Thus, in course of time, was transformed into cruel
servitude a bond of fealty that originated in the
loyal adherence of those high-souled warriors of the
German woods, who owned the devoted allegiance of
vassals to their chiefs, though without the tie of
feudal tenures. In yielding a voluntary obedience,
they lost nothing of their independence, but acquired
magnanimity by a disinterested and unswerving
submission. The emulation of these brave followers
was to deserve the praise of their leader; while his
ambition was to be surrounded by the most meri-
torious, and to offer them an example for their con-
duct in his own. Theodoric, king of Italy, exclaimed,
“Let us so govern that the vanquished will regret
they were not conquered sooner!"* It was infamy
* Montesquieu, “ Esprit des Lois,” p. 507.
280
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
for a chief to be surpassed in courage by his com-
panions in arms; it was disgrace for them to be in-
ferior in valour to him; and an incomparable disgrace
for them to escape with life from battle, if their
leader, whom it was their sacred duty to defend,
were slain.
1
CHAPTER XIII.
The Duchess of Medina's Creditors-Contest in the Regio Col-
laterale–The Duchess appeals to King Philip the Fourth-
Lawsuit respecting Sabioneta-Triumph of the Duchess-
IIer Chagrin at the Duke's Dismissal-Administration of the
Duke of Medina-Plot against Anna d'Acquaviva--Her Rescue
by Diomed, Duke of Maddaloni-Medina's Departure for
Spain-Death of the Duchess of Medina at Portici.
The marriage of Don Ramiro Filippo de Gusman
with Anna, the Princess of Stigliano, was not a
happy one. Riches, honours, and influence, might,
with reason, be thought possessions sufficient to
insure a satisfactory amount of human felicity;
but accompanied, as they were in the case of the
Duke and Duchess of Medina, by pride, ambition,
avarice, sensuality, and unscrupulousness, illustrated
only the Vanity of Human Wishes. What benefit,
indeed, was likely to arise out of a union which, un-
hallowed by love, was contracted without conscience
and was undignified by mutual respect ?
Anna did not, after her marriage, altogether lose
sight of her early love, Diomed, who constantly
282
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
attended the viceregal court, whether held at the
palace of the capital or at Posilippo.
No jealousy
annoyed the Duke of Medina, doubtless owing to
the fact of his indifference to the woman whom he
had wedded solely through motives of self-interest.
Indeed, Diomed Carafa appears to have been
treated with especial consideration and favour by
the Viceroy during the period of his rule.
Notwithstanding the immense wealth in the
possession of Anna, the reckless extravagance into
which she was led by her fondness for luxury and
display had resulted in overwhelming her with
debt. Indeed, so pressing did her creditors become,
as to threaten the inevitable forfeiture to a con-
siderable extent of her property to meet their
demands. After an acrimonious contest in the
Regio Collaterale, the Duchess made a touching
appeal to the King of Spain. It is amusing to
note how this heiress of abundant riches, whose
fortune had proved so signal a mark for schemers,
and the object of so much intrigue, solicitude, and
care, was compelled to propitiate her creditors, by
entreating them to be patient, and consent to
receive instalments, instead of immediate payments
LAST DAYS OF THE DUCHESS.
283
of the whole amounts due ! The poor Duchess
entreated his Spanish majesty, King Philip the
Fourth, to intercede on her behalf; otherwise, she
declared, the noble House of Carafa, which was
once the first in the Empire, and one which, for
its services to royalty, had deserved well of the
sovereign, would be entirely ruined.
The fiat of royalty was given forth in favour of
the Duchess, who, consequently, gained her point. *
Another subject of litigation arose out of an old
cause of contention. This was Sabioneta, the Lom-
bard village which had risen to prosperity under the
fostering care of Duke Vespasian, of the House of
Gonzaga. The dispute as to its inheritance was com-
menced by the Gonzaga family, after the marriage
of Isabella, daughter of Vespasian, and his sole
heiress, with Luigi, the Prince of Stigliano ; nor
was the controversy at an end now that the
seignory of Sabioneta was transferred to Isabella's
grand-daughter, Anna ; certain members of the Gou-
zaga family wished to appropriate the territory, on
the plea that the direct male line was extinct, and
professed to found these claims on certain docu-
* Aldimari, “Istoria della Casa di Carafa.”
284
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
ments, that recent discovery had proved to have
been drawn up by their ancestors.
Anna asserted, however, that she would not
relinquish her right to the estate until the authen-
ticity of the documents, alleged to be in existence,
was proved; and contended, moreover, that she
was the only legitimate inheritor. The property,
,
she maintained, had been created as well as owned
by her ancestor, for had not Duke Vespasian trans-
formed a cluster of mud-huts into a comparatively
populous and flourishing town.
For this reason,
she contended, the property was doubly hers; and,
if unjustly compelled to resign it, the Duchess de-
clared her determination “ to learn by estimate the
worth of the improvements effected in Sabioneta,
to the value of which no one could deny that she
was entitled.”
With respect to Sabioneta, as with her monetary
liabilities, after some tedious litigation, throughout
which Anna did not fail to press her suit with the
energy and decision natural to her character, she
was triumphant; since we find that upon the un-
timely death of the Duchess, Sabioneta remained in
the possession of her first-born son, Don Gusman,
LAST DAYS OF THE DUCHESS.
285
after which, in the year 1687, it lapsed to the
Imperial Treasury.
If the Duchess had grieved when a bride at
seeing her husband debarred the enjoyment of the
viceregal office for a time, during which he awaited
hopefully the royal pleasure, infinitely more bitter
was her regret at his recall, in the year 1645, from
the coveted post.
So great had been the abuse of the powers en-
trusted to him, that the names of Medina and his
predecessor, Monterey, are notorious above others
as representing in excelsis the system of tyranny
and fraud, which marked the government of
Spanish viceroys at Naples. * The Duke of
Medina displayed the same despotism that he ex-
ercised in relation to the public towards those
with whom he was associated in private life ; and
not unfrequently he converted adherents into op-
ponents ; for, on one occasion, his authority was
challenged, and his resentment defied, even by his
old friend, Diomed Carafa, who entered with cha-
racteristic enthusiasm into the contest, and whose
* Parrino, “ Teatro eroico e politico de governo dei vicere di
Napoli,” p. 268.
286
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
part in the transaction was certainly more credit-
able to him than that enacted by the Viceroy.
A bitter feud existed between the latter and
Girolamo Acquaviva d'Aragona, Count of Conver-
sano, member of an ancient illustrious family, who
belonged to the “first circle," as the Florentines
would say, of nobility.
Bartolemmeo d'Aquino,
a man of reckless conduct and sordid character,
who had approved himself to the Viceroy as an
agent in the farming of tolls and other nefarious
financial transactions, and having by the same
means acquired a fortune of his own, wished to
form an alliance with a daughter of the aristo-
cracy. In order to curry favour with d’Aquino, at
the expense
of the family of the Count of Conver-
sano, the Duke of Meclina resolved that Anna
d'Acquaviva, niece of the Count, should become the
bride of d'Aquino. Two trusted agents were
secured, by lavish bribes, to conduct the affair, as
the Viceroy flattered himself, to a triumphant issue.
Strangely enough, one of the emissaries employed
was Anna d'Acquaviva's own brother, by whom she
was brought, at a moment's notice, from the con-
vent in which she was immured, to the house of a
LAST DAYS OF THE DUCHESS.
287
certain Donna .Porzia Sanseverina. Here the
young girl, ignorant of the machinations around
her, and utterly unused to independence of thought
or action, found herself in a position that required
the utmost determination to overcome its difficul-
ties. Without sympathy or support, intimidated
and apprehensive, Anna's better judgment at first
yielded to the persuasions of others; and she re-
luctantly gave her consent to a marriage with the
base d’Aquino.
After a few hours' leisure for reflection, however,
Anna not only repented her decision, but resolved,
at all hazards, to escape its consequences. She suc-
ceeded in devising an ingenious plan by which to
acquaint her uncle, the Count of Conversano, the
very
same night, with the circumstances in which she was
placed. The Count, who was himself by no means
sans reproche, had sought, according to the custom
of those days, an asylum in the Minorites Monastery
at St. Lorenzo. Isolated in this way, he could only
answer the appeal by inciting others to action,
which he did without delay; and the Duke of
Atri, with others of the family of Acquaviva, at
once repaired to the house where Anna was detained.
288
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
Here they found her brother, Don Vincenzo, who
had just arriveil, in company with the bridegroom
elect, d'Aquino. A violent affray ensued. Don
Vincenzo, drawing his sword, presented it to
d'Aquino, saying, “Take it and defend your
bride.” But d'Aquino had no wish to risk his
ignoble life in the conflict, and remarked, with the
sordid calculation characteristic of him, “I have had
enough of this: the affair has already cost me fifty
thousand ducats.”
The Viceroy had been meantime informed of
what was taking place; and, fearing lest the un-
expected championship of Anna should frustrate his
plans, immediately despatched a troop of sbirri to
the house of Donna Porzia Sanseverina, where he de-
termined to conclude the affair by a speedy celebra-
tion of the nuptials. But the Count of Conversano,
not less energetic, had already set vigorous measures
on foot. A strong guard of nobles, bearing the
proudest names, and among them the Carraccioli
and Orsini, hastened to beard the Viceroy's troops,
and succour the maiden. They were followed by a
large body of armed retainers. On approaching the
house of Donna Porzia, they found it guarded by
LAST DAYS OF THE DUCHESS.
289
a
sbirri. The Duke of Atri and Diomed Carafa
rushed forward to make their way into the building ;
and a tumult ensued, in which the guards of the
Viceroy were entirely overcome. Diomed, rushing
to the upper rooms of the house where the captive
was detained, was joyfully welcomed by Anna as
her deliverer.
The baffled Viceroy issued a mandate to the effect
that Anna d'Acquaviva should at once be conducted
to him, under penalty of paying fifty thousand
ducats ; but her defenders replied that “she would
not be surrendered, except to her relatives.” Anna
d'Acquaviva and her lady-companion were then
conveyed with all speed in a six-horse chariot to
Arienzo. The Viceroy was in high wrath, and de-
clared that “the severest chastisement awaited the
offenders ;” but the episode served to convince him
that independence and honour were not entirely
extinct in the breasts of the Neapolitan nobles, and
also that the ready wit of a young girl might be
formidable in combating the will even of a viceroy.
The Admiral of Castile was appointed successor to
the Duke of Medina, who lingered, as Count
Monterey had done, to indulge as long as possible in
U
290
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
the sweets of authority and the exercise of the pre-
rogatives it conferred. He delayed, moreover, in
order to have an opportunity of pressing on a
measure by which he hoped to obtain a fresh
donative of a million ; but in this parting act of
extortion he was unsuccessful, for so decided was
the opposition to it in the Chambers that members
would not even entertain the idea of its discussion.
Either through mischance or design, it was some
time before the Patents essential to the new Vice-
roy's installation reached the Admiral of Castile,
who repeatedly sent his secretary to demand them
in vain. .
In the year 1645, the Duke of Medina quitted
Naples, and repaired to his palace at Portici, where
he remained until his departure for Spain. Upon his
arrival there, he was not admitted to Court; and
when the King required him to give an explanation
of certain defaults in his stewardship, the Duke of
Medina replied that “ Viceroys were not compelled
to give account."*
The people of Naples found little compensation
for the oppressive rule of Medina in the fact of his
*
Giannone, “Storia di Napoli,” p. 496.
