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Presented  to  the 
LIBRARY  of  the 

UNIVERSITY  OF  TORONTO 

from  the  Estate 
of 

PROFESSOR  BEATRICE 
M.  CORRIGAN 


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THE     DOGAEESSA 


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BY    THE    SAME    TRANSLATOR. 


FOURTEEN  YEARS  with  ADELINA  PATTI. 

BY 

LOUISA       LAUW. 

TRANSLATED    BY 

CLARE    BEUNE. 
1   Vol.,   Cro\Arn    8vo.    5/. 

"  The  fact  that  it  is  written  by  one  wlio  was  for  many  years  the 
most  intimate  friend  of  the  distinguished  prima  donna  will 
invest  it  with  a  general  interest  from  the  personal  point  of  view. 
It  reveals  a  good  deal  concerning  the  early  life  of  Patti,  and  her 
first  and  subsequent  appearances  in  all  the  leading  capitals  of 
Europe."— Ttwics. 


LAST  DAYS  OF   HEINRICH   HEINE, 


CAMILLE     SELDEN. 

TRANSLATED  BY 

CLARE  BRUNE. 
1    Vol.,   Crown   8vo,    3/6. 

"  The  public,  however,  without  troubling  itself  as  to  whether 
Camille  Selden  had  a  right  to  give  to  the  world  what  was 
Intended  for  her  alone,  will  be  delighted  to  have  the  oppor- 
tunity of  reading  a  series  of  letters  as  characteristic,  as 
outspoken,  and  as  passionate  as  those  addressed  by  Keats,  when 
he,  too,  was  on  the  point  of  death,  to  Fanny  Brown."— »«. 
James's  Gazette. 


THE    DOGARESSA 


BY 


W      G      MELMONTI 


TRANSLATED   BY 

CLARE     BRUNE 


WITH    PREFACE    BY 

GEORGE      AUGUSTUS     SALA 


REMINGTON    &     CO    PUBLISHERS 

HENRIETTA    STREET    COVENT    GARDEN 


1887 
lAU  Rights  ReservecC^ 


VG 


PEEFACE. 


More  years  ago  than  I  care  to  remember  I  was  travel- 
ling by  road  in  Northern  Italy,  in  the  company  of 
that  accomplished  scholar,  critic,  and  novelist,  Mr. 
George  Meredith ;  and  one  fine  afternoon  in  autumn 
we  entered,  by  fche  upper  road,  the  interesting  and 
romantic  town  of  Bergamo.  All  tourists  are  familiar 
with  the  exquisite  beauty  and  extent  of  the  views  that 
stretch  on  every  side  from  the  heights  of  Bergamo  ; 
and  Mr.  George  Meredith  expatiated  with  true 
poetic  fervour  on  the  magnificence  of  the  vista,  on 
the  south  side :  reaching  as  the  view  does  to  the 
Alps  and  the  Apennines  beyond  the  plains  of  Lom- 
bardy,  and  revealing  the  towers  of  Monza,  of  Cre- 
mona, and  of  Milan. 

"  I  love  Bergamo — I  will  live  in  Bergamo — I  will 
die  in  Bergamo,"  cried  Mr.  George  Meredith,  who, 
for  the  first  time  was  revelling  in  the  enchanting 
prospect. 

I  quietly  told  ray  enthusiastic  friend  that  I  knew 
Bergamo  very  well,  and  that  although  it  was 
certainly  a  city  commanding  extremely  picturesque 
views,  it  was  otherwise  an  exceedingly  dirty  place, 
reeking  with  the  most  objectionable  odours,  and  not 


ii  PREFACE. 

at  all  the  kind  of  town  (for  an  Englishman,  at  least), 
either  to  live  in  or  to  die  in. 

These  remarks  concerning  Bergamo  are  to  betaken, 
if  you  please,  as  a  preface  to  a  preface.  I  have 
been  asked  to  say  a  few  words  concerning  Clare 
Brune's  translation  of  "La Dogaressa  in  Venezia," 
by  Professor  Melmonti;  and  I  resolved  that  my 
prefatory  remarks  should  be  about  Venice  as 
a  city  much  affected  by  English  travellers ;  but  no 
sooner  had  I  begun  to  recall  my  memories  of 
the  Adriatic,  to  conjure  up  mind-pictures  of  the 
Piazzo  San  Marco  and  the  Molo,  of  the  Eialto, 
and  the  Salute,  of  the  Dogana  and  the  Lido,  than 
the  incident  of  Mr.  George  Meredith  at  Bergamo 
recurred  to  me.  The  poet  after  all  is  Prophet 
as  well  as  King ;  and  Mr.  Meredith  had  a  right  to 
extol  Bergamo  before  he  knew  it :  for,  similarly,  I 
loved  Venice  long  before  ever  I  stepped  into  a  gondola 
or  wandered  under  the  arcades  of  the  Procuratie ; 
I  loved  the  City  in  the  Sea  for  years  ere  beholding  it ; 
and  I  love  it  now.  I  should  like  to  live  there  in 
the  spring  and  the  autumn.  I  should  like  to  die 
there,  and  be  carried  in  a  gondola  to  the  Island  of 
Tombs ;  but  that  there  is  a  far  more  beautiful  rest- 
ing-place for  one's  mortal  coil  in  Italy  :  the  Protes- 
tant Cemetery,  hard  by  the  Pyramid  of  Caius  Sestius 
and  the  wall  of  Rome. 

Yes,  I  love  Venice;  and  since  I  have  read  *'  The 
Dogaressa*'  I  have  sat  night  after  night  turning 
over  a  portfolio  full  of  photographs  of  the  stones  of 
Venice,  and  engravings  after  Canaletto  and  Guardi 


PREFACE.  in 

depicting  the  Yenice  of  the  past.     A  very  quaint 
Venice   is   the   Queen   of  the    Adriatic    as    she   is 
portrayed  by  the  two  great  artists  just  named.     At 
the  outset,  the  full-bottomed  periwigs  and  scarlet 
gowns   of   the   Councillors,  the   booped  petticoats 
of    the   ladies,    and   the    embroidered    coats,    silk 
stockings   and  high-heeled   shoes  of  the    Venetian 
nobility  seem  in  sad  dissonance  with  the  Byzantine 
architecture   and    the   mosaics   of    San   Mark,  and 
with    the    stately    lines    of   the   Palladian    palaces 
on    the     Canalazzo ;    but    by    degrees    you    grow 
accustomed  to  these  strange  contrasts.     You  can 
bring  yourself  even  to  tolerate  a  gondolier  with  a 
pigtail :  for   among   the  charms    of   Venice  is    her 
capacity  for  absorbing  and  subordinating  everything 
to  her  own  beauty,  and  harmonizing  with  herself  the 
meanest  and  commonest  of  her  surroundings.  When 
I  was  last  in  Venice,  two  or  three  years  ago,  that 
dreadful  aquatic  abomination,  a  steam  launch,  had 
just  made  its  first  appearance  on  the  Grand  Canal. 
I  can  hear  it  in  imagination,  and  with  horror,  now 
panting  and  puffing,  clacking  and  sputtering,  and 
snorting ;  but  I  haye  no  doubt  that  when  I  return  to 
the  beloved  city  I  shall  find  that  something  has  been 
done  by  the  invisible  influence  of  Venice  herself  to 
soften  and  refine  and  take  off  the  rough  edges  of  the 
steam  launch.       Extinguish  the    fire  of    its  paltry 
little  boiler ;  dismantle  it,  and  haul  it  up  high  and 
dry  into  a  Venetian  boat-builder's  yard ;  and  I  really 
think  that  in  process  of  time  a  coarse  cockney  craft 
would  suffer  '*  a  sea  change  "  and  turn  into  a  gon- 


ir  PREFACE, 

dola.  I  contend  that  Venice  has  the  power  of  making 
the  commonest  things  picturesque  and  poetic.  That 
railway  bridge  over  the  lagoons  is  not  like  any 
other  railway  bridge  that  I  am  aware  of.  It  ex- 
torted admiration  once,  about  twenty  years  ago, 
from  an  English  commercial  traveller  in  the 
bristles  line  of  business  with  whom  I  was  travelling 
from  Padua.  It  was  midnight  when  we  sighted  the 
city.  "  What  a  wiaduct,  sir  ! ''  he  remarked,  "  and 
how  them  lights  in  the  distance  shine  !  "  To  earn 
the  eulogy  of  a  commercial  traveller  in  the  bristles 
line  of  business  is  a  thing  indeed  to  be  proud  of.  And 
then  I  return  again  and  again  to  the  photographs  and 
engravings  of  the  Venice  of  bygone  times  :  I  dismiss 
the  periwigged  Councillors;  the  ladies  in  hoops;  the 
beaux  in  broidered  coats  and  silken  hose  and  high- 
heeled  shoes ;  the  sly -looking  ahhati  in  sable  cassocks 
and  shovel  hats.  They  fade  away ;  and  I  re-people 
the  deserted  halls  and  stanze,  the  long-drawn  arcades, 
the  narrow  footways  which  border  the  canals,  the  laby- 
rinth of  darksome  lanes  which  stretch  from  the 
Merceria  to  the  Rialto ;  I  populate  these  cari  luoghi 
with  the  Venetians  of  the  mighty  past,  when  the 
Doges  were  amongst  the  most  potent  princes  in 
Europe ;  when  the  Republic,  although  self-styled 
Serene,  was  chronically  bellicose  and  aggressive.  I 
seethe  Venice  of  blind  old  Dandolo;  I  see  the 
Venice  that  Dante  drew  — 

**  Quale  nelP  arzaii&  de'  Viniziani 
BoUe  I'inverno  la  tenace  pece 
A  rimpalmar  li  legni  lor  non  sani 


PREFACE,  V 

Che  navicar  non  ponno  :  e'n  quella  vece 
Chi  fa  suo  legno  nuovo,  e  chi  ristoppa 
Le  coste  a  quel  che  piii  viaggi  fece  ; 
Chi  ribatte  da  proda,  e  chi  da  poppa' ; 
Altri  fa  remi,  e  altri  volge  sarte  ; 
Chi  terzeruolo  ed  artimon  rintoppa  ; 
Tal,  non  per  fuoco,  ma  per  divina  arte, 
BoUia  laggiuso  una  pegola  spessa.'* 

And  then  I  turn  to  a  picture  of  the  Giant's 
Staircase ;  and  I  see  the  block  and  the  headsman 
and  Marino  Faliero  doomed  to  death,  and  ere  he 
dies  fiercely  cursing  the  city  and  her  serpent  seed. 
Well  may  English  folk  love  Yen  ice,  if  only  for  the 
sake  of  noble  Era  Paolo  Sarpi,  who,  when  religious 
intolerance  was  at  its  height  in  Italy,  did  not 
hesitate  to  minister  to  a  Protestant  Englishman 
sick  unto  death.  But  there  are  a  score  more  ties 
which  bind  us  to  Venice.  In  no  country  are  the 
pictures  of  Canaletto  so  highly  appreciated  as  they 
are  in  England ;  and  it  is  pleasant  to  remember  that 
one  of  the  earliest  patrons  of  the  great  Venetian 
painter  was  the  English  Consul  at  Venice,  and  that 
when  Canaletto  came  to  England  he  found  a  more 
illustrious  patron  and  friend  in  the  Dake  of 
Northumberland,  for  whom  he  painted  the  splendid 
pictures  of  "Charing  Cross"  and  "Whitehall," 
which  are  now  at  Sion  House.  Venice  is  further 
endeared  to  us  by  the  noble  poetry  of  Byron  and 
Eogers,  by  the  sumptuous  pictures  of  Turner  and 
Stanfield,  of  Holland  and  Clara  Montalba.  It  is 
just  twenty-two  years  since  I  first  took  up  my  abode 
at  the  Hotel  Victoria  in  Venice  ;  and  I  suppose  that 


vi  PHEFACE. 

I  have  been  there  some  fifteen  or  sixteen  times, 
staying  sometimes  for  a  week,  sometimes  for 
months  together,  so  that  I  know  the  stones  of  the 
Broglio  very  well.  I  remember  Venice  when  she 
was  held  in  thraldom  by  the  Austrians;  and  in 
1866  I  witnessed  her  liberation  from  the  yoke  of 
the  Tedeschi,  and  the  coming  of  "Victor  Emmanuel 
into  the  new  State  added  to  the  kingdom  of  Italy. 
The  Doges  and  Dogesses,  to  whom  the  reader  will 
be  introduced  by  Clare  Brune,  will  be,  no  doubt, 
very  attractive  personages ;  and  the  pictures  drawn 
by  Professor  Melmonti  of  Venetian  life  and  manners 
at  the  most  brilliant  period  of  her  history  cannot 
fail  to  be  greatly  attractive  and  deeply  interesting. 
But  although,  from  a  picturesque  and  sentimental 
point  of  view,  one  may  deplore  the  decadence  and 
collapse  of  the  Serene  Republic,  the  effacement  of  the 
Doges  and  their  spouses,  and  the  breaking  up  of  the 
Bucentaur,  on  higher  and  manlier  grounds  it  is  a 
matter  to  rejoice  over  that  Venice  as  a  Dominion  of 
the  Kingdom  of  Italy,  under  the  constitutional  sway 
of  Humbert  of  Savoy  at  present  possesses  a  greater 
amount  of  freedom  than  ever  was  her  lot  before. 

G.  A.  S. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


CHAP.  PAGE 

I.  Introductory ...       1 

II.  The  Huns— The  Women  of  Aquileia  and  Padua— The  Exiles  of 
Altinum — Lives  of  the  Settlers  on  the  Lagoons — The  Doings 
of  the  Women— First  Effigy  of  the  Dogaressa— The  Wife  of 
the  Doge  Orbelerio — The  Brides  of  the  Participazios  ...       4 

III.  The    Dogaressa   Gualdrada   Candiano — The   Dogaressa    Felicia 

Orseolo  —  The  Wife  of  the  Doge  Tribune  Memmo  —  The 
Morosinos  and  Caloprinos — Festivities  in  Honour  of  the 
Nuptials  of  the  Dogaressa  Maria  Orseolo — The  Wife  of  the 
Doge  Otho  Orseolo  22 

IV.  The  Dogaressa  Theodora  Silvio — The  Dogaressa  Felicia  Michiele 

— The  Crusades  and  the  Venetian  People — Religious  Feeling 
— The  Conquest  of  Constantinople       ...         ...         ...         ...     41 

V.  Constance,  Daughter  of  King  Tancred,  and  Wife  of  the  Doge, 
Peter  Ziani — Chivalry  and  Women — The  Venetian  Women  in 
the  East 60 

VI.  The  Marriages  of   the  Tiepolos  —  The  Dogaressa  in  the  ^ro- 

missione  Ducale — Loicia  da  Prata,  Wife  of  the  Doge  Einiero 
Zeno — Coronation  of  the  Dogaressa  Marchesina  Tiepolo — The 
Wife  of  Peter  Gradenigo — The  Power  of  the  Nobility         ...     78 

VII.  The   Conspiracies   in  Venice   in  the   14th  Century  —  Soranza 

Soranzo — The  Legend  of  Marino  Faliero         91 

VIII.  A  Plebeian  Woman  on  the  Throne  of  the  Doges — The  Dogaressa 

in  the  Promissione  109 

IX.  Art  and  Women  in  the  15th  and  16th  Centuries 118 

X.  The  Venetian  Woman  and  the  Literature  of  the  15th  and  16th 

Centuries 138 

XI.  Luxury  and   the    Life  of   Woman  —  The  Dogaressa  and  the 

Sumptuary  Laws — Solemn  Progress  of  the  Dogaressa  ...  156 
XII.  The  Dogaressa  in  the   15th   Century — Marina  Steno — Marina 

Foscari  —  Giovanna  Malipiero — Dea  Tron  —  The  Wife    of 

Nioolo  Marcello — Taddea  Mocenigo — Lucia  Barbarigo        ...  170 


viii  CONTENTS, 

PAGE 

XIII.  Bxoessive  Luxury  of  the  16th  Century — Solemn  Coronation  of 

Zilia  Priuli — Laws  respecting  the  Suite  and  Court  of  the 
Dogaressa — The  Dogaressa  Loredano  Mocenigo — Her  Obse- 
quies— The  Widow  of  the  Doge  Sebastian  Veuiero 191 

XIV.  The  Dogaressa  Morosina  Grimani 212 

XV.  The  Seventeenth  Century — Arts  and  Literature — Provisions  for 

moderating  Luxury  and  forbidding  the  Dogaressa's  Corona- 
tion — Solemn  Entry  of  the  Wife  of  the  Doge,  Sylvester 
Valerio — New   Decrees   respecting  the  Ceremonies  for  the 

Dogaressa ,. 228 

XVI.  Venetian  Decadence — Salons — The  Patrician  Flirts      246 

XVII.  The  Dogaressas   Lauia  Comaro  and  Pisana  Mocenigo— The 

Family  of  the  Doge  Mocenigo 259 

XVIII.  A  Dogaressa,  formerly  a  Ballet-dancer — The  Last  Dogaressa  ...  273 


CHAPTER  I. 


INTKODTJCTORY. 


In  the  early  history  of  Yenice  woman  plays  a  very 
unimportant  part. 

The  valiant  and  energetic  men  of  the  Lagoons 
could  ill  brook  that  their  women  should  dare  to  vie 
with,  or  in  any  way  surpass  them. 

These  men  never  admitted  their  female  relations 
to  share  their  secret  thoughts,  or  to  take  part  in 
public  affairs. 

Indeed,  female  virtues  could  not  then,  in  any 
way,  have  advanced  the  interests  of  the  Republican 
Government.  It  would,  under  serious  circum- 
stances, have  been  injurious  to  its  independence, 
had  affection  ruled  the  minds  of  men,  the  heart 
predominated  over  the  judgment,  imagination  pre- 
vailed over  reason,  or  feeling  over  justice. 

Neither  facts  nor  inductions  enable  us  to  throw 
much  light  upon  the  lives  of  the  ancient  Venetian 

B 


2  THE  DOGARESSA. 

ladies,  gentle  and  retiring  women,  who  ended 
peacefully  the  days  spent  in  obscurity.  The  men 
of  that  epoch  found  in  the  outside  world  strife,  in 
their  homes,  peace. 

Woman  was  at  that  time  kept  in  ignorance  of 
mens  lives,  and  of  her  own  power.  When  early 
dissensions  ceased,  then  all  aimed  at  the  common 
welfare  of  their  country,  which,  in  a  short  time, 
became  rich,  powerful,  and  respected.  Venice  then 
sent  her  patrician  ladies  to  form  alliances  with 
foreign  princes,  with  a  view  to  protect  her  own 
interests  and  to  extend  the  greatness  of  the  Re- 
public. Thus,  far  away,  under  other  skies,  appear 
the  pale  faces  of  sad  and  beautiful  women. 

After  those  glorious  times,  followed  a  period  of 
luxury  and  pleasure,  and  women  then  appear  amidst 
splendid  fetes  and  ceremonies,  in  the  Piazza,  display- 
ing their  brocades  and  jewels.  Their  secret  thoughts 
and  aspirations  and  their  lives  are  to  us  a  blank, 
forming,  in  appearance,  a  complete  contrast  to  those 
of  the  men,  always  agitated  by  ambitious  designs. 

When  Venice  thoughtlessly  advanced  towards 
her  ruin,  we  share  in  their  confidences,  and  are 
almost  on  a  familiar  footing  with  her  women,  they 
then  reveal  frankly  the  secrets  of  their  gay  lives, 
and  we  see  them  keeping  open  house  in  their  elegant 
saloons,  entertaining  their  guests  with  piquant 
conversation,  and  even  dabbling  occasionally  in 
politics. 

The  mystery  surrounding  the  Venetian  lady  of 


INTRODUCTORY,  3 

early  times  renders  her  doubly  attractive  to  us,  and 
it  may  therefore  not  prove  a  useless  task  if  we 
endeavour  to  rescue  from  oblivion  the  names  and 
lives  of  a  few  of  those  ladies  known  as  the  wives  of 
the  Doges,  who,  by  their  position,  were  able  to  im- 
press upon  the  usages  of  those  days  a  semblance 
of  courtesy  and  refinement. 

The  Dogaressa  will  serve  as  a  pretext  for  bring- 
ing into  prominence  the  life  led  by  Venetian  ladies 
in  general,  which,  although  hidden  from  the  world 
at  large,  is  worth  studying  in  connection  with  the 
history  of  a  Republic  where  intellect  played  so 
important  a  part,  of  a  State  governed  not  only  by 
bravery,  but  also  by  mental  acumen,  and  of  a 
country  where  the  Fine  Arts  shed  such  a  refulgent 
splendour. 

Unheeding  the  din  of  battle  and  the  bustle  of 
commerce,  we  will  turn  to  the  customs  of  the  house- 
hold, where  the  mild  light  arising  from  the  domestic 
hearth  may  illumine  for  us  some  secrets  of  family 
life. 

It  seems  to  us  that  the  object  of  history  is  not 
only  to  record  great  deeds  and  to  chronicle  the 
development  of  Institutions  and  Governments,  but 
also  to  take  note  of  the  forms  and  ceremonies  of 
a  period,  and  thereby  to  raise  particular  facts  to  the 
dignity  of  a  true  idea  of  the  character  and  customs 
of  a  nation. 


CHAPTER   11. 

The  Huns — The  Women  op  Aqitileia  and  Padtja — The 
Exiles  of  Altinxtm — Lives  op  the  Settlers  on 
THE  Lagoons — The  Doings  op  the  Women — First 
Effigy  op  the  Dogaressa — The  Wipe  op  the  Doge 
Orbelerio — The  Brides  op  the  Participazios. 

In  the  fifth  century  the  Venetian  cities  were  the 
first  to  suffer  from  the  invasion  of  the  barbaric 
hordes ;  the  walls  of  Aquileia,  the  capital  of  the 
country  of  the  Heneti,  fell  beneath  the  onslaught 
of  the  Huns,  and  flames  of  devouring  fires  played 
around  the  dwellings  in  the  cities  of  Concordia, 
Altinum,  Oderzo,  Padua,  and  Vicenza.  The  in- 
habitants of  the  Mediterranean  Yenice,  in  the 
face  of  such  disasters,  hastened  to  seek  refuge,  at 
first  momentarily,  and  then  definitively,  on  the 
islands  of  the  Lagoons,  where  the  rivers  of  Upper 
Italy  fall  into  the  sea.  They  had  brought  all  they 
could  save  with  them,  and  formed  an  alliance, 
necessary  in  their  miserable  circumstances,  with 
the  fishermen,  the  labourers,  and  the  boatmen, 
whom  they  found  inhabiting  these  islets,  and  they 


b 


THE  HUNS.  5 

became  a  race  of  men  noted  for  their  bravery, 
success,  and  endurance,  bringing  with  them  new 
customs  and  fresh  ideas.  The  rehgious  traditions 
of  Paganism  had  almost  entirely  disappeared  from 
that  early  and  mysterious  life  of  Venice,  and,  as  a 
promise  of  happier  times,  the  people  sought  the 
Heaven  of  the  Virgin  and  the  Saints,  and  venerated 
with  holy  fervour  the  relics  of  martyrs  to  the 
Christian  Faith. 

But  the  women  must  have  felt  the  need,  more 
even  than  the  men,  who  steeled  their  minds  against 
the  hard  adversities  of  those  turbulent  times,  to  pour 
out  their  hearts  in  acts  of  devotion,  which  served, 
together  with  the  ancient  and  noble  records  of  their 
native  land,  to  soothe  their  anguish  and  calm  their 
fears.  The  recollection  of  the  strong-minded  women 
of  Aquileia  was  still  fresh  in  their  minds — women 
who,  when  strings  failed  for  the  bows  used  to  shoot 
at  the  army  of  Massinimo,  cut  off  their  hair  and 
plaited  it  into  cords  as  a  substitute.  Nor  was  the 
virtue  of  Arria,  the  Paduan  wife  of  Caecinna  Petus, 
himself  a  native  of  Padua,  forgotten  by  the  exiles. 
When  Csecinna,  who  had  joined  in  the  conspiracy 
of  Scribonianus  against  the  Emperor  Claudius,  was 
being  conveyed  by  sea  as  a  prisoner  to  Eome,  Arria, 
whom  misfortune  developed  into  a  heroine,  besought 
the  soldiers  to  let  her  embark  with  her  husband. 
Her  prayer  being  rejected,  she  hired  a  fishing-boat, 
and  followed  the  vessel  to  Rome.  When,  on  her 
arrival  she  understood  that  Caecinna  was  to  undergo 


6  THE  DOGARESSA. 

capital  punishment,  she  declared  that  she  would 
not  survive  him ;  and  when  her  son-in-law,  Trasea 
Petus,  expostulated  with  her,  saying,  "  Should  I 
ever  be  in  the  same  plight,  would  you  wish  your 
daughter  to  sacrifice  her  life  as  you  propose  doing  ?  "^ 
she  replied,  *'  Yes,  indeed  I  should,  if  she  had  lived 
as  long  in  your  society,  and  become  as  entirely 
identified  with  you,  as  I  am  with  my  husband." 

To  her  attendants,  who,  fearing  some  misfortune, 
never  left  her  alone,  Arria  said  — 

"  You  will  not  succeed,  in  spite  of  all  your  pre- 
cautions; you  will  only  cause  me  to  die  more 
miserably  ! " 

With  these  words,  she  threw  herself  so  violently 
against  the  wall  that  she  fainted.  When  she  re- 
covered, she  exclaimed  — 

"  Did  I  not  tell  you  that  I  should  find  some  means 
of  dying  ?  And  if  you  deprive  me  of  an  easy  way, 
I  will  use  violence  !  " 

When  she  heard  that  her  husband  was  allowed  to 
choose  any  kind  of  death  he  preferred,  she  went  to 
Caecinna ;  and  after  having  bidden  him  a  last  fare- 
well, she  plunged  a  dagger  into  her  own  heart,  and 
then,  withdrawing  it,  exclaimed  — 

"  Do  the  same,  Petus  Cascinna  ;  it  is  not  painful." 

Other  Paduan  women  of  noble  courage  were  the 
wife  and  the  daughter  of  Trasea  Petus,  both  sus- 
pected by  the  Caesars,  and  both  driven  into  exile  by 
Tiberius  Nero,  and  bravely  defended  in  the  Senate 
by  Pliny  the  younger. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  AQUILEIA  AND  PADUA.  7 

And  amongst  later  examples  of  heroism  we  must 
not  omit  the  name  of  Degna,  a  matron  of  Aquileia, 
who,  amidst  the  carnage  and  the  sacking  bj  the 
Huns,  cast  herself  in  self-defence  from  the  top  of 
a  tower  into  the  River  Natiso. 

But  such  a  glorious  list  of  noble  deeds  brings 
out  in  stronger  contrast  the  weakness  of  female 
minds,  scarcely  recovered  from  the  terror  of  barbaric 
incursions.  Grrand  deeds  of  female  heroism  could 
not  completely  change  those  pusillanimous  minds, 
which  turned  towards  an  idealistic  mysticism,  or 
remembered  with  terror  the  perils  of  the  past,  or 
lamented  the  country  they  had  lost;  as,  for  in- 
stance, smiling  Altinum,  blooming  Concordia,  and 
Aquileia  the  beautiful — the  last  a  splendid  city  re- 
nowned for  its  riches  until  the  ferocious  barbarians 
razed  it  to  the  ground. 

Of  the  subjects  talked  of  by  Venetian  women  in 
the  quiet  evening  hours,  we  still  retain  some  few 
records  in  chronicles  and  legends.  Rome,  even  in 
her  decadence,  still  dominated  these  people  ;  and 
ancient  deeds  and  facts  were  related,  embellished 
and  quickened  by  the  imaginative  powers  of  the 
narrator.  They  endeavoured  to  forget  that  Italy 
groaned  beneath  the  scourge  of  the  barbarians, 
and  the  families  who  had  taken  refuge  in  Venice 
treasured  the  remembrance  of  their  former  homes. 
The  Heneti  or  Veneti  traced  back  their  origin  to 
^neus  and  the  Trojans.  They  also  exaggerated 
the  character  and  appearance  of  the  destroyer  of 


8  THE  DOGARESSA. 

the  Roman  world,  and  thus  Attila's  fame  was  pre- 
served. Little  by  little  they  added  imaginary  and 
fabulous  anecdotes  respecting  him,  and  around  the 
detested  name  of  ''The  Scourge  of  God"  were 
grouped  wonderful  accounts  of  carnage  and  devas- 
tation. In  contradistinction  to  the  atrocious  Hun, 
whose  eyes  shot  forth  flames  of  fire,  popular  tradi- 
tion placed  his  formidable  rival,  Janus,  King  of 
Padua,  describing  great  aud  terrible  battles  fought 
near  Concordia,  Altinum,  and  Padua,  and  branded 
with  infamy  the  death  of  Attila,  who,  taken  and 
bound,  whilst  imploring  in  vain  for  his  life,  ended 
his  days  ignominiously  within  the  walls  of  Rimini. 
Upon  such  fabulous  tales,  sadly  misleading  to  future 
historians,  was  based  the  poem  of  Attila  and  his 
redoubtable  Italian  adversaries,  Giano  and  Foresto, 
related  in  French  verse  by  ISTicolo  Casola  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  and  afterwards  given  in  the 
popular  Venetian  dialect  in  the  fifteenth. 

Even  the  legends,  narrated  by  the  chroniclers 
respecting  the  origin  of  Venice,  evinced  clearly  the 
lively  and  ingenuous  belief  of  a  people  needing  God's 
help.  According  to  their  heated  fancy  God  visited 
them,  illumined  their  miserable  retreats,  and  com- 
forted them  with  apparitions  and  visions.  In  the 
seventh  century  the  inhabitants  of  Altinum, 
threatened  by  the  Lombards,  after  having,  with 
tears  and  prayers,  implored  the  help  of  Heaven,  saw, 
all  at  once,  pigeons  and  other  birds  seize  their  young 
in  their  beaks  and  fly  away  from  the  town.     This 


THE  EXILES  OF  ALTINUM,  9 

seemed  to  them  a  warning  from  Heaven,  and  about 
a  third  of  the  inhabitants,  preceded  by  two  tribunes, 
Ario  and  Aratore,  besides  the  clergy,  following  the 
flight  of  the  birds,  made  for  the  islands  of  the 
Lagoons,  and  took  up  their  abode  in  Torcello.  Two 
priests,  Geminiano  and  Mauro,  comforted  the 
fugitives,  and  the  words  of  God's  ministers  raised 
the  spirits  of  the  desponding ;  they  were  sublimated 
into  celestial  space  and  quieted  by  visions  of  Heaven. 
A  white  cloud  appeared  to  Mauro,  and  the  voice  of 
•God  came  down  on  two  sun-rays  ordering  on  that 
very  spot,  a  church  to  be  erected.  The  soft  voice  of 
Mary,  giving  the  same  command  in  another  place, 
was  followed  by  a  wonderful  vision ;  the  white 
clouds  separated  and  blooming  shores  appeared, 
covered  with  people,  besides  flocks  and  herds.  Then 
all  disappeared,  and  the  silence  was  broken  by  the 
voices  of  the  Apostle  Peter,  of  John  the  Baptist,  of 
the  Martyr  Antolino,  of  St.  Justina,  and  of  other 
martyrs,  who  invited  the  faithful  to  build  churches. 
In  Torcello  a  cathedral  soon  arose,  gloriosissima^ 
jpreziosa  ed  eccelsa,  dedicated  to  the  Virgin  Mary, 
and  other  sacred  edifices,  juxta  prcecepfum  of  the 
saints,  were  erected  on  the  neighbouring  shores  of 
Burano,  Maggiorbo,  Costanziaco,  and  Amiano. 

The  towers  and  gates  of  their  much-regretted 
country  were  thus  remembered  by  the  exiles,  who, 
amidst  the  exciting  delirium  of  visions,  desired 
fervently  to  entrust  the  foundations  of  their  new 
home  to  the  protection  of  the  Almighty.     The  first 


10  THE  DOGAUESSA. 

care  of  the  fugitives  on  reacbing  the  islets  of  the 
Lagoons,  was  to  raise  churches,  even  of  the  most 
miserable  kind,  often  only  protected  by  a  sail,  and 
generally  built  of  planks  covered  with  straw  and 
rushes.  The  chroniclers  mention  neither  the  piety 
nor  religious  feelings  of  the  women.  According  to 
a  sacred  tradition  the  first  woman  eminent  for  her 
piety  was  Adriana,  wife  of  Janus,  King  of  Padua, 
the  fierce  antagonist  of  Attila ;  she  is  said  to  have 
founded  a  monastery  on  the  isles,  where  arose  later 
the  city  of  Venice.  This  noble  woman,  having 
escaped  from  the  carnage  of  the  Huns,  repaired  with 
many  ladies  of  high  birth  to  Rivoalto,  and  erected 
there  a  monastery  dedicated  to  the  Archangel 
Raphael.  "  Meras  nugas,'  exclaimed  Cornaro,  but 
which  reveal  the  temper  of  the  times  and  the  gentle 
and  pious  deeds  of  women,  whose  lives  are  sur- 
rounded by  a  mysterious  and  poetical  halo. 

In  the  year  727,  when  a  church  was  erected  to 
St.  Cassianus,  a  convent  of  nuns  arose,  dedicated 
to  St.  Cecilia ;  less  than  a  century  later  the  Doges 
of  the  Participazio  family,  by  Divine  revelation, 
revelatione  Domini  nostri  omnipotentes,  constructed 
the  monasteries  of  St.  Hilary  and  St.  Zachariah, 
which  soon  became  very  powerful,  and  obtained, 
subsequently,  protection  and  privileges  from  Otho 
I.  (693),  Otho  III.  (998),  Henry  11.  (1018), 
Conrad  II.  (1028),  Henry  III.  (1040). 

Besides  the  rights  granted  to  St.  Zacharias  and 
St.  Hilary,  documents  anterior  to   1009  attest  how 


LIVES  OF  THE  SETTLERS  ON  THE  LAGOONS.    11 

special  immunities  were  accorded  by  the  State  to 
the  monasteries  of  San  Giorgio  Maggiore,  of  the 
Saints  Cosmo  and  Damiano^  and  of  St.  Stephen 
d'Altino.  Some  ancient  documents  state,  besides, 
that  on  the  shore  of  Malamocco  there  existed  a 
Monastery  of  Virgins,  dedicated  to  St.  Leonard  or 
St.  Leo,  or  to  St.  Basso.  The  Grecian  architects, 
afterwards  employed  in  the  Yenetian  Islands,  for  the 
primitive  wooden  churches,  substituted  edifices 
adorned  with  precious  ornamentations,  and  thus  in 
the  azure  vaults  of  the  churches  sprang  forth  the 
dawn  of  the  Fine  Arts. 

A  popular  tradition  sets  forth  that,  in  421,  the 
house  of  the  Greek  architect  Entinopo  having, 
with  many  others,  been  burnt  down,  the  people,  in 
order  to  propitiate  the  Almighty,  made  a  vow  upon 
the  spot  of  the  fire,  to  erect  a  church  dedicated  to  St. 
James.  But  either  anterior  or  coeval  with  this  one 
other  churches  were  built,  such  as  those  of  Saints 
Sergio  and  Baceo,  constructed  by  Caotorta  in 
Olivolo. 

A  chronicle,  attributed  erroneously  by  Gallic- 
ciolli  to  Daniele  Barbaro,  adds  that,  "  All  the  islets 
were  inhabited  hy  one  or  two  people,  or  by  relations ^ 
who  were  really  servants^  and  hy  many  friends,^'  &c. 

The  young  city  of  Venice,  rising  from  such  a 
humble  origin,  continued  daily  to  gain  power  and 
strength.  The  life  of  the  men  formed  a  striking 
contrast  to  that  of  the  women.  The  former,  strong 
in  body  and  brave  of  heart,  found  on  that  inhospit- 


12  THE  DOGARESSA. 

able  site,  security  and  vigour,  and  after  struggling 
with  and  prevailing  over  all  obstacles,  they  learned 
how  dear  a  thing  was  life,  and  they  determined  to 
enjoy  it.  Thus  the  character  of  the  Venetians  was 
modified,  and  habit  grown  into  instinct  was  handed 
down  from  generation  to  generation. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  sixth  century,  the  Greeks 
having  withdrawn  their  troops  from  Yenice,  the 
Venetians  had,  unaided,  to  oppose  the  Lombards,  and 
they  displayed,  on  that  occasion,  wonderful  energy 
and  firmness  of  purpose,  joined  to  marvellous 
courage.  In  all  the  vicissitudes  of  life,  they  turned 
their  thoughts  to  God,  and  they  sought  out  amidst 
the  ruins  of  Aquileia  and  Altinum  the  richest 
marbles  and  the  most  valuable  pieces  of  sculpture 
as  ornaments  for  their  places  of  worship.  But  in 
the  exercise  of  their  religion,  they  did  not  forget 
their  temporal  interests.  When  their  early  discords 
had  died  out,  and  the  constitution  of  the  Tribunes 
was  abolished,  the  Venetians  gathered  round  a  chief 
and  made  the  common  weal  of  their  new  country  their 
principal  object.  On  that  shifting  land,  threatened 
constantly  with  submersion,  before  those  vast 
horizons,  fitted  to  fill  the  mind  with  a  dreamy  sad- 
ness, there  arose  a  nation  with  well-defined  and 
strict  ideas,  feelings,  and  aspirations,  and  whose 
religion  was  not  allowed  to  thwart  their  industry. 
From  the  first  they  manifested  that  vigour,  which  is 
the  outgrowth  of  liberal  laws. 

The  Venetians,  burning  with  fiery  passions  and 


THE  DOINGS  OF  THE  WOMEN,  la 

noble  sentiments,  embellished  their  country,  orga- 
nized their  army,  favoured  the  progress  of  their 
Government,  attained  to  greatness  by  their  trade, 
ran  in  arms  to  their  ports,  prospered  in  their  military 
enterprises,  and  boldly  faced  the  lances  of  the  enemy. 
When  by  degrees  their  wild  and  warlike  propensities 
subsided,  they  then  considered  the  happiness  and 
prosperity  of  their  families.  Those  men  who  dared 
the  perils  of  the  sea  must  have  loved  their  wives 
who  ruled  over  their  households,  if  not  by  mental 
superiority,  at  least  by  gentleness  and  the  affections 
of  the  heart. 

The  former  modest  manners  of  the  Venetian 
women,  often  praised  by  Latin  writers,  such  as 
Martial,  were  transferred  to  their  homes  in  the 
Lagoons.  Girls  did  not  marry  before  they  were 
twenty  years  of  age,  and  widows  rarely,  if  ever, 
married  again.  Men  and  women  betook  themselves 
before  dawn  to  church  to  say  their  prayers,  called  in 
the  ritual  "  Matins,"  and  the  brave  and  learned 
Doge,  Peter  Caudiano  L  (887),  never  failed  to  be 
present  at  the  religious  services,  both  morning  and 
evening.  At  sunrise  and  sunset  the  ringing  of  a 
bell  summoned  men  to  their  labour,  and  then  invited 
them  to  seek  rest.  At  the  third  hour  of  the  night 
another  bell,  called  the  curfew,  was  sounded,  en- 
joining all  the  population  to  return  to  their  homes, 
for  all  traffic  in  the  town  was  forbidden  after  that 
time. 

The   meals   were    frugal,   consisting    usually    of 


14  THE  DO G ARES S A. 

fruit  and  game ;  the  dress  was  simple  and  generally 
blue  in  tint,  a  favourite  colour  with  the  Venetians, 
until  the  fashions  of  other  countries,  especially  of 
Byzantium,  were  introduced  amongst  them.  Although 
some  deny  that  commerce  and  navigation  threw  the 
Venetians  into  the  arms  of  the  Greeks,  thus  subject- 
ing them  to  the  greatest  power  then  ruling  the 
Mediterranean,  it  is  certain,  however,  that  there 
existed  from  the  first  a  friendly  intercourse  between 
Byzantium  and  Venice,  and  evident  marks  of  sub- 
jection which  lasted  a  long  time.  Greek  ladies 
became  the  wives  of  Venetian  nobles,  and  the  Doges 
themselves,  invested  with  the  titles  of  ipati  and 
yrotospatari,  formed  ties  of  relationship  with  the 
Emperors.  Hence  the  introduction  of  Byzantine 
fashions,  and  the  Venetian  women  began  to  wear 
sumptuous  Eastern  costumes. 

About  the  year  876,  Charlemagne,  whilst  carry- 
ing on  a  war  in  Friuli,  invited  his  courtiers  on  a 
cold,  rainy  day,  to  join  a  hunting  party.  They 
appeared  before  the  monarch  clad  in  furs  and  other 
finery  which  they  had  purchased  from  some  Venetian 
merchants  at  Pavia,  who  had  brought  this  merchan- 
dise from  the  East,  besides  the  plumes  of  various 
kinds  of  birds,  such  as  peacocks,  &c.,  embroidered 
silk  gowns,  bands  of  Tyrian  purple,  cloth  of  brilliant 
hues,  skins  of  the  otter  and  ermine.  All  these 
things  became  part  of  the  rich  costumes  of  the 
Doges'  wives  and  other  noble  matrons.  They  wore 
also  caps  trimmed   with   gold   lace,  their   dresses 


FIRST  EFFIGY  OF  THE  DOGAEESSA.  15 

iitted  tight  to  the  figure,  and  over  their  shoulders 
hung  a  mantle  with  a  long  train,  adorned  with  gold 
embroidery  and  with  two  strips  of  sable  hanging 
from  the  chest.  On  the  facade  of  the  Church  of 
St.  Mark,  in  a  mosaic,  depicting  the  bearing  of  the 
Evangelist's  body,  appear  the  Byzantine  fashions 
adopted  by  the  ancient  matrons  of  Venice.  The 
Doge,  followed  by  a  solemn  procession,  is  about  to 
enter  the  church.  In  a  corner  to  the  left  of  the 
spectator  is'  a  group  of  ladies,  amongst  whom  one 
sumptuously  dressed  represents  probably  the  Doga- 
ressa.  She  wears  a  crown  on  her  head  ;  from  her 
shoulders  depends  a  long  red  mantle,  with  a  girdle  of 
the  same  colour,  besides  a  tight-fitting  sky-blue 
garment  trimmed  with  embroidery. 

In  three  centuries  that  group  of  islands  called  by 
diacono  Giovanni,  a  second  Venice,  to  distinguish  it 
from  the  Mediterranean  had  grown  marvellously. 
The  gates  of  Constantinople  were  opened  to  the 
Venetians,  and  the  precious  merchandise  of  the 
East  was,  as  we  have  already  mentioned,  sold  by 
them  to  the  Franks,  who  had  in  the  eighth  century 
conquered  Lombardy.  The  Venetians  displayed  a 
wonderful  activity  of  mind,  and  to  the  cares  of 
State  and  the  ardour  for  commerce  was  added  a 
revival  of  the  arts ;  early  memoirs  speak  of  metal 
foundries,  of  organ  builders,  of  goldsmiths,  of  manu- 
facturers of  glass,  of  stuffs,  of  carpets,  of  blacksmiths, 
of  cabinet-makers,  &c.  Ear-rings,  bracelets,  rings, 
pins,  were  ornaments  most  acceptable  to  the  ladies, 


16  THE  DOGARESSA. 

who  protected  their  feet  with  elegant  zanche,  adorned 
with  lace  and  embroidery. 

In  the  ninth  century,  they  were  acquainted  with 
taffetas,  serge,  camlet,  and  in  the  Italian  markets 
the  Venetians  sold  stuffs  from  Tyre,  Damascus, 
Alexandria,  and  Byzantium.  They  also  superin- 
tended  the  organization  of  the  city,  the  consolidating 
of  the  pavement,  and  private  persons  continued  ta 
widen  and  improve  the  narrow  streets.  Every- 
where dockyards  sprang  up,  where  large  boats  and 
ships  were  constructed  to  float  on  the  Lagoons,  and 
far  out  to  sea,  thus  establishing  commercial  relations 
and  an  active  interchange  of  industries  with  neigh- 
bouring  countries  and  with  the  East.  And  not  only 
from  Oriental  climes,  but  also  from  France  and  the 
Italian  towns,  came  women,  to  form  alliances  with 
the  Yenetians,  and  they  brought  into  their  adopted 
country,  rapidly  increasing  in  population  and  wealth, 
fashions,  ideas,  and  customs  hitherto  unknown  there* 
We  must  now  devote  ourselves  to  the  consideration 
of  the  Dogaressa,  who  stands,  so  to  say,  at  the  head 
of  the  Yenetian  ladies,  as  the  highest  and  most  per- 
fect type  amongst  them. 

The  first  wives  of  the  supreme  heads  of  the  State 
who  have  left  any  remembrance  behind  them  were 
not  Yenetian,  and  did  not  always  exercise  a  benefi- 
cent influence  on  their  new  country.  It  is  possible, 
however,  that  tradition  perverted  historical  truth 
when  it  averred  that  the  Doge  Orbelerio  was  in- 
fluenced by  his  French  wife  to  make  the  iniquitous 


THE    WIFE   OF  THE  DOGE   ORBELERIO.  17 

proposal  of  ceding  Yenice  to  the  French,  thus  re- 
pudiating the  idea  that  a  Venetian  could,  unless  ill- 
advised,  think  of  betraying  his  native  land. 

There  existed  in  ancient  times,  in  Venice,  two 
factions ;  one  favoured  the  Greeks,  whilst  the  other 
inclined,  from  motives  of  self-interest,  to  encourage 
the  rulers  of  the  neighbouring  terra-firma,  for  it  is 
natural  to  suppose  that  the  fugitives  did  not  always 
lose,  even  in  exile,  the  possession  of  their  lands. 
Such  discords  led  to  certain  changes  which  ended  in 
the  foundation  of  modern  Venice.  In  the  year  804 
Orbelerio,  tribune  of  Malamocco,  was  elected  Doge 
by  the  general  assembly ;  he  was  turbulent,  unde- 
cided, and  weak ;  he  took  as  his  colleague  in  the 
Government  his  brother  Benedict. 

Orbelerio's  wife  was  of  illustrious  French  origin, 
and  she  was  bestowed  upon  him,  according  to  some 
writers,  by  that  same  Emperor  Charles  and  by  Pepin. 
He  was  scarcely  elected  Doge  when  he  went  with 
Benedict  to  visit  the  French  chiefs,  and  formed 
with  them  secret  bonds  of  friendship.  He  had  been 
incited  to  this  step  by  his  fascinating  wife  and  by 
his  brother  Benedict,  who  was  jealous  of  him  and 
covertly  encouraged  the  Greeks ;  but  when  a  Grecian 
fleet,  under  the  command  of  Niceta,  landed  on  the 
islands,  the  Doge  altered  his  tactics  and  favoured 
the  Greeks,  who  created  Orbelerio  Spatario,  and 
Benedict  Ipato.  Thus  Orbelerio's  double-dealing, 
and  his  procrastination  in  opposing  the  Greeks, 
wearied     Pepin,     who,    cutting    short    all    further 

0 


18  TEE  DOGARESSA. 

delays,  invaded  the  Venetian  territory  witli  a  large 
army  and  a  numerous  squadron  of  ships,  destroying 
Heraclea  and  Tesole,  destroying  Brondola  and 
Chiozzia  by  fire,  and  besieging  Malamocco,  which 
was  then  the  capital.  Chronicles  and  traditions 
cast  a  poetical  halo  over  this  war,  and  it  is  related 
that,  on  the  arrival  of  the  French  King  before 
Malamocco,  the  inhabitants  taking  refuge  in  the 
Kealtum,  an  old  woman,  being  the  only  inhabitant 
left  in  the  town,  advised  the  invaders  to  construct  a 
wooden  bridge  across  the  water  to  Realtum.  But 
the  French  horses,  when  they  felt  the  swaying  of  the 
tottering  bridge,  took  fright,  and  jumped  into  the 
water,  breaking  the  planks  and  destroying  the  ropes. 
The  old  woman,  who  had  merely  advised  Pepin  in 
order  to  draw  him  into  a  trap,  and  thus  to  save  her 
country,  took  refuge  in  Kealtum,  and  the  French 
leader  was  compelled  to  accept  the  conditions  of 
peace  offered  to  him. 

All  this  is  a  mere  fable,  but  it  shows  us  how 
national  tradition  endeavoured,  by  mentioning 
another  woman's  noble  deeds,  to  counterbalance 
the  perfidy  of  Orbelerio's  wife.  A  foreigner 
plotted  against  Venice,  therefore  a  Venetian  woman 
must  save  her  country.  Probably  the  old  dame  left 
alone  in  Malamocco  is  meant  as  a  type  of  Venetian 
shrewdness.  In  times  of  imminent  danger  the 
Venetians  forgot  their  private  feuds,  and  both 
rulers  and  people  took  refuge  in  Realtum;  when 
the  enemy's  fleet,  having  passed  the  port  of  Albiola, 
prepared  to  sail  into  the  waters  of  the  Lagoons,  the 


THE  WIFE  OF  THE  DOGE  ORBELERIO.  19 

Yenetiaus  no  doubt  removed  the    stakes   marking 
the  navigable  canals.     Pepin   finding  it  impossible 
to  conquer  the  Venetians  in  their  secure  fastness  of 
Kealtum  was  compelled  to  withdraw  his  forces,  and 
to  enter  into  a  friendly  alliance  with  the  maritime 
Eepublic.     According  to  John  Diacono  and  Dandolo, 
the  two  Doges  were  deposed  from  their  thrones  and 
exiled.     Orbelerio  was  confined  in  Constantinople, 
and  Dandolo  in  Zara.     At  the  end  of  twenty  years, 
Orbelerio,  aided  by  the  rebels,  returned  in  arms  to 
the  Lagoons,  but  John  Participazio  besieged  him  in 
Yigilia,  and  compelled  him  to  surrender.     He  was 
afterwards  beheaded,  and  his  head  was  carried  and 
ignominiously  buried  on  the  shore  of  Malamocco. 
Sanudo   relates  that  some  chroniclers   assert   that 
Orbelerio  was  taken,  and  executed,  together  with 
his  French  wife.     Venice  passed  by  degrees  from  her 
infancy  to  blooming  youth;  the  seat  of  government 
was    established   at   Realtum,    where    they    found 
plenty  of  occupation.    The  disorders  which  disturbed 
the  early  times  of  Venetian  independence  evidenced 
the  energy  of  the  people,  that  need  of  action  and 
that  restlessness  which  seek  to  bring  order  out  of 
confusion.     The  first  Doge  who  ruled  at  Realtum 
was  Angelo   Participazio    (811).      Even    then    the 
rivalities  and  disputes  which  always  accompany  the 
youth  of  nations  were  not    ended.     Thus  we   see 
Justinian,  the  son  of  Angelo  Participazio,  retiring 
with    his  wife  Felicia,  or   Felicita,  into  a  cloister 
near  St.   Severo,    because    he    considered   thafc   he 
was  neglected  by  his  father,  who  had  chosen  John, 


20  THE  DOGARESSA. 

his  other  son,  as  colleague  ;  and  Justinian  remained 
in  the  convent  until  Angelo  made  him  his  colleague 
instead  of  John.  At  that  early  epoch  many  of  the 
Doges  left,  either  of  their  own  free-will  or  by 
coercion,  the  splendours  of  their  throne  and  the  din 
of  battle  for  the  silence  of  the  cloister,  where  they 
assumed  the  monk's  cowl. 

When,  in  the  year  828,  Angelo  died,  and  his  son 
succeeded  him  as  Doge,  the  body  of  St.  Mark  was 
brought  into  the  new  city.  The  people,  after  having 
founded  a  town  and  an  administration,  acknowledged 
the  Evangelist  as  their  protector,  and  wishing  in  a 
measure  to  subject  secular  affairs  to  the  protection 
of  Heaven,  they  elected  Doges,  won  victories,  and 
concluded  treaties  of  peace  in  the  name  of  their 
patron  saint,  and  from  him  they  also  sought  help  in 
times  of  supreme  danger.  But  not  even  in  Rialto 
does  woman  stand  forth  in  the  pages  of  history^ 
where  are  only  mentioned  a  few  ladies  of  ducal 
families,  as,  for  instance,  the  Greek  wife  of  Angelo 
Participazio's  nephew,  called  Romana ;  and  the 
mother  of  the  Doge  Peter  Tribuno,  called  Angela, 
the  Doge  Peter  Candiano  I.'s  niece. 

We  are  too  much  interested  in  the  relation  of 
doughty  deeds  to  heed  the  quiet  lives  of  the  women, 
except  when  they  are  disturbed  by  the  rape  of  the 
brides  in  Olivolo.  This  episode,  although  almost  of 
a  domestic  and  private  character,  attracts  our  atten- 
tion, because  it  is  connected  with  warlike  and  com- 
mercial enterprises,  with  internal  rivalries,  which  at 


THE  BRIDES  OF  THE  PARTICIPAZIOS.  21 

that  time  entirely  absorbed  the  activity  of  the 
Yenetians. 

It  was  their  custom  to  celebrate  their  matri- 
monial festivities  on  the  day  dedicated  to  the 
removal  of  the  body  of  St.  Mark,  viz.,  on  the  last  day 
of  January.  The  people  then  assembled  in  the 
Episcopal  Church  of  Olivolo,  where  the  affianced 
brides,  clad  in  pure  white,  with  their  hair  hanging 
loose  on  their  shoulders,  and  wearing  all  their 
jewels,  came,  holding  in  their  hands  caskets  con- 
taining their  dowries. 

The  Bishop  celebrated  mass,  and  then  blessed  the 
nuptial  rites.  According  to  the  legend,  a  party  of 
Slavonian  pirates,  landed  stealthily  in  Olivolo, 
rushed  into  the  cathedral,  carried  off  the  women, 
the  men,  and  some  say  even  the  bishop,  and  some  of 
the  priests,  and  made  for  Caorlo,  in  a  creek  after- 
wards called  "  Porto  delle  donzelle,"  there  to  divide 
the  brides  and  the  spoil.  But  the  Venetians, 
recovered  from  their  first  dismay,  rushed  to  their 
boats,  and,  with  the  Doge  at  their  head,  overtook 
the  pirates,  attacked  them  furiously,  and,  defeating 
them,  returned  in  triumph  with  their  brides  and  the 
booty.  In  commemoration  of  this  victory  it  was 
decided  that  the  Doge  should  proceed  every  year  in 
great  pomp  to  the  Church  of  Santa  Maria  Formosa. 
Twelve  poor  girls  were  always  to  receive  dowries  on 
that  occasion.  Thus,  after  all,  one  of  the  first  and 
most  solemn  of  Venetian  fetes  was  in  honour  of 
their  women. 


CHAPTER   III. 

The  Dogaressa  Gtjalbrada  Candiano — The  Dogaressa 
Felicia  Orseolo — The  Wife  op  the  Doge  Tribuno 
Memmo — The  Morosinos  and  Caloprinos — Festivi- 
*TiEs  IN  Honour  op  the  Nuptials  of  the  Dogaressa 
Maria  Orseolo — The  Wipe  op  the  Doge  Otho 
Orseolo. 

There  is  such  a  paucity  of  documents  concerning 
the  Dogaressas  of  early  times  that  we  find  it  impos- 
sible, not  only  to  penetrate  the  secrets  of  their 
hearts  or  learn  the  history  of  their  lives,  but  even  to 
discover  their  names.  No  diligence  of  research  can 
bring  to  light  the  female  faces,  hidden  within  the 
walls  of  their  homes  or  wrapped  in  the  gloom  of  the 
churches.  But  we  may  safely  infer  that  not  even 
ladies  of  the  highest  rank,  any  more  than  the  wives 
of  the  Doges,  possessed  any  literary  culture,  if  the 
notary  attested  rightly  at  the  end  of  the  will  of 
Orso,  bishop  of  Olivolo  (853),  signum  manus  domino 
excellentissimo  Petro  (Pietro  Tradonico),  and  if 
amongst  the  signatures  of  the  chart  of  the  founda- 


THE  DOGABESSA    GUALDBADA    CANDIANO.     23 

tion  of  the  monastery  of  San  Gioroig  Maggiore 
(986)  one  reads  signum  manus  .  .  .  Trihuni  ducis 
(Tribune  Memmo). 

But  as  woman  has  always  appeared  in  times  of 
violence  and  carnage  as  a  comforting  angel,  it  is 
natural  to  suppose  that  the  lives  of  the  ladies  in  the 
Doges'  families  were  perturbed,  by  anxieties  and. 
tears.  From  697  to  864  twelve  Doges  succeeded  to 
the  Dogeship,  and  amongst  them  Teodato  Tpato, 
who  wished  to  rule  alone,  was  blinded  by  the  people, 
Galla  was  exiled,  Maurizio  Galbaio  was  sent  into 
banishment  with  his  son,  Orbelerio  expiated  his 
treachery  by  death,  John  Participazio  I.  was  com- 
pelled to  retire  to  a  monastery,  and  Peter  Tradonico 
was  massacred  in  the  open  street. 

Under  the  Dogate  of  the  latter  (836-864)  there 
arose  in  the  middle  of  the  town  bloody  quarrels 
between  the  Polani  and  Guistiuiani,  the  Barozzi  on 
one  side,  and  the  Barbolani,  the  Iscoli,  and  the 
Selvos  on  the  other ;  and  peace  was  only  made 
when,  by  command  of  the  Council,  the  rival 
families  formed  ties  of  relationship.  History  men- 
tions in  the  latter  half  of  the  tenth  century  a 
remarkable  woman  who,  though  overtaken  by  the 
most  terrible  misfortunes,  managed  to  retain  a 
brave  heart  amidst  the  turbulence  of  early  Venetian 
life.  Gualdrada,  wife  of  the  Doge  Peter  Oandiano 
TV.,  stands  forth  distinct  from  the  colourless  type  of 
her  contemporaries. 

In  942   Peter  Candiano  III.  was  elected  Doge, 


24  THE  DOGARESSA, 

and  took  as  his  colleague  in  the  government  his  son 
named  after  him.  Candiano,  jun.,  being  of  a  proud 
and  turbulent  character,  wished  to  reign  alone.  At 
first  he  plotted  in  secret  against  his  father ;  then  he 
appeared  with  a  large  party  in  open  rebellion.  But 
the  greater  part  of  the  population,  rising  in  arms, 
made  the  unhappy  youth  prisoner  and  decided  to 
kill  him.  The  proposition  would,  no  doubt,  have 
been  carried  out  had  not  the  venerable  Doge  suc- 
ceeded in  calming  the  fury  of  the  populace  and 
exiled  the  rebel,  who  took  refuge  in  Ravenna  with 
the  Marquis  Guido,  son  of  Berengarius,  King  of 
Italy,  where  he  was  received  with  open  arms,  and 
found  means  to  revenge  himself  against  his  country 
by  arming  six  ships  of  war  and  plundering  the 
Venetian  galleys. 

A  few  years  later  (959)  the  fickle  opinion  of  the 
clergy  and  the  people  recalled  the  rebel,  and  elected 
him  Doge,  after  deposing  Peter  Candiano  III.,  who 
died  at  the  end  of  two  months  and  fourteen  days, 
not  without  remembering  in  his  will  his  wife 
Richelda,  to  whom  he  left,  amongst  other  bequests, 
a  ^^vinea  Murada  que  est  posita  justa  canale  de  litiis 
Mar  cense '^ 

The  new  Doge,  anxious  to  secure  to  himself  the 
Emperor  Otho  I.'s  protection,  and  to  form  advan- 
tageous alliances  with  the  Italian  Princes,  compelled 
his  wife  Joan,  about  the  year  966,  to  take  the  veil 
at  St.  Zacharias,  and  he  forced  Yitale,  their  son,  to 
become   a   monk;    he    then    married   one    of    the 


THE  DOGABESSA    GUALDRADA  QANDIANO.     25 

Emperor's  subjects,  called  Gualdrada,  sister  to  the 
Marquis  Hugh  of  Tuscany,  descended  from  Hugh, 
formerly  King  of  Provence  and  Italy.  He  received 
as  his  wife's  dowry  a  great  number  of  slaves  and 
vast  possessions  in  Trivigiano,  Friuli,  and  in 
Adriese,  besides  some  castles  in  Ferrara.  The 
new  Dogaressa,  as  a  subject  of  Otho  I.,  was  under 
the  power  of  the  Salic  law,  and  she  brought  to 
Yenice  the  customs  of  the  kingdom  of  Italy,  and  at 
her  wedding  there  is  mention  for  the  first  time  of 
the  Mundio  or  Morgincap,  unknown  in  Venetian 
families,  where  the  Roman  law  prevailed.  In  fact, 
Peter  Candiano  IV.  gave  on  his  wedding-day,  pro 
Morganationis  Carta,  a  quarter  of  his  property  to 
his  wife.  The  Doge  garrisoned  the  castles  of 
Ferrarese  and  Opitergino  with  foreign  soldiers.  The 
Ducal  Palace  in  the  Eialto  was  also  guarded  by 
foreigners.  At  the  commencement  of  his  reign,  he 
made,  with  a  view  to  conciliating  the  people,  a  few 
wise  provisions,  but  his  baneful  ambition  soon  pre- 
vailed over  all  better  feeling,  and,  desiring  to  become 
independent  of  the  clergy  and  of  the  people,  he 
sought  to  limit  the  right  of  discussion  in  political 
affairs  possessed  by  the  Patriarch  of  Grado  and  the 
Bishop  of  the  city.  His  proud  aud  martial  temper 
was  fostered  by  the  powerful  position  to  which  the 
Candiano  family  had  risen  ;  they  were  connected  by 
marriage  with  many  illustrious  princes,  rulers  of 
fortified  castles,  and  sure  of  the  help  of  other 
Candianos  who  had  settled  in  Padua  and  Vicenza, 


26  THE  DOGARESSA, 

where  they  afterwards  became  Counts.  The  Vene- 
tians, terrified  at  the  tyranny  which  threatened  them, 
and  excited  by  popular  indignation,  took  up  arms  in 
the  month  of  August,  976,  and  rushed  to  the  Ducal 
Palace,  where  they  met  with  a  fierce  resistance  from 
the  foreign  soldiery.  The  ends  of  justice  were 
attained  with  an  impetuosity  savouring  of  revenge, 
and,  by  the  advice  of  Peter  Orseolo  (as  is  affirmed 
by  Peter  Damiano  and  Mark  Antony  Sabellico),  the 
Palace  was  set  on  fire  with  wood,  dipped  in  tar,  and 
the  conflagration  spread  with  great  rapidity,  and 
not  only  destroyed  the  dwelling  of  the  Doges,  but 
three  hundred  houses  besides,  and  the  churches  of 
St.  Mark,  St.  Theodore,  and  of  Santa  Maria 
Zobenigo.  The  unfortunate  Doge  and  his  family, 
pale  and  haggard,  wandered  from  room  to  room. 
When  made  aware  of  his  impending  fate  by  the 
smoke  and  the  heat  that  surrounded  him,  as  well  as 
by  the  burning  roof  overhead,  he  sought  flight  with 
his  wife,  infant  son,  and  a  few  friends  through  the 
vestibule  of  the  church  of  St.  Mark ;  but  he  was 
met  by  some  of  the  conspirators,  amongst  whom 
were  some  of  his  relatives.  Giving  himself  up  for 
lost,  he  implored  them  to  spare  his  life  in  words- 
which  are  recorded  by  John  Diacono.  "  And  do 
you  too,  my  brothers,  wish  to  compass  my  ruin  ?  I 
beseech  you  to  let  me  live,  and  if  I  erred  either  in 
words  or  in  deeds  concerning  public  affairs,  I  swear 
to  manage  everything  henceforth  conformably  to- 
your  wishes  I  " 


THE  DOGARESSA  GUALDRADA  CANDIANO.      27 

But  these  words  fell  on  deaf  ears,  and,  not  content 
with  murdering  Candiano,  they  snatched  the  inno- 
cent babe,  his  and  Gualdrada's  son,  out  of  the  nurse's 
arms,  and,  regardless  of  his  beauty  and  helplessness, 
ruthlessly  killed  him.  The  bodies  of  the  dead  were 
left  unburied,  but  a  certain  John  Gradenigo,  a  pious 
man,  who  hated  violence,  took  them  up  and  had 
them  entombed  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Hilary. 
Vitale,  patriarch  of  Grado,  and  son  of  the  late 
Candiano,  as  well  as  the  Dogaressa  Gualdrada, 
managed  to  escape  with  their  lives.  With  mingled 
feelings  of  grief  and  anger,  they  sought  refuge,  one 
at  the  Court  of  Otho  II.,  who  had  succeeded  his 
father  in  973,  the  other  with  Adelaide,  widow  of 
Otho  I.  and  mother  of  Otho  II. 

Revenge  against  the  Venetians  filled  the  mind  of 
Gualdrada,  and  to  compass  her  end  was  her  fixed 
and  determined  purpose. 

After  throwing  herself  at  the  feet  of  the  Empress 
Adelaide,  she  with  tears  and  sighs  vividly  described 
the  deaths  of  her  husband  and  of  her  son,  and 
ended  by  beseeching  for  signal  vengeance.  The 
author  of  a  curious  little  book,  setting  forth,  with- 
out any  historical  foundation,  the  virtues  of  some 
Venetian  ladies,  ascribes  a  magnanimous  answer  to 
Gualdrada.  Having  been  asked  by  the  Empress 
how  she  could  hold  so  dear  the  memory  of  so  stern 
a  prince  as  Candiano,  she  replied,  "Nature  never  in- 
tended the  wife  to  be  her  husband's  judge,  but  his 
helpmeet !  "       These    words   are   undoubtedly  the 


28  THE  DOGARESSA. 

authors  own,  but  it  is  certain  that  Grualdrada's 
firmness  of  purpose  led  Otho  to  inform  the  Republic 
of  the  widowed  Dogaressa's  grief,  and  to  require 
satisfaction  for  the  Doge's  death.  Peter  Orseolo, 
who  had  succeeded  to  the  Dacal  throne,  sent  at  once 
Domenico  Grimani  to  Piacenza  as  Ambassador  to 
Adelaide,  with  the  view  of  explaining  that  the  entire 
city  could  not  be  held  responsible  for  the  fierce 
anger  of  the  people,  and  that  it  would  not  answer, 
by  way  of  vengeance,  to  repeat  the  demands. 
Grimani,  using  wise  and  mild  arguments,  soothed 
by  degrees  Gualdrada's  anger,  who,  through  the 
mediation  of  her  lawyer  Ildenerto,  and  with  the 
approval  of  Queen  Adelaide,  came  to  an  arrange- 
ment, made  with  great  solemnity  in  the  Castle 
situated  in  the  suburbs  of  Piacenza,  near  the  tomb 
of  St.  Anthony  the  Martyr.  The  spacious  recep- 
tion-room ended  with  a  circular  gallery,  where  sat 
Adelaide,  surrounded  by  Gilberto,  Mayor  of  the 
Palace,  the  judges,  vassals,  and  the  flower  of  Ofcho's 
knights.  The  Doge  of  Venice  was  represented  by 
Domenico  Grimani,  Gualdrada  by  her  solicitor 
Ildenerto,  son  of  Ingenzone,  a  vassal  of  the 
Countess  of  Tuscany.  A  letter  was  opened  which 
had  been  sealed  with  Gualdrada's  signet  ring,  in 
which  she  asked  her  Imperial  Majesty  to  employ 
Ildenerto  as  advocate  and  defender  in  the  suit 
against  the  Yenetians.  Gilberto  himself,  by  com- 
mand of  the  Empress,  granted  the  post  to  Ildenerto. 
Then  Domenico  Grimani  stepped  forth,  and  in  the 


THE  DOGARESSA  GUALDRADA  CANDIANO,      29 

name  of  the  Doge  and  of  the  Venetians  showed  the 
letter  in  which  Gualdrada  claimed  her  rights.  Tho 
widow  of  Peter  Candiano,  after  declaring  herself 
subject  to  the  Salic  law,  claimed  from  Peter  Orseolo- 
and  the  Republic  everything  both  great  and  small 
that  she  could  expect  as  relict  of  the  murdered 
Doge,  not  only  400  pounds  weight  of  silver,  pro- 
mised with  the  Morgmcap  and  other  rights,  but  also 
what  her  son  would  have  had.  They  at  last  came 
to  an  agreement,  in  the  presence  of  Godfrey,  Chan- 
cellor Envoy  of  Queen  Adelaide,  and  other  worthy 
noblemen,  concerning  all  the  property  belonging  to 
Candiano,  viz.,  lands,  houses,  plain  and  chased  gold 
and  silver,  utensils  of  bronze,  iron,  pewter  and  lead, 
beds,  slaves,  and  waiting- women.  They  agreed  by 
common  consent  to  arrange  all  the  affairs,  loans,  and 
impending  lawsuits.  Gualdrada  declared  on  her  side 
that  never  at  any  time,  neither  against  the  Doge  nor 
his  heirs,  could  a  suit  be  brought  about  all  the 
things  movable  and  fixed  mentioned  in  the  Act  which 
bore  the  signature  of  Gualdrada,  hones  fa  femma,  of 
Godfrey,  and  of  a  few  vassals,  of  Mark  and  Domenico 
Grimani,  and  of  other  Venetian  witnesses.  The 
document  being  read,  the  Venetian  emissary  was 
questioned,  and  he  replied  — 

*'  I  showed  this  note,  so  that  no  free  man  could 
say  that  we  had  carried  it  off  by  force  or  cunning 
from  Gualdrada,  and,  moreover,  I  request  that 
Ildenerto,  here  present  as  advocate  of  the  same 
lady,  should  say  if  this  paper  is  not  genuine,  and  if 


30  THE  DOGARESSA, 

the  same  Gualdrada  did  not  have  it  drawn  up,  and 
did  not  sign  it  with  her  own  hand." 

