The First Malatesta Murder

In Dante's Inferno, Dante meets two lovers, Paolo and Francesca. Francesca was married to Paolo's brother, but the two had a secret affair, until they were discovered and things took a deadly turn. But theirs is just one of the many murders and betrayals in the Malatesta family tree... Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/noblebloodtales — Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250840578/anatomyalovestoryand its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story' https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250861016/immortalityalovestory See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• 0:00Dana Schwartz?

  This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.

• 0:04Speaker 01

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• 0:46Dana Schwartz?

  Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeart Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manke. Listener discretion advised. The feast was going to be extravagant. The year was 1324, and cousins Ramberto and Ferrantino and their uncle, Pandolfo Malatesta, were making the final preparations for the meal at Ramberto's estate, a castle nestled in the rolling hills of what is now the region of Emilia-Romagna in Italy, then simply called Romania. Their sole invitee to this party? Their other cousin/nephew, Uberto.

• 1:29Dana Schwartz?

  And he was making his way toward the castle, blissfully unaware that he was riding to his death. The three hosts had planned the murder of their kinsmen perfectly. A theatrical assassination disguised as a friendly family dinner, which would serve as revenge for sins spanning a generation.

• 1:54Dana Schwartz?

  Uberto Malatesta's death at the hands of his family members is a dramatic episode in a particularly bloody era of Italian history, but not, actually, the topic of today's episode. A few decades prior to that fateful family banquet, Ramberto's father, a man named Giancchoto, actually killed Uberto's father. Remember, Ramberto and Uberto were cousins, their fathers were brothers, and Giancchoto discovered his brother having an affair with his wife. After catching them red-handed, he killed them both. The adulterous affair and subsequent murder of Giancchoto's brother Paolo

• 2:39Dana Schwartz?

  and his wife Francesca would go on to be immortalized by the Italian writer Dante Alighieri as two of the damned characters he meets during his visit to hell. But what Dante failed to record in his Inferno were the numerous intrafamilial murders, political assassinations, revenge killings, and even an attempted mass family murder that plagued the Malatesta family for nearly 50 years after Paolo and Francesca's stories end. So let's start from the beginning. I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is Noble Blood.

• 3:25Dana Schwartz?

  Paolo and Giancchoto Malatesta were meant to carry on a great legacy. Theirs was a family new to nobility, but their father's explosive rise to power had quickly carried the brothers to prominence. Malatesta da Verucchio was a powerful condottieri, or commander of a mercenary company. Many condottieri became the sort of military princes who served a pope or other ruler, but often had sovereignty of their own as dukes or counts. Malatesta da Verucchio had come into his power ruthlessly. Northern Italy during this period was embroiled in the after-effects

• 4:09Dana Schwartz?

  of the investiture controversy, which resulted in conflicts between pope-supporting Guelfs and Holy Roman Emperor-supporting Gibellines.

• 4:20Dana Schwartz?

  Mala Testa was the leader of the Guelfs in Romania, and became podestor, or chief magistrate, of Rimini in 1239. In 1295, he would go on to kill or expel the leading members of the Ghibelline faction in Rimini, making himself the city's undisputed and unchecked ruler. Between two marriages, he had seven children, each of whom he would use to expand his power, either through warfare or marriage. For our purposes, we'll focus on his four sons: Mala Testino, Giancchoto, and Paolo from his first wife,

• 5:03Dana Schwartz?

  and Pendolfo from his second wife. Mala Testino and Pendolfo will be important in next week's episode, but for now, all you really need to know about them is that they would go on to inherit, in succession, their father's lordship of Rimini. But for now, we're focused on the brothers Paolo and Giancchoto. If anything in their early lives pointed to the roots of Paolo and Giancchoto's storied and eventually deadly rivalry, it would probably be the fact that Paolo was known throughout his life as Il Bello, Paolo the Handsome. The name Giancchoto was actually a diminutive of Giovanni,

• 5:47Dana Schwartz?

  an emasculating nickname that Giancchoto still might well have preferred to his other nickname, Lo Scanchato, or The Lame. Sources, many of which were written long after the fact, describe Giancchoto variously as disabled, disfigured, or simply visually unappealing. In any case, a stark contrast to his strapping, handsome, younger brother.

• 8:26Dana Schwartz?

  Decades later, the humanist writer Giovanni Boccaccio would write that Malatesta de Verrocchio used Paolo to trick Francesca into her marriage to Giancchoto. By this time, Paolo had actually already been married for some six years and a political match of his own. It was not uncommon in this period for noble marriages to be executed by proxy, with someone else standing in for one or both of the marrying parties during the ceremony. Paolo, as the married brother of the groom, would have been a perfect candidate to stand in and marry Francesca by proxy.

