WEBVTT - The Prince's Marriage Test 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:03.600 Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio 0:00:03.840 --> 0:00:08.119 and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Minky listener. Discretion is advised. 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:22.640 Vincenzo Gonzaga had a problem. He was forty seven years old, 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:26.680 the Duke of Mantua and Montferrato, with a beloved wife 0:00:26.760 --> 0:00:33.760 and five surviving children, and still Vincenzo Gonzaga had a problem, 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:36.479 the type of problem that a man of a certain 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:40.440 age didn't really like to talk about. It's a problem 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:44.680 that's fairly common today and was fairly common then, and 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:49.879 that men of Vincenzo's age tolerated all the time. But 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:55.360 Vincenzo wasn't content to tolerate his problem. He was going 0:00:55.440 --> 0:01:00.560 to do something about his erectile dysfunction. It's at this 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:02.920 point that I'm going to let you know that this 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:06.600 episode is maybe a little bit more PG. Thirteen than 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:11.319 some of my other episodes. It's primarily about procreation and 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:14.560 the importance of being able to consummate a marriage in 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:18.479 the sixteenth century. And so even though I'm not really 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:24.440 discussing things in a sexualized context, there will be by definition, 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:29.679 sexual content. So discretion is advised for our younger or 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:35.720 more sensitive listeners anyway. Vincenzo Gonzaga, Renaissance Duke of Italy, 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:39.800 was suffering from a reptile dysfunction, but rather than just 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:44.040 accept that maybe his lothario days were behind him, he 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:49.680 decided to fund an incredibly expensive and highly secretive voyage 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:52.760 in sixteen o eight where he was going to send 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:58.000 a fairly anonymous apothecary named Evangelista Marco Bruno to travel 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:01.080 via ship to the New World so that he could 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:05.360 hunt for a mysterious worm or cusano that was rumored 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:09.239 to help cure a number of sexual ailments. On the 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:13.400 Duke's orders, Marco Bruno traveled from Mantua to Genoa, and 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:17.880 then through Spain, through Barcelona, Madrid, and Seville until he 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:21.480 finally made his way onto a galleon ship. From there, 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.480 he continued his journey on foot and then be a 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:29.280 mule and llama through South America trying to find a 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:35.600 mythical worm. The entire journey took two years, but we 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:38.920 don't know if he was actually successful or not. Within 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:43.000 a few years of Marco Bruno's voyage, Vincenzo Gonzaga would 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:47.200 be dead. Why would a man go through so much trouble, 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:51.880 sending an envoy literally across the world just to deal 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:56.840 with a well little issue. Vincenzo gonzaga story is a 0:02:56.880 --> 0:03:01.920 story about masculinity and the type of masculinity that existed 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:07.040 in the fifteen and sixteen hundreds. Sexual proficiency wasn't just 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:11.200 a matter of pride, it was a matter of dynastic importance. 0:03:12.120 --> 0:03:16.440 During his young life, Vincenzo's sexual abilities would become the 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:21.519 center of a national scandal that required fifteen doctors, a 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:26.320 college of Catholic cardinals, and ultimately the Pope to weigh in. 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:29.919 So what did a man have to do and Renaissance 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:34.640 Italy to be considered a man? For Vincenzo Gonzaga, hunting 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:38.760 down mysterious worms from across the world was just one 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:43.160 thing on the list. I'm Danis Schwartz, and this is 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:53.800 noble blood. Vincenzo's father, the Duke Guilliemo of Mantua, was 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:59.320 a short and miserable man, disfigured by illness and childhood, 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:04.320 with a hunchback as his foremost feature. Some historians diagnose 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:08.200 him posthumously as having tuberculosis of the bone, but the 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:11.720 actual illness is less important than the way it affected 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:17.599 his attitude generously, you could call him stern more accurately cruel. 