Upon the origin of this family a mystery has been thrown, by writers devoted to adulation rather than to truth. There was established near Turin a race of della Rovere, lords of Vinovo, whose nobility is traced from the eighth century, and from whom it was the pride of Sixtus to claim a descent, which his flatterers readily humoured, and which the annalists of Urbino adopted as an article of their political creed. Posterity has repudiated the allegation, for "in Italy, at least, it is vain for heraldry to tell a tale that history will not substantiate."[206] The seigneurs of Vinovo were not, however, loath to admit a blood connection with two Popes, who, in return for such aggregation to the old stock, conferred cardinals' hats upon their cousins of Piedmont. Although the tombstone of Leonardo was said to exhibit the Vinovo bearings, with a suitable difference, his humble birth is universally admitted. The burgess of Savona plied a fisher's trade, and even his son is supposed to have followed in boyhood the same apostolical calling; an occupation singular rather than inappropriate, for one destined to wear "the fisher's ring," and to wield the authority of him who was divinely called to be a netter of men. The superstition or policy of Sixtus stamped with unmerited importance certain quasi-supernatural incidents attending his birth. Whilst pregnant, his mother dreamt that a boy was born to her, whom two Franciscan friars forthwith clad in the tunic, cowl, and cord of their order. The name Francesco was accordingly bestowed on the child, whose gestures seemed to confirm its sacred vocation, the first motions of its little hands being those of benediction. Whilst undergoing the usual ablutions, the infant appeared faint and dying, whereupon its mother vowed that, if preserved to her, it should wear the Franciscan dress for the next six months. The removal of this habit having on two occasions been followed by dangerous illness, the boy's destination to a monastic life was confirmed, and his training conducted accordingly.[*207] [Footnote 206: MARIOTTI'S _Italy_.] [Footnote *207: For birth of Sixtus IV., cf. CREIGHTON, _op. cit._, vol. IV., p. 65, and authorities there quoted. "His father was a poor peasant in a little village near Savona, and at the age of nine Francesco was handed over to the Franciscans to be educated. He acted for a time as tutor with the family of Rovere, in Piedmont, and from them he took the name by which he was afterwards known."]