Over and above these papers there was direct evidence
that Jacopo had written to the _Imperatore dei Turchi_, imploring him to
send his galley and take him away from Candia.
that Jacopo had written to the _Imperatore dei Turchi_, imploring him to
send his galley and take him away from Candia.
Byron
He had been punished, but
less than he deserved, and, for his father's sake, the sentence of exile
had been altogether remitted.
Three years went by, and once again, January, 1451, a charge was
preferred against Jacopo Foscari, and on this occasion he was arrested
and brought before the Ten. He was accused of being implicated in the
murder of Ermolao Donato, who was assassinated November 5, 1450, on
leaving the Ducal Palace, where he had been attending the Council of the
Pregadi. On the morning after the murder Benedetto Gritti, one of the
"avvogadori di Commun," was at Mestre, some five miles from Venice, and,
happening to accost a servant of Jacopo's who was loading a barge with
wood, asked for the latest news from Venice, and got as answer, "Donato
has been murdered! " The possession of the news some hours before it had
been made public, and the fact that the newsmonger had been haunting
the purlieus of the Ducal Palace on the previous afternoon, enabled the
Ten to convict Jacopo. They alleged (Decree of X. , March 26, 1451) that
other evidence ("_testificationes et scripturae_") was in their
possession, and they pointed to the prisoner's obstinate silence on the
rack--a silence unbroken save by "several incantations and magic words
which fell from him," as a confirmation of his guilt. Moreover, it was
"for the advantage of the State from many points of view" that convicted
and condemned he should be. The question of his innocence or guilt
(complicated by the report or tradition that one Nicolo Erizzo confessed
on his death-bed that he had assassinated Donato for reasons of his own)
is still under discussion. Berlan (_I due Foscari_, etc. , 1852, p. 36)
sums up against him. It may, however, be urged in favour of Jacopo that
the Ten did not produce or quote the _scripturae et testificationes_
which convinced them of his guilt; that they stopped short of the
death-penalty, and pronounced a sentence inadequate to the crime; and,
lastly, that not many years before they had taken into consideration the
possibility and advisability of poisoning Filippo Visconti, an event
which would, no doubt, have been "to the advantage of the State from
many points of view. "
Innocent or guilty, he was sentenced to perpetual banishment to the city
of Candia, on the north coast of the island of Crete; and, guilty or
innocent, Jacopo was not the man to make the best of what remained to
him and submit to fate. Intrigue he must, and, five years later (June,
1456), a report reached Venice that papers had been found in his
possession, some relating to the Duke of Milan, calculated to excite
"nuovi scandali e disordini," and others in cypher, which the Ten
could not read.
Over and above these papers there was direct evidence
that Jacopo had written to the _Imperatore dei Turchi_, imploring him to
send his galley and take him away from Candia. Here was a fresh instance
of treachery to the Republic, and, July 21, 1456, Jacopo returned to
Venice under the custody of Lorenzo Loredano.
According to Romanin (_Storia, etc. _, iv. 284), he was not put to the
torture, but confessed his guilt spontaneously, pleading, by way of
excuse, that the letter to the Duke of Milan had been allowed to fall
into the hands of spies, with a view to his being recalled to Venice and
obtaining a glimpse of his parents and family, even at a risk of a fresh
trial. On the other hand, the _Dolfin Cronaca_, the work of a kinsman of
the Foscari, which records Jacopo's fruitless appeal to the sorrowful
but inexorable Doge, and other incidents of a personal nature,
testifies, if not to torture on the rack, "to mutilation by thirty
strokes of the lash. " Be that as it may, he was once more condemned to
lifelong exile, with the additional penalty that he should be imprisoned
for a year. He sailed for Venice July 31, 1456, and died at Candia,
January 12, 1457. Jacopo's misconduct and consequent misfortune
overshadowed the splendour of his father's reign, and, in very truth
"brought his gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. "
After his son's death, the aged Doge, now in his eighty-fifth year,
retired to his own apartments, and refused to preside at Councils of
State. The Ten, who in 1446 had yielded to the Doge's plea that a father
fretting for an exiled son could not discharge his public duties, were
instant that he should abdicate the dukedom on the score of decrepitude.
Accounts differ as to the mode in which he received the sentence of
deposition. It is certain that he was compelled to abdicate on Sunday
morning, October 23, 1457, but was allowed a breathing-space of a few
days to make his arrangements for quitting the Ducal Palace.
On Monday, October 24, the Great Council met to elect his successor, and
sat with closed doors till Sunday, October 30.
