1 00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:03,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:08,119 Speaker 1: and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Minky listener. Discretion is advised. 3 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:22,640 Speaker 1: Vincenzo Gonzaga had a problem. He was forty seven years old, 4 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:26,680 Speaker 1: the Duke of Mantua and Montferrato, with a beloved wife 5 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:33,760 Speaker 1: and five surviving children, and still Vincenzo Gonzaga had a problem, 6 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:36,479 Speaker 1: the type of problem that a man of a certain 7 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:40,440 Speaker 1: age didn't really like to talk about. It's a problem 8 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 1: that's fairly common today and was fairly common then, and 9 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:49,879 Speaker 1: that men of Vincenzo's age tolerated all the time. But 10 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:55,360 Speaker 1: Vincenzo wasn't content to tolerate his problem. He was going 11 00:00:55,440 --> 00:01:00,560 Speaker 1: to do something about his erectile dysfunction. It's at this 12 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:02,920 Speaker 1: point that I'm going to let you know that this 13 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 1: episode is maybe a little bit more PG. Thirteen than 14 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:11,319 Speaker 1: some of my other episodes. It's primarily about procreation and 15 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:14,560 Speaker 1: the importance of being able to consummate a marriage in 16 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:18,479 Speaker 1: the sixteenth century. And so even though I'm not really 17 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 1: discussing things in a sexualized context, there will be by definition, 18 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:29,679 Speaker 1: sexual content. So discretion is advised for our younger or 19 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:35,720 Speaker 1: more sensitive listeners anyway. Vincenzo Gonzaga, Renaissance Duke of Italy, 20 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:39,800 Speaker 1: was suffering from a reptile dysfunction, but rather than just 21 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:44,040 Speaker 1: accept that maybe his lothario days were behind him, he 22 00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 1: decided to fund an incredibly expensive and highly secretive voyage 23 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 1: in sixteen o eight where he was going to send 24 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:58,000 Speaker 1: a fairly anonymous apothecary named Evangelista Marco Bruno to travel 25 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:01,080 Speaker 1: via ship to the New World so that he could 26 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:05,360 Speaker 1: hunt for a mysterious worm or cusano that was rumored 27 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:09,239 Speaker 1: to help cure a number of sexual ailments. On the 28 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:13,400 Speaker 1: Duke's orders, Marco Bruno traveled from Mantua to Genoa, and 29 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:17,880 Speaker 1: then through Spain, through Barcelona, Madrid, and Seville until he 30 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:21,480 Speaker 1: finally made his way onto a galleon ship. From there, 31 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:24,480 Speaker 1: he continued his journey on foot and then be a 32 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:29,280 Speaker 1: mule and llama through South America trying to find a 33 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:35,600 Speaker 1: mythical worm. The entire journey took two years, but we 34 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:38,920 Speaker 1: don't know if he was actually successful or not. Within 35 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:43,000 Speaker 1: a few years of Marco Bruno's voyage, Vincenzo Gonzaga would 36 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: be dead. Why would a man go through so much trouble, 37 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:51,880 Speaker 1: sending an envoy literally across the world just to deal 38 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:56,840 Speaker 1: with a well little issue. Vincenzo gonzaga story is a 39 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:01,920 Speaker 1: story about masculinity and the type of masculinity that existed 40 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:07,040 Speaker 1: in the fifteen and sixteen hundreds. Sexual proficiency wasn't just 41 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:11,200 Speaker 1: a matter of pride, it was a matter of dynastic importance. 42 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:16,440 Speaker 1: During his young life, Vincenzo's sexual abilities would become the 43 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:21,519 Speaker 1: center of a national scandal that required fifteen doctors, a 44 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:26,320 Speaker 1: college of Catholic cardinals, and ultimately the Pope to weigh in. 45 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:29,919 Speaker 1: So what did a man have to do and Renaissance 46 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:34,640 Speaker 1: Italy to be considered a man? For Vincenzo Gonzaga, hunting 47 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:38,760 Speaker 1: down mysterious worms from across the world was just one 48 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:43,160 Speaker 1: thing on the list. I'm Danis Schwartz, and this is 49 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:53,800 Speaker 1: noble blood. Vincenzo's father, the Duke Guilliemo of Mantua, was 50 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 1: a short and miserable man, disfigured by illness and childhood, 51 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:04,320 Speaker 1: with a hunchback as his foremost feature. Some historians diagnose 52 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 1: him posthumously as having tuberculosis of the bone, but the 53 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:11,720 Speaker 1: actual illness is less important than the way it affected 54 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:17,599 Speaker 1: his attitude generously, you could call him stern more accurately cruel. 