Chapter 1 Medici Carnivals from Lorenzo the Magnificent to Duke Francesco I1 Lorenzo the Magnificent’s festive initiatives made a strong and long-lasting impact on Florentine Carnival celebrations. In this article, I will use the available documentation and testimonies to note the transformations brought by Lorenzo to traditional events and also to identify the specificity of the Medicean Carnival. I will then continue with a broad outline of the evolution of Carnival festivities during the sixteenth century.2 In order to understand the way Carnival was celebrated at the time of Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449–1492) we must, paradoxically, resort to testimonies from the Savonarolan period (1494–1498). Within the moral reformation that the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola promoted, Carnival was especially targeted because it had become the most important festival in Florence and, in a way, emblematic of Medicean government. Describing the way in which Savonarola sought to neutralise and appropriate Carnival by introducing Christian ideals into each of its elements, the chronicler Pseudo-Burlamacchi recalled that, for the occasion, young Florentines used to set up stili, or barriers: “they would take a long beam of wood and they used it to stop people, and especially young women and they would not let them pass unless they gave them money, which they then spent on their wanton desire and vain pleasures.”3 They would also build capannucci: “these were big stakes planted 1 A previous version of this article appeared as “Le Carnaval des Médicis: de Laurent à François” in Florence and Milan: Comparisons and Relations, eds. Craig Hugh Smith and Gian Carlo Garfagnini (Florence: La Nuova Italia, 1989), 2:243–255. 2 Among the vast literature on Carnival celebrations, see Carnival and the Carnivalesque; Strong, Art and Power; Trexler, Public Life in Renaissance Florence; Trexler, “Florentine theatre, 1280–1500; Heers, Fêtes des fous et Carnavals; Jacquot, “Dalla festa cittadina alla celebrazione medicea”; Zorzi, Il teatro e la città; and Idee, istituzioni, scienze ed arti nella Firenze dei Medici. 3 Pseudo-Burlamacchi, La vita del beato Ieronimo Savonarola, 123: “pigliavano un legno lungo et attraversavanlo alle vie pubbliche quando passavan le persone et 17 18 Florence in the Time of the Medici in the middle of the street and around them they piled a large quantity of faggots and kindling and firewood to burn on the evening of Carnival.”4 Very often, stone fights broke out around these capannucci: “around these capannucci they fought many battles, sometimes with stones, sometimes with weapons, to burn the other group’s cappannuccio and the groups fought so fiercely against each other that often people died.”5 Naturally, banquets were standard practice during the period preceding Lent. In addition, Florentines used to take part in masquerades and songs. In his Memorie, which cover the first portion of the Lorenzo’s rule, the diarist Ser Giusto d’Anghiari mentions the Carnival masquerades only once, in 1474. He writes: “On Sunday 20 [February] in Florence it was the [last] Sunday of Carnival. They put on various mummers plays, but not as beautifully as they used to do.”6 To illustrate the diabolical aspects of the Florentine Carnival better, the Pseudo-Burlamacchi writes at length about popular events specific to a certain age group and apparently of ancient origin.7 For his part, Giusto preferred another type of spectacle organised at this time of the year: the giostre, mentioned by the diarist Bartolomeo Del Corazza as early as 1420.8 On 29 January 1478, Giusto writes that on Shrove Thursday “they did a beautiful joust. It was organised by the Captains of the Parte Guelfa with two beautiful prizes.”9 From the mid-1470s onwards, however, masquerades rather than jousts became the focus of Lorenzo’s attention. maxime le donne novelle et non le lassavan passare se non davan loro danari, li quali spendevon poi in lor voluptà et vani piaceri.” Unless otherwise indicated, all translations from Italian and Latin primary sources are by Nerida Newbigin. 4 Pseudo-Burlamacchi, La vita del beato Ieronimo Savonarola, 123: “erano alberi grandi fitti nelle vie publiche, a’ quali era appoggiato gran moltitudine di fascine et stipa et legne per abruciare la sera di Carnovale.” 5 Pseudo-Burlamacchi, La vita del beato Ieronimo Savonarola,123: “si faceva appresso di questi capannucci molte battaglie, quando con sassi et quando con arme, per abruciare il cappannuccio l’uno dell’altro et con tanto furore combattevon una parte con l’altra, che spesso vi moriva delle persone.” 6 BNCF, MS.II.II.127, Giusto d’Anghiari, Memorie, f.107v: “Domenica a dì 20 detto in Firenze fu Domenica di Carnasciale. Fecionsi alcune feste di mummie ma non belle come già si sono fatte.” See also Giusto d’Anghiari, “ I Giornali di Ser Giusto d’Anghiari,” 176. 7 Trexler, “De la ville à la Cour,” 166–171. 8 Del Corazza, “Diario fiorentino,” 276. 