The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Marco Polo and da Pisa Rusticiano

gather all that we know of the remaining history of Marco Polo’s immediate family. We have seen in his will an indication that the two elder daughters, Fantina and Bellela, were married before his death. In 1333 we find the youngest, Moreta, also a married woman, and Bellela deceased. In 1336 we find that their mother Donata had died in the interval. We learn, too, that Fantina’s husband was MARCO BRAGADINO, and Moreta’s, RANUZZO DOLFINO.[29] The name of Bellela’s husband does not appear. Fantina’s husband is probably the Marco Bragadino, son of Pietro, who in 1346 is mentioned to have been sent as Provveditore-Generale to act against the Patriarch of Acquileia.[30] And in 1379 we find Donna Fantina herself, presumably in widowhood, assessed as a resident of S. Giovanni Grisostomo, on the _Estimo_ or forced loan for the Genoese war, at 1300 _lire_, whilst Pietro Bragadino of the same parish—her son as I imagine—is assessed at 1500 _lire_.[31] [See vol. ii., _Calendar_.] The documents show a few other incidents which may be briefly noted. In 1326 we have the record of a charge against one Zanino Grioni for insulting Donna Moreta in the Campo of San Vitale; a misdemeanour punished by the Council of Forty with two months’ imprisonment. [Illustration: Mosaic Portrait of Marco Polo at Genoa.] In March, 1328, Marco Polo, called Marcolino, of St. John Chrysostom (see p. _66_), represents before the _Domini Advocatores_ of the Republic that certain _imprestita_ that had belonged to the late Maffeo Polo the Elder, had been alienated and transferred in May 1318, by the late Marco Polo of St. John Chrysostom and since his death by his heirs, without regard to the rights of the said Marcolino, to whom the said Messer Maffeo had bequeathed 1000 _lire_ by his will executed on 6th February, 1308 (_i.e._ 1309). The Advocatores find that the transfer was to that extent unjust and improper, and they order that to the same extent it should be revoked and annulled. Two months later the Lady Donata makes rather an unpleasant figure before the Council of Forty. It would seem that on the claim of Messer Bertuccio Quirino a mandate of sequestration had been issued by the Court of Requests affecting certain articles in the Ca’ Polo; including two bags of money which had been tied and sealed, but left in custody of the Lady Donata. The sum so sealed was about 80 _lire_ of grossi (300_l._ in silver value), but when opened only 45 _lire_ and 22 _grossi_ (about 170_l._) were found therein, and the Lady was accused of abstracting the balance _non bono modo_. Probably she acted, as ladies sometimes do, on a strong sense of her own rights, and a weak sense of the claims of law. But the Council pronounced against her, ordering restitution, and a fine of 200 _lire_ over and above “_ut ceteris transeat in exemplum._”[32] It will have been seen that there is nothing in the amounts mentioned in Marco’s will to bear out the large reports as to his wealth, though at the same time there is no positive ground for a deduction to the contrary.[33] The mention in two of the documents of Agnes Loredano as the sister of the Lady Donata suggests that the latter may have belonged to the Loredano family, but as it does not appear whether Agnes was maid or wife this remains uncertain.[34] Respecting the further history of the family there is nothing certain, nor can we give unhesitating faith to Ramusio’s statement that the last male descendant of the Polos of S. Giovanni Grisostomo was Marco, who died Castellano of Verona in 1417 (according to others, 1418, or 1425),[35] and that the family property then passed to Maria (or _Anna_, as she is styled in a MS. statement furnished to me from Venice), who was married in 1401 to Benedetto Cornaro, and again in 1414 to Azzo Trevisan. Her descendant in the fourth generation by the latter was Marc Antonio Trevisano,[36] who was chosen Doge in 1553. [Illustration: Arms of the Trevisan family.] The genealogy recorded by Marco Barbaro, as drawn up from documents by Ramusio, makes the Castellano of Verona a grandson of our Marco by a son Maffeo, whom we may safely pronounce not to have existed, and makes Maria the daughter of Maffeo, Marco’s brother—that is to say, makes a lady marry in 1414 and have children, whose father was born in 1271 at the very latest! The genealogy is given in several other ways, but as I have satisfied myself that they all (except perhaps this of Barbaro’s, which we see to be otherwise erroneous) confound together the two distinct families of Polo of S. Geremia and Polo of S. Giov. Grisostomo, I reserve my faith, and abstain from presenting them. Assuming that the Marco or Marcolino Polo, spoken of in the preceding page, was a near relation (as is probable, though perhaps an illegitimate one), he is the only male descendant of old Andrea of San Felice whom we can indicate as having survived Marco himself; and from a study of the links in the professed genealogies I think it not unlikely that both Marco the Castellano of Verona and Maria Trevisan belonged to the branch of S. Geremia.[37] [See vol. ii., _App. C_, p. 510.] [Illustration: The Pseudo Marco Polo at Canton.] [49. _bis._—It is interesting to note some of the _reliques_ left by our traveller. I. The unfortunate Doge of Venice, Marino Faliero, seems to have possessed many souvenirs of Marco Polo, and among them two manuscripts, one in the handwriting of his celebrated fellow-citizen(?), and one adorned with miniatures. M. Julius von Schlosser has reprinted (_Die ältesten Medaillen und die Antike_, Bd. XVIII., _Jahrb. d. Kunsthist. Samml. d. Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses_, Vienna, 1897, pp. 42–43) from the _Bulletino di arti, industrie e curiosità veneziane_, III., 1880–81, p. 101,[38] the inventory of the curiosities kept in the “Red Chamber” of Marino Faliero’s palace in the Parish of the SS. Apostles; we give the following abstract of it:— Anno ab incarnacione domini nostri Jesu Christi 1351° indictione sexta mensis aprilis. Inuentarium rerum qui sunt in camera rubea domi habitationis clarissimi domini MARINI FALETRO de confinio SS. Apostolorum, scriptum per me Johannem, presbiterum, dicte ecclesie. • • • • • _Item_ alia capsaleta cum ogiis auri et argenti, inter quos unum anulum con inscriptione que dicit: _Ciuble Can Marco Polo_, et unum torques cum multis animalibus Tartarorum sculptis, que res donum dedit predictus MARCUS cuidam Faletrorum. • • • • • _Item_ 2 capsalete de corio albo cum variis rebus auri et argenti, quas habuit praedictus MARCUS a Barbarorum rege. • • • • • _Item_ 1 ensem mirabilem, qui habet 3 enses simul, quem habuit in suis itineribus praedictus MARCUS. • • • • • _Item_ 1 tenturam de pannis indicis, quam habuit praedictus MARCUS. _Item_ de itineribus MARCI praedicti liber in corio albo cum multis figuris. _Item_ aliud volumen quod vocatur _de locis mirabilibus Tartarorum, scriptum manu praedicti_ MARCI. • • • • • II. There is kept at the Louvre, in the very valuable collection of China Ware given by M. Ernest Grandidier, a white porcelain incense-burner said to come from Marco Polo. This incense-burner, which belonged to Baron Davillier, who received it, as a present, from one of the keepers of the Treasury of St. Mark’s at Venice, is an octagonal _ting_ from the Fo-kien province, and of the time of the Sung Dynasty. By the kind permission of M. P. Grandidier, we reproduce it from Pl. II. 6, of the _Céramique chinoise_, Paris, 1894, published by this learned amateur.—H. C.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] 1. The Will is made in prospect of his voyage to Crete.