Os] MEN AND WOMEN OF THE ITALIAN REFORMATION by the Same Author MAXIMILIAN THE DREAMER. Demy 8vo, cloth gilt, fully illustrated, 12*. 6rf. net, Stanley Paul & Co. THE ROMANCE OF A MEDICI WARRIOR. GIOVANNI DELLE BANDE NERE. Demy 8vo, cloth gilt, fully illustrated, 10*. 6d. net. Stanley Paul <fe Co. A PRINCESS OF THE ITALIAN REFORMATION. GIULIA GONZAGA. CHARLES DE BOURBON, CONNETABLE DE FRANCE. ISABELLA OF MILAN. COURTS AND CAMPS OF THE RENAISSANCE. BALDASSARE CASTIGLIONE. THE LIFE OF LOUIS XI. MARGUERITE OF AUSTRIA. A QUEEN OF QUEENS AND THE MAKING OF SPAIN. THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES OF THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE. THE STORY OF BAYARD. DANTE THE WAYFARER. , ' d MEN AND WOMEN OF THE TALIAN REFORMATION BY CHRISTOPHER HARE 11 AUTHOR OF "MAXIMILIAN THE DREAMER," "THE ROMANCE OF A MEDICI WARRIOR," " A PRINCESS OF THE ITALIAN REFORMATION," ETC. ETC. WITH 7 ILLUSTRATIONS IN PHOTOGRAVURE LONDON STANLEY PAUL & CO 31 ESSEX STREET, STRAND, W.C. First published in 1914 TO ELIZABETH LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS RENEE OP FRANCE, DUCHESS OP FERRARA . Frontispiece FACING PAGE CARDINAL POLE . . . .- . . . .48 PIETRO MARTIRE VERMIGLI (PETER MARTYR) . . 80 JEAN CALVIN . ...112 VlTTORIA COLONNA, MARCHESA DI PESCARA . . .144 FRA BERNARDINO OCHINO 224 GlULIA GONZAGA, COUNTESS OF FONDI .... 240 INTRODUCTION MY recent book on " A Princess of the Italian Refor- mation " has been so well received that I have been encouraged to devote myself to the study of other men and women of the Italian Reformation ; less highly placed than my Princess Giulia Gonzaga Colonna, but not less interesting. The story of these Italian Protestants has proved most absorbing ; full of adventure, of heroic deeds, and too often of tragedy. We see the most highly gifted, the noblest in character and intellect of the sons and daughters of Italy in the sixteenth century, strongly drawn towards the doctrines of the Reforma- tion. We follow them one by one, until the in- evitable moment when they openly proclaim their new belief ; henceforth they are marked down by the Roman Inquisition, and the end is only a question of time. We watch their career with breathless interest as, filled with all the devotion and fortitude of the early Christian martyrs, they shew forth the truth in their lives and seal their faith undaunted ; in the flames of the Inquisition, or the more lingering martyrdom of lonely exile in an alien land, far from all that makes life precious. vii CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS INTEODUCTION CHAPTER I PRECURSORS OF THE REFORMATION Precursors of the Italian Reformation St. Augustine Francis of Assisi Dante Catherine of Siena Arnold of Brescia Girolamo Savonarola, etc. Revolt against despotism Freedom of thought Value of the printing press Influence German Literature Adrian VI His vain efforts Pressing need of reform within the Church Early Italian Reformers Circles of religious thought and study in various cities pp. 1-11 CHAPTER II "ORATORY OF DIVINE LOVE" The "Oratory of Divine Love" in Rome, composed of distinguished Churchmen Reform within the Church their chief aim Hatred of schism Paul III forms a council "Consilium de emendano Ecclesia " Composed of Gaspero Contarini, Giacomo Sadoleto, Giovan Pietro Caraffa, Federigo Fregosa, Matteo Giberti, Reginald Pole, Aleandro. Archbishop of Brindisi Life of Cardinal Contarini . . *', *. PP- iz x CONTENTS CHAPTER HI CARDINALS GIBERTI, SADOLETO AND MORONE Lif e of Cardinal Gian Matteo Giberti, Bishop of Verona, Papal Datary Life of Cardinal Jacopo Sadoleto, Bishop of Carpentras Life of Cardinal Giovanni Morone, Bishop of Modena Perse- cution of the Reformers of Modena Dispersion of the Academy of Modena Morone made Governor of Bologna After the elec- tion of Pope Paul IV, he was sent to the Council of Trenk He died in Rome in 1580 pp. 24-34 CHAPTER IV CARDINAL POLE Life of Cardinal Reginald Pole, of the Royal House of England His education at Padua Persecution of his family by Henry VIII Appointed Governor of Viterbo His intimacy there with Vittoria Colonna Some account of Vittoria Influence of Ochino's teaching upon her Her poems .... pp. 35-44 CHAPTER V RELIGIOUS CIRCLE AT VITERBO The "Oratory of Divine Love" at Viterbo Cardinal Pole Vittoria Colonna Marcantonio Flaminio, poet and philosopher The " Beneficio," a little golden book Life of Bernardino Ochino His marvellous preaching His persecution and flight The effect on Pole and Vittoria Colonna . . . pp. 45-58 CHAPTER VI CATERINA CIBO, DUCHESS OF CAMERINO Caterina Cibo, Duchess of Camerino Ochino finds a refuge in her palace at Florence Story of Caterina's life Early marriage Stormy adventures A warrior princess, she defends her home Leaves Camerino to her daughter Giulia, married to Guidobaldo of Urbino Caterina settles in Florence An earnest Reformer Her religious dialogues with Ochino . . . pp. 59-72 CONTENTS 3d CHAPTER VII PETER MARTYR AND OCHINO Story of Peter Martyr (Pietro Martire Vermigli) Born at Florence Enters Augustinian monastery at Fiesole His wonderful preaching His persecution and flight with Ochino from Italy They are invited to England by Archbishop Cranmer Peter Martyr appointed Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford Ochino made Canon of Canterbury They leave England on Queen Mary's accession Death of Martyr and of Ochino pp. 73-84 CHAPTER VIII RENEE OF FRANCE Story of Renege of France She marries Ercole of Ferrara Splendid wedding Literary society at Ferrara Ariosto, Tasso, Clement Marot, etc. Visit to Venice Death of Duke Alfonso d'Este, 1534 And of Clement VII Duke Ercole opposes the spread of Reform at Ferrara Sends away some of his wife's friends Her distress , . . . . . . pp. 85-96 CHAPTER IX CALVIN AND HIS VISIT TO FERRARA Life of Calvin At the University of Paris Marguerite of Navarre His patron Writings of Calvin "Institution Chretienne " Calvin visits Ferrara Circle of Reformers in that city Clement Marot translates the Psalms into French verse Prohibited by the Inquisition pp. 97-105 CHAPTER X THE SORROWS OF RENEE The sorrows of Renee Visit of Vittoria Colonna to Ferrara Death of Isabella d'Este Visit of Paul III He gives Renee a private Brief Martyrdom of Fannio Ren6e imprisoned and persecuted by Inquisitor Her unforeseen release Her outward conformity to the orthodox ceremonies . * v . . pp. 106-119 xii CONTENTS CHAPTER XI RENEE IN FRANCE Election of Paul IV Renewed persecution at Ferrara Death of Duke Ercole His son Alfonso succeeds Persecution of Ren6e She gives up her home and family Returns to France Letters of Calvin to her Her life at Montargis Terrible Wars of Religion in France Massacre of St. Bartholomew^ Ren6e receives the Huguenot refugees Her splendid courage Her death in 1575 . . . . . . ,-., . pp. 120-136 CHAPTER XII PIETEO PAOLO VERQERIO Pietro Paolo Vergerio, Bishop of Capo d'Istria Educated at Padua Sent as Nuncio to Germany His acquaintance with Marguerite of Navarre in Paris He openly joins the Reformers His escape to the Grisons Becomes Minister of Vicosoprano His correspondence and friendship with Olympia Morata He dies at Tubingen in 1565 pp. 136-147 CHAPTER XIII OLYMPIA MORATA The story of Olympia Morata Her early life and classical education Attains wonderful proficiency Lectures on Cicero At the Court of Ferrara as teacher of Anna d'Este Her friendship with Lavinia della Rovere Death of her father, Fulvio Penegrino Morato pp. 148-168 CHAPTER XIV OLYMPIA MORATA (continued) Trouble and persecution for Olympia Morata She devotes herself to religious study Much impressed by the endurance and martyr- dom of Fannio Olympia marries Andrew Grunthler, a young German physician She is driven to leave Ferrara Travels with her husband to Augsburg He receives an appointment in his native town of Schweinfurt .... pp. 159-169 CONTENTS xiii CHAPTER XV OLYMPIA MOEATA (continued) Life of Olympia Morata and her husband at Schweinfurt Her literary work and education of her brother Emilio Troubles in Germany concerning the " Interim " News of fresh persecution at Ferrara Olympia translates some of the Psalms into Greek verse Her correspondence with Curione War in Germany Albert of Brandenburg seizes Schweinfurt The city is besieged by other great nobles pp. 170-179 CHAPTER XVI MISFORTUNES AND DEATH OF OLYMPIA Siege of Schweinfurt The city sacked and pillaged Terrible suffer- ings of Olympia Her escape to Heidelberg with her husband and brother Her destitution and loss of her library Generosity of her friends The plague at Heidelberg Devotion of Andrew Grunthler Illness and death of Olympia Morata Her wonderful writings Memorial hymn to her memory Death of Andrew Grunthler and the young Emilio Morato . . pp. 180-192 CHAPTER XVII CELIO SECUNDO OUEIONE Life of Celio Secundo Curione At the University of Turin Adopts the Reformed opinions Taken prisoner on his way to Germany Sent to a monastery His escape to Milan Life at Casale, at Pavia, and Ferrara Friendship with the Morata family Com- pelled to seek refuge at Lausanne, by persecution Works of Curione His splendid talent and scholarship His family Tragic losses Death of Curione, 1569 . . -pp. 193-206 xiv CONTENTS CHAPTER XVIII AONIO PALEARIO Life of Aonio Paleario Born at Veroli Early studies Visits Padua and Perugia Settles at Siena His eloquence and learned writings Persecuted at Rome for his opinions Professor at Lucca, and at Milan Condemned by the Inquisition ; taken to Rome, where he suffered martyrdom, 1570 Attended by the Misericordia Letters to his wife and children . pp. 207-218 CHAPTER XIX A REFORMATION AT NAPLES The Reformation at Naples Circle of Juan de Valdes His earlier Life His writings " Mercuric y Caron " Brief account of Giulia Gonzaga, Countess of Fondi The influence of Vald6s on her religious faith The " Alfabeta Cristiano " (Dialogues between Valdes and Giulia) She devotes her life to works of charity Her former brilliant literary society at Fondi, when Ariosto and Tasso sang her praises . . . pp. 219-230 CHAPTER XX VALDES AND GIULIA GONZAGA The religious teaching of Valdes His devoted circle of friends at his home at Chiaja The " Cento e dieci Divine Consider a tione " They were highly praised by Nicolas Ferrer and George Herbert Valdes dedicates his " Studies on the Epistles " to Giulia Gonzaga Vittoria Colonna, Costanza d'Avalos, Isabella Brisegna and other noble ladies amongst his disciples Death of Valdes, 1541 Various letters of Giulia . . . .pp. 231-240 CONTENTS xv CHAPTER XXI GIULIA GONZAGA, COUNTESS OF FONDI Giulia Gonzaga has the care of her nephew Vespasiano, son of her brother Luigi (Rodomonte) Gonzaga Devotes herself to his education and career Vespasiano enters the service of Charles V, and later of Philip II Attempt to force the Inquisition on Naples is frustrated Letters of Giulia Her failing health Ippolita Gonzaga Death of Giula Gonzaga, 1566 . pp. 241-251 CHAPTER XXII GALBAZZO CABACCIOLI Story of Galeazzo Caraccioli, a young noble of Naples Influence of the teaching of Peter Martyr Galeazzo studies the Reformed doctrines He resolves to forsake his native land and his family, and travels to Geneva, where he can openly confess his faith Imploring entreaties from his father and his wife He remains firm to the end Half his life spent in Geneva . pp. 252-262 CHAPTER XXHI PIBTBO CAENESECCHI Life of Pietro Carnesecchi Born at Florence Clement VII invites him to Rome A brilliant scholar Sack of Rome, 1527 Carne- secchi goes to Florence, meets Ochino, and later at Naples is introduced to Valdes by Giulia Gonzaga Joins the Reformers, in the circle of Valdes at Naples Meets Vittoria Colonna and Cardinal Pole at Viterbo Visits Venice, the centre of German literature Meets Caterina Cibo at Florence Summoned before the Inquisition, but released by Paul III . . pp. 263-275 xvi CONTENTS CHAPTER XXIV CARNESECCHI IN PARIS Carneseochi goes to ParisMeets Marguerite of Navarre Presents her with the poems of Marcantonio Flaminio Paul IV threatens fresh persecutions Carnesecchi tried by the Inquisition His constant letters to Giulia Gonzaga She advises him not to escape to Geneva Many of his friends in the prisons of the Inquisition pp. 276-288 CHAPTER XXV CARNESECCHI HIS MARTYRDOM Death of Paul IV Revolt in Rome The people storm the Inquisition, set free the prisoners Carnesecchi remains in Rome to have his sentence reversed Long anxious waiting He goes to Florence On the accession of Pius V (Michele Ghislieri), Carnesecchi is given up by Cosimo, Duke of Florence He is taken to Rome, and suffers martyrdom His trial by the Inquisition ; and inci- dentally, all his friends are arraigned for heresy, living or dead pp. 289-300 CHIEF AUTHORITIES CONSULTED . * . pp. 301-304 INDEX pp. 305-309 MEN AND WOMEN OF THE ITALIAN REFORMATION CHAPTER I PRECURSORS OF THE ITALIAN REFORMATION Precursors of the Italian Reformation St. Augustine Francis of Assisi Dante Catherine of Siena Arnold of Brescia Girolamo Savonarola, etc. Revolt against despotism Freedom of thought Value of the printing press Influence of German literature- Adrian VI His vain efforts Pressing need of reform within the Church Early Italian Reformers Circles of religious thought and study in various cities. THE Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, in Italy as elsewhere, was born from the combined action of spiritual forces and of the new intellectual move- ment and social upheaval, in every land and amongst men of every degree. This great awakening of the religious spirit was no new thing in the world's history, for the Reformers claimed kindred with many heralds and precursors, since the very dawn of Christianity. Luther boldly asserted this truth when he declared that " St. Paul and St. Augustine had been Hussites." He had discovered that he himself was a Hussite, 1 without knowing it, when compelled to give reasons 1 John Huss, the Bohemian martyr, who preached the doctrines of Wycliffe in the fourteenth century. A friend of King Wenceslaus and his Queen. 1 2 A ITALIAN REFORMATION for the Faith that was in him, at that momentous discussion before the Diet of Augsburg in 1518. Through the long centuries of darkness and oppres- sion, we see the torch of spiritual and evangelical teaching handed on from one devout, courageous teacher to another, so that the truth was never without a witness upon earth. The note of St. Paul's doctrine rings through the writings of the earlier Saints and Confessors, until we hear its echoes in St. Augustine's mystical dream of an ideal city in the Heavens : " De Civitate Dei." In that earnest cry to God : " Thou hast made us unto Thyself, and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee/' we find the key-note of St. Augustine's " Con- fessions/' The same spiritual idea is carried out as we trace the inspiring roll-call of that noble army of the early mystics, who prepared the way for the Refor- mation by their fiery ardour and spiritual devotion. Amongst these pioneers of a purer worship, some names have for us an undying charm. Take St. Francis of Assisi, at once the holy prophet of Umbria and the child-like saint, who passed like a ray of sunshine through the gloom of the Middle Ages and, himself the very soul of cha,rity, preached a God of mercy and love. Or again Dante, the mystic and the seer ; was there ever more passionate zeal for reform than inspired the pilgrim of the " Divina Commedia " ? Consumed with the fiery zeal of the Ghibelline against the despotism and ambition of the Church, he leads us entranced through Hell and Purgatory and Paradise, ever the stern denouncer of sin and the sweet singer of the joys of purity and holiness. In the next century, we cannot pass over the PRECURSORS OF THE REFORMATION 3 gallant-hearted St. Catherine of Siena, whose passion for encouraging peace upon earth was as great as her earnest desire for a complete reform of the Church. We see her leading a life of devoted self-sacrifice, winning all hearts by her boundless charity, recon- ciling the opposite interests of fierce faction leaders, causing wars to cease, and finally leading back in triumph a Sovereign Pontiff to his duties in Rome. Amongst the precursors of the Reformation, men- tion must be made of the splendid work done by a succession of pious impassioned preachers through- out Italy, such as Arnold of Brescia in the twelfth century, Giovanni of Vicenza in the thirteenth, Giacoponi di Todi in the fourteenth century, and by San Bernadino of Florence in the fifteenth. But last and perhaps greatest of these inspired teachers of pure religion was Girolamo Savonarola (1452- 1498). His story is so well known that I will merely touch upon his marvellous passion and eloquence, strengthened by that magnetic influence which has power to move the souls of men. His idea of the Church was mediaeval, his theology was that of Aquinas, but the most famous humanists of Florence became his disciples. Amongst these were Pico della Mirandola (the admirable Crichton of his day), who had " sought to reconcile the dialectics of Aristotle with the oracles of Chaldea," and Ficino of the Academy. Lorenzo the Magnificent sent for the Friar to minister at his deathbed, while over the masses of the people his influence spread with the overwhelming force of a great revival. Deeply ingrained with the reforming spirit, he boldly de- nounced iniquity in high places, and called upon all to repent and serve God, in spirit and in truth. 4 ITALIAN REFORMATION But we know the sad end ; how his wonderful career ended in a cruel death, and the people whom he had sought to save were only affected for a time ; his standard was too high for all but his most devout listeners. As Villari says : " He chiefly helped Luther by giving the world a final proof that it was hopeless to hope for the purification of an Italian city/' But all the earlier mystics of thought, and word, and deed, had done their work ; and when Luther and the later Reformers added the authority and guidance of the Word of God in the Bible, and taught with St. Paul : " Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace in God " ; the more thought- ful and earnest of the modern mystics were amongst the first to embrace the new doctrine. Here was the guiding truth they wanted, which mysticism alone could never give. Moreover on all sides there had long been a loosen- ing of bonds and a widening of horizons ; a revolt against despotism which would learn nothing, and a growth of enterprise and personality. We see this very clearly with regard to the marvellous beginning of the world's exploration, which in earlier days was crushed as much as possible by Papal opposition. Thus the doctrine of the " Antipodes " was held to be a damnable heresy, and Pope Zacharias declared it " perverse and iniquitous/' Peter of Abano was condemned by the Inquisition in 1316, and a few years later Cecco d'Ascoli was burned alive in Florence, both partly on account of their belief in the " Antipodes/' But later on, when Columbus and other great explorers had proved all that the Church so emphatically denied the shape of the earth, the races living where theologians had asserted PRECURSORS OF THE REFORMATION 5 that none could live . . . the prestige of the Pope's omniscience was severely shaken, and the minds of men were quickened by the dream of vast possibili- ties. It was the same with regard to the astronomical theories of Copernicus, and of Galileo, who died a prisoner of the Inquisition ; but truth was destined to spread and prevail, and set the world free from the heaviest fetters of superstition. But the " most formidable instrument of modern reason/' as Symonds calls it, was undoubtedly the Printing Press, invented about the middle of the fifteenth century, and made really effective by the coincidence of cheap paper being first available. This has been called the greatest event in history, and it is impossible to over-state its importance. Knowledge was no longer the property of the favoured few ; the art of printing spread the wisdom of the past and the most advanced ideas of the present broadcast throughout the world. It turned a mere discussion amongst scholars at Wittenberg into a revolution which shook the Church of Rome to its very foundations. The printing press diffused throughout Europe innumerable copies of the Bible, without which the Protestant movement of the sixteenth century could never have met with success. There were many reasons why the first awakening of the Reformation should take place in Northern Europe, where the influence of the Renaissance had been chiefly confined to Theology and scholastic Philosophy. In Germany the free towns of the twelfth century had long been homes of civil and intellectual liberty, and the democratic spirit had conduced to a robust temper, and independent mind 6 ITALIAN REFORMATION hostile to sacerdotalism. The conditions hi Italy were far less favourable to freedom of mind or body. When the earnest religious movement of the North spread across the Alps, it was at first looked upon by the humanists of the Italian Renaissance such as the dilettanti of Florence as a mysterious barbaric force, and the eternal conflict was renewed between the man of faith who lived for the future, and the man of taste who lived for the past. Still, the intercourse between Italy and Germany was very close, and the demand for liberty of opinion was felt by both countries, while the need for Reform became everywhere a growing conviction. But Christian zeal might conquer Pagan culture, and it often chanced that the highly strung devotee of the Classical Renaissance who came to criticise the new teaching, remained to cast down his pride, in lowly prayer. As it was with Pico della Mirandola at the preaching of Savonarola, so we shall see it happen again and again in the following story of the Men and Women of the Italian Renaissance. In tracing the progress of this great religious movement in Italy, it is interesting to observe how, at first, it aimed at little more than the internal reform of the Church, by limiting the power of the Curia, asserting the supreme authority of the General Councils, putting an end to corrupt practices and raising a higher standard of personal devotion and moral conduct. Men who came under the influence of the New Spirit, and desired to carry out these reforms, were able to work together in the beginning ; but as time passed on they drifted far apart, as some more ardent spirits felt it necessary to withdraw from a Church which would not be reformed, while PRECURSORS OF THE REFORMATION 7 others hated the very thought of schism and refused to take any step which would separate them from the Communion of the Church of Rome. Amongst those who looked upon the movement as a protest against practical abuses, we must mention Adrian of Utrecht, Bishop of Tortosa, who had been tutor to Charles V and had already carried out great reforms in the religious Houses of Spain. A man of deep piety and learning, he ascended the papal throne in 1522 with a stern resolution to set the Church in order. He gave an example of extreme simplicity and austerity in his own household, but when he attempted to influence the Curia, he soon found that the Cardinals were firmly resolved not to be reformed. Quite satisfied with the scholastic theology of St. Thomas, he himself had no desire for doctrinal changes, although he vainly besought his friend Erasmus to come and help him in the struggle against abuses. Pope Adrian died within two years, having apparently achieved nothing. Still, all honest effort must leave some trace behind, and Adrian VI was at least sincere in his desire for real reform. We are not surprised at the refusal of Erasmus to help him in so mighty a task, for he was not the man to take up a forlorn hope ; yet we cannot resist a passing vision of the vast possibilities which might have arisen before the great German scholar, had his brilliant talents been supported by the whole- hearted courage of his opinions. Not even the most ardent defenders of the Romish Church have attempted to deny the terrible abuses which had crept in on every side, and Adrian was by no means the first Pope who had boldly struggled against them. We cannot forget how Gregory VII 8 ITALIAN REFORMATION had openly thundered out his denunciations from the Chair of St. Peter ; and there was another Pope, Enea Silvio Piccolomini, Pius II, who wrote in his epistles : " The Court of Rome gives nothing without money ; the laying on of hands and the gifts of the Holy Spirit are sold ; pardon is only given to those who can pay for it." Perhaps the strongest language comes from a saint : Catherine of Siena, who, after having compared the Pope to Judas, Pilate and Lucifer, writes : " The ten commandments are converted into one, ' Bring us money ! ' Rome is a gulf of Hell, where the Devil presides and sells the benefits which Christ acquired by his Passion, whence comes the proverb : " ' Curia Romana non petit ovem sine lana ; Dantes exaudit, non dantibus ostia claudit.'" A certain preacher, ending his sermon with the usual appeal to " abundant alms/* thus illustrated his demand : ' You ask me, dearest brethren, the way to Paradise ? The monastery bells teach it you with their ringing cry : * Give ! give ! give ! ' (' Dan-do ! dan-do! dan-do!')." So great was the wealth and corruption of the ecclesiastics, that the Third Lateran Council was obliged to impose sumptuary laws ; thus, there was a limit of forty or fifty carriages for a cardinal, thirty or forty for an archbishop, bishops were to be satisfied with twenty-five, archdeacons with five or six, and deacons with only two horses each. In order to maintain their sumptuous establishments, these churchmen combined many benefices under their control, forty or fifty being often held by one man. This same corruption was found in all orders of the PRECURSORS OF THE REFORMATION 9 Church ; everywhere the sacraments were sold, the evil life of priests was the common jest of every writer on social subjects, many of the monasteries had lost all discipline and were hotbeds of corruption. So much has been written on this subject that it will be enough for our purpose to state a few salient and undisputed facts. But amidst all these widespread signs of a low tone in morality and religion, there was not wanting, below the surface, a general reaction of the national conscience in Italy, and this was undoubtedly to a great extent strengthened by the influence and example of the German Reformers. Their books were already spreading throughout the country to an extraordinary extent, and every famous printing- house was busy with new editions of the Fathers, Translations of the Bible, and Commentaries on the Epistles, etc. All these were read and studied by men of note and influence, who were to take a leading part in the reforming movement. Gian Matteo Giberti, highly honoured for his piety and sincerity, was one of those who carried into action the opinions he had accepted. He was appointed Datary by Clement VII, and Bishop of Verona in 1524, where his administration of the diocese and successful reform of the clergy was a shining example to other prelates. Giberti also founded a learned soceity in Verona and a Greek printing-press which published good editions of the Fathers of the Church. Reginald Pole, at this time still a layman, was one of the professors at the University of Padua, and his household also became a centre of Catholic reform. In Venice, where toleration was a State principle, there was a large Teutonic colony, having its centre in the 10 ITALIAN REFOBMATION Fondaco de' Tedeschi, and the books of Luther found * their way here as early as 1519, and were eagerly bought, although by command of the Patriarch, many of them were seized and destroyed. However, even at this early date, works of the German reformers were translated into Italian and published anony- mously, with a wide circulation. Amongst these were Luther's sermons on the Lord's Prayer, and Melanchthon's " Loci Communes," under the title of " I Principii della Teologia." Fra Andrea of Ferrara, who preached during Christmas 1520, at San Marco and in the open air, was described as " following the doctrine of Martin Luther." The same was said of Giambattista Pallavicino, a Carmelite friar who preached at Brescia in the Lent of 1527 ; while three " heretic teachers " are spoken of at Mirandola in 1524. Amongst these earlier reformers in North Italy, we are told of a Florentine physician Girolamo di Bartolemmeo Buongrazia, who confessed that he had accepted the teaching of Luther in 1527. Como appears to have been a centre of disaffection since the days of Julius II, and various Austin friars de- sired to leave their native land and join Zwingli in 1525 ; while some priests at Como preached against the current doctrine of the Eucharist, and " were laying hands on others who were to administer the Eucharist in both kinds." These are only a few instances, but we shall see how, after the death of Clement VII in 1534, the Keforming spirit spread and increased on all sides, and was especially strong in certain cities, which formed well-defined centres. Of these the most important were, Venice and its neighbourhood ; Vicenza, Brescia, Cittadella, Miran- PRECURSORS OF THE REFORMATION 11 dola, Como, Padua ; Ferrara, Modena, Rome and Viterbo ; Milan, Piacenza, and last but not least, Naples and Lucca. It will be interesting to follow out the history of all these various circles, to trace the steady rise and progress of this religious movement, and to enter fully into the most interesting, and too often tragic story of the devoted Men and Women of the Reforma- tion, who endured sorrow and suffering for their religion and, in many cases, sealed their faith by a martyr's death. CHAPTER II ORATORY OF DIVINE LOVE The Oratory of Divine Love, formed by a number of distinguished churchmen Reform within the Church their chief aim Hatred of schism Paul III forms a council : " Consilium de emendando Ecclesia " Composed of Gaspero Contarini, Giacomo Sadoleto Bishop of Carpentras, Giovan Pietro Caraffa, Federigo Fregoso, Matteo Giberti, Reginald Pole, Aleandro Archbishop of Brindisi, Gregorio Cortese and Tomaso Badia Life of Cardinal Contarini. IT has been suggested that those who took part in the Reforming movement of the sixteenth century in Italy, might be divided into three distinct classes. First : those earnest and devout members of the Church of Rome, who were aware of the serious abuses which had crept in on every side, in morals, in discipline and in every form of religious govern- ment, and who felt that a complete reform of the hierarchy and of all institutions connected with the Church of Rome, was absolutely indispensable. But if they desired a return to the simpler forms of an earlier Christianity, at the same time they firmly adhered to the dogmas and doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church of their day. Secondly : were those who fully agreed in advo- cating the necessity of external reform, but whose opinions had been influenced to some extent by the new doctrines of Luther anism, and who longed for a simpler creed. They were especially drawn 12 ORATORY OF DIVINE LOVE 13 towards the doctrines of justification by faith, and salvation by the merits of Christ, and were disposed to look upon the Bible as the sole authority in matters of belief. But the members of this class had, as yet, no wish to withhold allegiance from the Pope as the Head of Christendom, and they shrank with horror from the thought of schism, or cutting themselves off from the Catholic communion. Thirdly : we find a small band of whole-hearted and devoted disciples of the Reformed Faith, who were willing to sacrifice everything for their religion, which to them was far dearer than life or liberty martyr spirits who gladly, for conscience' sake, went forth to meet persecution, exile or death. Yet it was not possible for these three classes of reformers to be severed by any clear line of demarca- tion ; as we shall see in the coming history of the Men and Women of the Italian Reformation, one division imperceptibly melts into the other, or indeed one reformer may actually pass through all three phases. Belonging in a great measure to the first class of Reformers was a most interesting group of nearly sixty members which, as early as the reign of Leo X, began to meet in Rome for the purpose of attempting to reform the Catholic Church from within. This pious society, which was called " The Oratory of Divine Love," was founded in 1523, in the rectory of Giuliano Dati, close to the little church of S. Dorotea in Trastevere, on the slope of the Janiculum, near the traditional site of St. Peter's martyrdom. In the religious circle, united by one high moral ideal, were churchmen of every rank, and laymen alike distinguished by learning and virtue, men of every U ITALIAN REFORMATION tendency of thought ; but the humanist and the ascetic, the doctrinal and the practical reformer worked together in harmony. The society was founded on the principle that the reform of the Church must be built upon the religious reform of the individual, as well as upon that of the spiritual hierarchy. Full of zeal and devotion, they pledged themselves to devote more time to private and public prayer, and by religious reading and medita- tion, to do all in their power to deepen and spiritualise the foundations of Christian life. One striking feature of these meetings was the revival of the study of St. Augustine's works, which had been so great a power in the mediaeval Church. As Reginald Pole said : " The jewel which the Church had so long kept half concealed was again brought to light." It is strange to find amongst the leaders of this religious movement, who thus worked together in apparent brotherly love, the names of men who in after years were ranged in opposite camps amongst the persecutors of the Roman Inquisition on one side, and the victims and martyrs of that dread tribunal on the other. Here we see the gentle Gaspero Contarini, made Cardinal in 1535 ; Giacomo Sadoleto Bishop of Carpentras, Gian Matteo Giberti Bishop of Verona, Bonifacio da Colle, Paolo Con- sigliere, Tullio Crispaldo, Latino Giovenale, Luigi Lippomano, Giuliano Dati, Gaetano da Thiene the founder of the Theatines, canonised later and many others, amongst whom, last not least, was Giovan Pietro Caraffa, later zealous Inquisitor and Pope under the name of Paul IV. Caracciolo, in his Life of this Pope Paul IV, grows ORATORY OF DIVES E LOVE 15 enthusiastic at the mention of those early days when Caraffa was a member of the Oratory of Divine Love, which he describes as " a tower or citadel to defend the laws of God and to drive back the impetuous attacks of vice and irreligion." If the endeavour failed in its high purpose of reform and unity, it had at least the merit of creating a kind of public opinion on the necessity of such reform within the Church, as should cause the laws and customs of the Church to follow the example and the precepts of its first Founder. We may add that it was in reality a peaceful conspiracy which almost carried out its high purpose by the sacrifice of the noblest of the conspirators. It proved a hopeless task to check the course of vice and corruption ; the Council of Trent was a final attempt, but the most gallant pioneers met with nothing but ingratitude and disaster. The Oratory of Divine Love, which had fought in vain against the pagan and worldly life in Rome, did not survive the terrible storm of the capture and sack of the city in 1527. But in Venice, which offered almost the only safe place of refuge in Italy, a community joined to form an oratory of somewhat the same kind. Here Caraffa, Priuli, Contarini, Reginald Pole, and some Florentine fugitives amongst whom was Antonio Bruccioli, the translator of the Bible into Italian, and the poet Marcantonio Flaminio, met together for prayer and meditation. Somewhat similar societies were also formed later in many other Italian cities ; Naples, Modena, Ferrara, Florence, Bologna, Lucca, Viterbo, etc., which we shall have occasion to consider later. It was to the group of pious and learned men who 16 ITALIAN REFORMATION had joined the first Oratory of Divine Love in Rome that Pope Paul III turned for help, in his famous effort to reform the Church, in 1537. He summoned Cardinal Contarini from Venice, and requested him to form a Council of distinguished churchmen to carry out his wishes. Contarini gladly undertook the congenial task, and suggested the names of Caraffa Bishop of Chieti, Federigo Fregoso Bishop of Gubbio, Sadoleto Bishop of Carpentras, Matteo Giberti Bishop of Verona, Reginald Pole who was then living at Padua, Gregorio Cortese a Benedictine monk, Tomaso Badia Master of the Palace, and Aleandro Archbishop of Brindisi. Briefs were sent to all who were absent by the Pope, who received them with flattering courtesy, expressing his high opinion of their learning and judgment. These nine chosen members of the Conference were requested to note in writing what reforms they thought needful in the Church, and at the same time were sworn to secrecy. During two years, constant meetings were held in the house of Cardinal Contarini ; the whole subject of abuses in the Church and their remedy, was thoroughly discussed, and Cardinal CarafEa, who from his age had most experience, appears to have drawn up the twenty-eight articles relating to ec- clesiastical discipline, under the title of " Consilium de emend anda Ecclesia." Had it been thoroughly carried out, it would indeed have been a self-denying ordi- nance on the part of the cardinals and other great prelates who drew it up ! Here it was enacted that " the power of the Keys was not to be used for gain of money, but according to the command of Christ : freely ye have received and freely give." Pensions ORATORY OF DIVINE LOVE 17 were not to be established on the incomes of benefices, save for charitable purposes and for the poor clergy; . . . the succession of benefices to relations was forbidden and also plurality of benefices ; . . . bishops were to live in their sees ; and cardinals also ; . . . dispensations for marriages etc. were only to be granted in very special cases and then always " gratis." . . . Certain printed books especially the " Colloquies of Erasmus/' were interdicted . . . there were recommendations to encourage peace and harmony and to watch over hospitals and the care of orphans and widows . . . etc. etc. But no one was satisfied with the " Consilium." The most ardent supporters of the Church were furious at having so many abuses enumerated ; while honest men like Cardinal Contarini, felt that no real progress was made in the direction of reform, until abuses were actually put an end to. A copy of the great Edict had prematurely reached Germany, and it was published with a stinging preface by the famous Jean Sturm of the Academy of Strasburg. He compli- mented the Pope and the Cardinals on their good intentions, but he asked " why there was no mention of preaching the Gospel, of reading the Bible, of reforming the faith and life of the nations ? '' The only remedy for abuses was to put an end to super- stitious fables, and scholastic quibbles which darken the mind without satisfying the conscience. It was the old story of the Pharisees who " strain at a gnat and swallow a camel." Luther expressed his opinion of the vaunted " Consilium," by a picture in the frontispiece of his book, representing the Pope seated upon a very high throne, surrounded by Cardinals, who held in 2 18 ITALIAN REFORMATION their hands long poles to which the tails of foxes were fastened by branches of flowering broom. By a curious irony of fate, when Cardinal Carafia became Pope as Paul IV, he placed this " Consilium " in the Index of prohibited works for the year 1559. He also arraigned for heresy before the Roman Inquisition, most of the colleagues who, under his direction, had drawn up this unlucky document. Indeed almost all of those who had joined the Oratory of Divine Love became the object of suspicion and of cruel persecution ; some were only saved by premature death from the flames of the Inquisition. It will be interesting at this point, to give a short account of a few of the more distinguished members of the learned and religious society. Gaspero Contarini was born in the year 1483, in Venice, at a time when that city was at the height of her prosperity and magnificence ; when her merchant princes ruled the sea, before the discovery of America had raised up rivals in her world-wide commerce. The father of Gaspero was a prosperous merchant who would have had his son follow in his steps, had not the boy shown so strong a taste for learning as to kindle the ambition of Luigi Contarini, who had him taught by the most famous professors of Venice. He was sent to Padua at the age of eighteen to learn Greek under Marco Musurus, the distinguished pupil of Lascari, and he studied the philosophy of Aristotle with the great Mantuan scholar, Pietro Pomponazzo. Amongst his companions at Padua were the traveller and historian, Andrea Navagero and the physican Fracastoro, whose theories were so much in advance of his time. A splendid career opened out before Gaspero, who ORATORY OF DIVINE LOVE 19 in 1521 was sent by the Republic as ambassador to the Emperor Charles V. He was much attracted by young Contarini, and took him from Worms to the siege of Tournay in his suite ; thence to England and lastly back to Spain. Here he was able to solve a mathematical problem which puzzled the wise men of the day. In September of the year 1522, a certain ship named the Vittoria arrived from the East, laden with cloves and spice from the Molucca Islands which it had reached sailing west. It was the first ship which had thus sailed round the world, and the captain, Sebastian de Elcano, was rewarded by the Emperor with armorial bearings of a terrestrial globe and the proud motto : " Primus circumdedisti me." Sebastian had kept an exact account of each twenty- four hours during the voyage, but he was amazed to find, when he reached San Lucar at the mouth of the Guadalquiver the port of Seville that it was not Sunday, September 7, as he believed, but Monday the 8th. This was much discussed amongst the learned, but it was Contarini who made the calculation, that by sailing westward round the world, they had lost a day. After the sack of Rome in 1527, Contarini was sent as ambassador from Venice to Pope Clement VII, in order to induce him to lessen his enormous demand upon the Republic of 100,000 ducats of gold, as a salt-tax. He was able not only to serve his country with the Pope but also with the Emperor, whom he met at Bologna and from whom he obtained very advantageous terms of peace. On his return, the Senate appointed him one of the chief magistrates of his native city. A few years later, in 1535, a 20 ITALIAN REFORMATION messenger from the new Pope, Paul III, brought the surprising news that Gasparo Contarini had been raised to the dignity of Cardinal. He was at first doubtful whether he would accept this honour, but he yielded to the persuasion of his friends, with the hope that he might be useful in promoting the much- needed reform of the Church. This appointment gave general satisfaction, and Reginald Pole, who was in Venice at the time, said that he had heard of virtue being honoured for its own sake, but had never before seen so striking an instance of it. It was when Cardinal Contarini was established in Rome, that he was called upon by Paul III to carry out the scheme of reform of which we have already seen the practical failure in spite of Contarini's earnest efforts. The new Pope was, however, quite satisfied with his futile attempt at reforming abuses, and he was easily persuaded by interested prelates and cardinals that no more could be done without danger to the whole policy of the Roman Court. However, he was quite aware of Contarini's honest zeal, and willingly took his advice in the creation of new Cardinals of high character. Amongst these we find, Federigo Fregoso, Sadoleto, Matteo Giberti, Reginald Pole and Gregorio Cortese, a Benedictine monk of the convent of Lerins in Provence. When, in 1538, Paul III went to Nice to meet the Emperor and the French King, Francois I, Contarini accompanied him and was received with special honour by Queen Marguerite of Navarre, who had heard with the greatest interest of his reformed opinions. Two years later, after various ineffectual efforts to settle religious differences amongst his ORATORY OF DIVINE LOVE 21 subjects, the Emperor convoked a Diet at Ratisbon and, desiring the presence of a prelate of authority and learning, he asked the Pope to send Cardinal Contarini as his Legate. Paul III readily agreed, and both Charles V and his brother Ferdinand gave the warmest reception to their old friend. At this moment, there seemed more hope of agreement than ever before, as earnest men of both sides felt that the peace of Europe hung upon their decision. No one could have been better suited than Contarini to bring these momentous discussions to a satisfactory end, and the Emperor, who himself presided at the Diet, desired nothing more earnestly than a complete agreement between the opposing views. While at Ratisbon, Cardinal Contarini had written a tract, in the form of a letter, on the vexed question of " justification by faith," in which he came to the conclusion that this doctrine was the foundation of the Christian Faith. Many Romanists as well as the Protestants appeared to agree upon this difficult subject, although in point of fact different meanings were given to the words, and there was a constant quibble about the expression " faith alone." Faith must be living and active ; and justification must depend both on " inherent " and " imputed " right- eousness. But the serious obstacle to all concord was the secret duplicity of the Pope and his most devoted adherents, such as Caraffa and Aleander. He was informed from day to day of all that passed ; his consent was needed for every point, and he was absolutely opposed to any reform of doctrine which would interfere with the papal prerogative. After a time it became quite clear that no final settlement could be carried at this Conference, which was there- 22 ITALIAN REFORMATION fore brought to an end by the Emperor after nearly three months of weary discussion. It had been a time of great anxiety and disappoint- ment to Contarini, but Charles V fully appreciated the strenuous and earnest labours of the Cardinal, who was in failing health, and had exerted himself beyond his strength. He was rewarded by being appointed to the Government of Bologna, where he was received by the inhabitants with the greatest enthusiasm. Here he was able to carry out his high ideal of a just and careful rule, for he devoted him- self to the good of his subjects ; was always patient in hearing disputes and trying to act as peacemaker by preventing lawsuits. He gave public audience once a week in a large hall open to all his people, where those who thought themselves wronged or aggrieved came to make complaint, and the Cardinal employed his keen intellect and warm charity in righting wrongs and turning foes into friends. Paul III had been anxious to send him on a diplo- matic mission to the Emperor, but he was suddenly taken ill with fever in the great heat of the month of August, 1542 ; and when his devoted secretary Beccadelli expressed the hope that he would soon be ready for his journey, he replied : "I must prepare myself to appear in the presence of another and a greater Emperor/' He spoke with deep gratitude of the blessings he had received, and expressed his readiness to depart this life. His only regret was that he could not do more for his poor people, and he passed away in peaceful hope and faith. His death was an irreparable loss to the cause of conciliation, and the universal grief of rich and poor was a well-deserved testimony to his noble and loving ORATORY OF DIVINE LOVE 23 character. He was a man of great learning and wide study, not only in theology but in every branch of philosophy. His knowledge of Aristotle was so profound that it was commonly said " if the books of that author were lost, he could reproduce them from memory, word for word." His fearless and outspoken honesty won him the highest respect and admiration, and made him a great favourite with the Emperor who hated flattery, while it gave him power- ful influence for good on Paul III. Contarini was ever a generous patron to poor scholars, and his hospitality was boundless to all who needed it, for as he said : " God has not called me to this high station for my own convenience but for the service of others." It has been well said of him that " he was one of the noblest figures in an age of great men, and the blessing of the peacemaker was his." CHAPTER III CARDINALS GIBERTI, SADOLETO AND MORONE Life of Cardinal Gian Matteo Giberti, Bishop of Verona, Papal Datary Life of Cardinal Jacopo Sadoleto, Bishop of Carpentras Life of Cardinal Giovanni Morone, Bishop of Modena Perse- cution of the Reformers of Modena Dispersion of the Academy of Modena Morone made Governor of Bologna After the elec- tion of Pope Paul IV, he was sent to the Council of Trent He died in Rome in 1580. AMONGST the members of the Oratory of Divine Love who deserve a special notice, the most important, after Cardinal Contarini, is Gian Matteo Giberti Bishop of Verona, one of the most eminent men of his tune for learning and piety. His talents were early recognised by Pope Clement VII who appointed him Papal Datary, 1 and was much under his influence. At the terrible sack of Rome in 1527, Giberti took refuge with the Pope in the Castle of St. Angelo, and endured later great suffering and peril as one of his hostages. After this awful experience, the Bishop retired to his See at Verona, where he devoted himself to the wise government of those under his rule, to the reform of ecclesiastical abuses, and to theological study. In order to encourage this, he started a printing-house in his own palace with the chief object of giving to the world correct editions of the Greek Fathers. 3 Originally meaning the Secretary who dated answers to memorials. 24 GIBERTI, SADOLETO AND MORONE 25 As we have already seen, he was one of the col- leagues selected by his friend Contarini for the impor- tant task of drawing up the famous " Consilium," and he shared the cruel disappointment of this failure in advancing the cause of true reform. His home became a centre of religious and literary activity, where all the illustrious men of his day gathered together for encouragement and study, and to profit by the wise counsel of the Bishop who had gained so broad an experience in diplomacy during his various important missions to England and France. "1 One of his most devoted admirers was the delightful poet Marcantonio Flaminio, who had studied under Giberti at Padua, and who accompanied him as secretary to Verona. Another special friend and constant correspondent was Reginald Pole, who as early as 1525, when he went to Rome, was surprised at the wonderful reception awaiting him in Florence and other towns, and only later discovered the honours thus paid him, were due to the kindness of the Bishop of Verona, whom he had not yet seen. We have not space even to touch upon the extremely interesting correspondence of Cardinal Giberti and his friends, but on the occasion of a stay at Liege in July 1537, we have a vivid picture of the life they led. " The Bishop of Verona is our master of ceremonies. After Office, we hear Mass and dine at midday. During dinner there is reading from St. Bernard and conversation. On leaving table, the Bishop of Verona generally reads a chapter of Eusebius : ' De Demon- stratione Evangelica/ Then some two hours pass in agreeable and useful talk until an hour and a half 26 ITALIAN REFORMATION before supper, after which we sing Vespers and Compline, and the Legate . . . lectures upon the Epistles of St. Paul to Timothy, to the great satisfac- tion of Giberti and the others." The views of Giberti on the subject of a reform in doctrine as well as in discipline, closely resembled those we have already mentioned of Cardinal Con- tarini, whom he survived little more than a year, dying on December 30, 1543. The loss of these two earnest and devoted prelates was an irreparable blow to the hopes of conciliation between the Church at Rome and the Reformers. Amongst the band of prelates who desired to reform the Church from within, Sadoleto and Morone survived, but as we shall see in the following short account of their lives and work, they had not the needful force of character to fight a losing cause. The same may be said with still more force of Reginald Pole, whose history will find its place in that of the circle at Viterbo, in which Vittoria Colonna plays so large a part. The story of Jacopo Sadoleto, who was born at Modena in 1477, carries us back to the gay and cul- tured days of the Renaissance under Leo X, to whom both he and Pietro Bembo played the part of secre- taries and companions. They were also amongst the most brilliant ornaments of that polished and literary circle. But as time passed on, Sadoleto was not blind to the coming changes, and with clear insight foresaw the approaching storm, before the invading horde had reached Rome in the days of Clement VII. He even warned the Pope of his danger, but rinding his words unheeded, he obtained permission to leave GIB1RTI, SADOLETO AND MORONE 27 the city, just twenty days before its capture, and he retired to his bishopric of Carpentras, near Avignon. He had a most disastrous journey, for the plague broke out on board his ship at Nice. All his precious books were also lost. Here it was that he received a letter from Erasmus that " not the city but the world has perished and the present sufferings of Rome are more cruel than those brought on her by the Goths and the Gauls." A mournful letter of Sadoleto from Carpentras in which he dwells upon past glories, has been well called by Gregorovius "the swan's song a farewell to the cheerful world of humanist times/' It was in 1532 that Sadoleto formed an enduring friendship with Reginald Pole, who had settled in Avignon in order to pursue his studies and live un- observed out of the way of Henry VIII, whom he had opposed concerning his divorce. Here Pole was near Carpentras, where he found a kindred spirit in the Bishop who was at that time finishing his " Treatise on Education," intended for his nephew who was to succeed him in his diocese. This MS. he entrusted to Pole that he might take it to Bembo at Venice and read it himself on the journey, and he received in return a most eloquent letter of praise and admira- tion. A little later Sadoleto had two works on hand ; one was a commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, and the other was in Praise of Philosophy. He asked the advice of Bembo as to which he should finish first, and his old friend was in favour of the latter. But Pole's opinion was also asked, and his advice was so full and comprehensive that it quite decided his future work. As Sadoleto writes : "I shall never forget the faithful and prudent advice 28 ITALIAN EEFORMATION you gave me ... to addict myself chiefly to that whose reward extended beyond this world into the next. This answer turned me to sacred literature." He remarked later that he found " Plato and Aristotle languid and flat compared with St. Paul/' The well-known Protestant poet and philosopher Aonio Paleario was a friend of his, and he wrote a beautiful letter in praise of the poem on the " Im- mortality of the Soul," greatly admiring the author's religious views. When Sadoleto was summoned to Rome to take part with Contarini, Giberti, and others in the " Consilium," we are told of his primitive mode of travel on the journey through Milan and Modena, with two mules, on one of which were packed his bed and baggage, including his books. He did not willingly show himself at Court, indeed this is the testimony borne to him by Cranmer, in a letter to Henry VIII. Speaking of Pole and his friends he quotes : " They be all singular fellows, ever absenting themselves from court, and desiring to live holily, as the Bishops of Verona and Chieti . . . and Sadoleto Bishop of Carpentras." Sadoleto was always more timid than his colleagues in any matters of doctrinal reform, but although he did not display the courage of his opinions, he too was branded with heresy in the later proceedings of the Inquisition. Aonio Paleario to the last declared that " he was a man as learned as he was holy," and he certainly had reason to be grateful for the kindly recommendation and support which he received from the old Cardinal, when he desired to obtain the Chair of Eloquence at Lucca. Giacomo Sadoleto did not live to see the triumph of his orthodox and prudential doctrines at the later Council of Trent in 1562, and he had the GIBERTI, SADOLETO AND MORONE 29 disappointment of seeing some of his religious writings condemned by the Church. He died in Rome in 1547, the same year as his old friend Cardinal Bembo. In dealing with the history of Sadoleto's fellow citizen Giovanni Morone who became Bishop of Modena, it will be interesting to give some account of the strong reforming movement in this city. Giovanni was the son of the famous Girolamo Morone, Chancellor of Milan, who was betrayed and denounced to Charles V, by the Marquis of Pescara. He was born in 1509, and so highly distinguished himself in his scholastic career at Padua, that he was barely twenty years of age when Clement VII named him Bishop of Modena, although his post was contested by the younger Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, and he had to wait until 1532 before he took possession of his diocese. He was sent as Nuncio to Bohemia at the Court of Ferdinand I, in 1536, and after his successful interposition at the Council of Spires in 1542, he was made Cardinal the same year. He had warned the Pope that there was an absolute necessity for a Council and for most energetic measures of reform if the Church was to be saved in Germany. He was deputed as Legate, with Cardinals Parisio and Pole, to the Council of Trent in 1542, and here, to the amazement of all, the leadership devolved upon him. (This we are plainly told from the secret documents of the Inquisition, recently made known.) When Cardinal Morone returned from the Diet of Ratisbon in 1542, he found serious religious troubles awaiting him in his See of Modena, a distinguished centre of learning whose Academy had long been suspected of heterodoxy. Although his own views were in many respects modified by the reformed 30 ITALIAN REFORMATION opinions, more especially in regard to justification by faith, yet his own high position in the Papal hierarchy was a strong barrier against his leaving the Roman Catholic Church. He was horrified to " hear it openly said that this city is become altogether Lutheran," and he felt that he could only free himself from suspicion of heresy, by taking strong measures against those preachers who openly declared rebellion. Not only had most of the learned members of the Academy studied the Scriptures and read the works of the Reformers, but a certain Paolo Ricci, a doctor in theology, and formerly a Sicilian monk, had been spreading reformed doctrines amongst all the people until " both men and women disputed everywhere, in the markets, the public places and the churches, concerning the Faith and the law of Christ, quoting and misquoting Scriptures and doctors which they had never read/' 1 The general interest in such subjects had been still more fully aroused by a sermon preached on February 28, 1541, by the eloquent friar, Bernardino Ochino, when the church was " so thronged with academicians and the common people that there was not even standing room for all who wished to enter." News of the religious excitement at Modena soon reached the Pope, who wished to excommunicate such of the academicians of Modena as had openly declared their heretical opinions ; Cardinals Sadoleto and Morone with great difficulty effected a temporary conciliation, but the preacher Paolo Ricci was arrested and compelled to recant under pain of death. Morone sought by love and charity to win back the wanderers to the fold of the Church, but these 1 The Annalist, Tassoni il Vecchio. GIBERTI, SADOLETO AND MORONE 31 were not the views of the Papal authorities, and in September 1542, a form of confession of faith was sent from Rome to be signed by the people of Modena, and all preaching was forbidden except by official command. Three Cardinals connected with Modena headed the list of signatures, Sadoleto, Paolo Cortese and Morone ; then followed the generals of the monastic orders, some of the magistrates, and all the academicians who had not been able to escape from the city. This was a cruel and ineffectual act of tyranny, for those who had signed against their will, only held their former opinions more strongly. This was shown clearly when in March 1544, Cardinal Morone sent a monk named Bartolommeo della Pergola, whom he believed to be orthodox, but concerning whom this account was given by an eye- witness. " All the academicians, who are now more than twenty-five in number, go to hear him, also Antonio Gadaldino the bookseller, who was one of the first to introduce forbidden books in the mother-tongue, which have since been burned at Rome as heretical. This friar only preaches the Gospel, and never men- tions male or female saints, nor the Fathers of the Church, nor Lent, nor fasting, nor many other things, which preaching was much to the taste of the aca- demicians." We are not surprised to hear that the courageous nonk was arrested and tried by the Inquisition ; md two years later a most cruel edict was published igainst " keeping any heretical or suspected books n the house or disputing either in public or private 32 ITALIAN REFORMATION about religion " (for the third offence complete confiscation of property and the penalty of death to be inflicted). The Academy of Modena could not resist such terrible threats ; it dispersed and was no more heard of. The most earnest Reformers fled to other lands where they openly professed the Gospel ; the more timid remained and conformed, for Faith itself grew faint before the dread fires of the Inquisi- tion, which many endured at Modena. As for Cardinal Morone, he certainly had not the martyr's zeal, and we shall see how from this time, he stifled his religious desires for reform and lived in outward conformity. He resigned his Bishopric of Modena in 1550 and the Duke of Milan made him Bishop of Novara, while the Pope rewarded him with the Government of Bologna on his return from Spires where he was sent to complain of the Emperor's indulgence to heretics. On the succession of Caraffa as Paul IV, his old colleague caused Morone to be tried for heresy, and he was imprisoned in the Castle of St. Angelo where he remained until the death of Paul IV (who had refused to own that he was inno- cent). He sat in the Conclave which elected Pius IV, and it was said that he narrowly escaped the Tiara himself, as San Carlo Borromeo proposed him as a candidate. Morone was sent by the new Pope as Legate to the Council of Trent (1562), and here he acted as a useful tool of the Papal pretensions, and succeeded in reducing the proposed reforms of doctrine and of the Sacred College to a mere shadow. Amongst the earnest men of learning and piety, who had set forth, so full of hope and courage, on the pathway of re- ligious reform alike in doctrine and in discipline, the GIBERTI, SADOLETO AND MORONE 33 Bishop of Modena is one of the most striking ex- amples of one who turned back faint-hearted, after putting his hand to the plough, although in the course of this History, we shall meet with many others. Of his later years, we are told that he remained in well-merited favour with the Pope ; he was sent to the Diet of Ratisbon in 1576, and he died in Rome where he owned a house in the Trastevere in 1580 ; the " Vicolo Morone " still recalling his name. He was buried in the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, and left behind various literary works, enumerated by Argelati in his "Biblioteca degli scrittori milanesi." But the spirit of Reform still prospered in Modena to such an extent that the attention of Paul IV was again called to the rebellious city. In October 1555, a Brief demanded that four of the leaders should be arrested and handed over to the tender mercies of the Inquisition. One of these was Bonifacio Valen- tino, Provost of the Cathedral, who some years before had publicly announced that " he wished to sell his books, and said he would not read the Holy Scriptures any more, for upright men are not allowed to study." His brother Filippo Valentino was warned in time and made his escape, as also did Lodovico Castelvestro, who had translated the writings of Melanchthon into Italian. But Bonifacio was taken to Rome and with him the famous bookseller Antonio Gadaldino ; they were tried before the dread Tribunal, found guilty and condemned to perpetual imprisonment. Overcome with horror at the carrying out of this cruel sentence, Bonifacio was at length induced to recant after a year of suffer- ing, on condition that he would publicly submit to 3 34: ITALIAN REFORMATION the humiliation of repeating his denial of his faith, in the Cathedral of Modena. Castelvestro was burnt in effigy, and died in 1571 at Chiavenna, neither he nor his brother Giammaria being suffered to return to their native land, under penalty of death. But the persecutions for heresy did not end with these, for the registers of the Inquisition contain the names of many more suspected heretics, and their condemnation ; for we learn that in the city of Modena alone, in the year 1568, thirteen men and one woman perished as martyrs at the stake. This is only an isolated instance of the cruel and persistent manner in which any effort at reform was stamped out in the various cities of Italy. CHAPTER IV LIFE OP CARDINAL POLE Life of Cardinal Reginald Pole, of the Royal House of England Hia education at Padua Persecution of his family by Henry VIII Appointed Governor of Viterbo His intimacy there with Vittoria Colonna Some account of Vittoria Influence of Ochino'a teaching upon her Her poems. WE have seen how the failure of the famous " Con- silium," and also of the Colloquy of Ratisbon (1541), to effect a conciliation, had disappointed the hopes of those who wished to reform the Church from within. But they did not altogether lose heart although Contarini, their leader, was looked upon with suspicion by Carafe and other Cardinals and when he died in 1542 at Bologna, his place as head of the reforming movement was taken by Cardinal Reginald Pole. At this time, the young English nobleman plays such an important part, at least in the hopes and expectations of his followers, that some account of his previous life will be interesting. He was the son of Sir Richard Pole and Margaret f Plantagenet, sister of Edward Earl of Warwick, and could claim royal descent from both father and mother. Reginald was the third son, born at Stourton Castle, Staffordshire, on March 3, 1500. His father ^ died five years later, and the boy appears to have spent some years at Canterbury in the Benedictine School, before he went to Oxford at the age of 35 36 ITALIAN REFORMATION thirteen, and was entered as a nobleman at Magdalen College. Amongst his teachers were the famous Greek scholar Thomas Linacre, and William Latimer, both of whom had taken degrees at the University of Padua, and inspired their young pupil with their own love of Italy. Pole showed great intelligence and talent ; he took his B.A. degree at fifteen, but we are surprised to learn that two years later he was appointed to the Prebendary of Roscomb and also that of Gatminster Secundo, both in Salisbury Cathedral, and soon after was made Dean of Wim- borne Minster in Dorsetshire. He was scarcely twenty when he was allowed to carry out his desire to study at Padua, and set forth with a generous allowance from Henry VIII and a princely retinue. Padua was then looked upon as the "Athens of Europe/' in the words of Erasmus ; students flocked there from every land, the professors were the most famous of their day, and the art of printing had brought all the treasures of the ancient writers within reach. Amongst the friends who were to influence the future life of " the King of England's cousin," as Pole was called, one of the most important N was the Venetian Pietro Bembo, who was the pride of all Italy for his writings in Latin and " Toscana." Born in 1470, Bembo was thirty years older than his new acquaintance, who became a constant and welcome guest in the delightful circle of his literary friends. Here the young Englishman became intimate with Marcantonio Flaminio, a much-admired poet and teacher of Eloquence and Philosophy, whom he later persuaded to join his household and " to attempt in Latin metre the divine strength and harmony of the Psalms." Lazaro Bonamico, the labourer's son LIFE OF CARDINAL POLE 37 of Bassano, and Longolio of Flanders, both distin- guished scholars, were also attracted to choose him as their patron. The seven years which followed were the happiest of Reginald Pole's life, spent mostly in serious study at Padua, where he was treated with the highest honour on account of his royal birth. He occasionally made excursions to and other places in Northern Italy, and paid one' visit to Rome in the Jubilee year 1525. Early in 1527, he returned to England where there had been sad trials for his family and friends, to which we can only allude : the judicial murder of the Duke of Buckingham, the father-in-law of his sister Ursula, and the imprisonment of his eldest brother Lord Montague, who only obtained his freedom by the sacrifice of most of his fortune. At this time Henry VIII had set his heart on marriage with Anne Boleyn, and was moving heaven and earth to obtain a divorce from Katherine of Aragon, but we have no space to dwell upon the endless intrigues and crimes which followed ; the whole story is told in many languages and in every history of the tune. Reginald Pole with great \ difficulty obtained permission to leave his disturbed country, in order to study in Paris. But on his arrival he received a most unwelcome commission from the King to advocate the subject of his divorce, and when he demurred, he was summoned home on the death of Wolsey in 1530, and offered the magnifi- cent bribe of the Archbishopric of York or the See of Winchester. He had the courage to refuse, and was thankful to escape once more in 1532, when he left England on his long exile of so many years. He first settled at Avignon, as a quiet place of 38 ITALIAN REFORMATION study where he might avoid political complications, and here it was that he made the acquaintance of Sadoleto, Bishop of Carpentras, near by. They had similar tastes and opinions both on literary and religious matters, so that a warm friendship grew up between them, which lasted till they were severed by death. This made another link between Pole and many distinguished and learned men who had belonged to the Oratory of Divine Love. On his return to Padua, in 1532, the young Englishman renewed his old friendships and won the hearts of some new admirers. One was Alvise Priuli, a young patrician of Venice whose two brothers were raised later to the dignity of Doge, and the other was Gasparo Contarini, the famous Cardinal whose history we have already told. Reginald Pole appears to have had a gift for friendship ; he was a man who could not bear to be alone and who always had some devoted companion by his side. At Venice, he met Caraffa, whom he calls " a most holy and learned man," and with whom he was so much associated later on the subject of reform. He was chiefly engaged at this time on his book, " De Unitate," in which he expressed his views on the conduct of Henry VIII in the most outspoken manner, trying to win him over to repentance, for he had the courage to send it to the King, immediately after the execution of Anne Boleyn. Henry VIII, who some years before had desired him to write on the subject (" the Unity of the Church "), was furious, and commanded Pole to return to England, but from this his friends strongly dissuaded him. He had already sacrificed much for his opinions, as he was now almost destitute, and no longer lived in state LIFE OF CARDINAL POLE 39 and magnificence, for all his supplies had been stopped. Pole was summoned to Rome to take part in the consultations on the " Consilium," and in 1537, he, Caraffa and Sadoleto were all made Cardinals by Paul III to reward them for their labours. There was dismay in England at Pole's promotion, but the Emperor was well pleased as this put an end to the long-suggested scheme of marrying him to the Princess Mary. The Pope next commissioned him as Legate to England, but when attempts were / made upon his life on the way and a great price was ( set on his head, he was not suffered to go farther than LieJge. The English King's rage knew no bounds; Pole's eldest brother Montague and his cousin Exeter were tried for high treason and beheaded. In the midst of his terrible grief, Reginald Pole was sent on a legation to Spain and then to the Court of France. But still deeper domestic sorrow was to follow, for later, by an Act of Attainder and the King's warrant, the revered and venerable Lady Margaret Pole, mother of the Cardinal, was put to death, and as far as it could be carried out, all her family were exterminated. It was not long after this tragedy, that Pole was appointed by the Pope to the government of Viterbo, a most important post. This was in August 1541, and here it was that he was brought much into contact with one of his greatest friends in Italy, Vittoria Colonna, Marchesa di Pescara. The story of this noble lady is so well known that it will only be needful briefly to allude to her earlier life. Born in 1490, Vittoria was the daughter of Fabrizio Colonna, and was married at nineteen to the young 40 ITALIAN REFORMATION Marchese di Pescara, to whom she was greatly devoted and whose death after the battle of Pavia, in 1525, was the great sorrow of her life. Hence- forth she turned away from the brilliant social and literary life of which this talented Roman lady was so great an ornament, and devoted her poetical talent to the memory of her beloved husband, and to religious influences which became stronger with time. It is with this side of Vittoria's character that we are now specially interested. In the first desolation of her widowhood she retired to the Convent of San Silvestro, but the Pope inter- posed to prevent her taking the veil, and it is very doubtful if such a life of absolute seclusion would have suited her. Henceforth religion was certainly the key-note of her life, but her eager restless spirit, her versatile tastes and interests, her keen desire for deeper knowledge in religious matters, would never have suffered her to be contented with the stagnant life of a nunnery. She was a woman of many friends and, as we learn from her wide correspondence, one of the earliest, at this critical time of her life, was the pious old Bishop of Verona, Gian Matteo Giberti. In his letters he paid her the high compliment of dwelling upon his desire for stringent reforms in the Church, not only in matters of discipline but in returning to the simpler creed of the early days of Christianity. Cardinal Contarini also wrote to her in the same strain, and dwelt at some length on his central doctrine of Justification by Faith. Thus was awakened in the heart of Vittoria a keen interest in the new movement for Reform, which is so noticeable in her eagerness to obtain and read the works of Valdes and other Reformers. LIFE OF CAKDINAL POLE 41 Pietro Bembo was another of her early friends who / remained devoted to her through life. This dis- tinguished man of letters highly admired her poetry and they addressed sonnets to each other ; but in the later years, their correspondence touched upon more serious matters. They both came under the influence of that marvellous preacher, Bernardino Ochino, born in Siena 1487, who became General of the Osservanza, and then joined the stricter rule of the Cappucini. She had first made his acquaintance in Rome, and is afterwards constantly found in the various cities where he preaches. At Bembo's re- quest, she induced the eloquent friar to go to Venice for the Lent sermons, and her friend thus writes to thank her. "February 23, 1539. " I send your most illustrious Ladyship the par- ticulars of our very reverend Frate Bernardino, whom I have heard all the days of this present Lent with such great pleasure as I cannot adequately describe. I confess that I never heard anyone preach more usefully or devoutly than he. Neither do I wonder that your Ladyship loves him as much as you do. He is very different from all the others who have occupied the pulpit in my time ; he speaks in a more Christian manner and with a more lively charm, and of better and more profitable things. He pleases everybody beyond measure and I believe, when he goes, he will carry away with him the hearts of all this city. For all that we owe undying thanks to your Ladyship, who sent him to us, and I, more than others, feel eternally obliged to you." In other letters Bembo speaks in the same strain. 