9 Giusto d’Anghiari, Memorie, f. 121v, also in “I Giornali,” 197: “si fece una bella giostra. Fecianla fare i Capitani della Parte Guelfa con due belli doni.” Medici Carnivals 19 If we are to believe the sixteenth-century dramatist and writer Antonfrancesco Grazzini, before Lorenzo’s time men “used to disguise themselves and dress up as… Madonne in their May Day best, and disguised this way as women and girls they would sing their canzoni a ballo.”10 To understand the meaning of the word Madonna in this context (a procession of young girls led by a madonna who could be regarded as their queen),11 we have to refer to a text by Botticelli’s brother, the chronicler Simone Filipepi, who describes an antisavonarolan demonstration organised by men dressed as Madonne: “and they did a Madonna procession, as young maidens do for May Day; and for this they selected thirty pastry-cooks, dyers and wool-purgers, between thirty to thirtyfive years of age, who were the cream of Florence’s rogues, and they dressed them as maidens, so that they looked like the infernal furies, and especially their Madonna [queen]; and they went around singing.”12 With the advent of Lorenzo’s rule, things changed. Lorenzo, who himself composed canzoni a ballo, took over a set of sensual themes that hitherto had had a different emphasis and developed them to an extreme. He also translated them into an ambiguous language that systematically incorporated two different levels of understanding.13 Thanks to the work of Jean Toscan, it is now possible to read these works in their two registers and go beyond the simple ambiguity that previously was perceptible only in the most conventional allegorical and metaphorical way. According to Grazzini, the first of Lorenzo’s new songs was the Canzona de’ confortini (‘Song of the Sweetmeats’), sung by men claiming to be selling honey cakes (berricuocoli) and sweetmeats (confortini). The canzone seems to date from 1484.14 If berricuocoli is a metaphor for the Tutti i trionfi, fol. iir–v. “immascherandosi, contraffare usavano […] le Madonne, solite andare per lo Calendimaggio, e così travestiti ad uso di donne e di fanciulle cantavano canzoni a ballo.” 11 Toschi, Le origini del teatro italiano, 463. 12 Filipepi, “Cronaca di Simone Filipepi,” 496: “fecero ancora una Madonna, come si fa di maggio per le zitelle di tenera età; onde tolsero circa trenta pastaccini, tintori e purgatori, di età di 30 in 35 anni, che erono la schiuma de’ ribaldi di Fiorenza, et gli vestirono a uso di zitelle, che a vederle pareano furie infernali, massime la loro Madonna; et andavano cantando.” Calendimaggio can be regarded as a second Florentine Carnival; see Trexler, “De la ville à la Cour,” 174. 13 Toscan, Le carnaval du langage, 1:130–131. 14 Grazzini indicates that the music was composed by Heinrich Isaac, whose presence in Florence does not seem to have been attested or certified before the end of 1484. See Ciappelli, “Carnevale e Quaresima,” 202–204. 10 Grazzini, 20 Florence in the Time of the Medici phallus, confortino refers to conforto, that is to say to sodomitical sexual satisfaction.15 The theme of sodomy – sometimes homosexual, but generally heterosexual – is very prominent in Carnival songs. In the Canzona de’ visi addrieto (‘Song of the Backward Faces’), for example, sodomy appears to be normal behaviour.16 Not surprisingly, Savonarola associated sodomy with the Medici regime.17 In his sermon of 14 December 1494, delivered just a month after the fall of the regime, the Dominican friar targeted not only sodomy, but also references to it, and perhaps even Carnival songs themselves: “it is essential that the Signoria should make a law against that accursed vice of sodomy, for which you know that Florence is infamous throughout Italy, and this infamy arises perhaps because you talk and joke so much about that vice, and perhaps it is not prevalent as people say; make a law, I say, that is merciless, that is, that such people be stoned and burnt. And on the other hand, you must remove from your presence these poems and games and taverns.”18 Because he was a writer, Grazzini focused on those aspects to which he was most attuned and pointed out that Lorenzo changed “the themes and the poetical devices, making songs with different metres.” Grazzini also underlined the novelty of the music, saying that Lorenzo “had music composed with new and different melodies.”19 Vasari confirmed Grazzini’s statements and declared that Lorenzo was the inventor of thematic masquerades: “Lorenzo de’ Medici was the first inventor of the masquerades that represent something, and in Florence they are called canti; since we do not find that they were done before.”20 15 Toscan, Le carnaval du langage, 1:129. Le carnaval du langage, 1:128. 17 Toscan, Le carnaval du langage, 1:188. 18 Savonarola, Prediche italiane ai Fiorentini, 1:38: “è necessario che la Signoria faccia legge contra quello maladetto vizio della sodomia del quale tu sai che per tutta Italia Firenze ne è infamata, e questa infamia nasce forse perché tanto di questo vizio tu ne parli e cianci, che forse non è tanto in fatto, quanto se ne dice; fanne una legge, dico, che sia sanza misericordia, cioè che tali persone siano lapidate ed abrusciate. Da altra parte bisogna rimovere da te queste poesie e giuochi e taverne.” 19 Grazzini, Tutti i trionfi, fol. iii r: “le invenzioni e il modo di comporre le parole, facendo canzoni con altri piedi varii,” “la musica fevvi poi comporre con nuove e diverse arie.” 20 Vasari, Vite, 5:340: “il detto Lorenzo de’ Medici fu primo inventore […] di quelle mascherate che rappresentano alcuna cosa, e sono dette a Firenze Canti; non si trovando che prima ne fussero state fatte in altri tempi.” See also: Ventrone: “Note 16 Toscan, Medici Carnivals 21 Besides citing songs that celebrated widely varying social classes and occupations – in most cases with plenty of ambiguity – Vasari as an artist and a technician emphasised another type of song, the trionfo or triumph. These accompanied a sumptuous display of richly dressed men processing on foot or on horseback, along with a float “full of ornaments and spoils and bizarre fantasies.”21 The trionfi have a clear humanist inspiration. Such triumphs can be associated with other festive occasions, as was the case in 1491 for the feast of St John the Baptist, where the magnificent trionfo of Paolo Emilio served to celebrate Lorenzo’s good government by reference to Augustan Rome.22 During the