55 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:21,800 Speaker 1: He and his young son, Vincenzo, never seemed to get along. 56 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:26,880 Speaker 1: Vincenzo held several feelings about his father at once. He 57 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:30,760 Speaker 1: hated his father, hated the way that he walked slowly, 58 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 1: hated his hunchback, hated that his father made him worry 59 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:38,040 Speaker 1: that one day he too would be old and feeble. 60 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:43,839 Speaker 1: But Vincenzo also craved his father's love and validation more 61 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:47,799 Speaker 1: than he ever could have admitted. Vincenzo had a fairly 62 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:52,920 Speaker 1: standard childhood. Born in fifteen sixty two, he was athletic 63 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:55,880 Speaker 1: and handsome in contrast to his father, and from a 64 00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:58,800 Speaker 1: young age he was drawn to the hedonistic pleasures of 65 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:03,039 Speaker 1: art and music. He spent hours outside his family estate 66 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:07,000 Speaker 1: playing the new sport bala or soccer, and swimming, even 67 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:11,680 Speaker 1: though everyone around him discouraged it. Swimming was a risky 68 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: proposition for Vincenzo, first because Vincenzo had an uncle who 69 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:19,960 Speaker 1: died at seventeen of pneumonia after falling into a cold 70 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:23,920 Speaker 1: lake while hunting, but also because in the sixteenth century, 71 00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:27,080 Speaker 1: the pre eminent science of the day was that spending 72 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:31,640 Speaker 1: too much time in water would disrupt your humors, still 73 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:34,160 Speaker 1: swimming or not. As a young man, it seemed like 74 00:05:34,279 --> 00:05:37,320 Speaker 1: Vincenzo might have escaped the ill health of his father. 75 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:41,440 Speaker 1: The only minor ailment Vincenzo dealt with as a preteen 76 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:48,520 Speaker 1: was an uh warning here for sensitive listeners, anal fistula 77 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:55,120 Speaker 1: on his undercarriage, which required draining and cauterization. I wouldn't 78 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:57,799 Speaker 1: mention it if it wasn't going to be important later, 79 00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:01,240 Speaker 1: as was the correct way to handle things back then. 80 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:05,560 Speaker 1: The wound was left partially open so that fluids could 81 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:09,000 Speaker 1: continue to seep out. I can't imagine that it was 82 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:12,960 Speaker 1: comfortable for Vincenzo when it came to riding a horse 83 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:17,480 Speaker 1: or sitting, but there were no serious complications, and no 84 00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: one would give any thought to the annal fistula until 85 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:26,200 Speaker 1: much later. There's one event in the early life of 86 00:06:26,279 --> 00:06:31,200 Speaker 1: Vincenzo Gonzaga that stands out for just how extreme it is. 87 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:35,640 Speaker 1: While Vincenzo was a golden boy when it came to athletics, 88 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 1: he was merely bright when it came to academics. He 89 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 1: almost wished his father, Gugliamo would beraate him for failing 90 00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:47,880 Speaker 1: to pay attention in lessons. Instead, all his father did 91 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:53,160 Speaker 1: was fawn over a visiting scholar in Mantua named James Crichton. 92 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:58,039 Speaker 1: James Crichton was a brilliant twenty one year old polly math, 93 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:03,840 Speaker 1: supposedly fluent in a dozen languages, both conversationally and poetically. 