point and go out begging. The sixth is the Company of Abram Coves. They strip naked or half- naked and show their uncovered flesh as and when suits them, and they beg. The seventh is called the Company of the Hedge Priests…'
'One moment, one moment,' said Buvat; the pseudo-notary, equipped with too large a pen and unaccustomed to writing fast, was struggling to keep up with the full flow of the confession. He had initially been prepared to draw up a false statement for the record; now, however, he found himself having to write a real one, and a particularly precious one at that. Sfasciamonti kept gesturing to him that he was not to miss a single word. I now knew why: the catchpoll wanted at last to have hard and fast evidence of the existence of the cerretani to show sooner or later to his colleagues or even the Governor.
'Let us do as follows,' proposed Atto. 'First, tell us the names of the companies, so that we can have an idea of them. Then explain to us what they do.'
The young cerretano obeyed and began to rattle off a list, including the companies already mentioned:
Chop-churches
Swooners
Clapperclogeons
Brothers of the Buskin
Tawneymen
Abram Coves
Hedge Priests
Dommerers
Swaddlers
Basket Ants
Watchdogs
Puppets
Bayardeers
Kinchins
Autem morts
Doxies
'Enough, that will do. Which company do you belong to?' asked Atto.
'To the Swooners.'
Then Il Roscio spelt out all the infamous deeds of which the cerretano companies were capable but which he had not yet specified. He spoke of the Hedge Priests who disguise themselves as Austin Friars; of the Tawneymen, who pretend to be lunatics, frenzied madmen or possessed by devils, frothing at the mouth and rolling on the ground after eating a soapy mixture. He revealed the tricks of the Dommerers, who bear heavy iron chains around their necks and pretend to speak Turkish, forever repeating 'Bran-bran-bran' or 'Bre-bre-bre' and claiming to have been prisoners of the infidels. The Swaddlers always go about two by two, pretending to be soldiers, and when they meet some poor defenceless person in the street, they rob him. The Basket Ants are bandits who have fallen on hard times, while the Watchdogs are constables who have likewise been ruined; the Puppets pretend their bodies are shaken by tremendous convulsions, like puppets, because, so they claim, they descend from sinners who were unwilling to kneel before the Most Holy Sacrament, and that is why they are being punished. The Bayardeers rob farm bailiffs when they are delivering bread in the countryside (their name comes from a cant word for a horse, after the famous Bayard). The Kinchins are little boys who live in the streets and sing songs like 'O Maria Stella!' while shamelessly begging. Lastly, the Autem Morts and Doxies are women who beg with infants in their arms, with their faces covered: the Autem Morts are married, while the Doxies are single.
'Heavens, what chaos,' Atto Melani commented in the end.
'But these cerretani are all beggars after all,' I observed.
'And did I not tell you that from the start?' replied Sfasciamonti. 'Only, they use mendicancy as a cover for other nefarious activities, such as violence, cheating and robbery…'
'Excuse me, we have an interrogation to complete,' said Buvat, calling us to order with the inflexible dignity of a true notary, as he began to transcribe the customary formula.
'Interrogates an pecuniae acquistae sint ipsius quaerentis an vero quilibet teneatur illas consignare suo superiori secundum cuiusque sectam illorum, respondit… So, young man, I repeat: do you keep the money which you earn through mendicancy or other criminal activities for yourself or do you hand it over to your superiors in every company?'
'Sir, whoever earns money, at least among us Swooners, keeps it for himself. Our chief is Gioseppe da Camerino, and he on the contrary gives money to everyone. I have heard it said that the Hedgers and Puppets hold things in common and often meet up at inns or in other places, and that they elect their principals and officers. My companion, who fled in order not to be taken, told me that last week he was in the company of four Brothers of the Buskin, two Hedgers and two Puppets. They all met at a tavern in the Ponte quarter to have a good time together. They had all manner of good things brought to them by mine host, excellent wines and many things to eat. In other words, a meal fit for the nobility. And after the feasting, the host presented the bill and said that the whole meal came to twelve scudi, which the elder of the Hedge Priests paid in coin without uttering a word. And they enjoyed themselves together because they are never short of money, least of all the heads of the companies.'
'Where do the members of your company meet?'
'At Piazza Navona, Ponte, Campo di Fiore and in the Piazza della Rotonda.'
'Now, tell me whether you go to Confession, take Communion or attend mass?'
'Sir, among us there are few who do so, because, to tell the truth, most are worse than the Lutherans. Apart from that, I swear I know nothing.'
'Do you gentlemen have any further questions?' said Buvat, turning to us.
Once again, Sfasciamonti drew near to Buvat in order to whisper in his ear that the next question was not to be placed on the record.
'Ah, yes, yes,' the pseudo-notary reassured him. 'Very well, my boy, within your company, have you heard of the theft of certain documents, a relic and a telescope from the Villa Spada?'
'Yes, Sir.'
We all four looked at one another and this time even Buvat was unable to conceal a look of surprise.
'Go on, go on, for goodness' sake,' said Atto with his eyes almost bursting out of his head.
'Sir, I know only that this thing was done by the German. Why, I know not. Since the Jubilee began he has been doing excellent business, mining money in all the streets of Rome.'
'And where the Devil are we to find this German?' asked Atto.
The cerretano explained everything.
'I think that is quite clear,' commented Sfasciamonti in the end.
All that Il Roscio had spilled out concerning the German related to the search for Atto's personal effects and was therefore omitted from the record, together with many other things said by the young canter that evening.
'If anyone should find this statement on me, I shall be in real trouble,' said Sfasciamonti out of the prisoner's hearing. 'I shall, for safety's sake, put a fictitious date on it, say, 4th February 1595.
Then I shall place it in the Governor's archives. Only I shall know where to find it, because no one now looks at the documents of the past century. I shall produce it if and when I want to: what's more, with that date, it will prove that the cerretani have existed for a long time, and I shall at last be able to wave this under the noses of all those who've been mocking me.'
The next decision was the most difficult, but there was no choice in the matter. The cerretano could not be kept in prison without an arrest summons, or at least a permit from the Bargello; Sfasciamonti had in fact mentioned such a possibility to one of the gaolers, a good friend of his, who had been unwilling so much as to discuss the possibility. There are, said he, so many innocent people in gaol, and so many guilty ones at liberty; but matters such as these must be handled in the right way. Usually, they are organised by the judges, or by those in power, whose orders the former carry out, unbeknownst to the people.
It was, moreover, impossible to hold the criminal (if such he could be called) elsewhere: Villa Spada, which did of course have plenty of space in its cellars, could obviously not be used for this purpose. Nor, it was plain enough, could our private residences.
