Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised the feast
Speaker 1: was going to be extravagant. The year was thirteen twenty four,
Speaker 1: and cousins Ramberto and Ferrantino and their uncle Pandolfo Malitesta
Speaker 1: were making the final preparations for the meal at Romberto's estate,
Speaker 1: a castle nestled in the rolling hills of what is
Speaker 1: now the region of Emilia Romagna in Italy, then simply
Speaker 1: called Romagna. Their sole invitee to this party their other
Speaker 1: cousin slash nephew, Uberto, and he was making his way
Speaker 1: toward the castle, blissfully unaware that he was riding to
Speaker 1: his death. The three hosts had planned the murder of
Speaker 1: their kinsmen perfectly, a theatrical assassination disguised as a friendly
Speaker 1: family dinner which would serve as revenge for Sin's spanning
Speaker 1: a generation. Uberto Maltesta's death at the hands of his
Speaker 1: family members is a dramatic episode in a particularly bloody
Speaker 1: era of Italian history, but not actually the topic of
Speaker 1: today's episode. A few decades prior to that fateful family banquet,
Speaker 1: Ramberto's father, a man named Jianchoto, actually killed Uberto's father. Remember,
Speaker 1: Ramberto and Uberto were cousins, their fathers were brothers, and
Speaker 1: Gianchoto discovered his brother having an affair.
Speaker 2: With his wife. After catching them red handed, he killed
Speaker 2: them both. The adulterous affair and subsequent murder of Jianchoto's
Speaker 2: brother Paulo and his wife Francesca would go on to
Speaker 2: be immortalized by the Italian writer Dante Aligiari as two
Speaker 2: of the damned characters he meets during his visit to Hell.
Speaker 2: But what Dante failed to record in his Inferno were
Speaker 2: the numerous intra familial murders, political assassinations, revenge killings, and
Speaker 2: even an attempted mass family murder that plagued the Maltesta
Speaker 2: family for nearly fifty years after Paolo and Francesca's stories end.
Speaker 2: So let's start from the beginning. I'm Dana Schwartz, and
Speaker 2: this is noble blood. Paulo and Jianchoto Maltesta were meant
Speaker 2: to carry on a great legacy. Theirs was a family
Speaker 2: new to nobility, but their father's explosive rise to power
Speaker 2: had quickly carried the brothers to prominence. Maltesta de Verruchio
Speaker 2: was a powerful condottieri, or commander of a mercy and company.
Speaker 2: Many condottieri became the sort of military princes who served
Speaker 2: a pope or other ruler, but often had sovereignty of
Speaker 2: their own as dukes or counts. Malitesta da Verrucchio had
Speaker 2: come into his power ruthlessly. Northern Italy during this period
Speaker 2: was embroiled in the after effects of the Investiture Controversy,
Speaker 2: which resulted in conflicts between Pope supporting Gwelths and Holy
Speaker 2: Roman Emperor supporting Ghibelines. Maltesta was the leader of the
Speaker 2: Guelphs in Romagna and became podesta, or chief magistrate of
Speaker 2: Rmany in twelve thirty nine. In twelve ninety five, he
Speaker 2: would go on to kill or expel the leading members
Speaker 2: of the Gibeline faction in Rumany, making himself the city's
Speaker 2: undisputed and unchecked ruler. Between two marriages, he had seven children,
Speaker 2: each of whom he would use to expand his power,
Speaker 2: either through warfare or marriage. For our purposes, we'll focus
Speaker 2: on his four sons, Mala, Testino, Jianchoto, and Paolo from
Speaker 2: his first wife and Pandulfo from his second wife, Mala.