On Thursday, October 27, Francesco, heedless of a suggestion that he
should avoid the crowd, descended the Giants' Staircase for the last
time, and, says the _Dolfin Cronaca_, "after crossing the courtyard,
went out by the door leading to the prisons, and entered his boat by the
Ponte di Paglia. " "He was dressed," says another chronicle (_August.
less than he deserved, and, for his father's sake, the sentence of exile
had been altogether remitted.
Three years went by, and once again, January, 1451, a charge was
preferred against Jacopo Foscari, and on this occasion he was arrested
and brought before the Ten. He was accused of being implicated in the
murder of Ermolao Donato, who was assassinated November 5, 1450, on
leaving the Ducal Palace, where he had been attending the Council of the
Pregadi. On the morning after the murder Benedetto Gritti, one of the
"avvogadori di Commun," was at Mestre, some five miles from Venice, and,
happening to accost a servant of Jacopo's who was loading a barge with
wood, asked for the latest news from Venice, and got as answer, "Donato
has been murdered! " The possession of the news some hours before it had
been made public, and the fact that the newsmonger had been haunting
the purlieus of the Ducal Palace on the previous afternoon, enabled the
Ten to convict Jacopo. They alleged (Decree of X. , March 26, 1451) that
other evidence ("_testificationes et scripturae_") was in their
possession, and they pointed to the prisoner's obstinate silence on the
rack--a silence unbroken save by "several incantations and magic words
which fell from him," as a confirmation of his guilt. Moreover, it was
"for the advantage of the State from many points of view" that convicted
and condemned he should be. The question of his innocence or guilt
(complicated by the report or tradition that one Nicolo Erizzo confessed
on his death-bed that he had assassinated Donato for reasons of his own)
is still under discussion. Berlan (_I due Foscari_, etc. , 1852, p. 36)
sums up against him. It may, however, be urged in favour of Jacopo that
the Ten did not produce or quote the _scripturae et testificationes_
which convinced them of his guilt; that they stopped short of the
death-penalty, and pronounced a sentence inadequate to the crime; and,
lastly, that not many years before they had taken into consideration the
possibility and advisability of poisoning Filippo Visconti, an event
which would, no doubt, have been "to the advantage of the State from
many points of view. "
Innocent or guilty, he was sentenced to perpetual banishment to the city
of Candia, on the north coast of the island of Crete; and, guilty or
innocent, Jacopo was not the man to make the best of what remained to
him and submit to fate. Intrigue he must, and, five years later (June,
1456), a report reached Venice that papers had been found in his
possession, some relating to the Duke of Milan, calculated to excite
"nuovi scandali e disordini," and others in cypher, which the Ten
could not read.
Over and above these papers there was direct evidence
that Jacopo had written to the _Imperatore dei Turchi_, imploring him to
send his galley and take him away from Candia. Here was a fresh instance
of treachery to the Republic, and, July 21, 1456, Jacopo returned to
Venice under the custody of Lorenzo Loredano.
According to Romanin (_Storia, etc. _, iv. 284), he was not put to the
torture, but confessed his guilt spontaneously, pleading, by way of
excuse, that the letter to the Duke of Milan had been allowed to fall
into the hands of spies, with a view to his being recalled to Venice and
obtaining a glimpse of his parents and family, even at a risk of a fresh
trial. On the other hand, the _Dolfin Cronaca_, the work of a kinsman of
the Foscari, which records Jacopo's fruitless appeal to the sorrowful
but inexorable Doge, and other incidents of a personal nature,
testifies, if not to torture on the rack, "to mutilation by thirty
strokes of the lash. " Be that as it may, he was once more condemned to
lifelong exile, with the additional penalty that he should be imprisoned
for a year. He sailed for Venice July 31, 1456, and died at Candia,
January 12, 1457. Jacopo's misconduct and consequent misfortune
overshadowed the splendour of his father's reign, and, in very truth
"brought his gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. "
After his son's death, the aged Doge, now in his eighty-fifth year,
retired to his own apartments, and refused to preside at Councils of
State. The Ten, who in 1446 had yielded to the Doge's plea that a father
fretting for an exiled son could not discharge his public duties, were
instant that he should abdicate the dukedom on the score of decrepitude.
Accounts differ as to the mode in which he received the sentence of
deposition. It is certain that he was compelled to abdicate on Sunday
morning, October 23, 1457, but was allowed a breathing-space of a few
days to make his arrangements for quitting the Ducal Palace.
On Monday, October 24, the Great Council met to elect his successor, and
sat with closed doors till Sunday, October 30.
On Thursday, October 27, Francesco, heedless of a suggestion that he
should avoid the crowd, descended the Giants' Staircase for the last
time, and, says the _Dolfin Cronaca_, "after crossing the courtyard,
went out by the door leading to the prisons, and entered his boat by the
Ponte di Paglia. " "He was dressed," says another chronicle (_August.
