Chapter 23

[*48]Seepage 47. The latter is correct.

[*49]The chronicle of Gubbio (Muratori,R.I.S., XXI., 982) speaks of Oddantonio's death happening on 22 July, "ob violatum pudicitiam feminarum," as the author of theAnnali di Forlì,R.I.S., XXII., 222, writes. It is recorded that he left debts of many thousands of ducats to the Count, his brother, "per soperchierie e trascurate spese, fatte in quel poco di tempo che egli aveva governato."Graziani, however, the supposed author of the Perugian chronicle published under his name, who, as Prof.Oscar Scalvantihas demonstrated (Boll. per l'Umbria, vol. IV., p. 57et seq.), is not the author, but rather Antonio dei Guarneglie, followed by Pietro Angelo di Giovanni, says in hisCronaca della Città di Perugiathat Oddantonio was murdered on 21 July, on Tuesday evening, at the sixth hour of the night, which I take to be about two o'clock on the morning of 22 July. He gives a long and circumstantial account of his murder. TheChronicle of Rimini,R.I.S., XV., 948, names the protonotary and one of the three other friends whom "Graziani" says fell with him. They were Manfredo da Carpi and Tomasso di Ser Guidicino da Arimino. "Graziani," who doubtless wrote from hearsay, says he was killed because "non aveva rispetto a persona e che quando glie piaceva una giovane, o zitola o maritata che fusse, se ne voleva cavare la voglia. Et el conte Guido suo padre fo tutto el contrario." The usual cries rang through the city: "Morto è il signore! Viva la Chiesa e viva el populo!" SeeArch. St. Ital., ser. I., tom. XVI., parte I., p. 552et seq.While fully admitting Sigismondo Malatesta to be capable of any cunning, I do not think we have any evidence against him here. The Malatesti were the enemies of the Montefeltri, and the latter, with their subjects, were afraid of Sigismondo, already a very brilliant soldier. Cf.Marcolini,St. d. Prov. di Pesaro e Urbino(Pesaro, 1885).

[50]In another chronicle, the immediate provocation to this fell outrage is thus tersely stated: "The Duke was slain by the citizens because he had little respect for their wives by night or by day." Sanzi has deleted a portion of his poem, and the substituted passage gives the version we have adopted, passing lightly over the manner in which the victims met their death.

[51]Diario Ferrarese, inR.I.S., XXIV., 194.

[*52]The other in the sacristy is theFlagellationwith the Duke's portrait on the right; it is the work of Piero della Francesca.

[*53]For all that concerns the races in Siena seeWilliam Heywood,Palio and Ponte(Methuen, 1904), esp. p. 85et seq.

[*54]Oddantonio seems to have strongly disliked Federigo, his father's natural son. He would not suffer him to live at Urbino. The Duke was to have married Cecilia Gonzaga, but preferred at the last moment Isotta d'Este, thinking she would be more likely to give him an heir and so exclude Federigo. SeeTarducci,Cecilia Gonzaga ed Oddantonio di Montefeltro(Mantova, 1897). Violante, Federigo's half-sister, renounced her part of the heritage of her father in documents preserved in Arch. Centrale di Firenze (Carte d'Urbino, Cartapecore Laiche, Nos. 180 and 209), printed byMadiaiinLe Marche, vol. III., pp. 125-32.

[55]Lazzerini, in hisMemorie Storiche dei Conti di Urbino, has discussed without exhausting them in fifty folio pages. The magnificent work by Count Pompeo Litta is marred by adopting the theory of an Ubaldini descent for Duke Federigo. See his notice of Emilia Pio da Carpi, wife of Count Antonio di Montefeltro.

[56]The merit of another, and apparently an original conjecture, belongs to Sismondi, who makes him the adulterous son of Bernardino, by one of Guidantonio's wives. For this there is no authority whatever; indeed, this historian, by confounding Guidantonio with his son, and omitting Oddantonio entirely, has utterly confused the family and history of Urbino. We have formerly set down Aura as daughter of Guidantonio, on authority of a licence from Nicholas V. for Federigo, his wife, and his sister Aura, to choose a confessor, quoted by Gallo Galli, and also in the MS. of Muzio (Vat. Urb. MSS., No. 1011), which is much fuller than the printed edition. Thus also Giovanni Sanzi, father of the painter Raffaele, in his rhyming chronicle of Federigo's life, which we shall frequently have to quote (Vat. Ottobon. MSS., No. 1305), and shall examine in our twenty-fifth chapter, says of him,—"But others call this admirable flowerGrandson of Guidantonio, being childOf that count's daughter, whose exalted nameIs dear to virtue, Bernardino's wifeOf th' Ubaldini."