Speaker 2: Testino and Pandulfo will be important in next week's episode,
Speaker 2: but for now, all you really need to know about
Speaker 2: them is that they would go on to inherit in
Speaker 2: succession their father's lordship of Remedy. But for now we're
Speaker 2: focused on the brothers, Paolo and Jianchoto. If anything in
Speaker 2: their early lives pointed to the roots of Paolo and
Speaker 2: Jianchoto's storied and eventually deadly rivalry, it would probably be
Speaker 2: the fact that Paulo was known throughout his life as
Speaker 2: Ilbello Paolo the Handsome. The name Jianchoto was actually a
Speaker 2: diminutive of Giovanni, an emasculating nickname that Jianchoto still might
Speaker 2: well have preferred to his other nickname, Los Gancato or
Speaker 2: the Lame. Sources, many of which were written long after
Speaker 2: the fact, describe Jianchoto variously as disabled, disfigured, or simply
Speaker 2: visually unappealing, in any case, a stark contrast to his strapping,
Speaker 2: handsome younger brother. The lives of the sons of Condotieri
Speaker 2: were often defined by war and political intrigue, and Paolo
Speaker 2: and Jianchoto were no exception. Apparently not content to rest
Speaker 2: on his handsome laurels, Paolo showed himself to be an
Speaker 2: astute politician, and he became an experienced military leader at
Speaker 2: just nineteen years old. In twelve sixty five, he followed
Speaker 2: his father in fighting the Gibelines, aiding in seven viveral
Speaker 2: decisive battles. Johnchoto, too, proved to be an asset to
Speaker 2: his father in war, becoming known as much for his
Speaker 2: bravery as for his unsavory appearance. By around twelve seventy five,
Speaker 2: John Choto also proved a useful political chess piece when
Speaker 2: his father promised him in marriage to Francesca da Polenta.
Speaker 2: Francesca was a young noblewoman from nearby Ravenna, the daughter
Speaker 2: of one of its two lords, Guido the First da Polenta.
Speaker 2: Wido shared power with his relative Wuido Riccio da Polenta
Speaker 2: over Ravenna. Their balance of power was uneasy to begin with,
Speaker 2: but they both also had to contend with the powerful
Speaker 2: Traversari family opposing them within the city, as well as
Speaker 2: various threats from without, most especially the Lord of Urbino.
Speaker 2: Guido again, I'm sorry, another Guido the First da Montrefelto
Speaker 2: Guido da Montefeltro had recently vested Maltesta de Verrucchio in battle.
Speaker 2: Although Ravenna and Riminy had themselves been at war, Mala
Speaker 2: Testa and Guido di Polenta were united by this common enemy,
Speaker 2: and so Guido di Polenta's daughter Francesca became at once
Speaker 2: a reward for Maltesta's support and a means of consolidating
Speaker 2: power which would allow Guido de Polenta not only the
Speaker 2: ability to fend off his enemies, but also to seize
Speaker 2: sole control of Ravenna. Decades later, the humanist writer Giovanni
Speaker 2: Boccaccio would write that Mala Testa de Verrocchio used Paulo
Speaker 2: to trick Francesca into her marriage to Giancoto. By this time,
Speaker 2: Paulo had actually already been married for some six years
Speaker 2: and a political match of his own. It was not
Speaker 2: uncommon in this period for noble marriages to be executed
Speaker 2: by proxy, with someone else standing in for one or
Speaker 2: both of the marrying parties during the ceremony. Paulo, as
Speaker 2: the married brother of the groom, would have been a
Speaker 2: perfect candidate to stand in and marry Francesca by proxy.
Speaker 2: Boccaccio wrote that Mala Testa deliberately misled Francesca about this arrangement,
Speaker 2: and that when she walked down the aisle and laid
Speaker 2: her eyes on a handsome, charming man waiting at the
Speaker 2: end of it, she thought it was Paolo that she
Speaker 2: was going to marry. Of course, she was wrong. Boccaccio
Speaker 2: reasoned that Malatesta worried that she or her father would
Speaker 2: have refused the marriage had she known that her betrothed
Speaker 2: was the uglier brother. As dramatic a tidbit, that is,
Speaker 2: there is no hard evidence that this is how Paolo
Speaker 2: and Francesca affair began. It's quite likely that Francesca already
Speaker 2: knew who Paolo and Jianchoto were and knew that Paolo
Speaker 2: was married as well, given her family's close and long
Speaker 2: running dealings with the Malatesta family. But however, the marriage began,
Speaker 2: and whatever Paolo's role in its beginnings were, before long,
Speaker 2: Francesca and Paolo would find themselves entangled and an affair
Speaker 2: that would rock the Malatesta family and define its legacy
Speaker 2: for centuries. The poet Dante Aligari spent the final five
Speaker 2: years of his life living in Revenna. Famously exiled from
Speaker 2: his native Florence in thirteen oh two, he had spent
Speaker 2: over a decade living in various parts of northern Italy,
Speaker 2: hosted by sympathetic friends and supporters. In thirteen sixteen, he
Speaker 2: was invited to stay in Revenna by its recently crowned lawy,
Speaker 2: Guido the second da Polenta. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, so
Speaker 2: many Guidos. This Guido was the nephew of the now
Speaker 2: decades dead Francesco dot Polenta. We're fast forwarding here. Scholars
Speaker 2: believe it was during this visit to Ravenna that Dante
Speaker 2: learned of the tragic tale of Paolo and Francesca's love affair,
Speaker 2: before he would cement it in one of the most
Speaker 2: celebrated works of literature in Italian history, The Divine Comedy,
Speaker 2: completed shortly before the author's death in thirteen twenty one.
