CHIAVARI, Italy - This is the true story of a
young girl who made the mistake of falling in love with the wrong man, and was
beheaded for that mistake. It didn’t
matter that she was the daughter of a rich man, it didn’t matter at all for he
was as bad as the rest of them.
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| The d'Este Castle in Ferrara |
The story takes place in the early years of the 1400’s,
a difficult time in Italy. Condotierri ruled the land, each with their own
city-state, each with a private army, each full of ambition and greedy for
power. Some ruled as Lords of their city, others ruled as Dukes or Marquis, all
grabbing whatever title they could to make them seem more respectable. But
behind the pomp and circumstance of their courts, they were soldiers of fortune,
and very violent men.
The most important unit was the family, but the
value of the family was focused on creating a dynasty. Finding the right bride
from the right family was a priority, and often deals were made and marriage
contracts signed when the girls were very young, like the girl in this story.
Her name was Laura Malatesta. She was born in the
fall of 1404 in the region of Emilia Romagna, where her father, Andrea
Malatesta, was the Lord of Cesena. They called her Parisina, or the Parisian.
It was their way of saying she had a natural grace, and elegance, even as a
child. The family however, was not particularly elegant and its history is
marked by dark family conspiracies and unexplained deaths.
One of the victims of the Malatesta family was Laura’s
mother, Lucrezia di Francesco Ordelaffi. Just weeks after having given birth to
Laura, she was poisoned by Laura’s father over a property dispute. A few years
later, Laura’s father died a sudden and suspicious death, and she was sent to Rimini
to live the court of her uncle, Carlo Malatesta.
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| Fresco of Daily Life in Ferrara in the 1400's |
In Rimini Laura’s life changed dramatically. Gone
were her private lessons of Latin and French, of speech and the art of
conversation, literature and etiquette. They were replaced by reading novels,
horseback riding, hunting, falconry, and learning how to play the harp. She
also learned the art of buying small works of art that could become frescoes,
jewelry or miniatures for her future collections.
It wasn’t that her uncle was concerned about her
future collections; in fact he didn’t care about her collections at all. What
concerned him was who he could marry her off to, and what he could gain from
the union.
He got some unexpected help from Venice when
Venetian diplomats offered to handle marriage negotiations between Laura and
the newly widowed Marquis of Este, who ruled the city-state of Ferrara.
Niccolo d’Este may have been a little plump and a
little overly sensual, but he was also a smart international mediator, and an
alliance with the House of Malatesta was definitely in his best interest. A
deal was reached, and the wedding pact was signed. Fourteen year old Laura
would marry the thirty-four year old Niccolo d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara in mid
April, 1418.
Laura was introduced into the extended Este
family in Ferrara where the Marquis lived with his many illegitimate children. His
favorites were Ugo, Leonello and Borso, the sons of his current mistress,
Stella dei Tolomei. Stella disliked Laura from the start, knowing the legitimate
heirs Laura could produce would interfere with her sons’ inheritance.
Three years into the marriage, what the Marquis’
mistress had feared became a reality. Laura had a baby boy, born on May 24,
1421. He was named Carlo Alberto. Unfortunately the long-awaited heir was a
sickly child and died shortly after his first birthday.
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| Bronze Statue of Niccolo' III d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara |
After Carlo Alberto died, the Marquis began to
seriously reconsider the political roles his other sons should play in governing
Ferrara, especially his favorite son, Ugo, the oldest. He knew Ugo resented
Laura, and even though he was sure the resentment was coming from Stella, Ugo’s
mother, he decided to put an end to it.
In May 1424, he directed Ugo, who had just turned
19, to accompany Laura, his 20 year old step-mother, on holiday, and stay with
her for a month. In spite of his feelings toward her, Ugo obeyed his father,
and a few days later they began the long 55-mile journey to Rimini in a horse
drawn coach.
As the days passed and they got to know each other,
the resentment that Ugo felt toward Laura soon faded. They were both young, and
full of life and it wasn’t long before their newly found friendship developed
into a love affair.
It was a dangerous game that both knew could lead
them straight to the gallows if they were discovered, so they promised each
other that when they returned to Ferrara the affair
would end. But in spite of their intentions, they continued to meet in Ferrara
and in the country houses where the d’Este family often gathered in the
summertime.
On May 21, 1426 a servant girl whispered the
truth about Ugo and Laura in her master’s ear. Niccolo d'Este was stunned.
Furious and hurt, he positioned himself in the room above Laura’s bedroom and
through a small crack in the floor, he saw for himself what the servant’s words
had revealed.
The Marquis waited until the middle of night to
have Laura and Ugo arrested. They were taken to the dungeon below the
Marchesana of Ferrara, the castle tower, and placed in separate cells to await
execution. There was no trial, just a formal Decree signed by the Mayor.
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| Pleading for the Lives of Laura and Ugo (1640) |
Ugo begged and pleaded with his father to spare
Laura, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. Even the pleadings of Niccolo’s
ministers and friends to change his sentence from death to imprisonment were
rejected. He was a man betrayed and humiliated, and he would have his revenge.
The two lovers were beheaded that same night. The
next morning, as soon as dawn broke, they were hastily buried in the
garden of the church of San Francesco Ferrara, near the bell tower.
But the deaths of the Marquis son and his wife did
not pass unnoticed by the townspeople, and he knew that people were whispering
about him behind his back. It was more than he could bear. He ordered the
bodies of Laura and Ugo dug up, had their heads sewn back on and held a royal
funeral. He played the part of a grieving husband and father well, mourning the
deaths of his dearly beloveds who had died in an unfortunate accident.
There is some evidence that shows that in the
days after the beheadings, the Marquis of Ferrara sent a dispatch to the Lord
Chancellors of Italy, who were aware of what had happened, and yet no Italian
archive has ever been able to find such a document. Laura, her story and any
images of her that may have existed, have disappeared. All traces of Laura have
disappeared. It’s as if she never existed.
A few years later Niccolo’ married Ricciarda di
Saluzzo, and had two children with her. Between his three legitimate wives and
four known mistresses, Niccolo’ produced 19 children, insuring the continuance
of the name d’Este. And so it has.
Copyright © 2016 Phyllis
Macchioni
Attn: Best of Italy blog.
This is
copyrighted material. Please stop posting my articles on your page.
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