The Tales Of The Heptameron Volume II Part 16

B (Tale XL (B.), Page 95.)

An anecdote in keeping with this story will be found in Brantome's miscellaneous works (Pet.i.tot's ed., vol. viii. pp. 382-4). The author of _Les Dames Galantes_, after alluding to his aunt Louise de Bourdeille--who was brought up at Court by Anne of Brittany--proceeds to say:--

"A certain Grey Friar, who habitually preached before the Queen, fell so deeply in love with Mademoiselle de Bourdeille that he completely lost his wits, and sometimes in his sermons, whilst speaking of the beauty of the holy virgins of past times, he would so forget himself as to say some words respecting the beauty of my said aunt, not to mention the soft glances which he cast at her. And sometimes, whilst in the Queen's room, he would take great pleasure in discoursing to her, not with words of love however, for he would have incurred a whipping, but with other covert words which tended towards love. My aunt in no wise approved of his discourses, and made some mention of them to her own and her companions' governess. The Queen heard of the matter and could not believe it, on account of this man's cloth and holiness. For this reason she kept silent until a certain Good Friday, when, in accordance with custom, this friar preached before her on the Holy Pa.s.sion. The ladies and the maids, including my aunt, being seated as was their wont before the reverend father, in full view of him, he, as though giving out the text and introit of his sermon, began to say: 'It is for you, lovely humanity, it is for you that I suffer this day. Thus on a certain occasion spake our Lord Jesus Christ.' Then proceeding with his sermon the friar chronicled all the sufferings and afflictions which Jesus endured for mankind at His death upon the Cross, and these he compared to the sufferings that he himself endured on account of my aunt; but in such covert, such disguised words that even the most enlightened might have failed to understand their meaning. Queen Anne, however, who was very expert both in mind and judgment, laid hold of this, and took counsel as to the real meaning of the sermon, both with certain lords and ladies and certain learned men who were there present. They all p.r.o.nounced the sermon to be most scandalous, and the Grey Friar most deserving of punishment; for which reason he was secretly chastised and whipped, and then driven away, without any scandal being made. Such was the Queen's reply to the amours of this Grey Friar; and thus was my aunt well avenged on him for the way in which he had so often importuned her.

In those times it was not allowable, under divers penalties, either to contradict or to refuse to speak to such people, who, so it was thought, conversed only of G.o.d and the salvation of the soul."

In Merimee's Chronique de Charles IX., there will be found a facetious sermon by another Grey Friar; this, however, is less in keeping with the _Heptameron_, than with the character of the discourses delivered by the preachers of the League.--M.

C. (Tale XII., Page 101.)

The following account of the a.s.sa.s.sination of Alexander de' Medici is taken from Sismondi's _Histoire des Republiques Italiennes du Moyen Age_, Paris, 1826, vol. xvi. p. 95 et seq.:--

"But few months had elapsed since Alexander's marriage, and he had employed them in his wonted debauchery, carrying depravity and dishonour alternately into the convents and n.o.blest abodes of Florence, when, on January 6, 1537, he was a.s.sa.s.sinated by the man whom, of all men, he the least mistrusted. This was his cousin, Lorenzino de' Medici....

Lorenzino had already helped Alexander to seduce several women of n.o.ble birth; and to facilitate his a.s.signations had often lent him his house, which adjoined the ducal residence in the Via Larga. He engaged to bring the Duke the wife of Leonardo Ginori--sister to his own mother, but much younger than she was. Alexander had long been struck with this lady's beauty, but so far she had virtuously repulsed him. After supper, however, on the day of the feast of the Epiphany, when the Carnival begins, Lorenzino informed the Duke that if he would repair to his house, unaccompanied and observing the greatest secrecy, he would find Catherine Ginori there. Alexander accepted the a.s.signation, dismissed all his guards, rid himself of all those who wished to keep a watch upon him, and entered Lorenzino's house without being perceived. He was tired and wished to rest awhile, but before throwing himself on the bed he unbuckled his sword, and Lorenzino, on taking it from him to hang it at the head of the bedstead, wound the belt around the hilt in such a fas.h.i.+on that the weapon could not be easily drawn from its scabbard.

