|
The news of Braccio's death caused the utmost consternation in
Perugia.
If the great captain had saved the town at a critical point, he may
also
be said to have created a situation which was perhaps a still
more
critical one for her citizens. Braccio was a noble. With his advent
in
Perugia the party of the nobles had returned. Terrible things were
in
store for the city. For a little while, and partly through the
efforts
of a rather complicated personality, they were postponed, but the
time
of terror was at hand.
When Braccio died at Aquila, the Perugians
prepared to defend themselves
they knew not well from what. "Each man," says
Graziani, "furnished
himself with flour, the ditches and walls were repaired
both of the city
and the territory around it, and every one left the open
country and
took refuge in fortresses and city palaces." Two courses lay open
to
them, and of the two they selected that which seemed least evil.
They
submitted themselves once more to the power of the Pope; and on
July
29th, 1424, the delighted Martin entered Perugia as its
acknowledged
lord and ruler.
Like many famous people of that day
Martin had studied at the Perugian
University, and perhaps he had preserved
an affection for the city which
he had known in his youth. Anyhow, the terms
of peace which he concluded
with the citizens were very mild, and as usual,
all the privileges
obtained from Innocent III. were preserved. But this time
it was through
the _nobles_ that the Pope had been called into the city. The
thin end
of the wedge was surely and irretrievably driven in, and the power
of
the nobles was as a matter of fact secure. The Pope himself fostered
the
growing power, and amongst others, who on the occasion of his
advent
received rich possessions from him, was Malatesta Baglioni.
Martin
handed Spello over to his rule, and thus helped to enrich a family
whose
members were for a period to wrest the power from the Church itself,
and
to set the town ablaze with crime and bloodshed.
*
* * * *
The nobles remained at the head of affairs,
but, as we have said, there
was one strong personality--a Perugian citizen,
Niccolo Piccinino--who
made a last effort, as Braccio Fortebraccio and
Michelotti had done
before him, to become that strange creation of the day: a
_condottiere_
despot.
Niccolo Piccinino was a follower of Braccio di
Montone, and his name
remains stamped on the pages of history for
successfully leading the
Braccian troops to battle, and following out the
famous tactics of his
master. For twenty years Piccinino maintained a
constant rivalry with
Francesco Sforza, as Braccio Fortebraccio had done
before him with
Attendolo Sforza, the ancestor of a line of dukes. The
ancestry of
Niccolo is both humble and obscure.[21] Some tell us he was the
son of a
Perugian butcher, others say, of a peasant from Calisciana near
the
city, but it is difficult to get any satisfactory information about
him;
he was practically little beyond an adventurer. As quite a boy he
left
his home in the Umbrian hills, and started out to seek his
fortune
amongst the captains of adventure in the north. Later in life his
career
became closely linked with that of Fortebraccio, who loved him
because
of his bravery and enthusiasm for the soldier's career. Nature had
not
fitted Niccolo for the camp. His health was bad, he was paralysed in
one
leg and had to be lifted on to his horse, and because of his
miniature
figure he got the nickname of "Piccinino" (the Tiny One); but the
small
body contained an undaunted spirit, and his tactics in the field
were
quick and decisive. He never knew when he was beaten, but would turn
to
strike again while the enemy were boasting of their victory. On
one
occasion Piccinino crept into a sack and had himself carried across
the
battlefield on a man's shoulder. The enemy (probably Francesco
Sforza)
imagined him to be at that moment in an opposite direction, and
the
sudden appearance of Piccinino's head from out of the sack, his
piercing
eyes gazing at them over his carrier's back, caused
general
consternation among the soldiers. Whether this strange manoeuvre
won
the day history does not record.
In 1440 Piccinino made a
desperate effort to win for himself the
government of Perugia, but Papal
power was too deeply rooted in the
city, and he had to rest content with the
title of _Gonfaloniere of the
Holy Church_--Supreme Magistrate of the City
but acting in the Pope's
name.
Perugia had a terrible time under this
ecclesiastical and military yoke.
Three masters pulled her
different
[Illustration: NICCOLO PICCININO]
ways: Piccinino, the
Pope, and the nobles, and each of these three
imposed taxes for their
different uses. Piccinino's is an unsatisfactory
career. It is that of a man
pouring old wine into new bottles; the trade
of the _condottiere_ ruler was
practically dead. The Pope's tactics were
unsatisfactory also. He tried to
conciliate two parties. He encouraged
and patronised the nobles and pandered
to the populace by encouraging
all kinds of extravagant superstition. There
is a horrid tale about the
burning of a witch at this time; and religious
processions assumed such
monstrous length that the streets could hardly hold
them, and we read
that the leading men got entangled in the tail of the
procession which
had not been able to leave the piazza before those who had
left it long
ago returned to the starting-point. Passion-preaching, too,
became the
fashion, accompanied by grotesque miracle-plays in which a barber
from
S. Angelo represented our Saviour; and all those things only served
to
increase the morbid passions of the people. In this
complicated
situation the nobles came off best, and their power grew
and
strengthened rapidly; but the power was evil. As for the
attitude
assumed by the former rulers of the city, it is difficult to judge.
A
sort of stupor seems to have fallen on the hitherto vigilant _Priori_.
A
feeble effort was made in 1444 to drive out the tormentors by payment
of
a large sum of money to mercenary soldiers, but these only took the
pay
and continued to enjoy themselves at the expense of the
town.