LAST DAYS OF THE DUCHESS.
291
having, by dint of appropriating the public money,
contributed more than one noble work to the
adornment of the loveliest of Italian capitals. The
splendid Medina Fountain, grandly designed, and
wrought with marvellous wealth of artistic fancy,
ceaselessly pays homage to the magnificence cen-
tered in the united arms of Carafa, Aragon, and
Gusman. Authors, mediæval and modern, repeat
the praises of this exquisite fountain, over which
Poseidon with his trident reigns and consecrates
the glittering shower that descends to bless the
dolphins disporting beneath, and refresh the gaze
of jaded loiterers in the Largo del Castello. The
Spanish kingdoms of the “Lion” and the “ Castle”
are emblazoned on the quarterings of the fountain,
with the lordly insignia of Aragon and of Sicily; and
beside these is seen the saintly cross of Jerusalem.
The noble Medina gate honours the memory of
the Duke; and the towering stronghold of St. Elmo,
upraised like a beacon of safety, owed some valuable
restorations to this ruler, who, in spite of his offences
and shortcomings, like Don Pedro di Toledo, cer-
tainly deserved thanks for the many material im-
provements he effected in Naples.
V 2
292
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
Some exceedingly salutary decrees, moreover, were
issued by the Duke of Medina—those, for example,
against the habitual use of firearms by the citizens,
in addition to stringent proclamations enforcing the
chastisement of banditti, and edicts forbidding too
great indulgence in luxurious attire, household ap-
pointments, and equipages. These were well directed,
doubtless, against the owners of palatial dwellings
so spacious as to require battalions of attendants,
richly attired in embroidered apparel, to appear in
harmony with the sumptuous surroundings of the in-
terior; added to which was the necessity of employ-
ing whole companies of armed retainers as a guard in
the streets and highways, which only too frequently
resounded with the uproar of peace-breakers, or
echoed the clash of swords and report of pistol-shots in
some audacious affray. Yet an edict prohibiting
splendour in dress and appointments came, curiously
enough, from one whose unparalleled magnificence
of display was notorious. The Duke required, like
Pope Paul, some one to remind him that "reform
should commence with ourselves." When we con-
sider this extravagance, the fate of the immense
possessions of the Carafas of Stigliano is not sur-
LAST DAYS OF THE DUCHESS.
293
prising. Subsequently, when the Duchess of Medina
Sidonia—the daughter of the Viceroy Medina's third
marriage-was undergoing a tedious trial respecting
her contested property, the Treasury claimed the
escheat of the fief of three hundred localities; and
it was found that of the once-magnificent inheritance
of Anna Carafa, heiress of the Lords of Stigliano,
only six thousand scudi of rents remained !
When the Duke of Medina quitted Naples, in the
year 1645, his wife remained at her villa in Portici,
probably then too ill to accompany her husband,
since the parish register of Portici records the death
of the Duchess in the following October. Stricken
in mind and body, prostrated by a lingering and
painful malady, abandoned by all those whose
homage had in other hours been obsequiously
rendered, the last days of Anna Carafa were deso-
late in the extreme. The character and conduct of
the Duchess had not been such as to ensure the
possession of a single friend. A life devoted to
frivolity and pleasure was necessarily wanting in
the conditions essential to the existence of friend-
ship; for light and darkness are not more widely
separated than the ordinary intimacies of the
294
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
world from this exalted sentiment. Thus, soli-
tary and sad, Anna passed out of that life upon
which she had entered with so rich a promise of all
that could lend to it dignity and delight. No
pomp attended the obsequies of Anna, Duchess of
Medina de las Torres, Princess of Stigliano, Duchess-
of Sabioneta, of Mondragone, and Trajetto, Countess
of Aliano and of Fondi, whose remains, first laid in
the simple Church of the Augustines at Portici, were
subsequently transferred to the Carafa Chapel in
the Cathedral of San Domenico Maggiore.
CHAPTER XIV.
FREE ITALY.
HAPPILY for Italy, so radical have been the
changes she has undergone within recent years,
that an entire transformation has been effected in
the conditions of her existence as a nation. Thus,
the political and social aspects of the Peninsula to-
day have little in common with those which charac-
terised it during the seventeenth century.
Viceregal rule, with its lights and shadows,
splendour in palaces, and squalor in the streets,
extortions and extravagance, masques, shows, tour-
naments, and plays, starvation, tumult, misery,
and crime, have passed out of reality into history.
A new cra of the brightest promise has dawned
for Italians. A retrospective glance, two hundred
years back, shows us, compared with the present, an
epoch entirely contrasted for the most part, though,
it cannot be doubted, that much to be regretted still
remains that is to be ascribed to the baneful in-
296
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
fluences to which the nation has succumbed during
ages of misrule. Those who have Italy's welfare at
heart, see many obstacles to her progress they
would wish removed ;—dissensions in the Chambers;
the delay of measures of practical benefit to the
country; want of unanimity amongst public men ;
together with apathy, indolence, and ignorance
among the masses. Yet it is to be remembered,
that temporary exhaustion is the natural reaction of
the gathering up, as it were, of all the forces,
moral and physical, of a nation under a vital pres-
sure, in order to sustain its heart against the
misery of incessant but fruitless effort, and the
paralysing effect of lope deferred. If, indeed,
Italians are to be judged by the attitude main-
tained by them during a transitional period, almost
unparalleled as a crucial test, they cannot but com-
mand an admiration exceeding that which they
have earned by whatever glory they have acquired
in the past.
There is scarcely an historical in-
stance on record, in which the emancipation of a
people has been brought about through so singular
a combination of circumstances unexpectedly pro-
pitious, involving a series of remarkable events
FREE ITALY.
297
rapidly succeeding each other, and tending to one re-
sult. The desire which had known no rest in the souls
of Italian patriots, for which Romans had fought and
fallen, for which Venetian women had mourned,
for which Pope Paul had vainly sighed and
schemed, and which not ceaseless sacrificial strug-
gles through long years had been able to achieve,
was destined at length to be accomplished with
comparative case by a felicitous conjunction of
incidents, which brought simultaneously to the
aid of Italy the most astute intellect, the most
skilled statesmanship, and the most signal genius
and daring chivalry of the age. But for this mag-
nificent array of power directed to one end, Italians
might have continued to yield their breath in
hopeless crusades, and ladies of their land still have
lamented in garments of black, whilst Austrians
held the strongholds of the Quadrilateral. There
would then have been abundant reason for Maz-
zini's exclamation, “ In Italy I see nothing but
graves.”
The war of liberation, once entered upon, pros-
pered wondrously. An unbroken series of successes
resulted in one of the most glorious achievements of
"
298
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
modern times, the Unification of Italy. Nor can it be
questioned, that the triumph of this campaign was
attributable, in an essential degree, to the co-opera-
tion of Napoleon the Third. Whatever the motives
of this ruler in constituting himself a leader of the
movement on behalf of Italy, whatever the suspi-
cion cast upon his policy by ultra-Liberals, what-
ever the disadvantage of certain stipulations made by
the conquering arms of France, or the reproach flung
upon certain statesmen for yielding to the terms
proposed, it is unquestionable that an alliance with
Napoleon was indispensable. The cession of Nice
acknowledged the salvation of Italy; and, viewed
in this light, the magnanimous soul of Garibaldi
himself might cease to regret the surrender of his
birthplace to the foreigner. The very exigencies of
Louis Napoleon's position at that period were
favourable to the cause of freedom, since their pres-
sure determined him to assist in the liberation
of Italy. At the head of a nation then regarded as
the first military power in Europe, the ardent wish
of its Imperial master was to popularise his rule at
home by martial victories, and to magnify his
policy abroad by engaging in a work of emancipa-
a
FREE ITALY.
299
tion championed by certain leaders of thought in
England, and lauded by some of the most able
press-writers and orators of France. To enter upon
so notable a crusade was to become a Godfrey de
Bouillon, to give the negative to all accusations of
despotic tendencies, to enter into amicable rela-
tions with England, and, by silencing the cavils of
Irreconcilables through a show of magnanimity,
increase the chances of a peaceful succession, in the
future, to the imperial throne of France. More
fortunate than in later days, Louis Napoleon suc-
ceeded in glorifying the military genius of the
French people, and in conferring dignity upon
an Empire second to none among European
Powers. Considered in this light, the motive
of Napoleon in becoming the ally of the Italians
is not far to seek; and certainly this represen-
tative of unscrupulous ambition, under whose
brooding fixity of countenance lies the activity of
ceaseless speculation, never was the man to march
forth as a Quixote of national knight-errantry to
the rescue of the enslaved, without cherishing some
ulterior object of his own.
The ardent desire of Garibaldi to invoke the
300
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
sympathy of the whole universe, and to enlist all
possible service in the cause of his country, did not
stifle the suspicion he entertained concerning the
co-operation of France. When summoned to Turin,
in 1859, to an audience with King Victor Emmanuel,
Count Cavour, and La Farina, he was informed of
the alliance recently entered into with France,
Garibaldi started, and exclaimed, “Mind what you
are about; and never forget that the aid of foreign
armies must in some way or other be dearly paid
for! As for the man who has promised you his
aid, I heartily wish he may, in the
eyes
of poste-
rity, redeem the evil he has done to France, by
assisting in the redemption of Italy.” The
king then told Garibaldi, that Napoleon desired
sce Italy“ happy and free.” • Thus
sured, Garibaldi placed himself at the head of the
far-famed Cacciatori dell' Alpi ; whose triumphs,
during the campaigns on the lakes, inaugurated the
decisive battles of Italian independence. Although
it is not probable that the Chasseurs of the Alps,
nor any possible gathering of Garibaldians, could
alone have achieved the emancipation of Italy, it
is undeniable that they constituted most important
to
as-
FREE ITALY.
301
auxiliaries. Unquestioning devotion to their
chieftain was the crowning virtue of these batta-
lions. His name was not only command, but in-
spiration; and, in the Valtellina, the same mas-
terly tactics that proved the special genius of
Garibaldi for the conduct of irregular forces was
displayed, that was so brilliantly effective at a later
date, during the Sicilian and Neapolitan campaigns.
More than once had this heroic leader-great in
his generalship, but greater still in the nobility of
his nature—fought the battles of freedom in other
lands, but was destined never to do so with such
glory to himself as in' the cause of his native
country, for whom this patriot of unparalleled mag-
nanimity toiled day and night, and for whose wel-
fare he would as gladly have yielded his last breath,
as he would have spoken a word in her praise.
Whatever might have been the motives of others,
veiled beneath the mysteries of diplomacy, not
even those who are least disposed to laud the cha-
racter of the Italian liberator dare question the
purity of his intention, or the singleness of his
aim. His sufferings, his labours, his perils, were
his own ; his triumphs were for others. "I go,” he
;
302
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
exclaimed, “to conquer fresh thrones for King Victor
Emmanuel, or to die in the attempt.” He sought
to infuse this ardour of self-forgetfulness into his
followers. “If you would serve me,” he said to
them, “you must learn to fight without cartridges,
and to live without bread.” He required a faith
which should conquer even that which seems
impossible.