Ildenerto  fully  confirmed  everything.  The  deed 
drawn  up  by  Valerius,  the  Imperial  notary,  in  the 
year  nine  of  Otho's  reign,  and  on  October  25th, 
975,  bears  the  signatures  of  Count  Gilberto,  of 
Gibardo,  and  Gibizzo,  envoys  of  the  Emperor,  and 
of  the  judges  of  the  Sacro  Palazzo.  After  having 
thus  become  reconciled  to  the  Venetians,  Gual- 
drada, it  appears,  spent  the  rest  of  her  life  at  her 
brother's  Court,  to  whom,  on  November  24th,  997, 
being  at  Pisa,  she  sold  a  castle  and  some  property 
on  the  Adige,  a  house  and  yard  dominicata,  which 
the  Marquis  afterwards  presented  to  the  Monastery 
of  Vangadizza. 

All  hatred  and  enmities  appeared  to  be  allayed 
during  the  reign  of  Peter  Orseolo,  who,  according 
to  Peter  Damiano,  was  ambitious,  and  became  an 
accomplice  in  the  murder  of  Candiano,  with  the 
hope  of  ascending  the  throne,  and,  pursued  by 
remorse,  ultimately  sought  refuge  in  a  monastery. 
But  it  is  probable  that  there  existed  at  that  time 
two  Orseolos  bearing  the  Christian  name  of  Peter ; 
thus  historians  have  believed  that  the  Saint  was 
that  same  Peter,  the  fierce  leader  of  the  people  in 
the  attack  upon  the  Ducal  Palace.  It  is  certain, 
however,  that  when  Orseolo  was  established  upon 
the  throne  he  became  religious,  and  employed  the 
advantages  afforded  him  by  great  wealth  to  seek  to 
do  good.     He  no  doubt  had  a  modest  and  beneficent 


THE  DOGAUESSA  FELICIA  OUSEOLO.  31 

auxiliary  in  his  wife  Felicia,  who,  according  to 
tradition,  sprang  from  the  Malipiero  family. 

Peter  married  Felicia  at  eighteen  years  of  age; 
the  wedding  was  celebrated  by  splendid  festivities, 
and  after  the  birth  of  the  first  child  its  parents 
made  a  vow  to  God  of  perpetual  chastity  in  order 
to  give  themselves  up  more  entirely  to  religious 
works.  So  it  is  related  by  the  conscientious 
biographer,  Orseolo,  contradicting  the  anonymous 
Rivipulleuse  and  other  writers,  who  mention  two 
sons  of  the  Doge,  John  and  Peter.  There  is  no  doubt 
that,  before  the  birth  of  the  son  and  the  vow  of 
chastity,  Orseolo  had  a  daughter  by  Felicia,  and  she 
married  John  Morosini. 

The  enmity  of  the  various  factions  was  but  ill- 
suppressed,  and  broke  out  from  time  to  time.  The 
partisans  of  the  Candianos  nursed  their  rancour  in 
secret,  and  Doge  Peter  would  probably  have  died 
by  violence  had  he  not  turned  to  religion,  which  in 
those  turbulent  times  offered  comfort  and  refuge. 
The  advice  of  St.  Romualdo,  and  of  the  blessed 
Marino,  who  led  the  lives  of  hermits  in  a  place 
dedicated  to  St.  Erasmus,  near  the  ruins  of 
Heraclea,  between  the  Silis  and  the  Piave,  served 
to  confirm  him  in  his  determination  to  retire  from 
the  world. 

The  Abbot  Guarino  arrived  in  Venice  from  the 
Monastery  of  San  Michele  di  Cossano,  in  Aquitaine, 
and  the  Doge,  wishing  to  carry  out  his  plan  at 
once,  arranged  with  Guarino  to  flee  from  Venice 


32  THE  DOGABESSA. 

■with  his  nephew  and  his  son-in-law,  John  Morosini. 
He  despatched  his  wife,  with  his  son  Peter,  then 
seventeen  years  old,  to  Heraclea,  to  prepare  some 
feasts  and  banquets  in  memory  of  some  saint;  and 
on  the  5th  of  September,  978,  the  Doge  departed 
secretly  from  Venice  and  went  to  the  Monastery  of 
San  Michele  di  Cossano,  in  Eoussillon,  where  he 
became  a  monk.  He  lived  for  five  years  in  the 
hermitage  of  Longadera,  near  Cossano,  where,  in 
981,  he  received  a  visit  from  his  son  Peter.  He 
died  in  the  odour  of  sanctity  in  January,  982. 

It  appears  that  the  party  of  the  Candianos  ac- 
quired fresh  favour  after  Yitale  Candiano  (978-979) 
and  Tribune  Memmo  (979-991)  ascended  the  ducal 
throne.  The  latter  became  powerful  on  account 
of  his  riches  and  his  adherents,  and  also  because  ha 
married  a  daughter  of  Peter  Candiano  lY.,  called 
Marina.  Probably  his  marriage  tie  caused  him  te 
recognise  the  rights  of  his  son-in-law,  the  Patriarch 
Vitale  Candiano,  who  had,  until  then,  pleaded  in 
vain  for  the  restitution  of  his  father's  property, 
which  had  been  confiscated,  taking  the  case  of  the 
widow  Gualdrada  as  a  precedent. 

The  Eepublic  was  agitated  by  all  kinds  of  dis- 
orders during  the  Dogeship  of  Memmo,  a  weak- 
minded,  short-sighted  man.  Eomance  has  inter- 
woven sad  love  stories  with  the  sanguinary  contests 
between  the  two  families  of  Morosini  and  Caloprini, 
and  the  pens  of  ingenious  chroniclers  become  some- 
what sharp  when  writing  the  accounts  of  homicides 


THE  MOROSINOS  AND  CALOPEINOS,  33 

and  carnage.  These  two  families  represent  the  two 
factions  which  then  divided  the  Republic ;  the 
Morosinis,  with  the  Orseolos,  supported  the  Byzan- 
tine alliance,  and  wished  to  save  the  political  rights 
of  the  national  representatives ;  the  Caloprinis  and 
the  Candianos  sought  to  establish  a  despotic  govern- 
ment under  the  protection  of  the  Germans. 

The  Caloprinis  conspired  together  to  destroy 
their  rivals,  the  Morosinis,  who,  warned  in  time  of 
the  peril  threatening  them,  were  all  able  to  place 
themselves  in  safety,  except  Domenico,  who  was 
stabbed  by  Stephen  Caloprini,  in  the  Square  of  San 
Pietro  de  Castello,  as  he  was  leaving  the  church. 
The  wounded  man  was  transported  by  his  servants 
to  the  monastery  of  St.  Zachary,  where  he  ex- 
pired amidst  the  tears,  lamentations,  and  cries  of 
revenge  of  his  relatives,  who  had  assembled  there. 
But  the  voice  of  John  Morosini  arose  above  the 
clamour,  speaking  of  God  and  forgiveness. 

Memmo  favoured  at  first  the  Caloprinis,  who  at- 
tacked whom  they  liked  with  impunity,  but  after- 
wards, partly  from  fear  and  partly  from  jealousy, 
he  sided  with  the  Morosinis,  who  only  thought  of 
revenging  themselves  on  their  enemies.  The  Calo- 
prinis then  fled  secretly  and  sought  out  Otho,  who 
was  then  with  the  General  Assembly  at  Verona. 
By  their  prayers  and  promises  they  induced  the 
Emperor,  who  liked  the  idea  of  subduing  Venice,  to 
go  to  war  with  their  country.  Otho,  his  mind  filled 
with  the   most  audacious   designs,   forbade   hence- 

D 


84  THE  DOGAEESSA. 

forward  any  commercial  intercourse  between  the 
Empire  and  Venice.  This  aroused  the  indignation 
of  the  people,  who  destroyed  the  houses  of  the 
traitors  and  threw  their  women  and  children  into 
gaol.  The  death  of  the  Emperor  in  Rome  checked 
any  further  insurrections.  The  exiled  Caloprinis, 
not  liking  to  live  as  fugitives  amongst  strangers, 
besought  the  Empress  Adelaide  to  act  as  mediatrix 
to  obtain  their  pardon  and  permission  to  return  to 
their  native  country.  Forgiveness  was  granted, 
and  the  exiles  came  back  to  the  Lagoons,  with  the 
understanding  that  they  should  not  be  molested  in 
their  persons  or  their  property.  But  the  hatred  of 
the  Morosinis  was  unappeased.  One  evening,  when 
three  sons  of  the  Caloprinis  were  returning  home 
in  a  boat  from  the  Doge's  Palace,  they  were  suddenly 
and  so  fiercely  attacked  and  murdered  by  the  Moro- 
sinis, that  the  shore  was  red  with  their  blood.  The 
bleeding  corpses  were  carried  by  a  faithful  servant 
to  their  poor  mother  and  their  wives. 

"Were  it  not  evident  that  such  discords  did  not 
weaken  the  Venetians,  and  that  to  the  ardour  of 
effervescent  youth  succeeded  the  calm  of  vigorous 
manhood,  the  invectives  uttered  by  Benedetto  Dei, 
in  the  year  1470,  might  appear  to  us  just :  '*  I  say, 
and  I  shall  always  repeat  and  confirm,  that  Venice 
had  made  more  changes,  introduced  more  innova- 
tions, and  shed  more  blood  than  any  of  the  four 
cities  reckoned  as  the  most  martial  in  Italy,  viz., 
Genoa,  Bologna,  Perugia,  and  the  Citta  di  Castello, 


THE  NUPTIALS    OF  MABIA    ORSEOLO,  35 

which,  taken  altogether,  would  not  equal  the  fourth- 
part  of  your  city  of  Venice  !  " 

During  these  troublous  times,  and  amidst  the 
general  desolation  and  abomination,  the  pious  life  of 
the  Venetian  lady,  even  if  chroniclers  are  mute 
respecting  it,  shines  out  in  brilliant  contrast  to  all 
around.  There  are  plenty  of  melancholy  legends, 
and  to  this  time  belongs  the  story  of  the  unhappy 
loves  of  Helen  Candiano  and  Gerard  Gruoro,  which 
resembles  the  melancholy  tale  of  the  Veronese 
lovers,  and  furnished  the  subject  of  one  of  Bandello's 
novels. 

Helen,  the  daughter  of  Peter  Oandiano  and 
Gerard  Guoro,  after  having  been  secretly  in  love  for 
a  long  time,  were,  by  the  assistance  of  the  nurse,  at 
last  married.  Whilst  Gerard  was  travelling  in  the 
East,  Peter  Candiano  presented  to  his  daughter  as  a 
suitor  a  nobleman  called  Victor  Belegno.  Helen 
fainted  from  grief  and  terror,  and  all  remedies  used 
failed  to  revive  her ;  they  supposed  her  dead,  and 
buried  her  in  the  church  of  San  Pietro  de  Castello. 
That  same  day  Gerard  Guoro  returned  to  Venice, 
and,  apprised  of  the  miserable  occurrence,  ran  to  the 
church,  raised  the  coffin  lid,  and  cast  himself,  weep- 
ing, upon  his  wife's  body.  Gerard's  tears  and 
kisses  awoke  Helen  from  her  lethargy,  and,  as  a  con- 
trast to  the  Veronese  lovers,  the  Venetian  couple 
obtained  the  forgiveness  and  blessing  of  old  Can- 
diano. This  legend  has  no  foundation  in  truth,  but, 
like   the   loves  of  Romeo  and  Juliet,   reveals   the 


I lUJL  f!?-^^^^^^^^ 


36  TEE  DOGARESSA, 

temper  of  those  times,  in  which  ferocity  appeared 
side  by  side  with  true  feelings,  and  the  need  of 
living  in  an  ideal  world  alternated  with  an  intense 
ardour  for  real  work. 

The  weak  Doge  Memmo  was  compelled  in  991  to 
assume  the  cowl  at  Saint  Zacharyjand  his  successor, 
Peter  Orseolo  II.,  the  greatest  of  the  Doges,  who  had 
hitherto  ruled  the  State,  devoted  himself  to  re- 
establish tranquillity — unknown  for  so  many  years 
in  Venice — to  aggrandize  himself  and  his  city,  and 
to  conciliate  at  the  same  time  the  friendship  of  the 
Emperors  of  the  East  and  of  the  West,  who  in  turn 
contended  with  each  other  for  a  certain  share  in  the 
Venetian  Government.  He  obtained  in  1004  for 
his  son  John,  whom  he  had  made  his  colleague,  the 
hand  of  Maria,  daughter  of  Argiropulo,  and  nephew 
of  Basil  and  Constantine,  Emperors  of  Constanti- 
nople, in  marriage.  The  wedding  was  celebrated  in 
the  capital  of  the  Empire  with  as  much  pomp  as  for 
a  Greek  Prince.  The  Patriarch  blessed  in  the 
chapel  the  handsome  couple,*  whose  heads  were 
adorned  with  golden  diadems,  the  gift  of  the 
royalties,  who,  when  the  nuptial  ceremony  was 
concluded,  took  Maria  and  John  by  the  hand  and 
presented  them  to  the  Court.  The  festivities  and 
banquets  lasted  three  days  in  the  Imperial  Palace, 
called  Iconomico,  at  which  the  Emperors,  with  the 
dignitaries   of  State,  were    always    present.     The 

♦  The  Orseolos  were  celebrated  for  their  beauty.  The  young 
Dogaressa  Maria,  is  called  by  Diac.  Giovanni,  venusta  sposa. 


THE  NUPTIALS  OF  MAUI  A  ORSEOLO.  37 

fetes  were  repeated  in  the  Lagoons,  where  Mary 
and  John  were  received  in  great  state  by  the  Doge 
himself,  who,  with  a  large  flotilla,  came  out  to  sea 
to  meet  the  vessel  bringing  the  bridal  pair.  Some 
time  after  Maria  gave  birth  to  a  son,  who  was  called 
Basil,  and  on  that  occasion  Peter  bestowed  a  large 
sum  of  money  on  the  people.  The  Greek  lady,  who 
ascended  the  throne  of  the  Doges,  was  to  revive  in 
the  Lagoons  the  love  of  Byzantine  customs;  she 
brought  with  her  those  elegant  and  refined  manners 
which  are  the  ornament  of  women  but  which  de- 
generate into  vice  when  carried  to  excess,  as 
happened  with  the  celebrated  wife  of  one  of  the 
Orseolos'  Successors. 

Wishing  to  cement  peace  between  two  powerful 
and  rival  families  by  marriage,  another  son  of  Peter 
Orseolo,  called  Domenico,  conducted  to  the  altar 
Imelda,  daughter  of  TJgo  Candiano,  whose  parents 
were  the  Doge  Peter  III.  and  Richelda.  But  who 
was  this  Domenico  Orseolo,  not  mentioned  by  John 
Diacono,  amongst  the  other  sons  of  Peter  II  ? 
History  relates  how,  in  1032,  Otho  Orseolo  having 
died  in  exile,  and  the  Doge  Centranico,  or  Barbolano, 
being  deposed,  a  certain  Domenico  Orseolo  occupied 
the  Palace  and  caused  himself  to  be  elected  head  of 
the  State.  But  the  people  rebelled  against  him,  and 
the  new  Doge  was  compelled  to  take  flight  after 
ruling  for  one  day.  Imelda  Candiano  was  there- 
fore for  a  single  day  Dogaressa  at  Venice.  Filiasi 
believes  that   the  same   Domenico,   the   ephemeral 


38  THE  DOGARESSA. 

Doge,  was  son  of  Peter  II.,  since  in  the  Godice 
Trevi'saneo  there  exists  an  agreement  drawn  up  a 
few  years  later,  concerning  certain  property  and 
piscatorial  rights  between  the  inhabitants  of 
Chioggia  and  Pietro  Orseolo,  son  of  Domenico, 
who  was  son  of  Peter  II.,  Doge.  But  to  settle  the 
question,  there  are  some  documents  in  which 
Imelda  di  Ugo,  quondam  Petro  Gandiano  doge 
relicta  Domenico  filio  hone  memorie  domao  Fetro 
Ursogolo  duct,  declares  to  have  received  a  certain 
sum  of  money  from  Domenico  and  Stefano  Morosini. 
These  documents  bear  date  March,  1025, and  January, 
1026  ;  Domenico  Orseolo's  attempt  occurred  in  1032. 
He  therefore  was  not  the  son,  but  the  relation  of 
Peter  Orseolo  II.,  and  of  Otho  Orseolo,  and  Imelda 
did  not  wear,  even  for  one  day,  the  Dogaressa's 
crown. 

Peter  Orseolo  governed  Venice  from  991  to  1008, 
a  sad  period  in  the  history  of  Italy,  troubled  by  the 
fear  of  Christian  prophecies,  which  set  up  again  the 
terms  of  the  Etruscan  predictions,  when  every 
mission  on  earth  being  completed,  the  latter  would 
return  to  Chaos.  Men  were  thoroughly  dis- 
heartened, and  thought  only  of  saving  their  souls, 
giving  munificently  to  the  churches  the  goods  they 
would  be  forced  to  relinquish.  An  observant 
historian  remarks  how  in  Venice  the  idea  that  the 
end  of  the  world  was  at  hand  caused  the  ancient 
buildings  to  be  left  uncared  for.  Yet  this  myste- 
rious alarm,  which  occupied  many  minds  even  in  the 


THE  WIFE  OF  DOGE  OTHO  ORSEOLO,  39 

Lagoons,  did  not  affect  the  robust  and  sturdy  power 
of  the  new  population.  Yenice  remained  free  from 
the  trepidations  and  cowardice  common  in  the  tenth 
century.  Here,  the  idea  of  God  was  associated 
with  that  of  the  country,  and  only  after  having 
mingled  in  the  stir  of  commerce  and  the  din  of 
battle  did  the  minds  grow  calm  in  the  holy  hopes  of 
a  future  life.  The  maxims  taught  by  religion  on 
abnegation,  humility,  and  the  vanity  of  pleasure, 
impressed  them  powerfully,  and  Peter  Orseolo, 
under  the  influence  of  religious  faith,  formed,  with 
his  wife,  a  vow  of  chastity.  But  his  aspirations 
towards  mysticism  did  not  prevent  him  making  war 
on  the  Narentani,  and  subjugating  Istria  and 
Dalmatia,  and  believing  in  the  future  of  his  country. 
When,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  tenth  century, 
humanity  shook  off  the  funereal  shroud,  and  raised 
temples  as  if  returning  thanks  to  Grod,  and  it  seemed 
"  as  if  the  world  put  off  its  old  age,  to  assume  a 
white  garment  of  churches  !  "  in  Venice  the  Doge 
thought  of  restoring  Grado  and  of  finishing  the 
Ducal  Palace  and  the  Basilisk  of  St.  Mark.  A  great 
future  was  indeed  in  store  for  this  people,  alike  free 
from  predestinations  of  asceticism  and  the  ener- 
vating influences  of  feudalism,  which  never  took 
root  in  Venice,  although  a  few  families,  like  the 
Candianos,  held  vast  possessions  and  fiefs  on  the 
mainland. 

Peter  Orseolo,  a  good  prince  in  a  turbulent  age, 
bold  in  his  undertakings,  firm  of  purpose,  and  with 


40  THE  DOGAEESSA, 

a  mind  capable  of  great  deeds,  died  at  48  years  of 
age,  after  having  the  misfortune  to  lose,  in  a  fearfal 
pestilence,  which  desolated  the  Lagoons,  his  son 
John,  and  his  daughter-in-law  Maria.  His  other 
son,  Otho,  succeeded  him.  He  had  married  a  daughter 
of  Geiza,  King  of  Hungary,  and  sister  to  Stephen  I., 
who  was  afterwards  venerated  as  a  saint.  The 
Dogaressa,  according  to  the  chroniclers,  was  a 
pious  woman,  not  inferior  in  virtue  to  her  brother. 
"  Mulier,^'  says  Dandolo,  "  generositate  serena,  facie 
facunda  et  honestate  prceclaraJ* 

Illustrious  women,  as  we  see,  of  every  nation 
found  a  second  home  in  the  Lagoons.  The  Orseolo 
family  alone  had,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years, 
formed  connections  with  the  Emperors  of  the  East 
by  the  marriage  of  John  Orseolo  and  Maria ;  with 
Slavonic  princes  by  the  union  of  Icella,  daughter  of 
Peter  Orseolo  IL,  with  Stephen,  son  of  King  Surgna, 
and  j&nally  with  the  Kings  of  Hungary.  And  Peter 
Orseolo,  son  of  the  Doge  Otho,  was  in  1038  to  wear 
the  crown  of  St.  Stephen. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

The  Dogaeessa  Theodora  Silvio  —  The  Dogaeessa 
Felicita  Michiele  —  The  Crusades  and  the 
Venetian  People — Religious  Feeling — The  Con- 
quest   OP    Constantinople. 

DoMENico  SiLYio  was  elected  by  the  voice  of  the 
people  to  succeed  Domenico  Contarini  (1043-1070). 
A  man  of  valour,  with  a  restless  and  ambitious 
spirit,  the  new  Doge  sought  the  friendship  of  the 
Emperor  Henry,  and  then  turned  towards  the  great 
Pope  Hildebrand.  From  personal  interest  he 
married  Theodora,  a  Grecian  Princess,  daughter  of 
the  Enxperor  Constantine  Diicas.  The  marriage  was 
arranged  by  the  intervention  of  Michael,  who  had 
succeeded  his  father  Constantine  in  1067.  He 
honoured  his  brother-in-law,  the  Doge,  with  mag- 
nificent titles  and  dignities.  The  Empire  of  the 
East  was  dragging  slowly  to  its  overthrow  amidst 
pomp  and  effeminacy.  Luitprand,  Bishop  of  Cre- 
mona, and  Ambassador  of  the  Othos,  had  described 
with  malicious  piquancy  the  luxurious  pomp  which 


42  TEE  DOGARESSA. 

concealed  the  extreme  corruption  of  the  Byzantine 
Court.  Luitprand  represents  the  people  as  bare- 
footed beggars,  and  the  great  clad  in  wide  tunics 
old  and  worn,  the  Emperor,  fat  and  deformed,  with 
adornments  only  suited  to  a  totally  different  figure, 
the  banquets  of  food  sprinkled  with  rancid  oil, 
&c.,  &c. 

But  this  melancholy  account  was  not  true,  and 
must  have  resulted  from  the  Ambassador's  resent- 
ment, for  when  he  visited  Constantinople  as  a  youth 
he  painted  the  Eastern  Court  under  a  totally 
different  aspect.  He  then  beheld  the  Emperor 
amidst  wonderful  magoificence.  In  front  of  the 
throne  stood  a  tree  with  gilded  branches,  and  on 
the  branches  perched  hundreds  of  gilded  birds, 
which  uttered  the  notes  peculiar  to  the  species  they 
counterfeited.  The  throne  was  fashioned  so  skil- 
fully that  it  was  all  gold  above  and  below;  the  seat, 
which  was  of  immense  size,  was  guarded  by  lions  of 
wax  or  wood,  covered  with  gold.  On  Christmas 
Day  nineteen  tables  were  laid  out  in  the  Palace, 
before  which  the  Emperor  and  his  guests  reclined, 
and  ate  off  gold  plate.  The  dessert  was  arranged  in 
three  epergnes  of  pure  gold,  and  so  massive  that  the 
servants  could  not  lift  them,  and  they  were  moved 
by  machinery  draped  with  purple  cloth.  That 
Empire,  cradled  in  pomp  and  luxury,  amidst  the 
ambition  of  women  and  the  base  adulation  of 
courtiers,   amidst    lies,  flattery,  and   intrigue,  was 


THE  DOGARESSA   THEODORA  SILVIO,  43 

hurrying  to  its  end.  The  refinements  of  luxury 
increased  day  by  day,  it  being  erroneously  believed 
that  ostentatious  opulence  could  vie  with  real 
power.  When  Silvio  became  Doge  at  Venice  the 
public  treasury  of  the  Empire  was  diminishing,  and 
the  army  and  navy  losing  their  prestige.  Euin 
would  have  been  unavoidable  had  not  a  strong, 
active,  and  determined  people  arisen  to  help  the 
idle,  effeminate,  and  false  Byzantines.  The  falling 
Colossus  of  the  East  implored  and  obtained  support 
from  the  humble  Venetian  islands.  Did,  therefore, 
close  ties  of  subjection,  or  rather  of  friendship,  still 
exist  between  Byzantium  and  Venice  ?  But  even 
before  the  tenth  century  the  Venetians  maintained 
their  independence  entire  and  real  against  all 
foreign  nations,  nor  can  it  be  readily  believed  that 
the  dwellers  in  the  Lagoons,  so  full  of  youthful 
vigour,  could  feel  any  respect  for  the  Greeks, 
deprived  as  they  were  of  energy,  courage,  and 
ability. 

We  may  possibly  discover  some  explanation  for 
the  strange  events  of  this  perilous  period. 

The  Norman  adventurers,  emboldened  by  their 
successful  conquests,  turned  their  thoughts  towards 
Byzantium.  In  1082,  Robert  Guiscard,  with  his 
son  Bohemund,  landed  on  the  coasts  of  Epirus, 
seized  Corfu  and  Anion,  then  marched  upon  Dyr- 
rachium,  the  strongest  bulwark  of  the  Empire. 
Emperor    Alexius   then   asked   for   help   from  the 


44  THE  DOGARESSA. 

Venetians,  thus  described  by  William  of  Apulia, 
who  sang  in  hexameters  the  exploits  of  the  Nor- 
mans : — 

"  Non  ignara  quidem  belli  navalis  et  audax 
Gens  erat  hsec :  illam  populosa  Venetia  misit 
Imperii  prece  dives  opum,  divesque  virorum, 
Qua  sinus  Adriacis  interlitus  ultimus  undis 
Subiacet  Arcturo,  sunt  huius  msenia  gentis 
Circumsepta  Mari,  nee  ab  sedibus  alter  ad  sedes 
Alterius  transire  potest,  nisi  lintre  vehatur : 
Semper  aquis  habitant,  gens  nulla  valentin  ista 
Aquoreis  bellis,  ratiumque  per  aequora  ductu." 

These  people,  exposed  to  the  fury  of  the  sea, 
rendered  little  by  little,  with  wonderful  courage, 
constancy,  and  industry,  their  city  on  the  Islands  of 
the  Lagoons  the  emporium  of  the  world's  com- 
merce. 

Venice  agreed  to  the  solicitation  of  Alexius,  and 
at  the  end  of  July  or  the  beginning  of  August,  1082, 
the  fleet,  under  the  command  of  Silvio,  defeated  the 
Normans  before  Dyrrachium.  The  Emperor,  at  the 
head  of  his  troops,  endeavoured  to  defend  the  city 
on  land,  but  his  troops  were  thrown  into  disorder 
by  the  onslaught  of  the  Normans,  and  were  com- 
pelled to  fly.  The  Greek  and  Venetian  navies  had 
departed  at  the  approach  of  winter,  and  Dyrrachium 
had  only  now  for  defenders  the  resident  Venetians 
and  the  Amalfians.  A  sad  tale  of  treachery  was  added 
to  deeds  of  bravery.  The  defence  of  the  Castle  was 
entrusted  to  a  Venetian  of  illustrious  descent,  called 
Domenico,  son,  it  was  said,  of  a  former  Doge,  and  a 
bitter  enemy  of  Silvio,  by  whom  he  was  excluded 


THE  DOGARESSA    THEODORA  SILVIO.  45 

from  the  Grand  Council.  Domenico,  impelled  by 
his  hatred  of  Silvio,  probably,  also,  by  his  love  for 
one  of  Eobert's  nieces,  arranged  to  betray  the  city 
to  the  Normans  ;  and  Duke  Robert  and  the  traitor 
met  near  the  church  of  St.  Nicholas,  not  far  from 
Dyrrachium,  to  arrange  their  infamous  treaty. 
The  city  was  to  be  consigned  to  the  enemy,  and  as 
price  of  the  betrayal  Domenico  was  to  marry  the 
beautiful  daughter  of  Count  William,  Eobert's 
brother.  But  the  iniquitous  plan  was  discovered; 
the  Venetians,  summoned  by  the  sound  of  trumpets, 
flew  to  defend  the  city,  but  they  were  defeated,  and 
some  took  refuge  on  the  ships,  whilst  others  were 
made  prisoners ;  amongst  the  latter  the  son  of 
Doge  Silvio.  Anna  Comnenus,  who  wrote  the  life 
of  the  Emperor  Alexius,  her  father,  declares  that  the 
gates  of  Dyrrachium  were  opened  by  the  besieged  on 
the  advice  of  an  Amalfian.  The  authoress  does  not 
even  hint  at  the  betrayal  by  a  Venetian,  as  observes 
Gfrorer,  for  fear  of  wounding  that  maritime 
nation,  who  later,  under  the  command  of  Yitale 
Faliero,  saved  the  Byzantine  Empire.  When,  in 
]085,  Faliero  replied  proudly,  in  the  name  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Lagoons,  to  the  Normaas,  re- 
fusing to  break  faith  with  the  Greek  Emperor,  we 
must  not  therefore  conclude  that  they  fought  merely 
to  support  the  Eastern  Empire,  but  rather  with  the 
object  of  securing  to  themselves  privileges  and 
immunities.  Not  only  were  the  chains  of  subjection 
between   Venice  and  Byzantium  broken,  but  those 


46  THE  DOGARESSA. 

of  friendsliip  were  growing  slack.  When  fortune 
no  longer  favoured  the  Venetians  led  by  Domenico 
Silvio,  who  was  defeated  1084,  near  Corfu,  the 
people  deposed  him  and  compelled  him  to  retire  to 
a  monastery,  renewing  their  former  accusations 
against  him  —  "  and  especially  his  ambition  in 
marrying  a  Grrecian  princess."  But  how  could  this 
be  so  grave  a  fault,  when  Greek  princesses  had 
come  to  the  Lagoons,  and  died  there,  lamented  by 
the  people?  Would  the  Venetians  have  blamed 
Silvio  for  seeking  a  wife  at  the  Grrecian  Court,  had 
they  not,  instead  of  looking  upon  Constantinople  as 
a  centre  of  the  fine-arts  and  of  refined  culture,  con- 
sidered it  a  city  of  corruption  ?  The  Chroniclers 
settled  this  question  by  giving  a  dreadful  description 
of  Silvio's  wife,  upon  whose  head  were  no  doubt 
concentrated  all  the  faults  and  vices  of  her  native 
country.  The  daughter  of  the  Emperor  Constantino 
brought  to  the  Lagoons  a  luxury  unknown  there 
before,  so  says  history.  And  yet  the  Venetians  were 
acquainted  with  Grecian  customs ;  neither  were  the 
magnificent  Byzantine  garments,  nor  the  splendours 
of  the  Court,  unknown  to  a  people  who  had  adopted 
some  of  the  Eastern  fashions.  They  also  were  well 
aware  that  life  dragged  on  lasciviously  and  lazily 
round  the  Emperor,  who,  decked  out  like  an  idol, 
where  gems  sparkled,  silver  cuirasses  and  steel  arms 
shone  resplendent,  was  swayed  by  wicked  senators 
and  lewd  bufi^oons.  But  the  regal  pomp  which  the 
Dogaressa,  when  she  was  settled  in  the  Lagoons, 


THE  DOGABESSA   THEODORA   SILVIO.  47 

displayed,  angered  everybody.  The  luxurious 
effeminacy  of  lier  ways  of  life  is  described  with 
many  curious  particulars.  The  air  of  her  rooms 
was  redolent  with  perfumes,  and  each  day  Theodora 
washed  not  only  her  hands  and  face,  but  also  her 
whole  body  in  scented  waters,  and  she  sometimes 
bathed  in  the  dew  collected  by  her  slaves.  Besides, 
strange  to  relate,  the  Dogaressa  never  touched  her 
food  with  her  fingers,  but  had  it  cut  up  by  the 
eunuchs,  and  put  it  to  her  mouth  with  a  kind  of 
golden  fork.  This  last  excess  of  luxury,  which 
causes  Peter  Damiano  to  inveigh  furiously  against 
her,  proves  to  us  to  what  an  extent  the  Venetians 
followed  the  customs  of  the  Eomans,  who  at  their 
meals  caused  the  meat  to  be  cut  up  in  the  kitchen 
by  a  slave  called  sector  or  structor.  The  sector  there 
arranged  the  viands  on  dishes  patince,  and  the  guests 
carried  the  food  to  their  mouths  with  their  right 
hands.  The  fork,  unknown  to  the  Latins  and  used 
by  the  Dogaressa  in  the  12th  century,  was  not 
adopted  in  France  till  1379,  when  it  is  mentioned 
for  the  first  time  in  a  list  of  plate  belonging  to  the 
King's  household.  Therefore,  if  the  luxury  of  the 
Dogaressa  was  the  cause  of  astonishment  and 
scandal,  we  must  say  that  the  Grecian  ladies  who 
previously  married  Venetians  either  forgot  the 
refinements  of  their  native  land,  or  there  was  a 
salutary  reaction  in  Silvio's  time  against  the  volup- 
tuous customs  of  Byzantium  which  would  in- 
evitably have  produced  an  enervating  effect  upon  a 


48  THE  DOGARESSA, 

people  wlio  owed  much  of  their  greatness  to  the 
simplicity  of  their  lives.  And  probably  national 
feeling  had  much  to  do  with  such  a  reaction. 
Women's  time  was  therefore  not  devoted  to  idle 
thoughts  about  dress  or  pomp,  and  the  words  of  a 
Ferrarese  chronicler  of  the  12th  century  can  be 
quoted  as  applicable  to  this  time  and  country  when 
he  says  that  the  husband  and  wife  ate  their  frugal 
meal  off  one  plate  by  the  light  of  a  single  torch. 

The  last  illness  of  Silvio's  wife  was  also 
attributed  to  Divine  punishment.  This  elegant 
woman,  who  sprinkled  herself  with  perfumes,  waa 
attacked  by  a  loathsome  malady,  and  her  body, 
eaten  away  by  decay,  fell  off  by  degrees.  All 
remedies  proved  useless  to  arrest  the  horrible 
disease,  and  the  stench  was  so  great  that  came  from 
the  putrefying  wounds  that  no  woman  would  con- 
sent to  nurse  her.  Silvio's  wife  expired  in  horrible 
agony. 

Vitale  Faliero,  who  succeeded  the  Doge  (1084- 
1096),  renewed  the  success  of  the  Yenetiana 
against  the  Normans,  and  obtained  from  the  Greek 
Emperor  Alexius  honours,  privileges,  and  im- 
munities. No  longer  a  'protege^  but  a  deliverer,  the 
young  Republic  burst  every  fetter  of  political  sub- 
mission to  Byzantium,  and  freely  unfolded  its  rich 
exuberance  of  power.  Venice,  to  whom  Byzantium 
was  bound  by  bonds  of  gratitude,  oftentimes 
burdensome,  earnestly  desired  to  secure  Henry  lY., 
who  had  arrived  in  Italy  for  the  war  of  Investiture, 


THE  DOGARESSA  FELICIA  MICHIELE.  49 

as  a  friend,  and  the  Doge  himself  formed  with  the 
Emperor  of  Germany  ties  of  spiritual  relationship. 
Having  been  received  in  Venice  with  great  honours, 
Henry  wished  to  stand  godfather  to  a  daughter  of 
Faliero's,  who  was  named  Henrietta. 

In  1096   Vitale  Michiele    succeeded   Faliero,  as 
Doge.     According  to  the  inscription  engraved  on 
the   tomb  to  the   left  of   the  middle  door  of   the 
Basilica  of  St.  Mark,  Felicia  Michiele  was  averse  to 
luxury  and  show.     This  tomb  of  the  Dogaressa's,  a 
rude   work   in  the  Byzantine-Italian  style,  is  em- 
bellished with   stones  covered  with  a  strange  net- 
work   of    architectural    embellishments,    and   sur- 
mounted   by    capitals,    incorrectly    joined   to    the 
columns,    probably    brought    from     the    forsaken 
churches   in   Aquileia,    Heraclea,  and    Grado,    and 
placed  there  as   ornaments.     The  Latin  inscription 
describes    favourably   Felicia  Michiele's    character. 
During  the  nine  years  that   she  survived  her  hus- 
band she  devoted  herself  to  piety  and  good  works, 
and  considered  the  distribution  of  alms  one  of  her 
principal  duties.     Disregarding  the  greatness  of  her 
position,  she  avoided  all  noisy  revels,  all  pomp,  and 
found  her  chief  pleasure  in  acts  of  worship   and  in 
caring  for  her  family.       Gracious  in  her  manner, 
modest  without  prudishness,  the  kindness  of   her 
heart  shone  forth  in  her  sweet  countenance.     She 
also  developed  in  her  children  pious  and    devout 
feelings.     One  of  her  daughters,  called  Anna,  filled 
with  a  religious  fervour,  before  which  all  worldly 


50  THE  DOGARESSA, 

sentiments  disappear,  became  a  nun.  But  wlien  the 
Justinian  family  was  annihilated  in  the  Greek  war 
against  Emmanuel  Comnenus  (1170),  and  of  that 
illustrious  lineage  one  scion  only  remained,  called 
Nicholas, a  Benedictine  monk  of  St.  Nicholas  del  Lido, 
Anna  Michiele  obtained  a  dispensation  from  Pope 
Alexander  III.  which  enabled  her  to  marry  the 
Monk  Justinian,  and  she  afterwards  became  the 
affectionate  mother  of  twelve  children :  Mark, 
Orsato,  Matthew,  Francis,  Marinus,  Stephen, 
Philip,  Martha,  Yitale,  Margaret,  Bortoletta,  and 
James.  When  these  children  were  grown  up  and 
educated,  Nicholas  returned  to  his  cell,  after  having 
founded  a  nunnery  in  the  Island  of  Amiana,  where 
his  wife  Anna  retired  and  took  the  vow^s  in  con- 
junction with  her  three  daughters,  Martha,  Mar- 
garet, and  Bortoletta. 

The  Dogaressa  Felicia  Michiele,  having  ascended 
the  throne  more  than  a  century  after  the  vain  and 
frivolous  wife  of  Silvio,  found  herself,  gentle  and 
quiet  as  she  was,  amidst  events  which  produced  in 
Europe  new  ideas,  customs,  and  inclinations. 

In  1095,  a  poor  monk  of  Picardy,  and  Pope 
Urban,  renewed  after  a  century  the  cry  of  the 
Pontiff  Gerberto,  who  had  been  the  first  to  lament 
over  the  terrible  difference  between  the  East  and 
the  West.  Christian  Europe  was  aroused,  and 
gazed  with  ardent  love  at  Jerusalem,  the  Holy 
Land ;  to  die  beside  the  tomb  of  Christ  became  the 
alluring  aspiration  of  a  life-time.     Passions  of  all 


THE  CRUSADES  AND  THE  VENETIANS.  51 

kinds  were  tumultnoiislj  aroused  on  every  side ; 
not  only  religious  fervour,  but  the  desire  of  liberty, 
of  glory,  of  gain,  and  of  adventure,  obliterated  for 
a  time  love  of  country,  domestic  ties,  and  all  the 
feelings  that  unite  the  human  race  in  one  great 
bond  of  social  fellowship.  And  yet,  amidst  the 
miseries  of  the  middle  ages,  tliat  sjplendid  monument 
of  human  folly,  as  Robertson  terms  the  Crusades, 
stands  out  nobly,  that  fanaticism  which  seized  alike 
upon  rich  and  poor,  masters  and  servants,  and  drove 
men  to  suffer,  weep,  and  fight,  for  one  ideal. 

In  Venice  also,  the  minds,  especially  of  the 
women,  were  excited  by  these  new  ideas,  and  in  the 
tenth  century  an  asylum  was  opened  in  the  Island 
of  Giudecca  for  pilgrims  to  the  Holy  Land,  and  in 
the  following  century  another  was  opened  in  the 
Island  of  St.  Helena,  and  during  the  first  Crusade 
two  more,  one  in  the  Island  of  St.  Clement,  the 
other  at  Castello.  In  the  general  religious  move- 
ment, which  exercised  a  beneficial  influence  even 
amongst  this  cautious  mercantile  people,  appeared 
the  gentle  faces  of  their  women.  But  whilst  many 
countries  were  agitated  by  such  wild  enthusiasm, 
in  the  Lagoons,  on  the  contrary,  female  life  was 
surrounded  by  an  aureola  of  domestic  peace,  and 
the  good  sense  of  the  Venetians  was  apparent  in 
their  love  of  God,  which  never  degenerated  into 
ascetic  mania.  All  minds  still  turned  towards  the 
peace  to  be  found  within  convent  walls,  and  it  was 
no   uncommon   occurrence    for   whole   families    to 


62  THE  DOGARESSA. 

abandon  the  world  and  take  to  a  monastic  life,  as, 
for  instance,  in  1184,  Manfred  de  Gonzo  and  his 
wife  Maria,  with  their  son  Albert,  swore  to  obey  the 
decrees  of  the  priest  Giovanni,  agent  of  the  Abbess 
of  Saint  Zachary,  and  after  having  bestowed  their 
goods  on  the  monastery,  all  three  became  converts. 
There  were  also  instances  of  women  founding  re- 
ligious houses,  such  as  Agnes  and  Bertha,  who 
obtained  from  Bishop  Leonard  Donato,  of  Torcello, 
the  Church  of  St.  Lawrence,  to  found  there  a  con- 
vent of  nuns,  according  to  the  rules  of  the  Bene- 
dictines. For  a  long  time  gifts  were  continued  to 
the  monasteries,  where  people  found  an  asylum  from 
every  peril,  and  solace  for  every  sorrow.  If  the 
history  of  the  religious  communities  which  in- 
habited the  Venetian  convents  should  ever  be  com- 
piled, it  would  give  us  an  account  of  the  spiritual 
life  in  that  State,  and  enable  us  better  to  under- 
stand with  how  much  faith  they  deposited  at  the 
foot  of  the  altars  the  wealth  accumulated  with  such 
difficulty.  We  see  amongst  the  donations,  to  which 
women  almost  always  contributed,  a  curious  sample 
drawn  from  the  archives  of  St.  Zachary,  the  most 
important  nunnery  in  Yenice.  In  March,  1054, 
Inga  and  Azilo,  brother  and  sister,  and  Lselius 
their  nephew,  gave  to  the  monastery  of  St. 
Zachary  their  possessions  of  Monselice.  Offerimus, 
said  the  deed,  in  su^ra  scrijpto  Monaster io  Sancti 
Zacarie  et  Sancti  Pancratii  in  punctum  et  usum 
Monackane  (sic)  que  modo  est  vel  que  jpro  tempore 


RELIGIOUS  FEELING.  53 

ordinate  fuerint,  omnibus  rebus  illis  iuris  nostri  quam 
habere  visu  sumus  in  comitatu  Fatavensis  et  in  in- 
dicdria  Montesilicano, 

The  married  couple  Giovanni  and  Yivalda,  and 
their  sons  Wilham  and  John,  on  Auo^ust  12th, 
1078,  bestowed  other  possessions  of  Monselice  on 
the  convent.  And  they  never  in  their  wills  forgot 
to  make  some  offering  to  the  convent,  as  when,  for 
instance,  Menilda  or  Imenelda,  wife  of  Ottone 
Falier  da  San  Pantaleone,  left  eight  pounds  sterling, 
or  like  Frondisia,  daughter  of  Maria  Stanierio,  and 
widow  of  Giovanni  de  Dono  Dei  d'Aneona,  who 
declared  she  possessed  fifty  Veronese  pounds,  a 
bracelet  worth  twenty  pounds  and  a  handsome 
crucifix  with  two  bracelets.  Mary  desired  this 
property  to  be  given  to  the  monastery  of  St. 
Zachary,  and  to  the  Abbess  Oasotta,  her  relation, 
ordering  a  tenth  to  be  paid  to  St.  Peter's  bishopric 
of  Castellano  in  order  to  have  1,000  masses  said  for 
her  own  soul,  and  1,000  masses  for  the  soul  of  her 
mother,  that  the  bracelet  should  be  made  into  a 
cross  to  adorn  the  church,  and  the  rest  distributed 
to  the  poor.  But  the  patrimony  of  St.  Zachary  had 
been  enriched  by  legacies  of  far  more  importance, 
like  those  of  St.  Boniface,  and  of  Leonard  Michele, 
Count  of  Ossero. 

Milone,  Marquis  of  Sambonifacio,  of  Manfredo, 
living  under  the  Salic  law,  left  by  his  will  of  July 
10th,  954,  to  the  monastery,  the  Castle  of  Eonco 
and  its  dependencies,  lands,  vines,  houses,  woods. 


0 

54  THE  DOGARESSA. 

&c.  In  case  of  the  extinction  of  his  family,  Milo 
made  the  monastery  heir  to  all  his  property,  and 
requested  that  100  bushels  of  corn  and  100 
measures  of  wine  should  be  paid  annually  to  the 
monastery,  besides  a  pound  of  Veronese  money. 
The  possession  of  the  Castle  was  confirmed  to  the 
monks  of  St.  Zachary  by  patent  of  the  Emperor 
Henry  III.  (April  16th,  1037). 

Leonard  Michele,  son  of  Doge  Yitale  II.,  in  his 
testament,  drawn  up  in  August,  1184,  by  Domenico 
Arduino,  priest  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  con- 
stituted trustee,  Casotta,  Abbess  of  St.  Zachary, 
and  her  successors.  He  left  to  the  Abbess  his 
goods  and  chattels  to  the  value  of  850  pounds,  con- 
sisting of  four  bowls,  two  silver  platters,  a  buckle, 
and  a  gold  bracelet,  beds,  utensils,  &c. 

He  left  besides  to  the  monastery,  where  he  wished 
to  be  interred,  all  the  vineyards,  salt  mines,  lands, 
water,  and  his  freehold  estates,  hoping  thus  to 
benefit  the  souls  of  his  father,  mother,  of  other 
relations,  and  of  himself.  "  If  anybody,"  so  con- 
cluded the  will,  ''dare  to  alter  this  arrangement,  he 
will  have  for  enemies  God  the  Father  Almighty,  His 
Son  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  incur, 
besides,  the  excommunication  of  the  318  Fathers, 
and  be  compelled  to  pay  five  golden  pounds."  And 
in  the  same  month  of  that  same  year  1184,  Adelina, 
widow  of  Leonard  Michele,  satisfied  with  the 
thousand  pounds  left  her  by  her  husband,  gave  a 
receipt  to    Casotta,   the   Abbess,   and   to    all   the 


BELIGIOUS  FEELING,  55 

nuns,  of  all  that  was  promised  again,  and  of  all  the 
gifts  and  whatever  other  thing  she  might  claim. 
A  bull  of  September  5th  confirmed  Leonard 
Michele's  will. 

Indeed,  the  faith  of  this  mercantile  people  was 
very  sincere,  and  even  despite  the  bustle  of  business 
their  minds  were  inclined  to  religious  thoughts, 
hoping  for  mercy  at  the  Judgment  Day  on  account 
of  the  gifts  made  to  the  Church.  Years  went  by, 
and  yet  their  religious  ardour  remained  the  same, 
and  instances  of  offering  themselves  and  their  wealth 
to  the  monasteries  were  constantly  renewed.  Done 
in  concert  by  husband  and  wife,  the  desire  remained 
strong  within  them  of  ending  their  lives  in  mon- 
asteries, thus  devoting  themselves  to  the  service 
of  God. 

All  this  will  explain  why  the  Venetians  could  not 
treat  witli  indifference  the  summons  to  join  the 
Crusades.  But  Grovernments  likely  to  endure  are 
not  given  to  mystic  asceticism  ;  they  know  how  to 
maintain  a  happy  medium  between  the  two  ex- 
tremes, and  to  have  faith  without  mysticism,  great- 
ness without  ideality.  The  Venetian  people  might 
be  enthusiastic,  but  not  their  rulers.  Thus  in  the 
Lagoons  commerce  and  religion  were  curiously 
combined ;  they  had  neither  the  splendour  of  the 
initiated  and  the  apostles,  nor  the  unthinking  and 
generous  prowess  of  the  Crusaders.  This  Republic, 
which  kept  its  priesthood  in  subjection,  knew  how, 
on   many   occasions,    to  assume  a   sort  of   official 


56  THE  DOGARESSA, 

asceticism,  which  was  the  result  of  calm  delibera- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  highest  authority  in  the 
State.  Prudent  and  circumspect  governors  always 
managed  to  moderate  the  impulses  of  the  heart  by 
the  judgment;  they  knew  how  to  allow  religion  to 
expand  freely,  and,  at  the  same  time,  restrain 
fanaticism. 

The  Venetians  contributed  ships  and  arms  in  aid 
of  the  first  Crusade.  The  Crusaders,  after  undergoing 
great  hardships,  conquered  Nicaea  and  Antioch, 
and  made  themselves  masters  of  Jerusalem.  Then 
Venice  sent  out  a  fleet ;  two  sons  of  Doges,  one  a 
priest  and  the  other  a  warrior,  commanded  the 
expedition,  and  typified  the  union  of  religion  and 
politics.  To  John,  son  of  the  Doge  Yitale  Michele, 
was  given  the  banner  bearing  the  arms  of  the 
Republic;  to  the  Bishop  of  Castello,  Henry  Con- 
tarini,  son  of  the  Doge  Domenico,  was  consigned 
the  banner  representing  the  Cross  of  Christ.  John 
Michele  and  Henry  Contarini  sailed  with  the  fleet, 
and  after  having,  in  11 00,  assisted  in  the  storming 
of  Caiffa,  returned  home,  bringing  the  body  of  St. 
Nicholas,  which  was  deposited  in  the  Church  del 
Lido, 

The  renewed  expeditions  to  Palestine  kept  Venice 
in  a  state  of  ferment;  the  Doge  Ordefalo  Faliero 
(1102-1116)  united  in  his  mind  God  and  his  country, 
and  whilst  he  fought  for  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  sought 
at  the  same  time  to  open  in  Palestine  new  ports  to 
Venetian  commerce.     In  1104  a  fleet  of  a  hundred 


RELIGIOUS  FEELING,  57 

•ships  set  sail  for  Asia,  and  tlie  Yenetians,  after 
having  contributed  to  the  victory  at  Jaffa,  and 
•conquered  Sidon,  obtained  privileges  and  settle- 
ments in  Sidon  and  Ptolernais. 

The  following  year  the  people  of  Yenice  welcomed 
-with  joy  the  arrival  of  the  body  of  St.  Stephen,  a 
piece  of  wood  from  the  true  Cross,  and  some  relics 
of  St.  Plautus  and  St.  James  the  Less,  carried  away 
from  Constantinople.  The  Doge  himself,  with  the 
>principal  citizens,  sallied  forth  to  meet  the  ship 
bearing  these  relics,  and  with  great  reverence 
carried  on  his  own  shoulders  to  his  boat  the  bones 
of  St.  Stephen.  The  Dogaressa  Matilda  accom- 
panied him,  a  lady  of  royal  lineage  and,  according 
to  Dandolo,  of  spotless  reputation,  mirce  prohi'tatis, 
and  renowned  as  a  model  of  conjugal  fidelity. 

The  successor  to  Faliero,  Domenico  Michiele 
{1116-1130),  secured  fresh  privileges  and  commercial 
settlements  for  the  Republic  by  conquering  Tyre, 
where  Domenico  Morosini,  who  was  afterwards 
Doge,  won  his  first  laurels. 

For  several  years  that  passionate  ardour  for  the 
'deliverance  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  diminished,  until 
Innocent  II.  endeavoured  to  revive  the  Crusades. 
The  voice  of  the  Pope  aroused  France,  the  land  of 
brave  and  noble  deeds.  Bands  of  warriors,  eager 
to  reconquer  Jerusalem,  fallen  once  more  into  the 
hands  of  the  Saracens,  arrived  from  the  shores  of 
the  Rhine,  the  plains  of  Poitou,  from  the  castles  and 
villages  of  fertile  Champagne ;  they  were  eager  to 


68  THE  DOGARESSA. 

raise  anew  the  standard  of  the  Cross  in  the  birth- 
place of  our  Lord,  in  the  home  of  the  Apostles,  in 
the  cradle  of  our  faith  and  salvation,  as  Jacques  de- 
Vitry,  Bishop  of  Ptolemais,  so  aptly  declared. 

The  Crusaders  this  time  sorrowed  at  leaving  their 
families,  and  dared  not,  at  parting,  turn  their  eyes 
towards  their  native  land  lest  their  hearts  should 
fail  them.  Thus  wrote  le  Sire  de  Joinville  :  "  Je  ne 
voz  onques  retourner  mes  yex  ver  Joinville,  pourceque 
le  cuer  neme  attendrisist  dou  biau  chastel  que  je  lessoie 
et  de  mes  dous  enfants.^^ 

The  French  Crusaders  applied  to  Venice  for  a 
fleet  to  transport  them  to  Palestine,  and  obtained  one 
on  condition  of  their  paying  eighty-five  thousand 
silver  marks.  Henry  Dandolo  was  then  Doge  (1201)^ 
an  octogenarian  whose  years  and  weak  sight  seemed 
but  to  increase  his  energy  and  daring.  The  French 
envoys  met  the  Venetian  people  in  the  Basilica  (the 
finest  in  the  world),  and,  after  hearing  mass,  swore 
on  their  sword-hilts  and  on  the  Gospels,  amidst 
passionate  tears  and  cries,  reciprocally  to  maintain 
the  promises  of  the  treaty.  But  when  the  ships 
were  ready,  the  French  barons  not  being  able  to 
produce  the  sum  agreed  upon,  Henry  Dandolo  pro- 
posed that  instead  of  their  paying  the  whole  debt,, 
he,  at  the  head  of  the  Venetians,  should  accom- 
pany them,  and  that  together  they  should  reconquer 
Zara,  which  had  rebelled.  The  proposition  was 
accepted,  and  shortly  after  that  city  was  recon- 
quered.    During  the  siege  Isaac,  Emperor  of  Con- 


CONQUEST  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE,  5^ 

stantinople,  driven  awaj  bj  a  usurper,  appeared 
amongst  the  Crusaders,  and  implored  them  to  help 
him  in  recovering  his  crown.  They  acceded  to  his 
request,  and  succeeded  in  the  enterprise,  which 
proved  but  of  short  duration ;  for,  in  consequence 
of  fresh  rebellions  and  intrigues  in  the  palace,  the 
Crusaders  came  to  a  rupture  with  the  Greeks,  and 
Constantinople  was  taken  a  second  time.  When  the 
standard  of  St.  Mark  floated  on  the  walls  of  Con- 
stantinople the  Greeks  fled  in  alarm,  amidst  the  din 
of  arms,  and  screams  joined  to  a  dreadful  chorus  of 
moans  and  lamentations. 

*'  Since  the  Creation  there  has  never  been  a  greater 
devastation."  Thus  wrote  Yillehardouin.  Immense 
riches  and  most  precious  objects  of  art  were  saved 
in  the  general  pillage  and  carried  off  by  the  Venetians 
to  their  own  country. 

The  power  of  Venice  made  itself  felt  at  length  in 
the  East. 


CHAPTER  V. 

OoNSTANCE,  Daughter  of  King  Tanceed,  and  Wife  op 
THE  Doge  Peter  Ziani — Chivalry  and  Women — 
The  Venetian  Women  in  the  East. 

The  Crusades,  as  well  as  fresh  conquests,  greatly 
modified  social  life  in  Venice,  and  the  foreign  ladies 
who  from  time  to  time  settled  in  the  Lagoons 
brought  from  their  homes  strange  manners  and 
customs  which  were  gradually  adopted  by  the  Vene- 
tians. A  proud  woman  of  the  hardy  Norman  race 
arrived  in  Venice,  after  the  Grecian  princesses,  to 
espouse  the  head  of  the  State. 

The  ancient  feuds  with  the  Normans,  lulled  for  a 
time  by  the  wars  in  Palestine,  broke  out  in  1130 
more  violently  than  before,  when  those  audacious 
conquerors  resumed  arms  against  the  Greek:  Emperor 
and  threatened  Dalmatia,  the  property  of  the  Vene- 
tians. A  treaty  of  peace  was  concluded  in  1175 
between  the  Doge  Sebastian  Ziani  and  William  II., 
King  of  Sicily,  and  in  1213,  still  further  to  ratify 


THE  DOGARESSA  CONSTANCE,  61 

this  friendship,  Constance,  daughter  of  Tancred, 
King  of  Sicily,  became  the  wife  of  the  Doge  Peter 
Ziani,  the  widower  of  beautiful  Maria,  daughter  of 
Peter  Baseggio,  procurator  of  St.  Mark.  A  son  of 
Maria  Baseggio,  called  George,  was,  according  to 
some  chroniclers,  torn  to  pieces  by  dogs  belonging 
to  the  Convent  of  St.  George-the-Greater,  for  which 
the  Doge,  filled  with  grief  and  anger,  burned  the 
monastery  down  while  the  monks  were  in  it ;  but, 
repenting  afterwards,  he  rebuilt  the  monastery  and 
richly  endowed  it.  All  this  is  probably  only  a  fable, 
since  neither  Altinate  nor  Dandolo  make  any  mention 
of  it.  By  his  second  marriage  the  Doge  Ziani  had 
one  son,  Mark,  and  two  daughters,  Marchesina  and 
Maria. 

According  to  tradition,  the  Dogaressa  Constance 
was  beautiful  and  noble-minded,  and  Palazzi  makes 
her  eulogium  as  follows  : — "  A  Queen  by  birth,  and 
Dogaressa  of  Venice  by  marriage,  she  proved  that 
she  valued  more  her  Dogeship  at  Yenice  with  the 
title  of  princess  than  the  Dukedom  of  Calabria,  with 
the  title  of  queen.  She  was  brave,  beautiful,  and  an 
exception  to  her  sex  in  general  by  her  freedom  from 
jealousy  !  " 

In  truth  this  last  quality  was  not  very  wonderful 
in  her,  considering  her  consort's  great  age,  who, 
according  to  some  writers,  relinquished,  after  Con- 
stance's death,  the  Dogeship,  and  followed  his 
beloved  wife,  at  the  end  of  forty  days,  to  the  tomb. 
The  Gronaca  Altinate  says,   on  the  contrary,  that 


«2  THE  DOGARESSA, 

Ziani,  after  having  ruled  for  twenty-fhree  and  a 
half  years,  retired  to  his  paternal  mansion  on  the 
coast  of  Santa  Giustina  with  his  wife  and  his 
children,  whom  he  decreed  should  remain  after 
his  death,  with  all  his  patrimony,  under  the  juris- 
diction of  their  mother.  He  died  a  fortnight  later, 
and  was  buried  in  the  monastery  of  St.  George-the- 
Greater,  in  the  tomb  of  his  father  Sebastian.  But 
in  reality  Ziani  abdicated  in  1229,  assumed  the 
frock  of  the  Benedictines,  retired  to  the  Island  of 
St.  George-the-Greater,  and  died  in  the  month  of 
March  of  the  same  year.  His  wife  undoubtedly 
survived  him,  for  in  October,  1231,  Thomas  Con- 
tarini,  of  Sta.  Maria  Formosa,  and  Stephen  Barbaro, 
of  St.  Stephen,  after  having  read  Peter  Ziani's  will, 
declared  Constance  and  Paul,  Abbot  of  St.  George- 
the-Greater,  trustees  of  the  late  Doge's  property. 
But  Venetian  customs  were  modified  even  more  by 
expeditions  to  the  Holy  Land  than  by  foreign 
marriages.  On  one  side  religious  enthusiasm,  on 
the  other  warlike  enterprises,  conduced  to  the 
formation  of  a  novel  state  of  society.  The  Crusades 
developed  in  Europe  a  new  spirit,  which  penetrated 
the  lives  of  all,  modified  the  fashions  in  dress,  and 
brought  about  a  total  change  in  the  nations  of  the 
West.  Laws  of  courtesy  restrained  feudal  violence, 
a  wandering  life,  with  its  vicissitudes,  enlarged  the 
mind^  religion  lost  much  of  its  terrors,  when  the 
Virgin's  benign  face,  compassionating  men's  suffer- 
ings,   appeared    beside   the    severe   figure    of   the 


CHIVALRY  AND  WOMEN.  63 

Almighty.  The  mystical  Church  at  Lyons  conse- 
crated the  rehabilitation  of  woman  by  celebrating  in 
1134  the  feast  of  the  Immaculate  Conception.  By 
degrees  rehgious  piety  inclined  towards  an  enthu- 
siastic and  chivalrous  courtesy.  Knighthood,  sub- 
jected to  solemn  and  prescribed  forms,  became  the 
cradle  of  a  refined  poetry,  which,  at  least  as  a 
fashion,  rendered  special  homage  to  woman,  and 
maintained  courteous  manners.  Venice  also  assumed 
new  customs.  But  the  position  of  the  Republic  was 
different  to  that  of  the  rest  of  Europe.  ]N"o  feudal 
towers  had  ever  reared  their  heads  amidst  the  blue 
waters  of  the  Lagoons,  nor  had  the  groans  of  the 
oppressed  resounded  on  their  shores.  Knights  and 
Lords  of  the  Manor  did  not  dwell  there,  but  a  people 
full  of  energy,  and  skilled  traders,  who  resisted 
and  conquered  the  vicissitudes  of  fortune  and  the 
tempests  of  the  sea,  and  during  their  days  of  rest 
sought  solace  and  comfort  in  domestic  life.  The 
varied  and  fantastic  Oriental  nature,  the  customs  of 
the  infidels,  the  enervating  Byzantine  life,  influenced 
suddenly  the  customs  of  European  nations.  Venice 
had,  however,  long  held  intercourse  with,  the  East, 
and  had  acquired  in  her  relations  with  Byzantium 
courteous  Eastern  manners  without  losing  any  of 
her  pristine  energy ;  thus  what  became  for  other 
nations  a  sudden  and  violent  change  in  manners 
and  habits,  was  for  Venice  the  gradual  development 
of  refinement,  without  gaps,  convulsions,  or  turmoil. 
They  only  needed  to  acquire  the  graceful  manners 


64  THE  DOGARESSA. 

of  the  French,  and  when  in  those  wars  the  Venetians 
fought  in  concert  with  the  flower  of  French  chivalry, 
the  blunt  manners  of  the  Adriatic  became  polished 
and  refined.  For  had  they  not  been  brought  into 
contact  with  the  gentle  manners  of  chivalry,  and 
been  told  how  the  bravest  knights  bowed  before 
women  in  all  that  related  to  matters  of  the  heart 
and  to  the  most  delicate  questions  of  gallantry  ? 
Foreign  ladies  were  not  only  made  umpires  in 
poetical  contests,  but  also  in  more  serious  affairs ; 
thus  Bertrade  de  Monfort  governed  her  first 
husband,  Fulke  d'Anjou,  as  well  as  her  second^ 
Philip  I.,  King  of  France.  By  degrees  the  Vene- 
tians inclined  towards  graceful  customs,  and 
tournaments  and  military  exhibitions  were  intro- 
duced not  only  in  Venice,  but  also  in  the  neigh- 
bouring countries,  and  particularly  in  the  land 
watered  by  the  Adige  and  the  Po. 

"  I  have  traversed  part  of  Italy,  I  have  seen  the 
countries  of  the  French  and  the  Germans,  but  I 
never  found  any  country  to  compare  with  the  Marca 
trivigiana  for  riches,  power,  and  all  that  is  best 
worth  having  !  " 

Thus  wrote  Matteo  Buono,  a  Venetian,  in  1227. 
Amidst  the  warehouses  and  the  market-places  troops 
of  soldiers  marched  about,  fought  in  tournaments 
and  jousted — an  attractive  union  of  gallantry  and 
business.  The  most  remarkable  of  the  fetes  of  the 
Marca  amorosa  was  the  Castle  of  Love,  erected  at 
Treviso   in    1214,  a   strange    spectacle,  where   the 


CHIVALRY  AND   WOMEN,  65 

Yenetians   assembled  in    great   numbers.      In    the 
middle  of  Spineda,  now  a  suburb  of   St.  Thomas,  a 
large  castle  was  constructed  of  wood,  covered  with 
gold,  velvet,  and  costly  tapestries,  on  which  Trevisan 
children   of   noble   birth,    gorgeously    dressed   and 
adorned  with  jewels,  were  placed.     They  had,  with 
flowers,  fruit,  and  perfumes,  to    defend  the  castle 
from  an  assault  attempted  by  youths   armed  in  the 
same  manner.     The  assailants  arrived  from  all  parts 
of  Venice,  with  the  banners  of  their  companies ;  the 
army  of  Yenetians  was  especially  remarkable  beyond 
all  others  for  beauty,   the  richness  of  the  armour, 
and   of  the  standards.     The   assault   began.     The 
women   in  play  attacked  and  defended  themselves 
by   throwing  apples,   oranges,  peaches,  roses,   and 
scented  waters ;  but  the  Yenetians  made  the  first 
onset,  amidst  a  storm  of  flowers  and  fruit,  and  were 
on  the  point  of  taking  the  castle  when,   amidst   the 
agitation  and    tumult  of  the  crowd,  the  Paduans, 
jealous   of  the  success  of  the  Yenetians,  wrenched 
away  the   gonfalon  of    St.  Mark,  and   tore   it   to 
shreds.       At  such  an  insult   the   Yenetians    drew 
their  swords  and  attacked  the  Paduans;  the  judges 
of  the  tournament  hurried  to  separate  the  comba- 
tants, but  the  fray  was  only  suppressed  for  a  time, 
and  ended  later  by  a  war,  in  which  the  Paduans 
were  defeated  at  the  tower  of  Bebbe  near  Chioggia. 
The  Doge  Peter  Ziani    decreed  by  the  treaty    of 
peace  that  twenty-five  of  the  Paduan  youths  who  had 
taken   part   in    the   fete   at   Treviso  should  go  to 


66  THE  DOGARESSA. 

Venice  and  put  themselves  at  his  mercy.  They 
obeyed,  the  Doge  received  them  very  graciously, 
and  sent  them  home  laden  with  handsome  presents. 
Thus  chivalry  made  men  ready  to  forgive  injuries. 

