1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim 2 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:10,000 Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised, Hey, this 3 00:00:10,039 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 1: is Danish wartz. Just a bit of housekeeping before we begin. 4 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:16,840 Speaker 1: If you want to support the show, we have merch 5 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:19,680 Speaker 1: and we have a Patreon. Both of those are linked 6 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:22,320 Speaker 1: in the episode description. The merch is amazing. I use 7 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:25,239 Speaker 1: my mugs pretty much every morning and over on the 8 00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:29,800 Speaker 1: Patreon there is exclusive merch like stickers. There are episode scripts, 9 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:33,680 Speaker 1: and there's also a weekly recap bonus podcast that I 10 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:37,159 Speaker 1: do with a friend of mine recapping the television series 11 00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:40,839 Speaker 1: Rain about Mary, Queen of Scott's. So if that sounds interesting, 12 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: head there and thank you for listening. Having a daughter 13 00:00:49,479 --> 00:00:53,920 Speaker 1: was expensive business in early modern Europe. From the moment 14 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 1: of a girl's birth. One cost in particular would have 15 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:03,160 Speaker 1: loomed over her family's head her dowry. The dowry was 16 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:07,280 Speaker 1: the payment traditionally made upon marriage from the bride's family 17 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: to the grooms, meant as part of the formal transfer 18 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:14,280 Speaker 1: of the bride to her new family and as a 19 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:18,760 Speaker 1: starting fund for the couple's new life. In the modern day, 20 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:23,480 Speaker 1: it's an outdated, misogynistic practice, but in the early modern 21 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:27,200 Speaker 1: period it was an essential component of the right of 22 00:01:27,319 --> 00:01:31,600 Speaker 1: passage of marriage. If families could not afford it outright, 23 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:35,039 Speaker 1: many young women worked on their own to save up 24 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:40,600 Speaker 1: for a dowry. Marriage often meant, among many other things, security, 25 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:45,240 Speaker 1: and that was worth every penny. Of course, as this 26 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:49,960 Speaker 1: podcast can attest, marriage was rarely as simple as saving 27 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 1: up a few ducats and then finding some nice enough 28 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:57,120 Speaker 1: boy to drag to the church. The dowry market, like 29 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 1: any economic market, fluctuated over time when there were more 30 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:05,680 Speaker 1: young women than men in a given area. For example, 31 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:09,400 Speaker 1: a larger dowry might be necessary to catch a suitor's 32 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:14,160 Speaker 1: attention in a sea of options. During those times of inflation, 33 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:20,720 Speaker 1: one can imagine the astronomical sums required to secure any match, 34 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:26,400 Speaker 1: let alone an advantageous one. But difficult as arranging a 35 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:30,640 Speaker 1: marriage might be, it was dangerous, not to mention expensive, 36 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:35,440 Speaker 1: to let a young, unmarried daughter linger in her father's house. 37 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:39,760 Speaker 1: In a society that prized the chastity of women above 38 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:44,400 Speaker 1: pretty much everything else, an unmarried adult daughter was a 39 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:49,360 Speaker 1: sharefire recipe for an illegitimate grandchild, or even just the 40 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:52,800 Speaker 1: rumor of one, and all of the scandal and shame 41 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: that would come with it. When the population of unmarried 42 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:01,320 Speaker 1: women was high, things became even more challenging. Women without 43 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:05,080 Speaker 1: families to support them often put pressure on their cities 44 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: systems of charity, or they were drawn to the relative 45 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:12,920 Speaker 1: freedom and potential income they could gain from sex work, 46 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:17,440 Speaker 1: which threatened both public resources and, in early modern eyes, 47 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:23,440 Speaker 1: public morality. For many Catholic families, the only affordable option 48 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:28,120 Speaker 1: in an inflated dowry market to still protect the chastity 49 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:32,240 Speaker 1: of their daughters was the convent. It was certainly not 50 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: entirely free to promise your daughter to Jesus Christ. Many 51 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:41,440 Speaker 1: convents charged small dowries to help cover their new wards 52 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:45,600 Speaker 1: as upkeep, but it was often substantially cheaper than marrying 53 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:49,000 Speaker 1: your daughter to an earthly husband. Even some of the 54 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:53,880 Speaker 1: more wealthy and influential families sent their daughters to convents, 55 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:57,960 Speaker 1: be it as a temporary means of protecting their chastity 56 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:01,880 Speaker 1: like Mary, Queen of Scot's, or as a more permanent 57 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:08,000 Speaker 1: solution when marriage was unaffordable or otherwise unattainable. Scores of 58 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:11,800 Speaker 1: women and girls ended up in convents that way, sent 59 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 1: away from their families, sometimes from a very young age 60 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:19,360 Speaker 1: to a new life that, depending on the convent, could 61 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:24,240 Speaker 1: either mean relative freedom and comfort, or harsh enclosure and 62 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:28,960 Speaker 1: a penitent lifestyle. In any case, it was a much 63 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:33,279 Speaker 1: more restricted life than likely any of the young girls 64 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:39,520 Speaker 1: had imagined for themselves. Perhaps unsurprisingly than many of the 65 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:42,799 Speaker 1: women and girls sent to the convents by their families 66 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:48,400 Speaker 1: out of financial expediency did not share the religious devotion 67 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:52,960 Speaker 1: we might expect from nuns today. Although those who were 68 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:56,359 Speaker 1: sent to convents as children would not be nuns and 69 00:04:56,400 --> 00:05:00,480 Speaker 1: therefore not technically bound to the church, once they reached 70 00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:05,000 Speaker 1: marriageable age, many found they had few other options than 71 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:09,559 Speaker 1: to take their vows. Some surely found that convent life 72 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:14,520 Speaker 1: suited them, but many resented their families for placing them 73 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:19,600 Speaker 1: there against their will. Some wished for marriage, others simply 74 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:23,520 