94 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:07,599 Speaker 1: He was a genius, and he was young, and the 95 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:16,400 Speaker 1: Duke treated him like a son. Vincenzo hated him. One evening, 96 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:19,880 Speaker 1: while out for a stroll, Crechton was attacked by a 97 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:24,320 Speaker 1: gang of marauders in masks. Though Crechton tried to defend 98 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:28,360 Speaker 1: himself with his sword, the thieves outnumbered him and beat 99 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:32,720 Speaker 1: him until he was dizzied and disoriented on the street. Then, 100 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 1: with a patch of moonlight to illuminate him, the leader 101 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:41,160 Speaker 1: of the gang removed his mask. It was Vincenzo Gonzaga, 102 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:46,320 Speaker 1: the Prince of Mantua himself. Seeing the son of his master, 103 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:50,400 Speaker 1: Creton fell to his knees, as was custom, and offered 104 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:55,000 Speaker 1: Vincenzo the hilt of his sword. Vincenzo accepted it and 105 00:07:55,040 --> 00:08:00,640 Speaker 1: then ran the sword through Crechton's stomach, killing him. Vincenzo 106 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:05,920 Speaker 1: murdered the Scottish genius aged one out of crazed jealousy 107 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:10,680 Speaker 1: and the impending threat of being replaced. It's rarely more 108 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:14,120 Speaker 1: than a footnote now in the story of Vincenzo Gonzaga's life, 109 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:19,560 Speaker 1: but James Creighton wouldn't be the last casualty of gonzaga story. 110 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:24,720 Speaker 1: When Vincenzo was nineteen years old, he was set to 111 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:28,600 Speaker 1: make an incredibly important marriage with the daughter of the 112 00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:32,080 Speaker 1: Duke of Parma, a young girl named Margharita for Nacey. 113 00:08:32,800 --> 00:08:36,719 Speaker 1: The Pharnaces and the Gonzagas were long feuding at war 114 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:41,760 Speaker 1: for about thirty years for increasingly petty reasons on both sides, 115 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:45,840 Speaker 1: but now the duchies of Mantua and Parma realized how 116 00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:49,880 Speaker 1: valuable it would be to link dynastically in order to 117 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:54,360 Speaker 1: present a united front against Tuscany, which was growing in power. 118 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:58,480 Speaker 1: Margharita was the only child and only daughter of the 119 00:08:58,559 --> 00:09:03,319 Speaker 1: Duke of Parma, so she was an incredibly valuable strategic pond. 120 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:06,440 Speaker 1: So she was going to get married when they needed 121 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:09,160 Speaker 1: her to be married, even though at the time of 122 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:13,199 Speaker 1: the match with Vincenzo, she was just thirteen years old 123 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:17,920 Speaker 1: and hadn't begun menstruating yet. Still, the bride was brought 124 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:21,920 Speaker 1: to Mantua with a dowry of three hundred thousand ducats, 125 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:28,000 Speaker 1: and on March second two, Vincenzo Gonzaga married Margarita Farnese, 126 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:34,040 Speaker 1: who was by then fourteen. The marriage wasn't consummated the 127 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:38,160 Speaker 1: first night, or the night after that, or the night 128 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:43,240 Speaker 1: after that. Vincenzo said he was trying, but the marriage 129 00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:45,840 Speaker 1: was still unconsummated, and that was going to be a 130 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:52,400 Speaker 1: considerable problem. Because an unconsummated marriage can't seal a dynastic alliance, 131 00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:56,720 Speaker 1: the marriage isn't considered valid, and so the Duke of 132 00:09:56,800 --> 00:10:01,360 Speaker 1: Mantua called in doctors to examine the newlyweds. Marcello di nat, 133 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:07,439 Speaker 1: the Gonzaga court physician, studied Vincenzo's member, erect and flaccid. 134 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:12,360 Speaker 1: The doctor's conclusion was that it worked just fine, even 135 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:20,440 Speaker 1: though it was for Renaissance Italy considered unfashionably big. For Marguerita, though, 136 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:24,520 Speaker 1: the doctor's verdict was that she had a quote fleshy 137 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:30,400 Speaker 1: excrescence blocking her vaginal canal. Another expert was needed, this 138 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:34,320 Speaker 1: time the famed anatomy professor from the University of Padua, 139 00:10:34,760 --> 00:10:40,000 Speaker 1: Giorlomo Faverorici, di Aquapendente, who examined the teenage girl and 140 00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:46,120 Speaker 1: said that quote that membrane called himen, which all virgins have, 141 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:51,360 Speaker 1: in this one is inordinately fleshy, and besides, her nature 142 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:56,320 Speaker 1: is small because of her young age. I want to 143 00:10:56,360 --> 00:11:00,640 Speaker 1: take a brief aside in uh Dana's sex at the corner, 144 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:04,679 Speaker 1: away from the main story, just to say that sixteenth 145 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:12,240 Speaker 1: century medical terminology and understanding of virginity was uh completely wrong. 