DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36838#0181
124 COUNT BALDASSARE CASTIGUIONE
daughter, F elice della Rovere. This charming lady,
who had already won all hearts at Urbino — ' our
Madonna Felice/ as Castiglione calls her — was to
wed Guidobaldo's nephew, Antonello di Sanseverino,
the exiled Prince of Salerno. The Pope wrote
to the King of Spain to demand the restitution
of the Prince's estates in Calabria, and offered to
endow his daughter with a large fortune, if the bride-
groom would renounce his claims on the duchy of
Urbino in favour of Francesco della Rovere. ' All
these things/ remarked the Venetian envoy, 'indicate
new dreams and ambitions on the Pope's part/ But
in this case the fair lady herself resolutely opposed the
marriage which had been arranged for her, and boldly
declared that she would not become the wife of a
landless and penniless Prince. In vain the Pope
stormed and the Duke of Urbino entreated his lovely
kinswoman to consent to a project eminently con-
venient to all parties ; Felice stood firm, and the
marriage, as Madonna Emilia had prophesied, ended
i?i smoke. ' We hear no more of the wedding which
had been arranged for the Popes daughter/ wrote
GiustinianP on the day of Francesco Maria's marriage.
A year later this lady, who was to play an important
part in the politics of the Holy See, became the
bride of Giangiordano Orsini, the chief of this great
Roman house.
i ' Dispacci/ in. 4S8.
daughter, F elice della Rovere. This charming lady,
who had already won all hearts at Urbino — ' our
Madonna Felice/ as Castiglione calls her — was to
wed Guidobaldo's nephew, Antonello di Sanseverino,
the exiled Prince of Salerno. The Pope wrote
to the King of Spain to demand the restitution
of the Prince's estates in Calabria, and offered to
endow his daughter with a large fortune, if the bride-
groom would renounce his claims on the duchy of
Urbino in favour of Francesco della Rovere. ' All
these things/ remarked the Venetian envoy, 'indicate
new dreams and ambitions on the Pope's part/ But
in this case the fair lady herself resolutely opposed the
marriage which had been arranged for her, and boldly
declared that she would not become the wife of a
landless and penniless Prince. In vain the Pope
stormed and the Duke of Urbino entreated his lovely
kinswoman to consent to a project eminently con-
venient to all parties ; Felice stood firm, and the
marriage, as Madonna Emilia had prophesied, ended
i?i smoke. ' We hear no more of the wedding which
had been arranged for the Popes daughter/ wrote
GiustinianP on the day of Francesco Maria's marriage.
A year later this lady, who was to play an important
part in the politics of the Holy See, became the
bride of Giangiordano Orsini, the chief of this great
Roman house.
i ' Dispacci/ in. 4S8.