Speaker 1: to be let out of the walls of enclosure. Entering 75 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:28,159 Speaker 1: a convent was a choice made for them by their families, 76 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:32,160 Speaker 1: by the economic conditions of the time, and by the 77 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:36,640 Speaker 1: world in which they lived that prized female chastity above 78 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:41,280 Speaker 1: all else. Records from the period see some of these 79 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:46,159 Speaker 1: women reclaiming their freedom in ways both big and small 80 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:50,839 Speaker 1: in the convent that allowed it. Some sisters took up trades, 81 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:54,920 Speaker 1: becoming skilled artisans and earning money for the convent, and, 82 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:58,640 Speaker 1: if they were lucky, contact with the outside world. A 83 00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:03,480 Speaker 1: few were drawn to more scholarly or artistic pursuits, occasionally 84 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:07,800 Speaker 1: earning fame from within the convent for their contributions, and 85 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:11,280 Speaker 1: of course, some even went so far as to appeal 86 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:15,719 Speaker 1: to the Pope, begging to have their vows to Jesus annulled. 87 00:06:16,839 --> 00:06:22,200 Speaker 1: But others found more transgressive ways to escape the confines 88 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:27,520 Speaker 1: of the cloister. One in particular, a woman first named 89 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:33,359 Speaker 1: Marianna de Lavia Imrino and then Sister Virginia Maria, later 90 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:38,080 Speaker 1: known simply as the Nun of Manza, found her freedom 91 00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:42,160 Speaker 1: in the arms of a lover, or so she thought. 92 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:47,040 Speaker 1: This is a story that travels through plague into a convent, 93 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:52,360 Speaker 1: passed love, and brutal murder into one of the creepiest 94 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:57,560 Speaker 1: scandals we've ever covered on this podcast. I'm Danish Schwartz 95 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:07,680 Speaker 1: and this is Noble Blood. Mariana de Lvia Imrino was 96 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:11,040 Speaker 1: just a few months past her thirteenth birthday when her 97 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:14,120 Speaker 1: father decided to place her in the convent of Santa 98 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:17,920 Speaker 1: Margarita a big change, to be sure, but that was 99 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:21,280 Speaker 1: far from the first time in young Marianna's life that 100 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:24,760 Speaker 1: her world had been turned upside down. She was born 101 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:28,640 Speaker 1: in Milan, now in Italy but then a Spanish duchy, 102 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:33,120 Speaker 1: in fifteen seventy five, the first and only child of 103 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:38,640 Speaker 1: Martin de Lvia and his wife, Virginia Maria Marino. Virginia 104 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:41,200 Speaker 1: Maria was the daughter and heir of one of the 105 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:45,200 Speaker 1: wealthiest men in Milan. She had also been married once before, 106 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:48,840 Speaker 1: and she was the widow of Ercolepio, Count of Sassuolo, 107 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:52,880 Speaker 1: with whom she had had a son, Marco and four daughters. 108 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:58,160 Speaker 1: Martin de Levia, for his part, also boasted an illustrious lineage. 109 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:02,560 Speaker 1: He was the great grand son of the great Antonio Delivia, 110 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:06,320 Speaker 1: who had led the army of the Spanish Empire under 111 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:10,000 Speaker 1: King Charles the fifth. As a reward for his valor, 112 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:14,520 Speaker 1: Charles had granted Antonio the duchy of Milan upon the 113 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:19,680 Speaker 1: death of Duke Francesco the second Sforza. Delivia was rewarded 114 00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:23,960 Speaker 1: also with the fiefdom of Monza, a small city about 115 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:28,560 Speaker 1: nine miles northeast of Milan that, despite its small size, 116 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:35,520 Speaker 1: offered considerable revenue. By the time Mariana was born, her father, Martin, 117 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:39,920 Speaker 1: had had a significant military career of his own, and 118 00:08:40,040 --> 00:08:44,120 Speaker 1: he had inherited his great grandfather's county of Monza as 119 00:08:44,160 --> 00:08:49,280 Speaker 1: a fiefdom, although he alternated sovereignty with his brother. With 120 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:53,880 Speaker 1: all of Mariana's family's wealth and influence, the little girl 121 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:58,600 Speaker 1: seemed slated for a charmed life. Then all at once, 122 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:03,520 Speaker 1: disaster strung. When Mariana was barely a year old, in 123 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:09,120 Speaker 1: fifteen seventy six, the plague came to Milan. As plagues do, 124 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:13,040 Speaker 1: it tore through the city, causing not only mass death, 125 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:18,560 Speaker 1: but also economic devastation as workers and consumers alike died 126 00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:23,520 Speaker 1: or left, crops went unattended, and trade all but disappeared. 127 00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:28,679 Speaker 1: Virginia Maria, Marianna's mother, died that year. We don't know 128 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:32,880 Speaker 1: if plague was the cause, although it seems a likely possibility. 129 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:36,080 Speaker 1: What we do know is that her death and the 130 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:40,640 Speaker 1: events that followed would irrevocably change the course of her 131 00:09:40,679 --> 00:09:47,600 Speaker 1: youngest daughter's life. In the midst of her sickness, Virginia 132 00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:51,560 Speaker 1: Maria had made her last will and testament. She chose 133 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:55,640 Speaker 1: to name as her heirs the infant Mariana and her 134 00:09:55,679 --> 00:10:00,160 Speaker 1: son from her first marriage, Marco, with the vast majority 135 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:03,400 Speaker 1: of her state to be divided equally between the two 136 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:07,640 Speaker 1: of them. It certainly seems an odd choice, given that 137 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:13,200 Speaker 1: Virginia Maria had four other daughters from her earlier first marriage. 