The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy

And rightly so, sometimes. How ladies should behave while such tales are telling, we learn from Cortigiano, l. iii. fol. 107. That the ladies who were present at his dialogues must have known how to conduct themselves in case of need, is shown by the strong passage, l. ii. fol. 100. What is said of the ‘Donna di Palazzo’—the counterpart of the Cortigiano—that she should neither avoid frivolous company nor use unbecoming language, is not decisive, since she was far more the servant of the princess than the Cortigiano of the prince. See Bandello, i. nov. 44. Bianca d’Este tells the terrible love-story of her ancestor, Niccolò of Ferrara, and Parisina. The tales put into the mouths of the women in the Decameron may also serve as instances of this indelicacy. For Bandello, see above, p. 145; and Landau, Beitr. z. Gesch. der Ital. Nov. Vienna, 1875, p. 102. note 32.

901

Sansovino, Venezia, fol. 152 sqq. How highly the travelled Italians valued the freer intercourse with girls in England and the Netherlands is shown by Bandello, ii. nov. 44, and iv. nov. 27. For the Venetian women and the Italian women generally, see the work of Yriarte, pp. 50 sqq.

902

Paul. Jov. De Rom. Piscibus, cap. 5; Bandello, parte iii. nov. 42. Aretino, in the Ragionamento del Zoppino, p. 327, says of a courtesan: ‘She knows by heart all Petrarch and Boccaccio, and many beautiful verses of Virgil, Horace, Ovid, and a thousand other authors.’

903

Bandello, ii. 51, iv. 16.

904

Bandello, iv. 8.

905

For a characteristic instance of this, see Giraldi, Hecatomithi, vi nov. 7.

906

Infessura, in Eccard, Scriptores, ii. col. 1997. The public women only, not the kept women, are meant. The number, compared with the population of Rome, is certainly enormous, perhaps owing to some clerical error. According to Giraldi, vi. 7, Venice was exceptionally rich ‘di quella sorte di donne che cortigiane son dette;’ see also the epigram of Pasquinus (Gregor. viii. 279, note 2); but Rome did not stand behind Venice (Giraldi, Introduz. nov. 2). Comp. the notice of the ‘meretrices’ in Rome (1480) who met in a church and were robbed of their jewels and ornaments, Murat. xxii. 342 sqq., and the account in Burchardi, Diarium, ed. Leibnitz, pp. 75-77, &c. Landi (Commentario, fol. 76) mentions Rome, Naples, and Venice as the chief seats of the ‘cortigiane;’ ibid. 286, the fame of the women of Chiavenna is to be understood ironically. The Quaestiones Forcianae, fol. 9, of the same author give most interesting information on love and love’s delights, and the style and position of women in the different cities of Italy. On the other hand, Egnatius (De Exemp. III. Vir. Ven. fol. 212 b sqq.) praises the chastity of the Venetian women, and says that the prostitutes come every year from Germany. Corn. Agr. de van. Scientiae, cap. 63 (Opp. ed. Lugd. ii. 158) says: ‘Vidi ego nuper atque legi sub titulo “Cortosanæ” Italica lingua editum et Venetiis typis excusum de arte meretricia dialogum, utriusque Veneris omnium flagitiosissimum et dignissimum, qui ipse cum autore suo ardeat.’ Ambr. Traversari (Epist. viii. 2 sqq.) calls the beloved of Niccolò Niccoli ‘foemina fidelissima.’ In the Lettere dei Principi, i. 108 (report of Negro, Sept. 1, 1522) the ‘donne Greche’ are described as ‘fonte di ogni cortesia et amorevolezza.’ A great authority, esp. for Siena, is the Hermaphroditus of Panormitanus. The enumeration of the ‘lenae lupaeque’ in Florence (ii. 37) is hardly fictitious; the line there occurs:

‘Annaque Theutonico tibi si dabit obvia cantu.’

907

Were these wandering knights really married?

908

Trattato del Governo della Famiglia. See above, p. 132, note 1. Pandolfini died in 1446, L. B. Alberti, by whom the work was really written, in 1472.

909

A thorough history of ‘flogging’ among the Germanic and Latin races treated with some psychological power, would be worth volumes of dispatches and negotiations. (A modest beginning has been made by Lichtenberg, Vermischte Schriften, v. 276-283.) When, and through what influence, did flogging become a daily practice in the German household? Not till after Walther sang: ‘Nieman kan mit gerten kindes zuht beherten.’

