51. About Florence of Rome.
‘If Griselda, the marchioness of Saluzzo, was a model of fortitude and constancy, the noble Florence, Empress of Rome, was certainly her equal. As the story goes in the Miracles de Notre Dame, Florence endured terrible adversity with extraordinary patience. This lady was even more virtuous and chaste than she was beautiful. Since her husband had to embark on a long journey to wage a great war, he consigned both his wife and the reins of power over to his brother’s care. However, no sooner had the emperor set off than his brother succumbed to the devil’s temptation and began to lust after his sister-in-law, Florence. In short, he made such persistent advances to her, threatening to use force if she didn’t give in to his pleas to sleep with him, that she was obliged to lock him up in a tower. There he remained a prisoner until the emperor returned. When news reached Florence of her husband’s imminent arrival, she released her brother-in-law so that he could go and greet the emperor, for she did not wish her husband to find out how disloyal his brother had been. She never once dreamt that her would-be seducer would speak ill of her. Yet, when he met up with the emperor, the brother told the worst possible slanders about Florence, accusing her of the most appalling sins and claiming that she had locked him up in order to gratify her lustful desires more easily. Taking his brother at his word, the emperor sent his men on ahead and ordered them to kill his wife as soon as they arrived, giving no explanation for their actions. He couldn’t bear to lay his eyes on his wife again, nor even to find her still alive. When she found out what had transpired, she was dumbfounded. However, she managed to persuade the men who had been sent to kill her to let her escape and go off in disguise.
‘This noble lady went on to have many strange adventures until, one day, she was given the task of looking after the child of a great prince. This prince’s brother became inflamed with love for her. But, out of spite at seeing her reject all his entreaties, he killed the little child as it lay next to her in bed, for he hoped to ruin her this way. The empress bore all these terrible hardships with great patience and unfailing courage. As she was being led out to her execution for having supposedly killed the child, the lord and lady, who knew how virtuous and honest she was in her ways, took pity on her. Since they had no desire to see her killed, they made her leave the country. She lived a dreadfully poor existence in exile, but still remained as patient as ever, being utterly devoted to Christ and his sweet mother. One night, after having said her prayers, she fell asleep in an orchard. In her sleep, she had a vision of the Holy Virgin, who told her to gather a certain herb which grew beneath where her head lay, and to use this herb to earn her living because it would cure any disease.
‘After a while, the lady had cured so many sick people with this herb that her fame spread far and wide. Then, according to God’s will, the prince’s brother, who had murdered the child, fell desperately ill with epilepsy. The lady was thus sent for to cure him. When she came up to him, she told him that he could clearly see that God was beating him with His scourges. If he made a public confession of his sins, he would be cured, for no other remedy would save him. Feeling enormous contrition, the man confessed his appalling wickedness, explaining that he was the one who had killed the child and had laid the blame on the good lady who looked after it. The prince was devastated by this news and wanted to bring the full force of justice down on his brother. However, the virtuous lady pleaded with him and managed to reconcile him to his brother, whom she then cured. In accordance with God’s commandment, she thus rendered good to him from whom she had received only evil.
‘Not long after, the emperor’s brother, on whose account Florence had been exiled, developed a terrible case of leprosy which infected his entire body. As the news had spread everywhere about this woman who could cure any illness, the emperor sent for Florence. However, he was unaware of her true identity as he believed his wife to be long since dead. When she appeared at her brother-in-law’s side, she told him that he would have to confess his sin in public or else he wouldn’t get better. Though he held out for some time against doing so, he eventually admitted that he had concocted the whole despicable plot against the empress, who was completely innocent, and that he realized God was punishing him for this sin. On hearing this, the emperor was so distraught at the idea that he had wrongfully put his wife to death that he wanted to kill his brother. However, the good lady remonstrated with him and succeeded in calming the emperor’s anger towards the sick man. Thus, thanks to her patience, Florence regained her position and was happy once more, to the great joy of the emperor and everyone else.’