138 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:16,679 Speaker 1: Maybe she assumed they would be taken care of. Perhaps 139 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:19,640 Speaker 1: she thought her daughters might forgive her for choosing to 140 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:22,880 Speaker 1: ensure the livelihoods of her son, who would have to 141 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:26,720 Speaker 1: start his own household, and her infant daughter, who was 142 00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:31,200 Speaker 1: further away from the protection that marriage could offer. It was, 143 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:36,640 Speaker 1: as you might have guessed, a grave miscalculation. Within just 144 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:41,600 Speaker 1: days of their mother's death, Marco's sisters, Marianna's half sisters, 145 00:10:41,920 --> 00:10:45,959 Speaker 1: represented by their uncle, went to court to contest the will, 146 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:49,840 Speaker 1: arguing that they should have also received fair shares of 147 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:55,080 Speaker 1: the estate. The legal battle that ensued defined the early 148 00:10:55,160 --> 00:10:58,000 Speaker 1: years of Marianna's life, and she would spend her early 149 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:02,200 Speaker 1: years with no sense of stability or certainty. Mere months 150 00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:06,760 Speaker 1: after Virginia Maria died, Martin de Laviat left his infant 151 00:11:06,880 --> 00:11:10,040 Speaker 1: daughter in the care of an aunt, and he went 152 00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:14,640 Speaker 1: off to Flanders on a long military campaign. Despite her 153 00:11:14,679 --> 00:11:19,400 Speaker 1: father's absence, the dispute over the will continued, and Marianna 154 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:23,280 Speaker 1: spent the next three years in limbo as the adults 155 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:26,959 Speaker 1: in her life argued over assets or just abandon her 156 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:32,680 Speaker 1: altogether as an afterthought. Finally, in fifteen eighty, Martin briefly 157 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:35,600 Speaker 1: returned home to Milan to put an end to the 158 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:39,880 Speaker 1: inheritance suit. It was clear, however, that his goal was 159 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:44,520 Speaker 1: not to protect the interests of his only child. In fact, 160 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:49,560 Speaker 1: the so called compromise he reached with his stepdaughters practically 161 00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:54,079 Speaker 1: amount to theft from Mariana. He gave the po children 162 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:58,000 Speaker 1: more than half of their mother's estate, and the remaining 163 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:04,040 Speaker 1: portion was set aside vaguely for Martin and Marianna, meaning 164 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:08,840 Speaker 1: in effect just for Martin. Since Marianna was a toddler. 165 00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:13,600 Speaker 1: Allowing the case to continue to linger would certainly not 166 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:18,760 Speaker 1: have benefited Mariana, but Martin was almost certainly more concerned 167 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:21,560 Speaker 1: with just closing the case so that he could return 168 00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:26,120 Speaker 1: to his military campaigns. Over the years, his family's prestige 169 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:29,880 Speaker 1: had begun to wane, and he wagered that he could 170 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:34,160 Speaker 1: better restore it by serving the Spanish king, who was 171 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:38,800 Speaker 1: now Philip the second. Mary Tudor's husband, as opposed to 172 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:42,920 Speaker 1: squabbling over his dead wife's affairs or well providing for 173 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:46,280 Speaker 1: the future of his lineage. His baby was a girl, 174 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:49,120 Speaker 1: after all, not an heir that in any way would 175 00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:54,400 Speaker 1: have mattered to him. The inheritance debacle feels definitive, and 176 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:58,280 Speaker 1: it is certainly very telling about all parties involved. But 177 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:01,960 Speaker 1: this was not the moment that Martin Delivia consigned his 178 00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:05,280 Speaker 1: daughter to the cloister. For a while, it seemed like 179 00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:09,079 Speaker 1: he was indeed planning to arrange a marriage for Mariana. 180 00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:13,360 Speaker 1: A letter from fifteen eighty six sees him discussing her 181 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:18,560 Speaker 1: prospects and floating a potential dowry of seven thousand lira, 182 00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:22,000 Speaker 1: which was nothing to sneeze at, but I should note 183 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:26,560 Speaker 1: it paled in comparison to the fifty thousand that he 184 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:30,160 Speaker 1: had been promised from his late wife's family when they 185 00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:35,920 Speaker 1: had gotten married. The final blow to Mariana's future came 186 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:39,800 Speaker 1: a few years later, in fifteen eighty eight, when her father, 187 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:45,400 Speaker 1: Martin remarried. His new wife lived in Valencia, nearly eight 188 00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:50,200 Speaker 1: hundred miles from Milan and from Mariana. By now, it 189 00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:53,840 Speaker 1: had been over a decade since the wandering military man 190 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:56,960 Speaker 1: had shared a roof with his daughter, and the prospect 191 00:13:57,040 --> 00:14:00,640 Speaker 1: of paying a dowry would have loomed large as Mariana 192 00:14:00,760 --> 00:14:04,520 Speaker 1: got older. His new marriage, on the other hand, brought 193 00:14:04,559 --> 00:14:08,840 Speaker 1: with it the promise of career promotion, more income, more 194 00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:13,760 Speaker 1: influent and of course, male heirs. Here, he must have thought, 195 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:18,320 Speaker 1: was a perfect opportunity to start fresh and save a 196 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:22,520 Speaker 1: little money in the process. Martin brought his only child 197 00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:27,120 Speaker 1: to the Monastery of Santa Margharita, a small Benedictine convent 198 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:31,400 Speaker 1: in his own county, Mansa, in late fifteen eighty eight. 199 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:35,360 Speaker 1: A few months later, in early fifteen eighty nine, he 200 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:39,680 Speaker 1: briefly returned to settle the matter of Marianna's inheritance once 201 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:43,200 Speaker 1: and for all. He promised her a six thousand lira 202 00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:47,479 Speaker 1: deposit to be delivered to the convent through an intermediary 203 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:51,520 Speaker 1: that would accrue an annual income of three hundred lira. 204 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:55,560 Speaker 1: We don't know if Martin actually saw his daughter on 205 00:14:55,600 --> 00:14:59,160 Speaker 1: that fifteen eighty nine visit, but we do know that 206 00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:04,000 Speaker 1: Marianna never saw her father again after that, and that 207 00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:09,080 Speaker 1: she never received her inheritance, although records show she did 208 00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:14,520 Speaker 1: receive some income from the convent's revenues. The scholar Luigi 209 00:15:14,680 --> 00:15:19,040 Speaker 1: Serbi estimates that out of an approximate forty thousand lira, 210 00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:23,920 Speaker 1: Marianna was owed in total, her father stole nearly twenty 211 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:35,960 Speaker 1: eight thousand. On August twenty sixth, fifteen ninety one, Gaspare Visconti, 212 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:40,760 Speaker 1: the Archbishop of Milan, made the short journey to Mansa 213 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:44,960 Speaker 1: to witness the consecration of four nuns who had completed 214 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:49,920 Speaker 1: their noviciots and were preparing to take the profession. These 215 00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:53,840 Speaker 1: girls each had spent several years deep in prayer, reflection 216 00:15:54,040 --> 00:15:57,240 Speaker 1: and manual labor, and were getting ready to make a 217 00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:03,200 Speaker 1: lifelong commitment to the convent. Among these novices was one sister, 218 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:08,520 Speaker 1: Virginia Maria, a young girl of about sixteen whose late 219 