42 ITALIAN REFORMATION " I am speaking to your Ladyship in the same strain as I spoke this morning to the reverend Father, Frate Bernardino, to whom I opened all my heart and mind as I would have opened them to Jesus Christ, to Whom I believe him to be most dear and acceptable, nor do I think I ever spoke with a holier man than he." Again he says : " Our Frate Bernardino whom I shall henceforth call mine in speaking to you is now adored in this city ; there is neither man nor woman here who does not praise him to the skies. how great his influence is, how he pleases, how strongly he helps us ! " In the autumn of the same year, Vittoria heard Ochino preach in the Cathedral of St. Gennaro in Naples. This splendid building was crowded to suffocation, and we are told that the Frate spoke in strong impassioned language against luxury and vice ; then with soft persuasive eloquence preached on the truths of the Gospel, dwelling fully upon justification by faith, and on the joy and happiness of walking in the love of God and the ways of holiness. He struck a more personal note than men had ever heard, dwelling upon the Bible promises, until men began to see that in the Gospel all were invited to share its blessing. " Then the unlearned artisan and even the women ventured to converse upon the Epistles of St. Paul and to compare one text with another. There was so great a spiritual awakening, that when Bernardino LIFE OF CARDINAL POLE 43 left Naples, numbers took to study the Bible as the chief authority in matters of Faith. " It is interesting to remember that this was the teacher in whom Vittoria delighted more than any other, during six years of her life, from 1536 until the tragic ending in 1542, which will be fully described later. So great was her interest in matters of re- ligion, more especially in the new movement of Reform, that when Cardinal Contarini published his " Epistola de Justificatione " at Ratisbon, concerning the questions of Free Will and Justification by Faith, Bembo immediately sent it to the Marchesa. This is the more important in that Contarini's definition of the vexed point of " justification " was the one actually accepted by the Protestant party under Melanchthon and Bucer. As the Council drew up sixteen heads and thirty anathemas on the subject of " Justification," I will refer the reader to a standard book on the subject for full particulars. 1 Luther and the Pope were less moderate, and could come to no compromise on the subject. In the religious poems of Vittoria Colonna it is worthy of notice that she ever clings to the Gospel simplicity of the Christian Faith ; Christ the Sacrifice, and the Mediator, is ever her favourite theme. In her sequence of sonnets on the Passion, there is a very beautiful one beginning, " Veggio in croce il Signer nudo e disteso," and another on " Good Friday," which may be rendered thus in English : " The angels, to eternal bliss elect, Desire this day to suffer painful death 1 Dr. Harold Browne, Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles, Historical and Doctrinal, p. 286, Article XL 44 ITALIAN REFORMATION Lest in the Courts celestial it befall The servant be more favoured than his Lord. Man's ancient mother weeps the fatal deed That closed the gates of Heaven against her sons ; The two pierced hands she weeps, whose work of grace Found for His own the path which she had lost. The sun in dread doth veil his shining orb, The living rocks are torn, the mountains burst, Earth and sky tremble and the waters quake. The evil spirits weep, who wish us ill, The added burden of their captive chains. Man only weeps not, yet was weeping born." As another token of the spiritual nature of her religious faith, a touching Latin prayer of hers is too typical of her character to omit. " Grant, I beseech Thee, Lord, that by the humility that becomes the creature, and by the pride Thy greatness demands, I may adore Thee always, and that in the fear Thy justice imposes, as in the hope Thy clemency justifies, I may live eternally and submit to Thee as the Almighty, follow Thee as the All-wise, and turn towards Thee as towards perfection and goodness. I beseech Thee, most tender Father, that Thy living fire may purify me, Thy radiant light illumine me ; that, never finding let or hindrance in things of this world, I may return to Thee in happi- ness and safety/' (Translation.) CHAPTER V RELIGIOUS CIRCLE AT VITERBO The Oratory of Divine Love at Viterbo Cardinal Pole Vittoria Colonna Marcantonio Flaminio, poet and philosopher The " Beneficio," a little golden book Life of Bernardino Ochino His marvellous preaching His persecution and flight The effect on Pole and Vittoria Colonna. IN his beautiful home at Viterbo, Cardinal Pole was the central figure of one of the rarest and most interesting literary and religious gatherings in Italy. Amongst those who assembled in the Governor's palace at Viterbo, we have already noticed the Marchesa di Pescara, whose friendship with the Cardinal was already of some years' duration. When Reginald Pole met her in Rome in 1536, he saw that " the Lady Vittoria was injuring her health by too much fasting and mortification of the flesh, and he gently reminded her that the Christian is bound to take care of the tabernacle of the body until it pleases God to release him from it." His remonstrance was effectual, " so that lady began to mitigate the austerity of her life and brought it, little by little, to a reasonable and honest modera- tion." In a letter written later by Vittoria to Giulia Gonzaga, she says : "I therefore who owe the health of my soul and that of my body to his Illustrissimo Reverendissimo ; for the one through superstition 45 46 ITALIAN REFORMATION and the other through ill-government stood in peril " Amongst the distinguished company who here carried on the traditions of the once famous " Oratory of Divine Love/' at Rome, but as we shall see with far more advanced and reformed religious doctrines, one of the most leading spirits was Marcantonio Flaminio, the Latin poet. He was born in 1498, the son of Giannatonio, Professor of Literature at Sera- ville near Treviso, and was early distinguished for his precocious talent. His Latin poems attracted the attention of Leo X, who gave him a warm welcome at Rome and was a generous patron to him. The youth's pastoral poem, the " Arcadia," was as much admired as his Latin work, " De partu Virginia." He visited Naples and there had many admirers, and the following year was invited by Baldassare Castiglione to the Court of Urbino. In memory of this visit, he composed an Eclogue under the name of Thyrsis, in which he sang the praise of Castiglione. In 1522, he joined a literary Academy at Genoa, for a time under the guidance of Stefano Sauli, and next passed into the service of Gian Matteo Giberti, who was then living at Padua. Marcantonio was thus a friend of the most dis- tinguished literary men of his day and was looked upon as a talented young poet. He accompanied Giberti to his See of Verona, and it was here that he applied himself to the study of Aristotle and trans- lated into Latin and paraphrased the twelfth book of his Metaphysics. In the religious atmosphere of the good Bishop's society, Flaminio soon turned his talents to the study of sacred subjects, and devoted his time to a beautiful paraphrase of thirty-two of RELIGIOUS CIRCLE AT VITERBO 47 the Psalms, a work which was printed at Venice in 1537. When he began to read the Scriptures with an open candid mind, he could not resist painful doubts on some points of doctrine, and as he came across the works of the German Reformers, he became more and more troubled in mind. At this critical time, being obliged to leave Rome on account of his health, Marcantonio went to Naples, and here under the teaching of Valdes, he found rest for his soul in accepting the simple truths of the Gospel. He occupied himself in translating many of the works of Valdes into Italian, and threw himself with en- thusiasm into the improvement and revision of a little book on : " II Beneficio della morte di Cristo," believed to have been the work of a Benedictine monk Benedetto of Mantua who wrote it in his monastery at the foot of Mount Etna. This " little golden book " became the " Credo of the Italian Reformation," for as Vergerio says : ' Nothing was ever printed so entirely pious and simple, or so adapted to teach the weak and ignorant, especially in the matter of ' justification by faith/ ; Che " Beneficio " consists of six chapters ; and begins vith man's state before he sinned, describes his Condition afterwards, points out the purpose of the Fewish dispensation, and asserts that " Justification, emission of sins and our entire salvation depend ipon Christ alone." Origen, Basil, Ambrose, Hilary, Augustine and Bernard are quoted, to show that heir works contain a foreshadowing of the same ruth of a free salvation without the works of the <aw. This book was destined later to have an immense access, when it was printed in Rome and Venice to 48 ITALIAN REFORMATION the number of 40,000 copies. But when Flaminio came to Viterbo, after the death of Valdes, he brought the "Beneficio " in MS. and it was one of the chief books discussed and delighted in by the reunion of pious students. Pole wrote to Contarini from Viterbo : " The rest of the day I spend in the good and useful company of Signor Carnesecchi and our Messer Marcantonio Flaminio . . . and I may indeed call it edifying because in the evening Marcantonio reads to us and so gives us a portion of that spiritual food which does not perish, in such a manner that I do not remember ever having received greater consolation and edification. . . ." Other books which this religious society discussed with intense interest were translations of the works of Juan Valdes, such as the "110 Considerationes " ; some of these were brought by Flaminio, while others were sent by the Lady Giulia Gonzaga, who also presented Cardinal Pole with " conserves of roses." Of Pietro Carnesecchi, we shall have much to say later, when the story is told of the circle of Valdes and his followers at Naples ; by far the most impor- tant of all the centres of the Italian Reformation. It is a striking fact that this devout and much- appreciated book of the " Beneficio " was placed upon the Index of prohibited works by Monsignor della Cosa, Nuncio at Venice, in 1549, and the Inquisition made such a determined effort to stamp it out, that for a long time it was believed that every copy had been destroyed. Moreover, all those who were known to have read it, were condemned for heresy on that charge alone. RELIGIOUS CIRCLE AT VITERBO 49 Vittoria Colonna appears to have thoroughly enjoyed the earlier part of her stay at Viterbo, where she dwelt in the secluded Dominican Convent of Santa Caterina, but spending many hours every day in the religious discussions which took place in the Governor's palace. In a letter, dated December 8, 1541, which she wrote to Giulia Gonzaga, she specially mentions her pleasure in the profitable society of Flaminio, Priuli and Carnesecchi, besides that of Cardinal Pole. She alludes to meeting Giulia at Fondi, and expresses a strong desire to see her again, adding : " It would indeed be well that your Ladyship should revisit your country in Lombardy for a while, now that you are so well instructed about the celestial country . . . and we should indeed rejoice if as you pass by here, you could stay a couple of months. . . . I have heard that your Ladyship has sent us the Commentary of St. Paul [by Valdes], which was greatly desired, and especially by me as I have the most need of it ; wherefore I thank you the most, and will thank you more when I see you, please God." It is curious to remember that this letter and the most intimate accounts of Vittoria's religious life were discovered in the secret records of the Inquisi- tion, when twenty years after her death, she was arraigned for heresy before that ghoulish tribunal. All that she said and did was watched by spies, and not only was she herself condemned, but all her friends, her brother Ascanio, and even the nuns of her convent at Viterbo were looked upon as tainted with her heresy. 4 50 ITALIAN REFORMATION | There is a strange irony of fate in this, for it was here, in Viterbo, in the midst of their peaceful dis- cussions on justification by faith and kindred sub- jects, that the thunderbolt fell, which drove Cardinal Pole and Vittoria Colonna back, in dismay, to the arms of the Church. It was nothing less than a letter from Frate Bernardino Ochino, to the Marchesa di Pescara, hitherto his devoted pupil and friend, to say that he had been accused of heresy by the Roman authorities, that he was about to depart from Italy, and justifying his decision. In order to understand how this catastrophe had come to pass, it will be needful to touch upon the life of Ochino during several years before that fatal August 1542, when flight seemed to him his only refuge. In 1534, he had resigned his position of General of the Observants to join the Capuchins the most austere and ascetic of all the religious bodies as a simple friar. In the following year, when Clement VII had been reluctantly persuaded to expel the Capuchins from Rome, Vittoria Colonna hastened from Marino to advocate their cause. This was the first time she was brought into personal relation with Ochino ; and it is interesting to remem- ber that Caterina Cibo, Duchess of Camerino, also hurriedly travelled from Florence on the same mission, for both great ladies were warm admirers of the religious Order of Capuchins. They were successful in their mission, for Pope Clement relented. From this time we may date Ochino's marvellous and unique success as a preacher, to which we have already alluded. His published sermons are most striking and interesting, and a careful study of them shows the gradual change which was taking place RELIGIOUS CIRCLE AT VITERBO 51 in him, towards a more earnest and simple faith ; a religion of the heart rather than of outward observ- ances. We also gain a vivid insight into the state of his religious opinions at this time in the "Seven Dialogues/' in most of which the conversation is carried on between the Friar and the Duchess Caterina Cibo, whose story will be told in connection with the Reforming centre at Florence. Bernardino Ochino had been elected Vicar-General of the Capuchins in 1538, but when his Order wished to elect him for another three years in 1541, his friends had much difficulty in persuading him to accept the honour. He had also been appointed Apostolical missionary by Paul III. It had long been a time of painful struggle between his inner conviction and his feeling of loyalty towards the Roman Church, for he had been brought into close communion with the learned and pious Juan Valdes at Naples, and had taken a definite place as one of his disciples in the reformed doctrines. Amongst his fellow students were Flaminio, Paleario, Carnesec- chi, Pietro Martire Vermigli, 1 Galeazzo Caraccioli, the Lady Giulia Gonzaga and many others, whose names are in the roll-call of martyrs. All these were devoted to the one aim of attaining a purer form of Christianity, and of showing it forth in their own lives. Absorbed in these thoughts, Ochino asked himself, as the people thronged to listen to his words, and looked upon him as one inspired : " Shall I continue to preach Christ in masked jargon ? " and his heart burnt within him. He was deeply agitated by this struggle between his office and his convictions, and was preaching in 1 Better known as Peter Martyr, in England. 52 ITALIAN REFORMATION Venice when his friend Giulio Terenziano, a teacher of theology and a pupil of Valdes, was thrown into prison on account of his religious opinions. Upon hearing this, Ochino could no longer restrain him- self ; in a sermon before the Senate and chief citizens of Venice, he cried aloud in anguish : " Oh sirs, what remains for us to do ? To what end do we waste and consume our lives ? If in thee, most noble city of Venice, Queen of the Adriatic if in thee, I say, those who announce to you the truth are here imprisoned, loaded with chains and fetters, what place then remains to us, what other field is free for the Word of God ? Would to God that we might but preach the truth freely ! How many blind eyes would be opened, and how many stumbling in the dark would be illuminated ! " From that moment, Ochino knew that a sword hung over his head. He was at once denounced by the Nuncio, and forbidden to preach, but all the citizens rose up in defence of their preacher. Giulio remained a prisoner, and it was not until some years later that he succeeded in escaping to the Valtelline, where he became minister of an Evangelical congre- gation. Bernardino went to Verona and there began a course of lectures on the Epistles of St. Paul to the members of his Order, and remained in the most intimate daily converse with the venerable Bishop Giberti. Soon after, he received a citation to Rome from the newly established Inquisition. Greatly troubled in mind, he took counsel with the gentle pious Bishop, who trusted everyone, and advised obedience " when all must surely be set right/' RELIGIOUS CIRCLE AT VITERBO 53 Ochino knew better. He was quite aware that per- secution and probably death awaited him ; still he set forth on his journey. He says : " Although I knew that a hard struggle was awaiting me in Rome, I still set out on my journey thither. I arrived at Bologna ; there I conversed with the Car- dinal Contarini who was on his sick-bed, and con- vinced myself that there was not the smallest hope that the doctine of justification would be received at Rome. Contarini even added that he himself had been in great danger, because it was said that he had not sufficiently opposed the Protestants at the Diet. He barely escaped death. He even added, in a low voice, ' If only I have escaped it/ l I made answer : ' If they have dealt thus with the green tree, how shall it be with the dry ? ' " Ochino was now certain about the intentions of the Inquisition, under the sway of the implacable Cardinal Carafla. Three courses were open to him. If he went to Rome and retracted all his convictions, he had good reason to believe that he would be rewarded with the purple. If on the other hand he resolved to remain firm in his faith, he was privately informed " that he would be quietly put to death and buried without uproar." The third alternative was flight, and this he chose. His letter to Vittoria Colonna written from Florence gives a faithful picture of his agitation and grief : " I am still here tormented with doubts, having come hither with the intention of going to Rome, 1 Poison was suspected. 54 ITALIAN REFORMATION although I had been much dissuaded from doing so . . . and again by Don Pietro Martire (Vermigli) and others, for I should be forced either to deny Christ, or to be crucified. I will not do the first ; the second only with His grace, if He Himself wills it. I feel no call to go to death of my own free-will ; if it is God's will, He will know where to find me. Christ has several times taught us to flee into Egypt and to Samaria, and also bade us, if we were not received in one city, to flee into another. What can I do in Italy ? Preach as a suspected person, and preach Christ obscurely, under a mask ? . . . For this and other reasons I am compelled to leave Italy entirely and without delay. ... I am the same person your Ladyship has known. Any one who has heard me, can give an account of my doctrine. They have declared me a heretic, without hearing me. It is hard for me. I know you will think so. ... It would have been extremely grateful to me to have your opinion or that of Monsignor Pole, or to receive a letter from you, but I have not had one for more than a month. Pray to God for me ; I desire more than ever to serve Him by the help of His Grace. Salute all. Florence. August 22, 1542." It so chanced that just at that time Peter Martyr had come to Florence under the same conditions as his friend, for he had been cited before the Augustinian Chapter at Genoa, and he had already written to inform Cardinal Pole of his intention of flight. There is no doubt that Martyr's advice and example in- fluenced Ochino's decision to take this step, which to him was heart-breaking. At the age of fifty-five, in failing health and practically an old man, worn RELIGIOUS CIRCLE AT VITERBO 55 out with his ascetic life, his constant labours and long weary journeys ever on foot ; losing all that he loved and desired exile was to him far more bitter than death. But Cardinal Pole had no compassion for a ruined man, a proclaimed heretic ; and horrified by the scandal of Ochino's flight, his only thought was to save himself, his high position, and his ambitious hopes of the supreme position in the Church which might be within his reach. He had been imprudent in dallying with any thought of reform ; all un- consciously he had stepped too near the brink of that awful yawning gulf of heresy ; and his only thought was to save himself by hurrying back into the sheltered fold of orthodoxy. Under his stern direction, Vittoria Colonna stifled all feelings of sympathy and pity for the once revered preacher, to whom she owed so much of her spiritual life. Overruled by a stronger will, which she had not the courage to resist, she weakly yielded before the storm of obloquy which followed Ochino's flight, and failed him in the hour of his deepest need. The great Roman lady also had her position to consider as a shining light in the religious circle where she was looked up to as a saintly Queen ; like Pole, she had too much to lose, and her inner convictions were not strong enough to make her face shame and persecu- tion on a charge of heresy. They both shuddered at their narrow escape, and henceforth would run no risks. There was to be no more playing with fire no reading of anything not stamped with the approval of the new Inquisition for we find Vittoria some- what sharply reproved for her " curiosity " in desiring 56 ITALIAN REFORMATION to read the Scriptures, the Expositions of Valdes, and such-like. She was positively forbidden to hold any communication with ;bhe excommunicated heretic, as we see in this letter, which she sent in a parcel she had received from Geneva, to Cardinal Cervini. " MOST REVEREND MONSIGNOR, . . . " The more opportunity I have had of observing the actions of the most reverend Monsignor of Eng- land [Pole], the more he seems to me a true and most sincere servant of God. So when in his charity, he condescends to answer any question of mine, I think I am secure from error in following his advice. And since he told me that, in his opinion, if a letter or anything else should come to me from Fra Bernardino, I had better send it to your most reverend Lordship without answering it. Having to-day received the enclosed with the little book which you will see, I send them to you at once. The whole was in one packet, without any other writing inside, and was sent by an express courier who came from Bologna, and I have chosen to send it on to you by one of my servants. I beg your Lordship will pardon my giving you this trouble, although as you see, it is in print. And our Lord God preserve your most reverend Lordship 's person in that happy life which all your servants desire for you. " From Santa Caterina di Viterbo. December 4, 1542. " Your most reverend and most illustrious Lordship's servant, " THE MARCHESA DI PESCARA. " It grieves me exceedingly that, the more he RELIGIOUS CIRCLE AT VITERBO 57 thinks to excuse himself, the more he accuses himself, and the more he thinks to save others from shipwreck, the more he exposes them to the deluge, being himself outside that Ark which secures and saves." It was the last blow to the exiled Ochino that his dearest friend should have been so alienated from him that she never sent any answer to his most pathetic defence, indeed that she was probably forbidden to read it. We do not know how much Vittoria may have grieved in secret, but she was certainly very ill almost immediately after the date of this letter, which was in fact a kind of betrayal of one she had loved and trusted. In a letter of her wise physician Fracastoro, he alludes to some " trouble of the mind which becomes a tyrant, wastes and destroys the soundness of the body. ... I fancy that all the Marchesa's sufferings have their origin in this." Broken in health, she returned to Rome at the end of 1544, and made her home in the Benedictine Convent of Santa Anna de' Funari, in the quarter of St. Eustachio, on the site of the ruined Circus Flaminius. Here she lived in seclusion, but her great friendship with Michelangelo, which was so deep a joy and comfort to them both, was unbroken until her death, which occurred on February 25, 1547. She saw much of Cardinal Pole, who remained the director of her conscience, and as time passed on, she had the sorrow of losing many of those she loved Cardinal Giberti, her nephew the Marchese del Vasto, and the faithful Bembo, amongst others. As for Reginald Pole, his later life does not concern us, except in so far that we know how he sought to 58 ITALIAN EEFOEMATION purge himself from all suspicion of heresy, by cruel persecution of rebels against the Pope in England. But the declaration in his Will that " he had always held the Pope, and this one in particular [Paul IV], to be the true successor of St. Peter, and the Vicar of Christ, and that he had always revered and obeyed him as such, nor had he differed from him in anything, nor from the opinion of the Roman Church . . ." was a great blow to his reformed friends in Italy. Car- nesecchi wrote : " It has pleased me wonderfully that Donna Giulia has not approved of the declaration made by the Cardinal of England, being superfluous, not to say scandalous, especially at this time. . . . What a difference from the teaching of Valdes, and how this verifies the proverb : " ' The end shows forth the life, the evening praises the day ! ' " CHAPTER VI CATERINA CIBO, DUCHESS OF CAMERINO Caterina Cibo, Duchess of Camerino Ochino finds a refuge in her palace at Florence Story of Caterina's life Early marriage Stormy adventures A warrior princess, she defends her home Leaves Camerino to her daughter Giulia, married to Guidobaldo of Urbino Caterina settles in Florence An earnest Reformer Her religious dialogues with Ochino. WHEN Bernardino Ochino had come to the bitter decision that flight was inevitable, it was in the palace at Florence of Caterina Cibo, Duchess of Camerino, that he took refuge. This noble lady had listened year after year to his stirring, eloquent sermons, she had held earnest converse with him as her spiritual teacher, and in the hour of his necessity she did not forsake him. With eager hospitality, she gave him a refuge at the risk of disgrace and condemnation for herself ; she provided the friar with lay garments and all that was needful for his long and dangerous journey. Undistinguished as Florence might be as a centre of Reform, for the sake of Caterina alone, and the literary and religious meetings under her roof, it would be worthy of notice. But in this city of the Medici, many famous Reformers were born, only to mention Pietro Carnesecchi, Pietro Martire Vennigli, and Bruccioli and Teofilo, the well-known translators of the Scriptures into Italian. 59 60 ITALIAN REFOEMATION The eventful history of the Duchess of Camerino is well worthy of being recorded. Caterina Cibo was born in 1501, in the Villa of Panzani near Florence ; she was the daughter of Franceschetto Cibo the brother of Pope Innocent VIII, while through her mother, who was one of the Medici, she was also closely connected with Pope Leo X and Clement VTI. Caterina was educated at Rome in those palmy days of a high-born girl's opportunity, when the most learned professors devoted themselves to teaching not only the Tuscan tongue in its full beauty, but Latin, Greek and Hebrew with such success, that in after years their pupils could take great delight in reading those languages, and appreciating classical writers at the fountain head. But the most amazing thing to us, is that all this erudition should have been acquired at such an early age ; for a beautiful girl so highly connected as Caterina had many suitors, and at the age of twelve, was betrothed to Giovanni Maria Varano, afterwards Duke of Camerino, a princely estate situated about forty miles south-west of Ancona, on the way to Foligno. After her marriage, the young Duchess can have had but little tune to continue her studies, for her troubles began within the first year, when Camerino was attacked by Sigismondo, the nephew of Varano, who had to take refuge in Rome and there seek for armed support. He returned with a strong force, and with the help of the citadel which had remained loyal to him, he took possession of the city after a sharp contest. Meantime Sigismondo had made his escape to Rome, and was preparing to renew the struggle, when he was assassinated, not without suspicion that the blow had been struck by order of the Duke. CATERINA CIBO, DUCHESS OF CAMERINO 61 In 1523, a daughter was born to Caterina, who received the name of Giulia, and of whom we shall have more to tell later. The affairs of Camerino appear to have been still in an unsettled condition, and the Duchess spent most of her time in Rome, where the presence of her uncle Pope Clement VII, and of her brothers Cardinal Cibo, and Giambattista, Bishop of Marseilles, gave her a position of much interest and importance. Even in these early days, while living in a city which was the very stronghold of Catholicism, Caterina with her keen intelligence, was already affected with that intense desire for reform of the abuses in the Church, which she saw all around her. One of the first signs which she gave of this reforming spirit was her warm advocacy of the Friar Matteo de' Bassi, in his efforts to reform the Franciscan Order, which had fallen into careless and irreligious ways. Greatly through her influence, in 1526, Matteo was authorised by Clement VII to found a reformed branch of Franciscans, which in life and doctrine was to go back to the simple rule of their founder. They came to be known as Capu- chins by their garb ; and they sought to revive all the austerities of St. Francis himself, his absolute poverty, his self-denial and his charity. The other religious orders and especially the Observants, were furious at this new departure, which was a tacit condemnation of their own lives and practices, and it needed all the devoted support of the Duchess of Camerino and others to protect the Capuchins against the dangers and persecutions which beset them. The Duke of Camerino, who was twenty years older than his wife, had died in 1527, when Caterina succeeded to his estates and returned 62 ITALIAN REFORMATION to her palace in Camerino. We are told that " on July 10, 1528, there came to Camerino a Capuchin friar, who went through the city followed by a crowd of children (Mammoli), crying with a pitiful voice, ' Misericordia ! ' " Great crowds gathered round him, and he preached every afternoon to admonish the people that they should turn away from their evil doings and give a good example to others ; and every evening he went crying through the streets with a loud voice : " Misericordia ! " We are not surprised to hear that the Duchess took the Capuchin under her protection, and that he was made a welcome guest in her palace. From about this time she be- came one of the leaders of the reformed movement, and carried on intimate correspondence with Vittoria Colonna, Giulia Gonzaga and others who were interested in the cause. Caterina Cibo was not only a great lady of in- tellectual talent and a most interesting personality, but she was also one of the famous " warrior women " of Italy, almost a rival of her name-sake Caterina Sforza the Lady of Forli. The Duchess of Camerino had not long been settled in possession of her city before Rodolfo Varano, an illegitimate son of the late Duke, taking advantage of her feeling of security, suddenly attacked the Castello, took it by surprise and made Caterina a prisoner. Her brother Giam- battista, Bishop of Marseilles, hastened to her rescue with a small force, but Rodolfo summoned his friends led by Ascanio Colonna, to help him ; they entered the city and put it to fire and sword. Clement VII thereupon invited the Duke of Urbino to help in liberating his niece, and he joined with Ercole Varano and others until Ascanio Colonna was compelled to CATERINA CIBO, DUCHESS OF CAMERINO 63 make terms and Caterina was set free. But Ercole Varano and his sons made fresh trouble, for they could not agree as to their share. Caterina, feeling the insecurity of her position, sought to find a strong protector by offering her only daughter and heiress Giulia, as bride to the young son, Guidobaldo, of the Duke of Urbino. This roused the anger of Ercole Varano, who himself attacked Camerino, but the Duchess defended her city successfully and the Pope excommunicated Ercole and his sons. For a time Caterina and her young daughter were left in peace, but after the death of Pope Clement, Matteo the son of Ercole Varano, made another attempt on Camerino on the night of April 13, 1534. With a small company, he scaled the walls of the city and arrived unexpectedly in the palace. Here Matteo had the Duchess in his power, but she had contrived to send Giulia in haste to the care of the custodian of the Castello. He told Caterina that he had come to try his fortune, and that he was re- solved, by persuasion or force, to marry her daughter and thus settle the succession. Seeing that his words were in vain, Matteo threatened to kill her unless she instantly agreed to his wishes. " She, with a strong soul worthy of immortal fame, not only denied his request, but seeing that he stood over her with a drawn sword, and with his hand raised to strike, she fell upon her knees, and raising her veil, bent her head forwards, recommending her soul to God." But meantime, the whole city had been roused, and Matteo changed his mind, determining to retreat and take the Duchess with him. She had already been carried about two miles beyond the city gates, when she was overtaken and rescued by some of her 64 ITALIAN REFORMATION own people and was conducted in safety back to her palace. But in the fight which took place, about twenty of Matteo's followers were taken prisoners, and were promptly condemned to death by the indignant Duchess. She wrote the following fiery letter to her brother the Cardinal, to announce the events of that night : "Having told you the outrage they have here committed, you will understand that they deserved sentence of death, for they are evil livers and assas- sins. ... It will certainly appear to your Lordship, as it does to us, a wild dream, that sixty persons should set out to pillage Camerino, should dare to take me prisoner, then should carry me off, and at last let me go without a word, and escape without being killed ! . . . For my rescue I do indeed return thanks to God, and that all should have ended so well." There had been many suitors for the hand of Giulia, the heiress of Camerino, but the Duchess remained firm in the resolution of keeping her promise to the Duke of Urbino, and in 1534, the young girl's marriage was carried out with Guidobaldo della Rovere. Soon after this, Caterina resigned the government of the city and surrounding province to her daughter and son-in-law. But their dominion was only of brief duration, for the new Pope Paul III, who had in vain summoned Caterina to Rome with Briefs and threats of excommunication, now sent his commissioner Ascanio Parisani, to administer the Duchy. Under this Farnese government in Rome, times had sadly changed for the Duchess since those delightful CATERINA CIBO, DUCHESS OF CAMERINO 65 days in the time of Leo X and of Clement VII, when she had held a literary Court of her own in the Eternal city. Amongst her friends we find the satiric poet Francesco Berni, who wrote the " Orlando Inna- morato," a poem which contained such strong Lutheran doctrines that it had to be carefully muti- lated and edited after his death, by the Romish censors. Another writer who joined these gatherings was Agnolo Firenzuola, who dedicated his " Con- versazione sulFAmore " to Caterina Cibo, and a collection of his stories, somewhat in the style of Boccaccio, to Vittoria Colonna. He also wrote a prose work on the beauty of women, which he summed up in one sentence : "A beautiful woman is one who has the all-pervading gift of charm, and is universally pleasing." He praises Caterina for " her nobility and sweetness of mind, born with her and ever increasing with the passing years," and speaks of " the charm and brightness of her conversation, which made her reunions like an Athenian Academy." The historian Serdonati writes of her : " Caterina Cibo was noted alike for her beauty and for her brilliant intelligence. She learnt four lan- guages, Hebrew, Greek, Latin and our Tuscan, and understood them all so thoroughly, that she not only made great progress in Humanist studies, but also in sacred theology. It was for this purpose that she perfected herself in Hebrew, in order that she might read the holy Bible in that language ; and she was also able to make use of the commentaries of Greek Doctors of Divinity, in the original. She was also far advanced in the study of philosophy ; in short she was a mirror of doctrine and of religion." 5 66 ITALIAN REFORMATION When she left Camerino, the Duchess took up her abode in her palace at Florence, where she remained for the rest of her life, until her death on February 17, 1557. Here she was the centre of a literary and religious society, in which the poet Marcantonio Flaminio took a leading part. From letters of his to Caterina, we see the extreme interest which she took, not only in abstruse philosophy, but in the burning question of religious reform. From these, it is quite evident that she fully shared the Valdesian doctrines of Giulia Gonzaga and Vittoria Colonna, concerning justification by faith. In published records of the " Holy Office," we find a special accusation against this lady : " Ducessa Camerini haeretica sectatrix haereticorum et doctrix monialum haereticorum." The nuns whom she was supposed to have led astray with her heretical doc- trines, were those of Santa Marta outside Florence. This convent is beyond the Barriera del Ponte Rosso, on the hill of Montughi, which rises above the plain of the Mugnone. It stands higher up than the pictur- esque Capuchin Monastery, which was built through the influence of the Duchess of Camerino. But there are other and even more serious imputa- tions against Caterina. In the private records of Carnesecchi's trial before the Inquisition, we see how carefully she and her friends had been watched by spies. When Giberti, Pole and Carafla had passed through Florence and visited the Duchess, their private conversations were taken down ; it was also proved that she had asked Carnesecchi to recommend evangelists to her ; that she protected in her house a certain Fra Paolo, an apostate monk, formerly of San Benedetto ; that she certainly held the doctrine CATERINA CIBO, DUCHESS OF CAMERINO 67 of justification by faith, and continued in still more heresy as time went on ; and that she used all her influence to save various advanced thinkers from persecution, also helping them to escape. It was brought up against her that, from her house, Ochino wrote his famous letter to Vittoria Colonna to an- nounce his flight, and that the Friar had dedicated to her his heretical work, " Seven Dialogues," in four of which she is made to take the part of a learner, and that she kept up a correspondence with him after his rebellion and flight. Caterina was thus arraigned for heresy ten years after her death, but the Inquisition did not venture to molest her in life ; the scandal would have been too great, to condemn to the flames a lady so nearly connected with three Popes, the sister of a Cardinal and a Bishop. A brief allusion to the "Seven Dialogues " of Ochino, will give some idea of his mode of teaching. The First Dialogue treats of "Love to God." Ochino laments that so few are filled with love to God, while all love the creatures and themselves. For in God is infinite goodness ; in Him alone are perfect endless wisdom, beauty, truth, power, mercy, love and charity. He only sends us sorrow because He loves us ... and would not have us lost. Then the question is put whether man can rightly love Him in return ? The dialogue answers this question, carefully develops the requirements of a true love to God, and introduces the Platonic definition of virtue. ' While all other virtues consist in a certain mean which they cannot overstep . . . , love to God can never be great enough. We ought all to love Him 68 ITALIAN REFORMATION boundlessly, to prefer Him to all things else, and never to leave Him, whether for good or for evil, for gain or loss, for joy or sorrow, for honour or shame On the wings of this love, the soul is able to soar above itself. ... If the brave citizen is able to sacrifice his life for his country, and to renounce for its sake everything dear to him, how much more can the good Christian give up his life for the sake of God and His heavenly country, and love his God more than himself, as did the martyrs and other holy men. " We can at least give our hearts to Him through Jesus Christ, and say : ' If God wills it, I would give up my life for His sake. I would endure all pains and privations if I could thus please God/ 3 ' As we know, a few years later, Ochino proved by his deeds that these were not mere words. The Duchess replies : " I now see that, although difficult, it is yet possible to love God sincerely. But what must I do to fill my heart with love towards Him ? As Christ says, man cannot serve two masters ... it is therefore impossible to serve God and the world from the heart. Therefore whoso wishes to stand before God with his whole love, must leave himself and all creatures behind. He cannot be chained to earth by his love, and rise to God. . . ." Ochino replies : " The contempt of this world is the fruit of our love to God, but love to God does not arise from contempt of the world. . . ." CATERINA CIBO, DUCHESS OF CAMERINO 69 The Duchess then points out that a second road leading to the love of God is the knowledge of God. " We only love what we know loving without previous knowledge is inconceivable. The desire to know serves that desire which is king in us namely the will ; it precedes the will and carries the light, so that it is impossible for the will to arrive where knowledge has not forestalled it. To my mind therefore, the best means of loving God well, consists in striving to know Him better, and frequently making Him the object of our meditations. . . " Ochino acknowledges the connection between the knowledge of God and the love to Him, within certain limits. He distinguishes two modes of know- ing God a speculative, and a practical one, and it is only this last which has the power of kindling true love to God. . . . " It is not the speculative knowledge such as the wise of this world may have, but the practical knowledge of God, within reach of all men, which leads to love. The knowledge that God is the highest good, that He loves and cares for us, that He gave up His Son, even to the cross, out of love for us. This knowledge can be easily gained, even by the un- learned, ' for of such is the kingdom of heaven/ . . . '' Then follows the question, whether enjoying God helps us to love Him. The Second Dialogue is a short discussion between Ochino and the Duchess, " concerning the means of being happy/* It is here clearly shown, and illus- trated by passages from Plato and Seneca " That true happiness does not consist in the 70 ITALIAN EEFORMATION possession of earthly goods, nor in enjoyment of worldly pleasures, in honour, in riches or even in knowledge ; but that setting aside all these things, real happiness can be ours in our earthly pilgrimage, a happiness we may find in ourselves, in the peace of a soul absorbed in God. " The central truth is that happiness is in ourselves. We need not go outside to seek it, for all our longings are stilled and find their rest in God. Whoever thinks to satisfy the longings of his soul by the things of this world, is like a man who tries to satisfy his thirst by eating salt. Whoever wishes to quench his thirst must go to that holy spring of fresh water, clear, pure and inexhaustible." We will pass over the Third Dialogue, carried on between a master and scholar, in which the human soul is represented as a Court. The Fourth Dialogue, between Ochino and the Duchess, deals with the marvellous conversion of the thief on the cross, a very favourite subject with the Scholastic teachers, who became involved in most curious tangles. Many extraordinary sugges- tions had been made, but perhaps the following were the most popular. Some declared that it was the shadow of the crucified Christ which passed over the thief, and suddenly worked the miracle within him. There were others who believed that it was the loving, adoring gaze of Mary fixed upon the Saviour which so moved and touched his heart that it worked his conversion at the eleventh hour. But Ochino rejects all these materialistic explanations. In this case also, simple belief in Christ is to him a free action. CATERINA CIBO, DUCHESS OF CAMERINO 71 " The thief looked upon Christ, he saw Him endure everything without a murmur ... he heard His words and saw His wonderful patience, His all-embracing love ; it was all this, that kindled in him the belief that Christ was in truth the Son of God." We pass the two next Dialogues, and the last and Seventh is a conversation between Ochino and the Duchess concerning " vows/' The Duchess asks : ' What must I do to secure the salvation of my soul and my highest happiness ? ' ; Ochino replies : ' You must make a vow." To this Caterina objects as she does not know of any Order that would satisfy her ; but she is told that there is one which will please her, as it is perfect in every respect. " The members of this Order do not change their dwelling, but only their customs, not their clothing, but their lives. They cut off all sinful thoughts and desires instead of their hair. They pray with their hearts and not only with their lips. They obey God and not man." There is a quaint human touch in the answer of the Duchess: " I should like to be perfect, but it must not give me too much trouble." Ochino continues, after further explanations : " In the whole world there is no lighter Order than this. It is called the Divine, and its name is typical of the lives of those who belong to it. ... In this Order, there are no novices, the vows must be taken 72 ITALIAN REFORMATION at once, and only noble souls may enter. If you wish to join, this is the vow which you must take with all your heart. . . ." Then follows a brief epitome of simple Christian doctrine and a declaration of faith. Caterina learns to thank God for all the blessings she has received ; to proclaim her creed in her life, and her desire so to work upon others that they may love and seek God alone in Christ. The vow : "Be it known to all by these presents that I Caterina, Duchess of Camerino, led by the grace of God and light divine, have resolved to turn to God with the whole power of my love, now and for ever. I promise to live in eternal poverty, that is without love for the creature, and acknowledging that I myself have nothing, and cannot do, will, know, or accomplish anything. I promise implicit obedience, that is, now and for ever to follow God's commands, and never to strive against them. . . . " Thus united with God, I promise to serve Him, my Lord, purely and without blame, and to bring others to His service. I hope to gain salvation through Christ alone . . . and to attest this, I Duchess of Camerino, have signed with my own hand. MDXXXVIII." These "Dialogues" are essentially Protestant, for the idea is the doctrine of justification by the grace of God alone, as taught to the disciples of Valdes. It is on this note, that we close the story of the gallant Caterina Cibo, Duchess of Camerino. CHAPTER VII PETER MARTYR AND OCHINO Story of Pietro Martire Vermigli (Peter Martyr) Born at Florence Enters Augustinian monastery at Fiesole His wonderful preaching His persecution and flight with Ochino from Italy They are invited to England by Archbishop Cranmer Peter Martyr appointed Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford Ochino made Canon of Canterbury They leave England on Queen Mary's accession Death of Martyr and of Ochino. IT was in Florence that Bernardino Ochino came to that final decision which raised throughout Italy the cry of lamentation or obloquy : " He has forsaken the ark of salvation." It was the same Florence which four years before had beheld his highest honour, his election as Vicar-General of his Order. It was here that he renounced all that made life dear to him, the love and reverence of devoted friends, a position of unrivalled honour and fame ; the work of a whole life-time of strenuous devoted zeal. It was here too that he may possibly have been influenced by the advice and example of his friend and fellow exile, Pietro Martire Vermigli, who is of sufficient importance to claim a special notice. Peter Martyr, as he is known in English history, was born at Florence in September 1500, and his parents, Stefano Vermigli and Maria Fumantina, were both members of ancient and distinguished families in their native city. They had lost several 73 74 ITALIAN REFORMATION sons before the birth of this boy, and in the hope of saving his life, they dedicated him to St. Peter Martyr of Milan, put to death by the Arians. The boy early showed great intelligence and was taught Latin by his mother, who translated with him the comedies of Terence. As he grew older, nothing was spared for his education, and he had the best teachers in that palmy age of learning for the Florentine Republic, amongst whom was Marcello Virgilio, the famous professor of Greek and Latin. But the result of Peter's precocious talent was disappointing to his father, who had high ambitions for his clever son, for at the age of sixteen, he had decided to choose the monastic life, possibly as giving him greater opportunities for quiet study, as well as a holy life. He entered the monastery of St. Augustine at Fiesole, which was especially suited to him, as it possessed a fine library of classical works, philosophy and theology, given by the Medici family. 'He was warmly welcomed by the Austin Canons, who hoped that his brilliant talents would add to the fame of their Order. It was an additional blow to Stefano Vermigli when his only daughter, Gemma Felicita, followed her brother's example, and took the vows in the Convent of S. Pietro Martire. After three years at Fiesole, Peter Martyr was sent to the monastery of S. Giovanni di Verdaro, near Padua, in the hope that he would continue his -studies with the same perseverance and success at the famous University of Padua. During the eight years which followed, he devoted most of his time to the study of Philosophy, under the direction of the learned abbot Albert, and the teaching of Branda, Gonfalonieri and Genua ; until his learning and PETER MARTYR AND OCHINO 75 eloquence were so much appreciated that he was invited to take part in public discussions. Not satisfied with studying Aristotle in a Latin transla- tion, he determined so thoroughly to master the Greek language, that he could read not only the orators and philosophers of ancient Greece but all the best poets, in the original language. He and his friend Benedetto Cusano often spent the whole night in study, so eager were they to enjoy the new world of knowledge which opened before them. At the age of twenty-six, he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity, and was honoured by being placed in the Order of Preachers, " who were most carefully selected in the Augustinian Order, for their talent, learning and eloquence." He first preached at Brescia, then in the chief cities of Italy, Rome, Venice, Bologna, Mantua, Bergamo, Pisa and Montserrat, while all his spare time was devoted to the study of the Scriptures. He could not rest until he had learnt enough Hebrew to read the Old Testament in the original. His work was so much appreciated that he was made Abbot of Spoleto, where the serious task awaited him of reforming the terrible abuses into which the monas- teries and convents had fallen, and this he carried out even at the risk of his life. After three years at Spoleto, he was appointed Prior to the great house of S. Pietro ad Ara, at Naples, a position of much responsibility and importance. Here it was that he met Juan Valdes, the Spanish reformer, and was greatly influenced by his teaching. Just at this time, he happened to meet with Bucer's Com- mentaries on the Gospels and on the Psalms, with which he was deeply impressed. This and other 76 ITALIAN REFORMATION works*of|the Reformers made him conscious of the serious abuses of the Church of Rome, until he felt an earnest desire to return to the original simplicity of the Christian Church. His own feelings were much strengthened by the constant religious meetings in the house of Valdes, and the society of his friends, amongst whom were Benedetto Cusano, and the poet Marcantonio Flaminio. As his honest and sincere spirit became gradually enlightened, we cannot wonder that a change came over the message which he preached. This was especially noticed when, in the presence of the brethren of his Order and an immense crowd of eager listeners, he preached a series of sermons on the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, with his usual marvellous eloquence. One day he came to the passage in the third chapter " and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is," on which the doctrine of Purgatory is supposed to be founded. He interpreted it as a figurative allusion to the entire consumption of all merit outside Christ, our sole salvation ; and proved this by quotations from the more ancient Fathers. It began to be whispered by some jealous monks that his doctrine was heretical and that he did not believe in Purgatory ; he was watched, and accused to the Viceroy, the bigoted Toledo, who was persuaded to forbid him to preach. But Peter Martyr appealed to the Pope against this sentence, and he had such powerful friends at Rome ; Gonzaga, Contarini, Pole, Bembo and Fregoso all of them Cardinals and in high favour with Paul III that the prohibition was removed, and he continued to preach at Naples with ever- increasing success. Amongst those who were most deeply PETER MARTYR AND OCHINO 77 influenced by his teaching were Francesco Caserto, who died a martyr for the Reformed Faith, and the young nobleman Galeazzo Caracciolo, whose interest- ing history will be told later in connection with Reform at Naples. It was soon after the death of Valdes, that Peter Martyr was taken seriously ill with a contagious fever of which his friend Benedetto Cusano died. His superiors, anxious to remove him from the un- healthy miasma of Naples, appointed Martyr Visitor- General of their Order in Italy, a task which gave him reforming work after his own heart, and which he carried out with the strongest measures, showing neither fear nor favour. He was rewarded with the position of Prior at S. Frediano in Lucca, with episcopal authority over half the city. It was a difficult position, but he met with his usual success, and devoted himself especially to the young, choosing men of learning and piety to teach not only Greek and Latin, but theology; while he himself gave a daily exposition in Italian on the Epistles of St. Peter. He also gave Lectures on the Psalms, and preached every Sunday to crowded congregations in their native tongue. During Advent and Lent he confined himself to the Gospels. We shall not be surprised to hear that, in somewhat later days, Lucca had the honour of containing more converts to the reformed faith than perhaps any other city in Italy. In 1541, the Emperor Charles V and the Pope met at Lucca, and the friends of Peter Martyr feared that there might be trouble for him but Contarini arrived at the same time, and renewed his intimate acquaint- ance with the Prior of S. Frediano, taking up his 78 ITALIAN REFORMATION abode in the Convent, where they had earnest re- ligious talk together and all passed off well at this time. But the clergy in the Pope's train carried back to Rome an evil account of Lucca, and the Bishop, who dared not attack Martyr on account of his great popularity, ordered the town authorities to arrest some of his companions, amongst whom was his friend Celio Secondo Curione, who found a refuge later at Ferrara. The high reputation of Peter Martyr had made him secret enemies who kept strict watch, and were always ready to bring a charge of heresy against him. One complaint against him was " that he had given the communion to many citizens, teaching them only to partake in remembrance of Christ's death, and not because they believed the wafer contained His most holy body." As time went on, the danger increased, and at length when he was summoned to appear before the Council of his Order at Genoa, he received a warning that it would be fatal for him to obey. Most unwillingly, he resolved to secure safety by flight, and leaving many of his religious books in charge of a friend who was to send them to Germany, he set forth with three friends for Pisa, where he met with some earnest students of the reformed opinions ; he also wrote letters of farewell giving his reasons for leaving his post, with final words of advice and blessing. From Pisa he went on to Florence, where, as we have seen, he met Bernardino Ochino, who was in the same unfortunate position as himself. The story of these two exiles for their faith is from this time greatly linked in their various adventures, and may be told to some extent together. They decided to leave Italy by different roads ; Ochino PETER MARTYR AND OCHINO 79 set out two days before his friend, and appears to have passed through Ferrara, where the Duchess Renee showed him much kindness, as she did to all who were persecuted for their religious opinions. He then struck across the plain of Lombardy, visiting the Marchese del Vasto at Milan, on his way. He then continued his journey through Chiavenna to Zurich, where many Italian fugitives from the Inquisition were already taking refuge. The Swiss Pastor Bullinger says that the " Signor Bernardino of Siena remained here two days, before going on to Geneva, and we had much religious converse. He is celebrated for his sanctity and his learning ; a venerable man with a tall figure and an imposing appearance. ... In Italy he was so greatly revered that he was adored almost as a god/' Peter Martyr also reached Zurich, where he was welcomed with great kindness, but as there was no office vacant in the ministry there, he went on to Basle, from whence he was invited to Strasburg as Professor of Theology, through the influence of Martin Bucer. We have a long and extremely interesting letter which he wrote to his friends at Lucca, describing his joy in a land of freedom, where he could dare to teach the whole truth, without fear of bringing persecution upon his disciples. During the five years which he spent at Strasburg, Martyr went through most of the Old and New Testaments in his public lectures, which were given in Latin ; and he was highly appreciated for his learning and eloquence. Here he was joined for a time by his friend Ber- 80 ITALIAN REFORMATION nardino Ochino, who later received a post as preacher to the Italian congregation of Augsburg with a salary of two hundred gulden. He also continued his literary work, chiefly Expositions and sermons on the Epistles of St. Paul. But the Protestant community at Augsburg was not long unmolested, for the city was taken by the Emperor in January 1547, and many ministers in Germany were compelled to abandon their work. Meantime, on the accession of Edward VI in England, both the Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector, and Archbishop Cranmer were anxious to advance the reformed religion, by inviting " learned and godly men " from abroad, to promote at once learning and the Protestant faith. Both Peter Martyr and Ochino were amongst those invited to Engknd and warmly welcomed by the Archbishop ; Martyr was appointed Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford, and Ochino was made a Canon of Canterbury, with a dispensation of residence. We have a curious record of the needful expenses in providing for this journey, and in the outfit for Ochino, a fur cloak is mentioned and also a dagger and belt, as it was not the custom to travel long distances unarmed. Cran- mer had expressly desired that all necessary books should be obtained, and we find that Martyr bought the Basle editions of Augustine, Cyprian and Epi- phanius, costing 13J guilders, while as much as 40| guilders .were spent on Bernardino's books. These were all packed at Basle and sent by sea, through Antwerp. Ochino lived in London and was appointed preacher to the Italian Protestants in the city, and a church was found for his congregation. Other friends of his PETER MARTYR AND OCHINO 81 came over from Germany, after the troubles caused amongst the Reformers by the " Interim," which had restored most of the Roman Catholic doctrines, notably that the services were to be performed in Latin, " lest they should fall into contempt if the people understood the language/' Amongst the Reformers who accepted Cranmer's invitation to England were Bucer and Fagius, both men of great learning, but the climate did not suit them, and they did not long survive. There were serious tumults in Oxford, excited by the Romish priests, in 1549, and Peter Martyr was at one time in danger of his life ; but when peace was restored, the young King Edward VI gave him an audience at Richmond, warmly congratulated him on his escape, and promised him the first vacant canonry at Christ Church. He had many friends at Oxford, Bishop Hooper and Miles Coverdale attended his Lectures, and he saw much of the Bishops Latimer and Ridley, and other distinguished Reformers, who later suffered martyrdom for their faith. In 1552, Martyr was appointed one of the committee under Cranmer, to revise the Book of Common Prayer. But a great change was at hand, when Edward VI died on July 15, 1533, and was succeeded by his sister Mary. She at once overthrew all that had been done in favour of the Protestants, and the foreign Reformer soon saw that there was no safety but in flight. Peter Martyr had recently recovered from a severe illness, and was in deep sorrow for the loss of his wife, " a most devout and pious woman/' He was strongly advised by Cranmer to lose no time in making his escape, and after a perilous voyage, he was landed at Antwerp in the middle of the night, 6 82 ITALIAN REFORMATION and at length reached Strasburg in safety. Here he was, after a time, appointed by the Senate to his former office of expounding Scripture. He was able to show much kindness and hospitality to the English exiles, amongst whom was Jewel, then a very young man. But Strasburg was no longer a peaceful haven, as there was much dissension amongst the Reformers there, and after a few years Martyr was very thankful to accept a post as Professor of Hebrew at Zurich. The most important event in his later life was his journey to the Colloquy of Poissy, where he took part in the famous controversy between Protestants and Roman Catholics. He died at Zurich on November 12, 1562, in the midst of his friends, full of years and honours, dearly beloved and deeply regretted. Bernardino Ochino had a far sadder fate. His troubles and disappointments appear to have preyed upon his mind, and his writings after this date became unwisely outspoken. He strongly opposed the doc- trine of unconditional predestination, asserting the freedom of the will, and in his "Labyrinth," which he dedicated to Queen Elizabeth, he gave much offence to the followers of Calvin. " But his last work occasioned him the most unhappy fate ; it caused him to be deprived of his pastorate, to be driven from Zurich and afterwards from Basle, during a severe winter. He was forced to fly to the distant kingdom of Poland and thence to Moravia. ' He was tossed about the world hither and thither like a ball/ He had already reached his seventy- sixth year, and was suffering from the troubles and infirmities of age this man who had been equipped with such exceptional endowments, and had brought the Reformed Church so much honour/' The work to which this writer PETER MARTYR AND OCHINO 83 (Schellhorn) refers is the ' ' Thirty D ialogues, " published in 1563. In this curious book, Ochino lays himself out to misunderstanding by the profound honesty with which he states the point of view of the " adversary." Thus in discussing such a subject as the " Trinity," he says that " we should regard it with reverence and faith, and not overstep the limits which God has set to his revelation thereof." But then he suffers the " adversary " to use the strongest and most learned arguments against the doctrine of the Church. Other subjects considered too sacred for discussion are treated in the like manner, but possibly that which gave the most offence was a dialogue on " polygamy," in which the " adversary " clearly proves that it is not forbidden in the Old Testament. This was quite enough to condemn Ochino in the popular mind, though of course the conclusion was against the " adversary." His biographer, Benrath, thus sums up the evidence concerning the fate of Bernardino Ochino : " His thoughts and the standpoint he took, have in the course of time, become common-places, but they far transcended the general intellectual level of his own time. . . . There is something deeply tragic in the fact of his final cruel persecution by the Re- formers for his free and tolerant spirit." The last we hear of him is that he was struck down by the plague, but partly recovered, and wearied to death, he bade his friends and companions in the Faith, a last farewell on Advent Sunday, 1564, and died in solitude at Schlackau, in Moravia. 84 ITALIAN REFOEMATION ' When near the close of his long life, he looked back with tears upon his long path of sorrows, he was still able to say, for the consolation of his friends : I have had to suffer many things, but that is spared to none of Christ's disciples and apostles. But that I have been able to endure all things, shows forth the might of the Lord." l 1 Karl Benrath. CHAPTER VIII RENEE OF FERRARA Story of Renee of France who married Ercole of Ferrara Splendid wedding Literary society at Ferrara Ariosto, Tasso, Clement Marot, etc. Visit to Venice Death of Duke Alfonso d'Este, 1534 and of Clement VII Duke Ercole opposes the spread of Reform at Ferrara Sends away some of his wife's friends Her distress. FERRARA, which had long been distinguished as a seat of classical learning and of the fine arts, was also destined to become famous as a centre of Reformed opinions and a refuge for those who were exiles for their religion. Ercole, the son of the reigning Duke Alfonso, sealed an alliance with France against Pope Clement VII, by his marriage with Renee the daughter of Louis XII, in the year 1528. During the lifetime of her mother, Anne de Bretagne, more ambitious hopes had been entertained for the young princess, but they had all fallen through, and her brother-in-law Fran9ois I, was quite satisfied to bestow her hand upon an Italian Prince, who would not require the half of her mother's possessions. Renee had been brought up at the French Court with her cousin Marguerite, who became Queen of Navarre, and both the young girls were distinguished for their talent, and seem to have been already attracted by the new spirit of religious reform which was spread- ing over all Europe. 