Beauty  and  valour  were  honoured  in  the  Lagoons 
by  splendid  entertainments,  in  some  of  which,  on 
Shrove  Tuesday,  the  merry  temper  of  the  people 
made  them  almost  turn  into  ridicule  the  tourna- 
ments and  the  knights.  And  in  truth  the  Eepublic, 
in  commemoration  of  its  victory  over  the  Patriarch 
of  Aquileia,  obliged  its  adversaries  to  send  every 
year,  on  Thursday  in  the  carnival  week,  a  bull  and 
twelve  pigs,  which  were  killed  on  the  piazza  of  St. 
Mark  by  blacksmiths,  armed  with  lances,  scimitars, 
and  very  long  swords.  The  Doge  then  entered  a 
hall  of  his  palace,  and  there  knocked  down  some 
miniature  wooden  castles,  representing  the  fort- 
resses of  the  lords  of  Priuli. 

Many  of  the  novelties  the  Venetians  saw  were 
not  altogether  good,  nor,  if  adopted  by  them,  would 
they  have  proved  beneficial  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Lagoons,  but  yet  many  of  their  old  customs  were 
set  aside,  and  others  altered  to  suit  a  more  open- 
handed  way  of  living.  If  knighthood  in  religious 
countries  assumed  a  monastic  bias,  and  amongst 
merry  and  thoughtless  nations  inclined  to  volup- 
tuousness and  licentiousness,  it  was  held  in  check 
at  Venice  by  the  determined  character  of  the  people, 
who  thus  escaped  the  injurious  effects  of  an  institu- 
tion which,  originating  in  the  worship  of  strength 


THE  VENETIAN  WOMEN  IN  THE  EAST.        67 

and  beauty,  ended  by  lowering  the  sanctity  of 
marriage  and  of  female  chastity.  For,  notwith- 
standing  the  flattery  lavished  upon  the  fair  sex  in 
romances  and  courts  of  love,  the  female  mind  was 
never  so  devoid  of  noble  ideals  as  in  the  middle  ages. 
Love  was  then  either  a  mystic  passion  or  a  base 
lust ;  the  chivalric  ideal  ended  by  hypocritically  re- 
pressing sensuality  on  the  one  side  and  by  making 
it  spring  forth,  like  purulent  matter,  on  the  other. 
The  women  themselves  adopted  the  most  dangerous 
theories  concerning  love.  For  instance,  Hermen- 
garda,  the  beautiful  Countess  of  Narbonne  (UPS- 
HOT), declared  that  a  divorced  husband  could,  when 
remarried  to  another,  become  his  former  wife's 
lover,  and  the  Countess  of  Champagne  asserted  that 
love  between  married  people  cannot  expand  freely, 
that  only  lovers  will  sacrifice  everything  for  its 
sake,  whilst  married  people  are  held  together  by 
principle,  and  cannot  be  jealous  of  one  another,  and 
without  jealousy  there  is  no  real  love.  Even  in  the 
Marca  Amorosa  men  who  ingratiated  themselves 
with  noble  ladies  were  able  to  enjoy  glory  and 
honour;  thus  Sordello  was  the  lover  of  Cunizza  da 
Eomano,  daughter  of  Eccelino,  the  monk,  and  when 
she  became  the  wife  of  Richard  di  Sambonifacio,  he 
fled  with  her  to  the  Court  of  the  Eccelinos.  Spero- 
nella  Dalesmanino,  a  native  of  Padua,  had  six  hus- 
bands living  at  once ;  Maria  Camposapiero,  was  the 
concubine  of  Eccelino;  Sandina  Capodivacca, having 
become  the  mistress  of  her  step-son,  was  killed  by 


68  THE  DOGARESSA. 

her  husband ;  and  Benvenuta  de  Eossi  dei  Zacchi 
received  the  name  of  Meretrix  Magna,  But  Venice, 
though  surrounded  by  such  depraved  customs,  re- 
mained unharmed,  and  even  around  the  throne 
of  the  Dogaressas,  primitive  manners  were  un- 
changed, as  well  as  the  ties  of  apparent  familiarity 
between  the  nobles  and  the  people.  Thus,  at  the 
grand  festival  of  the  Ascension,  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Island  of  Poveglia  presented  the  Dogaressa  with 
a  small  purse,  filled  with  copper  pennies,  to  buy  her- 
self, so  they  said,  a  pair  of  slippers.  The  chroniclers 
excuse  themselves  for  only  mentioning  a  few  names 
of  women,  by  saying  that,  if  their  lives  were  obscure, 
they  were  not,  as  elsewhere,  depraved.  Here  the 
feminine  element  in  its  various  phases  had  no  in- 
fluence over  men,  and  the  laws  themselves  kept  the 
wives  away  from  their  husbands  when  they  had 
to  leave  Venice  to  enter  into  treaties  for  the  Re- 
public or  to  manage  some  difficult  piece  of  business. 
A  man,  to  remain  perfectly  self-possessed,  and  to 
attain  glorious  ends,  must  concentrate  his  whole 
mind  upon  the  subject  in  hand,  and  not  be  distracted 
by  vain  sentimentality.  Whilst  in  other  parts  of 
Italy  writers  lost  themselves  in  metaphysical  sub- 
tleties and  in  the  casuistries  of  love,  in  Venice 
healthy  common-sense  prevailed  ;  and  a  Venetian 
friar,  who  lived  at  the  close  of  the  13th  and  at  the 
beginning  of  the  following  century,  spoke  with  rare 
good  sense  about  the  education  of  woman  and  of 
the  family.  Friar  Paul  the  younger  said,  in  his 
native  dialect,  that  a  man  should  seek  a  woman  of 


THE  VENETIAN  WOMEN  IN  THE  EAST.        69 

suitable  age,  that  she  should  be  tall  and  well  made, 
because  of  such  usually  are  bora  large  and  hand- 
some children.  He  added,  that  men  should  not  be 
governed  by  woman's  advice,  for  her  judgment  is 
not  sound,  because  she  has  neither  a  sound  nor 
firm  constitution,  but  bad  and  weak,  and  the 
mind  is  greatly  affected  by  the  health  of  the  body. 
How  different  from  the  female  ideal  of  Trou- 
badour poetry  !  And  even  when  the  Provencals 
repaired  to  the  Peninsula,  the  flower  of  Western 
art  was  also  transplanted  to  the  shores  of  the 
Lagoons,  long  before  the  Tuscan  dialect  was  put 
into  poetry.  But  the  people,  not  given  to  musing, 
understood  but  little  of  the  subtleties  of  the  gay 
science,  of  amorous  codes  and  of  delicate  love,  and 
to  the  refined  Proven9al  lyrics  they  preferred  the 
romantic  tales  of  the  Troubadours,  who  gave,  in 
Italian,  accounts  of  King  Arthur  and  Charlemagne. 
The  Ganzoni  di  gesta  (heroic  ballads),  and  Bomanzi 
di  avventura  (tales  of  adventure)  were  heard  in 
Yenice,  and  the  language  la  plus  delitable  a  lire  et  a 
oir  que  nule  autre,  as  wrote  Martino  da  Canale,  was 
mixed  with  the  vulgar  dialect,  and  little  Franco- 
Yenetian  poems  resounded  in  the  camps  and  streets, 
just  as  were  later  the  madrigals  set  to  music  and  so 
much  in  vogue  in  ISTorthern  Italy  and  especially  in 
the  beautiful  land  bathed  by  the  Adige.  But  the 
bantering  humour  of  the  Yenetians  revealed  itself 
now  and  then,  for  amongst  the  poems  of  Iseult  and 
Tristan,  Launcelot  and  Guinevere,  and  the  gallant 
songs  of  Nicholas  of  Padua,  setting  forth  ideals  of 


70  THE  DOGARESSA, 

prowess  and  loyalty  whicli  produced  a  beneficial 
and  civilizing  influence,  were  inserted  certain  know- 
ing fables  of  animals,  bearing  a  satirical  meaning, 
such  for  instance  as  the  little  Franco-Venetian  poem 
"  Bainardo  and  Lesegrinoy 

The  language  of  chivalrous  courtesy  was  also  used 
to  describe  the  great  exploits  of  the  Venetians,  and 
Martino  da  Canale,  who  lived  in  the  second  half  of 
the  13th  century,  probably  related  his  beautiful 
romances  himself  in  French  to  the  people,  for  often, 
almost  addressing  his  auditors,  he  writes  in  his 
Chronicles  :  *'  Que  vous  diroie  ce?^'  Or  ''  Veul  que 
vos  saches,  saches  seignors,'^  &c. 

Venice  had  a  poet  in  the  middle  of  the  twelfth 
century,  Bartolomeo  Zorzi,  who  sang  in  the  Provencal 
tongue,  and  who  occasionally  did  not  stifle  the 
spontaneity  of  inspiration  by  art.  Fu  savis  horn,  de 
sen  natural,  and  knew  how  to  hen  trohar  e  cantar. 
The  fno  amove,  the  theories  of  chivalry,  form  the 
subject  of  Zorzi's  poems.  "As  fire  destroys  all 
things,  so  love  destroys  the  heart;  "  and  always  the 
same  subject. 

Aissi  col  fuocx  consuma  totas  res, 

Consuma  amors  le  cor  os  deigna  assire 

Tot  peussamen  queil  pogues  contradire 

Tro  que  del  tot  al  cor  vencut  e  pres  ; 

Per  que  mos  cors  contradir  noi  pot  ges, 

Qu'el  es  en  lui  assis  ab  tal  esfortz 

Que,  sitot  eu  m'era  ab  lui  acordatz, 

Pel  dan  quern  fetz  autan  la  dura  mortz, 

De  laissar  chan  et  amoros  solatz 

Ops  m'es  qu'er  chant  e  sia  enamoratz. 

This  poet  was  more  of  a  subtle    reasoner  than 


THE  VENETIAN  WOMEN  IN  THE  EAST,        71 

given  to  powerful  description,  and  it  seems  as  if  his 
fellow-citizens  did  not  admire  his  poetical  sophisms, 
for  he  complains  of  the  severe  criticisms  which  beset 
liim.  "  Cursed  art  of  verse-making  !  "  exclaimed 
Zorzi,  angrily.  Sometimes  a  tone  full  of  life,  ardour, 
and  energy  appeared  in  his  writings,  inspired  by 
patriotism.  Bonifazio  Calvo,  a  Genoese  troubadour, 
addressed  to  Bartolomeo,  made  prisoner  by  the 
G-enoese,  a  Sirventese,  blaming  the  Venetians.  Zorzi, 
in  another  Sirventese,  beginning  with  the  words — 

Moux  fort  me  sui  d'un  clian  moravillatz 

Per  lui  qu'  o  fetz  sitot  es  dreigz  que  u  plaia  ? 

defended  his  country  so  warmly  that  Calvo,  sorry 
for  what  he  had  said,  became  one  of  his  greatest 
friends.  After  spending  seven  years  in  prison, 
Zorzi  returned  to  Venice,  and  the  Republic  ap- 
pointed him  Governor  of  Corone,  where  he  died. 

In  that  same  13th  century  dialect  finally  triumphed 
in  the  contest  between  the  chanteurs  of  religious 
poetry  and  the  jongleurs  of  heroic  ballads.  In 
Venice,  the  short  poems  of  Giacomino  di  Verona 
were  noted,  besides  the  popular  didactic  poem  of 
Gerard  Patecelo,or  Pateclo  di  Verona,  and  the  verses 
of  a  certain  Friar  Bonvesin,  of  the  Milanese  border- 
land, who  gives  information  respecting  the  laws  of 
politeness  to  his  friends  by  means  of  legends  and 
moral  precepts. 

Fra  Bonvesin  da  Riva,  ke  sta  in  Borgo  Legnian, 
De  le  cortesie  da  desce  quilb  ve  dise  per  man, 
De  cortesie  cinquanta,  ke  se  den  servar  al  desco, 
Fra  Bonvesin  de  la  Riva  ve  n  parla  mo  de  fresco. 


72  THE  DOGARESSA, 

Manners  in  the  Lagoons  became  little  by  little 
more  refined  by  intercourse  with  so  many  different 
nations,  and  the  rules  of  politeness  laid  down  by 
the  Milanese  Friar  were  also  put  into  practice  in  the 
Lagoons.  The  teachings  of  Brother  Bonvesin  are 
set  forth  with  a  certain  courteous  simplicity,  typical 
of  that  age. 

'*  You  must  remember  the  poor  when  you  are 
eating,"  says  the  gentle  Friar.  "  You  will  be  nice 
in  washing  your  hands;  you  must  not  eat  and  drink 
too  much ;  you  will  remain  properly  at  table,  and 
be  courteous,  well-dressed,  and  cheerful ;  you  must 
not  fill  your  mouth  too  full;  you  must  lift  your  cup 
with  both  hands  so  as  not  to  spill  the  wine,  nor 
must  you  give  it  to  anybody  else,  but  put  it  on  the 
table.  If  you  begin  to  sneeze  or  cough,  you  must 
turn  your  head  away.  You  must  not  grumble  at  the 
sauces ;  you  must  not  dip  your  bread  in  the  wine ; 
you  must  offer  the  best  piece  to  your  guest ;  you 
must  see  that  your  servants  are  clean ;  you  must 
keep  your  hands  clean,  and  not  put  them  in  your 
mouth  to  pick  your  teeth,  nor  on  your  neck,  nor  in 
your  ears  ;  you  must  not  tell  sad  news  at  table — " 
and  so  on.  Thus  the  Friar  patiently  gives  lessons  in 
good  breeding.  All  this  shows  that  they  were 
introducing  the  elegancies  of  civilized  life,  down  to 
the  minutest  particulars. 

A  Venetian  poem  of  the  12th  century,  a  little  lay 
in  the  Paduan  dialect,  supposed  to  be  the  lament  of 
a  woman  for  her  husband's    absence  in  the  Holy 


THE  VENETIAN  WOMEN  IN  THE  EAST,        73 

Land,  probably  a  fragment  of  a  longer  story,  reveals 
■charming  sentiments,  and  bas  all  tbe  naive  grace  of 
girlhood.  Wifely  affection  naturally  '  complained  of 
the  enterprises  to  Jerusalem,  and  though  there 
must  have  been  much  secret  sorrowing  and  weeping 
in  silence,  the  echo  of  one  wife's  lamentations  bas 
come  down  to  us. 

.     .     .     Me  Mario  se  ne  andao 
Kel  me  cor  cum  lui  a  portao, 

■exclaimed  the  loving  spouse,  and  then  adds : 

Eu  lui  e  tutto  el  me  conforto 
Zamai  non  voi  altro  deporto 
Ke  de  lui  sol  zoia  me  nasce. 

(If  not  for  him) 

.     .     .     Non  ai  cura  deser  bela. 

(Nor  do  I  look  in  tlie  glass). 

It  expresses  real  sorrow  and  true  longing,  and  tbe 
lady  appears  to  be  sincere,  innocent,  and  affectionate, 
very  different  to  the  repulsive  vulgarity  of  tbe  ballad 
of  Nicchio  and  of  the  Canto  dei  Gomari  and  of  tbe 
sombre  sentimentality  of  tbe  Chatelaines  of  cbivalric 
poesy.  And  when  Dante  illumined  tbe  14tb  century 
and  originated  the  grand  Italian  style,  tben  Yenice 
counted  amongst  ber  poets  the  two  Querini,  one  of 
tbem  a  friend  of  Alighieri,  Amulio  da  Mula,  two 
Foscarini,  Marino  Dandolo,  Bonaventura  Baffo, 
Oabriele  Bernardo,  Maffeo  Pesaro,  Antonio  dalle 
Binde,  two  Zironi,  two  Boccasi,  Andreolo  Ale- 
manno,  Jacopo  Gradenigo,  Lorenzo  de  Monaci  and 
Marino  Micbele. 


74  THE  DOGARESSA. 

The  conquests  of  the  Venetians  in  the  East,  as 
well  as  the  Crusades  and  chivalry,  altered  the  dress 
of  their  women.  When  the  weak  Byzantine  Empire 
fell  beneath  the  fierce  onslaught  of  the  Franks  and 
Venetians,  the  latter  in  1204  divided  the  country, 
and  the  various  parts  were  distributed  with  a  full, 
minute,  and  exact  description  of  the  various  places. 
The  Venetians,  in  the  partition  of  the  Empire, 
chose,  in  preference  to  inland  provinces,  the  sea 
coast,  and  appropriated  the  Cyclades  and  the 
Sporades  in  the  Archipelago,  the  islands  and  the 
eastern  coast  of  the  Adriatic,  the  shores  bathed  by 
the  Propontis  and  Euxiue  seas,  the  maritime  regions 
of  Thessaly,  and  many  other  sea-girt  places  suitable 
for  commerce.  But  the  Senate  were  shrewd  enough 
to  understand  that,  politically  speaking,  distant 
conquests  exhausted  the  strength  of  the  nation, 
and  by  a  wise  decree  they  granted  the  Eastern 
lands  in  fief  to  those  Venetians  who  conquered 
them  at  their  own  expense,  on  condition  that  they 
paid  homage  and  tribute  to  the  mother  country. 
Vessels  were  quickly  fitted  out  for  the  adventurous 
expedition,  and  the  Venetians  assembled  in  arms, 
and  started  with  the  intention  of  acquiring  royal 
crowns.  The  islands  of  the  ^gean  Sea  were  sub- 
divided into  little  dominions  which  maintained  con- 
stant intercourse  with  the  Lagoons,  and  remained 
united  to  Venice  by  the  ties  of  interest  and  affec- 
tion. Thus  a  powerful  and  feudal  nobility  was 
formed  in  the  Grecian  Isles,  and  these  lords  soon 


\ 


THE  VENETIAN  WOMEN  IN  THE  EAST,        75 

assumed  there  the  titles  of  dukes,  counts,  and  mar- 
quises, and  became  true  sovereign  princes,  whilst 
in  Venice  they  were  nothing  but  plain  citizens.  The 
wives  of  these  feudatory  nobles  who  left  their  country 
became  princesses  and  duchesses,  and  assumed 
aristocratic  manners,  giving  up  little  by  little  the 
ideas  which,  by  domestic  tradition  or  imitation,  they 
had  hitherto  maintained,  and  acquired  instead,  in 
their  intercourse  with  other  nations,  quite  different 
views.  Each  of  these  little  principalities  had  a 
power  of  its  own,  but  there  existed  in  the  islands 
ruled  by  the  Venetians  certain  conditions  similar  to 
those  prevalent  in  countries  under  the  dominion  of 
the  Franks ;  therefore  the  style  of  living  of  the 
Governors  of  Greece,  controlled  by  a  feudal  code 
of  laws  called  "  Statutes  of  Jerusalem,*'  was  naturally 
modified  by  Western  chivalry. 

Nel  lihro  de  le  Uxance  de  lo  Impert'o  de  Romania , 
ordered  and  established  da  li  Serem'ssimi  signori  lo 
conte    Balduino    de    Flandre^    Miser    Bonifacio    de ' 
Monteferrato,  Miser  Bigo  Bandolo  doxe.    There   are 
also  some  regulations  concerning  women. 

A  widow  could  marry  again  anybody  she  liked, 
except  an  enemy  of  the  family.  When  a  man  died 
intestate  his  wife  inherited  his  household  goods 
and  freehold  estates  ;  a  husband  could  deprive  his 
wife  of  her  bed  or  her  clothes.  And  the  women 
took  part  in  the  disputes  which  so  frequently  arose, 
and  showed  both  courage  and  determination.  The 
Venetians   Andrea   and   Geremia    Ghisi  conquered 


76  THE  DOGAKESSA. 

Tenos,  Myconos,  Scyros,  Scopelo,  Sciati,  Amorgos, 
Stampalia,  and  part  of  Chios  and  of  Seriphus,  the 
other  parts  of  which  were  divided  between  Domenico 
Michiel  and  Pietro  Giustiniano;  Filocalo  Navigaioso 
became  Grand  Duke  of  Lemnos ;  Marco  Venier, 
Margrave  of  Cerigo;  Jacopo  Yiari,  of  Oerigotto; 
Jacopo  Barozzi,  Lord  of  Santorin  and  Therascia; 
Marco  Sanudo,  Duke  of  Naxos,  and  of  many  other 
of  the  Cyclades.  Marino  Dandolo,  nephew  of  the 
great  Henry,  had  taken  possession  in  3207  of 
Andros,  where  he  founded  a  powerful  state,  form- 
ing an  alliance  with  Marco  Sanudo  of  Naxos,  who 
had  thrown  off  his  allegiance  to  the  Venetian  Re- 
public, after  having  obtained  from  the  Emperor 
Henry  supreme  power  over  the  Archipelago. 
Marino  Dandolo  was  killed  at  Zara  in  a  rebellion 
of  the  people,  and  left  behind  him  his  wife  Jelisa 
and  an  only  sister,  married  to  a  knight  of  the  Doro 
family.  Dandolo  having  died  without  offspring,  a 
•  war  arose  for  his  possessions,  and  lasted  seventy 
years.  Angelo  Sanudo,  in  virtue  of  feudal  right, 
took  possession  of  Andros,  giving  up  half  of  it  to 
the  widow  Jelisa  and  bestowing  the  other  half  on 
Jeremy  Ghisi,  lord  of  some  of  the  islands  of  the 
Archipelago.  Ghisi  desired  to  appropriate  the  whole 
of  Andros,  and  with  that  view  attacked  Jelisa's 
castle ;  she  in  her  turn  besought  aid  from  Jacopo 
Querini,  whose  wife  she  afterwards  became.  Querini 
applied  to  the  Republic  for  assistance,  which 
banished  Ghisi  and  confiscated  his  property.     But 


THE  VENETIAN  WOMEN  IN  THE  EAST.        77 

many  years  passed  before  Jelisa's  possession  of  the 
Island  of  Andros  was  ratified .  After  this  lady's  death, 
and  when  the  strife  caused  by  the  pretensions  of 
the  Querini  was  ended  and  after  the  incursions  and 
devastations  of  the  pirates,  Andros  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  Sanudi,  and  in  1362  Fiorenza  Sanudo 
was  made  Duchess  of  the  Archipelago,  and  she  was 
compelled  by  the  Republic  to  marry  again  a  Vene- 
tian nobleman,  Nicolo  Sanudo.  Florence's  daughter 
Maria  received  after  her  mother  s  death  the  dominion 
of  Andros,  and  another  Florence  Sanudo  came  into 
possession  in  1376  of  the  Island  of  Misos.  The 
reigns  of  these  women,  who  defended  their  rights 
with  energy  and  courage,  were  continually  disturbed 
by  contests,  riots,  and  violence.  Thus  when  woman, 
no  longer  subject  to  her  husband,  becomes  mistress 
of  herself  and  her  affairs,  and  has  rights  to  defend, 
she  appears  under  a  totally  different  aspect,  and  is 
influenced  by  other  circumstances  and  ideas. 


CHAPTER    VL 

The  Marriages  op  the  Tiepolos — The  Dogaressa  in 
THE  Promissione  Ducale — LoiciA  da  Peata,  Wipe  op 
THE  Doge  Riniero  Zend — Coronation  op  the 
DoGAREssA  Marchepina  Tiepolo — The  Wipe  op 
Peter  Gradenigo — The   Power  of   the   Mobility. 

Aftee  the  conquest  of  Constantinople  the  popula- 
tion and  wealth  of  Venice  increased  to  a  great 
extent ;  the  monuments  transported  thither  from 
conquered  countries  were  set  up  as  testimonies  to 
the  greatness  of  the  Republic,  as  well  as  to  adorn  its 
public  buildings.  The  Venetians,  prudent  in  times 
of  peace,  exhibited  great  courage  in  periods  of 
danger,  and  carried  on  war  easily  by  themselves,  or 
assured  the  victory  to  those  with  whom  they  allied 
themselves.  Venice  at  that  time  stood  pre-eminent 
amongst  all  other  cities  for  her  splendour,  which 
gradually  declined  in  later  centuries.  Jacopo 
Tiepolo  succeeded  Pietro  Zani  in  1229,  and  his 
wife,  Maria  Storlato,  gave  him  three  sons,  Peter, 
Lawrence,   and   John.     The   Doge    Jacopo,  left  a 


THE  MARRIAGES  OF  THE  TIEPOLOS.  79 

widower  in  1242,  married  again  Gualdrada,  the 
sister  of  King  Roger  of  Sicily,  a  strong-minded 
woman,  who  exercised  great  influence  over  her 
husband.  Thus  the  blood  of  Tancred  de  Haute- 
ville  was  mingled  with  the  royal  blood  of  Yenice, 
and  those  women  of  a  race  both  strong  and  refined, 
who  could  add  to  the  numerous  examples  of  valor- 
ous women  in  those  days  the  wife  of  Eoger, 
besieged  in  Tronia  in  1060,  and  the  brave  Countess 
of  Catanzaro,  sister  to  William  I.,  must  have  made 
their  power  felt  in  the  Doge's  family. 

Fearing  lest  the  Doge  and  his  family  might 
arrogate  to  themselves  an  undue  amount  of  power, 
the  Promissione  was  instituted,  which,  while  it  sur- 
rounded the  Ruler  and  his  belongings  with  all 
respect  and  pomp,  provided  at  the  same  time 
against  their  becoming  tyrannical.  The  Promis- 
sione of  the  time  of  Henry  Dandolo  (1193)  is  the 
most  ancient  on  record,  but  that  of  Jacopo  Tiepolo 
(1229)  served  as  foundation  and  pattern  to  all  the 
rest.  By  its  rules  the  Doge,  after  having  promised 
to  administer  justice  properly,  to  promote  the 
prosperity  of  the  country,  to  observe  the  laws,  and 
not  to  send  any  letters  or  embassies  to  princes 
without  the  approval  of  the  Council,  ended  by 
swearing  not  to  accept  any  gift  whatsoever  from 
anybody  except  rose-water,  leaves,  flowers,  sweet- 
smelling  herbs,  and  balm — exceptis  aqua  rosata^ 
folijs,  florihus  et  herhis  odoriferis  et  halsamo.  This 
same  oath  was  also  pronounced  by  the  Doge's  wife, 


80  THE  DOGARESSA. 

bat  the  sons  and  nephews  were  allowed  to  offer 
gifts  to  the  head  of  the  State.  In  the  year  of 
Tiepolo's  coronation  a  new  office  was  instituted,, 
that  of  correctors  of  the  Promissione  ducale,  when 
five  patricians  were  charged  in  the  interregnum 
between  the  death  of  one  Doge  and  the  election  of 
another  to  examine  and  correct  the  solemn  promises, 
and,  if  deemed  necessary,  to  make  some  additions- 
to  them.  When  Tiepolo,  weary  of  his  long  and 
glorious  reign,  renounced  his  high  position,  and  re- 
tired to  his  home  at  St.  Augustine,  the  revisers  of 
the  Promissione  found  it  necessary  to  add  many 
emendations  and  restrictions  when  the  Doge  Marino 
Morosini,  his  successor,  assumed  the  reins  of 
government. 

Tiepolo  had  unduly  sought  to  aggrandise  his 
sons ;  Peter,  by  his  influence,  was  made  Governor 
of  Milan ;  he  also  led  the  troops  of  the  Second 
Lombard  League  to  Corte  Nova,  where  he  was 
defeated  and  made  prisoner ;  the  Doge  granted  in 
fief  to  John  the  county  of  Ossero,  after  having 
secured  for  him  the  appointment  of  Commander-in- 
Chief  to  reconquer  Zara,  besides  the  office  of 
Ambassador ;  and  lastly,  for  Lawrence,  who  after- 
wards became  Doge,  his  father  obtained,  in  1240, 
the  charge  of  Commander-in-Chief  and  the  fief  of 
the  County  of  Veglia.  In  fact  the  Tiepolos  had 
acquired  too  much  power,  which  caused  distrust ; 
hence  in  a  chapter  of  the  new  Promissione  of  Marino 
Morosini  it  was  set  forth  that  the  Doges  should  not 


I 


THE  DOGABESSA   LOICIA  DA  PRAIA.  81 

in  future  ask,  or  get  others  to  ask,  for  any  appoint- 
ments or  accept  any  oflBce  beyond  the  Venetian 
jurisdiction. 

Marino  Morosini  died  in  1253,  and  Einiero  Zeno 
was  elected  Doge ;  the  latter  had  formed  ties  of  re- 
lationship with  a  powerful  family  in  Frioul,  by 
marrying  Loicia  da  Prata.  It  is  stated  very  dis- 
tinctly in  the  Promissione  of  Zeno  the  gifts  that  a 
Dogaressa  might  accept.  If  the  wife,  sons, 
daughters,  and  daughters-in-law  of  the  Doge,  who 
lived  in  the  Palace  with  him,  went  beyond  the  city- 
gates,  they  might  accept  gifts  of  viands,  beasts, 
wild  and  domestic  fowls,  only  ad  comedendum. 

The  Doge  made  his  wife  take  an  oath  not  to  ask 
for  any  office  or  administration  for  anybody,  not  to 
make  solicitations  or  prayers,  not  to  send  letters  or 
messages  to  the  Doge  in  favour  or  condemnation  of 
anybody.  The  Government  did  not  wish  the  Doge's 
family  to  influence  him  in  any  way.  The  former 
Doge  had  promised  the  same  things,  but  only  in  the 
Promissione  del  Zeno  is  the  Dogaressa  especially 
mentioned,  as  also  for  the  first  time  there  are  sum- 
maries to  the  chapters. 

Thus  the  chapter  relating  to  gifts  is  headed : 
"  Quod  ducissa,  jilii^  fili'e,  nurus  domini  duds  jurare 
deheani  de  non  recipiendo  servicium  vel  donum  aut 
jpreseus  pro  se^ 

And  the  other  chapter  we  mentioned  is  headed : 
"  De  non  dando  ojperam  quod  certa  persona  eligatur 
vel  non  eligatur  in  officiisy  vel  regiminibus  et  de  jura- 

G 


82  THE  DOGARESSA, 

mento  quod  fiieri  debet  su^er  hoc  per  ducissam  et  jilios 
et  nurus,  et  quod  preces  non  facienty 

Einiero  Zeno  received  the  news  of  his  election  in 
Fermo,  of  which  he  was  governor. 

Twelve  patricians  were  chosen  to  go  out  to  meet 
him  on  ships,  gaily  adorned  for  the  occasion  ;  and 
the  f6tes  in  his  honour  were  so  numerous  and 
splendid  that  a  contemporary  chronicler  affirms : ''  Que 
ce  serait  merveille  don  conterP  And  the  same  annalist 
adds  that  Zeno's  reign  was  happy,  and  that  in  his 
time  was  completed  the  Piazza  di  San  Marco,  la  plus 
hele  qui  so  it  en  tot  li  monde.  But  in  spite  of  all  the 
mundane  festivities,  religion  was  not  forgotten,  and 
the  Dogaressa,  who  was  very  charitable,  erected  a 
hospital  contiguous  to  the  campanile  di  San  Marco, 
on  the  site  where  had  formerly  stood  the  hospital  of 
Doge  Peter  Orseolo  II.  Loicia  survived  her  husband, 
and  became  the  executrix  of  his  charitable  designs ;  he 
bequeathed  large  sums  of  money  to  various  religious 
communities,  to  chapters  of  collegiate  churches,  to 
monasteries  and  to  hospitals.  In  a  paragraph  of 
his  will,  he  mentions  his  wife  in  these  words  : 
"  Domince  Ducissce  uxori  nostrce  inter  suam  repromis' 
sam,  dona  et  dimissorias  quce  hahuit  in  potestate 
nostra  lihras  tres  mille,  et  omnia  sua  indumenta,  et 
pelles  et  arcellam  suam  nuptiatem,  cum  rebus  quas 
adduxit  quando  earn  in  uxorem  accepimus,  et  duas 
plumacios,  quos  et  quas  pro  se  eligere  voluerit,  et  alios 
sex  lectos  ornatos  pro  sua  familia,  et  de  cokopertoriis 
et  tinteaminibus,  et  de  alio  Massaritico  quantum  sihi 


CORONATION  OF  MARCHESINA  TIEPOLO.      83 

et  sum  familice  sufficiens  erit  secundum  discretionem 
nostrorum  Gomissariorum,''^ 

The  Doge  gave  his  wife  the  right,  besides,  to 
inhabit,  as  long  as  she  lived,  the  largest  house 
belonging  to  the  Zenos,  and  to  enjoy  the  rent  of 
thirteen  other  houses,  which  were  let.  At  Loicia's 
death,  the  money,  dresses,  furs,  the  nuptial  coffer, 
with  the  robes,  beds,  mattresses,  quilts,  and  feather 
beds,  were  all  to  be  left  for  the  profit  of  the  poor  in 
the  Hospital  of  Sta.  Maria. 

Zeno's  successor  was  Lawrence  Tiepolo  (1268- 
3  276).  By  degrees  the  desire  to  pay  to  the  head  of 
a  powerful  and  wealthy  Republic  all  due  honour  and 
respect,  led  to  solemn  homage  being  oifered  to  the 
Dogaressa.  Tiepolo,  having  lost  his  first  wife,  Agnes 
Ghisi,  married  secondly  Marchesina,  daughter  of 
Bohemund  of  Brienne,  King  of  E-ascia  and  Servia. 
The  day  following  the  Doge's  election,  the  Fraternity 
of  the  Arts  went  first  to  the  Ducal  Palace  to  offer 
congratulations  to  the  new  chief  of  the  Republic, 
and  thence  proceeded  in  a  long  procession  to  the 
street  of  St.  Augustin,  where  lived  the  Dogaressa 
Marchesina,  who  returned  their  salutations  very 
courteously  with  words  and  gesticulations.  The  de- 
scription of  the  procession  of  the  arts,  a  triumphal 
display  of  industry  and  wealth,  is  given  with  evident 
accuracy  by  Da  Canale. 

First  came  the  blacksmiths  with  their  banner,  and 
garlands  on  their  heads  ;  then  followed  the  furriers, 
some    of    them    richly    adorned    with    ermine    and 


84  THE  DOGARESSA. 

miniver,  others  with  dresses  cf  amaranth  (a  kind  of 
stuff)  and  taffeta,  trimmed  with  fur  ;  then  followed  in 
proper  order,  singing,  and  accompanied  by  trumpets 
and  cymbals,  and  carrying  silver  goblets  and  phials 
filled  with  wine,  the  weavers ;  the  tailors,  in  white 
vests  adorned  with  red  stars,  their  surplices  and 
mantles  lined  with  skins ;  the  cloth  manufacturers, 
carrying  branches  of  olive,  and  their  heads  crowned 
with  wreaths  of  olive ;  the  cotton-spinners,  clad  in 
coats  and  mantles  of  fustian  ;  the  manufacturers  of 
coverlets  and  vests,  with  garlands  of  gilt  pearls  on 
their  heads,  and  white  capes  adorned  with  fleurs 
de  luce-,  the  manufacturers  of  gold  and  purple 
cloth,  with  gilt  hoods  on  their  heads,  and 
beautiful  strings  of  gold  beads;  the  shoemakers; 
the  mercers,  clad  in  silks  and  handsome  stuffs ; 
the  pork-butchers,  with  scarlet  gowns,  trimmed 
with  grey  miniver;  the  fishmongers,  in  coats 
adorned  with  miniver ;  the  glaziers,  clad  in  hand- 
some scarlet  vests ;  the  master  comb-makers  ;  the 
goldsmiths,  adorned  with  sapphires,  emeralds, 
topazes,  jacinths,  amethysts,  rubies,  jasper,  car- 
buncles, and  other  stones  of  great  value.  The 
most  curious  and  remarkable  of  all  was  the  pro- 
cession of  barbers,  which  shows  how  certain 
chivalrous  usages  had  become  popular,  even  in  the 
Lagoons.  They  proceeded  with  their  heads  crowned 
with  wreaths  and  pearls,  accompanied  by  two  armed 
men  on  horseback,  who,  in  the  dress  of  knights 
errant,    led    four     damsels,    strangely    accoutred. 


CORONATION  OF  MARCHESINA  TIEPOLO.       85 

When  they  arrived  before  the  Doge  Tiepolo,  one 
of  the  knights  dismounted,  and  said  — 

"  Sire,  we  are  knights  errant,  and  have  wandered 
about  in  search  of  adventures ;  and  we  have  taken 
such  pains,  and  toiled  so  hard,  that  at  last  we  have 
conquered  these  four  damsels.  We  have  now  come 
to  your  Court,  and  if  there  is  any  knight  bold 
enough  to  come  forth  and  prove  his  valour  by 
winning  from  us  these  foreign  damsels,  we  are 
ready  to  fight  in  their  defence  !  " 

The  Doge  replied  courteously,  congratulating 
them  upon  their  conquest,  and  assuring  them  that 
nobody  at  his  Court  wished  to  enter  the  lists 
against  them.  The  knight  errant  then  re-mounted 
his  horse,  and  the  barbers,  amidst  music,  singing, 
and  vivats,  proceeded  to  St.  Augustine,  where  they 
were  graciously  welcomed  by  the  Dogaressa.  All 
the  arts  afterwards  met  at  a  sumptuous  banquet. 

Such  festivals  might,  in  the  shrewd  opinion  of 
the  rulers,  be  allowed,  as  long  as  they  added  to  the 
glory  of  the  State,  but  they  must  never  be  per- 
mitted to  increase  the  power  of  any  one  family. 
Hence  the  assiduity  they  manifested  in  having  the 
laws  of  the  ducal  Promisswm  confirmed.  Thus,  in 
1275,  Jacopo  Contarini,  successor  of  Tiepolo,  not 
only  had  to  make  his  wife  swear  to  observe  the 
article  relating  to  gifts,  but  he  swore  besides  not  to 
allow  the  Dogaressa  to  receive  aliquod  Phendum  vel 
Phenda  ullo  modo  vel  ingenio.  The  same  Promis- 
sione   did   not   permit   the   Dogaressa   to   contract 


86  THE  DOGARESSA. 

debts,  or  to  undertake  speculations  in  wheat,  wine, 
or  salt.  It  restricted  still  more  the  right  of  accept- 
ing gifts,  and  in  the  Fromissione  of  John  Dandolo 
(1280-1289)  they  repeated  at  the  end  of  the  chapter 
the  words,  limiting  the  permission  to  those  gifts 
only  which  could  be  eaten. 

In  1312,  we  find  mentioned  in  a  deliberation  of 
the  Grand  Council  the  name  of  the  Dogaressa  con- 
cerning some  taxes,  which  she  was  no  longer  to  pay 
in  piccoli,  but  in  grossi,  to  the  Dean  of  the  Basilica 
of  St.  Mark. 

One  more  important  correction  was  introduced 
into  the  aforementioned  Fromissione  of  Contarini. 
His  ancestor,  Lorenzo  Tiepolo,  had  married  a 
Princess  of  Eascia,  and  James,  son  of  Lawrence,  a 
Slavonian  Princess,  who  brought  in  dowry  much 
landed  property.  They  were  anxious  to  prevent 
these  alliances  with  foreign  princesses,  and  there- 
fore obliged  Jacopo  Contarini,  who  was  eighty  years 
old  when  elected  (1275),  to  promise  that  he  would 
not  marry  alien  princesses  without  the  sanction  of 
the  Council.  John  Soranzo  (1312)  repeated  the 
promise  in  these  words  :  "  Martagium  aliqiiod  de 
nobis  vet  jilio^  aut  filiis^  filia^  vel  jiliahus  nostris^ 
nepti  vel  neptibus  nostri  Jilii  v.  z,  filiarum  filiorum 
nostrorum  cum  aliquo  foresterio  facere  non  possiimiis 
nee  debemus  nisi  de  voluntate  nostror,  consiliarior  vel 
majori's  partis  M.  0." 

They  always  expected  that  a  nobleman's  lineage 
would   mark   the    decline    of    national    prosperity. 


THE  WIFE  OF  PETER  GSADENIGO.  87 

There  was  always  mucli  rejoicing  wben  a  daughter 
of  Venice  married  a  prince  of  a  distant  country, 
as,  for  instance,  when  Thomasina  Morosini  became, 
in  1290,  Queen  of  Hungary;  but  careful  precautions 
were  taken  if,  on  the  contrary,  a  foreign  princess 
entered  the  Palace  of  the  Doges.  And  their  fears 
were  reasonable.  The  Government  was,  in  outward 
form,  democratic,  it  is  true ;  but  the  share  allowed 
the  people  in  public  affairs  was  limited  and  illusory, 
whilst  they  expected  the  right  of  approving  the 
Prince's  deliberations.  The  people  now  and  then 
made  use  of  their  prerogative,  as,  for  instance,  when 
Doraenico  Selvo  (1070)  was  proclaimed  Doge  by 
popular  acclamation,  the  choice  being  afterwards 
confirmed  by  the  nobility ;  but  the  actual  rulers 
were  a  few  families  like  the  Participazi,  the 
Candianos,  the  Orseolos,  the  Tiepolos,  all  eager 
to  make  the  supreme  dignity  of  the  State  here- 
ditary, and  anxious  to  raise  their  relations  to 
the  highest  civil  and  ecclesiastical  offices.  The 
Tiepolo  family  attained  such  a  powerful  position 
that  they  quite  considered  themselves  princes.  Prin- 
cesses of  blood  royal,  likely  to  foster  or  strengthen 
an  insensate  ambition,  were  forbidden  henceforth  to 
share  the  ducal  crown.  The  Venetian  aristocracy 
were  in  future  to  seek  within  themselves  power  and 
love  to  aggrandize  their  native  land,  and  to  render 
their  families  more  honourable  and  respected.  The 
representative  of  these  new  ideas  was  Peter 
Gradenigo,  elected  Doge  in  1289.     Instead  of  seek- 


88  THE  DOGARESSA. 

ing  a  wife  in  strange  lands,  he  married  a  lady 
belonging  to  one  of  the  most  illustrious  Venetian 
houses,  a  niece  and  namesake  in  fact  of  Thomasina 
Morosini,  Queen  of  Hungary.  Peter  had  by  his 
wife  Thomasina,  Paul,  Nicholas,  Matthew,  James, 
John,  and  a  daughter  called  Anna,  who  married 
James  of  Carrara,  lord  of  Padua.  Peter  Gradenigo, 
fully  convinced  that  only  an  oligarchy  could  save 
Venice  from  the  tyranny  of  one  ruler,  and  the  capri- 
cious administration  of  the  people,  had  a  law  passed 
in  1297  which  was  much  discussed,  and  called  most 
inappropriately  Serrata  del  Maggior  Consilio.  The 
Serrata,  by  which  no  one  was  admitted  who  had  not 
formed  part  of  the  Council  during  the  four  preceding 
years,  was  not  a  violent  measure,  or,  as  it  would  be 
called  at  the  present  day,  un  coup  d^etat,  bat  it  es- 
tablished liberty  on  a  firmer  basis  by  curbing  the 
ambitious  projects  of  the  great  and  the  caprices  of  the 
people.  Democracies,  which  encourage  fruitful  and 
brilliant  innovations,  have  also  certain  defects.  The 
cities  of  France,  Italy,  and  Belgium,  which  had  their 
own  peculiar  and  restless  administrations  by  the 
continual  changes  in  the  Government  and  the  want 
of  foresight,  felt  quite  weakened  and  overwhelmed 
by  the  formation  of  the  great  European  monarchies  ; 
the  latter  hated  these  little  democracies,  and  managed 
in  time  to  absorb  them.  At  a  later  date  Louis  XI. 
founded  on  the  feudal  constitution  and  the  free  cities 
of  France  a  powerful  monarchy,  and  strengthened  it 
by  all  those  artifices  of  external  policy  which  tend 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  NOBILITY.  89 

to  enlarge  a  State.  The  Spanish  monarchy  dated 
from  the  time  of  the  expulsion  of  the  Moors ;  soon 
after  the  dynasties  of  Austria  and  Germany  acquired 
power.  Italy  became,  in  the  meanwhile,  the  arena 
for  strangers  of  every  kind,  who,  led  on  by  jealousy 
and  ambition,  were  constantly  at  war.  Whilst  the 
Yiscontis  established  in  Milan  the  evil  tyranny,  and 
in  Florence  the  disputes  between  the  greater  and 
lesser  arts  paved  the  way  for  tyranny,  Venice, 
standing  aloof,  watched  the  storms  whirl  past,  and, 
thanks  to  the  wisdom  of  her  nobility,  preserved  her 
independence,  which  a  democratic  Government,  with 
its  many  changes  would  have  destroyed.  Venetian 
liberty,  restrained  by  good  regulations,  was  due  to 
the  power  of  the  aristocracy,  who  not  only  protected 
the  freedom  of  their  country,  but  enhanced  her  power 
and  reputation.  Those  chiefs  of  an  elective  and 
powerful  aristocracy,  who  transmitted  their  au- 
thority almost  as  an  heritage,  preserved  the  Vene- 
tian Republic  from  constant  changes  of  Government, 
and  endowed  it  with  a  store  of  traditions  and  that 
prescience  in  the  administration  of  external  policy 
which  was  apparently  the  especial  prerogative  of 
great  dynasties.  In  fact,  these  families  constituting 
the  power  of  the  Republic  formed,  so  to  say,  a  group 
of  dynasties,  holding  in  turns  the  reins  of  government 
with  the  noble  purpose  of  shielding  Venice  from  the 
principalities  which,  pressing  gradually  closer  round 
the  other  Italian  cities,  encroached  upon  their 
freedom.      Besides,    Republican    Governments    are 


90  THE  DOGAEESSA. 

often  composed  of  men  unacquainted  with  State 
reasons,  having  arrived  at  supreme  power  not  only 
by  their  talent,  but  also  by  intrigue  or  good 
luck.  In  Venice  generations  of  statesmen  existed 
who  in  early  years  knew  that  they  would  be  called 
to  the  administration  of  public  affairs,  and  were 
prepared  and  trained  solely  for  that  purpose.  Thus 
an  aggregate  of  deep  and  accumulated  thought  was 
given  to  the  interests  of  the  Republic,  at  an  epoch 
when  the  rulers  of  other  nations,  having  passed 
from  a  period  of  splendour  to  one  of  decadence, 
envied  and  hated  each  other,  seizing  in  turn  the 
reins  of  government,  and  so  intent  on  their  private 
quarrels  as  to  lose  sight  of  external  clangers,  em- 
ploying, in  a  manner,  foreign  policy  to  ruin  the 
State  at  home.  The  Venetian  nobles,  on  the  con- 
trary, had,  as  often  happens  with  aristocracies 
destined  to  endure,  a  certain  conscientiousness  in 
governing,  besides  a  certain  fidelity  to  their  caste. 
We  do  not  pretend  to  say  that  the  same  kind  of 
Eepublic  would  answer  at  the  present  day,  but  the 
administration  of  the  chief  men  in  the  State,  a  great 
anomaly  between  two  normal  things — that  is  to  say, 
the  government  of  all  and  that  of  one,  which  equa- 
lizes all  in  a  common  tyranny,  the  dominion  of  the 
chief  men — was  best  for  Venice,  considering  the  then 
state  of  affairs  in  Italy  and  Europe. 


CHAPTER  YII. 

The    Cots^spiracies  in  Venice   in  the   14th   Centitrt — 

SOKANZA  SOEANZO — ThE  LeGEND  OP    MarINO  FaLIERO. 

Never  has  any  innovation,  opposed  to  instituted 
customs,  been  established  suddenly,  and  the  great 
change  brought  about  by  Peter  Gradenigo,  which 
destroyed  the  ambitious  hopes  of  many  citizens  and 
laid  the  foundation  of  an  hereditary  aristocracy, 
gave  rise  to  many  secret  conspiracies,  threatening 
to  burst  forth  into  open  revolt.  But  the  Republic, 
thanks  to  vigilance  and  good  fortune,  always 
managed  to  come  off  victorious.  These  conspiracies, 
however,  kept  the  city  in  a  ferment,  and  frequently 
brought  mourning  to  both  patrician  and  plebeian 
families.  Domestic  misfortunes  were  interwoven 
with  political  vicissitudes,  and  even  in  the  family  of 
the  head  of  the  State  woman  appears  to  us  sur- 
rounded by  a  halo  of  sorrow  and  sacrifice. 

A  conspiracy  framed  in  1300  by  Marino  Bocconio 
was  discovered,  and  Bocconio,  with  ten  of  his  prin- 


m  THE  DOGARESSA. 

cipal  confederates,  was  hanged  between  two  columns 
at  the  palace  gate. 

In  1310  the  patrician  Mark  Querini,  together 
with  his  son-in-law,  Baiamonte  Tiepolo,  and  some 
members  of  the  Badoer,  Barozzi,  and  Doro  families, 
conspired  against  Grradenigo,  and,  accompanied  by  a 
number  of  armed  men,  ran  through  the  streets  call- 
ing out,  "  Death  to  the  Doge."  It  is  not  necessary 
to  remind  our  readers  how  the  rebels  were  defeated, 
Querini  and  his  son  killed,  whilst,  Baiamonte  Tiepolo 
was  condemned  to  life-long  exile.  The  Republic, 
cold  and  inflexible,  soon  punished  the  rebels,  feeling 
that  the  salvation  of  Yenice  depended  upon  the 
severity  of  her  laws.  The  patricians  understood 
that  lofty  feeling  of  duty  which  impresses  upon  the 
mind  the  sentiment  of  a  fatal  necessity.  All  talents, 
all  riches,  all  power,  were  devoted  to  the  country; 
everything  must  be  sacrificed  for  it.  The  vigilant 
eye  of  the  State  penetrated  the  secrets  of  private 
life. 

After  the  conspiracy  of  Tiepolo  Querini,  we  have 
an  example  of  the  unbending  but  just  severity  of 
Venice  in  the  sad  fate  of  Soranza  Soranzo,  daughter 
of  the  Doge  John,  elected  in  1312.  Soranza  married 
Nicolo  Querini,  surnamed  il  Zotto^  and  to  be  the  wife 
of  a  Querini  was  considered  in  her  case  a  very  grave 
fault.  She,  with  other  relations  of  the  rebels,  was 
sent  into  exile,  but  at  the  end  of  four  years,  longing 
to  revisit  her  family,  she  implored  in  vain  for  per- 
mission  to   return   to   Venice.     Eelying   upon  the 


SORANZA  SORANZO,  9^ 

influence  of  her  father  the  Doge,  she  arrived  in 
Venice  contrary  to  the  commands  of  the  Council  of 
Ten,  and  she  was  sentenced,  on  the  28th  of  June, 
1314,  to  perpetual  seclusion  in  a  remote  part  of  the 
city,  in  osjpicio  apud  Sanctam  Mariam  de  verginibus. 

The  banishment  was  rigid  and  complete.  The 
Doge's  daughter  lived  thus  for  many  monotonous 
years,  constantly  bemoaning  her  lost  liberty,  and  with 
a  servant  girl  for  her  only  companion,  who  was 
allowed  to  go  out  merely  jpro  lavandis  paunis  et  aim 
negociis  necessariis  faciendis.  When  Soranza  became 
a  widow  she  was  sometimes  permitted  to  visit  her 
aged  father,  to  assist  at  some  religious  ceremonies, 
and  to  walk  in  the  garden  of  the  Yirgins'  Nunnery. 

Even  permission  to  issue  forth  into  the  open  air 
was  no  doubt  a  boon  in  such  a  position  as  hers,  and 
we  are  led  to  suppose,  by  the  numerous  petitions  she 
sent  to  the  Council  of  Ten,  that  as  time  went  on  the 
desire  to  end  her  days  in  her  own  home  became  more 
intense.  But  vain  were  all  her  endeavours  to  obtain 
greater  concessions.  She  never  recovered  her  liberty, 
and  died  about  1349,  after  an  imprisonment  of 
twenty-five  years. 

Time  and  circumstances  rendered  such  sternness 
imperative.  That  same  Doge,  Giovanni  Soranza, 
realised  the  fact  that  a  man's  position  and  a  father's 
tenderness  were  as  nothing  compared  to  the  welfare 
of  the  State. 

Venice  was  convulsed  during  the  whole  of  the 
14th  century  by  tumults,  which  were  organised 
secretly  beside  the  domestic  hearth,  then  burst  forth 


94  TEE  DOGARESSA. 

in  the  open  streets  and  ended  in  bloodshed.  Craftj 
and  wicked  men,  either  from  vanity  or  a  desire  to 
rule,  managed  to  excite  the  passions  of  the  populace, 
who  frequently  assembled  with  fierce  determination 
in  the  Piazza.  The  Government,  when  thus  threa- 
tened, suppressed  all  revolt,  all  ambition,  with  vigour, 
and  in  self-defence  imposed  fresh  punishments. 

Amdist  the  many  conspiracies  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  that  of  Marino  Faliero  is  best  known,  on  ac- 
count of  the  many  legends  concerning  it  invented  by 
poets,  novelists,  artists,  and  even  a  few  historians. 

Thus,  for  instance,  in  the  paintings  of  Fleury  and 
Delacroix,  the  rebel  prince  is  represented  as  be- 
headed on  the  Giant's  staircase,  which  was  erected 
nearly  a  hundred  years  later  by  Antony  Rizzo,  and 
Faliero  is  described  in  Byron's  drama  as  a  sort  of 
Brutus  in  the  Doge's  dress. 

•*  We  will  renew  the  times  of  truth  and  justice, 
Condensing  in  a  fair  free  Commonwealth 
Not  rash  equality,  but  equal  rights." 

A  Republican  of  our  own  days  would  use  the 
same  words.  Byron  also  describes  the  decapitation 
of  the  Doge  as  taking  place  between  the  two  marble 
colossi,  which  were  erected  by  Jacopo  Sansovino  in 
1566,  and  places  in  the  mouth  of  the  rebellious 
prince  those  lines  beginning  — 

"  I  speak  to  Time  and  to  Eternity, 
Of  which  I  grow  a  portion,  not  to  man,"  &c. 

And  in  prophetic  accents  the  Doge,  before  the 
Council  of  Ten  and  all  the  patricians,  curses 
Venice,  predicting  that  she   would   shortly  see    a 


i 


THE  LEGEND  OF  MARINO  FALIERO.  95 

senate   of  slaves  rule  the  beggarly  patricians  and 
the  debased  populace. 

These  violent  imprecations  may  be  excused  when 
we  consider  the  time  in  which  Byron  lived,  but 
certainly  did  not  apply  as  long  as  the  Republic 
endured.  No  city  was  ever  more  wrongly  judged 
than  Venice,  no  Grovernment  less  understood,  no 
people  worse  described.  It  was  believed  that  this 
nation,  full  of  jocund  life,  was  surrounded  by  spies, 
secret  prisons,  and  executioners.  The  appearance  of 
the  city  contributed  not  a  little  to  these  mistaken 
notions.  We  can  understand  Byron,  Cooper,  and 
Victor  Hugo  imagining  all  kinds  of  gloomy  mysteries 
when  they  found  themselves  in  her  narrow  and 
tortuous  streets,  with  mysterious  porticoes,  whence 
the  lantern's  pale  light  was  reflected  in  the  dark 
waters  of  the  Lagoons.  "  The  city  resembles  a 
dream,"  wrote  Byron,  "its  story  is  like  a  romance." 
And  in  truth  the  poet,  instead  of  consulting  the 
time-stained  annals,  invented  traditions  of  which 
the  reality  existed  only  in  his  vivid  fancy.  Byron, 
before  writing  his  Faliero,  never  attempted  to  refer 
to  the  writings  of  Sanudo,  Sandi,  ISTavagero,  the 
History  of  the  Siege  of  Zara,  Langen,  Sismondi, 
Daru,  but  allowed  his  imagination  to  be  excited  by 
the  tomb  of  Faliero  in  the  Church  of  Santi  Giovanni 
e  Faolo,"^  by  the  staircase  where  he  believed  the 

*  Marino  Faliero  was  buried  in  the  atrium  of  the  now  des- 
troyed Chapel  of  the  Madonna  delta  jyace  in  the  Church  of  Santi 
Giovanni  e  Paolo.  In  the  first  years  of  this  century  the  Doge's 
ashes  were  scattered  to  the  winds,  and  the  urn  that  held  them 
conveyed  inland  and  made  into  a  drinking  trough  for  cattle. 


96  THE  DOGARESSA. 

Doge  to  have  been  crowned  and  afterwards  be- 
headed, and  by  the  black  veil  painted  upon  the 
spot  where  the  portrait  of  the  rebel  prince  ought  to 
hang,  near  the  other  Doges.  The  poet  wished  to 
make  the  life  and  action  of  the  drama  arise  out  of 
Faliero's  jealousy,  but  knowing  that  jealousy  was  a 
hackneyed  subject  on  the  stage,  described  by  toa 
many  writers,  and  especially  by  Shakespeare,  in  a 
manner  so  perfect  he  could  not  excel  it,  decided  to 
choose  for  his  theme  offended  pride  and  an  enthu- 
siastic love  of  liberty.  It  is  true  that  Sandi  and 
other  historians  hint  at  the  jealous  suspicion  of  the 
Doge,  but  add,  "  that  not  only  the  desire  of  ven- 
geance decided  him  to  join  the  conspiracy,  but  alsa 
his  innate  ambition,  which  made  him  long  to  be- 
come an  iudependent  prince.''  Caresini,  Grand 
Chancellor  of  the  Eepublic,  and  an  eye-witness  of 
what  he  narrates,  does  not  mention  the  Dogaressa 
nor  Steno's  offence,  declaring  that  the  Doge  con- 
spired deeply  to  the  prejudice  of  the  State,  insti- 
gated thereto  by  an  evil  spirit.  Sansovino,  on  the 
contrary,  afl&rms  that  the  cause  of  the  conspiracy 
was  the  injury  done  to  the  honour  of  the  Doge,  and 
not  punished  as  he  deemed  right,  the  notion  of  his 
wishing  to  reign  supreme  being  absurd,  for  he  was 
80  years  old  and  had  no  sons.  Julius  Faroldo,  a 
priest  of  Cremona,  goes  farther,  and  says  that 
Faliero  devised  the  plot 'out  of  revenge,  being  old, 
and  having  a  young  wife,  who  was  said  to  have 
misbehaved  herself  with  certain  young  noblemen. 


THE  LEGEND  OF  MARINO  FALIERO,  97 

and  that  these  had  only  been  slightly  punished  by 
the  Avogadori,  and  indignities  are  heaped  upon 
the  poor  Dogaressa.  It  is  affirmed  that  somebody 
wrote  on  the  Doge's  throne,  "  Marino  Faliero, 
cuckold,"  and  that  such  an  epithet  was  really 
applicable.  Another  writes  :  "  He  had  a  beautiful 
wife,  and  other  nobles  won  her;  the  said  Marino 
complained  of  the  disgrace  and  outrage  he  had 
received,  and  it  appeared  that  the  Venetian  nobles 
subjugated  him,  he  lost  patience,  and  put  into 
execution,"  &c.,  &c. 

But  to  turn  to  later  histories,  even  Sismondi  says 
that  Faliero  conspired  against  Venice  on  account  of 
the  outrage  committed  by  Steno  on  his  beautiful 
young  wife,  of  whom  he  was  madly  jealous ;  and 
Langier,  after  making  sad  remarks  on  the  Doge's 
death,  concludes  by  saying  that  resentment  for  a 
slight  injury  filled  his  heart  with  such  bitterness  that 
it  sufficed  to  corrupt  his  former  virtue,  and  led  him 
to  a  criminal's  death.  But  in  reality  Faliero' s  con- 
spiracy did  not  arise  from  a  private  feud,  and  the 
old  Doge's  wife,  who  was  not,  as  some  historians 
say,  a  beautiful  and  amiable  young  girl,  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  tragic  drama. 

Towards  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  a 
man  of  80  years  of  age,  but  of  a  most  determined 
character,  was  elected  Doge,  Marino  Faliero,  a  wise 
politician,  a  brave  soldier,  possessed  of  much  valu- 
able knowledge,  but  scant  courtesy.  In  fact,  when 
governor  of  Treviso,  he  had  not  feared  to  cuff  the 

H    , 


98  THE  DOGAEESSA. 

bishop  because  he  had  kept  him  waiting  at  a  re- 
ligious festival.  Faliero  was  envoy  of  the  Republic 
at  the  Roman  Court  when  he  received  the  news  of 
his  election. 

Let  us  follow  Sanudo  in  his  account  of  "  The 
Lives  of  the  Dukes  of  Yenice." 

"  It  was  decided  in  the  Grand  Council  to  elect 
twelve  ambassadors  to  meet  Marino  Faliero,  the 
Doge,  who  journeyed  from  Eome. 

"  He  quitted  Rome,  and  arrived  at  Chioggia ;  the 
governor  sent  Thaddeus.  Guistiniani,  his  son,  to 
meet  him  with  fifteen  Ganzaruoli.  On  his  arrival 
at  St,  Clement's  a  thick  fog  arose,  whereupon  the 
Doge  took  to  the  boats  and  landed  on  the  Piazza 
(October  10th,  1354)  between  two  columns,  where 
all  public  executions  took  place,  and  it  was  con- 
sidered of  very  bad  augury." 

And  further  on  :  "  This  Doge,  having  ruled  eight 
months  and  six  days,  and  being  ambitious  and 
cunning,  wished  to  become  absolute  master  of 
Venice.  I  also  saw  that  he  was  very  indignant 
because  these  words  :  *  Marino  Faliero,  the  husband 
of  a  fair  wife,  he  keeps  her,  whilst  others  kiss  her,' 
were  found  on  the  Ducal  chair.  A  certain  Michael 
Steno  was  accused  of  the  deed,  he  being  the  chief 
of  the  Council  of  Forty.  He  was  taken  by  the 
Avogadori  before  the  Council  of  Forty.  Afterwards 
he  was  beaten  with  a  fox's  tail,  condemned  to  one 
month's  imprisonment,  and  to  pay  a  hundred  pounds 
into  the  public  treasury.     A  punishment  so  slight 


THE  LEGEND  OF  MARINO  FALIERO,  99 

for  sucli  an  indigaifcy  offered  to  him,  angered  the 
Doge,  and  he  began  to  plot  against  Venice." 

Sanudo  goes  on  to  relate,  with  many  particulars, 
how  the  conspiracy  originated.  At  a  certain  fete  in 
the  Ducal  Palace,  Michael  Steno,  having  fallen  in  love 
with  one  of  the  Dogaressa's  maids,  took  liberties, 
and  the  Doge  ordered  him  to  be  turned  out  of  the 
room ;  to  revenge  himself,  Michael,  that  same  night, 
fastened  the  famous  placard  to  the  Doge's  throne. 
Faliero,  considering  that  the  penalty  inflicted  for 
such  an  insult  was  far  too  lenient,  began  to  concert 
a  conspiracy  with  the  Admiral  of  the  Arsenal,  who 
had  been  offended  by  a  nobleman  of  the  Barbaro 
family.  Many  joined  Faliero,  and  amongst  others 
Philip  Calendario,  according  to  tradition  the  archi- 
tect of  the  Ducal  Palace.  Biit  a  certain  Beltramo 
Bergamosco  betrayed  them  to  a  patrician,  Nicholas 
Lioni,  who  was  his  friend.  He  revealed  the  rank 
and  number  of  the  conspirators,  who  were  at  once 
imprisoned  and  hanged.  "  And  on  Friday,  April 
16th,"  continues  Sanudo,  "  the  Council  of  Ten 
decreed  that  Messer  Marino  Faliero  should  be 
beheaded  on  the  landing-place  of  the  stone  stair- 
case, where  the  Doges  take  their  oaths  when  they 
first  enter  the  palace." 

On  the  following  day,  the  palace  gates  being 
closed,  the  said  Doge's  head  was  cut  off  before  he 
came  down  the  staircase.  And  when  the  execution 
was  over  it  is  said  that  one  member  of  the  Council 
of  Ten  went  towards  the  pillars  of  the  palace  on  the 


100  THE  DOGARESSA. 

piazza  and  held  up  the  bloody  sword  to  the  view  of 
the  people,  crying  out  in  a  loud  voice :  "  Condign 
punishment  has  overtaken  the  traitor  !  "  The  doors 
being  thrown  open,  the  people  rushed  in  to  behold 
the  body  of  the  Doge.  All  Faliero's  property  was 
confiscated  to  the  State,  with  the  exception  of  two 
thousand  ducats,  of  which  he  was  allowed  the  dis- 
posal. The  Prince's  corpse  was  conveyed  by  night 
in  a  boat  with  eight  torch-bearers,  and  buried  in  its 
coffin  in  the  Church  of  Santi  Giovanni  e  Paolo, 
Historical  critics,  however,  consider  this  account  of 
the  conspiracy  a  mere  fable.  The  records  of  the 
Quarantia  contradict,  in  a  great  measure,  this 
popular  tradition,  and  Marino  Sanudo,  who  wrote 
the  above  whilst  still  a  youth,  made  afterwards  in 
the  margin  of  his  chronicles,  if  not  exactly  altera- 
tions,  at  least  some  remarks  implying  disbelief,  no 
doubt  after  having  received  further  and  more 
authentic  information  on  the  subject.  The  real 
cause  of  Marino  Faliero  forming  a  conspiracy  was 
his  inborn  ambition.  It  is  absurd  to  say  that  hi& 
being  an  octogenarian  without  sons  proved  that  he 
could  have  no  desire  for  supreme  power.  Family 
pride  must  have  been  a  ruling  passion  in  a  man  of 
Faliero's  temperament,  and  there  is  no  doubt 
that  he  contemplated  securing  to  his  lineage  the 
sovereignty  of  Venice,  using,  like  all  candidates 
for  pre-eminence  in  the  State,  popular  discontent 
as  his  tool.  An  important  document  throws  some 
light  upon  the  subject.     Therein  it  is  narrated  that 


THE  LEGEND  OF  MATtINO  FALIEEO.  101 

a  certain  Peter  Badoer,  being  at  a  feast  in  Crete,  when 
he  heard  Faliero  mentioned,  exclaimed,  "  Quid  dicitis 
vos  de  Domino  Marino  Faletro?  Ipse  fuit  mtimus 
amicus  mens  et  reperi  me  quando  fuit  f actus  dux.  Si 
ego  me  reperissem  quando  occurrit  illud  factum  et 
ipse  misisset  pro  me  et  dixisset:  Petre  ego  volo  tihi 
dare  Vallem  Mareni  et  facere  te  magnum  dominum; 
qualiter  potuisse  dicere  de  non?  Et postea  dixit:  Vere, 
si  ego  fuissem  ibi  et  ipse  misisset  pro  me  ilia  nor  a, 
ego  fecissem  statim.  sihi  venire  ducentos  homines  et  si 
dixisset  mi  hi  .  ,  .  mea  die  ante,  ego  fecissem  venire 
mille?'' 

The  above  tends  to  prove  that  Badoer  would  have 
aided  the  Doge  in  his  ambitious  designs.  Let  us 
see  if  historical  criticism  confirms  the  important 
share  which  popular  tradition,  according  to 
Nicholas  Gradenigo,  assigns  to  Aulica  or  Louisa, 
Faliero's  wife,  in  the  sad  drama  which  ended  in  the 
Doge's  death.  There  is  no  doubt  that  private  enmity 
existed  between  the  Palieros  and  Stenos.  In  a  small 
manuscript  of  only  a  few  pages,  belonging  to  the 
archive  of  the  Quarantia,  preserved  at  the  present 
day  in  that  of  the  Frari,  an  act  of  violence  is  entered 
on  September  15th,  1343,  as  having  been  com- 
mitted upon  a  certain  Sarah,  a  slave  of  Peter 
Faliero,  by  Paul  belonging  to  James  Steno,  and  he 
was  afterwards  punished,  by  a  year's  incarceration 
in  the  prison  at  Pozzi,  and  a  fine  of  300  pounds. 
This  may,  in  a  manner,  account  for  the  people's 
legend,  in  which  the  vindictive  fury  of  the  aged  and 


!I02  THE  DOGABESSA. 

passionate  Prince  is  said  to  have  arisen  from  the 
insult  offered  by  one  of  the  Steno  family  to  the 
Dogaressa. 