00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:12,120 Speaker 1: mother's given name had just happened to make for a 220 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:17,960 Speaker 1: perfect religious name. Despite these circumstances of her arrival at 221 00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:22,280 Speaker 1: Santa Margarita, Marianna, whose given name we will continue to 222 00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:26,920 Speaker 1: use for clarity's sake, made an excellent nun. She took 223 00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:30,800 Speaker 1: her vows in September fifteen ninety one and soon garnered 224 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:35,840 Speaker 1: a reputation in Manza for her admirable conduct. The famed 225 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:40,160 Speaker 1: priest and historian Giuseppe Ripamonti, who lived in Manza around 226 00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:43,080 Speaker 1: this time and who would later write a good deal 227 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:47,680 Speaker 1: about Marianna's life, described her character during these early years 228 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:54,560 Speaker 1: as quote modest, circumspect, most affable, suffused, with an enviable candor, 229 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:59,360 Speaker 1: a friend to everyone, as educated in literary disciplines, as 230 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:03,840 Speaker 1: a well mannered, obedient, not at all spiteful young girl 231 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:08,080 Speaker 1: could be at the time an example of perfect social behavior. 232 00:17:09,080 --> 00:17:13,520 Speaker 1: In addition to praise, Marianna also garnered power from the convent. 233 00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:17,800 Speaker 1: Although she had taken the profession, her wayward father soon 234 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:22,439 Speaker 1: delegated his duties to her as sovereign of Mansa. She 235 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:26,119 Speaker 1: took over in fifteen ninety six at twenty years old. 236 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:31,879 Speaker 1: Records show her issuing edicts, ordering arrests, and offering pardons, 237 00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:36,720 Speaker 1: among other official duties. In December fifteen ninety six, for example, 238 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:40,440 Speaker 1: she prohibited fishing in a stretch of river that ran 239 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:44,720 Speaker 1: next to the Franciscan convent of Santa Maria, granting the 240 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:49,359 Speaker 1: convent's friar's exclusive use of the area. By all accounts, 241 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:52,840 Speaker 1: she was as beloved as a feudal lady as she 242 00:17:53,080 --> 00:17:57,199 Speaker 1: was a well behaved nun. She was also working her 243 00:17:57,240 --> 00:18:01,000 Speaker 1: way up within the convent, earning the roles of sacristan, 244 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:04,600 Speaker 1: which meant that she was responsible for the convent sacristy, 245 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:08,679 Speaker 1: where vestiments and other sacred objects were kept, and she 246 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:12,640 Speaker 1: also got the job as supervisor of the secular girls 247 00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:16,120 Speaker 1: housed in the convent. It was through that role as 248 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:24,480 Speaker 1: supervisor that Marianna first met Jean Paulo Osio. The illustrious 249 00:18:24,560 --> 00:18:28,440 Speaker 1: Osio family had been a staple in Lombardy, the region 250 00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:32,760 Speaker 1: in which both Milan and Manta are situated, for centuries, 251 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:36,080 Speaker 1: but by this time the branch of the family living 252 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:41,320 Speaker 1: in Mamsa had begun to develop a less than illustrious reputation. 253 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:46,359 Speaker 1: Born in fifteen seventy two, John Paolo Osio was no 254 00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:52,439 Speaker 1: exception charismatic, libertine, and prone to violence. He was every 255 00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:56,600 Speaker 1: bit whatever you're thinking if I say sixteenth century rake. 256 00:18:57,440 --> 00:19:00,280 Speaker 1: Despite all that, he had a good relationship with the 257 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:05,000 Speaker 1: Convent of Santa Margarita, frequently hiring servants from the convent 258 00:19:05,320 --> 00:19:09,480 Speaker 1: to run errands for his household. This relationship was born 259 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:14,359 Speaker 1: mostly out of proximity. His property abutted the convent so 260 00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:18,760 Speaker 1: closely that someone standing in the convent garden could see 261 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:23,760 Speaker 1: into his home quite easily, and vice versa. Although she 262 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:26,960 Speaker 1: almost certainly would have met her neighbor earlier, or at 263 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:31,800 Speaker 1: least known of him. Marianna's first documented encounter with John 264 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:35,680 Speaker 1: Powlow was in the fall of fifteen ninety seven, and 265 00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:38,439 Speaker 1: it was less of a meet cute and more of 266 00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:42,200 Speaker 1: a bad omen for things to come. One day, as 267 00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:45,879 Speaker 1: she was walking through the convent garden, she came upon 268 00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:51,520 Speaker 1: John Polo alone with one of her pupils flirting. He had, 269 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:55,600 Speaker 1: it turned out, been taking advantage of the closeness of 270 00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:59,080 Speaker 1: his property to the convent by climbing a tree so 271 00:19:59,119 --> 00:20:01,919 Speaker 1: that he could spy on the secular girls, and he 272 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:05,280 Speaker 1: was attempting, in this case to start an affair with 273 00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:08,840 Speaker 1: one of them. The actual extent of his success in 274 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:12,560 Speaker 1: the matter isn't clear from the record, although in this 275 00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:19,119 Speaker 1: period the circumstances there being alone unsupervised in a convent 276 00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:24,280 Speaker 1: were damning enough. The girl was quickly dealt with. As 277 00:20:24,359 --> 00:20:27,359 Speaker 1: she was a secular who had not yet made any vows. 278 00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:30,240 Speaker 1: She was able to be removed from the convent by 279 00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:33,639 Speaker 1: her horrified mother, and she was married off within weeks. 280 00:20:34,119 --> 00:20:38,520 Speaker 1: For her part, Marianna gave John Paolo such a scolding 281 00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:42,560 Speaker 1: that he reportedly left the convent that day, hanging his 282 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:47,399 Speaker 1: head in shame. News of Marianna's quote great rebuff of 283 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:52,320 Speaker 1: John Paolo traveled quickly through Monsa, the sixteenth century equivalent 284 00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:57,080 Speaker 1: of the juiciest celebrity gossip, and a few days later 285 00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:03,400 Speaker 1: the story developed a new and significantly darker twist when 286 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:08,800 Speaker 1: John Paolo murdered Giuseppe Moltena, a man who had worked 287 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:12,879 Speaker 1: in the service of the Delevia family as a tax agent. 288 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:17,679 Speaker 1: Some believed that he had committed that murder out of 289 00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:21,760 Speaker 1: anger at Mariana, an act of revenge for her rebuke. 