85 86 ITALIAN REFORMATION The Princess Renee was certainly not beautiful, she was even slightly deformed ; and her father remarked one day when she was about five years old that " it would be difficult to find a husband who would love her/' But the Queen replied coldly that " the love of mere beauty soon passed, it was the beauty of soul which inspired a lasting affection." It is a doubtful question whether Ercole d'Este was a man to appreciate this higher form of beauty, and his marriage may certainly be looked upon rather as one of policy than of love. It was a brilliant success to obtain a King's daughter for his bride, and the wedding festivities were gorgeous enough to satisfy his highest ambition. The marriage was celebrated at Paris on June 28, 1528, with great pomp and splendour. We have a very full account of all the great personages present, and of the Princess Renee in her regal robes, of crimson velvet covered with precious jewels ; probably some of those which she had just received from the Duke of Ferrara to the value of 100,000 crowns in gold. Her long fair hair her chief beauty streamed over her shoulders, from beneath the crown of precious stones ; and the bridegroom rivalled her in the magnificence of his priceless gems. The festivities continued for more than a month ; there were balls and banquets, as well as hunting parties at St. Germains and Fontainebleau, so that it was not until September that the wedding party set out towards Italy ; travelling by slow stages through Lyons, Turin, Parma, Reggio and Modena, where they were received with great state, and the bride was warmly welcomed by Isabella d'Este, sister of Duke Alfonso. The wedding party sailed in superb RENEE OF FERRARA 87 Bucentaurs on the river Po, to the city of Ferrara, where the bride's reception was still more magnificent. With all the church-bells ringing and the salvo of cannon, she was borne in a litter, beneath a superb canopy, through the richly decorated streets ; with a train of eighty noble pages in crimson brocade, wearing rose-coloured caps with white plumes. These were preceded by the prelates, priests and professors, and a long procession of nobles on horseback. After the nuptial benediction in the Cathedral, the bride was presented with the keys of the city on a silver salver. Yet all this magnificence could scarcely veil the deep depression which hung over Ferrara, where the plague had raged so terribly during the summer, that 20,000 persons were said to have fallen victims to it. There may have been still some risk of infection, for we learn that one of the French ambassadors who had accompanied the wedding party, died at Modena of the dreaded disease. It almost seems as if a shadow hung over Renee from the first. It was unfortunate for her that almost immediately after this, the armies of France began to lose ground in Italy, and one defeat after another led up to the Treaty of Cambrai, when there was real danger that Ferrara would be sacrificed to the Pope's vengeance. But Duke Alfonso hastened to do homage to the victorious Emperor, and through his wise diplomacy the peril was averted. Even when the alliance with France had lost political value, Alfonso always be- haved with the utmost kindness to his daughter-in- law. He was a man of enough talent and intelligence to appreciate Renee 's intellectual tastes, and he showed every encouragement to the distinguished 88 ITALIAN REFORMATION scholars, who had followed her from France or who gathered round her Court from various parts of Italy. Amongst the friends of the Duke, Lodovico Ariosto, the author of the " Orlando Furioso," was one of the most famous. His heroic poem, in forty cantos, the fashionable reading of the day, had been written sixteen years before, but the last edition published in his lifetime, saw the light at Ferrara in 1532. Learned and accomplished as she was, Renee did not speak Italian well, and was obliged to use an inter- preter in these early days. We can understand therefore that she was much more at home with the French members of her suite, Madame de Soubise her governess poetess and translator of the Psalms and her distinguished family. She had been the earliest patron of Clement Marot, the typical French poet of his day, who " combined the valour of a soldier and the manners of a courtier," with the most delightful literary taste and wit. He was a frequent visitor at the Court of Ferrara, especially in later days when his reformed religious views were more pronounced. Amongst the poets of Ferrara who wrote verses in honour of Renee, was Bernardo Tasso, to whom she showed much favour, and who was appointed her secretary as early as the year after her marriage. Amongst the distinguished men who joined her circle in these early days, we may mention the learned Celio Calcagnini, Canon of the Cathedral and Professor of Literature, and Albert Lollio joint founders of the Academy of the " Elevati." Science as well as literature was represented in the persons of Giovanni Mainardi and his distinguished scholar, Antonio Musa Brasavola, Professors of Medicine. Antonio, who was RENEE OF FERRARA 89 the son of Count Francesco Brasavola, was Reader in Dialectics at the University at the age of eighteen, and two years later held public disputations at Padua and Bologna ; on theology, philosophy, mathematics, astronomy and medicine. He had travelled to France as chief physician, with Ercole at the time of his marriage, and was consulted at various times both by the Emperor and the Pope. His favourite study was botany, and he introduced many new herbal remedies. But Renee found her most intimate friends in the family of Madame de Soubise, who had been Lady in Waiting to Anne de Bretagne, and whose two youngest daughters, Renata and Carlotta, had accompanied her to Ferrara as well as her son Lusignan de Par- thenay. His companion in arms, the young Count Antoine de Pons, was betrothed to his eldest sister Anne de Parthenay, the special favourite of the French Princess, who shared all her studies and her tastes, and was destined, with most of her family, to dare and suffer much for the reformed doctrines. Anne soon joined the Court of Ferrara of which she was a brilliant ornament, and here, early in 1534, her marriage with Antoine de Pons was solemnised with all the honours and festivities which Renee could arrange. Her husband Ercole, had no friendly feeling towards any of the companions she had brought from France, and he appears to have avoided the wedding by going to spend the Carnival at Venice. Other interests had entered into the life of Renee, for in November 1531, a daughter had been born to her, who received the name of Anne, from her grand- mother. Two years later there had been great rejoicings in Ferrara on the birth of a son and heir, 90 ITALIAN REFORMATION who was named Alfonso, and was held at the font by the Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, as proxy for Fra^ois I. This event appears to have lightened the gloom which hung over the city since the death of the poet Lodovico Ariosto, in the previous June, 1533. This was a great blow to the French Princess and her literary circle, for he was a brilliant, genial companion, ever ready to take a part in organising the Plays which formed a part of all public entertainments. He was a great admirer of Renee and has immortalised her in the following lines. After speaking of other ladies of the House of Este, he says : " Non voglio ch'in silenzio anco Renata Di Francia, nuora di costei, rimanga, Di Luigi duodecimo re nata, E de 1'eterna gloria di Bretagna. Ogni virtti ch'in donna mai sia stata, Di poi che'l fuoco scalda e 1'acqua bagna, E gira intorno il cielo, insieme tutta Per Renata adornar veggio ridutta." 1 Dante had once exclaimed that Ferrara had no poets ; but now it was no longer true, for we have seen here the death of one famous writer, and another was to be harboured later within her walls ; the singer of " Armida," Torquato Tasso, the son of Renee 's secretary. It was in the spring of 1534 that the French Princess paid her eventful visit to Venice, in order to see the Festa of the Ascension. Duke Alfonso had gone to Milan for the wedding of his nephew, the Duke Francesco Sforza with Christina of Denmark, taking Titian with him to paint their portraits. Ercole remained at home, but his wife was supposed to 1 " Orlando Furioso," xiii. 71. RENEE OF FERRARA 91 represent him and she went in great state, taking with her, by special request of Fra^ois I, the Count de Pons as her Lord in Waiting, and his bride Anne de Parthenay. She was received with great ceremony and conducted to the Este Palace, the Fondaco dei Turchi, a beautiful Byzantine building of the ninth century, one of the earliest buildings, not ecclesi- astical, in Venice. It was not far from the Rialto bridge, then built of wood. ReneVs visit was one succession of splendid enter- tainments. She was taken to see the Arsenal, the treasures of the Signoria were spread out before her ; she was conducted in state to Murano, and finally was the most honoured guest in the splendid ceremony of the betrothal of the Doge to the sea, in the gorgeous procession of Bucentaurs. It is interesting to re- member that the Doge Andrea Gritti, who received the Princess cap in hand, who embraced her and conducted her with torches to the steps of her palace, was the same Doge who had endured the terrible defeat of Agnadello, and was now receiving the daughter of his conqueror, Louis XII, and all for the sake of his friendship towards the House of Este. It was a costly expedition, for we learn that 1,584 lire were spent in gifts. But the real importance of this stay in Venice to Renee and many of her suite, was that here they found the Reformed doctrines openly taught by disciples of Calvin, and were able to have religious conversations, and to obtain freely, books of the Reformers. It is quite possible that her strong interest in all that she heard of Calvin, may have had some connection with the visit which he paid to Ferrara two years later. 92 ITALIAN REFORMATION The year 1534 was an eventful period for the Este family. On September 25, Clement VII, the great enemy of Ferrara, breathed his last, and Duke Alfonso, for the first time in his life, felt secure of his dominions. But his peace on earth was of short duration, for within a month he too passed away after a short illness. He was much beloved by his people and deeply regretted by them as well as by his daughter- in-law, to whom he had always proved a faithful friend and champion. His son and successor, Ercole II, was a far weaker character than his father, with narrower views and less intelligence and generosity. He had always disliked the French members of ReneVs Court whom she had brought with her from Paris, and he suspected that they were responsible for the growing feeling of estrangement between himself and his wife. The new Duke was also well aware of the reformed opinions held by Madame de Soubise and her family, and now that he was very anxious to be on good terms with the Pope, he re- solved to dismiss all the French suite. But he met with great opposition, not only on the part of the Duchess, but of the King of France, who strongly pleaded that she should be allowed to keep her friends. Amongst other visitors at the Court of Ferrara about this time was one in whom Renee took special interest, Clement Marot the poet, in whose gay society and brilliant intelligence she had taken great delight before she left France. His life had already been full of adventure, for in the service of Fra^ois I, who delighted in his merry society, he had accom- panied the King to Italy, and had been wounded and taken prisoner at the Battle of Pavia. On his return to Paris, he was arrested for heresy and cast RENEE OF FERRARA 93 into the dungeon of the Chatelet, but when he was tried before the Bishop of Chartres, this genial prelate only confined him in a comfortable house near his palace. There is a legend that the townsfolk of Chartres used to sing his own songs beneath the window of his room to cheer his mild captivity. Besides his special patroness, Marguerite of Navarre, it was well for him that he had many powerful friends, as he was always getting into trouble for his opposition to authority, and his outspoken opinions. After various vicissitudes, in the midst of which he married, he settled at Lyons and became a member of its lively literary circle. In 1533 came the terrible persecution of the French Protestants, and Marot, warned in time, fled to the Court of Marguerite at Beam. Feeling insecure even under the protection of the King's sister, in the early summer of 1535, he crossed the Alps and presented himself at the Court of Ferrara. Here Marot received a warm welcome from the Duchess, who " looked upon him as another Ovid," so he tells us in his " Coq a Fane." She appointed him her secretary, with an income of 200 livres a year, and the poet was so delighted that he wrote a poem, in the form of a letter to his friends, which begins thus a play upon her name Renee (born again) : " Mee amis, j'ay chang6 ma Dame : Une autre a dessus moy puissance, Nee deux fois, de nom et d'ame, Enfant de Roy par sa naissance : Enfant du Ciel par connoissance De Celuy qui la sauvera. . . ." 1 It was no new thing for Marot to write in her 1 Marot CBnvres, torn. ii. p. 57, ed. a la Haye. 94 ITALIAN REFORMATION praise ; lie had already, in 1528, composed a " Chant nuptial du mariage de Madame Renee fille de France avec le due de Ferrare," in ten long stanzas, bringing in a great deal of adulation and mythology, and beginning with a kind of trumpet strain of welcome to Ercole (who was not yet Duke) : " Quel est ce duo venu nouvelleinent En si bel ordre et riche a 1'avantage ? On juge bien a le voir seulement Qu'il est yssu d'excellent parentage. N'est-ce celluy qui en fleurissant age Doit espouser la princease Renee ? " Brantome tells us that Marot's residence at Ferrara served to confirm her attachment to the reformed doctrines, by the accounts which he gave of the persecutions in France, of the sufferings and constancy of her friends ; and also his keen satire of the Koman Church. The poet found himself in a congenial atmosphere at Ferrara, for Madame de Soubise, the warm patroness of his father Jean Marot, had always shown him great favour, while his witty epigrams and the " piquant gallantry of his verses were the delight of the whole company/' Meantime Duke Ercole II had carried out his long delayed expedition to Rome that he might offer his congratulations to the new Pope Paul III on his accession to the Papal dignity. He set forth on September 19, 1535, taking with him the famous doctor Brasavola, and a suite of 260 persons, arriving at Rome on October 9, after a slow and stately journey. He did not meet with the success which he anticipated, either in his negotiations with the Pope and Cardinals, or later, when he went to Naples to meet the Emperor, who had returned from a successful expedition in RENEE OF FERRARA 95 Africa. Ercole was also much worried by news from Ferrara, where he was told by his spies that there was an intrigue on foot to induce Renee to go to France. He had so far delayed his purpose of expelling all his wife's French friends, as she was in delicate health, and he wished to spare her until after the birth of her child. In December 1535 a second daughter was born to Renee, who received the name of Lucrezia, and was in after years the object of Torquato Tasso's adoration. The Duke himself did not return to Ferrara until January 13, the next year, and finding his wife ill and depressed, he wrote to invite his aunt Isabella d'Este to pay them a visit, and spend the carnival at Ferrara. The Marchesa arrived on January 30, and seems to have much enjoyed the festivities given in her honour. Clement Marot, with the curious fantastic taste of that age, had addressed a poem to the yet unborn child of Renee, beginning with these words : " Petit enfant, quel que sois, fille ou fils . . ." continuing : ' You will find a century in which you can quickly learn all that a child can understand. . . . Come then boldly, and when you grow older, you will find something better still : you will find a war already begun the war against ignorance and its insensate troops. . . . Oh, happy days to those who know, and happier still to those who are born to-day. " Rabelais, in a letter written this year, says : "I fear the Duchess will suffer much, as the Duke has sent away Madame de Soubise, her governess, and the French waiting-women, so that she is served 96 ITALIAN REFORMATION entirely by Italians/' This had taken place on March 20, 1535, and it was quite true that Renee had felt the parting bitterly, but she had long ex- pected it. Marot wrote a charming poem of farewell to his kind patroness, in which he recalls how she was a favourite and friend of Anne of Bretagne, how she and her noble house were always beloved of the Muses, how she had encouraged poets and learned men, and how bitterly she will be regretted in Ferrara after seven years of faithful service. With all his light-hearted frivolity, Clement Marot had very strong religious views, and it is believed that a serious poem on such matters which he wrote to Franois I, from Ferrara, induced the French King to invite Melanchthon to Paris that he might help in making peace between the religious parties in France. But this was never to happen ! Early in the year 1536, Marot himself was driven from his peaceful shelter at Ferrara, and compelled to take refuge in Venice. From there he wrote the well-known poem to Marguerite of Navarre, in which he appeals to her on behalf of Renee her sister-in-law, in 37 verses, of which I will quote three : " Ha ! Marguerite, escoute la souffrance Du noble coeur de Renee de France ; Puis comme sceur plus fort qne d'esperance Console-la. " Tu sais comment hors son pays alia, Et que parents et amis laissa la, Mais tu ne sais quel traitement elle a En terre estrange. " Elle ne voit ceult a qui se veult plaindre, Son ceil rayant si loing ne peut attaindre ; Et puis les monts pour ce bien lui estaindre Sont entre deux." CHAPTER IX CALVIN AND HIS VISIT TO FERRARA Life of Calvin At the University of Paris Marguerite of Navarre his patron Writings of Calvin " Institution Chre'tienne." Calvin visits Ferrara Circle of Reformers in that city Clement Marot translates the Psalms into French verse Prohibited by the Inquisition. WE have now reached a most interesting point in this " History of the Men and Women of the Italian Reformation." In the year 1536, Ferrara gave shelter to a greater Reformer than any of Italian birth, for the visit of Calvin was an epoch in the eventful life of the city. A brief account of his earlier life may not be out of place, in order to understand the point at which he had then arrived in his mental and religious development, and the importance of his meeting with the Duchess Renee. Jean Calvin was born on July 10, 1509, in Noyon, a cathedral town of Picardy. It was the year when our Henry VIII came to the throne, when Melanchthon at the age of thirteen matriculated in Heidelberg, when Erasmus was in Rome, when Luther had been called to Wittenberg. Calvin was of humble birth ; his ancestors had been bargemen on the river Oise, but his father Gerard Calvin had risen to the position of " Notaire Apostolique, and Secretaire de I'Evesche/' His mother Jeanne is spoken of as a beautiful woman and remarkably devout. Beza tells us that the father 7 7 98 ITALIAN EEFOEMATION was rich enough to bring up his family in a good position, and to give his talented second son, Jean, an excellent education. Being in favour with the Bishop of Noyon, he was able to obtain for the boy the equivalent of a scholarship at the present time the revenues of a chapel in the cathedral, and later those of a curacy near. In 1523, Jean was sent to the old and famous University of Paris, which was then in a terrible condition as regards morals and discipline, if we are to believe half that we are told by Erasmus and Kabelais. But this lad of fourteen appears to have so chosen his friends as to pass unharmed through the ordeal, and he was fortunate in having as his teacher, the enthusiastic and learned Mathurin Cordier, who, in later years, became his pupil in religion, and followed him to exile in Geneva. The same devotion to the reformed faith was shown by Michel Cop, youngest son of Guillaume Cop, the King's physician, whose family showed the utmost affection to young Calvin. In 1528, his father decided that Jean should devote himself to law rather than theology, and for that purpose sent him to Orleans, where he studied jurisprudence under Pierre de FEstoile, and Greek under Melchior Wolmar. Here he first met Theodore Beza, then a boy of ten. Gerard Calvin died in 1531, and the next year Jean published a Commentary on the " De dementia " of Seneca. This first work was a splendid success, and the youth of twenty- three was declared to have excelled in classical knowledge, Aleander, Eeuchlin and Erasmus. In October 1533, Calvin went to Paris, where Marguerite of Navarre held her Court, showing great favour to the preachers of the reformed doctrines, CALVIN AND HIS VISIT TO FERRARA 99 amongst whom was her almoner, Gerard Roussel, and she warmly welcomed the coming of Jean Calvin. In the King's absence, some strict theologians had just prohibited her " Mirror of a Sinful Soul/' to her great indignation. The subject came before the University, and it was Calvin who wrote the famous rectorial address, which the rector, Nicolas Cop, revised and delivered. In this we see how far the young scholar had advanced on the road to Reform. He had learnt from Erasmus to compare the Church of his own time with the ideal of Christ, while by Luther's " Exposition of the Beatitudes " he had been taught the difference between Law and Gospel and the involved doctrines of Grace and Faith. With splendid courage he defended the cause of the perse- cuted Reformers, amongst whom was the martyred Etienne de la Forge ; and the result of this frankness was that he had before long to flee from Paris. He went to Noyon and resigned all the offices he held, leaving himself penniless ; was thrown into prison, but set free by royal influence. He returned for a time to Orleans, and here wrote a most interesting treatise against the belief of the Anabaptists, that the soul of man falls into a sleep of unconsciousness between death and judgment. He maintained that " conscious personal being was too precious in itself, and in the sight of God too sacred, to be allowed to suffer even a temporary lapse." As profound study brought deeper knowledge, Calvin became more strongly confirmed in the cause of reform, which he found it impossible to serve aright with the stake waiting for him ; and as much for the safety of his friends as his own, he retired from France and settled at Basle in the winter of 1534. 100 ITALIAN REFORMATION This home of freedom and learning was indeed a welcome refuge to the weary exile, who in the stimulating society of earnest and devoted Reformers, could work unhindered at his great book, " Christiana Religionis Institutio." The letter which dedicates it to Fra^ois I, is " one of the great epistles of the world, a splendid apology for the oppressed and arraignment of the oppressors." It breathes a spirit of righteous anger against injustice in high places, and of noble enthusiasm for the cause of truth and freedom. The book itself is a masterly account of reform in religion, dwelling more on worship, on morals and on polity than on dogma. The First Chapter treats of the Ten Commandments as a rule of duty and conduct ; the Second, with Faith as described in the Apostolic symbol ; the Third, with prayer as taught by the words of Christ ; the Fourth, with the Sacrament as given in the New Testament ; the fifth touches on the false sacraments as defined by tradition and commanded by Catholic rule and custom ; and the Sixth deals with Christian liberty, and the relation of Church and State. Liberty Calvin defines as ; " freedom from the law as a means of acceptance with God ; the spontaneous obedience of the justified to the Divine will, and freedom either to observe or neglect those external things which are themselves indifferent," This work gave to the French Reformers that which they so much needed, a definite system of theology ; a profession of Faith which would serve to unite their forces in one serried line of battle. Only by thus giving up the spirit of free enquiry could the Pro- testants in France attain that cohesion, which would enable them to remain steadfast and hold their own CALVIN AND HIS VISIT TO FERRARA 101 against the terrible persecution which they had to endure. Thus we see how, during the next twenty- five years of their deepest need, they turned for strength and support to the writer of the " Institution Chretienne," the strong man who ruled that far-off city of freedom. Calvin had scarcely left Paris in the winter of 1534, before the storm of persecution broke forth with fury. Two hundred persons were accused of heresy and sent to prison by the middle of November, and before the year ended, the number was doubled. Eight martyrs had been burned before Christmas, and when Fra^ois I returned to Paris at the beginning of the year 1535, he announced his purpose of exterminating heresy from France. In January six more persons were burned, and seventy- three members of the Reformed faith who had fled from Paris, were summoned before the Courts, and failing to appear, sentence of attainder and confisca- tion of their goods, was passed upon them. Amongst these were Clement Marot, then safe at Ferrara, and the great friend of Calvin, Marthurin Cordier. Far worse was to follow, and we shudder at the thought of the coming Massacre of St. Bartholomew, and the devastating persecution, when, in three months, more than ten thousand so-called heretics were slain by the pitiless Inquisition. " I/Institution Chretienne " was published in March 1536, and immediately afterwards, Calvin set forth on a hurried journey to Ferrara. Many legends have grown up regarding this visit, but we have few trustworthy details of it. Theodore Beza, the friend and biographer of the great Reformer, simply remarks that when his book was finished, he was seized with 102 ITALIAN EEFOKMATION a strong desire to pay his respects in person to the Duchess, of whose piety he had heard so much. He longed for a passing glance at Italy which was awaken- ing to a strong interest in the reformed doctrines ; and he earnestly hoped that the Court of Renee might become a centre, as well as a refuge for those who were seeking to restore the Christian Church to its primitive purity and simplicity. At this moment there was peace in Europe, and the previous November the Emperor Charles V had made a triumphant entry into Naples, where he was hailed as conqueror of the dreaded Barbarossa, and champion of Christendom. It was therefore possible for Calvin and his friend Louis du Tillet, to travel in safety across the Alps and reach Ferrara without encountering hostile armies. He assumed the name of Charles d'Espeville, being too well known as a leader of Reform, to travel under his own. Here in Ferrara, he found a group of earnest disciples who attended his religious conferences in the private apartments of Renee ; not only the French members of her Court who still remained with her after the dismissal of Madame de Soubise, but Italians and others are mentioned. There was the accomplished Anne de Pons, and her husband Antoine, who re- mained faithful to the reformed faith and, with her brother Jean de Parthenay, was massacred on the fatal night of St. Bartholomew. The Vicomte d'Aubeterre the brother of Madame de Soubise, had been perfidiously invited to Paris from Geneva, whither he had fled as a Protestant ; and being obliged by the laws of the Republic to live by some trade, he had chosen that of a button-maker. A young Italian lady of the Court, Francesca CALVIN AND HIS VISIT TO FERRARA 103 Burcyronia, and two German students at the Univer- sity, Johann, and Kilian Sinapius who was tutor to ReneVs children, were also amongst the earnest disciples of Calvin. The elder brother, Johann, became a distinguished physician, and when in 1543, he married Francesca Bucyronia, he and his wife wrote to their spiritual guide, with whom Johann had kept up a constant correspondence since that meeting at Ferrara : ' We beseech you in the name of that friendship of which you gave us so many proofs during your stay at this Court, to continue us the benefit of your counsels. Teach us, in the midst of the dangers which surround us, how to conduct ourselves as beseems a Christian man and wife, how to live in holiness before God, and render to Him the honour due to His name." This Johann Sinapius was in after years a friend and correspondent of Olympia Morata, the daughter of Professor Fulvio Peregrino Morato, whose story will be told later ; she was only a child of ten when Calvin came to Ferrara. This visit of his, although so brief, seems to have had great value and import- ance, for it gave him a vivid insight into the perils of ReneVs position, and the difficulties she would have to face in the future. We see this very plainly in the long and earnest letters which Calvin constantly wrote to the Duchess, seeking by every means in his power to strengthen her faith, and give her courage to face the sacrifices which an open confession would involve. 1 Under his influence, we shall see that in 1 Lettre* de Calvin, recueillies par Jean Bonnet. Paris, 1864. 104 ITALIAN REFORMATION 1540 she refused to make her confession or hear mass any longer. There must have been a strong party in Ferrara holding reformed views, and amongst these was a youth named Jehannot, who had fled from France when a companion of his, who was not so fortunate, was burnt at the stake for heresy. He was a friend of Clement Marot, and Renee had obtained for him a post as singer in the church choir. On Good Friday, April 14, unfortunately while Calvin was at Ferrara, when the cross was presented to the people for adoration, the young Jehannot loudly protested that such worship was idolatry. A tumult followed, and the chorister was arrested ; under pressure from Rome, Duke Ercole began to make enquiries as to how far the Protestant heresy had spread, and to his horror, he found that most of his wife's suite were involved. He at once used strong measures and expelled most of her fellow countrymen, and amongst them Calvin, who appears to have left Ferrara at this time, after a stay of about twenty-two days. He is believed to have travelled through Zurich to Lyons, and to have even dared to visit his old home at Noyon, for the sake of family affairs. He certainly reached Paris, and before the end of July, he had travelled through Germany to Geneva. Here he was persuaded by the devoted Protestant preacher, Guillaume Farel, one of the famous Society of Meaux, to remain and help him in his work of an evangelist. Calvin was at first unwilling to preach in public, as he believed his mission to be rather that of the scholar than the preacher. But it was thus that began his connexion with Geneva, and we know with what success it was crowned. With his later life we are CALVIN AND HIS VISIT TO FERRARA 105 not at present concerned, as it belongs to the general history of the Reformed Church. Clement Marot had been driven from Ferrara at the same time as his friend Calvin, but he had ob- tained permission later to return to France, and there devoted his poetical talent to the translation of the Psalms into French verse. They made a great success and were sung everywhere to the most popular tunes of the day, even at Court, where each chose a Psalm according to his taste. The King chose : " As the hart panteth after the waterbrooks," which he sang out hunting. Catherine dei Medici sang to a doleful tune : " Lord, I cry unto Thee ; make haste unto me." " Vers 1'Eternel des oppresses le Pere Je m'en iray, lui montrant 'impropere Qu'on me faict, lui ferai ma priere A haute voix, qu'il ne jette en arriere Mes piteux cris, car en lui j'espere." But however fashionable the songs of the ancient Hebrew race became, such pressure was brought to bear upon Franois I, that he was persuaded to prohibit the metrical Psalms, and Marot, finding that he was still looked upon as a heretic, took leave of France and found a refuge at Geneva. Here he continued his translation until he had completed seventy Psalms, and Calvin was so delighted with them that he had them set to noble music. When printed in Protestant books, they were so severely prohibited by the Roman Church, that to sing one of these spiritual songs was looked upon as a declaration of the Reformed Faith. CHAPTEK X THE SORROWS OP REN^E The sorrows of Renee Visit of Vittoria Colonna to Ferrara Death of Isabella d'Este Visit of Paul III He gives Ren6e a private briefMartyrdom of Fannio Renee imprisoned and persecuted by Inquisitor Her unforeseen release, and her outward conformity to the orthodox ceremonies. AFTER the expulsion of her friends, a sad time followed for Renee. She wrote pitiful letters to the King of France, but he was unable to help her, for Duke Ercole was determined to remain on the best of terms with the Pope, and therefore did his best to crush out reformed opinions from Ferrara. In the following year, the Duchess gladly welcomed a visit from Vittoria Colonna, with whom she had so much in common with regard to her religious views, and who was godmother to her second daughter Lucrezia. One reason why the Marchesa of Pescara was anxious to visit Ferrara was that she might induce Duke Ercole to found a Capuchin convent there under the direction of Bernardino Ochino. This was done in August 1537, and during the following Advent the eloquent Friar preached in the Duomo. His sermons were a great consolation and interest to Renee, and she saw much of her friend Vittoria, who had come with six ladies in her suite, and took up her abode in the convent of Santa Caterina. She wrote to Cardinal Gonzaga : 106 THE SORROWS OF RENEE 107 " It has pleased God that I should find much quiet and consolation at Ferrara. Thanks be to God, the Duke and all of them leave me the liberty that I desire to attend only to true acts of charity, and not to such mixed ones as are produced by conversation. May it please the Divine Goodness that all my time here may be so spent that none of it may be mine, but all Christ's." Yet when occasion offered, the Marchesa enjoyed great entertainments at Court. Thus we hear of her, on the evening before her departure, taking part in a festival arranged by Isabella d'Este, who had come on a visit at her nephew's request. Her gay ladies were in their element with abundance of dancing and music, while Vittoria struck a more serious note, by reciting five of her sonnets. She left in February 1558, for she was so arranging her time as to follow Bernardino Ochino to all the various cities where he was preaching. ReneVs great interest from about this time, was the care and education of her children. Anna the eldest, who was now seven years old, showed great intelligence, and on the occasion spoken of above, it appears that Isabella d'Este was greatly delighted with the " Signora Anna, who played some pieces on the gravicetnbalo excellently. She also danced several dances in the most perfect time and with most ex- quisite grace." We shall hear much about the education of this little girl, as the following year, 1539, the famous Olympia Morata was invited to be her companion and teacher. A shining light of the Italian Reformation, this young girl is of sufficient interest to need a special biography of her own. 108 ITALIAN REFORMATION Her father, Pelligrino Fulvio Morato was one of the learned men of the University of Ferrara where he was Professor of Literature. He wrote an ex- position of the " Lord's Prayer " in 1526, and a " Rimario di tutte le cadentie di Dante e Petrarca " in 1528. He had to leave the University in 1533, and the reason assigned for this was that he had written in favour of the reformed opinions. After being an exile for six years, he returned to Ferrara with his family. He had met Celio Secundo Curione, the ardent Reformer, who at a later period found a refuge under the protection of Renee. Another distinguished man at her Court was the poet Calcag- nini, who also with the brothers Johann and Kilian Sinapius, combined in carrying on the education of her children. In April 1539, a second son was born to the Duchess ; he received the name of Luigi, and Paul III was his godfather. Isabella d'Este died this same year ; she was a great loss to Renee, as her kindness and common sense would have had influence over Duke Ercole, when he listened to cruel calumnies against his wife and exiled her French Gentleman of honour, Antoine de Pons, sending him off in the very depth of winter. The King of France was most indignant when he heard of this, and he wrote a very dignified, and at the same time indignant letter to Duke Ercole : " My cousin, I have heard that after the long and devoted service of the Seigneur and Lady de Pons, to my dear sister, your wife, and the constant and laborious care which they have bestowed upon her and me, you have become discontented with them and for all reward of their services you have treated THE SORROWS OF RENEE 109 them very badly. And as they are personages of such high quality and my subjects and servitors, for whom I have the highest esteem and respect, ... I am sending to fetch them and pray you my Cousin to send them back to me in such favour and honour as they went to you. And you may trust the said Seigneur de Lavau, and take what he will say to you as from myself." Ercole only cared just then to please the Pope, and he sent poor Renee away in disgrace to the desolate Castello of Consandola, a distant spot on the borders of Romagna. It suited him better to hint at a scandal, than to own that his wife had become a heretic in the eyes of the Roman Church. The unfortunate lady appears to have had a very dreary time, away from her home and her children, and it was not until she was needed at the Court of Ferrara to receive a visit of reconciliation from Pope Paul III, that the Duchess was allowed to take her proper position again. The Pope had a magnificent reception and his progress through the streets of Ferrara was like a triumphal procession ; he was accompanied by eighteen Cardinals and forty Bishops, was borne under a gorgeous canopy, and received the keys of the city on a golden salver. There was a pontifical mass in the Cathedral, and he presented the Duke with the Golden Rose. Although Paul III only remained two days, he had time to see a magnificent tournament, and to be entertained with a comedy of Terence, the " Adelphi," acted by the children of Renee, on whose education she had spent so much care. Anna took the part of the lover, Alfonso was 110 ITALIAN REFORMATION the hero, Lucrezia, aged eight, recited the prologue, Leonora, the next sister, was an " ingenue," and the four-year-old Luigi appeared as a slave. They were all beautiful children, and inherited the charm of the Este^family. The Pope was most gracious to the Duchess, and hoping that her persecution was now at an end, she obtained from him a Brief, signed July 5, 1543, by which she was to be exempted from every jurisdiction but that of the Holy Office at Rome ; which in those early days of its creation, she looked upon as a tribunal of abstract justice. But the troubles of Renee were only just beginning, and perhaps there is no more pathetic story than that of this royal lady, an exile from her distant home, surrounded by spies and enemies, of whom not the least cruel was her husband a bigoted Roman Catholic, whose unceasing persecution of her friends and her Faith, made her life one long torture. Yet the Duchess still had the courage to make Ferrara a refuge for Reformers like Ochino, Peter Martyr, the poet Marcantonio Flaminio, Celio Secundo Curione and others. She also showed herself a de- voted friend to the learned professor Francesco Porto, a native of Crete who succeeded Kilian Sinapius at the University ; and also to Antonio Bruccioli, the Florentine, who translated and printed the Bible, and strongly advocated that all should be free to read it. Renee employed him to teach Greek to her daughters, and he was the first person attacked by the Jesuits sent to Ferrara to suppress the Lutheran heresy, and especially to bring their full power to bear upon the Duchess. When we consider her isolated and helpless condition after the death of THE SORROWS OF RENEE 111 Fran$ois I, in 1547, her gallant and spirited defence of her friends appears truly heroic. Although she was herself in imminent danger, she writes the most touching and urgent letters to Duke Ercole, imploring him to spare and save them. "... I would very humbly pray you to set free the prisoners you have given over to the inquisitors of St. Dominic ... for they are not guilty. I pray and entreat you to grant this request. . . . ' Your very humble and very obedient wife, " RENEE OF FRANCE." It is thus she writes in the earlier days, when the Inquisition had not gone beyond imprisonment and torture, but worse was to come. Meantime she had domestic troubles ; her eldest daughter Anna being married, without consulting the mother's wishes, to Francois Lorraine, Due d'Aumale, in September 1548. This was through the influence of the new French King, her nephew Henri II, who never showed any sympathy or affection for his aunt Renee ; and who arranged this marriage as a matter of policy. Aumale was the head of the Popish party, and the chief enemy of the reformed opinions in France. Anna herself had of course no choice in the matter ; she was always a warm advocate on the side of mercy for those in peril on account of their religion, and kept up her friendship with Olympia Morata, although she outwardly conformed to her husband's creed. The death of the Pope, Paul III, in November 1549, was a distinct misfortune for Renee, as he was not only personally friendly to her, but he was a man of amiable disposition and always on the side of gentle- 112 ITALIAN REFORMATION ness in dealing with heretics. During his time no one was put to death in Italy for religion, but now began the real terrors of the Inquisition. At this time a certain Fannio, of Faenza, was in prison at Ferrara for his religious opinions. As he is believed to have been one of the first Protestant martyrs in Italy, some account of him will be interest- ing. In his native city he had early adopted the reformed opinions, through reading the Bible ; but at Ferrara he was taken before the Jesuit Inquisitor, Girolamo Papino, and threatened with death unless he returned to the Roman faith. During his time in prison, his wife and family made such lamentable appeals to him, that in a moment of weakness, he recanted, and was set free. But so bitterly did he repent of having denied the truth, that in order to make amends, he went about openly preaching in every city, the most advanced Protestant doctrines, with the result that he was arrested at Bagnacavallo, taken to Ferrara and there condemned to death as a relapsed heretic. He was kept in prison for eighteen months and was often tortured, but he remained constant through all his suffering and made many converts in the prison itself. When Paul III died in November 1549, and was succeeded by Julius III, a Brief was sent from Rome the next year, commanding the immediate execution of Fannio. The utmost efforts were made to save him. Renee hurried at once to Ferrara from her country palace, and wrote a letter of most passionate earnestness to the Duke, imploring him to save the condemned man. "... It will be a scandal and a shame in all your THE SORROWS OF REN!E)E 113 country, to your subjects and your servants, if God does not put it in your heart to prevent this, as I pray that He may. ... I cannot lament any more as I have poured out all my lamentations . . . and I myself would suffer rather than this poor father, snatched from his little children and their mother. . . . I implore you, Monsieur, to have pity and rescue him from those cruel hands, if I can obtain favour from you, and most humbly do I recommend myself to you, reminding you of the charity which you owe to the unfortunate . . . and to your subjects." But all her prayers and entreaties were in vain, and on August 22, 1550, Fannio endured martrydom with the most splendid hope and courage. He was first strangled and then burnt, while his ashes were cast into the river Po. Within nine months another judicial murder took place of a priest named Giorgio Siculo, who was hung at night without trial, for his opinions described as " Lutheran Heresy." Now began a terrible time of unrelenting persecu- tion for the unfortunate Duchess. It was known that she had kept up a correspondence with Calvin, that her palace had been a refuge for persecuted Reformers, and that she was still on the most intimate terms with Olympia Morata, her daughters' governess, who had made no secret of her Protestant opinions and had recently married a young German physician of the same views. They were now safely at Augsburg. But ReneVs worst offence was that she had refused to receive the Jesuit priest sent by Ignatius Loyola to be her confessor. The sad story is best told by the letter of Duke Ercole, when he consults with the young bigot Henri II, as to the most effectual means 8 114 ITALIAN REFORMATION of breaking down the brave spirit of his wife, Henri's aunt. The long letter is dated March 27, 1554. The following are merely brief quotations : " To the Sacred and Most Christian Majesty. " SIRE, I kiss the hands of Your Majesty. . . . Madama the Duchess, my wife, came with me to Italy twenty years ago . . . born of the blood royal, and educated in the Most Christian Court and com- pany. . . . She had not been here very long before she suffered herself to be persuaded and converted by certain ribald Lutherans, of whom as Your Majesty knows better than I do, that the world is seen to be full of them at the present day . . . she began to change her opinions and little by little she joined this new and perverse religion, which does not believe in the sacrament of mass, in confession or communion . . . which Holy Church holds to be so necessary for the Christian life. In testimony of this, it happened of late that when one of her attendants, Hippolito deTutti, was ill and likely to die, I told Madama three or four times that he must confess and receive the rites of the Church or there would be a scandal . . . but she replied that the aforesaid Hippolito stood well with God and had no need of any other con- fessor. . . . When I desired her to make her confession and to attend mass, she refused my good and holy wish, and actually replied that the mass was idolatry. . . . When I sent my chaplain to insist that she and my daughters should hear the mass, she declined to obey my commands and sent away the priest without permitting him to celebrate the said mass. . . . For this persistence in evil-doing, I am compelled to find some strong remedy. . . ." THE SORROWS OF RENEE 115 The Duke then continues to explain his plan in many pages. He asserts that, as they have already agreed, force must be used, and he asks the King to send a very strong Confessor, who if he cannot persuade the Duchess, can frighten her and compel her to recant ; having complete power to use any means needful to exorcise the devil which has taken possession of her ; but all is to be managed without open scandal. King Henri, the nephew, was quite of the same opinion as the husband, with the result that a suitable " confessor " was found in the Inquisitor Mathieu Ory, who arrived at Ferrara with the sternest determina- tion to succeed in his mission, " so good, so holy and so salutary/' as it was described. We may imagine the tender mercy which the helpless lady was likely to receive. The King of France had sent the fullest directions. The Inquisitor was first to discuss with the Duchess concerning the points in which she had strayed from the Church. Then he was to give her a letter, written by the King's own hand, in which he laments her apostasy " by which she has incurred the loss of both body and soul, . . . when he sees her cleansed and purified from those ' damnees ' dogmas, . . . his relief will be as great as if he saw her raised from the dead." He adds that " the pure blood of the Most Christian house of France has never been sullied by any monstrous birth/' (This remark from the son of Franois I.) Then in an ominous threatening note, he adds : " and if she remains obstinate ... he will then consult with her husband what means of extreme severity may be needful to bring her to reason. . . ." In a letter to the Duke, it is suggested that Renee 116 ITALIAN REFORMATION is to be shut up in solitary confinement, her children are to be taken from her, and all her attendants and friends who show any leaning towards the reformed doctrines, are to be tried by the Inquisition and suffer the extreme penalty of the law. Hitherto Renee had been discreet in avoiding any open declaration of her opinions, but during this summer of 1554, she appears to have behaved with more courage, and to have definitely refused to make any concessions. At last came the terrible moment when all those dark mysterious threats were to be carried out. On September 7, the Duchess was removed by night from her house near San Francesco, by the Bishop of Rosetti and the Cavalieri Ruggieri, to a kind of state prison in an old palace of the Este family, and here shut up in the " Stanze del Cavallo," in absolute seclusion. On the subject of this imprisonment, many legends have arisen, but the truth is now known from the secret papers of the Vatican. We are not told what form of " persuasion " was used by the grim In- quisitor Ory, so cunning a tempter and so infinitely learned in his cruel part, but Renee would certainly be spared no deadly threats of present bodily torture and future hell-fire, to herself and her friends. But at the dramatic moment, the victim turned against the oppressor. We cannot attempt to describe the scene, when the priest pronounced his terrible final sentence and the words died on his lips, as the Duchess presented to him the Papal Brief signed by Paul III at Bologna in April 1543. By this document, as we have seen, Renee was invulnerable, for she was declared to be " under the protection of the Pope and the Holy Office at Rome, and absolutely THE SORROWS OF RENEE 117 free from the jurisdiction of all others, who, if they should accuse her of heresy, were liable to excom- munication and could be handed over to the secular arm." Here was a bolt from the blue, and the Inquisitor saw at once that all was over, and there was nothing for him but a hasty flight. In order to save ap- pearances, it was publicly announced in Ferrara, that the Duchess had yielded to the convincing arguments of Ory, who had therefore departed, as his work was done. Meantime, the Jesuit Pelletario visited the Duchess, who was also engaged in long conversations with the Duke, and before she returned home on July 23, she appears to have conformed outwardly, by making her confession to the Jesuit, and being present at the celebration of mass in the Romish fashion. There is here a mystery which has never been cleared up. At the very moment of her triumph, when she appeared to have thoroughly discomfited her foes, she gives up the fruits of victory, and consents " to bow down in the house of Rimmon," which she had bravely and steadily refused to do, for so many years. We can only suppose that her nerve had utterly broken down before the ghastly threats and terrible denunciation of Ory, and she knew too well that, if she had escaped this time, she was standing on the edge of a precipice. One word from the present Pope who was under the influence of the great Inquisitor of Rome, the fierce Caraffa and at any moment she might be sentenced to the flames. The martyr spirit, which can defy torture and death with un- shaken courage, is not given to all of us ; and besides, we cannot tell how much the tender spirit of the 118 ITALIAN REFORMATION Duchess may have been influenced by the fear of bringing imprisonment or death upon certain members of her household. The news of her apostasy brought great sadness to all the Reformers in Italy and those who were exiles for their Faith. Calvin wrote : " There is sad in- telligence about the Duchess of Ferrara . . . overcome by menace and reproach, she has fallen. What can I say, but that examples of fortitude are rare amongst princes." He had written a letter of counsel and encouragement to her before her imprisonment ; also telling her that, as she desired, he was sending her an excellent and pious lady, to help her in the ruling of her household. Calvin wrote another long letter in the following February, full of hope and encouragement, although tempered with gentle re- proach. He remarks : " It is a bad sign when those who warred so fiercely against you to turn you from the service of God, now leave you in peace." This was only partly true, for Renee had many troubles, and hers was a sad and anxious life, during the remaining years of her time at Ferrara. All her property, her jewels and her money from every source had been taken from her, and were never returned ; so that she was no longer able to help her friends at Ferrara, or those in exile who needed it still more. This was a great trial to her generous spirit, and the more so that she lived in an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust, in the midst of spies, some of whom were sent from France by her nephew, to the great annoyance of the Duke, who himself was always on guard, and read all her letters and private papers. Another source of domestic trouble was the absence of the young Prince Alfonso, the eldest son, THE SORROWS OF RENEE 119 at the Court of France, whither he had made his escape in May 1552, without the permission of his father. He took only a few servants and he was far on his way to Paris before the Duke heard of his departure, and discovered that he had secretly borrowed nine thousand crowns for his journey. The young Alfonso was well received at the French Court, decorated with the Order of St. Michael, and entrusted with the command of one hundred soldiers with a liberal salary. Ercole was furious at his son's flight, and hung in effigy a statesman who was supposed to have assisted him in it. His policy in Italy was hampered by the fact of Alfonso being a kind of hostage with the King of France, and the Duke found himself drawn into a League with the Pope, which proved so costly that he had to impose cruel taxation upon his people; and he even closed the famous University of Ferrara, and applied the salaries of the professors to the expense of the war. CHAPTER XI REN^E IN FRANCE Election of Paul IV Renewed persecution at Ferrara Death of Duke Ercole His son Alfonso succeeds Persecution of Renee She gives up her home and family Returns to France Letters of Calvin to her Her lif e at Montargis Terrible Wars of Religion in France Massacre of St. Bartholomew Renee receives the Huguenot refugees Her splendid courage Death in 1575. EARLY in 1555, Giovanni Pietro Caraffa, the fierce leader of the Inquisition, was elected Pope as Paul IV, and in the reign of terror which followed, the Duchess of Ferrara appears to have remained in outward conformity with the State religion. She had made peace with her husband when he went to Rome to pay his respects to the Pope, and he restored to her the greater portion of her jewels, but still kept her very short of money for the most needful expenses. In this year Renee received a visit from a most resolute and devoted Reformer, Galeazzo Caraccioli, Marchese of Vico, who had given up all his worldly possessions, his home and his family for the sake of his belief. His friends had never given up the hope of winning him back, and had obtained a safe- conduct from Paul III, who was a near relation of his, for Galeazzo to come from Geneva to meet his father, in the hope of persuading his wife and children to join him. But the young Reformer would yield to no compromise, and after taking leave of his father, he paid a visit to Ferrara, where he was 120 RENEE IN FRANCE 121 introduced to the Duchess by Francesco Porto, the Greek professor. She was greatly interested in hearing the latest news of Calvin and the Italian Church at Geneva ; and showed deep sympathy for the troubles which Galeazzo himself had endured. Renee was already acquainted with the works of Valdes, whose earnest disciple this young noble had proved himself. When he took his leave, she sent him in her own carriage as far as Francolini on the Po, where he was able to take boat for Venice and return to Geneva by the route over the Grisons. Of course news of this visit reached Rome, and brought fresh humiliation upon the Duchess. It was at the end of this year, 1555, that Renee had the grief of losing her friend Olympia Morata, who had left Ferrara some years before, on her marriage, and had passed away in far-off Heidelberg. Her most interesting story will be fully told in a later chapter. We have no space to enter into the general history of this eventful period, but we cannot omit to mention that the end of this year saw the abdication of Charles V, the succession of his son Philip II in Spain and the Netherlands, and of his brother Ferdinand to the Empire. Ercole had meantime patched up a peace with his son Alfonso, whom he now allowed to go to France, while he imprisoned his brother Luigi, who wished to join Philip II in Spain. As we have seen, he joined the League, but many troubles and misfortunes followed, until the defeat of France at the Battle of St. Quentin, 1557, and the recall of the Due de Guise from Italy, left the Pope without defence. 122 ITALIAN REFORMATION Circumstances had now changed, and we find Ercole anxious to propitiate Philip II, making a marriage alliance for his son with Lucrezia, the third daughter of Cosimo, Duke of Florence. This was much against his will, and his son Alfonso was still more opposed to it, for the proposed bride was a most unattractive girl of thirteen. But as a matter of policy, it had to be carried out, and we are told that young prince " married in haste and fury," and left Florence immediately after the ceremony to hurry back to Paris, apparently giving as a reason, his bride's immature age. It is strange that his mother, the Duchess, does not appear to have disapproved a marriage which was so much against the French interests ; we learn this from three of her letters of the time. In the month of September of the following year, 1559, Duke Ercole d'Este was taken suddenly ill and after eight days in which the " most experienced doctors did their utmost, he passed away on the 3rd of October, to the great grief of his Court and the city of Ferrara, and above all to Madama Renee his wife, our Duchess, and his illustrious daughters, Madama Lucrezia and Madama Leonora . . . at which the Lord Alfonso d'Este his eldest son, and the Lord Luigi, his younger son, Bishop -elect of Ferrara, were away at the Court of France. ..." The two brothers of Ercole were also at a distance, but the Duchess at once bravely took up the reins of government, and sent a fleet messenger to her son Alfonso. She also caused the Castello and the gates of the city to be well guarded, and took every pre- caution that all might go well with the succession. Alfonso immediately set forth in haste, and King RENEE IN FRANCE 123 Henri accompanied him some way, settling upon him a pension of 20,000 golden crowns to make sure of his alliance. The young Prince travelled from Marseilles to Leghorn and from thence to Florence to visit his bride Lucrezia, the daughter of Cosimo. He reached Ferrara on November 20 ; the solemn funeral rites were performed with great state on the 27th, and the new Duke made his public entry with great magnificence on January 19, 1560. It was not until about a month later that his young bride Lucrezia was received in the palace of the Belvidere by her sister-in-law Lucrezia d'Este, and three days later made her public entry into the city and there did obeisance to the " old Duchess," her mother-in-law. The late Duke in his Will, had left to his wife the palace of the Belvidere, with all its gardens and buildings ; also the half of the rental of the estates belonging to it, " so long as she continued to live there as a good Catholic," but if she should return to France, she would forfeit everything. To his two unmarried daughters he left large sums for their dowry, and to his younger son, Luigi, afterwards Cardinal, he bequeathed the " Palazzo de' Diamante/* with a sum of money to complete the building of it. Duke Alfonso went to Rome to pay homage to the Pope, Pius IV. who had succeeded the year before to Paul IV, on whose death there had been a great reaction in Rome against the Inquisition ; the buildings of the Holy Office had been burnt by the mob, and all the prisoners set free. However, Pius IV, comparatively tolerant as he was, had talked to Alfonso about his mother's religious errors, and 124 ITALIAN REFORMATION deeply regretted the obstinacy she had shown. Renee had a very full account of this, on her son's return in June, and he even went so far as to tell her that, " although he would not be wanting in affection to her, yet he felt it his duty to counsel her, either to give up her Protestant opinions or to leave the country." This was a great blow to Renee, as she had hoped to be much more free to confess her faith publicly, than she had been during her husband's life. After much painful thought, she came to the conclusion that if she wished to live openly and sincerely in the sight of God, it could only be at the price of a great sacrifice. She must give up her high position, the country which had been her home for more than thirty years, and take a life-long farewell of her sons, and her two daughters still unmarried, whose future would depend so much on a mother's influence. She must give up her most familiar delight in the beautiful palace of the Belvidere ; with its lovely gardens gay with rare flowers ; the terraces and shady walks, the fountains, and the aviaries where she had a choice collection of birds of every hue and plumage. In short, she would be leaving her beautiful home in sunny Italy and all her accustomed surroundings for a new and strange world her native land, it is true but where she was little more than a memory. She had evidently asked the advice of Calvin, on the death of her husband, but his long letter is very guarded, and he warns her that " although the captivity in which she has lived may be hard, yet it is possible she may be only changing one abyss for another." He points out the disturbed state of France with its wars of religion, and he fears that RENEE IN FRANCE 125 she will find it as difficult to serve God in simplicity and truth, in France as in Ferrara. He prays that she may have courage openly to show forth her faith, and to remember that her inheritance and her eternal rest are not to be looked for here below, but in Heaven above. But Calvin, at a distance, could not fully appreciate the youthful intolerance of the new Duke Alfonso, who was quite determined that his mother should not be a stumbling block in the way of his ambition. Renee herself knew better, and she seems to have had a passionate desire for freedom from the chains which had bound her so long. Her departure was a terrible loss to the poor and oppressed in Ferrara, for in studying the documents of the Inquisition, we are quite amazed at the amount of her charities, and the immense number of people accused of heresy, whom she supported and protected. No one ever appealed to her in vain. In a list of more than 150 names and particulars, we find many letters from all sorts and conditions of men and women, praying for her help ; from the galleys of Venice, the prisons of Florence and other cities, not to mention the large number of suspected " heretics " in Ferrara who depended solely on her bounty. It is interesting to notice how many of the applicants had been priests or monks, and there is even a hermit. In one letter, Madama hopes that " in time these good Christians will no longer be persecuted for their belief, as they have been. . . ." Even on her journey into exile, the devoted lady writes to the Duke of Savoy, imploring pardon for a prisoner accused of Lutheran doctrines. It was in September 1560, that the Duchess of 126 ITALIAN REFORMATION Ferrara set forth on her journey, with a retinue of about three hundred people, including those in charge of her baggage. We are told that she rode in a coach drawn by four horses, somewhat of a novelty in those days, and her son Luigi, who was soon to become a Cardinal, rode on horseback by her side. It was a most leisurely journey, for she took about six weeks to travel from Ferrara to Orleans. She had scarcely reached Modena before she wrote an affectionate letter to her son Alfonso, and she sent him news of her progress from Borgo San Donnino, from Kovara, from Turin, and from Carmagnola, where she parted from her son Luigi. From thence, she went on to Grenoble, to Dijon and to Orleans, where the French Court was then established. Here she was met by her daughter Anna, with her husband Fran$ois de Guise, and she was kindly received by the Queen- mother, Catherine dei Medici. The States General were at that time sitting at Orleans, and Renee was proud of a high place near the young King Frangois II until the Prince of Conde, who had recently been arrested for rebellion, was brought for trial and then the tender-hearted Princess could no longer endure to remain, lest she should witness his condemnation. During the last two months, the Court had been agitated with news of disturbances in the provinces. As we know, Conde was condemned to death and executed before the end of the year. The Duchess was anxious to hasten her departure, not only on this account, but because the Queen-mother actually asked her to remain at Court and take charge of the King's sister, a child of seven. Renee appears to have given as an excuse for RENEE IN FRANCE 127 refusing, the necessity that she should go on to her city of Montargis, in order to look after her large estates in that neighbourhood. During this stay at Orleans, the Duchess of Ferrara had received in audience amongst other ambassadors, the Englishman N. Throckmorton, from Queen Elizabeth of England. In the State Papers, we have a most interesting account of their conversation, given in a letter to the Queen. The Duchess received him with great courtesy, and made him sit beside her. She wished to express her warm admiration for so Christian and virtuous a Princess, who in her reign had established the true worship of God, and thus promoted the honour and glory of the Most High. If only her good example and her constancy might induce other princes to do the same ! She could not love and honour the Queen of England enough, and it was plain that the blessing of God was upon her. Renee adds that she believes the Queen-mother Catherine is really anxious to know the truth, and she trusts that Elizabeth will use all her influence to persuade her. It was a very long and interesting interview, but, as we know, had no result. In the first place, Catherine dei Medici was only playing with Reform, on the chance that it might prove of political value. She certainly went rather far when she wrote to Pius IV asking him to reform the Church, and suggesting that " the Holy Father should suppress the use of images ; that baptism should be given only ' par Feau et la parole ' ; that the communion should be given in two kinds ; that the Psalms should be chanted in the vulgar tongue ; and that the Feast of St. Sacrament should be abolished," 128 ITALIAN EEFOEMATION The death of Francois II, at the end of the year 1560, and the succession of Charles IX, a boy of ten, ended the dominion of the Guises, and it was now on the King of Navarre that the hopes of the Pro- testants were centred. He had married the spirited, brave-hearted Jeanne d'Albret, in 1548, the daughter of Marguerite of Navarre, a great friend of the exiled Duchess of Ferrara, with whom she had much in common. The year 1562 brought news to Eenee of the death of Lucrezia, her daughter-in-law, the unloved wife of Alfonso, who was as unfortunate as the rest of her family, and whose untimely end aroused the usual suspicions of foul play, but doubtless unjustly. The Duke's youngest sister, Leonora, had a serious accident the same year, which caused her mother, at a distance, much anxiety. A sad and trying time had now arrived for the Duchess, on the outbreak of the wars of religion in France. It appears that the Duke of Guise was returning from an expedition when on March 1, 1562, passing through Vassy with his company he attended mass. Presently the voice of the celebrant was drowned by loud singing close by, which was found to come from a congregation of Huguenots in a barn near. Guise sent them a rude message, that " they must wait till mass was over and then they might sing till they burst." The worshippers took no notice of this insulting command, whereupon they were attacked by the Duke's followers ; the Huguenots defended themselves boldly with stones and other missiles, but in the frenzy of war, the unarmed multitude, without regard to age or sex, was cruelly massacred to the number of three hundred. Such is said to RENEE IN FRANCE 129 have been the beginning of the terrible civil war which had long been threatening and which ravaged France for nearly thirty years. The Huguenots retaliated and there was more fighting in the neighbourhood of Orleans, which always remained a strong centre of reformed doctrine. We are not surprised to hear that a number of fugi- tives made their way to the protection of Renee, the " Mother of Charity " as they called her, while their enemies accused her of having converted the city of Montargis into a hospital (Hotel Dieu). When the Duke of Guise, her son-in-law, came one day with an armed force, and threatened to batter down the walls with cannon if she did not dismiss the rebels, she replied that " she would herself mount the battlements and see if he dare kill a King's daughter." Her strong fortress of Montargis had defied the attacks of foreign foes in past time. It stood on a hill commanding the town, and was defended by deep ditches, strong walls and battlemented towers. With- in were three vast courts which could lodge a garrison of 6,000 men ; these surrounded the royal apart- ments which were attached to the keep. Again and again was Montargis to prove a refuge for the perse- cuted Protestants, and we see from Calvin's letters how warmly he appreciated the courage and devotion of the Duchess. Being only forty miles from Orleans, she was in the very centre of the coming wars, to her own constant peril. The determined siege of Orleans began early in 1563, but the situation was changed by the death of> the Due de Guise from the treacherous attack of a fanatic. By the temporary treaty of peace which followed, Renee was permitted to have the reformed preaching within her own 9 130 ITALIAN REFORMATION castle, and had more freedom, of which she took advantage so far as the plague both at Montargis and Paris permitted to see her daughter Anna and to correspond with her friend the brave Jeanne, Queen of Navarre, whom she rarely met at Court. In the letters of Calvin, he continues to show his high admiration of her courage, and her generous devotion to the persecuted Reformers who took refuge at Montargis. On one occasion he sent her a gold coin which her father Louis XII had caused to be struck when at war with Julius II, bearing the well- known motto: " Perdam Babylonis nomen." Renee writes in reply : ' With regard to the present you have sent me, it has given me great pleasure ; I praise God that the late King took this motto. If God did not enable him to execute it, perhaps that task is reserved for some descendant of his, who standing in his place, may be able to accomplish it." When Calvin however openly expresses his satis- faction at the death of the Due de Guise, the Duchess bravely defends him in many respects, and considers it unfair to lay the whole burden of persecution on his shoulders. In her long letter, she incidentally makes charming allusion to Jeanne, Queen of Navarre, saying that " as her mother was the first princess in this kingdom to uphold the Gospel, I trust that her daughter will succeed in establishing it, for as woman and princess I admire her more than any I know. I love her with a mother's love, and admire and praise all the grace that God has given her." RENfeE IN FRANCE 131 Calvin's last letter to the Duchess was written soon before his death on May 27, 1564, and in it he implores her to encourage her niece the Duchess of Savoy (the daughter of Frangois I) openly to profess her reformed faith, and trusts to her devotion and zeal that God may be honoured and rightly served, ever more and more. Meantime there were more changes in her family. Her widowed daughter Anna, was married to Jacques, Due de Nemours, quite as fierce an opponent of reform as the Due de Guise had been. Her son Alfonso had married a second wife, Barbara of Austria, to whom he was much devoted, but she died after seven years of marriage, leaving no children. A few years later, in 1568, there appears to have been a terrible outburst of persecution in Ferrara, of suspected Protestants. Great numbers were sent to the prisons of the Inquisition, many were con- demned to the galleys and some were burnt to death. The Duchess wrote imploring letters to her son to use his authority in saving certain former retainers of hers, especially a poor saddler, Jean Courtault, recently cast into prison, and another was a cloth worker who had been in her service. But she appears to have barely saved their lives, and they were sent to the galleys, after cruel torture. We have not space to dwell upon the terrible wars of religion in France except in so far as they concern the Lady of Montargis. In 1569 there was a Popish rising and a massacre of two or three hundred Hugue- nots. On this the people of the towns and villages of the plain fled in crowds to Montargis, as their only refuge. The Duchess received them with open generosity, but after a time there came urgent com- 132 ITALIAN REFORMATION mands from the Court at Paris, and a strong force of soldiers, which compelled her to suffer the dismissal of 460 persons, more than two-thirds of whom were women and children in arms. Renee burst into tears and told the King's envoy that if she had his sword in her hands, he would deserve to die, as a messenger of death. When all her entreaties failed, she provided 150 big wagons, eight coaches and a number of horses, to help the unfortunate sufferers on their sad and hopeless journey. They were attacked and dispersed on the way, by their enemies. Besides such heart-rending tragedies, the Duchess had grievous personal troubles with regard to her property in France, which her son Alfonso used every effort to obtain, while she vainly endeavoured to give her daughters their share. The poor lady was in fact attacked and robbed on every side, for Catherine dei Medici and the King were resolved to recover possession of her fiefs for the French Crown. A long and pitiful struggle followed ; Anna de Ne- mours appears to have found some document of Louis XII which again raised a claim to Bretagne for his second daughter, and the Court, in some apprehension, offered a compensation in money. This Renee was compelled to accept, as she was practically helpless, and little by little, all her lands were being taken from her. Gisors and Vernon were given to the Due d'Alengon, Caen and Falaise had been seized by Alfonso for debts, Chartres and Mon- targis were to belong to the Duchess of Nemours, but Renee was suffered to remain as a pensioner in her own castle. Her son Alfonso was furious and wrote the most bitter letters to his mother, whom he RENfeE IN FRANCE 133 never forgave, for yielding any possible claim to Bretagne. In 1571, the second daughter of the Duchess, Lucrezia, at the age of thirty-five, was married to the heir of Urbino, Francesco Maria. But it proved a most unhappy match, for her large dowry of 150,000 crowns had been the chief attraction for the young prince, who was fifteen years younger than his bride. She left him after two years with his full consent and returned to Ferrara. Leonora, the youngest, was never married, to her mother's great disappointment ; she did not even take the usual alternative of retiring to a convent, possibly from some secret leaning to the reformed views. The Peace of St. Germain in 1570, had ended the third war of religion, and brought some relief to Renee. Despoiled of all her possessions, it was a bitter thought to her that, had it not been for the " infamous Salic Law," as she called it, she might have inherited the throne of France and, reigning like another Elizabeth of England, have won her country to the Huguenot faith. But at least, she was a Daughter of France, and received full recognition from the Court, on great State occasions, taking precedence of almost all the princesses ; and she could not refrain from going to Paris now and then, to assert her high position. Thus it was that in the summer of 1572, she was present at Court, when preparations were being made for the marriage of Henri of Navarre with Marguerite, the King's sister. She rejoiced to meet Henri's mother, her dear friend Jeanne, but had the great sorrow of losing her, after a short and sudden illness, on June 9, not without suspicion of poison. 