Valperga (36 page)

But now these feverish emotions ceased. Sorrow sat on her
downcast eye, restrained her light step, and slept in the unmoved
dimples of her fair cheek; but the wildness of grief had died, the
fountain of selfish tears flowed no more, and she was restored from
death to life. She considered Castruccio as bound to Beatrice;
bound by the deep love and anguish of the fallen prophetess, by all
her virtues, even by her faults; bound by his falsehood to her who
was then his betrothed, and whom he carelessly wronged, and thus
proved how little capable he was of participating in her own
exalted feelings. She believed that he would be far happier in the
passionate and unquestioning love of this enthusiast, than with
her, who had lived too long to be satisfied alone with the
affection of him she loved, but required in him a conformity of
tastes to those she had herself cultivated, which in Castruccio was
entirely wanting. She felt half glad, half sorry, for the change
she was aware had been operated in her heart; for the misery that
she before endured was not without its momentary intervals, which
busy love filled with dreams and hopes, that caused a wild
transport, which, although it destroyed her, was still joy, still
delight. But now there was no change; one steady hopeless blank was
before her; the very energies of her mind were palsied; her
imagination furled its wings, and the owlet, reason, was the only
dweller that found sustenance and a being in her benighted soul.

THE ambitious designs of Castruccio were each day ripening. The
whole Ghibeline force in Italy was not turned to the siege of
Genoa, which was defended by Robert, king of Naples, at the head of
the Guelphs. Castruccio had never actually joined the besieging
army. But he had taken advantage of the war, which prevented the
Genoese from defending their castles on the sea--coast, to surprise
many of them, and to spread his conquests far beyond the Lucchese
territory; and he was ever attentive to the slightest incident that
might contribute to the exaltation of the Ghibelines. He aided his
Lombard friends, by annoying the enemy as much as was in his power,
and did not hesitate in using the most nefarious arts to injure and
destroy them. He now fully subscribed to all the articles of
Pepi's political creed, and thought fraud and secret murder
fair play, when it thinned the ranks of the enemy.

Robert, king of Naples, was at the head of the Guelph army at
Genoa. The siege had now lasted with various fortune for two years;
and every summer the king visited this city to conduct the
enterprizes of the campaign. Castruccio, urged by Galeazzo
Visconti, and by his own belief in the expediency of the scheme,
conspired to destroy the king: a foolish plan in many ways; for a
legitimate king, like a vine, never dies; and when you throw earth
over the old root, a new sprout ever springs up from the parent
stock.

The king of Naples had fitted out a fleet to go and attack the
king of Sicily, who was a protector of the Ghibelines. Castruccio
sent two desperate, but faithful fellows, to set fire to the ship
in which the king himself sailed. The men got admittance on board
the royal galley, which, swifter than the rest, sped on through the
waves, while the rest of the fleet hung like a cloud on the far
horizon. At night the smell of fire was perceived in the vessel,
and a small flame issued from one of the windows: the affright and
confusion were terrible, when they found that they were burning
thus on the desert sea, while the other vessels were too distant to
afford them aid. All hands were at work to extinguish the flames;
and it was then that the hired incendiaries were perceived, as they
tried to fire another part of the ship. It was found that they were
provided with floats of cork, by which they hoped to preserve
themselves in the water, until by some accident they might be
rescued.

The fire was seen by the galley, in which the eldest son of king
Robert was embarked, and which bore down to his relief. The
youthful prince, in an agony of terror, lent his own hand to the
oar that they might arrive more speedily. The whole crew was saved;
and the criminals were reserved for torture and death.

The news of this detestable plot was spread through all Italy,
nor was it much blamed. It was then that Euthanasia, the living
spirit of goodness and honour, amidst the anguish that the
unworthiness of Castruccio occasioned her, felt a just triumph,
that she had overcome her inclinations, and was not the bride of a
suborner and a murderer. Even now, remembering that it was known
that she once loved Antelminelli, she was penetrated with shame,
and her cheeks burned with blushes when she heard the tale. But,
careless of an infamy which he shared with many of his countrymen,
and sorry only that his design had not succeeded, Castruccio did
not attempt to conceal the part he had taken in the plot, and
loudly declared that all his enemies might expect the same measure
as king Robert, while in return he permitted them to try the like
arts against him.