• 9:08Dana Schwartz?

  Boccaccio wrote that Malatesta deliberately misled Francesca about this arrangement, and that when she walked down the aisle and laid her eyes on “a handsome charming man waiting at the end of it,” she thought it was Paolo that she was going to marry. Of course, she was wrong. Boccaccio reasoned that Malatesta worried that she or her father would have refused the marriage had she known that her betrothed was the uglier brother. As dramatic a tidbit that is, there is no hard evidence that this is how Paolo and Francesca’s affair began.

• 9:48Dana Schwartz?

  It’s quite likely that Francesca already knew who Paolo and Giancchoto were, and knew that Paolo was married as well, given her family’s close and long-running dealings with the Malatesta family. But however the marriage began, and whatever Paolo’s role in its beginnings were, before long Francesca and Paolo would find themselves entangled in an affair that would rock the Malatesta family and define its legacy for centuries.

• 10:21Dana Schwartz?

  The poet Dante Alighieri spent the final five years of his life living in Ravenna. Famously exiled from his native Florence in 1302, he had spent over a decade living in various parts of northern Italy, hosted by sympathetic friends and supporters. In 1316, he was invited to stay in Ravenna by its recently-crowned lord, Guido II da Palenta. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, so many guidos." This Guido was the nephew of the now-decades-dead Francesco da Palenta. We're fast-forwarding here.

• 11:01Dana Schwartz?

  Scholars believe it was during this visit to Ravenna that Dante learned of the tragic tale of Paolo and Francesca's love affair, before he would cement it in one of the most celebrated works of literature in Italian history: the Divine Comedy, completed shortly before the author's death in 1321. It's only because of Dante that we know any of the details of what happened next in Paolo and Francesca's story. Knowing that he likely learned the story from a family member of Francesca's offers his version some credibility. However, remember, this was written decades later, and there is no independent historical

• 11:46Dana Schwartz?

  record confirming any of it, so we will never know exactly whether or where Dante took liberties. We find Paolo and Francesca in Dante's Inferno as a pair of souls damned to hell for their illicit romance. As Dante and his imagined guide, the Roman poet Virgil, entered the second circle of hell, the one reserved for those who fell prey to their lust, they find the two lovers' spirits flying aimlessly through the air, blown about in an infernal storm, yet remaining inseparably entangled with one another, as if they were one single spirit.

• 12:31Dana Schwartz?

  Dante calls to them as they float by, and it's Francesca who regales the visitors with their tale, as her beloved Paolo weeps and wails alongside her.

• 12:43Dana Schwartz?

  As she tells it, Francesca's love story with her husband's brother started out innocently enough. They spent time together in a friendly way, a pleasant outcome to her essentially political marriage. Things took a turn rather suddenly, however, when one day the pair were reading the story of Lancelot and his forbidden love with Guinevere, the story of Lancelot's brother in arms, King Arthur. Describing a scene that seems to predict the modern rom-com, Francesca's spirit tells Dante how, as they read, their eyes kept meeting, sparks flying between them before they looked away, blushing.

• 13:28Dana Schwartz?

  Finally, as the story they were reading came to its own climax, the tension between the readers was too much to bear. As Francesca put it, "When of that smile we read, the wish'd smile rapturously kissed by one so deep in love, Then he, who ne'er from me shall separate. At once my lips, all trembling, kissed. The book and writer both were love's purveyors. In its leaves that day we read no more." It's certainly possible that this is actually how the affair began, although it definitely seems a little too perfectly literary to be entirely true. We don't even really know quite when it began,

• 14:12Dana Schwartz?

  although it seems to have been not long after Francesca's marriage to Giancchoto. We also don't know the circumstances that preceded the affair. Much has been said about Giancchoto's unsavory appearance, but did Francesca feel that way about him? Was their marriage pleasant but passionless, or was he a brute? And what of Paolo and his wife? Both couples had children. Of course, we could question the paternity of Francesca's children, but certainly Paolo at least fulfilled his marital duties to his wife. We may never know these things, but however it happened, once the affair began,

• 14:54Dana Schwartz?