[*57]Federigo was born in Gubbio, where he remained for two years, and on 2 December, 1437, was there solemnly betrothed to Gentile Brancaleoni. On the question of the birth of Federigo, seeReposati,op. cit., tom. I., p. 136, andUgolini,op. cit., tom. I., p. 221. I take this opportunity of referring the reader behind all the later lives of Federigo to what is probably the first, the codex Vatic. Urbin. 1010. It is a codexcartaceoin folio bound in parchment measuring 0·32 × 0·21 of 107 pages. It is written by many hands, and is rich in marginal notes probably by Bernardino Baldi. It is entitled,Commentarj della vita et gesti dell'invittessimo Federico duca d'Urbino raccolti et scritti da Pierantonio Paltroni da Urbino.Guido Zaccagninihas written a commentary on this MS. inLe Marche, fasc. I., ann. IV., pp. 8-33 (Fano, 1904). Cf. alsoMadiai,F. da M. nella Relaz. coi ParentiinLe Marche(Fano, 1903), vol. III., pp. 114et seq.;G. Zannoni,Federico II., di Montefeltro e G.A. Compano, inAtti della R. Accademia delle Scienze di Torino. See alsoF. Madiai,Pierantonio Paltroni e B. Baldi biografi di Federico da Montefeltro, inLe Marche, fasc. V.-VI., ann. II. (Fano, 1902).

[*58]Lucca was never absorbed. It is true she was sold to Florence, but the City of the Lily could never get her. Cf. Ammirato, Muratori, Sismondi.

[59]It consisted of a tight pantaloon, fantastically party-coloured, and a device distinguishing it from similar clubs. The members associated together for festive and social purposes, which were freely indulged in at the election or marriage of a brother of the hose, and they wore mourning for four days on the death of any one of their number.

[*60]On Vittorino da Feltre, seeRosmini,V. da Feltre(1845), and Prof.Woodward,V. da Feltre.

[*61]Guidantonio entertained many potentates in Gubbio, among them, on September 24, Pope Martin V., who was housed in the Palazzo Beni. Cf.Lucarelli,Memorie e Guida di Gubbio(Capi, 1888). The Emperor was received with great magnificence not in the autumn of 1432, but in August, 1433. Cf.Guerriero,op. cit.(supra,note 1,p. 22);R. Reposati,op. cit., vol. I., p. 141.

[*62]It is instructive to notice that the Emperor also conferred knighthood a few days later in Rimini on Sigismondo Malatesta and his brother Novello. Sigismondo was born in 1417, and was christened Gismondo. Cf.ClementiniandBattaglini. The Emperor, in knighting him, bade him take his own name. Thus Gismondo became Sigismondo. This becomes of great importance later to his history. The family badge of the Malatesti was the elephant (complete); the elephant's headéchancréwas the family crest. Neither was ever a charge in the arms of the family. But for a century before Sigismondo's time the rulers of Rimini had been in the habit of placing an initial or monogram in the second and third quarters of the family arms. The first known date of this use by Sigismondo of SI is 1445, and this has caused it to be confused by all writers on the subject with the name of Isotta his mistress, later his third wife, whom he met about this time. The SI, say they, stands for Sigismondo-Isotta. It does not; it stands for Sigismondo, as I think I have shown. Of course, I am sure Sigismondo was only too delighted to find that his monogram embraced the initial letter of his Love. There is good evidence to show that this was the popular belief after Polissenas's death in 1449; but that is very different indeed from any assertion that he actually placed the "I" in the family coat for love of Isotta. If such a prince could do such a thing, I will believe with John Addington Symonds that he murdered a wife whom he never married. I may end this long note with a word or two on the use of the plural Malatesti. There are many excellent authorities for it, among them Clementini, Battaglini, and d'Annunzio, to say nothing of Villani and the chroniclers of Rimini. It is indeed a question for a pedant. However, the form, to be just, is Florentine, and arose in this manner, maybe. The Florentine family name was primarily a genitive. Rainiero, the son, called himself Rainiero Rainiero; Rainiero, son of Rainiero; Rainierus, Rainieri. The Latin genitive being the same as the nominative plural, all the family became Rainieri. This, however, presupposes a nominative singular inus. Were the nominative ina, the system would not work: Malatesta—Malatestae. In order to twist it into Florentine shape it was necessary to insert the prepositionde, thus: Malatesta—de Malatestis, and then to drop the finals. This sounds excellent enough; but what if the plural is as natural after all as an English plural would be in its place: Smith—the Smiths; Rainiero—i Rainieri; Malatesta—i Malatesti?