Speaker 2: It's only because of Dante that we know any of
Speaker 2: the details of what happened next in Paolo and Francesca's story.
Speaker 2: Knowing that he likely learned the story from a family
Speaker 2: member of Francesca's offers his version some credibility. However, remember
Speaker 2: this was written decades later, and there is no independent
Speaker 2: history record confirming any of it, so we will never
Speaker 2: know exactly whether or where Dante took liberties. We find
Speaker 2: Paolo and Francesca in Dante's Inferno as a pair of souls,
Speaker 2: damned to hell for their illicit romance. As Dante and
Speaker 2: his imagined guide, the Roman poet Virgil, entered the second
Speaker 2: circle of Hell, the one reserved for those who fell
Speaker 2: prey to their lust, they find the two lovers spirits
Speaker 2: flying aimlessly through the air, blown about in an infernal storm,
Speaker 2: yet remaining inseparably entangled with one another as if they
Speaker 2: were one single spirit. Dante calls to them as they
Speaker 2: float by, and it's Francesca who regales the visitors with
Speaker 2: their tail as her beloved Paolo weeps and wails alongside
Speaker 2: her as she tells it. Francesca's life love story with
Speaker 2: her husband's brother started out innocently enough. They spent time
Speaker 2: together in a friendly way, a pleasant outcome to her
Speaker 2: essentially political marriage. Things took a turn rather suddenly, however,
Speaker 2: when one day the pair were reading the story of
Speaker 2: Lancelot and his forbidden love with Gwenevere, the story of
Speaker 2: Lancelot's brother in arms, King Arthur, describing a scene that
Speaker 2: seems to predict the modern rom com. Francesca's spirit tells
Speaker 2: Dante how as they read, their eyes kept meeting, sparks
Speaker 2: flying between them, before they looked away, blushing. Finally, as
Speaker 2: the story they were reading came to its own climax,
Speaker 2: the tension between the readers was too much to bear.
Speaker 2: As Francesca put it, when of that smile we read
Speaker 2: the wish to smile rapturously kissed by one so deep
Speaker 2: in love than he who ne'er for me shall separate
Speaker 2: at once, my lips, all trembling, kissed the book and
Speaker 2: writer both were love's purveyors in its leaves. That day
Speaker 2: we read no more. It's certainly possible that this is
Speaker 2: actually how the affair began, although it definitely seems a
Speaker 2: little too perfectly literary to be entirely true. We don't
Speaker 2: even really know quite when it began, although it seems
Speaker 2: to have been not long after Francesca's marriage to Gianchoto.
Speaker 2: We also don't know the circumstances that preceded the affair.
Speaker 2: Much has been said about Jianchoto's unsavory appearance, but did
Speaker 2: Francesca feel that way about him. Was their marriage pleasant
Speaker 2: but passionless? Or was he a brute? And what of
Speaker 2: Paolo and his wife? Both couples had children. Of course,
Speaker 2: we could question the paternity of Francesca's children, but certainly
Speaker 2: Paolo at least fulfilled his marital duties to his wife.
Speaker 2: We may never know these things, but however it happened.