  it seems that Paolo and Francesca, much like their spirits in Dante's story, could hardly be separated from one another. The affair carried on, seemingly unbeknownst to everyone, or at least unbeknownst to Gianchetto, for years. Some scholars estimate over a decade, although it's impossible to know for sure. We can imagine Gianchetto carrying on in his duties, perhaps leaving for long stretches to fight on his father's behalf, leaving his wife at home and free to rendezvous with his "more handsome" brother. For his part, Paolo balanced his own duties, including keeping up appearances with his

• 15:38Dana Schwartz?

  own wife, with his and Francesca's passionate affair. However they managed it, it worked for them, for a while. But Francesca's and Paolo's days together were numbered. Eventually, Gianchetto would discover the dual betrayal that had been going on for years, right under his nose. We don't really know how Gianchetto found out. Most retellings agree that he stumbled upon his brother's and his wife's affair sometime between 1283 and 1286. Some even say he caught them in the act. Dante doesn't offer us any details.

• 16:22Dana Schwartz?

  Here again, the juiciest version of the story, and the one we can't confirm, is offered by Boccaccio. As he told it, Gianchetto suspected nothing, until one day while he was away on business for his father, one of his servants came to him with a confession. The servant, apparently moved by pity for his cuckolded employer, and emboldened by distance from the rest of the household, told Gianchetto that he knew his wife and brother were having an affair. Determined to get at the truth of the matter, Gianchotto insisted upon seeing for himself, and the servant promised he would help catch them in the act. The pair returned to Rimini in secret.

• 17:07Dana Schwartz?

  Perhaps Gianchotto hoped he would find nothing. Perhaps he spent the ride home imagining how silly he would feel when he arrived to find his faithful wife waiting for him. But any hopes he may have harbored about his wife's fidelity were dashed when he got home and, sneaking into his own palazzo, observed Paolo entering Francesca's bedchamber. The affair was all but confirmed.

• 17:36Dana Schwartz?

  Gianchotto was enraged. His loyal servant led him to the door of the bedchamber, only to find it suspiciously locked from the inside. Gianchotto's fever hit a fever pitch. He pounded on the door, calling out to his wife, maybe calling to his brother too. On the other side of the door, chaos and panic erupted. Francesca and Paolo knew they had been found out, but they were scrambling to find some way to cover up their affair. Suddenly Paolo had an idea. There was a narrow passage with a ladder leading from the bedchamber down to another room below. If he squeezed down it, he might be able to get away before anyone noticed.

• 18:20Dana Schwartz?

  He told Francesca to let her husband in. He would escape through the passage, and Gianchotto would be none the wiser. Unfortunately, as Francesca went to open the door and Paolo went to hide, his clothes got caught on an iron bar sticking out of one of the wooden beams at the top of the passage. He got stuck in plain sight, just as Gianchotto burst into the room. Blinded by rage at the sight of his brother, Gianchotto immediately went for the kill. Francesca moved to stop her husband, unable to bear the thought of losing her love, but it was too late. Right as she stood between them, Gianchotto thrust his sword forward,

• 19:05Dana Schwartz?

  stabbing her in the chest instead of Paolo. Francesca sank to the floor, dying. For a moment, Gianchotto stood frozen, disturbed at what he had done. Then he saw Paolo, still caught on the iron bar, crying out in grief for Francesca, for his wife. He saw how deeply his own brother had loved Francesca, and it quelled any thoughts he might have had of regret or of mercy. Gianchotto pulled the sword from his dying wife's body and struck out again, this time landing a blow squarely on his brother's head.

• 19:44Dana Schwartz?

  His vengeance complete, he fled, sneaking out of the city quietly as he had arrived. The lovers' bodies were discovered the next day, and, Boccaccio tells us, buried in a shared tomb, united eternally in both their love and their betrayal.

• 20:05Dana Schwartz?

  Is that how it happened? Boccaccio's version of the story certainly has a theatrical air to it, though we can find many verified stories of affairs gone wrong throughout history that have all of this drama and then some. Dante gives us the basic contours of the story and points to Gianchotto's guilt. In "The Inferno," Gianchotto was said to be condemned to the Ninth Circle of Hell, the lowest circle reserved for traitors. Given his access to the family, we can reasonably expect the basic facts of Dante's version to be true. Gianchotto discovered them, Gianchotto killed them.

• 20:49Dana Schwartz?

  But for the rest, we're left to fill in the blanks. However it happened, the bloody murder of Paolo and Francesca did little to soothe the growing rivalries among the members of the Malatesta family. Malatesta de Verucchio had many children, who themselves had many children, and when he died in 1312, they were all left with the fractured inheritance of the lands and titles that their patriarch had once held as his own. And as the children of Paolo Gianchotto and their brothers grew up and realized that

• 21:29Dana Schwartz?

  only one of them would eventually rule Rimini, it wouldn't be long before the kinsmen turned on each other again.