sixteenth century, canti and trionfi followed one another and their accompanying music became ever more complex.23 A chronology of this vast body of work is still to be established.24 From the middle of the century, some songs came to resemble madrigals. The audience did not always understand the subtlety of the texts. In 1551, discussing a song on the traditional theme of the “mouth of hell,” an anonymous chronicler wrote: “as soon as the masquerade had finished, the Florentines turned on Battista Strozzi who had prescribed the method and order and composed the song, which is very learned. And there were many who made their commentary on the words.”25 In 1565 the masquerade of the “Hermaphrodites” provoked similar reactions.26 At times such festivities were considered highly inappropriate; clearly unhappy with the contrast between the Medici festival and the food shortage of 1551, the same anonymous chronicler reports that “On 8 February 1551, they did a masquerade to entertain the city a little, sul carnevale fiorentino di età laurenziana”; Ventrone, “ Feste e spettacoli nella Firenze di Lorenzo il Magnifico”; Carew-Reid, Les fêtes florentines au temps de Lorenzo il Magnifico; Ciappelli, Carnevale e Quaresima, 195–211. 21 Vasari, Vite, 4:135: “pieno di ornamenti o di spoglie, e bizzarissime fantasie.” For the costumes see Chastel, Art et humanisme à Florence, 183: 22 De’ Rossi, “Ricordanze,” 271. 23 Ghisi, I canti carnascialeschi, 115. 24 The songs were published by Charles S. Singleton in Canti carnascialeschi del Rinascimento, and in Nuovi canti carnascialeschi del Rinascimento. For the period 1541–1550 see below, 101–140, previously in Plaisance, “La politique culturelle de Côme Ier.” 25 Cronaca fiorentina, 115: “i Fiorentini incominciorno, appena finita quella mascherata, a biasimare Batista Strozzi che havea dato il modo et l’ordine et composto la canzone […]. E sono stati molti che hanno voluto comentare dette parole.” 26 Salviati, Prose, 126–131. 22 Florence in the Time of the Medici because the people were dying of hunger. Bishop Minerbetti of Arezzo and a Spaniard, the Duchess’s brother, were in charge: and this was the example that the clergy gave us at that time, of spending the blood of Christ on masquerades and on the favours of whores, and there was no little scandal in the city. I shall not name the author for it was a somewhat unworthy matter. […] Then, in February a carnival song was done, in spite of the famine, by these prelates and it went like this […] and they started three hours before sundown and went until sundown […]. All you could hear was the poor people crying out in the streets: “Bread, bread, for the love of God,” and no one gave it to them.”27 The Medici chose the Carnival season to celebrate great events that ensured the continuity of their dynasty: in 1565–1566 Francesco’s wedding, in 1568 his daughter’s baptism, in 1586 the wedding of Cosimo’s daughter Virginia.28 The program of the festivities was very complex. In order to perpetuate them and make them known throughout Europe they were described in illustrated publications. Francesco himself inspired the Trionfo de’ Sogni (‘Triumph of Dreams’) of Sunday 2 February 1566;29 and on 21 February, Shrove Thursday, the twenty-one trionfi of the Genealogia degli Dei (‘Genealogy of the Gods’) wound their way through Florence to themes devised by the historian and philologist Vincenzo Borghini.30 Carnival at the Time of Lorenzo de’ Medici While there are plenty of sources that provide us with information on sixteenth-century Carnivals, original sources for the modified Carnival 27 Cronaca fiorentina, 125–127: “Addì 8 di febbraio 1551 si fece una mascherata per dare alla città un poco di passatempo che di fame si moriva, in questa forma che il vescovo d’Arezzo Bernardotto de’ Minerbetti et uno spagnuolo fratello della duchessa et questo era l’esempio che in quel tempo si haveva de’ prelati: spendere il sangue in mascherate et in favori di meretrici et questo non fu con poco schandolo della città; la inventione della mascherata io la tacerò perché non fu cosa molto egregia […] Apresso, fecesi di febraio un canto quantunque penuria fusse, i quali furono i sopradetti prelati; l’ordine del canto seguiva in questa forma […] et uscirno fuori a ore 21 et andorno fino a 24 ore […] Non si sentiva altro che poveri gridare per le strade: ‘Pane, pane per l’amor di Dio,’ et nemo illi dabat.” 28 See Feste e apparati medicei da Cosimo I a Cosimo II. 29 Mostra di disegni vasariani, 10. 30 Mostra di disegni vasariani, 10 et seq. See also: Berti, Il principe dello studiolo; Mamone/Testaverde, “Vincenzo Borghini e gli esordi di una tradizione.” Medici Carnivals 23 celebrations instituted by Lorenzo the Magnificent are few and they are not contemporary. This may be due to the suspension of Florentine festive parades for a period of over ten years, something that must have applied to Carnival and to the festivities for St John the Baptist as well.31 A letter written in 1490 by someone close to Lorenzo reveals the importance of Lorenzo’s role as author of songs and likely sponsor of the carri created by the Compagnia della Stella; it tells us that that year Lorenzo composed several of the songs, such as the Canzona de’ sette pianeti (‘Song of the seven planets’) and possibly the Canzona di Bacco (‘Song of Bacchus’).32 A second letter indicates that for the 1492 Carnival the Stella was in charge of organising a hunt on Piazza Santa Croce. In these combats between animals, lions represented Florence. Sometimes these hunts were also staged for the feast of St John the Baptist.33 They became less common during the sixteenth century. One was organised for the Carnival of 1541, but we do not know of many other