In the mean time he prosecuted the war with redoubled vigour. In
the winter of the year 1320, the Ghibelines reinforced their armies
before Genoa, and called upon their allies for their utmost
assistance; and Castruccio among the rest was to advance to their
aid with all his forces. But the Guelphs were not idle: Florence
had sent soldiers every campaign to reinforce the Genoese, and
entered with spirit into all the enterprizes undertaken against the
imperial party; although a wish to preserve their territory free
from the horrors of war, and to repair by a long peace the injury
done to their vines and olive woods, had caused them to preserve a
shew of peace with Lucca.

Castruccio considered all his present successes as preliminaries
only to his grand undertaking; and, having now reduced not only the
territory of Lucca, but many castles and strong holds, which before
had either been independent, or had paid tribute to Genoa, or to
the lords of Lombardy, he planned a more vigorous system of warfare
for the ensuing campaign. His first step was to increase his
security and power in Lucca itself.

Having grown proud upon his recent successes, he began to
disdain the name of consul, which he had hitherto borne. He
assembled the senate; and, at the instance of his friends, who had
been tutored for the purpose, this assembly bestowed upon him the
government of Lucca for life, with the title of prince. He
afterwards caused this grant to be confirmed by an assembly of the
people; his warlike achievements, joined to the moderate
expenditure of his government, had made him a great favourite with
the inferior classes of the community, and they cordially entered
into the projects of his ambition. Soon after, through the
mediation of his friend Galeazzo Visconti, he obtained from
Frederic, king of the Romans, the dignity of Imperial Vicar in
Tuscany.

All this passed during the winter; and in the spring he
assembled his troops, intent upon some new design. He had now been
at peace with Florence for the space of three years, although,
fighting under opposite banners, the spirit of enmity had always
subsisted between him and them. Now, without declaring war, or in
any way advising them of their peril, he suddenly made an incursion
into their territory, burning and wasting their land as far as
Empoli, taking several castles, and carrying off an immense booty;
he then retreated back to Lucca.

This violation of every law of nations filled the Florentines at
first with affright, and afterwards with indignation. They had sent
their best troops to Genoa; and they found themselves attacked
without warning or time for preparation. When the Lucchese
retreated, anger and complaint succeeded. Castruccio replied to the
reproaches of the Florentines by a declaration of war, and then
immediately marched with his forces to join the besieging army
before Genoa.

When the Florentines found that they could obtain no redress,
they turned their thoughts to revenge. They raised what fresh
troops they could among the citizens; and wishing to assist their
small army by other measures which were then rife in the Italian
system of warfare, they endeavoured to foment a conspiracy among
the Lucchese for the overthrow of their prince's government.
Castruccio received in one day letters from Giovanni da
Castiglione, the general who commanded the few troops which he had
left to guard his own principality, to inform him, that the
Florentines had entered the Val di Nievole, burning and spoiling
every thing before them; and from Vanni Mordecastelli, his civil
lieutenant at Lucca, with information of a plot for the destruction
of his power which was brewing in that city. Castruccio immediately
left the Lombard army, and returned with his troops to disconcert
these designs.

Of the castles which were situated within a circuit of many
miles round Lucca, all were subject to Castruccio, except the
castle of Valperga and its dependencies. He had often solicited
Euthanasia to place her lordship under the protection of his
government; and she had uniformly refused. The castle of Valperga
was situated on a rock, among the mountains that bound the pass
through which the Serchio flows, and commanded the northern
entrance to the Lucchese territory. It was a place of great
strength, and in the hands of an enemy might afford an easy
entrance for an hostile army into the plain of Lucca itself. The
Florentines, trusting to the affection which the countess bore
their city, sent ambassadors to her to intreat her to engage in an
alliance with them against Castruccio, and to admit a party of
Florentine soldiers into her castle; but she rejected their
proposals, and positively refused to enter into any league
injurious to the existing government of Lucca. The ambassadors had
been selected from among her intimate friends; and her Monualdo,
Bondelmonti, was at the head of them: they were not therefore
intimidated by one repulse, but reiterated their arguments, founded
upon her own interest, and the service she would render to her
native town, in vain. She felt that the liberty in which she had
been permitted to remain, while, one after another, all the castles
around her had been reduced, could only have arisen from the
friendship and forbearance of the prince; and she judged that it
would be a sort of treason in her, to take advantage of his
moderation to introduce devastation into his country; at the same
time she promised, that no threats or intreaties should induce her
to ally herself with, or submit to, the enemy of Florence.