[*63]Which among the condottieri is worthy of what Dennistoun seems to regard as only to be bestowed on the best of men? However, he is wrong about Piccinino. Of all the Bracceschi, he alone was an honourable man. Gaspare Broglio, one of Sigismondo Malatesta's captains, gives him the fifth place among the soldiers of Italy; after Carmagnuolo, Francesco Sforza, Sigismondo himself, and Federigo of Urbino. A fine fighter, an excellent strategist, it was his weakness to be true to his master. And then he was what Sforza never was, nor could the dukedom of Milan make him—a gentleman. Cf.Edward Hutton,Sigismondo Malatesta(Dent, 1906),passim, andG. CampanoeG.B. Poggio,Vite di Braccio Fortebraccio e di Nic. Piccinino Perugini(Perugia, 1636).

[*64]Bianca Maria was promised and withheld from Sforza many times. At the beginning of the third war with Venice, which ended in 1432, the Emperor Sigismund came into Italy, and to Milan first, to receive the Iron Crown. It was on this occasion that Sforza was first betrothed to Bianca Maria Visconti, just then eight years old. At the date of their wedding—they had not met between—she was only seventeen, yet I suppose this to have been none too early for an Italian girl of the fifteenth century. Sforza was forty. A curious panegyric on the bride will be found inSabadino G.,Gynevra de la clare donne(Scelta di curiosità letterarie inedite o rare Dispensa, 223, Bologna, 1888). And seeC.M. Ady,Milan under the Sforza(Methuen, 1907), pp. 18 and 24-5.

[65]That is, Charles II., king of Naples, when Dante wrote. SeePurgatorio, v.

[*66]I think Dennistoun is wrong here. Galeotto, calledIl beato, was the son of Pandolfo Malatesta by Allegra di Mori, and was born 1411. Sigismondo was his son by Madonna Antonia, and was born in 1417. SeeBattaglini,Basini Parenensis Poetæ Opera(Arimini, 1744), vol. II., p. 274;Clementini,Raccolto Istorico della Fondatione di Rimino(Rimini, 1617), vol. II., p. 299; andEdward Hutton,op. cit., p. 16. Novello was his son also by Madonna Antonia, and was born in 1418. Neither of these ladies was Pandolfo's wife. Pandolfo died before his brother Carlo. On Carlo's death the Malatesta territory was held in trust for a time by women till Galeotto succeeded. On his death the same thing happened; but at last Sigismondo took Rimini when he was fifteen, and Novello had Cesena. It is true that Novello predeceased Sigismondo, though only by a few years, but by then Sigismondo was fighting for his life, having lost everything save Rimini itself. All that Dennistoun says of the Malatesti is inaccurate and clouded by prejudice.

[67]Bib. Marucelli, MSS. G, No. 308.

[68]The heraldic bearing of the Montefeltri was an imperial eagle; of the Malatesta an elephant, allusive, perhaps, to the bones of Hannibal's elephants, said to have been found at the Furlo Pass, near Fossombrone and Fano, of which they were seigneurs.[*C]

[*C]Seenote *2,page 71,supra.

[69]SeeUgolini,op. cit., pp. 4 and 5. S. Leo seems to have been called at one time Monteferetro. Cf.Marini,Saggio di ragioni della città di S. Leo(Pesaro, 1758), andMazio,Relazione a Urbano VIII., dello stato d'Urbino(Roma, 1858).

[70]Views of S. Leo, from other points, will be found in Mr.Gally Knight'sEcclesiastical Architecture of Italy, and inComte de Bylandt'sAtlas de Volcans, where it is rendered subsidiary to the phenomena developed in that remarkable district.

[71]Vat. Urb. MSS., No. 928.

[*72]Sforza's originis now proved. The Attendoli were not peasants, but among the leading families of Cotignola. As early as 1226 an Attendolo was ambassador for the neighbouring town of Bertinoro in its submission to Bologna. They were a well-known race of soldiers, it seems. Cf.Solieri,Le origini e la Dominazione degli Sforza a Cotignola(Bologna, 1897), andibid.,L'Antica Casa degli Attendoli Sforza in Cotignola(Ravenna, 1899). AlsoC.M. Ady,op. cit., p. 3.

