No. 2 Deposition of Francesca
I will tell your Excellency why I have fled from the home of my husband. Here in Rome, three years ago, I was married by my father and mother to the said Franceschini, and after I was engaged to him he stayed here in Rome for two months without consummating the marriage. Then with my father and my mother I was taken by my husband to Arezzo, because in the marriage contract it was agreed that my father and mother should go and live in Arezzo, as they did. After they had remained there four months, they departed and returned to Rome, because of the ill-treatment they suffered, at the hands not only of my husband, but of the others in his house.
I was left behind in Arezzo, and when about a year had passed after the consummation of the marriage, as I did not become pregnant my husband and my mother-in-law Beatrice began to turn against me, because I had no children. He said that because of me their house would die out and that he could not hope for an heir by me after a while; for by chance he had heard my father say, that during a girlhood sickness certain seeds had been given to me as medicine, which possibly hindered me from having children. For that reason I came to be continually mistreated by my husband and mother-in-law, though I answered that I was not to blame for that. Yet they continued always to threaten my life, and, without any real occasion, they sought every pretext to maltreat me.
Then my husband began to be jealous of me, and forbade me to show my face at the window. And to remove that occasion of jealousy I never showed my face save when it was absolutely necessary. So one day, while we were on the loggia, he said to me that I was staying up there to make love, without telling me with whom. I replied that these were mere pretexts, and that from that place one could see only the street, without looking into the windows of the houses; for the loggia was entirely on the roof.
A. She tells of her husband’s threats because of her ardour for her lover.
And then because the Canon Caponsacchi, with other young men of the place, used to pass before our house and stop to talk with certain hussies, who were standing there in front, my husband began to fume with anger at me because the said Canon kept passing there as above, although I was not at all to blame. His suspicion increased all the more because, while we were in a great crowd at the play one evening, Canon Conti, the brother of the husband of my sister-in-law, threw me some confetti. My husband, who was near me, took offence at it—not against Conti, but against Caponsacchi, who was sitting by the side of the said Conti. Then because Conti frequented our house, as a relative, my husband took offence at him likewise; and this so much so that I, being aware of it, retired to my room whenever he came to our house, that I might not have to take even more trouble; but my husband was not thereby appeased, but said that I did this as a trick, and that his suspicions of me were not removed. He began anew to torment me so, on account of Caponsacchi, that I was reduced to desperation and did not know what to say. Then to remove that occasion for his ill-treatment, I spoke to the said Caponsacchi one day as he was passing our house and begged him not to pass that way, that he might relieve me from all the distresses I suffered at the hands of my husband on that account. He replied that he did not know whence my husband had drawn such a suspicion, as he used to pass along there on other affairs, and that, in short, Guido could not stop his passing along the street. And although he promised me not to pass along there, he continued to do so. But I did not show my face at the window. Yet with all this my husband was not appeased, but continued to maltreat me and to threaten my life, and he said that he wished to kill me.
At the time of the affair of the play told above, as soon as we had returned home, he pointed a pistol at my breast saying: “Oh, Christ! What hinders me from laying you out here? Let Caponsacchi look to it well, if you do not wish me to do so, and to kill you.”
B. She died asserting that she did not know how to write.
Furthermore at the beginning of these troubles, I went twice to Monsignor the Bishop, because he might have remedied it in some way; but this did no good, because of his relation with the house of my husband. And so as I was a stranger in that city and did not know how to free myself from these perils and abuses, and as I feared that if Guido did not slay me with weapons he might poison me, I planned to run away and go back to Rome to my father and mother. But as I did not know how to accomplish this, I went about a month later to confession to an Augustinian Father, whom they call Romano. I told him all my distresses, imploring him to write to my father in my name, as I do not know how to write, and to tell him that I was desperate, and must part from my husband and go to him in Rome. But I had no response.