In Italy beating ceased early; Maffeo Vegio (d. 1458) recommends (De Educ. Liber. lib. i. c. 19) moderation in flogging, but adds: ‘Caedendos magis esse filios quam pestilentissmis blanditiis laetandos.’ At a later time a child of seven was no longer beaten. The little Roland (Orlandino, cap. vii. str. 42) lays down the principle:

‘Sol gli asini si ponno bastonare,Se una tal bestia fussi, patirei.’

The German humanists of the Renaissance, like Rudolf Agricola and Erasmus, speak decisively against flogging, which the elder schoolmasters regarded as an indispensable means of education. In the biographies of the Fahrenden Schüler at the close of the fifteenth century (Platter’s Lebensbeschriebung, ed. Fechter, Basel, 1840; Butzbach’s Wanderbuch, ed. Becher, Regensburg, 1869) there are gross examples of the corporal punishment of the time.

910

But the taste was not universal. J. A. Campanus (Epist. iv. 4) writes vigorously against country life. He admits: ‘Ego si rusticus natus non essem, facile tangerer voluptate;’ but since he was born a peasant, ‘quod tibi deliciae, mihi satietas est.’

911

Giovanni Villani, xi. 93, our principal authority for the building of villas before the middle of the fourteenth century. The villas were more beautiful than the town houses, and great exertions were made by the Florentines to have them so, ‘onde erano tenuti matti.’

912

Trattato del Governo della Famiglia (Torino, 1829), pp. 84, 88.

913

See above, part iv. chap. 2. Petrarch was called ‘Silvanus,’ on the ground of his dislike of the town and love of the country. Epp. Fam. ed. Fracass. ii. 87 sqq. Guarino’s description of a villa to Gianbattista Candrata, in Rosmini, ii. 13 sqq., 157 sqq. Poggio, in a letter to Facius (De Vir. Ill. p. 106): ‘Sum enim deditior senectutis gratia rei rusticæ quam antea.’ See also Poggio, Opp. (1513), p 112 sqq.; and Shepherd-Tonelli, i. 255 and 261. Similarly Maffeo Vegio (De Lib. Educ. vi. 4), and B. Platina at the beginning of his dialogue, ‘De Vera Nobilitate.’ Politian’s descriptions of the country-houses of the Medici in Reumont, Lorenzo, ii. 73, 87. For the Farnesina, see Gregorovius, viii. 114.

914

Comp. J. Burckhardt, Geschichte der Renaissance in Italien (Stuttg. 1868), pp. 320-332.

915

Compare pp. 47 sqq., where the magnificence of the festivals is shown to have been a hindrance to the higher development of the drama.

916

In comparison with the cities of the North.

917

The procession at the feast of Corpus Christi was not established at Venice until 1407; Cecchetti, Venezia e la Corte di Roma, i. 108.

918

The festivities which took place when Visconti was made Duke of Milan, 1395 (Corio, fol. 274), had, with all their splendour, something of mediæval coarseness about them, and the dramatic element was wholly wanting. Notice, too, the relative insignificance of the processions in Pavia during the fourteenth century (Anonymus de Laudibus Papiae, in Murat. xi. col. 34 sqq.).

919

Gio. Villani, viii. 70.

920

See e.g. Infessura, in Eccard, Scrippt. ii. col. 1896; Corio, fols. 417, 421.

921

The dialogue in the Mysteries was chiefly in octaves, the monologue in ‘terzine.’ For the Mysteries, see J. L. Klein, Geschichte der Ital. Dramas, i. 153 sqq.

922

We have no need to refer to the realism of the schoolmen for proof of this. About the year 970 Bishop Wibold of Cambray recommended to his clergy, instead of dice, a sort of spiritual bézique, with fifty-six abstract names represented by as many combinations of cards. ‘Gesta Episcopori Cameracens.’ in Mon. Germ. SS. vii. p. 433.

923

E.g. when he found pictures on metaphors. At the gate of Purgatory the central broken step signifies contrition of heart (Purg. ix. 97), though the slab through being broken loses its value as a step. And again (Purg. xviii. 94), the idle in this world have to show their penitence by running in the other, though running could be a symbol of flight.

924

Inferno, ix. 61; Purgat. viii. 19.

925

Poesie Satiriche, ed. Milan, p. 70 sqq. Dating from the end of the fourteenth century.

926

The latter e.g. in the Venatio of the Cardinal Adriano da Corneto (Strasburg, 1512; often printed). Ascanio Sforza is there supposed to find consolation for the fall of his house in the pleasures of the chase. See above, p. 261.