52. About the wife of Bernabo the Genoese.
‘On the subject of women who were steadfast and wise, we can recount a story which Boccaccio tells in his Decameron. One time, in Paris, a group of Lombard and Italian merchants sat eating supper together. They touched on many things in their conversation and soon fell to talking about their wives. One of the merchants, a Genoese named Bernabo, began to sing the praises of his wife, lauding her beauty, good sense and, above all her other virtues, her exemplary chastity. In the assembled company was a disreputable man by the name of Ambrose, who retorted that Bernabo was a fool to commend his wife so highly for her virtue. He declared that there wasn’t a woman alive who was so unyielding that she wouldn’t finally give in to a man who tried to win her over with promises, sweet talk and presents. At these words, a great quarrel broke out between the two men. They ended up by making a wager of 5,000 florins: Bernabo bet that Ambrose would be unable to seduce his wife no matter how hard he tried, whilst Ambrose bet the opposite, claiming that he would bring Bernabo incontrovertible proof of his success. The others did all they could to prevent them from placing these bets, but to no avail.
‘Ambrose lost no time in taking his leave and setting off for Genoa. On his arrival, he made enquiries about the habits and reputation of Bernabo’s wife. In short, he heard such good reports of her that he despaired of winning his bet and bitterly regretted having been so foolish. However, since he was extremely unwilling to lose his 5,000 florins, he hit upon a cunning plan. He struck up a conversation with an impoverished old woman living in the lady’s house, whom he then bribed with all sorts of gifts and promises until she agreed to carry a trunk, in which he would be hiding, into the lady’s bedchamber. The old woman told the mistress of the house that the trunk contained some precious belongings which had been placed in her safekeeping. Since some thieves had already tried to steal it from her, she asked her if she could put it in the mistress’s bedroom for a short while until the rightful owners returned. The lady replied that she would be happy to help her out. Ambrose, who had hidden in the trunk, spied on the lady at night and managed to catch sight of her naked body. He also stole from her a finely embroidered belt and purse that she herself had made. He then crept back into the trunk so silently that neither the lady nor the daughter who shared her bed heard a thing. After he had spent three nights in the trunk, the old woman came back to fetch it.
‘Ambrose felt immensely pleased with what he had managed to achieve. He reported back to the lady’s husband in front of the whole company of merchants, announcing that he had slept with the lady who had satisfied his every desire. First of all, he described the layout of the bedroom and the pictures that were hanging on the walls. Next, Ambrose showed Bernabo the purse and belt, which he immediately recognized as his wife’s, and claimed that they were presents from the lady. As his final proof, he discussed the lady’s naked body in minute detail, even down to a bright red birthmark under her left breast. The husband was totally convinced by these proofs and was understandably very distressed. None the less, he paid Ambrose the 5,000 florins in full and left for Genoa as soon as he could. Before he arrived, he sent word to one of his servants, a man who looked after his household and whom he trusted implicitly. In this message, Bernabo told his servant that he wanted him to kill his wife, describing to him exactly how he should perform the deed but failing to give him any explanation why.
On receiving these orders, the servant asked the lady to ride out with him on the pretext that he was taking her to meet her husband. The lady set off with a glad heart, never doubting for a minute what the servant had told her. No sooner had they entered a wood than the servant informed her that he was under orders from her husband to kill her. However, this virtuous and beautiful lady soon managed to persuade him to let her go, on condition that she fled the country.
‘Having made her escape, she travelled to a little town and succeeded in buying some men’s clothes from a kind lady who lived there. She cut off her hair and disguised herself as a young man. She then continued on her way until she entered the service of a rich Catalan gentleman called Señor Ferant, who had come ashore at a port to refresh himself. She served him so well that he was absolutely delighted with her, telling himself that he had never had such a fine attendant. The lady called herself Sagurat da Finoli. When Señor Ferant went back on board ship, Sagurat went with him, and they sailed away to Alexandria. There he bought some falcons and some magnificent horses. Together with these purchases, they set off to visit the sultan of Babylon, who was a close friend of Señor Ferant’s. After they had been there for some time, the sultan noticed how attentive Sagurat was towards his master and how handsome and poised he was. He was so impressed by him that he asked Señor Ferant to part with him, for he wished to make Sagurat his chief steward. Though Señor Ferant was very reluctant to let Sagurat go, he gave his consent. To cut a long story short, Sagurat served the sultan with such assiduity and performed his duties so well that his master placed his trust in no one else but him and put Sagurat in control of all his affairs.
