Beatrice Cenci (; 6 February 157711 September 1599) was a Roman noblewoman who murdered her father, Count Francesco Cenci. She was beheaded in 1599 after a lurid murder trial in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

that gave rise to an enduring legend about her.

Life

Beatrice was the daughter of Ersilia Santacroce and Count Francesco Cenci, a "man of great wealth but dissolute habits and violent temper". When Beatrice was seven years old, in June 1584, her mother died. After her mother's death, Beatrice and her elder sister Antonina were sent to a small monastery, Santa Croce a Montecitorio for Franciscan Tertiary nuns in the rione Colonna of Rome. Beatrice Cenci Front by Hosmer

The family lived in Rome at the Palazzo Cenci in the rione Regola. The members of the extended family living together included Count Francesco's second wife, Lucrezia Petroni; Beatrice's elder brother, Giacomo; and Bernardo, Francesco's son from his second marriage. They also possessed a castle, ''La Rocca'' of

Petrella Salto Petrella Salto ( Sabino: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Rieti in the Italian region Latium, located about northeast of Rome and about southeast of Rieti Rieti (; lat, Reate, Sabino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, ...

, a small village in the

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mountains northeast of Rome. According to legend, Francesco Cenci abused his first wife Ersilia Santa Croce and his sons and repeatedly raped Beatrice. He was jailed for other crimes, but was freed early because of his noble status. Beatrice tried to inform the authorities about his abusive behaviour, but no effective action was taken. When he found out that his daughter had reported him, he sent Beatrice and Lucrezia away from Rome to live in the family's castle at La Petrella del Salto. The four Cencis decided they had no alternative but to try to get rid of Count Francesco, and together organized a plot. In 1598, during one of Francesco's stays at the castle, two

vassals A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzera ...

(one of whom had become Beatrice's secret lover) helped them to drug him. Beatrice, her siblings, and their stepmother then bludgeoned Francesco to death with a hammer and threw the body off a balcony to make it look like an accident. Esame della Lavandaja LCCN2014645172

Eventually, his absence was noticed, and the papal police investigated. 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. Nonetheless, the plot was discovered, and the four members of the Cenci family were arrested, found guilty, and sentenced to death. Knowing the reasons for the murder, the common people of Rome protested against the tribunal's decision, obtaining a short postponement of the execution. Pope

Clement VIII Pope Clement VIII ( la, Clemens VIII; it, Clemente VIII; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1592 to his death in March 1605. Bor ...

, however, 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 dawn on 11 September 1599, they were taken to Sant'Angelo Bridge, where the

scaffold Scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging, is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, bridges and all other man-made structures. Scaffolds are widely used ...

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 A mallet is a tool used for imparting force on another object, often made of rubber or sometimes wood, that is smaller than a maul or beetle, and usually has a relatively large head. The term is descriptive of the overall size and propor ...

. His corpse was then quartered. The public spectacle continued with the executions of Lucrezia and then Beatrice. Both took their turns on the block to be

beheaded Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the au ...

with a small axe. Only the 12-year-old Bernardo was spared, but he 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 was decreed that Bernardo 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 (Saint Peter on the Golden Mountain) is a church in Rome, Italy, which includes in its courtyard the ''Tempietto'', a small commemorative '' martyrium'' (tomb) built by Donato Bramante. History The Church of San Pietro ...

The legend

Beatrice has become a symbol to the people of Rome of resistance against the arrogant

aristocracy Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At the time of the word' ...

. It is related that every year on the night before the anniversary of her death, she comes back to the Sant'Angelo Bridge where she was executed, carrying her severed head.

Influence on literature and the arts

Beatrice Cenci has been the subject of a number of literary and musical works: * Philip Massinger's play ''

The Unnatural Combat ''The Unnatural Combat'' is a Jacobean era stage play, a tragedy written by Philip Massinger, and first published in 1639. No hard data on the play's date of origin or initial theatrical production has survived. Scholars estimate a date in the ...

'' (c.1619) contains specific echoes of the case and antedates the Romantic revival of Beatrice by 200 years *

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achi ...

