fowls, pheasants and pigeons without number, 20,000 measures of wine, and 2000 moggie of grain, besides 15,000 pounds of sweetmeats, and 12,000 of wax candles.51 On the conclusion of festivities congenial to his tastes, but ill-suited to his impending fate, the young Duke lingered in dalliance with his bride, returning home only the eve of the fatal night which summoned him
"From that unrest which men miscal delight."
It remains doubtful whether his own marriage was ever completed, as supposed by Litta, but Isotta's cup was fully charged with bitters. During the festive celebration of her after nuptials with one of the Frangipani, the partner and lover of her maid of honour fell dead in the dance, an evil omen too fully realised in domestic dissensions which soon sent her back to her brother's court.
The Duke was buried in the church of S. Francesco, but his remains are said to have been subsequently removed to the chapter-house of that convent. In a neglected cloister leading from the church, there may still be seen two monuments bearing the Montefeltro arms, one of which, canopied by light columns of spiral Gothic, has a stork, holding in its mouth a scroll.*52 Here probably was the ill-fated Oddantonio's tomb; the nameless dead to whom the other was dedicated may have been his grandfather, Count Antonio, or the Countess Rengarda, both of whom were interred in these precincts, where their graves were opened and identified in 1634.
There is little inducement to dwell on the few notices remaining of one whose character and fate merit no sympathy. Yet among a rich store of letters from the Montefeltrian princes to the government of Siena, we have selected two written by Oddantonio in Italian; one is characteristic, the other calculated to throw a more favourable light upon his disposition.
"To our very noble and well beloved, the Podestà, Priors, and Vice-counts of Siena.
"Mighty and potent Lords, dearest Fathers; After commendations: Having heard that, in your magnificent city, stakes will shortly be run for, I should have much pleasure in sending to it one of my racers;*53 but understanding that there are reprisals between your magnificent community and the illustrious lord, my lord father, I beg you, for my protection and security, to let me have by the bearer, whom I send on purpose, a safe conduct in such ample form as your magnificences may think fit, on whose singular favour I rely, ever recommending myself to your lordships. From Urbino, the 10th of November, 1439. Your magnificences' son,
"Oddantonio, Count of Montefeltro,
Urbino, and Casteldurante."
* * * * *
"Our noble and beloved;
"Though we should wish to write you things pleasant and consolatory, we must lay before you what our Lord God has ordered; and although you ought to participate in all our circumstances, whether prosperous or adverse, yet it is with grief and much bitterness of heart that we inform you how it has been the will of our Lord God to call to himself the soul of our lord and father, who passed from this miserable life on the 20th instant, between nine and ten at night [i.e. about half-past three a.m. of the 21st], before Thursday morning. And his death occurred in the course of nature, from the violence of fever, the proper sacraments of the Church having first been received as became a faithful Christian, with the utmost humility, contrition, and devotion, and having disposed in due form of his own affairs, and those of his children and state, and all his other concerns. I feel assured that you will be as much vexed and grieved at this event in mind and heart as myself; and this with reason, for the misfortune and severe loss is yours as much as mine, and keeping in view his worth, excellence, and good conduct, and the affection he bore you, I may say it specially touches you. In whose steps we shall do our best to tread, by a conduct at once satisfactory to you, and beneficial to our state, as to this city and people, and the others that we have to govern, that so you may be satisfied with our future conduct, and constrain yourselves to conform to the will of our Lord God, and be comforted. And we pray you to do thus, and to regard the welfare of this city and of our state as recommended to you, to which effect we firmly rely upon you. And by help of God's grace and the good advices of our said lord and father, with the counsel and aid of worthy friends, and our own right intentions, matters will go on well and to your satisfaction. If we have been [tardy] in advising you of these things, do not be astonished, as this was done advisedly and for good purpose.
"Oddantonio, Count of Montefeltro,
Urbino, and Durante.
"Urbino, the 24th February, 1443."
It does not distinctly appear whether the dignity of Duke was merely personal, or limited to the heirs male of Oddantonio's body. At all events it must have lapsed on his death, as it was not only dropped by his successor in the state, but Count Federigo, even after his new creation, called himself "first" Duke; in this he was followed by his descendants down to Francesco Maria II., the last of the race, who alone designated himself sixth Duke, counting from Oddantonio.*54
BOOK SECOND
OF FEDERIGO DI MONTEFELTRO, COUNT AND
SECOND DUKE OF URBINO
CHAPTER IV
The birth of Count Federigo—Condition of Italy—His marriage and only military service—The Malatesta, his inveterate foes—He takes S. Leo—Is invested with Mercatello.
With Federigo, successor of Duke Oddantonio, commences the proper subject of these volumes, but we are met by a preliminary difficulty as to his birth and parentage, which has baffled many of his biographers. It would be useless, as well as tedious, to enumerate and examine the host of conflicting and often inconsistent authorities on this vexed question.55 The amount of blundering and contradiction to which it has given rise is scarcely conceivable, considering that most of our authorities either frequented the court of Urbino during his own and his son's time, or had access to contemporary documents. Seven separate theories have found supporters:—1. That Federigo was son of Count Guidantonio, born in wedlock; 2. That he was his natural, but legitimated son; 3. That he was his natural son, passed off as the child of his first wife Rengarda, after a pretended pregnancy; 4. That he was son of Bernardino della Carda and his wife Anna, sister of Count Guidantonio, adopted by the latter whilst he had no son; 5. That he was their son, passed off as the child of Countess Rengarda; 6. That he was their son, passed off as a natural child of Guidantonio; 7. That being their son, and Anna or Aura being daughter of Guidantonio, he was adopted or passed off as son of the latter, though, in fact, his grandson.56 It would follow that he might have been either nephew, brother-in-law, or son of Bernardino. All doubt on this subject is set at rest by a formal legitimation from Martin V., of 22nd December, 1424, which I discovered in the Archivio Diplomatico at Florence, in favour of Federigo, as son of Guidantonio by a maiden of Urbino. This document is alluded to by Galli, Reposati, and others; but its existence has been often denied, notwithstanding the almost equally valid evidence of that Count's testament quoted by Riposati, wherein, failing his lawful sons, he substitutes his "legitimate son" Federigo as his universal heir.
It is very remarkable that the filiation of Federigo to the Ubaldini is adopted by a majority of those writers who lived under him and his son, giving colour to a conjecture that it may have been encouraged at their court as masking the flaw in their pedigree. This, however, is but an unsatisfactory explanation. His character and brilliant distinctions could well dispense with the honours of birth; and in this century, bastardy, so far from inferring a blot on the princely escutcheons of Italy, or presenting a bar to sovereignty, seemed, as in the dynasties of Este and Scala, as well as in the Malatesta, already referred to, to constitute a preference. But in order to explain his special affection for the Ubaldini, it has been supposed that his mother was of that stock, and that he was at first brought up by them, in deference to the jealousy of Countess Rengarda. This motive soon ceased by her death, when the infant was received and cherished