Read Online Murder in the Garden of God by Eleanor Herman - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Eleanor Herman
Tags: History, Renaissance
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sent Troilo on diplomatic missions abroad, but the young man came bouncing back like an unwanted boomerang.
Isabella was safe as long as her powerful and devoted father was alive. But Cosimo died in 1574, and her somber brother Francesco, the new grand duke, heartily disapproved of her adultery, though he had been unfaithful to his own wife for a decade with a married mistress. Francesco had never liked his sister, who was far more attractive, intelligent, and vivacious than he could ever hope to be. Their father had preferred Isabella to Francesco, often siding with her in family disputes. Francesco had taken out his frustrations by concocting poisons, which he tried out on neighborhood cats and dogs, and pursuing alchemy, perhaps a metaphor for trying to turn the dross of his life into gold.
But now the unpopular gloomy boy was a man with real power, and it was payback time. It is possible that Isabella gave birth to another illegitimate child in May 1576. “Lady Isabella has been these past five days at Cafaggiolo [a country villa],” reported Ambassador Ercole Cortile of the duchy of Ferrara, “and there are some saying that a previous time when she went, it was to let her body swell, and that it will be like that other time, when she was healthy again after nine months.” 8
If, in fact, Isabella did give birth to another of Troilo’s children, it would have been the last straw for the prudish Francesco. He called in Paolo Giordano one day to discuss the scandal, saying by way of dismissal, “Remember, you are a gentleman and a Christian.” 9 This phrase seems to have signified that as a gentleman he must kill her, though as a Christian he must forgive her sins.
Shortly after his conversation with Francesco, Paolo Giordano took his wife to the villa of Correto outside Florence on the pretext of going hunting. On July 16, 1576, it was reported that poor Isabella had died. While washing her hair, the thirty-three-year-old had evidently had a heart attack, according to the story, and with soap bubbles still in her long golden-brown tresses fell stone dead into the arms of a waiting woman.
But Ambassador Cortile heard differently. On July 29, he wrote his master a heart-wrenching account. “The Lady Isabella was strangled,” he explained, “having been called by Lord Paolo when she, the poor woman, was in bed. She arose immediately, and as she was in a nightgown, drew a robe about her, and went to his room, passing through a room in which the priest known as Elicona was with several other servants. They say that her face and the set of her shoulders told that she may have known what was in store for her. Morgante [a servant] and his wife were in his chamber, and Lord Paolo hunted them out and bolted the door with great fury.
“Hidden under the bed was a Roman Knight of Malta, Massimo, who helped to kill the lady. He did not remain more than a quarter of an hour locked in the room before Paolo called for a woman, Donna Lucrezia Frescobaldi, telling her to bring vinegar because the lady had fainted. Once she had entered, followed immediately by Morgante, she saw the poor lady on the ground propped against the bed and, overcome by her love for her, said, ‘Oh, you have killed her! What need have you of vinegar or anything else?’ Lord Paolo threatened her and urged her to hold her tongue or he would kill her.” 10
Isabella had reacted with contempt for everything her husband was, everything he possessed. His blood was not as good as hers; his power was nothing compared to her family’s; his debts were humiliating, his appearance grotesque. After sixteen years of her put-downs and encouraged by her brother, it must have been with great joy that Paolo Giordano could finally spring upon her and squeeze the life out of her. That mouth would now be silenced forever. Looking at her blackened face, tongue hanging out, dead eyes bulging, he must have asked, Where is your superiority now?
Paolo Giordano had
Isabella was safe as long as her powerful and devoted father was alive. But Cosimo died in 1574, and her somber brother Francesco, the new grand duke, heartily disapproved of her adultery, though he had been unfaithful to his own wife for a decade with a married mistress. Francesco had never liked his sister, who was far more attractive, intelligent, and vivacious than he could ever hope to be. Their father had preferred Isabella to Francesco, often siding with her in family disputes. Francesco had taken out his frustrations by concocting poisons, which he tried out on neighborhood cats and dogs, and pursuing alchemy, perhaps a metaphor for trying to turn the dross of his life into gold.
But now the unpopular gloomy boy was a man with real power, and it was payback time. It is possible that Isabella gave birth to another illegitimate child in May 1576. “Lady Isabella has been these past five days at Cafaggiolo [a country villa],” reported Ambassador Ercole Cortile of the duchy of Ferrara, “and there are some saying that a previous time when she went, it was to let her body swell, and that it will be like that other time, when she was healthy again after nine months.” 8
If, in fact, Isabella did give birth to another of Troilo’s children, it would have been the last straw for the prudish Francesco. He called in Paolo Giordano one day to discuss the scandal, saying by way of dismissal, “Remember, you are a gentleman and a Christian.” 9 This phrase seems to have signified that as a gentleman he must kill her, though as a Christian he must forgive her sins.
Shortly after his conversation with Francesco, Paolo Giordano took his wife to the villa of Correto outside Florence on the pretext of going hunting. On July 16, 1576, it was reported that poor Isabella had died. While washing her hair, the thirty-three-year-old had evidently had a heart attack, according to the story, and with soap bubbles still in her long golden-brown tresses fell stone dead into the arms of a waiting woman.
But Ambassador Cortile heard differently. On July 29, he wrote his master a heart-wrenching account. “The Lady Isabella was strangled,” he explained, “having been called by Lord Paolo when she, the poor woman, was in bed. She arose immediately, and as she was in a nightgown, drew a robe about her, and went to his room, passing through a room in which the priest known as Elicona was with several other servants. They say that her face and the set of her shoulders told that she may have known what was in store for her. Morgante [a servant] and his wife were in his chamber, and Lord Paolo hunted them out and bolted the door with great fury.
“Hidden under the bed was a Roman Knight of Malta, Massimo, who helped to kill the lady. He did not remain more than a quarter of an hour locked in the room before Paolo called for a woman, Donna Lucrezia Frescobaldi, telling her to bring vinegar because the lady had fainted. Once she had entered, followed immediately by Morgante, she saw the poor lady on the ground propped against the bed and, overcome by her love for her, said, ‘Oh, you have killed her! What need have you of vinegar or anything else?’ Lord Paolo threatened her and urged her to hold her tongue or he would kill her.” 10
Isabella had reacted with contempt for everything her husband was, everything he possessed. His blood was not as good as hers; his power was nothing compared to her family’s; his debts were humiliating, his appearance grotesque. After sixteen years of her put-downs and encouraged by her brother, it must have been with great joy that Paolo Giordano could finally spring upon her and squeeze the life out of her. That mouth would now be silenced forever. Looking at her blackened face, tongue hanging out, dead eyes bulging, he must have asked, Where is your superiority now?
Paolo Giordano had
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