290 00:21:22,359 --> 00:21:26,560 Speaker 1: Others whispered that it was actually jealousy, that Marianna had 291 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:29,960 Speaker 1: been having an affair with Molteno and John Poolo had 292 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:34,840 Speaker 1: wanted her all to himself. These are not impossible motives, 293 00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:39,280 Speaker 1: although Mariana would later deny any impropriety with the deceased, 294 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:43,560 Speaker 1: but the actual reason for the killing likely had little 295 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:46,680 Speaker 1: to do with Marianna herself. I mean, it was sort 296 00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:50,680 Speaker 1: of a tangential connection in the first place. It seems 297 00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:54,399 Speaker 1: that John Paolo had been conspiring with another of the 298 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:58,639 Speaker 1: Deleva financial advisers to skim off the top of the 299 00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:02,199 Speaker 1: family's books, hoping that it wouldn't be noticed by the 300 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:07,119 Speaker 1: absent Martin or the enclosed Mariana, and he and his 301 00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:11,520 Speaker 1: inside man had plotted the murder together, either to prevent 302 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:16,120 Speaker 1: being found out or to maximize their own profits. This 303 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:19,560 Speaker 1: theory is supported by the fact that only a few 304 00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:24,360 Speaker 1: weeks after the murder, that second financial adviser was fired 305 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:29,240 Speaker 1: by the de Leva family and promptly replaced. John Paulo 306 00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:33,359 Speaker 1: reportedly tried to appeal to Marianna, who was not only 307 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:35,960 Speaker 1: a member of the family that he may have been 308 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:40,000 Speaker 1: trying to defraud, but who also held his fate in 309 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:44,560 Speaker 1: her hands as the sovereign of Mansa. The story goes 310 00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:49,120 Speaker 1: that shortly after the murder, Marianna happened to be passing 311 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:51,960 Speaker 1: through the room of one of her fellow sisters that 312 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:56,639 Speaker 1: had a view into the Osio garden. John Paulo, seeing 313 00:22:56,720 --> 00:23:00,400 Speaker 1: Marianna in the window, caught her attention and shouted up, 314 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:04,920 Speaker 1: asking to send her a letter, presumably to explain himself, 315 00:23:05,119 --> 00:23:10,040 Speaker 1: to proclaim his innocence, or maybe to beg for her favor. Marianna, 316 00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:14,360 Speaker 1: scrupulous as ever, was enraged. Not only had this man 317 00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:17,639 Speaker 1: once seduced her student and then gone on to commit 318 00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:21,600 Speaker 1: a heinous murder, but here he was not even in hiding, 319 00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:26,359 Speaker 1: but strolling about his garden and asking her to abuse justice. 320 00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:31,239 Speaker 1: She immediately ordered his arrest. John Paolo fled Manza and 321 00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:36,040 Speaker 1: was sentenced in absentia to exile. John Paolo remained in 322 00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:39,440 Speaker 1: exile for about a year while his friends and family, 323 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:42,959 Speaker 1: as well as the mother superior of the convent and 324 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:46,960 Speaker 1: even members of Marianna's own family, pressured her to give 325 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:51,560 Speaker 1: him grace. She relented in fifteen ninety eight, and Joan 326 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:55,800 Speaker 1: Paolo was officially granted pardon and allowed to return to 327 00:23:55,840 --> 00:24:00,320 Speaker 1: his residence in Monza. When he returned, Marianna's anger head 328 00:24:00,359 --> 00:24:05,120 Speaker 1: seemingly cooled. Perhaps she took the concept of giving grace 329 00:24:05,359 --> 00:24:10,320 Speaker 1: to heart. But that wasn't all. And here's the biggest 330 00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:16,679 Speaker 1: plot twist so far. Apparently, the scrupulous, modest nun looked 331 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:20,880 Speaker 1: out her window one day at her murderous playboy neighbor, 332 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:31,359 Speaker 1: and all of a sudden fell in love. Could you 333 00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:36,520 Speaker 1: ever see anything more beautiful? Years later, one of Marianna's 334 00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:41,600 Speaker 1: fellow nuns would recount having heard Marianna make that remark, 335 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:45,880 Speaker 1: presumably while resting her cheek on her hand and between 336 00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:51,000 Speaker 1: dramatic lovelorn sighs while sitting at her window after catching 337 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:55,520 Speaker 1: a glimpse of John Pawlow in his garden. Somehow, and 338 00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:58,240 Speaker 1: I wish I knew more so I could tell you more. 339 00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:03,159 Speaker 1: The debaucherous no no woman had managed to charm Marianna. 340 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:06,360 Speaker 1: She had even been willing to give him another chance, 341 00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:09,600 Speaker 1: after he had started off by throwing a letter over 342 00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:13,359 Speaker 1: the wall separating his garden from the convents, a first 343 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:16,919 Speaker 1: attempt at flirting that must have seemed cute until she 344 00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:21,320 Speaker 1: opened the letter to reveal a note so sexually explicit 345 00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:26,239 Speaker 1: that she recoiled in disgust. Undeterred, John Paolo had been 346 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:29,760 Speaker 1: enlisted the help of a local priest and friend of his, 347 00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:35,119 Speaker 1: Paolo Aragone. Father Paulo reminded John Powlo that he was 348 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:38,800 Speaker 1: trying to start an affair with a nun. He was 349 00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:43,200 Speaker 1: not perhaps ethical enough to advise John Powlo to pursue 350 00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:46,640 Speaker 1: someone else, but he was certainly wise enough to advise 351 00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:50,879 Speaker 1: a change in tactic. The priest wrote a new letter 352 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:54,359 Speaker 1: for Joan Paulo to throw over the wall. This one 353 00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:59,399 Speaker 1: contrite and chaste and romantic, and that letter sealed the deal. 354 00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:04,119 Speaker 1: Once they got over the first few minor hurdles. You 355 00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:06,000 Speaker 1: know the fact that she had caught him in the 356 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:10,000 Speaker 1: garden with another girl. The murder, the exile, and then 357 00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:13,960 Speaker 1: the sexually explicit letter in the convent garden. The affair 358 00:26:14,119 --> 00:26:18,840 Speaker 1: must have felt like a chivalric romance. There was Marianna 359 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:23,000 Speaker 1: enclosed in her tower, and here was her prince calling 360 00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:27,280 Speaker 1: up to her with promises of not only romance but freedom. 