[73]The original lines, notwithstanding their antiquated orthography, so much excel our version, that many readers will gladly refer to them:—"Como a cometa enanze corre el ragio,Cusi nel giovin le vertude ancoraScorse il senthier del suo illustre viagio:E como quando Apollo insu l'AuroraSparge le chiome d'or per l'oriente,Mentre tranquillo vien del onde fora,Mirava nel suo volto resplendenteD'un almo invicto segni senza frodi.Onde a tal Re quel giovine excellente,Cum futura speranza, in dolci nodiEl cor gli avinse, et poi dentro se fisse,Si como in verde pianta saldi chiodi."

[73]The original lines, notwithstanding their antiquated orthography, so much excel our version, that many readers will gladly refer to them:—

[74]Carteggio inedito d'Artisti, I., p. 179, from the Archivio di Urbino at Florence, Lettere, filza 104.

[*75]This eloquence is a little stupid. If therendezvouswas "under the walls of Pesaro," already held by Federigo, Sigismondo would have been indeed a fool to go.

[*76]I do not quite see what is meant here by "duty." No such thing as loyalty in our sense, loyalty "to our liege-lord the king," was, of course, known or even understood in fifteenth-century Italy. And even if it had been, what "duty" did the Urbinati owe to a bastard? And again, as we see they "elected" Federigo as the Signore.

[77]This, it is said, was exacted of him on oath, before he was admitted within the city gate.

[78]Passatojo, in Italian, signifies a deduction or drawback from the pay of soldiers. I am ignorant of the duties of these functionaries, unless they were commissioners charged with the adjustment of such claims.

[79]Cibrario,Economia Politica del Medio Evo.

[*80]For all that concerns Sforza in the Marche, seeA. Gianandrea,Della Signoria di Francesco Sforza nella Marca secondo le Memorie e i documenti dell'Archivio Fabrianese, inArchivio St. Ital., series V., tom. I., disp. 4.

[81]Sismondi's account of these facts is strangely inaccurate. One page of his seventy-first chapter contains these four misstatements: 1. That Federigo was son of Bernardino della Carda by the Countess of Urbino; 2. That he married, about 1444, a daughter of Francesco Sforza; 3. That 20,000 florins was the price of both fiefs; 4. That Fossombrone was gifted to Federigo by Sforza. I have not found an authority for any one of these assertions.

[82]Sforza had this territorial title from Eugenius IV., when invested by him with La Marca in 1433, and we prefer it to using his more common designation of Count, in order to distinguish him from the Count of Urbino.

[83]Sanzi exults over the cowardly confederates in a triplet, whose sound ingeniously echoes the sense:—"Cum pompa excelsa, al suon di molte trombe,Empiendo l'aria d'alte voci humanePar che ogni valle del remor ribombe."The ruin occasioned by this campaign is supposed to have overtaken the poet's family, and to have induced them to exchange their roof-tree at Colbordolo for the more secure shelter of Urbino, where Raffaele was born.

[83]Sanzi exults over the cowardly confederates in a triplet, whose sound ingeniously echoes the sense:—

The ruin occasioned by this campaign is supposed to have overtaken the poet's family, and to have induced them to exchange their roof-tree at Colbordolo for the more secure shelter of Urbino, where Raffaele was born.

[84]Machiavelli,Istorie, lib. V.

[85]Machiavelli,Istorie, lib. V.

[*86]Pomarance (già Ripomarance) is in the Val di Cecina. Campiglia is in Val di Cornia. Castiglione is Castiglione della Pescaia. Cf.Malavolti,Historia, ad ann., andRepetti,Dizionario della Toscana.

[87]I found thiscondottaor engagement in the archives of the Albani Palace at Urbino. It is for six months from March, 1448, and stipulates for 3000 florins of monthly pay, for which the Count was to maintain 500 lances and 300 foot. Poggio says that his actual force was 1000 horse and 800 infantry.—Muratori,R.I.S., XX., 420.

[*88]For Federigo's service under Sforza seeRossi,F. da Montefeltro condotto da F. Sforza, inLe Marche(Fano, 1905), an. V., p. 142. Rossi prints the Mandata.

[*89]For the war in Tuscany seeRossi,La Guerra in Toscana dell'anno 1447-8(Firenze, 1903).

[90]Berni dates the Tuscan campaign as in 1451, but Sismondi is correct.

[91]Though pruned of not a few redundant particles which obscure the original, this letter proves that even before Spanish fashion had elaborated feebly magniloquent expletives, the Italian style was justly chargeable with verbiage.