• 21:40Dana Schwartz?

  That's the end of the story of the first and most famous of the many murders plaguing the Malatesta family, but keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear about the long legacy of Paolo and Francesca's story.

• 22:01Speaker 02

  Hey, it's Niall Rogers, host of Before the Moment, a Lincoln original series. I'm driving across the country, meeting some of today's most fascinating artists. We're exploring the stories before the moment that changed everything. This week, I'm joined by Miguel.

• 22:19Speaker 03

  My small experience with the discrepancy in the business of music made me angry in the best way, and I wanted to, I wanted to finish. So I started really like leaning into my therapy, trying to get down to like what matters now. Somewhere, Miguelito felt like he didn't have a place to say how he felt, and music was the place that I went to, to say how I felt.

• 22:42Speaker 02

  Experience Before the Moment, a Lincoln original series on the iHeartRadio app, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 22:52Speaker 02

  Hey, it's Niall Rogers, host of Before the Moment, a Lincoln original series. I'm driving across the country, meeting some of today's most fascinating artists. We're exploring the stories before the moment that changed everything. This week, I'm joined by Miguel.

• 23:10Speaker 03

  My small experience with the discrepancy in the business of music made me angry in the best way, and I wanted to, I wanted to finish. So I started really like leaning into my therapy, trying to get down to like what matters now. Somewhere, Miguelito felt like he didn't have a place to say how he felt, and music was the place that I went to, to say how I felt.

• 23:32Speaker 02

  Experience Before the Moment, a Lincoln original series on the iHeartRadio app, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 23:42Dana Schwartz?

  Für Dante, die Geschichte von Paolo und Francesca war ein vorsichtiger Geschicht. Er lebte in einem Welt, in dem Adulterung ein Verbrechen von Mord verurteilt war, und in dem Verlangen von vielen als den ersten Schritt zur Verzeihung gesehen wurde. Als er seine Reise durch die Hölle erinnerte, fand er Francesca und Paolo's Geschichte eine starke Warnung für seine Leser über die Gefahren, die man in seine Passionen geben kann, auch wenn er mit ihrer Liebe sympathisierte. Wie auch immer eine Geschichte, die über Zeit überlebt wird, hat die Geschichte von Paolo und Francesca weiterhin zuhören. Aber nicht zwingend aus den Gründen, die Dante vorgeschlagen hatte.

• 24:25Dana Schwartz?

  Besonders im 19. Jahrhundert wurde Francesca und ihr Lieber ein Fokus für die Erinnerungen von romantischen Schriftschöpfern und Arten. Wie der Historiker John Paul Heil es sagt: "In der Zeit von Dante war es wichtig, seine Passionen zu kontrollieren. Die Romantiker glaubten, dass "die Verzögerung der Wissen zu den Passionen" das Ziel einer gut verbrachten Leben war." Sie begannen, Dantes Begegnung mit Paolo und Francesca in der Hölle zu rekreieren. Noch nicht als Symbole für die Gefahr, sich zu verlassen von seinen Passionen, sondern eher für die Tragödie von verliebten Sternen.

• 25:07Dana Schwartz?

  Einige Interpretationen haben sogar den Endeffekt ihrer Geschichte verändert. In einem Operas, Ambrose Thomases 1882 "Francois de Rimini", sind die Liebhaber von Gott vertraut, und ihre Geistern sind erlaubt, auf die Welt zu kommen, sie triumphieren über den Verbrechen, der ihnen in der Hölle und in unserem Welt von Dante erlaubt hat. Im 20. Jahrhundert wurde Francesca insbesondere ein Symbol für etwas anderes: Frauenmacht. Als eine Charakter, die nicht nur ihre eigenen Entscheidungen in der Leben machte, wie schrecklich das Ergebnis sein kann, sondern auch die Kontrolle ihrer eigenen Geschichte in der Mord

• 25:50Dana Schwartz?

  präsentiert eine schreckliche und komplexe Lernwinkel, durch den Autoren und Arten die Erinnerungen, Schmerz, Vertrauen und, ja, Liebe gekämpft haben.

• 26:07Dana Schwartz?

  Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manke. Noble Blood is hosted by me, Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick, Courtney Sender, Amy Height, and Giulia Malani. The show is edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising producer Reema Ilkayali, and executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

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• 27:18Dana Schwartz?

  This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.