After the fierce encounters of Martino and
Solferino had delivered the noblest territories
of Italy from the domination of Austria, it re-
mained for Garibaldi to gather fresh laurels in
the South, with which he gladly adorned the
sceptre of Victor Emmanuel. As Dictator, he held
supreme power in the name of the king, to whom
he surrendered most readily the newly acquired
territories, over which for a brief space he ruled
with admirable judgment, though surrounded by an
espionage and suspicion grievous to his soul. The
fact of Garibaldi's elevation of character, the union
in him of high aspiration with purity of motive
and simplicity of taste, rendered him liable to mis-
construction by those more versed in conventionality,
and whose constant association with the intrigues of
FREE ITALY.
303
statecraft did not inculcate that logic in morality
which teaches that a straight line is the nearest
course to a given point. It is difficult for a mind
.
acted upon by the Machiavellian axioms of diplomacy
to believe in the one paramount feature of Gari-
baldi's character, his downright honesty; and the
conclusion, in consequence, is, that something sinister
is concealed under the apparent frankness of a de-
meanour which is supposed to illustrate the “volto
sciolto, pensieri stretti.” Hence an antagonism,
partly natural, but resulting in a far greater degree
from the training of circumstance, alienated two
men, both of whom had the same cause at heart,
which they served with equal ability and honour to
themselves. These were Garibaldi and Cavour.
Count Cavour's remarkable natural sagacity was
enriched by a wide-reaching knowledge of the neces-
sities of nations. He had assiduously studied public
men and public matters in and out of Italy; he had
noted with philosophic eye the causes of progress
everywhere; his keen sight had scanned the broad
field of European politics; he had marked the fruits
of constitutional freedom on English soil; and he
brought the beneficial results of his matured expe-
301
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
a
rience, his rare enlightenment, and his genius, to bear
upon the administration of affairs in his native
land. Such a statesman, essential to the progress of
any country, was indispensable to Italy. Yet this
illustrious politician, and this leader, equally illus-
trious in another arena, could not, when in juxta-
position, understand each other, and therefore could
not fully appreciate each other's excellence.
And what of the king, at whose feet were laid the
triumphs of both the soldier and the statesman ?
The descendant of those mediæval counts, who,
eight hundred years ago, had their home in an
obscure valley of the Alps, who became the founders
first of a duchy and then of a monarchy, Victor
Emmanuel it was for whom the proud fortune was
reserved of ruling over the United Kingdom of
Italy. It has been the destiny of this monarch to
be alternately lauded or decried, as the voice of
partisanship dictated.
Monarchists, Republicans,
Constitutionalists, and Democrats have not hesitated
in proclaiming their censure or their praise. With-
out, however, presuming to scan the personal merits
or demerits of the King of Italy, or pronouncing
upon the efficiency or non-efficiency of his govern-
FREE ITALY.
305
ment, or questioning the influence of supposed
Piedmontese sympathies, and regarding Victor
Emmanuel solely in his relation to the Italian people
at a most critical juncture of their history, it cannot
but be conceded, I think, that in a variety of respects
no better guardian could have been found for the
popular liberty than this representative of the royal
House of Savoy. Indeed, the very qualities which
might be supposed to detract from the majesty of
kingship, are of advantage to Italy in this peculiar
crisis of the national affairs. Italians, exhausted
after much strife and effort, need above all things
unmolested
repose
for the consolidation of their
newly found rights, and the improvement of fresh
opportunities for the development of rich natural
Without those tendencies which would
incite him to absolutism at home, or that rest-
less ambition which would consume the national
cnergy in warfare abroad, the very insouciance
of Victor Emmanuel's character is not without its
utility; and it should be remembered to the honour
of this monarch, that while he has never betrayed
the least desire to become a tyrant to his people,
he has shown that, although a son, he would not be
resources.
х
306
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
a slave of the Church. Even when his life was
endangered by illness, he chose rather to forfeit the
priestly benediction than the liberties of his subjects.
It was destined that the reign of the first ruler
bearing the title of King of Italy, should be
glorified by the accomplishment of a reform as
remarkable in its nature as it is important to
the welfare of Italy. This was her emancipa-
tion from a yoke which for hundreds of years had
pressed sorely on the nation—the temporal sove-
reignty of the Papacy, which, since the days of
Gregory to those of the ninth Pius, had held
the land in unrighteous and unnatural bondage.
Those broad stretches of territory known as the
States of the Church have passed for ever, let us
hope, from beneath the sway of the crozier; though
the Head of the Church would doubtless consider
his temporal claim as imprescriptible as his spiritual
authority is unquestionable, and would demand
Avignon by traditional title as readily as Perugia or
Ferrara, Rome or the Marches. But the theory of
Urban and of Julius is no longer tenable. Popes
in the nineteenth century, abandoning martial
weapons, will have to do battle by the spirit alone ;
FREE ITALY.
307
and yield their right divine to temporal rule. This
surrender of mundane authority became an imperative
necessity—an inevitable accompaniment of the
course of political progress in Italy; and therefore
no special personal characteristics of Pius IX., or
more consistent course of conduct on his part, could
have averted an event destined to accelerate the
agencies of human progress. .
Thus it was that when Pius ascended the throne
in 1846, in spite of the rare concessions with which
his reign was inaugurated, he could not popularise
the Papal system. It is remarkable that the reign
of this Pontiff, whose efforts to conciliate were im-
mensely in advance of any made by his predecessors,
was nevertheless destined to be signalised as one of
the greatest failures, and the most disastrous to the
Pontificate on record. Throughout a quarter of a
century Pius IX. has occupied the chair of St. Peter.
The strangest vicissitudes have marked his rule.
Upon his accession, the plaudits of the multitude rang
around him ; the despatch of the Minto mission by
England tendered a homage which had not been
offered since the time of Henry VIII. But Pius IX.
was not in a position to gratify the demand for
X2
308
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
a
overwhelming changes which accompanied the in-
cessant agitation that prevailed; and the transient
enthusiasm awakened by his liberality soon expired
amidst discontent and cavil. Seeking to reconcile
impossibilities in order to give satisfaction, he was
induced to adopt the most opposite measures and
the most irreconcilable policy, and was thus betrayed
into seemingly flagrant inconsistencies. Gavazzi
was chosen as chaplain to the Roman Legation ;
Rossi was nominated minister. Pius, at one time a
fugitive in the disguise of a footman, and the chosen
object of invective with a strong anti-Papal party,
lived to be again restored to Pontifical honours as
the head of the whole hierarchy of Rome, and to
enjoy the rare beatitude of a Jubilee !
Deprived of the unseemly support of Zouave and
gendarmes, he has been compelled, by the uncon-
trollable force of events, to yield the dominion of the
soil by the sword, to others. His spiritual juris-
diction remains unassailed, though it is a question
how many among the thousands of clergy subject to
his authority are submissive recipients of those dog-
mas in which this Pope and his successors will be free
to deal; for an infinite number of councils ecclesias-
FREE ITALY.
309
tical will, doubtless, be required to settle satisfac-
sactorily speculations concerning the bodily as-
sumption of the Virgin, the Immaculate Conception,
or the Infallibility of the Cæsar of the Romish
Church. Still, the noblest city of the Peninsula,
the natural capital of the Italian Kingdom, is no
longer an ecclesiastical centre, but the grand me-
tropolis of an unfettered nation; and well did the
Romans, alive to a sense of what they owed to their
own interests as a people, boldly and joyously
declare their wish for Union under the monarchy of
Victor Emmanuel.
Results of immeasurable importance in a moral,
social, and religious sense cannot but ensue; for,
if we reflect on the influence of Papal rule from
the days of Xavier to our own, we shall find little
with which to credit it as a stimulus to true
civilisation. In the case of Italy, the prepon-
derance of crime in the States of the Church is a
sufficient commentary. The Government Reports
of 1867, with respect to criminal statistics, noted
as “a slight improvement on those of previous
years,” are absolutely startling in their confessions ;
for though the Papal Government has taken pains
>
310
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
to keep records so discreditable to itself, it could
not prevent the French police employed at Rome
from publishing these revelations. Allowing for a
certain natural vehemence and indisposition for self-
restraint characterising Southern races as an actuat-
ing cause, still the conclusion is inevitable that the
demoralisation and debasement proved by these
records is mainly due to the corrupting influences
of Papal rule. This operating upon the suscepti-
bilities of an impulsive people, ignorant, super-
stitious, and degraded by centuries of misrule, has
borne bitter fruit in the terrible statistics which
show that while in Piedmont, in Lombardy, and
throughout the North, the murders committed
annually do not exceed four for every one hundred
thousand inhabitants, the ratio in the Marches, in
Umbria, and in the whole South is thirty, and in
Sicily thirty-three.
This proportion keeps pace
with the statistics of education, which show that in
the whole of Italy, out of one hundred and seventy
thousand four hundred and fifty-six marriages,
there were fifty-seven cases per cent. in which the
bride and bridegroom could neither read nor write.
In Piedmont the number did not exceed twenty-
FREE ITALY.
311
two per cent. ; while in certain of the Southern
provinces, again, the proportion was not less than
eighty-seven per cent.! Civilising tendencies can-
not but proceed as a consequence from the more
enlightened portions of the Italian Peninsula ; and
those who cavil at the spread of Piedmontese sym-
pathies should rejoice not only that by this means
those unhappy territorial distinctions and jealousies
which have been the bane of Italy have ceased
to exist, but also that an amelioration will
thus be effected in the people of the South, who
are still too much what monkish rule has made
them.
Many as are yet the requirements of the Italian
Kingdom to enable it to assume a just rank among
the nations of the earth, and various as are the
avenues through which it remains to prove the
efficacy of their newly-found liberties, no need
is so imperative as that of the diffusion of know-
ledge among the masses. An improved prison
discipline, a less lenient penal code, a stricter police
supervision, à more provident reformatory and
penitentiary system, are certainly desirable ; but
more so than all is the active working of a sound
312
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
theory of education for the people, which shall lessen
the need for these expedients for the relief of
pauperism and the suppression of crime. The
establishment of unsectarian schools, such as those
recently founded in various parts of Italy through
the joint efforts of the Italian and English Com-
mittees of Education, which chiefly owe their origin
to the zealous exertions of Mrs. Colonel Chambers,
cannot but
prove
of immense service in this respect,
and, efficiently directed, would contribute essentially
to the progress of the Italian people. The difficulties
to be surmounted by the young Kingdom consist in
a great measure of the evils bequeathed by the past.
Years, too, are needed to demonstrate fully what will
be the consequences of the present transitional period
when the problem common to nations so circum-
stanced in all ages remains to be solved-how to
reconcile order with liberty, Church with State,
the old with the new-in such a manner as to carry
out the great work of the national regeneration.
The stirring nature of events in Italy during
recent years, dissipated, for a time at least, the
wide-spread indifference that unaccountably obtains
in this country with regard to the interests of the
FREE ITALY.
313
Peninsula. The educational needs of Italy, the
decline of her commerce as compared with mediæval
days, the inactivity of her artisans, her general
relations, in fact, with the civilised world, do not
concern the people of England; and writers on
Italian affairs offer caviare to those whose sym-
pathies are narrowed by their insular mood. Carp-
ing commentators, indeed, find in the Unity of the
Italian Kingdom under Victor Emmanuel only a
text for homily, and predict that the sole result
will be to prove the degeneracy of Italians. These
prophets of evil forget the cost at which their
emancipation has been accomplished; they cannot
compassionate the exhaustion consequent upon
heroic efforts of patriotism incessantly repeated
at the sacrifice of all that tends to a nation's
prosperity.
