This was a community of like-minded individuals, in existence for only a relatively short period of time. The Circle began to form when Percy and Mary Shelley settled in Pisa in the summer of 1821. The social activities were energized by Byron's arrival towards the end of the year. The group’s existence ended abruptly in 1822 when Percy Shelley drowned in a boating accident and Lord Byron moved to Genoa following the ‘Massi affair’.
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| Gatherings at Palazzo Lanfranchi (Nano Banana AI) |
The circle of friends was an informal and constantly shifting group of British ex-pats, friends and acquaintances centred primarily around the two poets. It was an intellectual coterie bound by shared literary and radical political views – and a rejection of conventional and conservative social and moral norms. Mary Shelley referred to them as ‘Anglo-Italians’. Key members of The Pisan Circle included:
Percy Bysshe Shelley – major Romantic poet and central
figure in the group
George Gordon Byron – famous Romantic poet and fellow self-exile
who hosted many of the afternoon gatherings at the Palazzo Lanfranchi for
conversation and billiards!
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley – wife of Percy and
celebrated author of Frankenstein
Claire Clairmont – fellow traveller and Mary Shelley’s
stepsister who later gave birth to Byron’s illegitimate daughter
Edward Ellerker Williams and his wife Jane – former
lieutenant of the dragoons who shared Percy Shelley’s interest in sailing
Alexandros Mavrocordatos – Phanariot prince and friend
of the Shelleys who later left the circle to fight for Greek independence
(influencing Byron’s decision to do the same)
Edward John Trelawny – writer and adventurer who accompanied
Lord Byron to Greece
Leigh Hunt – prominent journalist and co-founder of the influential, intellectual and radical newspaper The Examiner
Literary Legacy
The writings produced by The Pisan Circle, especially
Shelley’s political and ethical works, were embraced by later social reformers,
including Karl Marx and Mahatma Gandhi. Byron wrote his satirical poem The
Vision of Judgement – using sharp political satire to express his liberal
(Whig) views. He attacked the oppressive reign of King George III, the
institution of monarchy and his political and literary rival, the (Tory) Poet
Laureate Robert Southey. The poem was published in the first number of the short-lived
magazine The Liberal, co-founded by Byron, Shelley and Leigh Hunt in
1822. Hunt’s older brother John Hunt distributed the material in England,
drawing immediate controversial attention and legal challenges.
Love and Sexuality
The Circle was known for some of its members’
unconventional views and practices regarding love and sexuality – which
challenged the strict moral codes of the time and contributed to their
reputations as social outcasts. They defied conventional sexual morality and embraced
concepts of ‘free love’ and ‘sexual freedom’. In Britain, they had been at risk
of severe legal or religious judgements, including the death penalty. Byron’s bi-sexuality is widely accepted and clearly documented. His sexuality was
a major cause of his self-exile in 1816. It is not however possible to
definitively classify Shelley as bi-sexual – despite his core belief that
individuals should be free to act on their own desires.
The Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885 made all male homosexual
acts, even in private, punishable by imprisonment. This was the law under which
Oscar Wilde and Alan Turing were later convicted.
Many contemporary scholars and commentators would now
describe Lord Byron as ‘queer’ (specifically bi-sexual or non-heterosexual).
The application of the term to Percy Bysshe Shelley is a subject of on-going
debate – though some do include him in the modern LGBTQ+ context.
The ‘Massi affair’
This was a violent street brawl that occurred in March
1822. Byron and a group of friends including Edward Williams, were
returning on horseback to the Palazzo, when Sergeant-Major Stefano Massi (a
local Italian military officer) galloped through the party, nearly unhorsing
one of them. Byron and his group pursued Massi to the city gates where a heated argument
ensued. Reportedly, the argument became abusive and Massi reached for his sword.
One of Byron’s servants intervened to prevent a fight. Later in the evening,
Massi was violently attacked near Byron’s residence and wounded in the chest
with a pitchfork. The injury was initially life-threatening, but he survived. Byron’s
loyal servants were suspected of criminal activity and were arrested. They were
imprisoned for a short period of time (possibly a couple of weeks) – though no
proof was found against them.
The Massi affair, along with the decline of the Pisan
Circle following the death of Percy Bysshe Shelley, contributed to Byron’s
decision to leave Pisa and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