134 ITALIAN REFORMATION This was only the beginning of tragedy, for after the marriage of the young King of Navarre had taken place on August 18, there followed that awful massacre of the Huguenots on the Feast of St. Bar- tholomew, the darkest stain on the history of France. How Renee herself escaped we scarcely know, save that she was lodging with her daughter Anna and the ultra-Catholic Due de Nemours. When all was over, the Duchess was taken back to Montargis, escorted by horsemen of the Due de Guise. It was a sad homecoming, for all Huguenot services were now sternly forbidden by the King, and the massacre of Paris was repeated in many towns of France, notably in Orleans, which was only forty miles distant from Montargis. The life of Renee of France was now drawing to a close. Broken in health and fortune, but un- daunted in spirit, she ruled her great castle of Mon- targis in lonely state ; neglected and forgotten by her sons and daughters, on whom she had bestowed all that remained of her possessions. But her charity never failed, and, to the end, we hear of her thoughtful kindness for all the sad and suffering who came within her reach. She dictated her last Will and Testament, in which she made a very full declaration of her firm belief " that we are saved by Faith and not by works," also in which she re- membered her friends and all who had served and loved her ; she kept it near her, adding many codicils from time to time. With all the stately pride of royalty, she begins : " In the Name of God. " We, Renee of France, Duchess of Chartres, RENEE IN FRANCE 135 Countess of Gisors, Lady of Montargis, widow and dowager of the late Monseigneur of good memory Ercole II of Ferrara, Daughter of the late King Louis XII and the late Queen Anne, Duchess of Bretagne . . ." But when she gives directions for her funeral, it is with deep Christian humility and a clear recognition of the vanity of all earthly things. She directs that her body shall be placed in a wooden coffin and buried in the earth within the Chapel of the Castello, without pomp or ceremony, accompanied by her officials, her ladies and her servants ; and she does not wish for any monument. Her death took place on July 2, 1575, in the sixty-fifth year of her age. As we take leave of Renee, so sorely tried and tempted, we may surely trust that " to her much will be forgiven, for she loved much." CHAPTER XII PIETRO PAOLO VERGERIO Pietro Paolo Vergerio, Bishop of Capo d'Istria Educated at Padua Sent as Nuncio to Germany His acquaintance with Marguerite of Navarre in Paris He openly joins the Reformers His escape to the Orisons Becomes Minister of Vicosoprano His correspondence and friendship with Olympia Morata He dies at Tubingen in 1565. BEFORE taking leave of the Duchess Renee and her friends and relations at the French Court, it will be interesting to touch upon the history of an Italian Reformer who appears to have been much influenced by Marguerite of Navarre and her circle. Pietro Paolo Vergerio was born at Capo d'Istria, on a small island in the Venetian territory, in 1498. Like his more famous ancestor, the friend of Petrarch, he was educated at the University of Padua, where he greatly distinguished himself. Amongst his com- panions were Peter Martyr Vermigli, Flaminio the poet and the brilliant Bembo, who were all at that time attracted by the fame of Luther's learning and audacity. Vergerio was very anxious to go to Wittenberg and make his acquaintance, and hoped to take advantage of a curious opportunity. Frederick, the Elector of Saxony, had a fine collection of relics, and his chaplain had written to Padua to ask that other precious bones should be sent to him. As a trusty messenger was needed for 136 PIETRO PAOLO VERGERIO 137 this purpose, Vergerio offered to take the relics to Wittenberg, and set forth with his brother Giacomo, but they were taken ill on the journey and were compelled to return to Padua. Meanwhile, the doctrines of the Reformation made such rapid progress in Saxony, that another letter arrived from the Elector's chaplain saying that : " Faith in God and love to mankind were now considered more needful than relics/' and these were no longer required. Vergerio next became a notary, and was made vicar of the Podesta at Padua. Then in 1526 he resolved to go to Venice, and his friend Bembo wrote a warm letter of introduction, speaking of him as a man of high reputation for his learning and eloquence. Four years later he went to Rome, where his brother Aurelio was Secretary to Clement VII, with the intention of taking orders, as a sure high-road to honour. He soon won golden opinions both from Cardinal Contarini and the Pope, who took Pietro into his service, and sent him on an important mission to Germany. In this he was so satisfactory that he was sent as Nuncio to the Court of the new Elector of Saxony, to propose a General Council, but the German Protestants would not submit to any Council under the authority of the Pope. On the accession of Paul III, Vergerio was again sent back to Germany, to visit the Reformed princes and cities, and especially to win over the Protestant preachers by promises of favour, so that a joint Council might be held in Italy. There are various accounts of the Nuncio's meeting with Luther, but there is no doubt that his early desire was now gratified. It must have been a most interesting interview, but all the plausible casuistry of the expert 138 ITALIAN KEFORMATION Vergerio failed before the simple honesty of the great Reformer. In vain did the Nuncio point out that if Luther would only come to the proposed Council at Mantua, and " behave with gentleness and charity/ 5 the scheme of reconciliation with the Church would be a success. In vain did he delicately hint that no reward would be too great to expect from the Pope, and alluded to distinguished men who by giving up their private opinions, had become Cardinals and even Popes. We may imagine the indignant and crushing reply of Luther to such futile temptations, and we are not surprised that Vergerio had a very unsatisfactory report to take Paul III. No sub- mission was to be expected from Luther or his dis- ciples, who would attend no Council which was not absolutely free, and held in their own land. Vergerio was next sent to the Emperor to urge that he should make war on the Protestants, but Charles V was already fully engaged with France. In 1536, Pietro was made Bishop of Capo d'lstria, his native place, as a reward for his services to the Pope. But residence in his see does not appear to have been necessary, for Vergerio, in June, paid a visit on his own account to Germany, and later on, his letters speak of his keen interest in the religious Society at Viterbo of Vittoria Colonna, Contarini, Pole, and Fregoso. His opinions on the subject of Church reform had certainly undergone a great change before 1540, when he was sent with Cardinal Ippolito d'Este on a mission to France. Here he made the acquaintance of Queen Marguerite of Navarre, and he gives a most interesting account of her in several letters to the PIETRO PAOLO VERGERIO 139 Marchesa di Pescara. He naively describes the splendour of the Court at Paris, the noble personages whom he meets, and above all, the overwhelming fascination of Queen Marguerite. In his first letter he says : " I saw and observed the Most Serene Queen, for more than an hour, while she was speaking to my Cardinal, and I beheld in the expression of her countenance ... a most harmonious union of majesty, modesty and benevolence. Besides this, I discerned that fervour of spirit and that clear light which God has imparted to her ; thus she can walk in the blessed foretaste of eternal life." In his next letter, Vergerio writes, after a salutation : " As St. John saluted the elect lady . . . God does not observe whether we attend to worldly customs . . . but whether we nourish ourselves with His word, and say and do all to the Glory of His Divine Majesty. I am now to give you an account of the great joy and consolation I have received these few days past from the Most Serene Queen of Navarre. We con- versed long on the state of the Church of God, the study of Divine things, and those points of spiritual doctrine, which your Excellency desires we should have ever in our heart and on our lips. ... I can hardly describe the fervour and eloquence with which she dwells on the Grace of God and the power of His word. . . ." He then alludes to other kindred spirits whom he has known. " In Ferrara, the Lady Renee of 140 ITALIAN REFORMATION France, in Urbino, the Lady Leonora Gonzaga, and many others/' The subject of Marguerite of Navarre's true re- ligious opinions is a very difficult one, and we can only lightly touch upon it. There seems to be no doubt that the Protestant doctrines had a strong mystical attraction for her, and that all who came in contact with her were deeply impressed with her earnestness and sincerity ; still more perhaps by her charm of voice and manner. She wrote most pious evangelical poems like the " Miroir de FAme pecheresse" which Queen Elizabeth, as a girl of eleven, translated into English, 1 and presented to her step-mother Catherine Parr. The Sorbonne condemned this poem as heretical ; it clearly spoke of Christ as the only Saviour and Advocate for the soul, and made no allusion to saints or priestly rites. When Frangois I heard that the learned body had dared to condemn his sister's work, he was furious and insisted on the sentence being withdrawn. " My sister Marguerite will always be- lieve as I do, and she will never do anything to inter- fere with my position/' was his proud declaration. There was really much truth in this, for she was devoted to her brother, and for his sake was always ready to conform outwardly to the dominant religion. Vergerio and others took Marguerite very seriously. He wrote to her from the Diet of Worms, bitterly regretting its failure, when the efforts of so many good and earnest men were utterly defeated, through the Pope's repression. " They reason about Justifica- tion, the Grace of God and the Sacraments as though 1 The MS. of " The Mirour of a guilty Sowle " is still in the Bodleian Library. PIETRO PAOLO VERGERIO 141 they were profane matters in some common law- suit. Your Majesty knows well that the doctrines and mysteries of God cannot be thus learned or taught. . . ." In sadness and disappointment, Vergerio now retired to his bishopric, determined to do his duty and to reform the great abuses which had arisen on every side. At this time he had no idea of leaving the Roman Catholic Church, as he believed it was possible to restore it to the simplicity and pure doctrines of early Christianity. To this end, he set to work earnestly to check all scandalous and corrupt practices amongst the friars and priests. This at once aroused the most furious opposition, which was greatly increased when the Bishop ordered the re- moval from a church of the images of St. Christopher and St. George on horseback, pointing out the super- stitious folly of suffering them to be objects of worship. A strong party was soon roused to oppose him ; the Podesta, a son of Bembo, made no effort to take his part, and Vergerio was formally accused of heresy to the Papal Nuncio at Venice, who expressed disapproval and passed a censure upon him. To make matters worse, a priest openly preached against him in his own city, attributing the long drought of that summer and the failure of the crops, to the Bishop's impiety towards the images. The general indignation was now so great, that Vergerio went to Mantua to consult his friend, Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga. During his absence, the Nuncio sent his inquisitors to search the Bishop's palace at Capo d'Istria for heretical books, and they found so many Protestant works as to form a strong ground of accusation. Amongst these were, the 142 ITALIAN REFORMATION famous " II Beneficio di Christo " the Credo of the Reformers " II Summario della sacra Scrittura," and, a satire on the Pope by Celio Secundo Curione, called " Pasquino in Estasi." Not satisfied with this raid, the inquisitors appear to have collected all the com- plaints made by the friars against their spiritual lord. In August 1546, Vergerio published a full defence against all these accusations. He explained that in a certain church, there were three gigantic figures of pasteboard representing St. George, the king's daughter and a, horrible beast hanging so low that they took up most of the church. These he had ordered to be removed ; and he also remarked that Paul III had already taken out St. George from the breviary. He did not deny that he had publicly proved the imposture of a woman who had been paid to say the Virgin had given her a message ; that he had reproved a friar who boasted from the pulpit that he had a tooth of St. Apollonia which cured tooth-ache ; he did not deny that he had said it was better to give the oil to the poor than to burn it before the unseemly image of St. Anne giving birth to the Virgin, and he owned that such was the evil life of the friars, that a church were better burned down than made a place for their unholy practices. As for the works he had published at that time, there was nothing that could be accused of heresy. ... In short there was no evidence to condemn a Bishop who only aimed at reforming glaring abuses. However this was but a temporary reprieve, for his enemies, and especially the Franciscans, were determined to ruin him. He had excited their hatred in Capo dlstria, for separating a convent of nuns from a Franciscan monastery, by causing a public thorough- PIETRO PAOLO VERGERIO 143 fare to be made between the two buildings. In vain did his friend, the Cardinal Gonzaga, make earnest appeals on his behalf, entreating that he should not be summoned to Eome, as the Inquisition at Venice had pronounced him to be " innocent and highly praiseworthy/' Pietro Vergerio was dismissed from his bishopric by the Legate, before the end of 1548, and he obeyed the command, retiring to Padua. Here a tragic event made a great impression upon him. A certain Francesco Spiera, who was well known as a successful lawyer, became converted to the reformed opinions. He was summoned to appear before the Legate at Venice, and was there induced by threats and possibly torture, to recant and promise obedience to the Church. Pardon was granted, on condition that he should make public confession at Padua, and deny all that he had openly professed. On his return home, how- ever, he had already repented of his weakness, and only the persuasion of his family induced him to make a public disavowal of all his errors. Then conscience asserted itself, and in his utter despair, he believed he had committed the unpardonable sin, that there was no hope of pardon in this world or the next. His reason gave way, he refused food and died in agony of mind and body. Pietro, who had often watched by his bedside in those terrible hours, was so overcome with horror at the tragic fate of this poor man, that when he was summoned to Rome to justify himself, he readily listened to the advice of Cardinal Gonzaga, who knew the danger of such a step, as the Pope was strongly prejudiced against him. Vergerio resolved to secede at once from the Romish Church, and on 144 ITALIAN REFORMATION December 13, 1548, lie wrote to announce his decision, enclosing an account of the tragedy of Spiera. The following July, he effected his escape, by Milan and Chiavenna, to the Grisons, where there was already a large settlement of Italian Protestants. Here he undertook the ministry of Vicosoprano, the capital of the rich Val Bregaglia, which was vacant by the death of another Italian exile, and in that neighbour- hood he had many opportunities of preaching. The apostasy of a Bishop of so much learning and eloquence was a great blow to the Church of Rome, and he was excommunicated and burnt in effigy. This added to Vergerio's reputation in his new sphere of work, and the people crowded to hear him whenever he ascended the pulpit. On one occasion when he was returning from the Valteline, he lodged at the village of Pontresina, at the foot of Monte Bernino. The parish priest had died that day, and the people had gathered together to consider who should be his successor. Vergerio offered to address them, and they accepted out of curiosity, but were so much interested in his teaching that they begged him to preach again the next day. With his usual persuasive earnestness, he set forth the main doctrines of the Reformed Faith : the merits of Christ's death and justification by faith. He made so deep an impression that his hearers were actually induced to invite a Protestant divine to become their next pastor. More than once, Vergerio was accused before the civil authorities because, as the result of his preach- ing, all the images had been thrown down in the Roman Catholic church of the village where he had been. He does not appear to have been very popular amongst the Protestant divines, possibly, for one PIETRO PAOLO VERGERIO 145 reason, because he refused to call himself a Lutheran or a Calvinist, but said he was simply a Christian. He also appears to have excited their jealousy by asserting a sort of authority amongst them, as a superintendent of the Italian churches ; and it was made a complaint by some that " he had not laid aside the mitre." Vergerio undoubtedly did most valuable and useful work, both by his eloquent preaching in scattered places, far and wide, and by his many works, of which a large portion are directed against the errors and abuses of the Church of Rome. Many efforts were made to induce him to return to his allegiance ; the last was at Tubingen, where he was invited by the Duke of Wittenberg, to a discussion with the Nuncio Delfino. But he remained firm against every tempta- tion, and died a Protestant at Tubingen on October 4, 1565. In his funeral sermon, and in his epitaph, he was compared to St. Paul, both having been opposed to the truth, and both having " obtained mercy because they did it in ignorance/' I cannot close this brief sketch of Pietro Paolo Vergerio, without touching upon the more sympa- thetic side of his character, and the way in which he was looked upon by those who were proud to call themselves his friends. Amongst the letters of one of the most interesting characters of the Italian Reformation, Olympia Morata, we find one addressed to Vergerio from Heidelberg, in the year 1555. " MOST EXCELLENT VERGERIO, " I should have replied long ago to your letter, which I received through the Jurisconsult, 10 146 ITALIAN REFORMATION Charles Dumoulin, if I had not been prevented by a serious illness from which I have not quite recovered. I will no longer delay . . . for I long to write to you since I have read the works in which you take in hand the defence of the truth with so much ardour. I did not doubt your zeal in the support of our Church, but I did not dare to ask this testimony. ... It seemed to me that I could not be the first to write to you, without exposing myself to the reproach of presump- tion and pride. I am most happy now to be able, thanks to your letter, to speak to you with full freedom. I must thank you first for your most gracious gift of your books, and then I must address you a prayer which I did not dare to make before. " As your zeal is so great for the spreading of the truth, could you not translate into Italian the Cate- chism of the Doctor Martin Luther, already translated from German into Latin ? It will be sufficient for you to read this book in order to judge what immense profit our countrymen would gain from it, especially the children in our schools. That is why I dare to implore you, in the name of Jesus Christ, and for the love of our brethren in Italy, who have a right to all our services, that you will undertake this work. " I am well aware that a great division has arisen amongst the Christian Churches concerning the sacraments. But these sad discords will soon fade away, if men will keep more in sight the glory of Christ and the salvation of His Church, of which the secret is in the union of all its members. I return therefore to the subject of my letter, and repeat once more that you will render a great service to Italy, in presenting her with the Catechism of Luther. ' The news you give me on the subject of the PIETRO PAOLO VERGBBIO 147 Duchess of Ferrara had reached me last December in a letter from a pious friend in that city. I grieve, without being astonished, at the fall of that Princess whom I learned to know in other days. I wonder more at the sad falling oft of others. My mother has remained firm through the storm, Glory be to God and to Him be all the honour ! I implore her to leave this Babylon, with my sisters, in order to come and join me in this country. " My husband thanks you for the offer that you make him of your services ; his heart towards you is all that you can desire. I join with him in praying you not to miss a favourable opportunity to come and see us. This visit will make us all most happy. Adieu. Heidelberg. 1555." CHAPTER XIII OLYMPIA MORATA The story of Olympia Morata Her early life and classical education Attains wonderful proficiency Lectures on Cicero At the Court of Ferrara as teacher of Anna d'Este Her friendship with Lavinia della Rovere Death of her father, Fulvio Peregrino Mora to IN taking up once more the account of the Reforma- tion in Ferrara, we have now reached the story of a noble heroine who " failed not for sorrow, faltered not for fear," and who rises before us as one of the most fascinating and striking figures of the Italian Reformation. In the brilliant circle which surrounded the Duchess Renee at the Court of Ferrara, one of the most dis- tinguished was the professor Fulvio Peregrino Morato. A native of Mantua, he had devoted himself to classical studies, and had taught Greek and Latin literature with success in the most celebrated universities of Italy. He had been appointed tutor to the younger sons of Duke Alfonso, but for some reason he had to leave Ferrara in 1533 ; possibly because he had written " in favour of the reformed doctrines. He was recalled in 1538, by Duke Ercole II, and once more lectured in the University, to the great delight of his pupils, amongst whom the most famous was to be his own daughter, Olympia Morata. She was born at Ferrara in 1526, and brought up in such an atmosphere of learning that, from her 148 OLYMPIA MORATA 149 earliest years, the names of the great writers of antiquity were familiar to her as household words. To the eager, receptive child, their language and their sentiments became a very part of her life, and in this bygone classical world, her spirit dwelt and blossomed like some rare orchid in a treasured hothouse. With passionate enthusiasm, her father devoted himself to Olympiads education ; and in order to be confirmed in his own proud estimate of her wonderful talent, as well as to ensure its successful training, he called in the help of the famous Greek professor, Kilian Sinapius. Her progress was so rapid that, before she was twelve years old, she could speak the languages of Virgil and of Homer with equal facility, " a very miracle to those who heard her/' not only in the eloquence of her speech, but in the keen in- telligence with which she grasped the images and ideas of the most learned classical writers. The fame of Olympia Morata soon spread beyond her quiet home, and she found herself the centre of an admiring circle, chiefly composed of her father's learned friends. Amongst these were Johann Sina- pius the Court physician, brother of her tutor Kilian, the poet Leon Jamet, Alberto Lollio, and above all his colleague, the Canon Celio Calcagnani, at once mathematician, poet and archaeologist, the most intimate friend of Fulvio. He had first been at- tracted to the wonderful child when her father was in exile at Vicenza, and he once wrote to her : " You were ever a chosen disciple of the Muses ; the love of poetry came to you with your mother's milk, and by a divine mystery, you drew from the same source both bodily and spiritual life." 150 ITALIAN REFORMATION Olympia was happy in her home life, with the devoted affection of her talented mother Lucrezia, and of her three young sisters ; but on her father's return to Ferrara, another prospect opened before her. The Duchess Renee, herself a most accomplished and talented woman, had heard of this brilliant young scholar, and invited her to become the companion and teacher of Anna her eldest daughter, at that time a child of eight years old, while Olympia was only five years older. This gave great satisfaction to her father, who felt that he could still continue her education, while the young girl, released from all home duties, could now give herself up entirely to study. As her friend Celio Calcagnani wrote to her : " You can henceforth devote yourself entirely to literary work, giving up the distaff for the pen, and needlework for books. . . ." He prays her to keep her modest simplicity and the holy discipline of her home, amongst all the greatness and elegance of a Court. A warm friendship soon sprang up between the two girls who had so many tastes in common, for nothing had been spared in the education of Anna, who was very well advanced for her age : she was already learning fragments of Cicero to recite, and was translating the fables of ^Esop. With the companionship and encouragement, as well as the actual instruction of her friend, she made excellent progress. As for Olympia herself, she wrote at this period, " To the Glory of Mucius Scevola," in Greek, and a wonderful series of notes on Homer, which she trans- lated with great vigour and charm. She composed many poems, and also dialogues in Greek and Latin in imitation of Plato and Cicero, in suck admirable OLYMPIA MOKATA 151 style that they were greatly praised by scholars. Calcagnani wrote to her that " the talents of many women are like unto flowers woven in a garland, which soon fade, but yours are like the immortal amaranth of the Muses which never dies/' But perhaps the most interesting instance of the young girl's wonder- ful talent was given in her three Latin essays on the " Paradoxes of Marcus Tullius Cicero," when she was barely sixteen. These she delivered from memory, as Lectures in the private Academy of the Duchess of Ferrara. We do not wonder that she was full of shy modesty at the prospect of thus speaking in public, and that she usually began with a prologue, in which she implored the indulgence of the audience. It was thus that she introduced her third discourse : " I am well aware of the rare kindness of those who listen to me, yet the natural timidity of my youth, combined with the weakness of my talent, inspire me with well-founded alarm. I tremble and my voice fails, like the orator before the altar of Lyons. 1 " Notwithstanding, at your command, I will obey. . . . For the third time I will endure this test, like a sculptor unskilled in his art, and unable to carve a rough stone. But if he is offered a block of marble from Paros, he no longer thinks his labour lost ; the material will incite him to make his work worthy of it. Perhaps it may be the same with mine. ' There are melodies so full of harmony, that even played upon the most simple instrument, they pre- 1 She alludes to the famous contest of eloquence instituted at Lyons by the Emperor Caligula and described by Suetonius. 152 ITALIAN REFORMATION serve all their sweetness. Such are the words of my favourite author ; listen to them. Even in passing through my lips, they can lose nothing of their grace and their majesty." Olympia had been trained in pronunciation and delivery by her father, with such extreme care, that all who heard her speak were delighted with the musical intonation of her voice, and the marvellous dramatic expression which brought out vividly the meaning of her words. Her father's friend, the reformer Celio Secondo Curione, never forgot the im- pression which she made upon him, and he says in after years : ' Then we heard her declaiming in Latin, impro- vising in Greek, explaining the Paradoxes of the greatest of orators, and replying to all the questions addressed to her. She could only be rightly compared to one of those wonderful learned Sybils of Greece or Rome." We have seen how, under the care of Olympia, her pupil Anna d'Este became an accomplished scholar. In the story of Renee, we have already mentioned the entertainment her precocious children gave to Pope Paul III on the occasion of his visit to Ferrara in 1543, when they acted before him the Latin comedy of Terence, " the Adelphi," but we can well imagine how much of its success was due to the devoted Olympia. It was about this time that the young girl wrote her Greek Odes, which we may still read with ad- miration in her collected works, but which for us have lost the charm of her living presence and the OLYMPIA MORATA 153 attraction of the young girFs voice and manner as she recited them to an admiring Court, who listened as to another Muse, and applauded in such words as these : "If the ancient world rightly praised such inspired women as Sappho, Praxilla and Corinne ; surely we are justified in acclaiming Olympia as the honour and glory of Ferrara." Hitherto the young girl had been scarcely touched by the wave of reforming thought and study which was sweeping over Italy. It is true that we are told of Anna and her young teacher reading and studying the Bible together in the original Greek. But in that brilliant Court of Ferrara, there were so many intellectual and especially classical attractions, that Olympia had not yet thought very seriously on the subject of religion. The Duke was now on intimate terms with the Pope, and to all outward appearance the orthodox religion reigned supreme. But the Duchess bravely received at her Court and gave a refuge to many distinguished Reformers, from Calvin downwards ; while there were also many fervent disciples of the new doctrines amongst the professors of the Academy of Ferrara. Distinguished in this company were, Bartolommeo Riccio, engaged with his book on "Glory"; Lilio Giraldi, the writer of the "History of Gods and Poets," and his "Dialogue on Contemporanean Poets," which Rome looked upon with suspicion ; Angelo Manzolli, the physician of Duke Ercole, whose satirical poems were directed against the Papacy. Last but not least, was the delightful poet Marcantonio Flaminio, who enjoyed the circle of the Duchess Renee, for he found there the same freedom of thought as he had enjoyed at Naples, in the company of Juan Valdes and his friends. 154 ITALIAN REFORMATION The Greek teacher of Olympia Morata, Celio Calcagnini, had passed away in 1541, but there still re- mained the two brothers Sinapius. They had brought their reformed opinions from Germany, and had been still more strengthened in their belief by the visit of Calvin himself. The elder brother Johann, as we have already seen in the story of Renee, had married a young lady of her Court, Francesca Bucyronia, and they both became most intimate friends and corre- spondents of Olympia, in later years. But possibly no one had greater influence over both Peregrino Morato and his daughter than the earnest Reformer Celio Secundo Curione. When he was compelled to leave Ferrara and seek a refuge at Lucca, he was deeply regretted by the Morato family as a " divine preceptor/' who had led them in the way of true wisdom. We find the earliest trace of Olympiads changed opinions on the subject of religion, in two dialogues written about this time. Curiously enough, she chose two stories from Boccaccio to translate into Latin, and they appear to have been selected because they are a satire upon the abuses of the Roman Church. One remembers the account of that Jewish merchant who, when his conversion was earnestly pressed by a Christian friend, decided first to visit the seat of Christendom. He arrives in Rome, sees everything, observes with his own eyes the corruption of church- men ; and suddenly convinced of the divinity of a religion which can exist in spite of all these abuses, is at once baptised on his return home. The other story is of the hypocrite who, at the end of an evil life, desires to die with the outward ap- pearance of a saint. He deceives his confessor, lies OLYMPIA MORATA 155 until his last breath, " and performs as many miracles as any other saint," says Boccaccio. Surely we can discern a deeper meaning in this choice of subjects, and see something more than a literary essay in these translations, for the schismatic ideas are scarcely veiled by the stately language of Cicero. Yet we learn from her own letters in after years, that the young girl had not yet been awakened to any deep sense of religious truth, and that this was merely an intellectual perception of Romish abuses. She writes : " Oh how necessary it was that I should be put to the test of misfortune ! I had no taste for divine things ; the reading of the Old or the New Testament only inspired me with repugnance. If I had re- mained much longer at the Court, there would have been an end of me and of my salvation." Knowledge alone was not sufficient for her ; she needed the discipline of sorrow to strengthen and spiritualise her character. It was at this time that Olympia was fortunate enough to contract a friendship which was the delight of her happy days and the consolation of dark hours to come. This new friend was Lavinia della Rovere, a lady of Lucca, who had married in 1541, Paolo Orsini, the son of Camillo Orsini, Papal governor of Parma. She was a few years older than Olympia, and appears to have spent much of her time at the Court of Ferrara, for she saw very little of her husband, a distinguished soldier who was in the service of King Henri II of France. Lavinia is spoken of as a noble-hearted woman with a 156 ITALIAN REFORMATION brilliant intelligence, and the two friends appear to have been drawn together by similar tastes and studies ; a great devotion to philosophy and literature, and a growing interest in the doctrines of the Reforma- tion. The two sisters-in-law of Lavinia, Maddalena the wife of Lilio de Ceri, and Countess Giulia Rangone, were admitted into this intimate circle and discussed the problems of philosophy and the mysteries of religion, in which they had scarcely advanced beyond the stage of doubt and uncertainty. We learn this from subsequent letters of Olympia, who appears to have been much troubled at this time in trying to understand the doctrine of pre- destination. It was only later that this formidable doctrine lost its terrors for her, when the feeling of divine adoption, which does not exclude moral liberty, became for her the principle of a new life. We have a striking instance of her power of detach- ment from religious subjects, in the absolutely Pagan inspiration of the last Greek ode composed by Olympia during her residence at the Court of Ferrara. The famous Cardinal Bembo had died in February 1547, and the news of his death had excited universal regret amongst all the lovers of literature whom he had so long charmed by his writings. The talented young girl was asked, on behalf of the House of Este, to express the universal regret, and the Greek language seemed best adapted as a homage to this devoted student of ancient literature. This is a translation which can do but little justice to the beauty of the original lines. " Bembo the glory of the immortal sisters, the sun of Venice, mistress of the sea Bembo is no OLYMPIA MORATA 157 more ! Amongst all the famous men of this century, none can equal him in the glory of his life, or the charm and sweetness of his language. He is dead, and with him has passed away the glowing spirit of eloquence ; Cicero seems to have descended once more into the sombre regions of silence/' These lines have an importance for us as marking a turning point in the life of Olympia. Hitherto her education had been almost entirely devoted to the study of the classics ; she had lived in those past centuries of fame and magnificence, and she only knew the life of the present, through her books, and the learned scholars who were unanimous in the praise of her genius. Her only troubles had been those of an enquiring soul, which has begun to question its faith, and which struggles against doubt. Other and more overwhelming troubles were in store for her. An awakening was at hand from those rosy dreams of youth, when she dwelt in a sunny Arcadia, or a stately Parnassus with Gods and Heroes and Muses. Now the stern realities of life were before her. The first blow of misfortune struck Olympia in her dearest affections. Her father, Peregrino Morato, who had for some time given up his duties as pro- fessor, on account of his failing health, was taken seriously ill in 1548, and she at once left the Court to devote herself to him. Soon he grew worse and all hope was given up, but his end was calm and serene, for he looked beyond the horizon of this uncertain world to the glorious hopes of eternal life. The loss of her dear father was only the beginning of the grievous troubles which came upon Olympia with crushing force, one after another. She was still 158 ITALIAN REFORMATION watching by the sick-bed of Peregrine Morato, when a marriage was arranged for her devoted pupil and companion, Anna d'Este, which would take the young princess, now seventeen years of age, away from the Court of Ferrara, at the time of Olympiads greatest need. The chosen bridegroom was Frangois de Lorraine, so notorious later as that Due de Guise who was the most inveterate foe of the French Protestants. The alliance had been arranged by Henri II King of France, the nephew of Renee, who had very little voice in the matter. The wedding took place on September 29, and was followed by the departure of the Princess Anna, who was deeply regretted by all who knew her, but above all by Olympia, to whom in her coming troubles, the loss of a faithful friend at Court was irreparable. CHAPTER XIV OLYMPIA MORATA (continued) Trouble and persecution for Olympia Morata She devotes herself to religious study Much impressed by the endurance and martyr- dom of Fannio Olympia marries Andrew Grunthler, a young German physician She is driven to leave Ferrara Travels with her husband to Augsburg He receives an appointment in his native town of Schweinfurt. AT this distance of time, it is difficult to trace out and understand the events at the Court of Ferrara which caused ReneVs change of feeling towards Olympia Morata. There is no doubt that the great influence which the young girl had obtained, and the unbounded admiration expressed on all sides for her talents, had awakened envy and jealousy amongst others less favoured. But the exciting cause appears to have been the arrival at Ferrara of a certain Jerome Bolsec, who had escaped from a Carmelite monastery at Paris, and had been received by the Duchess with her usual kindness towards exiles, and appointed her almoner. For some unknown reason his hatred was aroused against Olympia and her friends, and unfortunately, Renee appears to have believed the calumnies which she heard against her former favourite. Olympia was summoned to Court to answer some vague accusations ; she was over- whelmed at finding herself in the midst of enemies, while even the Duchess said nothing in her favour ; 169 160 ITALIAN REFORMATION her defence was not listened to, and she returned home, disgraced and broken-hearted. In one of her letters, she thus describes her grief and humiliation : " After my father 's death, I remained alone, betrayed, abandoned by those who ought to have supported me, exposed to the most unjust treatment. My sisters shared my fate, and we only received ingratitude as a return for so much devotion and such faithful service during many years. You cannot imagine what was then my despair ! No one, amongst those whom we had formerly called our friends, dared to show any interest in us ; and we were plunged in an abyss so profound that it appeared impossible for us ever to rise from it." Her friend Lavinia della Rovere seems to have been away at Parma at this time, for her devoted affection never failed ; and there were others who, if they had not the courage openly to take the part of the accused, were only waiting their opportunity to befriend her. But in this hour of darkest despair, the courage of Olympia rose to the emergency, and she gallantly took up the burden which she had inherited. The greater part of his income had passed away with her father's death ; she had to face poverty, the care of an invalid mother, the education of three younger sisters, and her little brother Emilio, still a child. In fulfilling her duty, with singlehearted devotion, she found peace and rest for her soul ; all her doubt and uncertainty vanished, for in the time of trial, the secret of her father's faith was revealed to her. OLYMPIA MOBATA 161 Henceforth slie devoted herself with as much eager- ness to the study of the Scriptures and sacred litera- ture, as she had formerly given to the classics of her favourite authors. A fragment of Greek verse has been preserved from this period, which shows her change of thought. THE CRUCIFIX " As in the desert, the brazen serpent raised on high was the means of saving those who were struck by the poisonous fangs of the serpent ; so the soul, wounded by the darts of sin, finds healing and salva- tion in contemplating the Son of God hanging on the Cross." Olympia was in sore need of consolation, for troubles thickened around her, and her situation became more painful every day. During the last five years, the one object of Home had been to crush out the faint beginning of the Protestant faith in Ferrara. Not only had the Morato family suffered, but the few friends who had remained true to them were included in their condemnation. Since his last alliance with the Pope, the Duke himself was ready to help, and to adopt measures of proscription. The first victim to this persecuting zeal was a certain Fannio of Faenza, in which city he was denounced by the local inquisitor, for having in his possession the Bible in Italian and other forbidden books ; and also, as he himself confessed, " for having preached to the people, and endeavoured to restore the image of God in their souls." In that city of potters, the simile was well understood. Fannio was seized and cast into prison, where he was visited 11 162 ITALIAN REFORMATION by his wife and his friends, whose tears and earnest entreaties so prevailed upon him that, in a weak moment, he abjured his faith and was set free. But he had scarcely left his prison before he was overcome with remorse, and immediately set forth on foot through the towns of Romagna, preaching the doctrines of reform with more devotion and courage than ever. It was not long before he was arrested within the dominions of Ferrara, laden with chains and shut up in the city prison, where he was destined to await his sentence during a long and cruel captivity of more than eighteen .months, while he was tried by the Inquisition of Rome, as a relapsed heretic. In his dungeon, he was visited in secret by several devoted disciples ; amongst others who listened to his teaching were Lavinia della Rovere who had recently returned to Ferrara after a long absence, and her friend Olympia. Both these ladies used their utmost efforts to obtain the release of Fannio, and as we have already seen, the Duchess Renee wrote the most imploring letters on his behalf, but in vain. As time passed on a new interest came into the life of Olympia. Amongst the foreign scholars who had been attracted to the University of Ferrara, was a young German named Andrew Grunthler. He was a native of Schweinfurt in Bavaria, of honourable and distinguished talents, who although a good Latin and Greek scholar, had especially devoted himself to the study of Philosophy and Medicine ; he was under the immediate tuition of the Professors Johann and Kilian Sinapius, who took a special interest in him as being fellow countrymen. He lived in their house where he was treated like a son, and it was through them that he made the acquaint- OLYMPIA MOEATA 163 ance of Olympia Morata, the daughter of their oldest friend. His admiration of the young girl's talents soon changed into a deeper and more tender feeling. When trouble and unmerited disgrace fell upon her after her father's death, his sympathy knew no bounds, and she could not be otherwise than touched and attracted by his devotion to her, and the courage with which he defended her, and gladly accepted for himself the hatred and affronts of the Court and even of the Duke himself. Towards the end of the year 1550, their marriage was celebrated with the simple rites of the Reformed Church. The Greek ode which Olympia wrote on this occasion has been preserved to us. " Oh Almighty God, King of Kings, Creator of man and woman ; Thou Who gavest a companion to the first man, that the race of mortals might not perish ; Thou Who has ordained that the fallen soul of humanity should become the mystic bride of Thine own Son, and that this Divine Son should give His life for her ; Oh, pour down harmony and peace upon the man and woman at this moment united before Thee ! Thy law is the nuptial blessing, and the hymen of eternal love/' This marriage of kindred souls was overshadowed by the dread of coming separation, for the situation of the Reformers in Ferrara was becoming each day more critical. The brothers Sinapius and others were already preparing for departure to Germany, the land of freedom, and Andrew Grunthler, having obtained his degree of Doctor of Medicine, felt that his best chance of making a suitable provision for 164 ITALIAN REFORMATION his wife would be in his own country. He had every hope of becoming professor in one of the Universities of Bavaria, but it was necessary that he should go first to prepare the way ; and he wished to spare Olympia the hardships of a long journey in winter. Lavinia della Rover e strongly urged this plan upon him, and she promised to watch over the Morato family during his absence. She had already used all her influence in the endeavour to reconcile Olympia with the Court of Ferrara, but failing in this, she devoted herself to her friend and the helpless family with the warmest affection. In the letters of Olympia to her husband, we see with what anxious love she followed all the steps of his journey ; and her words of tender affection and of resignation to the sorrows of absence, have a curious note of detachment when written in stately Latin. Her scholarship was so deeply ingrained in her nature, that she seems to have found her chief consolation at this time in writing a series of Latin dialogues, in which she and her friend Lavinia discuss philosophical and religious questions. One of her admirers remarks that they might have been " written by a disciple of Plato beneath the groves of the Academy, if they were not raised to the higher note of Christian inspiration/' The Dialogues are too long to quote, beyond a few words near the end, where we listen to the enthusiasm of faith, adoration and prayer. " . . . I am the daughter of men, created from the dust . . . born in sorrow, wrapped in swaddling- clothes, and only kept alive with infinite care and trouble. It is thus that all the kings of the earth OLYMPIA MORATA 165 are born ; for the children of men are all alike in their birth and their death. But my earliest desire was for the gift of wisdom. I valued it at a higher price than thrones and empires, than gold and pearls. I loved it more than beauty, more than life, and my prayers were heard. A divine light shone in the darkness of my soul, and that glory which cannot fade, takes for me the place of all worldly treasures. . . . Oh God, the boundless source of mercy and love, give me wisdom, that greatest gift of Thy glory. Inscribe me in the number of Thy servants, for to Thee alone will I belong during the few days that Thou hast assigned to me on earth. . . ." While Olympia thus sought relief from her anxiety, the news from Germany became more alarming every day. The discontent aroused by the pro- clamation of the " Interim " of Leipzig, in November 1548, had borne deadly fruit ; the Protestant Princes were in open rebellion, and we have a curious account by the English Ambassador of the despair in Augsburg when the ministers were condemned to exile for refusing to say Mass in their reformed churches. " They were compelled to leave the city, which remained disconsolate ; there were few shops in which people might not be seen in tears ; a hundred women besieged the Emperor's gates, howling and asking in th^ir outcries where they should christen their children and where they should marry. . . . For all this the Papist churches have no more customers than they had ; not ten of the townsmen in some of the greatest synagogues. The churches where the Protestants did by thousands at once communicate 166 ITALIAN REFORMATION are locked up, and the people being robbed of all their godly exercises, sit weeping and wailing at home." To Olympiads anxiety, she heard that the roads were full of armed bands, and there was no safety for travellers. She scarcely dared to hope that it would be possible for her husband to travel through the cities of the Danube and the Rhine, and return in safety to Ferrara. For a time, no news reached her even when she wrote to her friends established in Germany, and in one of her letters to Johann Sinapius she exclaims : " Truly you seem to remember us no more than if you had already crossed the land of shadows and oblivion/' But after many months of anxiety, Andrew Grunth- ler came back to Ferrara, having been received in the most flattering manner, at the various Universities, although his hope of obtaining an appointment had not yet been fulfilled. It was at length decided that his wife should accompany him to Augsburg, where George Hermann, Councillor to the King of the Romans, was eager to offer them hospitality during their period of suspense. In those days when travel was so difficult and slow, Olympia felt that in thus going forth into distant exile, she was losing the friends she left behind as though they were taken from her by death. Lavinia della Rovere was then at Parma with her husband, but she promised to watch over the mother and young sisters of her friend, as though they were her own kindred. As for the boy, Emilio, now eight years old, Olympia settled to take him with her, and continue to devote herself to his education. It was in the early days of June that the young wife took OLYMPIA MOEATA 167 her last farewell of the city which had so long been her home, and of the dearly- loved mother and sisters, whom she was never to meet again on earth. Perhaps the saddest fate was for those who were left behind. We find Olympia writing later with a brave heart : " The Lord has united me to a husband who is dearer to me than life. I would follow him with assurance through the bleak and lonely wilds of the Caucasus, or the frozen regions of the West, as I do across the passes of the Alps. Wherever he leads the way, I will follow in his steps with a glad heart. The home of man is everywhere beneath the sky ! There is no distant shore unwelcome to us, if we can there serve God with liberty of conscience. " Their journey had led them up the course of the river Adige ; they reached Trent during the excite- ment of the Council, and passed on through the valleys of the Tyrol. They found the environs of Innsbruck occupied by the Imperial army, but after safely crossing the outposts, they descended into the plains of Bavaria, reached Augsburg without adventure, and were warmly welcomed by the venerable Councillor of King Ferdinand. The great banking house of the Fuggers occupied the same place in the German city which the Medici filled in Florence. They were the great patrons of art and learning, and had long been interested in the writings of Olympia Morata, while the talents of her husband made a most favourable impression upon them. During this stay at Augsburg, she had 168 ITALIAN REFOKMATION the satisfaction of renewing her correspondence with her father's old friend, Celio Secundo Curione, whose friendship was a precious inheritance from the father to the daughter. He was at this time Professor of Latin Literature in the University of Basle, and he was greatly touched and interested by receiving from her a full account of her father's death, and of the troubles through which she had passed. She also sent hinTsome of her more recent religious poetry a Psalm translated into Greek. He wrote her the following letter of thanks : "How can I thank you, dear Olympia,for remember- ing me after an interval of so many years, and not- withstanding the distance which separates us ? No one loved and esteemed your noble father, during his life, more than myself ; and it is a joy to me to carry on this affection to a daughter in whom his talents and his piety live once more. Next to my wife and daughters, there is no one in the world for whom I care more than for you. I feel towards your husband as if he were my own son-in-law. God be praised Who has rescued your youth from the poisonous atmosphere of a Court, and Who has given you that liberty which is more precious than gold. I have read the psalm which you have translated into Greek, and I can indeed praise it. Heaven grant that you may carry out the same work on a great number ! We should not then envy Greece her Pindar. Courage, my Olympia, follow the call of thy Muse, and crown thy forehead with the sacred laurel. . . . Write to me often ; nothing could give me greater pleasure. The elegance, the charm and the piety of thy letters have given me true delight/' OLYMPIA MORATA 169 Tliis reply of Curione did not reach Olympia until long afterwards, but it served to bridge the abyss of time and space between the two friends, and to renew their warm sympathy as exiles from the same beloved country, for the sake of their religious faith. During his stay at Augsburg, Grunthler was able to show his gratitude to his hospitable friend, by devoted care during a serious illness, and it was with much regret on both sides that he and his wife took their departure and travelled to Wiirtzburg, where they were welcomed by Johann Sinapius, who was glad to avail himself of the young physician's help, while Olympia devoted herself to her literary pur- suits and to the education of her little brother Emilio. She kept up a constant correspondence with Ferrara, and was deeply interested in the efforts made by devoted ladies, such as Lavinia della Rovere and her sister-in-law Maddalena Orsini, to save the life of the imprisoned Fannio. It needed no small courage on their part to interpose in favour of a man condemned by the dread Inquisition of Rome. In October 1551, Andrew Grunthler received an invitation from his own native city of Schweinfurt to accept a medical appointment to the large garrison of Spanish troops stationed in the city. He accepted it in the hope of also obtaining a professorship in the neighbourhood ; and thus it was that after five months had elapsed since the day she left Ferrara, Olympia found herself settled in this far-distant end of Bavaria, more than ever separated from all her friends, amidst the most uncongenial surroundings. CHAPTEK XV OLYMPIA MORATA (continued) Life of Olympia Morata and her husband at Schweinfurt Her literary work and education of her brother Emilio Troubles in Germany concerning the " Interim " News of fresh persecution at Ferrara Olympia translates some of the Psalms into Greek verse Her correspondence with Curione War in Germany Albert of Brandenburg seizes Schweinfurt The city is besieged by other great nobles. WE can scarcely conceive a greater change for Olympia Morata than her life at Schweinfurt, in a half-bar- barous country, whose language never became familiar to her ; in a bleak ungenial climate, so different from the sunny skies and radiant scenery of Italy. Ac- customed to a brilliant and learned society where her talents were admired and appreciated, she now found herself in obscurity and isolation. But her gallant spirit rose to the occasion, and before long, she and her husband were destined to give a strong proof of their courage and constancy. The young physician received from the King of the Romans, an offer of the professorship of Medicine in the Academy of Lintz, the capital of Upper Austria. It was a splendid position, with immense advantages, but there was one drawback ; they would not have the privilege of professing openly their reformed opinions, as these were enduring a severe persecution in the orthodox city of Lintz. It was Olympia herself 170 OLYMPIA MOKATA 171 who wrote the letter of refusal, which shut out all hopes of their return to a pleasant and congenial life. She calmly points out that " they are enrolled under the banner of Christ, a Prince of so supreme a majesty that He has the right of life and death over His subjects. Wherever they may dwell, they must openly confess their allegiance, and preserve intact the shield of their faith, which is their sole refuge. . . . Their firm resolution is to remain faithful to the doctrines which they have embraced. . . ." They realised indeed what a priceless boon was this freedom of religion, when they saw from afar how their fellow-believers in Italy were called upon to seal with their blood, the faith that was in them. This cruel persecution made it very difficult and dangerous for Olympia to receive any letters from home, and she writes to a friend at Padua : " Fourteen long months have passed, and I hear nothing of my mother and sisters. All my letters remain un- answered. Of your pity, tell me about them. ..." When the news arrived at last, she heard that new troubles had awaited her mother and sisters after her departure ; the Duke had been unforgiving, and the ladies of the Court more unkind. Their only support had been the devotion of Lavinia della Eovere, who had taken the youngest sister, Vittoria, to Kome with her, and had found a home for the other two one with Helena Rangone of Bentivoglio, and the other with a daughter of this lady who was married at Milan. This young girl became kter the wife of a young man of noble birth, who showed great kindness and attention to the widowed mother Lucrezia Morata, who had been left alone at Ferrara. At the same time came the sad account of religious 172 ITALIAN REFORMATION persecution in Milan, and the final tragedy of FamnVs martyrdom, on the accession of Pope Julius III in 1550, of which the story has already been told in the annals of Ferrara. This sad event dissipated all illusive hopes of the friends of the Reformation, and was like a sentence of final exile on all who had fled for their faith. Olympia writes to her friend Curione at this time : " You advise us to pass through Basle, in case we return to Italy. Alas ! it is only too probable that we shall never take that journey. . . . You are well aware of the cruel persecution carried on by the present Pope, he has his spies all over Italy and is deaf to all prayers. ... It would be wiser to seek a refuge at the extremities of the earth, than to return to a country where we should have so much to suffer. ... No foreign city in the world would be more agreeable to me than yours ; near you, I should feel as if I were in the midst of my own people. And it would be nearer Italy, so that I could write oftener to my mother and sisters whose image is constantly before my eyes. . . ." She was ever a most devoted daughter, and never failed to send her mother all that she could possibly spare from her small means, with the greatest economy. We also see her constant affection for her home in the many letters preserved which she wrote to Lavinia. Some of the Dialogues which she sends to her friend are extremely interesting. In one, which is a dissertation on true happiness, " the language of antiquity lends a peculiar grace to the severe inspiration of Christian thought. It is the OLYMPIA MORATA 173 genius of the Renaissance smiling at sorrow/' 1 Lavinia is represented as Philotima and Olympia as her friend Theophila, and they discuss all the various forms of so-called happiness, all that wealth and luxury and splendid surroundings can give. ' We devote infinite care and thought on the adornment of our perishable body, we delight in riding in a great chariot with magnificent spirited horses, in order to pass over more quickly this short journey which is our life, and do not dream of taking our place on the chariot of faith, which alone can carry us from earth to Heaven. We toil and labour to convert our tents of a day into a magnificent dwelling, and we give no thought to those celestial halls whose beauty is beyond the dream of man. . . . Ah, my dear Philotima, what blindness is ours ! And how shall we ever find happiness if we seek it from earthly objects which can never bestow it ? " Theophila. . . . The greatest trials are easy to accept when they are of short duration. Now, is there anything shorter than the life of man ? How many Princes of our time and illustrious men of our century are already laid in the tomb ? Even their name is buried in the dust, and the world remembers them no more than if they had never existed. So true is it that the life of man, always threatened by death, is like unto a faint breath, a passing vapour. There is no solid happiness here below, and the soul, after vainly wearing itself out in pursuit of perishable things, can only find rest in God." " Philotima. . . . You speak truly, Oh Theophila ! and I desire henceforth to devote myself to God alone, 1 Jules Bonnet. 174 ITALIAN REFORMATION Who is the sovereign good. But the memories of a sinful life rise up between me and Heaven, and close the road which leads thither. " Theophila. . . . Christ has opened the way once more by His sacrifice, and therefore God has given Heaven back to us. Seek Christ by reading the Scriptures, by prayer, by adoration, and you will find Him. Ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit and you will receive at the same time peace and serenity. Farewell/' This dialogue was written in the second year of Olympiads life at Schweinfurt. Besides her home duties, her many charitable works and her studies, she found time to carry on the careful education of her little brother Emilio, and with him she taught Theodora, the daughter of Johann Sinapius. The children learnt Latin and Greek, and made especial study of the works of Plutarch, Virgil and Homer, for as their devoted teacher remarked in one of her letters : " Masters cannot teach their disciples every- thing, but they can at least point out to them the sources of wisdom/' To Sinapius she wrote : * Your little girl learns something every day ; it is thus that, little by little, she accumulates her treasure/' But all too soon, these delightful lessons were interrupted, and the little Theodora was recalled home by the death of her mother, the charming young Italian lady of the Court of Ferrara, Francesca Bucyronia. She and her husband had kept up a constant correspondence with Calvin ever since his visit to the Duchess Renee ; and now it was the sad duty of Johann to send the great Reformer the news of Francesca's death. OLYMPIA MORATA 175 " Since the time when we met and made acquaint- ance at the Court of Ferrara, you have given me so many tokens of your kind remembrance, and your religious teaching has been so valuable to me, that I must now tell you of my misfortune. I have lost her, that dear companion, so gentle, so faithful and so holy, whose death has plunged me into inexpressible sorrow. . . . When my wife was taken ill, I was away from Wiirtzburg. My return and that of Theodora her beloved daughter, whom we had confided to the care of a matron as pious as she is learned, Olympia Morata, whose name is no doubt known to you brought her some comfort. But alas ! her illness became so much worse that all hope vanished. A few days after Pentecost, she died in my arms, without struggle or agony, simply asking us to pray for her. What a faithful and tender friend I have lost in my Francesca ! She gladly followed me to Germany, and soon became familiar with the language and customs of this country. . . . May the God of mercy and peace receive her dear soul into the rest of the saints ! 3i Olympia felt the loss of her early friend very deeply, and in order to distract her grief, she devoted herself to the translation of more Psalms into Greek verse, which her husband set to music. In those wonderful hymns of the prophet-king, who pours out in song, his fears and his sorrows, his hopes and his triumphs she found encouragement and consolation in the midst of the storms which threatened on every side, while all Europe became a battle-field for the mighty duel between the Reformation and Empire. 176 ITALIAN REFORMATION The triumphant cry of faith which rings through the centuries : " Why do the heathen so furiously rage together ; and why do the people imagine a vain thing ? " The kings of the earth stand up and the rulers take counsel together ; against the Lord and against His anointed. . . . " He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh them to scorn ; the Lord shall have them in derision. . . . " Be wise now therefore ye kings ; be learned ye that are judges of the earth/' 1 Perhaps the stately majesty of this 2nd Psalm has never been rendered with more vigour and beauty than in the Greek ode of Olympia. Again in the 46th Psalm, which inspired the courage of Luther as he travelled to Worms, she found a happy inspira- tion in the rapid, impetuous rhythm of Sappho, as she proclaimed those heroic words which raise the spirit above all suffering and sorrow. " God is our hope and strength, a very present help in trouble. * Therefore will we not fear though the earth be moved, and though the hills be carried into the midst of the sea. . . . " The Lord of hosts is with us ; the God of Jacob is our refuge/' 2 It was in this labour of love that Olympia joined the great army of heroes and martyrs of saints and sinners, of all the sad and suffering, who, through 1 Carra. Olym. Morata, lib. ii. p. 226. 