Never again, they declare, will proud fleets,
freighted richly with merchandise of East and West,
dominate the seas, as did those of Genoa and Venice;
for all glory has departed with the epoch of Grand
Dukes and Doges! Yet, in the face of
,
diffi-
culties, sufficient has been achieved of late by Italy
to show that, whatever her triumphs in the past, it
grave
314
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
is in her own power to develop a future no less
prosperous and splendid. Italians are told to shake
off the reminiscences of their history—to look for-
ward only while they actively engage in utilising
fresh sources and developing fresh phases of pro-
gress. But there will ever remain an inspiring
retrospect for them in those castles, palaces, and
monuments illustrating the labours and the genius
of a nation which once filled the world with its
fame. No excellence of modern architecture can
ever emulate St. Angelo or St. Mark's; the ancient
cathedral, bridge, or abbey; or those ancestral strong-
holds, the ruins of which still adorn the mountain
heights of Italy. To contemplate possessions so un-
rivalled will stimulate the energies of a susceptible
and aspiring people.
Nor can it be alleged that Italians have of late
shown any lack of enterprise. Indeed, they have
given proof of a zeal and public spirit in this respect
not to be surpassed. The Mont Cenis tunnel is a
marvel of engineering skill; and the completion of
this new channel of communication with the East
being effected, other benefits will ensue through the
facilities thus acquired by Italians for renewed com-
FREE ITALY.
315
munication with those regions of which Europe first
obtained a knowledge from their forefathers. Vigor-
ous efforts have been made to restore the splendid
natural harbours of the Peninsula to the importance
they once owned. Large sums have been expended
on improving the seaports, and starting fresh
steamers. The substitution of Brindisi for Marseilles
as a point of arrival and departure will prove of
incalculable service to a country destined by its con-
figuration and its traditions to take an important
part in the maritime and commercial intercourse of
the world. Railroads have rapidly multiplied. A
decided improvement has taken place in the amount
of exports and imports, which is considerably larger
since the erection of Italy into a kingdom, as com-
pared with the stagnation of trade in Southern Italy
previous to that event.
Even amidst the desolation of cities such as
Verona, Bologna, and Modena, signs are apparent
that the quickening impulses of a new and free life
are at work. Increased intellectual energy is shown
in the fact that the literature of Italy is more pro-
lific. The activity of the press is great; and
Italians installed in their new capital at Rome are
316
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
clouding the sky with experimental journals; while
publishers, untrammelled by the censorship, are
undertaking to enlighten the popular mind by issu-
ing every conceivable variety of volumes.
Italians, while thus applying their industry to the
requirements of nineteenth-century civilisation, do
not forget to practise in their art-workmanship those
secrets which made the works of their artificers in
bygone ages renowned for their surpassing excellence,
and which still enrapture as they have ever done the
sight of mankind. The Salviati glass factory at
Murano shows that they are still unrivalled in
manipulating and colouring vitreous substances.
Indeed, far and wide as we go for articles of utility
or objets de luxe, neither the elaborate magnificences
of the East, the ingenuities of Germany, or the
splendours, real and simulated, of Parisian skill can
supply us with the purest type of art, for which we
look to Italy alone. Throughout the length and
breadth of the land are seen the wondrous fruits of
her art genius. Chapels and abbeys, monasteries,
sacristies, and cloisters, from the Val d'Arno to the
Pisan plains, are made glad by its
drals and galleries are glorious with the exquisite
presence. Cathe-
FREE ITALY.
317
traceries of an incomparable handiwork. Whether
in architecture or painting, the Italian masterpieces
tell of a golden time of Art, when its disciples, urged
by an inextinguishable love of the Beautiful, thought
the efforts of a life not ill bestowed upon a single
triumph of their skill. To this we owe the un-
varying truth of their pictures, which in tone and
colour evidence a loving study of nature known to
them under every alternating aspect of shade or
sunshine. The velocity of the cataract, depicted
upon Italian canvas, shows water flashing like
flame against the rock, and, as in Canaletti's lakes,
whether in brightness or in gloom, rained upon or
glittering in the sun, answer marvellously to all
the refractions of the light. In other varieties of art
appears a knowledge no less close, and a devotion
no less untiring, as shown in the wondrous Ghiberti
Gates, upon which forty years of labour were ex-
pended, and in the Triple Portal of Mattei, as well
as in medal, cup, chalice, cameo, or vase. Such
were the multiplied victories won by those who
designed like Titans, and wrought like jewellers.”
Amazing was the delicacy of manipulation owned
by Italian enamellers-students of Cellini, .who
318
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
a
could crowd a wealth of costly industry into a
glowing surface of fairy-like dimensions; who could
fill the panels of the Cloisonné cup with a “thousand
flushing hues,” and enrich a fragment of glass, not
an inch in length nor a third of an inch in breadthi,
with a design of bird or flower, glittering like the
sparkle of a gem upon the bosom of an Arabian
Princess; nor could the knowledge of the ancients
themselves, familiar as they were with Tyrian purple
and saffron tint unknown to modern eye, surpass
these dainty designs in richness of colour.
The power of the Italian people, their capacity
for becoming a great nation, is still with them.
Though their genius has slumbered, it has not
passed away; and those who contend that there is
little cause for congratulation in the present condi-
tion of Italy obstinately disregard unquestionable
evidences of progress, and are blind to the varied
phases of renewed and nobler life which have
started into shape under the inspiration of recovered
freedom.
APPENDIX.
DOCUMENTI.
Il Cardinal Carafa a Enrico II., Re di Francia. Da
Roma, Giugno 1, 1555. (Lib. R. Cod. n. 8636, collezione
di Bethune.) Copiata da Giuseppe Molini in Parigi.
SYRE,
Io son certissimo che la Vostra Maestà si sarà somma-
mente rallegrata dell'esaltazione di Nostro Signore al
pontificate. Però, come vero e devotissimo servitore suo,
me ne rallegro ancor io con lei, supplicandola a farmi favore
e grazia di credere, che tutta questa felicità la riconosco
prima da Iddio e di poi dalla Vostra Maestà ; la quale
per sua benignità, ha fatto tal opere et officii con questi
Illustrissimi et Reverendissimi Cardinali, che s'è ottenuto
quanto da lei et da tutti li suoi fidelissimi servitori si desi-
derava. La ringrazio adunque di così grata et amorevole
dimostrazione quanto più posso, e la supplico a tener per cosa
certa, che io non ho pensiero che più mi stimoli di quello
che tengo di spendere la vita e ciò ch'è in potere mio per
suo servizio; si come più largamente potrà intenderlo per
lettere dell'eccellentissimo Monsignor l'ambassciadore suo,
e dall' illustrissimo e reverendissimo de Guisa alli quale ho
aperto l'animo e il desiderio mio : aggiungendo a Vostra
Maestà, che io non mancarò d'aver sempre a cuore tutte
le cose che concerneranno il servizio d'essa, con tenerle di
continno raccomandate alla Santita di Nostro Signore
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THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
ancora che ciò non farà di bisogno, per esser Sua Beatitu-
dine dispostissima ad abbracciarle per volontà, si come
sono io, per debito, prontissimo a difenderle con tutte le
forze mie: et alla giornata per gli effetti se ne potrà chi-
arire.
Et aspettando ch' ella mi comandì, fo fine; raccoman-
dandomi umilissimamente a sua buona grazia.
Di Roma, al primo di Giugno, 1555.
(Firmato)
Umilissimo servo,
FRA CARLO CARAFA.
Al re Christianissimo. E originale. Ivi, A.C. 3 trovasi
altra lettera del medesimo, e dello stesso tenore e giorno,
diretta all'Eccellentissimo Signor Conestabile di Francia.
Istruzione del Duca d'Alva a Giulio della Tolfa conte
di San Valentino, Luglio 24, 1556. (Cod. 153 e 287,
de' M. SS. Capponi. Nè esemplare nella Brancacciana
di Napoli, sc I. lit. E. n. 2.)
Essendo necessario, per ritrovarsi le cose di Roma nello
stato che sono, mandare a Sua Santità un cavaliere di
qualità, fede e esperienza, il quale gli abbia da esporre quello
che più di sotto intenderete; confidatomi molto delle buone
parti, che concorrono in voi, Giulio della Tolfa, conte di San
Valentino ; ho fatto elezione della persona vostra; a solo
effetto e per nome di ciò che averete a fare, vi si appre-
senta la presente istruzione.
DOCUMENTI.
321
Partirete di qua in ricevendo il vostro dispaccio ; e
giunto a Roma, andarete a smontare in casa del signor
Marchese di Sarria, ambasciatore di Sua Maestà Cesarea,
e gli darete la lettera mia, comunicandogli la mia com-
missione che portate e procurerete d'andare da Sua Santità
il più presto che potrete; e dopo che gli avrete baciato i
piedi da mia parte, con molta riverenza ed osservanza, gli
direte quello che segue. Che il desiderio che ho sempre
avuto di servire a Sua Santità, e di dar-gli ogni quiete e
contentezza possibile, persuadendolo insieme che le cose
piglierebbero cammino molto diverso da quello che sino ad
ora si è visto; ha causato, che io non solamente abbia
sofferto le cose passate, ma che abbia ancora con Sua Maestà
procurato di mitigarle ed acquietarle, come pure a Sua
Santità deve essere manifesto : ma vedendo al presente,
che ogni di più vanno aumentandosi; per non mancare
al debito del grado datomi da Sua Maestà in Italia, mi è
parso, come servitore, inviarvi a Sua Santità, acciochè da
parte mia l’esponiate alcune delle occasioni date alle Loro
Maestà di potersi, sempre che elle vorrano, con molto
ragione e giustizia resentire : e così li ricordarete i mali
termini che, in Roma, con tutti li servitori di Sua Maestà
si sono usati ; carcerandosi, perseguitandoli, e con varie
e diverse maniere travagliandoli; e che non solamente
Ella non ha fatto dare in potere di Sua Maestà e suoi
ministri i delinquenti e fuorusciti del Regno, siccome
giustamente si deve e li passati Pontefici ci hanno osser-
vato; ma li ha favoriti e favorisce, e si serve di loro, e fra
gli altri di Giovanni Bernardo Sanseverino, figliuolo del
passato Duca di Somma, ribelle di Sua Maestà, il quale
ha posto in Paliano; e che oltre a ciò, Sua Santità ha
consentito e consente, che in Roma e nello stato suo si
Y
322
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
piglino ed aprano i dispacci che vengono diretti a me e
ad altri ministri di Sua Maestà : e gli proporrete, di più,
il mal portamento usato al Marchese di Sarria, il quale le
Maestà loro mandarono in Roma per loro ambascia ore a
servire Sua Santità, ed onorare la corte sua, come uno dei
principali vassali che Elle abbiano nei loro regni, e parente
della casa reale; ritenendolo in Roma a guisa di carcerato,
di maniera che non può uscire dalle porta della città.