Hitherto, at least, the nobles had been one party, fighting for
one
cause. But now that the cause was won, now that their own supremacy
had
been attained, they began to fight amongst themselves. They hated
each
other with a mortal hatred. We no longer hear of fights between
nobles
and burghers, but of passionate blood-feuds between the
nobles
themselves: between the Oddi, Corgna, Staffa, Arciprete, Baglioni,
and
others, and next we read of cousins murdering each other for the sake
of
mere ambition. The slightest pretext is seized upon for a
skirmish
between the men who, through centuries, had stood together in
opposition
to the outside world. A hundred instances are given of their
quarrels at
this period. The Della Corgna by way of an example, are one
day
preparing to enhance the solemnity of a feast-day by decorating the
Arco
dei Priori with box and laurel boughs, and are interrupted in
their
pious labours by the Degli Oddi, who begin to pull down the
decorations.
There is some dispute about precedence, in their quarter of
the
city--some trifling question as to which family has most right to
manage
the local festival, a bitter fight ensues, and the whole town is in
a
tumult.
Again on another occasion, one of Ridolfo Baglioni's bastard
sons wounds
a certain Naldino da Corciano, a friend of the Degli Oddi, and
Naldino
hurries off to show his bleeding face to his allies. The Oddi, mad
with
fury, rush all armed to the piazza, striking at every Baglioni
adherent
whom they meet upon their way. The Baglioni are not slow to appear,
as
ready for the fight as anybody. The shops are closed, the citizens
arm
themselves, a procession wending its way to the Duomo is thrown
into
utter disorder, and even the women thrust their heads out of the
windows
and throw down jugs and tiles and pitchers into the street below.
The
Bishop, the _Priori_, and the learned doctors of the law leave
their
houses and exhort the nobles to lay down their arms; and after a while
a
truce is obtained, and the hubbub for the time subsides.
Such scenes
as these were of almost daily occurrence in the city, and it
was in vain that
the Pope, both by foul means and by fair, attempted to
calm the frantic
passions of the rivals.[22] It was in vain that S.
Bernardino, carrying his
crucifix before him, came to preach of
brotherly love and unity, in vain the
Blessed Colomba uttered mysterious
warnings. It was too late either for Pope
or Saint to check so strong a
flood as the ambition of men like the Oddi and
the Baglioni. All over
Italy at this period the character of individual
families had grown too
strong for outer influences to crush it, and the heads
of the Guelph
families were everywhere attempting to form themselves into
ruling
princes. In the case of this struggle at Perugia the most successful
of
the combatants were the Oddi and the Baglioni. The struggle
between
them was a struggle unto death. Now one was driven from the city
gates,
and now another; but finally, in 1488, the Oddi were ousted
altogether,
and from that minute until the time when the great Farnese Pope
came
down with guns and stones and every implement of war as well as
curses,
to quell them, the members of the Baglioni family became the
dominant
faction of the city. They left their country houses for ever. They
fixed
their mighty eyries on the south side of the city, about where
the
modern Prefettura stands to-day; from thence they dominated all
the
town, and there they lived their wild ill-regulated lives, mingling
the
most exquisite luxury with cruel vice. They were a splendid and
a
beautiful race of men, and Italy rang with their great names, but
their
rule was horrible.
"As I do not wish to swerve from the pure
truth," says Matarazzo, who
himself adored them, "I say that from the day the
Oddi were expelled our
city went from bad to worse. All the young men
followed the trade of
arms. Their lives were disorderly; and every day divers
excesses were
divulged, and the city had lost all reason and justice. Every
man
administered right unto himself, _propria autoritate et manu
regia_.
Meanwhile the Pope sent many legates, in order that the city might
be
brought to order; but all who came returned in dread of being hewn
in
pieces; for they threatened to throw some from the windows of
the
palace, so that no cardinal or other legate durst approach
Perugia,
unless he were a friend of the Baglioni. And the city was brought
to
such misery that the most wrongous men were most prized; and those
who
had slain two or three men walked as they listed through the palace,
and
went with sword or poniard to speak to the podesta and
other
magistrates. Moreover, every man of worth was downtrodden by
_bravi_
whom the nobles favoured; nor could a citizen call his property his
own.
The nobles robbed first one and then another of their goods and
land.
All offices were sold or else suppressed; and taxes and extortions
were
so grievous that every one cried out. And if a man were in prison
for
his head, he had no reason to fear death, provided he had some
interest
with a noble."
[Illustration: PALAZZO
PUBBLICO]
CHAPTER III
_The Baglioni. Paul III. and
last years of the City_
So after centuries of steady struggle fate
had at last decreed that the
nobles should have their way. Because the way of
the Baglioni is the
most picturesque point in all the annals of Perugia,
because it was
crowned by one of the most horrible domestic tragedies of
Italian
history, and because, moreover, it happens to have been so admirably
and
so vividly recorded, we are sometimes inclined to regard it as the
most
important fact about the town. We must, however, remember that it
was
only one of the infinite points which make the city's history, and
that
the rule of the Baglioni covers a period of not more than fifty
years.
By a rare coincidence it happened that exactly at this period,
_i.e._,
during the ascendency of the Baglioni, there was living in the city
of
Perugia a scholar by name Matarazzo or Maturanzio.[23] This scholar
took
upon himself to record day by day the extraordinary exploits of a
family
in whose good looks and deeds of violence, their jousts and
subterfuges,
he may be truly said not only to have delighted but to have
revelled.
To understand the Baglioni and the fashion in which they were
regarded
by the men of their day: terror, hatred, fear, and a cringing
admiration
being pretty well mixed, one must study the chronicles of
Matarazzo in
the original.[24] But as it would be impossible, and even
impertinent
for us to try and retell the tale of this tragic history in new
English
words, we have quoted at length the words of one who studied
it
faithfully and recorded it with a strange vibrating echo of the
original
language.[25] We have merely inserted here and there a few notes
and
details which seemed to add to the narrative.
"It is not
until 1495 that the history of the Baglioni becomes
dramatic, possibly
because till then they lacked the pen of
Matarazzo. But from this year
forward to their final extinction,
every detail of their doings has a
picturesque and awful interest.
