TRANSLATION:
[…] Beginning next Sunday, My Lord the Duke [Cosimo I] [...] will be much occupied in Florence with the festivities for Carnival and also perhaps with the delivery of the child of Her Excellency the Lady Duchess [Eleonora di Toledo]. To tell the truth, she was very tired and weak after even this short trip from Florence to Prato yesterday and in the evening I personally heard her confide that she would complete her ninth month of pregnancy on the twelfth day of this month. However, she added that it was customary for her to go four or five days past the ninth month and may Our Lord God grant her the same good fortune that she enjoyed in her past deliveries. Yesterday the Duke and Duchess passed the entire day in a remarkably pleasant manner, watching the combat staged at this castle [the Castello dell'Imperatore in Prato]. Indeed, there were some very comical incidents, particularly involving two of the Turks who came out of the castle in order to attack the encamped troops from the rear. One of them was left for dead on the ground, but once the furor was over, he headed back inside the castle, dragging one of his legs behind him as if it had been cut off, with actions and gestures that made everyone who saw him laugh. The other Turk was taken prisoner by some of the foot-soldiers, who stripped him of everything he had including a long Turkish-style garment, leaving him naked except for a pair of wretched shorts that barely covered him to the knees. When he turned to flee toward the castle, Fra Bernardo fell out of a slit in his shorts--and it was of no mediocre size. Then he ran through the whole piazza towards the castle, with all of the troops from the encampment chasing him, until he managed to take refuge inside [...]

TEXT:
[…] Il Duca mio s.re [Cosimo I] [...] da Domenica in là habbi a restare impegnata in Fiorenza alle feste del carnovale, et forsi al parto dell'Ex.ma S.ra Duchessa [Eleonora di Toledo], la quale hieri in verità, si trovava molto stanca et lassa di questo poco viaggio da Fiorenza a Prato, et hiersera io la sentì confessare di bocca propria che alli XII del presente compliva il nono mese della sua gravidezza, aggiungendo però che lej era solita passare sempre detto nono mese di quattro o di cinque giorni, Iddio n. s.re li presti la med.ma felicità in questo, che è solita havere nelli altri parti suoi: Hierj il Duca et lei passorono tutto quel giorno con mirabil piacere del combattimento di questo Castello [dell'Imperatore] et certo vi furono alcuni particulari accidenti da fare ridere, et maxime di dua di quei turchi di dentro, uno de' quali essendo venuti fuora ad assaltare la coda del campo rimase in terra per morto, il quale di poi passata la furia strascicandosi [cancelled: di] dietro una gamba che pareva gli fusse stata tagliata, se ne ritornò dentro nel castello con certi atti et modi da fare ridere ogniuno che lo vedeva; l'altro, essendo stato fatto prigione da alcunj fantaccinj e' quali lo svaligiavano, cavandoli di dosso una veste lunga alla turchesca et rimanendo luj ignudo con un paio di calzonacci che li coprivano poco più giù che il ginocchio si missa a fuggire verso il castello, et Fra Bernardo usciva fuora per un fesso de' calzoni, che era di statura più che mediocre, et correndo per tutta la piazza alla volta del castello si salvò dentro, ancorchè havesse dietro quasi tutto il campo [...]

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
The endemic struggle between the Christians and the Turks inspired works of art ranging from the sublime (Tasso's "Gerusalemme Liberata" and Titian's "Battle of Lepanto") to the ridiculous (the burlesque entertainment described by Secretary Lorenzo Pagni.) For Duke Cosimo I de'Medici (1519-74), however, the Turks were not entirely a laughing matter. In these very years, there were serious Turkish incursions on the Tuscan Coast and in 1544, Admiral Khair ad Din (popularly known as "Barbarossa") occupied the strategic ports of Orbetello and Talamone.

It is noteworthy that Cosimo's consort Eleonora di Toledo (1522-62) was ready, willing and able to travel the twenty-odd kilometers from Florence to Prato and appear at a public spectacle at an advanced stage of pregnancy. In fact, we would like to know more about her excursion and in particular, if its official focus might have been a visit to the "Sacro Cingolo" (or "Girdle of the Virgin") in Prato Cathedral. In these years, the Medici were actively promoting devotion to this sacred relic as a state cult (second in importance only to the Santissima Annunziata in Florence.) Its powers were considered especially beneficial for women who were unable to conceive or who feared complications in childbirth.

Might a devout pilgrimage also include a raucous entertainment like the one that Eleonora witnessed and evidently enjoyed? Such license was a defining aspect of Carnival celebrations and these in turn played an essential role in the annual cycle of religious observance. Indeed, the Turkish combat might well have been scheduled to console the Duchess for the later Florentine festivities that she would presumably be missing due to the imminent birth of her child. We note another characteristic mixture of the sacred and profane in the slang euphemism of "Fra Bernardo" (Friar Bernardo) for the male genitalia. Considering its "no mediocre size" and the (evidently minimal) decorum of a Ducal command performance, it is probably best imagined as an attention-grabbing stage prop. Though "Fra Bernardo" no longer enriches the Tuscan glossary, his female colleague "la bernarda" is still a current item (perhaps by way of "Suor Bernarda" or "Sister Bernarda"?)

This letter presents an intriguing historical puzzle. It survives in incomplete form, on a single bifolio, with the signature and date presumably on a lost or separated sheet. We find the document in a run of letters, mostly from the mid-1540's, sent to Majordomo Pierfrancesco Riccio. The handwriting can be identified as that of Secretary Lorenzo Pagni. In order to determine its date and deduce which of Eleonora di Toledo's eleven pregancies is under discussion, we must rely on internal evidence.

Three of Cosimo and Eleonora's children were born in the general period of carnival or early Lent (working backwards from the various datings of Easter, which is a movable feast that can occur between 22 March and 25 April.) Francesco was born on 25 March 1541, Lucrezia on 14 February 1545 (1544 in Florentine reckoning) and Anna on 10 March 1553 (1552 in Florentine reckoning.) The evident candidate is Lucrezia, when we consider both the festive calendar and her mother's state of pregancy. Eleonora di Toledo noted that she would complete her ninth month on the twelfth and Cosimo needed to return to Florence that coming Sunday for Carnival. In 1545, the twelfth of February was in fact "Fat Thursday" or "Berlingaccio", the traditional high point of the Florentine celebrations; the preceding Sunday was thus the 8th. Lucrezia de'Medici was born on Saturday 14 February, two days after the completion of her mother's estimated ninth month of pregancy. Ash Wednesday (the end of Carnival) occurred on 18 February.

NOTE: The transcription here represents only part of Lorenzo Pagni's long and detailed account of the festivity.