such hunts.34 Another type of entertainment, however, was about to make its appearance: the bufolate, races between cow buffalos (that is, Tuscan bufale, not North American buffalos). They were preceded by thematic masquerades that allowed members of the great families of Florence and the ruler himself to appear in sumptuous costumes. Such was the case, for example, in the Carnival of 1546.35 We have no information about the Compagnia della Stella. It could have been a festive brigade, much like the ones operating in Florence in the first half of the fifteenth century – the brigade of the Galley (Brigata della Galea) or the brigade of the Flower (Brigata del Fiore), both mentioned by Bartolomeo Del Corazza, that at Carnival time organised dances, tilts (armeggerie) or jousts (giostre).36 These ephemeral brigades were headed by a messere. During the Carnival of 1464 one such company formed around Bartolomeo Benci and staged a trionfo d’amore and an armeggeria in honour of Marietta Strozzi.37 Lorenzo seems to have 31 Fabroni, Laurentii Medicis Magnifici Vita, 388. Studi laurenziani, 45. Unfortunately, the chronology of the canti composed by Lorenzo has not been verified (Martelli, 45, 48–49). 33 Martelli, Studi laurenziani, 39; Landucci, Diario fiorentino, 345. 34 See below, 104; previously in Plaisance, “La politique culturelle de Côme I er,” 135. 35 See below, 107; previously in Plaisance, “La politique culturelle de Côme I er,” 149. See also Manetti, “Una festa ai tempi di Cosimo de’ Medici: le bufolate.” 36 Del Corazza, “Diario fiorentino,” 276–277. 37 Eisenbichler, “Political posturing,” 374–375; Del Lungo, La donna fiorentina del buon tempo antico, 197–201. 32 Martelli, 24 Florence in the Time of the Medici opposed the inclination of powerful Florentine families to use festivals, and Carnival in particular, as an opportunity to show off their wealth and their social ascendancy. Rinuccini wrote of him: “All the things that formerly enhanced the grace and reputation of the citizens, like weddings, dances, festivals and adornments of dress, these he condemned and removed by his example and with his words.”38 It is conceivable, however, that these brigades did not disappear altogether, insofar as they were at the service of the Medici. As Tribaldo De’ Rossi clearly indicates when he recalls the trionfo of 1491, the brigade of the Stella was very much dependent on Lorenzo: “Having created a true-to-life fiction, Lorenzo de’ Medici got the Compagnia della Stella to do, at his devising, fifteen triumphs of when Paulus Emilius held his triumph in Rome.”39 So this company appeared in 1490, 1491 and 1492 at a time when Lorenzo’s festive policy – in which he had involved himself at a personal level – reached a sort of climax. And was it not significant that an ailing Lorenzo was to be seen, two months before his death, watching from his window as the Carnival masquerades paraded in the street? “On Shrove Thursday (Berlingaccio) I saw him at the windows with a hood over his head watching the masquerades go past.”40 Did this company of the Stella have anything to do with the famous confraternity of the Magi, of which Lorenzo was a member? It might have. At the time of Cosimo the Elder (1389–1464), this lay confraternity played an important part in the celebration of the festa de’ Magi at Epiphany. When the Medici returned to power in Florence in 1512, Lorenzo’s descendants tried to consolidate their ascendancy over the city through the creation of two companies, the Diamante and the Broncone, which were involved in the festivities for the Carnival of 1513. In a revealing passage of his Dialogo, the Florentine chronicler Bartolomeo Cerretani stresses the political role played by these companies and shows the continuity in family membership at the time of Lorenzo between them and the confraternity of the Magi. To create the company of the 38 Rinuccini, Ricordi storici, cxlviii: “ Tutte le cose che anticamente davano grazia e riputazione ai cittadini, come nozze, balli e feste e ornato di vestirsi tutte dannava, e con exemplo e con parole levò via.” 39 De’ Rossi, “Ricordanze,” 271: “Avendo fatto fare una finzione naturale Lorenzo de’ Medici fe’ fare a la chompagnia de la stela su suo trovato 15 trionfi quando Pagholo Emidia [sic] trionfò a Roma.” 40 Martelli, Studi laurenziani, 39: “El dì di berlingaccio lo vidi alle finestre con la capperuccia in capo che stava a vedere passare mumie.” Medici Carnivals 25 Diamante, Giuliano de’ Medici (1479–1516), Lorenzo’s youngest son, had established a list of thirty-six Florentines almost all of whom were the sons of those who had been with Lorenzo “in the Zampillo or rather in the Magi” and invited them for dinner. Having reminded them “that the Medici family, along with the families of those who were present had enjoyed the city’s prosperity” he proposed a return to the same procedure. And Cerretani concludes: “he ordered celebrations for the coming festival, with the idea of instructing this company to organize things throughout the city. And no one was appointed to the committee who was not one of us.”41 At the same time, the company of the Broncone was created by Lorenzo’s grandson and namesake, Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici (1492–1519), with a similar objective. The statutes of the company were clear as to the political function of the festivities, which were organised “in order to give delight to the city and secure the goodwill of the multitude which we see happen on account of the gift of various spectacles.”42 The seven trionfi organised by the company of the younger Lorenzo likened the Medici’s return to the return of the Golden Age.43 41 Cerretani, Dialogo della mutazione di Firenze, 47: “Ordissi