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376 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Women Of The House Of Montefeltro.
philosophy publicly , and frequently disputed with the most skilful professors of her time , compelling each of them in turn to
recognise her superiority . She wrote some sacred hymns and other poetry , and published a
song full of energy and spirit dedicated to Italian princes . A testimony to her learning and taste may be found in the
pamphlet " De studiis et literis , " dedicated to her by _Leonardo Bruni _, of Arezzo , and printed at Basle , in 1433 .
In 140 5 , she married Galeazzo Malatesta , Lord of Pesaro , to which sovereignty he does not appear to have succeeded until the death of
his father in 1438 . But little is known of him , and the traditions concerning the family are so confused that they have bewildered even
the clear-headed _Sismondi _, who speaks of his grand-daughter at one time as his daughter , and again as his niece . Battista had one daughter ,
Lisabetta , by Malatesta , who was so unfortunate as to marry Pierogentile da "Varano , Lord of Camerino .
This territory had been inherited by three brothers , Berardo , Giovanniand Piero-gentile , and was governed by them jointly .
, Berardo was the oldest and only half brother to the others . He was married , and a large family made him feel dissatisfied to see so
small an inheritance divided among so many . He communicated his discontent to Vitelleschi , the confidential minister of the reigning
Pope Eugene IV . Viteileschi believed that , if he secured the ruin of the Varano family , he should be able to attach Camerino to the
Apostolic See . "We cannot guess what lure he held out to Berardo , but he advised him to destroy his brothers and offered to assist him .
The family of Piero-gentile were seized and put to death at Kecanati , the seat of his own bishopric , while Berardo himself put his younger
brother to death at Camerino . Vifcelleschi privately incited the inhabitants against the assassin ,
and to avenge the murdered brothers the people of Camerino put Berardo and all his family to death . Prom this terrible massacre
Costanza da Varano and her younger brother escaped , perhaps by the aid of her maternal grandmother . Her mother , Lisabetta , it is
believed , perished at Kecanati with her husband , and the children were immediately adopted by Battista .
This massacre took place in 1434 . The people of Camerino willing to disappoint the wicked bishopdetermined to erect their
seigniory into a republic . The fortune of , war , however , threw them into the hands of Francesco Sforza , when he soon afterwards
conquered the March of Ancona , a fact of some importance to Costanza ' s future history . At this time she was six years old , and her
adoption by her bereaved grandmother changed the whole current of her life . She received a very careful literary education , to which she
owed the subsequent prosperity of her family . Much as Battista had suffered in the early and terrible death of her only child , she
had too much _spirit to allow her grandchildren to submit to an
_injustice . Circumstances led both her and her husband , now child-
376 Biographical Notices.
376 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Aug. 1, 1859, page 376, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01081859/page/16/
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