927

More properly 1454. See Olivier de la Marche, Mémoires, chap. 29.

928

For other French festivals, see e.g. Juvénal des Ursins (Paris, 1614), ad. a. 1389 (entrance of Queen Isabella); John de Troyes, ad. a. 1461) (often printed) (entrance of Louis XI.). Here, too, we meet with living statues, machines for raising bodies, and so forth; but the whole is confused and disconnected, and the allegories are mostly unintelligible. The festivals at Lisbon in 1452, held at the departure of the Infanta Eleonora, the bride of the Emperor Frederick III., lasted several days and were remarkable for their magnificence. See Freher-Struve, Rer. German. Script. ii. fol. 51—the report of Nic. Lauckmann.

929

A great advantage for those poets and artists who knew how to use it.

930

Comp. Bartol. Gambia, Notizie intorno alle Opere di Feo Belcari, Milano, 1808; and especially the introduction to the work, Le Rappresentazioni di Feo Belcari ed altre di lui Poesie, Firenze, 1833. As a parallel, see the introduction of the bibliophile Jacob to his edition of Pathelin (Paris, 1859).

931

It is true that a Mystery at Siena on the subject of the Massacre of the Innocents closed with a scene in which the disconsolate mothers seized one another by the hair. Della Valle, Lettere Sanesi, iii. p. 53. It was one of the chief aims of Feo Belcari (d. 1484), of whom we have spoken, to free the Mysteries from these monstrosities.

932

Franco Sacchetti, nov. 72.

933

Vasari, iii. 232 sqq.: Vita di Brunellesco; v. 36 sqq.: Vita del Cecca. Comp. v. 32, Vita di Don Bartolommeo.

934

Arch. Stor. append. ii. p. 310. The Mystery of the Annunciation at Ferrara, on the occasion of the wedding of Alfonso, with fireworks and flying apparatus. For an account of the representation of Susanna, John the Baptist, and of a legend, at the house of the Cardinal Riario, see Corio, fol. 417. For the Mystery of Constantine the Great in the Papal Palace at the Carnival, 1484, see Jac. Volaterran. (Murat. xxiii. col. 194). The chief actor was a Genoese born and educated at Constantinople.

935

Graziani, Cronaca di Perugia, Arch. Stor. xvi. 1. p. 598. At the Crucifixion, a figure was kept ready and put in the place of the actor.

936

For this, see Graziani, l. c. and Pii II. Comment. l. viii. pp. 383, 386. The poetry of the fifteenth century sometimes shows the same coarseness. A ‘canzone’ of Andrea da Basso traces in detail the corruption of the corpse of a hard-hearted fair one. In a monkish drama of the twelfth century King Herod was put on the stage with the worms eating him (Carmina Burana, pp. 80 sqq.). Many of the German dramas of the seventeenth century offer parallel instances.

937

Allegretto, Diarii Sanesi, in Murat. xxiii. col. 767.

938

Matarazzo, Arch. Stor. xvi. ii. p. 36. The monk had previously undertaken a voyage to Rome to make the necessary studies for the festival.

939

Extracts from the ‘Vergier d’honneur,’ in Roscoe, Leone X., ed. Bossi, i. p. 220, and iii. p. 263.

940

Pii II. Comment. l. viii. pp. 382 sqq. Another gorgeous celebration of the ‘Corpus Domini’ is mentioned by Bursellis, Annal. Bonon. in Murat. xxiii. col. 911, for the year 1492. The representations were from the Old and New Testaments.

941

On such occasions we read, ‘Nulla di muro si potea vedere.’

942

The same is true of many such descriptions.

943

Five kings with an armed retinue, and a savage who fought with a (tamed?) lion; the latter, perhaps, with an allusion to the name of the Pope—Sylvius.

944

Instances under Sixtus IV., Jac. Volaterr. in Murat. xxiii. col. 135 (bombardorum et sclopulorum crepitus), 139. At the accession of Alexander VI. there were great salvos of artillery. Fireworks, a beautiful invention due to Italy, belong, like festive decorations generally, rather to the history of art than to our present work. So, too, the brilliant illuminations we read of in connexion with many festivals, and the hunting-trophies and table-ornaments. (See p. 319. The elevation of Julius II. to the Papal throne was celebrated at Venice by three days’ illumination. Brosch, Julius II. p. 325, note 17.)