Domestic furies, like the revel descried
by Cassandra above the
palace of Mycenæ, seem to take possession of the
fated house; and
the doom which has fallen on them is worked out with
pitiless
exactitude to the last generation. In 1495 the heads of the
Casa
Baglioni were two brothers, Guido and Ridolfo, who had a
numerous
progeny of heroic sons. From Guido sprang Astorre,
Adriano--called
for his great strength Morgante--Gismondo, Marcantonio,
and
Gentile. Ridolfo owned Troilo, Gianpaolo, and Simonetto. The
first
glimpse we get of these young athletes in Matarazzo's chronicle
is
on the occasion of a sudden assault upon Perugia made by the
Oddi
and the exiles of their faction in September 1495. The foes of
the
Baglioni entered the gates and began breaking the iron
chains,
_serragli_, which barred the streets against advancing
cavalry.
None of the noble house were on the alert except young
Simonetto, a
lad of eighteen, fierce and cruel, who had not yet begun to
shave
his chin. In spite of all dissuasion, he rushed forth
alone,
bareheaded, in his shirt, with a sword in his right hand and
a
buckler on his arm, and fought against a squadron. There at
the
barrier of the piazza he kept his foes at bay, smiting
men-at-arms
to the ground with the sweep of his tremendous sword, and
receiving
on his gentle body twenty-two cruel wounds. While thus at
fearful
odds, the noble Astorre mounted his charger and joined him.
Upon
his helmet flashed the falcon of the Baglioni with the
dragon's
tail that swept behind. Bidding Simonetto tend his wounds, he
in
his turn held the square. Listen to Matarazzo's description of
the
scene; it is as good as any piece of the _Mort Arthur_:
"According
to the report of one who told me what he had seen with his
own
eyes, never did anvil take so many blows as he upon his person
and
his steed; and they all kept striking at his lordship in
such
crowds that the one prevented the other. And so many
lances,
partisans, and cross bow quarries, and other weapons made upon
his
body a most mighty din, that above every other noise and shout
was
heard the thud of those great strokes. But he, like one who had
the
mastery of war, set his charger where the press was
thickest,
jostling now one and now another; so that he ever kept at
least ten
men of his foes stretched on the ground beneath his horse's
hoofs;
which horse was a most fierce beast, and gave his enemies
what
trouble he best could. And now that gentle lord was all
fordone
with sweat and toil, he and his charger; and so weary were
they
that scarcely could they any longer breathe. Soon after the
Baglioni mustered in force. One by one their heroes rushed from the
palaces. The enemy were driven back with slaughter; and a war
ensued
which made the fair land between Assisi and Perugia a
wilderness for
many months." It must not be forgotten that at the
time of these great
feats of Simonetto and Astorre young Raphael
was painting in the studio
of Perugino. What the whole city
witnessed with astonishment and
admiration, he, the keenly
sensitive artist-boy, treasured in his
memory. Therefore in the St
George of the Louvre, and in the mounted
horseman trampling upon
Heliodorus in the Stanze of the Vatican,
victorious Astorre lives
for ever, immortalised in all his splendour by
the painter's art.
The grinning griffin on the helmet, the resistless
frown upon the
forehead of the beardless knight, the terrible right arm,
and the
ferocious steed--all are there as Raphael saw and wrote them on
his
brain. One characteristic of the Baglioni, as might be
plentifully
illustrated from their annalist, was their eminent beauty
which
inspired beholders with an enthusiasm and a love they were
far
from deserving by their virtues. It is this, in combination
with
their personal heroism, which gives a peculiar dramatic interest
to
their doings, and makes the chronicle of Matarazzo more
fascinating
than a novel."
Matarazzo was not alone in his
admiration for the Baglioni. He tells us
that whenever the "magnificent
Guido," his son Astorre, or his nephew
Gianpaolo walked in the piazza every
citizen paused at his work to
admire them, and if perchance a stranger passed
through Perugia he was
certain to make every effort to see them. The soldiers
would hurry from
their tents to see Gianpaolo go by, and anyone walking by
this noble's
side seemed dwarfed and insignificant by reason of his great
stature and
his noble form. Gismondo, another of Guide's sons, was
universally
admired for his splendid horsemanship. He would make his horse
leap into
the air, while he sat straight and square in the saddle, not
stirring
hand or foot. The citizens looked on marvelling at these feats of
skill
and daring. Gismondo was slim, and walked with the lightness of a
cat,
so that no man in Perugia, however quick of hearing, knew when he
was
coming. The richest and perhaps the handsomest of the Baglioni
family
was young Grifonetto Baglioni, whose beauty Matarazzo compares
to
Ganymede. He was the son of Grifone and Atalanta Baglioni, and nephew
to
Guido and Ridolfo. His father had been stabbed at Ponte Ricciolo
in
1477, and he lived with his young mother in one of the most
beautiful
houses in Perugia. This palace had been commenced by Malatesta
Baglioni
and finished by Braccio Baglioni, who, because of the court of
learned
men he gathered round him, and the splendid festivals with which
he
honoured the lovely ladies of the city, was called "Lorenzo il
Magnifico
di Perugia." The palace was entered by a large and
richly-ornamented
hall, hung with beautiful pictures. At the opposite end of
the room was
a painting of a woman of most venerable and majestic bearing,
and over
her head the word _Perusia_. This grave and queenly lady commanded
a
view of all the celebrated men of the Umbrian city, for on one side
of
the wall were portraits of the famous captains of adventure, and on
the
other those of the most learned of the doctors and scholars, with
their
names and a description of their mighty deeds written in full
below
them. Grifonetto lived in great magnificence. "He kept numbers
of
horses, Barbary steeds, to run in the races, jesters and
other
properties pertaining to a gentleman. He even kept a lion; and all
who
went to the house compared it to a king's court."