feste per il futuro Carnovale pensando di dare ordine che questa compagnia governassi la città. Et di già non si faceva magistrati dove non fussi alcuno di noi.” See also: Minio-Paluello, “Un’occasione in cui la storia detta il canto alla festa,” 118; and Hatfield, “The Compagnia de’ Magi.” 42 Del Lungo, Florentia, 420: “acciocché si possa dare diletto alla città e farsi benivola la moltitudine il che veggiamo avvenire spesso per beneficio di varii spettaculi.” This conception of the Carnival festival was shared by the Medici and by their enemies. Giovanni Cambi recalls that “Giuliano di Lorenzo de’ Medici and Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici his nephew, each asked their companions and their friends among the citizens, each in the appropriate age group, to organize some celebration for Carnival in order for it to seem that the City was celebrating, and in good order, and in fact it was like someone who puts on a costume for a masquerade, and dressed in silk and gold looks rich and powerful and then, when he takes off the mask and the costume, is still the same as he was before” ( “Giuliano di Lorenzo de’ Medici, et Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici suo nipote, ciaschuno di loro richiesono loro compagni, e amici ciptadini, ciaschuno all’età loro chondicienti, di fare un pocho di festa inel Carnovale per parere, che la Ciptà fussi in festa, e in buono stato, e in fatto era, chome quelli, che vano in maschera, che quello ch’è vestito di seta, e doro pare riccho, et potente, dipoi chavatosi la maschera, et la vesta, è pure poi quel medeximo, che prima”; Cambi Istorie, 22:2). 43 For Carnival as a passage from one cycle to another, see Le Roy Ladurie, Le Carnaval de Romans, 337. Note that in Florence the new year began on 25 March. In 1516, Leo X gave his own touch to Carnival by offering prizes in Rome for races, “and some he had run by old men and some by boys and some by girls and some by 26 Florence in the Time of the Medici Carnival at the Time of Savonarola At the time of Savonarola, tensions and conflicts could be expressed through strongly suggestive festive behaviour that the new government tried to eliminate. As a result, in 1498 when “masquerades and gatherings” were forbidden, a company called the Compagnacci (‘the bad Comrades’) was constituted, bringing together young patricians who were nostalgic for past Carnivals. The group was supposed to resemble the companies created in Florence around Lorenzo the Magnificent; this time, however, the group was no longer on the side of the government but in opposition to it, and therefore it inserted a subversive political meaning into its provocative activities. Unable to create a mounted company, the Compagnacci decided to prepare a “most beautiful banquet” that would not be a strictly private affair. They appointed a Lord, Doffo di Agnolo Spini, and a chancellor. Cerretani provides a detailed description of the distinguished supper, accompanied by music and followed by a dance that lasted late into the night and that aroused the interest of the entire city: “All the people were at the doors.”44 For the Carnival of 1499, young Florentine nobles “dedicated themselves to celebration and feasting” to celebrate the end of the Savonarolan regime. The chronicler Piero di Marco Parenti indicates that “among [the celebrations], the one organized by Alfonso Strozzi was excessive both in its lavish banquets and in the farces that were included. He represented among other things the Judgment of Paris on the three Goddesses, as the poets tell it.”45 We come across this practice of lavish banquets once again during the winter of 1533–1534, when the great Florentine families, seeking to curry favour with Duke Alessandro de’ Medici, invited him to their festivities. It was during one of these suppers, to which the duke went “in a mask and dressed as a nun,” that an incident occurred that would lead to an irreparable breach between the Strozzi and Alessandro.46 horses and some by asses and some by buffalos and race horses” (“e quale fecie correre a uomini vecchi, e quale a garzoni, e quale a fanciulle, e quale a cavagli, e quale a asini, e quale a buffole, e quale a bàrberi”; Masi, Ricordanze, 188). 44 Cerretani, Storia fiorentina, 242: “alla porta era tutto il popolo.” According to Filipepi, Doffo Spini was close to Giovanni di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici; see Filipepi, “Cronaca di Simone Filipepi,” 486. 45 Parenti, Storia fiorentina, 2:232–233: “infra li altri fu eccessivo, sì di copia di vivande, sì di farse inframesse, el di Alfonso Strozzi, il quale intra l’altre rappresentò el Iudizio di Paris dato alle tre Idee secondo le favole poetiche.” 46 Varchi, Storia fiorentina, 48: “in maschera vestito ad uso di monaca.” According Medici Carnivals 27 In Florence as elsewhere, the Carnival season was characterised by both real and symbolic battles.47 Savonarola had had the stili replaced by collections for the poor,48 the masquerades by religious processions, Carnival songs by hymns, stone fights by round dances, and capannucci by a bonfire “of all the vanities that the citizens had in their houses”49 surmounted by an image of Satan.50 In 1497, young Florentines aged between 18 and 30, both partisans and opponents of Savonarola, decided to confront each other in a game of football, a game traditionally played at Carnival time. Each side chose a leader, one of whom was called the king and the other the duke. But the combat was not authorised by the Council of Eight.51 Stone fights, forbidden for a time, reappeared during the 1498 Carnival, when the Compagnacci (according to Pseudo-Burlamacchi) attacked the procession of Savonarola’s fanciulli and “began to throw stones at people and spit in the boys’ faces and at the tabernacles, and break the crosses, which they called mandrakes (mandragole).”52 A generalised combat ensued. According to Parenti, the confrontation happened “at Ponte Santa to Gaignebet, “in the broad sense, Carnival time starts with the Christmas celebrations”(Le Carnaval, 41). 