146 00:11:12,400 --> 00:11:16,319 Speaker 1: Virginity is a social construct. Not all virgins have hymen. 147 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:18,760 Speaker 1: It can break at any point in your young adulthood. 148 00:11:19,280 --> 00:11:21,560 Speaker 1: Nothing about your body is weird, and if you're a 149 00:11:21,559 --> 00:11:24,640 Speaker 1: young woman listening to this, you were absolutely perfect just 150 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:28,000 Speaker 1: the way you are. I just wanted to say that 151 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:32,240 Speaker 1: because there is a lot of old doctors examining a 152 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:35,360 Speaker 1: very young woman in this story, and a lot of 153 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:40,120 Speaker 1: sixteenth century language and philosophy being applied to that examination. 154 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:46,480 Speaker 1: And so back to Margharita. The doctor's recommendation was that 155 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:50,400 Speaker 1: they make a custom set of cones that would increase 156 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:54,000 Speaker 1: in girth, which would be inserted in a sending order 157 00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:59,160 Speaker 1: until Margharita was dilated enough to lose her virginity to 158 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:03,360 Speaker 1: her husband. Margherita, a fourteen year old girl in a 159 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:07,640 Speaker 1: foreign court who had had a cavalcade of strangers looking 160 00:12:07,640 --> 00:12:12,480 Speaker 1: between her naked legs, was understandably not thrilled by this 161 00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:17,280 Speaker 1: plan of action. They stopped that con insertion plan when 162 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:21,319 Speaker 1: Marguerita began screaming as the first one was pressed into her. 163 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:27,439 Speaker 1: Clearly a higher power was needed to deal with the situation. 164 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:31,080 Speaker 1: Not only was the future of the Mantua Parma alliance 165 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:34,880 Speaker 1: at stake, but so was the significant dowry. So the 166 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:40,000 Speaker 1: Pope stepped in and dispatched the Milanaise archbishop and future saint, 167 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:45,560 Speaker 1: Cardinal Carlo Borromeo. Because Cardinal Carlo was respected by both 168 00:12:45,679 --> 00:12:50,320 Speaker 1: families fairly equally, and he didn't have any inherent biases, 169 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:53,840 Speaker 1: unlike plenty of the other cardinals. One of the cardinals 170 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:59,480 Speaker 1: was Margherita's great uncle, so Cardinal Carlo Bormeo dutifully traveled 171 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:02,840 Speaker 1: to Mantua, where he sat and listened to the testimony 172 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:07,760 Speaker 1: from a series of doctors, surgeons, ladies in waiting, and 173 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:12,160 Speaker 1: a nun. Fifteen experts had been called in from across 174 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:17,240 Speaker 1: Italy to study the genitalia of both Vincenzo and Margharita. 175 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:22,960 Speaker 1: Four certified virgins of around Margharita's age were brought in 176 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:26,600 Speaker 1: so that their hymens could be observed in comparison to hers. 177 00:13:27,559 --> 00:13:32,000 Speaker 1: Those poor girls were all promised dowries in return. The 178 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:36,439 Speaker 1: gossip was rampant, spread on both sides by the Gonzagas 179 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:40,160 Speaker 1: and the Parnaces, because neither family wanted the lack of 180 00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:46,280 Speaker 1: consummation to be their fault. As is so often the 181 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:51,840 Speaker 1: case with rampant gossip, most of it was largely contradictory. Apparently, 182 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:57,240 Speaker 1: Vincenzo was actually engaging in a homosexual relationship and also 183 00:13:57,400 --> 00:14:00,520 Speaker 1: having an affair with the Contessa Sala, and he was 184 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:05,559 Speaker 1: also impotent. Both families also had their own cardinals advocating 185 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:10,240 Speaker 1: on their behalf. Gonzaga allied cardinals said that Vincenzo was 186 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:13,720 Speaker 1: actually too viril for young Margharita and that he was 187 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:18,240 Speaker 1: off busy successfully consummating one night stands with sex workers 188 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:23,360 Speaker 1: right and left. Margharita's great uncle Cardinal loudly proclaimed to 189 00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:28,600 Speaker 1: anyone who would listen that Vincenzo's weird giant penis definitely 190 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:32,800 Speaker 1: didn't work, he probably had syphilis. And also remember that 191 00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:38,480 Speaker 1: anal fistula that was probably making his penis not work. Now, finally, 192 00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:42,720 Speaker 1: three years after the wedding, Cardinal Carlo made his decision. 