Duchess of Milan

“ Here, at least, there is no doubt that we have authentic portraits of both Lodovico Sforza and Beatrice d'Este, the reigning Duke and Duchess of Milan, towards the close of the year 1495. There is no mistaking the long black hair, the refined features, and long nose of the Moro, while in Beatrice's features we recognize the same youthful and child-like charm that mark her countenance in Cristoforo Romano's bust or Solari's effigy in the Certosa of Pavia. ”

“ The beauty of Milan, with its stately Castello and white marble Duomo, its spacious streets and long rows of armourers' and goldsmiths' shops, its beautiful gardens and frescoed palaces, made a deep impression upon these strangers from the North. Never had they seen so fair a city or so rich a land. Marvellous were the tales they had to tell their countrymen of the splendid court where they had lived like princes, and of this wealthy and magnificent Signor Lodovico, who had entertained them in so royal a manner. ”

“ Many are the pleasant glimpses we catch of the family circle, whether in the Corte vecchia or old ducal palace of the Viscontis at Milan, in the beautiful park and gardens of the Castello at Pavia, or in their country homes of Vigevano and Binasco. We see Duke Francesco riding out with his young sons through the streets of Milan, visiting the churches and convents that were rising on all sides, the new hospital, which was the object of Madonna Bianca's tender care, the oak avenues and gardens with which she loved to surround her favourite shrines. ”

“ At the gates Duke Gian Galeazzo and his uncle met them, followed by a brilliant company of Milanese nobles, and Lodovico, clad in a gorgeous mantle of gold brocade, rode through the streets at the side of his youthful bride. A hundred trumpeters marched before them, filling the air with strains of martial music, and the crowds, who had assembled from all parts of Lombardy, thronged around to gaze on the duchess and her daughters, and more especially on the Moro's bride. ”

“ Already her father, Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, had begged his sister Duchess Leonora and her husband to try and induce Lodovico to restore the Duke and Duchess of Milan to their rightful position, and the good duchess, who was on friendly terms with Bona of Savoy and with her own niece, Isabella of Aragon, did all in her power to soften the rivalry between the two young princesses. But after her departure from Milan, Isabella's ill-concealed anger broke out, and, according to Corio, she wrote the memorable Latin letter to her father. ”

“ The senators and Ambassadors, the deputies from Pavia and the other Lombard cities, who came to offer their condolences, were deeply moved at the sight of this Princess, whose heavy mourning and widow's weeds contrasted strangely with her extreme youth. The dignity and grace of her bearing charmed them still more, and all the Milanese asked was to keep their Duchess among them. By the terms of the late Duke's investiture, if he died without children, the duchy of Milan was to revert to the Emperor, but the city of Tortona was settled on the Duchess. ”

“ During the twenty years that the Moro reigned as Regent and Duke in Milan, the new apse built in Bramante's classical style, the central cupola, and the beautiful cloisters with their slender marble shafts and dark red terra-cotta friezes of angel-heads, all rose into being. Then Ambrogio Borgognone decorated the roof of nave and apse, and designed the elaborate intarsiatura of these very choir-stalls to which Lodovico alludes in his letter to Isabella d'Este. ”

“ And the two young duchesses seem to have celebrated this Eastertide, which they spent at Milan, by the wildest freaks.
"There is literally no end to the pleasures and amusements [Pg 101] which we have here," writes Lodovico, on the 12th of April, to his sister-in-law at Mantua. "I could not tell you one-thousandth part of the tricks and games in which the Duchess of Milan and my wife indulge. In the country they spent their time in riding races and galloping up behind their ladies at full speed, so as to make them fall off their horses. ”

“ The Queen rode on his right hand, the Duchess of Milan on his left, followed by the Princess of Macedonia and other ladies in litters, the officers of the household, and a long train of foreign Ambassadors, Princes, and Knights of the Golden Fleece. Cardinal Farnese, Don Ferrante Gonzaga, Viceroy of Sicily, the Prince of Orange, the Dukes of Alva and Aerschot, Count Egmont, Büren, De Praet, Lalaing, and Granvelle, were all present. ”