"In 1500,
when the events about to be related took place,
Grifonetto was quite a
youth. Brave, rich, handsome, and married to
a young wife, Zenobia
Sforza, he was the admiration of Perugia. He
and his wife loved each
other dearly, and how, indeed, could it be
otherwise, since 'l'uno e
l'altro sembravano doi angioli di
Paradiso?'[26] At the same time he had
fallen into the hands of bad
and desperate counsellors. A bastard of the
house, Filippo da
Braccio, his half-uncle, was always at his side,
instructing him
not only in the accomplishments of chivalry, but also in
wild ways
that brought his name into disrepute. Another of his familiars
was
Carlo Barciglia Baglioni, an unquiet spirit, who longed for
more
power than his poverty and comparative obscurity allowed. With
them
associated Girolamo della Penna, a veritable ruffian,
contaminated
from his earliest youth with every form of lust and
violence, and
capable of any crime. These three companions, instigated
partly by
the lord of Camerino and partly by their own cupidity,
conceived a
scheme for massacring the families of Guido and Ridolfo at
one
blow. As a consequence of this wholesale murder, Perugia would
be
at their discretion. Seeing of what use Grifonetto by his
wealth
and name might be to them, they did all they could to persuade
him
to join their conjuration. It would appear that the bait
first
offered him was the sovereignty of the city, but that he was
at
last gained over by being made to believe that his wife,
Zenobia,
had carried on an intrigue with Gianpaolo Baglioni. The
dissolute
morals of the family gave plausibility to an infernal trick
which
worked upon the jealousy of Grifonetto. Thirsting for revenge,
he
consented to the scheme. The conspirators were further fortified
by
the accession of Jeronimo della Staffa, and three members of
the
house of Corgna. It is noticeable that out of the whole number
only
two--Bernardo da Corgna and Filippo da Braccio--were above the
age
of thirty. Of the rest, few had reached twenty-five. At so early
an
age were the men of those times adepts in violence and treason.
The
execution of the plot was fixed for the wedding festivities
of
Astorre Baglioni with Lavinia, the daughter of Giovanni Colonna
and
Giustina Orsini. At that time the whole Baglioni family were to
be
assembled in Perugia, with the single exception of Marcantonio,
who
was taking baths at Naples for his health. It was known that
the
members of the noble house, nearly all of them condottieri
by
trade, and eminent for their great strength and skill in arms,
took
few precautions for their safety. They occupied several
houses
close together between the Porta San Carlo and the Porta
Eburnea,
set no regular guard over their sleeping-chambers, and trusted
to
their personal bravery and to the fidelity of their attendants.
It
was thought that they might be assassinated in their beds.
The
wedding festivities began upon the 28th of July, and great is
the
particularity with which Matarazzo describes the doings of
each
successive day--processions, jousts, triumphal arches,
banquets,
balls, and pageants."
Perugia, it seems, was turned
into a veritable garden of loveliness on
this occasion. Rich velvets,
brocades, and tapestries hung from the
palace windows, their gorgeous colours
mingled with long trails of ivy,
with many shrubs and the branches of
blossoming trees, which also filled
the streets. Colossal arches spanned the
roads at the different gates
into the city. All vied together to erect the
finest arch; and one was
hung all over with tapestries showing the military
exploits of the young
Astorre. As the Roman bride passed in, the ladies of
Perugia went to
meet her, offering her rich presents. Some were dressed in
cloth of
gold and silver, others in silk and velvet, and many of them were
lovely
to behold. But Lavinia Colonna excelled them all by the glory of
her
broidered gown, and by the pearls and jewels twisted in her
hair.
Simonetto Baglioni drove round the city in a triumphal car, and as
he
went he cast great quantities of sugared dainties to the crowd,
thus
trying, by every means in his power, to add to the merriment of
the
marriage-day, and to show that love and comradeship united the
Baglioni
family.
But down in the Borgo S. Angelo men were silent and
morose, for they
hated these tyrants of Perugia, and held aloof from all
rejoicings. They
had noted strange auguries of late, and a whisper went round
that evil
was impending. On the first night of the festivities a terrible
storm
arose, scattering the decorations in the whirlwind. It was an
awful
night, and the young Roman bride shuddered, as above the din of
the
storm, she heard the sinister roars of the Baglioni lions.[27]
Lavinia
and Astorre were lodged in the palace of their traitorous
cousin
Grifonetto, and neither dreamt of the treachery that was so near
at
hand.
"The night of the 14th of August was finally set apart
for the
consummation of _el gran tradimento_: it is thus that
Matarazzo
always alludes to the crime of Grifonetto, with a solemnity
of
reiteration that is most impressive. A heavy stone let fall
into
the courtyard of Guido Baglioni's palace was to be the signal:
each
conspirator was then to run to the sleeping-chamber of his
appointed prey. Two of the principals and fifteen _bravi_ were told
off
to each victim: rams and crowbars were prepared to force the
doors if
needful. All happened as had been anticipated. The crash
of the falling
stone was heard. The conspirators rushed to the
scene of operations.
Astorre, who was sleeping in the house of his
traitorous cousin
Grifonetto, was slain in the arms of his young
bride, crying, as he
vainly struggled, 'Misero Astorre che more
come poltrone!'[28] Simonetto
flew to arms, exclaiming to his
brother, 'Non dubitare Gismondo, mio
fratello!'[29] He, too, was
soon despatched.[30] Filippo da Braccio,
after killing him, tore
from a great wound in his side the still
quivering heart, into
which he drove his teeth with savage fury. Old
Guido died groaning,
'Ora e gionto il ponto mio,'[31] and Gismondo's
throat was cut
while he lay holding back his face that he might be
spared the
sight of his own massacre. The corpses of Astorre and
Simonetto
were stripped and thrown out naked into the streets. Men
gathered
round and marvelled to see such heroic forms, with faces so
proud
and fierce even in death. In especial the foreign students
likened
them to ancient Romans. But on their fingers were rings, and
these
the ruffians of the place would fain have hacked off with
their
knives. From this indignity the noble limbs were spared; then
the
dead Baglioni were hurriedly consigned to an unhonoured
tomb.