361 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:33,000 Speaker 1: Furtive glances and gifts passed through intermediaries, accompanied by secret 362 00:26:33,119 --> 00:26:38,320 Speaker 1: letters thrown over the garden wall. Although Marianna was surely 363 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:43,720 Speaker 1: smitten by John Powlow and by Father Paulo's continued ghostwriting, 364 00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:49,119 Speaker 1: at first, Marianna declined to take their relationship further. She 365 00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:52,120 Speaker 1: was a nun, after all, and she had made vows 366 00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:57,040 Speaker 1: of chastity as an enclosed nun. In particular, she maintained 367 00:26:57,080 --> 00:27:00,760 Speaker 1: that neither of them could violate the boundaries of enclosure. 368 00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:05,439 Speaker 1: She couldn't leave and he couldn't enter, a stalemate that 369 00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:11,520 Speaker 1: likely fueled Marianna's romantic fantasy and made John Powlo all 370 00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:15,840 Speaker 1: the more determined to break her resolve, He continued to 371 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:20,160 Speaker 1: press the issue, and Marianna finally gave in in August 372 00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:25,000 Speaker 1: fifteen ninety nine. Coincidentally, not long after her father died, 373 00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:30,040 Speaker 1: she agreed to a secret nighttime meeting in the Confessor's parlor. 374 00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:33,679 Speaker 1: A local blacksmith forged a copy of a key to 375 00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:37,320 Speaker 1: the parlor which had been given to him by Sister Otavia, 376 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:41,720 Speaker 1: a friend of Mariana's. Sister. Otavia then threw the new 377 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:45,840 Speaker 1: key over the garden wall into the Oussio property so 378 00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:50,800 Speaker 1: that John Powlo could enter Unseen. The moment Marianna laid 379 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:53,879 Speaker 1: eyes on John Poulo in the parlor through the grill 380 00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:59,320 Speaker 1: separating them, she was overcome by emotion, a desire perhaps 381 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:02,000 Speaker 1: unlike an anything else she had ever felt in her 382 00:28:02,119 --> 00:28:07,159 Speaker 1: young life, muddled by the sinking, guilty feelings of realizing 383 00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:10,840 Speaker 1: she had gone past a point of no return. Her 384 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:15,399 Speaker 1: emotions were so strong, in fact, that she immediately took ill. 385 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:20,040 Speaker 1: She remained indisposed for several months and told John Powlo 386 00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:24,159 Speaker 1: she could not see him anymore. He meanwhile continued to 387 00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:29,800 Speaker 1: bombard her with gifts and letters. By Christmas, Marianna both 388 00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:34,760 Speaker 1: recovered and relented, and the affair began in earnest when 389 00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:38,520 Speaker 1: she allowed John Powlo to sneak into her room. Soon 390 00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:41,760 Speaker 1: they were meeting two or three times a week for secret, 391 00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:46,600 Speaker 1: forbidden trysts in the convent. As the affair progressed, the 392 00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:50,320 Speaker 1: web of people who became complicit in it also grew 393 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:56,120 Speaker 1: larger and more complicated, between the blacksmith making keys, father 394 00:28:56,280 --> 00:29:00,960 Speaker 1: Paolo writing letters, and a handful of Marianna's fellow nuns 395 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:04,280 Speaker 1: helping to sneak John Powlo in and out of the convent. 396 00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:09,800 Speaker 1: Soon those fellow nuns would have another job, helping Marianna 397 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:17,480 Speaker 1: conceal a pregnancy. Marianna gave birth to a stillborn boy 398 00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:22,000 Speaker 1: in sixteen o two. She was devastated not only by 399 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:25,480 Speaker 1: the loss of her child, but also by an overwhelming 400 00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:29,520 Speaker 1: sense of guilt that hit her all at once. By now, 401 00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:32,360 Speaker 1: she and John Poolo had been brazenly carrying on their 402 00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:35,960 Speaker 1: affair for over a year. She had violated her vows 403 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:39,360 Speaker 1: again and again, and now she had to rely on 404 00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:43,240 Speaker 1: her fellow nuns to sneak her baby's body out of 405 00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:47,840 Speaker 1: the convent. She had to end the affair, despite her 406 00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:50,960 Speaker 1: feelings of guilt, however, and despite her resolve to and 407 00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:54,560 Speaker 1: the affair for good, she still felt herself drawn to 408 00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:58,640 Speaker 1: John Paolo. Later, Marianna would claim that she had tried 409 00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:03,160 Speaker 1: to rid herself of her feelings using the magical practice 410 00:30:03,520 --> 00:30:07,440 Speaker 1: of coorophagia, believing that she had been struck with a 411 00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:11,120 Speaker 1: love sickness that was the result of a curse. She 412 00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:15,520 Speaker 1: somehow got her hands on Pardon Me Jean Paulo's dried 413 00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:19,880 Speaker 1: feces and consumed it as a medicinal in a series 414 00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:24,000 Speaker 1: of broths and teas in a desperate attempt to break 415 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:28,520 Speaker 1: the spell. When that didn't work, she contemplated throwing herself 416 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:33,320 Speaker 1: into the well on the convent grounds. Reportedly, she hesitated 417 00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:37,240 Speaker 1: upon seeing an image of the Virgin nearby, and Sister 418 00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:42,040 Speaker 1: Otavia then found her and talked her off the ledge. 419 00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:46,120 Speaker 1: Throughout this time, Jean Paolo never ceased his campaign of 420 00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:50,320 Speaker 1: what we might now call love bombing, continuing to send 421 00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:54,840 Speaker 1: letters and gifts with entreaties to resume the affair, even 422 00:30:54,960 --> 00:30:59,560 Speaker 1: as Marianna entered a period of intense prayer and penance. 423 00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:04,000 Speaker 1: She continued to reject him for months, even sending him 424 00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:07,720 Speaker 1: away at one point on a pilgrimage to Rome and Loretto, 425 00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:10,920 Speaker 1: hoping he might come to his senses about the affair too. 426 00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:18,160 Speaker 1: After months of endless pushing, Marianna gave in again. Whether 427 00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:22,600 Speaker 1: because she genuinely missed John Paulo or because he truly 428 00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:27,120 Speaker 1: just broke down her resolve, we'll never know who among 429 00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:30,080 Speaker 1: us hasn't gone back to an ex who's bad for us, 430 00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:34,200 Speaker 1: But in any case, the affair started back up, and 431 00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:39,200 Speaker 1: within months Marianna was pregnant again. After nine months of 432 00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:42,920 Speaker 1: pretending to have a spleen disease to explain the swelling, 433 00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:46,600 Speaker 1: she gave birth to a daughter on August eighth, sixteen 434 00:31:46,680 --> 00:31:51,560 Speaker 1: o four, whom she named Alma Francesca Margarita, before giving 435 00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:55,520 Speaker 1: her to her trusted fellow nuns to deliver to John 436 00:31:55,560 --> 00:32:05,760 Speaker 1: Poolo under cover of night. Somewhat contrary to character, John 437 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:08,960 Speaker 1: Paulo actually turned out to be quite a loving father. 