“ The Christ-child turns towards Lodovico, and St. Ambrose, the protector and patron saint of Milan, lays his hand on the shoulder of the duke, as, clad in rich brocades and wearing a massive gold chain round his neck, he clasps his hands in prayer. And the gentle Madonna stretches out her hand lovingly towards Beatrice, who kneels at her feet, with the long coil of twisted hair, and the pearls on her head and neck, and her favourite knots of ribbons fluttering from her shoulders or falling over the velvet stripes of her yellow satin robe. ”

“ The war of Pisa—Venice defends the liberties of Pisa against Florence—Lodovico invites Maximilian to enter Italy and succour the Pisans—The Duke and Duchess of Milan go to meet the emperor at Mals—Maximilian crosses the Alps and comes to Vigevano—His interview with the Venetian envoys—His expedition to Pisa. ”

“ Dec., 1537] A GOODLY PERSON
"The widow of Count Egmont," he wrote, "was a fair woman of good report, and the Duke of Cleves had a marriageable daughter, but he heard no great praise of her person or beauty. There is," he added, "the Duchess of Milan, whom I have not seen, but who is reported to be a goodly personage of excellent beauty." [170]
Five days later Hutton wrote again, to announce the arrival of the Duchess, who entered Brussels on the 8th, and was received by a great company of honourable gentlemen. ”

“ On Sunday, the 3rd of May, the Duchess made her state entry into Milan. Early in the afternoon she rode in her litter to S. Eustorgio, the Dominican convent outside the Ticino gate, where she was received by the Duke's half-brother, Giovanni Paolo Sforza, mounted on a superb charger, and attended by all his kinsmen, clad in white and gold. After paying her devotions at the marble shrine of S. Pietro Martive, the Prior and friars conducted her to partake of refreshments in the guests' hall, and receive the homage of the Bishop and clergy, of the magistrates and senators. ”

“ The gates of the Castello were closed, enormous bonfires blazed on the walls, and rockets went up to heaven from the top of the great tower. Thousands of torches illumined the darkness, and the streets were thronged with gay crowds, who gladly took advantage of the Duke's permission and gave themselves up to mirth and revelry all night long. Long was that day remembered in Milan. Old men who could recall the reign of Lodovico, and had witnessed the coming of Beatrice and the marriage of Bianca, wept, and thanked God that they had lived to see this day. ”

“ Only a year or two before, the people of Milan had seen her enter those doors in the bloom of her youthful beauty and the joy of her proud young motherhood to give thanks for the birth of her first-born son. But yesterday they had watched her moving among them, full of life and charm; now they saw her lying there in her gorgeous brocades and jewelled necklace, with her eyes closed in death and the dark locks curling over her marble brow. ”

“ My dear lord, besides the extraordinary demonstrations of grief which have been shown by the whole people of this city, and by the women quite as much as by the men, which may well be a great consolation to your Excellency, I must tell you how above all others, Signore Messer Galeazzo di Sanseverino has both by his words and deeds, as well as by his demonstrations of sorrow, given admirable expression to the affection which he had for the duchess, and has taken care to make known to every one the virtues and goodness of that most illustrious Madonna. ”

“ These were followed by about twelve chariots containing the noblest maidens of Milan, who had been especially chosen and invited to attend the solemnity, [Pg 214] and the ladies of the queen, all wearing the same livery, with tan-coloured camoras and mantles of bright green satin. Both the Duchess Isabella's ladies and mine were riding in these chariots. And as we drove to the Duomo in this procession, all the shops and windows on the road were hung with satin draperies and filled with men and women, and it was impossible to count the crowds of people who thronged every part of the streets. ”

“ Such encounters of sharp-sworded wit, so much in vogue at that time, were conducted at Milan with less pedantry and self-conceit than in Courts ruled by more strictly humanistic traditions. A freedom, gaiety and freshness animated the intellectual atmosphere here. The Moro’s extraordinary activity of mind and wide interests, Beatrice’s ardour, and capacity for enjoyment, 164fired all around them. The Duchess’s eagerness for culture was tempered by her love of sport and outdoor life. ”