Meanwhile the rest of the intended victims managed to
escape.
Gianpaolo, assailed by Grifonetto and Gianfrancesco della
Corgna,
took refuge with his squire, Maraglia, upon a staircase
leading
from his room. While the squire held the passage with his
pike
against the foe, Gianpaolo effected his flight over
neighbouring
house-roofs. He crept into the attic of some foreign
students, who,
trembling with terror, gave him food and shelter, clad
him in a
scholar's gown, and helped him to fly in this disguise from
the
gates at dawn. He then joined his brother Troilo at
Marsciano,
whence he returned without delay to punish the traitors. At
the
same time Grifonetto's mother Atalanta, taking with her his
wife,
Zenobia, and the two young sons of Gianpaolo, Malatesta and
Orazio,
afterwards so celebrated in Italian history for their great
feats
of arms and their crimes, fled to her country-house at
Landona.
Grifonetto in vain sought to see her there. She drove him from
her
presence with curses for the treason and the fratricide that
he
had planned. It is very characteristic of these wild natures,
framed of fierce instincts and discordant passions, that his
mother's
curse weighed like lead upon the unfortunate young man.
Next day, when
Gianpaolo returned to try the luck of arms,
Grifonetto, deserted by the
companions of his crime and paralysed
by the sense of his guilt, went
out alone to meet him on the public
place. The semi-failure of their
scheme had terrified the
conspirators: the horrors of that night of
blood unnerved them. All
had fled except the next victim of the feud.
Putting his sword to
the youth's throat, Gianpaolo looked into his eyes
and said, 'Art
thou here, Grifonetto? Go with God's peace: I will not
slay thee,
nor plunge my hand in my own blood, as thou hast done in
thine.'
Then he turned and left the lad to be hacked in pieces by
his
guard. The untranslatable words which Matarazzo uses to
describe
his death are touching from the strong impression they convey
of
Grifonetto's goodliness: 'Qui ebbe sua signoria sopra sua
nobile
persona tante ferite che suoi membra leggiadre stese in
terra.'[32]
None but Greeks felt the charm of personal beauty thus.[33]
But
while Grifonetto was breathing out his life upon the pavement
of
the piazza, his mother, Atalanta, and his wife Zenobia, came
to
greet him through the awe-struck city. As they approached, all
men
fell aside and slunk away before their grief. None would seem
to
have had a share in Grifonetto's murder. Then Atalanta knelt by
her
dying son, and ceased from wailing, and prayed and exhorted him
to
pardon those who had caused his death. It appears that
Grifonetto
was too weak to speak, but that he made a signal of assent,
and
received his mother's blessing at the last: "And then the
noble
stripling stretched his right hand to his youthful mother,
pressing
the white hand of his mother; and afterwards forthwith he
breathed
his soul forth from his beauteous body, and died with
numberless
blessings of his mother instead of the curses she had given
him
before."
"After the death of Grifonetto and the flight
of the conspirators,
Gianpaolo took possession of Perugia. All who were
suspected of
complicity in the treason were massacred upon the piazza
and in
the cathedral. At the expense of more than a hundred murders,
the
chief of the Baglioni found himself master of the city on the
17th
of July. First he caused the cathedral to be washed with wine
and
reconsecrated. Then he decorated the Palazzo with the heads of
the
traitors and with their portraits in fresco, painted hanging
head
downwards, as was the fashion in Italy. Next he established
himself
in what remained of the palaces of his kindred, hanging the
saloons
with black, and arraying his retainers in the deepest
mourning.
Sad, indeed, was now the aspect of Perugia. Helpless
and
comparatively uninterested, the citizens had been spectators
of
these bloody broils. They were now bound to share the desolation
of
their masters. Matarazzo's description of the mournful palace
and
the silent town, and of the return of Marcantonio from
Naples,
presents a picture striking for its vividness.[34] In the
true
style of the Baglioni, Marcantonio sought to vent his sorrow not
so
much in tears as by new violence. He prepared and lighted
torches,
meaning to burn the whole quarter of S. Angelo; and from
this
design he was with difficulty dissuaded by his brother. To such
mad
freaks of rage and passion were the inhabitants of a mediæval
town
in Italy exposed! They make us understand the _ordinanze di
giustizia_, by which to be a noble was a crime in Florence.
"From
this time forward the whole history of the Baglioni family is
one of
crime and bloodshed. A curse had fallen on the house, and to
the last of
its members the penalty was paid. Gianpaolo himself
acquired the highest
reputation throughout Italy for his courage
and sagacity both as a
general and a governor."
Gianpaolo is the last member of the Baglioni
brood who succeeded in
ruling over his native city, maintaining the despotic
traditions of his
predecessors by a system of unconscionable brutality. The
personality of
this tyrant is strongly brought forward in Italian histories.