438 00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:12,640 Speaker 1: He brought little Alma to Milan to have her baptized 439 00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:16,720 Speaker 1: openly with a noble godfather, befitting her station, and he 440 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:20,280 Speaker 1: chose to keep her close in Mansa, despite the rumors 441 00:32:20,320 --> 00:32:24,080 Speaker 1: that were beginning to swirl. He formally recognized her as 442 00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:27,120 Speaker 1: his daughter in sixteen o six, giving her all the 443 00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:31,880 Speaker 1: inheritance rights and public status of a legitimate child. He 444 00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:36,120 Speaker 1: never named Marianna as the mother, instead naming a woman 445 00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:40,560 Speaker 1: named Isabella de Metta. By that time, however, few believed him, 446 00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:45,600 Speaker 1: especially given the unusual frequency of little Alma's visits to 447 00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:49,920 Speaker 1: the Santa Margarita monastery. In fact, by this time, the 448 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:53,800 Speaker 1: truth was obvious to just about everyone in Mansa. In 449 00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:58,440 Speaker 1: addition to Almah's suspiciously frequent visits, as many as three 450 00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:01,760 Speaker 1: or four times a week, according to some sources, several 451 00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:05,880 Speaker 1: nuns would later testify that many times they saw Marianna 452 00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:10,680 Speaker 1: sneak out of the monastery, violating her sacred vow of seclusion, 453 00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:14,160 Speaker 1: over to the Osio estate to spend the night with 454 00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:18,440 Speaker 1: her daughter and her lover. It was really only Marianna's 455 00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:24,040 Speaker 1: noble status, coupled with John Powlo's trademark violent streak, that 456 00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:27,960 Speaker 1: kept people from saying anything at the time or from 457 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:32,840 Speaker 1: reporting them to the ecclesiastical authorities. But by the summer 458 00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:36,760 Speaker 1: of sixteen o six, the delicate balance Marianna and John 459 00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:40,760 Speaker 1: Paolo had managed to maintain over the years finally began 460 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:45,480 Speaker 1: to crumble, all thanks to a young girl named Katerina 461 00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:50,080 Speaker 1: del Cassini. Katerina was a teenager and a secular in 462 00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:53,240 Speaker 1: the convent who had not taken any vows as of yet. 463 00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:57,080 Speaker 1: In fact, word around the convent was that she wouldn't 464 00:33:57,080 --> 00:34:00,920 Speaker 1: be allowed to because of her rebellious obst and character 465 00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:06,760 Speaker 1: and alleged thefts from the monastery's pantry, both behavior unfitting 466 00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:10,719 Speaker 1: of a nun. She, like Mariana and many others before her, 467 00:34:11,160 --> 00:34:15,000 Speaker 1: had been placed at Santa Margarita against her will. But 468 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:20,800 Speaker 1: unlike Mariana, Katerina seemed completely uninterested in assimilating into convent 469 00:34:20,880 --> 00:34:24,719 Speaker 1: life or even pretending to, often threatening to escape and 470 00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:30,040 Speaker 1: disrespecting just about everyone she could. Recently, her behavior had 471 00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:34,160 Speaker 1: begun too great on Marianna, who still held authority over 472 00:34:34,200 --> 00:34:39,080 Speaker 1: the seculars and was therefore responsible for Katerina. In late 473 00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:43,359 Speaker 1: July sixteen oh six, Marianna hit her breaking point when 474 00:34:43,520 --> 00:34:49,240 Speaker 1: Katerina soiled the bed of Sister Dania Merita, the organist 475 00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:54,399 Speaker 1: of the monastery whose talents had always delighted Mariana. Unfortunately, 476 00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:57,759 Speaker 1: I have no details about what it meant that Katerina 477 00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:02,080 Speaker 1: soiled that poor woman's bed, but whatever it was, as punishment. 478 00:35:02,239 --> 00:35:06,839 Speaker 1: Marianna convinced the Mother Superior and the monastery's confessor to 479 00:35:06,920 --> 00:35:10,840 Speaker 1: have Katerina imprisoned in the woodshed in the convent garden 480 00:35:11,239 --> 00:35:13,839 Speaker 1: while they figured out what to do about her out 481 00:35:13,840 --> 00:35:19,680 Speaker 1: of control behavior. Katerina, in true teenage fashion, was incensed 482 00:35:19,719 --> 00:35:23,840 Speaker 1: at what she considered unfair treatment by Marianna and her allies. 483 00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:27,560 Speaker 1: She had just been disrespectful, and she was locked in 484 00:35:27,640 --> 00:35:31,840 Speaker 1: a woodshed. Meanwhile, after everything Marianna herself had been doing 485 00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:35,960 Speaker 1: for years, she not only was walking free but continued 486 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:41,000 Speaker 1: to enjoy high status. Then Katerina remembered that in just 487 00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:45,719 Speaker 1: a few days time, the vicar Monseigneur Pietro Barka would 488 00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:49,160 Speaker 1: be coming to the convent for the monastery's elections, and 489 00:35:49,239 --> 00:35:54,640 Speaker 1: she saw an opportunity. Katerina threatened Mariana, saying that if 490 00:35:54,640 --> 00:35:57,600 Speaker 1: she didn't release her when the Monseigneur arrived, she was 491 00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:02,400 Speaker 1: going to tell him everything about the affair, about Little Alma, 492 00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:06,400 Speaker 1: about every sinful detail of the ways Marianna had broken 493 00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:10,640 Speaker 1: her sacred vows. Even if he had already known about 494 00:36:10,680 --> 00:36:13,800 Speaker 1: it vaguely, as did many people in Monts at the time, 495 00:36:14,239 --> 00:36:17,200 Speaker 1: he wouldn't be able to ignore a report made to 496 00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:22,680 Speaker 1: him directly. The punishment for such brazen, repeated crimes would 497 00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:26,440 Speaker 1: be much more severe than simply being stuck in a 498 00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:30,359 Speaker 1: woodshed for a few nights. Where the affair had at 499 00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:33,879 Speaker 1: first felt like freedom to Mariana, now it was as 500 00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:37,520 Speaker 1: though the walls were closing in on her. If Katerina 501 00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:42,080 Speaker 1: followed through on her threat, Mariana would lose everything. In 502 00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:46,160 Speaker 1: a panic, she gathered her four closest confidants from the convent, 503 00:36:46,600 --> 00:36:51,799 Speaker 1: sisters Otavia, Benedetta, Candida Colombo, and Sylvia, and had them 504 00:36:51,960 --> 00:37:00,000 Speaker 1: send a message to Jean Paulo. The night before the election, 505 00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:03,200 Speaker 1: the six of them snuck into the woodshed to try 506 00:37:03,239 --> 00:37:06,680 Speaker 1: to talk some sense into Katerina. As the nuns would 507 00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:10,040 Speaker 1: later tell it, they tried first to reason with her, 508 00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:13,799 Speaker 1: but the stubborn girl stuck to her guns. According to 509 00:37:13,880 --> 00:37:18,960 Speaker 1: Mariana's later testimony, the girl rebuffed any attempt at negotiating, 510 00:37:19,400 --> 00:37:22,440 Speaker 1: even crying out, I don't want to hear your chatter anymore, 511 00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:24,520 Speaker 1: but I want to be your ruin and that of 512 00:37:24,560 --> 00:37:28,000 Speaker 1: your lover, and tomorrow morning you all will come here 513 00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:31,759 Speaker 1: to this place where I am. The threat of imprisonment 514 00:37:32,239 --> 00:37:35,880 Speaker 1: hung in the dark, dank air of the makeshift cell 515 00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:40,120 Speaker 1: where they all stood at that It was Jean Paolo 516 00:37:40,239 --> 00:37:44,040 Speaker 1: who had heard enough. He grabbed a wooden board that 517 00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:47,200 Speaker 1: had an iron rod running through it, which he had 518 00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:51,520 Speaker 1: taken from the monastery's workshop, and struck with one blow 519 00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:55,840 Speaker 1: to the head, then another, and another. Jean Paolo killed 520 00:37:56,040 --> 00:38:01,200 Speaker 1: Katerina as Marianna and the other nuns looked on in horror. 