Speaker 2: Once the affair began, It seems that Paulo and Francesca,
Speaker 2: much like their spirits in Dante's story, could hardly be
Speaker 2: separated from one another. The affair carried on seemingly unbeknownst
Speaker 2: to everyone, or at least unbeknownst to Jianchoto, for years,
Speaker 2: some scholars estimate over a decade, although it's impossible to
Speaker 2: know for sure. We can imagine Janchoto carrying on in
Speaker 2: his duties, perhaps leaving for long stretches to fight on
Speaker 2: his father's behalf, leaving his wife at home and free
Speaker 2: to rendezvous with his more handsome brother. For his part,
Speaker 2: Paulo balanced his own duties, including keeping up appearances with
Speaker 2: his own wife, with his and Francesca's passionate affair. However,
Speaker 2: they managed it. It worked for them for a while,
Speaker 2: but Francesca's and Paolo's days together were numbered. Eventually, Jianchoto
Speaker 2: would discover the dual betrayal that had been going on
Speaker 2: for years right under his nose. We don't really know
Speaker 2: how Janchoto found out. Most retellings agree that he stumbled
Speaker 2: upon his brothers and his wife's affair some time between
Speaker 2: twelve eighty three and twelve eighty six. Some even say
Speaker 2: he caught them in the act. Dante doesn't offer us
Speaker 2: any details here. Again, the juiciest version of the story,
Speaker 2: and the one we can't confirm, is offered by Boccaccio.
Speaker 2: As he told it, Jianchoto suspected nothing until one day,
Speaker 2: while he was away on business for his father, one
Speaker 2: of his servants came to him with a confession. The servant,
Speaker 2: apparently moved by pity for his cucoldooed employer and emboldened
Speaker 2: by distance from the rest of the household, told Janchoto
Speaker 2: that he knew his wife and brother were having an affair.
Speaker 2: Determined to get at the truth of the matter, Jianchoto
Speaker 2: insisted upon seeing for himself, and the servant promised he
Speaker 2: would help catch them in the act. The pair returned
Speaker 2: to rhyminy in secret. Perhaps Jianchoto hoped he would find nothing.
Speaker 2: Perhaps he spent the ride home imagining how silly he
Speaker 2: would feel when he arrived to find his faithful wife
Speaker 2: waiting for him. But any hopes he may have harbored
Speaker 2: about his wife's fidelity were dashed when he got home
Speaker 2: and sneaking into his own palazzo, observed Paolo entering Francesca's bedchamber.
Speaker 2: The affair was all but confirmed. Jianchoto was enraged. His
Speaker 2: loyal servant led him to the door of the bedchamber,
Speaker 2: only to find it suspiciously locked from the inside. Janchoto's
Speaker 2: fever hit a fever pitch. He pounded on the door,
Speaker 2: calling out to his wife, maybe calling to his brother too.
Speaker 2: On the other side of the door. Chaos and panic erupted.
Speaker 2: Francesca and Paolo knew they had been found out, but
Speaker 2: they were scrambling to find some way to cover up
Speaker 2: their affair. Suddenly, Paolo had an idea. There was a
Speaker 2: narrow passage with a ladder leading from the bed chamber
Speaker 2: down to another room below. If he squeezed down it,
Speaker 2: he might be able to get away before anyone noticed.
Speaker 2: He told Francesca to let her husband in. He would
Speaker 2: escape through the passage and Jianchoto would be none the wiser. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: as Francesco went to open the door and Paolo went
Speaker 2: to hide his clothes, got caught on an iron bar
Speaker 2: sticking out of one of the wooden beams at the
Speaker 2: top of the passage. He got stuck in plain sight
Speaker 2: just as Janchoto burst into the room. Blinded by rage
Speaker 2: at the sight of his brother, Johanchoto immediately went for
Speaker 2: the kill. Francesca moved to stop her husband, unable to
Speaker 2: bear the thought of losing her love, but it was
Speaker 2: too late. Right as she stood between them, Johanchoto thrust
Speaker 2: his sword forward, stabbing her in the chest instead of Paulo.
Speaker 2: Francesca sank to the floor, dying for a moment. John
Speaker 2: Choto stood frozen, disturbed at what he had done. Then
Speaker 2: he saw Paulo, still caught on the iron bar, crying
Speaker 2: out in grief for Francesca, for his wife. He saw
Speaker 2: how deeply his own brother had loved Francesca, and it
Speaker 2: quelled any thought he might have had of regret or
Speaker 2: of mercy. Jianchoto pulled the sword from his dying wife's
Speaker 2: body and struck out again, this time landing a blow
Speaker 2: squarely on his brother's head. His vengeance complete, he fled,
Speaker 2: sneaking out of the city quietly as he had arrived.
