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Valperga Volume 1 (of 3)

Mary Shelley

Set during medieval Italy's wars between Guelphs and Ghibellines, it follows the real fourteenth-century despot Castruccio Castracani as his armies threaten the fortress of Valperga.

"Valperga Volume 1 (of 3)" by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley is a historical novel. Set during medieval Italy's wars between Guelphs and Ghibellines, it follows the real fourteenth-century despot Castruccio Castracani as his armies threaten the fortress of Valperga.

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The other nations of Europe were yet immersed in barbarism, when Italy, where the light of civilization had never been wholly eclipsed, began to emerge from the darkness of the ruin of the Western Empire, and to catch from the East the returning rays of literature and science. At the beginning of the fourteenth century Dante had already given a permanent form to the language which was the offspring of this revolution; he was personally engaged in those political struggles, in which the elements of the good and evil that have since assumed a more permanent form were contending; his disappointment and exile gave him leisure to meditate, and produced his Divina Comedia.

Lombardy and Tuscany, the most civilized districts of Italy, exhibited astonishing specimens of human genius; but at the same time they were torn to pieces by domestic faction, and almost destroyed by the fury of civil wars. The antient quarrels of the Guelphs and the Ghibelines were started with renovated zeal, under the new distinctions of Bianchi and Neri[1]. The Ghibelines and the Bianchi were the friends of the emperor, asserting the supremacy and universality of his sway over all other dominion, ecclesiastical or civil: the Guelphs and the Neri were the partizans of liberty. Florence was at the head of the Guelphs, and employed, as they were employed by it in their turn, the Papal power as a pretext and an instrument.

Contents

  1. 01Preface
  2. 02Valperga
  3. 03Chapter I
  4. 04Birth of Castruccio.—His family exiled from Lucca when he is eleven years of age.
  5. 05Chapter II
  6. 06Castruccio visits Florence.—Characters of Euthanasia dei Adimari and her father.—The father of Castruccio dies.
  7. 07Chapter III
  8. 08Francis Guinigi, the military Peasant.—Castruccio resides with him one Year.
  9. 09Chapter IV
  10. 10Castruccio in England.
  11. 11Chapter V
  12. 12Castruccio in Flanders and France—Alberto Scoto—Benedetto Pepi.
  13. 13Chapter VI
  14. 14Castruccio in Italy—Susa—Creed of Benedetto.
  15. 15Chapter VII
  16. 16Milan.—Court of the Emperor Henry.—Arrigo Guinigi.—Sack of Cremona.—Benedetto Pepi.
  17. 17Chapter VIII
  18. 18Death of the Emperor.—Uguccione, tyrant of Pisa, restores Castruccio at Lucca.—Euthanasia.
  19. 19Chapter IX
  20. 20Castle of Valperga described—Friendship and Love.
  21. 21Chapter X
  22. 22Euthanasia's Narrative.
  23. 23Chapter XI
  24. 24Capture of Monte Catini.—Castruccio treacherously made prisoner by Ranieri, Governor of Lucca.—Delivered, and proclaimed Consul.
  25. 25Chapter XII
  26. 26Peace between Lucca and Florence.—Bindo.
  27. 27Chapter XIII
  28. 28Euthanasia holds a Court.
  29. 29Chapter XIV
  30. 30Euthanasia's Court continued.—Pepi arrives.
  31. 31End of Volume I.

About this edition

Author
Mary Shelley
Era
Modern (c. 1800–1945)
Reading level
Advanced: for close, demanding reading
Formats
EPUB, PDF
Length
166 pages
This edition
Modern Philosophers