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:21.800 He and his young son, Vincenzo, never seemed to get along. 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:26.880 Vincenzo held several feelings about his father at once. He 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:30.760 hated his father, hated the way that he walked slowly, 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:35.080 hated his hunchback, hated that his father made him worry 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:38.040 that one day he too would be old and feeble. 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:43.839 But Vincenzo also craved his father's love and validation more 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:47.799 than he ever could have admitted. Vincenzo had a fairly 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:52.920 standard childhood. Born in fifteen sixty two, he was athletic 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:55.880 and handsome in contrast to his father, and from a 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:58.800 young age he was drawn to the hedonistic pleasures of 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:03.039 art and music. He spent hours outside his family estate 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:07.000 playing the new sport bala or soccer, and swimming, even 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:11.680 though everyone around him discouraged it. Swimming was a risky 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:16.400 proposition for Vincenzo, first because Vincenzo had an uncle who 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:19.960 died at seventeen of pneumonia after falling into a cold 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:23.920 lake while hunting, but also because in the sixteenth century, 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:27.080 the pre eminent science of the day was that spending 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:31.640 too much time in water would disrupt your humors, still 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:34.160 swimming or not. As a young man, it seemed like 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:37.320 Vincenzo might have escaped the ill health of his father. 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:41.440 The only minor ailment Vincenzo dealt with as a preteen 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:48.520 was an uh warning here for sensitive listeners, anal fistula 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:55.120 on his undercarriage, which required draining and cauterization. I wouldn't 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:57.799 mention it if it wasn't going to be important later, 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:01.240 as was the correct way to handle things back then. 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:05.560 The wound was left partially open so that fluids could 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:09.000 continue to seep out. I can't imagine that it was 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:12.960 comfortable for Vincenzo when it came to riding a horse 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:17.480 or sitting, but there were no serious complications, and no 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:21.080 one would give any thought to the annal fistula until 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:26.200 much later. There's one event in the early life of 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:31.200 Vincenzo Gonzaga that stands out for just how extreme it is. 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:35.640 While Vincenzo was a golden boy when it came to athletics, 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:39.760 he was merely bright when it came to academics. He 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:43.760 almost wished his father, Gugliamo would beraate him for failing 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:47.880 to pay attention in lessons. Instead, all his father did 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:53.160 was fawn over a visiting scholar in Mantua named James Crichton. 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:58.039 James Crichton was a brilliant twenty one year old polly math, 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:03.840 supposedly fluent in a dozen languages, both conversationally and poetically. 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:07.599 He was a genius, and he was young, and the 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:16.400 Duke treated him like a son. Vincenzo hated him. One evening, 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:19.880 while out for a stroll, Crechton was attacked by a 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:24.320 gang of marauders in masks. Though Crechton tried to defend 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:28.360 himself with his sword, the thieves outnumbered him and beat 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:32.720 him until he was dizzied and disoriented on the street. Then, 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:36.440 with a patch of moonlight to illuminate him, the leader 0:07:36.560 --> 0:07:41.160 of the gang removed his mask. It was Vincenzo Gonzaga, 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:46.320 the Prince of Mantua himself. Seeing the son of his master, 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:50.400 Creton fell to his knees, as was custom, and offered 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:55.000 Vincenzo the hilt of his sword. Vincenzo accepted it and 0:07:55.040 --> 0:08:00.640 then ran the sword through Crechton's stomach, killing him. Vincenzo 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:05.920 murdered the Scottish genius aged one out of crazed jealousy 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:10.680 and the impending threat of being replaced. It's rarely more 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:14.120 than a footnote now in the story of Vincenzo Gonzaga's life, 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:19.560 but James Creighton wouldn't be the last casualty of gonzaga story. 