521 00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:06,239 Speaker 1: The nuns and the nobleman stood over the body of 522 00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:09,359 Speaker 1: the young girl as the reality of what they had 523 00:38:09,440 --> 00:38:14,239 Speaker 1: done settled in. Perhaps in between suggestions for how to 524 00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:19,640 Speaker 1: hide the body, they attempted to justify their crime. Katerina 525 00:38:19,680 --> 00:38:23,200 Speaker 1: was unruly and indignant, and she was going to reveal 526 00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:27,480 Speaker 1: Marianna and John Powlo's many, many indiscretions to the Monseigneur, 527 00:38:28,040 --> 00:38:32,880 Speaker 1: destroying not only their individual reputations, but likely the reputation 528 00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:37,680 Speaker 1: of the convent as well. She would have ruined everything well, 529 00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:47,080 Speaker 1: as it would turn out, she still could. That's the 530 00:38:47,120 --> 00:38:50,840 Speaker 1: first part of the salacious and tragic story of the 531 00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:54,719 Speaker 1: Nun of Mansa. But stick around after a brief sponsor 532 00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:57,759 Speaker 1: break to hear about the novel that would make her 533 00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:09,760 Speaker 1: one of the most famous nuns UN's gone bad. In history, 534 00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:13,800 Speaker 1: the story of Marianna de Laivier Marino and her affair 535 00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:17,400 Speaker 1: with John Paolo Ossio might have been relegated to the 536 00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:21,480 Speaker 1: annals of Curious local history if not for the nineteenth 537 00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:27,040 Speaker 1: century author Alessandro Manzoni, who read the proceedings of Mariana's 538 00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:31,520 Speaker 1: later trial and was captivated by her complex and at 539 00:39:31,600 --> 00:39:38,520 Speaker 1: times contradictory character. His eighteen twenty seven novel, translated in 540 00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:42,440 Speaker 1: English as The Betrothed, is often named as the most 541 00:39:42,560 --> 00:39:46,680 Speaker 1: famous and widely read work in the Italian language other 542 00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:50,840 Speaker 1: than Dante's Divine Comedy, and the one character in the 543 00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:55,800 Speaker 1: story is based on Marianna. The Betrothed tells the story 544 00:39:55,880 --> 00:39:59,360 Speaker 1: of the young lovers Renzo and Luccia, who, after having 545 00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:02,680 Speaker 1: their weddings forwarded by an evil baron who has his 546 00:40:02,719 --> 00:40:05,560 Speaker 1: own eyes set on Lucia, go on a series of 547 00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:09,080 Speaker 1: adventures and run into a series of obstacles as they 548 00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:13,520 Speaker 1: try to outsmart the baron and have their love legally recognized. 549 00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:17,080 Speaker 1: Their travels take them to Monza, where they come upon 550 00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:20,920 Speaker 1: a nun named Gertrude, who, over the course of several 551 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:24,560 Speaker 1: chapters and through a series of flashbacks reveals the story 552 00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:28,320 Speaker 1: of her toward affair with a nobleman, an evil man 553 00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:31,080 Speaker 1: who had made her an accomplice in his murder of 554 00:40:31,160 --> 00:40:35,400 Speaker 1: another nun, and who would later in the novel force 555 00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:38,920 Speaker 1: Gertrude to aid in the kidnapping of the young Lucia, 556 00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:43,040 Speaker 1: and who would later in the novel force Gertrude to 557 00:40:43,160 --> 00:40:46,560 Speaker 1: aid in the kidnapping of the young Lucia, who throughout 558 00:40:46,640 --> 00:40:49,040 Speaker 1: the book never seems to be able to catch a break. 559 00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:54,640 Speaker 1: Manzoni's novel allowed Marianna's story to take on new life, 560 00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:58,920 Speaker 1: and The Nun of Monza became a staple of Italian 561 00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:03,400 Speaker 1: literature into the twentieth century. It has been adapted to 562 00:41:03,480 --> 00:41:07,240 Speaker 1: film with varying levels of faithfulness to the historical facts 563 00:41:07,600 --> 00:41:13,120 Speaker 1: at least seven times since nineteen sixty two, inspiring comedies, 564 00:41:13,520 --> 00:41:19,000 Speaker 1: several historical dramas, an erotic drama, and most recently, a 565 00:41:19,200 --> 00:41:24,839 Speaker 1: modern thriller complete with a gun toting nun detective. Unfortunately, 566 00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:27,960 Speaker 1: if that sounds incredibly interesting to you, most of these 567 00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:33,280 Speaker 1: adaptations are in Italian. It's the earlier films, however, namely 568 00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:36,920 Speaker 1: the Italian historical dramas that came out of the nineteen sixties, 569 00:41:37,239 --> 00:41:41,960 Speaker 1: where we see one of Mariana's more interesting modern influences. 570 00:41:42,640 --> 00:41:46,359 Speaker 1: As it turned out, Mariana's story, that of a young 571 00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:49,160 Speaker 1: girl placed in a convent against her will who fell 572 00:41:49,239 --> 00:41:54,440 Speaker 1: prey to temptation, offered a perfect opportunity to explore the 573 00:41:54,520 --> 00:42:00,759 Speaker 1: tension between sexuality and romance and religious enclosure, and the 574 00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:04,120 Speaker 1: violence that might ensue when that tension came to boil. 575 00:42:04,840 --> 00:42:09,680 Speaker 1: That plot structure gained popularity, especially in Italy through the 576 00:42:09,760 --> 00:42:14,040 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies and became one of the standard templates for 577 00:42:14,120 --> 00:42:18,560 Speaker 1: a popular genre of film still popular today, especially in 578 00:42:18,600 --> 00:42:23,080 Speaker 1: American horror movies, that has come to be known as nonsploitation. 579 00:42:28,680 --> 00:42:33,000 Speaker 1: Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm and 580 00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:37,440 Speaker 1: Mild from Aaron Mank. Noble Blood is created and hosted 581 00:42:37,480 --> 00:42:42,160 Speaker 1: by me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and researching by 582 00:42:42,239 --> 00:42:47,760 Speaker 1: Hannah Johnston, Hanna Zwick, Mira Hayward, Courtney Sender, and Lori Goodman. 583 00:42:48,239 --> 00:42:52,040 Speaker 1: The show is edited and produced by Noemi Griffin and 584 00:42:52,280 --> 00:42:57,960 Speaker 1: rima il Kaali, with supervising producer Josh Thain and executive 585 00:42:58,040 --> 00:43:02,640 Speaker 1: producers Aaron Manke, Alec Williams and Matt Frederick. For more 586 00:43:02,760 --> 00:43:08,640 Speaker 1: podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 587 00:43:08,680 --> 00:43:10,720 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.