5624. RB to William Cornwallis Cartwright
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 31, 272–273.
[London]
[mid-/late July] [1865] [1]
Dear Cartwright—this is the memorandum you so kindly choose to trouble yourself with: I have great guesses about most of the matters therein, but want their corroboration: of course, you will take care that nobody begins to book-make or article-make about this till I have done with it. RB.
Count Guido Franceschini of Arezzo murdered his wife Francesca Pompilia Comparini, together with her father and mother, Pietro and Violante Comparini, at Rome on the 2. January, 1698: he was tried for this, and condemned, by “the Court of the Governor of Rome,” on the 18. February, and executed on the 22 following, under the Pontificate of Innocent XII. The Comparini were of the middle class of Rome: their Parish Church,—where the birth of Pompilia and her marriage were registered,—was S. Lorenzo in Lucina (on the Corso.) She had fled from her husband Guido in company of the Canon Giuseppe-Maria Caponsacchi of Arezzo,—whence this revenge.
The advocates for the prosecution were
Franciscus de Gambis, Fisci et Reverendæ Cam. Apost. Procurator Generalis. [2]
Johannes Baptista Bottinius, Fisci et Rev. Cam. Apost. Advocatus. [3]
Those for the defence were
Hyacinthus de Arcangelis, Pauperum Procurator. [4] (or, Notarius Charitatis.)
Desiderius Spretus, Advocatus Pauperum. [5]
I should be glad of any scrap of information respecting the principals above mentioned—with whom may be classed the Abate Paolo Franceschini, younger brother of Guido, and for many years resident in Rome: also,—respecting the Court of the Gubernator in Criminalibus—of how many Judges it was composed—what were the forms of a trial before it—how the examinations were taken—if the pleadings were oral—if the defendant could speak in propriâ personâ—if witnesses were examined by the Court, or privately by deposition: and if there were in all cases a final appeal from the judgment of this Court to the Pope, or only, as in this Case, when the privilege of a clerical person was infringed on—Guido having taken the minor orders, or declared so. (qy: how many could he have taken without preventing himself from marriage? How much of a priest must an Abate be? Could he marry a couple?)
Any particulars of the private life and character of Innocent XII: and of the Jubilee he instituted in 1694.
Any particulars of whatever incident, public or private, may have happened in Rome in 1697–8,—before and just after the murder; any stranger of distinction there, crime committed, accident &c.
The execution of Guido and his four associates took place in the Piazza del Popolo: he was beheaded, the others hanged—con una man[n]aja e due gran forche: [6] —any details of the usual procedure.
The contemporary plans of the Città di Roma,—e dei Contorni, [7] per le Ville,—of Arezzo,—con i suoi contorni, [8] —a post-map of the route from Arezzo to Rome by Chiusi and Castel Vecchio [9] —(with any particulars of this last place otherwise called simply l’Osteria, [10] which used to be one post from Roma—and an almanack or calendar of the Saints’ Days and festivals at Rome for 1697: all or any of these would be most valuable–
It may be useful to mention while making enquiry, that the action of the Church in the whole matter was wholly laudable, and that it opposed the prejudices and passions of the time, for once, with success.
Robert Browning.
Publication: The Poetical Works of Robert Browning. Vol. 7, ed. Stefan Hawlin and T.A.J. Burnett (1998), pp. xx–xxxi (in part), as [ca. June 1865].
Manuscript: Berg Collection.
1. The year is based on the stationery, bearing an 1864 watermark, which RB used from March 1865 to February 1866. The rest of the date is based on two assumptions: 1) RB would give this commission to Cartwright shortly before either one left England for the summer. In this case, RB left England first on 29 July; Cartwright on 19 August. 2) RB met Cartwright at Lady William Russell’s on 14 July (see letter 5623) and discussed the commission.
2. “Francesco de Gambi, General Procurator of the Exchequer and Papal Treasury.”
3. “Giovanni Battista Bottini, Advocate of the Exchequer and Papal Treasury.”
4. “Giacinto de Arcangeli, Procurator of the Poor.”
5. “Desiderio Spreti, Advocate of the Poor.”
6. “With one axe and two big gallows.”
7. “City of Rome and its environs.”
8. “With its environs.”
9. Sic, for Castelnuovo, a wayside stop half way between Civita Castellana and Rome, where, in The Ring and the Book, Guido overtakes the fleeing Pompilia and Caponsacchi: “What some call Castelnuovo, some just call / The Osteria, because o’ the post-house inn, / There, at the journey’s all but end, it seems, / Triumph deceived them and undid them both” (II, 966–969).
10. “The Inn.”
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