Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/577

Rh E I M I N I 557 condottiere, taking a prominent part in the Lombard wars following on the death of Galeazzo Maria Visconti, and held rule for some time in Brescia and Bergamo. He left three natural sons, who were declared legitimate by Pope Martin V. The eldest, Galeotto (1411-32), was an ascetic, gave little or no attention to public business, and, dying early, bequeathed the state to his brother Sigismondo Pandolfo. The third son, Novello Malatesta (1418-65), ruled over Cesena. Sigismondo (1417-68) is the personage to whom Rimini owes its renown during the Renaissance, of which indeed he was one of the strangest and most original representa- tives. He was born in Brescia, and when called to the succession, at the age of fifteen, had already given proofs of valour in the field. Of a robust and handsome person, he was a daring soldier and an astute politician. His knowledge of antiquity was so profound as to excite the admiration of all the learned men with whom he discoursed, even when, as in the case of Pius II., they chanced to be his personal enemies. A captain of renown and a skilful military engineer, he was also a generous patron of the fine arts and of letters. To him is due the erection of the church of St Francis, or temple of the Malatesta, one of the rarest gems of the Renaissance and the greatest of Rimini's treasures. Sigismondo devoted enormous sums of money and much time and care to this building, giving it so original a stamp and one so thoroughly expressive of his own mind and character that, to a great extent, it may be considered his work. But he too was a man devoid of all faith and conscience, of all respect human or divine. Of so dissolute a life that, although married, he had children by several mistresses at the same time, he gave vent to all his passions with a ferocity that was bestial rather than human. And as the crowning con- tradiction of his strange nature from his youth to the day of his death he remained the devoted lover of the woman for whose sake he became a poet, whom he finally made his wif e7 and whom he exalted in every way, even to the point of rendering her almost divine honours. Yet this love never availed to check his excesses. The blood in his veins resembled that of the Borgia; and of him, as of that iniquitous race, tradition has added much to the evil recorded by history, and truth and false- hood have been so subtly mingled that it is often diffi- cult, sometimes impossible, to distinguish the one from the other. On assuming power in 1432 Sigismondo was already affianced to the daughter of Count Carrnagnola, but when that famous leader was arraigned as a traitor by the Venetians, and ignominiously put to death, he promptly withdrew from his engagement, under the pretext that it was impossible to marry the child of a criminal. In fact he aimed at a higher alliance, for he espoused Ginevra d'Este, daughter of the duke of Ferrara, and his entry into Rimini with his bride in 1434 was celebrated by splendid festivities. In 1437 a son was born to him, but died within the year, and in 1440 the young mother followed it to the grave. Every one declared that she died by poison administered by her husband. This, however, was never proved. The duke of Ferrara remained his friend, nor is it known what motive Sigismondo could have for wishing to get rid of his wife. Two years afterwards he married Polissena, daughter of the famous condottiere Francesco Sforza, who in 1443 bore him a son named Galeotto Roberto. But by this time he was already madly in love with Isotta degli Atti, and this was the passion that endured to his death. The lady succeeded in gaining an absolute ascendency over him, which increased with time. She bore him several children, but this did not prevent his having others by different concubines. Nor was this the sum of his excesses. He presently conceived a frantic passion for a German lady, the wife of a certain Borbona, who repulsed his advances. Thereupon he planned an ambuscade on the road to Fano in order to seize her by force. The lady arrived escorted by armed men, but Sigismondo attacked her so furiously that she was killed in the struggle, and it is said that he then wreaked his lust on her corpse (19th December' 1448). Such being the nature of the man, it is not astonishing that, as his ardour for Isotta increased, he should have little scruple in ridding himself of his second wife. On the 1st June 1450 Polissena died by strangling, and on the 30th of the same month Isotta's offspring were legitimated by Nicholas V. It is only just to record that, although Malatesta's intrigue with Isotta had long been notorious to all, and he had never sought to conceal it, no one ever accused her of either direct or indirect complicity in her lover's crimes. Isotta's history, however, is a strange one, and opens up many curious questions. She was of noble birth and seems to have attracted Sigismondo's notice as early as 1438, for at the age of twenty he produced verses of some merit in praise of her charms. She was indeed widely celebrated for her beauty and intellect, culture, firmness, and prudence ; and even Pope Pius II. proclaimed her worthy to be greatly loved. When Sigismondo was absent she governed Rimini wisely and well, and proved herself a match for the statesmen with whom she had to deal. The leading poets of the court dedicated to her a collection of verses entitled Isottsei, styled her their mistress and the chosen of Apollo. Artists of renown perpetuated her features on canvas, on marble, and on many exquisite medals, one of which has a closed book graven on the reverse, with the inscription " Elegiae " in allusion to poems she was said to have written. Never- theless M. Yriarte, in his well-known book on the Malatesta and Rimini, asserts that there is documentary evidence to prove that Isotta was unable to sign her own name. He has arrived at this conclusion on the strength of certain documents found in the archives of Siena. These consist mainly of two letters addressed to Malatesta in 1454, when he was encamped near Siena, and both written and signed by the same hand. The first, signed Isotta, gives him news of his children, affectionately reproaches him with having betrayed her for the daughter of one Messer Galeazzo, and winds up by saying that she cannot be happy until he fulfils his often renewed promise, i.e., to make her his wife. The second, bearing the same date, is signed with the initials of another woman : " De la V. S. serva" (Your Highness's servant) "S. de M." probably one of the Malatesta. This correspondent says that she had already written to him that day, by command of Isotta, who had gone with her to see Messer Galeazzo's daughter, and freely vented her just indignation. Therefore M. Yriarte maintains that, had Isotta been able to write herself, she would not have employed another to speak of her love and jealousy and of the desired marriage. He feels assured that Isotta must have been altogether illiterate, since even the signature was written by another. 1 But, as the second letter proves that Isotta went with her confidant to vent her rage on her rival, it is plain that she had no secrets from that friend. It is also possible that S. de M. (particularly if a Malatesta) had 1 The two letters are dated respectively 20th and 21st December ; but tins must be an error, inasmuch as the second begins thus "To-day Madonna Isotta made me write to you." The year is not given, but it must have been 1454, since it was then, as we shall presently see, that the Sienese seized the papers of their general Malatesta, who, after betraying them, had hastily fled from the camp. Thus these letters, and other Malatestian documents, came to be pre- served among the archives of Siena where they are still to be seen.