After telling the Duke to rest whilst he went to fetch his aunt, he went away, locking the door of the room behind him; but returned shortly afterwards with a spada.s.sin, nicknamed Scoronconcolo, whom he had previously engaged, for the purpose, he said, of ridding him of a great personage of the Court whose name he had prudently not given. In fact Lorenzino had carried his design to the very point of execution without taking a single person into his confidence. On returning into the room, followed by Scoronconcolo, he called to the Duke: 'Are you asleep, my lord?' and at the same moment transpierced him with a short sword which he was carrying. Alexander, although mortally wounded, tried to resist his murderer, whereupon Lorenzino, to prevent him from crying out, thrust two of his fingers into his mouth, at the same time exclaiming: 'Be not afraid, my lord.' Alexander, it appears, bit his a.s.sailant's fingers with all the strength of his jaws, and holding him in a tight embrace, rolled with him about the bed, so that Scoronconcolo was unable to strike the one without striking the other. He endeavoured to get at the Duke from between Lorenzino's legs, but only succeeded in piercing the mattress, till at last he remembered that he had a knife about him, and drove it into the Duke's throat, turning it round and round until he eventually killed him. (1)

1 Bened. Varchi, lib. xv.; Bern. Segni, 1. vii.; Filippo de Nerli, 1. xii.; Gio. Batt. Adriani, 1. i.; Scipione Ammirato, 1. x.x.xi.; Pauli Jovii. Hist. 1. x.x.xviii.; Istorie di Marco Guazzo, fol. 159.

"Lorenzino failed to reap the fruits of the crime, which he had planned with so much skill and such profound secrecy. By the life he had led, he had aroused the distrust of all honest folks, he had no friends to whom he could apply for advice or help, he had no party behind him, he had never been known to display that zeal for liberty which he subsequently affected. Although he was the first of the Medici in the order of succession, no one thought of him. For his own part, he only thought of ensuring his safety. He locked the door of the room, taking the key away with him, and having obtained an order for the city gates to be opened, and for post-horses to be provided for him, under pretence that he had just learned that his brother was ill, in the country, he started for Bologna, whence he proceeded to Venice, accompanied by Scoronconcolo."

D. (Tale XVI., Page 183.)

With reference to this story Brantome writes as follows in the Sixth Discourse of his _Vies des Dames Galantes_:--

"In the hundred stories of Queen Margaret of Navarre we have a very fine tale of that lady of Milan who, having one night given an a.s.signation to the late M. de Bonnivet, afterwards Admiral of France, posted her maids with drawn swords on the stairs so that they might make a noise there; which they did right well, in obedience to the orders of their mistress, who for her part feigned great affright, saying that her brothers-in-law must have remarked something amiss, that she herself was lost, and that he, Bonnivet, ought to hide under the bed or behind the hangings. But M.

de Bonnivet, without evincing any fear, wrapped his cape round his arm, and taking his sword replied: 'Well, where are these brave brothers who want to frighten me, or do me harm? When they see me they will not even dare to look at the point of my sword.' Then opening the door he rushed out, and just as he was about to charge down the staircase he espied the women making all this noise; and they, taking fright at sight of him, began to cry out and confess everything. M. de Bonnivet, seeing that it was nothing more serious, left them, bidding them betake themselves to the devil; and then, returning into the room, he closed the door after him and went to find his lady, who began to laugh and embrace him, and confess to him that it was a trick devised by herself, a.s.suring him that if he had behaved as a poltroon, and had not thus displayed the valour which he was said to possess, he should never have had her favours....

She was one of the most beautiful women of Milan, and he had had a deal of trouble to win her.

"I knew a brave gentleman who, one day at Rome, was alone with a pretty Roman lady--her husband being away--and she gave him a similar alarm, causing one of her women to come in hastily to warn her that her husband had returned from the country. The lady, feigning astonishment, begged the gentleman to hide himself in a closet, as otherwise she would be lost. 'No, no,' said the gentleman; 'I would not do that for all the wealth in the world; if he comes I will kill him.' And as he seized upon his sword the lady began to laugh and confess that she had contrived this to try him so as to see how he would act, and if he would defend her well should her husband seek to do her any harm.

"I also knew a very beautiful lady who suddenly left a lover she had, because she did not find him brave, and took another who did not resemble him, but who was extremely feared and redoubted on account of his sword, he being one of the best swordsmen that could then be found."--Lalanne's _OEuvres de Brantome_, vol. ix. pp. 388-90.