47 Le Roy Ladurie, Le Carnaval de Romans, 347. It was not unusual for military parades to be staged at Carnival time (p. 345). On 15 February 1506, for instance, there was a review of the rural militia (Landucci, Diario fiorentino, 273). 48 A letter by a secret agent of Ludovico il Moro evokes the collections made by the fanciulli in these words: “they were so importunate that one could only pass along the road with difficulty, unless one gave them a few pence, and especially the women, and more the young ones than the old ones… And they held long sticks in their hands, so that people couldn’t get past unless they paid something first” (“ereno tanto importuni, che con faticha si poteva passare per la via, se non seli daseva qualche quatrino, et maxime le femine, et più alle giovene che alle vecchie […] Et tenevano bastoni lunghi in mano; acciò non passasseno, se prima non pagavano qualche cosa”; Villari, La storia di Girolamo Savonarola, 2:xc). 49 Cambi, Istorie, 21:137: a bonfire “di tutte le vanità che avevano e ciptadini per le chase.” 50 Pseudo-Burlamacchi, La vita del beato Ieronimo Savonarola, 134. During Carnival, the dead and creatures from hell could be conjured up (Le Roy Ladurie, Le Carnaval de Romans, 344). Vasari describes a triumph of Death dating from 1506 or 1511 (Giorgio Vasari, Vite, 4: 136). For the song “representing a hell-mouth (“figurando una bocca dell’inferno”), see below, 109 and 127–129; previously in Plaisance, “La politique culturelle de Côme Ier,” 150. 51 Parenti, Storia fiorentina, 2:76; Nerli placed this episode in 1498. 52 Pseudo-Burlamacchi, La vita del beato Ieronimo Savonarola, 135: “cominciorno a trarre e’ sassi nelle persone et sputare nelle faccie de’ fanciulli, e ne’ tabernacoli, rompendo le croce, le quali domandavano mandragole.” 28 Florence in the Time of the Medici Trinita, where they usually held the stone fights,”53 and then continued around the bonfire in the Piazza della Signoria. The Participation of the Potenze In the Florentine chronicles, the participation of potenze in public festivals appears only at the beginning of the sixteenth century, but we know that these festive groups, these reami di beffa (‘mock kingdoms’), went back at least to the time of Walter of Brienne who, according to Giovanni Villani, created six such brigades for the celebrations of 1343. He gave them a uniform and appointed a signore as their head.54 The Lord of the brigade created in the “Città Rossa” bore the title of emperor. A potenza with the name of Città Rossa existed in the fifteenth century, but its head was a Gran monarca, while the title of emperor was reserved for the lord of the potenza called the Prato or Impero. In the topographic indications given by the chronicler Marchionne di Coppo Stefani, more precise than those of Villani, we find the Canto alla Macina and Monteloro, which gave their name to the potenze located in those neighbourhoods. Stefani describes the relationships between these brigades and Walter of Brienne and what he expected of them: “he gave them money for their expenses and gifts of wine and food: but all these brigades were made up of the lowest classes; and they went around the city singing and dancing and playing.”55 In 1577 Bastiano Arditi wrote in similar vein: “and the [Grand] Duke [Francesco I] gave a standard to each potenza, money, wine, bread, meat and other gifts to quench their appetite.”56 53 Parenti, Storia fiorentina, 2:144: “ Al ponte a Santa Trinita, dove si faceva per lo ordinario a’ sassi.” The fanciulli had already had an opportunity to confront the Compagnacci; Nerli wrote that: “childish pranks were played on [Savonarola] by the boys of his enemies, and the boys on his side wanted to defend him, with the result that as was the custom of Florentine lads, it ended in a stone fight and so by fighting they made serious men behave like children” (“gli fu da’ fanciulli de’ suoi avversari fatte baie fanciullesche, e da’ fanciulli della sua parte era voluto difendere, dimanieraché, secondo il costume de’ fanciulli fiorentini facevano a’ sassi, e così combattendo facevano infanciullire degli uomini gravi”; Nerli, Commentarii dei fatti civili, 1:122). 54 Villani, Cronica, 242. 55 Stefani, Cronaca fiorentina, 202: “die’ loro per ispese danari e doni di vino e da mangiare: ma furono tutte queste brigate di gente minuta; li quali danzando, ballando, sonando, andavano per la città.” 56 Arditi, Diario di Firenze, 155: “e dètte il Duca gli stendardi a tutte le potenze, danari, vino, pane, carnagi e altre comodità da quietargli ne la gola.” Medici Carnivals 29 As we gain greater insight into events in the sixteenth century, historians have begun to wonder whether during the time of Lorenzo the Magnificent the potenze might have played a role in his festive policy. They were certainly active in the fifteenth century, as inscriptions and documents attest. Trexler showed how in 1486 the potenza of the Re della Macina sought to become a confraternity (Compagnia della Risurrezione) that would contribute pageant wagons (edifizi) to the feast of St John the Baptist.57 In 1489, for the May Day festivities (Calendimaggio), Lorenzo the Magnificent lent some silverware to the Re di Camaldoli.58 On 1 May 1478, an important letter was addressed to Lorenzo by thirty giovani and garzoni of the Canto della Macina. This was just days after the Pazzi conspiracy (26 April 1478), and