Speaker 2: The lovers' bodies were discovered the next day, and Boccaccio
Speaker 2: tells us buried in a shared tomb, united eternally in
Speaker 2: both their love and their betrayal. Is that how it happened?
Speaker 2: Boccaccio's version of the story certainly has a theatrical air
Speaker 2: to it, though we can find many verified stories of
Speaker 2: affairs gone wrong throughout history that have all of this
Speaker 2: drama and then some. Dante gives us the basic contours
Speaker 2: of the story and points to Jianchoto's guilt in the inferno.
Speaker 2: Jianchoto was said to be condemned to the ninth Circle
Speaker 2: of Hell, the lowest circle reserved for traders. Given his
Speaker 2: access to the family, we can reasonably expect the basic
Speaker 2: facts of Dante's version to be true. Discovered them, Jianchoto
Speaker 2: killed them, but for the rest were left to fill
Speaker 2: in the blanks. However it happened. The bloody murder of
Speaker 2: Paolo and Francesca did little to soothe the growing rivalries
Speaker 2: among the members of the Maltesta family. Maltesta de Verruchio
Speaker 2: had many children, who themselves had many children, and when
Speaker 2: he died in thirteen twelve, they were all left with
Speaker 2: the fractured inheritance of the lands and titles that their
Speaker 2: patriarch had once held as his own. And as the
Speaker 2: children of Paolo Jianchoto and their brothers grew up and
Speaker 2: realized that only one of them would eventually rule Remedy,
Speaker 2: it wouldn't be long before the kinsmen turned on each
Speaker 2: other again. That's the end of the story of the
Speaker 2: first and most famous of the many murders plaguing the
Speaker 2: Malato family. But keep listening after a brief sponsor break
Speaker 2: to hear about the long legacy of Paolo and Francesca's story.
Speaker 2: For Dante, the story of Paolo and Francesca was a
Speaker 2: cautionary tale. He lived in a world where adultery was
Speaker 2: a crime punishable by death, and where desire was seen
Speaker 2: by many as the first step to damnation. As he
Speaker 2: imagined his journey through hell, he found Francesca and Paolo's
Speaker 2: story a powerful warning to his readers about the dangers
Speaker 2: of giving in to one's passions, even as he sympathized
Speaker 2: with their love. As with any story that endures over time, however,
Speaker 2: Paolo and Francesca's story has continued to resonate, but not
Speaker 2: necessarily for the reasons that Dante intended. Particularly in the
Speaker 2: nineteenth century, Francesca and her lover became a focus for
Speaker 2: the imaginations of Romantic writers and artists. As historian John
Speaker 2: Paul Hyle puts it, where in Dante's era it was
Speaker 2: important to control one's passions, the Romantics believed that quote
Speaker 2: subsuming reason to the passions was the goal of a
Speaker 2: life well lived. They began to reimagine Dante's encounter with
Speaker 2: Paolo and Francesca in Hell no longer as symbols of
Speaker 2: the danger of succumbing to one's passions, but rather the
Speaker 2: tragedy of star crossed lovers. Some interpretations even changed the
Speaker 2: endings of their story. In one opera, Ambrose Thomas's eighteen
Speaker 2: eighty two Francois de Rimini, the lovers are pitied by
Speaker 2: God and their spirits allowed to ascend to Heaven, triumphing
Speaker 2: over the punishment needed out to them in Hell and
Speaker 2: in our world by Dante. In the twentieth century, Francesca
Speaker 2: in particular, became a symbol for yet something else female
Speaker 2: agency as a character who not only made her own
Speaker 2: choices in life, disastrous as the outcome may have been,
Speaker 2: but also took control of her own story in death.
Speaker 2: She presents a striking and complex lens through which authors
Speaker 2: and artists have wrestled with memory, pain, betrayal, and yes love.
Speaker 2: Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and
Speaker 2: Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me
Speaker 2: Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannaswick,
Speaker 2: Courtney Sender, Amy Hit and Julia Melaney. The show is
Speaker 2: edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising producer rima
Speaker 2: Il Kayali and executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and
Speaker 2: Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
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