193 00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:45,600 Speaker 1: The divorce would be granted on the grounds of non 194 00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:52,040 Speaker 1: consummation because of Margarita's quote unbreachable gait. Because the Gonzagas 195 00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:55,040 Speaker 1: weren't to blame, they were allowed to keep one hundred 196 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:59,960 Speaker 1: thousand ducats of Margharita's dowry. You'd think that the Gonzaga 197 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:02,720 Speaker 1: would be at least happy with that, but they were 198 00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:07,200 Speaker 1: still in an incredibly vulnerable position. Vincenzo was their heir, 199 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:10,960 Speaker 1: and now he was yet again unmarried with no heirs 200 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:14,200 Speaker 1: of his own. It was essential that they find him 201 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:17,640 Speaker 1: another bride, ideally one that could ally them with an 202 00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:21,600 Speaker 1: important duchy now that the alliance with Parma had gone 203 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:25,960 Speaker 1: up and smoke. And then the perfect candidate presented herself, 204 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:29,920 Speaker 1: Eleanora de Medici, the sixteen year old daughter of the 205 00:15:30,040 --> 00:15:35,120 Speaker 1: Grand Duke of Tuscany, Francesco de Medici. Vincenzo would make 206 00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:38,200 Speaker 1: a good marriage for their daughter, but the Medici's wanted 207 00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:41,640 Speaker 1: to avoid the possibility of becoming embroiled in one of 208 00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:47,440 Speaker 1: those Italy wide does his penis work scandals, and so 209 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:52,480 Speaker 1: Grand Duke Francesco de Medici agreed that Vincenzo could marry 210 00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:57,120 Speaker 1: Eleanora on the condition that Vincenzo proved that he could 211 00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:02,440 Speaker 1: deflower a virgin first. It would be a public trial 212 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:07,160 Speaker 1: by erection. The whole thing was actually the idea of 213 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:11,400 Speaker 1: the Grand Duke's wife, Bianca. Bianca was the Grand Duke's 214 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:14,480 Speaker 1: second wife, and she had been his mistress before that, 215 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:18,359 Speaker 1: and so before she became the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, 216 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:21,600 Speaker 1: she dealt with her fair share of gossip and cruel words, 217 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:24,840 Speaker 1: a lot of them coming from the Gonzagas, who said 218 00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:27,880 Speaker 1: that she was a courtesan who made a terrible match 219 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:32,400 Speaker 1: for the Grand Duke, an incredibly public and humiliating hoop 220 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:36,040 Speaker 1: for the Prince of Mantua to jump through perfect revenge 221 00:16:36,160 --> 00:16:43,040 Speaker 1: for Bianca. A special convocation of the College of Cardinals 222 00:16:43,120 --> 00:16:46,840 Speaker 1: was called to determine whether the Medici plan was going 223 00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:50,880 Speaker 1: to be allowed. All of the Gonzaga allies tried to 224 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:56,000 Speaker 1: protect Vincenzo. It's unnecessary, they said, Plus it undermined the 225 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:59,560 Speaker 1: authority of the Pope, because didn't the Pope already rule 226 00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:04,679 Speaker 1: that the earlier consummation problem hadn't been Vincenzo's fault. Yeah, 227 00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:10,120 Speaker 1: chimed in Cardinal Alessandro Farness, Margharita's great uncle, remember him. 228 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:13,840 Speaker 1: He also didn't want Vincenzo to do this little public 229 00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:18,240 Speaker 1: virility test, because if Vincenzo succeeded now, it would prove 230 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:21,680 Speaker 1: once and for all that his earlier marriage problem had 231 00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:26,320 Speaker 1: been Margharita's fault. Besides, he continued, where are we even 232 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:30,200 Speaker 1: going to get a virgin for this demonstration? A convent 233 00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:33,240 Speaker 1: or an orphanage. Is the church going to be in 234 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:38,720 Speaker 1: the business of prostituting an innocent virgin? Turns out the 235 00:17:38,760 --> 00:17:43,240 Speaker 1: answer was yes. The College voted to allow the test 236 00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:47,399 Speaker 1: to take place under conditions rigorous and organized as an 237 00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:51,440 Speaker 1: Olympic event. The trial would occur in Ferrara, where there 238 00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:56,080 