It  was  not  at  all  unusual  for  notes  to  be  affixed 
to  the  Ducal  throne.  The  Misti  oi  the  Council  of 
Ten  (Dec.  20th  and  January  14th,  1350)  allude  to 
insulting  placards  against  the  Doge  Andrea  Dlandoo, 
which  were  attached  to  his  chair  in  the  Church  of 
St.  Mark  and  at  Rialto,  and  even  against  the  Doge 
Michael  Steno  (October,  1402).  The  Dogaressa, 
after  her  husband's  tragic  end,  left  the  confiscated 
houses  of  the  "  Holy  Apostles  "  for  those  of  Saint 
Severus.  How  sad  life  must  have  then  appeared 
to  her  !  The  pomp  of  power  became  for  her  but  a 
shadowy  memory ;  the  city,  filled  with  people  all 
busy  and  joyful,  was  transformed  for  her  into  avast 
desert,  in  which  her  thoughts  wandered  aimlessly. 
Little  by  little  her  mind  became  obscured,  but 
before  losing  her  intellect  the  unfortunate  lady 
dictated  her  testament,  drawn  up  by  the  lawyer 
Pietro  Sperito,  anno  domini  millesimo  trecentesimo 
octuagesimo  quarto,  mensis  octohris  die  XIV  intrante 
indictione  octava  Bivoalti.  This  open  declaration  of 
her  last  wishes  contains  no  allusion  whatever  to 
Marino  Faliero's  dreadful  death,  not  even  when  the 
testatrix  mentions  her  dead  friends.  There  are  two 
more  wills  of  hers  in  existence ;  one  written  by  the 
notary  Chiaruti,  March  7th,  1385,  and  another 
bearing  date  March  7th,  1387,  transcribed  on  the 
register  of  Leone  di  Ravalon,  notary  in  the  office  of 


THE  LEGEND  OF  MARINO  FALIEUO,         103 

Imjprestidi   (Loans).      In   this   last    document,   the 
poor  lady,  half  mad,  her  mind  deteriorating  day  by 
day,  and  of  great  age,  mentions  her  husband  merely 
by  name,  without  giving  him  his  titles.     The  life  of 
the  aged  Dogaressa  was  unhappy  and  harassed  to 
the   end,   since  to  the  unhins^ino^  of  her   intellect, 
caused  by  painful  memories,    was  added  the  con- 
tinual persecution    of  relations  who  aspired  to  the 
inheritance,  and  then  went  to  law  concerninof  the 
validity  of   one  of  the  three    wills.     Nor  can   we 
understand  why  the  lawyers  declared  the  first  and 
third  testaments  null  and  void,  acknowledging  the 
second  to  be  valid,  which,  according  to  their  verdict, 
was  considered  as  the  first,  and  dictated   by   the 
Dogaressa    whilst    she   was    in    her    right    mind. 
Historical  criticism  can  now  see  this  unhappy  lady 
under  another  aspect,    and  certainly   to    her  many 
sorrows    there   is    no   reason    for    adding^     Steno's 
wicked    assertion.       From    the    extract    made    by 
Sanudo,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  of  some  portions  of 
the  register  of  the  Tribunal  of  Forty,  unfortunately 
lost  afterwards,  it  does  not  appear  that  in  Steno's 
famous  writing  there  is  any  allusion  to  the  Doge's 
wife.      "We  find,  in  fact,  on  the  10th  of  November, 
1354,   this   magistrate    charged   the   Avogadon    di 
comun  to   imprison  and  examine  the  culpahiles   de 
scrijpturis  factis  in  Sola  caminorum  (of  the  Doge)  : 
cosa   turpis    et    inhonesta,    which    proved    magnum 
dedecus  et  vituperium  tofius  terroe^  and  consequently 
required  that,  jpro  bono  exemplo  aliorum,  fiat  inde 


104  THE  DOGARESSA. 

quod  spectat  Jionori  nostra.  The  accused  were 
Michael  Steno,  John,  Peter  Bollani,  Richard 
Mariani,  Moretto  Zorzi,  Michael  Molin,  and  Maffio 
Morosini ;  the  accusation,  the  insults  written  on 
the  Doge's  chimney-piece,  and  precisely,  by  Steno, 
in  vituperium  domini  duct's,  et  eius  nepotis.  What, 
therefore,  has  the  wife  to  do  with  it  ?  The  word 
nepotis  would  lead  us  to  suppose  they  meant  that 
Marino  whom  the  old  Doge  calls  diletto  nipote  in  his 
will  of  March  31st,  1328,  written  by  the  notary 
Mark  Semitecoio.  In  fact,  in  public  Venetian  deeds 
nepos  is  distinct  from  neptis.  Nevertheless,  Ducange 
gives  us  examples  of  nepos  used  in  the  feminine 
gender ;  therefore  we  may  with  reason  suppose,  and 
it  appears  more  likely,  that  a  niece  of  the  Doge's  is 
meant,  the  more  so  as  many  contemporary  chroniclers 
allude  to  a  young  lady  as  having  been  insulted. 

This  would  suffice  to  refute  the  popular  tradition 
concerning  the  insult  offered  by  Steno  to  the 
Dogaressa.  There  is,  besides,  another  circumstance 
worthy  of  note.  As  the  age  of  the  Doge's  nephews 
tallies  with  that  of  Steno  and  of  other  distinguished 
adolescentuti  nobiles,  from  the  segurtade  de  VimprO' 
messa  de  Luica,  stated  by  the  Venetian  notary  Semite- 
coio, on  September  20th,  1335,  and  existing  in  the 
Archivio  notarile,  we  may  with  confidence  assert 
that  at  the  time  of  the  famous  note  Louisa  Gradenigo 
was  past  forty.  And  is  it  probable  that  a  lady  of 
mature  age  would  excite  the  spiteful  calumny  of  a 
a  Venetian  youth  ? 


THE  LEGEND  OF  MARINO  FALIEMO.         105 

Besides,  little  or  nothing  is  found  in  the  official 
Acts  of  the  Council  of  Ten  referring  to  the  Ealiero 
conspiracy.  Volume  Y.  of  the  Libri  Misti  is  missing, 
as  far  as  1611,  although  the  chronological  order  does 
not  suffer  by  the  break,  Book  YI.  containing  the  docu- 
ments from  1348  to  1363.  It  seems,  therefore,  that 
the  trial  of  the  Doge,  by  its  length  and  importance, 
filled  a  whole  volume,  which  volume  must  have  been 
number  five,  either  destroyed  by  chance  or  on 
purpose. 

We  may  also  mention,  as  a  further  confirmation 
of  our  argument,  that  the  placard  was  attached  to 
the  ducal  chair  on  Shrove  Tuesday  of  the  year  pre- 
ceding the  discovery  of  the  abortive  conspiracy,  and 
that  the  text  of  that  placard  as  transmitted  by 
certain  writers  must  be  apocryphal. 

Marin  Falier — da  la  hela  mugier  I  altri  la  gode — e 
lu  la  mantien  is  not  the  Yenetian  style  of  writing  in 
the  fourteenth  century ;  it  wants  the  tone  of  that 
time,  without  taking  into  consideration  our  know- 
ledge that  nezza  ought  to  be  written  instead  of  mugier^ 
since  the  wife  of  the  Doge's  nephew  was  a  certain 
Christine  Contarini,  and  from  it  arises  the  mistake 
in  the  legend  which  gives  a  Contarini  as  the  wife  of 
theDoge  himself,  whilst  there  is  no  doubt,  historically 
speaking,  that  he  took  for  his  second  wife  a  lady 
of  the  Gradenigo  family. 

If  it  was  not  the  insult  to  his  wife  which  caused 
Faliero  to  conspire  against  his  country,  the  legend 
which   arose   concerning   the  Dogaressa   Aloisa   is 


106  THE  DOGAEESSA. 

entirely  false,  and  she  was  in  that  ease  not  even  the 
indirect  cause  of  private  disgrace  and  of  grave  peril 
to  the  State. 

We  gather  from  all  this  that  the  principal  cause 
of  the  conspiracy  must  be  sought  in  the  mind  of  the 
Doge  himself,  and  in  the  circumstances  which  put 
ambitious  designs  into  his  head,  since  the  insult 
offered,  not  to  his  wife,  but  to  his  nephew,  or,  more 
properly  speaking,  to  his  niece,  can  only  have 
fanned  into  flame  the  smouldering  fire  of  his 
wrath. 

Around  these  facts  tradition  has  woven  fabulous 
tales  of  love  and  personal  revenge.  During  the 
14th  century  the  city  was  in  reality  agitated  and 
convulsed  on  the  one  hand  by  a  vague  and  widely- 
spread  tendency  to  rebellion  against  the  aristocracy, 
and  on  the  other  by  the  ambition  of  a  few  nobles, 
desirous  of  becoming  absolute  masters  of  Venice. 
Whilst  the  other  Italian  cities  fell  a  prey  to  the 
tyranny  of  despots,  and  lost  every  semblance  of 
freedom,  in  Venice  the  sternness,  tempered  by 
wisdom,  of  the  patricians,  saved  the  city  from  the 
despotism  of  one  man.  But  the  blood  of  Bocconio, 
of  the  Querini,  of  Faliero,  could  not  then  tranquillize 
men's  minds.  It  silenced  every  rebellious  voice, 
but  amidst  that  silence  there  were  signs  of  restless- 
ness, discontent,  feverish  anxiety,  evidenced  occa- 
sionally by  threats,  mysterious  conspiracies  and 
mutinies.  Thus,  for  instance,  Sanudo,  in  words 
full   of   meaning,    mentions     having     read   in   an 


THE  LEGEND  OF  MARINO  FALIERO,         107 

ancient  chronicle:  "  If  Lorenzo  Celsi,  the  Doge,  had 
not  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-seven,  after  a  reign  of 
four  years,  he  would  have  ended  like  Marino 
Faliero;  "  and  adds  that  it  had  been  proposed  by 
the  Corretton,  after  his  death,  "  that  if  it  should  be 
decided  by  the  councillors  in  the  Council  to  alter 
the  Government  of  Venice,  the  Doge  would  have  to 
abdicate  and  leave  the  Palace,  under  pain  of  all  his 
household  and  freehold  property  being  confiscated. 
In  fact,  on  the  30th  of  July,  1365,  the  Council  of 
Ten  deliberated,  pro  omni  respectu  honi  lacerentur,  et 
destruentur  omnes  testificationes  et  Scripture,  Jiic  lecfe, 
de  domino  Laurentio  Celsi,  olim  duce  Veneciarum,  et 
de  eis  nulla  mentio  fiat  ullo  tempore  pro  bono  Stratus 
nostri,  quia  non  est  de  necessitate. 

Had  there  been  any  daring  reform  attempted 
during  Celsi's  reign  ?  Had  the  Doge  insisted  upon 
it,  or  had  he  favoured  the  opinions  of  the  council- 
lors ?  This  supposition  is  contradicted  by  another 
decree  of  the  Council  of  Ten,  in  which  it  is 
prescribed,  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  welfare  of 
the  city,  to  pur  gar  e  infamiam  levatam  contr  a  dominum 
Laurentium  Celsi,  olim  ducem  Veneciarum,  post  mortem 
auam,  and  to  publish  cum  verbis  generalibus  qualiter 
ipse  dominus  dux  fuit  mfamatus  per  aliquos,  post 
mortem  suam  de  rebus  quas  dicebaiur  cornmisisse  con^ 
tra  honor  em  commies  Veneciarum. 

Such  an  ordinance,  defending  Celsi's  reputation, 
was  probably  suggested  as  a  prudent  reservation. 
At  all  events,  the  above  tends  to  prove  that  distrust 


108  THE  DOGARESSA. 

existed  in  the  Ducal  Palace  to  the  same  extent  as 
threats  and  discontent  in  the  city.  By  degrees  the 
secret  and  latent  inclination  towards  rebellion  and 
surexcitation  existing  in  the  public  mind  died  away. 
The  people  grew  accustomed  to  the  new  order  of 
things,  and  found  means  of  extending  their  po  wer 
through  the  trades'  guilds  and  the  monkish 
societies. 


CHAPTER    YIII. 

A  Plebeian  "Woman   on  the   Throne  op  the  Doges — 
The  Dogaeessa  in  the  Promissione. 

Mark  Coenaro  was  chosen  Doge  in  succession  to 
Lawrence  Celsi.  But  his  election  met  with  opposi- 
tion, and  amongst  other  objections  raised  against 
him  it  was  said  by  John  Dolfino  that  Cornaro  had 
married  a  young  plebeian  girl,  with  many  relations, 
who  might  easily  enter  the  Palace,  and  divulge  State 
secrets.  Apparently  a  noble  patriotism  prompted 
this  protest,  but  it  was  merely  a  cloak  to  conceal 
the  jealousy  of  the  aristocracy,  who,  having  increased 
in  power,  wished  to  keep  the  people  aloof  from  the 
Government.  Cornaro,  a  white-headed  octogenarian, 
of  noble  aspect,  thin,  pale,  and  of  erect  carriage, 
rose  from  his  seat  and  replied  to  the  accusations  of 
Dolfino  that  he  was  not  the  only  nobleman  who  had 
a  plebeian  wife,  but  he  did  not  for  that  reason  love 
his  country  any  the  less ;  he  esteemed  much  his 
wife  Catharine,  for  she  had  such  good  manners  and 


110  THE  DOGARESSA, 

was  so  excellent,  that  she  had  always  been  as  highly 
thought  of  by  ladies  in  all  lands  and  towns  as  if 
she  belonged  to  one  of  the  greatest  families  in 
Venice,  and  in  conclusion,  he  knew  his  wife's  re- 
lations, and  although  they  were  not  noble,  they 
were  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  Republic.  One 
chronicler  mentions  one  little  detail  which  proves 
how  very  superior  was  Cornaro's  excellent  and  well- 
beloved  wife.  The  old  patrician,  refuting  decidedly 
the  accusation  of  being  the  friend  of  lords  in  other 
countries,  graphically  describes  the  modest  and 
peaceful  life  of  his  home. 

"  As  for  being  the  friend  of  lords,  it  was  perfectly 
true  that  he  had  formed  friendships  amongst  them 
during  the  many  years  he  had  been  brought  into 
contact  with  them,  but  only  in  the  interest  and  for 
the  honour  of  Yenice,  and  not  for  any  private 
advantage  to  himself  ;  for  had  he  sought  the  favour 
of  the  great  from  selfish  motives,  he  would  certainly 
have  amassed  more  wealth,  and  though  he  looked 
well-dressed,  it  was  thanks  to  his  wife's  industry 
for  she  had  altered  and  relined  his  clothes,  and  made 
them  look  better  than  they  really  were  ! '' 

These  simple  words  reveal  Catharine's  goodness, 
and  her  serene  and  gentle  temper. 

Amongst  the  usual  promises  given  by  the  Doge, 
Cornaro  had  to  swear  that  if  any  member  of  his 
family  were  found  in  the  Palace  armed  after  the 
third  bell  had  rung,  he  should  be  punished  like  any 
other  citizen. 


A  PLEBEIAN  WOMAN  ON  THE  THRONE.        Ill 

In  the  agreement,  which  Andrew  Cornaro  (1368) 
had  to  take  his  oath,  to  observe,  it  w;as  found  neces- 
sary to  repeat  that  the  Dogaressa  and  her  family 
were  not  to  accept  any  presents,  and  that  if  they 
did  receive  any,  they  must  return  them  within  a 
twelvemonth.  The  Doge,  the  Dogaressa,  and  their 
children  could  have  no  lands  in  Trivigiano,  Padua, 
Eerrara,  or  in  any  other  part  of  the  world  outside  the 
Duchy  of  Venice.  Thus  woman  had  no  part  in 
public  affairs,  and  remained  in  obscurity,  as  is  usual 
in  countries  and  at  a  time  when  man  puts  forth  his 
finest  energies.  Happy  were  the  cities  where 
woman  was  valued  for  her  silence  and  retiring 
disposition ;  those  were  mighty  times  when  women 
watched  over  the  cradle  of  their  infants,  and  were 
the  comforters,  adopting  the  motto : 

"  Che  pria  li  padri,  e  le  madri  trastulla." 

"  But  within  the  homes  at  Venice  woman  reisfned 
as  queen,  and  the  Venetians  made  for  her  wise  laws, 
at  a  time  when,  in  spite  of  some  poetical  imaginings 
of  the  Christian  legend,  of  romances  and  Courts  of 
Love,  the  idea  prevailed  everywhere  of  woman's 
moral  and  legal  inferiority.  The  canonical  law,  for 
instance,  not  only  prohibited  women  becoming 
security  for  others,  but  also  forbade  their  acting 
as  arbitrators,  bringing  an  action,  and  lastly  giving 
evidence  in  a  court  of  law.  But  the  oldest  Venetian 
documents  give  us  many  examples  of  the  privilege 
granted  to  women  of  contracting  bonds  towards  the 


112  THE  DOGARESSA. 

State  and  towards  private  individuals.  "We  find 
women  making  sales,  purchases,  presents,  and  even 
co-operating,  without  the  consent  of  their  husbands, 
in  public  loans  (1187),  making  wills,  exercising  the 
functions  of  testamentary  executrices,  of  trustees, 
&c.  Venetian  laws,  beginning  by  those  collected 
and  reformed  under  the  Dogeship  of  Jacopo  Tiepolo 
(1242),  aimed  at  protecting,  with  certain  precau- 
tions, the  position  and  interests  of  women,  never 
neglected  in  their  natural  rights — a  certain  proof 
that  civilization  had  taken  firm  root  in  the  Venetian 
Republic,  even  when  in  other  countries  it  was  only 
beginning  to  revive.  Many  arrangements  with 
respect  to  securities,  to  the  repayments,  or  the 
restoration  of  dowries,  also  those  respecting  the 
bride's  pin-money,  reveal  the  opinions  of  the  legisla- 
tors, that  a  woman's  interest,  when  widowed,  must 
be  cared  for,  and  that  obligations  bound  the  hus- 
band, the  father-in-law,  or  other  relations  if  they 
had  received  and  shared  a  fine  dowry  to  make  resti- 
tution, after  the  appraisers  had  valued  it,  in  favour 
of  the  woman.  Then,  by  another  law,  the  husband 
was  obliged  to  give  an  account  of  the  increase  of 
the  dowry  during  his  marriage,  and  he  had  to  give 
a  written  guarantee,  rendered  valid  by  the  signa- 
tures of  two  examiners,  appointed  for  the  purpose. 
There  is  neither  time  nor  space  in  this  book  to 
enumerate  the  manifold  decrees  intended  to  secure 
the  rights  and  property  of  women,  for  whose  guar- 
dianship there  were  not  only  written  laws,  but  also 


THE  DOGARESSA  IN  THE  PROMISSIONE.      113 

they  were  strictly  carried  out  with  the  concurrence 
of  proper  magistrates,  and  even  of  the  Doge  him- 
self. The  laws  in  fact  preceded,  and  were  in  a 
great  measure  the  basis  of,  those  written  in  the  pre- 
sent century.  There  is  no  doubt  that  some  of  the 
precautions  adopted  respecting  the  natural  rights  of 
women  clash  now  with  ours,  but  we  need  only  turn 
our  thoughts  to  the  temper  of  those  times,  or  better 
still  to  the  just  causes  which  suggested  such  ar- 
rangements, to  enable  us  to  understand  the  necessity 
for  such  severity.  Here,  for  instance,  is  an  example. 
When  a  man  died  intestate  his  freehold  estates 
belonged  to  his  sons,  whilst  his  personal  property 
was  divided  into  equal  portions  between  his  sons 
and  their  sisters.  According  to  a  law  of  the  Grand 
Council  (JSTovember  23rd,  1352),  in  a  dispute  con- 
cerning an  inheritance  of  a  man  and  a  woman  of  the 
same  rank,  and  there  being  no  collateral  ancestors 
or  descendants,  the  heir-male  in  that  case  succeeded 
to  the  freehold  estates  of  the  defunct,  and  was  bound 
to  divide  the  personal  property  with  the  female. 
But  if  the  woman  stood  in  closer  relationship  to  the 
defunct  than  the  man,  then  the  property  was  divided 
equally  between  them.  By  such  laws  it  would 
appear  at  first  sight  that  the  woman  was  deprived 
of  her  natural  rights,  but  we  must  remember  that 
at  that  period,  and  even  nearly  as  far  as  the  16th 
century,  landed  property  was  scarce  in  the  patrician 
and  burgher  families,  whereas  personal  property — 
money,  merchandise,  circulating  capital,  and  credit 

I 


114  THE  DOGARESSA. 

— was  great.  The  legal  decrees  concerning  the 
division  of  property  were  greatly  altered  during  the 
last  three  centuries  of  the  Kepublic.  Not  to  dwell 
too  much  at  length  upon  this  subject,  we  will 
merely  mention  that  when  there  was  mutual  con- 
sent between  married  people  to  devote  themselves 
to  a  life  of  chastity,  the  judges,  when  assured  of  the 
fact,  gave  the  woman  power  to  claim  her  property 
and  to  dispose  of  it  as  she  pleased.  It  is  also 
worthy  of  note  that  they  allowed  the  widow 
the  right  of  enjoying  her  husband's  property  for 
a  year  and  a  day  after  his  death,  and  the  right  also 
of  remaining  in  the  house  of  her  late  husband  until 
her  dowry  was  paid.  If  any  man  left  his  wife 
absolute  mistress  in  his  house,  the  law  was  bound 
to  arrange  that,  besides  the  right  of  habitation,  she 
had  enough  for  her  subsistence  in  proportion  to  the 
property  left.  If  the  man  died  intestate,  and  his 
wife  at  the  end  of  a  year  and  a  day  resolved  to  re- 
main unmarried,  she  had  the  right  to  stay  in  her 
husband's  house,  unless  it  had  to  be  disposed  of  to 
dower  her  daughters.  If  she  lived  with  her  sons, 
she  had  a  right  to  food  and  raiment  until  they  reached 
their  majority.  A  woman  separated  from  her  hus- 
band because  of  adultery  lost  the  right  to  claim  her 
property,  but  regained  it  if  she  returned  to  him. 
If  food  and  raiment  were  denied  a  woman  when  not 
living  with  her  husband,  she  had  a  right  to  com- 
plain to  the  Grand  Council,  against  whose  judg- 
ment there  was  no  appeal.     In  1420  dowries  were 


THE  JDOGARESSA  IN  THE  PROMISSIONE,       115 

limited  to  1,600  ducats  for  the  nobility,  and  2,000 
for  a  plebeian  wife  married  to  a  nobleman.  By  a 
decree  of  1551  they  were  all  fixed  at  5,000  ducats. 
The  laws  were  not  strictly  enforced  on  that  point. 
If  a  wealthy  woman  took  the  veil  the  family  were 
obliged  to  ensure  the  nunnery  a  yearly  annuity  of 
60  ducats.  At  that  time  the  Republic  inflicted  very 
severe  penalties,  viz.,  imprisonment,  hard  labour, 
banishment,  or  pecuniary  fines,  according  to  the 
position  of  the  delinquent,  for  deceiving  a  woman 
by  a  false  marriage,  or  after  having  seduced  aban- 
doning her.  But  it  is  worth  noticing  amongst  the 
laws  which  regulated  the  position,  rights,  and  obli- 
gation of  woman,  one  which  fixed,  for  males  as  well 
as  females,  twelve  as  the  age  for  emancipation  from 
the  rules  of  the  union,  changed  into  fourteen  for  the 
males,  later,  under  the  Dogate  of  Andrew  Dandolo. 
Only  three  centuries  later  they  decreed  that  boys 
should  come  of  age  at  sixteen,  and  girls  at  fourteen. 
We,  judging  according  to  the  prejudices  of  our  own 
time,  should  not  consider  it  wise  to  allow  boys  and 
girls  to  manage  their  own  affairs  at  the  early  age  of 
twelve.  What  reason  and  circumstances  could  have 
induced  so  judicious  and  far-seeing  a  Government 
to  set  its  subjects  free  at  such  an  early  age  ?  Two 
causes  seem  to  us  worthy  of  consideration.  We 
believe,  in  the  first  place,  that  in  the  early  ages  the 
ties  of  family  and  kindred  were  so  strong  that, 
whether  people  were  free  or  not  to  dispose  of  their 
property,  they  continued  to  leave  the  management 


116  THE  DOGARESSA. 

of  their  affairs  to  the  elders  of  the  house,  or  to  the 
nearest  relatives.     But  there  is  another  argument 
which  to  our  notion  explains  better  the  reason  of 
such  laws.     Nobles  and  people  in  the  early  cen- 
turies, and  even  to  the  end  of  the  15th  century, 
were  occupied  in  war,  or  business,  or  maritime  com- 
merce.    The  riches  acquired  by  trade  in  the  capital 
were  not  then  changed  into  landed  estates  by  the 
purchase,  more  for  show  than  use,  of  possessions  on 
the  neighbouring  terra  firma,  but  were  circulated 
continually  and  cautiously  in  foreign  trade.    Money, 
therefore,  then  constituted  almost  the  entire  here- 
ditary estate  of  families,  and  the  Government  clearly 
perceiving   how  private  and  public  interest  were 
joined  together,  liberated  by  its  laws  from  too  pro- 
tracted   a   guardianship   the    funds   necessary   for 
business,  managed  with  sagacious  prudence  by  the 
Venetians.     When  in  the  15th  century  new  ideas 
and  discoveries,  fresh  views  and  aspirations,  spread 
through  the  whole  of  Italy,  in  Venice  not  only  did 
the  legal  position  of  the  women  change,  but  also 
their  lives    and  their   dress.       The  awakening   of 
platonic  philosophy  contributed  not  a  little  to  the 
better  appreciation  of    female  worth.     The  mind 
turned  once  more  to  joyful  expectations  and  gentle 
thoughts ;   Semitic  mysticism  revived  when  brought 
into  contact  with  Hellenic  myths,  and  the  legends 
of  the  middle-ages  were  engrafted  on  Pagan  tradi- 
tions.    Woman   issued  forth  from  her  home,  the 
dawn  of  a  new  day  for  human  intellect  irradiating 


THE  DOGARESSA  IN  THE  PROMISSIONE.       117 

her  brow,  and  she  mixed  in  the  gay  throng  without 
losing  her  love  of  her  domestic  duties.  She  did 
not  then  influence  political  affairs,  but  she  had 
much  to  do  with  art,  for  the  artists  no  longer 
studied  the  Heaven  of  Byzantine  saints,  but  began 
to  admire  one  more  spacious  and  beautiful  in 
women's  looks.  Woman,  who  amidst  universal  re- 
joicing appeared  in  the  Fiazza  decked  in  bright  gold 
and  sparkling  jewels,  represented  in  her  person  the 
great  artistic  revival  in  Venice  and  the  pomp  of  the 
wealthy  Eepublic. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Aet  and  Woman  in  the  15th  and  16th  Centuries. 

Heinrich   v.  MiJGLiN,   a   German   poet,  who   lived 
about  fclie  middle   of  the  14th  century,  wrote  that 
the  good  city  of  Yenice  was  universally  admired. 
"  Venedig  ist  ein  gute  stat,  die  hort  man  lobin  !  " 

And  at  the  end  of  that  century  and  the  beginning 
of  the  next,  Yenice  reached  the  culminating  point  of 
her  prosperity,  nor  was  there  ever  a  greater  or 
more  fortunate  State,  being  both  rich  and  famous. 
Her  vessels,  trading  in  all  parts  of  the  known  world, 
brought  back  treasures  to  the  Republic,  the  city  con- 
taining above  190,000  inhabitants,  and  a  thousand 
patricians  at  least  had  incomes  from  two  to  five 
hundred  thousand  lire  per  annum.  The  Republic, 
mistress  of  the  seas,  turned  her  thoughts  to  con- 
quests on  dry  land,  and  the  money  acquired  in 
commerce  was  purified  in  the  crucible  of  the  fine 
arts.  No  other  city  could  compare  with  Yenice, 
called  by  Petrarch  "  The  triie  haven  of  the  human 


ART  AND  WOMAN,  119 

race,  the  sole  home  of  liberty,  of  justice,  of  peace, 
and  better  fortified  and  rendered  more  secure  by 
the  prudent  wisdom  of  her  sons  than  by  the  sea 
which  surrounded  her  !  "  Peter  Gasola  from  Milan 
declared,  in  his  "  Journey  to  Jerusalem"  that  it  was 
impossible  to  describe  adequately  the  beauty,  magni- 
ficence, and  wealth  of  the  city  of  Yenice ;  and  the 
monk  Felix  Faberof  Ulm,  after  having  visited  the  prin- 
cipal citiesof  Christendom,  asserted  that  he  never  saw 
any  town  more  wonderful  than  Yenice — Nihil  mira' 
bilius,  nihil  curiosius.  Sabellicus  gave  a  still  more 
flattering  description.  The  pointed  towers  and 
cupolas  of  the  churches  stand  out  against  the  clear 
blue  sky,  and  the  palaces  shining  with  precious 
marbles  are  reflected  in  the  waters  of  the  grand 
canal.  The  people  crowd  to  transact  business  at 
San  Giacomo  di  Bialto,  and  under  the  porticoes  sit 
the  bankers  and  goldsmiths,  whilst  Eastern  stuffs 
are  displayed  in  the  shops,  and  merchandise  accumu- 
lates in  the  warehouses ;  a  crowd  of  Orientals,  in 
picturesque  costume,  mix  with  the  long-robed 
senators,  the  pompous  patricians,  and  the  business 
men  in  the  Piazza  di  San  Marco,  which  looks  most 
beautiful.  The  nobles  were  no  longer  contented  to 
live  in  the  moderate  way  suitable  to  a  citizen,  florid 
maturity  succeeded  to  unpolished  youth,  and  the 
mental  powers  developed  in  public  life  began  to 
manifest  themselves  in  the  arts,  which  are  sure  to 
weaken  courage  and  fortitude,  and  never  flourish  at 
an   epoch  when  private  and  military  virtues  most 


120  THE  DOGARESSA. 

distinguish  a  nation.  The  grandest  days  of 
Milanese  liberty  were  when  the  arts  were  in  a  state 
of  decadence,  which  in  the  fifteenth  century  were 
again  cultivated  by  the  inhabitants  as  a  consolation 
for  their  lost  independence.  By  transporting  the 
remains  of  monuments,  columns,  and  statues  from 
conquered  countries  with  which  to  embellish  their 
native  city,  the  artistic  genius  of  the  Yenetians 
became  influenced  by  the  traditions  of  the  East  and 
West,  still  preserving,  however,  its  original  cha- 
racter. The  Eastern  sun  expanded  the  flowers  of 
Venetian  art,  which  scattered  their  pollen  to  create 
other  flowers  and  other  perfumes.  To  the  Byzantine 
succeeded  the  light  Arabian  architecture,  which, 
owing  to  pecular  historical  conditions  and  the 
nature  of  the  place,  took  an  original  impress,  and 
expressed  the  temper  of  the  times  when  the  ideal 
and  the  practical  were  united  in  a  marvellous 
manner.  The  former  is  revealed  in  art,  the  latter 
rules  in  all  important  State  affairs.  There  is  rigour 
in  the  laws,  severity  in  the  institutions,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  artist's  imaginings  full  of  love  arise 
in  the  light  of  the  Venetian  sky.  Great  works  are 
not  found  amongst  nations  who  see  the  defined 
outlines  of  reality,  nor  amongst  those  who  possess 
only  vague,  poetical,  generous,  and  theoretical 
doubts,  but  only  amongst  those  people  who  under- 
stand how  to  unite  the  ideal  and  the  real,  the  im- 
pulses of  the  heart  with  the  judgment  of  the  mind. 


ART  AND  WOMAN,  121 

The  quickening  principle  in  art  is  woman  ;  and  slie, 
in  Venice,  was  in  harmony  with  all  that  surrounded 
her — with  the  joyous  life,  the  fantastic  architecture, 
the  warm  tones  of  the  atmosphere,  and  the  deep 
shadows  on  the  water.  Every  phase  of  female  life 
is  represented  in  the  works  of  the  sculptors  and 
artists.  Venetian  painting  does  not  appear  as  in  other 
countries  in  the  illuminations  of  themissals.  Wedonot 
find  in  the  initials  of  the  breviaries  domestic  scenes 
painted  in  miniature  with  pious  ingenuity  ;  within  the 
monastery  walls,  the  pure  profiles  of  women  do  not 
smile  through  the  interlacings  of  angular  gothio 
letters  in  golden  books,  nor  through  the  blue  flowers, 
scattered  over  the  mystical  hymns  of  praise,  as  if  to 
reconcile  the  eternal  discord  between  Art  and 
Christian  aspirations.  In  Venice,  books  of  prayers 
for  the  use  of  private  persons,  especially  of  the 
Doges,  enclosed  in  handsome  bindings  and  illumi- 
nated by  celebrated  artists,  are  rarely  to  be  found. 
Masterpieces  of  miniature-painting  were  never 
executed  in  Venice,  as  in  other  European  states,  to 
please  the  fanciful  caprices  of  princes.  Even 
miniature  was  used  in  the  Lagoons  to  increase  the 
magnificence  of  the  State,  and  illuminations  em- 
bellished the  collection  of  laws  and  statutes  {marie" 
gole)  of  the  schools  of  art.  The  history  of  Venetian 
Art  can  be  traced  in  the  mosaics  of  the  Basilica  de 
San  Marco.  The  earliest  mosaics  are  of  the  12th 
and  13th  centuries,  but  after  that  time  the  artists 


122  THE  DOG  ARE  SS  A, 

were  influenced  bj  the  conventional  type  of  Byzan- 
tine orthodoxy.*  The  light  of  Art  does  not  illumine 
tliose  saints  with  their  stiff  forms,  and  yet  a  cer- 
tain sentiment  appears  in  the  large  languid  eyes 
of  some  of  the  Virgins.  It  is  evident  in  some  of 
the  pictures  that  thought  is  absorbed  by  faith,  and 
that  artistic  feeling  has  passed  into  ecstasy — that 
all  the  faculties  of  the  mind  are  directed  to- 
wards the  contemplation  of  God.  Were  those 
artists  truly  inspired  by  mysticism  ?  Are  the  ideas 
of  the  time  really  expressed  in  those  mosaics  ?  Not 
entirely !  In  the  middle  ages  and  especially  in 
Venice,  there  was  a  strange  contrast  between  Life 
and  Art.  That  extraordinary  self-abasement  which 
many  see  in  the  middle  ages  did  not  weaken  the 
minds  of  the  men  who  conquered  Constantinople  and 
fought  in  the  war  of  Chioggia,  and  composed  civil, 
criminal,  and  nautical  statutes.  The  feeling  of 
vague  mysticism  reigned  in  the  family,  inspired  the 
women,  but  was  not  strongly  reflected  in  public  life, 
it  did  not  leave  the  precincts  of  the  Church,  or  the 
home,  to  dominate  in  councils  or  in  large  assemblies- 
And  yet  in  Italy  no  Art  was  originally  more 
mystical  and  symbolical  than  that  of  Venice.  In 
Tuscany,  the  country  of  him  who  considered  Para- 
dise a  vast  desert  of  theological  light,  where  each 
spirit  is  lost  in  the  mystical  configurations  of  wheels, 

*  The  Byzantine  artists  had  fixed  rules  determined  by  a  special 
code,  deciding  the  subjects  to  be  treated  and  the  rules  to  be  used  in 
depicting  them.  Panselino,  a  monk  on  Mount  Athos,  in  the  11th 
century,  was  the  author  of  the  first  code  of  the  kind. 


ART  AND  WOMAN.  125 

eagles,  crosses,  and  roses,  were  born  Ghiotto  and 
Nicolo  Pisano,  who  studied  and  represented  the 
reality;  in  Venice,  the  most  realistic  State  in  the 
Peninsula,  we  meet  with  anonymous  mosaic  workers 
in  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Mark.  In  the  glorious 
times  of  the  Republic  all  was  refulgent  as  in 
Dante's  Paradise;  the  naves  were  full  of  gold, 
of  ultramarine,  of  stars,  of  flowers.  But  amidst 
all  this  splendour,  the  Madonnas  are  prim,  with 
immense  heads,  and  extraordinarily  long  fingers ; 
the  angels  and  saints  wear  an  expression  of  anguish 
on  their  faces,  and  Art  was  indeed,  as  the  Synod  of 
A.rras  wished  it  to  be,  the  pure  representation  of  a 
religious  idea.  Allegory  was  united  to  visions,  and 
this  Art,  agitated  by  painful  dreams,  did  not  realize 
the  Art  of  a  people  rich  in  health  and  energy,  and 
delighted  to  live  happily  in  all  their  family  relations, 
besides  being  proud  of  their  country. 

A  corpse-like  rigidity  appears  even  when  the 
mosaic  retraced  some  scene  of  daily  life.  In  the 
porch  of  the  Cathedral  are  represented  in  a  great 
measure  events  from  the  Old  Testament :  the  birth 
of  Cain  and  Abel,  the  death  of  Abel,  Noah's  Ark, 
Noah  inebriated,  the  building  of  the  Tower  of 
Babel,  &c.,  &c.  The  artist,  with  noteworthy  daring, 
has  taken  for  his  model  the  garments,  costumes,  and 
ornaments  of  his  own  time,  but  the  faces  are 
deformed,  the  figures  rigid,  they  have  no  move- 
ment, no  life,  and  are  grouped  according  to  the 
liturgy.     Byzantine  influence  and   ignorance,  suc« 


124  THE  DOGARESSA. 

cumbing  before  the  difficulties  of  design,  give  to 
those  works  an  impress  of  rug  ged  simplicity  which 
has  a  certain  charm,  an  air  of  infantine  ignorance 
which  may  be  taken  for  holy  and  religious  inspira- 
tion. Genius  is  indurated  by  Byzantine  stiffness, 
and  in  the  fourteenth  century,  when  Giotto,  Avanzi, 
and  Altichieri  covered  the  walls  of  many  churches  in 
Padua  and  Verona  with  splendid  frescoes,  Vene- 
tian Art  played  the  child  with  Maestro  Paolo,  and  his 
sons,  Luke  and  John,  with  Semitocolo,  and  with 
Lorenzo  Yeneto.  But  whoever  looks  at  the  Pala 
d'oro,  painted  by  Paul  Veronese  and  his  sons,  the 
large  altar-piece  of  Stefano,  rector  of  Saint  Agnes, 
and  that  of  Lorenzo  Veneto,  will  find  the  faces  rough 
and  imperfect,  but  the  expression  good.  Certainly 
they  were  then  far  removed  from  the  time  when  Art 
was  to  be  renewed  by  life-like  representations; 
but  from  the  pale  faces  of  the  women  shine  forth 
immortal  souls,  and  the  gentle  feelings  that  woman 
inspires  appear  not  only  in  painting,  but  also  in 
public  life ;  and  the  form  of  the  Almighty,  which 
stands  out  with  so  severe  an  aspect  on  the  golden 
back-grounds  of  the  mosaicists,  gives  place  to  the 
gentle  figure  of  the  Virgin,  whom  Guariento,  the 
Paduan,  represents  in  the  Hall  of  the  Grand  Council 
at  the  Ducal  Palace  as  Queen  of  Heaven  and  Earth. 
An  Art,  which  could  not  exactly  be  called  national, 
saw  light  in  the  Island  of  Murano ;  it  freed  itself 
from  the  Byzantine  influence  to  seek  inspiration  in 
the   somewhat   cold   realism   of   the    German   and 


ART  AND   WOMAN.  125 

Flemisli  Schools.     Andrea  di  Murano,  and  his  sons 
John  and  Anthony,  and  the  Yivarini  family,  studied 
eagerly   the    works    sent   to    Yenice   by    John    of 
Bruges   (Jan   van   Eyck),    Hemmlinck,    Gerard    of 
Ghent,  Lyvius  of  Antwerp,  Ouwater,  Gerard  of  Haar- 
lem,   &c.,    &c.       Giovanni    of    Germany,    together 
with  Antonio  da  Murano,  produced  in  1440  the  great 
altar-piece,  representing  the  Madonna  on  a  throne 
with  four  doctors  of  divinity.     Anthony  and  Bar- 
tholomew Yivarini  painted  in  conjunction  with  the 
same  John.     A  grave  and  solemn  serenity  appears 
in  the  thin  face  of  the  Yirgin,  painted  by  John  of 
Germany  and   Antony   Murano.     Freed    from   the 
Byzantine  robe,  she  caresses  with  her  long  slender 
hands  the  lean  limbs  of  the  Holy  Child.      In  the 
Church  of   St.  Zacharias,   the  Saints  by  John  and 
Anthony    Murano   incline   their   heads    with    soft 
melancholy  amidst  points   and   tracery-work  on  a 
gold  ground  under  a  golden  nimbus,  and  the  placid 
expression  of  the  Yirgin  begins  to  be  embellished 
by  an  air  of   maternity.      But  the  lines  of  those 
faces  are  still  too  formal,  and  on  the  lips  appears  the 
sad  smile  of  Northern  nations.     At  this  period  of 
innovation,  daring  attempts  and  timid  graces  alter- 
nated with  each  other.      The  sun  had  not  yet  risen 
in  the  heaven   of  Art,    but  it  gilded  the  extreme 
edges  of  the  horizon.     The  works  of    Squarcione 
and  Mantegna,  students  of  the  true  and  the  antique, 
urged   Yenetian   artists    to  more  independence  of 
outline.      They  still  followed  the   melancholy  and 


126  THE  DOGARESSA, 

chaste  style  of  Northern  genius,  which  they  allied, 
however,  to  the  graces  of  the  Umbrian  school  repre- 
sented in  the  Lagoons  by  Gentile  de  Fabriano, 
whose  name,  according  to  Michael  Angelo,  corres- 
ponded to  his  pure,  delicate,  truly  pleasing  (gentili) 
works.  The  mind  expands  into  a  varied  life,  and 
the  fetes  in  the  Piazza,  the  splendid  edifices,  the 
beautiful  fair  women,  the  elegant  fashions,  are 
depicted  by  Carpaccio  and  Gentile  Bellini  as  in  a 
splendid  photograph.  In  the  picture  by  Gentile 
Bellini,  "  The  Miracle  of  the  Cross,'*  woman 
descends  from  the  throne  of  the  Queen  of  Heaven, 
and  presents  herself  to  us  in  the  surroundings  of 
daily  life.  There  is  to  the  left  of  the  spectator  a 
row  of  noble  ladies,  sumptuously  attired,  kneeling 
with  their  hands  folded  together.  The  faces  of 
those  ladies  are  as  familiar  to  us  as  they  could  be  to 
their  contemporaries.  Their  names  are  unknown  to 
history,  but  the  smooth  brows,  the  mild  bright  eyes, 
the  smiling  mouths,  the  round  pink  cheeks,  awaken 
in  the  mind  gay  thoughts.  Such  pictures  would  ill 
suit  great  power  of  intellect,  but  indicate  the  quiet 
happiness  of  female  life.  The  type  of  woman 
represented  under  a  new  aspect  by  Yittorio  Car- 
paccio and  John  Belliai  is  more  fitted  to  arrest  our 
attention.  Who  better  than  those  two  artists  knew 
how  to  delineate  the  Virgin  of  Jesse,  and  to  com- 
bine the  charm  of  terrestrial  beauty  with  religious 
rapture  ?  Who  ever  better  understood  how  to  com- 
bine in  the  lines  of  the  female  face  purity  and  soft- 


AUT  AND   WOMAN,  127 

ness,  and  to  disguise  the  worship  of  sensual  beauty 
under  a  semblance  of  Christianity  ?  ,  Art  henceforth 
is  no  longer  a  timid  and  subjective  sentiment, 
but  becomes  powerful  and  free.  Kot  only  has  the 
theological  imagery  of  the  Byzantines  disappeared, 
but  also  the  pale  and  attenuated  presentment  of 
the  Virgin.  The  timorous  visions  of  infancy 
have  disappeared,  and  Art  seeks  in  future  her  great- 
ness in  the  true  and  the  classical.  Giambellino  and 
Carpaccio  understood  how  to  give  an  expression  of 
loving  sweetness  and  melancholy  resignation  to  the 
face  unsurpassed  even  by  Cima,  who  was  so  great  in 
portraying  men's  heads,  especially  those  of  old  men, 
which  stand  out  in  his  pictures  on  the  green  back- 
grounds of  Conegliano's  Hills.  The  virgins  of 
Bellini  and  Carpaccio  represent  to  the  life  the  three 
sweet  names  of  mother,  daughter,  and  wife.  These 
are  the  types  of  female  beauty,  and  on  their  fore- 
heads shines  a  radiance  of  ideality  ;  they  are  in- 
spired by  chaste  and  spiritual  joys,  yet  we  perceive 
that  the  artists  drew  those  faces  from  nature. 
There  is  nothing  sensual  in  their  works,  and  no 
overdrawn  sentimentality ;  the  face  of  the  Virgin 
does  not  express  infinite  sorrow,  but  gentle  kindness, 
and  the  painter  beholds  in  the  face  he  has  limned  his 
ideal  woman,  and  writes  with  modest  feelings  on  his 
frame  :  "  Janua  certi  poli,  due  mentem,  dirige  vitam, 
quce  yeragam  comissa  tuce  sint  omnia  curce^  Those  ar- 
tists had  the  chaste  feelings  of  early  times,  vivified 
by  reality.       Christian  affection  was  never  depicted 


128  THE  DOGAItESSA, 

with  more  seraphic  gentleness  than  in  "  The  Meet- 
ing of  St.  Ursula  with  her  Betrothed,"  by  Car- 
paccio ;  and  truth  was  never  delineated  with  greater 
simplicity  and  purer  grace  than  in  "  The  Dream  of 
St.  Ursula,"  by  the  same  artist.  Less  vivid  but  not 
less  attractive  is  this  union  of  beauty  of  form  with 
the  feelings  of  the  soul,  of  desire  with  prayer,  which 
we  find  in  other  Venetian  artists,  such  as  Yincenzo 
Catena,  in  his  Santa  Gristma,  very  well  done,  and 
depicted  with  as  much  gusto  as  any  of  the  most 
beautiful  works  of  the  ancient  masters — in  Mon« 
tagna  of  Vicenza,  and  in  Pellegrino  of  St.  Daniele, 
whose  picture  of  *'  A  Virgin  surrounded  by  Saints  " 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Church  of  Santa  Maria  dei 
Battuti,  But  we  were  particularly  charmed  by  a 
picture  of  Giacomo  Previtali  in  the  Church  of  the 
Madonna  del  Meschio  in  Ceneda.  It  represents  a 
room  furnished  with  the  simplicity  and  rich  elegance 
of  the  15th  century ;  the  window  is  open,  and  in 
the  atmosphere  there  is  a  feeling  of  spring;  the 
Virgin,  gentle,  merciful,  and  pious,  is  kneeling  before 
the  angel,  who  is  pronouncing  the  prophetic  words. 
When  contemplating  the  works  due  to  the  Vene- 
tian school  of  that  period,  which  begins  with  the- 
Muranos,  and  ends  with  the  birth  of  Giorgione,  we 
are  inclined  to  repeat  the  words  of  a  modern  critic : 
^'  Au  milieu  du  tapage  de  V ecole  venitienne  cette  calme 
simplicite  nous  touche  et  nous  attendritJ'  But  material 
feelings  are  no  longer  restrained  by  religious  awe. 
-At  the  beginning  of  the  16th  century,    mundane 


ART  AND  WOMAN,  129 

beauty  appears  in  all  its  splendour  ;  the  ideal  of  tlie 
Mother  of  God  is  changed  into  reality,;  and  Venetian 
Art,  intended  to  attract  the  eye  rather  than  the 
intellect,  reflects  the  ostentatious  pomp  of  a  new- 
phase  of  society,  where  the  former  virtuous  style  of 
life  is  corrupted,  and  decent  modesty  extinct.  Gior- 
gione,  full  of  a  certain  innate  power,  broke  through 
the  trammels  which  had  hitherto  confined  his  Art ; 
he  preferred  the  figures  of  women  with  large, 
rounded  hips,  with  full  and  rosy  bosoms,  and  let  his 
genius  rove  at  will,  adding  to  solid  knowledge 
freedom  of  fancy  and  caprice,  in  order  to  attract  and 
please.  He  knew  how  to  give  a  distinct  character- 
istic to  his  women's  fascinating  forms,  and  he  also 
preserved  a  calm  imagination  amidst  indecency.  He 
delineated  female  figures  with  a  thousand  charms, 
and  over  them  was  diffused  a  sort  of  golden  shade  ; 
the  amber-coloured  flesh  stands  out  from  the  land- 
scape which  serves  as  a  background,  and  is  painted 
with  pleasing  simplicity.  The  slopes  are  covered 
with  vineyards,  with  green  pastures,  and  disappear 
behind  a  veil  of  light  vapours  ;  there  is  nothing  arid 
in  the  soil,  nothing  sad  in  the  sky,  and  yet  in  those 
hills  that  are  outlined  on  the  azure  heavens,  and  in 
that  plain  which  blends  with  the  horizon,  there  is  a 
vague  and  indefinite  sadness  which  contrasts  oddly 
with  the  nude  limbs  of  the  women  trembling  with 
delight.  Material  feeling  is  joined  to  a  love  of 
nature,  and  we  can  understand  how  deeply  this 
handsome  and  powerful  man,  who  took  such  plea- 

E 


180  THE  DOGARESSA. 

sure  in  matters  of  love,  was  moved  by  the  calm  peace 

of  the  fields. 

In  a  few  years  the  inspiration  of  the  artist  had 

completely   changed.      "What  a  difference  between 

Gentile  Bellini — who  wrote  beneath  his  pictures  : 

"  Gentilis  BelUnus  amore  incensus  crucis  1496,  Gentilis 

Bellinus  pio   sanctissimce  crucis   effectu  lubens  fecit 

1600 — and  Georgio  Barbarelli,  who,  whilst  painting 

the  Virgin,   found   himself   disturbed   by  profane 

desires,  and,  turning  his  thoughts  to  his  mistress, 

wrote  on  the  back  of  the  holy  picture  : 

*  Cara  Cecilia, 
Vieni  t'affretta 
II  tuo  t'aspetta 
Giorgio ! 

Thus  the  female  type  loses  little  by  little  its  re- 
finement and  elegance.  In  the  old  paintings  woman 
is  depicted  with  a  modestly  covered  bosom,  the  hair 
is  brown,  the  face  of  an  oblong  oval,  the  eyes 
almond-shaped,  the  mouth  small,  and  the  lips  thin 
but  wide ;  the  dimples  of  the  nostrils  are  on  the 
edge  of  the  upper  lips.  Georgione's  women  are  rosy 
and  plump,  with  heads  of  tawny  hair,  blue  eyes, 
thick  red  lips,  ample  bosoms,  and  large  hips.  But 
whoever  studies  Georgione's  Madonna  in  the  church 
at  Castelfranco  must  be  convinced  that  the  artist 
loved  not  only  with  all  the  strength  of  his  senses, 
but  also  with  all  the  strength  of  his  mind.     When 

*  By  some  it  was  doubted  whether  the  verses  written  behind 
the  picture,  and  effaced  1831  by  some  barbarous  restorer,  were 
really  in  Georgione's  writing. 


AET  AND  WOMAN,  131 

contemplating  the  plastic  grace,  the  material  beauty 
of   the  Venuses  delicately  painted  by  Titian,  the 
mind  is  not  moved.     Nor  is  it  affected,  although 
the  eyes  gaze  in  amazement  at  the  assumption  of 
the  Virgin  Mary,  for  she  is  inspired  by  no  heavenly 
thought,  she  is  vulgarly  redolent  of  health  as  in  the 
Madonna  dei  Pesaro,  who  looks  a  beautiful,  rosy 
country  girl.     Nor  is  it  to  be  supposed  that  the 
men  of  the   16th  century,  who  were  so  profoundly 
sceptical,  and  affected  a  contempt  for  the  cold  dead 
worhs  of  the  dull  artists  of  the  preceding  century, 
really  believed  that  the  pictures  of  the  Saviour  and 
the  Yirgin  painted  in  their  time  inspired  men  with 
religious  devotion.     Perhaps  thought  and  emotion 
would  have  cramped  these  artists,  who  understood 
so  admirably  how  to  render  the  lines  and  graces  of 
the  female  figure,  the   softness   of  the  bosom,  the 
curve  of  the  shoulders  and  of  the  hips.     The  warm 
sensations  of  the  flesh  are  evidenced  with  wonderful 
reality,  and  with  a  superabundance  of  healthy  joy- 
ousness.     And  yet  on  the  brows  of  those  women  so 
cleverly  represented    by    the   artists  of   the   16th 
century,  there  appears  now  and  then  an  expression 
of  quiet  melancholy,  but  it  is  very  fleeting.      St. 
Barbara  of  Palmer  the  elder,  although  her  beauty 
is  sensual,  has  a  noble  and  good  expression,  and  in 
her  eyes  there  is  a  dreamy  brightness.       In  the 
Riceo  Epulone   of    Bonifacio,    a   courtezan   listens 
attentively  to  a  companion  playing  the  lute,  and  the 
jexpression  of  the  beautiful  sinner  is  overshadowed 


132  TEE  DOGABESSA. 

by  a  deep  sadness,  like  a  hidden  regret.  Perhaps 
the  music  awakens  in  her  heart  the  innocent 
memories  of  her  childhood.  But  it  is  only  a 
transitory  sorrow,  a  passing  lament. 

Athwart  the  gay  Venetian  society  appears  the 
attractive  person  of  Irene  da  Spilimbergo,  a  pupil 
of  Titian's  whom  Tasso  and  the  poets  of  the  16th 
century  rivalled  each  other  in  extolling,  and  also 
Maria  Robusti,  Tintoretto's  daughter,  an  expert  in 
music  and  painting,  who  was  carried  off  by  death  at 
the  age  of  thirty  from  her  loving  father  and  a 
promising  artistic  career.  The  world  displays  its 
many  attractions,  and  Paul  Veronese,  the  chronicler 
of  luxurious  pomp,  glorifies  colour  and  light,  and 
knows  how  to  perpetuate  on  canvas  the  clamorous 
mirth  of  feasts  and  banquets.  He  does  not  under- 
stand passion  or  sentiment ;  all  his  creations  are 
beings  exuberant  with  youth  and  joy,  and  with  him 
begins  the  reign  of  the  courtezan.  Beneath  this 
magician's  brush,  the  rosy  flesh  of  the  beautiful 
daughter  of  Agenor,  dressed  in  the  sumptuous 
costume  of  the  Venetian  courtezan,  quivers  with 
voluptuousness ;  and  sensuality  triumphs  in  the 
picture  which  represents  the  Queen  of  the  Adriatic, 
crowned  with  glory,  celebrated  by  fame,  surrounded 
by  Virtue,  Ceres,  Juno;  her  admirers  are  nude 
women.  Art  cares  for  nothing  but  pageantry,  the 
glory  of  female  beauty  shines  forth  beside  God's 
throne,  and  in  "  The  Marriage  of  St.  Katherine  " 
the  union  of  the  human  and  the  Divine  seems  to 


AET  AND  WOMAN.  133 

be  hidden,  for  it  is  a  marriage  in  which  all  ideality 
disappears,  to  make  room  for  the  intoxication  of 
the  senses.  Between  two  immense  columns, 
amidst  red  drapery,  amidst  the  Hosannas  of 
angels  poised  in  mid-air,  amidst  the  chants  of 
other  angels  who  have  an  open  book  with  gold 
clasps  before  them,  and  who  play  the  lute 
amidst  joyous  men  and  women,  the  infant  Christ, 
seated  in  His  mother  s  lap,  puts  the  ring  on  St. 
Katherine's  finger.  The  head  of  the  Saint  is  in 
perfect  profile,  her  golden  locks  flow  over  her 
shoulders,  and  round  her  neck  the  creamy  lustre  of 
the  pearl  necklace  rivals  the  whiteness  of  the  skin. 
The  shoulders  are  covered  by  a  golden  cloth  lined 
with  scarlet,  and  the  full  bosom  is  outlined  beneath 
a  blue  flowered  brocade,  falling  in  large  folds.  The 
sleeves,  full  at  the  shoulders,  terminate  with  a  trim- 
ming, and  are  tight  at  the  wrist,  throwing  up  the 
beautiful  white  hand. 

Indeed,  at  that  time  the  artists  seemed  to  be  little 
better  than  pagans,  depicting  Saints  and  Madonnas, 
and  the  fair  daughters  of  the  Doges  smile  out  of  the 
altar-pieces  when  courtezans  do  not  there  display 
their  lewdness.  Lastly,  Tintoretto,  with  his  powerful 
and  tragic  imaginings  of  tumultuous  ecstasy,  his 
stern  and  melancholy  spirit,  is  attracted  by  the 
Yenetian  beauties  with  their  tawny  heads  of  hair 
which  stand  out  from  the  warm  tones  of  the  back- 
grounds. Tintoretto,  who  created  the  Miracolo  di 
San  Marco,  in  which  Michael  Angelo's  imagination 


134  THE  DOG  ABES  S  A. 

seems  united  to  tlie  pictorial  wisdom  of  Eembrandt, 
could  not  find  any  expression  in  the  face  of  Eve 
with  the  strong  limbs.  Thus  some  of  his  Ma- 
donnas resemble  beautiful  wantons;  but  on  the 
other  hand  there  is  a  refined  attractiveness  in  the 
"Martyrdom  of  St.  Agnes."  A  sensuality  that  neither 
depraves  nor  intoxicates  is  found  in  another  picture, 
"Ariadne  and  Bacchus,"  where  the  style  of  the 
ancients,  before  dying  out,  appeared,  for  the  last 
time,  in  all  its  freshness  and  grace. 

The  female  type  in  Venetian  sculpture,  though 
less  formal  than  in  painting,  was  very  stiff.  Yainly 
do  we  seek  in  the  works  of  the  Venetian  sculptors 
for  the  strength  and  beauty  evidenced  by  Nicholas 
Pisano  and  Donatello ;  they  are,  however,  not  so 
ignorant  and  clumsy  as  the  man  who  drew  from  the 
marble  the  Madonna  and  angels  standing  on  the 
tomb  of  Marino  Morosini  (a.d.,  1253),  in  the  porch 
of  St.  Mark.  The  Virgin  sculptured  in  1340  by  one 
Arduino,  a  taiapietra  in  the  Church  of  Santa  Maria 
del  Carmino,  is  stiff  and  lifeless,  but  on  the  face 
there  is  an  expression  of  gentle  melancholy.  Beneath 
the  scanty  folds  of  a  long  garment  one  does  not  see 
the  body  of  a  Madonna  who  stands  amidst  the  ele- 
gant traceries  and  light  ornaments  of  a  pointed  arch 
on  the  Bridge  of  Paradise,  but  the  attitude  of  the 
Mother  of  God  is  simple  and  natural.  A  more  gentle 
expression  and  a  matronly  self-possession  are  evident 
in  the  Virgin  and  Child  which  embellish  the  door  of 
the  Scuola  della    Ganta,  and  were   sculptured  in 


ART  AND  WOMAN,  185 

1345.  Of  the  same  epoch,  according  to  Zanotto,  is 
the  alto-relievo  on  one  side  of  the  Church  of  St. 
Thomas,  where,  with  a  simplicity  not  devoid  of 
sentiment,  is  represented  the  Queen  of  Heaven,  who 
opens  her  arms  and  receives  beneath  her  ample 
cloak  some  devout  friars  of  the  Scuola  delta  Garita^ 
kneeling  with  their  hands  joined  and  pressed  to- 
gether. Woman  does  not  yet  inspire  the  artists, 
but  one  feels  that  they  begin  to  free  themselves  from 
Byzantine  symbolism,  which  marks  the  decadence 
of  man  and  the  decadence  of  Art,  until,  a  little 
before  the  half  of  the  14th  century,  a  great  artist 
sculptured  some  admirable  female  figures  on  the 
capitals  of  the  Ducal  Palace,  and  Jacob  and  Peter 
Paul  delle  Masegne,  at  the  end  of  the  14th  century, 
following  the  style  of  the  Florentine  school,  portray 
female  beauty  with  a  certain  boldness,  not  unaccom- 
panied, however,  with  religious  awe.  They  idealize 
the  senses,  bring  into  unison  the  mysteries  of  faith 
and  human  passions,  and  know  how  to  impart  to 
their  female  types  a  grave  and  melancholy  beauty. 
There  appears  in  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Mark,  over  the 
architrave,  between  the  presbytery  and  the  middle 
nave,  behind  St.  Mark  and  the  Twelve  Apostles, 
the  statue  of  a  Madonna,  in  a  graceful  attitude, 
having  on  her  face,  though  not  handsome,  a  life-like 
expression.  The  timidity  of  early  Art,  as  well  as 
mysticism  and  realism  strove  with  each  other  in  the 
mind  of  Delle  Masegne.  But  the  balance  seems 
adjusted    in    other   very  beautiful   statues   repre- 


186  THE  DOGAUESSA. 

senting  the  Virgin  and  some  saints  which  adorn 
the  chapels  of .  St.  Peter  and  St.  Clement,  in 
the  same  Cathedral.  And  the  womanly  tender- 
ness of  the  mother,  joined  to  the  divine  ideal 
of  the  Virgin,  is  seen  in  the  Madonna  placed  upon 
an  external  pillar  of  the  larger  door  of  the 
Church  dei  Frari,  and  in  the  bas-relief  sculptured 
over  another  door  of  the  same  church,  two 
charming  works,  most  probably  from  the  chisel 
of  Delle  Masegne ;  the  draping  of  the  garment  is 
done  with  care,  the  features  of  the  face  well 
modelled,  and  the  hair  soft.  At  all  events  the 
artist  does  not  yet  venture  to  expose  the  female 
form  for  the  sake  of  studying  its  graceful  curves, 
and  when  he  attempts  to  sculpture  the  nude  figure 
he  is  glaringly  at  fault,  as  in  the  Eve  placed  at  the 
comer  of  the  Ducal  Palace.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
he  paints  from  the  model  the  expression  of  the  face, 
and  the  various  aspects  of  life,  and  even  in  the 
dwelling  of  the  rulers  of  the  State  the  figures  of 
Venetian  ladies  in  their  various  costumes,  and  the 
different  phases  of  their  domestic  life  are  considered 
worthy  to  be  reproduced  in  marble.  On  the  divi- 
sions of  the  capital  of  a  column  in  the  Ducal  Palace 
we  see  the  man  falling  in  love,  marrying,  making 
presents  to  his  wife ;  he  is  in  bed,  he  becomes  a 
father,  kisses  his  son,  already  an  adult,  and  finally 
bewails  his  death.  When  to  the  study  of  the  true 
are  united  examples  taken  from  antiquity,  a  new  in- 
tellectual education  arises,  and  Italian  genius  receives 


ART  AND  WOMAN.  137 

and  modifies  the  traditions  of  Greece  and  Rome.  The 
result  of  this  assimilation  is  manifested  in  Venetian 
sculpture  by  Antonio  Rizzo's  statues  of  Adam  and 
Eve.  Compare  the  Eve  placed  at  the  corner  of  the 
Ducal  Palace  with  Rizzo's,  observe  the  stiff  and 
angular  form  of  the  first,  and  then  let  your  eye  rest 
upon  the  beautiful  woman  rising  opposite  the  two 
colossi  of  Sansovino.  What  a  wealth  of  pure  out- 
lines and  harmonious  curves,  and  what  a  study  of 
aaature  in  that  bosom  so  chastely  replete,  in  those 
arms,  those  thighs  which  seem  full  of  life  !  The 
love  of  the  true  was  so  strong  in  the  artist  that  he 
itook  care  to  compensate  for  the  smallness  of  the 
shoulders  by  a  greater  amplitude  of  the  hips,  such 
as  is  found  in  nature.  Woman  displays  all  her 
charms  in  the  presence  of  Art  and  Love.  Therefore, 
in  the  enjoyment  of  beauty  there  is,  so  to  say,  a 
feeling  of  modesty ;  the  female  form,  nobly  inter- 
preted, loses  all  grossness,  and  as  Art  is  not  vulgarly 
sensual,  so  its  inspirer,  woman,  ought  never  to  be 
so.  But  the  period  of  powerful  conceptions  and 
masterly  productions  passed  away,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  an  epoch  of  pompous  elegance  and 
decadence.  The  works  of  the  artists  show  us,  as  in 
a  ray  of  light,  the  life  of  woman.  Rizzo,  Bregni, 
and  Lombardo  were  followed  by  the  sculptors  of 
Christian  Yenuses,  who,  in  attitudes  devoid  of 
dignity  and  expression,  show  how  the  sublime  and 
modest  woman's  reign,  as  the  inspirer  of  artistic 
thought,  is  drawing  to  a  close. 


CHAPTER  X. 

The   Venetian  Woman   and   the    Literature   of   the 
15th  and  16th  Centuries. 

Whilst  painting,  like  a  queen  clad  in  gold  brocade, 
had  vast  and  glorious  dominion  in  tlie  Lagoons, 
poetry  crept  along  in  a  miserably  mean  style. 
The  Venetians,  delighting  in  all  that  appealed' 
pleasantly  to  their  outward  senses,  found  no  charm 
in  vague  and  dreamy  reveries ;  they  could  not  com- 
prehend that  fresh  ideality  which  flourished  with 
spring-like  vigour  at  the  end  of  the  middle  ages. 
The  fancies  of  love  and  melancholy  were  depicted 
with  little  enthusiasm  in  Venetian  poetry,  nor  did 
the  poets  born  on  the  banks  of  the  Adriatic  depict 
with  any  depth  of  feeling  the  sorrows  of  the  heart. 
There  existed  amongst  the  Venetians  an  exquisite 
artistic  feeling,  but  it  found  expression  on  the 
artist's  canvas,  beneath  the  sculptor's  chisel,  in  the 
surprising  whims  of  the  architect,  rather  than  in 
the  verses  of  the  poet.     Venetian  genius  is  plastic 


THE  VENETIAN  WOMAN  AND  LITERATURE,     139 

and  powerful  and  appeals  to  tlie  senses,  and  grasps 
but  imperfectly  the  subtle  and  fluctuating  figures  of 
poetry.      In    Venice    literary     activity    made    its 
appearance    later   than  in   other    countries;    lyric 
and    epic    poetry    were   not   to   be   found   in   the 
History  of  the  Republic.     During  the  whole  of  the 
14th  century  the  Venetians  only  wrote  works  on 
theology,  jurisprudence,  medicine,  and  even  in  the 
15th  century  the  belles-lettres  are,  considering  the 
importance  of  the  city,  but  poorly  represented,  until 
the  time  of  Ermolao  Barbaro  and  Aldo  Mannzio. 
Whilst  in  the  Peninsula  woman  acquired  daily  more 
influence,  and  knew  how  to  unite  the  pleasures  of  art 
and   society,  we  seek    in  vain  amongst    Venetian 
women  for  a  trace  of   that  culture,  the  principal 
ornament  of  other  Italian  ladies,  whether  witty  and 
spirited  as  described  in  the  pages  of  Decameron,  or 
learned   and    scientific,    conversing    with   men   on 
philosophy,    medicine,    and    politics    in    Anthony 
Alberti's  villa  at  Florence,  or  attending  the  meet- 
ings of  the  theologian  Louis  Marsili  in  the  Convent 
of  the   Holy   Ghost.     Historians   have   left  us  no 
proofs  that  the  Venetian  ladies  of  high  rank  attained 
any  proficiency  in  learning,   or  that  they  had  any 
love  for  the  arts,  and  amongst  them  we  find  no 
rivals  to  Alphonsina  Orsini,  the  wife  of  Peter  de 
Medici,    to    Elizabeth    Gonzaga,    Marchioness    of 
Urbino,     Veronica     Gambara,     Vittoria     Colonna, 
Isabella    d'Este   Gonzaga,    or   to    so   many   other 
Italian   gentlewomen,  celebrated   for   their   refined 


140  THE  DOGARESSA, 

taste  in  art,  and  for  tbeir  munificence  as  patronesses. 
Venice  could  only  produce  in  the  15th  century 
Cassandra  Fedele,  famous  for  her  erudition,  who,  as 
a  young  girl,  improvised  Latin  verses,  and  sang 
them  to  her  lute. 

