of affection and at supper was very merry. He insisted on accompanying her to her room, and before she could summon her women threw her on to the bed and plunged his dagger several times into her breast. She died in a few minutes imploring God to show her more mercy than she had received at the hands of men, and kneeling by the lifeless body, Don Pietro prayed to his patron saints for forgiveness and vowed he would never marry again—a vow he did not keep. Then he sat down and wrote a few lines to his brother the Grand Duke announcing the sudden death of Donna Eleonora. The doctor’s certificate that Donna Eleonora de’ Medici had died of failure of the heart, was received in Florence with the incredulity vouchsafed to most of the sudden deaths in the Medici family. Francesco I pretended to believe it when he wrote to his brother, Cardinal Ferdinando, at Rome: “Yesternight at the fifth hour Donna Eleonora, being in bed, had so violent a stroke that she was suffocated before Don Pietro or others could apply any remedies; this has sore disturbed me, and will, I know, afflict Your Eminence. But as whatever comes from the hand of God must be borne with patience, I pray you may accept quietly the will of the Divine Majesty. This night the body will be brought from Cafaggiuolo for proper interment, of which I hereby desire to give you notice, taking advantage of the courier who has come from Spain.” But the Grand Duke told the real story in a letter dated 16 of July, and sent to the Florentine ambassador at Madrid with orders to read it to the King of Spain. “Although in a former letter it was stated that Donna Eleonora died of failure of the heart, you are, nevertheless, to inform His Catholic Majesty that the Lord Don Pietro, our brother, took her life with his own hands for her betrayal of him in ways unbecoming a lady of high birth. This he had communicated to Don Pedro her brother, through a secretary, begging him to come here; not only did he refuse to come, but he prevented the secretary from having speech with Don Garcia (Donna Eleonora’s father). We desire that H.M. should know the truth, being determined H.M. shall be informed of all the doings of Our house, and especially of this; for if We did not lift the veil from H.M.’s eyes, it would seem to Us not to serve H.M. well and honourably. All facts shall be sent on the first opportunity so that H.M. may know with what good reason the Lord Don Pietro thus acted.”