Beatrice Cenci
Encyclopedia
Beatrice Cenci was an Italian noblewoman. She is famous as the protagonist in a lurid murder trial in Rome.
Beatrice was the daughter of Francesco Cenci, an aristocrat who, due to his violent temper and immoral behaviour, had found himself in trouble with papal justice more than once. They lived in Rome in the rione Regola
, in the Palazzo Cenci, built over the ruins of a medieval fortified palace at the edge of Rome's Jewish ghetto
. Together with them lived also Beatrice's elder brother Giacomo, Francesco's second wife, Lucrezia Petroni, and Bernardo, the young boy born from Francesco's second marriage. Among their other possessions there was a castle, La Rocca of Petrella Salto
, a small village near Rieti
, north of Rome.
with Beatrice. He had been jailed for other crimes, but thanks to the leniency with which the nobles were treated, he had been freed early. Beatrice had tried to inform the authorities about the frequent mistreatments, but nothing had happened, although everybody in Rome knew what kind of person her father was. When he found out that his daughter had reported against him, he sent Beatrice and Lucrezia away from Rome, to live in the family's country castle. The four Cenci decided they had no alternative but to try to get rid of Francesco, and all together organised a plot. In 1598, during one of Francesco's stays at the castle, two vassals (one of whom had become Beatrice's secret lover) helped them to drug the man, but this failed to kill Francesco. Following this Beatrice, her siblings and step mother bludgeoned Francesco to death with a hammer and threw the body off a balcony to make it look like an accident. However, no one believed the death to be accidental.
Somehow his absence was noticed, and the papal police tried to find out what had happened. Beatrice's lover was tortured, and died without revealing the truth. Meanwhile a family friend, who was aware of the murder, ordered the killing of the second vassal, to avoid any risk. The plot was discovered all the same and the four members of the Cenci family were arrested, found guilty, and sentenced to death. The common people of Rome, knowing the reasons for the murder, protested against the tribunal's decision, obtaining a short postponement of the execution. However, Pope Clement VIII, fearing a spate of familial murders (the Countess of Santa Croce had recently been murdered by her son for financial gain), showed no mercy at all. On 11 September 1599, at dawn, they were taken to Sant'Angelo
Bridge, where the scaffold was usually built.
In the cart to the scaffold, Giacomo was subjected to continual torture. On reaching the scaffold his head was smashed with a mallet
. His corpse was then quartered. The public spectacle continued with the executions of first Lucrezia and finally Beatrice; both took their turns on the block, to be beheaded
with a sword. Only the 12-year-old, Bernardino, was spared, yet he too was led to the scaffold and forced to witness the execution of his relatives, before returning to prison and having his properties confiscated (to be given to the pope's own family). It had been decreed that Bernadino should then become a galley slave for the remainder of his life; however, he was released a year later.
Beatrice was buried in the church of San Pietro in Montorio
. For the people of Rome she became a symbol of resistance against the arrogant aristocracy and a legend arose: every year on the night before her death, she came back to the bridge carrying her severed head.
The painting of Beatrice Cenci by Mannerist painter Guido Reni (1575–1642) and the legend surrounding Beatrice figures prominently in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Marble Faun
(1860). The book's two principal female characters, Hilda and Miriam, debate the nature and extent of Beatrice's guilt. Hilda believes Beatrice's act to be "inexpiable crime" but Miriam believes it was "no sin at all, but the best possible virtue in the circumstances". Hawthorne draws many similarities between Miriam and Beatrice and the reader must debate whether or not Miriam is an avenger or a culprit.
Reni's painting also appears in David Lynch's film Mulholland Dr.
(2001), shown hanging in the Hollywood apartment of Ruth Elms, as a reference to Cenci.
An Italian film about her story, directed by Lucio Fulci
, was released in 1969. The Canadian opera Beatrice Chancy
, written by George Elliott Clarke
and James Rolfe
(and inspired by the Shelley play), transplanted the story to a 19th century Nova Scotia
setting. Harriet Goodhue Hosmer
sculpted the marble Beatrice Cenci (1857) which resides at the St. Louis Mercantile Library
Beatrice was the daughter of Francesco Cenci, an aristocrat who, due to his violent temper and immoral behaviour, had found himself in trouble with papal justice more than once. They lived in Rome in the rione Regola
Regola (rione of Rome)
Regola is the VII rione of Rome. The name comes from Arenula, that was the name of the soft sand that the river Tiber left after the floods, and that built strands on the left bank...
, in the Palazzo Cenci, built over the ruins of a medieval fortified palace at the edge of Rome's Jewish ghetto
Ghetto
A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...
. Together with them lived also Beatrice's elder brother Giacomo, Francesco's second wife, Lucrezia Petroni, and Bernardo, the young boy born from Francesco's second marriage. Among their other possessions there was a castle, La Rocca of Petrella Salto
Petrella Salto
Petrella Salto is a comune in the Province of Rieti in the Italian region Latium, located about 60 km northeast of Rome and about 20 km southeast of Rieti.-External links:*...