945

Allegretto, in Murat. xxiii. col. 772. See, besides, col. 770, for the reception of Pius II. in 1459. A paradise, or choir of angels, was represented, out of which came an angel and sang to the Pope, ‘in modo che il Papa si commosse a lagrime per gran tenerezza da si dolci parole.’

946

See the authorities quoted in Favre, Mélanges d’Hist. Lit. i. 138; Corio, fol. 417 sqq. The menu fills almost two closely printed pages. ‘Among other dishes a mountain was brought in, out of which stepped a living man, with signs of astonishment to find himself amid this festive splendour; he repeated some verses and then disappeared’ (Gregorovius, vii. 241). Infessura, in Eccard, Scriptt. ii. col. 1896; Strozzii Poetae, fol. 193 sqq. A word or two may here be added on eating and drinking. Leon. Aretino (Epist. lib. iii. ep. 18) complains that he had to spend so much for his wedding feast, garments, and so forth, that on the same day he had concluded a ‘matrimonium’ and squandered a ‘patrimonium.’ Ermolao Barbaro describes, in a letter to Pietro Cara, the bill of fare at a wedding-feast at Trivulzio’s (Angeli Politiani Epist. lib. iii.). The list of meats and drinks in the Appendix to Landi’s Commentario (above) is of special interest. Landi speaks of the great trouble he had taken over it, collecting it from five hundred writers. The passage is too long to be quoted (we there read: ‘Li antropofagi furono i primi che mangiassero carne humana’). Poggio (Opera, 1513, fol. 14 sqq.) discusses the question’: ‘Uter alteri gratias debeat pro convivio impenso, isne qui vocatus est ad convivium an qui vocavit?’ Platina wrote a treatise ‘De Arte Coquinaria,’ said to have been printed several times, and quoted under various titles, but which, according to his own account (Dissert. Vossiane, i. 253 sqq.), contains more warnings against excess than instructions on the art in question.

947

Vasari, ix. p. 37, Vita di Puntormo, tells how a child, during such a festival at Florence in the year 1513, died from the effects of the exertion—or shall we say, of the gilding? The poor boy had to represent the ‘golden age’!

948

Phil. Beroaldi, Nuptiae Bentivolorum, in the Orationes Ph. B. Paris, 1492, c. 3 sqq. The description of the other festivities at this wedding is very remarkable.

949

M. Anton. Sabellici, Epist. l. iii. fol. 17.

950

Amoretti, Memorie, &c. su. Lionardo da Vinci, pp. 38 sqq.

951

To what extent astrology influenced even the festivals of this century is shown by the introduction of the planets (not described with sufficient clearness) at the reception of the ducal brides at Ferrara. Diario Ferrarese, in Muratori, xxiv. col. 248, ad. a. 1473; col. 282, ad. a. 1491. So, too, at Mantua, Arch. Stor. append. ii. p. 233.

952

Annal. Estens. in Murat. xx. col. 468 sqq. The description is unclear and printed from an incorrect transcript.

953

We read that the ropes of the machine used for this purpose were made to imitate garlands.

954

Strictly the ship of Isis, which entered the water on the 5th of March, as a symbol that navigation was reopened. For analogies in the German religion, see Jac. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie.

955

Purgatorio, xxix. 43 to the end, and xxx. at the beginning. According to v. 115, the chariot is more splendid than the triumphal chariot of Scipio, of Augustus, and even of the Sun-God.

956

Ranke, Gesch. der Roman. und German. Völker, ed. 2, p. 95. P. Villari, Savonarola.

957

Fazio degli Uberti, Dittamondo (lib. ii. cap. 3), treats specially ‘del modo del triumphare.’

958

Corio, fol. 401: ‘dicendo tali cose essere superstitioni de’ Re.’ Comp. Cagnola, Arch. Stor. iii. p. 127, who says that the duke declined from modesty.

959

See above, vol. i. p. 315 sqq.; comp. i. p. 15, note 1. ‘Triumphus Alfonsi,’ as appendix to the Dicta et Facta of Panormita, ed. 1538, pp. 129-139, 256 sqq. A dislike to excessive display on such occasions was shown by the gallant Comneni. Comp. Cinnamus, i. 5, vi. 1.

960

The position assigned to Fortune is characteristic of the naïveté of the Renaissance. At the entrance of Massimiliano Sforza into Milan (1512), she stood as the chief figure of a triumphal arch above Fama, Speranza, Audacia, and Penitenza, all represented by living persons. Comp. Prato, Arch. Stor. iii. p. 305.