2 Ibid., lib. ii. p. 232. OLYMPIA MORATA 177 the ages, have found in the Psalms of David a treasure- house of comfort and strength. ' With the words of a Psalm on their lips, such diverse characters as Polycarp, Columba, Hildebrand, Bernard, Francis of Assisi, Huss, Jerome of Prague, Columbus, Henry V, Edward VI, Ximenes, Xavier, Melanchthon, Jewell, breathed their last. In the darkest hour of persecution, Chrysostom, Athanasius, Savonarola turned for consolation to the Psalms." l Only a few of the Psalms which Olympia translated into Greek have been preserved ; those which she herself sent to her friends and especially to Celio Secundo Curione, whose praise was to her so great an encouragement. When he wrote to thank her for her trust in him, he rejoiced that neither time nor distance could change her friendship for him, at the same time that he expressed his warm admiration for her work. But a time of trial and affliction was drawing near when she would no longer be able to find consolation in her pious and literary work. It was on February 18, 1546, that the death of Luther had seemed to give the signal for those terrible civil wars, rarely broken by brief intervals of peace, which only came to an end a century later with the Peace of West- phalia. The great work of the Reformation was to be no longer carried on solely with the spirit of prayer, of devotion, and of sacrifice but was to enter into the arena of the battlefield, where victory or defeat would be alike fatal, in making it subject to the yoke either of its foes or its friends. The Protestants of 1 Dean Stanley, "The Jewish Church," p. 147. 12 178 ITALIAN REFORMATION Germany had rebelled against the " Interim/' which had been forced upon them, and many had fled from their homes rather than accept its dictates. At the Diet of Augsburg in 1550, Maurice of Saxony had sent word that he would not submit to its decisions on religion, unless the Protestant ministers were allowed to vote. When the Council of Trent had assembled, the Emperor Charles V took up his abode near at Innspruck that he might watch the progress of events, and was so full of confidence in his security that he had only a small guard of troops. He was suddenly startled with the news that Maurice had taken possession of Augsburg and was marching against him. The Emperor, who was suffering from a serious attack of gout, had barely time to escape by night across the mountains, in frightful weather, before the city was taken by the German troops. The Elector of Saxony had taken arms, not only to secure freedom of conscience for the Protestants, but to defend the liberty of the German States and to obtain the freedom of his father-in-law the Landgrave of Hesse. He succeeded in all his aims, and Ferdinand, now King of the Romans, used his influence to arrange the Treaty of Passau, which was signed on August 2, 1552, and being later confirmed by the Peace of Augsburg, seemed to guarantee the rights of the German States and to close for ever the era of revolution. But the storm which had already broken over Upper Germany and had dispersed the Council of Trent, was about to do its worst on the hapless cities of the Maine. Amongst the partisans of the Empire were some hot-headed princes who refused to be bound by any treaties. One of these was the Margrave Albert OLYMPIA MORATA 179 of Brandenburg, who looked upon war as only an opportunity for brigandage. He was a typical instance of the mercenary warrior of the Middle Ages ; fierce, bold and cunning ; without faith or law. He chose the unfortunate town of Schweinfurt for his stronghold, whence he could send forth his lawless bands to ravage and rob the neighbour- hood, on both banks of the Maine, carrying every- where terror and desolation. The great nobles of the country round, the Bishops of Wiirtzburg and Bomberg, the Duke of Brunswick and the Elector Maurice, combined against the brigand host, and laid siege to Schweinfurt, having joined their banners to those of the city of Nuremberg, to crush this lawless foe in the city which he had chosen as his refuge. Nothing could be more terrible than the situation of the unfortunate inhabitants ; at the mercy of a brutal soldiery within the walls, and a determined host outside, between whom nothing less than a war of extermination was raging. CHAPTER XVI OLYMPIA MOEATA (concluded) Siege of Schweinfurt The city sacked and pillaged Terrible suffer- ings of Olympia Her escape to Heidelberg with her husband and brother In her destitution and loss of her library, generosity of her friends The plague at Heidelberg Devotion of Andrew Grunthler Illness and death of Olympia Morata Her wonderful writings Memorial hymn to her memory Death of Andrew Grunthler and the young Emilio Morato. THE siege of Schweinfurt began in April 1553, and continued almost without intermission for fourteen months ; a time of terrible and heart-rending ex- perience for Olympia Morata, her family and friends. The noise of the cannon continued night and day, for the walls of the city were bombarded incessantly with the most powerful artillery of the time. There was no rest for the citizens from constant anxiety and terror, for if the attack on the fortifications gave them any pause, bands of ferocious soldiers paraded the streets, broke into the carefully closed houses, and compelled the poor people who had sought in vain to find a hiding-place to give them all the food and money which still remained to them. The heartless brigands jestingly declared that this was only due payment for the protection which they supplied. But even this was not the worst ; for the crowding of so great a multitude within the narrow boundaries 180 OLYMPIA MORATA 181 of the city, the insufficient and wretched food, com- bined with hopeless depression of mind, prepared the way for the coming of the plague, whose infection was always at hand in those mediaeval towns. This awful disease spread like wildfire, and before long, nearly half the inhabitants were dead or dying, while the survivors were driven nearly mad with fear and horror. But the courage of Olympia and her husband never failed in the midst of these scenes of desolation ; the young physician, with heroic devotion, passed from one plague-stricken chamber to another, bearing everywhere with him rest and healing for the souls of the dying, when it was beyond his power to fight the deadly scourge, or do more than soothe the last anguish of the poor human body. Only a miracle could have saved Andrew from contagion under such circumstances, and before long, he too was laid upon a bed of sickness, a victim to the terrible disease. With marvellous fortitude, his loving wife watched and tended him night and day, never losing hope, although there seemed scarcely a chance of recovery, for by this time even the usual remedies were entirely exhausted. But Olympia's constant prayers, and the intercession of the church at Schweinfurt, were heard, and the life of Andrew Grunthler was spared. By this time the siege had lasted so long, that the people were reduced to the last extremity. The walls of the city were still standing, but the besiegers, enraged at this long defence, had sent for new and stronger artillery, which battered the houses and often set them on fire, so that they no longer offered a safe refuge. The besieged were reduced to such straits that they were compelled to take refuge in the 182 ITALIAN REFORMATION underground cellars, and it was in one of these dark and dreary caves that Olympia with her young brother Emilio and her husband, scarcely convalescent from his dangerous illness, were hidden for several weeks, and almost reduced to starvation. This is the account of their past sufferings which she had already given in a letter to her friend, Lavinia della Rovere. "... When in the course of his arduous and de- voted labours, my beloved husband was seized with the terrible disease, he rapidly grew worse and was in such great danger that there seemed no hope of his life. . . . Under the heavy burden of all these sufferings, one only consolation remained to us, prayer and meditation on the Word of God. I never once turned my thoughts towards the land of Egypt from which we had taken our flight. Far better would it be for us to perish under the ruins of this ill-fated city than to enjoy all the pleasures of life in a land of unbelievers. . . ." Meantime the climax was at hand. Albert of Brandenburg, the bandit warrior, had exhausted all his resources in this desperate conflict which he had so boldly carried on against the most powerful princes of the Empire. He could no longer defend the stronghold which threatened to become his tomb, and he resolved to make a desperate effort to escape by night with all his army. With great skill and bravery, he carried out this dangerous manoeuvre, to the intense relief and joy of the inhabitants, who hoped to receive pity and help from their conquerors. But an awful disappointment awaited them. The Elector Maurice of Saxony and the Duke of Brunswick OLYMPIA MORATA 183 had immediately hastened in pursuit of the brigand host whom they were destined to overtake and defeat on the field of Siewershausen while the Bishops of Wiirtzburg and Bomberg were left to deal with the forsaken city of Schweinfurt. Cruel indeed were the tender mercies of these noble churchmen ; and their barbarity exceeded all that had gone before. They hurled themselves with their greedy followers upon the defenceless city, pillaged it with the utmost craft and violence, and finally set fire to it. The scenes which followed in a place thus taken by assault were heart-rending beyond all description. In vain the terrified multitude pressed towards the gates ; they were mercilessly driven back to certain death. Some fell on their knees and vainly implored mercy from the victorious barbarians, others found their cruel fate in the shelter of their desecrated homes, while the greater number appear to have crowded to the church as a last refuge. Amongst these were Olympia Morata with her husband and young brother, who were swept along with resistless force by the mass of distracted sufferers until they had reached the church door. Then a strange thing happened ; through the growing dark- ness, an unknown soldier approached and implored them to escape at once lest they should be buried in the ashes of the burning city. They instinctively obeyed this warning, and followed their mysterious guide who, taking them by narrow devious ways, led them in safety outside the walls. Already the flames were rising up towards the sky, the houses were crashing to the ground with a deafen- ing noise, and the church itself was not spared, for the unfortunate people who had taken refuge there, 184 ITALIAN REFORMATION were either suffocated in the flames or crushed be- neath the ruins. In a letter written in Italian to a friend, Olympia gives a thrilling account of their marvellous escape from the burning city. " Rejoice with us, dear Cherubina, and return thanks to God Who, in His great mercy delivered us from the perils to which we have been exposed for the last fourteen months. He preserved us in the time of famine, so that we were able to help others. He raised up my husband from his bed of sickness when the pestilence raged through the town for seven weeks ; for He had mercy on me in my deep sorrow, when I should have lost all hope without the help of that Faith which pierces through the secrets of the invisible world. . . . ' You remember that passage of Isaiah . . . ' Fear not, Israel, for the Lord will be with thee when thou passest through the fire/ Thus was He with us in the midst of the devouring flames ; and this is no allegory but the simple truth. The princes of the Empire and the bishops came to besiege Schweinfurt ; day and night the artillery attacked us. ... " The city was taken by treason, and against the orders of the Emperor it was pillaged and set on fire. We escaped almost by a miracle, led by an unknown soldier. . . . Twice my husband fell into the hands of the enemies. . . . What was my distress ! And if ever I have prayed with all my heart, it was then. I cried to the Lord in my agony : ' Help me ! Help me ! for the love of Thy Name ! ' and I never ceased to pray until Andrew was restored to me. Could you have seen my dishevelled hair, my clothes in rags . . . , my feet cut and bruised, for in my flight I had lost OLYMPIA MORATA 185 my shoes and we had to escape along the bed of the river, over stones and rocks. ... At every step I cried : ' I cannot go on, I am dying. Lord, if Thou wilt save me, send Thine angels to bear me on their wings. . . . " It seems to me impossible that I was able to travel ten miles that night. I had been ill, I was still frail and suffering, and the terrible fatigue brought on a fever which continued all that journey. . . . The Lord had pity upon our distress . . . after many dangers and adventures we met with kind help, and at length reached this city of Heidelberg, where my husband has been made Professor of Medicine, and we are in the midst of friends." Then she tells of the hospitality they received at the Court of the Count Eberhard of Erpach, who had risked both life and fortune for the Reformed Faith, and whose wife, a sister of the Count Palatine Frederick II, joined him in the warmest appreciation of the talents and devotion of Olympia Morata. She was taken to the palace and nursed through her serious illness which followed, by the Princess herself and her daughters. In the terrible disaster of Schweinfurt, everything had been lost and the Grunthler family were absolutely destitute. But most of all Olympia felt the loss of the whole of her precious books which had been brought with infinite trouble from Ferrara. One book only had been saved from the flames and was found beneath the ruins of her house ; a volume of the Lives of Plutarch, which Johann Sinapius bought and sent to her husband, because he had found the name of Olympia written on the last page. Other friends were eager 186 ITALIAN REFORMATION to replace some of her treasures, and Celio Secundo Curione writes to her : " If you have lost all your worldly goods, my beloved Olympia, yet you must not forget that you still possess all that is most precious ; your genius, learning, wisdom, innocence, piety and faith. ... I wrote about the books to your husband. Our printers have sent you in my name, Homer and other classical books as my gift. If they are to be found at Frank- furt, you shall have the Commentaries on the Lamenta- tions of Jeremiah, that you may meditate with him on the sorrows of your husband's unhappy country. We have sent you all the works of Sophocles which are extant, and I trust that you will now take up again your interrupted studies, and compose a noble work worthy to obtain the sacred laurel wreath which you have so long deserved." Her other friends combined to replace to some extent her lost library, and she writes : ' Thank Operinus, Hervagius, and Frobenius 1 for the gift which they have bestowed upon me of so many precious books ; nothing will ever make me forget their generosity towards me. . . ." The University of Heidelberg, founded in the fourteenth century by the Count Palatine, was a great centre of learning and had a magnificent library. The new-comers were so much appreciated that, as we have seen, Andrew was appointed to be Professor of Medicine, and one historian says that 1 Famous publishers at Basle. OLYMPIA MORATA 187 Olympia was invited to lecture upon Greek literature. But for her, the dreams of literary ambition, the triumphs of genius and scholarship were at an end. After all the terrible trials which she had endured, her failing health left her scarcely strength for the household duties which now, in her poverty, devolved upon her in loving care for her husband and brother, as she could not afford a servant. About this time, her friend Johann Sinapius lost his wife Francesca, and was anxious to place his daughter Theodora once more in the charge of Olympia. She gladly accepted, but ventured to ask that the young girl should bring her bed with her, as they had not been able to buy much furniture. Yet nothing could put a check to her generosity, for she sent help from her poor savings to Schweinfurt, only to receive the reply : ' The poor women whom you used to visit at the hospital and for whom you feel so deeply, have disappeared and no one knows what has become of them. . . ." Her tender heart was full of sympathy for other friends in distress. The recent accession of Queen Mary in England had driven away the Reformers who had taken refuge there. She wrote to her sister Vittoria : "I hear that Bernardino Ochino of Siena, that pious and elo- quent man, has been compelled to seek a refuge at Geneva. . . ." Peter Martyr and others had also narrowly escaped with their lives. Above all, Olympia grieved over the cruel persecu- tion of her friends in Ferrara, but she thanks God that her mother and sisters had remained firm in their faith, and she implores them to join her in a free land. The sufferings of the Protestants in France move her to tears, and she writes an imploring letter 188 ITALIAN REFORMATION to her former pupil, Anna cTEste, now Duchess of Lorraine : " As the Lord has given you the blessing of knowing the truth, you cannot be ignorant of the innocence of the men . . . who are exposed to such cruel torments for the sake of Christ. It is your duty to intercede for them ... to implore their pardon. If you remain silent, if you let them suffer and die without defence, you become an accomplice of their persecutors. I know that in pleading their cause you may provoke the anger of the King, that of your husband and the fury of your enemies. I reply that it is better to offend men than God. ... If God is for us, who can be against us ? ' We are thankful to know that Anna d'Este made a noble response to this appeal, although her plea of intercession was raised in vain. As her health failed, Olympia still occupied all her spare time with the education of Theodora and her own little brother Emilio, who read with her Horace, Virgil, Cicero and Homer, and joined with her in the study of the Bible. He appears to have been a most promising child with a charming dis- position. Her last letter to Lavinia della Rovere shows how her thoughts dwelt upon the instability of earthly things. " Believe me dear Lavinia, that no one can escape troubles who lives a holy life. We are strangers and pilgrims upon this earth. . . . The adversary of our souls, as the poet puts it, follows the sailor on his ship and rides behind the horseman. We must pray OLYMPIA MORATA 189 without ceasing that we fall not in the conflict, and that we may obtain the crown of life. . . . War is raging on every side and the saints are exposed to a thousand tribulations. . . . But their trials should fill them with joy, because they foretell the day, so glorious and so near, when they will enjoy together the bliss of Heaven, Here below, our souls only meet in letters, and behold each other in the spirit. The semblance of this world is passing away ! . . ." In the beginning of the summer of 1555, the plague broke out in Heidelberg, and there were many victims. Notwithstanding Olympiads failing health, her husband was constantly called away from her bed of sickness, and in her brave unselfishness, she would not have it otherwise. In July her life was despaired of, although her friends at a distance could not believe that this brilliant scholar whom they remembered so full of life and radiance could be taken from them before she had reached her prime ; she was not yet twenty-nine. The touching story of her last moments is told by her husband in a letter to her devoted and life-long friend Curione. " She passed away with eager joy as though she already beheld the glorious realities of the heaven she was about to enter. . . . Not long before her death, she awoke from a short slumber, and smiled with a mysterious air, as though she were ravished by some ineffable thought. I drew near and asked her why she smiled so happily. ' I saw in my dream/ she said, ' a place filled with the most pure and beautiful light . . / she could say no more from weakness. ' Courage, my beloved/ said I ; ' you will soon dwell 190 ITALIAN REFORMATION in that perfect light/ She smiled again, and gave a sign of assent. A little later, she said : ' I am happy, absolutely happy/ Then after awhile, as her sight grew dim, she whispered : ' I scarcely see you, but all around me there are beautiful flowers/ Those were her last words. An instant later, she seemed overcome by peaceful sleep and breathed out her spirit. . . ." This was on November 7, 1555.. Her husband was broken-hearted at the loss of his gallant, un- daunted companion who had been his support and comfort throughout all his trials. All the letters of her friends bore the noblest testimony to her splendid character. They are too long and numerous to quote, but a few words from one written by Curione to the bereaved mother at Ferrara, show the high estimation in which she was held. " Our Olympia is not dead ; she rests from her labours in a blessed and immortal life. She lives in Paradise, and she lives also here below in our hearts and in the memory of those who know her beautiful works, those wonderful monuments of her exquisite talent. By a strange fatality, her husband did not long survive her. The plague continued its ravages at Heidelberg. The University was closed, and the city was almost deserted ; yet Andrew Grunthler visited the survivors with constant and devoted care, until he too was stricken down with the deadly infection for the second time. He passed away on December 22, the month after his wife's death, with the words of the 42nd Psalm on his lips : OLYMPIA MORATA 191 " Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks, so longeth my soul after Thee, God. " My soul is athirst for God, yea even for the living God ; when shall I come to appear before the presence of God ? " The boy Emilio was to have been sent to the loving care of Curione, " in order that he might be so taught as to emulate the reputation of the sister by whom alone he had hitherto been educated." But another fate was in store for him ; already weak and suffering in health, he fell a victim to the dread disease which had carried off his brother-in-law, whom he shortly followed to the grave. The three who had been so united in life were buried in the same grave, in a chapel of the Cathedral of Heidelberg, where the touching inscription to their memory may still be seen. Amongst the many appreciations of her friends, one of the most interesting is the following memorial hymn in her honour, by Celio Secundo Curione. " Knowest thou why this spot is laden with flowers and breathes forth the perfume of violets and lilies ? Listen, and I will tell thee. Remember the three Graces and the nine Muses, so famous in the poems of antiquity, by all that nature and art can combine to add to their glory. She who, by a pious illusion, is supposed to sleep within this tomb, deserves to be known as the tenth Muse and the fourth Grace. Daughter of heaven by her poetry, she received the name of Olympia. Fulvia was her second name because, tested in the crucible of misfortune, she was found purer than gold ; or because, following the example of the eagle living in the regions of light, 192 ITALIAN REFORMATION she early took her flight from here below. Finally her splendid talents, combined with a most noble and holy life, made her worthy of the surname of Morata. " Christ, her great Master, only suffered her to appear upon earth for a brief instant, and she had scarcely suffered the pains of exile before He called her back to Heaven. She has entered into her rest and tastes the bliss of eternal felicity. " Passer-by, whoever thou art, mayest thou live longer days upon this earth, showing forth those virtues which will make thee happy for ever ! " CHAPTER XVII CELIO SECUNDO CURIONE Life of Celio Secundo Curione At the University of Turin Adopts the reformed opinions Taken prisoner on his way to Germany Sent to a monastery His escape to Milan Life at Casale, at Pavia, and Ferrara Friendship with the Morato family Com- pelled to seek refuge at Lausanne, by persecution Works of Curione His splendid talent and scholarship His family Tragic losses Death of Curione, 1569. IN the memoir of Olympia Morata, we have so often had occasion to allude to her most intimate friend, Celio Secundo Curione, that it seems an appropriate moment to tell the story of his life. This distinguished Italian Reformer was born at Turin in the year 1503, and he was the youngest of twenty-three children, many of whom died in early life. His father, Jacomino Roterio Curione, was of noble birth, and his mother, Carlotta de Montrolier, was sister of the French Master of the Horse. The family name was derived from an ancient castle which was handed down from distinguished ancestors. Carlotta had been Lady in Waiting to the Duchess Bianca of Savoy, a daughter of the House of Monte- feltro and wife of the young Duke Carlo. Celio was only nine years old when he was deprived of his parents, and besides his inheritance shared with the surviving two brothers and two sisters, his father left him the Curione home and surrounding 13 193 194 ITALIAN REFORMATION farms. He also gave to this favourite child, a beauti- ful MS. copy of the Scriptures, illuminated with miniatures on fine parchment, which in later years was to be his greatest treasure. The boy early showed great intellectual promise, and his earliest teaching was at a small grammar school, where he so much distinguished himself that his relations sent him to continue his studies at the University, where Erasmus had recently, in 1506, taken his degree. Living in the house of his aunt Maddalena, he at- tended the lectures of all the great scholars of the time, such as Dominico Macaro, Giovanni Brema and Giorgio Carrara, poets, historians and orators. He also devoted himself to the study of Civil Law, under the teaching of Francesco Sfodrato, of Milan. At this period, the idea of reform was in the air, and it is not strange that the eager young scholar had a strong desire to hear all about the new doctrines, which in the Augustinian convent where he had taken up his abode, were condemned as heretical and untrue. He first became acquainted with Luther's book on " Indulgences/' then his " Babylonish Captivity/' and also readUlrich Zwingle's "De vera et falsa religio," and several works by Melanchthon. He was en- couraged in this study by one of the monks, Girolamo Negri, who if not in any sense a Protestant, was yet most desirous of the internal reform of the Church. Celio was so much impressed by his reading that he resolved to go to Germany and there learn more on these interesting subjects from the teaching of Erasmus and Melanchthon themselves. Two of his young friends, Francesco Guarini and Giacomo Camillo (who later became ministers of the Reformed Church), were eager to join him, and the three young CELIO SECUNDO CURIONE 195 men, all under twenty, were full of high spirits at the thought of their pilgrimage over the Alps. They made no secret of their intentions and seem to have talked so imprudently on religious subjects, that they were arrested on the way by order of Boniface the Cardinal Bishop of Ivrea, who caused them to be imprisoned in separate dungeons. For two long months, young Curione was confined in the castle of Capranio, and was only released through the inter- cession of his relations. On making his acquaintance, the Cardinal was so much interested in the brilliant scholar, that he offered to assist him in his future studies, and for this purpose and also to confirm the youth in the orthodox faith, he placed him in the neighbouring Priory of St. Benigno. The Cardinal could not have sent Curione to a worse place for his purpose, as the monks were entirely given over to superstition and were proud of possessing relics and bones of saints, to which people crowded for miraculous cures. Celio Curione could not believe in these r and he openly expressed his opinions to his companions. He went still farther, and one day took an opportunity of opening a box of relics on the altar, and put a copy of the Bible in their place with this inscription : " This is the ark of the Covenant, which contains the genuine oracles of God, and th true relics of the saints." The box was adored as usual until, on a solemn festival, it was opened, and when the discovery was made, suspicion fell upon Curione, who fled and made his escape to Milan, and thence to Eome, which he had always desired to visit. After a time he returned to Milan where he made many influential friends, and found employment in teaching the classics, both 196 ITALIAN KEFOKMATION in that city and at Pavia. All this neighbourhood had recently been ravaged by war, which brought famine and plague in its train ; and when others fled from the danger, the young scholar had the opportunity of showing quite heroic devotion in nursing the sick and destitute, and helping them with all that he possessed. This generous conduct attracted the attention of a noble family of the name Isacchi, who invited him with friendly hos- pitality to their villa outside the walls, where later he married the daughter, Margherita. Not long after this, he was fortunate in obtaining an invitation from the old Bishop Giovanni Giorgio, who, on the death of his young nephew, had become Marquis of Monferrato, and who now offered him interesting literary occupation and a quiet home in his capital of Casale Monferrato, beautifully situated on the river Po, between Pavia and Turin. The Marquis was old and infirm, but he must have been a man of broad views in religion, to become an intimate friend of young Curione. It was probably with some reluctance that Giovanni Giorgio was induced by the Emperor to marry the rejected bride of the Duke of Mantua, the Infanta Giulia d'Aragona. In April 1533, this marriage was celebrated at Ferrara with great solemnity, but when the bride reached Casale on the 21st, the poor old Marquis was confined to his bed with illness, and died within a week. The wife of the young Duke Federico of Mantua, Mar- gherita Paleologa, was the next heir to Monferrato, which was soon annexed to Mantua. These changes may have induced Curione to leave Casale, and lay claim to his patrimony, now that both his brothers were dead. But one of his sisters CELIO SECUNDO CURIONE 197 and her husband had already taken possession of it, and they at once brought a suit against him for heresy. Driven out of Italy, he withdrew to Mon- calieri, in the dominions of Savoy, where he had some property, and could also obtain various educational work. He happened to be in Turin one day when a Dominican monk was preaching against the Lu- therans, accusing them of the most hateful vices, and in order to prove this, giving false quotations from a book of Luther's. Celio Curione obtained permission to answer these accusations, and he read out from the " Commentary on the Epistle to the Ga- la tians " enough to prove their falsehood. The con- gregation were so indignant that they drove the friar out of the city. The Inquisition of Turin at once ordered Curione to be arrested ; his home was pillaged and destroyed and he was shut fast in prison, but with great skill and ingenuity, he contrived to escape. His friends at Pa via received him with joy and made him a professor in the University, where for three years he was protected from the Inquisition by a strong guard of students. Not until the Pope threatened the town with excommunication did he retire to Venice, and later to Ferrara. Here he was most kindly received by the Duchess Renee, and warmly welcomed by his old friend, Fulvio Pellegrino Morato, whose acquaintance he had made some years before, during his travels, wnen he stayed at Verceil in Piedmont. These two men were drawn together by a similarity of tastes and studies, to which was soon added a warmer sympathy in their devotion to the Reformed Faith. Thus there grew between them a warm and 198 ITALIAN REFORMATION intimate affection which was only destined to be severed by death. A most interesting correspondence between these two distinguished scholars has been preserved, in which, unshaken by all the terrible events which took place around them, they calmly discuss literature, art and science. Now it is a dissertation on the authenticity of a work attributed to Cicero ; then a description of the route across nameless sea and land, undertaken by the genius of Vasco de Gama. Curione points out the stopping places in the immense itinerary which divides Lusi- tania from the Indies ; he measures the distance and exclaims : * What names have appeared and disappeared one after another on those shores ! What changes the centuries bear onwards in their majestic flood ! Empires and nations fade away with even their names. How many nations and cities, once flourish- ing, to-day cover the earth with their dust ! The spectacle of so many accumulated ruins should excite us to continue our course towards the Heavenly Jerusalem, that enduring and eternal kingdom, where we shall inherit true riches and true felicity/' During the close intimacy of the two friends for a whole year in Ferrara, it was the younger man, Celio, who took the lead in pointing out the Reformed doctrines which he had so earnestly studied. When the angry suspicions of the Duke of Ferrara made it unsafe for him to remain longer in the city, and he had accepted an invitation to Lucca, Morato wrote to him : " Never have I felt such grief as now, at your CELIO SECUNDO CURIONE 199 departure from us ; it is as if my human body had lost its soul. Formerly I only read, or turned over at my leisure, certain pages of St. Paul or of St. John, or some other portion of the Holy Scriptures and that was all. It was your voice alone, my dear Celio, which found the way to my heart. The light which shone forth from your words showed to me the way of salvation. As I look back upon the dark shadows in which I dwelt, I see how you brought radiance around my path, so that it is no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives in me. . . ." The other members of his household felt the same change, and lamented the loss of their " divine teacher " ; and although the full awakening of Olympia Morata was delayed for some time, yet she always remembered her father's friend Celio Curione, with the deepest admiration and affection, and as we have seen, their friendship endured to the end. Curione was welcomed by the Keformers of Lucca, and was even appointed Professor at the University ; but before the end of the year, the Pope sent a command that he should be arrested and tried on the charge of heresy in Rome. Feeling that he would not be suffered to rest in Italy, he turned his steps towards Germany by way of Zurich, and reached Lausanne, where he was raised to the important post of Rector in the University. He had left his wife Margherita and his children at Lucca, and when he returned to fetch them he had a very narrow escape from arrest. But his wonderful courage and presence of mind saved him from the officials of the Inquisition, and he made a quiet home at Lausanne for the next four years. 200 ITALIAN REFORMATION In the year 1547, his fame had spread in all directions, and he was invited to Basle and ap- pointed to the Chair of Roman Eloquence in that city. Pupils flocked to hear him from distant countries, and the Prince Palatine sent his son to be taught by him. He refused offers from Kings and Princes ; the Emperor Maximilian II invited him to the University of Vienna, Vaivod King of Tran- sylvania invited him to Weissemburg, and the Duke of Savoy offered him a post at Turin. Even the Pope made splendid offers to win him back, but he remained firm to his faith, and lived in Basle the rest of his life, twenty-two years. Amongst his pupils were many distinguished scholars, amongst whom was the famous Basil Amberbachio, and two sons of Bullinger, Henry and Johann, and a young Polish noble Abraham Sbaski. The special subjects in which Curione was most successful were History, Philosophy and Theology, in which his chief work was " De Ajnplitudine regni Dei." In this book he gives full scope to his eager hope and enthusiasm. " The Kingdom of God will prevail and spread throughout the earth. Christ is the Prince of our fortified city and its three towers are Faith, Hope and Charity. The joyful sound of the Gospel has in our own day reached the Scythians, Thracians, Indians and Africans. Christ, the King of kings, has taken possession of Rhcetia and Helvetia ; Germany is under his protection ; he has reigned and will again reign in England. He sways his sceptre over D enmark and the Cymbrian nations, Prussia is his ; Poland and the whole of Sarmatia are on the point of yielding CELIO SECUNDO CUEIONE 201 to him ; he is pressing forward to Pannonia, Muscovy looks toward him ; he beckons the kingdom of France to his feet ; Italy, our native country, is travailing in birth, and Spain will soon follow. Even the Jews are no longer averse to Christianity, since they see that we acknowledge one God, the Creator of Heaven and earth . . . that we worship neither images, nor symbols, nor pictures . . . and that we acknowledge that we received Christ from their Jewish race. . . ." History has told us how much and how little these eager hopes were realized ! But Curione 's fame rests not only on his printed works. His letters are ex- tremely interesting and of these a great number still remain in manuscript within the University of Basle. There are some which he wrote to our Queen Elizabeth, on whom all the hopes of the Protestants in Europe were fixed, and when he edited the works of Olympia Morata, he dedicated them to the Queen of England. Melanchthon was a great admirer of Celio Curione, and wrote thus to him : " Language is a picture of the mind ; when I read your writings I thought most highly of their noble style, and felt that to you might be applied those words of Homer : ' Wise is thy voice and noble is thy heart/ Before I knew you, I loved you . . . and now still more for the piety and constancy with which you have suffered for your open confession of the truth " This was the beginning of a long and interesting correspondence between these two learned men. Curione and his wife Margherita had a large family 202 ITALIAN REFORMATION and the training and education of their promising children was a constant delight to them. The eldest son Horatio, was born in 1534 ; he was sent to continue his studies hi Italy and distinguished himself at the University of Pisa, where he took his degree in Philosophy and Medicine at the early age of twenty. He went to Constantinople on a religious mission, in which his medical knowledge was of great assistance to him, but unfortunately the climate did not suit him and he died of fever before his thirtieth year, in 1564. The eldest daughter, Violante, born in 1541, was one of the most brilliant and accomplished members of the gifted family. She was married to the famous Girolamo Zanchi of Bergamo, who had an eventful and interesting career. He was the son of Francesco Zanchi and was born at Alzano ; and in early life joined the Order of Regular Canons. He was an ardent student of Theology, and his meeting with Peter Martyr at Lucca turned him to the study of the Reformed doctrines ; he followed his teacher in his flight from Lucca, passing through the Grisons and from thence to Geneva. His fame spread later to Strasburg, where he was invited to be Professor of Theology and Philosophy. Here he made the acquaintance of Celio Curione, and soon after married Violante, his eldest and most talented daughter. It was a very happy marriage, as husband and wife had similar faith and the same interest in literary pursuits ; but it was of short duration. Three years after, at the age of twenty- three, just after her friend Olympia Morata had passed away, Violante died in the same perfect hope and joyful confidence. Her loss was a terrible grief to her father and mother, CELIO SECUNDO CURIONE 203 wlio were destined to suffer still more painful bereave- ment within a few years. The third daughter Angela, was born at Lausanne in 1546, and was only eighteen when she fell a victim to the awful plague which laid waste the city of Basle in 1564. Of her, we have a most touching description in a letter which Curione wrote to his son Agostino, who was then continuing his studies in Italy, and was already distinguished for his proficiency in the art of Rhetoric. After dwelling upon the last sad scene, the bereaved father continues : " Her greatest delight was in acquiring knowledge . . . which her intelligence and wonderful memory made easy to her. She understood four languages, Latin, Italian, French and German, and she could write and speak them all with the utmost facility. She had read through the New Testament seven times . . . she also read many other books of learned and classical literature. . . . She was a great help to me in the collation of manuscripts, for the right understanding of Latin authors, and she constantly read aloud to save fatigue to my eyes. . . . She was of a lively disposition, most gentle and pleasing in the society of friends whom she charmed by her wit and brightness, and her ready talent in relating anecdotes and stories. She was so full of charity that she never said an unkind word, and always put a favourable construction on the speech and action of others " Then with loving persistence, Curione dwells upon the domestic and household gifts of his beloved daughter, and seems to find a kind of consolation in 204 ITALIAN REFORMATION reflecting upon the beauty of her character and all her charms of person and mind. The terrible plague still continued, and 4,000 people are said to have died in the city of Basle and as many in the country round. It was only nine days after the death of Angela, when the next sister, Celia, who was only seventeen, began to show symptoms of the same illness. It seems too overwhelming to be true, and as though, never since the days of Job, had losses followed in such awful succession but Celia had scarcely breathed her last sigh before the darling of the house, the youngest child, sweet little Felice, was seized with such a severe attack, that within four days, she too had passed away, leaving her parents desolate indeed. But when we consider the deadly contagion of the plague, and the ignorance in those days of the simplest laws of infection, we cannot wonder that whole families were constantly swept utterly away. The sad case was, in truth, that there should be any survivors to mourn for the storm which had ravaged their home. It was immediately after this cruel disaster, that Celio and Margherita received the news of Horatio their eldest son's death in Constantinople, to which we have already alluded. Of all their loved family, there only now remained one daughter and the youngest son Leo. The second son Agostino, the most learned of all, who wrote the "History of the Saracens," was made Professor of Rhetoric at Basle, and died in 1566. Dorothea, who was their second daughter, four years older than Angela, had been left behind in the care of some devoted friends, when her father and mother were preparing for their perilous CELIO SECUNDO CUEIONE 205 escape from Lucca. She had grown up to love these as her real parents, for they had no children of their own, and had warmly adopted the young girl with the most tender affection. It was impossible for Curione to ask for her back, but in a letter to his friend Aonio Paleario, who was then Professor of Eloquence at Lucca, he begged for a portrait of Dorothea. This was sent to him in 1552, with a long kind letter, giving a full account of her. It is interesting to know that the picture can now be seen in the Museum of Basle ; the girl holds in her hand a letter, on which may be read the name " Dorothea/' As for the youngest son Leo, the last remaining child of Curione and Margherita, he also had been sent to study in Italy, and had accompanied a certain Professor named Kista to Poland, where there was now freedom of religious thought. Leo Curione had there obtained a state appointment, and had been entrusted with several important embassies to various Courts of Europe. However, with noble self-sacrifice he at once obeyed his father's imploring summons to return to Basle after the death of Agostino in 1566 and gave up his splendid prospects in Poland, without a murmur. His return was a great comfort to his mourning parents, and he lived a useful and honourable life in his home. He married a lady of the name of Flaminia, a daughter of the Moralto family, which came originally from Locarno. We do not know much of his later life except that, during the wars of religion in France, he was imprisoned by the Guise party, and kept for some time in con- finement. Of Celio Secundo Curione himself, there is but little more to say. He continued his appointed 206 ITALIAN EEFORMATION work, lecturing daily at the College of Basle, when in the winter of 1569, he was suddenly taken ill, and died after a few days' illness, on November 25. There was a great funeral procession of learned men and students who deeply grieved for the loss of their honoured friend. He was laid to rest in the cloisters of the Cathedral, by the side of his three young daughters and his son Agostino ; his pathetic funeral sermon was listened to with heartfelt sympathy by the multitude in the crowded Cathedral, who had long experience of his great talents and his unceasing charity. His wife Margherita, who had been his dearest friend and companion for forty years, lived on in quiet and patient seclusion until May 12, 1587, but of her we have no further record. It must have been a comfort to her to hear her husband's praises on every side, and to be told that he had perhaps done more than any one else to forward the Italian Reformation, both by word and deed. CHAPTER XVIII AONIO PALEABIO Life of Aonio Paleario Born at Veroli Early studies Visits Padua and Perugia Settles at Siena His eloquence and learned writings Persecuted at Rome for his opinions Professor at Lucca, and at Milan Condemned by the Inquisition Taken to Rome, where he suffered martrydom, 1570 Attended by the Misericordia Letters to his wife and children. No history of the Men and Women of the Italian Reformation would be complete without some ac- count of the famous Aonio Paleario, whose work was so individual and independent, that we can scarcely join him on to any group of Reformers. He was born in the year 1500 at Veroli, the ancient Verulam, on the confines of the Campagna of Rome. His father was Marteo Paleario and his mother's name was Chiara Janarilla ; he was baptized as Antonio, but later changed his name to the more classical Aonio. We know very little about his early history, beyond the fact that his parents died when he was very young, and that when the learned Ennio Filonardi became Bishop of Veroli, he took great interest in the promising youth. Aonio was at Rome continuing his studies, for several years before the terrible sack of the city in 1527. He was an eager student of the classics, more especially of Cicero and Aristotle, and his reputation appears to 307 208 ITALIAN REFORMATION have obtained him a post in the library of a rich Roman noble, whom he alludes to as his " Caesar." Here he was falsely accused of copying some valuable work about Livy, for the sake of his own interest, and he was so indignant that he resigned his position. We next hear of him in 1529, when he writes to his friend Mauro, of Arcano : "... So earnestly do I thirst after philosophy and those studies to which, before the capture of Rome by the Spaniards, I had devoted six years, that I ardently desire to resume them. ... I hear that literature flourishes in Tuscany ; there is nothing to prevent my going straight to Siena, unless I first visit Perugia, where my friend Ennio (late Bishop of Veroli), is now vice-Legate. I long much to see him for he has warm affection for me, and the philo- sophers of Perugia are not to be despised. If the inveterate barbarisms with which commentators have disfigured that branch of learning, do not prevail there, I can nowhere be happier . . . but otherwise, I will visit Padua where Lampridio rightly interprets the Greek compositions of Aristotle. . . . Farewell. Rome." This friend Mauro was a poet whose work was preferred by Ruscelli to that of Berni, the clever satirist. When Paleario went to Perugia having we presume, discovered that a vicious style of com- position did not prevail there he was received with warm hospitality by his friend Filonardi, the Governor. But the scholarship of the University did not satisfy him and after some months, he travelled on to Siena. He is delighted with the scenery, but he finds the AONIO PALEARIO 209 College there also " full of barbarisms " ; however, lie remained in the hill city, engaged in study, for several years. It was not until the year 1531, that Paleario \ carried out his design of visiting Padua, where his / critical taste was thoroughly satisfied with the splendid scholarship of the poet and linguist, Benedetto Lampridio, whose private Academy attracted scholars from all parts to study the classics under his guidance. The University of Padua had recently renewed its ancient glory, and was in a most flourishing condition, and Aonio Paleario greatly enjoyed the year which he spent in that city, and wrote with great enthusiasm about the eloquence of Lampridio, describing him as another Demosthenes. Paleario was on his way to Rome and had travelled as far as Bologna, when he was recalled to Siena by a pressing appeal from a friend who was unjustly accused, and who implored the help of his eloquence and legal knowledge. His advocacy met with splendid success ; he was able to prove that Antonio Bellanti was the victim of a base conspiracy, and his eloquent oration, together with his profound knowledge of Roman jurisprudence, was looked upon as a brilliant success ; the pleader had thoroughly established his reputation. While at Siena, he received an earnest letter from the learned Bembo, strongly advising him to return to Padua, and continue his philosophical studies. This was in 1533, and we find him soon after com- pleting his poem, " On the Immortality of the Soul," and resuming his peaceful life in Padua. There is a curious mixture of Christian and Pagan philosophy in this poem, which begins by lauding the wisdom 14 210 ITALIAN REFORMATION and power of the Creator ; then the author invokes Aristotle to guide him through the labyrinths of this mystery . . . and lastly he desires to describe the state of the soul after death, with the rewards and punishments which await us at the end of our ap- pointed course in this world. . . . Although Paleario greatly enjoyed the literary society of Padua and the friendship of Bembo, he was more drawn towards his older friends at Siena, and decided to settle in their neighbourhood. But first he paid a visit to Rome, where Ennio Filonardi, his earliest patron, was now Governor of St. Angelo. After this he remained for some time at Colle, an interesting old city w r ith a picturesque castle on the hill, and it was here that he made the acquaintance of Marietta Guidotti, who afterwards became his wife. He bought an estate at Ceciniano about three miles distant from Colle, on the road to Volterra. When he was happily settled in his new home, he devoted himself once more to his philosophical studies, which had already attracted the attention of many learned scholars and philosophers. Amongst his friends was the celebrated Piero Vettori, Professor of Greek and Latin Literature at Florence, who came to stay with him at Ceciniano, and he had also visitors who, like himself, took a deep interest in the new doctrines of reformed religion. Troublous times were in store for him on account of his outspoken attack on injustice and fraud of every kind. A strolling friar came to preach at Colle, and made such unfair accusations and so many false statements, that Paleario felt himself compelled publicly to refute them. The natural result followed ; he found himself cruelly attacked and a charge of AONIO BALEARIC 211 heresy was brought against him, both at Rome and Florence, while every kind of slander was invented against his private character as well as his opinions. We have an immense amount of correspondence telling the whole story of his persecution, but his letters are too long to quote. These constant attacks continued for two years, during which time his enemies, the Dominican monks, were collecting proofs of his heresy, both from hearsay evidence and from obscure passages in his theological works. Meantime Aonio Paleario had lost most of his private pupils, his neighbours were beginning to look upon him with suspicion, and even his wife's relations had turned against him. He went to Rome to make a personal appeal, but it was of no avail against the overwhelming force of his enemies, for the cry of heresy was enough to rouse all the powers of the Romish Church against him. In 1542, we gather from his letters that he had written a book showing forth the " merits of Christ's death/' and this alone was enough to condemn him. For some time it was supposed that it was the wonderfully successful and popular treatise on the " Benefizio della morte di Cristo," which has been called the " Credo " of the Italian Reformation. This is now believed to have been the work of a Benedictine monk Benedetto of Mantua who dwelt in the monastery at the foot of Mount Etna. It w r as revised at the author's request by Marcantonio Flaminio, and we shall hear more of it hereafter. Paleario had a time of terrible anxiety at Rome, then under the rule of Paul III, but he was strongly advised by his friends not to return home, where greater dangers would await him. He writes to his 212 ITALIAN REFORMATION friend Fausto Bellanti, who has invited him to take refuge in his castle of Areolo : " In this city my sole comfort is in the society of my friend Maffei and of Cincio who has just written an historical account of his collection of ancient coins. . . . He wishes me to consider all he has as mine. He gives me coins, offers money, books and everything with the greatest generosity. ... In your letter you say : ' If you tire of your Roman friends, come, I entreat you/ . . . The Hernici also expect me, but the distance is great and the road not secure, for the forest of Algidio is infested with banditti, and Val- montone is said to be quite beset with them. The Colonna have taken arms : I will do nothing rash. . . . Take care not to mention any of these things to my wife ; she is already anxious enough about me ... and passes whole days in tears. Console her in my name. God has hitherto protected me from evil. . . . If any misfortune befall me, I commend my children to your care. ,,..'" With the kind help of Cardinal Sadoleto, Paleario was able to leave Rome, by way of Viterbo, but being afraid to show himself openly at Siena, he travelled before dawn across the country to see his family. Notwithstanding the kind influence of Cardinal Sadoleto, who spoke warmly in his favour to the Bishop of Siena, he was in great danger and only narrowly escaped condemnation when he was publicly tried for heresy. He spoke a most brilliant oration in his defence before the Senate, full of feeling and eloquence, in which he pointed out that the doctrines he was accused of holding were but taken from those ancient and revered documents : the Scriptures and AONIO PALEARIO 213 the writings of the Fathers. He spoke with noble courage on behalf of Bernardino Ochino, who had been driven out of the country at the very moment when all Italy was hanging with enthusiasm on his earnest preaching. He did not deny that he had written a book in the language of the people, con- cerning the " merits of the death of Christ." But he boldly asks, how such a doctrine as that can be contrary to true religion in a Christian country ? He also remarks : " As to the passages taken from Commentators, whoever accuses the Germans accuses also Origen, Chrysostom, Cyril, Augustine and Jerome/' This he proves by quotations. The words of Paleario appear to have made so great an impression upon the " Conscript Fathers of Siena/' that he was not only absolved, but at the time no censure was passed upon him. However from that time, he was a marked man, and when the Chair of Philology became vacant at Siena, he was terribly disappointed at being passed over. Even his friends did not all venture to exert their influence on behalf of one who had been accused of heresy, although some, like Placido Aldelli, risked their own position and safety for his sake. In 1542, the stern Caraffa had induced Pope Paul III to establish the Inquisition at Rome. During the next four years Paleario was in sore straits, for he had lost his private pupils, and the ill-will of his enemies cut him off from all honourable employment. His fame had long before reached Lucca, and the Senate of that free and peaceful city sent him an invitation to become Professor of Elo- quence and also Orator of the Republic. This post he was strongly advised to accept by both Bembo 214 ITALIAN REFORMATION and Sadoleto, who at the same time warned him to be prudent. These were the last letters he received from his old patrons, for Cardinal Sadoleto died at Rome the following year, 1547, a few months after his friend Pietro Bembo. Their loss was a great misfortune to Aonio, for he had always been able to depend upon their friendly help and influence in Rome. As we have already seen in the life of Peter Martyr, the reformed opinions had made great progress in Lucca, and the new Professor received a warm welcome in that city. His post of Orator required him to give two orations in the year short dis- courses on the history and greatness of the Republic and to encourage the patriotism of the citizens. About this time he made the acquaintance of a distant connection, the Prince of Salerno, from whom he had hopes of promotion. But the Prince, Ferrante Sanseverino, who employed Bernardo Tasso as his secretary, fell into disgrace soon after with the Emperor, for his high-spirited defence of Naples against the establishment of the Inquisition there. His efforts on behalf of religious freedom were un- fortunately his own ruin, and he was unable to befriend Paleario, whose one weakness appears to have been a strong desire to meet with noble patrons. Aonio Paleario remained some years as Professor at Lucca, and we have most interesting and learned letters of his to many literary friends, and he also published several volumes of his Orations. His wife and family had joined him in Lucca after the first year, when he felt fully established. In one of his letters, we notice that ladies of high rank were quite willing to ride from Lucca to Pisa, a distance of AONIO PALEARIO 215 fifteen miles, in order to be present at a play. He seems to have had many anxieties from the opposition of some of the citizens, on account of his well-known religious opinions, and at length he gladly retired to his little villa at Ceciniano, although his poverty compelled him to continue such teaching work as he could obtain. The next post, which he accepted in 1555, was that of Professor of Eloquence at Milan, in succession to the famous Marcantonio Majoragio. In his first oration, he describes in striking words the abdication of the great Emperor Charles V, who resigned Spain and the Netherlands to his son Philip and the Empire to his brother Ferdinand. With his usual zeal, Paleario devoted himself to his work at Milan, which was highly appreciated, and he made many friends during the eleven years of his Professorship. But the election of Pius V, the Chief Inquisitor, as Pope in 1566, put an end to all peace and confidence for the Reformers throughout Italy. One after another, all the most distinguished men were picked out, summoned to Rome and put to death, after a mere mockery of a trial. Paleario was well aware of his danger, and he took special precautions to*send his manuscripts to the care of Zuinger at Basle, that they might be printed in a free and Protestant city. In the terrible time of persecution under this merciless Pope, Aonio describes the state of terror which pre- vailed through the whole land as " a yoke so grievous that men were weary of their lives/' Deeds of violence happened every day ; men peaceably en- gaged in their usual occupations were suddenly seized, sent to Rome and " given over to the secular arm to be burned." We have not space to repeat even the 216 ITALIAN REFORMATION names of the many gallant Reformers who gave their lives for the faith. Aonio Paleario was not long spared. He was first accused of heresy on the strength of a Latin Oration which he had given twenty-five years before other charges were brought against him, and in spite of all the efforts of the Senate of Milan, he was hurriedly carried off to Rome, thrown into prison and tortured. In a letter which he wrote at this time, he shows the most noble courage and fortitude. " These are not times for a Christian to die in his bed ; it is not enough to be accused, dragged to prison, beaten with rods ... it is also our duty to allow ourselves to be burned with fire, if by martyrdom the Truth may be brought to light. . . ." After his condemnation, he was visited in prison by members of the Society of the Misericordia, who received notice the day before a victim was to be executed, and helped him with the last friendly offices. This notice is to be found in the registers of the Society : " On Sunday night our company was summoned, and on Monday the 3d of July 1570, Messer Aonio Paleario of Veroli, and inhabitant of Colle di Val d'Elsa, was consigned to us as condemned and sentenced by the Holy Inquisition. ... He did not make any will except giving us the two letters below, written with his own hand, entreating us to send them to his wife and children at Colle di Val d'Elsa. The holy mass was then celebrated, and at the usual hour he was taken to the bridge, where he was hanged and then burned/' AONIO PALEARIO 217 " To my dearest wife Marietta Paleari. " MY DEAREST WIFE, " I would not have you be sorrowful at my happiness, . . . the hour is come when I shall pass from this life to my Father in Heaven. I go there in joyful humility. . . . Console yourself my dear wife, for this is the will of God, and to me joy ; devote yourself to our children and bring them up in the fear of God. ... I am already past seventy and my work is done. May God bless you, and the com- munion of the Holy Spirit be yours. Rome, 3d July. 1570. " Your husband AONIO PALEARIO/' " To Lampridio and Fedro, my beloved sons. ' These most courteous gentlemen do not fail in their kindness . . . and allow me to write to you. It has pleased God to call me to Himself in the manner you will hear, and which will appear to you hard and bitter, but if you dwell upon the thought that it is my greatest joy to conform myself to the will of God, you also will patiently submit. I leave you for patrimony, virtue and diligence, as also the small estate which you now hold. ... I gave Lampridio the account of my affairs, and there is also your mother's dower. Be careful to place your little sister as God may direct you. Salute for me Aspasia and Aonilla, my beloved daughters. My hour approaches. May the Spirit of God console you and preserve you in His grace. Rome. 3d July 1570. " Your father AONIO PALEARIO." We learn from a genealogy in the Library of Siena, 218 ITALIAN REFORMATION that Balearic had seven children, five of whom were living at the time of his death. Besides the two sons, Fedro and Lampridio, there was a daughter Aspasia who married Fulvio della Rena, son of a physician ; Aonilla, who was a nun in the Convent of St. Caterina at Colle ; Sofonisba married Claudio Porzij and had died earlier, while the " little sister " mentioned in the letter was Aganippe. It was fortunate that the sons were in learned professions, as otherwise the family would have been destitute, for the Inquisition took possession of all property left by a heretic. The works of Aonio Paleario have been collected and published ; in them we find the noblest memorial of a brave, devout and learned man. CHAPTER XIX REFORMATION AT NAPLES The Reformation at Naples Circle of Juan de Vajd& His earlier life His writings "Mercurio y Caron" Brief account of Giulia Gonzaga, Countess of Pondi The influence of Valdes on her religious faith The " Alfabeto Cristiano " (Dialogues between Valdes and Giulia) She devotes her life to works of charity Her former brilliant literary society at Fondi, when Ariosto and Tasso sang her praises. WE have now reached the most interesting point of this history, when we study the religious circle at Naples, the very heart and centre of the Italian Reformation. The acknowledged leader of the earnest and important movement in this city was Juan de Valdes, a Spanish noble, who originally came here as Secretary to the Viceroy, Don Pietro di Toledo. Juan was the son of Fernando de Valdes, Regidor of Cuenca, in Castile ; he had a twin brother Alfonso, who long held an important post at the Court of Charles V ; and was a great admirer of Erasmus. Alfonso is chiefly known as the writer of the " Dialogo de Lactancio," in which he sought to vindicate the Emperor after the sack of Rome, 1527. He died of the plague in 1532 at Vienna. His more famous brother Juan, held for some time the post of Chamberlain of honour to Pope Clement VII, after he had left Spain, where he had found himself compromised by a book which he had 219 220 ITALIAN REFORMATION recently written. This was his famous "Dialogo de Mercuric y Caron," which was both political and religious. It justifies the Emperor's challenge to the King of France, and it points out vividly the corrupt condition of the orthodox Church. He thus incurred the wrath of the Inquisition in Spain, and about the year 1530, he left for Naples, and a year later visited Rome. In 1533 we find him chosen as Chamberlain of honour to the Pope at Bologna, where the Pope and the Emperor were at that time both present. But before Clement VII went to France in the autumn of that year, Valdes returned to Naples where he remained until his death. The " Dialogo de Mercurio y Caron " is carried on between Mercury and Charon, the boatman of the Styx, who also converses with his passengers to the other world, and by some mystical influence, each soul is compelled to tell the whole truth. A famous preacher is ferried across, and when he is asked the secret of his wonderful reputation, he replies : "I wore an air of sanctity to impress my hearers, but in the pulpit I was careful never to reprove those who were present. My own wealth and glory were my sole aims in life, and I only wished to live like a Pope. . . ." A King's councillor passes, and is greatly shocked to hear that hell is his destination. He had kept so many religious observances that he really thought himself a good Christian ; he had even died in the habit of a Franciscan ... surely he was not going to hell ! Next follows a reigning Duke, who owns that he has only lived for his own enjoyment, but he had built churches to make sure of Heaven, and bought Papal indulgences. ... He is furious to hear that all REFORMATION AT NAPLES 221 this is of no avail. Then comes a lordly bishop who had held his office for twenty years. He asks if we can pass ? with proud assurance. He explains when asked, that to be a bishop is to wear a white rochet, say mass with a mitre, and gloves and rings ... to grasp the revenue and spend it in pleasure, and always have plenty of servants to wait upon his caprices, and keep a good table for those who dined with him. He is simply amazed to be told that he should care for the souls in his charge and if needful be ready to die for them ; that he should preach to his flock faithfully and set them a good example, that he should relieve the poor and live in prayer and self-sacrifice. Then follows a proud Cardinal who has also used the sacred office for his own gratification, and is filled with dismay to find that he has no passport to Heaven. Next comes a King, who has fought against the Turks, done some slight penance by his con- fessor's advice to atone for an unholy life, and said prayers which he could not understand. Presently a soul draws near, thin and emaciated, of whom Mercury remarks : ' This must be a hypo- crite. Where are you going ? ' ' To Heaven," is the reply. He relates how he has fasted and prayed, and was looked upon as a saint upon earth. But his arguments prove that he had no charity, and he too is condemned. A preacher follows, who declares that he was so successful in his sermons that he could make his hearers believe anything, while he himself neglected the Scriptures and knew not God. It takes a long argument to convince him of his grievous error. A soul is now seen crossing the mountains on the 222 ITALIAN REFORMATION heaven- ward way, and on enquiry he proves to be a true Christian, a single-hearted servant of God ; with deep humility he tells his story of prayer and devotion, full of trust in Christ alone. After this we have a saintly bishop, and that rare and delightful sight, a good King ; and closely following him, a pious friar who had welcomed poverty gladly, and was full of heavenly charity. They go onward joyfully to receive their just reward. Charon next beholds the soul of a woman floating joyfully onwards. She tells her story ; how she learnt the truth and tried to teach others rather by her deeds than her words ; how she was unhappy in her marriage but endured all things in patient faith, until she had won over her husband in the end. The first work of Juan de Valdes after he had settled at Naples, was the "Dialoga de la Lengua," a beautiful study of the Spanish language. But hence- forth, all his learning and earnest devotion were given to religious subjects. He was a great student of the works of German Reformers, and seems to have been especially interested in the " Christian Institutions " of the devout mystic Dr. Tauler, a forerunner of Luther in the fourteenth century. He held the doctrine that the soul can become so purified that even amidst the noise and stir of the market-place and the shop, it can keep such watch over the heart, and such ward over the senses, as to go unharmed and preserve the inner peace unbroken. On the other hand, many are cloistered in body, while thought and desire wander to and fro through the earth. The religious influence of Valdes soon became so great, that a circle of distinguished friends gathered REFORMATION AT NAPLES 223 around him, amongst whom were such men as Mar- cantonio Flaminio, the poet, the protonotary Pietro Carnesecchi, the historian Bonfadio, Lorenzo Romano, Montalcino, and at times, Bernardino Ochino and Peter Martyr Vermigli. Amongst his pupils there were also great ladies of Naples and the neighbour- hood, and even from distant cities. Isabella Brisegna, the wife of Garzia Manrique, Governor of Piacenza, Onorata Tancredi, Vittoria Colonna, Isabella d'Ara- gona, Emilia Rangone and many others ; amongst whom the most famous was Giulia Gonzaga, Countess of Fondi. She takes so important a place in the history of the Reformation at Naples that it will be needful to give a brief summary of her life. Giulia Gonzaga was the daughter of Lodovico Gonzaga of Gazzuolo, and Francesca Fieschi, of a noble Genoese family ; she was born in 1513 and was one of the youngest of a large and distinguished family. Her grandmother, Madonna Antonio del Balzo, from whom she probably inherited much of her talent and beauty, was of a Provencal family so ancient as to outdo all other pride in long descent, for they claimed as their ancestor one of the three Magi, and proudly bore on their arms the guiding Star of Bethlehem. She was a great friend of Isabella d'Este, who chose the peerless Giulia, supreme in beauty and talent at the age of twelve, as one of her ladies on her eventful visit to Rome in 1525. The next year, she was married, almost a child, to the great noble, Vespasiano Colonna, who left her a widow in 1528, after barely two years of queenly state in the ancient castle of Pagliano, in the Roman Campagna. Left a widow when not yet sixteen, heiress of her 224 ITALIAN KEFOKMATION husband's vast possessions, Giulia settled at Fondi somewhat later, where she became the centre of a splendid literary group of friends. She was greatly devoted to her brother, the brave captain, Luigi Kodomonte Gonzaga, who married Isabella Colonna, and whose orphan son Vespasiano was adopted by her and became later the magnificent Duke of Sab- bioneta. The young Countess of Fondi had an eventful life, but perhaps the most striking incident was her wonderful escape from being carried off by the Corsairs. The fame of her marvellous beauty had spread not only through Europe but to the far East, and the Corsair chief Barbarossa, had formed the plan of carrying off the famous beauty as a present to the Sultan Suleyman II. He had been successful in raiding all the coast of the Mediterranean and reached Sperlonga, the fishing village eight miles distant from Fondi, in the dead of night. Then with a strong body of armed men, the Corsair leader made his way secretly through the woods, reaching the city and the palace some hours before dawn. At the last moment Giulia was warned by a faithful attendant and escaped through the window of her chamber ; horses were found and she rode in sheltering darkness to a place of safety. The Corsairs in their rage looted and ravaged the city, bringing upon themselves later a terrible retribution. But the touching romance of GiuhVs life was the deep and hopeless affection which existed between Ippolito dei Medici and herself. His uncle, Pope Clement VII had made him a Cardinal, when he thought he was dying, and thus raised an impassable barrier between the two ; but their love never changed, and after the gallant young Ippolito's REFORMATION AT NAPLES 225 premature death, the young Countess gave up her splendid Court at Fondi and went to live in Naples in the peace and seclusion of a cloister. 