“ The position of the Duchess as Regent and guardian of her son, still in his minority, was precarious and difficult. Subsequent events at Milan abundantly show how difficult a task it was to maintain her own and her son's rights against the pretensions and encroachments of his uncles. The friendship or hostility of the royal-minded and high-handed Servus servorum might be of infinite importance to her and to Milan. The good Bona, too, was inclined to make it a point of honour to carry out the intentions of her murdered husband. ”

“ Clad in ducal robes, he appeared seated on a throne erected in front of the Duomo when the Genoese patricians arrived at Milan, and received their homage as duke of the principality of Genoa. His brother Ermes, his sisters Bianca and Anna, shared his state, and when Bianca's betrothed husband the young prince of Savoy died, she was formally affianced in the Duomo to the eldest son of Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary. But the real sovereign of Milan was Lodovico Duke of Bari. ”

“ Eight Milanese nobles carried an ermine-lined canopy over his head, and the doctors of the University of Pavia were there in their scarlet robes, as they appeared a few short years before at Lodovico's coronation. Fair ladies in gay attire welcomed the victor with their smiles. Everywhere tall white lilies were seen blossoming in the streets that led to the Duomo—Notre Dame du Dôme, as the monkish chronicler calls the glorious pile of dazzling marbles that rose into the summer air. ”

“ A conference between the emperor, the Duke of Milan, and the ambassadors was held on the evening of that eventful day, and the details of the convention between the allied powers was finally agreed upon. A new league, which Henry the Seventh of England was afterwards invited to join, was formed between the Emperor Maximilian, the Duke of Milan, the Pope, the King of Spain, and the Venetian Republic; and Venice and Milan promised Maximilian a subsidy of 16,000 ducats if he would cross the Alps with an army, and compel the Florentines to give up Pisa and Leghorn. ”

“ On Sunday, the 6th of October, he made his triumphal entry into Milan, with the Dukes of Ferrara and Savoy riding at his side; the Cardinals della Rovere and d'Amboise were in front of him; and ambassadors from all the chief cities of Italy, and a goodly array of princes and nobles, in his train. ”

“ The cell, as visitors to Loches remember, is cut out of the solid rock, and light and air can only penetrate by one narrow loophole. There, tradition says, Leonardo's patron, the great duke who had once reigned over Milan, beguiled the weary hours of his captivity by painting red and blue devices and mottoes on his prison walls. Among these rude attempts at decoration we may still discover traces of a portrait of himself in casque and armour, and a sun-dial roughly scratched on the stone opposite the slit in the rock. ”

“ You did not tell me, babbo, that the Duchess is one of those English ladies of whom [Pg 106] we read in Italy because of their work among the poor. We had luncheon in her house in Cavendish Square, then went to a place called a ‘settlement,’ of which she is chief patroness. It is a large modern building in the midst of the most squalid section of Marylebone—a quarter, I am told, that for human wretchedness is worse than the East End one hears so much about in the novels. My heart turned sick at the sights. Is it possible that we have anything so bad in Milan? ”

“ The court poet goes on to tell how Duchess Bona welcomed her daughter with tears of joy, and how during the next two days high festival was held in the Castello. There was a tournament, in which the "gran Sanseverini" once more proved their valour, and Messer Galeaz [Pg 217] as usual bore off the prize, followed by much feasting and dancing, and a grand display of fireworks. "So many torches and lights illumined the darkness of night, that all Milan blazed as if the city were on fire." ”

“ The Venetian, Marino Sanuto, unkindly suggests that the Moro would not allow the emperor to come to Milan, lest he should see Duchess Isabella's son, who was the rightful heir to the crown. In all probability the true reason lay in Maximilian's dislike of state-pageants, and his preference for the freedom and country pleasures of Vigevano. As he told the Venetian ambassador, he preferred to travel about in different places and enjoy himself in his own way. ”

“ The Duchess-dowager represented Savoy; Madonna Bianca appeared for the absent Sforza; Raynouard du Dresnay came to Milan on behalf of Orleans; while, at a distance, Montferrat and Jacopo Visconti looked to their own interests; the Venetians had hopes of their own; the Milanese, as we know, intended to inaugurate a republic; the emperor, serene above these petty quarrels, declared that by feudal law Milan had already devolved to him. 207Absent or present, there was not one of these, save him, but had some promise of Filippo Maria’s in his mind when at length the testament was opened. ”