Speaker 1: were no major Gonzaga or Medici biases, and the virgin 239 00:17:56,160 --> 00:18:00,800 Speaker 1: would be examined beforehand and kept isolated in the Castello 240 00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:06,239 Speaker 1: Belfiori until the deed was done to prevent contamination on 241 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:10,520 Speaker 1: her part. Cessi Adeste, the nephew of the Duke of Ferrara, 242 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:15,240 Speaker 1: would supervise in person. Vincenzo agreed to all of this 243 00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:18,880 Speaker 1: on the condition that the virgin they found be from 244 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:22,240 Speaker 1: a reasonably good family and that she would have a 245 00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:27,639 Speaker 1: pretty face. Ultimately, the girl was found the oldest daughter 246 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:31,000 Speaker 1: of a deceased but well known architect and his widow. 247 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:34,400 Speaker 1: The widow offered her daughter up on the condition that 248 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:36,919 Speaker 1: when all of this was over, the daughter would be 249 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:42,040 Speaker 1: given a suitable dowry and marriage. Vincenzo arrived in Ferrara 250 00:18:42,359 --> 00:18:45,800 Speaker 1: riding in on horseback, but before the test took place, 251 00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:51,000 Speaker 1: he left back home with no explanation or apologies. He 252 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:55,199 Speaker 1: continued to delay the test, canceling plans like he was 253 00:18:55,280 --> 00:18:57,960 Speaker 1: texting with an awkward acquaintance he didn't want to get 254 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:02,640 Speaker 1: coffee with. The medici were losing patients, and another duke, 255 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:06,399 Speaker 1: the Duke of Savoy, offered to marry Eleanora if Vincenzo 256 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:11,359 Speaker 1: didn't want to. Vincenzo hemmed and hod, but finally said 257 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:15,080 Speaker 1: he would do the test if he was given three nights. 258 00:19:16,320 --> 00:19:20,760 Speaker 1: The Medici's refused, but they did compromise. Vincenzo would be 259 00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:25,040 Speaker 1: given just one night, but he had three chances. By 260 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:28,359 Speaker 1: this point, the widow's daughter was released from the castle 261 00:19:28,440 --> 00:19:32,200 Speaker 1: where she was being held or should I say, preserved, 262 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:36,320 Speaker 1: and the Ferrara royal family was just entirely over this 263 00:19:36,359 --> 00:19:40,920 Speaker 1: whole thing. So the test was transferred to Venice, and 264 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:44,560 Speaker 1: this time Francesco to Medici would find the virgin himself. 265 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:49,000 Speaker 1: Ultimately he found one, the illegitimate daughter of a decent 266 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:52,480 Speaker 1: family who was living in an orphanage, a girl named Julia. 267 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:58,520 Speaker 1: It took Vincenzo two tries, but ultimately he did the deed. 268 00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:03,720 Speaker 1: Vincenzo married Eleanora, and in the end all those tests 269 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:07,440 Speaker 1: really made no difference, considering fairly quickly. The pair went 270 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:11,479 Speaker 1: on to have six children, five of whom survived. And 271 00:20:11,520 --> 00:20:15,000 Speaker 1: as for all those rumors of his impotence, when Vincenzo 272 00:20:15,119 --> 00:20:18,680 Speaker 1: ultimately did become the Duke of Mantua after his father's death, 273 00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:22,359 Speaker 1: he got a reputation as quite the libertine, with a 274 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:28,200 Speaker 1: number of affairs and a few illegitimate children. Vincenzo's reputation 275 00:20:28,359 --> 00:20:31,240 Speaker 1: as a duke would be that his hedonism drained the 276 00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:35,600 Speaker 1: duchy financially, but he also turned Mantua into a thriving 277 00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:40,000 Speaker 1: cultural center, inviting composers, painters, and poets to his court. 278 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:44,520 Speaker 1: Vincenzo provided health care and food to the poor on 279 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:47,400 Speaker 1: the whole, not a terrible duke, even though he did 280 00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:51,840 Speaker 1: struggle with what is seen as the ultimate masculine accomplishment, 281 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:57,840 Speaker 1: military conquest. Still, in the end, good duke or bad duke, 282 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:03,080 Speaker 1: children or no children in Mantua would fall plundered thanks 283 00:21:03,119 --> 00:21:07,960 Speaker 1: to the twin pillars of disease and invasion, dissolving into 284 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:12,399 Speaker 1: the bigger kingdoms of Italy twenty five years after Vincenzo's death. 