's verse drama '' The Cenci: A Tragedy in Five Acts'' (composed at Rome and at Villa Valsovano near

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

, May–5 August 1819, published spring 1820 by C. & J. Ollier, London, 1819) * "Les Cenci", a short story by

Stendhal Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, ; ), was a 19th-century French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' ('' The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de ...

(1837) * ''Béatrix Cenci'', a verse drama (1839), by Polish poet,

Juliusz Słowacki Juliusz Słowacki (; french: Jules Slowacki; 4 September 1809 – 3 April 1849) was a Polish Romantic poet. He is considered one of the "Three Bards" of Polish literature — a major figure in the Polish Romantic period, and the father of mod ...

* ''Beatrice Cenci'', a novel by Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi (1854) *"Beatrice Cenci (In a City Shop-Window)" (1871), a poem by

Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt (Sallie M. Bryan; August 11, 1836 – December 22, 1919) was an American poet. Her career began in the mid-1850s and lasted into the early twentieth century. She published hundreds of poems in nationally circulated newsp ...

, American poet * ''Béatrix Cenci'', by

Astolphe de Custine Astolphe-Louis-Léonor, Marquis de Custine (18 March 1790 – 25 September 1857) was a French aristocrat and writer who is best known for his travel writing, in particular his account of his visit to Russia, ''La Russie en 1839''. This work d ...

* ''Nemesis'', tragedy by

Alfred Nobel Alfred Bernhard Nobel ( , ; 21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and philanthropist. He is best known for having bequeathed his fortune to establish the Nobel Prize, though he al ...

* ''Beatrice Cenci'', a play by

Alberto Moravia Alberto Moravia ( , ; born Alberto Pincherle ; 28 November 1907 – 26 September 1990) was an Italian novelist and journalist. His novels explored matters of modern sexuality, social alienation and existentialism. Moravia is best known for his de ...

(1958), trans. Angus Davidson (1965)) * ''Beatriz Cenci'', a verse drama by

Gonçalves Dias Antônio Gonçalves Dias (; August 10, 1823November 3, 1864) was a Brazilian Romantic poet, playwright, ethnographer, lawyer and linguist. A major exponent of Brazilian Romanticism and of the literary tradition known as " Indianism", he is ...

* ''Beatrix Cenci'', opera by

Alberto Ginastera Alberto Evaristo Ginastera (; April 11, 1916June 25, 1983) was an Argentinian composer of classical music. He is considered to be one of the most important 20th-century classical composers of the Americas. Biography Ginastera was born in Buenos ...

, based on the Shelley play * ''Beatrice Cenci'', opera by

Berthold Goldschmidt Berthold Goldschmidt (18 January 190317 October 1996) was a German Jewish composer who spent most of his life in England. The suppression of his work by Nazi Germany, as well as the disdain with which many Modernist critics elsewhere dismissed ...

, based on the Shelley play * ''Les Cenci'' (1935), play by

Antonin Artaud Antoine Marie Joseph Paul Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud (; 4 September 1896 – 4 March 1948), was a French writer, poet, dramatist, visual artist, essayist, actor and theatre director. He is widely recognized as a major figure of the E ...

, adaptation of the Shelley play * ''The Cenci'', essay by

Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer ...

in Volume 1 of ''Celebrated Crimes'' (1840) * ''Legende und Wahrheit der Beatrice Cenci'' (1926), short story by

Stefan Zweig Stefan Zweig (; ; 28 November 1881 – 22 February 1942) was an Austrian novelist, playwright, journalist, and biographer. At the height of his literary career, in the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most widely translated and popular write ...

* ''The Cenci'' (1951–52), an opera by Havergal Brian (abridged from Shelley's play) * '' The Cenci Family'' (2004), a radio play by Lizzie Hopley directed by

Lu Kemp Lu Kemp is a theatre director and dramaturge. She trained on the Laboratory of Movement course at L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, Paris, and with Anne Bogart’s SITI Company in New York. In March 2016, she was appointed ...