Gli aggiungerete ancora la prigiona dell’Abate Berzeg o,
il quale io mandava a richiedere in Corte di Sua Santità;
la detenzione del corriere in Terracina, e successivamente
quella di Giovanni Antonio Tasso, e la tortura che ad
ambedue si è data, solamente per aver fatto quello che
per il debito dell'uffizio loro erano tenuti ; e non tacete
l'aggravio dell'avere Sua Santità levato il maestro delle
poste, il quale le Maestà Loro e i loro antecessori sogliono
sopra la memoria di questo secolo in Roma tenere. Ne
lasciate di dirle che Ella ha fatto mettere prigione Gar-
gilasso della Vega; non tenendo rispetto nè considerazione,
che egli, oltre che si a cavaliere si qualificato com è, venne
in Roma d'ordine delle Maestà loro per servire e visitare
Sua Santità, e per i negozii che ella ben sa; e non
potendosi imputare alli suddelli Gargilasso e mastro delle
poste, altra cosa, se non che fosse abbiano scritto quello
che pareva loro convenire al servizio del suo Re, non vi
era causa bastante per carcerarli; perciocchè, come ben
sa Sua Santità e gli è costume ordinario che li vassali e
creati di principi quali si tengono nelle Corti tali effetti
(come ambedue si tenevano) scrivano alli loro Re ed alli
ministri tutto ciò che a loro servizio giudicano convenire.
E quando essi sono tali che a Principi nella cui corte
stanno, non consentano altro gastigo ; vcruno non si suol
DOCUMENTI.
323
e
dar loro, che comandare che s'escano dalla Corte e stati
suoi, e dolersi coi padroni loro delle cagioni che gli si
sono date di resentirsene; e soggiungerete poi, che si lascia
di narrarle molte cose di più di non poca considerazione,
per esser quelle a Sua Santità ben note, e che io avrei
sommamente avuto caro, che quell e queste fossero state
cosi leggiere, che io avessi potuto passarle senza far questo
offizio, ma per essere elle della qualità che sono, non ho
potuto farlo senza mancare al luogo e carica che mi ha dato
Sua Maestà, la quale medesimamente ho ragguagliato di
quanto passa in Italia ; e che Sua Santità ha da persua-
dersi, che si sono ora dissimulate per mera riverenza
che a Lei si è portata, e non perche alle Loro Maestà ed a
loro ministri sieno mancate ragioni di resentirsi ; per-
ciocche, sempre che lo facessero, sarebbe con tante legittime
cause giustificato, che ben sarebbero scusati, e col Signore
Iddio e con tutti i potenti del mondo.
a
.
Il Cardinal Carafı al Duca di Montmorency. Da
Roma, 15 Dicembre, 1555.
ILLUSTRISSIMO ET ECCELLENTISSIMO SIGNOR MIO
OSSERVANDISS.
Monsignor di Lansac viene a Sua Maestà Cristianissima
et a Vostra Eccellenza, bene informato di quello che si è
fatto dopo la venuta di Monsignor Illustrissimo e Reve-
rendissimo di Loreno e di Monsignor Illustrissimo di
Tornone; et a me non rimane a dir altro di più che quello
che esso Monsignor de Lausac le esporrà se non pregar
Y 2
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THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
Vostra Eccelenza che sia contenta, con la sua somma
autorità, operare appresso Sua Maestà Cristianissima che
quello che si è concluso per comune comodo, abbia la debita
esecuzione prontamente; certificandola che io sarò sempre
procuratore del servizio del Re e suo, quanto si estender-
anno le mie forze. Et a Vostra Eccellenza bacio la mano;
pregando Nostro Signor Dio che la conservi lungamente.
Da Roma, alli xv. di Dicembre M.D.L.V.
(Firmato)
Servitore,
IL CARDINAL CARLO CARAFA.
Lettera notabilissima del Duca d' Alva, scritta a
Paolo IV., 21 Agosto 1555, in risposta all' ambasciata di
Domenico Del Nero. (Arch. Med. Carte Strozziane
Filz. 229.—N'è esemplare, con qualche varietà di parole,
nel Cod. 287. de' MSS. Capponi.)
Ho ricevuto il Breve che mi portò Domenico del Nero,
et ho inteso, per esso, quello che da parte di Vostra Santità
mi ha detto a bocca; che in effetto non è stato, se non
voler chiarire e giustificare li torto fatti a Sua Maestà, li
quali io feci io fece intendere a Vostra Santità per il conte
di San Valentino : e perchè le risposte non sono di qualità
che bastiuva sodisfare et escusare i fatti passati; non mi
è
parso necessario usare ora altra replica, massimamente
avendo poi Vostra Santità proceduto a cose pregiudiziale,
et usare torti di maggiore importanza, li quali apertamente
dimostrano qual sia la volontà et intenzione di Vostra
DOCUMENTI.
.325
Beatitudine. E perchè Vostra Santità mi può persuadere
che io deponghi le armi, senza offerire dal canto suo
sicurezza alle cose, dominii e stati di Sua Maestà, che è
quello che solamente si pretende ; mi è parso, per mia
ultima giustificazione, mandar con queste Pietro Loffredo,
gentiluomo Napolitano, per fare intendere a Vostra Santità
quello che per altre mie ho fatto altre volte: cioè, che
essendo la Maestà Cesarea et il re Filippo, miei signori,
obidientissimi e veri difensori della santa Sede Apostolica,
fino ad ora hanno dissimulato e patito molte offese da
Vostra Santità, ciascuna delle quali ha dato giusta cagione
di resentirsene in quel modo che conveniva ; avendo V. S.
dal principio del suo pontificato cominciate ad opprimere
e perseguitare, incarcerare e privare de suoi beni, i servi-
tori, vasalli et affezionati delli Loro Maestà ; avendo poi
sollecitato e con importunità rechiesto li principi, potentati
e signorie de Cristiani a volere intrare in lega seco, a danno
delli stati, dominii e regni di quelle Maestà, facendo pi-
gliare li loro corrieri e li loro ministri; togliendo et aprendo
li dispacci che portavano (cosa che sogliono fare gl inimici)
ha ancora Vostra Santità favorito, aiutato, dati benefizii,
offizii e governi alle delinquenti e ribelli di quelle Maestà,
servindosi di loro in luoghi e carichi, dove possono causare
inquietezze alli regni e stati loro.
Oltre di questo, Vostra Santità ha fatto venire genti
forestiere nelle terre della Chiesa, senza potersene coniet-
turare altro che una guasta intenzione di volere occupare
questo Regno. La qual cosa si conferma vedendo che Vostra
Santità secretamente ogni di mette insieme fanteria e
cavalli, mandando una buona parte delle genti à confini :
e non cessando dal suo proposito, ha fatto metter prigione
e tormentare Giovan Antonio Tassis maestro delle poste,
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THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
levando l'ufficio che quelle Maestà et i loro antecessori
erano soliti di tenere in Roma ; e con tutto ciò non sodis-
fatta, ha carcerato e maltratto Garcilasso della Vega creato
di Sua Maestà, essendo stato mandate alla Vostra Santità
alle effetti che Ella sa.
Ha ancora molte volte detto parole di tanto momento in
pregudizio di quelle Maestà che non convenivano al decoro
et amore paternale del Sommo Pontefice: il che e moltre
altre cose, come ho detto, si è patito più per rispetto che si
ha avuto alle Sede Apostolica et al ben pubblico, che per
altra causa : sperando sempre che Vostra Santità si dovesse
riconoscere, e pigliare migliore strada : non potendo capire
in mente d'alcuno che Vostra Santità per beneficare et
ingrandire i suoi parenti, volesse impedire la quiete delle
Christiantà e la Siede Apostolica ; maxime in questi tempi,
tanto pieni di eresie e d'opinioni dannate alle quali sarebbe
stato più giusto e conveniente di attendere per eradicarle
e correggerle che pensare d'offendere senza causa quelle
Maestà. Ma vedendo che la cosa parsa tanto inanzi che
Vostra Santità ha permesso che in presenza sua il procu-
ratore et avvocato fiscale di quella Santa Sede abbia fatto
in concistoro cosi iniqua, ingiusta e temeraria instancia e
dimanda, che al Re mio Signore fosse levato il Regno;
accettando e consentendo a ciò Vostra Santità, dicendo che
al suo tempo si provvederebbe ; e vedendo che nel monitorio
diretto ad Ascanio della Corgna, Vostra Santità pubblica
Sua Maestà per nemico di quella Santa, et al conte di San
Valentino in pubblico ha detto contra l'istesse persona di
quella Maestà bruttissime parole, conoscendosi chiara-
mente che dimostra sodisfazione della tregua seguita
essendo cosi utile e cosi necessario a tutto il popolo Cris-
tiano, e che non si contenta di augumentare et ingrandire
a
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327
cose sopra
in suoi parenti con la buona voluntà di Sua Maestà
essendosi tante volte offerta di volerla far del suo patri-
monio; nel che si ha da intendere opertamente che il
disegno suo non è altro che di offendere Sua Maestà; come
ancora lo dimostrò prima che fusse fatto Sommo Pontefice
quando che in tempo di tumulti di Napole non manco di con-
sigliare Paolo III. all'invasione del Regno, persuadendogli
che non perdesse ma sol occasione. Essendo adunque le
dette nello stato in che sono, vedendosi chiara-
mente che da esse non si può aspettare altro che la perdità
della reputazione, stati e regni di Sua Maestà; dopo avere
usato con Vostra Santità tutti quei complimenti e termini
che sono giusti avendo quella ridotto ultimamente Sua
Maestà in cosi stretta et ultima necessita, che qualsivoglia
obedientissimo figliuolo che fusse appresso del suo proprio
padre in questo modo e cosi maltratto, non potria lasciar
di difendersi e di levargli le armi con le quali lo volesse
offendere; non potendo mancare all'obbligo che io ho,
come ministro che ha cura delli stati di Sua Maestà in
Italia ; sarò sforzato di provedermi alla difensione di essi,
procurando, con il favore et aiuto di Dio di levare alla
Santità Vostra le forze d'offendere, in quel migliore medo
che io potrò: e se bene io averei possuto lasciare di far
simili giustificazioni, avendole fatte tante volte con Vostra
Santità ; tuttavia, come geloso della quiete di Cristiantià ;
e desideroso che l'affaticata Italia riceva alcun riposo ; e
per il rispetto che so che hanno quelle Maestà a cotesta
Sede Apostolica, &c. &c.
:
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THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
sua.
Lettera del Signor duca di Paliano, del di 5 di
Novembre del 1557. (MSS. Capponi, Cod. 153 e 287.)
Nostro Signore è stato sempre sospetto, come Vostra
Signoria Illustrissima sa, che il signor duca d'Alba abbi
troppoa cuore le cose del Signor Marcantonio Colonna,
e che continuamente pensi a rimetterlo nello stato. Ora
che la Santità Sua ha visto il soprascritto di che lettere
scrittemi da detto duca d'Alba, che non dice altro che
all Illustrissimo signor duca Giovanni Caraffa; è
tanto più intrata in sospizione, parendo a Sua San-
tità che tuttavi il Signor Duca perseveri nell' opinion
Per il che mi ha espressamente commesso, ch' io,
per parte di Sua Santità, scriva subito a Vostra Signoria
Illustrissima, ch' arrivandole questa a tempo, sia con
esso signor Duca, e voglia pigliar occasione di chiarirgli
che non pensi in conto alcuno di ottenere remissione
per esso signore Marcantonio, perchè è risoluta Sua
Santità non perdonargli. Questo medesimo si avrà da
Vostra Signoria Illustrissima da dire al Re, trattato che
harà li negozii pubblici, dichiarando liberamente a Sua
Maestà e a tutti li suoi ministri, che Sua Santità non
può col pensiero, non che con effeto, imaginarsi di avere
a perdonare a chi ha già con gli effeti turbato, et è perturbar
sempre e inquietare lo Stato Ecclesiastico; cosi per diffeto
della sua propria natura, come per continuare nelle male
usanze della casa e famiglia sua, che sempre ha mostrata
pessima volontà, verso questa Santa Sede, col fare molte
volte contro sommi Pontefici, e questo quieto Stato Eccle-
siastico, di quelle insolenze e rebellioni che non si scrivano
qui, perchè sono notorie a tutto il mondo.
e
Nè questa
DOCUMENTI.