"  0  decus  Italiae  virgo  I  " 

So  Poliziano  wrote  of  her.  But  the  praise  and 
admiration  lavished  on  her  prove  that  she  was  a 
wonder  in  Venetian  society.  In  fact,  despite  the 
ostentation  of  other  women,  her  compatriots,  her 
person  was  never  decked  with  gold  or  jewels,  and 
she  never  wore  any  but  white  garments.  Her 
beauty,  refined,  nervous,  and  delicate,  and  truly 
worthy  of  the  brush  of  Giambellino,  who  painted 
her  portrait,  was  different  to  the  usual  Venetian 
type,  which  was  so  robust  and  blooming.  The 
Venetian  gentlewoman  of  the  14th  century  is 
Catherine  Cornaro,  so  good  and  beautiful,  who 
easily  forgot  the  splendours  of  the  ducal  throne 
amidst  the  joyous  f6tes  of  Venice  and  the  pleasant 
meetings  on  the  Asolo  Hills,  where,  accompanied  by 
her  maids  of  honour,  Berenice,  Lisa,  and  Sabina, 
she  listened  to  Master  Peter  Bembo,  who  distilled 
subtle  reasonings  on  love,  "  not  that  love  the  son 
of  Venus,  but  created  in  our  own  minds  by 
luxury  and  idleness,  its  vile  parents." 

And  the  three  men  and  three  women,  actors  in 
these  disputes,  ended  in  an  ecstasy  of  divine  love. 
The  future  Cardinal  of  Holy  Church,  inebriated  by 


THE  VENETIAN  WOMAN  AND  LITERATURE.     141 

sentimental  sensuality,  indulges  in  contemplating 
and  praising  that  part  of  the  '*  whitest  chest " 
visible  to  the  eyes,  and  judging  the  rest,  which  was 
covered,  "  thanks  to  a  decent  garment,  which,  how- 
ever, does  not  conceal  entirely  from  the  lookers-on 
the  gentle  swellings  which  appear  beneath  the  soft 
dress  intended  to  hide  them.*'  This  seems  to  be 
something  else  besides  the  ecstasy  of  divine  love. 

At  the  end  of  the  15th  century,  and  during  the 
whole  of  the  16th,  the  Venetian  woman  is  the  theme 
of  panegyrics  and  academical  dissertations,  in  open 
contradiction  to  that  calm  sense  of  feminine  volup- 
tuousness inspired  by  the  water,  the  climate, 
and  the  customs  of  the  country.  Here  woman  had 
indeed  the  attractions  of  her  sex,  and  sought,  as 
Baldassare  Castiglione  desired,  to  avoid  all  resem- 
blance to  men,  in  every  word,  movement,  and 
gesture.  But  this  fascination,  so  peculiarly  Vene- 
tian, was  neither  felt  nor  understood  by  those 
authors  who  wrote  about  and  discussed  with  so 
much  pedantry  the  worth  of  Venetian  women. 
Louis  Dardani,  for  instance,  with  long  casuistic 
disquisitions,  wished  to  demonstrate  that  men  are 
much  more  wicked  "  a  Vimontro  di  ciascuna  donnaJ' 

Barbaro  advises  women  to  avoid,  of  their  own 
free  will,  those  viands  and  other  things  "which 
tend  to  excite  culpable  desires."  Louis  Domenichi, 
a  native  of  Piacenza,  who  lived  for  some  time  in 
Venice,  where  his  books  were  much  in  vogue, 
declares  in  some  tedious  dialogues  that  woman  is 


142  THE  DOGARESSA. 

gifted  with  three  religious  virtues  and  with  four  prin- 
cipal ones,  and  that  in  physical  and  moral  qualifica- 
tions she  far  surpasses  men.  And  then,  mentioning 
some  of  the  illustrious  women  of  his  day,  Domenichi 
gives  the  highest  praise  to  the  Venetian  ladies. 
He  writes :  "  That  mother  of  Peace  and  Justice 
(Venice)  is  adorned  by  Madame  Cecilia  Cornaro, 
wife  of  M.  Marco  Antonio  Cornaro  the  magnificent, 
who  holds  the  same  place  amongst  beautiful  women 
as  the  sun  amongst  the  minor  stars ;  Mad.  Helena 
Barozzi  Zantani,  who  for  loveliness  equals  her 
Grecian  namesake,  and  for  virtue  the  Roman 
Lucretia;  Mad.  Lucretia,  wife  of  the  great  M. 
Gio.  Battista  Capello,  who  with  her  faithful  and 
modest  beauty  has  charming  and  angelic  manners ; 
Mad.  Paola  Donata,  who  ought  to  be  called  goddess, 
on  account  of  her  admirable  grace  and  wonderful 
loveliness ;  Mad.  Paolina  Pisani,  who  is  such  that 
it  would  be  easier  to  conceal  the  dawn  of  day  than 
to  hide  the  nobility,  faultlessness,  and  dignity  of  her 
appearance."  And  as  if  such  laudation  did  not 
suffice,  the  women  themselves  rose  up  in  defence  of 
their  sex,  and  tried  to  prove  their  nobility  of 
character  superior  to  that  of  the  men,  who  cannot 
be  compared  to  them  (the  women)  for  beauty  and 
tact. 

And  the  heart  is  chilled  in  these  dull  disquisi- 
tions, as  well  as  by  insipid  poetry.  When  rhetoric 
and  antithesis  deluged  Italy,  Venice  also,  for 
fashion's    sake,    began    to    imitate    Petrarch,    and 


THE  VENETIAN  WOMAN  AND  LITERATURE,     143 

many  rhymsters  and  poetesses  sought  to  snatcli  a 
grace  beyond  the  rules  of  art.  Amongst  the  writers 
of  verses  are  mentioned  Laura  Yeneziana,  Olympia 
Malipiero,  Foscarina  Yeniero,  Francesca  Baffo, 
Angela  Sirena,  Giannetta  Tron,  Yeronica  Franco, 
Yincenza  Armano,  Moderata  Fonte,  Laura  Beatrice 
Cappello.  Seldom  does  one  find  in  their  verses 
sincere  and  deep  feeling  expressed  with  simplicity. 
Read,  for  instance,  the  dreadful  manifestations 
which  follow  the  death  of  a  noble  woman : 

Turbossi  il  ciel,  la  terra,  gli  elementi, 
Tremaro  i  monti  e  di  lor  corso  i  fimni 
Vidi  arrestar,  le  Tigri  Hircane,  i  dumi 
Et  i  figli  lasciar  mesti  e  dolenti 
L'aria  s'accese  di  sospir  cocenti 
Di  voci  horrende  e  mille  humidi  lumi 
Farsi  in  memoria  di  quei  bei  costumi 
Et  spars ero  dolor,  grida,  lamenti. 

Moderata  Fonte,  whose  literary  occupations  did 
not  prevent  her  being  a  good  wife  and  mother,  not 
satisfied  with  having  described  the  merits  of  women 
in  prose,  sings  in  rhyme  : 

S'ornano  il  ciel  le  stelle, 

Oman  le  donne  il  mondo 

Con  quanto  e  in  lui  di  bello  e  di  giocondo. 

There  is  a  certain  candour  in  the  verses  of 
Yeronica  Franco,  who  allows  herself  to  be  trans- 
ported into  a  wild  dance  of  corruption,  but  here  and 
there  she  stops,  as  if  thoughtful,  and  feels  her  heart 
beat  violently.     She  does  not  really  understand  the 


144  THE  DOGARESSA. 

meaning    of    vice,   and   she    wishes   to   show   her 
adversary — 

Quanto  le  meretrici  hanno  di  buono, 
Quanto  di  grazioso  e  di  gentile. 

She  sees  herself  beautiful  and  courted,  and  she 
enjoys  it. 

Ma  la  mia  gratia  ancor,  la  mia  bellezza. 
Quello  che'n  se  medesma  ella  si  sia 
Da  molti  spirti  nobili  s'  apprezza. 

She  loves  deeply,  and  writes  to  her  lover,  when 
he  is  far  away  — 

Perduto  de  la  vita  ogni  vigore 
Pallida  e  lagrimosa  ne  I'aspetto  .... 
E'l  viver  seuza  voi  m'  e  crudel  inorte 
Ei  piaceri  mi  son  tormenti  e  guai  .... 

But  the  following  lines  are  spoilt  by  an  affected 
and  florid  style  : — 

Talhor  fermossi  a  mezzo  corso  intento 
II  sole,  e  '1  cielo,  e  s'  e  la  terra  ancora 
Piegata  al  mio  si  flebile  concento ; 
Da  le  loro  speliinche  uscite  fuora 
Piansero  fiu  le  tigri  de'  1  mio  pianto  .... 
E  Progue  e  Filomena  il  tristo  canto 
Accompagnaron  de  le  mie  parole.  .  .  . 

The  most  genuine  of  all  the  Venetian  poets  of  the 
15th  century  was  Gaspara  Stampa,  born  in  Padua, 
but  Venetian  by  choice,  who  poured  out  in  verse  all 
the  anguish  of  her  unfortunate  love  for  Collaltino  di 
CoUalto.  But  we  cannot  find  out  from  their  verses 
what  kind  of  lives  these  women  led.     Possibly  femi- 


THE  VENETIAN  WOMAN  AND  LITEHATURE,    145 

nine  imaginings  passing  through  a  poetic  medium 
become  coloured  and  represented  with  more  definite 
outlines.  Here  is  a  long  list  of  poets :  Pietro 
Bembo,  Andrea  and  Bernardo  Navagero,  Alvise 
Priuli,  Nicolo  Delfino,  Nicolo  and  Jacopo  Tiepolo, 
Agostine  Beaziano,  Nicolo  Leonico  Tomeo,  Antonio 
Brocardo,  Paolo  Canale,  Daniele  Barbaro,  Yincenzo 
and  Girolamo  Querini,  Tomaso  and  Orsatto  Gius- 
tinian,  Antonio  Isidoro  Mezzabarba,  Nicolo  Liburnio, 
Giovanni  Brevio,  Girolamo  Molino,  Bernardo  and 
Jacopo  Zane,  Sebastiano  Erizzo,  Domenico  Michele, 
Jacopo  and  Tomaso  Mocenigo,  Luigi  Contarini,  Lo- 
dovico  Dolce,  Giovanni  Yendramino,  Trifone  Gabri- 
ello,  Bernardo  Oappello,  Domenico,  Maffeo  and 
Luigi  Yeniero,  Celio  Magno,  &c. 

Amongst  so  many  assiduous  seekers  after  thoughts 
and  antitheses  there  is  not  one  real  poet. 

Fancies  and  disputes  smother  all  sentiment ;  the 
passions  are  chilled  or  disguised  by  epigrammatic 
refinement,  and  the  women  to  whom  so  many  pseans 
are  dedicated  have  neither  colour  nor  expression. 
By  selecting  here  and  there  a  few  verses,  we  have 
endeavoured  to  give  an  idea  of  the  style  and  form  of 
such  poetry. 

Pietro  Bembo,  "  the  great  leader  of  the  poets," 
sings  thus  the  praises  of  his  mistress  : — 

Criu  d'oro  crespo,  e  d'ambra  tersa  e  pura 
Ch'a  I'aura  su  la  neve  ondeggia  e  vole ; 
Occhi  soavi  e  piu  chiari  che'l  sole, 
Da  far  giorno  seren  la  notte  oscura ; 


146  THE  DOGARESSA. 

Riso  che  acquets  ogni  aspra  pena  e  dura  : 
Rubini  e  perle,  oud'  escono  parole 
Si  dolci,  ch'  altro  ben  Talma  non  vuole ; 
Man  d'  avorio,  che  i  cor  distringe  e  fura  ; 
Cantar,  che  sembra  d'armoula  divina, 
Senno  mature  a  la  piu  verde  etade  ; 
Leggiadria  non  veduta  unqua  fra  noi,  &c. 

He  wishes  to  say  that  he  is  in  love,  and  he 
describes  love,  which  with  its  arrow  opens  his 
breast,  and  engraves  on  his  heart  the  lovely  face  and 
the  beautiful  eyes  of  his  lady-love.  Such  ideas  do 
not  come  from  the  heart,  but  from  a  study  of 
Petrarch  and  from  mental  cogitation.  Albeit,  such 
a  flame  of  Platonic  love  burns  only  in  rhyme. 
Master  Peter,  "  with  quick  hot  wings  of  desire," 
threw  himself  into  the  arms,  not  of  an  imaginary 
Laura,  but  into  the  white  strong  ones  of  Morosina, 
who  gave  him  three  fine  children,  Helen,  Torquato, 
and  Lucilla.  Even  men  of  practical  good  sense 
were  not  exempt  from  the  fault  of  expressing  false 
sentimentality,  of  seeking  after  the  graceful  and  the 
meagre,  like  Andrea  Navagero,  Ambassador  in  1525 
to  Charles  V.,  who  wrote  the  following  verses  to 
the  Madonna,  invoking  death,  whilst  he  stood  either 
in  the  delightful  gardens  of  Murano  or  in  Friuli,  or 
on  the  shores  of  the  Brenta,  in  the  pleasant  society 
of  Aldo  Manuzio,  of  Bembo,  of  Fracastoro,  of  Ra- 
nunsio  : — 

S'  io  pensassi,  Madonna,  che  mea  morte 
Vi  fussi  sopr*ogni  altra  dolce  e  cara, 

Di  questa  vita  amara 

Sarebber  Tore  assai  fugaci  e  corte. 


THE  VENETIAN  WOMAN  AND  LITERATURE,    147 

Some  faint  trace  of  imagination  and  feeling,  some 
flash  of  tenderness,  a  certain  elegant  power  of 
imagery  and  versification,  are  to  be  found  in  Celio 
Magno.  But  in  his  friend  Orsatto  Giustinian  we 
only  discover  affected  and  pretentious  sentimen- 
tality. Giustinian,  whilst  staying  at  one  of  his 
estates  in  the  territory  of  Asolo,  dresses  himself  as 
Melibseus,  and  blows  the  shepherd's  pipe  : — 

Vid'io  dove  il  muson  vago  discende 

Tra  ricche  sponde  a  bei  colli  vicine 

Pastorelle  divine,  &c.,  &c. 

Alvice  Priuli,  with  his  mental  subtleties,  does  not 
feel  his  hearb  beat  when  he  arranges  his  dull  song- 
book  on  the  model  of  Petrarch's,  and  expresses  his 
affections  in  the  common-place  language  of  love  :  — 

Quando  in  voi  mi  rivolgo,  e  guardo  fiso 
Le  chiome  bionde  e  quelle  guame  amate, 
Trovo  in  raandar  qua  guitanta  beltate, 
Aver  fatto  ogni  forza  il  paradiso. 

That  same  Bernardo  Cappello,  who,  according  to 
Ariosto,  "  was  more  than  ordinarily  favoured  by 
the  Muses,"  wrote  madrigals  : — 

0  ben  nato  terreno, 
Cui  '1  pie'  candido  acquista 
D'  erbe  e  di  fior  belta  diversa  e  rara  ; 
Ella  a  te'  1  ciel  sereno,  &c.,  &c. 

Gabriele  Fiamena,  Bishop    of    Chioggia,    writes 

sonnets  on  mortal  sins,  but  Trifone  Gabriello,  the 

Venetian  Socrates,  sings  softly  — 

Avventurosa  piaggia,  ove  i  begli  occhi 
Sogliono  raddoppiar  sovente  il  giorno  ; 
Aprico  colle  di  fioretti  adorno 
Dal  leggiadretto  pie'  piii  volte  tocchi. 


148  THE  DOGARESSA. 

The  perturbed  and  burning  senses,  unconsciouslj 

ask  for  something  more,  and   another  poet,  Giorgio 

Gradenigo,  thinking  of  the  violets  that  his  mistress 

keeps  carefully  pressed    to   her  bosom,    expresses 

the  wish  — 

Che  r  umore 
Che  in  vita  vi  mantiene 

Col  celeste  calore 
Si  dissolva  e  distilli  per  le  belle 
Membra  leggiadre  e  snelle. 

Another  Gradenigo,  called  Peter,  inhales  a  mouth- 
ful of  country  air,  but  his  pastorals  betray  the 
affectation  and  polish  of  city  manners  — 

La  mia  leggiadra  e  vaga  pastorella, 
Cogliendo  or  questo,  ora  quell'  altro  fiore, 
Spogliava  ai  prati  il  lor  piii  ricco  onore, 
Gioiosa  e  lieta  a  la  stagion  novella. 

The  air  is  filled  with  light   sparks    around   the 

beloved  being,  the  flowers  rise  up  in  search  of  the 

prints  of  the  beautiful  feet.     Thus  Domenico  Ye- 

niero  imitates  Petrarch  — 

Verdeggiavano  intorno  i  colli  e  i  prati, 

Lucidissime  i  fiumi  aveano  I'onde, 

E  spirando  facea  da  tutti  i  lati 

Zefiro  vago  tremolar  le  fronde  ; 

Cantavan  gli  angeletti  a  sentir  grati,  &c.,  &c. 

Maffeo  and  Luigi  Veniero's  verses  have  a  certain 

resemblance  with  Domenick's ;  they  write   on  the 

same  subjects  with  the  same  embellishments.    Fans- 

tino  Tasso,  less  observant,  goes  about  seeking  the 

woman  who  touched  his  heart : — 

Andai  per  molti  solitari  lidi 
Empiendo  I'aria  d'  amorosi  stridi 
Con  un  dolce  languir  tutto  cortese. 


THE  VENETIAN  WOMAN  AND  LITERATURE,    149 
Marco  Vasio  sent  round  sonnets  with  tlie  echo  — 

E  mentre  ripensando  ai  cari  sguardi 
Dico  :  ove  sono  i  giorni  miei  graditi  ? 
Iti,  sento  chi  subito  risponde,  &c.,  &c. 

Benedict     Guidi,     with     pretended     simplicity, 

writes  — 

Scherzava  dentro  a  I'auree  chiome  Amore 

De  r  alma  donna  de  la  vita  Mia ; 

E  tanto  era  il  piacer  ch'ei  ne  sentie,  &c. 

What  a  contrast  between  these  cold  compositions 
and  that  resplendent  feminine  beauty  reproduced 
on  the  canvas  of  Paul  Veronese  and  Titian !  Oh, 
pleasant  wanderings  on  the  Lagoons  !  Oh,  joyous 
meetings  in  the  gardens  of  Murano  !  How  dull  the 
gay  life  of  Venice  appears  in  this  poetry ! 

Even  to  the  accent  of  true  passion  expressed  by 
Gaspara  Stampa,  the  Count  of  Collalto,  who  per- 
fidiously broke  her  noble  heart,  replied,  toying 
amidst  the  grass  and  flowers — 

Candide  rose  e  leggiadretti  fiori, 

Che  fate  ne'l  vel  sen  dolce  soggiorno ; 

Quando  sara  per  me  quel  chiaro  giorno 

Che  I'alma  m'esca  de'l  sue  bando  fuori  ? 

Alteri,  vaghi  e  pargoletti  Amori, 

Ch'  a  lei  scherzando  gite  d'  ogn'intorno,  &c.,  &c. 

But  Art  falls  still  lower,  and  the  adulation  becomes 
ignoble  in  certain  poetical  absurdities,  such  as  in 
ISTicolo  Franco's  "  Temple  of  Love  "  (Venice,  1526), 
the  Triomphi  composti  sojpra  li  tarocchi  in  laude  de  le 
famose  gentildonne  di  Vinegia  by  Troilus  Pomeran  da 
Gittadella  (Venice,  1534),  the  stanzas  in  praise  of  the 
noble  Venetian  ladies  by  Giovambattista  Dragoncino 
da  Fano  (Venice,  1547),  the  "  Temple  of  Fame,"  by 


150  THE  DOGARESSA, 

Girolamo  Parabosco  (Venice,  1548),  &c.  Here 
rhetoric,  making  its  utmost  efforts,  proves  how  that 
literary  decadence  called  afterwards  secentismo 
(style  of  authors  in  the  17th  century)  was  already 
in  existence  during  the  first  half  of  the  16th  century. 
We  give  as  an  instance  the  pieces  of  Dragoncino  da 
Fano  on  the  name  of  Modesta  Veniero : 

Modesta  '1  nome,  e'l  titolo  Veniera 
Afferma  '1  bello,  e'l  bon  ch'in  te  si  trova 
La  Modestia  e  virtu,  ch'l  vitio  impera, 
Quel  Veniera  in  te  Venere  rinova, 
O  sei  dea  de  le  bellezze  altera, 
0  fai  di  Vener  paragone  e  prova  : 
Se  Vener  sei,  sei  di  beltade  honesta 
E  non  lasciva  perch^  sei  Modesta. 

Amidst  such  a  cloud  of  incense,  we  cannot  dis- 
tinguish the  real  profile  of  the  woman  ;  the  names 
only  have  come  down  to  us  of  those  beautiful 
patrician  ladies,  the  subjects  of  so  much,  ugly 
poetry.  The  names  are  better  than  the  verses; 
they  recall,  at  least,  ancient  glories,  and  evoke 
phantoms  surrounded  by  luxury,  pomp,  and 
festivities.  The  beautiful  women,  Jiore  de'l  secolo, 
who  receive  the  highest  poetical  praise  are :  Paula 
and  Maria  Pisani,  Elena  Loredano,  Elena  Centauni, 
Elena  Moro,  Lugrezia  and  Maria  Contarini,  Elena 
Foscari,  Maria  and  Laura  Giustinian,  Elisabetta 
and  Elena  Priuli,  Marina  da  Mosto,  Orsola  and 
Modesta  Veniero,  Cecilia  Morosini,  Elisabetta  Mali- 
piero,  Maria  and  Bianca  Marcello,  Chiara  Duodo, 
Savorgnana  Garzoni,  Elisabetta  Molin,  Franceschina 


I 


THE  VENETIAN  WOMAN  AND  LITERATURE.     151 

Zorzi,  Pellegrina  and  Fiorenza  Cappello,  Laura 
Badoer,  Marina,  Daria,  Elisabetta  and  Loredano 
Mocenigo,  Chiara  Grussoni,  Cecilia  Cornaro,  Pisana 
Gradenigo,  Morosina  Morosini,  Maria  Bragadin, 
Paulada  Ponte,  Adriana  Pasqualigo,  Cornelia  Gri- 
mani,  Elisabetta  Vendramin,  &c.  And  around 
these  noble  ladies  burst  forth  false  sentimentalities, 
strange  metaphors,  and  impudent  falsehoods.  Sham 
sentiment  reached  such  a  pitch  that  a  friar,  Girolamo 
Malipiero,  wishing  to  reform  Petrarch's  collection  of 
sonnets  because  they  were  too  profane,  applied  them 
to  religious  and  spiritual  subjects.  And  yet  cor- 
ruption burst  forth  on  all  sides,  and,  together  with 
the  artificial  literary  culture,  a  cynicism  in  speaking 
of  all  that  relates  to  manners  and  customs  gained 
ground,  as  well  as  a  coarseness  of  language  used 
habitually  even  by  good  and  affectionate  men,  not 
only  in  the  presence  of  matrons,  but  also  of  young 
girls.  Somebody,  for  instance,  who  was  giving 
advice  on  the  way  to  preserve  beauty,  said  naively, 
'*  What  ought  to  be  said  of  the  bosoms  or  breasts? 
They  must  be  small,  round  and  firm,  like  two  ripo 
apples !  " 

We  can  quite  understand  how  under  such  cir- 
cumstances a  woman  of  corrupt  morals  became  the 
muse  of  the  Arts.  But  the  15th  century  is 
especially  distinguished  from  its  predecessor  by 
the  establishment  amongst  courtezans  of  a  kind  of 
aristocracy,  to  become  members  of  which,  beauty, 
gentility,  and,  worse  than  all,  culture  competed. 
Gentlemen  were  no  longer  contented  with  prosti- 


152  THE  DOGARESSA. 

tutes  of  low  degree ;  they  must  have  courfcezans  who 
had  their  biographers,  poets,  and  novelists.  "  At 
Venice,"  wrote  Bandello,  ''  there  are  many  prosti- 
tutes to  whom,  as  at  Rome  and  elsewhere,  they 
give  the  respectable  appellation  of  courtezan." 

This  type  of  woman  is  not  to  be  found  in  the 
coarse  writings  of  Lorenzo  Yeniero,  nor  amongst 
Aretino's  lady  loves.  The  Venetian  courtezan, 
amidst  her  greed  of  pleasure  and  of  infamous  gain, 
was  sometimes  capable,  like  Veronica  Franca,  of 
strong  and  noble  passions,  and  she  sometimes  sur- 
rounded the  artist  who  sought  inspiration  from 
her  not  only  with  sensual  pleasures,  but  with 
higher  enjoyments  of  the  mind.  Painting  could 
manifest  the  wild  joy  of  this  voluptuousness  that 
filled  the  veins  of  Venezia,  that  brilliant  and  wanton 
feast  of  the  senses  which  poetry  could  not  express. 
Petrarch's  flowery  expressions  languished  on  the 
shores  of  the  Lagoons,  and  in  the  barren  paths  of 
learned  literature  the  native  dialect  flourished 
better.  From  the  midst  of  the  people  was  to  arise 
a  poetry  offering  a  complete  contrast  to  the 
Petrarchian  ideal,  an  Art  which  by  the  power  of 
freedom  ridiculed  sentimental  poets.  In  opposi- 
tion to  the  many  female  figures  devoid  of  outline 
or  character  it  was  necessary  that  some  real  living 
person  should  appear.  Athwart  the  prettinesses  of 
the  madrigal,  and  the  delicate  artificiality  of  learned 
literature,  pass,  like  a  challenge  or  a  mockery, 
poems  in  the  native  dialect,  strange,  subtle,  and 
trivial,  but  containing  a  life-like  imagery. 


THE  VENETIAN  WOMAN  AND  LITERATURE.    153 

Certain  nonsensical  and  vulgar  lifctle  sonnets 
bring  before  our  eyes  that  beautiful  daughter  of 
the  people,  dishevelled,  untidy,  in  white  slippers 
with  blue  stockings.  In  the  "  Song  of  the  little 
servant  maids,"  we  see  the  little  girls — 

Le  se  guarda  nel  specchietto 

Con  e'l  fuso  e'l  pettenetto.  • 

The  poet  of  the  people  prefers  the  poor  woman  to 
the  aristocrat,  and  sees  with  disdain  the  adorn- 
ments, the  finery,  the  womanish  trinkets,  often  the 
•cause  of  ruin  to  families  : 

De  le  done  non  te  fidare 

De  le  veste  ben  pompose 

Ne  voran  meza  dozina: 

Gia  bo  visto  tal  tegnose 

Che  non  na  pan  da  cena 

Che  quando  la  coda  mena 

Ele  pare  Madona  isota. 

Amidst  all  this  clumsy  derision,  there  now  and 
then  appears  an  accent  of  true  passion. 
Pregoti  vita  de  la  vita  mia 
Fin  ch'io  retornerb  non  ti  scordare 
Cb'io  t'  ho  donato  il  core,  meschino  me. 

The  titles  of  these  sonnets  are  sometimes  very 
curious.  Here  are  some  of  those  most  in  vogue  in 
the  16th  century  :  Historia  nova  piacevole  la  quale 
tratta  delle  Malitie  de  le  donne,  Pronostico  a  la  villata 
sopra  le  jputane.  Canzone  morale  di  santo  Herculano, 
Le  ridiculose  canzon  de  Mistro  Pizin  da  le  calde 
aroste  e  de  Mistro  Bonetto  che  vende  le  lesse,  cosa  da 
far  crepar  da  rider  e  morir  da  fame  Giuoco  de  Primiera 
•e  caccia  d'Amore,  &c. 

This  satire  was  aimed  at  the  amorous  syncopes  of 


154  THE  DOGARESSA, 

erudite  poets.  Lastly,  Maffeo  Veniero,  wrapt  in 
ecstatic  love,  and  bathing  in  the  clear  soft  waters  of 
the  Sorga,  bursts  all  at  once  into  a  joyous  laugh ^ 
and  writes  the  "  Strazzosa,'^  wrongfully  called  by 
Gamba  a  parody  on  a  sonnet  of  Petrarch's.  Here  is^ 
the  first  verse  of  this  exquisite  work,  quite  original 
from  beginning  to  end  : 

Amor  vivemo  tra  la  gata  e  i  stizzi 

In  t'  una  c^  a  pe  plan 

(E  no  vedo  per6  che  ti  te  agrizzi) 

Dove  e  la  lume  e'  1  pan 

Sta  tuto  in  t'un,  la  roca,  i  drapi  e'  1  viu 

La  vechia  e  le  fassine, 

I  puti  e  le  galline, 

E  mezo  al  cavezzal  soto  el  canim 

Dove  taca  a  un  anzin 

Gh'  e,  in  muodo  de  trofeo, 

La  fersora,  mea  scufia  e  la  graela, 
La  zuca  de  1'  aseo, 

E'  1  cesto  e  la  sportela  : 

E'  1  leto  fato  d'  alega  e  de  stopa 

Cussi  avalio  che  i  pnlesi  se  intopa. 

A  popular  poet,  Alexander  Caravia,  relates  in  an 
easy  and  piquant  style  the  love  of  Naspo  Castellana 
for  Gate  Biriota.  Thus  he  reproves  his  faithless 
mistress  (Canto  I.) : 

Ingrata  seuza  fe  piena  de  ingani 
Credeva  calche  tempo  ti  me  amassi. 
But  I  wasted  my  time  (and,) 
Adesso  fuor  de'  1  porto  ti  me  lassi 
Travagiao  da  fortuna  e  da  tempesta 
E  a  la  bonazza  ti  vardi  la  festa. 

A  certain  dignity  and  honesty  are  evident  in  the- 
burlesque  verses  of  Caravia,  disdainful  of  female- 


THE  VENETIAN  WOMAN  AND  LITEEATURE.    155 

deceit,  of  dress  and  the  vagaries  of  fashion.     He 

likes  the  rosy  cheeks  indicating  health,  better  than 

paint;    and  addressing  the  women  of  his  city,  who 

reddened  their   faces    and    whitened   their  bosoms 

(Canto  II.),  he  exclaims  indignantly  : 

No  ne  impiastre  i  bei  visi  con  beleto 
Ch'  el  ne  nasta  le  came,  e  ne  le  stropia. 

Andrea  Calmo  is  a  strange  man  and  a  strange 
poet — a  mixture  of  folly  and  sense.  His  laughter, 
if  of  no  other  use,  procured  him  the  joyful  satis- 
faction of  seeing  all  disguise  stripped  off  the  hypo- 
critical art  of  his  day.  He  comes  out  for  amuse- 
ment on  the  Lagoons,  and  using  the  idiom  of  that 
time  he  gives  free  scope  to  his  fancy  in  satire, 
raillery,  and  buffoonery.  Of  all  the  Lauras  sung  by 
the  Yenetian  poets,  the  most  life-like  is  the  girl 
Calmo  meets  one  day  on  the  seashore.  The  air  is 
fresh,  perfumed  with  the  salt  of  the  sea,  and  Calmo 
invites  the  beautiful  child  into  his  boat.  She  accepts 
his  invitation. 

La  ride,  mi  la  nardo,  lei  si  senta 
Digando  :    Che  ne  par  caro  missier? 
Vegna  la  friene  a  chi  no  se  contenta. 

And  there  in  front  of  the  sea  the  two  happy  beings 
embrace. 

This  poetry  in  the  Venetian  dialect,  a  reaction 
from  the  vapouring  ideality  of  Petrarch,  is  like  a 
rugged  mountain  where  are  to  be  found  no  caves 
of  soft  stone  upon  which  to  inscribe  false  inscrip- 
tions and  lying  epitaphs. 


CHAPTER   XL 

Luxury  and  the  Life  of  Woman — The  Dogaressa  and 
THE  Sumptuary  Laws — Solemn  Progress  of  the 
Dogaressa. 

Female  life  in  Yenice  appeared  surrounded  by 
luxury,  amidst  wtiich  the  outlines  of  the  Dogaressa's 
face  are  distinctly  seen.  Aristocracies,  when  they 
are  losing  strength  and  energy,  are  wont  to  organise 
feasts,  intended  to  make  the  people  forget  their 
ancient  institutions  ;  lulled  by  such  seductions  the 
nation  falls  asleep,  oblivious  of  its  former  love  of 
liberty  and  heedless  of  the  tyranny  of  the  great. 
There  is  a  certain  display  of  pomp  due  to  a  people 
for  the  hardships  they  have  endured,  and  there  is 
the  luxury  of  thoughtless  nations  who  waste  the 
savings  accumulated  by  former  generations.  Until 
the  16th  century,  the  civic  fetes  in  Yenice  were  a 
manifestation  of  republican  majesty  and  power; 
after  that  time  the  power  diminished,  but  not  the 
pomp,  and  that  revival  of  Paganism  which  smiles  at 


LUXURY  AND  THE  LIFE  OF  WOMAN.        157 

US  from  tlie  canvas,  in  the  statues,  and  in  literature, 
and  refines  whilst  corrupting  the  morals,  takes 
possession  of  the  Venetian  Grovernment,  making  it 
delight  in  a  luxury  entirely  sensual.  If  the  heads 
of  a  State  set  an  example  of  extravagance  and 
ostentation,  the  love  of  finery  in  their  subjects, 
especially  amongst  the  women,  will  soon  pass  all 
bounds,  dissipating  both  public  and  private  fortunes. 
The  Government,  whilst  issuing  decrees  to  urge 
them  to  celebrate  the  public  fetes  with  great  mag- 
nificence, is  obliged  to  send  out  other  decrees  to 
moderate  the  excessive  extravagance  of  private 
individuals,  and  afterwards  fresh  orders  for  feasts 
and  amusements,  followed  by  other  repressive  laws. 
Strange  contradictions,  when  one  thinks  of  the 
practical  and  severe  wisdom  of  the  Councils  of 
State.  But  of  all  excesses,  that  of  luxury  is  the 
most  difficult  not  only  to  conquer,  but  to  regulate. 
For  instance,  at  the  end  of  1299,  the  Grand  Council 
inaugurated  that  plan  of  making  exceptions  which 
deprives  the  law  of  all  force  and  authority.  It 
forbids  the  interchange  of  presents  on  the  occasion 
of  a  wedding,  except  for  relations  of  the  bridal  pair 
and  for  the  priest  of  the  district ;  the  bride,  when 
going  to  fetch  the  bridegroom,  as  well  as  when  re- 
turning home,  can  only  be  accompanied  by  eight 
women  ;  the  bridegroom  must  only  invite  twenty 
men  and  twenty  women  to  the  wedding-dinner,  and 
the  bride  the  same.  The  bride,  so  says  the  decree, 
amongst  other  things,  cannot  have  in  her  trousseau 


158  THE  DOGARESSA. 

more  than  four  dresses ;  nobody  but  the  bride 
must  wear  pearl  trimmings,  and  she  only  on  her 
wedding-dress,  and  only  one  girdle  of  pearls.  No 
woman  is  allowed  to  have  more  than  one  string  of 
gold  or  amber  buttons  worth  more  than  ten  soldi  of 
grossi,  nee  drezeriam  aliquam  perlarum  of  greater 
value  than  a  hundred  soldi.  They  are  not  allowed 
to  have  more  than  two  cloaks  lined  with  ermine, 
and  the  women  are  not  allowed  to  use  more  than 
one  mantle  lined  with  silk,  except  in  case  of  mourn- 
incr,  nor  to  have  the  train  of  the  gown  more  than  a 
cubit  long.  But  the  people  at  Court  were  not 
obliged  to  submit  to  these  laws,  as  they  wished  to 
surround  the  Doge  and  Dogaressa  with  a  magnifi- 
cence surpassing  all  the  rest,  and  fitted  to  inspire 
admiration  and  respect.  On  the  other  hand,  such 
exceptions  diminished  the  effectiveness  of  the 
sumptuary  laws,  and  artifices,  stratagems,  and  feints 
were  used  to  evade  them.  In  fact,  all  the  Acts 
passed  in  1299  were,  at  the  end  of  seven  years, 
revoked  by  the  Grand  Council,  by  thirty-two 
members  of  the  Quarantia  and  by  five  Councillors. 
After  this  epoch,  new  enactments  were  made,  and 
also  fresh  exceptions.  Other  laws  in  1334,  1340, 
and  1360  arranged  the  dresses  and  ornaments  of  the 
women,  forbidding  them  to  wear  girdles  and  purses 
trimmed  with  pearls,  silver  waistbands  worth  more 
than  ten  ducats,  trimmings  of  gold  and  silver,  of 
pearls  or  margarites,  &c.  But  for  the  honour  of 
their  position,  the  Doge,  Dogaressa,  their  children, 


THE  DOGARESSA  AND  SUMPTUARY  LAWS.      159 

nephews,  and  their  grandchildren  were  permitted  to 
use  and  wear  quicquid  voluerint  donee  hahitaverint  in 
palaiio.      In   1497,  as  the  women  took  no  notice  of 
the  decrees,  but  used  pearls  to  the  value  even  of  600 
ducats,    the   use    of    them  was    forbidden   on   the 
dresses  except  for  the  wife,  daughters-in-law,  and 
daughters  of  the  Doge  inhabiting  the  Ducal  Palace. 
Again,  a  decree  of  1562  says  that  all  the  women  ten 
years  after  their  jBrst  marriage  cannot  wear  pearls 
of  any  kind,  the  Dogaressa  and  her  daughters  ex- 
cepted.      Other  examples  are  to  be  found  amongst 
the  great  number  of  decrees  published  by  the  Grand 
Council,  the  Senate,  the  Council  of  Ten,  and  finally 
by  Furnishers  of  Feasts,  an  office  instituted  in  1514, 
to   limit  the  immoderate  extravagance  and  vanity 
which  did  great  injury  to  the  wealth  of  private  indi- 
viduals.     At   the   end   of   the    14th    century,  the 
women  wore  not  only  very  costly  dresses,  but  also 
little  hoods  with  gold  and  pearl  trimmings,  silver 
crowns,  caps   and  head-dresses  of  gold,  and  often 
varied   the  ornaments,  besides  caps  adorned   with 
jewels,  fillets,  turbans,  crowns,  hats  and  coiffures, 
&G,     If  we  study  the  paintings  of  ancient  times, 
and  search  the   ancient  documents,  we   shall  find 
that  the  women  stand  forth  amidst  a  thousand  hues, 
and  sheen,  and  wonders  of  gold  and  silver;  they 
appear  in  the  midst  of   a    gay  phantasmagoria  of 
long  silk  dresses,    of   brocade,    of   tawny-coloured 
muslin  embroidered  with  gold,  of  velvet  embroidered 
with  silver.     The  delicate  flesh-tints  are  seen  through 


160  THE  DOGAEESSA, 

the  finest  lace  of  Burano,  and  above  the  edge  of  the 
chemisette  embroidered  with  gold,  silver,  and  silk 
threads,  the  jewelled  stomachers  define  the  figure, 
and  from  the  shoulders  hang  hoods  and  capes  lined 
with  valuable  fur. 

The  beautiful  patrician  ladies  stood  in  the  sun 
on  Altane  to  bleach  their  hair;  they  turned  from 
their  mirrors  with  their  faces  and  bosoms  painted ; 
they  walked  on  very  high  zoccoli  (wooden  shoes) 
gilt  and  jewelled ;  they  assisted  at  fetes,  regattas, 
and  tournaments,  considered  innocent  pastimes ; 
and  received  kings  and  princes  clad  in  white- 
watered  silk  adorned  with  jewels  and  pearls  of 
great  price.  Marin  Sanudo,  28  years  old,  at  that 
ardent,  voluptuous,  and  self-possessed  age,  describes 
his  female  fellow-citizens;  and  the  words  of  the 
chronicler  bring  vividly  before  us  those  joyous  and 
glorious  times,  and  the  beautiful  and  majestic 
beings  with  their  white  skins  and  tawny  hair. 
"  The  women  are  really  exquisitely  lovely,  they  are 
surrounded  by  much  pomp,  are  adorned  with  jewels 
and  finery,  and  when  any  foreign  lady  visits  Venice 
they  proceed  to  meet  her  with  above  130  women, 
adorned  and  clad  in  most  valua^ble  silks  and  coladena 
(so  it  is  called),  worth  three  hundred  and  even  a 
thousand  ducats ;  and  rings,  balas  rubies,  sapphires, 
emeralds,  and  other  most  precious  jewels.  And 
there  are  some  patrician  ladies,  not  many,  who  are 
so  poor  that  they  have  not  500  scudi  worth  of  rings, 
without  large  pearls,  which  is  incredible,  but  seeing 


THE  DOGAEESSA  AND  SUMPTUARY  LAWS.  161 

is  believing.  When  women  find  themselves  as- 
sembled together,  except  the  wife  of  the  Doge, 
the  daughters  of  the  Doge,  knights'  wives  and 
doctoresses,  all  will  go  by  age." 

All  the  precautions  and  provisoes  were  of  no 
avail,  for  the  Government  liked  to  squander  the 
treasures  accumulated  by  former  generations,  and 
as  it  is  necessary  that  woman  should  take  a  part  in 
the  outward  display  of  riches — for  without  her  pomp 
would  have  no  splendour — the  Venetian  ladies  from 
time  to  time  were  roused  from  their  indolent  and 
quiet  lives  to  join  the  gay  throng.  Their  costumes 
were  more  noted  for  magnificence  than  elegance ; 
their  high  shoes,  dresses  of  gold  brocade  with  its 
stiff  folds  made  them  resemble  lay  figures. 

As  long  as  they  were  children  their  education 
was  most  properly  conducted,  and  they  were  so  well 
guarded  and  watched  in  their  paternal  homes  that 
very  often  their  nearest  relations  scarcely  saw  them. 
When  they  went  out,  which  was  but  rarely,  they 
wore  on  their  heads  a  rather  wide  white  silk  veil, 
called  fazzuolo^  and  with  it  they  covered  their  faces 
and  chests.  As  soon  as  they  were  married,  they 
learned  to  dance,  and  performed  in  ballets,  to  the 
sound  of  various  instruments,  and  many  women 
trimmed  and  altered  their  dresses,  generally  made  of 
satin,  adorned  with  pearls,  gold,  and  jewels. 

The  dress  of  the  Dogaressa  surpassed  all  others 
in  magnificence;  she  wore  the  Ducal  mantle,  and 
enjoyed    for   her   pin-money    the   revenues    of  the 

H 


162  THE  DOGARESSA. 

taxes  on  fruit,  and  she  was  received  at  the  palace 
with  extraordinary  pomp.  By  degrees,  however, 
the  State  wished  to  restrict  the  gay  demonstrations 
of  the  people  on  the  occasion  of  the  solemn  entry 
of  the  Dogaressa,  when  they  feted  her  with  those 
exuberant  rejoicings  so  well  depicted  by  Canaletto. 
The  coronation  of  the  Dogaressa  assumed  the 
character  of  an  official  ceremony  soon  after  the 
reforms  of  Piero  Gradenigo.  It  was  decided  that 
as  soon  as  the  Doge  had  been  elected  all  the 
Councillors,  preceded  by  trumpets,  should  adjourn 
to  the  dwelling  of  the  Dogaressa,  to  receive  her 
oath,  by  which  she  promised  to  observe  the  FrO" 
missione  in  whatever  concerned  herself.  They  never 
seemed  tired  of  repeating  that  neither  for  herself 
nor  for  her  children  should  the  Dogaressa  accept 
any  present,  not  even  on  the  occasion  of  marriages 
or  of  any  other  solemnity.  After  taking  the  oath 
the  Dogaressa  presented  to  each  of  the  Councillors 
a  beautiful  purse  (bursa  pulcherrima)  worked  in 
gold,  and  to  the  Chancellor  a  silk  purse  with  silver 
mountings.  The  wife  of  Francesco  Dandolo, 
elected  Doge  in  1329,  after  having  pronouuced 
the  oath,  was  then  accompanied  by  the  Councillors 
on  the  Bucentaur,  and  went  afterwards  to  the 
Cathedral  of  St.  Mark,  where  she  offered  on  the 
altar  ten  lire  of  grossone.  Having  then  proceeded 
to  the  Palace  and  taken  her  seat  on  her  throne  in 
the  hall  of  the  Signori  di  Notte,  she  dismissed  the 
Councillors  and  retired  with  her  ladies  to  her  apart- 


SOLEMN  PROGRESS  OF  THE  DOGARESSA.     163 

ments.  The  Dogaressa  gave  a  rich  banquet  to  the 
Artiy  who  all  took  part  in  the  feast.  Pomp  began 
to  be  used  even  at  funerals.  In  early  times  the 
bodies  of  the  Doges  were  interred  without  any 
great  ceremony  the  day  after  their  death.  When 
Giovanni  Delfino  died  (1361),  for  the  first  time  the 
body,  with  the  gold  spurs,  the  sword,  and  the  shield, 
lay  in  state  in  the  Hall  of  the  Signori  di  Notte,  and 
the  Princess,  followed  by  a  large  retinue  of  ladies, 
went  to  the  Church  of  St.  Mark,  where  she  spent  an 
hour  in  prajer.  The  reign  of  Lorenzo  Celsi,  suc- 
cessor to  Delfino,  was  also  rendered  famous  by  the 
solemn  entrance  of  the  Dogaressa  into  the  Palace 
and  by  feasts,  besides  solemn  receptions  of  kings  and 
princes. 

Luxury  had  not  yet  weakened  the  mental  powers, 
and  the  fine  qualities  which  rendered  Yenice  great 
in  the  middle  ages  shone  forth  for  a  time  more 
brilliantly  in  the  Palace  of  the  Doges  when  those 
glorious  days  were  drawing  to  a  close,  when 
ancient  sternness  quickly  degenerated  into  absurd 
clownishness.  Louis,  son  of  the  Doge  Antonio 
(1382-1400),  had  formed  an  intrigue  with  a  noble 
lady  of  the  Boccasi  family,  and  one  day,  either  from 
jealousy  or  revenge,  he  fastened  on  her  door  a  pair  of 
horns.  The  author  of  this  cowardly  insult  was 
soon  discovered,  and  the  enraged  husband  com- 
plained to  the  Doge,  who  ordered  his  son  to  be  put 
in  prison.  Louis  was  attacked  by  a  serious  illness, 
and  begged  to  be  set  at  liberty  for  a  short  time, 


164  THE  DOGARESSA. 

but  the  Doge  remained  inexorable,  and  the  unfor- 
tunate youth  died  in  captivity.  Paternal  severity 
remained  deaf  even  to  a  mother's  anguish.  All 
agreed  that  patriotism  and  honour  were  to  be  con- 
sidered rather  than  family  affection,  and  in  these 
conflicts  the  mother's  heart  suffered  terribly.  The 
Dogaressa,  Agnes  Yeniero,  survived  her  husband 
for  some  years,  and  was  buried  with  her  daughter 
in  the  Church  of  Santi  Giovanni  e  Paolo,  in  a  tomb 
raised  about  1411.  The  arch  placed  over  the  sarco- 
phagus of  the  two  ladies,  the  columns  embellished 
with  peculiar  capitals,  the  statues  of  the  Saints 
placed  upon  the  two  side  pinnacles,  the  bas-relief  of 
the  Virgin,  the  entire  monument,  seems  a  memento 
of  a  pure  and  placid  art.  There  is  in  it  the  sim- 
plicity of  a  stern  age,  the  world  of  art  rises  in  the 
clear  light  of  faith,  and  no  profane  sentiment  dis- 
turbs the  solemn  peace  of  the  church,  nor  makes  its 
walls  resound  with  the  tumult  of  the  life  without. 

At  the  end  of  the  14th  and  the  beginning  of  the 
next  century  institutions  changed,  fashions  altered, 
the  mind  turned  to  other  ideals  and  prepared  for 
new  things. 

In  1400  Michiel  Steno  became  Doge,  and  Venice 
f^ted  with  great  pomp,  not  only  the  election  of  the 
Doge,  but  the  beginning  of  a  new  era.  Then  the 
country  was  deified,  and  the  triumph  of  beautiful 
women  began,  of  sumptuous  dresses,  jewels,  cloth  of 
gold ;  then  jousts,  tournaments,  processions  of  the 
Arti,  followed  each   other  as  in  a  fantastic  dream  ; 


SOLEMN  PROGRESS  OF  THE  DOGARESSA.     165 

there  originated  that  celebrated  Hosiers'  Company, 
which  gave  a  cachet  of  supreme  elegance  to  the 
Venetian  festivals. 

An  ancient  document  describes  with  great  minute- 
ness the  costumes  and  solemn  pomp,  with  which  in 
the  15th  century  the  Dogaressa  was  conducted 
from  her  private  abode  to  the  Ducal  Palace. 

The  Government  commanded  all  the  Societies  of 
the  Arti  to  prepare  for  the  day  on  which  the 
Dogaressa  was  to  make  her  solemn  entry.  Each 
Company  of  traders  decorated  one  portion  of  the 
Ducal  Palace  with  tapestry  and  carpets,  and  pre- 
pared pinnaces  with  flags  and  banners  to  follow  the 
Bucentaur,  upon  which  the  Dogaressa  was  to  sail 
with  all  her  relations.  On  the  day  appointed  the 
Doge,  with  a  few  Councillors,  awaited  his  wife  in 
his  apartments.  Four  Councillors,  with  the  Doge's 
relations,  preceded  by  servants  with  banners  and 
silver  trumpets,  went  to  the  house  of  the  Dogaressa, 
where  they  were  received  by  her  relations.  They 
then  proceeded  to  a  saloon,  where  the  wife  of  His 
Highness  expected  them,  and,  after  having  acknow- 
ledged their  bows  and  good  wishes,  she  presented  to 
the  Councillors  and  relations  of  the  Doge,  beautiful 
purses  of  gold  tissue,  and  then  descended  to  the 
landing-place,  preceded  by  six  trumpeters  and  the 
Prince's  equerries. 

The  youngest  ladies  amongst  the  nobility  followed 
in  a  long  procession,  and  behind  them  came  the 
aristocratic  matrons,  with  the  relations  of  His  High- 


166  THE  DOGARESSA. 

ness  and  of  tbe  Dogaressa.  These  last  took  on  that 
day  precedence  even  of  the  Doge's  connections.  The 
Princess,  clad  in  a  very  long  robe,  the  train  of 
which  was  carried  by  several  young  ladies,  and 
surrounded  by  ladies  of  rank,  had  beside  her  the 
wife  of  the  High  Chancellor,  and  was  followed  by 
the  councillors,  senators,  and  noblemen  walking  two 
and  two,  and  distinguishable  by  the  diversity  of 
their  ornaments  and  the  colour  of  their  costumes. 
The  stately  senators  placed  the  Dogaressa  in  the 
seat  prepared  for  her  on  the  Bucentaur,  which, 
quitting  the  shore,  took  its  way  towards  the  Ducal 
Palace,  followed  by  many  other  boats  and  skiffs, 
where  were  the  trades,  with  their  golden  banners. 
Having  arrived  at  St.  Mark,  the  princely  retinue 
landed  in  the  order  above  mentioned,  and  marched 
round  the  Piazza,  whilst  the  bells  rang  out  joyously. 
At  the  principal  gate  of  the  cathedral  the  Dogaressa 
was  received  by  the  Church  dignitaries  in  their 
richest  vestments,  with  silver  tapers,  holy  water, 
the  cross,  incense,  and  with  all  the  ceremonial 
reserved  for  Princes.  The  Vicar  of  the  Cathedral 
recited  the  following  verses  in  Latin,  besides  the 
Oremus : — 

Salvam  fac  ancillam  tuam  ducissam 

Nostram,  Domine  : 
Deus  mens  sperantem  in  te 
Mitte  ei  Domine  auxiliiim  de  Sancto  : 
Et  de  Syon  tuere  earn 
Nihil  proficiat  inimicus  in  ea  : 
Et  filius  iniquitatis  non  apponat  nocere  ei. 


SOLEMN  PROGRESS  OF  THE  DOGARESSA.     167 

Fiat  pax  in  virtute  tua  : 
Et  abundantia  in  turribus  tuis. 
Domine  exaudi  orationem  meam  : 
Et  clamor  mens  ad  te  veniat, 
Dominus  vobiscum  : 
Et  cum  spiritu  tuo. 

Oremus  : 
Quesumus  omnipotens  Deus  ut  banc  famulam  tuam   Ducissam 
nostram  ubique  sapientia  tua  doceat  atque  confortet,  et  earn  Eccle- 
sia  tua  fidelem  semper  agnoscat.   Per  Cbristum  Dorainum  nostrum. 
Amen. 

Deus,  mens  providentia  in  sua  dispositione  non  fallitur,  ineffa- 
bilem  elementiam  tua  suplices  ex  oramus,  ut  sicut  Ester  regniam 
israelitice  plebis  causa  salutis  ad  regis  Assueri  thalamum  regnique 
sui  consortium  transire  fecisti,  ita  banc  famulam  tuam  Ducissam 
nostram,  Cliristiane  plebis  salutis  gratia  ad  gratiam  tuam  transire 
facias,  ut  tibi  super  omnia  jugiter  placere  desideret,  et  te  inspi- 
rante  que  tibi  placita  sunt  toto  corde  perficiat,  et  dextera  tuo 
potentie  illam  semper  hie  et  ubique  circundet.  Per  Cbristum 
Dominuni  nostrum.     Amen. 

Then  they  sang  the  Te  Beum.  The  long  proces- 
sion then  proceeded  into  the  chancel,  and  the 
Dogaressa,  taking  the  Doge's  seat,  distributed 
money  to  the  canons.  The  High  Chancellor  then 
presented  the  statute-book  — 

"  Here,  your  Highness,  is  your  Capitulary.  "Will 
you  please  to  observe  all  contained  therein,  and 
swear  to  follow  it  ?  " 

To  which  she  replied  — 

"  Read  it  to  me  first." 

Whilst  it  was  read,  with  other  ceremonies,  the 
Artif  having  left  their  boats,  betook  themselves  in 
good    order    to    the   various   apartments   assigned 


J  68  THE  DOGARESSA, 

them  in  the  Palace,  where  they  seated  themselves 
beside  tables  furnished  with  sweets,  choice  wines  in 
flasks  and  silver  cups,  awaiting  the  Princess'  visit. 
When  the  religious  ceremony  was  concluded  the 
Dogaressa  left  the  church  by  the  door  leading  to 
the  Palace,  ascended  the  stairs  with  her  suite, 
passed  before  the  various  guilds,  the  members  of 
which,  cap  in  hand,  and  with  obsequious  bows, 
invited  her  Highness  to  sit  down  and  breakfast 
with  them.     She  replied  to  them  all  — 

"  Many  thanks,  but  I  do  not  feel  inclined  to  take 
anything." 

Proceeding  from  room  to  room,  she  entered  the 
Hall  del  Pioveghi,  where,  seated  in  His  Highness' 
place,  she  listened  to  those  words  which  sounded 
like  a  funeral  knell  amidst  festivities,  displaying 
princely  ostentation  and  popular  simplicity. 

"  Your  Highness,  as  you  have  come  here  full  of 
life  to  take  possession  of  the  Palace,  so  I  must  tell 
that,  when  you  are  dead,  they  will  remove  your 
brain,  your  eyes,  your  intestines,  and  you  will  be 
transported  here  to  remain  three  days  before  you 
are  buried !  " 

And  she  replied  — 

"  What  you  say  will  content  us,  when  it  may 
please  God  Almighty  ! " 

Then,  quitting  her  seat,  the  Dogaressa  moved 
towards  the  Hall  of  the  Grand  Council,  where,  in 
the  same  way,  she  occupied  the  Prince's  seat,  when 
it  was  permitted  to  everybody  to  touch  her  hand. 


SOLEMN  PROGRESS  OF  THE  DOGARESSA.     169 

At  the  conclusion  of  these  ceremonies  she  proceeded 
to  the  Ducal  apartments,  where  she  found  the  Doge 
expecting  her,  in  the  company  of  two  Councillors. 
The  feasts,  to  which  noble  ladies  and  burghers' 
wives  and  daughters  were  invited,  continued  for 
three  days,  and  there  were  shooting  and  tourna- 
ments in  the  Piazza  and  regattas  on  the  Grand 
Canal. 

Her  Highness  was  attired  in  an  under- vest  of  gold 
cloth,  laced  at  the  throat,  with  duchess  sleeves, 
puffed  at  the  shoulders,  a  gold  girdle,  a  mantle  of 
gold  brocade  or  of  silk  similar  to  the  Doge's.  The 
head-gear  consisted  of  a  crimson  velvet  cap  of  a 
French  shape,  but  a  little  raised  like  the  Ducal  cap, 
a  circle  of  gold  round  her  forehead,  and  a  veil  fas- 
tened to  the  cap  hung  down  behind,  almost  touch- 
ing the  crimson  velvet  slippers. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

The  Dogaressa  in  the  Ioth  Century — Marina  Steno — 
Marina  Foscari — Giovanna  Malipiero — Dea  Tron 
—  The  Wipe  op  Nicolo  Marcello  —  Taddea 
Mocenigo — Lucia  Barbarigo. 

Let  us  try  to  bring  before  our  minds  amidst  the 
refulgence  of  the  celebrated  f^fces  of  the  Quattro- 
cento the  figures  of  some  of  the  Dogaressas. 

Marina  Grallina,  wife  of  the  Doge  Michele  Steno, 
was  conducted  honorevole  e  jpomposamente,  and  with 
the  usual  ceremonies,  to  the  Ducal  Palace  (1400). 
Nevertheless  the  vigilant  eyes  of  the  Grovernment 
were  not  to  be  dazzled  by  the  scintillation  of  gold, 
the  brilliancy  of  colours,  and  they  took  care  to  re- 
mind the  Doge  that  neither  he,  nor  his  sons,  nor 
nephews  can  contract  alliances  with  foreigners,  ex- 
cept with  the  permission  of  the  Councillors,  the 
three  heads  of  the  Council  of  Forty,  and  the  greater 
number  of  the  Grand  Council.  The  Government 
took  note  of  the  minutest  details  concerning  the 
Doge  and  his  family,  and  in  the  Grand  Council,  on 


MARINA  STENO.  171 

April  21sfc,  1409,  they  held  a  deliberation  to  repair 
at  the  hanchi  uhi  stat  domina  ducis^a,  all  fracidi  et 
devastati  quod  est  magna  deformitate  Palacii. 

Seven  years  after  her  coronation  Marina  Gallina, 
wife  of  Steno,  dictated  her  will  in  the  Ducal  Palace. 
Amongst  other  legacies  she  left  50  golden  ducats  to 
poor  prisoners,  and  seven  ducats  to  a  monk  of  the 
Monastery  of  St.  Stephen,  who  came  to  preach  at 
the  Palace,  as  an  acknowledgement  of  the  comfort 
he  had  given  her  mind.  To  Nicholas  Fasolo,  Rector 
of  Santa  Maria  Zobenigo,  she  left  a  velvet  dress  to 
make  a  chasuble  and  three  hundred  ducats  for  a 
chalice,  crosses,  surplices,  and  other  adornments 
needed  by  a  priest.  All  this  Nicholas  Fasolo  was 
entitled  to  enjoy  during  his  lifetime,  and  after  hia 
death  it  was  to  be  consigned  to  the  Monastery  of 
the  Monks  of  St.  Dominic.  Thus  the  dress  worn  by 
the  Dogaressa  at  the  fetes  in  the  Palace  and  on  the 
Piazza  was  transformed  into  a  Church  vestment, 
proving  that  luxury  was  the  homage  offered  to 
power  and  virtue,  and  at  the  same  time  a  manifes- 
tation of  religious  worship.  Another  will  of  the 
Dogaressa  Steno,  still  extant  in  the  legal  archives, 
is  mentioned  by  Cicogna.  It  bears  date  August 
25th,  1420.  The  Doge  Michele,  to  whom  a  very 
fine  mausoleum,  now  destroyed,  was  erected  in  the 
Church  of  Santa  Marina,  had  then  been  dead  seven 
years.  Steno's  e^gj  stood  on  a  marble  urn  sur- 
rounded by  a  large  arch,  richly  carved,  in  the  centre 
of  which  was  a  portrait  in  mosaic  of  the  Dogaressa 


172  THE  DOGAEESSA. 

in  her  widow's  weeds.  Over  the  urn  hung  the 
keys  of  Padua,  taken  from  the  Carraresi  in  1405. 
The  widow  Marina  retired  to  the  convent  attached 
to  the  Church  of  St.  Andrea,  where  she  spent  the 
remainder  of  her  days.  In  her  second  will  she 
gives  directions  for  her  body  to  be  buried  in  nun's 
garments  at  the  Convent  of  St.  Andrea,  to  which 
she  leaves  a  legacy  of  25  ducats.  On  the  sagra  oze 
nel  camjpo  jper  mezo  la  giesia  was  the  tomb,  now  de- 
stroyed, on  which  were  engraven  the  words  : — 

Hie  jacet  corpus  Serenissimje  D.  Marinas  uxoris  Q.  Sereniss. 
et  eccelentiss.  principis  D.  D.  Michaelis  Stenus  inclyti  ducis 
Venetiarum,  quse  obiit  die  4  Mensis  Maij  m.c.c.o.c.xxii. 
Anima  eujus  requiescat  in  paee. 

In  1423  Francesco  Foscari  succeeded  Thomas 
Mocenigo,  and  the  wife  of  the  new  Doge  entered 
the  Palace  in  triumph.  But  amidst  all  the  noisy 
splendour,  the  Dogaressa  Foscari  arouses  in  the 
mind  reverent  pity,  caused  by  ill-starred  virtue. 
On  his  deathbed  Thomas  Mocenigo  advised  the 
patricians  who  stood  around  him  not  to  choose  as 
his  successor  Francesco  Foscari,  for  he  was  an  am- 
bitious man,  who  would  grasp  all  and  lose  all.  Nor 
was  Foscari' s  election  unopposed,  for  some  wished 
Mocenigo's  counsels  to  be  followed,  some  believed 
that  the  youthful  impetuosity  of  the  new  Doge  over- 
ruled his  better  judgment,  and  others  again  urged 
that  he  had  many  children,  that  he  had  married 
again  and  might  have  more,  for  every  year  his  wife 
presented  him  with  a  son.     His  first  consort  was 


MARINA  FOSCARI.  173 

Maria  di  Andrea  Priuli  dal  Banco,  and  his  second 
Marina  ISTani,  and  he  had  four  sons  and  five 
daughters.  Of  the  sons  there  remained  only 
Jacopo,  and  he  brought  much  misfortune  on  him- 
self and  his  family.  The  sad  story  of  the  Foscari 
is  well-known,  and  History,  that  ruthless  destroyer 
of  all  poetical  legends,  has  clearly  proved  the 
fallacy  of  the  traditions  and  romances  collected 
around  the  name  of  the  Doge  Francis  and  his  son 
James.  It  is  now  known  that  Jacopo's  misfortunes 
were  caused  not  by  the  severity  of  the  laws,  but  by 
his  own  levity,  that  the  private  enmities  of  certain 
patricians  were  mere  fables,  as  well  as  the  sugges- 
tion that  the  Doge  died  of  a  broken  heart  on  hearing 
the  bells  of  St.  Mark  announce  the  election  of  his 
successor,  and  it  is  also  false  that  Loredano  had  in- 
scribed in  his  account  books  the  expenses  of  his 
father  and  uncle's  obsequies,  and  kept  them  until 
Francesco  Foscari  paid  them.  The  great  and  un- 
fortunate Doge  ended  his  life  amidst  sad  memories 
and  disappointments  caused  not  so  much  by  the 
wickedness  of  men  as  by  the  fatal  obligations  of 
the  State.  The  Dogaressa  appears  grave  and 
dignified  amidst  the  adventures  and  sorrows  of  the 
Foscari  family.  Though  the  private  lives  of 
Venetian  ladies  of  high  rank  seldom  arrest  our 
attention,  and  we  are  not  allowed  to  search  the 
secrets  of  their  hearts,  though  they  stand,  as  it 
were,  aloof  from  us,  Nani  Foscari  appears  as  a 
living  figure  in   the  pages  of  the  old   chronicler?, 


174  THE  DO  GAR  ESS  A. 

who  describe  with  what  fortitude  she  bore  her  sad 
fate.  Marina  Foscari  suffered  much  during  the 
years  her  husband  reigned,  and  an  expression  of 
resigned  sadness  was  ever  present  on  her  counten- 
ance even  when  listening  to  the  flatteries  of  her 
courtiers.  Other  festivities  followed  her  solemn 
entry.  The  daughter  of  the  Marquis  of  Montferrat, 
who  was  to  marry  John  II.  de  Lusignan,  arrived  in 
Venice,  and  the  patricians  received  her  joyfully 
with  feasts  and  banquets.  The  greatest  patrician 
lady  of  the  Republic,  together  with  124  noble 
ladies,  some  dressed  in  gold  cloth,  brocade,  silk, 
and  others  with  mantles  and  dark  dresses,  went  on 
the  Bucentaur  to  meet  the  royal  lady.  The  State 
ordered  that  the  Dogaressa  should  do  the  honours 
of  the  Palace,  but  the  poor  lady,  trying  to  avoid 
the  joyous  and  boisterous  crowd,  fainted  twice  from 
fatigue  and  was  conveyed  to  the  Palace  in  a  boat. 

