VALPERGA:
Reading edition
OR, THE
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
OF
CASTRUCCIO,
PRINCE OF LUCCA.
BY THE AUTHOR OF "FRANKENSTEIN."
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR G. AND W. B. WHITTAKER, AVE-MARIA-LANE.
1823.
CONTENTS
PREFACE
CHAPTER I
Birth of Castruccio.—His family exiled from Lucca when he is eleven years of age.
CHAPTER II
Castruccio visits Florence.—Characters of Euthanasia dei Adimari and her father.—The father of Castruccio dies.
CHAPTER III
Francis Guinigi, the military Peasant.—Castruccio resides with him one Year.
CHAPTER IV
Castruccio in England.
CHAPTER V
Castruccio in Flanders and France—Alberto Scoto—Benedetto Pepi.
CHAPTER VI
Castruccio in Italy—Susa—Creed of Benedetto.
CHAPTER VII
Milan.—Court of the Emperor Henry.—Arrigo Guinigi.—Sack of Cremona.—Benedetto Pepi.
CHAPTER VIII
Death of the Emperor.—Uguccione, tyrant of Pisa, restores Castruccio at Lucca.—Euthanasia.
CHAPTER IX
Castle of Valperga described—Friendship and Love.
CHAPTER X
Euthanasia's Narrative.
CHAPTER XI
Capture of Monte Catini.—Castruccio treacherously made prisoner by Ranieri, Governor of Lucca.—Delivered, and proclaimed Consul.
CHAPTER XII
Peace between Lucca and Florence.—Bindo.
CHAPTER XIII
Euthanasia holds a Court.
CHAPTER XIV
Euthanasia's Court continued.—Pepi arrives.
PREFACE
The accounts of the Life of Castruccio known in England, are generally taken from Macchiavelli's romance concerning this chief. The reader may find a detail of his real adventures in Sismondi's delightful publication, Histoire des Republiques Italiennes de l'Age Moyen. In addition to this work, I have consulted Tegrino's Life of Castruccio, and Giovanni Villani's Florentine Annals.
The following is a translation from the article respecting him in Moreri.
"Castruccio Castracani, one of the most celebrated captains of his time, lived in the fourteenth century. He was of the family of the Antelminelli of Lucca; and, having at a very early age borne arms in favour of the Ghibelines, he was exiled by the Guelphs. He served not long after in the armies of Philip king of France, who made war on the Flemings. In the sequel he repassed the Alps; and, having joined Uguccione Faggiuola, chief of the Ghibelines of Tuscany, he reduced Lucca, Pistoia, and several other towns. He became the ally of the emperor Louis of Bavaria, against pope John XXII, Robert king of Naples, and the Florentines. Louis of Bavaria gave him the investiture of Lucca under the denomination of Duke, together with the title of Senator of Rome. Nothing seemed able to oppose his courage and good fortune, when he was taken off by a premature death in 1330, in the forty-seventh year of his age."
The dates here given are somewhat different from those adopted in the following narrative.