Beatrice's spell

by Belinda Elizabeth Jack

Beatrice Cenci was executed under papal decree in Rome in September of 1599. She was said to be sixteen, and hauntingly beautiful. Her crime was the murder of her father, a member of one of the great Roman families, but his cruel treatment of Beatrice, including incestuous rape, moved the people of the city to take her side. Weeping crowds lined the streets, and a special mass is still held in Rome on the anniversary of her death. She was at once innocent and guilty, at once the victim and the perpetrator of appalling crimes.