DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36838#0143
88 COUNT BAUD ASS ARE CASTIUUIONE
still very young, Emilia Pia came to Urbino as the
bride of Antonio da Montefeltro, Guidobaldo's elder
half-brother. This natural son of Duke Federico had
been legitimized in 1454, by Pope Nicholas V., before
his father's marriage to Battista Sforza, and is described
by Yespasiano as a youth of great promise and military
prowess. He was knighted by King Ferrante of
Naples at the age of twenty, and fought gallantly
at his father's side in his last campaign of Ferrara,
after which he entered the Venetian service, and was
present at the battle of the Taro.
In spite of the wide difference of years between
them, Emilia was devotedly attached to her husband,
and when he died, after a long illness, in 1500, her
grief was such as to cause her relatives the greatest
anxiety for her own life. ' Madonna Emilia's sorrow,'
wrote the gentle Elisabetta, who had, from her first
arrival at Urbino, found a true sister in Antonio's
young wife,' is so great that it would move the hardest
heart to compassion.^ My lord and I cannot on any
account leave her.' And the Marchioness Isabella
wrote affectionately to the poor young widow, begging
her to take comfort and to endure life for the sake of
the friends who loved her so well. After the first
shock was over, Emilia recovered health and spirits,
and showed the same tender solicitude for others,
and the same keen interest in passing events, which
had made her a general favourite before. But
although her charms still attracted suitors of all ages,
and she was courted and loved by many, she rejected
all advances and remained faithful to her dead lord's
memory.
During the Duchess's exile, Emilia Pia was her con-
stant companion, and became intimately acquainted
* Luzio e Renier, 'Mantova e Urbino/ 106.
still very young, Emilia Pia came to Urbino as the
bride of Antonio da Montefeltro, Guidobaldo's elder
half-brother. This natural son of Duke Federico had
been legitimized in 1454, by Pope Nicholas V., before
his father's marriage to Battista Sforza, and is described
by Yespasiano as a youth of great promise and military
prowess. He was knighted by King Ferrante of
Naples at the age of twenty, and fought gallantly
at his father's side in his last campaign of Ferrara,
after which he entered the Venetian service, and was
present at the battle of the Taro.
In spite of the wide difference of years between
them, Emilia was devotedly attached to her husband,
and when he died, after a long illness, in 1500, her
grief was such as to cause her relatives the greatest
anxiety for her own life. ' Madonna Emilia's sorrow,'
wrote the gentle Elisabetta, who had, from her first
arrival at Urbino, found a true sister in Antonio's
young wife,' is so great that it would move the hardest
heart to compassion.^ My lord and I cannot on any
account leave her.' And the Marchioness Isabella
wrote affectionately to the poor young widow, begging
her to take comfort and to endure life for the sake of
the friends who loved her so well. After the first
shock was over, Emilia recovered health and spirits,
and showed the same tender solicitude for others,
and the same keen interest in passing events, which
had made her a general favourite before. But
although her charms still attracted suitors of all ages,
and she was courted and loved by many, she rejected
all advances and remained faithful to her dead lord's
memory.
During the Duchess's exile, Emilia Pia was her con-
stant companion, and became intimately acquainted
* Luzio e Renier, 'Mantova e Urbino/ 106.