E. (Tale XVII., Page 195.)

Brantome, in the Thirtieth Discourse of his _Capitaines etrangers_, writes of Furstemberg as follows:--

"Count William von Furstemberg was accounted a good and valiant captain, and would have been more highly esteemed had he not been deficient in faith, over greedy and too much addicted to pillage, as he showed once in France, when he pa.s.sed along with his troops; for after his pa.s.sage there was nothing left. He served King Francis for the s.p.a.ce of six or seven years [not more than six.--Ed.] with some five companies always numbering from six to seven thousand men; however, after this long term of services, or rather ravages and pillage, he was suspected of having designs against the King's person, as I have elsewhere related, and those who would learn more of the matter will find the story in the hundred tales of Queen Margaret of Navarre, wherein the valour, generosity and magnanimity of that great King are clearly shown. The other, in great fear, left his service and entered that of the Emperor (Charles V.). If he had not been related to Madame la Regente (Louise of Savoy), through the House of Saxony, whence sprang that of Savoy, he would possibly have met with the fate he merited, had the King been minded to it; but on this occasion the King wished to show his magnanimity rather than have him put to death by the officers of justice. Again the King pardoned him when, on the arrival of the Emperor at St. Dizier in Champagne, he was taken, sounding the river Marne, (2) which he had on other occasions well reconnoitred, in coming to or on leaving France with his troops. He was on this occasion merely sent to the Bastille, and got quit for a ransom of 30,000 crowns. Some great captains said and opined that he ought not to have been thus treated as a prisoner of war but as a real vile spy, for he had professedly acted as such; and they said, moreover, that he got off too cheaply at such a ransom, which did not represent the smallest of the larcenies that he had perpetrated in France."--Lalanne's _OEuvres de Brantome_, vol. i.

pp. 349-50.

Prior to this affair Furstemberg apparently showed some regret for his earlier schemes against Francis I., for Queen Margaret, writing to her brother in 1536, remarked:--

"Count William has asked me to write and tell you that there is a great difference between the shameful purgatory of Italy and the glorious paradise of this camp, (3) and he spoke to me of his past misdeeds, which I would rather he should speak of to you," &c.--Genin's _Lettres de Marguerite_, p. 321.

2 This occurred in September 1544. From an unpublished MS.

in the public library at Rheims it appears that Furstemberg was wearing a disguise when captured. The Emperor had sent him forward expressly to sound the river. Another unpublished MS. at the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris (_anc.

fol._ 8561. f. 22), gives some particulars of his operations about this time.--Ed.

3 That of Avignon. See vol. i. p. liv.--Ed.

In a poetic epistle sent by Margaret to Francis I. in January 1543, to celebrate the New Year, there is an allusion to a "Conte Guillaume,"

whom Messrs. de Lincy and Montaiglon conjecture to be Furstemberg, though other commentators think that the Queen refers to William Poyet, the dishonest chancellor, who was sent to the Bastille in 1542 for peculation. We share, however, the opinion of Messrs. de Lincy and Montaiglon, as in various contemporary MSS. which we have referred to, we have frequently found Furstemberg alluded to as "Conte" and "Comte Guillaume," without any mention of his surname. The pa.s.sage in Margaret's epistle alluded to above may be thus rendered in prose:--

"G.o.d, fighting for the King in every spot, curses his enemies and brings them to shame and ruin, so that none hold them of account; as witness 'Compte ["Conte" in the MS.] Guillaume,' who, in serving the King and the kingdom, became rich, feared and highly esteemed. Now, however, a fugitive, poor and contemned, he may well meditate as to whence came his honours, who it was that maintained him wealthy, happy and feared; and thus it is that all the King's enemies are cursed by G.o.d in Paradise."--_Les Marguerites de la Marguerite_, 1873, vol. ii. p. 203.

Apropos of Furstemberg the following entry occurs in M. de Laborde's _Comptes des Batiments du Roi_ (vol. ii. p. 229):--

"Paid to Francis de Cadenet, doctor to Count William of Furstemberg, as a gift and favour for his services, 30 crowns, value 67 livres 10 sols."--L., M. and Ed.

END OF VOL. II.