961

The entrance of Borso of Este into Reggio, described above (p. 417), shows the impression which Alfonso’s triumph had made in all Italy,. On the entrance of Cæsar Borgia into Rome in 1500, see Gregorovius, vii. 439.

962

Prato, Arch. Stor. iii. 260 sqq. The author says expressly, ‘le quali cose da li triumfanti Romani se soliano anticamente usare.’

963

Her three ‘capitoli’ in terzines, Anecd. Litt. iv. 461 sqq.

964

Old paintings of similar scenes are by no means rare, and no doubt often represent masquerades actually performed. The wealthy classes soon became accustomed to drive in chariots at every public solemnity. We read that Annibale Bentivoglio, eldest son of the ruler of Bologna, returned to the palace after presiding as umpire at the regular military exercises, ‘cum triumpho more romano.’ Bursellis, l. c. col. 909. ad. a. 1490.

965

The remarkable funeral of Malatesta Baglione, poisoned at Bologna in 1437 (Graziani, Arch. Stor. xvi. i. p. 413), reminds us of the splendour of an Etruscan funeral. The knights in mourning, however, and other features of the ceremony, were in accordance with the customs of the nobility throughout Europe. See e.g. the funeral of Bertrand Duguesclin, in Juvénal des Ursins, ad. a. 1389. See also Graziani, l. c. p. 360.

966

Vasari, ix. p. 218, Vita di Granacci. On the triumphs and processions in Florence, see Reumont, Lorenzo, ii. 433.

967

Mich. Cannesius, Vita Pauli II. in Murat. iii. ii. col. 118 sqq.

968

Tommasi, Vita di Caesare Borgia, p. 251.

969

Vasari ix. p. 34 sqq., Vita di Puntormo. A most important passage of its kind.

970

Vasari, viii. p. 264, Vita di Andrea del Sarto.

971

Allegretto, in Murat. xxiii. col. 783. It was reckoned a bad omen that one of the wheels broke.

972

M. Anton. Sabellici Epist. l. iii. letter to M. Anton. Barbavarus. He says: ‘Vetus est mos civitatis in illustrium hospitum adventu eam navim auro et purpura insternere.’

973

Sansovino, Venezia, fol. 151 sqq. The names of these corporations were: Pavoni, Accessi, Eterni, Reali, Sempiterni. The academies probably had their origin in these guilds.

974

Probably in 1495. Comp. M. Anton. Sabellici Epist. l. v. fol. 28; last letter to M. Ant. Barbavarus.

975

‘Terræ globum socialibus signis circunquaque figuratum,’ and ‘quinis pegmatibus, quorum singula foederatorum regum, principumque suas habuere effigies et cum his ministros signaque in auro affabre caelata.’

976

Infessura, in Eccard, Scriptt. ii. col. 1093, 2000; Mich. Cannesius, Vita Pauli II. in Murat. iii. ii. col. 1012; Platina. Vitae Pontiff. p. 318; Jac. Volaterran. in Murat. xiii. col. 163, 194; Paul. Jov. Elogia, sub Juliano Cæsarino. Elsewhere, too, there were races for women, Diario Ferrarese, in Murat. xxiv. col. 384: comp. Gregorovius, vi. 690 sqq., vii. 219, 616 sqq.

977

Once under Alexander VI. from October till Lent. See Tommasi, l. c. p. 322.

978

Baluz. Miscell. iv. 517 (comp. Gregorovius, vii. 288 sqq.).

979

Pii II. Comment. l. iv. p. 211.

980

Nantiporto, in Murat. iii. ii. col. 1080. They wished to thank him for a peace which he had concluded, but found the gates of the palace closed and troops posted in all the open places.

981

‘Tutti i trionfi, carri, mascherate, o canti carnascialeschi.’ Cosmopoli, 1750. Macchiavelli, Opere Minori, p. 505; Vasari, vii. p. 115 sqq. Vita di Piero di Cosimo, to whom a chief part in the development of these festivities is ascribed. Comp. B. Loos (above, p. 154, note 1) p. 12 sqq. and Reumont, Lorenzo, ii. 443 sqq., where the authorities are collected which show that the Carnival was soon restrained. Comp. ibid ii. p. 24.

982

Discorsi, l. i. c. 12. Also c. 55: Italy is more corrupt than all other countries; then come the French and Spaniards.

983

Paul. Jov. Viri Illustres: Jo. Gal. Vicecomes. Comp. p. 12 sqq. and notes.

984