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The Princess of Venosa Writes...

Now widowed, Donna Eleonora was left with the complicated problem of how to salvage the house of Gesualdo, with no living sons and two grand-daughters, one of whom was ordered by the King of Naples to marry Prince Nicol� Ludovisio, nephew of Pope Gregory XV.

One account says Donna Eleonora had already divorced Don Carlo before he died. But another account quotes from Don Carlo's will which left her 40,000 ducats annually as Princess of Gesualdo. Yet another account says she joined a convent once she was widowed.

The convent story, however, may be a confusion with Donna Eleonora's neice, and namesake. This Eleonora d'Este was abbess of Santa Chiara in Carpi, and took the religious name of Sister Angela Caterina. The article, "The Devil in the Convent" gives a colorful reference:

The group [demonic] possession in the convent of Santa Chiara in Carpi, Italy, erupted in 1636, when a new spiritual director tried to put an end to the laxity that had prevailed in the convent under the abbacy of Eleonora d'Este (Sister Angela Caterina), daughter of Duke Cesare d'Este of Modena. The abbess had brought her own servants with her, and had organized cultural and musical events within the cloistered walls of the nunnery, until a reforming priest was appointed as archbishop of Carpi and decided to establish his authority over the convent, which had become almost the private property of the d'Este family.

The following is a scan of Donna Eleonora d'Este-Gesualdo's letter dated October 13, 1616, just over three years after the death of Don Carlo Gesualdo. The letter was probably written from the residence of her brother, Cesare d'Este, duke of Modena.

The letter's seal (right) is the Gesualdo heraldry encircled with: · ELEON · EST · GESUAL · PRIN · VEN ·

This letter may shed additional light on the years just following the death of the Prince of Venosa.

If you are able to provide a better translation of this 390-year-old text, or identify the abbreviated name at the head of the letter, please email me!

Isl.ma Sig.re
Io sono richiesta da persona mia amorivole a pregare V.S. Isl.ma che si contenti di concidere a Lodovico Dosi, suo dilitore di venti sette ducatoni la dilatione al pagamento, ch'egli desidera nell anisso mem. le a me presentato, onde reporto d'uffo col mezzo di questa, assecurandola, che si le piacera di fare la carita a q.e poverishuomo in rispetto della mia intercisse retistaro molto tenuta a V.S. Isl.ma alla quale offrendomi con affectto e aug.o da Dio vero contento. Di Modona 13 ottobre 1616 LE

To: Signore Isl.ma (?)
I am being asked by a personal friend of mine to pray that Your Lordship Isl.ma (?) grant Lodovico Dosi, your debtor for 27 ducats, the delay in payment that he is asking for in the attached record sent to me so that I can report it by means of this note, and I assure you that if it please you to be charitable to this poor man as a result of my intercession, I will remain much indebted to Your Lordship to whom I offer myself with affection and to whom I wish contentment of the true God. Modona (Modena), October 13, 1616 LE [Illegible name of addressee and signature "Leonora d'Este G.d"]