‘It so happened that, in one of the towns in the sultan’s domain, a great fair was due to take place which attracted merchants from all over the world. The sultan ordered Sagurat to go and oversee the smooth running of the fair, and to look after his master’s interests there. As God willed it, amongst the other Italians arriving with jewels to sell, was the treacherous Ambrose, who had made a fortune from the money he had won off Bernabo. As befitted a great lord who was also the sultan’s honoured representative in town, Sagurat was visited every day by the merchants, including Ambrose, who all brought him marvellous jewels to look at. Ambrose showed Sagurat a small casket full of precious gems, which also contained the little purse and belt that he had stolen. Sagurat recognized them straightaway and picked them up. He stared at them in amazement, for he couldn’t imagine how on earth they came to be there. Ambrose, who hadn’t thought about this episode for some time, began to smile. Seeing his mirth, Sagurat asked him, “My friend, do I take it that you’re amused to see me so fascinated by this little purse, which is a woman’s trinket? It’s actually a very lovely piece.” Ambrose replied, “My lord, the purse is yours if you wish to have it. I’m just laughing because I’ve remembered now how I came by it.” “May God bring you every joy,” said Sagurat, “if you tell me how you obtained it.” “By my faith,” answered Ambrose, “a beautiful lady gave it to me as a present after I had spent the night with her. It also helped me win a wager of 5,000 florins which I had made with her idiot of a husband, a man by the name of Bernabo, who had bet that I would never so much as lay a finger on her. The wretched man killed his wife, though he was much more deserving of a punishment than she was. Men should know full well that, since all women are weak-willed and can easily be won over, they should never put their trust in them.”
‘The lady finally understood why her husband had been so angry, which had always been unclear to her before. However, like the sensible and resolute woman she was, she gave no hint of what she knew, but decided to wait until the right time and place. Sagurat therefore pretended to be highly entertained by this story and told Ambrose that he was a very amusing companion. He wished to become close friends with Ambrose and urged him to stay in the country so that they could go into business together, for he would put plenty of money his way. Ambrose was delighted by this proposition, especially since Sagurat went so far as to fix him up with his own residence. In order to lure him even further into his trap, Sagurat gave Ambrose lots of money and appeared to be so devoted to him that he wouldn’t leave his side. Moreover, he had Ambrose tell the sultan his clever tale to make him laugh. To get to the end of this story, after having heard about how Bernabo had sunk into destitution, not just because of the huge sum he had lost but also due to the great distress he had suffered, Sagurat managed to engage some Genoese merchants, who were in the country at that time, to fetch Bernabo, by order of the sultan. On Bernabo’s arrival at the sultan’s court, Sagurat immediately sent for Ambrose. He had already informed the sultan that Ambrose’s boast about seducing the lady was a lie and had asked his master to punish Ambrose accordingly if the truth of the matter could be established. The sultan gave Sagurat his word on this.
‘When Bernabo and Ambrose appeared before the sultan, Sagurat spoke up, saying: “Ambrose, it would please our lord the sultan, here present, if you would tell him once again that funny story about how you won 5,000 florins off Bernabo, here present, and how you managed to seduce his wife.” The colour drained from Ambrose’s face: even such a vile trickster as he could scarcely conceal the truth any longer, for he had been taken off guard by this sudden request. None the less, he recovered himself a little and replied, “My lord, there’s surely no need for me to repeat the story, as Bernabo is already very familiar with it. I’m ashamed to have caused him such embarrassment.” For his part, Bernabo was so full of humiliation and sorrow that he begged to be spared from hearing the tale again and asked for permission to leave. With a smile, Sagurat replied that he shouldn’t go yet but should stay to listen to the story. Realizing that he could prevaricate no longer, Ambrose spoke up in a trembling voice and began to tell the tale just as he had already told it both to Bernabo and to Sagurat and the sultan. When Ambrose had finished speaking, Sagurat asked Bernabo if it was true what Ambrose had said, to which he answered that it most certainly was. “But,” retorted Sagurat, “how can you be so sure that this man definitely did sleep with your wife? Even though he brought you various types of proof, are you so stupid that you don’t know that there are many ways he could have found out by trickery what her body looked like, without ever having laid a hand on her? And it was for this reason that you had her killed? You’re the one who should be put to death, because you didn’t have sufficient proof !”
