A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Tenda, Beatrice
TENDA, BEATRICE,
Was born in 1070, in a castle erected in a valley which open to the north of the celebrated Col di Tenda. Her progenitors were Counts Loiscari di Ventimiglio, sovereigns of a large province in tin maritime region of the Alps, and more properly were called Count di Tenda. How or why Beatrice was given in marriage to the celebrated condottier, Facino Cane, cannot now be ascertained Probably her family constrained her to this union. By him she was, however, always treated with the greatest consideration and respect; his glories and treasures were divided with her; and while his wife, she received sovereign honours, and by her gentle influence she mitigated the natural cruelty of his disposition. The elevation of Facino Cane was owing to these circumstances: the Viscount's family had rendered their sovereignty odious throughout Lombardy by a course of crimes and oppressions beyond endurance. In their domestic relations assassinations and poisonings were frequent; towards their subjects they were cruel and unjust; and towards other princes their outrageous violations of the most solemn treaties seemed to render an alliance with them impossible. Things had arrived at such a point that, at the death of Duke Giovanni, all classes were determined to put an end to their dominion. The principal captains of the provinces assembled, and elected the most distinguished of their leaders, Facino Cane, to be at the head of a new government. He, a very warlike and unscrupulous man, soon rendered himself master of the state of Milan; and to the power he would doubtless soon have added the title of Duke, had not death taken him off in the midst of his glory and conquests.
He left every possession in the hands of his widow; and from this state of things the viscount's faction evolved a plan for re-obtaining their former dignities. The heir of that house, Filipo Visconti, lived in seclusion; he was brought forward, and by various manœuvres familiar to politicians, a marriage was effected between him and Beatrice di Tenda. By this connexion she resigned the treasures, the fortresses, the army of Facino Cane; and by these means he obtained an easy conquest over the various little rulers of the neighbourhood, and, building on the foundation erected by Facino, achieved a state more extended and powerful than had been enjoyed by his predecessors. A curious result of perverse sentiments arose from this; the more he felt that the valour and conduct of Facino had contributed to his grandeur, the plainer he perceived that these qualities eclipsed all that the Visconts could boast of, the more he hated any allusion to the brave condottier; and he felt a growing aversion to Beatrice as the widow of this man, and as the person to whom his own elevation was owing. Besides, she was twenty years older than he; and though she was still handsome, and eminently endowed with accomplishments and mental charms, his inclinations were fixed upon a young girl named Agnes de Maino. At first his hate manifested itself in neglect and contumelious treatment. Beatrice, who had been in the time of Facino the adored object of every attention, the cynosure of all eyes, was now exposed to jeers, and left to solitude. To amuse her dreary hours, she sought to draw around her the society of some persons of letters and talents, and among whom was Orombello, a young gentleman quite remarkable for his sprightly conversation, his many acquirements, and especially his skill in music. This intimacy with the duchess, though perfectly innocent and harmless, was seized upon by Filippo as a pretext for the destruction of his guiltless wife. Calumnies and aspersions were followed by imprisonment; next came the rack. Under its tortures, Orombello avowed whatever they proposed; but on the firmer spirit of Beatrice torture had no effect to oblige her to distort the truth. With a despot and a Visconti, judgment was pronounced as he ordered; and the unhappy victims were condemned to be executed. Beatrice was so much beloved by the people, that Filippo ordered her judgment and decapitation to take place at night, and in the secret dungeons of the castle, as open measures might have caused a revolt. Before the blow of the executioner was allowed to fall, they were again cruelly submitted to the torture, and Orombello again weakly gave way. Beatrice, still superior to bodily suffering, addressed him in a very noble speech, which has been transmitted from an ear-witness. After reproaching him for basely uttering falsehoods in that tremendous hour, she pathetically turned to God, and addressed Him in a solemn prayer, as the being who knew her innocence, and as the sole support left to her. They were buried in the court-yard without any memorial. The purity and excellence of Beatrice were disputed by nobody, and her violent death was, in fact, a judicial murder. Her melancholy story has been the theme of poets and romance writers, and has been sung by the plaintive genius of Bellini.