“Do you consider an infidel suitable,signore?” she asked archly. “She has fallen in love with the Turkish sultan’s grandson, and worse, he loves her.”
“What?” He knew of the Turkish antiquities and rug merchant theArte di Calimalaclaimed as their own member. “How did she meet him, Orianna?”
“His is the villa next to Luce Stellare,” she explained. “But it does not matter how they met, Gio—they met. They are lovers in love! Such a thing cannot be allowed, husband. He is an infidel! He would leave Florence and take her to his home in Turkey, and she is eager to go with him. My father had planned an important marriage for Bianca before you forced her to wed Rovere,” Orianna reminded her husband sharply.
“Would you have had Rovere see our son accused of a murder his own son probably did?” Giovanni Pietro d’Angelo demanded to know. Would Orianna never forget? It was water under the bridge now.
“My father has agreed to make another match in Venice for Bianca,” his wife said.
“What of Francesca?”
“Francesca can come home to Florence, and we will seek a French marriage for her now. Our second daughter has my coloring, and is as great a beauty as Bianca is with her dark hair. What cannot be allowed is for Bianca to run off with this Turkish prince. You must go to Lorenzo di Medici. He can have the sultan request that his grandson return home. That will put an end to the matter, Gio. For God’s own good mercy, you cannot allow Bianca to be stolen away.”
“By the time the Medici sends to the sultan and gets an answer, Bianca and her prince could be gone,” Giovanni pointed out to his wife. “If you have shown them your disapproval, and I am certain you have, they are even now preparing to flee.”
“Let the di Medici imprison Prince Amir until he can be sent home,” Orianna said. “Then we may forcibly fetch Bianca and bring her to her senses, Gio. Her marriage to Rovere was a horror, as we both know. Let her come home and see the benefits of a happy marriage between two good friends, Gio. In the meantime, my father will find her a husband of wealth and stature in Venice. I want our daughter happy.”
She wanted Bianca happy, he thought. Yet she would plot to take their daughter away from the man she loved because he was an infidel. Giovanni Pietro d’Angelo did not discuss his religion with anyone, but having married a woman who did not love him, he thought perhaps the prince who loved Bianca, for all that he was an infidel, was a better match than some stranger of wealth and stature anywhere. But he knew better than to argue with Orianna in matters of their children. She would not be denied that which she believed right, and Bianca’s misalliance with Rovere had been allowed only to protect their oldest child, Marco.
“I will seek an audience with Lorenzo di Medici immediately,cara,” he told her.
Orianna’s shoulders relaxed, and she smiled at him. “Go back to your mistress now, Gio. I apologize for taking you away from her. I am sure you were relaxing from the cares of your business. Will you be home later?”
“But late,” he said quietly as he arose to go. Orianna could be very understanding.
“Of course,” and she smiled again. They were going to save Bianca from the biggest mistake of her life, and she felt reassured now. Orianna felt little guilt for the unhappiness she would cause her eldest daughter. It would be temporary. Bianca was like her mother—a practical woman. Once she accepted the fact that she had no other choice than to let her misery go, she would. As she had accepted the fact of her marriage to Sebastiano Rovere.
Giovanni Pietro d’Angelo, as he had promised his wife, sought an audience with Lorenzo di Medici. Although Florence was a republic, and had no noble lord ruling it, the head of the di Medici family had for some years been considered the most influential man in the city. The main government body was chosen regularly several times each year.Every male guild member who was thirty or older, free of debt, who had not served a recent term or was related to a man who was currently serving, was eligible for a two-month term in the Priori.Their names were drawn from bags kept at the church of San Croce.They served in the Signoria, whichconsisted of nine men. Six came from the major guilds, two from the minor guilds. The ninth man was called thegonfaloniere. It was he who was the temporary custodian and standard-bearer of the city’s banner.
To make certain each of the major and minor guilds was properly represented when the names were drawn, only those eligible for that particular term were chosen to serve. Once elected for their two-month term, the members of thePriorimoved to the Palazzo della Signoria to live. They were housed luxuriously, fed splendidly, and even entertained. Each man wore a bright scarlet coat with an ermine lining. The collar and cuffs of the coats were also ermine. Thegonfalonierehad gold stars embroidered on his coat so he might be told apart on public occasions.
There were other councils as well, consisting of other citizens: a council of twelve citizens, and another of sixteen. They were called the Collegi.If necessary, other councils were elected for commerce, security, or war. There were various officials such as a chancellor and a chief justice.
When difficulty threatened the republic, the great bell in the campanile of the Palazzo della Signoria would be tolled to bring all the male citizens of the city over the age of fourteen into its piazza. Each section of the city gathered behind its banner to march together into the piazza. Once it was decided that at least two-thirds of the male population was there, it was considered aparlamento, which formed abalia, a committee to deal with whatever emergency had brought them into the public square.
Still, despite the pride the Florentines had in their system, there were always families like the di Medici who seemed more prominent than other wealthy families. Families that appeared to have more influence over the events of other men’s lives. It was they that people like Giovanni Pietro d’Angelo, needing special or great favors, sought out in times of personal crisis. So it was that the silk merchant found himself being ushered into the presence of Lorenzo di Medici one afternoon, having begged an urgent audience several days earlier.
Lorenzo was probably the most charismatic di Medici ever born. Alone in a beautiful library, he was strumming on a lute, which, upon Giovanni’s entrance, he handed to a hovering servant. He then dismissed the man with a graceful wave of his hand so he and his guest might have the privacy he knew Giovanni would want. He greeted the silk merchant warmly and invited him to sit. He himself poured the wine and handed Pietro d’Angelo an exquisite crystal goblet with a gold rim, which allowed the drinker to admire not just the taste but the lovely color of the vintage he offered.
He was surprised to see Giovanni Pietro d’Angelo coming to him. The silk merchant was a successful man. He was known to manage his own affairs with competence, and without the need or advice of others. “It must be very serious,” he said to his guest, “for you to come to me, Gio. You look troubled. How is your beautiful wife? And your fine children? How may I serve you?”
“It is serious, my lord,” the silk merchant said and then he took a deep swallow of wine before continuing. “What I need cannot be accomplished without your help. Whatever the cost of that help, I must have it.”
Lorenzo di Medici nodded encouragingly and let his guest unburden himself.
“It is my eldest daughter, Bianca, my lord.”
“A lovely girl,” Lorenzo noted. “I remember Rovere displaying her at his more respectable dinner parties. And then she was not seen again. She had wit, Gio, and great charm. I was surprised when you married her to Sebastiano Rovere.”
“I did not want to, my lord, but Rovere, to my shame, blackmailed me, and I had no other choice,” Giovanni Pietro d’Angelo admitted.
“Tell me,” di Medici said. “It will not go beyond this chamber.”
The silk merchant reluctantly told the great man the tale of Stefano Rovere and his eldest son, Marco. He completed the story by saying, “I feared for my son, and I feared for our family’s good name and fortune,signore. I knew not what else to do.”
“Ahh, so that is how he obtained the fair Bianca,” Lorenzo replied. “How dishonorable of him. The man was despicable, and the city better for his death. Do you perhaps know who killed him, Gio?”
The silk merchant looked horrified. “No, my lord, I do not!” he exclaimed.