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:24.720 When Vincenzo was nineteen years old, he was set to 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:28.600 make an incredibly important marriage with the daughter of the 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:32.080 Duke of Parma, a young girl named Margharita for Nacey. 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:36.719 The Pharnaces and the Gonzagas were long feuding at war 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:41.760 for about thirty years for increasingly petty reasons on both sides, 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:45.840 but now the duchies of Mantua and Parma realized how 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:49.880 valuable it would be to link dynastically in order to 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:54.360 present a united front against Tuscany, which was growing in power. 0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:58.480 Margharita was the only child and only daughter of the 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:03.319 Duke of Parma, so she was an incredibly valuable strategic pond. 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:06.440 So she was going to get married when they needed 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:09.160 her to be married, even though at the time of 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:13.199 the match with Vincenzo, she was just thirteen years old 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:17.920 and hadn't begun menstruating yet. Still, the bride was brought 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:21.920 to Mantua with a dowry of three hundred thousand ducats, 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:28.000 and on March second two, Vincenzo Gonzaga married Margarita Farnese, 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:34.040 who was by then fourteen. The marriage wasn't consummated the 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:38.160 first night, or the night after that, or the night 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:43.240 after that. Vincenzo said he was trying, but the marriage 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:45.840 was still unconsummated, and that was going to be a 0:09:45.920 --> 0:09:52.400 considerable problem. Because an unconsummated marriage can't seal a dynastic alliance, 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:56.720 the marriage isn't considered valid, and so the Duke of 0:09:56.800 --> 0:10:01.360 Mantua called in doctors to examine the newlyweds. Marcello di nat, 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:07.439 the Gonzaga court physician, studied Vincenzo's member, erect and flaccid. 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:12.360 The doctor's conclusion was that it worked just fine, even 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:20.440 though it was for Renaissance Italy considered unfashionably big. For Marguerita, though, 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:24.520 the doctor's verdict was that she had a quote fleshy 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:30.400 excrescence blocking her vaginal canal. Another expert was needed, this 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:34.320 time the famed anatomy professor from the University of Padua, 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:40.000 Giorlomo Faverorici, di Aquapendente, who examined the teenage girl and 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:46.120 said that quote that membrane called himen, which all virgins have, 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:51.360 in this one is inordinately fleshy, and besides, her nature 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:56.320 is small because of her young age. I want to 0:10:56.360 --> 0:11:00.640 take a brief aside in uh Dana's sex at the corner, 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:04.679 away from the main story, just to say that sixteenth 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:12.240 century medical terminology and understanding of virginity was uh completely wrong. 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:16.319 Virginity is a social construct. Not all virgins have hymen. 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:18.760 It can break at any point in your young adulthood. 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:21.560 Nothing about your body is weird, and if you're a 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:24.640 young woman listening to this, you were absolutely perfect just 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:28.000 the way you are. I just wanted to say that 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:32.240 because there is a lot of old doctors examining a 0:11:32.360 --> 0:11:35.360 very young woman in this story, and a lot of 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:40.120 sixteenth century language and philosophy being applied to that examination. 0:11:42.040 --> 0:11:46.480 And so back to Margharita. The doctor's recommendation was that 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:50.400 they make a custom set of cones that would increase 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:54.000 in girth, which would be inserted in a sending order 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:59.160 until Margharita was dilated enough to lose her virginity to 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:03.360 her husband. Margherita, a fourteen year old girl in a 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:07.640 foreign court who had had a cavalcade of strangers looking 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:12.480 between her naked legs, was understandably not thrilled by this 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:17.280 plan of action. They stopped that con insertion plan when 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:21.319 Marguerita began screaming as the first one was pressed into her. 