Frolliere
gives the following account of the fascination of the outward
man:
"Gianpaolo during his life-time was the favoured one of Heaven
and
of fortune. He was handsome and of a gracious aspect, pleasant
and
benign; eloquent in his conversation, and of great prudence;
and
every gesture harmonised with his words and manner. In his
desire
to please all, even strangers, if perchance he was unable
or
unwilling to serve them, he showed himself so gracious and so
willing, that they left him satisfied and pleased. He was much
given to
the love of women and he was greatly loved by them by
reason of his
delicate and lordly bearing. He was, indeed, a
valiant and a gallant
knight, of admirable and almost divine talent
and resource, as was shown
in many of his enterprises and his
actions."[35]
But there was a
very different side to this in the character of
Gianpaolo, and we hear that
on one occasion
... "he had it in his mind to murder four citizens of
Perugia, his
enemies. He looked calmly on while his kinsmen Eusebio and
Taddeo
Baglioni, who had been accused of treason, were hewn to pieces
by
his guard. His wife, Ippolita de' Conti, was poniarded on her
Roman
farm; on hearing the news, he ordered a festival in which he
was
engaged to proceed with redoubled merriment."[36]
Gianpaolo
was also a good diplomatist, as cautious as he was cruel, and
one of the most
striking pictures in Perugian history is that of his
reception of Julius II.
in 1506, on which occasion the Pope came to
visit the tyrant in person. The
Baglioni was perfectly well aware that
Julius had come for the purpose of
re-establishing papal dominion in the
city; but he was too cautious to shove
His Holiness over a wall which he
was building at the time, and thus to
counterfeit the papal plans and
set all Italy ablaze with admiration at the
audacity of his action:
"While Michelangelo was planning frescoes
and venting his bile in
sonnets, the fiery Pope had started on his
perilous career of
conquest. He called the cardinals together, and
informed them that
he meant to free the cities of Perugia and Bologna
from their
tyrants. God, he said, would protect His Church; he could
rely on
the support of France and Florence. Other popes had stirred up
wars
and used the services of Generals; he meant to take the field
in
person. Louis XII. is reported to have jeered among his
courtiers
at the notion of a high-priest riding to the wars. A few
days
afterwards, on the 27th of August, the Pope left Rome attended
by
twenty-four cardinals and 500 men-at-arms. He had previously
secured the neutrality of Venice and a promise of troops from the
French
court. When Julius reached Orvieto, he was met by Gianpaolo,
the bloody
and licentious despot of Perugia. Notwithstanding
Baglioni knew that
Julius was coming to assert his supremacy, and
notwithstanding the Pope
knew that this might drive to desperation
a man so violent and stained
with crime as Baglioni, they rode
together to Perugia, where Gianpaolo
paid homage and supplied his
haughty guest with soldiers. The rashness
of this act of Julius
sent a thrill of admiration throughout Italy,
stirring that sense
of _terribilita_ which fascinated the imagination of
the men of the
Renaissance. Machiavelli, commenting upon the action of
the
Baglioni, remarks that the event proved how difficult it is for
a
man to be perfectly and scientifically
wicked."[37]
* * * * *
"At last the time came for Gianpaolo to die by fraud and violence.
Leo
X., anxious to remove so powerful a rival from Perugia, lured
him in
1520 to Rome under the false protection of a papal
safe-conduct. After a
short imprisonment he had him beheaded in the
Castle of S. Angelo. It
was thought that Gentile, his first cousin,
sometime Bishop of Orvieto,
but afterwards the father of two sons
in wedlock with Giulia
Vitelli--such was the discipline of the
Church at this epoch--had
contributed to the capture of Gianpaolo,
and had exulted in his
execution. If so, he paid dear for his
treachery; for Orazio Baglioni,
the second son of Gianpaolo and
captain of the Church under Clement
VII., had him murdered in 1527,
together with his two nephews Fileno and
Annibale. This Orazio was
one of the most bloodthirsty of the whole
brood. Not satisfied with
the assassination of Gentile, he stabbed
Galeotto, the son of
Grifonetto, with his own hand in the same year.
Afterwards he died
in the kingdom of Naples while leading the Black
Bands in the
disastrous war which followed the sack of Rome. He left no
son.
Malatesta, his elder brother, became one of the most
celebrated
generals of the age, holding the batons of the Venetian
and
Florentine republics, and managing to maintain his ascendency
in
Perugia in spite of the persistent opposition of successive
popes.
But his name is best known in history for one of the
greatest
public crimes. Intrusted with the defence of Florence during
the
siege of 1530, he sold the city to his enemy, Pope Clement,
receiving for the price of this infamy certain privileges and
immunities
which fortified his hold upon Perugia for a season. All
Italy was
ringing with the great deeds of the Florentines, who for
the sake of
their liberty transformed themselves from merchants
into soldiers, and
withstood the united powers of pope and emperor
alone. Meanwhile
Malatesta, whose trade was war, and who was being
largely paid for his
services by the beleaguered city, contrived by
means of diplomatic
procrastination, secret communication with the
enemy, and all the arts
that could intimidate an army of recruits,
to push affairs to a point at
which Florence was forced to
capitulate without inflicting the last
desperate glorious blow she
longed to deal her enemies. The universal
voice of Italy condemned
him. When Matteo Dandolo, the Doge of Venice,
heard what he had
done, he cried before the Pregadi in conclave, 'He has
sold that
people and that city, and the blood of those poor citizens
ounce by
ounce, and has donned the cap of the biggest traitor in the
world.'
Consumed with shame, corroded by an infamous disease,
and
mistrustful of Clement, to whom he had sold his honor,
Malatesta
retired to Perugia, and died in 1531. He left one son,
Ridolfo, who
was unable to maintain himself in the lordship of his
native city.
After killing the papal legate, Cinzio Filonardi, in 1534,
he was
dislodged four years afterwards, when Paul III. took
final
possession of the place as an appanage of the Church, razed
the
houses of the Baglioni to the ground, and built upon their site
the
Rocca Paolina....
... "Ridolfo Baglioni and his cousin
Braccio, the eldest son of
Grifonetto, were both captains of Florence.
The one died in battle
in 1554, the other in 1559. Thus ended the
illustrious family. They
are now represented by descendants from
females, and by contadini,
who preserve their name and boast a pedigree,
of which they have no
written records."[38]
*
* * * *
Thus the Baglioni practically killed
themselves--stamped out their own
power through their own passions. It
remained for the Church to crush if
possible the spirit of liberty and of
self-government in the people of
Perugia. It is as though a mighty wheel spun
round and we next find the
city wholly and entirely in the clutches of
Rome.