1 Here by special permission of Paul III, she was allowed to live as " a secular person." In the Lent of 1536, when the Emperor Charles V was at Naples, a series of sermons were preached by Fra Bernardino Ochino, which created so much enthusiasm that " His Majesty was wont to say, they would draw tears from the very stones." It was after hearing one of these eloquent discourses that the Countess of Fondi was so moved that she could not control her emotion, and came weeping out of the Church of San Giovanni Maggiore. Her trouble and agitation was noticed by Juan de Valdes, whose acquaintance she had already made, and he accom- panied her to the Convent of San Francesco. Here Giulia earnestly questioned him with regard to the teaching of Ochino, which seemed to her so very different from the usual doctrines of confession, prayers for the saints' intercession, etc., and which appeared to make true religion a personal matter between the soul and God. It is interesting to remember that the conversation which followed was the probable origin of the beautiful work of Valdes, which had so great an influence on the early disciples of the reformed ideas in Italy, known as the " Alfabeto Cristiano." Giulia was greatly impressed by the words which she had just heard, and she found it a relief to take counsel with one whom she already revered for his piety and learning. 1 For a full account of Giulia Gonzaga's life, see " A Princess of the Italian Reformation," by Christopher Hare. 15 226 ITALIAN REFOKMATION " Ochino's words fill me with the love of Heaven, but at the same time there is a battle within me, for I desire the pleasure and glory of this world. How shall I escape from this conflict, and to which love shall I yield ? Can I make both longings agree, or is it my duty to give up one ? . . /' In the serious conversation which follows, Juan de Valdes seeks to comfort her with the assurance that this turmoil of the spirit is a sign of the growth of heavenly grace within her. She must not hope to attain perfection at once, but he would have her make daily progress on the way to salvation, neither delayed by negligence nor over-strained by too eager haste. ' The Law has wounded you, the Gospel will heal you. Above all I would have you strive for courage to show forth your Christian life, so that your light may be a guide to others. . . ." Giulia sadly owns that admiration and applause of the world, the society of brilliant and learned com- panions and such worldly pleasures have still a great charm for her, and she fears that to lay them aside might lead to melancholy. . . . Valdes replies : " As your heart becomes more turned towards Divine things, and you gain in heavenly knowledge, you will instinctively be drawn away from all passing shows. But in the end you must make your choice between God and the world, and seek ever to find the way of perfection. Love God above all things, and your neighbour as yourself. . . ." REFORMATION AT NAPLES 227 A brief conversation follows concerning the value of the monastic life, which Valdes asserts is only praiseworthy when chosen from the pure love of God. " As fire is needed to give heat, so living faith alone can produce charity. Faith is the growing tree of which charity is the fruit, the heavenly charity which suffereth long and is kind, . . . which seeketh not her own . . . thinketh no evil, rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. . . . For now abideth faith, hope and charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity ." When Giulia enquires concerning the way of salva- tion, she is told : " There are three ways which lead to that divine knowledge ; the light of Nature which teaches us the omnipotence of God, the Old Testament which shows us the Creator as the hater of all evil, and last and greatest, the way of light, the master-way, the love of Christ." On the subject of alms, Giulia is told : ' There is no other rule than that of charity ; love God and you will learn how to give alms aright/' Concerning prayer, Valdes remarks that " spoken prayer often kindles and elevates the mind to real and earnest prayer of the soul. . . ." Giulia exclaims : " One word more. You have spoken of Christian liberty. In what does it con- sist ? " She is told that the true Christian is free from the tyranny of the Law, from sin and death ; 228 ITALIAN REFORMATION and is absolute master of his affections and desires. In spirit he is free, for to God alone is he responsible ; while as to the body, he is the servant of all for the love of Christ. . . . This is but a very slight sketch of the conversation between Giulia and Valdes, leading to the writing of the " Alfabeto Cristiano," which spread the doctrines of the Reformers through Italy. We cannot fail to admire the humility of great ladies such as Giulia Gonzaga and Caterina Cibo, who are willing in these and other dialogues to appear as lowly pupils to their Christian teachers. Giulia appears to have inherited the spirit of her legendary ancestor, the Magi king, Balthazar, who left all to follow the guiding star to Bethlehem. At this time, 1536, Giulia was not quite twenty- three, but her life so full of romance and adventure, of eager study, and intellectual intercourse had enriched her mind to a marvellous degree. Sorrow and loss had won her a rare fortitude for one so young, which would be put to the proof in the coming days of persecution. Henceforth Giulia Gonzaga gave up her life to works of charity. She passed her days in visiting the sick, in relieving the poor ; in giving generous help to those who suffered for their faith, and in writing the most beautiful and inspiring letters to all who needed help and comfort. " Avoiding the acquaintance of mere worldly per- sons, she took part in the meetings of a select society, mostly under the influence of Valdes, who considered religious subjects and made a constant study of the REFORMATION AT NAPLES 229 Holy Scriptures that volume of heavenly refresh- ment, the aliment of the perfect." As the biographer of Ariosto says : " She now spent all her time in holy thoughts, turning to the sacred Word, with a pure and sincere mind." Ariosto himself had sung her praise in earlier days and in far other words : " Behold her whom all combine to admire, Greeks and Barbarians and Latins ; never was there one of higher renown than Giulia Gonzaga, who from her feet to those serene and beautiful eyes, to none may yield the crown of beauty, but as though she had descended from heaven, like unto a goddess is by all admired." Bernardo Tasso, speaking of her splendid Court at Fondi, cannot praise her beauty enough, and after describing all her charms he adds : " As her feet pass over the grass, flowers spring up, and those who behold her declare that she is the sister or the daughter of Spring. . . . Blessed spirits rejoice in her radiance . . . and he who listens to her angelic voice will hear no such divine words amongst other mortals. . . . The glorious name of Giulia will live so long as the sun spreads forth his golden rays " Porrino says of the same period : " Her gentle ways and her smiles revealed a garden of roses and violets a terrestrial and celestial para- 230 ITALIAN REFORMATION dise. . . . That was indeed the true Golden Age, and happy were they of Fondi." Many another poet had sung the praise of Giulia Gonzaga, but the " Alfabeta Cristiano " shows her to us still in the prime of her wealth and beauty with a new ambition and a changed outlook upon life. CHAPTER XX VALORS AND GIULIA GONZAGA The religious teaching of Valctes His devoted circle of friends at his home in Chiaja The " Cento e dieci Divine Consideratione " They were highly praised by Nicolas Ferrar and George Herbert Valde"s dedicates his "Studies on the Epistles" to Giulia Gonzaga Vittoria Colonna, Costanza d'Avalos, Isabella Brisegna and other noble ladies amongst his disciples Death of Valdei, 1641 Various letters of Giulia. JUAN DE VALDISS had taken up his abode near Naples, in the beautiful suburb of Chiaja, and here he was in the habit of receiving his friends for religious discussion and study, on that lovely shore over- looking the Bay of Naples. Here at various times were gathered together the most cultured and devout men and women of the period ; amongst whom were Pietrantonio di Capua, Archbishop of Otranto, Pietro Paolo Vergerio, Bishop of Capo d'l stria ; Marcantonio Flaminio, the poet who translated various books of Valdes from Spanish into Italian, his friend Gian Francesco d'Alois (II Caserto), Giangaleazzo Carac- ciolo, nephew of Paul IV ; Donato Rullo, an intimate friend of Cardinal Pole, Mario Galeotto, an Aca- demician ; Don Placido de Sanguine, Principal of the Academy of Sereni, Peter Martyr Vermigli, whose story has been already told, D. Germano Minadois and Sigismondo Mignoz, Governors of the Hospital for Incurables, where Giulia was a constant 231 232 ITALIAN REFOKMATION visitor ; and many others who might pass through Naples, like Bernardino Ochino. Amongst these, not the least important was Pietro Carnesecchi, who came to pay a visit to Giulia Gonzaga in 1540, and was introduced to Valdes by her. We have already mentioned most of the ladies who became his earnest disciples. Sunday was a favourite day for these religious meetings, where Valdes read aloud a paper on some subject suggested by one of the company, on which he had been thinking during the week, and it is believed that from these conversations arose that wonderful book " Le cento e dieci Divine Consideratione." This was originally written in Spanish, and like all his writings translated into Italian ; it was at first handed round amongst his friends in manuscript, as it was not published until 1550, at Basle. It is interesting to know that this book was introduced into England by Nicholas Ferrar, who saw it when he was travelling in Spain. He sent it to his friend George Herbert, who thus writes in praise of it : " BBMEETON, near SALISBUBY, "September 29, 1632. " . . .1 wish you by all means to publish the e Divine Considerations/ for these three eminent things ob- servable therein ; First, that God, in the midst of Popery, should open the eyes of one to understand and express so clearly and excellently the intent of the Gospel in the acceptation of Christ's righteousness (as he showeth throughout all his ' Considerations ') a thing strangely buried and darkened by the ad- versaries, and their great stumbling-block. " Secondly, the great honour and reverence which VALDES AND GIULIA GONZAGA 233 he everywhere bears towards our dear Master and Lord, concluding every ' Consideration 'almost, with His holy name and setting forth His merit so piously ; for the which I do so love him, that were there nothing else, I would print it, that with it the honour of my Lord might be published. "Thirdly, the many pious rules of ordering our life, about mortification and observation of God's kingdom within us, and the working thereof, of which he was a very diligent observer. . . . " GEORGE HERBERT." The "Divine Considerations'* of Valdes was published at Oxford in 1638, enriched with full notes by George Herbert, and I need not dwell much more upon this work, from which so many earnest Reformers in Italy drew their inspiration. It was long circulated in manuscript copies amongst the disciples of Valdes, and was not published until Vergerio carried it to Hamburg in 1558. " In this beautiful work, Valdes preaches such purity of intention and thought, such sacrifice of mere distinction of rank and honour, such quiet suffering of injury, such a manner of beholding Christ in God, and again God in Christ, as clearly to show that the religion of Valdes his religion of the heart was indeed the religion of the New Testament. It was so in its spiritual meaning, and this brought him to receive the doctrine of Justification by Faith alone, in a deeper and more intimate manner than that of Luther. . . . This Valdes taught to others in the name of his Divine Master, in the dwelling house, or walking by the way, and often, for those who had an ear to hear, by parable. . . ." 234 ITALIAN REFORMATION Amongst the other writings of Juan de Valdes, there were various translations of the Psalms from the original Hebrew, the Gospel of St. Matthew and the Epistles of the Romans, translated from the Greek. We are told that Michelangelo loved to hear this last read aloud in the company of Vittoria Colonna, at Monte Cavallo, within the Convent of San Silvestro. Almost all these annotated translations of Valdes, were dedicated with long and interesting letters, to the Countess Giulia, whose keen sympathy and unfailing appreciation had been of so much value to him. It may be interesting to quote from one of these. " To the Most Illustrious Lady Giulia Gonzaga. " Being persuaded, Illustrious Lady, that the continual reading of the Psalms of David which I sent you last year translated from the Hebrew into Spanish has formed your mind to so deep and holy a trust in God, as David had . . . desiring that you may go forward on the sacred way, ... I now send you these Epistles of St. Paul translated from Greek into Spanish. . . . Read them, I pray you, with earnest devotion . . . and seek to follow in the steps of St. Paul, inasmuch as you see him imitate Christ. Strive ever to grow in likeness to Christ, and thus recover the image of God in which the first man was created. ... I only wish you to take David and St. Paul as examples until they lead you upwards to the likeness of Christ." One of the most striking illustrations of the en- thusiasm aroused by the teaching of Valdes, we find in the immense success of a book written by one of VALDES AND GIULIA GONZAGA 235 his disciples: "II Beneficio della morte di Cristo." This is believed to have been written by Benedetto of Mantua, a Benedictine monk, in his monastery on the slopes of Mount Etna. It was revised by the poet Marcantonio Flaminio, and first distributed in manu- script in 1540 ; and printed in Venice and at Home in 1544, when 40,000 copies were sold throughout Italy. Of this " little golden book/' it is said : " Nothing was ever printed so simply pious and simple, or so adapted to teach the weak and ig- norant/' It is spoken of as the " Credo " of the Italian Reformation, and to this fact the Inquisition soon awoke. It was placed on the " Index " in 1549, and such relentless effort was made to stamp it out, that it was long believed that every volume had been destroyed. But in recent years a copy was found in the Library of St. John's College, Cambridge, and several others are known to exist. Juan de Valdes died in 1541, the year before the Inquisition had been established in Rome, and he was thus saved from the most overwhelming storm of persecution which followed so soon after. The loving affection in which his memory was held by those who had been privileged to listen to his teaching is well shown in a letter written by the historian Giacomo Bonfadio to his friend Carnesecchi, who was then at Florence. " To Monsignor Carnesecchi. "LAQO DI GABDA. " . . .1 hear that you have been ill. . . . May God preserve your life as the Romans watched over that statue which fell from heaven ; may He protect you 236 ITALIAN KEFOKMATION for our sake, that one of the brightest lights in Tuscany be not extinguished. . . . May you enjoy your wonted cheerfulness, as in the days when we were in Naples in the house of Signor Valdes. Would that we were now in that happy company ! I know your ardent longing for that fair country, and how often Chiaja and the beautiful Posilipo are in your thoughts. I cannot deny that Florence is beautiful, but the charm of Naples with its lovely shore and eternal Spring, far excels. There Nature rules with more entrancing sway, filling the land with joy and glad- ness. If you were now at the windows of that lonely tower, so often praised by us, looking round upon those sunny gardens and beyond on the broad expanse of that glittering sea, a thousand dear memories would refresh your heart. I remember when you left, that you promised to return and prayed me to do so. " Would to God that we could recall those happy days ! But where should we go, now that Signor Valdes is dead ? This has been a great loss for us and for the world, for the Signor Juan de Valdes was one of the rare men of Europe. The writings which he has left us do indeed prove this ; he was alike in words and deeds and in all his teaching, a most perfect man. He gave no thought or care to his frail body ; his noble spirit was devoted to the high con- templation of truth and of things divine. ... I sym- pathise most deeply with Messer Marcantonio, because he loved and admired our dear friend, even more than any one else. . . . " GlACOMO BONFADIO." One of the most interesting of the disciples of VALDES AND GIULTA GONZAGA 237 Valdes, was the poet Marcantonio Flaminio, whose full story has already been told, in an earlier part of this book. After the death of the great Spanish teacher, he had joined the circle at Viterbo a kind of revival of the earlier " Divine Oratory " of earnest reformers within the Church at Rome. As years passed on, the poet's work had become more deeply religious, and he spoke out the truth which he be- lieved, so boldly, that his writings were put on the Index by Paul IV. Yet the persuasion of Cardinal Pole appears to have prevented him from openly leaving the Church of Rome, and it was in the house of this old friend that he died in 1549, loved and lamented by all who knew him both by Catholics and Reformers. His letters, of which so many have been preserved, reveal the secret of the affection which was felt for him, alike in their warm sympathy, their humility and absence of self-consciousness, and the spiritual and mystical beauty of the thoughts expressed. Amongst other disciples of Valdes and friends of Giulia Gonzaga at Naples, was the noble Costanza d'Avalos, a cousin of Vittoria Colonna, and wife of Alfonso Piccolomini, Duke of Amalfi, who was a grand-nephew of Pope Pius III. Her life had been a stormy and not a happy one. Her husband was a man wanting in strength and firmness of character who, when he had been raised to the post of Captain- General of the forces of Siena, was unable to do justice to the important position. He was dismissed by the Emperor in 1541, and his career being now at an end, he retired with his wife to the island of Nisida, near Naples, and spent the rest of his life in dis- appointment and exile. This island was the " Nesis " 238 ITALIAN REFORMATION of Strabo, an ancient volcanic crater, and Cicero gives us a touching account of the retirement in a villa here of another exile, Brutus, who came here after the assassination of Csesar and the story of his parting with Portia. The Duchess of Amalfi found occupation and happiness in the care of her young children, Inigo and Vittoria, and amused her leisure in writing poetry said to be " rich in noble sentiments and Christian piety. " She was near enough to Naples to take part in the religious meetings of Valdes in company with her friend Giulia, to whom she was much devoted. When she was left a widow later, she followed the example of so many noble ladies, and retired to the Convent of Santa Chiara, in Naples. Vittoria Colonna had been a frequent guest in her island home. Another still more intimate friend of the Countess of Fondi was Isabella Brisegna, the wife of Garzia de Manrique, the Spanish Governor of Piacenza, and sister-in-law of the famous Inquisitor Alonso de Manrique, Archbishop of Seville. She was so ardent and devoted a student of the Reformed doctrines and a lady of so much learning and intelligence, that Curione dedicated to her the first edition of Olympia Morata's writings. Her husband, the Governor of Piacenza, was strongly opposed to her religious principles, and she had to endure most cruel persecu- tion, in which her only comfort was the tender sympathy of Giulia Gonzaga, who wrote to her constantly the most inspiring and encouraging letters. These were usually written in a special cypher and were sent by sure messengers that they might run no risk of danger to Isabella. But at length the VALDES AND GIULIA GONZAGA 239 poor lady could no longer endure her sufferings, and she took refuge first at Naples, from whence she was compelled to take flight to Ravenna, and ultimately escaped to Zurich. Here in a free country, Isabella dared openly to confess her faith, and she was sup- ported by the generosity of Giulia Gonzaga, who settled on her a sufficient income for her wants, as she so often had occasion to do for other friends who had fled for their faith. Sometimes Giulia felt that she had more stern duties towards her friends and dependants, as for instance we see in a letter which she wrote to a certain Livia Negra, who was apparently holding foolish superstitions. She writes : "... I have learnt with great displeasure that a certain rogue of an alchemist has come to you, and with false persuasion has so perverted your mind as to make you believe that one element can be trans- muted into another that from a branch, silver may be made, and that silver can be converted into gold. It is certainly a strange thing that these thieves, beggars and fools should wish to enrich someone else, and should care more for the poverty and misery of others than for their own beggarly condition ! What mad credulity is ours ! How infinite is the cupidity of mortals ! * For what should we do if we had to remain in this world perpetually, when we cannot inhabit a house for three days without being dis- satisfied. " . . . We cannot remember that we are mortal ; and that we have one day to leave all things behind us ; for naked we came into this world, and naked we shall depart hence Would you like me, Madonna 240 ITALIAN REFORMATION Livia, to teach you a true and beautiful alchemy ? Lay up for yourself treasure in Heaven, where thieves do not break through and steal, where the rust doth not consume, nor the moth gnaw and destroy. That which is acquired by evil means is no gain, but a great and dangerous loss. The promises of the alchemists are like those of the astrologers, who boast that they can foretell future things, and do not even know the present or the past ; yet they dare to profess that they can reveal heavenly matters as if they were present at the council of God. I do not really know whether their fraud is more shameful, or our folly in believing, as we do, that which is worthy of all contempt. Look within yourself, my dear Madonna Livia, and if your power does not correspond to your desires, at least place a rein upon them, and then you will not devote yourself to alchemy/' . This is the letter of one far advanced beyond the superstition of her day, and we see her courage equal to her intellect. JJO, CHAPTER XXI GIULIA GONZAGA Giulia Gonzaga has the care of her nephew Vespasiano, son of her brother Luigi (Rodomonte) Gonzaga Devotes herself to his education and career Vespasiano enters the service of Charles V, and later of Philip II Attempt to force the Inquisition on Naples is frustrated Letters of Giulia Her failing health Ippolita Gonzaga Death of Giulia Gonzaga, 1566. AFTER the death of Valdes, in 1541, the little company of devout students who had looked upon him as their master, was in a great measure dispersed, many of them joining the " Oratory of Divine Love " at Viterbo. It was about this time that a change came over the life of Giulia Gonzaga, and other duties claimed her attention. Her stepdaughter, Isabella Colonna, the widow of her dearly-loved brother Luigi Rodomonte, having married again, the care of Luigi's only son had devolved upon his aunt Giulia, after the death of her own father Lodovico Gonzaga. The boy was now almost ten years old, and required special care to fit him for his splendid position as heir to his Gonzaga father and Colonna grandfather. The Countess of Fondi therefore left her rooms in the Convent of San Francesco, where she had passed a secluded life for five years, and took up her abode in a spacious palace of the Borgo della Vergine. Vespasiano Gonzaga Colonna appears to have been 16 241 242 ITALIAN REFORMATION an extremely intelligent and gifted child, resembling his father in his splendid personal appearance and showing already a strong taste for horsemanship and everything connected with the use of arms. Giulia was devotedly attached to him, and spared no trouble with regard to his training and education. It was for his sake that she once more held a stately Court, and gathered around her a circle of distin- guished philosophers, poets and artists, including also friends of her own reformed opinions. In this literary society we find Annibale Caro a friend of the poet Molza, Claudio Tolomei the poet and meta- physician, Dionigi Atanagi the Platonist, and II Tansillo, an old friend of the Countess since her Fondi period. The Ambassador of the Emperor, Camillo Capilupi, Governor of Monferrato, was also a frequent guest, and being a poet as well as a diplo- matist, he wrote a charming sonnet in praise of his hostess. It was about this time that Titian painted a portrait of Giulia, which has unfortunately entirely dis- appeared. In this circle of interesting people, the young Vespasiano was encouraged to take his part in the various discussions and conversations ; a training which made him a most accomplished and delightful companion in courtly society, in the days to come. Of course the only career open to this young prince was that of arms, and two or three years later his aunt Giulia took advantage of her friendship with the Emperor, to obtain a post in his household as page of honour to Prince Philip, as a first stage. When Giulia took leave of the boy, she gave him much motherly advice, bidding him " faith- fully serve his God and his Prince, holding honour GIULIA GONZAGA 243 above all things. He must never forget to be modest in speech and brave in action ; he must be true and generous, avoiding alike flattery and conceit, and showing knightly courtesy to all men/' The young Vespasiano had been brought up to admire above all things the gallant deeds of his father which he desired to emulate in the future ; and he found the Court of the Emperor an excellent school of manners and discipline. He continued his studies with the other noble pages, in such a manner as to give great satisfaction, while he became a special favourite of Prince Philip. A cousin of Giulia Gonzaga, Don Ferrante Gonzaga, Governor of Sicily, was a most intimate friend of hers, and she took great interest in his young children, more especially the third daughter Ippolita, who remained with her for several years and to whom she became very much devoted. She grew up a beautiful and highly accomplished girl, and would probably have married Vespasiano, had not the Emperor chosen another bridegroom for her, Fabrizio Colonna, Duke of Tagliacozza, to whom she was married some years later. After three years of happy wedded life, he was killed at the ill-fated siege of Parma, and of Ippolita's later troubles we shall hear more. In 1546, Giulia Gonzaga was persuaded to pay a visit to her old home in Lombardy, and stayed with her young cousin Carlo Gonzaga in the Castello of Gazzuolo. Many sad changes had taken place ; her dear grandmother, the wonderful old lady Antonia del Balzo, had passed away at the age of ninety-five ; her brother Cagnino had also died, and her father the Abate Lodovico had soon followed him all 244 ITALIAN REFORMATION within three years. Her sisters were married and settled in their distant homes, and the friend of her youth who had taken her on that eventful visit to Rome in 1525, Isabella d'Este, had passed away full of years and honours. Her son Federico had been made Duke of Mantua, and had married the charming young Princess Margherita Paleologa, who became warmly attached to Giulia Gonzaga, as we see by their long and intimate correspondence. When Giulia returned to Naples, she was grieved to hear of the in- creasing ill-health of another friend, Vittoria Colonna, who died in Rome in February 1547. At this period, there was general unrest and threatened trouble on every side. The death of Henry VIII, and of Fra^ois I both early this year left England and France in weaker hands, and en- couraged alike the Emperor and the Pope to stronger measures. Paul III thought that now would be a good time to extend the Roman Inquisition to Naples, and in May 1547, he sent a Brief to the Viceroy, Don Pedro de Toledo, " commanding that all cases of heresy should be judged by the tribunal of the Inquisition." Knowing the temper of the city with regard to this, Toledo did not dare to publish the Brief as usual by sound of trumpet ; but he had it quietly put up on the door of the Archbishop's palace, and then retreated to his castle at Pozzuoli, at the foot of Monte Nuovo, to await the result. This was more serious than he had feared, for the paper was at once torn down by the populace, who when attacked by the soldiery, refused to give up the ringleaders. A deputation was sent to the Viceroy, headed by Antonio Grisone, who pointed out how hateful the very name of the Inquisition was to the people, and GIULIA GONZAGA 245 implored him not to carry out this cruel act of op- pression. Toledo, thoroughly alarmed, made a most diplomatic reply, and for the present, the matter was dropped. But the peace was of short duration, for some months later, another and more violent edict was found posted outside the palace of the Archbishop. The whole city rose in tumult with cries of " To arms ! to arms ! " and the Pope's Brief was again torn down. The nobles joined with the people in furious opposition, while still declaring their faithful allegiance to the Emperor. The Viceroy, who had now collected a strong armed force, at once returned to Naples to put down the rebellion by force of arms. He had sent for Spanish troops from Genoa to occupy the fortress of Castel Nuovo, whence they entered Naples, fired on the inhabitants, and ulti- mately sacked the city ; killing men, women and children. The Neapolitans had already rung the great bell of San Lorenzo, to summon all possible help, and the night closed in tumult and confusion. During the next fifteen days, the fighting continued, with deadly skirmishes between the soldiers and the people. The magistrates decided to send an embassy to the Emperor ; and in order to show that this was no mere seditious rising, they had already hoisted a banner on the belfry of San Lorenzo with the Imperial arms and the watchword : " Spain and the Emperor/' Charles V was wise enough to bow before the storm, the envoys came back with a message of conciliation, and no further attempt was made during that reign, to establish the Inquisition in Naples. Meantime Giulia Gonzaga, with all her household and many ladies amongst her friends, had been 246 ITALIAN BEFORMATION persuaded to take refuge in the Island of Ischia, during the disturbances. She wrote to Ferrante Gonzaga : "... I have been in Ischia for the last twenty days, having been induced to come here by all those who love me, and indeed we were in a most perilous condition in Naples ... in the Convent where I was staying. . . . The great danger for the city was the sacking and pillage, but the people behaved wonder- fully well. . . . Your Lordship may think otherwise, but to me it seems that the rigour of justice is not good at all times ; this rule of violence cannot last. I and many ladies are in the Castello, and the rest of my people in another house on the estate, and the Signora Marchese shows me the greatest kindness, and does all that is possible for me. I hope to leave as soon as the city has returned to its obedience, as it has always offered to do on hearing the command of His Majesty. ..." When the troubles in Naples had passed over, Giulia returned to the city, and spent most of her time at the convent of San Francesco, although she always kept up her establishment in the palace of the Borge delle Vergine, both for the sake of her old servants ; also that there might always be a home ready for her nephew Vespasiano, and where she might continue to show her princely hospitality to all her friends who visited Naples. The Countess was not destined to see much of her nephew, who as he grew up was always engaged in military service under the Emperor, and later of Philip II of Spain. He had now inherited the dominions of his Gonzaga GIULIA GONZAGA 247 grandfather at Sabbioneta, and in 1559, at the age of eighteen and a half, he made a rash and hasty marriage with a Signora Diana Cardona, whom he had met at Mantua. This was a great disappointment to his aunt, who had given much anxious thought to the important question of his marriage. But she wrote kind letters to Diana, who appears to have had rather a lonely and neglected life at Sabbioneta, while her young husband was much away serving the interests of Philip II. Her strange and tragic end in 1550 is surrounded by mystery, but the general belief is that the erring wife paid for her misconduct with her life. We have no space here for the story of Vespasiano's eventful life, his matrimonial experiences, the mar- vellous city of Sabbioneta which seemed to rise like magic at his command, and the flamboyant mag- nificence of his whole career, which is fully related elsewhere. 1 We are only now concerned with Vespasiano in so far as his story affects that of his devoted aunt and adopted mother. There is a hint of coming trouble in one of her letters to him : "I wish well to the Signora Donna Diana, and therefore pray you to take care that she controls herself . . . and this will be for your credit as well as mine. ..." Then, some months later comes a letter from the young Lord of Sabbioneta. " November 9, 1659. " It has pleased God to call my wife to Himself ; she died suddenly of apoplexy, without being able to speak a word." 1 See "A Princess of the Italian Reformation," Christopher Hare. 248 ITALIAN REFORMATION And after this, there is silence for ever. Five years later, Vespasiano marries a charming princess of the blood royal of Spain, Anna d'Aragona. She has twin daughters and a son, in whom the Countess of Fondi takes the most tender and affection- ate interest, as we see from her letters, and she did not live to see the sad close of this happy marriage. But Giulia had recently suffered another bereavement which touched her closely. We have seen with what constant affection she had watched over the chequered life of her favourite young cousin Ippolita Gonzaga, who by no choice of her own had been given a second husband, the Duke of Mondragone. After a brief illness, Ippolita died, at the age of twenty-eight, and a friend of the Countess of Fondi, II Tansillo, writes this touching account of her last days : "... God has taken to himself this noble spirit . . . , the Princess having communicated on the Sunday before, as though she foresaw what was about to happen. . . . All the circumstances which can deepen our sorrow are combined in this death of Madonna, for she was so young, so beautiful, so brave, and such a rare and beautiful lady that the whole city of Naples is plunged in grief. I do not speak of myself, although I have received from her grace and favour, more suitable to the greatness of her soul than to my poor worth, and shall hold her memory in eternal honour. May God give her a high place in His glory. ... It is very sad to see the Duke deprived of her now, when she is dearer to him than ever. But what shall I say of our Signora Donna Giulia, whom I have seen so tenderly watching over the poor girl, during GIULIA GONZAGA 249 her sad and painful journey hence, and who is now overwhelmed with incomparable sorrow ? I could not look upon her without tears . . . and when we think that to this is added other losses of dear friends, which has so afflicted the Signora Donna Giulia that she has indeed need that God should help her. Now she has gone into retirement, and does not receive any visits, because in truth, she is far from well. May it please God to spare her to us for many years, as indeed, we cannot spare her. . . ." A few days later Luigi Tansillo writes again : " I hear that our Signora is bearing her great loss with all the fortitude of her strong and Christian spirit. It is four days since I saw her. . . . Our dear Lady is wise with heavenly wisdom . . . may God have her in His care." With gallant courage, Giulia bore up against all the grievous losses of dear friends which crowded upon her in those last years : the Cardinals Gonzaga and Seripando, Luigi Priuli, Vergerio, and others, amongst them Bernardino Ochino, to whom she had always remained a firm ally, when he was forsaken by others. To the end, her loyalty, her faith and her brave devotion never failed ; in spite of her own increasing ill-health, her most strenuous efforts were devoted above all to the care and protection of those friends who had been driven into exile for their re- ligious opinions. She found much comfort and encouragement at this time, from the letters of Pietro Carnesecchi, whom she had introduced to Valdes, and whose story is so important in the history of the 250 ITALIAN REFORMATION Italian Reformation, that it will be fully given in the following chapters. On January 7, 1566, Michele Ghislieri, the fanatical Inquisitor, was elected Pope, under the title of Pius V, and from that moment every distinguished Italian who held reformed views was in peril of his life. The Countess of Fondi and her friends had been specially watched for years, and it was no secret that much evidence had been stored up against them. Giulia was earnestly implored by those who loved her, to seek safety in flight to a land of freedom, as she had helped so many others to do. But this step, she firmly refused to take, as it was needful for the safety and welfare of her friends that she should remain at her post. In so many cases she could be a link between the parted members of a family ; she could help and encourage those who were still wavering and in doubt, and with her large fortune she was able to supply the necessities of life to many destitute exiles. In this anxious time of renewed persecution, Giulia 's health was rapidly failing, and she devoted much thought to the making of her will, in order that she might continue as far as possible, her good works and loving care for all who had any claim upon her charity. Her dearly loved nephew, the Illustrissimo Vespasiano Gonzaga, was made her universal heir, with the exception of all the legacies and charges which she enumerates. Then follow minute directions for the maintenance of her exiled friends and others, with full directions concerning all her dependants and servants, not forgetting certain slaves to whom she gives their freedom besides making full provision for them. She desired to be buried in the Church of GIULIA GONZAGA 251 the Monastery of San Francesco delle Monache, " where I have lived for so many years and at present dwell." Vespasiano wrote to the Duke of Mantua : "April 1556. " It has pleased our Lord that the Signora Donna Giulia Gonzaga, my aunt, has ended her days in the most Christian manner . . . called away to the better life, and leaving me stricken with the deepest grief. . . ." Her death was a merciful escape from the cruel persecution which followed, and we may imagine her deadly peril when we hear that the new Pope, on rinding her letters to Pietro Carnesecchi, declared " that if he had seen these sooner, he would have taken good care to burn her alive." Tasso has some touching lines : " Giulia Gonzaga . . . che le luci sante E i suoi pensier eiccome strali al segno Rivolti a Dio, in lui viva, in se morta Di null'altro si ciba, e si consorta." ("Giulia Gonzaga . . . who dwelt in the holy light, and whose thoughts, like arrows to the mark, turned to God ; in Him she lived, in Him she died, by no other was she nourished, with no other did she abide.") CHAPTER XXII GALEAZZO CARACCIOLI Story of Galeazzo Caraccioli, a young noble of Naples Influence of the teaching of Peter Martyr Galeazzo studies the reformed doctrines He resolves to forsake his native land and his family, and travels to Geneva, where he can openly confess his faith Imploring entreaties from his father and his wife He remains firm to the end Half his life spent in Geneva. AMONGST the friends of Giulia Gonzaga at Naples, perhaps none was more indebted to her for unfailing help and sympathy than the young noble Gian Galeazzo Caraccioli. He was born at Naples in January 1517 the son and heir of Colantonio Caraccioli, Marchese di Vico, an ancient city near Castellamare, and nephew of Cardinal Caraffa, after- wards Pope Paul IV. Colantonio was not only of a very old and noble family, but had distinguished himself in the service of the Emperor, having been an intimate friend and companion of that Duke of Orange who was made Captain-General of the Imperial army, after the death of the Due de Bourbon at the taking of Rome in 1527. Colantonio became a great favourite with Charles V, and after taking a prominent part in the siege of Florence, the title of Marchese was conferred upon him, and he was appointed one of the Pay- masters General to the Viceroy of Naples. He was greatly devoted to his only son, and at an early age, 252 GALEAZZO CARACCIOLI 253 arranged for him a marriage with Vittoria, the daughter of the Duke of Nocera, with a dowry of twenty thousand ducats. Galeazzo was in his turn, received into the service of the Emperor, who gave him a post at his Court, and showed the gallant young noble great honour and friendship. All things ap- peared to conspire for his happiness and success, and a prosperous, easy life appeared to be secured for him. He was able to spend much time in his beautiful home at Naples, and it so chanced that one day, he was persuaded by his friend and kinsman, Gian Francesco di Caserta, to attend a sermon of Pietro Martire Vermigli (Peter Martyr), a Florentine, and at that time a Canon Regular, greatly sought after for his wonderful eloquence. The discourse he heard on that occasion was on the Epistles of St. Paul to the Corinthians, and the preacher gave rather a curious simile. "If a man walking in the country, sees in the distance a number of men and women apparently dancing if he can hear no sound of music he might think them quite distracted. But on drawing nearer, the gay sound of musical instruments reaches his ear, and the tune is so attractive that he too desires to join in the dance. Thus it happens that, if we observe in others a change in their life and customs something quite unusual we may consider them mad, but when the sound of the Spirit of God and of His word, which is true harmony, penetrates our hearts, we too understand, and join them, turning aside from the world and its vanities/' This simple allegory happened to excite the interest 254 ITALIAN REFORMATION of Galeazzo, and he had long conversations with his friend Caserta, who was already deeply interested in the reformed doctrines, and who introduced him to the religious circle of Valdes, of whom he soon became a most ardent disciple. Flaminio was at this time in Naples, on account of his health ; he was extremely interested in the enthusiasm and quick understanding of young Carac- cioli, and wrote him later a long and most interesting letter of congratulation on the gift which he had received from God. Like the rich young man in the Gospel, Galeazzo had " great possessions " ; he was the idol of his father, he was greatly devoted to his charming wife Vittoria and to his young children, while a peaceful life of happiness, with literary culture, many congenial friends and great worldly success, seemed temptingly outspread before him. But he even went farther than his teachers, for when, in the service of the Emperor, he had occasion to travel into Germany, he learned from Peter Martyr and Luther, that it was not enough for him to accept " justification by faith/' but that he must also forsake " idolatry/' and therefore cast off all allegiance to the Papacy, renouncing even outward conformity to superstitious customs. This was indeed a hard doctrine, for it must either mean condemnation and death at the hand of the Inquisition, or he must give up all that he loved and take his flight into a free country ; thus choosing a life of exile more painful than death. Of all his family, he was the only one troubled with religious doubts, or an eager desire to learn the truth, and every art of persuasion and temptation was used to win him back to the orthodox belief. His GALEAZZO CARACCIOLI 255 father treated his new ideas at first with ridicule, for knowing what an affectionate and obedient son he had been, the Marchese could not believe that he would take any serious step in the matter. But as time passed on, and Galeazzo attended neither confession nor mass, gave up many worldly amuse- ments and steadily attached himself to the company of the Reformers, his father became seriously alarmed and threatened him with punishment and even imprisonment if he did not give up these " strange new conceits/' He had a still greater trial with his wife, to whom he was deeply attached ; for she was constantly in tears, and implored him not to bring disgrace upon themselves and the noble families to which they were allied. It needed all his fortitude to stand firm against all her loving entreaties ; and also to face the ridicule and contempt of the young companions with whom he had been accustomed to lead a gay and worldly life. The difficulty was still greater when he was at the Court of the Emperor, who was extremely strict in his own religious observances, and required the same behaviour from his courtiers. Another still more dangerous temptation was very hard to resist. He found that other disciples of Valdes, in Naples, still frequented the churches and showed some measure of outward conformity, which he himself felt to be contrary to the teaching of the German Protestants. In his trouble he went to consult the Countess of Fondi, and from her alone, he found sympathy and encouragement. She realised how fatal it would be for him to act aga'inst the dictates of his conscience ; and as time passed on and he found his life of inward doubt and struggle intolerable, it was from GiuhVs 256 ITALIAN REFORMATION wise and strong support that he gathered courage to make the final sacrifice, and give up all for his Faith. It was in the month of March, 1551, when Galeazzo had attained his thirty-fourth year, that he finally made up his mind to forsake his native land and all who were dear to him. His mother was long dead, but his father's love had been the more devoted to take her place, and he knew that his departure would raise an impassable barrier between them. The thought of leaving his wife was agony to him, and it was a deep additional sorrow to picture his six children deprived of his care at an age when they so greatly needed him. At this time the eldest was fifteen, the youngest barely four years old, and in the grief of tearing himself away from them the change from his splendid palace, his delightful gardens, his many friends and his high position to a life of exile and poverty, was almost forgotten. Two or three of his intimate companions had offered to accompany him, but at the last moment, they drew back from the ordeal. But this did not shake young Caraccioli's resolution ; he left Naples on March 21, to travel in the first instance to the Court of the Emperor at Augsburg, as, if he had publicly announced his purpose, he would certainly have been arrested. He only took with him a sum of about 2,000 ducats, raised on the property which he had inherited from his mother, and thus provided, set forth on his pilgrimage. On his arrival at Augsburg, he remained in the service of Charles V, until May 26 of the same year, when the Court moved to the Netherlands, and then he took his final departure, travelling to Geneva, where he arrived on June 8. He knew no one in this city, GALEAZZO CAEACCIOLI 257 but two days later he was cheered by the arrival of Lactantio i^agnoni a native of Siena, and half- brother of Bernardino Ochino whom Galeazzo had known at Naples, and who was now a preacher to the Italian congregation at Geneva, having fled from persecution in Italy. The young noble was not long in Geneva before he was introduced to Calvin and other Reformers, who received him with the utmost kindness, and he resolved to take up his abode in this hospitable city. v Calvin was deeply interested in the story of Galeazzo, and the friendship begun at this time was only dissolved by death. The great Reformer showed his regard by dedicating to this friend the second edition of his Commentary on the Corinthians. When the news reached Naples of Galeazzo's arrival at Geneva, it was a terrible blow for his family. His father was quite distracted, and having consulted with the unfortunate Vittoria, they de- cided to send his cousin, to whom he was greatly attached, with affectionate letters and most imploring persuasions that he would return home, and not bring down utter ruin upon his family ; as all the possessions of a heretic would be confiscated, and his children disinherited. The cousin found the young Count in a small house and so humble a condition that he was greatly distressed, and he used all his efforts to induce his friend to listen to his appeal. But Galeazzo had already counted the cost of his final step, and no entreaties had any influence upon him, although he was heart-broken at the pitiful story of all that his loved ones were suffering on his account. It was an additional trial to him to feel that his decision was breaking the bond of friendship 17 258 ITALIAN REFORMATION between himself and this cousin, who was like a brother to him. When the disappointed messenger returned to Naples, there was a fresh scene of bitter anguish and despair on the part of the exile's father and wife. The old Marchese prepared to take a journey to the Emperor to implore him not to punish the helpless family for Galeazzo's crime in leaving the Church of Rome. But while he was preparing for this expedition, another idea occurred to him ; to make one more effort by personal influence to induce his son to change his mind. He therefore wrote to him at Geneva, by a special messenger, commanding him, by all the duty and obedience which he owed to a father, to meet him in the Venetian States ; assuring him at the same time of a safe-conduct from the Signoria of Venice. Galeazzo felt that he could not refuse this earnest appeal, although he was quite aware of the danger it might prove to him, and was also firmly resolved, with God's grace, to resist all temptation. He set out therefore from Geneva, on April 29, 1553, and it was in Verona that the meeting with his father took place. A most painful and trying time followed ; all the former reasonings and entreaties were repeated, and the young man had once more the bitter anguish of having to refuse and cruelly disappoint one he loved so dearly. Finding that threats and persuasion were alike hopeless to change his son's steadfast resolution, the Marchese made him promise that he would remain in Italy until he should learn the result of an appeal to the Emperor, with regard to the suggested negotia- tions about the property of the family. Galeazzo GALEAZZO CARACCIOLI 259 therefore gave his word that he would remain at Verona until he should hear if the appeal of the Marchese to the Emperor had been successful. Meantime other friends and amongst them Girolamo Fracastoro, the famous philosopher, physician and poet of that day, set themselves the task of pointing out to the young convert the error of his ways. But he defended his action with so much wisdom and modesty, that those who came to blame him, could only turn away in sorrow and disappointment. As soon as a favourable answer was received from Charles V who forbade all confiscation of the Vico property Galeazzo returned to Geneva, full of thankfulness that at least he had caused no temporal loss to his children, and that his father's greatest grievance against him was thus removed. He was at Basle with Calvin a little later, when he met there a certain Don Celso, whose real name was Massimiliano, Count of Martinenghi, of an illustrious family of Brescia. They persuaded this excellent preacher, who had been professor of Greek with Vergerio, at Lucca, to be minister of the Italian Church at Geneva ; at the same time certain Elders were chosen to arrange a form of discipline and worship, and Galeazzo Caraccioli was chosen to be at their head. In the following year, 1555, there were fresh temptations for Galeazzo, as his kinsman Giovanni Pietro CarafEa had been elected Pope under the title of Paul IV. The Marchese, who could not give up the hope of winning his son back to the Church of Rome, took advantage of this, to obtain permission for him to live in the territory of Venice, and enjoy the free exercise of his religion. Having arranged 260 ITALIAN REFORMATION the matter, he wrote to Galeazzo, sending a passport to secure his safety, and entreating him to come to Mantua. The young man could not refuse so urgent a request, and set forth in June 1555 ; his father treated him with warm affection, and implored him to accept this friendly arrangement by which he could live happily at Venice with his wife and family, undisturbed in his Protestant faith. It was a most tempting offer, but after long and serious considera- tion, Galeazzo came to the conclusion that this would only prove a new snare. When had Rome ever been known to keep faith with heretics ? He would be in constant danger so long as he remained firm in his opinions, and if he were summoned before the In- quisition and condemned to death, it would brand all his family with shame. After much difficulty, young Caraccioli convinced his father of the risks involved, and accompanied him as far as his safe-conduct made it prudent for him to do so ; they parted near the border of the Venetian provinces, and it was on this occasion that Galeazzo paid a visit to the Duchess Renee of Ferrara. He returned to Geneva by the Val Settina, and Chiavenna, and was gladly welcomed back by his friends at Geneva. He had in vain written to ask his wife to meet him, but after his return she suggested that if he would go to Lesina on the Dalmatian coast, she would cross over from Vico to meet him about a hundred miles of sea-voyage. This he consented readily to do, but he waited in vain for her at the appointed place. Apparently her confessor would not trust her so far from home, but after long waiting, his two eldest sons, Colantonio and Carlo, were sent to meet him instead. A long correspondence followed. GALEAZZO CARACCIOLI 261 and on March 7, 1558, he again set out for Lesina, but as one excuse after another was sent, he resolved to risk everything and cross to Vico himself to meet his family. On his arrival, he was received in a kind of triumph, evidently with full expectation of keeping him, now that he had returned to his home. When he implored his wife to come to Geneva with him, promising her the free exercise of her religion, she at length owned that her confessor had told her that to live with a heretic as her husband, was to incur perpetual ex- communication. This was more than he could endure, and he resolved to leave without delay. Upon this his father turned against him with fury, and dismissed him with bitter words and even curses. As he hastened to take leave of his wife and children, they clung to him with passionate entreaties, and the ordeal was so trying that he dared not linger, and rushed to the sea-shore to embark for Dalmatia as soon as possible. He was almost broken-hearted with grief at the parting, although he could not help feeling that a trap had been laid for him. From Lesina, he travelled rapidly to Venice where he received a letter from Calvin, who was in great hopes that he might persuade his wife to join him. " To my Lord the Marchese di Vico. " I hope this letter will reach you at Venice, for I suppose that by the end of June, my Lady your wife will have arrived at Lesina, and that she will not keep you so long waiting in vain as she did the first time. ... I feel the most anxious desire for a happy 262 ITALIAN REFORMATION ending to your patience. . . . May God in His mercy guide her to your wishes. . . . We have all been in great trouble and anxiety about you. . . ." The letter then continues to give a long account of the troubles in France for the Huguenots, etc. On receiving this, Galeazzo hastened on to Geneva, where he was received with the utmost joy and thankfulness, as one who had escaped from deadly peril ; they exclaimed in the words of the Psalmist : " He that dwelleth in the secret places of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty/' In his peaceful life of preaching and devotion, he was once more troubled in later years by another demand from his family. A young priest arrived with letters from Vittoria and from one of his sons, Carlo, who had entered the Church and found that the heresy of his father prevented him from obtaining any ecclesiastical dignity, such as that of Bishop or Cardinal. Galeazzo was even offered a large sum of money if he would return to the Romish Church. This was more than he could endure and he threw the letters into the fire. He was at that time in failing health, and the excitement and grief at this new attempt upon him, brought on a serious relapse. His life was drawing to a close, and he passed away in the midst of devoted friends on May 7, 1586, at the age of sixty-nine years, having spent nearly half his life in exile at Geneva for the sake of his faith. CHAPTER XXIII PIETRO CARNESECCHI Life of Pietro Carnesecchi Born at Florence Clement VII invites him to Rome A brilliant scholar Sack of Rome, 1527 Carne- secchi goes to Florence, meets Ochino, and later at Naples is introduced to Valdes by Giulia Gonzaga Joins the Reformers, in the circle of Valdes at Naples Meets Vittoria Colonna and Cardinal Pole at Viterbo Visits Venice, the centre of German literature Meets Caterina Cibo at Florence Summoned before the Inquisition, but released by Paul III. PIETRO CARNESECCHI was born at Florence in the first decade of the sixteenth century, of an honourable family who took an active part in the government of the Republic. His father, Pier Antonio Carnesecchi, held the position of Commissary of the Florentine Republic in the district of the Maremma in 1507, and we have a clear proof of the high opinion in which he was held, from the letters of Macchiavelli on the part of the Council of Ten. In that favoured centre of humanistic study, the " cradle of the Renaissance," as Florence has been justly called, the boy Pietro had the advantage of an unrivalled education in every branch of classical literature and philosophical thought ; the name of one of his teachers has been recorded, Francesco Robertello, of world- wide reputa- tion later as Professor of Letters at the University of Padua. The Carnesecchi were faithful and devoted friends 263 264 ITALIAN REFORMATION of the Medici throughout all their changing fortunes ; and Giuliano, the illegitimate son of Giulio, Lorenzo the Magnificent 's younger brother, took a warm interest in the promising young scholar, Pietro, and on his succession to the Papacy in November 1523, as Clement VII, was able to prove the value of his friendship. Other members of the Medici family appear to have been on intimate terms with Car- nesecchi ; the child Cosimo son of Giovanni delle Bande Nere, who was one day to become Grand Duke of Florence, and little Catherine destined to be Queen of France. Pietro had taken priestly orders in Florence before he was summoned by Clement VII to the Court of Rome. Here he was received with friendly hospitality by the Cardinal Dovizzi, and warmly welcomed by a brilliant circle of distinguished men. These were but the remains of that marvellous Court of Leo X in the days when " all Rome was an academy, every- where songs, everywhere science, poetry, the fine arts, a sort of voluptuousness of study/' The distinguished Venetian scholar Pietro Bembo, the friend of Castiglione who had long before chosen him for his " Cortigiano," as the high-priest of the Plato- nism of the Renaissance, was there, and with him the learned Sadoleto, whom he warned not to let his style be spoilt by too much study of St. Paul's Epistles. In that highly cultured circle we find the poet Marc- antonio Flaminio, whose Latin poems had been so much admired by Leo X ; Gasparo Contarini, then a layman and ambassador from his native Venice, Antonio Bruccioli, the Florentine exile who had already translated the Bible into Italian, and many others ; some illustrious survivals from the period of PIETRO CARNESECCHI 265 the Pagan Renaissance, with younger men who were destined to inaugurate the Catholic Revival, and who were already members of the " Oratory of Divine Love." This was the world in which Pietro Carnesecchi found himself absolutely at home with kindred souls all around him. We are told that Sadoleto praised him as a young man of great promise and unusual talent, Bembo spoke of him with goodwill and affection, while Benvenuto Cellini, the Florentine goldsmith and artist, had occasion to be indebted to his good offices in restoring him to the favour of the Pope. Carnesecchi himself rose high in the estimation of Clement VII, who made him first Secretary, and then Papal Protonotary, which placed him in a position of so much importance that it soon became a common saying that " the Church was more ruled by Carnesecchi than by Clement/' He also received from his devoted patron two abbeys with all their revenues, one being in France and the other at Eboli, about sixteen miles from Salerno, in the Kingdom of Naples. Eboli is splendidly situated on high ground, commanding a fine view of the sea, the great forest of Persano, the towns on the slopes of Monte Alburno and the valley of the Silarus. It was in the year 1531, that Pietro first made the acquaintance of a Spanish nobleman, Senor Juan de Valdes, who was for a time Papal Chamberlain, having come to Rome with high credentials as " a noble knight by grace of the Emperor." But at this period they do not appear to have attained to any deep religious intimacy, for Carnesecchi, although an able and upright statesman, and a conscientious man who discharged all the obligations of his ec- 266 ITALIAN REFORMATION clesiastical offices, had not taken up any very serious views on the subject of Reform. It so chanced that during the Lent of the year 1534, a certain Capuchin Friar, Fra Bernardino Ochino of Siena, was appointed to preach the Lenten sermons in the Church of SS. Lorenzo e Damaso, near the Campo di Fiori in Rome. Ochino had but recently left a branch of the Franciscan Order of the Ob- servants, of which he had been Prior, to join a far more strict and austere body of Capuchins. This severity of life was not approved by the ecclesiastical authorities, and the more lax Franciscans were able to persuade some Cardinals to obtain by Papal decree, the dissolution of this new ascetic Order, which had been established barely six years. In order to avert this threatened danger, all the Capuchins, numbering about 125, were gathered together in Rome. When, by Pope Clement's decree of April 25, 1534, they were expelled from the city, all the lower classes in Rome took the side of the friars, and rose in tumult on their behalf. Two great ladies, who had taken deep interest in these unworldly Capuchins, joined in a strenuous appeal to the Pope. One was Clement's niece, Caterina Cibo, the Dowager Duchess of Camerino, and the other was Vittoria Colonna, the widow of Ferrante Marchese of Pescara, who at that time was on a visit to her Colonna relations at Marino. The two ladies hastened to Rome and at length induced Pope Clement to withdraw his edict of expulsion. It was not very long after this, on Sep- tember 26, that the Pope died. Carnesecchi had been introduced by Cardinal Palmieri, to the Signora Vittoria, and now for the first time made her ac- quaintance. But far more important in its results PIETRO CARNESECCHI 267 was the influence of Fra Bernardino's preaching upon the young statesman, who lost no time before visiting Ochino and entering into earnest conversation with him. He does not appear to have had any scholastic disputations at that time, or to have heard any new doctrine from this preacher, whose extraordinary success was due to his personal sincerity, and to the impassioned love and sympathy which shone through his eloquent words and won all hearts. After the death of his patron, Clement VII, and the succession of Alessandro Farnese under the title of Paul III, Carnesecchi left Rome and returned to Florence. Although he had faithfully devoted him- self to Pope Clement, during the latter eventful years of his rule, and had shared with him the terrible disaster of the taking and sack of Rome joining later in the Imperial assertion of the coronation of Charles V at Bologna yet Pietro Carnesecchi was a man of thought, rather than action, and his official position and importance had never been congenial to him. In his native city, he was once more brought into contact with Fra Bernardino Ochino in 1536 to 1537, and became still more deeply interested in his striking and fascinating personality. But the preacher himself had not yet adopted any strongly reformed doctrines, and it was not until some years later when he came under the influence of the Spanish Reformer, Juan Valdes at Naples, that he definitely committed himself to Lutheran teaching. Ochino had recently been preaching in the Duomo of Ferrara, where he had been invited by Renee, Duchess of Ferrara, and Vittoria Colonna had gone there that she might miss none of his sermons. Great interest had been felt with regard to this striking 268 ITALIAN REFORMATION pulpit orator in Mantua, for Agostino Gonzaga had written to Isabella cTEste, a long letter from Rome, describing the enthusiasm which he had excited in the Eternal City. In Florence he met with the same success, and assembled round his pulpit were all the noblest and most distinguished of the citizens. Here too came, besides Carnesecchi, Caterina Cibo Duchess of Camerino, who remained faithful to the Friar in the stormy days to come, Giammatteo Giberti the pious Bishop of Verona, Giovanni Pietro Caraffa then Bishop of Chieti, and later a cruel persecutor of his former friends when he became Pope under the name of Paul IV. Perhaps the most interesting personality to us amongst these disciples for the moment, was Reginald Pole, who was at the same time earning a Cardinal's Hat (December 22, 1536, received) as a reward for his defence of Papal rights against Henry VIII of England. Following the steps of Pietro Carnesecchi, we find him in the summer of 1538, at the Baths of Lucca, already famous for their healing quality, in company with Vittoria Colonna Marchesa of Pescara, and Cardinal Pole her intimate friend and teacher. No suspicion of unorthodoxy appears to have attached to this little company of thinkers, at this time, indeed it was not until the year 1540 when Carnesecchi, bent on visiting his Abbey at Eboli, found himself at Naples, that he came to a turning point in his religious life. We have already told the story of Juan de Valdes, the Spanish Reformer, who had taken up his abode in Naples, and was a member of the suite of Pedro de Toledo the Viceroy. His outspoken opinions on the subject of reform had made it desirable for him to PIETRO CARNESECCHI 269 leave Spain, where the Inquisition had long been in full force, and was keenly on the look-out for traces of any differences of doctrine which might have the slightest flavour of heresy. In Naples Juan had devoted himself to the earnest study of philology, of the writings of the German Reformers, but above all of the Bible itself. In the Vice-Regal Court, he was highly respected as a man of profound learning and spotless life, but he was distinguished above all things for the irresistible charm of his manner and conversation. Carnesecchi soon fell under the influence of this commanding spirit, and became one of his most ardent disciples. At this time Valdes had already written his scientific study of the Spanish language, the "Dialogo de la lengua " ; the "Alfabeto Cristiano," a catechism of religious teaching in the form of question and answer between himself and the lady Giulia Gonzaga ; and he must have been engaged in the year 1540, in finishing his " Cento e dieci divine consideration, " a manual of devout teaching which contained many of the same views as Luther held. He was convinced of the necessity of a return to the simple elements of Christianity in creed and conduct, and considered that great reforms were necessary throughout the whole body of the Church. But he had no wish to encourage a schism, and had not thought of denying his allegiance to the Pope, or of separating from the Catholic Church. Pietro Car- nesecchi found himself one of a distinguished company of seekers after truth. There was his friend the brilliant poet, Marcantonio Flaminio, who had been living for the last two years at his villa near Caserto for the sake of his health. Galeazzo Caraccioli, the 270 ITALIAN REFOKMATION distinguished young scholar of noble birth whose pathetic story we have already told, was another member of the circle gathered round Valdes. Aonio Paleario, the famous scholar, came for a time to Naples, Pietro Martire Vermigli the Florentine, whose name became so well known in England later, and Ochino, to whom we have alluded, were there. Nor were noble women wanting in this earnest gather- ing. Vittoria Colonna was at this time living within reach, in the Island of Ischia, where she was the companion of her husband's sister, the Duchess of Francavilla. With them came Donna Isabella Brisegna, sister-in-law of the Supreme Inquisitor for Spain, Alfonso Manrique de Lara. Her husband the Governor of Piacenza had driven her from her home on account of her reformed opinions, and she was under the protection of the noble lady, Giulia Gonzaga Countess of Fondi. As we have seen, Giulia, ever since her coming to Naples in the winter of 1535, had taken a spacious palace in the Borgo delle Vergine, and although she herself chiefly lived in her rooms in the Convent of San Francesco, she was always ready to give a hospitable reception to her old friends and to any men df learning introduced to her. Thus it was that Carnesecchi came to be a guest of hers, and a strong and deep friendship grew up between these two kindred spirits who were both so intensely in earnest concerning religious matters. It was Giulia Gonzaga indeed who first helped Carnesecchi to understand thoroughly the doctrines of Valdes, and we see from the immense number of letters which passed between these two friends, and which have fortunately been preserved, how fully in accord they PIETRO CARNESECCHI 271 were and how their mutual sympathy endured until the end. After the death of Valdes, the company of faithful disciples appears to have been