DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36838#0045
BIRTH OF BALDASSARE
9
whom he had reigned so long. Six months afterwards,
on December 6, 1478, Cristoforo Castiglione's young
wife gave birth to a son at Casatico, that ancient castle
which, in the words of the family chronicler, 'we
now regard with a reverence as great as the house of
Virgil at Pietola, the Tower of Boethius at Pavia, or
the home of Petrarch.
The boy whose birth was to endow this old country
house with immortal fame received the name of Bal-
dassare, after his grandfather, who had been the first
of his race to settle at Mantua. In 1481, Chiara
Gonzaga, the eldest child of the Marquis Federico,
Lodovico's son and successor, and of his wife, Margaret
of Bavaria, was married to Gilbert, Count of Mont-
pensier, the French kings cousin. Duke Ercole of
Ferrara, who came to Mantua for the wedding, and
agreed to the betrothal of his daughter Isabella with
the son of his good friend the Marquis, knighted
Luigia s brother Gianpietro on this occasion, and
Luigia herself and her husband, Cristoforo Cas-
tiglione were chosen to escort the young Princess to
her new home. Together they crossed the Alps, in
the train of the wedded pair, and travelled to France,
taking with them among the wedding gifts Man-
tegna s painting of S. Sebastian to adorn the chapel of
the Montpensier chateau in Auvergne.
From the first the young Marquis Francesco, who
succeeded his father in 1484, and his wife Isabella
d' Este, honoured both of Baldassare's parents with
marks of signal favour. Cristoforo accompanied
Francesco through all his campaigns, and fought
gallantly at his side in the fiercely-contested battle
of the Taro. On that disastrous day, when the
Marquis's uncle, Rodolfo Gonzaga, fell in the thick
i BeRa-Negrim, 404.
9
whom he had reigned so long. Six months afterwards,
on December 6, 1478, Cristoforo Castiglione's young
wife gave birth to a son at Casatico, that ancient castle
which, in the words of the family chronicler, 'we
now regard with a reverence as great as the house of
Virgil at Pietola, the Tower of Boethius at Pavia, or
the home of Petrarch.
The boy whose birth was to endow this old country
house with immortal fame received the name of Bal-
dassare, after his grandfather, who had been the first
of his race to settle at Mantua. In 1481, Chiara
Gonzaga, the eldest child of the Marquis Federico,
Lodovico's son and successor, and of his wife, Margaret
of Bavaria, was married to Gilbert, Count of Mont-
pensier, the French kings cousin. Duke Ercole of
Ferrara, who came to Mantua for the wedding, and
agreed to the betrothal of his daughter Isabella with
the son of his good friend the Marquis, knighted
Luigia s brother Gianpietro on this occasion, and
Luigia herself and her husband, Cristoforo Cas-
tiglione were chosen to escort the young Princess to
her new home. Together they crossed the Alps, in
the train of the wedded pair, and travelled to France,
taking with them among the wedding gifts Man-
tegna s painting of S. Sebastian to adorn the chapel of
the Montpensier chateau in Auvergne.
From the first the young Marquis Francesco, who
succeeded his father in 1484, and his wife Isabella
d' Este, honoured both of Baldassare's parents with
marks of signal favour. Cristoforo accompanied
Francesco through all his campaigns, and fought
gallantly at his side in the fiercely-contested battle
of the Taro. On that disastrous day, when the
Marquis's uncle, Rodolfo Gonzaga, fell in the thick
i BeRa-Negrim, 404.