329
doveva parere cosa dura al Re, nè a qualsivoglia persona;
poi che molto ben sa la Sua Maestà che nei Regni suoi
non vi vorria simili genti, e che Sua Santità non potrà
creder mai che chi penserà in qualsivoglia modo di
rimettere Marcantonio Colonna nello stato, possa essere,
per li rispetti detti di sopra, buon figliuolo et aver buona
volonta verso la Sede Apostolica. Poi che, quanto più egli
potesse, tanto più cercherebbe di far sempre contra questa
Santa Sede e Stato ; che è quello ch' ha fatto risolvere
Sua Beatitudine a non rimetterlo mai più, et a ordinarmi
che io scriva tutto questo a Vostra Signoria Illustrissima,
perchè non dia orecchie a nessuno che ne parli, anzi li
resolvi tutti a non pensare è li escluda.
Copia e memoriale delle cose che si domandano per
parte di Sua Santità nelle lettere et istruzioni. (MSS.
Capponi, Cod. 153 e 287.)
ILLUSTRISSIMO E REVERENDISSIMO SIGNOR MIO.-Intesa
ch' ebbe Sua Beatitudine la morte della Regina vecchia di
Polonia, e come quel ducato di Bari ricadeva in mano del
serenissimo re Filippo; come è amorevolissima Sua San-
tità del suo sangue, e desidera sempre di fare qualche
bene che sia fermo e durabile alla sua povera casa,
la qual si può dir sin ora non aver avuto cosa alcuna che
stabil sia ; mi ha imposto ch' io scriva questa lettera a
Vostra Signoria Illustrissima dandole avviso di questa
subita morte, e insieme commettendole con ogni studio
c diligenza vegga se fosse possibile operare che quel
;
332
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
a
ella scrive, che anco Sua Maestà dice di voler domandar
grazia, come si ha da credere che sia per fare a Nostro
Signore. Averà molte comodità di poterla compiacere,
cosi per stabilimento delle cose sue d'Italia, come in
molte altre occasioni di Spagna, et altri Regni suoi, che
Vostra Signoria Illustrissima può sapere. Potrà dunque
questo negozio trattarlo cosi, e con la diligenza sua et
affezzione che so che ella porta al servigio di Nostro
Signore et al benefizio mio (che tutto sarà sempre suo,
volendo io riconoscer ogni grazia dalla mano di Vostra
Signoria Illustrissima, che con la tanta autorità che ha di
commandarmi potrà sempre disporre più di me), si sforzi
di farlo riuscire conforme alla mente di Nostro Signore et
alla molta speranza che la Sua Santità ne ha presa dal
suo scrivere.
Quanto al particolare di Paliano, Sua Beatitudine
arebbe caro che se le levasse la spesa delli mille novecento
scudi il mese, e che quella terra restasse libera, come sono
l' altre di quello stato.
Diche se n'ha da contentare
Sua Maestà Cattolica ; si perchè in qual sia modo che
stia, non si ha da dire al signor Marcantonio Colonna,
per la fede che ragionevolmente deve aver la Maestà
Sua in me quanto in qualsivoglia altra persona del
mondo; potendo star sicura ch'io, amato e beneficato da
Sua Maestà Cattolica, non pensarò mai se non di servirla
et osservarla in tutti i modi : et in questo ne può far
larga promessa la Signoria Vostra Illustrissima, sforzan-
dosi in effetto che Paliano resti libero conforme alla
mente di Sua Santità. Io sarei di parere che Vostra
Signoria Illustrissima procurasse per il signor marchese
nostro di Montebello il Stato del Marchese Doria ; il qual
per la vicinità di quel di Bari (che essendo mio sarà anche
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333
suò), saria molto a proposito. Di grazia, per far favore
a me, oltre gli altri rispetti che so la devono muovere,
si degni procurarlo; che mi rendocerto ne averà grazia :
la quale mi sarà si caso intenderla come la mia propria ;
e se sarà bisogno, io farò con Nostro Signore tutti gli uffizii
ch' ella si degnerà commandarmi, a benefizio del negozio
et a servigio del signor Marchese.
S'intende che Ascanio della Cornia et il conte di Bagno
sono costi, e vadino cercando d' esser reintegrati, sotto
certi colori che non sono fitti nè veri, per vigore della
capitulazione della pace. Mi pare per quest se ben
so che Vostra Signoria Illustrissima non ha bisogno di
ricordo di scriverle, che nè l'uno nè l'altro è stato spo-
gliato di fatto per conto della guerra, ma per loro demeriti,
innanzi il tempo dell' armi, con tutte le ragioni del mondo :
per
il che non dovevano essere intesi in modo alcuno.
Nostro Signore, oltre che spera ogni buona et amore
vole risoluzione dalla bontà e liberalità della Maestà Sua
Cattolica, cose nelle cose pubbliche come nelle private, si
promette tanto la Santità Sua della prudenza e valore di
Vostra Signoria Illustrissima, che non può credere se non
certissimo, ch' ella se n' abbia ritornare benissimo
ispedita, per benefizio universale della Cristianità e con-
solazione particolare di Sua Beatitudine ; alla quale
piacque che si trattasse il negozio dello Stato di Bari nel
modo che averà visto per l'istruzioni date al Signor don
Leonardo per Vostra Signoria Illustrissima e per il signor
duca d'Alba : acciò che non vi fusse persona che
pensasse
che si volesse per ricompensa di Paliano, ma perchè
si conosce che dalla Maestà del Re e da tutti Sua Santità
lo desidera per grazia, e che dello Stato di Paliano non se
n' ha da parlare per simil conto, ma si ben perchè ne resti
e
334
THE COURT OF ANYA CARAFA.
quella terra libera come s'è scritto per l'ultime, e come
intenderà Vostra Signoria Illustrissima per l'istruzione
che porta monsignor di Terracina, e per quello che le dirà
a bocca, come persona che è stata presente, et inteso quello
che sopra ha detto Sua Santità.
Sua Beatitudine desidera assai che si ricuperi fra
Guglielmo Peto; però Vostra Signoria Illustrissima facci
ogni opra necessaria, a tal che Sua Santità sia consolata.
Sua Santità, chiamato alla sua presenza monsignor di
Terracina, gli ha detto con molte efficaci parole che Vostra
Signoria Illustrissima vegga di fare venire da lei, con salvo-
condutto da Francesi, il Padre Guglielmo Peto; e sopra
questa materia le ricorda l'esempio del contestabile, per il
matrimonio fatto contra li ordini di questa Santa Sede ;
similmente quel di Cales per aver trattenuto il Nunzio di
Sua Santità che portava il Breve con la beretta al Padre
Guglielmo : onde si deve avvertire di non metter mano
sacre e di Dio ; et il medesimo scrive anco
il signor Duca nella sua de' di ventiotto circa al prefato
Nunzio.
Il Signor Duca et il cardinale di Napoli raccomandano
per parte di Sua Santità caldamante li nepoti del cardi-
nale di Pisa, del cardinale Vitelli, e del signor Castellano,
e di monsignor Datario, cosi nelle lettere come nell'istru-
zione, di Monti Terracina.
Del negozio della pace, tutte le lettere ne fanno men-
zione, oltre l'istruzione.
Del vescovado di Cambrai, c' è il Breve, con ordine
d'informarsi, etc.
Il negozio del signor Marchese quanto al Stato che
fu del marchese d' Oria, è raccomandato per parte di Sua
Santità dal signor Duca nelle lettere di 6 di Gennaro.
alle cose
DOCUMENTI.
333
Lettera del Cardinal Caraffu al
perchè adopri con S. S. che li voglia dar giudice ď
intender le sue ragioni, promettendo dar li i conti.
(MSS. Capponi, Cod. 153).
ILLUSTRISSIMO E REVERENDISSIMO SIGNORE.-Quello
che io desidero che Vostra Signoria supplichi in mio nome a
nostro Signore, e per remunerazione della mia servitù,
sono quattro cose.
La prima: che avendomi la Sua Beatitudine privato della
sua vista (il che più che ogn'altra cosa m' affligge), non
ha bastato l'intercessoni dell' Illustrissimo Cardinal mio
di Napoli, nè di altri mezzi, per impetrar grazia di esser da
lei udito: e benchè un sairo e santo Principe come è sua
Santità non possa nè debba di tal sorte adirarsi con un
suo servitore e figliuolo come me; non dimeno, consi-
derando l'autorità datami, non è alcuno si sciocco che
dalle parole istesse dette da Sua Beatitudine tante volte
e massime nella congregazione dell'Epifania, non giu-
dichi che l'abbia tradita ed assassinata insieme con Dio
da lei rappresentato in terra. Ed essendo io per grazia
sua nato cavaliero, come a Sua Santità e a tutto il mondo
è noto non voglio, non devo, non posso vivere, ogni
volta che in me sia una minima scintalla di mancamento
di onore non che di tradimento.
Dunque, Vostra Si-
gnoria Illustrissima, si degnera supplicarla in premio delle
mie continue fatiche che gli piaccia (1) giudici, che esa-
minino diligentemente tutte le mie azioni.
Secondo: che io supplico la Santità Sua a mandar
bando per tutto lo Stato Ecclesiastico che qualunque se
tiene offeso o gravato da me, debba e possa, nel termine
336
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
a
che li parrà, venire a querelarsi dinanzi a que’giudici che
da lei saranno giudicati, offerendomi di stare a sindacato
di tutte le azioni mie nel suo Pontificato.
Terzo: che avendo io avuto da Sua Beatitudine il
maneggio del danaro, supplico anco Sua Santità instante-
mente che, non contentandosi delli miei conti già dati e
saldati in Camera Apostolica, di nuovo con ogni rigore
me li faccia rivedere e saldare da chi più le piacerà ; e
dovendo io cosa alcuna, non sia liberato di carcere se
prima non è soddisfatta; e restando creditore, far gliene
un presente.
Ultimo : che avendo io di sua volontà sino al presente
tenuto il maneggio tanto di prencipe come di stato ec-
clesiastico e del vivere di Roma, e non volendo ragione
alcuna, per le cose sopraddette, che io debba, se prima
non sono purgato da me, intromettere, e vedendole patir
tutte in pubblico et in privato, supplicarla da mia parte
sia contenta ordinar a ch ’ia devo quello che sopra di ciò mi
resta nelle mani; essendo io risoluto di non volere, e di
non potere piu servirla : e umilmente a Vostra Signoria
Illustrissima bacio le mani. Di Paliano, alli 19 di Gennaro,
1559.
:
a
Di S. V. Illustrissima e Reverendissima
Umilissimo servitore,
IL CARDINAL CARAFFA.
DOCUMENTI.
337
Lettera del Duca di Paliano a Pio IV. (MSS. Cap-
poni, Cod. 153).