285 00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:23,879 Speaker 1: By Vincenzo's thirties and forties, the impending shadows of his 286 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:27,600 Speaker 1: late father's illnesses would begin to catch up with him, 287 00:21:27,640 --> 00:21:31,240 Speaker 1: and Vincenzo would summon the biggest names in Italian medicine 288 00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:34,880 Speaker 1: to treat his ailments, which ranged from what we now 289 00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:40,560 Speaker 1: call Saint Anthony's fire to yes the erectile dysfunction that 290 00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:45,359 Speaker 1: ultimately led Vincenzo to sponsor the Apothecary's trip around the world. 291 00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:50,280 Speaker 1: Vincenzo died just a short while after his wife Eleanora, 292 00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:53,280 Speaker 1: and they say that he was buried in a secret 293 00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:56,520 Speaker 1: crypt in the Church of Saint Andrea, but to this 294 00:21:56,600 --> 00:21:59,879 Speaker 1: day the crypt has never been found, the area has 295 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:02,920 Speaker 1: been explored and the walls perforated in search of the 296 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:09,160 Speaker 1: hidden chamber, but still nothing. Vincenzo didn't want the solemn, 297 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:11,920 Speaker 1: serious burial that would have been common at the time 298 00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:16,480 Speaker 1: to show off one's piety. Instead, he requested that he 299 00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:22,119 Speaker 1: be buried upright, dressed magnificently and sitting in a specially 300 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:27,920 Speaker 1: made marble chair inside his upright coffin. And he requested 301 00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:32,080 Speaker 1: in his hand, what the Freudians among you might take 302 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:34,199 Speaker 1: to be a little bit on the nose when it 303 00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:41,320 Speaker 1: comes to phallic symbolism, A giant jewel encrusted sword held aloft. 304 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:50,160 Speaker 1: That's the story of Vincenzo Gonzaga's sexual trial. But keep 305 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:53,080 Speaker 1: listening after a brief sponsor break, to hear a little 306 00:22:53,119 --> 00:23:05,040 Speaker 1: bit more about what happened to Margarita. After his first 307 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:08,680 Speaker 1: failed marriage. Vincenzo Gonzaga went on to live a long 308 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:12,480 Speaker 1: life with another wife and plenty of kids. The same 309 00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:16,919 Speaker 1: wasn't true for Margharita. Being a woman unable to consummate 310 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:22,280 Speaker 1: marriage in sixteenth century Italy meant Margherita was deposited by 311 00:23:22,320 --> 00:23:26,240 Speaker 1: her powerful family into a nunnery, where she remained in 312 00:23:26,359 --> 00:23:31,119 Speaker 1: isolation for the next six decades of her life, until 313 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:35,840 Speaker 1: she ultimately died at age seventy five. But even within 314 00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:40,200 Speaker 1: the walls of the convent, Margherita had a life. There 315 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:43,080 Speaker 1: was a musician rumored to be a secret lover, who 316 00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:48,399 Speaker 1: visited her until her family increased security. When Marguerita got older, 317 00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:51,359 Speaker 1: she was elected abbess of the convent several times in 318 00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:56,320 Speaker 1: a row. She had thoughts and dreams and plans, but 319 00:23:56,480 --> 00:23:59,960 Speaker 1: because of the disaster with Vincenzo Gonzaga when she was 320 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:05,360 Speaker 1: fourteen years old, her entire life was one of pious confinement. 321 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:10,120 Speaker 1: She's a side note in the story now, another casualty 322 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:14,159 Speaker 1: of Vincenzo's life, one of the characters from history who 323 00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:18,639 Speaker 1: are so often forgotten, who if circumstances had been a 324 00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:28,520 Speaker 1: little different, might have been so much more. Noble Blood 325 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:30,919 Speaker 1: is a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm and 326 00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:34,119 Speaker 1: Mild from Aaron Minky. The show was written and hosted 327 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:39,440 Speaker 1: by Dani Schwartz. Executive producers include Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, 328 00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:43,000 Speaker 1: and Matt Frederick. The show is produced by rema Ill 329 00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:46,720 Speaker 1: Kali and Trevor Young. Noble Blood is on social media 330 00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:49,400 Speaker 1: at Noble Blood Tales, and you can learn more about 331 00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:52,199 Speaker 1: the show over at Noble Blood tales dot com. For 332 00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:55,040 Speaker 1: more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart 333 00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:58,360 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 334 00:24:58,400 --> 00:24:59,080 Speaker 1: favorite shows.