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:27.439 Clearly a higher power was needed to deal with the situation. 0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:31.080 Not only was the future of the Mantua Parma alliance 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:34.880 at stake, but so was the significant dowry. So the 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:40.000 Pope stepped in and dispatched the Milanaise archbishop and future saint, 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:45.560 Cardinal Carlo Borromeo. Because Cardinal Carlo was respected by both 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:50.320 families fairly equally, and he didn't have any inherent biases, 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:53.840 unlike plenty of the other cardinals. One of the cardinals 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:59.480 was Margherita's great uncle, so Cardinal Carlo Bormeo dutifully traveled 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:02.840 to Mantua, where he sat and listened to the testimony 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:07.760 from a series of doctors, surgeons, ladies in waiting, and 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:12.160 a nun. Fifteen experts had been called in from across 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:17.240 Italy to study the genitalia of both Vincenzo and Margharita. 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:22.960 Four certified virgins of around Margharita's age were brought in 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:26.600 so that their hymens could be observed in comparison to hers. 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:32.000 Those poor girls were all promised dowries in return. The 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:36.439 gossip was rampant, spread on both sides by the Gonzagas 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:40.160 and the Parnaces, because neither family wanted the lack of 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:46.280 consummation to be their fault. As is so often the 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:51.840 case with rampant gossip, most of it was largely contradictory. Apparently, 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:57.240 Vincenzo was actually engaging in a homosexual relationship and also 0:13:57.400 --> 0:14:00.520 having an affair with the Contessa Sala, and he was 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:05.559 also impotent. Both families also had their own cardinals advocating 0:14:05.640 --> 0:14:10.240 on their behalf. Gonzaga allied cardinals said that Vincenzo was 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:13.720 actually too viril for young Margharita and that he was 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:18.240 off busy successfully consummating one night stands with sex workers 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:23.360 right and left. Margharita's great uncle Cardinal loudly proclaimed to 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:28.600 anyone who would listen that Vincenzo's weird giant penis definitely 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:32.800 didn't work, he probably had syphilis. And also remember that 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:38.480 anal fistula that was probably making his penis not work. Now, finally, 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:42.720 three years after the wedding, Cardinal Carlo made his decision. 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:45.600 The divorce would be granted on the grounds of non 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:52.040 consummation because of Margarita's quote unbreachable gait. Because the Gonzagas 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:55.040 weren't to blame, they were allowed to keep one hundred 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:59.960 thousand ducats of Margharita's dowry. You'd think that the Gonzaga 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:02.720 would be at least happy with that, but they were 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:07.200 still in an incredibly vulnerable position. Vincenzo was their heir, 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:10.960 and now he was yet again unmarried with no heirs 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:14.200 of his own. It was essential that they find him 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:17.640 another bride, ideally one that could ally them with an 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:21.600 important duchy now that the alliance with Parma had gone 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:25.960 up and smoke. And then the perfect candidate presented herself, 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:29.920 Eleanora de Medici, the sixteen year old daughter of the 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:35.120 Grand Duke of Tuscany, Francesco de Medici. Vincenzo would make 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:38.200 a good marriage for their daughter, but the Medici's wanted 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:41.640 to avoid the possibility of becoming embroiled in one of 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:47.440 those Italy wide does his penis work scandals, and so 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:52.480 Grand Duke Francesco de Medici agreed that Vincenzo could marry 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:57.120 Eleanora on the condition that Vincenzo proved that he could 0:15:57.120 --> 0:16:02.440 deflower a virgin first. It would be a public trial 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:07.160 by erection. The whole thing was actually the idea of 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:11.400 the Grand Duke's wife, Bianca. Bianca was the Grand Duke's 