Upon the death of the husband the Monsignore obtained dispensation from his orders, married Beatrice, and legitimated his son, the inheritor of so much wealth.

Francesco was born in 1549, and had therefore reached the age of thirteen when his father died.

His mother, Beatrice, soon contracted a third matrimonial union; but during her guardianship of the boy she appeared before the courts, accused of having stolen clothing from his tutor's wardrobe.
[Footnote 196: _Francesco Cenci e la sua Famiglia_.

Per A.Bertolotti, Firenze, 1877.] Francesco Cenci disbursed a sum of 33,000 crowns to various public offices, in order to be allowed to enter unmolested into the enjoyment of his father's gains: 3,800 crowns of this sum went to the Chapter of S.Peter's.[197] He showed a certain precocity; for at the age of fourteen he owned an illegitimate child, and was accused of violence to domestics.

In 1563 his family married him to Ersilia, a daughter of the noble Santa Croce house, who brought him a fair dowry.