Throughout the centuries, there have been many women who were executed for a wide variety
of crimes.
For example during the reign of Henry VIII, Anne Askew a Protestant woman was racked brutally
and tortured at the Tower of London to a point where she could not stand for her execution.
She was later carried to Smithfield where in front of a large crowd she was burned as
a heretic, and the crowds heard her ear piercing screams and screeches as the flames rose higher.
Also there were many women who were accused of witchcraft who were hanged in brutal scenes
at places such as Tyburn and Newgate Prison in London.
But there was one woman from the 16th century from Rome whose life was relatively comfortable,
however she was guilty of a terrible crime of murdering her own father.
This was considered one of the worst crimes throughout history, as it was one which was
viewed as incredibly disrespectful also.
But what is the story of Beatrice Cenci and her execution, but also her murderous antics,
but can she also be seen as a victim of her father’s awful crimes?
Beatrice Cenci was born on the 6th February 1577, and she was the daughter of Ersilia
Santacroce, and Count Francesco Cenci, who was described as ‘a man of great wealth,
but dissolute habits and violent temper.’
When Beatrice was just 7 years kid, her mother passed away which left her vulnerable to her
father’s evil side.
After her mother’s death though, she and her elder sister Antonina were sent to a small
monastery for Franciscan nuns in Rome.
The family though lived in Rome at the Palazzo Cenci, and they lived with their extended
family including Count Francesco’s second wife, Lucrezia Petroni, Beatrice’s elder
brother and Bernardo, Francesco’s son from his second marriage.
They were very well off and wealthy, and they also owned a castle, La Rocca of Petrel Alto,
which was inside a small village in the mountains northeast of Rome.
This shows how well off the family were, however the Count, Beatrice’s father was a terrible
man.
He would regularly abuse his first wife, and Beatrice’s mother, and he also assaulted
his sons and abused Beatrice terribly.
He was a truly disgusting man despite his wealth, and he was even jailed for some other
crimes, but because of his money and status in the nobility he was freed early.
Beatrice tried to tell the authorities of his terrible behaviour, and of her ordeal
at the hands of her father despite being a young woman, but no action was taken and the
authorities did not act against him.
There were many people in Rome though who were aware of the terrible goings on at the
Palazzo Cenci.
But when he father found out that he had been reported, he banished Beatrice and her sister
away from Rome to live in the family’s castle, as he felt betrayed by them.
However the four Cenci children then decided that they had to try and get rid of their
father the count, and they began to plot to kill him.
In 1598, one of the during one of the count’s stays at the castle, two servants drugged
him with the children, and one of these was Beatrice’s secret lover.
Beatrice, her siblings and their stepmother then gathered together, and armed with a hammer
they bludgeoned Francesco to death, and then they threw his body off a balcony to make
it look like a tragic accident.
But the death of a major noble was not something they could hide well, and the Papal police
decided to look into his absence.
Beatrice’s lover was investigated and he was tortured by the police, and he died during
this ordeal without telling what had happened.
However a family friend knew of the murder, and to avoid any information getting out,
they ordered the murder of the second servant to avoid the risk.
However the plot was uncovered and discovered, and the four members of the Cenci family were
arrested and were brought in for questioning.
They were then placed on trial in Rome, and were sentenced to death for the crime of murdering
their father regardless of the fact that he was an abusive and heinous man.
However the death sentences attracted a significant degree of criticism with the people of Rome,
as they knew how awful the count was, and that he was an abusive father, and because
of this they protested against the decision, and managed to postpone the executions of
the Cenci family.
The Pope, Clement VIII however was worried about a number of murders that were happening
in Rome especially with family members killing others, and to persuade other people to not
commit murder against their family members, The Pope confirmed the death sentences, and
they went ahead.
Beatrice Cenci was around 22 when she was to be executed, and along with the other murderers
and members of her family, she was taken to Sant Angelo Bridge, where there was an execution
scaffold which was built.
This took the lives of many criminals inside of Rome.
But in the care to the scaffold, Beatrice’s elder brother was constantly beaten and tortured
as the people followed and looked on.
When the cart carrying the condemned reached the scaffold, Beatrice’s brother’s head
was smashed to pieces with a mallet, and he was killed before his corpse was then quartered
in front of the crowd.
This was brutal for the crowd to have witnessed, and then the public executions continued with
the executions of Lucrezia and Beatrice.
The pair were taken to the block which was on the executioner’s scaffold, and the executioner
armed with a small axe then struck and he took the head of Beatrice clean off.
Only the 12 year old Bernardo was spared the ordeal, but he was forced to watch the executions
of his siblings and relatives before he was sent to prison and had his property stolen
and confiscated, with the Pope seizing control of it.
But he was released a year later.
Beatrice’s headless body was buried inside of the church of San Pietro in Montorio.
However in death, Beatrice became a legend to the people of Rome and they used her story
as a symbol of defiance against the evil and arrogance of the aristocracy at times.
Her story captivated the people of Rome, and gave them inspiration, and it was said that
she haunts the place of her execution.
It’s said that the night before her execution and the anniversary of it that she carries
her severed head on the bridge, returning to the place she lost her life.
There has also been a lot of artwork and literature that has been inspired by the story of Beatrice
Cenci and her family.
Ultimately the story of Beatrice Cenci and her family is one that her father’s evil
behaviour and actions led them to take extreme action and murder him.
Today Beatrice’s actions due to the abuse at the hands of her father would be viewed
different, and she would have been seen as a victim, however during this time in Rome
the Pope viewed her and her sibling’s and stepmother as dangerous murderers who needed
punishing.
Her story is one which is captivating, and at the age of 22 she had her head struck from
her body, but she was a woman who was treated awfully throughout her life.
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