[92]Istorie, lib. VI.

[93]Carteggio d'Artisti, I., p. 178. Promis, the recent editor of Francesco di Giorgio's works, conjectures this artillery-founder to have been Agostino da Piacenza, not Francesco, as had been supposed.

[94]From the Italian original, in the Archivio Diplomatico at Siena.

[*95]There are here three mistakes in three lines. (1) Sigismondo had not betrayed Sforza; (2) he had not strangled his natural daughter; (3) his third wife Isotta outlived him. SeeEdward Hutton,op. cit.

[96]See above,p. 68, and afterwardsch. XIV.

[*97]Pius II. hated Sigismondo for his supposed treachery to Siena quite as much as Federigo did.

[98]Bibl. Laurentiana, plut. 90, cod. sup. 138, f. 4. We take these proceedings from the Pope's own narrative,Commentaria, pp. 52, 74.

[99]See letters to him from Pius II., of Nov. 11 and Dec. 12, 1459, in the Laurentian MS. just quoted.

[100]Baldi, II., p. 48.

[101]Dryden'stranslation ofÆneid, VI., p. 810.

[102]Seep. 41above. The extreme inaccuracy of Frenchmen, in speaking or writing of names and persons, is proverbial; and Sismondi, a French writer, although no Frenchman, has fallen into manifest errors regarding the family of Urbino. We have already detected one as to the birth of Federigo. In chap. LXXI. he calls Battista daughter of Francesco Sforza, and in chap. LXXXI. falls into the still more gross blunder of making Sigismondo Malatesta father-in-law (beaupère) of Federigo. This may be a misprint forbeaufrère, which he would have been had Battista been a daughter of Francesco, as well as Polissena, whom Malatesta had married; but this was not the case. See notes atp. 91and above.

[103]Urb. Vat. MSS., No. 1236, her funeral oration.

[104]Archivio Diplomatico di Firenze, original dispensation.

[105]Amadigi, canto XLIV., st. 57. Cicero was born at Arpino.

[106]Baldi, III., p. 79. Pius had arranged all this with Federigo at Siena, in February, 1460, and had advanced him money, in order, if necessary, to corrupt Piccinino's troops—Commentaria, p. 97. At p. 100 the Pontiff insinuates against Federigo the same charge which the Urbino writers have preferred against his own legate, of facilitating their transit into the enemy's country, which unquestionably could not have been effected without collusion or remissness in some quarter.

[107]There is much discrepancy as to the date. Berni and Muzio say it was the 22nd of July; Baldi names the 29th; Muratori, followed by Sismondi and Ricotti, the 27th of that month; Simonetta the 22nd of June. Muzio and Baldi, however, agree that the battle was fought on a Tuesday, which must have been the 22nd of July, the Feast of the Magdalen.

[*108]As witness the almost comic challenge of Piccinino to Sforza. Cf.Edward Hutton,op. cit., pp. 124-7.

[109]Comment. Pii Papæ II., pp. 129, 131, 184, 203.

[110]Muratori says that the battle of the Cesano was fought on the 26th; but we prefer the date given by Berni, who makes it commence on a Thursday night, being the 12th, not the 13th, which Sismondi has adopted for the combat.

[111]Papal bulls and briefs, when abusive, are often more pungent than dignified, and their epithets sometimes baffle translation. In this instance, the meaning being filtered through the slovenly Italian version of Muzio, may have lost somewhat of its point. The obscure mention of menial offices in the Pope's service, is perhaps a clumsy allusion to some now forgotten proverb.

[112]So say Muzio and Baldi. Pius II. and Reposati print the letter as from his brother Malatesta Novello, lord of Cesena, brother-in-law of Federigo, a prince who shared, without deserving, his brother's fate, and whose love of literature, differing widely from that of the vainglorious Sigismondo, continues to benefit posterity in the fine old library which he founded at Cesena, where its ponderous tomes remain chained to their stalls as he left them four centuries ago. See his verses inI. of the Appendices.

[113]Muzio says in four days, Baldi in eighteen.

[114]Urb. Vat. MSS. No. 1236, her funeral oration.

[115]Baldi,Vita e fatti di Federigo, III., p. 59.

[116]Vat Urb. MSS. No. 829, f. 55. Other nearly similar lists of his household are preserved in No. 1248 of that library, and in Vat. Ottob. MSS. No. 3141, f. 144, and Oliveriana MSS. No. 384, f. 1. There is no date affixed to any of these, but they were probably drawn up after he had attained the ducal dignity.