, a small village near Rieti
Rieti
Rieti is a city and comune in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of c. 47,700. It is the capital of province of Rieti.The town centre rests on a small hilltop, commanding a wide plain at the southern edge of an ancient lake. The area is now the fertile basin of the Velino River...
, north of Rome.
History
According to the legend, Francesco Cenci abused his wife and his sons, and had reached the point of committing incestIncest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
with Beatrice. He had been jailed for other crimes, but thanks to the leniency with which the nobles were treated, he had been freed early. Beatrice had tried to inform the authorities about the frequent mistreatments, but nothing had happened, although everybody in Rome knew what kind of person her father was. When he found out that his daughter had reported against him, he sent Beatrice and Lucrezia away from Rome, to live in the family's country castle. The four Cenci decided they had no alternative but to try to get rid of Francesco, and all together organised a plot. In 1598, during one of Francesco's stays at the castle, two vassals (one of whom had become Beatrice's secret lover) helped them to drug the man, but this failed to kill Francesco. Following this Beatrice, her siblings and step mother bludgeoned Francesco to death with a hammer and threw the body off a balcony to make it look like an accident. However, no one believed the death to be accidental.
Somehow his absence was noticed, and the papal police tried to find out what had happened. Beatrice's lover was tortured, and died without revealing the truth. Meanwhile a family friend, who was aware of the murder, ordered the killing of the second vassal, to avoid any risk. The plot was discovered all the same and the four members of the Cenci family were arrested, found guilty, and sentenced to death. The common people of Rome, knowing the reasons for the murder, protested against the tribunal's decision, obtaining a short postponement of the execution. However, Pope Clement VIII, fearing a spate of familial murders (the Countess of Santa Croce had recently been murdered by her son for financial gain), showed no mercy at all. On 11 September 1599, at dawn, they were taken to Sant'Angelo
Castel Sant'Angelo
The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as the Castel Sant'Angelo, is a towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano, Rome, Italy. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family...
Bridge, where the scaffold was usually built.
In the cart to the scaffold, Giacomo was subjected to continual torture. On reaching the scaffold his head was smashed with a mallet
Mallet
A mallet is a kind of hammer, usually of rubber,or sometimes wood smaller than a maul or beetle and usually with a relatively large head.-Tools:Tool mallets come in different types, the most common of which are:...
. His corpse was then quartered. The public spectacle continued with the executions of first Lucrezia and finally Beatrice; both took their turns on the block, to be beheaded
Decapitation
Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...
with a sword. Only the 12-year-old, Bernardino, was spared, yet he too was led to the scaffold and forced to witness the execution of his relatives, before returning to prison and having his properties confiscated (to be given to the pope's own family). It had been decreed that Bernadino should then become a galley slave for the remainder of his life; however, he was released a year later.
Beatrice was buried in the church of San Pietro in Montorio
San Pietro in Montorio
San Pietro in Montorio is a church in Rome, Italy, which includes in its courtyard The Tempietto built by Donato Bramante.-History:...
. For the people of Rome she became a symbol of resistance against the arrogant aristocracy and a legend arose: every year on the night before her death, she came back to the bridge carrying her severed head.
Literature and arts
Beatrice Cenci has been the subject of a number of literary and musical works:- Percy Bysshe ShelleyPercy Bysshe ShelleyPercy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...
's verse drama The Cenci: A Tragedy in Five Acts (composed at Rome and at Villa Valsovano near LivornoLivornoLivorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...
, May–5 August 1819, published spring 1820 by C. & J. Ollier, London, 1819) - Les Cenci, a short story by StendhalStendhalMarie-Henri Beyle , better known by his pen name Stendhal, was a 19th-century French writer. Known for his acute analysis of his characters' psychology, he is considered one of the earliest and foremost practitioners of realism in his two novels Le Rouge et le Noir and La Chartreuse de Parme...
(1837) - Béatrix Cenci, a verse drama (1839), by Polish poet, Juliusz Słowacki
- Beatrice Cenci, a statue by American sculptor Harriet Goodhue HosmerHarriet Goodhue HosmerHarriet Goodhue Hosmer was an American sculptor.-Biography:Harriet Hosmer was born at Watertown, Massachusetts....
. - Beatrice Cenci, a novel by Francesco Domenico GuerrazziFrancesco Domenico GuerrazziFrancesco Domenico Guerrazzi was an Italian writer and politician involved in the Italian risorgimento.-Biography:...
(1854) - "Beatrice Cenci (In a City Shop-Window)", (1871) a poem by Sarah Piatt, American poet.
- Béatrix Cenci, by Astolphe de Custine
- Nemesis, tragedy by Alfred NobelAlfred NobelAlfred Bernhard Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, innovator, and armaments manufacturer. He is the inventor of dynamite. Nobel also owned Bofors, which he had redirected from its previous role as primarily an iron and steel producer to a major manufacturer of cannon and other armaments...
