The portrait associated with Beatrice Cenci attributed to Guido Reni that Shelley saw in Palazzo Colonna in 1818, sparking his interest

Beatrice Cenci (February 6, 1577–August 22, 1599) was an Italian noblewoman. She is famous for being the protagonist of a lurid murder trial in Rome. Image File history File linksMetadata Cenci. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Cenci. ... Autoportrait Guido at his best: Abduction of Deianira, 1620-21 Guido Reni (November 4, 1575 - August 18, 1642 was a prominent Bolognese painter of high-Baroque style. ... Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley (August 4, 1792 – July 8, 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets and is widely considered to be among the finest lyric poets who wrote in the English language. ... February 6 is the 37th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Events March 17 - formation of the Cathay Company to send Martin Frobisher back to the New World for more gold May 28 - Publication of the Bergen Book, better known as the Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord, one of the Lutheran confessional writings. ... August 22 is the 234th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (235th in leap years), with 131 days remaining. ... Events The Jesuit educational plan known as the Ratio Studiorum is issued (January 8). ...

Beatrice was the daughter of Francesco Cenci, an aristocrat who, due to his violent temper and immoral behaviour, had found himself in trouble with papal justice more than once. They lived in Rome in the rione Regola, in Palazzo Cenci, built over the ruins of a medieval fortified palace at the edge of Rome's Jewish ghetto. Together with them lived also Beatrice's elder brother Giacomo, Francesco's second wife, Lucrezia Petroni, and Bernardo, the young boy born from Francesco's second marriage. Among their other possessions there was a castle, La Rocca of Petrella del Salto, a small village near Rieti, north of Rome. City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Area  - City Proper  1285 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,553,873 almost 4,300,000 1. ... Logo of the rione Regola is the VII rione of Rome. ... A ghetto is an area where people from a specific racial or ethnic background or united in a given culture or religion live as a group, voluntarily or involuntarily, in milder or stricter seclusion. ... Rieti is a town in the Latium, Italy. ...

History

According to the legend, Francesco Cenci abused his wife and his sons, and had reached the point of committing incest with Beatrice. Incest is sexual activity between close family members. ...

He had been jailed for other crimes, but thanks to the leniency with which the nobles were treated, he had been freed early. Beatrice had tried to inform the authorities about the frequent mistreatments, but nothing had happened, although everybody in Rome knew what kind of person her father was. When he found out that his daughter had reported against him, he sent Beatrice and Lucrezia away from Rome, to live in the family's country castle.

Exasperated, the four Cenci decided they had no alternative but to try and get rid of Francesco, and all together organized a plot. In 1598, during one of Francesco's stays at the castle, two vassals (one of which had become Beatrice's secret lover) helped them to drug the man, stab him with a long nail through his eye and his throat, and hide the corpse. A vassal, in European medieval feudalism terminology, is one who through a commendation ceremony (composed of homage and fealty) enters into mutual obligations with a lord, usually military conscription and mutual protection, in exchange for a fief. ...

Somehow his absence was noticed, and the papal police tried to find out what had happened. 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. The plot was discovered all the same and the four members of the Cenci family were arrested, found guilty, and sentenced to death. The common people of Rome, knowing the reasons for the murder, protested against the tribunal's decision, obtaining a short postponement of the execution. But pope Clement VIII showed no mercy at all: on September 11, 1599, at dawn, they were taken to Sant'Angelo Bridge, where the scaffold was usually built. Clement, in the monument in Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, erected by his Borghese heirs Clement VIII, born Ippolito Aldobrandini (March 1536 - March 5, 1605) was pope from 1592 to 1605. ... Castel SantAngelo Castel SantAngelo from the bridge. ... Scaffold may refer to: scaffolding as used in construction A gallows The Scaffold, UK musical group Scaffold - GNOME Development Environment Scaffold (Protein ECM) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Giacomo was quartered with a mallet and had his limbs torn off and hung in the four corners; then Lucrezia and finally Beatrice took their turn on the block, to be beheaded with a sword. Only the young boy was spared, yet he too was led to the scaffold 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). A rubber mallet, used in construction, woodworking, and auto-body work. ... Beheading. ...

Beatrice was buried in the church of San Pietro in Montorio. For the people of Rome she became a symbol of resistance against the arrogant aristocracy and a legend arose: every year on the night before her death, she came back to the bridge carrying her severed head. 200pxTempietto, San Pietro in Montorio, Rome, 1502: the High Renaissance began here. ...

Literature and arts

Beatrice Cenci has been the subject of a number of literary and musical works:

• Beatrice Cenci, a novel by Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi
• Les Cenci, novel by Stendhal
• Percy Bysshe Shelley's verse drama The Cenci: A Tragedy in Five Acts, composed at Rome and at Villa Valsovano near Livorno, May–August 5, 1819, published spring 1820 by C. & J. Ollier, London, 1819)
• Nemesis, tragedy by Alfred Nobel.
• Beatrice Cenci, a play by Alberto Moravia
• Beatrix Cenci, opera by Alberto Ginastera
• Les Cenci (1935), play by Antonin Artaud
• The Cenci, essay by Alexander Dumas in Volume 1 of Celebrated Crimes

The painting of Beatrice Cenci by Guido and the legend surrounding Beatrice figures prominently in Nathaniel Hawthorne's 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 "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 debate whether or not Miriam is an avenger or a culprit. Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi (1804 - September 25, 1873), was an Italian writer and politician. ... Marie-Henri Beyle (January 23, 1783 – March 23, 1842), better known by his penname Stendhal, was a 19th century French writer. ... Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley (August 4, 1792 – July 8, 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets and is widely considered to be among the finest lyric poets who wrote in the English language. ... Livorno, sometimes in English Leghorn, (population 170,000) is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. ... Alfred Nobel (October 21, 1833, Stockholm, Sweden – December 10, 1896, Sanremo, Italy) was a Swedish chemist, engineer, pacifist, innovator, armaments manufacturer and the inventor of dynamite. ... Alberto Moravia (November 28, 1907 – September 26, 1990; born Alberto Pincherle) was one of the leading Italian novelists in the 20th century. ... Alberto Evaristo Ginastera (April 11, 1916 – June 25, 1983) was an Argentinian composer of classical music. ... Antonin Artaud Antonin Artaud (September 4, 1896–March 4, 1948) was a playwright, actor, and director. ... Alexandre Dumas redirects here. ...

An Italian film about her story, directed by Lucio Fulci, was released in 1969. Lucio Fulci (born June 17, 1927 in Rome, Italy - died March 13, 1996 in Rome, Italy (diabetes-related illness)) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and actor. ...

The Canadian opera Beatrice Chancy, written by George Elliott Clarke and James Rolfe (and inspired by the Shelley play), transplanted the story to a 19^th century Nova Scotia setting. The foyer of Charles Garniers Opéra, Paris, opened 1875 Opera refers to a dramatic art form, originating in Europe, in which the emotional content or primary entertainment is conveyed to the audience as much through music, both vocal and instrumental, as it is through the lyrics. ... Beatrice Chancy is a Canadian opera. ... George Elliott Clarke (born February 12, 1960) is a Canadian poet and playwright. ... Motto: Munit Haec et Altera Vincit (Latin: One defends and the other conquers) Official languages None Capital Halifax Largest city Halifax Lieutenant-Governor Myra Freeman Premier Rodney MacDonald (PC) Parliamentary representation  - House seat  - Senate seats 11 10 Area Total  â€¢ Land  â€¢ Water    (% of total)  Ranked 12th 55,283 km² 53,338...

References

• Charles Nicoll, "Screaming in the Castle" Deconstructing the Cenci legend with documents.