DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36838#0292
THE AFFAIR HUSHED UP
229
stances silence seemed to be the only possible course
of action, and it oecame the duty of a loyal courtier
to avoid any reference to the subject. It is, however,
worthy of note that both the historians of Urbino,
Baldi and Leoni, abstain from the faintest allusion
to the murder of Gian Andrea, ^ and it is only the
unknown chronicler of the Vatican manuscript and
the Venetian archives which supply us with details
of the incident. Abate Serassi, in his notes on
Castiglione's correspondence, owns himself completely
baiHed in his researches to explain the mystery, and
confesses to complete ignorance of the events to
which M. Baldassare refers in the above-quoted
passages.
So the very name of the Duke's favourite was
never heard again, and Francesco Marias crime was
forgotten, until four years later the murder of Cardinal
Alidosi recalled this violent deed to the memory of
his enemies. As for Maria Varana, the other victim
of her brother s vengeance, we hear no more of her,
and only know that she was still living at Urbino
from a casual reference to her in the letters of a
Venetian envoy, who mentions a report that she was
to marry one of the valiant San Severino brothers.
This was Gaspare, better known by his surname,
Fracassa, who spent some time at Urbino in the
spring of 1518, and accompanied Duke Francesco
Maria to Rome. But the idea was abandoned, and
Maria, as far as we know, never married again. ^ The
court soon resumed its wonted tranquillity. The
1 Ugolini, ii. 143.
2 Litta and Dennistoun both state that Maria Varana married
Galeazzo Sforza Riario, the second son of Caterina Sforza, of Forli
and Imola (' Famiglie celebri/ ii. 267), but evidently confuse the
lady with her cousin. Cardinal Galeotto's sister, Maria Sista, who
in 1504 became the bride of this prince.
229
stances silence seemed to be the only possible course
of action, and it oecame the duty of a loyal courtier
to avoid any reference to the subject. It is, however,
worthy of note that both the historians of Urbino,
Baldi and Leoni, abstain from the faintest allusion
to the murder of Gian Andrea, ^ and it is only the
unknown chronicler of the Vatican manuscript and
the Venetian archives which supply us with details
of the incident. Abate Serassi, in his notes on
Castiglione's correspondence, owns himself completely
baiHed in his researches to explain the mystery, and
confesses to complete ignorance of the events to
which M. Baldassare refers in the above-quoted
passages.
So the very name of the Duke's favourite was
never heard again, and Francesco Marias crime was
forgotten, until four years later the murder of Cardinal
Alidosi recalled this violent deed to the memory of
his enemies. As for Maria Varana, the other victim
of her brother s vengeance, we hear no more of her,
and only know that she was still living at Urbino
from a casual reference to her in the letters of a
Venetian envoy, who mentions a report that she was
to marry one of the valiant San Severino brothers.
This was Gaspare, better known by his surname,
Fracassa, who spent some time at Urbino in the
spring of 1518, and accompanied Duke Francesco
Maria to Rome. But the idea was abandoned, and
Maria, as far as we know, never married again. ^ The
court soon resumed its wonted tranquillity. The
1 Ugolini, ii. 143.
2 Litta and Dennistoun both state that Maria Varana married
Galeazzo Sforza Riario, the second son of Caterina Sforza, of Forli
and Imola (' Famiglie celebri/ ii. 267), but evidently confuse the
lady with her cousin. Cardinal Galeotto's sister, Maria Sista, who
in 1504 became the bride of this prince.