* * * * *
When the last
strong member of the terrible brood, Ridolfo Baglioni,
forced his way back
into Perugia with the evident intention of ruling
there, he seems to have
ignored the fact that he had something more
powerful to face than the
opposition of the people. Ridolfo set fire to
the people's palace, but he
went much further, he assassinated the
Pope's Legate. This outrage gave the
final push to Rome, who had so
often and so impotently interfered before, and
Paul Farnese, the
reigning Pope, listened, we hear, with the profoundest
displeasure to
the account of this barefaced murder. He at once took the high
hand. He
sent troops from Rome to drive out Ridolfo, who retired before them
to
seek a better fortune elsewhere. He then had the walls of
Spello,
Bettona, Bastia, and other strongholds of Ridolfo Baglioni
demolished,
and finally, in order to make his policy more permanent and
decisive,
the great Farnese Pope arrived in person at Perugia.
Paul's
arrival is one of the most impressive points in the annals of the
town. The
rule of the Baglioni had been so powerful and so picturesque
that in tracing
it one is inclined to ignore the undercurrent of affairs
in the city. As a
matter of fact the old order of rule had not really
died out under that of
the nobles, and in the description of Paul's
reception we find the familiar
names of companies and _Priori_ occurring
again and again with all their
followers and titles.
The Perugians, wearied to death by the despotic
rule of the nobles,
hailed the advent of a much more despotic Pope with blind
and excessive
joy. Paul came in triumph, and in triumph he was received.
Great arches
were built for him and for his cardinals to pass beneath, and
since the
town had not sufficient money to spend on his reception they even
melted
down a beautiful silver ship belonging to the city plate chest. It
was
on the last day of August 1535, and at about midnight, that "His
Blessed
Holiness" arrived at the gates with fourteen cardinals and
some
companies of 600 or 700 horse and 700 infantry. The Pope rode up
on
horseback, dressed in scarlet. Drums and tambours heralded his
approach.
The cardinals rode by two and two. On either side of His Holiness
rode
his two nephews: the Cardinals Alexander Farnese and Guido
Ascanio
Sforza. The _Priori_, all in new and gorgeous robes, preceded by
the
Holy Eucharist, came out to meet him, and through their ambassador
or
_nunzio_ they presented to His Holiness a silver basin containing
the
keys of the city. Then a learned doctor of the University delivered
"a
short but elegant address," to which the Pope listened attentively,
and
for that night the Pope turned in to sleep in the monastery of
S.
Pietro. The following day he entered the city with extraordinary
pomp
and took up his abode in the Palazzo Pubblico, where the _Priori_
had
vacated their own rooms in order to give him proper space; and
thither
all the professors and all the members of the city guilds
and
confraternities arrived that afternoon to kiss his foot.
Paul's
first visit to Perugia may be called a triumphal progress rather
than
anything else. He gave great gifts of grain to the city, and he
conferred
countless benefits upon its churches and its clergy. But he
came to rule, and
not to pamper or caress. For a time all went well.
The convents and the
monasteries grew fat and prosperous, the Baglioni
were away, and the people
apparently at peace; but storms were brewing.
After three years of passive
submission Perugia found cause to revolt
against her new ruler as she had
done against her old. In 1538 Paul III.
sent out his decree for raising the
price of salt by one half in all the
pontifical states, and the Perugians
revolted at once against an
imposition which they had good reason to feel
unjust.[39]
Revolution was declared. Alfano Alfani, the chief of the
magistrates,
tried to calm the fury of his countrymen, and at first only
humble
entreaties were sent down to Rome imploring Paul III. to remove a tax
so
odious to the people. But the Pope was too much in need of money
to
listen to these prayers. His only answer was an excommunication,
which
punishment was not unfamiliar to the people of Perugia. During the
month
of March 1539 the city lay under an interdict, no masses were said,
no
sacraments given, and the churches seemed as the monuments of a
people
long since dead. Every day the murmurings of the Perugians grew
and
strengthened, and finally they took the high-handed measure of
arranging
matters for themselves. They elected twenty-five citizens who
were
called "the twenty-five defenders of justice in the city of
Perugia,"
and before many days were out the "twenty-five" had obtained
unlimited
power. They exercised an independent and undisputed authority and
pushed
the _priori_ entirely to one side. Their endeavours to protect
their
liberty and resist the Pope's authority soon roused his anger.
The
Farnese was not a person to be trifled with, and this
barefaced
rebellion of the little Umbrian city had to be crushed by prompt
and
powerful means; so the Pope sent his son, Pier Luigi Farnese, at
the
head of 10,000 Italians and 3000 Spaniards to meet the rulers in
the
field.
A strange piece of history follows. The Perugians veer
round utterly and
call in as their leader Ridolfo Baglioni to help them
against a Pope,
whom but three short years ago they had welcomed as their
best
benefactor.
Ridolfo went forth to fight against the Papal troops
with a mighty
flourish of trumpets, but we only hear faint rumours of a
skirmish near
Ponte S. Giovanni where one or two men were killed, and a few
more
tumbled off their chargers. The whole account reads like a farce,
and
yet we know that men and women regarded it with deadly earnest at
the
time. The city was all unhinged. An extraordinary religious phase
which
had nothing to do with the Church came over her. The large
crucifix
which is still to be seen in S. Lorenzo, was placed above the
main
entrance to the Duomo, and here the people came to pray and tell
their
beads with an unwonted fervour. Continual processions wound their
slow
way up from S. Domenico to the Cathedral square, and we hear that
the
cries for mercy were deafening throughout the city.
