DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42863#0057
LEONORA GONZAGA’S MARRIAGE 35
to hasten the union of her daughter Leonora with
his nephew, the marriage was fixed to take place
in the following autumn. In November Duchess
Elisabetta herself came to Mantua to fetch the bride,
and on the 4th of December Isabella wrote to her
old friend Jacopo d’Atri, whom she had sent to plead
her husband’s cause at the French court: “ Here
we have been entertaining the Duchess of Urbino
and a large and honourable company at great ex-
pense, but very gladly. In two or three days she
will take back our young Duchess, whom we send
with her very willingly, hoping that His Holiness
will now show us still greater favour, and this all the
more since we hear that His Beatitude desires her
and the Duke to come to Rome for the pontifical
celebration of their marriage. . . . His Holiness has
sent a most beautiful litter for the bride, covered
with cloth of silver and gold cords, and borne by
two handsome pages in liveries to match, as well
as a fine dapple-grey horse with rich trappings. The
Duke was on his way here incognito to pay us a
visit, but when he reached Carpi, he was summoned
back in haste by a papal brief, ordering him to lead
the troops of the League against Ravenna.”1
On the 9th of December, the wedding-party set
out on their journey, which was attended with even
more discomforts and adventures than usual. First
of all, they left Mantua in so dense a fog that
Isabella and her train of courtiers were unable to
accompany them beyond the gates, and before they
reached their first halting-place, the villa of Gonzaga,
they lost their way and wandered for hours in the
dark. “ The astrologer who fixed the time of their
1 Luzio e Renier, Mantova e Urbino, p. 190, &c.
to hasten the union of her daughter Leonora with
his nephew, the marriage was fixed to take place
in the following autumn. In November Duchess
Elisabetta herself came to Mantua to fetch the bride,
and on the 4th of December Isabella wrote to her
old friend Jacopo d’Atri, whom she had sent to plead
her husband’s cause at the French court: “ Here
we have been entertaining the Duchess of Urbino
and a large and honourable company at great ex-
pense, but very gladly. In two or three days she
will take back our young Duchess, whom we send
with her very willingly, hoping that His Holiness
will now show us still greater favour, and this all the
more since we hear that His Beatitude desires her
and the Duke to come to Rome for the pontifical
celebration of their marriage. . . . His Holiness has
sent a most beautiful litter for the bride, covered
with cloth of silver and gold cords, and borne by
two handsome pages in liveries to match, as well
as a fine dapple-grey horse with rich trappings. The
Duke was on his way here incognito to pay us a
visit, but when he reached Carpi, he was summoned
back in haste by a papal brief, ordering him to lead
the troops of the League against Ravenna.”1
On the 9th of December, the wedding-party set
out on their journey, which was attended with even
more discomforts and adventures than usual. First
of all, they left Mantua in so dense a fog that
Isabella and her train of courtiers were unable to
accompany them beyond the gates, and before they
reached their first halting-place, the villa of Gonzaga,
they lost their way and wandered for hours in the
dark. “ The astrologer who fixed the time of their
1 Luzio e Renier, Mantova e Urbino, p. 190, &c.