REVERENDISSIMO PADRE.—Poi le debite et umillissime
raccomandazioni, mi butto alli santissimi piedi suoi, e gli
domando misericordia, come sempre ho fatto dal principio
al fine, e creda la Santità Vostra che il non avere io detto
ingenuamente la verità, non è stato per diffidare della sua"
clemenzà e bontà, ma per lo stimolo e forza dell'onore;
parendomi di poter aspettare dalla pietà di Sua Beati-
tudine ch' io non avessi aperta la bocca in necem fatus
mei. Ma poi che pur vuole ch' io li narri il fatto di quello
che io so; per venire alla narrazione, dico che monsignor
Governatore me dimanda tre cose. L’una, il fatto di fra
Pietro Fratino; l'altra, se il capitano Vico de' Nobili mi
avesse fatto ambasciata da parte del Cardinal mio fratello
sollicitandome la morte di mia mogliere ; e la terza, della
lettera di Lottino. Cominciando dalla lettera scrittami da
Silvio, se bene mi ricorda, diceva queste o simili parole :
che il Cardinale aveva detto, che lui non me teneria mai
per fratello s' io non levavo la vergogna dal volto col far
morire la Duchessa. Questa lettera la mostrai a don
Leonardo di Cardine; et allora fu conclusa tra me e lui
a far morire detta Duchessa a Santo Eutichio per strada
venendo da Gallese a Suriano : e con tale appuntamento
spedii don Leonardo alla volta di Roma ; et essendo lui
arrivato a Suriano, trovò il conte d' Alif in atto che la
voleva ammazzare, e cosi l'intertenne : e spedirono Bernar-
dino Olario alla volta mia, et io li risposi iusta la forma che
sta nel primo mio esamine e se bene io l'avessi potuto
vietare, di tutto cuore li dissi, che non me ci volevo im-
Z
338
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
paciare, perche in effeto il mio desiderio era di farla
figliare; e ciò che diceva, era a fine a differire l'esecuzione.
Fu fatta morire la Duchessa. Della qual morte quando io
la seppi, ne restai addoloratissimo, e ne piansi amara-
mente: e cosi per consolarmi, andai dal mio pittore chia-
mato Moragna, spagnuolo, a Viterbo Santa Maria della
Cergua, e li ordinai che dovesse pregare il padre fra Pietro
che mi venisse a ritrovare a Suriano ove io ero ammalato.
E il frate venne, et io li feci prima scusa della morte della
Duchessa, dicendo che l'onore del mondo me ci aveva
fatto condescendere: e questo che seguita non lo dico per
scusa, ma per dir la verità ; ancorchè io non avevo ordinato
la morte della Duchessa, volevo non-dimeno, per stimolo e
zelo dell'onore, che agnuno pensasse che sia stata con
mia volonta, tanto più che estraiudicialmente si parlà
libero, e se sia diverso fine, questo mi vaglia, però tanto
quanto mi detterà al suo santissimo animo la solita sua
benignità e clemenza. Di poi lessi la lettera, e feci in-
tendere il contenuto di essa a fra Pietro, il quale mi rispose
quello si contiene nel suo esamine: il quale fra Pietro
Frattini dice il vero circa il ragionamento che io ebbi seco
della morte della Duchessa, quando venne da me chiamato
in Suriano, e come me disse in faccia circa questa cosa della
Duchessa. E circa il capitano Vico, dico che ritrovandomi
lui ammalato, non mi parlò di cosa nessuna pertinente alla
morte della Duchessa ; ma dipoi che se ne ritornò a Roma, e
che cominciai a star meglio, il conte d'Alif me disse: che il
detto capitano Vico li aveva sollicitata la morte della
Duchessa sua sorella da parte del Cardinal Carafa, e che lui
li aveva risposto che bisognava ch' io stesse bene prima,
e dipoi si saria fatto; e di questo medesimo io ne parlai
a
DOCUMENTI.
339
.
Io posso
con dun Leonardo de Cardine, e tuttavia stavo nel mio
primo proposito di farlo, ma dopoi che avesse figliato.
Però successe poi quanto ho detto di sopra. E circa la cosa
del Lottino, la verità e che lui mi venne a dimandare la
lettera da parte del Camerlengo. Io la feci fare, non la lessi,
e passai perchè mostro Lottini che la lettera era a sua
satisfazione. Qui cominciorono a fare gran strepito li
Franzesi; subito che si seppe di questa lettera, si mandò
appresso con diligenza a Civita Vecchia, e si trovorono par-
tite le galere; tanto la lettera mia, che avevo scritta al
castellano, come quella che il Cardinale
(1)
andorno alla mano del detto cardinal Carafa.
con verità alla Santità Vostra, con aver letta detta lettera,
può ben stare che ci fosse scritta quella parola di Franzesi,
ma sebbene ci fu scritta, a me mai non ne fu detta parola,
anzi oltre della terribile del Papa che mi faceva star pauro-
sissimo, il detto Monsignor Della Casa venne più volte in
casa mia stando io ammalato. Questo è quanto io mi
ricordo insino a questo punto sopra l' ultimo capo. Se
altro me riccorderò, non lascierò da dirlo a Vostra Beati-
tudine; la quale supplico, se tanto luogo può avere per
me la misericordia seco, che quanto io ho scritto in
questa polizza sia per chiarezza della mente della Santità
Vostra, non voglia che comparisca in giudizio a tal ch' io
sia conservato dalla bontà di Vostra Santità e dal disonore
del mondo; e quando altrimenti li piaccia, contentarro
di quello che piaccia a lei : i santissimi piedi della quale
io bacio umilissamente, e la supplico se muova a com-
passione delle mie miserie: e se io non merito tanto,
almeno muovasi a pietà d'una fanciulla de cin-
que anni, un altra de quattordici, e l'altra de quin-
z 2
340
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
dici, miei figliuoli e servi di Vostra Serenità (sic),
che sarrebbono con la mia morte privi d'ogni sussidio. Di
Torre di Nona, li 17 di Gennaro, 1561.
Di V. S.
Umilissimo servo,
IL DUCA DI PALIANO.
Lettera del Duca di Paliano un'ora avanti la sua
decapitazione (Bib. Riccardiana, Cod. MS. 1926).
CARO, AMATO E BENDETTO FIGLIO.—Dio glorioso vi doni
la sua grazia e quelle sante benedizioni che la Maestà Sua
suol dare alli suoi elette; sia sempre laudato il nome di
Gesù Cristo Signor nostro. Queste credo saranno le
ultime lettere, parole e ricordi che io vi potro dare in
questa vità : prego il Signore che sieno tali quali un buon
padre deve a uno unico e diletto figlio. La prima, e più
necessaria, mi pare di dovervi ricordare che sopra tutte le
vostre azioni et affetti di quore, doviate essere e dimo-
strarvi un uomo e vero servo di Dio; amando, assai più
che voi stesso, la sua divina Maestà, e lassando da canto
qualsi voglia vostra satisfazione, desiderio e volontà, ancor-
chè vi promettessino grandezza, onori è felicità del mondo;
per non offendere il vostro Creatore e Redentore; e con
questo buono e necessario principio seguiterete a far tutto
il resto bene et onoratamente. E perchè, appresso di Dio
li ha da esser fedele al principe che vi ha dato per patrone
servirete alla Maestà del re Cattolico, facendo tutto quello
che un buono et onorato e cristiano e cavaliere è obbligato.
Fuggite il peccato, perchè genera la morte, e vogliate più
e
e
DOCUMENTI.
341
presto morire, che offendere l'anima vostra ; siate nemico
de vizi, dilettatevi delle buone et oneste compagnie, con-
fessatevi spesso; frequentate i santissimi Sacramenti, che
i
sono la vera medicina dell'anima, e quelli che con effeto
ammazzano il peccato e fanno grato a Dio l'uomo, siate
pietoso dell'altrui miserie; esercitatevi nell' opere pie, e
fuggite quanto si puo l'ozio, ne vi date però a inconve-
nienti esercizi; sforzatevi acquistar qualche lettera, che
sono molto necessarie a un vero gentiluomo, e massima-
mente a chi è signore e governa vassali, et anco per
poter godere li dolci frutti della Scrittura sacra, li quali
sono ottimi per l'anima e per il corpo; e quando gusterete
quelli, saprete disprezzare le cose di questo mondaccio, e
troverete non poca consolazione in questa presente vita.
Desidero che voi doviate fare un animo grande in questo
sucesso della mia morte, e che non vi governiate da putto,
ma da uomo sensitivo, e non guardiate a quello che la
carne vi detta o la tenerezza di vostro padre, o vero le
altre ciancie del mondo; e fate pure quella resoluzione e
consolazione che quanto viene, tutto è per volere del
grande Dio, il quale con infinita sapienza governa l’uni-
E a me mi par certo che mi usa grandissima mise-
ricordia a togliermi più presto per questa strada, che per
altra ordinaria ; e ne lo ringrazio sempre e cosi dovete far
või. Piacciali pur di farmi commutar questa vita con
l' altra eterna, e lasciar la falsa e bugiarda. Nè vi tur-
bate punto di quello che vi sia detto o scritto o referito;
dite pure a ognuno: mio padre è morto, perchè Dio bene-
detto li ha fatto grandissima grazia, e spero che l'avrà
salvato e datogli un altra vita migliore; e con questa io
morrò, e voi dovete vivere, nè mai ne fate alcuna dimos-
trazione. Figlio, a voi restano di molti travagli e angustie
verso.
a
342
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
di debiti; mi dolgo che vorrei lassarvi sbrigato, ma non
posso più. Parmi necessario che vi doviate accompagnare
onoratamente e pigliar moglie : cosi il parere de' nostri
congiunti, come il signor Marchese vostro zio, e cardinale
di Napoli e signor Conte Mataloni; alli quali vi racco-
mando. E poi, procurerete accasar vostra sorella, e di
Paula fate quel che Dio vi spira, che tutt' a due ve le
raccomando, pensate che restate lor padre. Li servitori
vi racomando: assai pregovi satisfacciate che di suoi
servizi dovessi aver da me; sgravate in questo l'anima e
la conscienza mia. Li vassali, amateli, onorateli et acca-
rezzateli, e non li toccate mai nell' onore dell donne, e
siate casto e continente quanto possete, che è una gran
virtù e molto a Dio grata. Molti altri particuleri avrei a
dire; il tempo mi manca, e me ne vo alla morte, anzi alla
vita. Se sarete buon servo di Dio, lui vi guidera, aiuterà
e consiglierà ; e siate benedetto di quella benedizione
che Isach benedisse il suo caro Jacob, e sieno lunghi e
felici gli anni vostri, con il timor di Dio. L'ultimo giorno
di questa fallace vita, che sono li cinque di marzo, 1561,
alle cinque ore di notte.
Vostro padre,
,
IL DUCA DI PALIANO.
a
DOCUMENTI.
313
DOCUMENTI
Che riguardano in ispecie la storia economica 6
finanziera del regno di Napoli, levati del carteggio degli
agenti del Duca di Urbino in Napoli.
Si unirono in casa del signor Carlo Dentice molti si-
gnori titolati, e si concluso che si doveva principiare il par-
lamento. Giovedi il Signor Vicerè andò a S. Lorenzo, e
non vi mancò nessun signore eccetto il Principe di Bisig-
nano Sanseverino, per esservi Don Tiberio Carafa, che ha il
primo luogo. Sa Eminenza fece pure una bellissima
orazione e fu stimato molto, presentando le lettere regie,
che furono lette dal Duca di Caivaro, in piede; e il sindaco,
perchè pretendeva la sedia, usci dal parlamento, aspet-
tando in un altra camera.