[117]Ordine ed Officii della Corte del Serenissimo Signore il Duca de Urbino, Urb. Vat. MSS. No. 1248.

[118]Memorie concernenti la Città d'Urbino.It was edited by Monsignor Bianchini, and was meant to extend to four folio volumes, illustrating: (1) the city of Urbino; (2) the princes who ruled there; (3) its most famous citizens; (4) their works. Of these only the first volume saw the light, at the expense of Pope Clement XI., an Albani of Urbino. It contains, 1st, Baldi's prolix and fulsome Encomio della Patria; 2nd, his equally dull description of the ducal palace, with seventy-four engravings of its architecture and sculpture; 3rd, Bianchini's catalogue of the sculptured trophies, with seventy-two engravings; 4th, his geometrical survey of the province of Urbino in 1723. It is a curious example of a volume compiled from promising materials, but destitute of interest, and is dedicated to an English exile whose name, once a watchword ominous to our island, frequently meets us in Central Italy, and whose wanderings here found a brief repose. See an account of the Chevalier de St. George's residence at Urbino, in an article on the Stuarts in Italy, contributed by the author of these pages to theQuarterly Reviewfor December, 1847, vol. LXXX.

[*119]Cf.Budinich,Il Palazzo Ducale di Urbino(Trieste, 1904). Rich in documents and designs.

[120]Gaye,Carteggio d'Artisti, I., p. 214, andPungileone,Elogio di Bramante, 63. The original is in Latin.

[121]Carteggio, I., pp. 274-6. The author has discussed the point in No. 86 of theKunstblattfor 1836.

[122]"Federicus Urbini Dux, Montisferetri ac Durantis Comes, sanctæ Ro. ecclesiæ Confalonerius, atque Italici Confederationis Imperator, hanc domum a fundamentis erectam, gloriæ et posteritati suæ exædificavit: Qui bello pluries depugnavit, sexies signa contulit, octies hostem profligavit, omniumque preliorum victor ditionem auxit. Ejusdem justitia, clementia, liberalitas, et religio pace victorias equarunt, ornaruntque."

[123]Pungileone has found a payment of 7 florins, in 1473, to Maestro Giacomo, from Florence, on account ofintarsiafor the audience-hall, which seems, from other entries there cited, to have been decorated during 1464 with paintings now lost.Elogiodi G. Santi, p. 47.

[124]"Sint tibi divitiæ; sint aurea vasa, talentaPlurima, servorum turbæ, gemmæque nitentes;Sint vestes variæ, pretiosa monilia, torques;Id totum hæc longe superat præclara supellex.Sint licet aurati niveo de marmore postes,Et variis placeant penetralia picta figuris;Sint quoque Trojanis circumdata mœnia pannis,Et miro fragrent viridaria culta decore.Extra intusque domus regali fulgida luxu,Res equidem mutæ; sedBibliothecaparata est,Jussa loqui, facunda nimis, vel jussa tacere,Et prodesse potens, et delectare legentem.Tempora lapsa docet, venturaque plurima pandit,Explicat et cunctos cœli terræque labores."

[124]

[125]Commentary on Duke Federigo, Vat. Urb. MSS. No. 941, f. 43. See hisLife of Nicholas V.;Muratori,Script., XXV., 268, 274; also below, ch. XXIV.

[126]The Urbino Bible, noticed again in this extract, will be more particularly described inVI. of the Appendices.

[*127]On the "veltro" Dante, see Dennistoun's note in theAppendixto this vol.,p. 448, andL. Frati,Federico Duca d'Urbino e il "Veltro" Dante, inArch. St. per le Marche e per l'Umbria, vol. II., pp. 360-67. Cf. alsoVespasiano,Vite(Barbera, Firenze), p. 86.

[128]Vat. Urb. MSS. No. 1248, f. 58.

[129]There must be some mistake as to the length, which would scarcely half suffice for a hundred and fifty horses. See the original in Promis' Turin edition of Francesco di Giorgio's Works, I., p. 171.

[130]Much confusion of dates has arisen regarding this church, owing to its slow advance,—unusually protracted even for Italy. Lazzarini tells that it was founded by Federigo in 1447, and consecrated to S. Crescentino in 1534, but that the façade was not completed till 1781. The cupola, planned by Muzio Oddi, was erected in 1604, but fell in 1789. The pulpit and organ were designed by Girolamo della Genga, and the latter was painted by Baroccio. The stuccoes were executed by Federigo Brandani, who died in 1575.

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