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:14.480 second wife, and she had been his mistress before that, 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:18.359 and so before she became the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:21.600 she dealt with her fair share of gossip and cruel words, 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:24.840 a lot of them coming from the Gonzagas, who said 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:27.880 that she was a courtesan who made a terrible match 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:32.400 for the Grand Duke, an incredibly public and humiliating hoop 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:36.040 for the Prince of Mantua to jump through perfect revenge 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:43.040 for Bianca. A special convocation of the College of Cardinals 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:46.840 was called to determine whether the Medici plan was going 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:50.880 to be allowed. All of the Gonzaga allies tried to 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:56.000 protect Vincenzo. It's unnecessary, they said, Plus it undermined the 0:16:56.000 --> 0:16:59.560 authority of the Pope, because didn't the Pope already rule 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:04.679 that the earlier consummation problem hadn't been Vincenzo's fault. Yeah, 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:10.120 chimed in Cardinal Alessandro Farness, Margharita's great uncle, remember him. 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:13.840 He also didn't want Vincenzo to do this little public 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:18.240 virility test, because if Vincenzo succeeded now, it would prove 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:21.680 once and for all that his earlier marriage problem had 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:26.320 been Margharita's fault. Besides, he continued, where are we even 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:30.200 going to get a virgin for this demonstration? A convent 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:33.240 or an orphanage. Is the church going to be in 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:38.720 the business of prostituting an innocent virgin? Turns out the 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:43.240 answer was yes. The College voted to allow the test 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:47.399 to take place under conditions rigorous and organized as an 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:51.440 Olympic event. The trial would occur in Ferrara, where there 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:56.080 were no major Gonzaga or Medici biases, and the virgin 0:17:56.160 --> 0:18:00.800 would be examined beforehand and kept isolated in the Castello 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:06.239 Belfiori until the deed was done to prevent contamination on 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:10.520 her part. Cessi Adeste, the nephew of the Duke of Ferrara, 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:15.240 would supervise in person. Vincenzo agreed to all of this 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:18.880 on the condition that the virgin they found be from 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:22.240 a reasonably good family and that she would have a 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:27.639 pretty face. Ultimately, the girl was found the oldest daughter 0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:31.000 of a deceased but well known architect and his widow. 0:18:31.520 --> 0:18:34.400 The widow offered her daughter up on the condition that 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:36.919 when all of this was over, the daughter would be 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:42.040 given a suitable dowry and marriage. Vincenzo arrived in Ferrara 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:45.800 riding in on horseback, but before the test took place, 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:51.000 he left back home with no explanation or apologies. He 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:55.199 continued to delay the test, canceling plans like he was 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:57.960 texting with an awkward acquaintance he didn't want to get 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:02.640 coffee with. The medici were losing patients, and another duke, 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:06.399 the Duke of Savoy, offered to marry Eleanora if Vincenzo 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:11.359 didn't want to. Vincenzo hemmed and hod, but finally said 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:15.080 he would do the test if he was given three nights. 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:20.760 The Medici's refused, but they did compromise. Vincenzo would be 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:25.040 given just one night, but he had three chances. By 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:28.359 this point, the widow's daughter was released from the castle 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:32.200 where she was being held or should I say, preserved, 0:19:33.000 --> 0:19:36.320 and the Ferrara royal family was just entirely over this 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:40.920 whole thing. So the test was transferred to Venice, and 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:44.560 this time Francesco to Medici would find the virgin himself. 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:49.000 Ultimately he found one, the illegitimate daughter of a decent 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:52.480 family who was living in an orphanage, a girl named Julia. 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:58.520 It took Vincenzo two tries, but ultimately he did the deed. 