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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 377
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.
lessto look forward with interest to Costanza ' s marriage . In 1438 tlie , old Lord of Pesaro died , and Galeazzo came to his inheritance .
In times of so much civil and political disturbance , it was impossible for a man of his age to maintain his independence without the aid
of a young condottiero . He was the head of the younger branch of his family ; and the head of the elder irritated him by ceaseless
hostilities . Things were in this state , when , in 1442 , Fancesco Sforza crossed the marquisate of Ancona . He was a natural son
of the great peasant leader , Giacomuzzo Attendolo Sforza , and had made himself and his brother Alessandro so formidable , that Visconti
_thoug-ht proper to buy his friendship with the hand of his beautiful and accomplished daughter Bianca , and the sovereignty of Cremona
and Pontremoli . Before the Countess Bianca , Costanza , sustained hy the high
spirited Battista , now appeared , and in elegant Latin verse at the age of fourteen demanded the restitution of Camerino , now in
Sforza ' s hands , to her young brother Ridolpho . It was a bold step , and required more than common confidence in herself . Sforza ,
& however , was no man to be influenced by appeals , unless backed by solid advantages he could comprehend .
With him her verses availed nothing " , but the fame of them spread through Italy . Guiniforte Barziz _^ a , then at Milan , wrote
her a letter filled with congratulations and praises . Unacquainted with her himself , he confessed his astonishment that a girl of
fourteen could write with such purity . " He thought it , " he said , " an honor to Italy that her women now excelled the greatest orators of
other lands . " The compliment was worth something , fer it was offered to no favorite of fortune , but to a portionless orphan , whose
nearest relative had not strength enough to liold his small inheritance . The admiration felt for her throughout all Italy , inspired her with
courage to make a new attempt . She appealed again to Alphonso , King of Naples , a prince well known for Ms love of letters ; he was
called Alphonso the Magnanimous , and proved himself worthy of the title by pushing Costanza's claim . By his aid Camerino
was restored to Ridolpho ; and when he was installed in his seigniory , in 1444 , Costanza addressed his people in a Latin oration .
We do not know the terms upon which Camerino was restored , but the restoration was accompanied by her marriage to Alessandro Sforza ,
and the sale of the seigniories of Pesaro and Fossombrone to her husband for the sum of twenty thousand florins . We have seen it
stated by some Italian author , that Malatesta entered a convent soon after parting with his sovereignty , but we cannot identify the
reference . Battista's disappointments were not ended . Costanza ' s marriage
must have gratified the highest ambition of her family : Alessandro Sforza was also a natural son of the great commander , and if not so
terrible in war as Francisco , was still one of the greatest of Italian generals , and a man made in a far nobler mould . If Costanza was
vol . in . 2 _os
Biographical Notices. 377
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES . 377
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Aug. 1, 1859, page 377, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01081859/page/17/
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