On  February  10th,  1441,  Jacopo,  the  Doge's  son, 
a  clever  and  distinguished-looking  youth,  married 
the  daughter  of  Leonardo  Contarini,  of  San  Barnaba. 
A  detailed  description  of  the  cavalcades,  jousts, 
tournaments,  banquets,  and  balls,  which  took  place 
in  honour  of  these  nuptials,  brings  vividly  before  us 
the  men  and  women  of  that  time.  The  Dogaressa 
cordially  welcomed  her  young  and  beautiful  daughter- 
in-law  to  the  Palace ;  she  became  the  pride  of  the 
family,  and  an  ornament  at  the  fetes  of  the  Eepublic. 
At  the  end  of  three  years  James  Foscari  was  accused 
of  having,  contrary  to  law,  received  gifts  from  lords 


MARINA  FOSCARI.  175 

and  commons,  from  governors,  and  lastly  from  Duke 
Philip  of  Milan ;  this  breach  of  faith  was  styled  by  a 
contemporary  chronicler  both  disgraceful  and  in- 
famous. From  that  moment  began  a  long  and 
dreadful  series  of  misfortunes,  which  the  Dogaressa, 
never  forgetting  her  high  position,  bore  without 
showing  anger  or  spite,  for  she  fully  comprehended 
that  in  affairs  of  State,  justice  must  be  preferred  to 
mercy.  But  in  the  retirement  of  her  own  apart- 
ments how  often  must  she,  when  so  terribly  afflicted, 
have  shed  bitter  tears !  Jacopo  Foscari,  who  had 
retired  to  Trieste,  was  tried,  and  having  been  found 
guilty  of  wicked,  abominable,  and  dishonourable 
conduct,  was  sent  into  exile  to  Nauplia.  Before  he 
departed,  the  Dogaressa  begged  the  Doge  to  obtain 
permission  for  her  to  go  to  Trieste  to  bid  her  beloved 
son  farewell,  but  the  Council  of  Ten  coldly  replied, 
"  Quod  Domina  Ducissa  non  vadat^  When  later  he 
was  broken  down  by  a  serious  illness,  he  obtained  per- 
mission to  take  up  his  abode  at  Treviso.  The  Doge 
himself,  rising  in  the  Grand  Council,  "  Oommemoro 
lefatiche  sostenute  in  dogado  per  conservation  de  Stadoy 
et  che  mai  se  havea  sparaguado,  .  ,  ,  et  che  mquesta 
sua  vechiesa  la  concedessero  per  gratia  de  haver  questo 
suo  unico  jilio  ajpresso  de  lui;  et  tanto  de  laehrhne 
et  singulti  se  prorompete,  che  nonpotefinir  la  sua  renga 
et  tolta  licentia  da  gran  conseijopartisse  e  andh  a  caxaJ" 
These  words,  written  by  the  chronicler  Giorgio  Dol- 
fino,  bring  clearly  before  us  the  venerable  face  of  the 
unfortunate  old  man,  who,  in  1447,  spoke  words  so 


176  THE  DOGARESSA. 

toucliiiig  and  grand  in  their  simplicity,  that  no  one 
can  read  them  without  shedding  tears.  The  Doge 
arrived  at  extreme  old  age,  deplored  his  inability  to 
sacrifice  for  his  country  his  worn-out  body,  and  hi& 
mind  enfeebled  by  so  many  great  sorrows,  the 
greatest  of  all  being  that  of  knowing  his  son  to  be 
wandering  about  in  exile  for  three  years.  To  make 
matters  still  worse,  Jacopo,  with  his  wife  and  child, 
having  reached  Mestre,  they  were  all  seized  with  a 
terrible  fever,  which  attacked  the  servants,  the  serv- 
ing-women, and  the  nurse.  The  unhappy  father  at 
last  begged  that,  in  consideration  of  his  great  age, 
they  would  afford  him  the  comfort  of  seeing  his  son 
released  from  banishment,  so  that  his  mind  and  body 
might  be  relieved  from  so  much  sorrow  and  anxiety. 
The  Council  of  Ten,  thinking  that  it  was  necessary 
that  their  Prince  qui  lihero  et  non  occujpate  animo  cum 
tota  mente  serviat  et  intendat  regimini  rei  jpuhlice^  and 
having  come  to  the  conclusion  that  cold  reasons  of 
State  do  not  always  exclude  mercy,  readily  allowed 
Jacopo  to  return  home,  and  he  enjoyed  for  a  short 
time  the  happiness  of  being  once  more  with  his 
family  and  in  his  native  country.  But  in  1451,  he 
was  suspected  of  having  caused  the  death  of  one  of 
the  Chiefs  of  the  Council  of  Ten ;  he  was  arrested, 
tortured,  and  confined  in  the  Island  of  Crete.  Who- 
ever has  diligently  studied  the  State  archives  may, 
with  reason,  doubt  Jacopo  Foscari's  innocence. 

But,  in  spite  of  all  she  suffered,  the  unfortunate 
Dogaressa  was  always  compelled  to  take  part  in  the 


MARINA  FOSCARL  177 

fetes  arranged  by  the  Republic,  which  were  really  an 
artifice  of  the  Grovernment  to  occupy  the  minds  of 
the  people.  In  April,  1444,  the  Marchioness  of 
Ferrara,  daughter  of  the  King  of  Arragon,  was 
received  with  much  pomp  and  ceremony.  She  was 
presented  with  a  jewel  worth  300  ducats,  and  the 
Dogaressa  went  to  meet  her  with  gifts  and  many 
boats,  ganzaruoli^  and  ships  of  war,  and  she  was 
accompanied  to  her  dwelling  near  St.  Giovanni  in 
great  triumph  and  ringing  of  bells.  On  the  21st  of 
April,  the  Marchioness  and  the  Prince  of  Taranto, 
after  having  been  to  the  Arsenal  and  to  Sta.  Maria 
Formosa,  were  joined  by  the  Dogaressa  and  many 
other  ladies  of  rank  in  the  Mercerie,  and  accompanied 
to  the  bridge  of  Rialto.  The  crowd  was  so  great 
that  the  barricades  gave  way,  and  more  than  a 
hundred  persons  fell  into  the  water,  out  of  which 
only  thirty-seven  were^  saved;  this  accident  gave 
rise  to  much  alarm  and  lamentation  in  Venice. 

On  the  21st  of  May,  1452,  the  Emperor  Frederick 
arrived  in  Venice ;  on  the  25th  his  wife  Eleanor  ot' 
Portugal  joined  him.  The  Government  allowed  the 
ladies,  in  spite  of  the  laws,  to  wear  cloth  of  gold, 
and  the  Dogaressa,  with  200  patrician  ladies  in 
golden  garments,  and  adorned  with  jewels,  went  in 
the  Bucentaur,  which  had  been  especially  em- 
bellished with  gold  stuffs,  to  meet  the  young 
Empress,  then  scarcely  fifteen  years  of  age.  "The 
procession  was  so  magnificent,"  writes  Dolfino, 
"that  I  can   scarcely  describe  it;  it  surpassed  the 

N 


178  THE  DOGARESSA. 

Koman  fetes."  "With  what  secret  and  melancholy 
forebodings  concerning  human  greatness  must  not 
the  Dogaressa  have  received  the  young  sovereign  ! 
Two  hundred  and  fifty  ladies  of  the  nobility  were 
present  at  a  feast  given  in  honour  of  the  Em- 
press, who  was  presented  with  a  crimson  coverlet 
adorned  with  pearls  and  precious  stones,  for  the 
cradle  of  the  little  son  that  might  be  born  in  time  to 
come,  and  a  crown  of  gold  worth  2,600  ducats.  A 
few  years  later,  during  his  banishment  in  Crete, 
Jacopo  formed  illegal  friendships  with  the  Turks. 
The  Council  of  Ten  having  been  informed  of  the 
circumstance,  made  him  come  to  Venice,  where  he 
was  unmercifully  tortured  and  punished,  and  then 
sent  back  to  Crete.  Before  leaving  his  country, 
Jacopo,  in  his  prison  at  Torricella,  was  able  to  see 
and  kiss  his  mother,  his  wife,  and  his  children.  The 
poor  mother  could  scarcely  recognise  her  Jacopo  in 
the  feeble  invalid,  lacerated  by  trenta  tratti  di  corda 
hauti  in  piu  zorni,  with  his  beard  prolixa  et  hrutta^ 
and  with  hollow  eyes.  She  felt  ready  to  faint  at 
such  a  sight,  but  the  poor  lady  knew  how  to  check 
and  control  the  tumultuous  anguish  of  her  agitated 
spirits.  The  father  was  also  terribly  affected  when 
he  saw  his  unfortunate  son.  We  can  give  no  descrip- 
tion more  graphic  than  is  written  by  Dolfino  in  the 
following  words  :— "  The  Doge,  his  father,  went  to 
see  him  with  so  much  determination  on  his  face  and 
in  his  language,  that  one  could  scarcely  believe  he 
was   going  to  visit  his  son.    .    .    .  The  son  said, 


MARINA  FOSGARI,  179 

*  Father,  I  beseech  you  to  obtain  permission  for  me 
to  return  home  ! '  to  which  the  Doge  replied,  '  James, 
you  must  obey,  and  not  expect  anything  else.' "  And 
having  taken  leave  of  his  father,  Jacopo  was  trans- 
ported to  Canea.  The  Doge  remaining  in  the  room 
after  his  son's  departure  threw  himself  on  a  couch 
swooning,  and  crying,  "  0,  the  misery  of  it !  "  But 
a  short  time  after  the  news  arrived  from  Candia 
that  Jacopo  Foscari  was  no  more. 

The  Doge  was  then  84  years  of  age,  and  his 
great  age,  as  well  as  his  infirmities  and  mental 
sufferings,  prevented  him  from  attending  to  the 
affairs  of  State.  Cold  State  policy  over-ruled  com- 
passion, and  the  Council  of  Ten  requested  Foscari 
to  relinquish  his  high  position.  On  the  24th  of 
October,  1457,  the  unfortunate  old  man,  leaning  on 
his  wife,  Marina,  who  bore  herself  with  noble  self- 
possession,  quitted,  with  death  at  his  heart,  those 
rooms  which  recalled  so  many  triumphs  as  well  as 
troubles,  and  retired  to  his  home  at  San  Pantaleone. 
On  the  last  day  but  one  of  the  month  of  October 
Pasquale  Malipiero  was  elected  Doge,  and  two  days 
later  Francesco  Foscari  died. 

The  State  decided  to  give  him  a  grand  funeral  at 
the  public  expense.  But  the  widowed  Dogaressa, 
who  possessed  her  husband's  lofty  spirit,  declined 
such  honours,  declaring  them  not  only  useless  but 
an  insult  to  her  sorrow.  She  added  that  it  was  a 
vain  and  tardy  compensation  for  the  little  respect 
they  had  shown  the  Doge  during  his  life-time ;    she 


180  THE  DOGARESSA, 

herself  would  offer  the  last  homage  to  the  Doge,  if 
even  to  do  so  she  were  forced  to  sell  her  dowry. 
Such  words  were  very  bold  in  those  days,  when  the 
smallest  offence  offered  to  the  State  was  sure  to  be 
punished  severely.  But,  alas  !  all  the  Dogaressa's 
display  of  rancour  proved  of  no  avail,  for  the 
Governors  of  the  Republic  carried  the  body  away 
by  force  from  the  widow,  believing  that  all  the 
wrong  done  to  Foscari  would  be  effaced  by  solemn 
obsequies. 

Nine  times  were  the  bells  of  St.  Mark  made  to 
toll,  and  the  patrician  Justinian  exclaimed  in  the 
name  of  the  Republic,  on  the  bier  of  Foscari : 
"  Viduata  tali  primvpe  civitas,  orhata  parente  patria.*^ 
We  must  say  that  hypocrisy  seems  to  be  necessary 
in  the  Government  of  even  the  best  States.  The 
life  of  Pasquale  Malipiero's  wife  (1457-1462)  passed 
happily  amidst  honour  and  flattery.  A  few  days 
before  Malipiero's  election,  a  decree  of  the  Grand 
Council  had  ratified  the  custom  which  obliged  the 
Dogaressa  to  put  on  the  Ducal  mantle  and  to  be 
accompanied,  digne  ac  honorifice,  every  time  she 
left  the  Palace.  On  January  26th,  1457,  Johanna 
Dandolo  Malipiero  was  received  in  the  Palace  with 
great  festivities,  and  invited  the  guilds  to  a  grand 
banquet.  In  order  to  show  every  respect  to  the 
Dogaressa,  it  was  arranged  that  at  public  fetes  on 
the  Piazza  or  in  the  Palace  she  and  her  ladies 
should  have  places  on  proper  stands  sumptuously 
decorated  for  the  occasion,  and  the  Council  of  Ten, 


GIOVANNA  MALIPIERO,  181 

by  a  decree  of  May  17th,  1458,  threatened  anybody 
who  entered  those  stands  aofainst  the  orders  of  the 
Signori  di  Notte  with  pecuniary  fines  and  even  incar- 
ceration. The  eccentric  tale- writer  Palazzi,  so  often 
quoted,  says  that  Johanna  Malipiero  was  "  a  prin- 
cess of  much  spirit,  and  possessed  a  private  fortune, 
and  that  she  was  much  envied  because  the  first 
book  ever  printed  in  Venice  was  dedicated  to  her." 
The  name  of  every  patrician  lady  praised  by 
Palazzi  corresponded,  as  was  customary  in  the  l7th 
century,  to  a  playing  card.  The  knave  of  spades 
goes  with  the  panegyric  of  the  Dogaressa  Dandolo 
Malipiero,  and  at  the  top  of  the  engraving,  repre- 
senting a  printing-office,  is  the  following  inscrip- 
tion :  "  The  art  of  printing  introduced  into  Venice 
by  the  Dogaressa  Dandolo  Malipiero."  A  certain 
writer  of  the  17th  century  did  not  reason,  he 
invented  wild  tales,  and  truth  was  not  only  pro- 
scribed by  art,  but  also  by  history.  Hence,  Palazzi's 
assertions  have  no  historical  value,  especially  when 
we  remember  that  the  first  book  printed  in  Venice 
by  Giovanni  Spira,  in  1469,  Epistole  Familiari  by 
Cicero,  bears  neither  dedication  much  less  any 
mention  of  the  Dogaressa  Malipiero.  She  probably 
patronized  a  style  of  industry  more  suited  to  a 
woman's  taste,  that  of  lace-making.  Those  marvels 
of  art  and  industry,  in  which  the  needle  follows  the 
pencil,  and  the  spindle  wanders  at  will,  amidst  the 
most  whimsical  designs,  received,  according  to 
Rossi,  a  very  strong  stimulus  from  the  Dogaressa 


182  THE  DOGARESSA. 

Malipiero.  No  documents  make  mention  of  tlie 
noble  patronage,  and  yet  Rossi,  a  confused  but  not 
untruthful  compiler  of  his  country's  records,  must 
have  read  a  notice  of  it  in  some  old  manuscript, 
which  has  since  been  lost.  Lazari,  quoting  E/Ossi's 
words,  remarks  that  Johanna  was  a  noble  lady 
worthy  of  honourable  mention,  because  she  greatly 
encouraged  lace-making  in  Venice,  and  caused  it  to 
become  prosperous.  It  seems  only  natural  that  a 
woman  should  have  been  the  first  to  promote  the 
art  of  making  these  valuable  and  fanciful  designs, 
which  have  always  remained,  amidst  the  varying 
caprices  of  fashion,  the  type  of  the  beautiful,  and 
of  elegant  adornment  without  vulgar  display. 
Other  patrician  ladies  imitated  Johanna  Malipiero, 
and  even  in  the  titles  of  the  books  which  taught 
the  art  of  lace-making  there  was  a  mixture  of  art 
and  fashion. 

Here,  for  instance,  is  the  title  given  in  1529  by 
Nicolo  d^Aristotele,  called  Zoppino,  to  his  book,  ''  An 
exemplar  of  work  by  which  little  girls  and  other 
noble  ladies  can  easily  learn  the  rules  and  style 
for  working,  sewing,  &c.'* 

And  in  1537  the  same  Zoppino  publishes  "  General 
rules  of  Ancient  and  Modern  Work,  in  which  people 
of  talent  will  be  able  in  our  time  to  use  the  needle 
with  dexterity." 

Another  work  printed  1540  by  Mathio  'Pagan  in 
frezzeria  bears  a  still  more  remarkable  title  :  "  Uho- 
nesto  esempio  del  virtuoso  desiderio  che  hanno  le  donne 


GIOVANNA  MALIPIERO.  183 

di  nohil  ingegno  circa  lo  imparere  i  jpunti  tagliati  a 
jioramV  \  and  I  might  mention  many  more.  The 
Dogaressa,  who  is  supposed  to  have  encouraged  lace- 
making,  was  buried  in  the  Church  dei  Santi  Gio- 
vanni  e  Paolo.  The  portrait  of  Johanna  Malipiero 
has  been  handed  down  to  us  on  a  large  medal  which 
has  on  one  side  the  head  of  Pasquale  Malipiero,  and 
on  the  other  that  of  Johanna,  with  these  words  : 
''Indite  Johanne  Alme — TJrbis  Venetiar  Ducise,^'  A 
large  cap  adorns  the  head  of  the  Dogaressa ;  she  is 
old,  her  face  is  lean,  her  cheeks  hollow,  her  forehead 
high,  and  her  eyes  sunken.  This  medal,  of  fine 
workmanship,  has  been  attributed  until  lately  to 
Guidizzano,  but  it  is  in  reality  the  work  of  a  power- 
ful and  unknown  artist  of  the  15th  century.  There 
exists  in  the  museum  at  Berlin  a  medal  of  the  same 
kind  with  the  identical  portrait  of  Johanna  Mali- 
piero, but  instead  of  the  effigy  of  the  Doge  Pasquale 
are  two  women  standing,  and  around  it  the  words  : 
**  Vincit  Jionia  bona  volontas  ;  "  and  underneath, 
"  Opjbs.  Petrus.  D.  Domo.  Fani,'^  The  medal  in  the 
museum  at  Venice  must  also  be  the  work  of  Maestro 
Pi'etro. 

It  is  recorded  of  the  wife  of  Cristoforo  Moro,  who 
in  1462  followed  Pasquale  Malipiero  as  Doge,  that 
she  was  most  amiable  and  very  good  to  the  poor. 
Her  name  was  Christine,  daughter  of  Leonardo 
Sanudo,  wife  of  Moro,  and  related  to  the  celebrated 
Marin  Sanudo,  who  wrote  :  **  The  Dogaressa  was 
sister  of  my  father's  father."     She  was  conducted  to 


184  THE  DOG  ARES  S  A. 

the  Palace  with  the  usual  pomp,  accompanied  by 
pitriciaus  and  matrons  on  the  Bucentaur  amidst 
the  ringing  of  bells  and  the  joyful  cries  of  the 
people.  "  Solvit  navis  Bucentaurus,^*  wrote  the  old 
chroniclers,  *^  et  jpalatium  versum  cursum  tenuit,  pre- 
cedentibiis,  suhsequentibus  hurchis  et  barchis  artificumy 
cum  vex  illis  suis  aureis  singulari  applausee populi\^ 
At  the  coronation -fetes  of  Cristoforo  More,  the 
Dogaressa,  with  her  maids  of  honour,  appeared  on 
the  stand  prepared  especially  for  her,  and  on  that 
occasion  the  Senate  renewed  the  decree  forbidding 
any  noble  to  enter  there,  under  pain  of  being  kept 
away  for  six  months  from  the  Grand  Council, 
besides  having  to  pay  a  fine  of  twenty-five  pounds. 
Sanudo  again  mentions  the  Dogaressa  Christine  in 
his  will  of  September  4th,  1533,  in  the  deeds  of 
Girolamo  Canale.  Marino  left  to  the  Church  of  San 
Sebastiano  a  noble  relic,  a  bone  of  St.  Sebas- 
tian's, with  these  words  :  "  Item  lasso  a  la  Ckiexia 
di  M.  San  Sebastiano  mea  dignissima  reliquia 
chb  e  un  osso  de  Miss  San  Sebastiano,  qual  havi'a  la 
dogaressa  da  cha  Mora  fo  da  cha  Sanudo,  et  la  caxa 
nostra  sernpre  e  sta  preservada  di  peste  e  nan  ge 
lavendo  data  in  vita  voio  el  ge  sia  dato  perche  euss 
feci  vodo  in  la  mia  malattia  di  darglielo ;  a  la  qual 
prego  le  sia  fatto  me  bel  Tabernacolo.'* 

Marino's  character  shows  itself  in  these  simple 
words,  and  we  see  besides  the  piety  of  the  Dogaressa 
Christine,  who,  by  her  will  of  January  14th,  1471, 
endowed  the  monastery  of  San  Giobbe  with  a  per- 


DEA  TRON.  185 

petual  chaplaincy,  so  that  prayers  might  be  said  for 
the  souls  of  her  father,  her  mother,  and  her 
brothers, 

Christopher  Moro  died,  and  Nicholas  Trono  was 
elected  Doge  on  November  23rd,  1471.  He  was 
rich  and  munificent ;  he  had  lived  for  fifteen  years  at 
Rhodes,  accumulating  60,000  ducats  in  ready  money, 
besides  20,000  ducats  in  merchandise  and  landed 
property.  This  big,  ugly,  and  spluttering  man  had 
married  Dea  Morosini,  a  woman  of  extraordinary 
beauty.  The  Doge  wished  to  celebrate  his  election 
by  magnificent  fetes,  and  he  also  a  gave  public 
banquet  to  the  Arti,  when  the  Dogaressa,  wearing 
a  gold  mantle,  was  conveyed  from  her  house  of  San 
Silvestro  to  make  her  triumphal  entry  into  the- 
Palace  with  the  usual  solemnity,  accompanied  on 
the  Buceniaur  by  the  Councillors  and  by  a  number 
of  patricians.  Mensce  erant  dispositce  pro  celeberrimo 
et  solemni  ejpulo — as  is  said  in  the  account  of  the 
<5eremonies  of  that  year.  Palazzi,  in  his  usual  exag- 
gerated way,  wrote  that  the  words  piety  and  beauty 
corresponded  with  the  Princess's  name,  and  that 
Dea  was  not  a  name,  but  a  sobriquet,  for  she  was 
the  Venus  of  that  century.  According  to  some  manu- 
script diaries,  this  Princess  used  to  say  jokingly 
about  her  name,  Bea  se  a  Bio,  and  that  the  Doge 
declared  that  he  owed  his  good  fortune  to  the 
prayers  and  pious  life  of  his  wife.  One  of  the  usual 
:flatterers  of  patrician  families  praises  the  Dogaressa 
for  her  rare  modesty,  and  calls  her  a  Bea,  which  is 


186  THE  DOGARESSA. 

in  truth  only  an  abbreviation  of  the  name  Alidea  or 
Aliodea,  However,  her  modesty  is  proved  by  her 
wish  not  to  be  buried  in  the  superb  mausoleum 
which  her  husband  erected  in  the  Church  dei  Frariy 
but  to  have  a  simple  tomb  in  the  monastery  of  St. 
Job.  The  following  inscription  was  placed  on  the 
gravestone  : — 

DeaB  rariRS  Mulieris  illustriss  Dom.  Nicolai  Throni  inclyti  Ducis 
Venetiarum  conjugis,  humili  hoc  in  loco  corpus  jussu  suo  conditinm 
est,  animam  vero  ejus  propter  vit^e  virtutena  et  morum  sancti- 
tatem,  ad  cselestem  patriam  advolasse  credendurn  est. 

Ann.  Salutis  mc.c.c.c.lxxviii. 

Some  Veronese  historians  have  assigned  to 
Nicholas  Trono,  old  and  deformed  when  the 
husband  of  the  beautiful  Morosini,  a  second  wife, 
Laura  Nogarolo,  a  woman  not  only  of  extraordinary 
piety,  but  most  intellectual,  very  well  read,  es- 
pecially in  matters  of  religion,  and  the  writer  of 
many  clever  articles.  So  affirm,  amongst  others, 
Corte,  Torresani,  and  Maffei.  Torresani,  repeating 
that  Laura,  daughter  of  Leonardo  Nogarolo,  and 
sister  of  the  famous  Isotta,  was  the  wife  of  the  Doge 
Tron,  wrote  — 

Laura  wife 

1st  of  Christopher  Peregrini, 

2ndly  of  Nicolai  Trono. 

But  Nicholas  Trono  married  in  1424  Dea  Moro- 
sini, who  was  crowned  Dogaressa,  and  survived  her 
husband.  Hence  the  Veronese  historians  must 
have  been  drawn  into  error  by  the  marriage  of 
some  homonym  of  the  Doge's.     It  is  added  that  in 


THE  WIFE  OF  NICOLO  MARCELLO.  187 

1471,  Christoplier  Pellegrini,  tlie  husband  of  Laura 
Nogarolo,  was  ambassador  in  Venice  to  Nicholas 
Trono. 

Nicholas  Marcel lo  was  elected  after  Trono  in 
1473.  He  lived  only  a  year,  and  had  for  his  first 
wife  Bianca  Barbarigo,  and  for  his  second  a  Con- 
tarini,  the  widow  of  Francis  Mocenigo.  In  his 
will,  dated  July  24th,  1473,  Nicholas  Marcello 
wrote  — 

"  Gontarina  mia  diletta  consorte,  sia  in  carta  di  dote 
ducati  1800  d'aro^  zoe  millotto  cento,  la  quale  mi  dette 
ducati  200  d'oro  et  cussi  voio  che  ge  hahhia  ducati 
2,000  d^oro,  et  ajpjpresso  i  lasso  tutte  veste,  manti  et 
vestidure  et  altre  cosse  fo  per  so  uxo  come  le  stanno,  et 
oltra  i  lasso  el  mio  pro  dHmprestedi  paga  di  marzo  et 
setembrio  1457  et  marzo  et  setembrio  1459  fino 
Vultimo  pro  me  attrova  a  ditta  Camera,^^  &c.,  &c. 

Nicolo  finished  his  will  by  recommending  princi- 
pally to  his  executors  : — "  Primo  Vanema  mia  et  poi  la 
Gontarina  mia  diletta  consorte,  la  quale  voio  che  sia 
contentada  konestamente  da  quelle  cose,  Vhara  a  tuor 
per  sua  uxo,  zoe  di  foriurgJie  la  caxa  de  Madonna  Santa 
Marina,  che  V  haver  a  ad  habit  are  in  vita  soa  tanto, 
et  occorendo  che  la  non  potesse  aver,  non  volesse 
habitarla,  voio  la  ne  posi  trare  uxofuetto  de  esa  in 
affittarla  a  suo  beneplazito,  senza  alguna  condizione, 
zoe  in  vita  soa  tanto,  a  la  quale  Vanima  mia  le  raco- 
mandoJ* 

In  1474  the  Dogeship  came  to  Peter  Mocenigo, 
married  in  1429  to   Laura,  daughter  of  Giovanni 


188  THE  DOGARESSA. 

Zorzi.  A  correction  of  the  Fromission  of  Mocenigo 
provided  that  the  Doge,  being  dead,  his  family  must 
at  the  end  of  three  days  leave  the  Ducal  Palace. 
Andrea  Yendrarnino  succeeded  in  1476,  and  he  re- 
peated the  promise  that  neither  the  Dogaressa  nor 
his  children  should  ever  aspire  to  be  elected  even  to 
the  insignificant  posts  of  registrar,  house-steward, 
and  such-like,  important  places  being,  of  course, 
quite  out  of  the  question.  Regina  Gradenigo,  wife  of 
Yendramino,  was  not  crowned,  but  made  her  solemn 
entry  into  the  Palace. 

Giovanni  Mocenigo,  brother  of  the  former  Doge 
Peter,  succeeded  Yendramino  in  1478.  Taddea 
Michele,  wife  of  the  Doge  Giovanni,  enjoyed  for  only 
a  little  more  than  a  year  the  splendour  of  her  position 
in  the  gilded  halls  of  the  Palace,  where  nothing  was 
wanting  to  the  princely  luxury  required  in  those 
times,  not  even  a  menagerie  of  choice  animals. 
Taddea  died  of  the  plague  on  October  23rd,  1479, 
and  was  the  first  Dogaressa  who  preceded  her  hus- 
band to  the  grave.  "Wishing  to  keep  the  demise  of 
the  Dogaressa  a  secret  from  the  Doge,  who  was 
seriously  ill  at  the  time,  they  did  not  even  toll  the 
bells.  But  the  novelty  of  the  occurrence  and  the 
sad  state  of  the  town,  then  decimated  by  the 
plague,  did  not  prevent  the  Republic  from  display- 
ing at  the  Dogaressa' s  funeral  the  pomp  suitable 
for  a  prince's  consort.  The  statue  of  the  deceased 
was  exposed  in  the  Hall  del  Piovego,  and  the  body 
was  placed  in  the  Church  of  St,  Geminiano^  adorned 


LUCIA  BARBARIGO.  im 

with  a  gold  mantle  and  the  Ducal  coif.  The  next 
day  the  corpse  was  transported  into  the  Church  of 
StL  Giovanni  e  Paolo,  where  was  prepared  the  canopy 
always  used  at  the  obsequies  of  the  Doge,  and  where 
a  hundred  sailors  stood  around  the  catafalque.  The 
body  was  accompanied  by  the  clergy  and  all  the  reli- 
gious orders,  by  the  congregations,  the  Chapters  from 
St.  Peter  and  St.  Mark,  the  five  schools  dei  Battudiy 
three  orders  of  the  Finzocchere,  the  Signoria,  the  am- 
bassadors, and  the  nobility.  The  funeral  was  similar 
to  those  of  the  Doges,  except,  wrote  Malipiero,  that 
only  twenty  patricians  watched  over  and  accom- 
panied the  body,  and  the  Doge's  shield  was  not 
carried  in  the  procession. 

Lucia  Ruzzini,  on  the  contrary,  a  beautiful  and 
clever  woman,  survived  her  husband,  Mark  Bar- 
barigo,  for  many  years.  Marino  Sanudo,  not  given 
to  flattery,  said  that  she  was  a  talented  woman 
{donna  da  assai). 

One  day  Doge  Marco  quarrelled  with  his  brother 
Agostino,  and  grew  so  irritated  that  he  fell  dan- 
gerously ill  from  it.  Feeling  his  end  approaching, 
he  summoned  his  four  sons  to  his  bedside.  He 
repeated  to  them  the  duties  of  a  citizen  towards  his 
country,  kissed  and  blessed  them,  and  expired  soon 
after.  The  Dogaressa  was  ill  at  the  time,  and  only 
on  her  recovery  did  she  hear  of  her  husband's  death. 
She  lived  until  the  30th  of  July,  1496,  and  a  fort- 
night before  her  demise  she  made  her  will,  and 
desired  to  be  buried  in  the  Church  of  Santa  Maria 


190  THE  DOGAEESSA. 

della  Garitay  where  tlie  remains  of  the  Doge  had 
been  laid,  oltm  vin  mei.  She  left  to  her  sister 
Margherita,  abbess  of  the  hospital  of  Ogm'ssanti,  in 
Murano,  five  ducats  and  one  of  her  new  silk  dresses, 
and  to  her  two  daughters,  who  were  nuns,  she 
bequeathed  another  dress  with  a  large  cape.  And 
lastly  the  Dogaressa  desired  that  a  Circassian  slave, 
called  Maddalena,  after  having  served  her  sons  for 
seven  more  years,  should  be  liberated  et  franca  ah 
omni  vinculo  sermtutis.  As  the  death  of  his  wife 
had  been  kept  a  secret  from  the  Doge  Peter 
Mocenigo  when  he  was  ill,  so  the  decease  of  her 
husband  was  concealed  from  Lucia  Barbarigo. 
These  facts  tend  to  prove  there  was  no  intimate  or 
daily  intercourse  between  the  Doge  and  his  wife. 
This  resulted  no  doubt  from  the  exigencies  of  State 
ceremonies,  or  rather  the  chief  men  in  the  Govern- 
ment desired  that  the  Prince  should  be  separated  as 
much  as  possible  from  his  relations  to  prevent  all 
family  influence. 

The  Doge  Agostino  Barbarigo  died  in  the  first 
year  of  the  16th  century,  and  he  was  succeeded  by 
his  brother  Mark,  who  had  married  a  lady  of  the 
Soranzo  family. 


ri 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

Excessive  Lttxuet  of  the  Sixteenth  Century — Solemn 
Coronation  of  Zilia  Priuli — Laws  respecting  the 
Suite   and   Court  of   the    Dogaressa — The   Doga- 

RESSA    LOREDANO     MoCENIGO HeR      ObSEQUIES ThE 

Widow  of  the  Doge  Sebastian  Veniero. 

In  the  sixteenth  century  a  luxury  surpassing  all 
bounds  was  encouraged  by  servility,  and  betokened 
the  decline  of  Yenice.  The  love  of  show  caused  the 
Venetians  to  neglect  moral  worth,  and  beauty  was 
placed  on  a  par  with  genius,  whilst  they  thought  of 
nothing  but  vanity  and  pleasure.  The  Republic 
hid  this  corruption  beneath  a  golden  cloak  of 
banquets,  finery,  and  ceremonies.  Thus,  if  the 
mind  is  saddened  at  the  sight  of  a  great  nation 
losing  little  by  little  all  its  power,  it  is  at  the  same 
time  dazzled  by  the  brilliancy  of  the  feasts,  the 
elegance  of  the  costumes,  and  the  refinement  of 
manners.  The  patriot  laments,  but  the  artist 
admires. 

During  the  Dogeship  of  Leonardo  Loredano,  which 


192  THE  DOG  ARE  SS  A. 

occupied  the  first  twenty  years  of  the  16th  century ^ 
good  fortune  seemed  to  have  forsaken  Venice 
in  her  struggle  with  the  other  European  nations^ 
who  for  a  time  united  against  her.  The  Republic, 
however,  thanks  to  the  wisdom  of  her  statesmen, 
escaped  gloriously  from  her  dangerous  position ; 
but  sacrificesjjhad  to  be  made,  and  Venice  lost  some 
of  her  former  energy.  She  recovered  her  pro- 
vinces, but  she  had  to  use  all  her  skill  in  concealing 
from  the  scrutinizing  and  envious  eyes  of  foreigners 
the  incurable  wounds  she  had  received ;  she  was 
too  proud  to  let  them  perceive  her  calamities,  and 
she  sought  forgetfulness  in  dissipation.  The 
Governors  kept  careful  watch  in  the  halls  of  the 
Palace,  and  often  laments  for  the  past  and  sad  fore- 
bodings for  the  future  filled  their  minds  ;  but  when 
a  foreign  Prince  arrived  in  the  Lagoons,  or  a  Doge 
was  elected,  or  a  Dogaressa  made  her  triumphal 
entry,  then  the  grave  magistrates  sought  to  prove 
to  the  people  and  to  strangers  by  the  magnificence 
of  her  f^tes  and  the  sumptuousness  of  her  banquets 
how  great  Venice  still  was.  "  These  grand  dis- 
plays," says  a  decree,  "  happen  often,  and  are 
admired  by  all  those  who  flock  to  this  city,  and  are 
then  mentioned  in  the  various  kingdoms,  princi- 
palities, and  noblemen's  houses  throughout  the 
world."  The  same  idea  induced  the  Government 
to  surround  their  representatives  at  foreign  Courts 
with  great  splendour.  The  appearance  of  Venice 
at  that  time  is  aptly  reproduced  in  Paul  Veronese's 


CORONATION  OF  ZILIA  PRIULI.  193 

pictures  (Gene),  where,  in  spacious  galleries,  the 
patricians  invite  Kings  to  their  sumptuous  ban- 
quets. But  in  that  century  the  quiet  enjoyment 
of  the  Quattro-cento  had  made  way  for  noisy 
merry-making.  In  the  former  was  displayed  a 
simple  and  gracious  hospitality ;  in  the  ceremonies 
of  the  Cinquecento  we  notice  an  exaggerated  osten- 
tation and  a  superfluity  of  refinement. 

The  triumph  (Venetian  festivals  were  always 
called  triumphs)  held  at  the  coronation  of  Zilia 
Dandolo,  wife  of  the  Doge  Lorenzo  Priuli,  was 
most  remarkable.  The  Sigaory  and  at  least  60 
Senators,  among  whom  was  the  knight  John 
Cappello,  in  a  gold  mantle,  because  he  was  the 
father  of  a  son-in-law  of  the  Prince's,  having 
assembled  on  the  18th  of  September,  1557,  in  the 
Hall  of  the  Doge,  descended  with  great  pomp  and 
according  to  ancient  custom  from  the  Ducal  Palace 
and  proceeded  towards  the  Piazza  di  San  Marco, 
Having  approached  the  Campanile,  where,  on  a 
small  terrace,  the  Ambassadors  of  the  Emperor  and 
of  the  Dukes  of  Savoy  and  Urbino  were  seated, 
they  passed  on  to  the  Beccheria.  Here  the  Com- 
pany of  butchers  had  erected  a  large  triumphal 
arch,  with  handsome  festoons,  in  the  middle  of 
which  was  placed  a  model  of  St.  Mark,  and  above  a 
balustrade  with  mock  columns,  over  which  waved 
two  large  banners.  Two  large  knives,  ensigns  of 
the  trade,  were  painted  at  each  end,  and  above 
these  the  coat  of  arms  of  the  Doge  and  Dogaressa. 

o 


194  THE  DOGARESSA. 

Upon  the  outside  of  the  pillars  of  the  arch,  covered 
with  cloth,  and  painted  with  variegated  decorations, 
were  represented  the  four  cardinal  virtues,  and  on 
the  inside  were  depicted  four  giants,  holding  swords 
and  shields  in  their  hands.  Spoils  and  trophies 
surmounted  the  arch  and  columns,  with  the  device, 
"  Long  live  St.  Mark,"  and  in  the  middle  on  a  solid 
flooring  of  pinewood  was  placed  a  table  covered 
with  a  very  handsome  cloth.  The  procession 
passed  without  stopping  beneath  the  arch,  and 
arriving  at  the  landing-place  on  the  Lagoon  went 
on  board  the  Bucentaur^  and  proceeding  by  the 
Grand  Canal  paused  at  St.  Barnabas,  on  the 
shores  of  the  Palace  of  Girolamo  Priuli,  the 
proctor  of  St.  Mark  and  brother  of  the  Doge. 
The  fine  Palace  looked  quite  splendid  when 
adorned  with  the  costly  gold  and  silk  hangings. 
The  Dogaressa  advanced  to  meet  the  Signory 
and  the  Senators,  between  a  double  row  of  ladies. 
Zilia  Priuli  wore  the  Ducal  mantle  of  cloth  of 
gold,  a  bodice  of  the  same  with  wide  sleeves,  and 
a  brocaded  petticoat ;  she  had  high  wooden  shoes, 
and  on  her  head  a  pure  white  Cretan  veil,  which, 
fastened  by  a  cap  like  the  Doge's,  descended  over  her 
shoulders.  The  salutations  and  greetings  over,  the 
Dogaressa  and  her  son  swore  solemnly  to  observe 
the  usual  laws,  and  then,  according  to  ancient 
custom,  distributed  purses  of  gold  thread  to  each 
of  the  Councillors  and  to  the  High  Chancellor.  At 
that  moment  commenced  a  regatta  oijisolere  (a  kind 


CORONATION  OF  ZILIA  PRIULI,  195 

of  long  narrow  boat),  which  started  from  the  Church 
of  San    Antonio  at     Castello,    ^ind    terminated  at 
a  bend  of  the  Grand  Canal.     During  the  regatta  the 
canal  was  studded   with  skiffs,  nicely  fitted  up,  in 
which  the  various  guilds  danced  to  the  music  of  the 
fifers,  that  of  the  goldsmiths  excelling  the  rest  in 
elegance ;   it   was    followed    by  fourteen   gondolas 
covered  with  crimson  damask.     The  shores  of  the 
landing-place  at    St.    Mark   were  guarded  by  one 
hundred  German  halberdiers,   in  the  service  of  the 
Republic.     From  various  sides  there  arrived  in  front 
of  the  butchers'  triumphal  arch  the  chiefs  of  the  Arti, 
who,  with  long  suites  of  followers,  went  to  join  those 
who  had  descended  from  the  boats.     Then  all  the 
guilds,   with  banners    flying,   and  to  the  sound  of 
drums  and   trumpets,  passed  under  the  arch,  pre- 
ceded by    the    mace-bearers    and   by  the   Masters 
dressed  in  velvet,  in  damask,  and  in  satin.     The 
Bucentaur,  in    which    sat  the  Princess    upon   the 
Ducal  throne,  approached  the  landing-place  at  St. 
Mark,  amidst  the  noise  of  artillery  and  to  the  sound 
of  bells  and  music.     There  was  a  confusion  of  ring- 
ing, screams,  and  uproar.     Scarcely  had  the  Doga- 
ressa  alighted  on  the  bridge  near  the  butchers'  arch, 
than  the  Doge's  equerries  appeared,  and  placed  them- 
selves at  the  head   of  the  loug  retinue,  preceded  by 
trumpeters    with    silver   trumpets.      Behind   them 
came,  two  and  two,  235  young  ladies,  dressed  in 
satin,  damask,  and  white  watered  silk,  ornamented 
with  enormous  pearls  of    wonderful  beauty,    with 


196  THE  DOGARESSA. 

collars  of  various  shapes,  studded  with  pearls  and 
gems  of  immense  value.  Amongst  these  patrician 
ladies  the  most  remarkable  were  six  brides,  with 
their  hair,  interwoven  with  gold  thread,  hanging 
loose  on  their  shoulders.  Then  followed  twenty- 
one  matrons,  dressed  in  black,  with  veils  on  their 
heads.  And  last  came  the  wife  of  Vittorio  Grimani, 
the  Procurator  of  St.  Mark,  wearing  a  dress  of 
black  satin  and  ducal  sleeves.  After  her  walked  the 
Chancellor's  secretaries  and  the  two  sons-in-law  of 
the  Prince,  holding  between  them  his  son  dressed  in 
Ducal  costume.  The  Doge's  two  daughters,  clad  in 
white  velvet  embroidered  in  gold,  followed  alone ; 
one  was  the  wife  of  Antonio  Morosini  an  d  the  other 
of  Pietro  Cappello. 

Then  came  the  Princess,  sheltered  by  an  enormous 
parasol,  and  dressed  in  cloth  of  gold,  accompanied 
by  three  equerries,  one  supporting  her  hand  and  the 
two  others  holding  her  train  ;  beside  her  walked  two 
Councillors,  Antonio  Giustiniano  and  Marco  Cen- 
tanni ;  behind  her  came  her  brother  Matteo  Dandolo, 
in  a  knight's  dress  of  gold  cloth.  On  the  right  of 
the  Senators  marched  all  the  other  relations  of  the 
Princess.  Thus  they  arrived  at  the  principal  door 
of  the  Church  of  St.  Mark,  closed  at  the  time  to 
avoid  the  press  of  the  crowd.  When  the  Dogaressa 
arrived  they  were  opened  again  ;  the  gentlewomen 
belonging  to  the  procession,  with  the  rest  seated  in 
the  porch,  entered  the  church.  The  canons  advanced 
to  meet  the  Princess,  and  gave  her  a  relic  to  kiss. 


CORONATION  OF  ZILIA  PRIULI.  197 

Conducted  by  them,  singing  the  Te  Deum,  to  the 
Grand  Altar,  the  Dogaressa  presented  to  the  Canons 
a  purse  containing  a  hundred  ducats.  After  saying 
some  more  prayers  they  presented  the  missal  to 
her,  upon  which  she  pronounced  some  more  promises, 
and  the  Doge's  knight  said  something  which  was* 
inaudible  because  of  the  noise  made  by  the  crowd. 
Having  risen  from  the  altar,  the  Dogaressa  Priuli 
left  the  church  with  her  cortege,  and  ascending  the 
Foscari  staircase,  they  all  went  towards  the  apart- 
ments which  the  magistrates  of  the  Arti  had  assigned 
to  each  guild.  The  Company  of  Barbers  had  pre- 
pared, in  a  passage  near  the  ufi£:io  delle  Acque,  a 
table  covered  with  a  splendid  cloth,  with  seats  all 
round,  and  the  Dogaressa  visited  it  first,  and  the 
steward  or  manager  of  the  Arte  came  forward  to 
receive  her,  saying,  "  Welcome,  your  Highness;  we 
barbers,  your  faithful  subjects,  rejoice  with  you,  and 
we  pray  you  to  condescend  to  eat  with  us  !  " 

And  he  waved  his  hand  towards  the  repast,  com- 
posed of  various  viands  and  wines  which  had  been 
sent  early  in  the  morning  by  the  Prince  to  every 
guild.  The  Dogaressa  replied  to  the  invitation, 
"  We  are  happy  to  see  you,  and  we  are  much  obliged, 
but  we  do  not  need  any  refreshment,  as  we  are  some- 
what fatigued.  We  will  accept  your  hospitality 
another  time,  for  now  we  must  proceed  to  visit  the 
other  guilds  I " 

The  barbers  then  added,  "  Pray,  your  Highness, 
look  upon  us  as  your  devoted  subjects  I " 


198  THE  DOGARESSA, 

After  pausing  to  look  at  the  decorations,  she 
added,  smiling  pleasantly,  "  We  will  do  so  !  " 

She  then  went  on  her  way,  and  was  received  by 
the  Goldsmiths'  Company  with  the  same  ceremonies. 
To  this  Arte  was  ceded  a  room  placed  between  that 
of  the  Barbers.  They  adorned  one  wall  with  some 
very  fine  hangings,  divided  into  squares  by  trim- 
mings of  various  colours ;  on  the  walls  opposite  were 
placed  handsome  sideboards  covered  with  plate  and 
other  ornaments  all  of  solid  gold  and  silver. 

The  Dogaressa  and  her  suite,  having  passed 
through  the  gallery,  which  was  shared  by  the  two 
guilds  above-mentioned,  entered  a  long  corridor 
fronting  the  piazza,  and  perceived  that  it  was  covered 
from  end  to  end  with  an  immense  sky-blue  cloth, 
dotted  with  gold  stars  and  embellished  inside  and 
out  with  the  finest  tapestry  and  the  most  beautiful 
carpets.  The  four  columns  in  front  of  the  ofiice 
dei  Signori  di  notte  at  Criminale  were  enveloped  in 
crimson  damask;  26  standards  floated  over  the 
parapets,  with  12  coloured  banners.  Each  window 
recess  was  adorned  with  a  garland  surrounding  the 
crest  of  the  Dogaressa's  family.  To  each  guild  was 
attached  a  violin  and  fife  band.  The  Princess  then 
proceeded  along  the  corridor  on  the  left,  where  was 
situated  the  office  dei  guidici  di  Fetizion^  and  she 
was  met  there  by  the  Company  of  Tailors.  These 
had  embellished  the  corner  of  the  corridor  with 
handsome  tapestry,  and  covered  the  walls  with 
crimson    velvet,    picked    out    with  gold,    and   the 


CORONATION  OF  ZILIA  PRIULI.  199 

ceiling  with  scarlet  cloth,  embossed  with  yellow 
cloth,  brocaded  with  flowers  and  foliage,  and  in  the 
middle  were  placed  two  coats  ot  arms.  A  few 
steps  further  on,  in  the  office  del  guidici  del 
Esaminatore,  the  Company  of  Shoemakers  adorned 
the  room  with  choice  figured  tapestries,  and  covered 
the  ceiling  with  cloth  decorated  with  painted  roses 
of  a  large  size  and  edged  with  gold.  Festoons  of 
ornaments,  Damascus  carpets,  and  a  great  quantity 
of  plate,  helped  to  make  the  room  look  beautiful. 

Still  further  on,  in  the  office  of  the  guidici  del 
Forestier^  allotted  to  the  Mercers'  Company,  the 
Dogaressa  admired  the  rich  silk  hangings,  and  a 
large  veil  adorned  with  brocade  and  embroidered 
in  various  colours.  Over  the  door  lintels  were 
suspended,  very  handsome  gold  and  pearl  em- 
broideries, and  from  a  pillar  depended  hangings  of 
green  silk,  interwoven  with  gold,  with  various 
lovely  festooned  ornaments.  The  beauty  of  the 
room  was  rendered  complete  by  a  wonderful  decora- 
tion of  silver  vases,  a  beautiful  perfume  vase,  and 
other  works  in  silver,  placed  round  the  tapestry.  A 
little  beyond,  in  a  small  passage  between  the  office 
dei  guidici  del  Forestier  and  that  of  the  guidici  del 
Mobile,  the  furriers  had  arranged  a  quantity  of 
choice  tapestries,  and  many  silver  vases,  and  over 
the  door  a  cloth  of  green  satin,  having  in  the 
middle  a  design  of  the  Pascal  Lamb.  The  braziers, 
in  the  office  dei  guidici  del  Mobile,  had  ornamented 
the  ceiling  with  stars,  the  door  with  garlands,  and 


200  THE  DOGAEESSA. 

placed  in  a  corner  two  brass  pails,  embossed,  and 
in  the  centre  of  the  apartment  one  of  silver. 

In  the  office  of  the  guidici  del  Procuratore  the 
armourers  placed  a  stand  with  various  kinds  of 
arms,  and  a  table  laden  with  plate,  and  they  covered 
the  room  with  figured  silk  and  gold  arras,  orna- 
menting the  ceiling  with  sky-blue  cloth  embellished 
with  stars.  The  painters,  placed  in  the  corner 
between  the  office  of  the  Auditori  nuovi  and  that  of 
the  Frocuratore,  adorned  their  room  with  carpets 
and  brocaded  cloth,  on  which  was  painted  the 
motto  "  Pictoresy  They  had  also  a  table  with 
various  kinds  of  plate. 

In  the  office  of  the  Cattoveri  (that  is  to  say 
Magistrates  charged  with  watching  over  the 
property  of  the  Corporation),  the  dyers  were 
honoured  with  a  visit  from  the  Dogaressa,  and 
afterwards  passing  beyond  the  second  corner  of  the 
gallery,  she  was  received  by  the  silk- weavers  in  the 
office  dei  Signore  di  notte  al  Criminale,  which  was 
covered  with  very  handsome  silk  hangings,  and  a 
great  quantity  of  embossed  plate.  Over  the  door^ 
adorned  with  wreaths,  were  three  pieces  of  silk  of 
yellow,  gold,  and  crimson  hues. 

The  hall  of  the  Fiovego,  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
the  four  companies  of  carpenters,  blacksmiths, 
masons  and  engravers,  decorated  with  handsome 
furniture,  with  four  tables,  one  on  each  side  of  the 
room,  laden  with  silver  ornaments,  had  designs  in 
the  centre  of  the  walls  of  the  particular  badges  of 


CORONATION  OF  ZILIA  PRIULL  201 

-each  of  these  companies,  and  over  the  entrance 
door,  surrounded  by  garlands,  the  arms  of  the 
Princess, 

The  gunners,  placed  in  the  office  of  the  Auditori 
novissimi,  equalled  the  other  guilds  in  the  richness 
of  their  decorations,  amidst  which  appeared  Sta. 
Barbara,  their  tutelary  Saint.  In  the  office  of  the 
^uidici  del  proprio,  the  Dogaressa  found  the  tanners, 
and  a  little  beyond  the  bakers.  Everywhere  was 
displayed  a  profusion  of  exquisite  decorations. 

The  glass-blowers,  placed  at  the  foot  of  the  stair- 
€ase  leading  to  the  Hall  of  the  Great  Council,  were 
visited  last.  They  exposed  specimens  of  their 
various  works  amidst  splendid  ornamentations. 

When  the  Dogaressa  reached  the  Hall,  she  seated 
herself  on  the  Ducal  throne,  with  the  matrons  of 
her  suite  on  her  right,  and  on  her  left  the  Coun- 
cillors, the  chiefs  of  the  Quarantia,  her  brother 
Matteo,  and  the  Knight  Cappello,  dressed  in  crimson 
satin.  On  the  benches  near  the  principal  entrance 
were  seated  the  lawyers,  the  knights,  the  senators, 
and  then  all  those  invited,  belonging  to  the  Venetian 
Senate.  The  young  ladies  placed  themselves  on  a 
double  row  of  seats,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  room 
the  patricians  and  masqueraders  walked  about. 
The  fifers,  placed  upon  a  stand  near  a  parapet  on 
the  quay,  played  all  the  time.  When  it  grew  dark, 
they  lighted  forty  torches,  and  fastened  them  to  the 
ceiling,  and  other  lights  having  been  placed  all 
through  the  Palace,  360  of  the  chiefs  of  the  guilds 


^2  THE  DOGARESSA. 

were  chosen,  who,  arranged  in  proper  order,  carried 
on  silver  trays  and  dishes  sweetmeats  and  preserved 
fruits  of  various  kinds.  The  members  of  the  Arti^ 
with  drums  and  trumpets,  and  preceded  by  the 
mace -bearers,  by  a  hundred  youths  clad  in  silk 
garments,  walking  two  and  two,  and  carrying 
lighted  torches,  with  twenty-five  noblemen  on  one 
side  wearing  long  garments  of  black  velvet,  de- 
scended from  the  Palace  by  the  door  delle  Biade^ 
and  showed  themselves  to  the  crowd  in  their  rich 
dresses.  Having  re-entered  the  Palace  when  it  was 
quite  dark,  they  returned  to  the  Hall  of  the  Grand 
Council,  and  offered  to  everybody  sweetmeats  and 
refreshments.  Meanwhile  a  pyramid  of  fireworks 
was  erected  in  the  courtyard,  and  with  the  squibs 
and  noise,  which  lasted  for  three  hours,  was  con- 
sidered in  those  days  a  wonderful  spectacle.  After 
the  refreshments  came  dancing,  and  a  sumptuous 
supper  was  prepared  at  an  advanced  hour  of  the 
night  in  the  Hall  of  the  Pregadi,  Then  the  ball  was 
resumed,  and  lasted  till  the  next  morning.  During 
the  two  following  days  the  people  were  allowed  to 
enter  the  courtyard  of  the  Palace  at  sunset.  The 
next  morning  the  butchers  gave  a  bull-fight  in  that 
same  court,  and  in  the  Piazza  till  dark,  repeating 
it  the  next  day  before  the  Princess  and  her  relations, 
and  lastly  all  the  guilds  danced  to  the  sound  of 
music  in  the  galleries  of  the  Palace,  and  there  were, 
besides,  regattas  on  the  Grand  Canal.  The  third  day, 
after  luncheon,  all  the  companies  of  traders,  with 


CORONATION  OF  ZILIA  PRIULI.  203 

banners  and  standards  flying  in  the  wind,  and  to 
tlie  roll  of  drums,  descended  into  the  courtyard  of 
the  Palace,  going  round  it  several  times,  and  then 
into  the  neighbouring  streets,  showing  off  their 
wonderful  procession.  At  night  a  heavy  downpour 
of  rain  came  on,  which  made  them  return  to  the 
Palace,  where  they  spent  the  whole  night  in  dancing 
and  pleasant  converse.  Faithful  to  the  custom  of 
his  predecessors,  the  Prince  walked  about  the 
rooms,  visited  the  various  guilds,  and  praised  their 
works  and  decorations,  and  having  thanked  their 
managers,  who  went  up  one  by  one  to  kiss  his 
hand,  he  retired  to  his  private  rooms.  The  Com- 
panies left  the  Palace  immediately,  and  returned  in 
the  most  orderly  manner  to  their  homes.  The 
triumphal  feasts  of  ancient  times  seemed  to  be 
renewed,  nor  were  there  wanting  poets  to  celebrate 
in  Latin  verse  the  splendour  of  such  festivities. 

Quas  decus  aetherum,  terrarum  gloria  tandem 
Gilia  progreditur,  potuit  Dea,  vertice  odorem 
Spiravere  comae  divinum,  vestis  ad  imos 
Defluxitque  pedes. 

In  the  first  year  of  the  election  of  Lorenzo  Priuli 
we  find  the  name  of  the  Dogaressa  on  the  title-page 
of  a  curious  little  book,  "  How  a  Man  can  Live  over  a 
Hundred  and  Twenty  Years,"  by  Tomaso,  Philologer, 
Eavenna  (ap.  Matheum  Paganum,  July  25th,  1557, 
in  8vo).  The  Doge  does  not  appear  to  have  profited 
much  by  the  lessons  of  the  Ravennese  philologer, 
for  at  the  end  of   three   years   he   died.      In   the 


204  THE  DOGARESSA. 

Ceremonials,  still  extant  in  the  State- Archives, 
there  is  a  picture  of  the  Dogaressa  Priuli  in  widow's 
weeds,  with  wide  zendado  also  black.  The  Govern- 
ment, by  a  decree  of  1559,  bestowed  upon  Zilia  an 
income  of  300  ducats  per  annum,  in  order  that  she 
might  live  honourably ;  she  was  to  dress  in  a  manner 
considered  proper  by  the  Assembly,  and  she  was  to 
have  in  her  household,  besides  the  men  and  maid- 
servants, four  young  ladies  of  rank,  chosen  by  her- 
self. They  considered  that  it  would  be  unworthy 
of  the  State  of  Venice  if  a  Prince's  widow  who 
had  made  so  solemn  and  public  an  entry  into  the 
Palace  should  not  be  maintained  in  a  manner  suited 
to  her  rank,  and  only  appear  like  a  private 
person.  Great  were  the  honours  afforded  to  Priuli's 
widow,  when  she  died  on  October  13th,  1566.  The 
embalming  of  the  body  is  related  with  the  most 
precise  and  crude  details.  The  brain  and  the 
intestines  were  removed  and  placed  in  a  mortar, 
and  the  corpse  was  well  washed  with  spring  water 
and  vinegar,  and  then  filled  with  tow,  and  two 
sponges  placed  under  the  arms.  The  body,  clad  in 
the  dress  of  nuns  of  St  Alvise^  with  an  over- 
petticoat  of  gold  and  a  thin  linen  veil,  and  the 
Ducal  cap  on  the  head,  was  placed  in  a  bier  and 
exposed  on  a  high  scaffolding  adorned  with 
tapestry  in  the  hall  of  the  FiovegliL  Three  days 
later,  the  Papal  Legate,  all  the  Ambassadors, 
Councillors,  heads  of  the  Quarantiay  and  of  the 
Council  of  Ten,  the  Procurators,  the  lawyers,  the 


CORONATION  OF  ZILIA  PRIULL  205 

inspectors,  the  Senate,  the  junto,  300  nuns,  and 
friars  from  all  the  monasteries  of  the  city,  the  lay- 
sisters  of  all  the  congregations,  the  children  of  the 
Foundling,  the  fraternities,  the  schools,  the  religious 
orders,  &c.  Twenty-three  relations  of  the  deceased 
followed,  dressed  in  mourning,  with  cowls  and 
cloaks  with  long  trains.  At  the  hour  of  vespers, 
the  Doge  Girolamo  Priuli,  successor  to  Lorenzo, 
wearing  his  scarlet  cloak  and  his  cap,  ascended  the 
golden  staircase,  and  with  the  Papal  legate,  and  the 
Dogaressa's  son,  proceeded  towards  the  hall  of  the 
Pioveghi,  where  he  seated  himself  on  his  throne. 
The  rector,  the  priests  of  St.  Mark,  and  of  the 
parish  where  the  Dogaressa  had  lived,  were  as- 
sembled in  the  hall,  carrying  the  cross,  banners, 
and  torches.  When  the  prayers  and  Psalms  were 
ended,  all  the  schools  of  the  city,  the  friars,  priests, 
and  thirty  gavoti  filed  off.  The  litter  was  raised, 
followed  by  thirty  more  gavoti  knights,  secretaries, 
by  the  chaplain,  the  equerry,  the  steward,  the  bakers 
of  her  Highness,  by  two  Ducal  stewards,  by  the 
High  Chancellor,  by  the  Ballottino,  and  by  the 
Doge  himself. 

All  the  procession  descended  the  staircase  of  the 
Giants,  and  having  gone  round  the  Piazza,  stopped 
at  the  great  door  of  the  Cathedral.  The  sailors 
carrying  the  coffin  raised*  and  lowered  it  six  times 
as  a  sign  of  salutation,  and  then  continued  their  road 
by  the  Merceria,  and  passing  behind  the  Church  of 
San  Giuliano,  proceeded  by  the  bridge  del*  Olio,  the 


206  THE  DOGARESSA, 

Salisada  dei  San  Lio^  Paradise  Street,  as  far  as  the 
Church  of  Santi  Giovanni  e  Paolo,  hung  inside 
with  black  cloth,  with  the  cross  and  the  arms  of  the 
Dogaressa.  Here  they  placed  the  body  upon  a 
catafalque  covered  with  carpets  and  surrounded 
by  torches.  The  Doge  took  his  place  in  the  choir 
to  hear  the  Eector  of  the  collegiate  Church  of  San 
Fantino,  who  could  not  find  words  enough  to  exalt 
the  virtues  of  the  deceased :  lam  vero,  Zilice  virtuti 
quce  potest  par  oratio  invenire  ?  The  Doge  then  left 
the  church,  mounted  into  a  boat,  and  returning  to 
the  Palace,  dismissed  the  Signory  and  the  Am- 
bassadors. 

As  time  went  on  the  pomp  became  greater. 
It  is  amusing  to  note  what  care  the  grave  Coun- 
cillors took  of  the  Dogaressa' s  garments  and  be- 
haviour. A  decree  of  June  24th,  1559,  declares  it 
to  be  necessary  for  the  dignity  and  splendour  of  the 
Republic  that  her  Serene  Highness,  as  became  her 
rank,  should  have  constantly  several  young  ladies 
in  her  service,  and  should  spend  large  sums  on  her 
dress,  and  for  other  purposes.  The  Senate  decreed  of 
course,  for  the  greater  dignity  and  honour  of  the 
Republic,  that  the  Dogaressa  should  have  at  least 
eight  young  girls  in  attendance  on  her,  who,  when 
they  went  out  with  her,  were  to  wear  silk  garments. 
And  when  the  Princess  went  in  State  she  was  to  be 
accompanied  in  two  boats,  adorned  with  tapestries, 
by  the  same  number  of  noble  ladies,  besides  the 
eight  damsels  mentioned  before,  suited  to  the  posi- 


SUITE  AND  COURT  OF  THE  DOGARESSA.     207 

tion  she  had  to  keep  up.  And  for  that  purpose 
they  assigned  to  her,  out  of  the  treasury,  fifty 
ducats  monthly,  to  be  paid  into  the  office  of  the 
Camerlenghi  di  Comune,  The  Senate  took  the  pre- 
caution to  inform  unmarried  Doges  that  the  said 
sum  would  not  be  allowed  them. 

These  necessities  increasing  constantly,  with  the 
greater  luxury,  and  all  the  splendid  refinements  of 
civilized  life,  were  in  keeping  with  the  vigorous  and 
exuberant  designs  of  Venetian  art  in  the  15th 
century.  Titian  and  Paul  Yeronese  took  for  the 
models  of  their  drawings  and  colouring  the  gorgeous 
fetes,  illumined  by  the  mild  and  clear  Venetian  sky; 
they  accustomed  the  eye  to  the  sheen  of  silk,  to  the 
rich  purple  tint  of  the  cloth,  and  to  a  thousand 
shades  of  satin. 

Alvise  Mocenigo  ascended  the  ducal  throne  in 
1570.  The  struggle  with  the  Turks  kept  the  Re- 
public in  a  state  of  agitation  and  peril,  until  the 
victory  of  Lepanto  weakened  for  a  time  the  Mussul- 
man power.  The  wife  of  Mocenigo,  Loredana,  wife 
of  Alvise  Marcello,  could  not  make  her  solemn  entry 
on  account  of  the  war.  But  there  are  some  memoirs 
concerning  her,  and  Ottaviano  Maggi,  Secretary  to 
the  Senate,  who  recited  a  Latin  oration  over  her 
bier,  praises  her  beautiful  face,  her  excellent  dis- 
position, her  lively  wit,  and  especially  her  vast 
botanical  knowledge  acquired  from  books,  and  still 
more  by  conversing  with  Michele  Guilandini,  of 
Padua.     "  Tu  vero,  Lauredana  matrona  mtegerrima, 


208  THE  DOGARESSA. 

converte  aliquando  oculos  in  kanc  rempuhlicam**  thus 
Maggi  concluded  his  funeral  oration.  ''  Of  gigantia 
merit,"  said  Palazzi ;  and  Amaden  wrote  of  her: 
**  She  appears  the  same  under  all  circumstances,  not 
cast  down  by  tribulation,  not  rendered  proud  bj 
prosperity,  prudent  and  kind  to  her  servants,  at- 
tentive in  church,  charitable  to  her  neighbours  and 
generous  to  her  friends ;  in  a  word,  she  was  a 
Princess  endowed   with  every  virtue  I  " 

In  the  adornment  of  the  Church  of  Santa  Maria 
dei  Servi,  Cicogna  drew  from  Falfero  the  following 
inscription,  which  is  intended  for  Loredana  : — 

"  Serenissima  Domus  Mocenica  Quae  Tres  Olim  Yenetiarum 
Principes  Peperit  et  Quinq.  Classium  Marisq.  Imperatores 
Amplissimos  Enixa  est  etiam  Aloysium  Hunc  Cujus  Imaginem 
Cernis  Principem  Animi  Celsitudine  Opibus  Virtuteq.  Prse 
Casteris  Spectandum  Quo  Etiam  Kegnante  Felicissima  Ilia  ad 
Echinadas  de  Turcis  Victoria  Parta  Est  Diyinitus  Data  ad  Tanti 
Ducis  homen  propagandum  et  cujus  tempore  Henricus  Tertius 
Eex  PoloniaB  et  Franciae  Magnificentissimo  Apparatu  a  Patribus 
Intra  Lacunar.  Hsec  pretiosa  Viscera  exceptus  est.  Yix  An. 
Lxxvi.  ducavit.  vii.  Obgt.  mdlxxii.  Laurelanam  Marcellam 
Conjugem  Ducissam  Sanctiss.  Exempli  Sequutus.  Haeredes 
libentiss  :  dicarunt." 

Loredana  Mocenigo  died  in  December,  1572,  and 
her  obsequies  were  similar  to  those  of  the  Doge. 
Her  body  was  clad  in  the  dress  of  the  Nuns  of  the 
Cross,  and  over  this  garment  was  put  a  long  gold 
robe,  lined  with  lynx-fur;  and  on  the  head,  over 
the  monastic  veils,  a  large  white  silk  veil,  edged 
with  gold,  which  covered  the  shoulders,  the  latter 
reclining  upon  a  gold  cushion.     The  Ducal  cap  was 


OBSEQUIES  OF  LOREDANO  MOCENIGO.       209 

not  placed  upon  her  head,  because  she  had  not  been 
crowned.  A  bandage  of  white  silk,  trimmed  with 
gold  lace,  was  wrapped  round  her  neck  and  reached 
to  her  feet,  covered  with  the  finest  white  stockings, 
and  by  sandals  with  gold  clasps.  The  corpse  of  the 
Dogaressa  was  borne,  enveloped  in  precious  shrouds, 
embroidered  in  gold,  and  with  the  same  ceremonies 
described  at  the  funeral  of  Cecilia  Priuli,  first  to 
the  Hall  of  the  Seudo,  then  to  that  dei  Pioveghi, 
where,  on  December  16th,  the  clergy,  the  ambas- 
sadors, the  first  magistrates  of  the  Republic,  and 
the  Councillors  assembled.  The  Venetian  magis- 
trates were  all  dressed  in  violet,  except  the  eldest 
Councillor,  who,  as  Yice-Doge,  wore  a  scarlet  robe 
and  a  velvet  stole,  having  on  his  right  the  Papal 
Nuncio,  and  on  his  left  John  Mocenigo,  brother  of 
the  Doge.  After  the  prayers  and  the  service,  the 
bier  being  raised  by  the  sailors,  was  carried  under  a 
gold  canopy  round  the  Piazza  di  San  Marco  ;  it  was 
raised  nine  times  before  the  large  cathedral  door, 
and  then  carried  to  the  Church  of  StL  Giovanni  e 
Paolo,  Meanwhile,  night  had  come  on  ;  and  the 
obsequies  being  over,  all,  accompanied  by  the  torch- 
bearers,  left  the  church,  and  mounting  the  gondolas, 
returned  home.  Liberal  alms  were  given  by  the 
Doge  to  the  poor  of  the  town,  and  he,  in  his 
despair,  shut  himself  up  for  five  days  in  his  room, 
all  covered  with  purple  cloth.  At  the  end  of  six 
days  the  Councillors,  with  the  whole  College,  and 
the  Papal  Nuncio,  the  ambassadors,  and  the  prelates, 


210  THE  DOGARESSA, 

went  to  condole  with  tlie  Prince,  who  received  them 
dressed  in  scarlet,  and  wearing  on  his  head  a  crimson 
Ducal  cap.  In  the  same  costume,  but  without  gold 
ornaments,  the  next  day  the  Doge  left  his  room,  and 
went  to  hear  mass,  and  then  to  attend  to  public 
affairs. 