dispersed, and early in May, 1541, Carnesecchi travelled to Rome with his friends Marcantonio Flaminio and Donato Rullo. They were kindly received by the old Cardinal of Mantua, ad arcum Portugallice, who gave them a friendly welcome. But Carnesecchi soon went on to Florence with his friend Flaminio, and there re- mained in his own home during the summer, until the middle of October. At the Capuchin Convent, three miles outside Florence, they met their friend Bernardino Ochino, who was preparing his sermons for publication, and who had already been warned that he was in serious danger from the Inquisition. Pietro Carnesecchi renewed his friendship with Caterina Cibo, the Duchess of Camerino, who visited him and Flaminio in Florence, joining them later in the autumn, in their pilgrimage to Viterbo, where other religious friends had gathered together in a society much resembling the " Oratory of Divine Love/' which had originally been started at Rome, under the very eyes of the Pope. Here they found Cardinal Pole, who in that summer of 1541 had been appointed Legate to the Patrimony of St. Peter, and was practically established as Governor of Viterbo. At his Court there were many adherents of the new doctrines, and amongst them we may mention Luigi Priuli the Venetian, Abbot of San Soluto ; Giberti Bishop of Verona, Soranzo soon to be Bishop of Bergamo, Vincenzo Gheria, Archbishop of Ischia, Donato Rullo, and others. At this same time, October 1541, Vittoria Colonna had left Rome and 272 ITALIAN REFORMATION retired to the Convent of Sta. Caterina, as " she could worship God better and more quietly than in Rome/' We have already had occasion to dwell fully upon the subjects of prayer and meditation to which the members of this religious society devoted themselves. It was here that Carnesecchi read for the first time Luther's earlier writings, also his Exposition of the Psalms, and Bucer's Commentary upon the Gospel of St. Matthew. Flaminio had already given him the "Institutes " of Calvin, in Florence. Vittoria Colonna appears to have here read with the greatest interest Luther's Exposition of Psalm XLV, without knowing by whom it was written. She told Carnesecchi that she had felt more joy and refreshment in the study of this work than in any other modern book. During the greater part of a year, Pietro Car- nesecchi remained a guest in the palace of Cardinal Pole, enjoying the peaceful rest of this interchange of holy thoughts ; and he then travelled on to Venice with his friend Bonato Rullo, in order to consult a famous physician there, concerning an obscure illness which troubled him. He lived at first in the house of Rullo, who was a native of Venice, and then removed into a lodging of his own where he remained for the next three years. The Republic was at that time famous for its hospitality to strangers of every nation, and also for its broad toleration. The Senate had suffered Ochino to preach the Lenten sermons in 1542, although his doctrines were already regarded with suspicion in Rome. After the Inquisition had been introduced elsewhere in Italy, the Republic refused for a long time to prosecute for matters of faith. The writings of the Reformers all found their way through Venice PIETRO CARNESECCHI 273 into other centres in Italian cities, and here transla- tions of the Bible and other religious books were printed. Carnesecchi found in this beautiful city many who sympathised with him in his earnest desire for Reform. As we shall see later, this was made a special point in his arraignment before the tribunal of the Inquisition. ..." In Venice thou hast for many years . . . not only persisted in former heresies . . . but hast imparted them to other persons. . . ." Amongst those specially mentioned in this accusa- tion, was Pietro Paolo Vergerio, formerly Bishop of Capo d'l stria, who had come to Venice to oppose the views of the new school of thought, but he was won over to join the Reformers instead of condemning them. His brother Giovanni Battista Vergerio, Bishop of Pola, followed in his steps. We also find the name of Lattanzio Ragnone, of Siena, an en- thusiastic pupil of both Vald6s and Ochino, and last in the denouncing list is Baldassare Altieri of Aquila in the Kingdom of Naples, for some time Secretary to the English Embassy at Venice, and therefore under safe protection. Altieri is spoken of as " an apostate and a Lutheran, in correspondence with the German Princes and heretical Protestants. . . ." Then continues the accusing of Carnesecchi as having given " lodging, shelter, encouragement and money to many apostates and heretics, who . . . fled into heretical ultramontane countries; and thou didst by letter recommend to an Italian Princess, to Giulia Gonzaga, two heretical apostates . . . who as soon as they were discovered, were forthwith sent prisoners to this Holy Office." A man like Pietro Carnesecchi could not long escape the suspicion of the Inquisition, and in 1546 18 274 ITALIAN REFORMATION he was cited to Rome and put upon his trial for heresy. Strangely enough in this moment of peril, it was Pope Paul III himself who proved his best friend. A brief explanation is needful to explain this apparent paradox. The Pope (Alessandro Far- nese) was born in 1468, he was educated in the palmy days of the classical Renaissance and was made a Cardinal at twenty- five, by Alexander VI. He lived through the reigns of Julius II, Leo X, Adrian VI and Clement VII, and at the age of sixty-six was raised to the Papal dignity himself. The experience of all that had passed before him was not wasted, and although at heart he was a man of the older generation, he had learnt a peculiar caution and diplomatic shiftiness which stood him in good purpose. His strongest desire was to form a solid duchy for his illegitimate sons, and to achieve this he must make friends with all parties. Now Carnesecchi had powerful friends in Florence ; Duke Cosimo was his patron ; he himself had been the Secretary and Protonotary of a predecessor in the Chair of St. Peter. In his " Popes of Rome," Leopold von Ranke remarks : " It sounds strange, but there is nothing more true, that while all Northern Germany quaked at the prospect of the re-introduction of Papal power, the Pope felt himself to be the confederate of the Protestants/' In any case it was Paul who intervened to protect Pietro Carnesecchi, and to stay the suit instituted by the Inquisition. It is curious to notice that for this deed of mercy, Paul III was never forgiven by the fanatics of the " Holy Office." Twenty years later in the final judgment and condemnation of Carnesecchi, we can read between the lines a scathing attack upon the PIETRO CARNESECCHI 275 weakness of " Pope Paul III of blessed memory ! >J But the accused man, although released from prison, could no longer feel himself safe in Italy, and im- mediately after he was free in 1547, he set out for France, where the Reform movement had made great progress, and where he had several friends. A gentle scholar, Pietro had a horror of every form of violence, and although he had plenty of moral courage, he was in delicate health and only longed for a peaceful refuge where he could quietly continue his work. This he appears to have found in Paris, which he reached at a most critical and interesting time, and where he took up his abode for several years. CHAPTER XXIV CARNESECCHI IN PARIS Carnesecchi goes to Paris Meets Marguerite of Navarre Presents her with the poems of Marcantonio Flaminio Paul IV threatens fresh persecution Carnesecchi tried by the Inquisition His constant letters to Giulia Gonzaga She advises him not to escape to Geneva Many of his friends in the prisons of the Inquisition WHEN Pietro Carnesecclii reached Paris after his release from the prison of the Inquisition at Rome, it was at a singularly inauspicious moment. It was the year 1547, and on March 31, King Frangois I had died and been succeeded by his only surviving son Henri II, whose policy towards the Reformed faith was from the beginning much more rigorous than that of his father. The young King had no sympathy with humanism and had no need of con- ciliating Protestant allies ; and the policy of opposi- tion to the new doctrines was one on which all his advisers were agreed, both Montmorency and the House of Guise. In the first year of his reign, a new criminal Court was created for the trial of heretics, and it richly deserved its name of "La Chambre Ardente," for in the course of the next two years, more than a hundred persons were condemned to death, by its means, for their opinions. We can only wonder that Carnesecchi was not interfered with, but he was fortunate in having in- troductions to the great Paris firm of printers, the 276 CARNESECCHI IN PARIS 277 Estiennes, whose shop in the Rue St. Jean de Beauvais was a kind of club for scholars, where great nobles of the Court dropped in from interest in learning or curiosity, and Marguerite of Angouleme herself was attracted by her eager love of knowledge. Robert Estiennes, the present head of the House, had married the daughter of a scholar, and we are told that " all the household, even the children, talked Latin." Robert had written learned books himself, such as his "Tresor de la langue Latine " ; he had published not only the classics but works of Erasmus, the trans- lation of the New Testament by Lefebre d'Etaples, and other writings of the Reformers. The Estiennes had long been looked upon with suspicion by the Sorbonne, and only the special favour of Fra^ois I and his sister Marguerite, had so far protected them from persecution as heretics. This tender-hearted Princess was broken down by the loss of her brother, yet after a while, her old interests somewhat revived, and she was still willing to receive the homage of scholars and poets. But a change had come over her, and although she still accepted the latest works on the new doctrines, she returned in spirit to the faith of her childhood, drawn by the beauty and emotion of Catholic ritual. Car- nesecchi, as an Italian of note, had been received in the Court of the new Queen, Catherine dei Medici, and had been greatly attracted by Marguerite of Navarre. On the death of his old friend, the poet Marcantonio Flaminio, he had received through Priuli, " as being rightly his by inheritance/' a collection of Latin hymns, recently written by the poet, shortly before his death, " De Rebus Divinis," and dedicated to the Princess Marguerite. Car- 278 ITALIAN EEFOEMATION nesecchi was very anxious to persuade Robert Estienne to print this work in order that he might present it to the great lady in a suitable form. But the famous printer was acute enough to read the signs of the times, and he felt that under the present government of Henri II, he was no longer safe from the animosity of the Sorbonne and the " Chambre Ardente." He happened to be deeply engaged in removing his printing business to the secure refuge of Geneva, at that very moment. Pietro Carnesecchi had there- fore no alternative but to place the precious manu- script of the Hymns in the hands of Marguerite, who was then in failing health and aware that she was drawing near her end. But she accepted the dedica- tion with her usual gentle courtesy, and Pietro had good reason to remember this event. For in his final judgment by the Inquisition it was recorded : " Out of Italy, thou hadst a book sent to thee which was stained with the heresy of Valdes, and thou didst present it as a gift." Carnesecchi did not leave Paris until 1552, when persecution was becoming more violent in Paris and other parts of France. He stayed at Lyons on the way, and his friend Lattanzio Ragnone, who was Pastor of the Church of fugitive Italian Protestants, strongly advised him not to return to Italy, but to seek safety at Geneva. This, Pietro was most un- willing to do, for all his interests were in his native land, and he had a strong desire to meet the Countess Giulia Gonzaga, his faithful friend and correspondent, once more. Besides he had confident hope that there would be no special danger for him now in Italy, as Paul III had been succeeded in 1550 by Julius III, CARNESECCHI IN PARIS 279 who cared too much for his own selfish ease to trouble about the State, the Church or the Inquisition, and only desired to enjoy himself in lazy comfort. More- over, the exile knew that he had so many friends in Venice, that he hoped to be able to live unmolested in the territory of the Republic. He therefore travelled on to Padua where he took up his abode, as from thence he could pay frequent visits to Venice. Julius III ended his useless life on March 23, 1555, and his successor, Cardinal Cervini, who took the name of Marcello II, only survived the excitement of his elevation to the Papacy, for twenty- one days. After his death which happened on Ascension Day, May 1, the Cardinals on May 23, 1555, elected Giovanni Pietro Caraffa, who took the title of Paul IV. We have already made his acquaintance as a member of the " Oratory of Divine Love/' when he joined in a company of pious men, many of them with advanced views, in prayer and meditation for the reform of the Church. Since then, CaranVs doctrine was greatly changed, and we shall see with what suspicion he looked upon all his old companions. He was the founder and soul of the Roman Inquisition, and now at the age of seventy- nine, he was still a man of fierce, and uncompromising temper ; with two guiding passions hatred of the Spaniards who were ruling Italy, and fanatical ambition to maintain the most rigid Catholic orthodoxy. The abdication of Charles V, this same year, 1555, had placed on the throne of Spain, his son Philip II, a bigoted Catholic and a superstitiously obedient son of the Church. Had this not been the case, the new Pope would never have succeeded in the coining struggle. He began by trying to strengthen hia 280 ITALIAN REFORMATION position through the method of advancing his relations to positions of importance ; but after a time, when it was clearly proved to him that these Caraffa nephews were little better than the Borgias had been ; he caused a searching inquiry to be made, deprived them of all their offices and banished them from Rome. Thus it was not until the Duke of Alva, Philip's Viceroy at Naples, had marched against Rome which was only saved by Protestant mercenaries from the Grisons ; and the disgraceful Peace of Cavi had been concluded in September 1557 that Paul IV appeared in his true character as a fierce persecutor of the Reformers. Already that summer, the prisons of the Inquisition were full. On June 5, 1557, Car- nesecchi wrote from Venice to Giulia Gonzaga, to inform her that Cardinal Morone, together with the Bishop of Cava, San Felice, had been sent as a prisoner to the Castle of St. Angelo. Giovanni Morone, the son of Girolamo Morone the Milanese Chancellor, had been a most intimate friend of Carnesecchi from his earliest years, for their fathers were friends, and Pietro had entered the service of Morone before he was made Bishop of Modena, in 1535, by Clement VII, who held him in the highest honour. His imprisonment was a great shock to all who held reformed opinions. As Carnesecchi wrote to Giulia Gonzaga, in a second letter on June 12, 1557: ' Why Morone is imprisoned, no one knows ; many say that the Cardinals have brought it about, in order that he may be out of their way at the next election of a Pope, when he would be sure to obtain the greatest number of votes. The Pope intends sum- CARNESECCHI IN PARIS 281 moning all the Cardinals to Rome, in order that they as a College, may judge Morone. Paul IV has also summoned Soranzio of Bergamo, and Egidio Fos- carari, Bishop of Modena, and a Dominican monk, to Rome. Now that temporal war has been brought to a close, it appears that a spiritual one shall com- mence in order that the world be not idle, but shall ever have opportunity to exercise both spirit and flesh/' Many other Church dignitaries were also arrested and proceeded against, as well as those named above. The Abbot Villamarino, house-steward to Morone ; Bishop Centanni, a Venetian, Don Bartolomeo Spada- f ora of Messina, a friend of Giulia Gonzaga and Vittoria Colonna ; the Archbishop Mario Galeota of Sorrento, Bishop Verdura and others. By a Brief, dated August 9, 1557, Cardinal Pole who was in England, was summoned to Rome " to purge himself from suspicion of heresy," but fortunately for him, Queen Mary would not suffer him to go. Paul IV remem- bered him as one of the members of the " Oratory of Divine Love," and this was quite enough to condemn him, although his blind devotion to the Papal See had long been a serious grief to his reformed friends. Shortly before his death in November 1558, Reginald Pole made a declaration that " He firmly held the Catholic Faith, and that he believed the Pope to be really the Vicar of Christ and the successor of St. Peter, and that he had always revered and obeyed this present Pope [Paul IV], as such, nor had he differed from him in anything, nor from the opinion of the Roman Church. . . ." 282 ITALIAN REFORMATION Carnesecchi writes to Giulia Gonzaga on February 11, 1559, in answer to hers : " It has pleased me wonderfully that Donna Giulia has not approved this declaration made by the Cardinal of England, being superfluous, not to say scandalous, especially at this time. . . . What a difference from the teaching of Valdes, and how this verifies the proverb : ' The end shows forth the life, so the evening praises the day/ Let us indeed thank God that our Faith does not depend upon men, nor is it founded upon the sand, but upon the living stone upon which in the same way, have built the Apostles and the Prophets and all the other elect and saints of God, Whom may it please to grant us grace to live and die in the same Faith, to His glory. . . ." The letter ends with a touching allusion to the fact of Cardinal Pole having died sixteen hours after his friend Queen Mary, November 18, 1558. " Courage ! I only pray God that He will preserve my Donna Giulia, and if He should desire to take her before me, at least may He grant me the favour He has bestowed upon the Cardinal of England, which is that I also may quickly follow my Queen. Amen. Amen." Carnesecchi had already found himself involved in a dangerous attack from the Inquisition, for Paul IV was not likely to pass over the man who had escaped from him through the clemency of Paul III. Pietro had been cited as early as October 1557, by a Decree CARNESECCHI IN PARIS 283 " To appear before a General Assembly of the Holy Cardinals of the Inquisition, at their tribunal in Rome, there personally to clear himself from the accusation of having long adhered to many Lutheran Articles, of having had heretical books, and of having maintained intercourse with heretics." This citation was served on him at Venice, on November 6. Pietro Carnesecchi refused to appear in Rome, and was bold enough to remain in Venice, which at that moment was in no friendly mood towards the Pope. Strained relations had arisen because the Republic had refused to join a confederation against Spain, and distrusted the suggestion that she should hold Sicily as her own. Carnesecchi having defied the Pope's citation, was declared a heretic by a decree of the Inquisition, dated March 24, 1558, and having the " expressed assent of the doctors, theologians and canonists, was proclaimed to have incurred the censures and penalties threatened in the citation " ; and this edict was published both in Venice and Rome. As this step had no result, final judgment was delivered on April 6, 1559, whereby Carnesecchi was declared to be a heretic in contumacy, and he was sen- tenced to the punishments which attach to impenitent heretics. All his property was confiscated ; he was deprived of his benefices, of which we remember that the Abbey of Eboli was one, and the warrant issued against him notified that " he would be handed over to the secular arm." In spite of the temporary protection of Venice, we may imagine what an anxious life was led by the 284 ITALIAN REFORMATION condemned man during the months which followed. He found his greatest comfort in the constant corre- spondence which he kept up with the Countess Giulia Gonzaga ; sometimes as many as three letters a week pass between them and many of them are written in cypher, as the Inquisition was already suspicious of Giulia and kept a close watch upon her and her friends. As the persecution became more bitter, many escaped to Geneva, which became a kind of stronghold of the Reformers, but Giulia herself refused to listen to any persuasion. She also dis- suaded Carnesecchi from this extreme step, as she feared it would ruin his career. She had moreover great faith in the influence of his powerful friends at Rome and Florence, and she could not believe that he would be in real danger. We can only allude to a few of the many letters which passed between these two friends. In that time of trouble and anxiety on every side, the thoughts of Carnesecchi turn often upon death. In one of his letters he says : " Do not fear to tread the path which has been trodden by our Saviour Christ, Who in dying has triumphed over death and conquered it so that it can no more harm us. ... But why, you may ask, do I reason concerning death ? Because we should become so domesticated with it that we should no more fear it, not for ourselves or for others. ... It is but the gate of life, through which having passed, we are free from all the infinite troubles and labours of this life, and above all, we are safe from the danger of sinning and offending God, which is the true death of the soul. . CARNESECCHI IN PARIS 285 The position of Carnesecchi became more insecure every day, for although the Venetian Senate had refused the first command to give him up to the Inquisition, it was quite uncertain what would happen next time. Meanwhile the refugees in Switzer- land strongly urged him to join them. When the Count Galeazzo Caracciolo came over to visit his family with a safe-conduct from the Viceroy of Naples, he entreated Carnesecchi to share his exile. It was a strong temptation, for it meant freedom to live openly according to his Faith, but he feared lest his flight might do harm to his friends in the prisons of the Inquisition, and he had great hope that a change might come with a new Pope ; for the violence of Paul IV, had alienated friends and foes alike. Thus he wrote to Giulia, 1 after expressing his satisfaction at not having fled from his country : " I give thanks to God and to Donna Giulia who, I often say is like a fixed star, whose light directs us in our course through the midst of the darkness of this blind world ; and by her example guards us from many dangers, for we might easily have fallen over a deep precipice. ..." And again when he expresses his hope of a change : " When I think on the good grounds which Car- nesecchi has to calculate on the favour and help which present themselves to him, as also on the goodwill and mildness which Popes are wont to show when they begin their rule, I do not for a moment doubt but 1 Besides the cypher, in these letters the friends have often a cautious way of speaking of themselves and each other, in the third person. 286 ITALIAN REFORMATION that he will be rehabilitated and honourably re- instated unless a Bull have been issued against him In the meanwhile this has not yet been published, and would be so unjust that it is to be hoped that his successor will not carry it out unless he should prove to be an Alessandrino [Michele Ghislieri, who became Pope in 1566. Pius V] from him or any one like him, may God preserve us ! " Giulia Gonzaga was naturally saddened by the loss of dear friends and the perils of others, and she greatly valued Carnesecchi's words of hope and comfort. Thus he writes in January 1559 : " What a beautiful thing is friendship, especially when it is born of noble hopes and aims, growing in depth as the years pass on and the judgment strengthens, while the ultimate end is the love of God. This we can truly say has been the friendship between these two, whom God has blessed, and bestowed upon them the grace to live and die in one mind, happy in the same holy desires ; although Carnesecchi cannot blame himself for his desire to leave this world some time before Donna Giulia, not only because he was born before her, although at no great interval . . . but that he might perhaps, by God's mercy, be of some service to guide her across the dread passage to the world above. . . . And in this pious and honourable devotion to each other, I repeat once more that they are an example of rare friendship. . . ." In the following March, Pietro Carnesecchi writes concerning : CARNESECCHI IN PARIS 287 "... The singular benefits which he had received through her from the holy doctrine and conversation of Valdes, whom he first learnt to know through Donna Giulia, ... for of himself he would never have gained that profound belief and trust which had wrought such a change in him. ... He could not say enough to commemorate the wonderful consolation and strengthening which he had received from Donna Giulia, since the beginning of his trials, and of her wise advice which had ruled his conduct throughout the fiery trials which he had endured." In another letter he makes an interesting remark about his belief : "... We have agreed together about this equivocal word ' catholic/ because as the Signora and I believe, the catholic religion is ours, and this being so, I cannot declare that I hold the catholic religion false and superstitious ; but that which is universally preached, and especially by most of the Friars, is rather philosophy than religion, and more scholastic than scriptural, and against the doctrine of the early Fathers." This point is well stated by a well-known writer : l " Italian Reformers had become convinced of the necessity of a return to the simple elements of Christi- anity in creed and conduct. They considered a thorough-going reform by the hierarchy of all Catholic institutions to be indispensable. They leaned to the essential tenets of the Reformation notably the 1 Addington Symonds, "Renaissance in Italy.'* 288 ITALIAN REFOKMATION doctrine of justification by faith, and salvation by the merits of Christ, and also to the doctrine that Scripture is the sole authority in matters of belief and discipline. Thus . . . those who imbibed the teaching of Valdes in Naples fell under the suspicion of heterodoxy on these points. But it was charac- teristic of the members of this school that . . . they shrank with horror from the thought of encouraging a schism, or of severing themselves from the com- munion of Catholics/' CHAPTER XXV CARNESECCHI HIS MARTYRDOM Death of Paul IV Revolt in Rome The people storm the Inquisition, set free the prisoners Carnesecchi remains in Rome to have his sentence reversed Long anxious waiting He goes to Florence On the accession of Pius V (Michele Ghislieri), Carnesecchi is given up by Cosimo Duke of Florence He is taken to Rome, and suffers martyrdom His trial by the Inquisition WE have now reached a moment of intense interest and excitement, not only for Pietro Carnesecchi, but for all those in Italy who had adopted the Reformed doctrines. The wonderful vigour of the old monkish Pope, Paul IV, began to give way, and in many letters to Giulia Gonzaga, her friend gives voice to the general feeling of suspense and anxiety ; thus he says in one of June 24, 1559 : ' Vostra Signoria will have heard of the progress of the Pope's illness, and of the judgments which are passed : but I will not dwell upon more than to pray you to have comfort and patience, trusting that all will be well for the safety and liberation of D. Bartolomeo and of Morone, and also of the restitution of Carnesecchi. . . ." At last arrives the news of the Pope's death, but while he was still in the last agony, the populace rose in fierce revolt and wild joy at being free from the 19 289 290 ITALIAN REFORMATION cruel persecutor. This was on August 18, 1559. The story is graphically told by Alfred von Reumont. 1 " In the Capitol, a decree was set forth by which the prisons were to be opened ; then the wild masses spread themselves throughout the city. They first stormed the building of the Inquisition, they threw all its documents out of the windows, and they plundered the apartments of Cardinal Ghislieri, he being the highest resident authority ; they did the same to the other officials, personally maltreating them ; they set fire to and burned part of the palace down. The news of the Pope's death having spread, they hurried to Santa Maria sopra Minerva, they set free those who were imprisoned there, and would have burnt down that convent and have thrown the monks out of the windows, had they not been prevented by Giuliano Cesarini. The other prisons, the Torre Savella, the Tor di Nona, and that of the Senators, were also broken open ; they set at liberty four hundred prisoners, of whom . . . But they did worse the day after the Pope's death. . . . " Some months before, a statue had been erected to Paul IV in the Capitol. This statue now became the object on which the people vented their fury. . . . When the rejoicing attained its height on the third day, the Sunday, all the inscriptions and arms of the Caraffa were smashed and obliterated/' Carnesecchi wrote to Giulia Gonzaga on September 2, 1559 : " Vostra Signoria will have heard how the Holy 1 " History of the City of Rome," vol. iii. part 2, p. 642. CARNESECCHI HIS MARTYRDOM 291 Inquisition has died the same death which it was accustomed to inflict upon others that of fire. This certainly remains a notable thing, from which it appears that the judgments of that Office were not pleasing to the Divine Clemency, and we trust that in the future there will be less rigour and severity than in the past." He then goes on to speak of the results of the Pope's death, on September 9 : " I have rejoiced at the departure of the Pope for all respects, public and private ; but above all, I am most deeply thankful from having heard that if he had not passed away so soon, he would have given the death- stroke to Donna Giulia. ... in all that happened we believe that we see the mercy of God, Who permitted this in order to save Donna Giulia and, for the love of her, all her friends and servants." After this we have an account of the Conclave, when it seemed quite likely at first that either Cardinal Morone might be elected, or Cardinal Gonzaga of Mantua, who was a great friend of the Countess of Fondi. Carnesecchi, believing in the justice of his cause, had travelled to Rome to have his condemnation by the Inquisition set aside. The College of Cardinals had already set Morone free, and decided that the process against him was null and void, false and iniquitous ; and as such it was condemned to be burnt. With regard to Morone, Pietro is very frank for he writes : " Should Morone become Pope, we could wish him to lay aside one fault which he 292 ITALIAN KEFORMATION showed when he voted for Paul IV ; his faint- heartedness." In the end the choice fell upon Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Medici ; not one of the famous family at Florence, but a Milanese of insignificant birth. He took the name of Pius IV, and was in every way a great contrast to the fiery dominant man who had preceded him. This amiable, kindly disposed prelate only wished to live at peace with all men, and ap- parently for this reason, Carnesecchi found great difficulty in persuading him to reopen the trial. Meantime, Pietro was advised to live in complete seclusion, and only to go out at night. Indeed he was almost a prisoner in the Cloister of the Servites, St. Marcellus, on the Corso. The revision of his process dragged on wearily from week to week and from month to month. Even Morone who was in favour with Pius IV, scarcely dared to speak in his favour. On August 31, 1560, he wrote that he no longer looked for his liberation from men, nor from the Pope, but from God only. The Cardinal of Trent, who had been appointed an Inquisitor, visited him in his convent in September ; and in October, Cardinal Seripando who was also one of his friends, went to see him. Next the Duke Cosimo of Florence and his wife came to Rome, and appear to have used their influence in his favour. But on December 5, 1560, Carnesecchi writes in despair : !t There is no progress ! The fault lies with the Inquisitors, partly because they will not judge as right and duty dictate. ... God, pardon them who sin through ignorance ; but the others convert. , ? f CARNESECCHI HIS MARTYRDOM 293 As to Seripando, lie cannot be relied upon for he does not take his seat at the tribunal ; he is sick, and would willingly act the truant, for he well knows the difficulties, and has not the courage to meet them single-handed." However at last, on December 13, Pietro was admitted to the presence of the Pope, who had decided to withdraw the process from the tribunal, and to deliver judgment himself. The plaintiff appears to have been a little doubtful as to the wisdom of this, but he was more hopeful when he wrote on the following January : " I have had so much to do and consider in giving my answers to my shall I call them judges or opponents ? that I have scarcely found time to eat and to sleep ; still less to write about my affairs which encountered such a storm that at times I feared shipwreck. But now I trust that all is well, and that I am so near the haven as to be in safety. My storms sprang from my refusal to deny the favourable opinions which I hold of Valdes and of Galeazzo Caraccioli. ..." At last, after eighteen months of anxiety and suffering, he was able to write, on May 8, 1561 : " All has been considered ... by these my illustrious and most reverend Lords Cardinals, and has ended well ... as the enclosed document proves . . . which I beg you to send to Monsignor Mario (Galeota, Archbishop of Sorrento) ... in order that he may now rejoice over my liberation. . . ." 294 ITALIAN REFORMATION Pietro Carnesecchi remained in Rome until October, when he went to Naples to salute the Countess of Fondi and his other friends. He lodged with the monks of San Giovanni, who were commanded by Cardinal Seripando to make him welcome, but they treated him with suspicion and dislike, as a heretic. During the next few years, he travelled much, and it is one of the accusations made in his final judgment that " he occupied himself with heretics in Rome, in Naples, in Florence, in Venice and other parts of Italy, supporting suspected persons with counsel and with money/' The last letter cited in these proceedings of the Inquisition was one written to Giulia Gonzaga in November 1563, from the Abbey of Casal Nuovo. " Be not surprised at my great activity or wanton- ness, when you contemplate me rushing like Caesar with such rapidity through Italy. ... I feel more robust than ever ; it appears to be God's will to compensate me here on earth for the sicknesses and other afflictions which, sent by Him, I have patiently borne/' In spite of all their warnings from abroad, those friends of Carnesecchi who had fled to Geneva, could not persuade him to leave his native land. Yet he was full of anxious thought for Giulia, whom he persuaded, in 1564, to send to him at Venice the writings of Valdes which she had, lest the possession of them should place her in danger. He appears to have had some foreboding of the dark hour which was drawing near. Early in December of 1565, the mild and peace-loving CARNESECCHI HIS MARTYRDOM 295 Pope Pius IV who had achieved for the Church so great a success at the Council of Trent, by his wise diplomacy passed away, to the deep regret of all moderate churchmen. His nephew Carlo Borromeo, the sainted Archbishop of Milan, had been a source of strength to a Pope who had opened a new era for the Church and who was able to pass on a sceptre of undisputed authority to his successors. The Pope elected by the Conclave was the inexorable Dominican inquisitor of Paul IV, Michele Ghislieri, Cardinal of Alexandria, who took the title of Pius V. Now began an era of active hostility against Protestantism ; fierce persecution of all suspected heretics in Italy, and by the firm alliance with Philip II of Spain, attacks upon the Huguenots in France, the Pro- testants in Flanders, and the English throne. Three months after the accession of Pius V, Car- nesecchi had lost his " revered queen/' Giulia Gon- zaga, who died at Naples on April 19, 1566 ; and in the midst of his deep sorrow at this bereavement, he must have thanked God that his beloved lady was saved from the evil to come. As for his own fate, he realized the imminence of his danger now that his most bitter enemy had attained supreme power. He sought protection at the Court of his friend Duke Cosimo at Florence. One day that summer, he was sitting as a guest at the table of the Duke, when the friar TomasoManrique, Master of the Papal palace, was announced, as come on a special mission and desiring an interview. Manrique produced a letter dated June 20, 1566, in which after greeting Cosimo with the Apostolic Benediction, he was called upon to deliver over Carnesecchi into the hands of the Inquisition. The 296 ITALIAN REFORMATION Duke, who was probably prepared for the summons, at once commanded his friend and guest to rise from the table and surrender himself to the Papal mes- senger. This shameful act of treachery on the part of Cosimo found its full reward later when Pius V bestowed upon him the crowning honour of his life ; the long coveted title of " Grand Duke " of Tuscany. Pietro Carnesecchi made a final attempt to protect his friends by sending word to his household that all his books and papers should be destroyed. The only suspected works found were said to be Flaminio's Apology for the " Benefizio " and a manuscript, dedicated to Giulia Gonzaga, entitled : " Meditations and Prayers on St. Paul's Epistles to the Romans." As for the numerous letters which had passed between himself and the Countess of Fondi, a great number must have been seized by the Inquisition, as they were made to furnish leading evidence for the condemnation of the accused. Carnesecchi was taken a captive to Rome and lodged in the prison of the Holy Office. Then followed a long series of terribly wearisome and trying examinations, and when these failed to obtain evidence against his friends, the rack was freely employed, but still without avail. The prisoner wrote from his dungeon to Morone, to the Cardinal of Trent, to the Abbot of San Soluto and to Bartolomeo Concino ; but the letters were seized, and only served with the judges of that dread tribunal, to enhance his guilt. One pathetic sen- tence was : " They would fain have me say of the living and the dead, things which I do not know and which they are so eager to hear/' Through fifteen long months of imprisonment and CARNESECCHI HIS MARTYRDOM 297 frequent torture, these awful examinations continued, until at length, on August 16, 1567, sentence was delivered by the tribunal of the Inquisition, and published in Santa Maria sopra Minerva. The con- demned man was then handed over to " the secular arm," and led away to the most terrible and pesti- lential prison in Rome, the Tor di Nona, near the Porte St. Angelo, from which he was only to be delivered by a cruel death, inflicted with all the infamy of a public execution. For a month and more Carnesecchi awaited death in the unspeakable horrors of his dungeon, while no efforts were neglected to induce him to recant. One Capuchin friar who came to persuade him to save his life by denying his Faith, was so much moved by his eloquent words, that he dared not listen and departed in tears. In con- sideration of his having been at one time a Papal Protonotary, he was granted the favour of the scaffold rather than the gallows, before his body should be committed to the flames. It was in the early morning of October 3, 1567, that was enacted the final scene of this tragedy, and it may be truly said that the martyr's faithful life was crowned by his death. Carnesecchi was borne to the Ponte St. Angelo, amidst the execrations and curses of the fanatical rabble which crowded round him, but he retained his courage and composure to the last. They clothed him in a " sanbenito," the garment of heresy, painted over with flames and devils, but he had insisted that he would at least appear in clean linen, and he wore a white shirt, and had a white handkerchief in his hand. He was first beheaded, then burnt in the flames of the Inquisition, and his ashes were cast into the Tiber. With him 298 ITALIAN EEFOEMATION suffered a Friar, Giulio Maresio, of the city of Cividale, of the Order of Minor Friars. The Inquisition had condemned on the same occasion, fifteen other living heretics, who were condemned to imprisonment for life or to the galleys. The full account of the great Trial of Carnesecchi is probably the most interesting and most instructive of all the Eecords of the Eoman Inquisition. It is of special importance to us, apart from the accused man himself, for he was but the figure-head, and the real process was a cold-blooded arraignment of his living friends, and above all of the illustrious dead. In the roll-call of that heroic company of men and women, we find the most honoured names, revered by all the world of those who through good report and evil, had striven for the Eeformation of the Church, and had led the way by the example of their saintly lives. Yet all the time, they had been secretly watched and suspected by the Inquisition ; some had been tried and condemned while others had only escaped by forsaking all that made life dear to them, and seeking a refuge as exiles in a foreign land. But at the time of Carnesecchi's Trial, in 1566, most of them had passed away in faith and hope mercifully spared the cruel ordeal and the flames of the " Holy Office." To the familiars of the Inquisition, the pursuit of heresy ceased not with the grave ; the sacred memory of the dead was to be stained with infamy, their glory blotted out with shameful con- demnation. We see them pass before us in doomed procession. First the earnest prelates and laymen eager for the Church's reformation, who met for prayer and meditation in the " Oratory of Divine Love " at Eome, led by Caraffa, who as Pope Paul IV, CARNESECCHI HIS MARTYRDOM 299 was the first to betray them. We have followed the progress of Reform from city to city, the pious company who gathered round Cardinal Pole and Vittoria Colonna at Viterbo, those who formed a devoted circle with Contarini in Venice, or sat at the feet of Valdes in Naples, not to mention the groups at Ferrara, at Florence and elsewhere. With scarcely an exception, of these the living and the dead were alike arraigned and condemned by that fearful tribunal of Inquisitors, and Pietro Carnesecchi was made the scapegoat for them all. Here was the real tragedy of those fifteen long months of martyrdom which he endured in body and spirit, when day by day, and hour by hour, he was tortured by subtle and deceptive questions, and entrapped in every way by astute men of fatal inquisitorial ex- perience and talent. Moreover, by means of spies and the seizing of all private letters and papers, the Inquisition had already the most intimate knowledge of all that Carnesecchi and his friends had ever said or written. This could naturally be distorted to mean anything they wished to prove. This is no mere general statement, but can be proved beyond a doubt by the extraordinary chance which has revealed the most secret Records of the Roman Inquisition, in the case of this supremely interesting Trial of Carnesecchi. l From these Records, we have already seen how he was questioned at interminable length with regard to Vittoria Colonna, Marchese di Pescara, and when this great lady had been convicted of heresy, Carnesecchi was further tortured to make him betray every one who had been in communication with her. No one was sacred from 1 See note at the end of the book. 300 ITALIAN REFORMATION this Tribunal. The Countess of Fondi, Giulia Gonzaga, whom he revered as a saint and was proud to call " his Queen," was accused of holding false doctrines, and he was driven to despair by being entangled into dangerous admissions with regard to her opinions. It is true that the case of Giulia Gonzaga was already pre- doomed, for on the accession of Pius V (Michele Ghislieri) in 1566 he had come into posses- sion of a chest containing a great number of her letters to Carnesecchi and others. On reading these papers, the Pope had declared that "if he had seen these before her death, he would have taken good care to burn her alive/' NOTE Amongst other treasures which Napoleon I carried away from Home between 1810 and 1813, was an immense quantity of the most secret Archives of the Vatican, no less than 45,818 volumes. The conqueror proposed at that time to make Paris a central depot for the archives of Europe. It was not until July 1817, that Louis XVIII restored to Pius VII what was thought to be the whole of these valuable documents. But in 1846, the Duke of Manchester bought a number of Papal documents for 600, and these were examined in Ireland by the Rev. Richard Gibbings, who was amazed to discover that amongst these papers were the original MSS. of the Roman Inquisition, contain- ing the whole of the "Trial of Pietro Carnesecchi, sometime Secretary to Pope Clement VII and Apostolic Protonotary." These were ultimately placed in the Trinity College, Dublin. Here a German scholar, Professor Karl Benrath, of Bonn, who had been engaged for years on the study of the Italian Reformation, found these records in 1876, and put in order the fifty-seven bound volumes and twelve unbound ones. He discovered that fourteen volumes of the collection contained original Records of the Roman Inquisition, being the final judgments in the trials of Italian heretics, between December 16, 1564, and the year 1679 (and a detailed account of the whole conduct of the most typical of all, the Trial of Carnesecchi). In a collection of the Archives of the Dandini Family, bought by Count Giacomo Manzini in I860, are documents which corroborate the whole of the account given in the Records of the Inquisition of Car- negecchi's Trial. CHIEF AUTHORITIES CONSULTED Agostini, A. : Pietro Carnesecchi e il movimento Valdesiano. Florence, 1899. Alberi, Eugenic : Vita di Caterina dei Medici. Firenze, 1836. Archivio secreto del Vaticano. Archivio di Stato in Modena. Aubigne, Merle d' : Histoire de la Reformation en Europe au temps de Calvin. Auton, Jean d' : Histoire de Louis XII. Paris, 1625. Baguenault de Puchesse, F. : Histoire du Concile de Trente. Bala, Pietro : Storia di Clemente VII. Beccatelli, Lodovico : Vita del Cardinale Gasparo Contarini. Venice, 1563. Bembo, Pietro : Opere. Milano, 1810. Benrath, Karl : Bernardino Ochino, von Siena. Leipzig, 1875. Benrath, Karl : Vita di Caterina Cibo. Beza, T. : Vita di Calvino. 1564. Betts, John T. : A Glance at the Italian Reformation. Translated from the German of Leopold Witte. London, 1885. Betts, Maria : Life of Galeazzo Caraccioli (translated from the Italian of Nicolao Balbani, 1587). London, 1907. Bliimmer, Franz : Renata von Ferrara. 1870. Bohemer : Le cento e died considerazione di Gio. Valdes. Halls, 1860. Bonnet, Jules : Calvin au Val d'Aoste. Paris, 1861. Bonnet, Jules : Vie tfOlympia Morata. Paris, 1851 . Bonnet, Jules : Les Debuts d'un regne. Paris, 1886. Bonnet, Jules : Lettres d la Duchesse de Ferrara. Brant6me : Vie des dames illustres. Paris, Gamier Freres. Braun, W. : Cardinal Gasparo Contarini. 1903. Calvin, Lettres de, d Jacques de Bourgogne. Amsterdam, 1774. Campori, Giustini : Vittoria Colonna. Modena, 1878. SOI 302 CHIEF AUTHORITIES CONSULTED Cantii, C. : Gli Eretici d'ltalia. 3 vols. Turin, 1865. Caraccioli, A. : Compendia delV Istoria del Regno di Napoli. Venice, 1591. Caraccioli, A. : De vita Pauli IV. Cologne, 1612. Cibrario, Luigi : Lettere inedite di Santi, Papi, principe, ecc. Carrasco, Manuel : Alfonso e Juan de Valdes. Geneve, 1880. Comba, E. : / nostri protestanti. 2 vols. Florence, 1881. Creighton, D. : History of the Papacy during the Period of the Reformation. Vol. VI. London, 1882. Crespin, Jean : Histoire des martyr es persecutes et mis a mort pour la verite de VEvangile. Toulouse, 1585. Curione, Secundo Celio : Olympiae Fulviae Moratae . . . Opera omnia . . . Basilea ex officina Petri Pernae. 1580. Dittrich, F : Gasparo Contarini. Braunsburg, 1883. Duruy, G. : Le Cardinal Carlo Caraffa. Paris, 1882. Feliciangeli, B. Dott. : Notizie e documenti sulla vita di Caterina Cibo, Duchessa di Camerina. Ivi, libreria Fattorino, 1891. Florabelli, A. : Vita dell Cardinak Sadoleto. 1547. Fontana, Bartolomeo : Documenti Vaticani contro Veresia Inter ana in Italia Archivio della R. Soc. Rom. di Storia Patria. Vol. XV. Rome, 1892. Fontana, Bartolomeo : Renata di Francia, Duchessa di Ferrara. 3 vols. Rome, 1889. Ferriere, H. de la : Marguerite d'Angouleme. Paris, 1891. Froude : Lectures on the Council of Trent. London, 1896. Galifle, G. : Le refuge Italien de Geneve au XVI et XVII Siecks. Geneve, 1881. Gerdes, Danieles : Italiae Reformatae. 1765. Giannone : Istoria Civile del Regno di Napoli. Gibbings, R. : Trial and Martyrdom of Pietro Carnesecchi. Dublin, 1856. Giovio, Paolo : La vita di Alfonso da Este, duca di Ferrara. Venezia, 1597. Grand, Le : Histoire du divorce de Henri VIII. 1688. Guazzo, Marco: Istorie. Storie Imprese. Venezia, 1540. Guicciardini, Fr. : Storia d' Italia. Firenze, 1822. Guillemin, J. J. : Le Cardinal de Lorraine. Paris, 1847. SHaile, Martin : Life of Cardinal Pole. Herminjard, A. L. : Correspondance des Reformateurs. Gendve, 1878. CHIEF AUTHORITIES CONSULTED 303 Lavallee, J. : Histoire des Inquisitions religieuses. 2 vols. Paris, 1808. Lee, F. G. : Reginald Pole, Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury. London, 1888. Lettere volgare di diversi nobilissimi uomini et eccellentissimi Ingegni. Venice, 1547. Lettere di Claudio Tolomei. Venice, 1547. Marot, Clement : Oeuvres completes. Paris. (Marpon et Flam- marion.) McCrie : History of the Reformation in Italy. Edinburgh, 1827. Mendham, J. : The Literary Policy of the Church of Rome. Lon- don, 1830. Muratori, L. A. : Annali tf Italia. Florence, 1840. Nichols, F. H. : Epistles of Erasmus. London, 1901. Ochino, Bernardino : Sermones, Dialoghi, ecc. Basle and Geneva, 1541-1554. Ochino, Bernardino : Prediche predicate neWinclita citta di Venezia, del 1539. Basiiea, 1541. Paleario, Aonio : Works of. Jena, 1728. Pallavicino, Sforza : Istoria del Concilio di Trente. Roma, 1833. Pecci : Memorie della citta di Siena. 1758. Pole, Reginald : Epistolae, ecc. Ed. Quirini. Brescia, 1744. Reumont, A. : Vitadi VittoriaColonna. Freiburg, 1881 ; Torino, 1883. Ricotti : Delle revolutione protestante. Florence, 1861. Rodocanachi, E. : Renee de Ferrara. Paris, 1896. Ruscelli, G. : Lettere di principi. Venezia, 1574. Sadoleto, I. : Opera. 4 vols. Venezia, 1787. Sarpi, Paolo : Storia del Concilio Tridentino. Schmidt, Dr. C. : Peter Martyr Vermigli. Heidelberg, 1809. Sclopis, F. : Le Cardinal Jean Morone. 1869. Tiraboschi, Girolamo, Abate : Storia detta Literatura Italiano. Milan, 1824. Tufo, del : Chronicle of the Theatines. 1542. Turabull : The Times, Life and Writings of Olympia Morata. Boston, 1846. Ugolino : Storie dei conti e duchi di Urbino. Firenze, 1859. Valdes, Juan : Alfabeto Cristiano. Translated by B. B. Wiffen. Valdes, Juan : Dialogo de Mercurio y Caron. Valdes, Juan : 110 Divine Considercezione. 304 CHIEF AUTHORITIES CONSULTED Valdes, Juan : XVII Opusculi. Translated from the Spanish and Italian and edited by J. J. Betts. Valdes, Juan : Epistle to the Romans, Commentary on. Trans- lated. Triibner, 1882. Valdes, Juan : Gospel of St. Matthew, Commentary on. Trans- lated. 1882. Valdes, Juan : Epistle to Corinthians, Commentary on. (Juan Perez.) Valdes, Juan : Commentaries on the Psalms. Varillas : Histoire de rheresie. Vergerio, P. P. : Opera. Tubingen, 1560. Wiffen, Benjamin B. : Life and Writings of Juan Valdes. Lon- don, 1865. With 110 Considerations, translated by J. J. Betts. Young, M. : Life and Times of Aonio Pakario. London, 1860. INDEX Adrian VI, Pope, 7 Aldelli, Placido, 213 Aleander, Archbishop of Brindisi, 16, 21, 98 Alois, Giovanni. See Caserta Altieri, Baldassare, 273 Alva, Duke of, 280 Ambrose, 47 Anne Boleyn, 37, 38 Aragona, Anna d', 248 Giuliad', 196 Isabella d', 223 Katherine of, 87 Ariosto, Lodovico, 88, 90, 229 Aristotle, 18, 23, 28, 76 Aubeterre, Vicomte d', 102 Augsburg, 80, 113, 165, 167, 168, 169,256; Diet of, 178 Augustine, 47 Avalos, Alfonso. See Pescara Costanza, Princess of Fran- cavilla, 237 Badia, Tommaso, Cardinal, 16 Balzo, Antonia del, 223, 243 Barbara of Austria, Duchess of Ferrara, 130 Barbarossa, 102 Basil, 47 Basle, 79, 80, 82, 99, 168, 200, 204, 205, 206, 232 Beccadelli, Lodovico, 22 Bembo, Pietro, 26, 27, 29, 36, 41, 57, 76, 136, 137, 156, 209, 213, 214, 265 Benedetto of Mantua, 47, 211, 235 Berni, Francesco, 65 Beza, Theodore, 97, 98, 101 Bologna, 22, 32, 53, 56, 75, 89, 116, 209, 220 Bonamico, Lazaro, 36, 37 Bonfadio, Giacomo, 223, 235, 236 Borromeo, Carlo, 32, 295 Bourbon, Duke of, 252 20 Brandenburg, Albert of, 179 Brasavola, Antonio Musa, 88, 94 Bretagne, Anne de, 85, 89, 96 Brisegna, Isabella, 223, 238, 239, 270 Bruccioli, Antonio, 15, 59, 110 Brunswick, Duke of, 182 Bucer, Martin, 47, 75, 79, 81, 272 Bucyronia, Francesca, 103, 154, 174, 175, 187 Bullinger, 79 Henry, 200 Johann, 200 Buonarotti, Michelangelo, 57, 234 Calcagnani, Celio, 88, 108, 149, 150; death of, 154 Calvin, 82, 91, 97-105, 113, 118, 121, 124, 125, 130, 175, 196, 257, 261 Cambrai, Treaty of, 87 Capilupi, Camillo, 242 Capo d'Istria, 138, 141, 142, 143 Capua, Pietrantonio di, 231 Caraccioli, Colantonio, 252, 254, 255, 258, 259 Galeazzo, 51, 77, 120, 231, 252-262, 285 Vittoria, 253, 254, 256, 257, 260,261,262 Caraffa, Giampietro, Paul IV, 14, 15, 16, 18, 21, 32, 39, 63, 58, 66, 117, 123, 180, 213, 237, 269, 260, 281, 282, 285, 292, 293 Cardona, Diana, 247 Carnesecchi, Pietro, 48, 49, 51, 59, 66, 223, 232, 235, 249, 251, 263- 300 Caro, Annibale, 242 Carpentras, 26-29, 38 Casale, Monferrato, 196 Caserta, Francesco, 77-231, 253, 254 Castelvestro, Lodovico, 33, 34 Caatiglione, Baldassare, 46 305 306 INDEX Catherine of Siena, 3, 8 Ceciniano, 210, 216 Celso, 259 Cervini, Cardinal, 56 Charles V, Emperor, 7, 19, 21, 22, 77, 87, 94, 102, 121, 138, 178, 215, 220, 242, 245, 256 Charles IX, King of France, 128 Chiavenna, 79, 144 Christina of Denmark, 90 Cibo, Cardinal, 61 Caterina, Duchess of Camerino, 50, 51, 59-72, 266, 268, 271 Giambattista, Bishop of Mar- seilles, 62 Clement VII, Pope, 9, 10, 19, 24, 29, 50, 60, 61, 63, 65, 85, 91, 137, 220, 224, 264, 265, 266 Colle, 210 Colonna, Ascanio, 49 Fabrizio, 243 Isabella, 241 Vespasiano, 223 Vittoria, Marchesa di Pescara, 26, 39-44, 45, 49, 53-57, 62, 65, 67, 106, 107, 138, 223, 234, 237, 244 ; death of, 266, 270, 271, 299 Columbus, Christopher, 4 Consigliere, Paolo, 14 Contarini, Gasparo, 14, 15, 16, 18- 23, 35, 53, 76, 77, 137, 138, 299 Copernicus, 5 Cordier, Mathurin, 98, 101 Cortese, Gregorio, 16, 20 Paolo, Cardinal, 31 Cosimo, Duke of Florence, 121, 2^2, 295, 296 Coverdale, Mark, 81 Cranmer, Archbishop, 80, 81 Curione, Agostino, 203, 204 Angela, 203, 204 Celio Secundo, 78, 108, 110, 154, 168, 177, 186, 189, 190, 191, 193-206, 238 Dorothea, 205 Horatio, 202 Leo, 205 Violante, 202 Cusano, Benedetto, 75, 76, 77 Eboli, 265, 268, 283 Edward VI, King of England, 80, 1 Elizabeth, Queen, 82, 127, 133, 140, 201 Erasmus, 7, 27, 97, 98, 99, 194 Este, Alfonso I, Duke of Ferrara, 86, 87, 94 Alfonso II, son of Ren6e, 90, 109, 118, 119, 121, 122, 123, 125, 131, 132, 149 Anna d', daughter of Benee, 89, 107, 109, 111, 126, 129, 132, 152, 153, 158, 188 Ercole II, husband of Ken6e, 85, 86, 89, 91, 94, 95, 104, 106, 108, 109, 110, 111, 113, 115, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121; death of, 122 Federico, 244 Ippolito d', Cardinal, 90 Isabella d', 85, 107, 244, 268 ; death of, 108 Leonora d', 109, 128, 133 Lucrezia, daughter of Renee, 95, 106, 109, 122, 123 Luigi d', 108, 109, 121, 126 Estienne, Henri, 277 Robert, 277, 278 Fagius, 81 Fannio da Faenza, 112, 113, 161, 162, 169 Farel, Guillaume, 104 Fames e, Alessandro. See Paul III Federico, Duke of Mantua, 196 Ferdinand of Hungary, 21, 29, 121, 178,215 Ferrar, Nicholas, 232 Ferrara, 78, 79, 85-125, 126, 130, 133, 148-166, 171, 187, 199, 299 Filonardi, Ennio, Bishop of Ve- roli, 207, 208, 209,210 Firenzuola, Agnolo, 65 Flaminio, Marcantonio, poet, 15, 25, 36, 46, 47, 48, 49, 51, 65, 76, 110, 136, 153, 211, 223, 235, 237, 264, 269, 272, 296 ; death of, 277 Florence, 3, 51, 53, 54, 59, 60, 65, 73, 78, 122, 123, 125, 210, 263, 264, 267, 268, 271, 294, 295, 299 Fondi, 49, 223, 224, 230, 242 Fracastoro, Girolamo, 57, 259 Francois I, King of France, 20, 85, 90, 91, 92, 96, 100, 101, 105, 108, 111, 115, 123, 126, 140, 244, 276 ; death of, 128 Fran9ois II, King of France, 127 Frederic, Elector of Saxony, 136, 136, 185 INDEX 307 Fregoso, Federigo (Cardinal), Bishop of Gubbio, 16, 20, 76, 138 Fuggers, 167 Gadaldino, Antonio, 33 Galeoto, Maria, Archbishop of Sorrento, 281, 293 Galileo, 5 Geneva, 56, 79, 98, 102, 104, 105, 120, 121, 256, 258-262 Genoa, 78 Ghislieri, Michele. See Pope Pius V Giberti, Gian Matteo, Bishop of Verona, Cardinal, 9, 14, 16, 20, 24, 25, 40, 52, 57, 66, 268, 271 Giovenale, Latino, 14 Giraldi, Lilio, 1 53 Gonzaga, Ercole, Cardinal, 106, 140, 143, 249, 291 Ferrante, 243 Giulia, 48, 49, 51, 58, 62, 66, 223-251, 255, 270, 280, 282, 286, 287-296, 299 Ippolita, 243, 248, 249 Isabella, 224, 241 Leonora, 140 Lodovico, 223, 241, 243 Luigi (Rodomonte), 224, 241 Vespasiano Colonna, 224, 241, 243, 246, 247, 248, 250, 251 Gregory VII, Pope, 7 Grisone, Antonio, 244 Gritti, Andrea, Doge of Venice, 91 Grunthler, Andrew (husband of Olympia Morata), 162, 163, 164, 166, 167, 169, 181, 184, 185, 186, 187, 190, 191 Guarini, Battista, 194 Guidobaldo, Duke of Urbino, 63, 64 Guise, Due de, 121, 128, 129 Heidelberg, 121, 145, 146, 147, 186, 189, 190, 191 Henri II, King of France, 111,113, 115,119, 155,158,276,278 Henry VIII, King of England, 27, 28, 36-39, 97, 268 ; death of, 244 Herbert, George, 232, 233 Hooper, Bishop, 81 Huss, John, 1 Innocent VIII, Pope, 60 Innsbruck, 167 Interim (of Leipzig, 1548), 165 Ischia, 246 Ivrea, 195 Jewel, Bishop, 82 Julius II, Pope, 10, 112, 129 Julius III, 278, 279 Lampridio, Benedetto, 208, 209 Lascari, Constantino, 18 Latiraer, Bishop, 81 Lausanne, 199, 203 LeoX., Pope, 13, 26, 60, 65 Liege, 25 Lollio, Albert, 88, 149 London, 80 Lorraine, Francois de, Duke of Guise, 111, 158 Louis XII, King of France, 85, 91, 129, 132 Loyola, Ignatius, 113 Lucca, 77, 78, 154, 155, 198, 199, 202,213,214,259,268 Luther, Martin, 1,4, 10, 16, 17, 97, 136, 137, 138, 146, 177, 194, 197, 254, 272 Lyons, 104 Majoragio, Marcantonio, 215 Manrique, Garzia, 223, 228, 270 Manrique, Tomaso, 295 Marcello II, Pope, 279 Maresio, Giulio, 298 Mantua, 138, 141, 196, 268 Margherita Paleologa, 196, 244 Marot, Clement, 88, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 101, 104, 105 Jean, 94 Martyr, Peter (Pietro Martire Vermigli), 51, 58, 59, 73-82, 110, 135, 187, 202, 223, 231, 253, 270 Mary of England, 39, 81, 187 Mauro of Aroano, 208 Maximilian II, Emperor, 200 Medici, Catherine dei, 105, 126, 127, 132, 264, 377 Ippolito, Cardinal, 224, 225 Lorenzo the Magnificent, 264 Melanchthon, Philip, 10, 33, 43, 96, 97, 194, 201 Milan, 28, 79, 90, 144, 171, 194 Minadois, Germane, 231 Modena, 26, 28-34, 126 Montargis, City of, 127, 129-135 Morata, Lucrezia, 171 Olympia, 103, 107, 111, 113, 121, 145, 146, 147-192, 193, 199 308 INDEX Morata, Vittoria, 187 Morato, Emilio, 160, 166, 169, 174, 182, 183, 188; death of, 191 Fulvio Peregrine, 103, 108, 148, 149, 152, 154, 197, 198; death of, 157 Moravia, 82, 83 Morone, Giovanni, Cardinal, 2 6, 29- 33, 80, 281, 289, 291, 292, 296 Musurus, Marco, 18 Naples, 42, 47, 75, 76, 77, 94, 102, 153, 214, 219-230, 237-250, 268, 269, 294, 295 Navagero, Andrea, 18 Navarre, Henri of, 133, 134 Jeanne d'Albret of, 128, 130; death of, 133 Marguerite of, 20, 85, 93, 96, 128, 133, 135, 138, 139, 140, 277, 278 Nemours, Due de, 131, 134 Noyon, 97, 98, 99, 104 Ochino, Bernardino, 30, 41, 42, 50-57, 67-72, 73,79, 80, 82, 83, 84, 106, 110, 187, 223, 225, 249, 257, 266 Oratory of Divine Love, 12-30 Origen, 47 Orleans, 99, 126, 127, 129, 134 Orsini, Paolo, 155 Ory, Mathieu, 115, 116, 117 Oxford, 80, 81, 233 -Padua, 9, 18, 25, 29, 36, 37, 46, 74, 136, 137, 208, 209 Paleario, Aonio, 28, 51, 205, 207- 218, 270 Marietta, 210, 211, 216, 217 Paris, 86, 92, 99, 101, 102, 119, 130, 132, 134, 138, 139, 275-279 Parisio, Cardinal, 29 Parthenay, Anne de (later " de Pons "), 89, 102, 108 Lusignan de, 89 Paul III, Pope, 16, 20-23, 39, 51, 64, 76, 94, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 120, 137, 138, 143, 144, 152, 211, 213, 244, 274, 275-282 Paul IV, Pope. See Caraffa Pavia, 196 Pelletario, Jesuit priest, 117 Perugia, 208 Pesoara, Ferrante d'Avalos, Mar- chesedi, 29 Pescara, Marchesa di. SeeColonna, Vittoria Philip II of Spain, 121, 122, 215, 242, 243, 246, 247, 279, 280, 295 Piccolomini, Alfonso, 237 Pico della Mirandola, 3, 6 Pisa, 78, 202, 214 Pius II (Piccolomini) Pope, 8 Pius III, 237 Pius IV, Pope, 32, 123, 292, 295 Pius V, Pope (Ghislieri), 215, 250, 251, 286, 295, 296, 300 Plato, 28 Poissy, Colloquy of, 82 Poland, 82, 205 Pole, Reginald (Cardinal), 9, 14, 15, 20, 25, 29, 35-39, 45, 49, 50, 54-58, 66, 76, 138, 237, 268, 271, 272, 281 Pons, Antoine de, 89, 91, 102, 108 Porto, Francesco, 110, 121 Priuli, Luigi, 15, 38, 49, 249, 277 St. Quentin, Battle of (1557), 121 Ragnone, Lattanzio, 273, 278 Rangone, Giulia, 156 Helena, 171,223 Ratisbon, Diet of, 21, 35 Renee of France, Duchess of Ferrara, 79 ; at Ferrara, 85-125 ; in France, 126-135; 139, 147, 162, 267 Ricci, Paolo, 30 Ridley, Bishop, 81 Rome, 15, 16, 19, 41, 45, 46, 47, 50, 52, 53, 57, 61, 64, 94, 110, 120, 121, 123, 144, 154, 195, 209, 210, 211, 215, 216, 217, 220, 268, 274, 276, 283, 289, 300 Rovere, Lavinia della, 155, 160, 162, 164, 166, 169, 171, 182, 188 Rullo, Donate, 231, 271, 272 Sabioneta, 224, 246, 247 Sadoleto, Jacopo, Cardinal, 14, 26-29, 39, 212, 214 Sanseverino, Ferrante, Prince of Salerno, 214 Savonarola, Girolamo, 36 Saxony, Maurice, Elector of, 178, 182 Schweinfurt, 162, 169, 170, 174, 179-185, 187 Serdonati, historian, 65 INDEX 309 Seripando, Girolamo, Bishop of Salerno (Cardinal), 249, 292, 293, 294 Sforza, Francesco, 90 Siena, 41, 208, 209, 210, 212, 237 Sinapius, Johann, 103, 108, 149, 154, 162, 163, 166, 169, 174, 185, 187 Kilian, 103, 108, 110, 149, 154, 162, 163 -Theodora, 174, 187, 188 Soranzio of Bergamo, 281 Soubise, Carlotta de, 89 Madame de, 88, 89, 91, 94, 95, 102 Renata de, 89 Spadaforo, Bartolomeo, 281, 289 Sperlonga, 224 Spiera, Francesco, 143, 144 Spires, Diet of, 29 Spoleto, 75 Strasburg, 79, 82 Suleyman II, 224 Tancredi, Onorata, 223 Tansillo, Luigi, 242, 248, 249 Tasso, Bernardo, 88, 90, 95, 229, 251 Terenziano, Giulio, 52 Throckmorton, N., English Am- bassador, 127 Tillet, Louis de, 102 Titian, 90, 242 Toledo, Don Pietro, Viceroy of Naples, 76, 219, 244, 245 Trent, 167 Trent, Council of, 28, 29, 32, 167 Tubingen, 145 Urbino, Duke of, Francesco Maria, 133 Valdes, Alfonso, 219, 220 Juan de, 219-238, 241, 254, 255, 265, 267, 269, 270, 271, 287, 299 Valentino, Bonifaccio, 33 Filippo, 33 Varano, Giovanni, Duke of Came- rino, 60 Giulia, daughter of Caterina Cibo, 61, 62, 63, 64 Matteo, 63, 64 Vassy, 128 Venice, 47, 48, 52, 76, 89, 90, 91, 96, 125, 137, 197, 258, 260, 272, 273, 283, 295 Verdura, Bishop of, 281 Vermigli, Gemma Felicita, 74 Pietro Martire. See Martyr, Peter Veroli, 207 Verona, 9, 25, 40, 52, 258 Vettori, Piero, 210 Vicenza, 149 Vicosoprano, 144 Vienna, 200 Villari, 4 Virgilio, Marcello, 74 Viterbo, 26, 45, 49, 56, 138, 212, 241, 271 Wittenberg, 5, 97, 136, 137, 145 Wolsey, Cardinal, 37 Wiirtzburg, 169 Zacharias, Pope, 4 Zanchi, Girolamo of Bergamo, 202 Zurich, 79, 82, 104, 199, 239 Zwingle, 10 Printed fa Hazelly Walton and Viney, Ld., London and Ayletbwry. FEODOR DOSTOIEFFSKY A Great Russian Realist BY J. A. T. LLOYD AUTHOR OP "TWO RUSSIAN REFORMERS," ETC. IN THE ESSEX LIBRARY Large crown 8vo, with photogravure frontispiece, cloth gilt, 5/- net. "A critical and appreciative biography that will be welcomed by all lovers of literature. Mr. Lloyd is excellent alike as biographer and as critic, and he has the advantage of a picturesque subject, for there are few men whose life has been more varied or more bitter than that of Dostoieffsky. The life of the man is itself a romance. 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The stories chosen range from classical times to the days of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and it is shown that although these connections have sometimes ended illicitly, others have been only concerned with the welfare of Art. For instance the ladies of ancient Rhodes, Corinth and Sicyon were proud to help Apelles and Zeuxis in their work. In the days of the Renaissance Roman grandees sat for Raphael, and the models who sat for Titian were not poor professionals working to earn their living, but great ladies of ducal rank and even of royal blood. Dr. Rappoport is at pains to show the supreme importance in the production of master- pieces of the artist's relation to his model. Every Man's El-doradoBritish South America. By EDITH A. BROWNE. Author of " Peeps at Greece and Spain," etc. Demy 8vo, cloth gilt, fully illustrated, 125. 6d. net. In these days when most parts of the world are given over to the ravages of the globe-trotter, it is good to hear of an undeveloped country, which is at once of great commercial value, a land with a delightful climate, and a country where the travelling facilities are such as will enable the holiday-maker to indulge his inclination to explore unbeaten tracts without discomfort, and also enable him to enjoy to the full the fascination of new and unique surroundings. Such a country is British Guiana, and the author who depicts this British Colony in South America under the happy title of "Every Man's El-dorado," writes entirely from first-hand knowledge and observation, whilst her standpoint of discrimination is that of a traveller well acquainted with many parts of the world. Miss Browne discusses the social and commercial problems of the land, which has been called "The Magnificent Province," she relates its history, gives hints to intending tourists, and in her charming style gives picturesque descriptions of the country itself. Western Men with Eastern Morals. By W. N. WILLIS. With a preface by R. A. BENNETT, Editor of Truth. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 53. net. The relationship between the white man and the coloured woman in countries under the dominion of the white races presents a problem which increasingly demands attention. The author describes from personal observation the white man's life in the East, the licensed immorality of the Straits Settlement and Japan, and the irregular alliances of the rubber planter, of the Anglo- Burman and of the tea planter of Ceylon, and points out the difficulties likely to arise in the near future in dealing with the parti-coloured offspring of these asso- ciations. A preface by the Editor of Truth bears corroborative testimony. The White Slaves of London. By W. N. WILLIS. Part Author of " The White Slave Market," and Author of "Western Men with Eastern Morals," "What Germany Wants," etc. Incorporating Appeals to the Nation by His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, The Lord Bishop of London, The Lord Bishop of Birmingham, and Mrs. Bramwell Booth. Crown 8vo, cloth, 2s. net ; paper, with illustrated cover, is. net. 5th edition. This remarkable book is designed to show that the cities of England are no freer from the terrible traffic in White Slaves than are those of other European countries. With ample evidence at his disposal, Mr. Willis digs deep into the mire of vicious lives and lays bare the horrible, yet truly pitiable, facts. He tells what he has seen with his own eyes, he gives the evidence of his assistants and his fellow- workers, and renders impossible denial of the horror of London's vice. To repudiate the suggestion that the stories of the traffic in this country are " all moonshine in the imaginative brains of the novelists," Mr. Willis describes visits made to places of constant immorality in the neighbourhood of Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square. It is to be hoped, as the Bishop of London says in a letter to the author, " that this book will shock London." The White Slave Market. By Mrs. ARCHIBALD MACKIRDY (Olive Christian Malvery), Author of " The Soul Market," etc., and W. N. WILLIS, Author of "What Germany Wants," etc. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 53. net ; Paper covers is. net. Twelfth edition. " A bold and unflinching statement of the whole subject a book which ^ill compel attention and awaken passionate indignation nothing which ought to be said is left unsaid, and the case for public action is made out by the statement of particular cases which have come to the knowledge of one or other of the writers." Liverpool Post. " A terrible tale of the abominable traffic, told in straightforward style. It should arouse the anger of every right-thinking man and woman." Rejeree. " This volume bears the stamp of truth." Standard. California. An Englishman's Impressions of the Golden State. By A. T. JOHNSON. Demy 8vo, cloth gilt, fully illustrated, los. 6d. net. On his title page Mr. Johnson quotes a couplet from Oliver Goldsmith : " 111 fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay." This denotes, in some measure, the ruling spirit of California. The dollar is swaying the thoughts of the multitude, and in the rough communities is fostered an atmosphere of illusion and self-deception. The key note of the Californian's character is an extreme egotism, which is shown in his lack of honour, his distrust of foreigners, his boastfulness, his scorn of good manners, which he considers soft and effeminate, and his love of talking about himself. 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Mr. Spens is a novelist of some repute, and in this rambling and discursive book of travels in the Near East he has made use of the fiction-writer's gift of retailing conversations and giving brightly- written by-the-way notes on his surroundings. He visited Algeria, Constantinople, Corsica, Crete, Naples, and many other places of interest in the neighbourhood of the Mediterranean. The book has about it much of the cheery sense of amusement of Mark Twain's " The Innocents Abroad." The Human Machine. An Inquiry into the Diversity of Human Faculty in its Bearings upon Social Life, Religion, Education, and Politics. By J. F. NISBET. Fifth and new edition. Crown 8vo, 35. 6d. net. The Spectator says: "An undoubtedly clever and suggestive book. . . . We have rarely met with anything so sound as the author's common-sense criticism of popular Socialism, or the vigorous handling of the much-discussed modern ' sex* problems " Truth sa} s: " A singularly lucid book . . . singularly suggestive." Thf. Glasgow Herald says: "Well written and eminently readable. Mr. Nisbet lias something worth remembering to say on almost every subject that engages the attention of educated men." The Physiology of Faith and Fear ; or, the Mind in Health and Disease. By WILLIAM S. SADLER, M.D. With an Appendix and Index. Large crown 8vo, 580 pp., with 44 full- page illustrations, cloth gilt, 6s. net. This book " is affectionately dedicated to all who worry, to the victims of fear, moral despair, and other mental maladies ; to those who are seeking to know the truth concerning the power of mind over matter ; and also to those mental sufferers who have been deceived and deluded by false systems of mental healing." The author writes from the standpoint of the physiologist, and separates the study of mental healing from any particular system, sect, or form of religious belief. He not only calls attention to the power of the mind over the body, but points out the great influence of the body over the mind, and more particularly the effect of a diseased or disordered physical body on the mental state and moral tendencies. The work is couched, as far as possible, in simple language, void of technicalities, and it is hoped that its general effect may be to emphasize the harmful quality of fear, and the wholesome, renovating influence of faith and religion. " Sound common sense. Full of striking and stimulating ideas." Scotsman. " Of gr^at interest. We can cordially commend this book." Sheffield Telegraph. The Insanity of Genius: and the General Inequality of Human Faculty Physiologically Considered. By J, F. NISBET. Author of " The Human Machine," etc. Sixth and new edition, with an Introduction by DR. BERNARD HOLLANDER. Crown 8vo, 53. net. Ever since the time of Aristotle, 2000 years ago, some subtle relationship has been suspected between genius and insanity, a near kinship being traced between the spiritual exaltation which produces poets and inventors, and the fury of the insane ; and certainly it is remarkable how often eminent men have displayed morbid symptoms of the mind. In this book, Mr. J. F. Nisbet discusses the subject in the light of late discoveries and the most modern methods of investigation. His knowledge of the localisation of the functions of the brain and of the establishment of kinship between an extensive group of brain and nerve disorders, leads him to the conclusion that, apparently at the opposite poles of human intellect, genius and insanity are in reality but different phases of a morbid susceptibility, or want of balance, in the cerebro-spinal system. 