DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42861#0240
200
RECEPTION OF THE BRIDE
On the 1st of February, the Marchesa described
her first meeting with the bride: “ Soon after eight
o’clock I entered Don Alfonso’s barge together with
Don Giulio (her half-brother) and my own gentlemen
and ladies. At Torre della Fossa I changed boats
and went on to Malalbergo, where we met the bride
in a ship with Don Ferrante and Don Sigismondo and
a few others, and here I found the Duchess of Urbino
with them. The boat came alongside, and one bark
having curtsied to the other with joyous haste, I
entered the bride’s with Madonna Laura (Giovanni
Gonzaga’s wife), and after exchanging salutes we went
on our way and she did not enter the small bucentaur
for fear of losing time. About four o’clock we
reached Torre della Fossa, where my father was
standing on the shore awaiting us. The archers in
their red and white liveries, seventy-five in number,
were drawn up in a row, and the whole court gathered
round the Duke, who took Madonna Lucrezia by
the hand and kissed her, after she had insisted on
first kissing his hand. Then we entered the large
bucentaur, where all the ambassadors shook hands
with us, and we sat down in the following order:
the bride between the French and Venetian, myself
between the Venetian and Florentine, and the Duchess
of Urbino between the Florentine and Sienese, the
Lucchese envoy being close by. My father and
Don Alfonso sat on deck above, talking and joking
together, and were much amused by the Spanish
clowns, who paid the bride all manner of compli-
ments, and so, amid great cheering and shouting
and the sound of trumpets and guns, we reached
Casale about five. After accompanying the bride
to her rooms we all left, and I took the Duchess of
RECEPTION OF THE BRIDE
On the 1st of February, the Marchesa described
her first meeting with the bride: “ Soon after eight
o’clock I entered Don Alfonso’s barge together with
Don Giulio (her half-brother) and my own gentlemen
and ladies. At Torre della Fossa I changed boats
and went on to Malalbergo, where we met the bride
in a ship with Don Ferrante and Don Sigismondo and
a few others, and here I found the Duchess of Urbino
with them. The boat came alongside, and one bark
having curtsied to the other with joyous haste, I
entered the bride’s with Madonna Laura (Giovanni
Gonzaga’s wife), and after exchanging salutes we went
on our way and she did not enter the small bucentaur
for fear of losing time. About four o’clock we
reached Torre della Fossa, where my father was
standing on the shore awaiting us. The archers in
their red and white liveries, seventy-five in number,
were drawn up in a row, and the whole court gathered
round the Duke, who took Madonna Lucrezia by
the hand and kissed her, after she had insisted on
first kissing his hand. Then we entered the large
bucentaur, where all the ambassadors shook hands
with us, and we sat down in the following order:
the bride between the French and Venetian, myself
between the Venetian and Florentine, and the Duchess
of Urbino between the Florentine and Sienese, the
Lucchese envoy being close by. My father and
Don Alfonso sat on deck above, talking and joking
together, and were much amused by the Spanish
clowns, who paid the bride all manner of compli-
ments, and so, amid great cheering and shouting
and the sound of trumpets and guns, we reached
Casale about five. After accompanying the bride
to her rooms we all left, and I took the Duchess of