The ambassadors, who had been bred in the Italian school of
politics of that age, little understood, and by no means approved
her scruples; they found her however invincible to their arguments,
and were obliged to give up all expectation of her assistance. But
they made the hope of overcoming her objections the pretext for
their protracted stay in her castle; for they had other designs in
view. The vicinity of Valperga to Lucca, and the intercourse which
took place between it and that town, gave them an opportunity of
becoming acquainted with several of the discontented nobles, the
remnants of the faction of the Neri, who had been permitted to
remain. Euthanasia, being a Guelph, had of course much intercourse
with the few of that party who were to be found in Lucca; and from
the conversation of these men the Florentine ambassadors conceived
the hope of weaving some plot which would produce the downfall of
Castruccio. And they believed, that in one of them they had found a
successor to his dignity, and a chief who would prove as faithful
to the papal party, as Castruccio had been to the imperial.

Among those of the faction of the Neri who had remained in
Lucca, was a branch of the family of Guinigi, and one of the youths
of this house had married Lauretta dei Adimari, a cousin of
Euthanasia. This connection had caused great intimacy between the
families; and Leodino de' Guinigi, the husband of Lauretta, was
a young man of talent, spirit and ambition. Being refused a command
in the army of Castruccio, he was however forced to expend his love
of action and his desire of distinction, in hunting, hawking and
tournaments. He was a man of large fortune, and greatly respected
and loved in Lucca; for his manners were courteous, and his
disposition generous, so that every one blamed the prince for
neglecting a person of so much merit on account of his party. Every
year however added to the discontent of Leodino; and he used
frequently at the castle of his cousin Euthanasia, to bemoan his
fate, and declare how he longed for a change which should draw him
from idleness and obscurity. Lauretta was a beautiful and amiable
girl; but party feelings ran so high in Lucca, that she was shunned
as a Guelph and a Florentine, and therefore she also entered
eagerly into the complaints of her husband; while the fear of the
confiscation of his property withheld Leodino from serving under
some leader of his own party. Euthanasia esteemed him highly; his
mind was greatly cultivated; and the similarity of their tastes and
pursuits had given rise to a sincere affection and sympathy between
them. The Florentine ambassadors saw Leodino and his wife at the
castle of Valperga; they easily penetrated his character and
wishes; and Bondelmonti undertook to work on him to co-operate with
them in their design. Leodino required little instigation, and
immediately set to work in Lucca to gain partizans: every thing
promised well. All this had been carefully concealed from
Euthanasia; who was too sincere of disposition to suspect fraud in
others. But their plot was now ripe; and the ambassadors were on
the eve of returning to Florence to lead their troops to the
attack; when the conspiracy was betrayed to Mordecastelli, and
Castruccio suddenly appeared in Lucca.

Bondelmonti and his associates instantly quitted Valperga; and
several of the conspirators, struck with affright, fled from Lucca;
but Leodino, trusting to the secrecy with which he had enveloped
his name, resolved to brave all danger and to remain. This
imprudence caused his destruction; and, the morning after the
return of Castruccio, he and six more of his intimate associates
were arrested, and thrown into prison. Lauretta fled in despair to
the castle of Valperga; she threw herself into the arms of
Euthanasia, confessed the plot that had been carried on with
Bondelmonti, and intreated her intercession with the prince to save
the life of Leodino. Euthanasia felt her indignation rise, on
discovering that her hospitality had been abused, and her
friendship employed as the pretence which veiled a conspiracy. But,
when the weeping Lauretta urged the danger of Leodino, all her
anger was changed into compassion and anxiety; and she ordered the
horses to be brought to the gate, that she might hasten to Lucca.
"I am afraid, my poor cousin," said she, "if the
prince be not of himself inclined to mercy, that my intreaties will
have little effect: but be assured that I will spare no prayers to
gain the life of Leodino. His life! indeed that is far too precious
to be lightly sacrificed; I feel a confidence within me, which
assures me that he will be saved; fear nothing, therefore; I will
bring him back with me when I return."