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:03.720 Vincenzo married Eleanora, and in the end all those tests 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:07.440 really made no difference, considering fairly quickly. The pair went 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:11.479 on to have six children, five of whom survived. And 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:15.000 as for all those rumors of his impotence, when Vincenzo 0:20:15.119 --> 0:20:18.680 ultimately did become the Duke of Mantua after his father's death, 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:22.359 he got a reputation as quite the libertine, with a 0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:28.200 number of affairs and a few illegitimate children. Vincenzo's reputation 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:31.240 as a duke would be that his hedonism drained the 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:35.600 duchy financially, but he also turned Mantua into a thriving 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:40.000 cultural center, inviting composers, painters, and poets to his court. 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:44.520 Vincenzo provided health care and food to the poor on 0:20:44.680 --> 0:20:47.400 the whole, not a terrible duke, even though he did 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:51.840 struggle with what is seen as the ultimate masculine accomplishment, 0:20:52.520 --> 0:20:57.840 military conquest. Still, in the end, good duke or bad duke, 0:20:58.520 --> 0:21:03.080 children or no children in Mantua would fall plundered thanks 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:07.960 to the twin pillars of disease and invasion, dissolving into 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:12.399 the bigger kingdoms of Italy twenty five years after Vincenzo's death. 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:23.879 By Vincenzo's thirties and forties, the impending shadows of his 0:21:23.960 --> 0:21:27.600 late father's illnesses would begin to catch up with him, 0:21:27.640 --> 0:21:31.240 and Vincenzo would summon the biggest names in Italian medicine 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:34.880 to treat his ailments, which ranged from what we now 0:21:34.920 --> 0:21:40.560 call Saint Anthony's fire to yes the erectile dysfunction that 0:21:40.760 --> 0:21:45.359 ultimately led Vincenzo to sponsor the Apothecary's trip around the world. 0:21:46.560 --> 0:21:50.280 Vincenzo died just a short while after his wife Eleanora, 0:21:50.840 --> 0:21:53.280 and they say that he was buried in a secret 0:21:53.320 --> 0:21:56.520 crypt in the Church of Saint Andrea, but to this 0:21:56.600 --> 0:21:59.879 day the crypt has never been found, the area has 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:02.920 been explored and the walls perforated in search of the 0:22:03.000 --> 0:22:09.160 hidden chamber, but still nothing. Vincenzo didn't want the solemn, 0:22:09.400 --> 0:22:11.920 serious burial that would have been common at the time 0:22:12.280 --> 0:22:16.480 to show off one's piety. Instead, he requested that he 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:22.119 be buried upright, dressed magnificently and sitting in a specially 0:22:22.160 --> 0:22:27.920 made marble chair inside his upright coffin. And he requested 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:32.080 in his hand, what the Freudians among you might take 0:22:32.160 --> 0:22:34.199 to be a little bit on the nose when it 0:22:34.280 --> 0:22:41.320 comes to phallic symbolism, A giant jewel encrusted sword held aloft. 0:22:45.960 --> 0:22:50.160 That's the story of Vincenzo Gonzaga's sexual trial. But keep 0:22:50.240 --> 0:22:53.080 listening after a brief sponsor break, to hear a little 0:22:53.119 --> 0:23:05.040 bit more about what happened to Margarita. After his first 0:23:05.080 --> 0:23:08.680 failed marriage. Vincenzo Gonzaga went on to live a long 0:23:08.760 --> 0:23:12.480 life with another wife and plenty of kids. The same 0:23:12.640 --> 0:23:16.919 wasn't true for Margharita. Being a woman unable to consummate 0:23:17.000 --> 0:23:22.280 marriage in sixteenth century Italy meant Margherita was deposited by 0:23:22.320 --> 0:23:26.240 her powerful family into a nunnery, where she remained in 0:23:26.359 --> 0:23:31.119 isolation for the next six decades of her life, until 0:23:31.200 --> 0:23:35.840 she ultimately died at age seventy five. But even within 0:23:35.920 --> 0:23:40.200 the walls of the convent, Margherita had a life. There 0:23:40.280 --> 0:23:43.080 was a musician rumored to be a secret lover, who 0:23:43.160 --> 0:23:48.399 visited her until her family increased security. When Marguerita got older, 0:23:48.440 --> 0:23:51.359 she was elected abbess of the convent several times in 0:23:51.359 --> 0:23:56.320 a row. She had thoughts and dreams and plans, but 0:23:56.480 --> 0:23:59.960 because of the disaster with Vincenzo Gonzaga when she was 0:24:00.160 --> 0:24:05.360 fourteen years old, her entire life was one of pious confinement. 0:24:06.240 --> 0:24:10.120 She's a side note in the story now, another casualty 0:24:10.240 --> 0:24:14.159 of Vincenzo's life, one of the characters from history who 0:24:14.200 --> 0:24:18.639 are so often forgotten, who if circumstances had been a 0:24:18.640 --> 0:24:28.520 little different, might have been so much more. Noble Blood 0:24:28.680 --> 0:24:30.919 is a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm and 0:24:30.960 --> 0:24:34.119 Mild from Aaron Minky. The show was written and hosted 0:24:34.160 --> 0:24:39.440 by Dani Schwartz. Executive producers include Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, 0:24:39.520 --> 0:24:43.000 and Matt Frederick. The show is produced by rema Ill 0:24:43.080 --> 0:24:46.720 Kali and Trevor Young. Noble Blood is on social media 0:24:46.840 --> 0:24:49.400 at Noble Blood Tales, and you can learn more about 0:24:49.400 --> 0:24:52.199 the show over at Noble Blood tales dot com. For 0:24:52.280 --> 0:24:55.040 more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart 0:24:55.119 --> 0:24:58.360 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 0:24:58.400 --> 0:24:59.080 favorite shows.