On a dark
night, by the flickering light of many torches, Maria Podiano,
the Chancellor
of the Commune, delivered a touching oration, and in the
sight of all the
citizens he placed the city keys at the foot of the
great crucifix on the
outside of the Cathedral--Christ was to be their
defender, Christ their
leader, to fight against a Pope![40]
But it was impossible that Perugia
should be able to stand against such
an army as that of Paul III., and
Ridolfo Baglioni was the first to see
that his side must lose. With less
loyalty than might have been expected
from this would-be despot of Perugia,
he edged towards peace, and
finally, on the 3rd June 1540, peace was
concluded between Pier Luigi
Farnese and Ridolfo Baglioni. Thus it happened
that once again Perugia
was cast under the shadow of Pontifical Rome.
Neighbouring towns had
abandoned her at the moment when she wrestled for her
liberty; Ridolfo
Baglioni had given her but a half-hearted help, and the
Perugians were
driven to confess that the only course which now lay open to
them was an
apology to the Pope. Twenty-five ambassadors were therefore sent
to
Rome. Dressed in long black robes with halters round their necks,
the
unhappy Perugian envoys crouched in the portico of S. Peter's
awaiting
their absolution.
Pardon was obtained, but at a heavy price.
The ambassadors returned home
bearing the news that Paul had forgiven the
city; but the titles of
Preservers of Ecclesiastical Obedience, borne by the
Pope's magistrates,
warned Perugia quite sufficiently that her old forms of
government were
wiped away for ever. A few days later and the foundations of
Paul III.'s
fortress were laid on the site of the razed palaces of the
Baglioni, and
the citizens were compelled to lend their help in the erection
of this
colossal stronghold which was to prove their bane for centuries
to
follow. On its inner walls it bore the following inscription,
which
fully indicated the feelings and intentions of the indomitable
Farnese:
_Ad coercendam Perusinorum Audaciam_.[41]
Writhing beneath
the yoke of priests, the Perugians soon regretted even
the rule of the
Baglioni: "Help me if you can," Malatesta Baglioni had
cried as he lay dying
at Bettona in 1531, "for after my death you will
be made to draw the cart
like oxen"; and Frolliere, chronicling these
words, remarks: "This has been
fulfilled to the last letter, for all
have borne not only the yoke but the
goad."[42]
In the same year (1540) as that in which Paul III. laid the
foundations
of his famous fortress, a society, which proved of invaluable
service in
furthering the work and wishes of the Papacy, sprang forth into
vigorous
life, and gradually the chief power in Perugia fell into the hands
of
the Jesuits. These agents of the Pope proceeded to convert the
city
wholesale by means of religious ceremonies, general
confessions,
preachings in every square, and in all the corners of the
streets, and
colossal processions, headed by missionaries wearing crowns of
thorns
and bearing enormous crosses. Industries died out, poverty, famine,
and
pestilence decimated the city, and in 1728, from a petition presented
to
Clement X., it appears that Perugia was reduced to such a state
of
wretchedness as to bring tears to the eyes of those who remembered
her
former prosperity.
* * * *
*
The final history of Perugia, down to the present day, may be
compressed
into a very few lines. Up to the
[Illustration: FORTRESS OF
PAUL III. SHOWING THE UPPER PART NOW OCCUPIED
BY THE PREFETTURA, ETC., AND
THE LOWER WING WHICH COVERED THE SITE OF
THE PRESENT PIAZZA
D'ARMI
(_From a water-colour sketch now in the possession of Madame
Brufani at
Perugia._)]
end of the last century, she was practically
ruled by the Popes, and was
a city of the Papal States. Her immense convents
and churches were
filled with monks and nuns. In 1549, Julius III. restored
to her some of
her ancient privileges of which Paul had deprived her, and in
some sort
she regained her old forms of government, but she could never again
be
called by her historians an independent State. In 1797, during
the
general upheaval of Europe which followed the revolution in France,
she
underwent a quite new phase, and became a French Prefecture under
the
title of _Departimento del Trasimeno_. General la Valette levied
tribute
from the citizens, who were further harassed by the sudden break up
of
the Roman Republic and an Austrian occupation. After the Battle
of
Marengo, in 1800, Perugia ceased to be Pontifical, and in 1809 she
was
formally annexed to the French Empire, and made a canton of
Spoleto
under a sub-prefect. By Napoleon's orders the convents of both sexes
and
of all orders were suppressed, the bishops and prelates were sent
to
Rome in carriage loads, and the poor monks and nuns were unfrocked
and
literally carted through the streets to their homes. When a turn came
in
the fortunes of the empire, Perugia became the victim of another
change,
and with the partial introduction of the papal sway, the monks and
nuns
returned to their convents.
In spite of its tyrannies, the
Napoleonic occupation had given the
Perugians a taste for better things than
a papal despotism, and they
never again found rest in the care of the Pope.
They fretted and chafed
under the Pope's people; the Pope's fortress became a
veritable eye-sore
to them, the daily sight of its walls burned into their
hearts like
red-hot nails, and whenever they could they pulled a part of it
down.
At last, in 1859, they rose in open rebellion, and Papal troops
were
sent by Pius IX. to besiege the town. Some 2000 of the Swiss Guard,
led
by Colonel Schmid, arrived from Rome to quell the insurrection.
Bonazzi
gives a vivid account of the atrocities these men committed in the
city.
They killed all whom they laid hands on in their raids as they
passed
through the streets, crying aloud as they went that "their master
the
Pope had given them orders that none should be spared." S. Pietro
was
forced, and, notwithstanding the protests of the Abbot and his
monks,
its vestments were torn to threads, gold and silver ornaments
carried
away, and not even the archives with their wealth of long
accumulated
missals escaped the vandalism of the papal troops. (See p. 162.) |
|
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