Vittoria Accoramboni (15 February 1557{{snd22 December 1585) was an Italian noblewoman. Her life became the basis for
John Webster
John Webster (c. 1580 – c. 1632) was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies '' The White Devil'' and ''The Duchess of Malfi'', which are often seen as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. His life and car ...
's play ''
The White Devil
''The White Devil'' (full original title: ''The White Divel; or, The Tragedy of Paulo Giordano Ursini, Duke of Brachiano. With The Life and Death of Vittoria Corombona the famous Venetian Curtizan'') is a tragedy by English playwright John We ...
'', several novels, and a novella by
Stendhal
Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, ; ), was a 19th-century French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' (''The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de P ...
.
Biography
She was born in
Gubbio
Gubbio () is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the far northeastern part of the Italian province of Perugia (Umbria). It is located on the lowest slope of Mt. Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennines.
History
The city's origins are very ancient. ...
in
Umbria
it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 =
, ...
, the tenth child in a family belonging to the minor nobility of Gubbio, who migrated to
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
with a view to bettering their fortunes. After refusing several offers of marriage for Vittoria, her father betrothed her to Francesco Peretti, a man of no position, but a nephew of
Cardinal Montalto
Pope Sixtus V ( it, Sisto V; 13 December 1521 – 27 August 1590), born Felice Piergentile, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 April 1585 to his death in August 1590. As a youth, he joined the Franciscan order ...
, who was regarded as likely to become pope.
[Vittoria Accoramboni - Italian Noblewoman](_blank)
Encyclopedia Britannica. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. March 14, 2018. Encyclopedia Britannica inc. Retrieved: 17/05/18
Vittoria was admired and worshipped by the cleverest and most brilliant men in Rome, and being luxurious and extravagant although poor, she and her husband were soon plunged in debt.
Among her most fervent admirers was
Paolo Giordano I Orsini
Paolo Giordano Orsini (1541 – 13 November 1585) was an Italian nobleman, and the first duke of Bracciano from 1560. He was a member of the Roman family of the Orsini.
Biography
The son of Girolamo Orsini and Francesca Sforza, he was grandson, o ...
, Duke of Bracciano, one of the most powerful men in Rome. Her brother Marcello, wishing to see her the duke's wife, had Peretti murdered (1581).
The duke himself was suspected of complicity, inasmuch as he was believed to have murdered his first wife,
Isabella de' Medici
Isabella Romola de' Medici (31 August 1542 – 16 July 1576) was the daughter of Cosimo I de' Medici, first Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Eleonora di Toledo. She was raised and educated in a humanist manner with her siblings, including Francesco de' ...
. Now that Vittoria was free he made her an offer of marriage, which she willingly accepted, and they were married shortly after.
But her good fortune aroused much jealousy, and attempts were made to annul the marriage; she was imprisoned in the
Castel Sant'Angelo
The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as Castel Sant'Angelo (; English: ''Castle of the Holy Angel''), is a towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano, Rome, Italy. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausol ...
and only liberated through the intervention of Cardinal
Carlo Borromeo
Charles Borromeo ( it, Carlo Borromeo; la, Carolus Borromeus; 2 October 1538 – 3 November 1584) was the Archbishop of Milan from 1564 to 1584 and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was a leading figure of the Counter-Reformation combat ...
.{{citation needed, date=May 2018 On the death of
Pope Gregory XIII
Pope Gregory XIII ( la, Gregorius XIII; it, Gregorio XIII; 7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585), born Ugo Boncompagni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 May 1572 to his death in April 1585. He is best known for ...
, Cardinal Montalto, her first husband's uncle, was elected in his place as
Pope Sixtus V
Pope Sixtus V ( it, Sisto V; 13 December 1521 – 27 August 1590), born Felice Piergentile, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 April 1585 to his death in August 1590. As a youth, he joined the Franciscan order ...
(1585); he vowed vengeance on the duke of Bracciano and Vittoria, who, warned in time, fled first to
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
and thence to
Salò
Salò (; la, Salodium) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Brescia in the region of Lombardy (northern Italy) on the banks of Lake Garda, on which it has the longest promenade. The city was the seat of government of the Italian Social R ...
in Venetian territory.
Here the duke died in November 1585, bequeathing to his widow all his personal property. The duchy of Bracciano passed to his son by his first wife.
Vittoria, overwhelmed with grief, went to live in retirement at
Padua
Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...
, where she was followed by Lodovico Orsini, a relation of her late husband and a servant of the Venetian republic, to arrange amicably for the division of the property.
But a quarrel having arisen in this connection, Lodovico hired a band of
bravi
''Bravi'' (sing. ''bravo''; sometimes translated as ‘bravoes’) were a species of coarse soldiery or hired assassins employed by the rural lordlings (or dons) of northern Italy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to protect their interes ...
and had Vittoria assassinated at the end of 1585.
He himself and nearly all his accomplices were afterwards put to death by order of the republic.
References in literature
Her story formed the basis of
John Webster
John Webster (c. 1580 – c. 1632) was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies '' The White Devil'' and ''The Duchess of Malfi'', which are often seen as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. His life and car ...
's drama tragedy, ''
The White Devil
''The White Devil'' (full original title: ''The White Divel; or, The Tragedy of Paulo Giordano Ursini, Duke of Brachiano. With The Life and Death of Vittoria Corombona the famous Venetian Curtizan'') is a tragedy by English playwright John We ...
'', or ''The Tragedy of Paolo Giordano Ursini, Duke of Brachiano'' (1612), of
Stendhal
Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, ; ), was a 19th-century French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' (''The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de P ...
's novella ''Vittoria Accoramboni'' (1837–1839), of
Ludwig Tieck
Johann Ludwig Tieck (; ; 31 May 177328 April 1853) was a German poet, fiction writer, translator, and critic. He was one of the founding fathers of the Romantic movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Early life
Tieck was born in Be ...
's novel, ''Vittoria Accoramboni'' (1840) and of Robert Merle's novel ''l'Idole'' (1987) published in English translation as ''Vittoria.''{{citation needed, date=May 2018
References
{{reflist
* {{EB1911, wstitle=Accoramboni, Vittoria, volume=1, page=122 , first=Luigi, last=Villari, authorlink=Luigi Villari Endnote: Her story formed the basis of Webster's drama, ''The Tragedy of Paolo Giordano Ursini'' (1612), and of Ludwig Tieck's novel, ''Vittoria Accoramboni'' (1840); it is told more accurately in D. Gnoli's volume, ''Vittoria Accoramboni'' (Florence, 1870), and an excellent sketch of her life is given in Countess E. Martinengo-Cesaresco's ''Lombard Studies'' (London, 1902).
Further reading
*
Clifford Bax
Clifford Lea Bax (13 July 1886 – 18 November 1962)Armorial Families: A Directory of Gentlemen of Coat-Armour, A. C. Fox-Davies, T. C. & E. C. Jack, 1910, p. 106 was a versatile English writer, known particularly as a playwright, a journalist, ...
, ''The Life of the White Devil'', a full illustrated modern biography of Vittoria Accoramboni (Cassell, London, 1940)
* {{cite Q, Q115282852, editor1=Henry Gardiner Adams
* {{cite Q, Q84635088)
{{Authority control
{{DEFAULTSORT:Accoramboni, Vittoria
1557 births
1585 deaths
Female murder victims
Italian murder victims
Italian untitled nobility
People from Gubbio