the letter showed the extent to which these young men, some of them perhaps current or future members of the Macina potenza, were concerned for its interests and were ready to battle its enemies. By supporting the potenze, Lorenzo was able to secure the support of the lower classes, particularly well represented in the San Lorenzo area.59 In the sixteenth century the potenze were divided in two groups, those on horseback and those on foot. Trexler suggests that at Carnival time the former may have participated in the cavalcades while the latter may have built the floats.60 As Charles S. Singleton had already noted, it is true that several carnival songs evoked the potenze, but the volume in which these songs can be found dates from after 1515, later than previously thought.61 Given its mention of the recapture of Granada, the Canzona de’ manzevi can be dated to 1492; but is the emperor it mentions the same Imperadore del Prato that all the Florentine potenze recognised as their head in the sixteenth century?62 Perhaps other documents will confirm this participation of the potenze in Carnival. It is possible that they played a part in the combats between the quarters of the city around the capannucci. Trexler points out that around the bonfires of the Carnival of 1499 Cambi had noticed the presence “of men who were mostly plebeian even though the Masters 57 Trexler, Public Life, 407. Public Life, 413. 59 Kent, “Two Vignettes of Florentine Society.” In 1577, the Macina still considered the Palazzo Medici to be part of its territory and had it guarded (De’ Ricci, Cronica, 217, 258). 60 Trexler, Public Life, 411. 61 Minio-Paluello, “Un’occasione,” 117. 62 Trexler, Public Life, 416. 58 Trexler, 30 Florence in the Time of the Medici of some of the bonfires were clearly boys of good family,”63 who split into two sides to fight with stones and then with arms. In the course of the sixteenth century, the potenze participated in the great festivities of the Medici regime. They hastened to carry out the orders of the government, which provided them with weapons, flags, costumes, and various gifts (money and food). They are mentioned in Florentine chronicles on the occasion of the visit of Pope Leo X (1515), of the wedding of Lorenzo de’ Medici Duke of Urbino (1518), of the election of Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici as Pope Clement VII (1523), and of the wedding of Duke Alessandro de’ Medici (1536).64 The potenze on horseback (Impero, Nespola, Città Rossa, Mela, Monteloro) organised armeggerie; few such events are mentioned by the chroniclers, possibly because they would have reported only the most exceptional ones (1501, 1532, 1533, 1545, 1577).65 The potenze on foot, most often designated by the chroniclers according to the city quarter from which they came or from their members’ professions (dyers, weavers and so on), paraded in the streets or organised festive activities at their headquarters.66 Stone fights were rarer. They were staged as entertainments in 1549 and 1584 and were carefully controlled.67 The quarrels that set the potenze against each other in 1577, 1584 and 1588 provide us with an opportunity to know them better. Their number 63 Cambi, Istorie, 21:136:“d’uomini tutti plebei el forte benché e’ Messeri d’alcuni fussino fanciulli dabene per segnio.” In the stone fight of 21 June 1584, the dyers and wool beaters and purgers (“tintori et battilani et purgatori”) were led by Pierantonio de’ Bardi and the “wool weavers and silk weavers and other subject potenze who followed the Imperatore from the Prato [the modern Cascine, on the right bank of the Arno, downstream from the city]” (“tessitori di lana et di seta et altre potentie suddite et adherenti allo imperatore del Prato”) were led by Averardo de’ Medici (De’ Ricci, Cronica, 407). 64 1515–1516: Cambi, Istorie, 22:249; 1518: Masi, “Ricordanze,” 237; 1523: Masi, “Ricordanze,” 274, Cambi, Istorie, 22:249; 1533: Cambi, Istorie, 23:129. 65 For 1501, see Cambi, Istorie, 21:159–160 (the Melandastri mentioned by Cambi belonged to the potenza called the Mela); for 1532: Cambi, Istorie, 23:117; for 1533: Cambi, Istorie, 23:129; for 1545, see below, 116 and 130–134; previously in Plaisance, “La politique culturelle de Côme Ier,” 150; for 1577, see De’ Ricci, Cronica, 228. 66 Gori, Firenze magnifica, 1:287–323. 67 For 1549: “there’s to be a stone fight in via Larga” (“si ha da fare a’ sassi nella via Larga”; ASF, Carte Strozziane, 361, fol. 71r, letter of 23 February 1549). For 1584: “There were 200 on each side, signed up and on the payroll, armed with protective armour made of cardboard covering their heads and shoulders” ( “Erano 200 per parte descritti et pagati armati di celata et di cartoni, fogli et schiavine in testa et per tutto il dosso” De’ Ricci, Cronica, 407). Medici Carnivals 31 had risen and they competed for the Grand Duke’s favours, taking advantage of the sumptuous events organised by the government to increase their resources. Giuliano De’ Ricci was correct when he said that “their members are most adept at gleaning many favours and assistance and aid in their old age and in illness, when their wives bear children and when they marry off their daughters.”68 Another way to obtain money during these special occasions – when the government tolerated it – was to demand a bribe from shopkeepers, as Bastiano Arditi pointed out in 1577: “And the wool-beaters’ kings went to every shop that had a roof, whether timber or tile, and from everyone they forcefully demanded a gift, otherwise they were going to knock the roof down, and in that way they made an enormous amount of money.”69 This had already happened on the occasion of the conquest of Siena in 1555, as well as for the