C. She confesses the strength and audacity of her lover.
D. She confesses a conversation with her lover.
E. She confesses a new conversation with her lover.
F. The lie about the arrival at Castelnuovo.
G. The lover is not a relative of her husband.
Therefore, not knowing to whom I might turn to accomplish my desire, and thinking that no one in the place would assist me, because of their relationship or friendship to my husband, I finally resolved to speak of it to the said Caponsacchi, because I had heard said that he was a resolute man. Accordingly, as he was passing one day before our house, at a time when my husband was out of the city, I called him and spoke to him from the stairs. I told him of the peril in which I found myself on his account, and begged him to bring me here to Rome, to my father and mother. He replied, however, that he did not wish to meddle at all in such an affair, as it would be thought ill of by the whole city, and all the more so as he was a friend of the house of my husband. But I implored him so much and told him it was the duty of a Christian to free from death a poor foreign woman. At last I induced him to promise me that he would accompany me as above. Then he told me he would secure the carriage, and when that had been arranged he would give me a signal by letting his handkerchief fall in passing before our house, as he had done before. But the next day went by, and although I stood at the blinds, he did not give the signal. When the day following had also passed, I spoke to him again as above, and complained to him that he had broken the word he had given me. And he excused himself, saying that he had not found a carriage in Arezzo. I answered him that, at any rate, he should have procured one from outside, as he had promised to do. Then the last Sunday of the past month, he went by our house again and made the signal with the handkerchief, as he had promised. And so I went to bed with my husband that evening, and when I had assured myself that he was asleep I arose from bed and clothed myself. I took some little things of my own, a little box with many trifles inside, and some money, I know not how much there was, from the strong-box. These were, moreover, my own, as is evident from the list of things and moneys made by the treasurer of Castelnuovo. Then I went downstairs at dawn, where I found Caponsacchi, and we went together to the Porta San Spirito. Outside of it stood a carriage with two horses and a driver, and when we had both entered the carriage we journeyed toward Rome, travelling night and day without stopping until we reached Castelnuovo, except for them to take refreshment and to change the horses. We arrived at dawn, and were there overtaken by my husband as I have told heretofore to your Honour. The said Caponsacchi is not related in any degree to my husband, but was certainly a friend.
H. New lies, that she did not receive letters from her lover, and that she does not know how to write.
The said Caponsacchi, before the said affair, did not send me any letter, because I do not know how to read manuscript, and do not know how to write.
Before the said affair, I did not at all send a letter of any sort to the said Caponsacchi.
I. Another lie, that she did not send letters to her lover.
K. She does not know how to write, and her husband had traced the letter.
When again put under oath, she responded: While I was in Arezzo, I wrote at the instance of my husband to Abate Franceschini, my brother-in-law here in Rome. But as I did not know how to write, my husband wrote the letter with a pencil and then made me trace it with a pen and ink it. And he told me that his brother had much pleasure in receiving such a letter of mine, which had been written with my own hand. And he did this two or three times.
If your Honour should cause me to see one of the letters written by me as above, and sent to Abate Franceschini, I should clearly recognise it.
And when it was shown, etc., she responded: “I have seen and carefully examined the letter shown me by the order of your Honour, which begins—Carissimo Sig. Cognato, sono con questa—and ends Francesca Comparini ne Franceschini, and having examined it, it seems to me, but I cannot swear to it as the truth, that it is one of the letters written by me to Abate Franceschini, my brother-in-law, in conformity to my husband’s wishes, etc.
L. Another lie about the arrival at the tavern of Castelnuovo.
And after a few intervening matters, etc., when questioned, etc., she replied: “I have never sent letters of any sort by the said Maria to any one.”
In all truth, I arrived at Castelnuovo at the blush of dawn.
We shut ourselves in there at the tavern of Castelnuovo for the space of more than an hour. During that time we stayed in a room upstairs.
M. New lies that she did not lie down to sleep at the Inn of Castelnuovo.
And after a few other matters, when questioned, she replied: “I did not go to sleep, nor lie down to rest in the tavern at Castelnuovo during the time I stopped there, as above.”
I know that your Honour tells me that the authorities pretend further that I slept all night in the abovesaid tavern of Castelnuovo in an upstairs room, in which Canon Caponsacchi also slept. And I say and respond that no one can truly say so, because I did not rest at all in the said tavern, and stopped there only for the time stated above.
[The letter of Pompilia to Abate Franceschini occurs both here and in the summary of the Defence. It is translated on pp. 56, 57.]