Alvise  Mocenigo  died  in  1577.  The  sculptor 
Girolamo  Grapiglia  raised  to  the  Doge  and  Doga- 
ressa  a  faulty  mausoleum,  which  fills  almost  the 
entire  faqade  inside  the  Church  of  Santi  Giovanni  e 
Paolo,  The  urns  in  which  are  placed  the  ashes  of 
the  husband  and  wife  belong  to  the  superior  com- 
posite order  of  architecture.  To  the  left  of  the 
spectator  lies  the  efl&gy  of  the  Dogaressa,  her  head 
covered  with  the  Ducal  cap,  from  beneath  which  the 
hair  hangs  down  in  long  ringlets.  One  clause  of 
Alvise  Mocenigo' s  will  mentions  the  Dogaressa. 
The  Princess  had  left  him  the  property  of  Villa- 
bona,  in  the  Province  of  Yerona.  The  Doge  wished, 
as  a  mark  of  gratitude  to  the  testatrix,  that  Yilla- 
bona  should  always  belong  to  a  Mocenigo  who  bore 
the  same  name  as  himself.  For  that  reason,  he  left 
the  estate  to  his  nephew  Alvise,  obliging  him  to 
transmit  it  in  his  turn  to  the  first-born  of  the  same 
name,  and  so  on.  If  in  the  direct  descendants  of 
the  said  nephew  a  son  of  that  name  did  not  exist, 
then  Villabona  was  to  pass  to  the  nearest  relation 
called  Alvise. 

Sebastian  Yeniero,   the   hero   of   Lepanto,    suc- 
ceeded   Mocenigo,    and    reigned    only    one    year. 


THE  WIDOW  OF  SEBASTIAN  VENIERO,       211 

Veniero  intended  to  celebrate  the  entrance  of  his  wife 
Cecilia  Contarini  into  the  Palace,  and  had  entrusted 
the  arrangement  of  the  fete  to  his  son-in-law, 
Francis  Morosini,  when  death  carried  him  off  on 
March  3rd,  1578.  Like  the  widow  of  Lorenzo 
Priuli,  the  relict  of  Yeniero  received  400  ducats  a 
year,  it  being  considered  necessary,  according  to  the 
decree,  for  the  dignity  of  the  Republic,  that  the 
Consort  of  the  Prince  Sebastian  Yeniero,  of  happy 
memory,  should  possess  the  means  of  supporting 
her  rank,  as  well  by  her  dress  as  by  her  suite,  in  a 
way  worthy  of  her  position,  for  she  represented  in 
a  special  manner  a  deceased  Prince  whose  merits 
dwelt  in  the  memory  not  only  of  the  Yenetians,  but 
of  many  other  nations  besides.  The  widowed 
Dogaressa  was  then  obliged  to  have  four  waiting 
women,  who  always  accompanied  her,  to  have  a 
gondola  with  two  servants,  and  to  adorn  her  person 
as  her  four  waiting-women  told  her,  and  in  the 
same  style  as  did  her  Serene  Highess  Donna  Zilia, 
after  the  death  of  the  Most  Serene  Prince  Lorenzo 
Priuli,  her  husband. 


CHAPTER  XIY. 

The  Dogaressa  Morosina  Grimani. 

The  rulers  took  every  care  to  make  appearances 
seem  like  reality.  Weakness,  in  order  to  conceal 
itself,  always  tries  to  simulate  greatness.  And  as 
men  allow  themselves  to  be  dazzled  by  all  that 
glitters,  admiration  and  respect  were  maintained  in 
Venice  by  external  splendour.  The  Republic  was 
really  in  a  most  deplorable  state,  but  the  merry- 
making in  the  city  was  as  great  as  ever,  and  Venice 
seemed  sometimes  like  a  Bacchante,  intoxicated 
with  pleasure.  When  Henri  III.,  on  his  return  to 
France  from  Poland,  passed  through  Venice,  the 
Venetians  gave  him  a  reception  which  excited  the 
wonder  and  admiration  of  the  French,  who  were  in 
general  only  lukewarm  admirers  of  anything  foreign. 
Hospitality  was  not,  however,  the  only  incentive  to 
gaiety,  nor  were  the  pretexts  for  feasting  and  merri- 
ment always  worthily  chosen.  On  the  13th  of  June, 
1579,  the  bells  rang  loudly,  and  the  city  exulted  at  the 


THE  DOGARESSA  MOUOSINA  GRIMANI.       213 

marriage  and  coronation  of  a  Venetian  lady  of  noble 
parentage.  This  grand  wedding  was  not  celebrated 
in  Venice,  nor  was  the  bride  one  of  those  sweet, 
gentle  ladies  we  have  seen  received  with  such  pomp 
into  the  Ducal  Palace.  The  marriage  took  place  at 
Florence,  between  Francis,  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany, 
and  Blanch  Cappello.  The  Council  of  Ten,  who 
after  the  flight  of  Blanch  with  Bonaventuri  out- 
lawed and  then  condemned  to  death  both  the  lady 
and  her  seducer,  rescinded  the  sentence  when  she 
became  the  mistress,  and  then  the  wife,  of  the  Grand 
Duke.  Seventy  noblemen,  with  five  hundred  horses, 
hastened  to  Florence  to  pay  their  respects  to  their 
illustrious  compatriot.  The  Venetian  envoys  having 
done  homage  to  Bianca,  the  latter  was  crowned  by 
Giovanni  Michiel,  and  proclaimed  a  true  and  favourite 
daughter  of  the  Republic,  and  the  nuptial  blessing 
was  pronounced  over  her  by  Giovanni  Grimani, 
patriarch  of  Aquileia,  which  caused  the  Florentine 
people  to  sing  with  their  coarse  wit  — 

n  granduca  di  Toscana 
Ha  sposato  una  puttana 
Gentildonna  Veneziana. 

The  Republic  began  in  truth  to  lose  its  dignity. 

At  the  end  of  the  16th  century  Venice  made  a 
greater  display  than  ever  when  Morosina  Morosini, 
the  wife  of  the  Doge  Marino  Grimani  (1595-1605), 
was  crowned.  The  historians,  poets,  and  painters 
of  the  time  depict  in  vivid  colours  that  coronation, 
whicb  surpassed  in  splendour  and  variety  all  that 


214  THE  DO G ARES S A, 

had  gone  before,  and  was  well  fitted  to  dazzle  the 
public.  Very  few  of  even  the  greatest  of  the  earth 
ever  saw  themselves  surrounded  by  such  a  wealth 
of  splendour.  The  solemn  entry  of  Zilia  Priuli  may 
probably  have  been  considered  as  the  apotheosis  of 
magnificence  and  showy  colouring  ;  forty  years  later 
the  fetes  in  honour  of  the  Dogaressa  Grimani  were 
grander  still.  To  the  rejoicings  of  the  people  were 
added  the  laudations  of  the  poet,  who,  turning 
towards  the  Princess,  exclaimed  with  the  exagge- 
rated flattery  used  at  that  time  — 

0  magnanima  Donna, 
0  glorioso  duce 

Anzi  Dina  tra  noi  nera  e  celeste ; 
In  mi  la  Fe  s'indonna 
E  Maesta  riluce 
E  cortesia  ne  raccoglienze  honeste, 
In  quelle  parti,  e'n  queste 
Nel  nolto,  e  ne  le  riglia, 
Negli  angelici  lumi, 
Nei  soavi  costumi 

E  ne  detti,  e  ne  I'opra  6  meraviglia  ; 
Gradite  11  puro  affetto, 
N^  sia  '1  nostro  cantar  da  noi  negletto. 

And  a  stilted  orator  declaimed  — 

Queste  splendide  pompe  (serenissime  e  singolarissima  signora) 
questi  meravigliosi  apparati,  mutole  de  vivacissimi  afifetti  dei  vostri 
divotissimi  popoli,  &c.,  &c. 

The  extravagant  pomp  displayed  at  the  triumph 
of  the  Dogaressa  Grimani  cannot  be  fully  realized 
either  by  the  sparkling  wit,  the  brilliant  imagery, 
or  the  sonorous  phrases  of  the  writers  of  the  time. 
The  actual  ceremonies  were  similar  to  those  used  at 


THE  DOGARESSA  MOROSINA  GRIMANI.       215 

the  solemn  entry  of  the  Dogaressa  Priuli,  the  order 
of  progress  being  nearly  the  same,  but  the  luxury 
and  expenditure  were  far  greater.  We  will  point 
carefully  to  the  details  which  added  so  much  to  the 
magnificence  of  the  latter  ceremony. 

Marino  Grimani  was  elected  Doge  in  1595,  and 
the  triumphal  entrance  of  the  Dogaressa  Morosini 
into  the  Palace  only  took  place  two  years  later. 
When  it  was  announced  it  created  much  rejoicing 
in  the  city,  as  much  because  it  was  expected  and 
desired  as  because  it  was  a  novelty  in  itself,  few 
then  living  having  seen  the  previous  one,  for  it  was 
forty  years  since  Her  Most  Serene  Highness  Zilia 
Dandolo  Priuli  was  crowned. 

The  Princess  invited  four  hundred  gentlewomen 
to  accompany  her  and  assist  at  the  ceremony.  The 
chief  men,  according  to  ancient  etiquette,  went  to 
fetch  the  Dogaressa  at  the  Palace  of  the  Grimani  at 
San  Luca,  an  immense  building  erected  by  Sammi- 
cheli.  Morosina  Grimani,  dressed  in  gold  cloth  and  a 
mantle  embroidered  in  gold,  with  silver  flowers  em- 
bossed, with  a  cap  of  the  same  material,  from  which 
depended  a  long  silk  veil,  and  on  her  neck  a  diamond 
cross,  sat  in  the  great  hall,  which  had  been  deco- 
rated with  gilded  leather. 

After  the  oaths  were  pronounced,  besides  the 
usual  seven  purses  filled  with  gold,  the  Dogaressa 
presented  the  nobles  with  oselle,*  having  on  one  side 

*  Ancient  coins  given  to  the  patricians,  which  the  Doge 
Antonio  Grimani  substituted  in  1521  to  the  gift  of  birds  killed  in 
the  Lagoons,  and  in  the  place  of  which  the  Prince  substituted  the 
equivalent  in  money. 


216  THE  DOGARESSA. 

her   e^gy   adorned    with    the  Ducal   cap,  and  the 
words  — 

Mavrocena,  Mavrocena  ; 

and  on    the   other   side,    surrounded   by    a  laurel 

wreath  — 

Munus  Mavrocense  Grimana  Ducissae. 

Venet.  1597. 

The  Princess,  accompanied  by  the  magistrates 
and  beautiful  ladies,  all  dressed  in  white  silk  and 
silver,  with  enormous  pearls  and  jewels  to  fasten 
their  headdresses,  and  also  round  their  necks  glitter- 
ing pendants,  went  on  board  the  Bucentaur,  which 
had  been  covered  with  cloth  embroidered  in  silk  and 
gold  thread.  Lady  Lodovtca  Over^  wife  of  Baimondo 
Delia  Torre,  the  Imperial  Ambassador,  the  daughter 
and  nieces  of  the  Princess,  clad  in  cloth  of  silver 
adorned  with  pearls  and  brilliants,  besides  two 
dwarfs,  a  man  and  a  woman,  one  dressed  in  silver 
and  green  silk,  and  the  other  in  gold  and  green 
silk,  formed  part  of  the  cortege.  The  Bucentaur 
passed  along  the  Grand  Canal,  to  the  sound  of  music 
and  of  bells,  amidst  roar  of  artillery,  of  arquebuses, 
and  of  squibs  and  crackers.  The  walls  and  the 
landing-places  seemed  transformed  into  a  monster 
ant-hill  of  noisy  and  gesticulating  people,  men  and 
boys  perched  at  windows,  on  roofs,  parapets,  and  in 
niches,  and  hurrahing  loudly.  "  Every  spot  was 
crowded  with  spectators,  columns,  beams,  cornices, 
and  any  place  where  there  was  foot-hold  were  oc- 
cupied ;  some  people  fastened  nails  into  the  walls. 


THE  DOGARESSA  MOROSINA  GRIMANI.       217 

holding  on  with  their  hands  and  feet,  whilst  others 
clung  to  the  battlements  and  some  climbed  on  to 
the  roofs  and  chimney-tops."  The  weather  had 
cleared,  after  heavy  rain,  the  sun  shone  out  in  the 
blue  sky,  gHstened  on  the  water,  illuminated  the 
marble  and  porphyry  of  the  Palaces,  lighted  up  the 
«atins  and  brocades,  flashed  on  the  gold  and  jewels. 
The  Grand  Canal  presented  a  lovely  and  magnificent 
coujp  d'oeil.  The  boats  of  the  Arti  floated  along 
richly  decorated.  The  one  belonging  to  the  cotton- 
spinners  is  thus  described  by  Monsignor  Dario  Tuzio  : 
''  The  cotton-spinners'  boat  resembled  an  ancient 
cart,  with  two  large  sea-horses,  so  cunningly 
arranged  that  they  seemed  to  draw  the  boat,  for 
the  legs  were  in  motion.  This  vessel  had  four  large 
carriage  wheels,  which  by  some  ingenious  con- 
trivance were  made  to  revolve  quickly  in  the  water, 
no  oars  being  visible.  Adriatico,  the  sea-god,  stood 
a<t  the  prow,  he,  with  his  right  hand  managed  the 
reins  and  held  aloft  a  trident  in  his  left ;  on  the 
poop  was  Neptune,  who  with  his  right  hand 
governed  the  rudder,  made  in  the  shape  of  a 
dolphin,  and  held  in  his  left  a  trident ;  before  him 
sat  Venice  in  all  her  glory  upon  two  lions  like  a 
queen,  and  placed  the  Ducal  cap  upon  the  Prince 
and  Princess,  who  knelt  before  her.  Beside  the 
Prince  stood  Religion  and  Justice,  whilst  Faith  and 
Prudence  were  placed  beside  the  Princess.  These 
figures  were  real  persons,  and  so  richly  dressed,  and 
adorned  with  such  an  amount  of  gold  and  jewellery. 


218  THE  DOGARESSA. 

that  the  effect  produced  was  dazzling.  The  brigan- 
tine,  covered  with  splendid  carpets,  was  filled  with  a 
company  of  handsome  youths,  richly  attired,  with 
bands  round  their  necks.  Well  provided  with  guns, 
and  with  the  gilded  lantern,  they  rowed  about  the 
canal."  Forty  gentlemen,  the  managers  of  the  f^te, 
had  placed  themselves  in  a  small  but  elegant 
temple,  designed  by  Scamozzi,  and  towed  by  four 
boats.  Then  passed  the  gondolas  decked  out  with 
fringes,  and  tassels  of  all  colours,  followed  by  the 
peote*  richly  gilt  both  inside  and  out,  and  adorned 
with  images  of  dolphins  and  tritons.  Afterwards 
came  the  ferry-boats,  decorated  with  gay-coloured 
stuffs,  with  sails  studded  with  gold,  and  flowers  and 
feathers,  besides  ornaments  in  embossed  work. 
The  Bucentaur,  conveying  the  Dogaressa  and  a 
great  number  of  patrician  ladies,  clad  in  white, 
arrived  at  St.  Mark,  where  the  college  alighted  in 
front  of  the  column  in  the  piazzetta.  Two  pictures, 
one  of  the  Tintoretto  school,  the  other  by  Andrea 
Yicentino,  represent  this  magnificent  spectacle.  In 
Vicentino's  picture,  descending  on  the  platform 
supported  by  two  flat-bottomed  boats,  is  a  matron 
having  fat  cheeks  and  a  full  figure.  She  is  smiling, 
her  head  is  surmounted  by  the  Ducal  cap,  and  the 
bosom  is  visible  above  the  showy  dress  of  yellow 
brocade.  The  artist,  though  somewhat  wanting  in 
accuracy  of  design,  limned  faithfully  the  large  con- 
course of    gaily-decorated  boats  assembled  round 

*  A  sort  of  bark  used  in  the  Adriatic. 


THE  DOGARESSA  MOEOSINA  GRIMANL       219 

the  Bttcentaur,  and  the  multitude  gathered  in  joyous 
crowds  upon  the  shore,  as  well  as  those  who  rush 
screaming  from  the  adjoining  streets  towards  the 
landing-places. 

The  gay-coloured  procession  began  to  move.  The 
guilds  of  the  Arti  stood  waiting  on  the  shore  with 
their  flags  and  banners;  300  bombardiers  first 
saluted  the  Princess  on  her  arrival  with  a  salvo  of 
artillery,  and  then  turned  round  to  make  way 
through  the  crowd.  Alighting  at  the  Fiazzetta,  the 
Dogaressa  passed  between  the  angle  of  the  Palace 
and  the  two  columns,  under  a  triumphal  arch, 
erected  by  the  Company  of  Butchers,  consisting  of 
four  large  fluted  columns,  painted  with  pictures  and 
hung  with  trophies.  On  the  side  facing  the  Lagoon 
was  written : 

Mavrocense.     Mavrocense. 

Marini  Grimani  Venetiarum  Ducis  coniugi,  Ducarium 
felicissime  ingredienti,  Societas  Laniorum  homini  eins  deditissima 
ad  veteris  observantiae  declarationem  arcum  eius  virtutum 
monumentis     insignem     erexit    iv     nonas     Mai,    anno     Christi 

MDXCVII. 

And  amidst  the  paintings  and  trophies  on  another 
side  was  placed  the  escutcheon  of  the  Morosini,  the 
paternal  coat  of  arms  of  the  Dogaressa,  with  the 
inscription : 

Paterni  jeneris  splendor. 

And  on  another  side  the  arms  of  the  Priuli,  her 
mother's  family,  with  the  words  : 

Maternae  familise  ornamenta. 


220  THE  DOGARESSA. 

On  the  front  of  the  arch  looking  towards  the 
Piazza  was  inscribed : 

Mavrocense  Griman«,  Marini  Venetiarum  Ducis  Conjugi 
Sereniss :  ordo  Laniorum  ob  eius  in  Ducarium  adventum 
felicissimum  ! 

And  amidst  other  trophies  the  arms  of  the 
Grimani,  with  the  motto :  "  Paterni  stemmatts 
decus^^  were  hung.  And  that  of  Pisani,  the  family 
of  the  Doge's  mother,  with  the  legend,  "  Maternce 
virtutis  insignia,^^ 

There  were  other  inscriptions  alluding  to  the 
figures  of  the  Lion,  Victory,  and  Fame.  After  the 
gunners,  came  900  companions  of  the  Arti,  walking 
two  and  two,  waving  silken  banners  in  the  breeze 
and  draping  them  in  a  thousand  fantastic  ways. 
Afterwards  10  captains  followed,  wearing  scarlet 
mantles,  then  24  drummers  and  trumpeters,  dressed 
in  the  Hungarian  style,  in  crimson  silk  interwoven 
with  gold ;  the  pipers  and  attendants  of  the  Doge, 
wearing  velvet,  satin,  and  black  silk  garments;  then 
followed  the  master  ship-builders,  who,  with  red 
clubs  in  their  hands,  preceded  42  young  ladies, 
walking  on  high  zoccoli,  and  clad  in  white  dresses 
with  gold  fringes  and  tassels,  having  in  one  hand  a 
handsome  fan  of  pure  white  feathers,  and  leaning 
with  the  other  upon  a  boy  who  carried  a  bouquet  in 
a  gold  holder.  Then  came  more  patrician  ladies  of 
various  ages,  dressed  in  green,  violet,  and  black,  a 
few  magistrates,  the  High  Chancellor  in  a  red 
garment,  and  two  daughters  of   the  Princess  and 


THE  DOGARESSA  MOROSINA  GRIMANI.       221 

six  young  gentlewomen,  her  relations,  who,  accord- 
ing to  a  contemporary  writer,  "  Oltre  grossissime 
jperle  at  collo,  ne  havevan  (ante  e  in  collana,  e  su  la 
testa  e  sopra  banari  tutti  tempestati  con  tramezzi  di 
preciosissime  gioie  che  e  impossibile  di  poter  estimare  il 
valore. 

It  is  known  that  all  the  relations  of  the  Dogaressa, 
per  esser  del  sangue  di  sua  Serenitd,  were  allowed  to 
wear  what  was  forbidden  by  law  to  others.      Other 
ladies  followed  in  black  velvet  garbs.     More  magis- 
trates dressed  in  violet  silk,  more  young  ladies  with 
gowns  of  green  damask  over  skirts  of  yellow  satin. 
The  Dogaressa,   supported    on   each   side  by   two 
senators,   closed    that    wonderful    pageant,    where 
arms    glittered,   jewels   sparkled,   banners    waved, 
cloaks  fluttered,  tassels  oscillated,  plumes  nodded, 
&c.,  forming  altogether  a  wonderful  combination  of 
colours,  which  blended  and   harmonized,  and   then 
separated,    forming   other    combinations    and    con- 
trasts.    The  Dogaressa,  after  walking   round   the 
Piazza,  over  white  carpets,  entered  the  church,  and 
after  the  usual  ceremonies,  ascended  to  the  Ducal 
Palace  to  the  sound  of  music,  where  she  was  received 
by  the  Fraternities  of  the  Arti,  which  were  arranged 
in  pretty  nearly  the  same  order  as  described  at  the 
coronation  of  Cecilia  Dandolo.     However,  the  pomp 
with  which  the  rooms  were  decorated  was  greater. 
Thus  the  barbers,  besides  the  tapestries  and  carpets 
which  adorned   their   room    before,  had   added  an 
arch,  and  on  each  side  was  placed  a  figure  repre- 


222  THE  DOGARESSA. 

senting  the  son  of  ^sculapius,  with  the  following 

mottoes : 

Non  in  pestilentia  neque  in  variis  gravioribus  morbis  ; 
Sed  ferro  tantum  e  medicamentis  medebantur. 

The  silversmiths  had  written  on  the  top  of  the 

stand  on  which  their  works  were  disposed  : 

Laeta  veni  et  nostros  non  aspernare  labores, 

Hie  te  suscipiet  non  temerata  fides. 

MaurocensB  Grimanse  piissimas  faelicissiemque 

Principi  in  Ducarium  aduentanti,  Argentarii  deditissirai". 

Then  followed  the  tailors,  the  hosiers,  the  mercers, 
and  these  last  had  placed  an  image  of  the  Virgin 
surrounded  by  beautiful  decorations  and  with  the 
inscription  : 

Sub  tuum  prsesidium  confugimus." 
DeipariB  Virgini  pro  salute,  et  felicissimo  in  Palatium  ingressu 
MaurocenaB-GrimanaB    Ducis.   Optimas    Mercari    votum   voverunt 

MDXCVII. 

And  then  the  Dogaressa  visited  the  armourers, 
the  painters,  the  weavers  of  silk  cloth,  the  carpen- 
ters, the  engravers,  the  blacksmiths,  the  masons, 
the  bombardiers,  &c.,  who  amidst  gilded  stuffs, 
precious  carpets  and  velvets,  had  arranged  inscrip- 
tions in  Latin,  praising  the  Princess.  The  furriers 
adorned  the  rooms  given  up  to  them  with  the  most 
precious  skins  of  sable,  martens,  leopards,  and 
tigers.  In  the  middle  they  had  written  the  follow- 
ing text : 

Mavrocenae  Grimanae  Venetiarum  Duci.  venationis  ex  septen- 
trionali  plaga  et  reliquis  Europae  partibus  arcendo  frigore  delitiisque 
precipua  mortalium  commoda,  et  ornamerta,  Pelliones  suppliciter 
dedicarunt  iv  Nonas  Maij  mdxcvii. 


THE  DOGARESSA  MOMOSINA  GRIMANI.       228 

Having  proceeded  through  the  rooms,  and  re- 
ceived the  cordial  greetings  of  all,  the  Dogaressa, 
with  her  suite  of  ladies,  entered  the  great  Council 
Chamber,  and  then  a  ball  began,  which  lasted  till 
two  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  following  day, 
another  dance  was  given  in  the  same  room,  and  the 
Dogaressa  was  present  at  it,  wearing  a  very  hand- 
some mantle,  totally  different  to  the  one  she  wore 
the  previous  day.  The  ladies'  dresses  were  also 
changed.  The  Duke  of  Bracciano  opened  the  ball 
with  one  of  the  Dogaressa' s  daughters,  and  it  was 
continued  for  four  hours.  About  midnight,  they 
all  adjourned  to  the  Bala  dello  Scrutmio,  where  a 
sumptuous  repast  was  laid  out  upon  tables  ;  it  con- 
sisted of  sweetmeats  and  confections,  handed  about 
by  patrician  youths. 

On  the  third  day  the  presentation  of  the  Bosa 
(TOro  took  place,  a  jewel  blessed  every  year  by  the 
Pope,  on  the  fourth  Sunday  in  Lent,  and  offered  by 
him  to  one  of  the  Sovereigns  of  Europe.  Monsignor 
Glaudio  Grotta,  private  secretary  to  the  Pontiff,  had 
arrived  from  Rome,  bringing  with  him  the  rose  offered 
by  Clement  VIII.  to  Morosina  Grimani.  In  the 
morning  50  senators,  dressed  ducally  in  crimson, 
mounted  the  ferry-boats,  and  went  to  8an  Francesco, 
to  the  Palace  of  Anton  Maria  Graziano,  Bishop  of 
Amelia  and  Papal  Nuncio.  He  and  Crotta,  the 
latter  carrying  the  rose,  descended  the  stairs  to- 
gether with  many  bishops  and  prelates,  and  went  to 
meet  the  senators,  and  after  having   interchanged 


224  THE  DOGARESSA, 

bows  and  salutations,  entered  the  boats  and  returned 
to  the  Church  of  St.  Mark,  where  the  golden  rose 
was  deposited  upon  the  High  Altar.  The  Princess 
had  previously  entered  the  church  with  great  pomp, 
to  the  sound  of  trumpets,  fifes,  and  drums.  She 
wore  a  valuable  mantle  embroidered  in  gold  thready 
carried  by  two  equerries,  and  followed  by  many 
ladies,  priests,  magistrates,  and  dwarfs.  She  had 
taken  her  place  in  the  choir,  in  a  chair  covered  with 
crimson  satin.  The  sisters,  daughters,  nephews, 
wives  of  the  Procurators  and  of  the  Chancellor, 
superbly  dressed,  stood  in  a  circle  round  the 
Dogaressa. 

After  having  saluted  the  Princess,  the  Papal 
Nuncio  went  to  put  on  the  pontifical  vestments  in 
which  he  was  to  celebrate  mass,  whilst  the  Papal 
Chamberlain,  the  prelates,  and  the  senators  went  to 
the  Palace  to  fetch  the  Doge,  whom  they  escorted 
to  the  church.  Mass  over,  which  was  performed 
with  great  ceremony,  the  Ducal  chaplain  conducted 
the  Papal  Chamberlain  to  the  altar  beside  the 
Nuncio,  who,  wearing  the  mitre,  sat  in  an  arm-chair 
of  crimson  velvet.  Escorted  by  a  knight,  the 
Dogaressa  also  approached  the  altar,  and  remained 
kneeling  on  the  first  step,  whilst  Paolo  Ciera,  the 
Ducal  Secretary,  read  aloud  the  Pope's  mandate, 
which  the  Pontiff,  knowing  Morosina's  piety,  had 
sent  with  the  jewel.  The  Pope's  Chamberlain  took 
the  rose  and  consigned  it  to  the  Nuncio,  whilst  the 
latter  offered  it  with  some  words  in  Italian  and 
Latin  to  the  Dogaressa,  who  replied  — 


THE  DOGABESSA  MOROSINA  GRIMANI.         225 

"  We  greatly  thank  his  Holiness  for  having 
deigned  to  bestow  upon  us  so  sacred  and  valuable 
a  gift,  which  we  gratefully  accept,  and  promise  to 
preserve  it  diligently  and  devoutly  for  love  of  his 
Holiness,  and  we  shall  continually  pray  to  God  to 
prosper  and  bless  him  for  many  years  to  come  !  " 

The  Dogaressa  then  handed  the  rose  to  the 
Ducal  chaplain,  resumed  her  place,  and,  having 
said  some  more  prayers,  returned  to  the  Palace, 
accompanied  by  her  suite.  A  banquet  was  prepared 
in  the  hall  of  the  Grand  Council,  after  which  the 
musicians  entered,  and  a  dramatic  representation, 
arranged  by  Enea  Piccolomini,  was  performed. 
Afterwards  the  Princess,  with  all  her  ladies, 
descended  into  the  Loggia  of  the  Palace  in  front  of 
the  Island  of  St.  George  to  witness  the  naval 
tournament  which  was  given  on  such  occasions  by 
the  crews  of  English,  Dutch,  and  Flemish  merchant 
ships.  The  sailors,  wearing  red  and  white  costumes, 
appeared  in  skiffs,  of  which  there  were  twenty, 
manned  by  six  oars.  Each  skiff  carried  at  its  poop 
a  salient  plank,  on  which  stood  a  sailor  with  a  long 
stick  in  his  hand.  When  the  pinnaces  crossed  each 
other,  or  clashed,  the  sailors  on  the  planks  tried  to 
hit  one  another  so  as  to  make  the  opponent  fall  into 
the  water.  Then  followed  other  games,  and  a  few 
salutes  were  fired  from  three  small  guns.  The 
aquatic  f6te  ended  with  the  regatta,  which  the 
splendour  of  the  costumes  and  the  richness  of  the 
decorations  rendered  more  brilliant  than  ever. 

Q 


226  THE  DOGAJRESSA. 

The  next  day  the  Senate  decreed  that  the 
Dogaressa  should  keep  the  holy  rose  as  long 
as  she  lived,  and  after  her  death  the  jewel  was 
to  be  deposited  in  the  treasury  of  St.  Mark,  with 
the  other  gifts  to  the  Venetian  Doges,  received 
from  the  Popes  Sixtus  IV.,  Alexander  VI.,  and 
Gregory  XIII.  The  Senate  gave  to  the  Papal 
Chamberlain  the  sum  of  500  silver  crowns,  to  which 
the  Dogaressa  added  various  gifts  of  sugar  and  silk 
stuffs  to  the  value  of  300  crown  pieces. 

Marino  Grimani  died  in  1605,  and  eight  years 
later  the  Dogaressa  Morosina,  a  pious  and  charitable 
lady,  followed  him  to  the  grave.  She  died  on 
January  21st,  in  her  Palace  of  San  Luca,  and 
ordered  in  her  will  that  her  body  should  not,  as 
was  then  the  custom,  be  embalmed.  The  corpse 
was  conveyed  to  the  Sala  del  Pioveghi  in  the  Ducal 
Palace,  and  her  obsequies  were  celebrated  in 
presence  of  the  Doge  Marcantonio  Memmo  and  of 
all  the  Senate.  The  Doge  was  unable,  on  account 
of  his  great  age,  to  follow  the  bier,  which  was 
transported  to  the  Church  of  Santi  Giovanni  e 
Paolo  with  the  same  following  and  ceremonies  as 
at  the  funeral  of  the  Dogaressa  Cecilia  Priuli.  In 
the  minds  of  those  present  at  the  solemn  funeral 
arose  the  remembrance  of  former  festivities  and 
splendour.  "  lllinc  clamor  !  "  exclaimed  another  at 
the  grave  of  the  Dogaressa,  "  huic  silentium  ;  illinc 
Icetitia,  huic  moeror;  illinc  ludi,  hmc  lacrimce.'^  The 
ashes  of  Marino  and  of  Morosina  rest  together  in 


THE  DOGARESSA  MOROSINA  GRIMANL        227 

the  Church  of  San  Giuseppe  di  Gastello,  in  a  mauso- 
leum of  splendid  marble,  embellished  with  statues 
and  bronzes.  The  design  of  it  is  attributed  to 
Yincenzo  Scamozzi,  but  the  breadth  of  concep- 
tion inclines  us  to  believe  that  Girolamo  Cam- 
pagna,  who  sculptured  the  statues  and  modelled 
the  bas-reliefs,  was  the  author  of  the  mausoleum 
itself.  The  monument  is  formed  of  an  attic  and 
four  columns  of  the  composite  order,  which  close 
the  sarcophagi  with  the  reclining  figures  of  the 
Doge  and  Dogaressa.  The  bronze  bas-relief  beneath 
the  urn  of  the  Dogaressa  represents  the  Bishop  of 
Amelia,  who  in  St.  Mark's  offered  to  Morosina  the 
blessed  Bosa.  In  the  same  church,  in  a  tomb 
sculptured  bj  Yittoria,  reposes  the  Doge's  son, 
Girolamo  Grimani,  a  munificent  patron  of  the  Fine 
Arts. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

The  Seventeenth  Centukt — Arts  and  Literatuee — 
Provisions  for  Moderating  Luxury  and  For- 
bidding      THE       DoGARESSA's      CORONATION S^OLEMN 

Entry    of    the    Wife    op     the     Doge     Sylvester 
Valerio — New  Decrees  respecting  the  Ceremonies 

FOR   the   DoGARESSA, 

The  glory  of  Venice  began  to  decline  at  the  close 
of  the  16th  century,  and  every  year  her  wealth, 
dominion,  and  power  diminished.  A  part  of  her 
maritime  possessions  were  lost,  and  the  Turk, 
weakened  but  not  discouraged,  threatened  her 
shores.  The  establishment  of  new  magistrates  was 
a  bad  remedy  for  her  languishing  commerce ;  the 
germs  of  corruption  sprang  up  vigorously  amongst 
the  nobility ;  the  life  of  the  people  was  wanting  in 
industry  and  invention .  In  such  times  of  enerva- 
tion the  mind  is  inclined  to  exaggeration,  genius  to 
a  vicious  style  of  conception  and  expression,  and  in 
daily  life  the  conventional  takes  the  place  of  truth, 
artificiality  of  simplicity,  and  in  art  there  arises  a 
redundancy   of   elegance,    whilst   true   feeling   and 


ARTS  AND  LITEHATURE.  229 

ideality  disappear.  But  in  art,  as  well  as  in  real 
life,  licentiousness  is  not  without  magnificence,  and 
there  is  a  certain  grandeur  in  decay.  At  this  time 
the  Republic  kept  up  its  dignity  in  spite  of  the 
cowardly  subjection  of  other  Itahan  States,  and  of 
Spanish  audacity.  It  frustrated  by  its  energetic 
determination  the  anger  and  excommunications  of 
the  Papal  Court,  and  put  forward  in  opposition  to 
the  corrupt  sacerdotal  power  (a  power  resting  on 
errors  and  superstition)  the  quiet  firmness  of  Paolo 
Sarpi,  who  to  a  powerful  intellect  joined  a  rare 
steadfastness  of  disposition.  The  nobles  allowed 
themselves  to  be  seduced  by  pomp  and  love  of  ease, 
but  from  the  class  of  the  aristocracy  itself  arose 
a  few  men  who,  animated  by  the  spirit  of  their 
ancestors,  endeavoured  to  stem  the  ebbing  tide  of 
fortune.  The  paucity  of  moral  worth  in  that  century 
was  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  glorious 
achievements  of  Lorenzo  Mocenigo,  the  hero  of  the 
Cretan  war,  and  of  Francesco  Morosini,  who  made 
the  shores  of  the  Archipelago  resound  anew  with 
the  cry  of  victory. 

The  Fine  Arts,  in  spite  of  eccentricity  and  extrava- 
gance, put  forth  much  that  was  grand  and  imposing. 
Amidst  the  irregularities  of  architecture  and  the 
anomalies  of  sculpture  the  genius  of  Alexander 
Yittoria  and  the  audacious  fancy  of  Baldassare 
Longhena  shone  out  brilliantly. 

The  mouldings  and  the  modules  lost  their  former 
elegance,  massive   blocks   and   ponderous   cornices 


230        .  THE  DOGARESSA. 

prevailed,  the  garments  of  the  statues  hung  in 
heavy  folds,  stucco  children  danced  wildly  on  the 
ceilings,  the  columns  were  twisted,  gold  glittered  in 
thick  layers  on  the  cornices  and  along  the  walls, 
amidst  the  balustrades,  and  expanded  into  flowers 
and  festoons,  but  even  in  these  exaggerated  decora- 
tions there  was  nothing  commonplace;  the  defects 
and  designs  were  sui  generis.  The  glories  of  the 
preceding  century  cast  a  refulgent  brightness  over 
the  succeeding  one,  and  influenced  the  arts  of  that 
time.  The  greatest  deterioration  manifested  itself 
in  poetry  and  painting,  two  arts  in  which  an  accurate 
feeling  of  measure  is  most  necessary.  On  the 
canvas  appeared  no  variety  of  faces,  no  grace ;  the 
painters  of  only  one  style,  wanting  in  the  power 
produced  by  the  study  of  the  true,  imitated  the 
carelessness  and  the  precipitancy  of  Tintoretto. 
Jacopo  Palma,  the  younger,  stood  at  the  head  of  the 
school  of  Mannerists.  Andrea  Yicentino,  Santo 
Peranda,  Aliense,  Malombra,  Giovanni  Contarini, 
Varottari,  Carlo  Ridolfi,  Liberi,  and  a  few  more 
followed  in  his  wake,  and  revealed  sometimes  some 
flashes  of  fancy  in  spite  of  too  much  haste  and 
freedom  in  their  works.  But  they  found  plenty  of 
admirers  amongst  their  contemporaries,  and  Marco 
Boschini,  a  17th  century  critic  who  did  not  allow 
himself  to  be  misled,  and  often,  amidst  vainglorious 
magniloquence,  manifested  sound  opinions  upon  art, 
exclaimed  when  studying  the  artistic  productions  of 
his  own  century  :  "  If  we  contemplate  in  an  admir- 


ARTS  AND  LITERATURE,  881 

ing  spirit  the  museum  of  Varotari  Padovano  we 
shall  there  discover  the  delicacy  of  female  form  and 
the  heroic  actions  of  the  knights,  and  in  the  numer- 
ous productions  of  Palma  the  younger  the  brilliancy 
of  nature  and  the  animation  of  human  bodies  I  ** 
And  a  more  circumspect  writer  on  art,  speaking  of 
Palma  the  younger,  said  that  he  had  reached  the 
highest  point  of  perfection  in  art.  Again,  the  follow- 
ing lines  were  written  upon  Palma  the  younger : — 

El  Palma  donca  a  I'incalmar  fu  lesto, 
Su'l  verde  ramo  del  s6  bel  inzegno, 
El  fior  del  colorito  e  bel  disegno  ; 
E  do  gran  mistri  ghe  don6  I'inesto. 

L'un  Tician  fu,  quel  altro  el  Tentoreto 
Dove  con  spada  e  targa  di  tal  sorte 
L'e  sta  un  eroe,  che  ha  supera  la  morte 
Co  I'elmo  in  testa,  e  indosso  el  corsaleto. 

E  le  so  imprese  fu  de  tal  sustanza 
Che  lo  se  vede  andar  per  tuto  el  mondo 
Se  s6  cose  non  ha  ne  fin,  ne  fondo 
L'ha  fato  piu  che  no  fe  Carlo  in  Franisa. 

De  i  s6  quadri  ghe  xe  le  Giesie  piene, 
Le  Sagristie,  le  Scuole  e  Compagnie 
De  i  lioghi  Sacri  ;  ne  le  xe  busie 
Tute  n6  le  puol  scriver  mile  pene. 

In  verita  che'l  ghi  ne  ha  fato  tante, 
Che'l  numero  e  infinito,  che  i  quadroni 
Le  s6  figure  certo  e  a  milioni 
E  tute  de  bon  peso,  e  trabucante. 

.  L'^  sta  dominator  de  si  gran  Arte, 
E  in  tal  muodo  patron  de  la  Pitura, 
Che  in  quatro  colpi  el  facea  una  figura, 
E  le  se  vede  in  tole,  in  tele  e  in  carte. 


232  THE  DOGAUESSA. 

There  are  some  verses  of  another  work  of  Marco 
Boschini,  which  bears  this  title  on  the  frontis- 
piece — 

La  carta  del  Nayegar  Pittoresco,  dialogo  tra  un  Senator 
Venetian  deletante,  e  im  professor  de  Pitura,  soto  nome  d'Ese- 
lenza  e  de  Compare  compartio  in  oto  venti  con  i  quali  la  Nave 
Venetiana  vien  conduta  in  I'Alto  Mar  de  la  Pitura,  come  assoluta 
dominante  de  quelo  a  confusion  de  cbi  non  intende  el  bossolo  de 
la  calamita. 

The  title  was,  indeed,  worthy  of  the  verses,  but 
the  critic  is  without  comparison  superior  to  the 
poet. 

Poetry,  devoid  of  powerful  imaginings,  betrays  a 
verbose  abundance  and  plebeian  triviality  of  con- 
ception. Thomas  Mondini  travesties  Tasso  as  a 
barcarol  venesiano,  and  in  the  following  lines  the 
fugitive  Herminia  — 

Erminia  intanto  in  fra  la  scuritae 
D'un  bosco  co  gran  pressa  se  la  bate, 
La  xe  tanto  stremia  che  in  veritae 
Mi  credo  che  ghe  trema  le  culate. 

They  thus  vulgarly  transformed  one  of  the  most 
charming  creations  of  Italian  poetry. 

The  strangeness  of  imagery,  the  mania  for  dis- 
covering new  styles,  neither  used  nor  cared  for, 
were  joined  to  a  serviHty  of  sentiment,  and  the 
Eepublic,  like  the  monarchies,  was  not  wanting  in 
courtier  poets.  Venice  had  always  possessed  en- 
thusiastic flatterers,  but,  in  the  preceding  centuries, 
panegyric,    even    when    exaggerated,    betrayed    a 


ARTS  AND  LITERATURE,  283 

certain  sincerity  of  conception  and  expression.    For 
instance,  a  poet  of  the  15th  century  wrote  — 

Pizola  fosti  e  mo  sei  tanta  larga 
Atorno  a  torno  el  mondo  se  inchina 

Tu  sola  sei  Raina 

Sopra  ogni  regno  nel  mondo  creato. 

Even  at  that  time,  according  to  a  contemporary 
writer,  the  city  was  in  gran  calamitade  per  timor  de 
la  perdita  de  lo  Stato  marittimo,  perche  mancando 
la  navigatione  e  il  Stato  marittimo  a^Venesiani  man- 
cariano  etiam  la  riputatione  e  la  gloria  lore,  ed  in 
pochissimi  anni  se  consumeriano  a  poco  a  poco. 

The  sad  prognostic  was  verified  two  centuries 
later,  but  even  then  Yenice  retained  sufficient  power 
and  magnificence  to  arouse  the  laudations  of  her 
many  admirers.  And  for  one  Chiabura,  who  praised 
in  a  noble  and  generous  spirit  the  Venetians  killed 
in  the  wars  against  the  Turks,  how  many  rhymsters 
there  were  using  careless  phraseology,  a  weak  style, 
wordy  and  commonplace.     For  them  Yenice  is  — 

....  Moglie  di  Nereo,  ell'e  Regina, 
Del  Mar  profondo,  ogni  procella  acquets 
Et  ogni  onda  I'ammira,  e  se  I'inchina  .... 
Febo  che  il  mondo  tutto  allumi  e  lustri, 
Vedestu  mai  citta  tanto  felice, 
0  negli  antichi  o  nei  moderni  lustri  ? 

Her  glory  will  never  fade  — • 

Piaccia  a  chi  tutto  pu6,  che  ognor  s'accreschino 

I  pregi  tuoi,  e'n  tale  altezza  sagliano, 

Che  il  Medo  e  I'lndo  la  tua  gloria  ammirino. 

The  gods  assemble  at  the  invitation  of  Neptune, 


234  THE  DOGABESSA. 

desirous  to  found  a  city  unique  amongst  all  others. 

And  Neptune  prefers  a  region  where  — 

....  figlionli  invitti 
Che  saran  detti  lungamente  Eneti, 
Poneiido  un  V.  avanti  TE.  Veneti, 
Detti  saranno,  indi  da  lor  Venetia. 

Whether  in  Italian  or  Latin  the  theme  is  always 
the  same. 

....  landare  viros,  urbemque  marinam 
-^theream  penitus,  caelicolamque  Deam. 

PaDans  are  sung  to  her  riches,  to  her  sumptuous 
manufactures. 

Tecta  regali  fabricata  luxu 
Et  peregrinis  opulenta  gazis, 
Vi  virum  nulla  populata  serus 
Possidet  hseres. 

Strangers  do  not  allow  themselves  to  be  surpassed 
by  native  writers,  and  the  Queen  of  the  Adriatic  is 
by  them  considered  greater  than  Eome. 

Roma  prior,  magnis  sed  non  felicior  ausis 
Dura  quater  Troiae  fata  parentis  habet 
Serior  urbs  Veneta  est,  multo  e  felicior  hsec  est 
Virgo  Barbarica  non  violata  manu. 

And  a  German  professor,  alluding  to  Venice, 
exclaims  from  his  rostrum  — 

Turn  qui  volunt  earn  viri  mortalium 
Sunt  flos  leposque. 

The  poets  who  turn  to  ancient  times  for  inspira- 
tion are  not  more  happy  in  their  similes.  One  of 
them  celebrates  Pepin's  expedition,  and  after  describ- 
ing the  prodigies  of  valour  performed  by  the  Yene- 


ARTS  AND  LITERATURE.  235 

tians,  and  the  total  discomfiture  of  the  Franks,  con- 
cludes with  — 

La  dolce  liberta  fu  posta  in  trono, 
Da  I'Adria  le  accoglienze  riceyea 
E  fra  tambieri  e  trombe  al  lieto  suono 
Di  Vittoria.  .  .  . 

And  another,  evoking  the  hecatomb  of  Aquileia, 
is  consoled  when  thinking  of  the  birth  of  Venice  — 

Ma  perche  poi  la  gloriosa  nacque 
Alma  Venezia,  cbe  su'l  mar  costrutta, 
Crebbe  felice  si,  c'bor  non  ba  pari, 
Temprati  fur  di  tanti  duol  gli  amari. 

But  amidst  the  tares  and  weeds  of  the  faded 
flowers  of  epic  poetry,  we  see  the  flowerets  of  the 
wood  of  Parrasio,  and  between  Attila  and  Pepin 
appear  Amaryllis  and  Tityrus,  and  amidst  warlike 
enterprises  the  longing  after  beauty  — 

0  nova  o  singolare  o  pellegrina 

Virtii  de  la  bellezza 

In  qualunque  risplenda 
Bel  volto,  accompagnata 
Da  due  begli  atti  schivi 

Innamora  equalmente  huomini  e  Divi. 

And  to  the  merito  sublime  de  le  nohilissime  dame 
de  VAdria,  they  devoted  serenades,  wherein  appeared 
Proteus,  Venus,  Fame,  Phyllis,  Chloris,  and  French, 
German,  Spanish,  Italian,  and  Sarmatian  knights. 
In  conclusion  the  scene  was  transformed  into  a  royal 
courtyard  with  a  splendid  fountain  in  the  centre. 
Fame  came  forth  upon  a  shining  cloud,  made  her 
little  speech,  and  all  returned  home  satisfied. 


286  THE  DOGARESSA. 

The  prose  tallies  with  the  meaningless  poetry,  and 
reaches  such  a  pitch  of  musty  vanity  and  academical 
sweepings,  that  it  is  difficult  to  understand  how,  at 
that  epoch,  and  in  such  a  depraved  atmosphere,  the 
calm  genius  of  Paolo  Sarpi  could  arise. 

"  Who  will  be  able  with  the  brush  of  the  intellect, 
with  the  colours  of  demonstrative  reason,  now  to 
design  the  portrait  of  divine  pictures  and  similitudes 
upon  the  canvas  of  curiosity  ?''  exclaimed  a  noble- 
man discoursing  on  Intellect  and  on  Art,  and  seek- 
ing  the  most  unusual  way  of  expressing  the  simplest 
things. 

The  poet  Strozzi  dedicated  his  poem  to  Vimmor- 
talitx  del  nome  di  Venesia,  Herede  de  Vantico  valore 
fTOjpugnacolo  d* Italia,  ornamento  d^Europa,  meraviglia 
de  Vuniverso  sostegno  de  la  Christiana  religione,  jprimo- 
genita  di  Santa  Chiesa,  oracolo  di  tutti  i  principi, 
splendor e  di  tutti  i  secoli,  seminario  dinvitti  eroi, 
stanza  di  vera  liberta, gloriosissima  in  pace,  fortissima 
in  guerra,  sempre  magnanima,  sempre  felice,  sempre 
questa,  j 

And  a  knight,  Vittorio  Sca^'lia,  di  Chivasso,  dedi- 
cated to  the  Doge  Antonio  PriuH  a  pamphlet  entitled 
"  Likeness  of  the  Most  Serene  V'rgin  Adriatica,"  in 
which  she  is  represented  as  a  qm^en,  "  whose  hair 
are  great  thoughts  ;  the  forehead,  courage ;  the  eye- 
lashes, nobility;  the  right  eye,  prin  iple ;  the  left, 
elegance ;  the  nose,  conformity ;  the  cheJ  ks,  respect ; 
the  lips,  affability;  the  tongue,  eloquence^'/   &c.,  &c. 

Who  could  believe  that  under  the   inl^xaence  of 


ARTS  AND  LITERATURE.  237 

such  arts  would  spring  forth  the  men  who  fought  the 
war  with  Crete  ?  Who  could  believe  that  such  absurd 
trivialities  would  succeed  so  soon  after  the  fierce 
war-cries  of  the  combatants  in  Chios,  Paros,  and  the 
Dardanelles  ?  Nor  could  such  soft  harmony  con- 
cealing intellectual  poverty,  succeed  in  depriving  the 
life  of  woman  of  its  majesty,  for  it  preserved  during 
the  greater  portion  of  the  seventeenth  century  a 
grave  magnificence.  The  patrician  ladies,  in  their 
actions,  in  their  graceful  movements,  showed  a  dig- 
nified kindness,  and,  according  to  a  foreigner,  are 
majestueuses,  Jieres  et  dedaigneuses. 

Then  came  a  period  during  which  the  Republic, 
conquering  the  danger  caused  by  the  Interdict  of 
Paul  v.,  and  the  conspiracy  of  Bedmar,  and  find- 
ing once  more  its  ancient  valour  in  the  unfortunate 
but  glorious  war  of  Crete,  seemed  anxious  to  retrieve 
itself,  and  preserve  the  country  from  the  corruption 
of  luxury.  Possibly  the  magnates  wished  the 
Republic  to  assume  an  air  of  decorous  severity. 
For  that  reason  they  fought  against  noisy  foreign 
manners,  especially  regarding  the  head  of  the  State 
and  the  Grand  Council,  declaring  that  the  preserva- 
tion of  ancient  customs  ajpjportia  cadaun  contento  et 
sia  cosa  per  ogni  rispetto  laudahile  et  da  essere  osser- 
vata  pnncijpalmente  net  nostra  moderato  governoy  vuole 
che  i  Dogi,  i  quali  rajojoresentano  ne  le  loro  persone  la 
puhhlica  maesta,  should  observe,  even  in  their  dress, 
that  which  was  suitable  to  the  dignity  of  the  Republic, 
and  in  their  apartments  must  continue  the  ancient 


288  THE  DOGARESSA. 

custom  of  un  raso  piano  pendente  dal  muro  a  la  pro- 
jyria  sedia,  astenendosi  da  haldacchini  di  forma  nuo- 
vamente  mtrodotfa. 

On  the  6tli  of  November,  1649,  there  was  a 
question  in  the  Senate  of  the  magisterial  reform 
concerning  pomp,  and  there  were  very  severe 
censures  on  luxury,  superfluities,  and  the  laxity  of 
the  times. 

On  the  17th  of  December,  1650,  the  Senate 
ordered  the  magistrate  to  republish  and  print  the 
laws  on  the  question  of  pomp,  and  many  were  the 
especial  and  particular  precautions  respecting  female 
luxury.  A  decree  of  the  6th  of  May,  1613,  mentions 
that  the  expenses  for  women's  garments  were  in  them- 
selves considerable,  and  became  more  so  because  the 
dresses  being  used  for  a  short  time  only,  in  spite  of 
their  great  price,  served  merely  for  vain  show. 
They  forbade  the  use  of  garments  of  gold,  of  silver 
and  embroidery,  and  on  April  24th,  1633,  in  the 
Senate,  they  regulated  the  ordinances  on  women's 
garments,  materia  confiisa  per  le  tante  nove  forme  et 
inventioni  intro-dotte.  But  all  arrangements  proved 
useless,  and  new  fashions  were  introduced  from 
France  and  Spain.  When  the  Prince  of  Tuscany, 
afterwards  Grand-duke,  under  the  name  of  Cosmo 
III.,  came  in  1628  to  Venice,  he  also  visited  the 
monastery  of  St.  Zachary,  and  admired  the  nuns 
dressed  elegantly  in  white  dresses  a  la  Frangaise, 
bodices  of  fine  linen,  with  small  folds,  and  very  deep 
lace.     The  bosom  partly  uncovered,  and  on  the  head 


PROVISIONS  FOR  MODERATING  LUXURY.      239 

a  small  veil  from  under  which  the  curls  escaped. 
The  prohibitions  against  luxury  continued  to  pour 
forth.  A  decree  of  January  10th,  1645,  has  some 
interest  for  us,  considering  that  it  forbade  the 
coronation  of  the  Dogaressa.  The  decree  begins 
with  these  wise  remarks,  "  Conviene  net  jpro'prio 
sostenimento  de  la  puhlica  grandezza  jprefiggere  anco 
quegli  ordini,  che  niente  offuscando  il  lustro  e  il  decoro 
ne  le  cerimom'e  de  le  Dog  ares  se  sian  joer  togliere 
Vohhligatione  d^eccessivi  disjpendii,  aggravanti  in  par- 
ticolare  VArti  e  i  jpojpoli  ad  altri  pest  obligati,'*  It 
was  therefore  decided  "  that  for  the  future  the 
coronation  of  the  Dogaressa  should  be  prohibited 
as  an  unnecessary  ceremony  and  little  suitable  to  the 
moderation  of  the  Government,''^ 

As  for  the  rest,  the  same  prerogatives  and 
customs  used  on  other  occasions,  and  permitted  by 
the  laws  concerning  the  person  of  the  Dogaressa, 
were  to  be  continued. 

At  that  time  the  Dogaressa  herself  seemed  to 
object  to  the  brilliancy  of  f^tes,  and  Paulina 
Loredano,  wife  of  the  Doge  Charles  Contarini 
(1655-1656),  a  grave  matron,  avoided  the  cere- 
monies, salutations,  and  applause  of  the  people  by 
not  appearing  in  public.  But  when  Francesco 
Morosini,  dominating  evil  fortune,  revived  the 
valour  of  his  ancestors,  and  his  country  seemed 
again  to  flourish  with  renewed  vigour,  merriment 
and  gaiety  prevailed  again  in  Venice.  Sylvester 
Valier   succeeded   in   1694   the   Conqueror   of  the 


240  THE  DOGARESSA. 

Morea  on  the  throne  of  the  Doges,  and  disregard- 
ing the  laws,  he  caused  his  Dogaressa  to  be  crowned 
with  the  usual  ceremonies.  On  the  morning  of  the 
fourth  of  March  the  Princess,  dressed  in  a  costume 
of  cloth  of  gold,  trimmed  with  sable,  with  a  white 
veil  and  a  jewelled  Ducal  cap,  besides  a  necklace  with 
a  diamond  cross  round  her  neck,  sat  on  a  throne, 
surrounded  by  a  numerous  suite  of  ladies,  and 
received  the  councillors,  procurators,  learned  men, 
secretaries  of  State,  Avogadori,  chiefs  of  the 
Council  of  Ten,  &c.,  &c. 

Towards  evening  the  Ducal  mantle  was  placed 
upon  her  shoulders,  and  leaning  on  the  arms  of 
her  nearest  relations  she  entered  the  banqueting 
hall  in  which  magnificent  preparations  had  been 
made.  She  seated  herself  on  a  raised  dais,  received 
the  congratulations  of  her  relations  and  ladies,  who 
were  regaled  with  baskets  of  confectionery,  and  after 
having  remained  for  some  time,  the  Dogaressa  retired 
to  her  rooms  whilst  the  fete  was  going  on.  A  medal 
was  also  struck  in  commemoration  of  the  Princess's 
coronation,  upon  which  was  engraved  on  one  side  the 
lady's  portrait,  and  on  the  other  these  words : — 
"  Manus  Elisabeth  Quirina  Valeria  Ducissa  Vene-' 
tiarum,  1694" 

A  few  days  later  the  Papal  Nuncio,  the  French 
Ambassador,  Badoer,  the  Patriarch  of  Venice,  the 
Cardinals  Barbarigo,  Bishop  of  Padua,  and  Dolfino, 
patriarch  of  Aquileia,  went  to  visit  the  Dogaressa, 
and  were  received  with  the  usual  formalities.     We 


THE  WIFE  OF  SYLVESTER  VALIERO.  241 

find  that  by  permission  of  the  Government  other 
visits  were  paid  bj  the  foreign  ambassadors  to  the 
Dogaressa.  On  the  sixth  of  May,  1696,  Duke 
Moles,  the  new  Spanish  Ambassador,  visited  the 
Princess  in  great  pomp,  and  she  received  him 
surrounded  by  her  gentlewomen.  He  returned 
with  the  same  ceremonies  on  July  7th,  1696,  to 
inform  her  of  the  Queen  mother's  death.  On 
March  29th,  1697,  the  Dogaressa  received  in  state 
the  Envoy  Extraordinary  of  Poland,  John  Bokum, 
and  the  ambassadors,  magistrates,  procurators  and 
knights  went  on  birthdays  to  congratulate  the  most 
illustrious  lady  of  Venice. 

A  picture  by  an  artist  of  the  18th  century  shows 
us  the  gentle  countenance  of  the  Dogaressa  Yaliero. 
A  few  silver  threads  appear  amidst  the  fair  hair,  and 
the  face  shows  traces  of  a  refined  beauty.  The 
lineaments  are  serene,  the  cheeks  pale,  the  eyes  and 
forehead  illumined  by  a  quiet  sparkle  of  kindness 
not  unaccompanied  by  a  certain  dignified  pride. 

In  a  century  when  academies  abounded  we  are 
not  surprised  to  find  the  name  of  the  Dogaressa  on 
the  frontispiece  of  a  book  belonging  to  the  Ricov- 
rati  academicians  :  "  Prose  e  poeste  de  gli  Accademici 
Bicovrati  a  la  Serenissima  Ek'sabetta  Vak'era,  Doga- 
ressa di  Venezia,  dedicate  al  Serenissimo  Silvestro 
Valier''  (Bologna,  1695). 

Another  set  of  academicians,  the  brothers  de 
V  Oratorio  de  VIncuraUU  del  Santissimo  Groctfisso 
e  de  Camor  di  Bio,  had  dedicated  the  Indice  de  la 


242  THE  DOGARESSA. 

penitenza,  oratorio  in  onore  di  Santa  Maria  Mad- 
dalena  (Venetia,  1694,  appresso  Giovanni  di  Faidi). 
In  1686  tlie  fire  burst  forth  in  the  infirmary  of 
Ospitaletto,  and  at  the  end  of  ten  years  a  priest  of 
the  order  of  St.  Girolamo  Ewth'aniy  Francesco  Caro, 
wrote  in  an  affected  and  high-flown  style  three  essays 
on  this  fire,  dedicating  them  to  Sua  Seremta  Elisa- 
hetta  Querini  Valier  Dogaressa  di  Venezia  e  governa- 
trice  del  Fio  Conservatorio  {Venezia,  Bortoli,  1696). 
"  Ten  years  ago,"  wrote  Francesco,  "  a  fire  broke 
out  in  Venice,  and  raged  with  such  fury  that  it 
devoured  even  the  stones,  assuming  the  part  of 
the  Saturn  as  well  as  of  Yulcan."  Then,  alluding 
to  Elizabeth  Valiero :  ''  This  mantle  with  golden 
flowers,  this  wealth  of  treasure,  and  your  suite  in 
Venice  serve  to  make  you  a  new  planet  in  Aqua- 
rius." And  again,  "  It  is  universally  acknowledged 
that  your  fine  Ducal  cap  has  become,  in  times  of 
famine,  a  most  rich  cornucopia  for  the  benefit  of  the 
poor  !  " 

And  when  the  Doge  died  the  same  writer,  when 
praising  the  defunct,  after  comparing  the  Doge  to 
Solomon,  found  means  to  exalt  the  Dogaressa  into  a 
new  Queen  of  Sheba.  "  Gommemoro  in  Ducissa,' 
exclaimed  Caro,  "  Heroinam  ex  Querinorum  domo, 
cui  Naturce  etars  exornandce  totum  hauserant  studmm; 
ita  sane,  ut  ea  Viro  suo  quoties  accessisset,  nova  tam- 
quam  Saba  ostendoret  Salomonemy  What  inspired 
flatteries  !  In  reality  he  possessed  neither  fervour 
nor  real  enthusiasm,  but  made  an  ostentatious  dis- 


THE  WIFE  OF  SYLVESTER  VALIERO.  243 

play  of  great  impressions  and  sensations ;  within,  an 
utter  want  of  faith  and  love ;  externally,  noisy  forms, 
likely  to  influence  the  mind,  brilliant  appearances, 
simulating  warm  feelings.  Few  women,  in  so  high 
a  position,  were  as  unpretending  as  Elizabeth  Valiero. 
What  could  she  understand  of  such  ideas,  phrases, 
and  imagery? — she,  so  good  and  kind,  and  writing  to 
her  cousin  thus  : 

"  III.  Mo.  Stg.  Mio.  Oss.  mo. 

''Your  Serene  Highness  will  receive  these 
sentiments  as  coming  from  my  heart,  for  I  desire 
to  see  you  recalled  from  banishment  with  all  the  ad- 
vantages belonging  to  your  birth  and  fortune. 

"  And  believe  me,  though  still  far  away,  always 
your  Highnesses  affectionate  and  most  devoted  ser- 
vant and  cousin, 

««Betta  Querini  Valieeo." 

How  must  the  inflated  and  absurd  metaphors 
have  sounded  in  the  ears  of  so  modest  and  good  a 
woman  ? 

Ostentation  and  vanity  pervaded  religion,  the 
home,  and  Art.  And  Art  does  in  truth  flaunt  a 
licentious  pomp  on  the  mausoleum  where  repose 
the  ashes  of  Elizabeth  Valiero.  Anybody  entering 
the  church  of  Santi  Giovanni  e  Paolo  sees  on  his 
right  hand  the  immense  tomb  of  the  Doge  Bertuccio 
Yaliero,  of  the  Doge  Sylvester  Valiero  and  his  wife 
Elizabeth  Querini.  The  Doge  Sylvester  left  in  his 
will    for    such   a  monument    the    sum   of    50,000 


244  THE  DOGARESSA. 

ducats,  wishing  the  design  to  be  chosen  by  his  wife 
Elizabeth  Querini.  It  was  erected  after  1708,  by 
Andrea  Tirali ;  it  had  gigantic  Corinthian  columns, 
curvilinear  lines  ill-combined  with  straight  ones, 
and  ungainly  statues  of  every  size.  In  the  largest 
inter-columnation,  under  a  great  canopy,  are  placed 
the  effigies  of  the  two  Doges  and  of  the  Dogaressa; 
It  is  the  delirium  of  art.  In  this  style  of  art,  which 
did  not  even  possess  a  grand  decorative  magnifi- 
cence, is  evidenced  the  moral  dissolution,  which,  in 
the  following  century,  is  not  arrested,  but  assumes 
another  aspect  and  a  different  form.  The  apogee 
of  licentiousness  having  been  reached  in  costumes 
and  art,  they  sought  a  remedy,  and  affected  refine- 
ment, attenuated  elegance  as  well  as  idyllic  charms, 
fit  to  lull  such  generations,  awakened  later  by 
clamorous  cries  for  reform,  were  opposed  to  arti- 
ficial pomposities,  inflated  affectations  and  bombastic 
expressions. 

The  17th  century  had  closed,  and  in  the  first 
year  of  the  following  century  we  find  a  very 
curious  proviso  of  the  Grand  Council  reviving  the 
law  of  1645,  concerning  the  coronation  of  the 
Dogaressa  as  a  useless  ceremony.  And  they  forbade 
not  only  the  coronation,  but  even  the  wearing  of 
the  Ducal  cap  by  the  Doge's  wife.  The  decree  of 
July  13th,  1700,  contained  also  the  following 
orders  :  "  It  is  forbidden  to  the  said  Dogaressa  to 
receive  visits  or  services  on  any  pretext  from 
ambassadors,  secretaries,  or  other  envoys  of  foreign 


NEW  DECREES,  245 

princes,  or  from  councils,  colleges,  or  magistrates 
belonging  to  this  town.  "When  leaving  the  Palace, 
she  may  be  accompanied  by  her  daughters,  sisters, 
daughters  of  sons  or  of  sisters,  daughters-in-law, 
sisters-in-law,  but  by  no  one  else,  except  the  persons 
of  her  suite.  So  likewise,  the  permission  only  of 
our  Assembly  is  not  sufficient  to  enable  them  to 
enter  a  convent ;  there  must  be  a  positive  decree  of 
the  Senate  given  with  all  the  rigour  of  the  Quattro 
Quinti.  The  century  of  elegant  luxury  and  of 
coquettish  sprightliness  opened  with  these  severe 
restrictions  on  the  most  noble  representative  of  the 
gentle  Venetian  sex ;  with  these  stern  decrees,  that 
period  began  in  which  the  Venetian  lady  was  a 
graceful  queen  in  society,  in  the  Fine  Arts,  and  even 
in  politics. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Venetian    Decadence — Salons — The    Patrician 
Flirts. 

The  decadence  of  the  Venetians  reminds  us  of 
autumn.  The  freshness  of  spring,  the  delights  of 
summer,  have  passed  away ;  the  sadness  of  the  de- 
clining year  casts  over  all  things  a  halo  of  poetry, 
that  consoler  of  the  mind ,  which  already  presages 
the  approach  of  winter.  The  dying  glories  of  the 
Republic  have  become  the  theme  of  exaggerated 
opposition  or  rhetorical  invective.  We  find,  in  the 
decline  of  this  great  Italian  State,  besides  the 
slothful  people,  and  many  noblemen,  corrupted  by 
idleness,  gambling,  facile  amours,  others^  desirous  of 
reform,  but  too  timid  or  weak  to  carry  it  into 
execution.  Yet  we  must  own  that,  even  in  this  last 
century  of  Venetian  glory,  there  were  men  of 
upright  minds,  powerful  genius,  besides  honest 
rulers,  and  dignity  in  the  arts  and  letters.  And 
lastly  few  will  doubt  that  even  amidst  frivolity  and 


VENETIAN  DECADENCE,  247 

witticisms,  ideas  of  tolerance  and  civil  reform  found 
an  echo,  and  in  spite  of  the  timidity  of  most,  there 
were  still  minds  faithful  to  venerated  memories. 