Entrarono venerdì in S. Lo-
renzo tutti questi signori, sedendo il signor Sindaco,
perchè cosi è costume. Il primo a parlare fu il Marchese di
Fuscaldo, come Gran Giustiziere : discorse sopra li bisogne
regii, e che era bene satisfare alli bisogni di Sua Maestà.
Rispose il signor Duca di Bovino, al quale come gran
siniscalco toccò il secondo luogo; ma esortò non doversi
concedere un milione, perche il regno non puo più. Il
signor Sanseverino mandò il suo voto : che si deve con-
cedere quello che si può, e avere per raccomandato il
povero. Il voto di S. Eminenza è: che per una sola volta si
conceda dai baroni del Regno uno per cento di tutto il val-
sente de' loro feudi; e disse che per li suoi stati sborscrebbe
40,000 ducati.
Si oppone a questa opinione tutte le
nobilità, e non occorre pensare. Fu proposito che si dovesse
imporre sei carlini l'anno, in tutto il Regno a fuoco, e
:
341
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
levarsi le sedici grana; al che è stato replicata in con-
trario : imperrochè l'imposizione nuova de' sei carlini si ,
sarebbe pagata, e gli altri pagamenti non si sarebbono
sodisfatti. L'imposizione al sale per ora cammina franca-
mente, nè si propone con ardore. Il più sicuro è un carlino
a tomolo di farina per tutto il Regno: al quale dandosi
60,000 fuochi (e ognuno sarebbe interessato di scudi tre) la
somma sarebbe 1,800,000 ducati, non trattandosi di ven-
dere il capitale. La conclusione sara questa, cosi è creduto
da tutti. Si tratta anche che li cinque scudi che si danno
dalle università di' franchigia, e li soldati de' battaglioni,
questi debbano renunziarli a S. Maestà, la quale promette
non cavarli mai più fuori del Regno. Sono detti soldati
27,000; importerebbe la somma 135,000 ducati all' anno;
e il capitale a questo sarà sicuramente venduto; riuscendo
nel parlamento. Dopo molte proposte, si concluse il parla-
mento, discorrendosi sopra opinioni, l' una del Marchese di
Fuscaldo, che propose si ponessero gravezze, acciochè tutti
ugualmente sopportassero il peso; e riuscì con la sua,
avendo dalla sua molti signori, e la maggior parte delle
persone delle Università ; e l'altra fu del signor Don Pietro
Orsino che propose che tutti li baroni dovessero dare
l'entrata d'un anno in quattro anni, a ragione della quarta
parte per anno; ma ebbe solo cento trenta signori titolati
del suo parere, che si son fatti conoscere veri amici del
povero. La conclusione fu, d'imporre un carlino a tomola di
.
farina, in tutto il Regno per un anno: si concluse ancora, che
perpetuamente possa il Re Cattolico far conseguare un
tomolo di sale a ciascun fuoco del Regno, con pagarlo
dodici carlini: e a quelli che non li basterà un tomolo di
sale, se li permette che possa comprarlo nella sua propria
Terra da quelli che ne averanno di soverchio, senza ricor-
a
DOCUMENTI.
345
rere al fondaco regio. In ricompensa poi di queste gra-
vezze, si debbono levare le dieciassette grana a fuoco, e si
comincerà ad esigere detta gabella al primo del prossimo
mese di Febbrajo. Il voto del Vicerè fu che si dovesse
per una volta dare a S. Maestà la metà dell'entrata de'
Baroni, senz' aggravare il povero. Non ebbi chi lo segui-
tasse. Non si è trattato d'imporre gravazze alcuna in
questa città. Non si è fatto mai parlamento più contrario
alla povertà del Regno di questo : non avendo i Baroni
voluto concorrere a dar mente del loro ; non essendo stato
abbracciata l'opinione di S. Eminenza dal Don Pietro
Sanseverino, e degli altri loro seguaci.
DI NAPOLI,
18 Gennajo, 1639.
AVENDO il Padre Tommaso Enteris Teatino costante-
mente consultato, che di nessuna maniera si dovessero
imporre gravezze, per fare li donativi al Re Cattolico, non
potendosi fare in coscenza; è stato cagione non solo della
lunghezza del Parlamento, ma parimente far nascere dis-
sensione fra la nobilità: onde pare al signor Vicerè farli
ordinare, a dovere fra otto giorni uscire di questa città, e
tra quindici del regno.
Mentre si credeva, per essersi concluso nel Parlamento
d'imporsi le scritte gravezze, che giovedi fusse Sa Emi-
nenza ritornata in S. Lorenzo a ricevere il donativo, per
mandarlo in Spagna, ci son nate nuove difficultà : le quali
si vanno con prudenza degli aderenti al servizio regio
superando. Le piazze nobili, d'accordo con le quali non
316
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
a
ha potuto far di meno di non concorrere quella del popolo,
hanno da loro deputati fatto intendere al signor Sindaco,
con protesta che faccia intendere al Baronaggio, che questa
città, per la consegna che dovrà farsi del tomolo di sale a
fuoco per il Regno, perderà il commercio, intende che si
soprasseda la concessione; nè la città potendo impedirla,
mentre non aggravato di peso, non deve farne proteste, nè
strepiti.
Per la grazia da domandare a Sua Maestà il Principe
della Scalea propose, che la prima grazia che si dovesse
domandare a Sua Maestà fosse, confermare il signor Vicero
a questo governo per tre altri anni, e darsi alla Signora
Viceregina 50,000 ducati di donativi. Si discorsi assai
sopra tal proposito : e circa la conferma da S. E. vi sono
concorsi la maggior parte de baroni, e sarà dimandata; ma
circa il donativo si lessero le lettere regie, le quali espressa-
mente comandano, che non si debba donare a nessun altro
cosa alcuna; per lo che si pose silenzio al dono.
Tuttavia dicono doversi supplicare S. M. Cattolica, a
voler intercedere dal Papa che le Chiese e altri beneficii
ecclesiastici in questo regno, si debbano solamente concedere
a vassali di S. M.; giacche la maggior parte di esse viene
posseduta da forestieri con gran danno de' nazionali.
Si dice doverà anche domandarsi che S. M. per privilegio
conceda a soldati di battaglioni di non essere tenuti andare
a servire fuori del Regno, così quelle a piedi, come quelli
a cavallo; e non comparendo in questa città quando
saranno chiamati dal Signor Vicerè per imbarcarli, non
possano essere castigati.
DI NAPOLI,
Gennajo, 1639.
DOCUMENTI.
347
GIOVEDI il Vicerè fece uscire del Regno fra poche ore, il
Priore di S. Domenico, accompagnato fino a' confini da
cinquanta soldati a cavallo, per aver mandato a Roma
inolte scritture contro il generale de Domenicani, Ridolfi.
E tra gli altri capi che dicono essere nelle dette scritture è,
che quando il P. Generale Ridolfi fu qui, donasse al signor
Vicerè un quadro di Raffael d'Urbino di molto valore,
ch' era in S. Domenico. Ha dato poi ordine a tutti i con-
venti di detta religione, che non ricettassero Padri forestieri
della loro religione, senza del suo permesso.
DI NAPOLI,
7 Ottobre, 1642.
:
IL Signor Cardinal Filomarino mandò dal signor Viceré
e Viceregina, per aver l'oro di visitargli par le buone festa,
pretendendo visitargli tutti due insieme: e il Vicerè intese
che visitassi separati, come costumò Buoncompagno; ma
Filomarino non volendo trascendere l'uso dei suoi ante-
cessori avanti Buoncompagno, voleva visitargli insieme;
sì che veduto non ci trovar mezzo termine, pretendendo il
Vicerè d'essere in possesso di questo complimento; così
il Cardinale mandò il suo Maestro di Camera a far scusa
che era occupato, nè poteva visitargli. Il che sentito il
Vicerè fece trattenere dal Maestro di cerimonie il detto
Maestro di Camera: e sua Eccellenza intanto con gran
collera discese a termini ingiuriosi verso la persona del
Cardinale, in maniera che detto Maestro di Camera
sentisse, e poi lo fece licenziare ; et era così irato il Viceré,
che dicono che lo trattasse ancora da malnato et indegno;
318
THE COURT OF ANNA CARAFA.
con soggiungere che una berretta rossa non faceva un
Principe.
DI NAPOLI,
20 Gennejo, 1643.
QUESTA settimana il Nunzio ha avuto due audienze, e
sabato vi stette più di quattro ore. E per quello ho segreta-
mente penetrato egli, di ordine del Papa, passò ufficio col
signor Vicerè, con esortalo, come ministro del Re, e sì
d'autorità piena, di assistere alla Chiesa ; e non solo esser
debito del Re, ch'è di Cristiana religione, ma ancora per
rispetto del feudo del regno di Napoli, che doveva ajutare
gli ecclesiastici; con moltre altre simili ragioni. Al che il
Vicerè rispose, che era stato per lo passato dispostissimo a
farlo, e che averia le medesime disposizoine, se le parole
dategli da Barberini gli fussero state osservate: ma che
avendo mandato a posta il Reggente Casanova a Roma
per la conclusione di molti trattati introdotti da essi, li
erano state contrariate le parole e promesse fatteli d'ordine
loro : sicchè l'avevan necessitato a non più credere alle
loro parole: e che in ciò non poteva disporre senza l'ordine
di S. M., parendogli che la detta M. S. et egli avessero
sempre mostrato ottima volontà alla S. S. ma che ne
avevano riportato poca gratitudine e corrispondenza. Al
che replicò il Nunzio, che i Barberini non solo gli aveano
mantenuto quanto gli avevano promesso, ma anco compiacin-
togli in tutte le occasioni che hanno potuto, e più lo sariano
per fare, sempre che S. E. si disponesse ad assistere con le
forze del re alla Chiesa : con mettergli in considerazione che
se S. M. e S. E. non si dispovranno ad ajutarlo, la S.S. astretta
DOCUMENTI.
349
non solo a ricorrere ad altri potentati, ma a cedere tutte le
ragione della Chiesa sopra il feudo del Regno al re di
Francia, e a procurar anche che vengano accettate dal
Parlamento regio concessone pensiero al Duca di Orleans;
e che la Francia, per levar quel detto Duca da quel Regno,
per la sua ardenza e inclinazione alla novità volentieri
l'avrebbe accettato: ed egli come principe subito saria
venuto non solo a soccorerrere S. S. ma alla recuperazione del
Regno, con introdurre in Italia un fuoco inestinguibile: e
che S. S. si saria anche indotto con grandissimo suo disgusto
ad altre risoluzioni. Che S. E. pensasse e considerasse
bene questo punto, con disporsi alla dimandata assistenza.
A questo il signor Vicerè ne sorrise; mostrando poco conto
di quelle minacce, come cause aeree : e il Nunzio replicò
che S. E, considerasse bene, che non erano cosa da ridersene;
e che anche al Papa era dispiaciuto assai che S. E. avesse
voluto vietare a cavalieri Napoletani di andare a servire
S. S. ne correnti bisogni ; che non solo per atto di Cristiana
religione son obbligati a spender la vita per la sua Sede, ma
anche come vassali del Papa suo principe naturale, Il
Signor Vicerè se la passò in complimenti senza resoluzione
nè conclusione alcuna. E il Nunzio così fini l'audienza.
Che è quanto sopra ciò finora ho potuto ritrarre con certezza
con la confidenza e segretezza che V. S. può immaginare.
DI NAPOLI,
16 Giugno, 1643.
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