Francesca Di Rimini Is Found Among N the Works Exhibited in the Ational Gallery
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FR ANC ES CA D I R I M I NI ’ IN LEGEND 69 IN HISTO RY A D AP TED F R OM THE FR EN CH OF C HA R L ES Y RIART E B Y ARNO L D HARRIS M AT HEW (de ju re EAR L OF L AND AFF ) “ "“ UT HO R O F WOM N S UF F R GE T HE F E O F A A A , "“ LI S I R T O B E M AT T HEW A N I NT RO D UCT I O N I , ” T O EN H TER T U R E ET . G S C ETC . LI LI A , L O ND O N DA D NUTT - LO N A R E VI , 5 7 59 G C 1 908 P ri n te NT Y N H O N (5 ° d b B E N S CO . y ALLA , A At h e allant n r ss Edi nb u r h t B y e P e , g . P R E FAC E I T is perhaps wo rthy o f note that in spite o f Dante’s great fame early in the fourteenth ’ ’ ' D z vi n a Comm eaza century , his did not supply subjects to contemporary artists . Even the great painters of the Renaissance ignored of it , and at the present time the tragedy Francesca di Rimini is found among N the works exhibited in the ational Gallery . ’ Dante s treatment of the story has usually been regarded as entirely fanciful , and the narrative itself as mere legend and romance . It is , however, in its main features , historical , though the historian may find difficulty in determining with precision where it becomes necessary to disentangle fiction from fact . This I have endeavoured to do in the follow ing brief account of that pathetic tragedy I n erno which Dante has immortalised in the f , and which was destined to be te -enacted upon the dramatic and the lyric stage for all time . Of the contemporary representatives o f the f Polenta and Malatesta amilies , all that is known concerning them will be found in t hese pages . Whilst I have generally followed in the ’ o f h footsteps Francesca s talented biograp er , Yriarte Monsieur C . , I have also , to some o f extent , supplemented his account her . AR NOLD ' HAR R IS MATHEW HE F E D "ENT LS I L . C , C O NTENTS P R EFACE CHAPTER I O R I G I N O F THE P O LENTA AN D M AL ATES TA F AM I L I ES ' — P olz tz cal con di ti ons Establi shmen t of tile re ’ ' pu bli es T/ze Con aotti eri Tlz ez rf ou n dati on o d n asti es f y . CHAPTER II D I VI N E CO M ED Y — — F ran cesca [fie Hu n elz baek P aolo i l B ella TIze lti stori eal descripti on s qf t/ze m u rderer a n d o th e tra ed f g y . CHAPTER III DANTE AN D F R ANC ES CA — Con temporary wi tn esses M u m t/ze legen d — T/ze relati on s between P aolo and F ran cesea . Vi i i Contents CH APTER IV S I TE O F THE TRAG EDY ' Was i t at R i mi n i P esaro or S an t A rean elo , , g — Exa mi n ati on of the ev i den ce as to each Th e opi n i ons of Ton i n i an d M on sign or M a ri n a M a ri n i — Con c u si on l . CHAPTER V R ES UM E O F THE HI S TO R I CAL EVID ENCE — S igi smon do P an dolfo M a la testa D an te i s th e — repu ted hi stori an of th e tragedy Hi s legen d com ared wi th au then ti c hi stor p y . FR ANCESCA DI R IM INI C HAP TER I O RIG IN OF THE POLENTA AND MAL ATES TA FAMI LI ES — P oli ti cal con di ti on s Establi shmentof th e repu bli cs Th e C ndotti eri Th ei r ou ndati on o d nasti es o f f y . IT would be interesting to attempt to throw some light upon the historic event which has so aroused much discussion , and upon which the famous episode of the fifth canto of the ’ ” I n erno of f Dante s Divine Comedy is based , vi z o f . the murder Francesca di Rimini and b f Paolo Malatesta y Giovanni, the husband o f All Francesca and brother o Paolo . that h as i s been done , hitherto, , that a great many documents have been published b y Italian of old scholars , the text the chronicles has been criticised , and statements which appeared A 2 Francesca di Rimini to be of much too well-established a kind to be subjected to the affront of analysis have No w been called in question . , what we want is to systematise all this material , to realise the actors , and to place them against their proper — historical background , and this is the most — essential point to trust only the most trust of so worthy sources information , that we may be able to disentangle the thread of historical o W rom fact , and the individuality le en that has crystallised round them ; thg ’ g d ’ o f for Dante s legend has , by virtue his genius , become a more living thing than the historical fact . The day of large historical compositions is too old over , and gone is the broad treatment “ ” o f epochs , where the philosophy of history is emphasised by focussing the light o n the highways and chief events , while the byways and individual actions are lost in Obscurity. The modern method is , in the phrase o f the to reconstruct day , a figure ; that is to say , by a accumul ting detail round a single point , a P olenta and M alatesta Families 3 “ figure that h ad hitherto been but a walking ” personage in the crowded stage of history is brought into prominence . The proportion of the legendary to the ’ historical element in Dante s episode i s the At problem we have to consider . Sienna the Maremma is associated with Pia di Tolo mmei A e at Pisa J . J . mp re wished actually to touch with his hand the ruined stonework o f ’ U oli no s g monument , in which Rossini saw the remains o f the Hunger Tower ; and how many have followed in the footsteps of Francesca and Paolo , and Giovanni Malatesta A see at Rimini , Pesaro , and San rcangelo , to if there are any records o r monuments to their existence "The history of these periods is extremely obscure , but there are a certain number o f historical Circumstances which are capable of documentary proof, and which make us a of realise the true n ture the event , and enable us to form some idea of what seems , at first sight , a legend , floating upon the “ ” as two sad S stream Of history , those pirits , 4 Francesco di Rimini who will never be separated , float upon the “ air malign of the second circle of the f In erno . If we consider the story in its relation to V history , we find that both ictims and their murderer belonged to those powerful and dominant families which , later, founded ruling dynasties in some of the cities of Northern o n of A Italy the shores the driatic . The Polentas and the Malatestas are already called “ ” lords of Rimini and Ravenna , and they lords o f become , later , in the full sense the f term . Our period is the second half o the of thirteenth century , and the epoch the dawn o f the Italian republics ; but later an important n of cha ge takes place , which , in course time , f tends to the formation o local dynasties . These dynasties hand down their power regu l rl a y for many centuries , and some of them , Of like the family of Montefeltro , Dukes Urbino , the Polentas , and the Malatestas , will become of famous in history . It is also the period the of n dawn municipal liberty , and we shall ot Polenta and M alatesta Fa milies 5 fully understand the progress of events unless W we realise how , upon the ruins of the estern i Emp re , new powers were set up , which were virtually independent , although they never denied the nominal temporal supremacy or z of su erainty the Pope , nor that of the Emperor who succeeded to Charlemagne’s of W Empire the est . Th e P oli ti cal S tate of th e Country at th e time of th e Assassi nati on At o f the close the ninth century , the breaking up of the Carolingian monarchy had brought in its train the division of Italy into n o f o f an infi ite number petty powers , none o f which were theoretically, but the majority i which were virtually , ndependent . This con dition of anarchy was a step towards the setting up of the feudal system .