. - Beatrice Cenci, a play by Alberto MoraviaAlberto MoraviaAlberto Moravia, born Alberto Pincherle was an Italian novelist and journalist. His novels explored matters of modern sexuality, social alienation, and existentialism....
- Beatrix Cenci, opera by Alberto GinasteraAlberto GinasteraAlberto Evaristo Ginastera was an Argentine composer of classical music. He is considered one of the most important Latin American classical composers.- Biography :...
, based on the Shelley play - Beatrice Cenci, opera by Berthold GoldschmidtBerthold GoldschmidtBerthold Goldschmidt was a German Jewish composer who spent most of his life in England...
, based on the Shelley play - Les Cenci (1935), play by Antonin ArtaudAntonin ArtaudAntoine Marie Joseph Artaud, more well-known as Antonin Artaud was a French playwright, poet, actor and theatre director...
, adaptation of the Shelley play - The Cenci, essay by Alexandre DumasAlexandre Dumas, pèreAlexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
in Volume 1 of Celebrated Crimes (1840) - The Cenci (1951–52), an opera by Havergal BrianHavergal BrianHavergal Brian , was a British classical composer.Brian acquired a legendary status at the time of his rediscovery in the 1950s and 1960s for the many symphonies he had managed to write. By the end of his life he had completed 32, an unusually large number for any composer since Haydn or Mozart...
(abridged from Shelley's play) - The Cenci Family (2004), a radio play by Lizzie HopleyLizzie HopleyLizzie Hopley is a British actor and writer.She appears in several audio plays based on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. Her first appearance was as the Eighth Doctor’s companion Gemma Griffin in Terror Firma. She also portrayed the sister of Davros in the I, Davros...
directed by Lu KempLu KempShe directed How to Tell The Truth by Chris Dunkley for the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough in 2003, and Almost Blue for the Riverside Studios, Hammersmith in 2005 which won The Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award 2005. Previously she worked with TAG Theatre Company, Glasgow on a... - Beatrice Cenci (2006), musical drama by Alessandro Londei e Brunella Caronti (original play)
- Fallen Angel (2011), a novel by David Hewson
The painting of Beatrice Cenci by Mannerist painter Guido Reni (1575–1642) and the legend surrounding Beatrice figures prominently in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Marble Faun
The Marble Faun
The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni, also known as Transformation, was the last of the four major romances by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and was published in 1860. The Marble Faun, written on the eve of the American Civil War, is set in a fantastical Italy...
(1860). The book's two principal female characters, Hilda and Miriam, debate the nature and extent of Beatrice's guilt. Hilda believes Beatrice's act to be "inexpiable crime" but Miriam believes it was "no sin at all, but the best possible virtue in the circumstances". Hawthorne draws many similarities between Miriam and Beatrice and the reader must debate whether or not Miriam is an avenger or a culprit.
Reni's painting also appears in David Lynch's film Mulholland Dr.
Mulholland Drive (film)
Mulholland Drive is a 2001 American neo-noir psychological thriller written and directed by David Lynch, starring Justin Theroux, Naomi Watts, and Laura Harring. The surrealist film was highly acclaimed by many critics and earned Lynch the Prix de la mise en scène at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival...
(2001), shown hanging in the Hollywood apartment of Ruth Elms, as a reference to Cenci.
An Italian film about her story, directed by Lucio Fulci
Lucio Fulci
Lucio Fulci was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is perhaps best known for his directorial work on gore films, including Zombie and The Beyond , although he made films in genres as diverse as giallo, western, and comedy...
, was released in 1969. The Canadian opera Beatrice Chancy
Beatrice Chancy
Beatrice Chancy is a 1999 Canadian opera. The libretto was written by George Elliott Clarke, and the music by James Rolfe.Based on Percy Bysshe Shelley's play The Cenci, which was itself based on the true story of Beatrice Cenci, the opera transplants the story from 16th century Italy to the...
, written by George Elliott Clarke
George Elliott Clarke
George Elliott Clarke, OC is a Canadian poet and playwright. His work largely explores and chronicles the experience and history of the Black Canadian community of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, creating a cultural geography that Clarke refers to as "Africadia".-Life:Born to William and Geraldine...
and James Rolfe
James Rolfe
James Simon Rolfe is one of Canada's leading composers of contemporary music. He studied composition with John Beckwith at the University of Toronto and Jo Kondo in Japan...
(and inspired by the Shelley play), transplanted the story to a 19th century Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
setting. Harriet Goodhue Hosmer
Harriet Goodhue Hosmer
Harriet Goodhue Hosmer was an American sculptor.-Biography:Harriet Hosmer was born at Watertown, Massachusetts....
sculpted the marble Beatrice Cenci (1857) which resides at the St. Louis Mercantile Library
St. Louis Mercantile Library
The St. Louis Mercantile Library, founded in 1846 in St. Louis, Missouri, was originally established as a subscription library, and is the oldest extant library west of the Mississippi River. Since 1998 the library has been housed at the University of Missouri-St. Louis...