‘Bernabo grew very frightened but Sagurat couldn’t hold back any longer, for it seemed to him that the right moment had now come to speak out. He therefore said to Ambrose, “You treacherous, lying cheat! Tell the truth, the whole truth, before you have to be tortured to make you tell it! It’s high time you set matters straight, because it’s obvious from what you’ve been saying that you’re lying through your teeth. I want you to know that the lady you’ve been boasting about having seduced isn’t dead. In fact, she’s not very far from here and she’s ready to disprove your foul lies. You never once touched her, that’s absolutely clear!” The great crowd of people who were gathered there, from the sultan’s barons to the group of Lombard merchants, were astounded to hear these revelations. To cut a long story short, Ambrose was put under such pressure that he admitted in front of the sultan and everyone else exactly how he had cheated in order to win the 5,000 florins. Bernabo almost went out of his mind with grief when he heard this confession, for he was convinced that his wife was dead. However, the good lady went up to him and said, “What would you give, Bernabo, if I were to return your innocent wife to you, alive and well?” Bernabo replied that he would give everything he had. She then said to him, “Bernabo, my brother and my friend, don’t you recognize her?” As Bernabo was too stunned to understand what was going on, she unbuttoned her shirt, saying to him, “Look, Bernabo, here I am, your faithful companion whom you wrongfully condemned to death.” With tears of joy, they promptly fell into each other’s arms. The sultan and everybody else were so amazed at what had happened that they couldn’t praise the lady
highly enough for showing such constancy and they lavished gifts upon her. She also received all of Ambrose’s wealth, for he was sentenced by the sultan to suffer a painful death. After that, husband and wife went back to their own country.’
53. After Rectitude has finished talking about women who were steadfast, Christine asks her why it is that all these worthy ladies of the past didn’t refute the men and books who slander the female sex. Rectitude gives her answer.
Such were the stories that Rectitude told me on this subject. Lack of space prevents me from going into detail on all the other examples she gave me, such as that of Leaena, a Greek woman, who refused to denounce two men who were friends of hers, preferring to bite off her own tongue in front of the judge in order to show him that no matter how much he tortured her he had no hope of extracting by force the information he wanted from her. Rectitude also told me about some other women who were so strong-willed that they chose to die from drinking poison rather than fail to uphold truth and decency. I then turned to her and said, ‘My lady, you’ve clearly demonstrated to me just how consistent and steadfast women are, in addition to all their other virtues. Surely there’s no man of whom it could be said that he was their equal in this respect? I’m therefore amazed that so many worthy women, especially those who were learned and educated enough to write fine books in elegant style, could have allowed men to come out with their slanders all this time without contradicting them, when they knew only too well how false these men’s accusations were.’
Rectitude replied, ‘My dear Christine, this is an easy problem to solve. You should realize from what I’ve already told you that the virtuous ladies I’ve discussed with you were each involved in different types of activity and didn’t all work towards the same end. This task of constructing the city was reserved for you, not them. These women’s works alone were enough to make people of sound judgement and keen intelligence appreciate the female sex fully without their having to write anything else. As for the fact that the men who attacked and criticized women haven’t yet been challenged, let me tell you that there’s a time and a place for everything in the eternal scheme of things. Just think how long God allowed heresies against His holy law to prosper, which meant that they were very hard to stamp out and would still be around today if they hadn’t been disputed and crushed. There are many things which flourish without hindrance until the time comes to take issue with them and refute them.’
The Book of the City of Ladies Page 23
