The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

l60 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
father, Fra Pietro/ to me at Soriano, where I lay ill. The
father came, and I excused myself to him for the death of the
Duchess by saying that my honour in the eyes of the world
had caused me to consent. What now follows, I do not say
to justify myself, but only in the interests of truth. I had not
ordered the death of the Duchess, but wished everyone to
believe that I had allowed it to take place, merely out of
consideration for my honour. I speak freely here, and not
as one who is before a court of law ; may this be held in my
favour." The Duke also represented his brother as guilty in
the matter of the galleys. In a second letter, dated February
6th, he gave yet further details concerning this affair and the
law-suit against the Colonna, and here, likewise, he attributed
all the guilt to the promptings of his brother. In this letter,
signed merely with the name " Giovanni Carafa " no further
allusion is made to the murder of the Duchess.^ According
to a report of Mula, the Duke, completely broken down by
his eight months imprisonment, is even said to have expressed
a wish that his obstinate brother, who still denied everything,
should be forced to a confession by torture.^ As a matter
of fact, the instruments of torture were actually taken to the
Castle of St. Angelo, but even this did not intimidate Carlo
Carafa ; his assertions grew bolder and more arrogant than
ever.*
^ One of the Capuchins who gave spiritual consolation to the
Duchess at the time of her death ; see supra p. 138.
* Both letters of the Duke of Paliano to the Pope are in the
*Liber iurium (Papal Secret Archives ; see note i supra p. 148)
pp. 578-9, and 574-5. The first is printed in the Arch. stor. Ital.,
XIL, 456-8, but with a small omission. The second letter, of
February 6, 1561, is all in his own hand. In the first letter only
the signature is by the Duke himself, and even this is not certain ;
perhaps the whole is merely a copy.
^According to Mula's *report of February i, 1561, the Duke
of Paliano is supposed to have said : " Se il cardinale sara levato
quattro dita di terra, confessera ogni cosa " (Papal Secret Archives)
* *Fu portata la corda in Castello et ordinate che si fosse
tormentato il card. Carafa, ma non intendo che sia stato eseguito,
e quel cardinale parla altamente come prima e piii ancora, reports