8 Reflections of a Sporting Artist. By FINCH MASON (" Uncle Toby "). Demy 8vo, cloth gilt, with about 100 illustra- tions, i6s. net. These recollections and reflections by Mr. Finch Mason, the well- known sporting author and artist, whose work usually appears above the pseudonym " Uncle Toby," are remarkable for the adroit facility with which the writer sums up the psrsonalities of many well- known people. The book includes reminiscences of Twyford School under the present Dean of Durham, of life at Eton in the sixties, and of the masters and schoolfellows of that period, including Lord Randolph Churchill, William Beresford, V.C., and others who have since become famous. A year in business, and another year as a student of architecture under Mr. Edward Barry, R.A., pass under review, and also the author's experiences on the turf, in the hunting field, and on the moors. Numerous anecdotes add to the unique interest of the book, which comprises a particularly bright and fascinating volume. One hundred drawings by the author increase the value of the book. The European in India. By H. HERVEY (Indian Telegraphs, retired). Author of " Cameos of Indian Crime." Demy 8vo, cloth gilt, fully illustrated, 125. 6d. net. This work, written by a European after many years' residence in India, sheds a flood of light on the life of the European in that country. The lives of soldiers in camp and in fortresses, of doctors, clergymen, journalists, and civil servants of every kind, are fully and entertainingly described, as well as those of planters among their tea and rice fields, globe-trotters "doing" Calcutta, the wives of magistrates entertaining the sisters and daughters of doctors and soldiers, and the loafer idling under the tropical sun. A large section of the book is given up to life at the hill-stations, the coast stations, and up-country stations, to station clubs, dinner parties, concerts, dances, picnics, and weddings. Mr. Hervey writes with an entertaining pen and crowds his book with brightness and amusement. August Strindberg : The Spirit of Revolt. Studies and Impressions by L. LIND-AF-HAGEBY. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, illustrated, 6s. net. Already there is in England a growing interest in the work and personality of August Strindberg, the most noted of modern Swedish writers, who died on May i-jth, 1912. To many, his name still con- notes a morbid madman, noxious and absurd in the writings and actions ; this book, however, well written and showing sympathetic understanding of the man and his career, gives a vivid picture of the struggles and difficulties of his life, and makes clear the true representativeness and greatness in him and his works. Strindberg, who, on the Continent, takes rank with Ibsen, was a prolific writer in all kinds of literature, and his works are notable for their modern, scientific and socialistic ideas. He wrote seventy plays, psychological, satirical, historical and mystic, and novels, stories and essays, which place him in the forefront of modern writers as an observer of life. This thoughtful monograph combines a critical estimate with a sufficiently full and searching biography, the whole presenting a clear picture of this elusive author in his relation to modern thought. 9 Samphire. By LADY SYBIL GRANT Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 35. 6d. net. A bright, companionable volume by the daughter of Lord Rosebery, consisting of a series of essays. Among the subjects dealt with are "Millionaires in Fiction," " Personal Relations," "About Snobs," "Nature," "Salons," "Criticism," "Authoresses and Authors," and " Literary Dodges." They are excellent satire, and have in addition breadth and good humour. A Tour through South America. By A. S. FORREST. Author of " A Tour through Old Provence," etc. Demy 8vo, cloth gilt, profusely illustrated, los. 6d. net. Mr. A. S. Forrest, the well-known artist-author, has lately travelled extensively in South America and particularly in the district of the Panama Canal. He carried credentials which gave him unique facilities of exploration, and much that he has put into his book cornea before the public for the first time. Mr. Forrest goes on his travels, sketch-book and note-book in hand, and it is an added charm to his work that he is a delightful raconteur. He sets forth his impressions in a way that is at once extremely interesting and informing. His South American travels covered a wide area, and his book will be of infinite value to those wishing for an accurate and picturesque presentation of the characteristics of a fascinating country. Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition. By RAFAEL SABATINI. Author of " The Life of Cesare Borgia," "The Lion's Skin," "The Strolling Saint," etc. Demy 8vo, fully illustrated, i6s. net. Mr. Rafael Sabatini is the first writer to attempt a study of the personality and career of this grim Dominican friar, to disentangle the threads of his actions from the warp of chronicles and records into which they are woven, and to co-ordinate them into a historical and psychological study of the actual man. The study of Friar Thomas de Torquemada is, however, essentially the study of the Inquisition, and Mr. Sabatini traces from earliest Christian times the rise and development of that ghastly tribunal, and its introduction into Castile under Ferdinand and Isabella, with Torquemada as the first Grand Inquisitor, establishing rules of procedure which were to endure until the nineteenth century. Tor- quemada is not only the first Grand Inquisitor, but he may be accepted as the complete type of the president of the Holy Office, and the trials which took place under his rule are typical of inquisitorial trials in all subsequent ages. Mr. Sabatini deals without bias and in a purely historical spirit with this phase of religious persecution. But in his hands, history is never a matter of cold abstracts. He pursues his usual methods of keeping the human interest paramount ; he realizes for us the spirit of the age with which he deals and the personalities of the historical personages he presents ; by the swift movement of his narrative and his intimate attention to detail he achieves an engrossing and dramatic piece of work, in the course of which he lays before us a series of poignantly vivid pictures of the Inquisition at work. 10 Gaiety and George Grossmith. Random Reflections of an Apostle of Pleasure. By STANLEY NAVLOR. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, fully illustrated, 53. net. ^ Mr. George Grossmith lives in the imagination of the multitude as tie lightest, the airiest, the most irresponsible of men. Away from the footlights, we see Grossmith, the man ; a shrewd, although tolerant, observer to whom all the world's a stage the most interesting, in fact, of all possible stages. He knows his London, and also his Paris and his New York. To tajk to him for many minutes on friendly terms is to realise that he has pondered over many more things than are thought of by the most staid and elderly wiseacre. His reflections, as here set forth, therefore, are good entertainment with serious thought behind it, and when he treats of passers-by ' on the stage and off,' or when he describes the hardships of his own gaiety, the reflections of the " Apostle of Pleasure" are words of delight. The Suffrage Annual and Women's Who's Who. Edited by A. J. R. Vol. I. 1913. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. net. An indispensable reference book on all suffrage matters. It will contain biographies of about 1,000 prominent women in the Suffragist movement, and include a list of the thirty societies, with full addresses ; addresses of about r,ooo branches ; a chronological table of the events in the history of the long campaign, and reliable data on every thing connected with the Women's Movement. As all the Suffrage Societies have contributed to the book it will be regarded as the official work of reference on suffrage matters. Modern Politics. Large crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 546 pages, 6s. net. This volume consists of a number of leading articles reprinted from " The Commentator," a journal that has become well-known for its fearless plain-speaking in the Conservative interest. The articles have for the most part a more or less direct bearing on the problem of our country's lack of employment for its own population ; they seek to remind their readers of " those old principles which, when recognized and acted on by the legislature and the people, not only enabled England to employ her population, but by so doing made her the foremost country in the world." During the troublous times which have affected the political world in the last three years, " The Com- mentator" has sturdily maintained its principles, and the value of this volume should be appreciated by all interested in politics. The Commentator. The most out-spoken paper in England. A sixpenny review for One Penny Weekly. "The Commentator" is a paper which has the courage of its con- victions, and speaks with no uneertain mind. Whatever doubts and fears may paralyse blas politicians, " The Commentator" is free from all ambiguity and vacillation. Published every Wednesday. Paul's Simplicode By M. LEVY Crown 8vo, cloth, is. net. A simple and thoroughly practical and efficient code for the use of Travellers, Tourists, Business Men, Colonial Emigrants, Lawyers, and the general public. Everyone should use this, the cheapest code book published in English. A sentence in a word. ii STANLEY PAUL'S NEW 2/- net NOVELS Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, Pictorial Wrapper, as. net each. i The Unholy Estate (5th edition). DOUGLAS SLADEN a Between Two Stools (5th edition). RHODA BROUGHTON 3 The Consort (3rd edition). MRS. EVERARD COTES (SARA JEANETTE DUNCAN) 4 The Woman-Hunter (4th edition). ARABELLA KENEALY 5 The Doll (4th edition). VIOLET HUNT 7 The Justice of the Duke (and ed : tion). RAFAEL SABATINI 8 Neighbours of Mine. 70 illustrations (and edition). R. ANDOM 9 Ruffles (and edition). L. T. 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R. CROCKK.TT HELEN MATHERS DOLF WYLLARDE E. KEBI.E HOWARD CHARLES E. PEARCE 35 Woman Adrift. The Menace of Suffra- gism (3rd edition). HAROLD OWEN Intimate Memoirs of Napoleon III. : Personal Reminiscences of the Man and the Emperor. By the late BARON D'AMBKS; translated by A. K. Allinson. Two volumes, demy 8vo, fully illustrated, 243. net the set. " A life-like study of Napoleon by a life-long friend." Evening Standard. The Royal Miracle : A Collection of Rare Tracts, Broadsides, Letters, Prints, and Ballads concerning the wanderings of Charles II. after the Battle of Worcester (September 3 October 15, 1651), with a Preface, Historical Introduction, Appendix and bibliography by A. M. BROAULEY, Author of "Dr. Johnson and Mrs. Thrale," etc. Crown 4to, cloth gilt, fully illustrated with portraits, maps, etc., etc., from rare originals, i6s. net. Guardian. "This book is a storehouse of curious matter. 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The author of this book has written and lectured on mythology for many years, and is, from study and research, well qualified to produce a work to supply the general need. She traces the rise and development of the various native myths through their Greek, Norse and Oriental phases, so that the book is an authoritative guide to the subject, and at the same time thoroughly interesting and entertaining. The ABC Guide to Music. By D. GREGORY MASON. With twelve illustrations, 55. net. In this work Mr. Mason discusses the theory of music in a simple and entertaining manner, and then treats in turn pianoforte, orchestral and vocal music, dealing with the master musicians and their work with sure insight and significant analysis. He has avoided technical expressions as far as possible, and his book may be recommended not only to young readers, but also to adult lovers of music wishing to increase their knowledge of musical art. The ABC Guide to Pictures. By CHARLES H. CAF- FIN. Author of" How to Study Pictures." Fullyillustrated.5s.net. Mr. Caffin is a well-known author of books on art. In this book, with the object not so much to tell the reader what pictures to admire as to suggest the principles which will enable him to judge for himself what is most worthy of admiration, Mr. Caffin analyses the best qualities of art from well-known examples, and makes his point with the clearness and precision of a true critic. The ABC Guide to American History. By H. W. ELSON. With sixteen illustrations, 55. net. In a style that is at once picturesque and crisp, Mr. Elson tells the story of the growth of the modern America out of the land discovered by Columbus in 1492. The book, which is full of fascinating romance and incident, contains also, in its account of the rise of the United States, a considerable amount of thoughtful writing on the development of nations and the art of government. 16 The A B C of Collecting Old Continental Pottery. By J. F. BLACKER. Author of " Nineteenth Century English Ceramic Art," etc. Illustrated with about 100 line and 50 half-tone illustrations, 55. net. In this new volume Mr. J. F. Blacker provides information and illus- trations of wares never previously presented in an inexpensive form to the great army of collectors. Persian, Syrian, Anatolian and Rhodian wares, with the lustred Hispano Moresque and Siculo Moresque pottery take their place side by side with the Majolica of Italy, the Faience of France, the Delft of Holland, and the Stoneware of Germany. The ABC about Collecting (Second Edition). By SIR JAMES YOXALL, M.P. The subjects include, among others, China, Clocks, Prints, Books, Pictures, Furniture and Violins. With numerous illustrations, 55. net. " A beginner cannot well have a better guide." Outlook. The A B C of Collecting Old English Pottery. By J. F. BLACKER. With about 400 line and 32 pages of half-tone illustrations, 55. net. " Practically every known variety of old English pottery is dealt with, and facsimiles of the various marks, and the prices realised by good examples at auction are given." Observer. "Mr. Blacker speaks with authority, and his pages are full of knowledge." Bookman. The A B C of Collecting Old English China. By J. F. BLACKER. With numerous line and 64 pages of half-tone illustrations, printed on art paper, 55. net. 41 To the beginner there could be no surer guide." Pall Mall Gazette. The ABC Dictionary of Modern Prose Quota- tions. A Classified Dictionary of Modern Thought in the form of Aphorisms and Epigrams in English from Blake to Bergson. By HOLBROOK JACKSON, Author of " Great English Novelists," etc., 55. net. A fascinating and valuable collection of the wit and wisdom of one of the most brilliant centuries of the world's history. It is at once an anthology and a useful reference volume, and Mr. Holbrook Jackson may be relied upon as an editor of knowledge and discretion. More About Collecting. By SIR JAMES YOXALL, M.P. Author of " The A.B.C. about Collecting," etc. Large crown 8vo, cloth gilt, with about 100 illustrations, 55. net. This work is written in an interesting and entertaining style, and so arranged that readers who have little knowledge or experience of the hobby which they wish to take up, may find exactly the information they require put plainly and tersely. Nineteenth Century English Ceramic Art. By J. F. BLACKER. With coloured frontispiece and over 1,200 examples. Illustrated in half-tone and line. "One of the cheapest art manuals that has appeared in the present generation. Invaluable to all lovers of historic ware." Daily Telegraph. 17 STANLEY PAUL'S NEW SIX SHILLING NOVELS A Grey Life: A Romance of Bath. "RITA" Author of " Peg the Rake," "My Lord Conceit," "Countess Daphne," " Grim Justice," etc. " Rita" has chosen Bath as the setting for her new novel. She has disdained the " powder and patches" period, and given her characters the more modern interests of Bath's transition stage in the seventies and eighties. Her book deals with the struggles of an impoverished Irish family of three sisters, living at Bath, to whom comes an orphaned niece with the romantic name of Rosaleen Le Suir. " Rita " claims that an Irish adventurer, named Theophrastus O'Shaughnessy, who plays an important part in this book, is the male prototype of her own immortal " Peg the Rake." The Destiny of Claude. MAY WYNNE Author of " Henri of Navarre," " The Red Fleur-de-Lys," "Honour's Fetters," etc. To escape a convent life, Claude de Marbeille joins her friend Margotde Ladrennes in Touraine. Jacques, Comte de Ladrennes, a hunchback, falls in love with her, and when the two girls go to Paris to enter the suite of the fifteen year old Mary Queen of Scots, he follows and takes service with the Duke of Guise. There follow many romantic and exciting adventures concerning the perilous childhood of Mary Queen of Scots, into which the characters of the story are brought by acts of treachery and the work of spies. The hero, a young officer of the Scottish Guards, is imprisoned and threatened with poison, and much of the story relates his ardent search after his sweetheart, who has been betrayed into captivity by the jealousy of a friend. This is a thoroughly good story. The King's Master, OLIVE LETHBRIDGE and JOHN DE STOURTON A novel dealing with the troublous times of Henry VIII., in which the political situation, Court intrigues and religious discussions of the period are treated in a masterly manner. A strong love element is introduced, and the characters of Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell are presented in an entirely new light, while plot and counter-plot, hair-breadth escapes, love, hate, revenge, and triumph, all go to form the theme. The Celebrity's Daughter. VIOLET HUNT Author of " The Doll," " White Rose of Weary Leaf," etc. "The Celebrity's Daughter," which, like Miss Violet Hunt's other novels, is founded on a much-entangled plot, only fully unravelled in the last chapter, is the autobiography of the daughter of a celebrity who has fallen on evil days. The book is told in the author's own inimitable style, with the humour, the smart dialogue, and the tingling life of her earlier novels. El Stanley Paul's New Six Shilling Novels continued. Hunt the Slipper. OLIVER MADOX HUEFFER (]ANE WARDLH). Author of " The Artistic Temperament," " The Lord of Latimer Street," " Margery Pigeon," " Where Truth Lies," etc. Those readers of Mr. Oliver Madox Hueffer's novels who remember his " Mariorie Pigeon " and "The Artistic Temperament," will be charmed by this new novel from the same pen. It is the love storv of a young Englishman of good family who goes to the United States in search of a fortune. The story is founded on an ingenious plot and set forth in an original manner. Cheerful Craft. R. AN DOM Author of "We Three and Troddles," "Neighbours of Mine," etc. With 60 illustrations by Louis Gunnis. There is nothing sombre or introspective about " Cheerful Craft," and those who agree with Mr. Balfour's view of the need of lighter and brighter books will find here something to please them, since broad humour and rollicking adventure characterise the story. A city clerk rises from obscurity to a position pi wealth and dignity, and carries us with him all the way, condoning his rascality for the sake of his ready humour and cheery optimism. After all he is a merry rogue, and he works no great harm to anyone, and much good to himself, and incidentally to most of those with whom he comes in contact. This amusing story does credit to the writer's ingenuity without putting too great a strain on the credulity of the reader. The Three Destinies. J. A. T. LLOYD Author of " The Lady of Kensington Gardens," " A Great Russian Realist," etc. This story relates the adventures of three young girls and a boy of eighteen, who meet by chance before the statue of " The Three Fates " in the British Museum, and there attract the attention of an old professor who determines to bring them together again, and experiment with their young lives with the curiosity of a chemist experi- menting with chemicals. The scene shifts in turn to Ireland, to Paris, Brittany, and Vienna, and the hero is always under the spell of that first chance meeting in front of the statue. One person after the other plays with his life, and again and again he and the others report themselves on New Year's Day to the old professor, who reads half mockingly the jumble of lives that he himself has produced, until in the end the hero realises that these young git Is have become to him in turn modern interpreters of the three ancient Destinies. Columbine at the Fair. KATE HORN Author of " Susan and The Duke," " The White Owl," etc. Miss Kate Horn has here taken up an entirely new line. Leaving the style which made "Edward and I and Mrs. Honeybun " so successful, she here gives a critical study of a girl whose soul lies dormant until the touch of love and self sacrifice awakes it by the hand of a little child. Much success is expected for her new story. The Unworthy Pact. DOROTHEA GERARD Author of " The City of Enticement," " Exotic Martha," etc. The story of a young man, who, having inherited an estate from an uncle believed to have died intestate, finds a will which puts as a condition of his inheritance the renunciation of his faith. He hesitates to do this and hides the will for some years, suffering all the while from the knowledge of his misdeed. The events resultant from this secret are related with a true insight and with a sense of drama and of pathos. 15 Stanley Paul's New Six Shilling Novels continued. The Honour of the Clintons. ARCHIBALD MARSHALL Author of " Exton Manor," " The Mystery of Redmarsh Farm," " The Eldest Son," etc. The Clintons of Kencote will be very f am liar to the many readers of Mr. Marshall's well-known novels, "The Squire's Daughter," and "The Eldest Son." The central idea of "The Honour ot the Clintons" is to show the Squire confronted with a serious problem, in which neither wealth nor position can help him. He is in danger of falling into the deepest disgrace, and has nothing but his sense of honour on which to rely. How he comes through the trial forms the main interest of the story; but it is also concerned with the love affairs of the Clinton twins, Joan and Nancy, now grown up into beautiful young women. The Eyes of Alicia. CHARLES E. PEARCE Author of "The Amazing Duchess," "The Beloved Pri cess," "Polly Peachum," " Love Besieged," " Red Revenge," "A Star of the East, 1 ' etc. "The Eyes of Alicia" is the story of an impulsive, adventurous, handsome girl, brought up amid narrow surroundings and yearning for greater freedom. With the coming of womanhood she realizes her power of personal attraction and takes advantage of it in following her wayward impulses. The result is a catastrophe which shadows her whole life. The story is one of modern life in London, and while the scenes and characters have a vivid actuality, the mystery of Destiny hovers continually in the background. A Modern Ahab. THEODORA WILSON WILSON Author of " Bess of Hardendale," " Moll o' the Toll-Bar, " etc. This is a very readable novel in the author's best manner. Rachael Despenser, a successful artist, spends a summer holiday in a Westmoreland village, living at an old farm-house, and making friends with the villagers. Grimstone, a local baronet, is grabbing the land to make a deer run, and Rachael through championing the cause of a farmer comes into collision with him, although adored by his delicate little son. Right-of-way troubles ensue, and violence disturbs the peace. Grimstone's elder son and heir returns from Canada, where he has imbibed Radical notions. He sympathises with the villagers, and is attracted towards Rachael, whom he eventu- ally marries. The baronet is determined to oust the farmer whom Rachael had championed, when the tragic death of his younger son leads him to relinquish the management of the estate to his heir. Bright Shame. KEIGHLEY SNOWDEN Author of " The Free Marriage," " The Plunder Pit," " Hate of Evil," etc. Stephen Gaunt, an English sculptor famous in Italy, is the father of a son born out of wedlock of whom he has never heard. In his youth, a light attachment broken in a causeless fit of jealousy drove him abroad, but when the story opens he comes home to execute a commission, and meets his son without knowing him. In doing so, he encounters a childless couple, who have passed the boy off as their own since infancy, when his mother died. They are an elder half-brother, who has alwaj's hated Stephen, and his sensitive, tender and simple wife, who loves the boy with all her heart, fears to lose him, and yet is tormented by her secret. A romantic friend- ship springs up between son and father; and the chain of accidents and proofs by which he learns the truth, his struggle for control of the boy, and the effect of these events on the boy and his foster mother make a fascinating story. 20 Stanley Paul's New Six Shilling Novels continued. The Strolling Saint. RAFAEL SABATINI Author of " Bardelys, the Magnificent," " The Lion's Skin," etc. Mr. Sahatini lays before his readers in "The Strolling Saint" a startling and poignant human document of the Italian Renaissance. It is the autobiographical memoir of Augustine, Lord of Mondolfp, a man pre-natally vowed to the cloister by his over-devout mother. With merciless self-analysis are revealed Augustine's distaste for the life to which he was foredoomed, and his early efforts to break away from the path along which he is being forced. As a powerful historical novel " The Strolling Saint" deserves to take an important place, whilst tor swiftness of action and intensity of romantic interest it stands alone. The Poodle-Woman. ANNESLEY KENEALY Author of " Thus Saith Mrs. Grundy," etc. Miss Annesley Kenealy's new novel, the first volume of the new "Votes for Women" Novel Series, deals with the feminine side of the great unrest of our time and endeavours to answer the question, " What do Women Want ? " It is a charm- ing love story, dealing mainly with two women, a man, and a mannikin. It present, femininism from an entirely fresh standpoint, and in a series of living pictures shows how the games of life and matrimony are played under rules which put all the best cards of the pack into men's hands. The heroine is an emotional Irish girl, with the reckless romance of the Celt and the chivalry of a woman, who remains sweet through very bitter experiences. The book is full of humour. The Romance of Bayard. LIEUT. -CoL. ANDREW C. P. HAGGARD, D.S.O. Author of the "The France of Joan of Arc," " Louis XI, and Charles the Bold," etc. Colonel Haggard is never more happy than when he writes of days and people famous in history, and here, with much success, he has cleverly woven a romantic novel out of an equally romantic historical chronicle. He gives us memories of the French Court under Francis I., and of the gallant part played by the great Bayard ; stories of our own Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn ; gay pictures of the meeting of the two monarchs and of the jousting and feasting on the Field of the Cloth of Gold ; and stirring chapters on the war in which Bayard, faithful lover and true knight, met a soldier's death. The Career of Beauty Darling. DOLF WYLLARDE Author of " The Riding Master," " The Unofficial Honeymoon," etc. (yth edition). This novel, at present in its eighth edition, is a story of the musical comedy sUge, which endeavours to set forth without prejudice the vices and virtues of the lite ; and, in the account of the heroine's adventures, how she ran awav from home at fourteen, went on the stage in a children's chorus, and found herself henceforth the sport and spoil of the men around her, Miss Wyllarde has made plain statements and has not shrunk ircm the realism of life. It is "an absorbing ttory," and according to The Court Journal " should be put in the hands of all parents who have daughters with any hankering after a stage career." Francesca. CECIL ADAIR Author of " The Qualities of Mercy," " Cantacute Towers," etc. Miss Adair has excelled herself in Francesca, which is a delightful story full of beautiful thoughts and idyllic touches. This author has been said to resemble the late Rosa N. Carey in possessing all the quah'ties which make for popularity, and the ability to arrest and maintain the reader s interest from the first page to the last 21 Stan'ey Paul's New Six Shilling Novels continued. Life's Last Gift. Louis DE ROBERT With a preface by Dr. F. A. HEDGCOCK. (The book for which a committee of Parisian ladies awarded the prize of 200 for the best French novel published in 1911.) This " poignant and convincing narrative" tells of a young ambitious man who is overwhelmed by the dread of impending disaster. He struggles to free himself, but only becomes more deeply entrapped. In his misery and dread there comes as " Life's Last Gift" a romantic passion which cannot be requited but estranges him for a time from those most dear, and then leaves him to turn with a renewal of faith to the arms which he has shunned. The beauty of this book lies in its absolute sincerity and truth. It speaks to all men and women who realise how great and terrible a possession is life. Brave Brigands. MAY WYNNE Author of "The Red Fleur-de-Lys," "The Destiny of Claude,'' etc., etc. At the time of the French Revolution, during the siege of Carpentras by the " Brave Brigands" the soldiers of an Irishman named Patri an attack is frustrated by the cleverness and courage of a young girl, who, in her adventure?, mysteriously dis- appears. In quick succession there follow events concerning the plots and counter plots of aristocrats, papalists and revolutionaries, and amid adventures of love and war the story leads up to the famous " Glacier Massacres." It is thrilling and romantic from beginning to end. Tainted Gold. H. NOEL WILLIAMS Author of " A Ten Pound Penalty," " Five Fair Sisters," etc. Gerald Carthew, a young London Barrister, whose career has hitherto been quite uneventful, suddenly finds himselt involved in circumstances which leave no room for doubt that a dastardly conspiracy has been formed against his lite. For some time, however, all attempts to discover the instigators or their motive are unsuc- cessful ; and it is not until Carthew's greatest friend has fallen a victim in his stead, and he himself has been nearly lured to destruction by a beautiful American girl who has been made the innocent decoy of the conspirators, that the truth is revealed. The story, the action of which is laid in England, New York and at the Riviera, contains some thrilling moments and a most unexpected denouement. The Lost Destiny. G. VILLIERS STUART " The Lost Destiny" is a novel showing the working of the 'unseen hand,' and telling the story of a man who shirked his destiny and was forced to watch the career of another who rose to heights of national fame, while he himself drifted like chaff before the wind. It is a striking novel, full of incident, and illustrating the relationship of life and destiny. His Magnificence. A. J. ANDERSON Author of " The Romance of Fra Filippo Lippi," " The Romance of Sandro Botticelli," etc. In this fascinating volume, Mr. A. J . Anderson gives a picture of the extraordinary personality of Lorenzo de Medici (Lorenzo the Magnificent) amid a strong setting of the love, fighting, plotting, assassinations, religion and paganism of the Italian Fenaissance. 22 Stanley Paul's New Six Shilling Novels continued. The Curse of the Nile. DOUGLAS SLADEN Author of "The Unholy Estate," "The Tragedy of the Pyramids," etc. A novel dealing with the city of Khartum and the Egyptian Desert. Mr. Sladen is at his best when he is describing exciting scenes, and the book is full of them ; but, like his other novels, it is also full of romance. It tells the story of a beautiful white woman who, being captured at the fall of Khartum, has to enter the harem of Wad-el-Neiuini, the bravest of all the generals of the Mahdi. When she is rescued on the fatal field of Toski, the question arises, Can the hero, an Englishman, marry her ? Great figures stand forth in Mr. Sladen' s pages above all, the heroic Gordon in his last moments at Khartum. The Memoirs of Mimosa. Edited by ANNE ELLIOT The intimate and unflinching confession of a brilliant, erotic, and undisciplined woman, who resolves " to live every moment of her life," and succeeds in so doing at the cost of much suffering to herself and others. Her mixture of worldliness, sentiment, fancy, passion, and extraordinary joie tie vivre make her a fascinating study of a type somewhat rare. At her death she bequeathed these Memoirs to the woman friend who edits them and presents them to the world. We get the woman's point of view in all matters poetry, politics, sport, music, the stage, and, domin- ating all, the great problems of sex. Dagobert's Children. L. J. BEESTON The interest of this novel is centred in a little band of franc-tireurs who, under the leadership of Count Raoul Dagobert, harass the flanks of the German army corps in the Franco-German War. That Dagobert and his " children " are veritable fire- eaters is soon shown by the surprise and slaughter of a small but venturesome company of Prussians. The account of the subsequent doings of these irregulars is one of sustained excitement, and we follow the adventures of Mr. Beeston's hero with the more interest since the author has been at pains to give him personality. There are some vivid descriptions in the novel, which is well written and spirited. The Redeemer. RENE BAZIN Author of " The Children of Alsace," " The Nun," " Redemption," etc. This is a moving and profoundly powerful romance of village life in the Loire country. It is the love story of a beautiful young French school teacher and a worker in the neighbouring slate quarries, who are for a time separated by the man's previous inclination towards a woman living away from her husband. The development of the heroine, strongly held in check by her moral feelings, and the attitude of the kero to the woman to whom he is already united, are told with considerable insight, power and charm. Her Majesty the Flapper. A. E. JAMES With a picture wrapper of " Her Majesty " in colours. A diverting chronicle of the prankish doings of a " Flipper," pretty and fifteen, as recorded partly by herselt and partly by her grown-up cousin Bobbie, whose life she makes quite a series of excitements and surprises. The story ends with the coming out of the Flapper, when the final victimisation of Bobbie takes the form of an engagement. " It is," says the Sunday Times, "one of the most amusing books that has appeared for a long time," and its pages are full of bright and sparkling dialogue, which make it " one of the most delightful books imaginable." 23 Stanley Paul's New Six Shilling Novels continued. The Fruits of Indiscretion. SIR WILLIAM MAGNAY Author of "The Long Hand," ""Paul Burdon," etc. A story of murder and mystery in which the interest is well sustained and the characters are convincing. On the eve of a country house wedding, the best man is killed on the hunting field. Captain Routham is asked to take his place, but suddenly disappears and his body is found on the railway track. With the help of Rolt, a famous detective, the mystery is gradually cleared up, and is brought at last to a startling denouement, The Return of Pierre. DONAL HAMILTON HAINES With a frontispiece from a painting by Edouard Detaille. Against the vivid background of the Franco-German War, there shines out, in this novel, the very human story ot Pierre jLafitte, a French country lad. Other prominent figures in the story are the woman Pierre loves, her father a fine old Colonel of Dragoons and a German spy, not without attractive qualities, whose fate becomes entangled with theirs. The book abounds in striking situations, including the discovery and escape of the spy, the departure of the Dragoons for the war, the remorse of a French General who feels personally responsible for the men he has lost, a night in a hospital-tent, the last flicker of the defence of Paris, and the entry of the German troops. It is a remarkable book. A Babe in Bohemia. FRANK DAN BY Author of " The Heart of a Child," " Dr. Phillips," etc., etc. (nth edition). Frank Danby, to gain information for this novel, joined the Salvation Army, went through their training home and Refuge at Clapton, and finally became attached to the depot of the so-called "Gutter, Slum and Garret Brigade," from which the work among the very poorest is carried out. This full-length novel, having been out of print, has now been practically re-written by the author, and although the thread of the story remains, every page has been extensively revised, and it will be found to be as good as anything recently done by this popular writer. The She-Wolf. MAXIME FORMONT Author of " A Child of Chance," etc. Translated from the French by Elsie F. Buckley. This is a powerful novel of the life and times of Caasare Borgia, in which history and romance are mingled with a strong hand. The story is told of the abduction of Alva Colonna on the eve of her marriage with Propero Sarelli, when she is carried off to his palace at Rome and becomes his slave-mistress. The subsequent events, more or less following history or tradition, include the introduction of the dark woman of gipsy extraction, who enamours Caesare, and poisons the wine by which the Colonna and her old lover Sarelli die. The story closes with a description of Caesare's last days and death. This novel has passed through several editions in France. The Price of Friendship, E. EVERETT-GREEN Author of" Clive Lorimer's Marriage," " Duckworth's Diamonds," "Galbraith of Wynyates," etc., etc. Miss Everett Green has had a remarkable output of novels in the past, but this one, her latest, is the longest and strongest standing to her name. It is the story of a man who impersonates his friend, from the very best of motives and plunges himself into complicatic J J vvith a startling climax. himself into complications and dangers. Like all of this author's tales, it finishes :lir 24 Stanley Paul's New ix Shilling Novels continued. Called to Judgment. CORALIE STANTON AND HEATH HOSKEN. Authors of " The Muzzled Ox," " The Swelling of Jordan," etc. One of the most thrilling stories of mystery, love and adventure which these popular collaborators have ever written. It is a vivid, human story, red-hot with incident and excitement, the central character being a man, who, after ten years' imprisonment for fraud, returns to the world with his past so effectively buried that he is known as a man of wealth, a Member of Parliament, and an Advocate for Prison Reform. The tale is said to be worthy of Poe or Gaboriau. The Split Peas. HEADON HILL Author of " Troubled Waters," " A Rogue in Ambush," " The Thread of Proof," etc. The interest of this story centres in the attempt of a socialistic, time-serving Cabinet Minister, aided and abetted by a mysterious foreigner, who poses as a Soho revolutionary but is in reality a spy, to undermine the loyalty of the British Army. His efforts are frustrated by a young officer of the Guards, with the assistance of two lively Eton boys. Mr. Headon Hill is himself an old Etonian, and he has put much local colour into his book. Captain Hawks, Master Mariner. OSWALD KENDALL Admirers of the novels of Mr. W. W. Jacobs should read this. It is a story of three men who cannot and will not abide dulness. Though separated superficially by discipline and convention, Captain Hawks, Grummet and "Cert'nly" Wilfred are brothers " under their skins," and are controlled by the same insatiable desire for variety. Their thirst for the unexpected is amply satisfied in the search for an illusive cargo of sealskins, purchased without having been seen by Captain Hawks. That the crew are nearly drowned, frozen, starved, and smothered, proves that they succeeded in a search for a life where things happen. A capital yarn. A Star of the East : A Story of Delhi. CHARLES E. PEARCE. Author of " The Amazing Duchess," " The Beloved Princess," " Love Besieged," " Red Revenge," etc. This book completes the trilogy of Mr. Pearce's novels of the Indian Mutiny, of which "Love Besieged" and ''Red Revenge" were the first and second. The scene is laid in Delhi, the city of all others where for the past hundred years the traditions of ancient dynasties and the barbaric splendours of the past have been slowly retreating before the ever-advancing influence of the West. The conflict of passions between Nara, the dancing girl, in whose veins runs the blood of Shah Jehan, the most famous of the Kings of Delhi, and Clare Stanhope, born and bred in English conventionality, never so pronounced as in the Fifties, is typical of the differences between the East and the West. The rivalry of love threads its way through a series of exciting incidents, culminating in the massacre and the memorable siege of Delhi. A Gentlewoman of France. RENE BOYLESVE This novel, crowned by the Academy, has had a great vogue in France, twelve editions having been sold. It is the story of a provincial girl who makes a marriage of convenience with a man who sees in her the best qualities of wifehood and mother- hood. The story shows how before great temptation she stands firm and emerges chastened but conquering. In simple, direct fashion, the sweet and most admirable wife tells her story, and it rings extraordinarily true. 25 Stan fey Paul's New Six Shilling Novels continued. Gabriel's Garden. CECIL ADAIR Author of "The Dean's Daughter," "The Qualities of Mercy," " Cantacute Towers," " Francesca," etc. When General Gascoign learns that his son Gabriel has cheated at cards, he turns him out of the house and leaves him to take refuge in a beautiful West Indian Island, which had once belonged to Gabriel's mother. There the young man struggles along the thorny road of a great renunciation and a supreme self-sacrifice from Darkness into Light. A charming story. The Strength of the Hills. HALLIWELL SUTCLIFFE Author of "A Benedick in Arcady," " Priscilla of the Good Intent," " Through Sorrow's Gates," etc. In this novel Mr. Halliwell Sutcliffe returns to the Haworth Moorland which was the inspiration of all his earlier work ; it deals with the strenuous life of the moors sixty years ago and will rank with his strongest and best works. Those who remember our author's "A Man of the Moors," "A Bachelor in Arcady," and "A Benedick in Arcady" will not hesitate to follow him anywhere across the moorlands in the direction of Arcadia. Officer 666. BARTON W. CURRIE and AUGUSTIN McHOGH. An uproarious piece of American wit which has already scored a great success at the Globe Theatre, London. It is from the pen of Mr. Augustin McHugh, who has associated himself with Mr. Barton W. Currie in producing it as a novel. Its dramatic success in England, as well as in America, has been phenomenal, and as a novel it will doubtless receive an equally warm welcome. Devil's Brew. MICHAEL W. KAYE Author of " The Cardinal's Past," " A Robin Hood of France," etc. Jack Armiston, awaking to the fact that life has other meaning than that given it by a fox-hunting squire, becomes acquainted with Henry Hunt, the socialist dema- gogue, but after many vicissitudes, during which he finds he has sacrificed friends and sweetheart to a worthless propaganda, he becomes instrumental in baulking the Cato Street Conspirators of their plot to murder the members of the Cabinet, and eventually regains his old standing and Pamela. A spirited story. Sir Galahad of the Army. HAMILTON DRUMMOND Author of "Shoes of Gold," "The Justice of the King," "The Three Envelopes," etc. A tale of the French retreat from Naples through a defile of the Apenines in the year 1495. The opening chapters relate the use made by certain restless spirits in both camps of a much -needed truce before the battle of Fornovo. Thenceforward the development proceeds along unconventional lints, showing that the hero, Sir Galahad of the Army, carries out the associations of a nickname given in derision, and the grail is followed, though stumblingly and tar off at times, through the incidents of war. Brineta at Brighton. GABRIELLE WODNIL Author of " Maggie of Margate." An amusing story of a young girl, the paid companion of Lady Bigne, who spends a holiday at a shabby, second-rate Brighton boarding-house, and falls into serious difficulties through masquerading as her employer. She enjoys the exhilaration of her fellow lodgers' respect, but soon meets trouble with a wealthy young man -who is anxious to marry a Countess ; and at the same time the extra expenses necessitated by her assumed grandeur set her farther into the mire of deception. The book, how- ever, is very pleasantly brought to a happy ending, and throughout is decidedly amusing. 26 Stanley Paul's New Six Shilling Novels continued. The Adventures of Mortimer Dixon. ALICIA RAMSEY. Mortimer Dixon is a young journalist who is sent by his "chief" in a. pursuit which takes him into startling adventures in the Chinese Quarter of the East End. This is a wholesome, bree/y story of adventure, which leaves the reaoer with a sense of strong exhilaration. Susan and the Duke. KATE HORN Author of " Edward and I and Mrs. Honeybun," " The White Owl," " The Lovelocks of Diana," etc. Lord Christopher Fitrarden is the most delightful of young men, and adopts the old family servants destined for the almshouses by bis elder brother, tbe cynical Duke of Cheadle. His love story runs at cross purposes, Kit being pas- sionately in love with the beautiful but ambitious Rosalind, while he in turn is loved by Susan Ringford. Perhaps the most delightful part of the story describes a caravanning party in the New Forest, where Cupid haunts every glen. There are both fun and pathos in the tale, which should find many delighted readers. The Irresistible Mrs. Ferrers. ARABELLA KENEALY Author of " The Mating of Anthea," " The Woman-Hunter," etc. (6th edition). The irresistible Mrs. Ferrers is a fashionable beauty, the idol of London society Hostesses fight and plot to get her to their parties. The men of her world vie with one another for the privilege of driving her to Hurlingham. And yet no breath of scandal touches her. For her ambition is to be known to history as the most beautiful and brilliant woman of her day, who charmed all men and succumbed to none. But Lord Lygon, a clever and attractive man, estranged from his wife, lays siege to her, and the story turns upon the rivalry and struggle of the two women ; of the wife who devotedly loves him, and of the other who, though fond of him, is loth to sacrifice her dazzling impeccability and to forego her unique position for his sake. There are some charming children in the book and some original views on the Woman's Question. The Three Anarchists. MAUD STEPNEY RAWSON Author of " A Lady of the Regency," " The Stairway of Honour," " The Enchanted Garden," etc. Third edition. There are in this novel a delicate psychology, a true pathos, and a fine perception of the importance of the tiny incidents and minor happenings of daily life as they affect the human drama. The heroine is the unhappy young wife of an elderly, weak, cruel and penurious man, and the hero is a human stepson at inevitable enmity with so opposite a father. Both these characters have a craving ft r the fulness of life, the woman, with a noble perception of what is right, being intensely desirous of founding a real home and making real happiness ; and the youn man of warm flesh and blcod responding to her pure woman's love and care with more than mere affection. There are fine and beautiful things in the book. So it is with the Damsel. NORA VYNNE Author of " The Pieces of Silver," " The Priest's Marriage," etc. The heroine of this striking story is decoyed by White Slave Traffickers, who krep her in a miserable captivity until by good fortune she escapes. She then overrides the dangers that beset her as a girl with a secret "past," and, joining a league for the suppression of the Traffic in order to rescue a girl friend, finds at last the man who will love her and have sympathy for her work. 27 Stanley Paul's New Six Shilling Novels continued. Ralph Raymond. ERNEST MANSFIELD With eight original drawings. In this story the hero, falsely accused of murder, escapes to New Zealand, and there, after many interesting adventures among the mining camps, is finally rearrested and brought back to England, whei e in an intensely dramatic scene his innocence is proved. The author is h.mself a prospector well-known both in the City and in e\eiy mining district the world over, and his story contains many revelations of mining life and adventure. Mrs. Brett. M. HAMILTON Author of ." Cut Laurels," " The First Claim," etc. The anther of "Cut Laurels" may be relied on to write a good novel, and this story, the scene of which is laid in India, has been chosen as a particularly clever piece of work. The plot is original and one difficult to work out, but the author has succeeded with great skill and delicacy. Galbraith of Wynyates. E. EVERETT-GREEN Author of "Duckworth's Diamonds," " Clive Lorimer's Mar- riage," etc. The owner of Wynyates has let the property to a relative who is the next-of-kin after his only daughter. Warned of the uncertainty of his own life he wills the property to his daughter in trust during her minority, and appoints as trustee a relative who is tenant of the property. Overhearing a conversation between the family lawyer and her uncle, who discuss the wisdom of placing her in the charge of one who is directly interested in her death, she imagines all kinds of evil intentions on the part of her guardian, and looks with suspicion upon all his counsels for her welfare. Love interests lead to complications between the heroine, her trustee and her lover. "Galbraith of Wynyates" is a very readable book written in the author's best style. Maggie of Margate. GABRIELLE WODNIL Author of " Brineta at Brighton." " Maggie of Margate," a beautiful girl with an unobtrusive style which attracted nine men out of ten, was in reality an exclusive lady of title, bored because she sighed for realism and romance while affianced to a prospective peer. Maggie is a delightful creation, and her very erring frailty and duplicity make us pity her the mere. She cannot break away finally from her social status, but to retain it she nearly breaks her heart. The man of her fancy, Michael Blair, is the most striking figure in the whole story, which hol-.is us intently from the first page to the last. All the world loves a lover, and, therefore, every one will love Michael Blair. Bound to Be. WILL HUGO This is a first-rate novel and should attract more than the average amount of public notice and attention. It is full of quiet and genuine humour and clever characterisation. Selia Medhurst is one of thore charming young people who are utterly unequipped with the means of earning a living. When suddenly thrown on her own resources, she can think of no more nappy solution of her difficult es than to go as domestic servant in a London flat. There she finds herself under the rule of a mistress aged seventy and a master aged thirty, whose legal tie proves less binding than the wife, at any rate, might have desired Selia's outlook, therefcre, becomes more promising, and in due course her highest hopes are fulfilled. 28 Stanley Paul's New Six Shilling Novels continued. A. Wife out of Egypt. NORMA LORIMER Author of The Second Woman," " Catherine Sterling, etc." 'I bis story derives its incidents from the unrest in Egypt. The faults of the British brusqueness and Egyptian insincerity and incapacity are sketched with a biting pen, and a side of Egyptian life much neglected by novelists the position of the native Christian, ' Copt and Syrian ' is described with real knowledge and feeling. It is a love story with a charming heroine. Casserley's Wife. ESTHER MILLER Author of " Living Lies," "When the Heart is Young," etc. This novel has been chosen as one likely to appeal pre-eminently to women. It is the story of a young man who, having inherited a title and a fortune, conies home from India and is betrayed into marriage with a girl whom he imagines to be a friend of seven years before. His eventual disillusionment leads to serious complications, which, however, lead at last to reconcilement, and trust, and love. Found in the Forest. THEODORA WILSON WILSON Author of " A Modern Ahab," " Bess of Hardendale," etc. There is a subtle charm inseparable from this keen study of youth, with all its pathos, joy, drollery and nervous passion. The child in the story is the son of ill- matched parents who deliberately separate, the boy remaining with his mother until her sudden death when lie is only ten. The boy is then plunged into a whirlpool of gaiety, different altogether fiom his sombre upbringing; and his relation to his surroundings gives the story its interest. Mrs. Gray's Past. HERBERT FLOWERDEW Author of " The Second Elopement," " The Third Wife," etc. Mrs. Gray, a widow with an only son, comes to live in a quaint old Cathedral City, and almost at once becomes the butt ot th^ scandal-mongers. She develops the mystery by holding close the veil that hides her " past," and it is only after ill- natured criticism has taken the place of idle gossip, that the veil is lifted and the purcness of the picture made apparent. Youth Will be Served DOLF WYLLARDE Author of "The Career of Beauty Darling," "The Riding Master," " The Unofficial Honeymoon,' etc. Dolf Wyllarde's new novel has for its motive the paramount importance of the new generation. Incidentally it deals with the old problem of a wife's duty to her husband when he is serving his country abroad in climates which would be dis- astrous to her health, and to which she cannot take a delicate baby. As the story unfolds, the hardships of the position become still more subtle, for personal inclination turns the scale now this way and now that There is no question of sex in this book, for it deals very largely with the inevitable sacrifice of the old for the young which is a spirit of the age the standing aside of those who have had their day to give place to the new generation, though it may chance that those who are sacrificed protest that they have never had their tightful chances. The Perfidious Marriage and other Plays. LEONARD HENSLOWE. Author of " How Are You ? " Crown 8vo, Paper boards, is. 6d. net. This volume of one-act plays includes a drama, a comedy, and two farces. Three of these plays, which can be performed without difficulty by amateurs, have been produced with considerable success at West End theatres. 29 STANLEY PAUL'S 'CLEAR TYPE ' SIXPENNY NOVELS 67 My Lord Conceit 65 Asenath of the Ford 65 Faustine 64 Corinna 63 The Laird o Cockpen 62 The City of Enti 'emcnS 61 Exotic Martha 60 Honour's Fetters 59 Told in the Twilight 58 Golden Destiny 57 Love, the Conqueror 56 Ena's Courtship 55 A Lover at Large 54 By the Water's Edge 53 She Lion's Skin 52 The Mulberries of Daphne 51 The Spell of the Jungle 50 Red Revenge 49 The Long Hand 48 The Second Elopement 47 The Mystery of Roger Bullock 46 Edelweiss 45 Only an Actress 44 The Apple of Eden 43 Gay Lawless 42 The Dream and the Woman 41 Love Besieged 40 A Benedick in Arcady 39 Justice of the King 38 The Man in Possession 37 A Will in a Well 36 Edward and 1 and Mrs. Honeybun 35 Priscllla of the Good Intent "RITA" RITA" " RITA " " RITA" " RITA " DOROTHEA GERARD DOROTHEA GERARD MAY WYNNE P. QUINTON RAY P. QUINTON RAY P. QUINTON RAY P. QUINTON RAY P. QUINTON RAY P. QUINTON RAY RAFAEL SABATIM KATE HORN ALICE PEKRIN CHAKLES E. PEAKCE SIR WILLIAM MAGNAY HERBERT FI.OWERDEW TOM GALLON "RITA" "RITA" E. TEMPLE THUKSTON HELEN MATHERS TOM GALLON CHARLES E. PEARCE HALLIWELL SUTCLIFJE HAMILTON DRUMMOND "RITA" E. EVERETT-GREEN KATE HORN HALLIWELL SUTCLIFFB STANLEY PAUL'S ' CLEAR TYPE' SIXPENNY NOVELS Continued. 34 Fatal Thirteen 33 A Struggle for a Ring 32 A Shadowed Life 31 The Mystery of Colde Fell 30 A Woman's Error 29 Clarlbel's Love Story 28 At the Eleventh Hour 27 Love's Mask 26 The Wooing of Rote 25 White Abbey 24 Heart of His Heart 23 The Wonder of Love 22 Co-Heiresses 2i The Evolution of Katherine 20 The Love of His Life 19 A Charity Girl 18 The House of Sunshine 17 Dare and Do 16 Beneath a Spell 15 The Man She Married 14 The Mistress of the Farm 13 Little Lady Charles r: A Splendid Destiny ii Cornelius 10 Traffic 9 St. Elmo 8 Indiscretions 7 The Trickster 6 The City of the Golden Gate 5 Shoes of Gold 4 Adventures of a Pretty Woman 5 Troubled Waters 2 The Human Boy Again i Stolen Honey WILLIAM LE QUEUX CHARLOTTE BRAME CHARLOTTE BRAME CHARLOTTE BRAME CHARLOTTE BRAME CHARLOTTE BRAME CHARLOTTE BRAME EFFIE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS EFFIE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS EFFIE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS MADAME ALBANESI MADAME ALBANESI E. EVERETT-GREEN E. TEMPLE THURSTON EFFIE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS EFFIE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS EFFIE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS EFFIE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS EFFIE ADELAIDF. ROWLANDS EFFIE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS EFFIE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS EFTIE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS EFFIE ADELAIDE ROWLANDS MRS. HENRY DE LA PASTURE E. TEMPLE THURSTON AUGUSTA EVANS WILSON COSMO HAMILTON G. B. BURGIN E. EVERETT-GREEN HAMILTON DRUMMOND FLORENCE WARDEN HBADON HILL EDEN PHILLPOTTS ADA & DUDLEY JAMES THE "EVERYDAY' SERIES Edited by GERTRUDE PAUL Each book contains a Recipe for every day in the year, including February 2gth. In crown 8vo, strongly bound, Is. net each. The Everyday Vegetable Book. By F. K. The Everyday Soup Book. By G. P. The Everyday Economical Cookery Book. By A. T. K. e'nJBfttoW & ' The Everyday Pudding Book. By F. K. " If you want a tasty recipe for every day in the year, you can do nothing better than purchase a copy uf the ' Everyday Pudding Book.'" Referee. The Everyday Savoury Book. By MARIE WORTH " Nothing could be clearer." School Guardian, Cakes and Ales. A memory of many meals, the whole interspersed with various Recipes, more or less original, and Anecdotes, mainly veracious. By EDWARD SPENCER (' Nathaniel Gubbins '). Crown 8vo, 4th edition, 2s. 6d. net. Saturday Review : " Sporsmen, stockbrokers, and others with large appetites, robust yet sensitive palates, and ample means, will find it invaluable when they are ordering the next little dinner for a select party of male friends." The Diner's Out Vade Mecum. A Pocket " What's What" on the Manners and Customs of Society Functions, etc., etc. By ALFRED H. MILES. Author of "The New Standard Elocutionist," etc. In fcap. 8vo (6J by 3^), cloth bound, round corners, is. 6d. net. Leather, 2s. net. Intended to help the diffident and inexperienced at Dinners, Teas, At Homes, Receptions, Balls and Suppers, with hints on Etiquette, Dress, After-Dinner Speaking, Story- Telling, Toasts and Sentiments. My Own Reciter. By ALFRED H. MILES. Author of " The Diner's-Out Vade Mecum," etc. Crown 8vo, is. net. "The Ballads have colour, warmth and movement. Mr. Miles is a poet of the people." Bookman. Cole's Fun Doctor. One of the two funniest books in the world. By E. W. COLE. 384 pp., crown 8vo, cloth, 2S. 6d. The mission of mirth is well understood. " Laugh and Grow Fat " is a common proverb, and the healthiness of humour goes without saying. Cole's Fun Doctor 2ND SERIES. The other of the two funniest books in the world. By E. W. COLE. 440 pp., crown 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d Dr. Blues had an extensive practice until the Fun Doctor set up in opposition, but now Fun Doctors are in requisition everywhere. 32 , Stanley Caul's publications Arranged in order of price *% PREVIOUS LISTS CANCELLED 50/- NET The History of Gravesend and its Surroundings from Prehistoric Times to the Beginning of the 2Oth Century. By ALEX J. PHILIP. In lour volumes, 12/6 net each, issued to subscribers only. 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PERCEVAL. A history of the earliest of the old Inns at Chancery. Illustrated with nearly 50 drawings by the author. Large crown Svo, cloth gilt. Our Fighting Sea Men. LIONEL YEXLBY. Large crown Svo, cloth. A Woman's Winter in South America. CHARLOTTE CAMERON. Crown Svo, illustrated. Joy of Tyrol. Edited by J. M. BLAKE. Illustrated with over too original drawings in the text by the Author. In crown Svo, cloth gilt. The Physiology of Faith and Fear ; or, the Mind in Health and Disease. By WILLIAM S. SADLER, M.D. 580 pp. with 44 full-page illustrations. The Ridge of the White Waters. Impressions of a visit to Johannesburg, with some notes on Durban, Delagoa Bay, and the Low Country. By WILLIAM C. SCULLY. Illustrated, Crown Svo. August Strindberg: The Spirit of Revolt. Studies and Impres- sions. L. LIND-AF-HAGEBY. Crown Svo, illustrated. The Business of Bookbinding from the point of view of the Binder, the Publisher, the Librarian and the General Reader. By ALEX. J. PHILIP, assisted by CLAYTON BEADLE, PROFESSOR PROCTOR and J. DREW APPLEBY. Crown Svo, cloth, 6/- net; or half bound in sealskin, 7/9 net. The Suffrage Annual and Woman's Who's Who, 1913. Modern Politics. Large crown Svo, cloth, gilt, 546 pp. 37 STANLEY PAUL'S 6/- NOVELS Adair, Cecil Cantacute Towers Francesoa Gabriel's Garden The Qualities of Mercy Adcook, A. St. John A Man with a Past Anderson, A. J. Hla Magnificence Andom, R. Cheerful Craft Neighbours of Mine. 70 Illustra- tions Avery, Harold A Week at the Sea Every Dog His Day Barclay, Marguerite & Armiger The Activities of Lavie Jatt Barton, Heater The Baron of Dl Fame Basin, Rene The Children of Alsace The Redeemer Bedford, H. Louisa His Will and Her Way Maids in Many Mooda Beeston, I*. J. Dagobert's Children Bett, Henry The Watch Night Bower, B. M. Lonesome Land Boylesve, Rene A Gentlewoman of France Broughton, Rhoda Between Two Stools Bussell, Dorothea The New Wood Nymph Cambridge, Ada The Retrospect Cameron, Charlotte A Durbar Bride A Passion in Morocco Colmore, G. Suffragette SaUy Constance, Lady Because of a Kiss Cotes, Mrs. Everard (Sara Jeannette Duncan) The Consort Currie.Barton W, & Augustine McHugh Officer 666 Dan by, Frank A Babe in Bohemia Deakin, Ralph The Broken Butterfly Dihl, Alice M. A Mysterious Lover Confessions of Perpetua The Marriage of Lenore Their Wedded Wife Draig Glas " Madge Carrington and her Welsh Neighbours Drummond, Hamilton The Justice of the King Sir Galahad of the Army The Three Envelopes Dudeney, Mrs. Henry Married when Suited Elliot, Anne The Memoirs of Mimosa Ellis, Mrs. Havelock The Imperishable Wing Enoch, C. Reginald, F.R.G.S. The Promoter's Pilgrimage Everett-Green, E. The Price of Friendship Olive Lorimer's Marriage Duckworth's Diamonds Oalbraith of Wynyates Flowerdew, Herbert Mrs. Gray's Past The Third Wife The Villa Mystery Formont, Maxima The She-Wolf Gerard, Dorothea The Unworthy Pact Exotic Martha The City of Enticement Gilchrist, R. Murray Damosel Croft Gill, Anthony Kirby The Marble Aphrodite Haggard, Lt.-Col. Andrew C. P. The Romance of Bayard Two Worlds : A Romance Haines, Donal Hamilton The Return of Pierre Hamel, Frank A Lady of the Garter Hamilton, M. Mrs. Brett Hawker, Pellew God Disposes Hill, Headon The Split Peas The Thread of Proof Horn, Kate Columbine at the Fair The Bride of Love The Lovelocks of Diana The Mulberries of Daphne The White Owl Susan and the Duke Hugo, Will Bound to Be Hunt, Violet The Celebrity'! Daughter The Doll James, A. B. Her Majesty the Rapper Kaye, Michael W. A Robin Hood of France Devil's Brew Stanley Pnul't Six Shilling Novels continued. Kendal, Oswald Captain Hawks, Master Mariner Kcnealy, Annesley The Poodle- Woman Kenealy, Arabella The Irresistible Mrs. Ferrers The Woman- Hunter Koebel, W. H. Hodson's Voyage Lamport, R. Fifleld Voeni the Master LJoyd, J. A. T. The Three Destinies Lorimer, Norma A Wife out ol Egypt The Second Woman Lurgan, Lester The Ban Magnay, Sir William Paul Burden The Fruits of Indiscretion The Long Hand Mansfield, Ernest Ralph Raymond Marshall, Archibald H. The Honour of the Clintons The Mystery of Redmarah Farm MoEvoy, Charles Brass Faces Meade, L. T. Love's Cross Roads Ruffles Miller, Esther Casserley's Wife Mills Malet, Vincent The Meteoric Benson Mnir, Ward When we are Rich The Amazing Mutes Nesbit, E. Fear Pearce. Charles E. The Eyes of Alicia A Star of the East: A Story of Delhi Red Revenge : A Story of Cawnpore Rawson. Maud Stepney The Three Anarchists Ray, Anna Chapin A Woman with a Purpose "Bita" A Grey Life da Robert, Louis Life's Last Gift Sabatini, Rafael The Strolling Saint The Justice of the Duke Serao, Matilde The Desire of Life Sbeed, George C. The Incorrigible Dakane > Sherren, Wilkinson Two Girls and a Mannllda Shiers Mason, Mrs. The Loves of Stella Shirley, Joy Opal of October Sladen, Douglas The Curse of the Nile The Unholy Estate Snowden, Keighley Bright Shame The Free Marriage Stanton, Coralie and Heath Hosken Called to Judgment The Swelling of Jordan The Muzzled Ox Stevenson, Philip L. Love in Armour Stewart, Newton V. Across the Gulf The Cardinal Storey, Harold The Ascent of the Bostooks Stourton, John de, and Olive) Liethbrldge The King's Master Stuart, G. Yilliers The Lost Destiny Sutcliffe Halliwell The Strength of the Hills Symons, Beryl Prince and Priest Taylor, Mary Imlay The Lotus Lantern | Trevor, St. John Our Guests Vahey, H. L, A Prisoner in Paradise Camilla Forgetting Herself Yynne, Nora So it is with the Damsel Wardle, Jane Hunt the Slipper Where Truth Lies Whishaw, Fred An Empress in Love Williams, H. Noel Tainted Gold Wilson, Theodora Wilson Found in the Forest A Modern Ahab Wodnil, Gabrielle Maggie of Margate Brinota at Brighton Wyllarde, Dolf The Career of Beauty Darling Youth will be served Wynne. May The Destiny of Claude The Red Fleur De Lys Brave Brigands The Retrospect. ADA CAMBRIDGE. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt. Woman Adrift. The Menace of Suffragism. HAROLD OWHN. Crown 8vo. Second edition, 39 The Sweep of the Sword. From Marathon to Mafeking (A Complete Battle Book). ALFRED H. MILES. Dedicated by special permission to Field-Marshal Earl Roberts, V.C. In large crown 8vo (over 600 pages), with a photogravure frontispiece, 16 full-page illustrations of world-famous battle pictures, printed on art paper, and nearly 150 illustrations in the text, handsomely bound in cloth gilt, with special design. 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EVERETT-GREEN ANTHONY DYLLINGTON COSMO HAMILTON WILLIAM LE QUEUX DOLF WYLLARDE RAFAEL SABATINI S. R. CROCKETT HELEN MATHERS DOLF WYLLARDE E. KEBLE HOWARD CHARLES E. PEARCB HAROLD OWKK 1/6 NET The Diner's Out Yade Mecum. A pocket " What's What " on the manners and customs of Society Functions, Toasts and Sentiments, Indoor Amusements, etc. ALFRED H. MILKS. In fcap. 8vo (6J x 3$), cloth bound, round corners, is. 6d. net. Leather, as. net. Verses. DOLF WYLLARDK With Photogravure Frontispiece. Paper, is. 6d. net. Cloth, as. 6d. net. STANLEY PAUL'S 1- NET NOVELS With pictorial paper covers, in. net. i The Widow? to say Nothing of the Man (3rd edition). HELEN ROWLAND Thoroughbred (and edition). FRANCIS DODSWORTH The Spell of the Jungle (and edition). ALICE PERRIN The Sins of Society (Diury Lane Novels) (2nd edition). CECIL RALEIGH The Marriages of Mayfalr (ditto) (and edition). E. KKBLE CHATTERTON A Ten Pound Penalty (and edition). Gay Lawless (4th edition). 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WILLIAM LB QUEUX Ton GALLOM GEO. R. SIMS TOM GALLOM RAFAEL SABATINI A. Sx. JOHN ADCOCK GEO. R. SIMS Toil GALLOM W. HOPE HODGSON KATE HOXN RICHARD WHITEING FKANK DANBY "DRAIG GLAS " "RlTA" DOLF WYLLARDE FRANK DANBY S. R. CROCKETT E. KEBLE HOWARD ARCHIBALD MARSHALL JAKE WARDLE R. AMDOU DOLF WYLLARDE WILLIAM LE QUEUX GABRIELLE WODMIL MAY WYNME I/- NET The Everyday Series. Edited by GERTRUDE PAUL. crown 8vo, strongly bound. 1 THE EVERYDAY PUDDING BOOK. A tasty recipe for every day in the year. By F. K. Each in THE EVERYDAY VEGETABLE BOOK. A recipe for each day of the year. By F. K. THE EVERYDAY SOUP BOOK. A recipe for each day in the year. By G. P. THE EVERYDAY ECONOMICAL COOKERY BOOK. MRS. A. T. KING. 2 THE EVERYDAY SAVOURY BOOK. A recipe for every day in the year. By MARIE WORTH. Drawing Room Entertainments. New and Original Mono- logues, Duologues, Dialogues and Playlets for Home and Platform use. Edited by ALFRED H. MILES. 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THE FIRST FAVOURITE RECITER | THE UP-TO-DATE RECITER Librarian Series of Reprints. SUGGESTIONS TOWARDS A CON- STRUCTIONAL REVISION OF THE DEWEY CLASSIFICATION. By ARTHUR JOHN HAWKKS. LIBRARY ASSISTANTS' ASSOCI- ATION. An Outline of its Develop- ment and Work. W. BENSON THORKB. CINEMATOGRAPH FILMS. Their National Value and Preservation. ALEX. J. PHILIP. INTRODUCTION TO ELEMEN- TARY BIBLIOGRAPHY. R. W. PARSONS. -; 6d. The Al Reciter Series. By Various Authors. Edited by ALFRED H. MILES. Each in large folio. Price 6d. each. The A 1 Reciter. The A 1 Reader. The A 1 Book of Readings. 47 STANLEY PAUL'S CLEAR TYPE' SIXPENNY NOVELS Albanesi, Madame 24 Heart of His Heart 3 Tlie Wonder of Love Brame, Charlotte 33 A Struggle for a Ring 32 A Shadowed Life 51 The Mystery of Colde Fell 30 A Woman's Error 29 Claribel's Love Story 18 At the Eleventh Hour Burgin, G. B. 7 The Trickster Drummond, Hamilton 39 Justice of the King 5 Shoes of Gold Everett Green, B. 22 Co-Heiresses 6 The City of the Golden Gate 37 A Will in a Well Flowerdew, Herbert 48 The Second Elopement Gallon, Tom 47 The Mystery of Roger Bullock 42 The Dream and the Woman Gerard, Dorothea 62 The City of Enticement 61 Exotic Martha Hamilton, Cosmo 8 Indiscretions Hill, Headon 3 Troubled Waters Horn, Kate 52 The Mulberries of Daphne 36 Edward and I and Mrs. Honey- bun James, Ada and Dudley i Stolen Honey Le Queux, William 34 Fatal Thirteen Mag nay, Sir "William 49 The Long Hand Mathers, Helen 43 Gay Lawless Pasture, Mrs. Henry de la ii Cornelius Pearce, Charles E. 50 Red Revenge 41 Love Besieged Perrin, Alice 51 The Spell of the Jungle Phillpotts, Eden a The Human Boy Again Ray, P. Quinton 59 Told in the Twilight 58 Golden Destiny 57 Love, the Conqueror 56 Ena's Courtship 55 A Lover at Large 54 By the Water's Edge " Rita " 67 My Lord Conceit 66 Asenath of the Ford 65 Faustina 64 Corinna 63 The Laird o Cockpen 46 Edelweiss 45 Only an Actress 38 The Man in Possession Rowlands, Effle Adelaide 27 Love's Mask a6 The Wooing of Rose 25 White Abbey 20 The Love of His Life 19 A Charity Girl 18 The House of Sunshine 17 Dare and Do 16 Beneath a Spell 15 The Man She Married 14 The Mistress of the Farm 13 Little Lady Charles 12 A Splendid Destiny Sabatini, Rafael 53 The Lion's Skin Sutcliffe, Hal li wall 40 A Benedick in Arcady 35 Priscilla of the Good Intent Thurston. E. Temple 44 The Apple of Eden ai The Evolution of Katherine 10 Traffic Warden, Florence 4 Adventures of a Pretty Woman Wilson, Augusta Evans 9 St. Elmo Wynne, May 60 Honour's Fetters 3d. NET The Budget and Socialism of Mr. Lloyd George. J. BUCKINGHAM POPE. In crown 8vo, paper, 3d. net. 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