* ''Beatrice Cenci'' (2006), musical drama by Alessandro Londei and Brunella Caronti * ''Béatrice Cenci : Telle une fleur coupée'', a novel by Jean Rocchi, editor Esmeralda (10 May 2004) * "Finis the Cenci" (1954), a 17-line poem by F. R. Scott in ''Events and Signals''; also in his ''Selected Poems'' (1966) and ''Collected Poems'' (1981) * ''A Tale for Midnight'' (1955), a novel by Frederic Prokosch * the Canadian opera '' Beatrice Chancy'', written by

George Elliott Clarke George Elliott Clarke, (born February 12, 1960) is a Canadian poet, playwright and literary critic who served as the Poet Laureate of Toronto from 2012 to 2015 and as the 2016–2017 Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate. His work is known larg ...

and James Rolfe (and inspired by the Shelley play), transplants the story to nineteenth-century

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. * '' 11 settembre 1599, A Beatrice Cenci '', a piece in poetic prose by Sabrina Gatti (Italian writer), in ''Il trono dei poveri'' (2020) Statues, paintings, and photography also provide numerous portraits and homages to Beatice Cenci: The Italian painter

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of h ...

witnessed Beatrice's public execution and may have used it as inspiration for the decapitation scene in his painting '' Judith Beheading Holofernes''. A statue by American sculptor

Harriet Goodhue Hosmer Harriet Goodhue Hosmer (October 9, 1830 – February 21, 1908) was a neoclassical sculptor, considered the most distinguished female sculptor in America during the 19th century. She is known as the first female professional sculptor. Among other ...

entitled ''Beatrice Cenci'' (1857) is on display at the Mercantile Library on the University of Missouri–St. Louis campus in St. Louis, Missouri. Study of Beatrice Cenci, by Julia Margaret Cameron

Study of Beatrice Cenci, by Julia Margaret Cameron

The early

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographers As in oth ...

Julia Margaret Cameron posed her model, May Prinsep, as Beatrice in an 1866 albumen print portrait among a series she devoted to Beatrice Cenci. The possible portrait of Beatrice Cenci by

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

painter

Guido Reni Guido Reni (; 4 November 1575 – 18 August 1642) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, although his works showed a classical manner, similar to Simon Vouet, Nicolas Poussin, and Philippe de Champaigne. He painted primarily religi ...

(1575–1642) and the legend surrounding Beatrice figure prominently in

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...

'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 an "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 decide whether Miriam is an avenger or a culprit. In

Letitia Elizabeth Landon Letitia Elizabeth Landon (14 August 1802 – 15 October 1838) was an English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L.E.L. The writings of Landon are transitional between Romanticism and the Victorian Age. Her first major breakthrough ...

's short story
The Bride of Lindorf
(1836), the main character has an emotional attachment to the painting of Beatrice Cenci. The Reni painting and the story of Beatrice figure in the plot of Liza Marklund's novel ''Last Will'' (2006). The painting also figures in Book 26 of

Herman Melville Herman Melville ( born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are '' Moby-Dick'' (1851); '' Typee'' (1846), a ...

's novel ''

Pierre; or, The Ambiguities ''Pierre; or, The Ambiguities'' is the seventh book by American writer Herman Melville, first published in New York in 1852. The novel, which uses many conventions of Gothic fiction, develops the psychological, sexual, and family tensions between ...

'' (1852).

Films A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

have been inspired by the life of Beatrice Cenci also: In David Lynch's film '' Mulholland Dr.'' (2001), Reni's painting is shown hanging in the Hollywood apartment of Ruth Elms as a reference to Cenci. The 1969 Italian film '' Beatrice Cenci'', directed by

Lucio Fulci Lucio Fulci (; 17 June 1927 – 13 March 1996) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. Although he worked in a wide array of genres through a career spanning nearly five decades, including comedies and Spaghetti Westerns, he ga ...

, follows the historical events of her life very closely. Fulci claimed it was one of his favorite works, though he was better known for his gruesome horror films. It was also distributed under the title ''The Conspiracy of Torture''. The character played by Mia Farrow in the film '' Secret Ceremony'' is named Cenci, in reference to the Beatrice legend.

Notes

References

Bibliography

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External Links

PBS Antiques Roadshow 2019 appraisal of a portrait
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cenci, Beatrice 1577 births 1599 deaths 16th-century Italian women Nobility from Rome People executed for murder Executed Italian people Italian female murderers 16th-century executions by Italian states Executed Italian women People executed by the Papal States by decapitation Italian people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by Italy Patricides Criminals from Rome