Whoever  studies  calmly  the  eighteenth  century 
in  "Venice  will  find  himself  surrounded  by  a  serene 
brightness.  A  fine  artistic  feeling  characterizes 
this  century  and  manifests  itself  everywhere,  in  the 
fanciful  scrolls  of  a  corbel,  as  well  as  in  the  grand 
decorations  of  Tiepolo,  in  the  little  pictures  of 
Longhi,  of  Canaletto,  of  Guardi,  and  in  the  carved 
foliage  of  delicate  marvels  on  the  ceilings.  And 
even  at  the  present  day,  when  we  enter  rooms 
adorned  by  Tiepolo  and  his  imitators,  and  our  eyes 
rest  upon  the  beautiful  carved  furniture,  and  on  the 
splendid  stuffs  covered  with  dust,  discoloured  by 
time,  we  behold,  in  spite  of  the  destruction  caused 
by  men  and  by  time,  the  remains  of  things  so  elegant 
and  pretty  that  we  can  readily  understand  how  a 
gentle  and  courteous  lady  would  leave  her  impress 
upon  the  taste  of  the  century.  We  can  also  realize 
that  woman  must  have  exercised  no  small  influence 
upon  Venetian  art,  as  did  in  France  at  the  same 
period,  Mme.  de  S6vigne,  Madame  Recamier, 
Mesdames  de  Pompadour,  de  Montespan,  de  Main- 
tenon,  and  many  others.  Art  indeed  reflects  the 
refined  Venetian  life,  full  of  love  without  ardour,  of 
wishes  without  fervour,  of  voluptuousness  without 
desire.  Even  the  country  had  lost  its  simple 
beauty,  the  shrubs  were  cut  and  clipped,  arranged  in 
patterns,  and  the  landscape  adapted  by  the  hand  of 


248  THE  DOGARESSA. 

man  became  a  frame  well  suited  to  the  elegance  of 
the  18th  century.  In  the  towns  of  Terraglio, 
Brenta,  and  Friuli,  we  seem  still  to  hear  the  echo 
of  the  feasts  celebrated  in  honour  of  the  alliance 
between  Nature  and  Art.  Longhi  became  the 
courtier,  the  poet,  the  historian,  and  the  chronicler 
of  that  life  which  pleased  the  eye  without  touching 
the  heart.  Was  he  not  endowed  with  all  the  graces 
and  the  intellectual  defects  of  his  time  ?  The  figures 
in  his  pictures  are  surrounded  by  a  cloud  of  pale 
Hght,  enchanting  forms,  which  seem  to  draw  some 
sweet  melody  from  the  spinet,  or  re-echo,  amidst 
the  hum  of  conversation,  the  laughter  of  other  days. 
Women  must  have  acquired  a  commanding  power 
amidst  this  worship  of  refinement,  for  had  they  not 
the  advantage  over  man  in  their  beauty  ? 

Manners  and  customs  are  transformed,  solemn 
pomp  makes  way  for  a  certain  graceful  lightness. 
A  French  writer  of  the  18th  century  relates  upon 
this  point  a  curious  anecdote.  The  daughters  of 
the  Doge  Domenico  Contarini,  at  the  end  of  the 
17th  century,  were  the  first  Venetian  ladies  who 
laid  aside  the  use  of  the  high  zoccoli.  ^^  II  y  a  grande 
ajpjparence,^^  says  the  foreign  writer,  satirically,  "  que 
la  politique  des  maris  avai't  introduit  un  jpareil  usage, 
dont  on  dit  qu'ils  se  trouvaient  fort  Men  J'  And,  in- 
deed, an  ambassador,  talking  one  day  with  the  Doge 
and  the  Councillors  about  the  immensely  high 
wooden  heels  used  by  the  Venetian  ladies,  praised 
both  noble  ladies   Contarini   for  having   preferred 


PATRICIAN  FLIRTS.  249 

low  heels,  as  so  much  more  convenient.  "  Only 
too  convenient,"  exclaimed  one  of  the  Councillors, 
angrily ;  he  was  no  doubt  a  married  man.  In  fact, 
from  that  time  woman  descends  from  her  pedestal, 
losing  little  by  little  her  air  of  rigid  and  constrained 
ceremony;  she  mingles  in  the  crowd,  runs  to  the 
churches,  theatres,  and  casinos;  laughs  gaily  and 
musically,  enjoys  the  present,  and  is  confident  in 
the  future.  The  elegant,  brilliant,  joyous,  and 
energetic  women  of  this  period  differ  totally  in  dis- 
position, thoughts,  and  customs,  from  the  grave 
and  majestic  Venetian  ladies  of  the  preceding  cen- 
turies ;  they  begin  a  life  of  foolish  imprudences,  of 
intoxicating  sensations,  of  desires,  licentiousness, 
excitement,  surrounded  by  courtesies  and  flatteries, 
occupied  in  visits  and  conversation,  amidst  the 
fluttering  of  plumes  and  laces. 

Woman  practices  the  arts  of  seduction,  poses 
with  langour  and  abandon,  walks  with  cat-like 
movements  ;  there  is  a  delightful  coquetry  in  her 
smile  and  look.  "  Les  femmes  sont  plus  belles  ici 
qu'en  aucun  autre  endroit^^^  writes  the  witty  Presi- 
dent de  Brosses.  And  nobody  could  better  than  a 
woman  understand  and  reproduce  this  new  female 
type.  Rosalba  Carriera,  born  at  Chioggia,  a  land 
of  poor  fishermen,  understood  all  the  Venetian 
elegance ;  not  beautiful  herself,  she  knew  vastly 
well  how  to  portray  the  beauties  of  her  day.  Her 
coloured  crayon-drawings,  softly  illuminated  by  a 
roseate   hue,  attract  the  mind  towards  the  records 


S60  THE  DOGARESSA. 

of  the  past.  The  women  by  Rosalba  still  remain  in 
the  spring-time  of  their  beauty;  some  are  blessed 
with  an  expansive  happiness,  with  their  faces  framed 
in  brown  silk,  and  their  hair  powdered,  with  a 
smooth  brow,  and  a  bosom  full,  scarcely  concealed 
by  gauze  ;  others,  pensive,  with  dreamy,  melancholy 
eyes,  with  a  quiet  smile,  caused  by  some  pleasant 
thought.  The  coloured  crayons  rival  the  brush, 
and  in  those  flower-like  and  satin  tints  we  see  the 
velvety  sheen  of  the  skin  and  the  pulsation  of  life. 
The  great  charm  of  these  gentle  little  ladies,  all 
ribbons,  laces,  and  plumes,  is  that  of  elegance  and 
beauty.  However,  all  the  Venetian  ladies  did  not 
spend  their  lives  in  love  and  smiles.  Possessing 
elegant  and  versatile  minds,  they  knew  also  how  to 
enjoy  the  pleasures  of  imagination.  Then  begins 
their  reign  in  conversation.  They  rule  with  spirit, 
sense,  and  by  their  beauty,  at  those  meetings,  agi- 
tated by  lively,  agreeable,  gay,  and  passionate  con- 
troversies, where  a  thousand  ideas  on  art,  literature, 
and  politics  are  discussed.  Let  it  be  understood, 
however,  that  political  intrigue,  those  vigorous 
aspirations  after  civil  reform,  those  desires  for 
fortune  and  glory,  which  agitated  the  French 
salons  in  the  previous  century,  did  not  disturb  the 
Venetian  ladies,  who  took  no  part  in  public  events, 
and  contented  themselves  at  most  with  the  tittle- 
tattle  of  Government  antechambers.  We  see,  for 
instance,  what  Lorenzo  da  Ponte  wrote  in  his 
memoirs,  when,  in  1777,  after  his  famous  trial  with 


PATRICIAN  FLIRTS.  251 

the  Eeformers  of  the  Paduan  school,  he  entered  the 
home  of  Georgio  Pisani  and  scattered  through 
Venice  his  satires  against  the  Senate.  Probably 
the  same  Pisani,  a  parody  of  Mirabeau,  found  com- 
pensation for  his  demagogical  bursts  of  anger  in  the 
smile  of  some  beautiful  patrician  lady.  But  even 
the  wife  of  the  Procurator  of  St.  Mark,  Catherine 
Dolfino  Trono,  had  no  true  political  influence, 
although  she  possessed  great  discernment, 
united  to  uncommon  strength  of  mind.  The 
power  of  woman  over  the  rulers  of  the  State 
was  limited  to  performing  some  little  act  of 
revenge,  making  some  threat,  and  dispensing 
some  favour.  Thus  Maria  Querini,  wife  of 
the  Knight  Peter  Correre,  Ambassador  at  Vienna 
in  1756,  obtained  by  her  finesse  the  post  of  City 
Magistrate  at  Constantinople  for  her  husband,  and 
the  wife  of  Andrea  Cappello,  Governor  of  Brescia, 
managed  to  induce  the  Avogadore  Angelo  Querini 
to  banish  from  Venice  a  milliner  who  had  dared  to 
enter  into  dispute  with  the  incensed  patrician 
lady.  But  yet  justice  spoke  more  loudly  than  even 
feminine  charms,  and  the  Inquisitors  recalled  with- 
out delay  the  milliner,  and  declared  "  that  she 
might  go  about  freely,  remain  and  return  as  it 
suited  her,  even  walk  about  and  show  herself  in 
pubhc  places."  Amidst  arch  witticisms,  the  merry 
Venetian  ladies  left  to  the  men  the  cares  of  State ; 
nor  did  these  merry  and  idle  dames  lose  their  light- 
heartedness  in  diplomatic  subterfuges. 


252  THE  DOGARESSA. 

Even  at  Isabella  Albrizzi's  conversazione, 
political  discussions  were  rarely  heard,  in  that 
drawing-room  where  the  art  of  conversation 
reached  the  highest  state  of  perfection,  and  where, 
before  the  fall  of  the  Republic,  there  came,  besides 
many  others,  Hippolyte  Pindemonte,  who  declaimed 
his  own  verses,  his  large  melancholy  eyes  gazing 
the  while  into  those  of  clever  Isabella,  and  Melchior 
Cesarotti,  courteous  to  women,  affable  to  men,  and 
flattered  by  all.  If  the  disquisitions  of  those 
learned  men  caused  a  shade  of  weariness  to  pass 
over  the  faces  of  the  beautiful  patrician  ladies,  the 
smile  of  Marina  Benzon,  in  the  freshness  of  youth 
and  beauty,  would  suffice  to  revive  cheerfulness. 
Political  intrigue  could  find  no  place  amidst  these 
pleasures  of  the  mind,  and  somebody  to  whom  the 
fatal  idea  occurred  of  originating  intrigues  between 
foreign  ambassadors  and  some  patrician  ladies  did 
not  receive  a  decided  negative,  but  were  sent  to 
meditate  in  the  Piombi  on  the  patriotism  of  Vene- 
tian women.  Probably  the  love  of  peace  exceeded 
in  them  the  love  of  country.  They  wished  their 
lives  to  be  joyous,  free  from  annoyances  and  cares, 
and  Mme.  du  Boccage  was  astonished  at  the 
liberty  enjoyed  by  Venetian  ladies  in  the  18th  cen- 
tury, each  of  whom  had  a  little  apartment  of  her 
own  out  of  the  house  called  Casino;  the  husband 
had  a  similar  one  for  himself,  and  each  received 
friends  there.  The  ladies  went,  each  accompanied 
by  her  own  cavaliere  servente,  who  protected  her 


PATRICIAN  FLIRTS.  258 

reputation  better  than  her  husband.  And  then  the 
Inquisitors  of  State  occupied  themselves  in  a 
paternal  way  with  superintending  public  morality, 
and  watched  with  suspicious  eyes  over  the  casinos, 
and  over  these  meetings  styled  later  by  hypocritical 
virtue  dens  of  corruption,  in  which  dissoluteness 
reigned  under  the  name  of  gentility ;  effrontery  was 
called  urbanity ;  vice,  merriment ;  effeminacy, 
diversion.  Prohibitions  were  showered  thickly, 
crossing  each  other  on  all  sides,  but  were  useless, 
since  the  patrician  assemblies  continued  in  spite 
of  the  Inquisitors.  Thus  on  April  16th,  1747,  the 
tribunal  resolved  to  have  the  casino  at  Guidecca 
stripped  and  closed ;  it  was  the  property  of  a 
patrician  lady,  Catherine  Sagredo  Barbarigo,  who 
also  kept  saddle-horses  there.  Notwithstanding 
the  known  prohibition,  a  noble  lady,  Marina 
Sagredo  Pisani,  took  an  apartment  on  the  Bridge 
dei  Forali  to  establish  a  casino  there,  and  on  the 
11th  of  November,  1751,  the  Inquisitors  ordered  it 
to  be  closed.  Another  time,  Cecilia  Priuli  Yal- 
marana,  at  one  of  her  soirees  in  the  Hall  of 
Spirone,  fell  into  a  passion  with  a  patrician,  and 
screamed  in  his  face  some  very  abusive  words. 
The  casino  was  closed  on  July  17th,  1756.  The 
decrees  continued,  and  the  Patrician  ladies  went  on 
laughing,  chattering,  and  gambling  in  the  casinos. 
Public  proclamations  were  of  little  avail  against 
the  extravagances  of  dress.  The  patrician  ladies 
appeared  in  the  theatres  clad  in  the  most  indecent 


254  THE  DOGARESSA. 

manner,  and  on  December  23rd,  1776,  a  decree  was 
issued  forbidding  ladies  to  appear  at  the  theatre 
except  in  masks,  cloaks,  silk  mantles  and  modest 
garments.  Shortly  after,  Elizabeth  Labia  Priuli 
and  Maria  Bon  Todarini  were  condemned  to  remain 
at  home  several  days  for  having  gone  to  the  theatre 
with  their  silk  mantles  thrown  off  their  shoulders, 
and  later  Julia  Tron  was  similarly  punished  for 
having  appeared  unmasked  at  the  Theatre  of  St. 
Luke.  And  the  penalties  poured  in  together  with 
the  accusations  of  the  porters  of  the  theatres.  The 
Inquisitors,  jealous  of  the  honour  and  propriety  of 
the  patrician  character,  did  not  overlook  the  most 
minute  particulars,  and  prohibited,  for  instance, 
some  performances  that  a  company  of  patrician 
amateur  actors  wanted  to  give  in  the  theatre  at 
Castelfranco.  They  objected  to  people  of  note 
of  the  patrician  class  appearing  on  the  stage, 
and  being  subjected  to  the  gibes  and  derision 
of  the  spectators !  But  many  worse  evils 
crept  in  amongst  the  enervated  members  of  the 
ancient  city,  and  the  Inquisitors  who  gazed  inquir- 
ingly into  the  secrets  of  alcoves,  and  stormed  loudly, 
endeavouring,  with  resolute  determination,  to  restore 
morality  in  families,  proved  how  true  it  is  that  a 
nation's  greatness  is  on  the  wane  when  virtue  no 
longer  arises  spontaneously  by  the  domestic  hearth, 
and  vice  is  no  longer  checked  by  conscientious 
scruples.  It  is  interesting  to  note  how  the  tribunal 
seeks  to  console  the  afflicted,  to  punish  the  guilty. 


PATRICIAN  FLIRTS,  255 

and  to  encourage  repentance.  That  strange  type  of 
woman,  Madaluzza  Contarini  Gradenigo,  led  her 
husband,  and  even  the  magistrates,  a  nice  life. 
The  tribunal  having  been  appealed  to  respecting 
the  noble  lady  Madaluzza,  wife  of  Charles  Gradenigo, 
Captain  aud  Governor  of  Yerona,  not  only  regard- 
ing her  private  behaviour  with  inferiors  and  sub- 
jects, but  also  concerning  her  strange  ways  with 
foreigners,  she  was  transported  on  September  14th, 
1755,  to  Venice,  and  was  enjoined  not  to  leave  her 
house  until  she  had  received  further  orders,  and 
then  to  go  into  the  country.  Nine  years  later,  we 
again  find  the  name  of  Madaluzza  in  a  note  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Udine's,  informing  the  tribunal  that 
Madaluzza  Gradenigo  lived  in  Gorizia  with  Colonel 
Arneh,  with  whom  she  afterwards  went  to  Udine, 
where  she  gaily  passed  her  time  amidst  banquets, 
feasts,  and  rioting.  When  she  was  left  a  widow 
Madaluzza  married  again,  strange  to  relate,  another 
Gradenigo,  called  Bortolo,  Ambassador  to  France. 
But  on  February  1st,  1765,  she  was  forbidden  to 
join  her  husband  in  Paris ;  and  seven  years  later 
she  was  prevented  going  to  Vienna,  where  her 
husband  was  named  Ambassador.  These  arrange- 
ments displeased  Gradenigo,  who  had  not  married 
her  to  leave  her  in  Yenice,  and  when  he  was  made 
magistrate  at  Constantinople  he  gave  directions  to 
Madaluzza,  and  provided  her  with  money,  and  she 
left  the  Lagoons  secretly,  and  went  to  the  shores  of 
the  Bosphorus,  hoping  to  be  forgotten  at  such  a  dia- 


256  THE  DOGARESSA. 

tance.  But  the  Inquisitors  possessed  tenacious 
memories  and  long  sight,  and  considering  the  dire 
consequences  which  might  arise  from  the  caprices 
and  violence  of  an  imprudent  woman,  especially  at 
a  Court  and  with  a  nation  like  the  Turks,  ordered, 
on  July  31st,  1775,  that  Gradenigo  should  send  his 
wife  back  to  Venice.  The  unfortunate  husband 
replied  that  he  was  ready  to  obey,  but  that  he  hoped 
to  be  forgiven  if,  owing  to  unavoidable  circum- 
stances, such  as  the  serious  ailments  from  which 
his  wife  suffered,  and  the  approaching  winter 
weather,  some  delay  occurred.  The  severe  season 
passed  away,  and  as  Madaluzza  did  not  appear,  the 
tribunal,  out  of  patience,  condemned  her  to  three 
months'  banishment  into  the  country.  She  was 
forced  to  obey,  and  on  July  13th,  1779,  Madaluzza 
arrived  in  the  Republican  States,  and  was  relegated 
to  one  of  her  houses  in  Este.  Another  Ambassa- 
dor, called  Sebastiano  Foscarini,  seemed  anxious  to 
rid  himself  of  his  wife,  since  before  leaving  for 
Vienna  he  declared  to  the  Inquisitors  that  he  feared 
being  exposed  to  diflficulties  and  dangers  if  his  wife 
went  with  him  on  his  embassy.  And  the  tribunal, 
without  more  ado,  forbade  the  lady  to  follow  the 
Ambassador.  The  noble  desire  to  maintain  the 
dignity  of  the  State  in  foreign  countries  caused  this 
excessive  severity.  They  were  not  only  anxious 
concerning  the  dignity  of  rulers,  but  also  respect- 
ing the  honour  of  private  individuals,  and  we  read 
of  their  interposition  in  conjugal  affairs,  punishing 


PATRICIAN  FLIRTS,  257 

wives'  infidelity,  and  bitterly  reproaching  weak 
husbands,  as  when,  for  instance,  they  summoned 
Domenico  Michiele,  husband  of  Cornelia  Da  Lezze, 
and  reproved  him  severely  for  his  stupidity  respect- 
ing his  wife.  Alas !  disturbances  and  scandals  are 
not  cured  by  confining  to  the  house,  for  a  few  days, 
ladies  too  easy  in  their  morals,  and  too  free  with 
their  tongues.  In  a  decree  of  March  5tb,  1774,  it 
was  gravely  said  :  "  A  free  and  easy  behaviour,  re- 
prehensible in  any  woman,  is  intolerable  in  a  patri- 
cian lady,  who  also,  by  her  outward  behaviour, 
ought  to  set  an  example  of  a  wise  and  modest  dis- 
position !  "  Very  vain  admonitions  for  those  who 
wished  to  drown  in  pleasure  any  fear  of  future  ruin. 
And  who  cared  for  the  reproofs  of  Angelo  Maria 
Barbaro,  the  priest,  who  in  his  verses  advised  the 
Governors  to  keep  woman,  the  cause  of  ruin  to  the 
State  and  country,  under  lock  and  key?  Carlo 
Goldoni  extolled  with  rhymed  compliments  the 
beautiful  patrician  ladies ;  Mazzola  wrote  cinque- 
cento  sonnets,  full  of  grace,  perhaps  too  adulatory, 
on  the  fair  hair  of  his  Nina  ;  wit  sparkled  in  Pasto's 
verses,  and  the  muses  repeated  Lamberti's  little 
songs  in  the  harmonious  calm  of  Venetian  nights, 

when  — 

Proprio  un  azzal  xe  el  cielo, 
Un  spechio  el  mar  tranquilo, 
L'aria  no  move  un  filo 
Xe  modera  el  calor. 

It  is  right  to  repeat  that  the  laxity  of  morals  in 
that  century   was   not   greater  at  Venice  than  in 


258  THE  DOGARESSA, 

other  countries.  In  the  splendid  palaces,  within 
walls  hung  with  gilded  leather  and  tapestry,  were 
to  be  found  virtues,  tears,  and  secret  anxieties. 
Let  us  quit  the  joyous  parties,  the  licentious  com- 
pany, the  young  ladies,  rich  in  charms  and  flirta- 
tions, witty  and  capricious.  Even  in  those  days  of 
corrupt  decrepitude,  the  first  patrician  lady  occupy- 
ing the  dwelling  of  the  Doges  in  Venice  must 
arouse  our  respect. 


CHAPTER    XYII. 

The  Dogaressas  Laura  Cornaro  and  Pisana  Mocenigo 
— The  Family  of  the  Doge  Mocenigo. 

Giovanni  Coenaro,  who  was  elected  Doge  in  1709, 
had  for  wife  Laura  Cornaro.  The  political  dis- 
turbances in  Europe  which  agitated  Cornaro's 
reign,  and  the  pomp  in  the  Eoyal  Palace  seem  to 
have  occasioned  this  Dogaressa  to  feel  a  profound 
disgust  for  mundane  affairs,  for,  after  the  death  of 
her  husband  in  1722,  she  gave  herself  up  to  a  reli- 
gious life  in  the  monastery  of  the  Hermit  Augustan 
nuns  at  Sts.  Gervasio  and  Protasio.  In  that  vast 
and  gloomy  building,  situated  in  one  of  the  most 
solitary  regions  of  the  city,  Laura  spent  the  last 
years  of  her  life  in  prayer.  She  received  now  and 
then  her  three  sons,  Francesco,  Nicolo,  and  Alvise, 
besides  a  few  relations,  in  her  little  parlour,  a  little 
room  contiguous  to  her  cell,  with  a  small  window 
protected  by  iron  bars.     She  died  in   May,  1729. 


260  THE  DOGARESSA. 

The  inventory  of  ready  money,  gold  and  silver,  and 
other  things  belonging  by  right  to  her  late  Serene 
Highness,    written   in   the    presence    of    the   very 
reverend  mother,  Sister   Maria  Lucia,  prioress  of 
the    monastery,    brings    us    once   again    into   the 
Dogaressa's  miserable  room,  which  was  filled  with 
objects  recalling  past  splendours.     In  that  retire- 
ment, where  all  breathed  forth  a  melancholy  renun- 
ciation of  the  world,  those  relics  of  former  grandeur 
must  have  created  a  strange  contrast.    One  thousand 
six  hundred  and  ninety-four  zecchini  were  found  in 
one  purse,  and  in  a  smaller  one  104  ducats,  besides 
crosses,  reliquaries,  small  pestles  and  mortars,  salvers, 
candlesticks,   foot- warmers,    basins,   plate,  flagons, 
vases,  medals,  thimbles,  boxes,  trays,  inkstands,  all  of 
silver.     And  in  a  small  box  several  trifles  in  filigree, 
gold  medals,  and  various  other  trinkets,  enclosed  in 
crystal  boxes  with  lock  and  key.     A  pair  of  buckles 
for  bracelets,  studded  with  diamonds,  two  necklaces 
one  of   large  turquoises   and  the  other  of  agates, 
mounted  in  gold,  with  ear-rings  to  match,  and  five 
gold  rings  with  diamonds  and  turquoises.     There 
were  besides,  the  bed  and  bedding  on   which  her 
^^erene  Highness  slept,  and  the  quilts  of  silk  and 
gold  cloth,   adorned    with    lace,  or   worked  in  the 
Eastern  style  with  fringe,  or   in  the   Chinese  style 
with   blue   and    yellow    silk.     Lastly,   garments  of 
crimson    cloth    with    gold,   skirts    of  red   silk  with 
silver  aprons,  &c.,  &c.     But  the  counterpanes  were 


PISANA  MOCENIGO.  261 

rotten — so  says  the  inventory — and  the  garments 
old  and  torn.  The  pomps  of  the  world  resounded 
not  to  the  ears  of  Laura  Cornaro  in  the  convent  of 
the  Hermits.  What  had  she,  the  pious  Dogaressa, 
to  do  with  the  world  ?  Only  over  her  bier  did 
worldly  show  send  forth  a  dying  ray,  for  the 
funeral  expenses  amounted  to  15,831  lire. 

Another  lady  native  of  Pisa,  Corner  di  Federico, 
was  married  on  October  5th,  1739,  to  Giovanni 
Alvise  Mocenigo,  procurator  of  St.  Mark,  after- 
wards elected  Doge  in  1763.  By  examining,  one 
by  one,  some  bills  of  the  clothes  and  furniture 
bought  on  the  occasion  of  such  nuptials,  we  shall 
have  an  idea  of  the  luxury  of  a  Venetian  patrician 
lady.  The  brocades  and  silk  damasks  of  the  beauti- 
ful bride  have  long  since  turned  to  rags  and  dust, 
the  brilliancy  of  the  satins  and  the  sheen  of  the 
gold  have  disappeared,  yet  the  pale  reflection  of 
these  mouldy  papers,  which  set  forth  the  customs, 
both  national  and  domestic,  of  a  past  century,  still 
shines  upon  us.  Paolina  Badoer  Mocenigo,  the 
bride's  mother-in-law,  presided  over  the  arrange- 
ments with  dignified  taste.  In  a  Milanese  account 
of  August  4th,  1789,  the  Princess  Trivulzio  bought 
for  Mocenigo  from  Gruiseppe  Lucino,  a  silk  mer- 
chant in  the  Piazza  del  Duomo,  26  braccia  (cubits) 
of  French  gold  and  silver  brocade,  and  spent  3,800 
Venetian  pounds.  The  Princess  then  purchased 
from  another  merchant  materials  of  silk,  gold,  and 


262 


THE  DOGARESSA, 


silver  on  a  crimson,  sky-blue,  and  grey  ground,  and 
spent  16,055  Yenetian  pounds.  Here  is  a  bill  of 
things  bought  in  Paris  : — 


Fr. 

For  a  very  fine  mantle         



260 

Ditto 

...         •••         ••• 

220 

For  tippet,  muff,  bodice,  and  knots,  of 

gold  thread  upon  a 

white  flowered  satin,  for  sleeves  ... 

••.         ...         ••• 

14& 

Another  complete  set  as  above,  in  gold 



116 

Ditto,  in  gold  thread            

...         ...         ... 

126 

Two  more  in  silver    ...         

,,,         ,,,         ... 

188 

A  kerchief  and  cape  in  blonde 



86 

27 

356 

UlXiVO  ...               ...               ...               ,,,               .,, 

Two  hoods  with  blonde  trimming    ... 

Ribbons,  veils,  velvet  and  silk  flowers 

...         ...         ... 

167 

Custom-house,  carriage,  and  packing 

... 

98 

Fr.  1,867 

And  they  obtained  from  Antwerp  for  her  Excel- 
lency the  bride,  caps,  hoods,  and  the  finest  linen, 
spending  6,354  Yenetian  pounds.  There  exists  a 
bill  dated  July,  in  which  Madame  Teresa  Yianelli 
agreed  to  sell  for  660  ducats  a  set  of  point  lace, 
consisting  of  a  cap,  of  nine  ells  of  lace  for  hanging 
sleeves,  three  for  a  dress,  and  seven  for  chemisette 
and  stomacher. 

There  is  a  large  account  from  the  embroiderer,  to 
the  value  of  1,353  lire.  Skirts  of  silver  and  silk, 
another  rose  colour,  a  black  cloak,  a  rose-coloured 
dress,  a  satin  corset  and  petticoat,  and  a  camlet 
cloak,  all  adorned  with  embroidery ;  some  pairs  of 
gloves  and  slippers,  embroidered  in  gold  and  silver. 
We  note  down  a  curious  furrier's  bill : — 


PISANA  MOCENIGO.  263 

Venice,  17th  of  August,  1739. 
Her  Excell.  Paulina  Badoero  Mocenigo  di  S.  Stae.,  D.D. 
For  four  sldns  of  black  fox,  made  up. 

Making  up  muff  and  cape  of  the  backs  of  the  silver  fox,  110 
zeechini  (an  Italian  coin  worth  nearly  ten  shillings). 

For  two  sable  skins  made  into  a  muff  and  cape,  106  zeechini. 
For  a  muff  and  cape  made  of  lynx,  30  zeechini. 
Total,  5,412  zeechini. 

Some  objects  for  the  toilet,  such  as  the  frame  of 
a  mirror,  a  basin,  a  kettle,  two  candelabra,  four 
little  trays,  two  candlesticks,  a  spittoon,  &c.,  cost 
4,061  lire.  On  examining  other  memoranda  we 
find  an  English  gold  watch,  made  to  strike,  with 
gold  chain  and  seals,  cost  150  zeechini;  36  pairs 
of  women's  long  gloves  and  nine  pairs  of  short  cost 
112  lire,  and  seven  pairs  of  beaver  gloves  33  lire; 
four  embroidered  cloths  to  cover  a  small  table  at 
which  ladies  stand  to  dress  themselves,  176  lire;  a 
collar  and  stomacher,  embroidered  in  gold,  154  lire; 
a  neck-handkerchief  in  silver,  55  lire;  a  few  hand- 
kerchiefs embroidered  in  gold,  121  lire  each. 
Similar  other  less  important  accounts  follow  of 
stuffs,  furs,  linen,  laces,  cloth,  velvet,  ribbons,  of 
brocades,  girdles,  buttons,  gold  and  silver  fringes, 
shoe  buckles,  camlets,  gloves,  fans,  shoes,  combs  of 
ivory  and  tortoise-shell,  &c. 

We  have  carefully  summed  up  the  value  of  the 
above  objects,  which  comes  to  37,258  lire,  and  it 
will  be  noticed  that  there  is  no  mention  of  jewels. 

Twenty  years  later  Pisana  Corner  Mocenigo 
became  Dogaressa. 


264  THE  DOGARESSA. 

A  few  important  corrections  were  introduced 
into  Mocenigo's  Promissione  respecting  his  wife. 
According  to  ancient  custom,  she  could  only  leave 
the  Palace  veiled  and  properly  escorted,  and  the 
prohibitions  were  brought  again  into  force  respect- 
ing gifts  and  fiefs.  The  Great  Council  (16th  of 
April,  1763)  three  days  before  Mocenigo's  election 
had  decided  that  peculiar  honours  should  be 
accorded  to  the  Dogaressa.  "  The  wisdom  which 
caused  our  ancestors  to  assign  great  honour  and 
privileges  to  the  Serene  Prince,  induced  them 
further  to  render  him  homage  in  the  person  of  the 
Dogaressa.  And,  in  fact,  if  the  Dogaressa,  owing 
to  the  prohibitory  decree  of  1700,  did  not  wear  the 
Ducal  cap,  still  she  was  received  in  the  Palace  with 
much  ceremony.  Whilst  the  High  Chancellor  an- 
nounced his  election  to  Mocenigo,  the  Signory  sent 
the  Secretary  of  the  Senate,  Cesare  Vignola,  to 
the  Dogaressa,  and  he,  in  the  name  of  the  people, 
made  the  following  speech  to  the  lady  : — "  Serene 
Princess, — To  his  Serene  Higness,  the  Prince  Con- 
sort, his  glorious  elevation  to  the  supreme  dignity 
in  the  Eepublic  is  at  present  being  announced,  and 
upon  me  devolves,  by  express  command  of  the 
Signory,  the  privilege  of  imparting  to  you  the 
joyful  news.  All  have  long  known  the  virtues  and 
noble  qualities  which  adorn  your  illustrious  husband, 
and  people  foresaw  his  election  to  the  Ducal  throne, 
and  now  that  it  has  come  to  pass,  joyous  acclama- 
tions resound  on  all  sides.     But  you  also,  serene 


PISANA  MOCENIGO.  265 

lady,  have  by  your  rare  gifts  excited  the  admiration 
of  all  Italy,  and  you  have  always  set  a  noble 
example  of  virtue  and  piety,  which  has  influenced 
your  children  and  made  them  what  they  are,"  &c., 
Ac. 

In  the  afternoon  Pisana  Mocenigo,  accompanied 
by  the  two  Procurators  of  St.  Mark  and  fifteen 
patricians,  and  followed  along  the  Grand  Canal  by  a 
procession  of  gondolas  and  boats,  betook  herself 
publicly  to  the  Palace,  and  received  in  the  Hall  of 
Audience  the  congratulations  of  the  electors  of  the 
Doge  and  of  all  the  nobility.  The  festival  lasted 
three  days.  The  Dogaressa,  clad  in  her  richest 
costume,  opened  the  ball  in  the  Palace,  and  was  ac- 
companied by  the  Princess  Faustina  Rezzonico,  the 
Pope's  niece,  by  the  wives  and  daughters  of  the 
ambassadors,  and  by  other  Venetian  and  foreign 
ladies. 

The  poets  of  course  praised  the  new  Dogaressa. 
We  quote  here  a  sonnet  printed  in  honour  of  Her 
Most  Serene  Highness  the  Dogaressa  at  the  corona- 
tion of  the  Doge  of  Venice,  Alvise  Mocenigo  IV. 
We  find  at  the  top  of  the  page  the  coats  of  arms, 
surrounded  by  Fame,  and  by  several  little  cherubs 
with  branches  of  laurel  and  oak,  boldly  sketched 
with  that  good  decorative  taste  peculiar  to  that 
epoch.     The  poet  N.  B.  writes  — 

Non  le  Reine  su  la  cipria  sponda 
Del  Cornar  gorme  gloriosa  e  forte 
Donna  a  veder  t'invita  oggi  la  sorte 
Che  il  sangue  in  te,  che  la  virtu  seconda ; 


266  THE  DOGARESSA. 

Ma  le  patrie  Corone,  oud'  e  feconda 

La  Mocenica  stirpe,  in  un  risorte 

Nuovo  Luigi  tuo  real  consorte, 

Che  a  r  Adria  orna  de  se  la  terra  e  I'onda,  &c.,  &c. 

We  must  say  that  the  Court  poets  were  never 
happily  inspired,  even  vt^hen  they  sang  in  praise  of 
the  Eepublican  Princes  !  The  poet  was  sincere 
when  he  said  to  the  Princess  :  "  Hai  nel  gran  lume  i 
cari  jigli  intenii^^  for  Pisana  was  not  only  a  virtu- 
ous spouse,  but  an  excellent  mother.  The  care  and 
thought  bestowed  twenty-four  years  before  by 
Paolina  Badoer  Mocenigo  upon  the  arrangement  of 
her  daughter-in-law's  trousseau  were  emulated  by 
Pisana  when  her  eldest  son  married  in  1766  Fran- 
cesca  Grimani.  On  the  occasion  of  that  wedding 
456,487  Venetian  pounds  were  spent.  The  bride 
was  handsome  and  very  young.  The  daugh- 
ter of  Marcantonio  Grimani,  eldest  son  of  Doge 
Peter,  who  had  governed  the  State  from  1741  to 
1752,  she  re-entered  as  a  feted  bride  that  same 
Palace  where  she  had  been  born  sixteen  years 
before. 

The  poets  sang  in  her  honour  — 

I  bei  consigli  e  le  parole  accorte 

E  gli  atti  onesti  e  santi,  e  quel  ch'  i'  vidi 

Studio  ed  ardor,  e  la  mirabil  arte 

Che  tante  in  lei  ritrar  virtuti  valse 

In  sul  fiorir  degli  anni,  quante  mai 

Non  furon  viste  a  piu  matura  elate. 

The  nobleman  Thomas   Joseph  Farsetti,  one  of 
the  most  noted  of  the  Granelleschi,  addressed  to 


THE  FAMILY  OF  DOGE  MOCENIGO.  267 

Cecilia  Moceiiigo,  the  bridegroom's  aunt,  abbess  of 
the  Monastery  of  St.  Martin  in  Mufano,  a  sermon 
in  which  are  described  the  good  old  domestic  cus- 
toms of  the  wife's  family,  in  which  existed  respect 
for  true  virtue.  In  the  face  of  the  bride  Farsetti 
he  saw  — 

II  modesto  rossa  che  saro  tinge 
A  moderna  fauciulla  il  yolto  omai. 

And  who  taught  you,  child,  the  value  of  goodness 
and  courtesy,  and  to  treasure  up  pure  thoughts  ? 

La  madre  tua  che  h  casalinga  e  buona 
E  non  punto  ciarliera. 

Francesca  became  the  brightest  ornament  of  the 
house  of  Mocenigo,  into  which  she  passed  from  the 
family  of  Grimani. 

Magnanima  e  gen  til,  di  Doge  nnora 
E  di  Doge  Nipote,  in  quella  stanza 
Ove  nacque  fia  madre, 

the  poet  wrote,  and  the  simple  prediction  had  been 
realized,  and  it  seemed  as  if  happiness  were  to  smile 
once  more  upon  the  Doge's  Palace.  But  misfortune 
fell  upon  them  like  a  fierce  thunderbolt.  Soon  after 
having  tasted  the  joys  of  maternity  Francesca  fell 
accidentally  into  the  fire,  and  died  amidst  the  most 
horrible  suffering.  The  shocking  catastrophe  ren- 
dered the  Dogaressa  still  more  averse  to  noisy 
festivities.  Besides,  Pisana  Mocenigo  was  of  a 
retiring  nature,  and  abhorred  all  pomp.  In  the 
translator  s  preface  to  a  work  "  On  the  Character, 
Customs,  and  Female  Mind,"  by  the  French  acade- 


ties  THE  DOGARESSA, 

mician  Thomas,  we  find  these  words :  "  Let  us 
mention  a  Venetian  matron  who  was  really  wise, 
pious,  and  gifted  with  dignity  as  well  as  excellent 
qualities.  She  was  not  old  when,  to  everyone's 
regret,  she  passed  away  into  eternal  peace.  People 
will  at  once  perceive  that  I  am  alluding  to  Pisana 
Cornaro  Mocenigo,  whose  nobleness  of  character, 
piety,  and  learning  were  unrivalled,  and  besides 
amusing  herself  with  astronomical  observations  and 
natural  history,  took  a  singular  pleasure  in  the  study 
of  anatomy,  in  which  she  made  such  great  progress 
that  she  excited  the  admiration  of  the  illustrious 
Frotomedico  Santorini,  and  also  of  the  immortal 
Giambattista  Morgagni,  prince  of  the  anatomists  of 
our  time.  We  have  scattered  these  few  flowers  on 
the  tomb  of  the  late  renowned  Dogaressa,  although 
her  happy  spirit  is  sufficiently  requited  by  the 
tribute  of  tears  and  constant  regret  offered  to  her 
memory  by  her  loving  husband,  H.  Serene  H.  Alvise 
Mocenigo.'*  We  do  not  know  for  certain  if  the 
Dogaressa  Mocenigo  was  really  so  learned,  but 
when  reading  some  of  her  letters  to  the  stewards  in 
the  country,  in  which  she  entered  into  the  most 
minute  particulars,  we  are  induced  to  look  upon 
her  more  as  a  good  and  conscientious  housewife 
than  as  a  scientific  lady.  Pisana  spent  the  best 
time  of  the  year  in  a  magnificent  villa  not  far  from 
Ceneda,  in  the  Cordiguano  mountains.  Marble 
busts  of  the  seven  Mocenigo  Doges,  besides  that  of 
the  Dogaressa  Loredana  Marcello  Mocenigo,  were 


THE  FAMILY  OF  DOGE  MOCENIGO.  269 

to  be  found  amidst  fanciful  plaster  casts  in  a  gallery 
on  the  ground  floor.  But  neither  the  pomp  of  the 
town  nor  the  luxuries  of  the  villa  affected  the  mind 
of  Pisana,  who  never  assumed  the  airs  of  a  Prin- 
cess, but  remained  unpretending  and  affectionate. 

Scarcely  had  the  news  of  the  election  of  Mocenigo, 
in  1763,  reached  the  ears  of  the  inhabitants  of  Cor- 
dignano  and  the  neighbourhood,  than  they  resolved 
to  receive  the  Doge  and  Dogaressa  with  all  due 
honour  on  their  arrival  in  the  country.  *'  The 
gentlemen  of  San  Cassano  (Cordignano)  are  anxious 
to  go  out  and  welcome  your  Highnesses  at  Cone- 
gliano,  and  desire  to  have  the  guns  fired  and  the 
bells  rung  when  your  Highnesses  pass  through  the 
neighbourhood." 

Thus  wrote  the  steward  to  the  Doge's  chaplain. 
But  we  can  understand,  however,  that  the  noise  did 
not  suit  their  Serene  Highnesses,  for  the  chaplain 
replied  at  once  that,  as  for  what  concerned  the 
meeting,  the  Doge  appeared  very  pleased,  but  the 
firing  of  guns  must  be  prevented,  as  sure  to  dis- 
please their  Highnesses,  and  probably  frighten  the 
horses.  Prudence  is  never  superfluous.  The 
Dogaressa  could  carry  out  that  economy  in  the 
management  of  her  household  which  was  im- 
possible in  town.  We  will  quote  an  example  of  the 
strange  inconsistency  which  often  occurred  amongst 
the  Venetian  aristocracy  accustomed  as  they  were  to 
squander  their  money  without  any  thought  when 
vanity   required  it,  and  to  be  quite  parsimonious 


270  THE  DOGARESSA. 

about  small  expenses.  In  1765  Pisana  stood  god- 
mother to  the  daughter  of  the  Governor  of  her 
Manor  of  Cordignano.  The  chaplain  wrote  on  the 
occasion  to  the  Governor  to  say  that  he  must  be 
satisfied  with  the  high  honour  done  him,  without 
expecting  any  present  for  his  child,  as  the 
Dogaressa  was  not  disposed  to  make  her  one.  The 
great  expenditure  made  by  noble  families  arose 
more  from  the  exigencies  of  that  time,  from  ex- 
ternal pomp  and  from  the  conditions  of  the  State, 
than  from  the  thoughtless  extravagance  of  the 
Venetian  patricians,  who  were  not  by  nature  in- 
clined to  generosity. 

Pisana  Corner  Mocenigo  died  on  March  10th, 
1769.  The  Ducal  chaplain  thus  describes  the  par- 
ticulars of  the  death  and  funeral  to  the  steward  of 
Cordignano  : 

"Her  S.H.,  our  mistress,  reduced  by  a  long  and 
painful  malady,  was  attacked  about  ten  o'clock  by  a 
violent  spasm  in  her  chest,  and  died.  .  .  .  On  Monday 
(72  hours  after  she  expired)  her  obsequies  were 
performed  with  as  great  pomp  as  could  be  desired. 
The  face  of  our  late  noble  mistress  remained  for 
three  days  as  fresh  and  ruddy  as  if  she  had  fallen 
into  a  sweet  sleep,  which  we  sincerely  hope  may  be 
the  case,  owing  to  her  many  Christian  virtues  and 
her  great  charity  towards  the  poor,  many  of  whom 
are  left  entirely  destitute  by  her  death.  .  .  .  His 
Serene  Highness  and  their  Excellencies  the  gentle- 
men  landlords   have    decided   to   present   to   this 


THE  FAMILY  OF  DOGE  MOCENIGO.  271 

Church  of  San  Cassano  (Cordignaao)  one  of  Her 
Serene  Highness's  gold  mantles,  to  be  made  into 
vestments  to  be  used  at  solemn  festivals  for  the 
officiating  priest  and  his  two   attendants." 

The  death  of  Pisana  Mocenigo  is  mentioned  in  the 
Rituals,  and  it  is  said  that  her  funeral,  ordered  by 
the  family  in  the  Church  of  St.  Mark  and  in  that 
of  Santi  Giovanni  e  Paolo,  was  suitable  to  the 
Princess's  rank.  The  body  was  buried  in  the 
temple  of  Santi  Giovanni  e  Paolo.  A  list  of  ex- 
penses incurred  for  the  funeral  of  her  late  Most 
Serene  Highness  shows  us  a  total  of  30,000  lire. 
Such  were  the  vainglorious  expenses  which  ruined 
families. 

Alvise  Mocenigo  survived  his  wife  nine  years  and 
saw  another  young  girl  enter  his  family,  who  to 
immense  wealth  joined  great  goodness  of  heart. 
In  1771  Polixena  di  Giulio  Contarini  Da  Mula  gave 
her  hand  in  marriage  to  Alvise  Mocenigo,  widower 
of  Francesca  Grimani.  The  hymns  of  the  Muses 
and  the  sincere  blessings  of  the  poor  often  arose  in 
honour  of  Polixena  Mocenigo.  One  declared  her 
worthy  to  have  lived  in  those  times  when  queens 
were  chosen  from  amongst  the  patrician  ladies. 
Somebody  else  addressed  these  lines  to  her  — 

L'alme  tue  glorie  echeggiano, 
Eccelsa  Polissena. 

Another  called  her  — 

Grave  insieme  e  gentil,  bellae  modesta ; 


272  THE  DOG  ARE  SS  A, 

And  lastly  others  said  — 

0  Donna  grande  a  cui  I'Adriatica  Teti, 
Non  ch'io,  tra  le  sue  niufe  eguel  non  vanta. 

Polixena  also  passed  some  months  of  the  year  in 
the  villa  once  dear  to  the  Dogaressa  Pisana,  where 
time  was  spent  pleasantly,  and  where  that  same 
Carlo  Gozzi  did  not  disdain  to  prepare  comic  plays 
in  the  little  theatre  of  the  Palace.  These  inedited 
letters  reveal  strange  details  concerning  the  habits 
of  patrician  families  and  Charles's  irascible  temper. 
The  letter  dated  from  Yicinale,  November  4th ^ 
1780,  is  directed  to  Yenice,  to  a  Signore  Raffaelo 
Todeschini.     Gozzi  writes  — 

"  Last  evening  I  arrived  at  the  Villa  Mocenigo,  at 
Belvedere,  with  my  brother.  I  was  to  spend  six 
days  surrounded  by  beautiful  scenery  and  courteous 
and  gentle  manners,  with  a  lady  and  gentleman, 
who  by  their  perfections  put  to  shame  many  of  their 
equals  on  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic.  I  thought  I 
should  only  remain  there  three  days,  and  that  I 
should  find  all  ready  for  the  rehearsal.  Signora 
Vinanti,  that  is  to  say  Marietta,  the  actress,  never 
came ;  she  was  at  Tisana,  and  the  play  could  not 
take  place.  I  was  allowed  to  depart,  and  arrived 
at  Pordenone;  I  found  that  Signora  Yinanti  had 
passed  through  that  place  to  go  to  Belvedere.  I 
pretended  not  to  know  it,  and  returned  home  I  " 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

A   DOGAEESSA   FORMERLY    A    BalLET-DANCEE — ThE     LaST 

DOGARESSA. 

Life  passed  gaily  in  the  Doge's  family,  surrounded 
by  the  paintings  of  Titian  and  Paul  Veronese,  the 
chimney-pieces  sculptured  by  Lombardo,  and 
amidst  velvets  and  brocades.  The  Dogaressa,  hold- 
ing the  highest  position  amongst  the  Venetian  ladies 
of  rank,  knew  also  how  to  excel  all  Venetian 
women  by  her  goodness  and  active  piety,  piety  of 
word  and  thought,  of  action  and  intention.  When 
arrived  at  that  age  which  no  longer  charms,  the 
Dogaressa  presents  to  the  last  a  gentle  and  melan- 
choly aspect.  Even  in  later  times,  when  corruption 
and  licentiousness  prevailed,  it  was  still  considered 
necessary  that  respect  should  surround  the  first 
lady  of  the  Republic,  and  they  still  wished  that  the 
regal  dignity  of  the  Doge's  consort  should  add  to 
the  nobility  of  the  woman.  There  is  no  doubt,  for 
instance,  that  Andrea  Tron,  a  man  of  strong  mind, 

T 


274  TEE  DOGARESSA. 

and  so  powerful  as  to  be  called  el  paron^  was  not 
allowed  to  become  Doge  on  account  of  tbe  scandal 
caused  by  bis  wife  in  the  Gratarol  affair.  The  ad- 
ventures of  the  Secretary  Gratarol  are  mentioned 
with  plenty  of  details  in  Carlo  Gozzi's  representa- 
tion of  the  Droghe  d* amove  as  well  as  the  dis- 
turbances that  occurred,  and  the  part  Caterina 
Dolfin  Tron  took  in  the  riot.  She  was  beautiful, 
and  Carlo  Gozzi  praises  the  roses  and  lilies  in  her 
face,  and  her  golden  hair.  She  was  kind,  and 
assisted  Gasparo  Gozzi,  whose  good  fortune  did  not 
equal  his  desert.  Caterina  was  full  of  genius  and 
culture,  and  not  only  was  she  admired  for  her 
brilliant  conversation,  but  also  for  her  graceful 
poetry  and  prose.  And  yet  with  all  these  gifts 
Caterina  thwarted  her  husband's  ambitious  desires 
of  becoming  Doge.  And  he  had  besides  to  bear 
bitter  ridicule,  such  as  is  evinced  in  the  following 
impudent  distich  — 

Tronus  Eques,  sapiens,  nunc  Procurator,  at  illi, 
Si  diadema  negat  patria,  sponsa  dabit. 

But  if  scandal  could  not  enter  boldly  through  the 
principal  gate  of  the  Palace,  it  managed  to  pene- 
trate there  clandestinely  by  a  secret  staircase.  Paul 
Renier  was  elected  in  1779  instead  of  Tron.  He 
was  a  great  statesman,  but  his  heart  did  not  equal 
his  head.  This  Doge  was  most  enthusiastic  in  all 
that  concerned  the  glory  of  Venice,  seeking  to 
govern  men  by  fear  rather  than  by  kindness.  Even 
the  State  Inquisitors  could  not  lower  his  pride.    He 


A  DOGARESSA  FORMERLY  A  BALLET-DANCER.   275 

was  disliked  by  his  contemporaries,  and  nobody 
mourned  his  death.  "  He  was  detested  by  all,  espe- 
cially on  account  of  his  meanness;  he  even  sold 
offices  in  the  Church  of  St.  Mark ! "  wrote  a  con- 
temporary; and  another,  speaking  of  the  Doge's 
death  :  "  He  amassed  money  to  enrich  a  handsome 
but  vulgar  woman  he  had  known  in  Constantinople. 
She  was  formerly  a  rope-dancer,  called  Margaret, 
and  it  is  generally  supposed  that  he  was  married  to 
her."  By  such  an  alliance  he  lowered  his  dignity 
as  a  man  and  patrician.  His  first  wife  had  been 
Giustina  Dona,  who  died  June  16th,  1731,  and  was 
buried  in  the  Church  of  Saint  Antonio,  in  Padua. 
The  inscription,  which  is  a  true  one,  says : — 

Justinse  uxori  castissimae 
Ex  principali  Donatorum  familia 
In  medio  Artatis  cursu 
Annuo  Morbo  absumptae 
Paulus  Kainerius 
Maritus  infeliciss. 
Ex  actis  cum  ea  annis  xviii 
Sine  ulla  querela 
M.  P. 

V.A.XXXVI  M.IX.D.IX 

Obiit  XVII.  Cal.  quint. 

00    DCCLI. 

But  the  sacred  memory  of  this  lady,  his  affection 
for  his  son  Andrea,  the  dignity  of  his  name,  his 
great  ambition,  could  not  overcome  Paul  Eenier's 
love  for  the  rope-dancer,  Margaret  Dalmaz.  If 
Caterina  Tron's  gay  conduct  deprived  the  Procu- 
rator Andrea  of  all  hope  respecting  the  Ducal  cap, 


276  THE  DOGARESSA. 

how  much  more  must  public  decorum  have  been 
outraged  when  a  rope-dancer  was  on  the  point  of 
occupying  the  place  so  worthily  filled  by  many 
gentle  and  modest  ladies,  who,  without  possessing 
much  intellect,  never  derogated  from  the  dignity  of 
their  position.  But  Renier  had  married  her  secretly, 
and  the  Republic  was  not  bound  to  acknowledge  the 
new  Dogaressa,  who  could  not  even  be  inscribed  in 
the  Golden  Book.  Thus  appearances  were  saved. 
And  besides,  the  money  so  profusely  spent  by 
Eenier  overcame  every  doubt,  and  caused  those 
dishonourable  arrangements  called  convenient  trans- 
actions to  be  tolerated  at  a  time  when  the  only 
virtue  really  appreciated  was  self-interest.  The 
following  quotation  will  show  what  Guiseppe  Gra- 
denigo,  Secretary  of  State,  thought  of  Renier's 
election : — 

"  At  noon  on  Friday  his  Serene  Excellency  Paolo 
Renier's  election  was  declared.  The  newly-made 
prince  must  have  spent  much  money.  He  has  pur- 
chased the  balle  for  more  than  fifteen  zecchini  each, 
and  of  these  there  are  about  three  hundred.  He 
started  with  the  idea  that  it  would  be  an  easy 
matter,  but  whilst  engaged  in  it  he  heard  himself 
called  a  traitor  to  his  country,  deceitful,  and 
married  to  a  plebeian  woman  of  bad  character, 
formerly  a  rope-dancer — words  which  seemed  to 
resound  on  all  sides,  and  undoubtedly  excited  the 
people  against  him.  .  .  .  He  was  obliged  to  make  a 
virtue  of  necessity,  and  to  draw  out  a  large  number 


A  DOG  ARES  S  A  FORMERLY  A  BALLET-DANCER,   277 

of  those  90,000  zecchini  that  he  is  supposed  to  have 
made  at  Constantinople,  in  order  to  stop  people's 
mouths.  And  in  the  end  the  public  was  fully  satisfied. 
During  three  days'  feasting  in  the  Palace,  money,- 
bread,  and  wine  were  profusely  distributed,  and 
produced  loud  hurrahs  and  acclamations."  Crude 
and  exaggerated  words,  but  yet  not  altogether  false. 
Margherita  adapted  herself  quietly  to  her  new  con- 
dition. Although  Margherita  did  not  appear  at  the 
public  ceremonies,  where  the  Dogaressa's  presence 
was  deemed  necessary,  and  her  place  beside  the 
Doge  was  occupied  by  his  niece,  Giustina  Renier, 
the  young  wife  of  Marcantonio  Michiel,  yet  all 
within  and  without  the  Palace  called  the  quondam 
rope-dancer  "  Dogaressa  "  ;  and  under  this  title  she 
went  in  1786  to  Yaldagno  to  recruit  her  health  in 
the  Alpine  air  and  to  take  the  celebrated  waters  of 
Eecoaro.  That  same  Doge,  who  could  not  write  or 
sign  his  own  private  letters,  sent  this  warm  letter  of 
recommendation  to  Doctor  Girolamo  Festari  at  Yal- 
dagno, Medical  Inspector  of  the  Eecoaro  springs  : — 

"Padua,  June  22nd,  1786. 

*'M0ST    ESTEEMED   DOCTOB, 

"  Although  the  Doge  cannot  write  or 
sign  his  private  letters,  nevertheless,  good-feeling 
striking  upon  the  writer  s  mind,  operates  in  so  im- 
perious a  manner  that  he  feels  compelled  to  express 
to  Signer  Festari  his  sincere  thanks  for  the  trouble  he 
took  to  find  a  convenient  dwelling  for  his  wife  and 


278  THE  DOGARESSA. 

likely  to  please  her,  whom  he  confides  especially  to. 
his  care.  She  will  leave  here  next  Monday,  and 
will  perform  the  journey  as  rapidly  as  her  health 
will  permit.  When  my  wife  arrives  in  Yaldagno 
she  will  confer  with  Signer  Festari  respecting  those 
other  questions  of  household  arrangements  men- 
tioned in  his  letter.  Meanwhile,  his  Serene  High- 
ness repeats  his  sincere  expressions  of  gratitude 
towards  the  worthy  Doctor,  and  reiterates  his  warm 
requests  that  he  will  afford  every  assistance  to  his 
wife." 

The  lady  had  a  lodging  in  Valdagno  in  the 
Forestiera  of  the  Capuchin  nuns. 

Goethe  speaks  of  this  counterfeit  Dogaressa, 
when  in  1786  he  visited  the  "  wonderful  city  sur- 
rounded by  the  sea."  He  relates  that  he  assisted 
on  October  3rd  at  a  trial,  held  publicly  in  the 
Ducal  Palace.  On  one  side  sat  the  judges,  with  the 
advocates  opposite,  and  the  opposing  parties  were 
placed  upon  a  bench  in  front  of  the  judges.  The 
hall  was  crammed  with  spectators,  for  the  persons 
concerned  in  the  suit  were  people  of  high  position. 
It  was  a  question  concerning  a  deed  of  trust,  and 
the  lawsuit  was  against  the  said  Doge,  or  rather 
against  his  wife,  who  in  fact  sat  on  the  bench  of 
the  accused  a  short  distance  from  the  plaintiff, 
wrapped  in  her  mantle.  She  was  a  "  woman  of  a 
certain  age,"  writes  Goethe,  "of  a  noble  appear- 
ance ;  she  had  a  handsome  face,  but  a  severe  ex- 
pression, and  a  certain  air  of  melancholy  !  "     The 


A  DOGARESSA  FORMERLY  A  BALLET-DANCER.  279 

-great  poet  adds  that  the  Venetians  were  proud  that 
their  Princess  could  be  compelled  to  appear  before 
the  judges  and  the  people  in  her  own  Palace. 
Goethe  did  not  suspect  that  the  austere  and  noble- 
looking  ladj  had  once  been  a  rope-dancer. 

Paolo  Eenier  died  on  February  18th,  1780,  and 
was  privately  interred  in  the  Church  of  San  Nicolo 
dei  Tolentini,  as  he  did  not  wish  the  carnival  to  be 
saddened   by   a   funeral.     There  was  a  feehng  of 
dislike  and  discontent  felt  by  his  contemporaries 
towards   Renier,  nor  was  his  grave  watered  with 
those    tears     which     generally     accompany    even 
moderately     virtuous    men    to    their   final    homes. 
When  the  Doge  was  at  his  last  gasp,  his  detractors 
did   not  restrain  their  calumnies.     "  The   country 
was    rejoicing,"    writes    Ballarini,    "  because    the 
Doge  was  dead ! "     The  grasping  avarice   of  his 
wife  injured  Eenier,  who  was  of  a  generous  nature. 
The  old  Doge  allowed  her  to  manage,  and  she  even 
let  out  the  pavement  of  the  della  Paglia  bridge,  as 
far  as  the  gate  della  Carta ^  for  artists'  shops,  and 
she  obtained  besides  1,000  zecchini  for  letting  the 
Priorato  della  Ga^  di  Bio,     Margaret  died  at  mid- 
night of  January   11th,  1817,  leaving  many  pious 
legacies,  to  salve  her  conscience ;  she  left  her  many 
jewels  to  a  niece  of  her  husband's,  Margaret  Eenier. 
In  1789,  when  Venice,  feeble  and  powerless,  did 
not  or  would  not  hear  the  threatening  sounds  of  the 
coming  tempest  which   resounded  from  the  Alps, 
Lodovico  Manin,  the  weakest  and  most  incapable  of 


280  THE  DOGARESSA. 

all  those  who  had  ever  worn  the  Ducal  cap  in 
Venice,  ascended  the  throne  of  the  Doges.  Was  it 
the  irony  of  fate  which  placed  such  a  man  at  the 
head  of  the  State  in  times  of  such  dire  peril? 
Certainly  something  mysterious,  like  an  inauspicious 
omen,  must  have  agitated  the  mind  of  Elizabeth 
Manin  when  she  learned  her  husband's  election. 
Note  the  following  lines  written  by  a  devoted 
admirer  of  the  new  Doge  : 

"  The  triumph  of  the  Doge  must  be  somewhat 
damped  by  his  wife,  who,  by  some  womanish 
singularity,  is  not  pleased  at  becoming  Dogaressa. 
She  would  not  appear  at  any  of  the  feasts,  but  has 
hidden  herself,  according  to  some,  at  Murano, 
others  say  she  has  taken  refuge  in  her  steward's 
house !  " 

Elizabeth  was  afterwards  compelled  to  make  a 
virtue  of  necessity  and  to  return  to  the  Ducal 
Palace.  This  good,  simple,  and  modest  lady  died 
four  years  later  at  Treviso.  She  maintained  amidst 
the  sufferings  of  a  long  illness  that  serene  firmness 
of  mind  about  which  he  who  composed  a  Latin 
oration  to  the  last  Dogaressa  spoke  truly,  although 
his  style  was  bad.  "  Illud  sane  celebranduniy*  wrote 
the  flatterer,  "  quod  per  longos  eosque  jplurimos  annos 
acerha  valitudine  correpta,  nunquam  aut  vi  deterrita 
aut  languoribus  oppressa,  semper  naturce  dehilitationi 
superior,  et  magnitudine  animi  constans  visafm'tJ' 

And  death  came  to  her  at  the  right  moment,  for 
she  was  spared  the  pain  of  witnessing  the  ruin  of 


THE  LAST  DOGARESSA,  281 

her  country,  and  worse  still,  her,  husband's  weak- 
ness. The  Republic,  ignorant  of  its  fate,  was 
hastening  towards  its  end,  and  whilst  in  France 
the  people  broke  forth  into  sanguinary  riots,  and 
shouted  around  the  heads  of  a  gigantic  tyranny 
fierce  protestations  regarding  human  rights,  Venice 
continued  her  usual  luxurious  life  of  pleasure  and 
luxury.  Even  in  the  fatal  year  1797,  the  last  of 
its  existence,  the  Eepublic  issued  decrees  for  the 
ceremonies  to  be  observed  at  the  funeral  of  the 
Dogaressa ;  and  Guiseppe  Ferrari,  the  Doge's 
knight,  recalling  ancient  customs,  indicated  the 
rules  to  be  observed  where  marriages  were  cele- 
brated in  the  Ducal  family.  Some  of  the  last  acts 
of  the  Venetian  Republic  concern  the  Dogaressa. 
Let  us  pause  before  this  last  pageantry  of  a  great- 
ness drawing  to  its  end. 

''Directly  after  the  new  Doge  had  been  elected," 
wrote  the  Ducal  knight,  "  the  Signora  appointed 
a  secretary  of  the  Senate  to  betake  himself  in  a 
gondola  with  two  equerries  to  the  Palace  of  the 
Dogaressa,  where,  preceded  by  the  house-steward 
and  the  domestics,  he  was  conducted  to  the  Hall  of 
Ambassadors.  There,  seated  in  the  place  of 
honour,  and  surrounded  by  her  ladies  and  gentle- 
men, the  Dogaressa  replied  with  courteous  words 
to  the  homage  of  the  Secretary,  who  afterwards 
took  leave  !  " 

"  At  the  Ducal  f^tes,"  gravely  continues  the 
Gerimomale,  *'  the  Dogaressa  shall,  if  she  likes,  put 

w 


282  THE  DOGAEESSA. 

on  the  mantle ;  she  must  wear  on  her  head  a  veil^ 
reaching  to  the  ground ;  she  must  always  occupy  a 
place  of  honour,  but  to  the  left  of  his  Sereno 
Highness.  She  is  to  be  accompanied  by  a  few- 
relations  besides  the  persons  of  her  suite.  On 
grand  public  occasions  the  Masters,  wearing  patrician 
dresses,  will  go  to  meet  her,  and  the  ladies  will  be  at 
the  foot  of  the  staircase,  with  the  necessary  escort  of 
torch-bearers,  oflBcers,  and  servants.  When  she  is 
at  church  N.  N.  and  H.  H.  shall  go  to  the  shore, 
and  the  ladies  remain  outside  the  church-door, 
and  the  same  order  to  be  observed  when  return- 
ing. At  a  ball,  the  dancing  and  music  must  al- 
ways stop  until  the  Dogaressa  has  reached  her 
place,  which  will  always  be  a  post  of  honour.  .  .  . 
She  will,  on  such  occasions,  use  two  boats,  her 
own  being  adorned  with  mirrors,  cabins,  and  various 
embellishments,  &c. ;  four  esquires,  two  preceding 
her,  and  two  holding  up  the  train  of  her  dress. 
And  when  the  Princess  gives  dinner-parties,  she 
shall  sit  on  a  raised  dais,  wearing  her  veil  and 
mantle,  and  she  will  eat  off  gold  plate." 

Whilst  the  Eepublic,  formerly  so  glorious  at  Le- 
panto,  toyed  with  such  trifles,  in  Paris  the  heads  of 
the  King  and  Queen  fell  beneath  the  knife  of  the 
guillotine. 

Let  us  refer  once  again  to  the  solemn  rites  which 
were  to  be  observed  at  the  obsequies  of  the  Doga- 
ressa. They  are  transcribed  in  the  Gerimomaley  and 
actually  bear  the  date  of  1797.     "  In  the  event  of 


THE  LAST  DOGARESSA.  283 

her  (Dogaressa's)  death,  she  is  to  be  clad  in  a  gold 
mantle,  white  gloves  on  her  hands,  and  a  coif  on 
her  head ;  she  is  to  be  covered  with  the  veil  she 
generally  wore  on  State  occasions.     She  is  to  be  laid 
out  in  the  principal  room  of  her  apartment,  with  a 
cross  on  her  limbs,  and  four  lighted  torches  around 
her.     She  is  to  be  transported  that  same  night,  after 
midnight,  to  the  Church  of  St.  Mark,  accompanied 
by  only  one  priest,  a  clerk,  and  four  torches,  and  she 
is  to  be  placed  upon  the  catafalque,  which  will  be 
gorgeously  decorated,  with  steps  and  cupola,  and 
illuminated  by  about  sixty  torches  and  four  hundred 
short  thick  candles.     The  church  will  be  hung  with 
black,  and  the  coat  of  arms  of  the  lady's  family  will 
be  suspended   from  the   pillars,  also  draped   with 
black ;  the  altars  will  be  supplied  with  wax  tapers, 
and  Mass  will  be  said  all  that  morning  as  well  as 
the   previous   day.*'     The   Mass  will  be  sung,  the 
funeral  oration  pronounced,  and  the  bier  will   be 
transported    to   the   church,   where  is    the  family 
tomb.     ''  The  procession  is  opened  by  the  flags  and 
banners  of   the  schools  to  which  the  defunct  be- 
longed, that  of  the  Saint  of  the  parish,  then  follow 
the  congregations,  the  Chapter  of  the  place,  those  of 
Castello  and  of  St.  Mark  and  other  brotherhoods, 
lastly  the  catafalque,  preceded  and  followed  by  thirty 
torch-bearers;    then   shall  come  the  Court  of  her 
Serene   Highness,  beginning  with  the   knight,  the 
steward,    esquires,    train-bearers,    agents,    major- 
domos,  and  ending  with  the  cooks,  valets,  grooms, 


284  THE  DOGARESSA. 

boatmen — none  of  them  in  mourning.  The  Hos- 
pitals close  the  procession.  .  .  .  Arrived  at  the 
church,  the  catafalque  will  be  placed  upon  the  bier, 
and  the  Vicar  will  pronounce  absolution,  then  it  is 
raised  again,  carried  round  the  church,  singing  the 
Miserere,  and  then  the  burial  will  follow." 

But  Venice  never  again  witnessed  such  funeral 
ceremonies.  The  last  Dogaressa  had  slept  for  five 
years  in  the  tomb.  Instead  of  providing  for  the 
obsequies  of  future  Dogaressas,  the  rulers  should 
have  attended  to  the  needs  of  their  endangered 
country,  and  if  they  could  not  prevent  its  destruc- 
tion, they  should  at  least  have  tended  its  last 
moments  with  more  decorum. 

A  few  months  later,  these  plans  for  vain  cere- 
monies were  succeeded  by  treacherous  compromises, 
infamous  concessions,  and  impious  bargains.  In  a 
short  time  the  standard  of  St.  Mark  fell  without 
hope  of  restoration,  for  only  banners  that  are  bathed 
in  the  blood  of  their  defenders  are  ever  likely  to 
resume  their  former  proud  position. 


THE   END. 


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