SOURCE: Turner, Justin G. “The Cenci: Shelley vs. the Truth.” American Book Collector 22, no. 5 (February 1972): 5-9.

In the following essay, Turner examines the veracity of Shelley's source material for The Cenci and contends that Shelley would have found little interest in Beatrice as a tragic heroine had he known the truth behind the Cenci legend.

All Italy was stirred by the most sensational criminal case in its history, the Cenci murder. After the execution of the family in 1599, rumors reached England of the wicked father who had poisoned his wife, killed his son, and ravished his daughter. Many years later, historians were to ascertain that these three crimes were the only ones of which Francesco Cenci was accused but of which he was not guilty. However, Elizabethan England was not interested in historical accuracy. Englishmen were enthusiastic about good stories, and Philip Massinger found in this Cenci story...