elections of popes Leo X and Clement VII.70 While Alessandro de’ Medici was distancing himself from the great Florentine families, and not long before he chose to secure the support of the potenze (as evidenced by the festivities of 1532 and 1533), on Christmas Eve 1531 the Council of Eight arrested Filippo Strozzi’s sons because, along with other young noblemen, they had used a ball covered in mud to target people and stalls in order to force shopkeepers and craftsmen to stop working during the festivities.71 68 De’ Ricci, Cronica, 222: “con bellissimi ordini traggano molte commodità et aiuti et sovvenimenti nella loro vecchiaia, nelle loro malattie, ne’ parti delle loro mogli et nel maritare le loro figliuole.” Since the time of Duke Alessandro, the Medici had relied on their fortresses to maintain their power. In 1577 the members of the Graticola, the Covone and especially of Biliemme, who lived near the Fortezza da Basso, went a little too close to it upon learning of the birth of the Grand Duke’s male heir: “and in the morning at this news, the people of this potenza came closer to the Fortezza than they should have with their banners and their drums, and as a result the guards fired two barrages from their crossbows and killed a little boy and wounded another who was taken immediately to hospital” (“et perché la mattina su la nuova questi di questa potenzia si erano accostati con le insegne et con li tamburi più del dovere alla Fortezza, dalle sentinelle fu scaricato 2 archibusate che ammazzorono un putto e ferirono un altro che subito fu condotto allo spedale”; De’ Ricci, Cronica, 218). 69 Arditi, Diario, 155: “E andorno i re de’ battilani a tute le botteghe che erano coperte da tetto o d’asse o d’embrici e da tutte volsono la mancia per forza, altrimenti gittavano in terra i tetti e così feciono infiniti numero di danari.” 70 Arditi, Diario, 156; Masi, Ricordanze, 270. 71 Varchi, Storia fiorentina, 3:15; see Albertini, Firenze dalla repubblica al principato, 202. This game should not be confused with the calcio (football). An anonymous 32 Florence in the Time of the Medici The Performance of Comedies and Sacred Plays at Carnival Time In Florence as elsewhere, theatrical activities were linked to the Carnival season, but, contrary to the practice in Ferrara, after 1486 the presentation of classical comedies at Carnival time was a rare event. In 1476, the play Andria was performed in Latin at the Palazzo Medici and at the Palazzo della Signoria by the students of the scholar Giorgio Antonio Vespucci (uncle of Amerigo Vespucci).72 In 1478 (possibly at the church of Ognissanti) and in 1479 (at the Palazzo Medici), the students of Piero Domizi, who in August 1476 had performed his comedy Licinia for Lorenzo the Magnificent, presented two plays before the Magnifico, the second apparently by Terence. Domizi, however did not think that the theatre of Terence was a good influence on young people, especially if they were clerics. His effort to moralise Carnival events intended for young people may not have been new, but it is noteworthy that it became more evident towards the end of Lorenzo’s life. In 1491, the young monks from the Camaldolese monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli performed a judgment of Solomon play.73 For Carnival of that year, the youth confraternity of St John the Evangelist was to perform Lorenzo’s Rappresentazione di San Giovanni e Paolo (‘Play of St John and St Paul’), but because of its complicated stage set the performance was delayed until the second day of Lent.74 In this play Lorenzo used a popular dramatic form (the sacra rappresentazione) to highlight the idea of personal power exercised on behalf of the people through renunciation and self-sacrifice. He projected his vision of power using two different emperors, Constantine the Great and Julian the Apostate – who died because of his impiety – and thus sounded a warning to his successors.75 The confraternity of St John the Evangelist met in the church of the Trinità Vecchia, which belonged to the Buca di San Paolo, a strict flagellant confraternity. The two confraternities were and would continue to be the Carnival song called Il canto del peloso pallone (‘The song of the hairy ball’) clearly differentiated the two (Nuovi canti carnascialeschi, 131). 72 Doglio, “Il teatro in latino nel Cinquecento,” 171; Cruciani/Taviani, “Discorso preliminare per una ricerca in collaborazione,” 39. 73 Trexler, Florentine Theatre, 470. 74 Masi, “Ricordanze,” 16; Eisenbichler, “Confraternities and Carnival,” 132–136. 75 For Lorenzo’s religious positions at this time see Martelli, “I Medici e le lettere,” in Idee, istituzioni, 129–130. Medici Carnivals 33 recipients of Medici protection and generosity. For example, Lorenzo had given them “some wood of Our Lord’s Holy Cross”; it seems that this relic could explain the importance given to the history of the Cross and to the character of Christ in the theatre repertoire of the youth confraternity of the Evangelist.76 The archives of the Vangelista were almost totally lost in the flood of 1966,77 but valuable information can be gleaned from the archives of the Buca di San Paolo, because of the many wrangles between the two confraternities on account of their joint occupation of the same premises.78 In the sixteenth century the Vangelista continued with its theatrical activities. A new type of spectacle was appearing – the commedia spirituale – which was a hybrid of the sacra rappresentazione and comedy. In this new genre the notary Giovan Maria Cecchi (1518–1587) was to become famous, composing many spiritual comedies and farces.79 At the end of his religious comedy Il figliuol prodigo (‘The Prodigal Son’), he contrasted positive nature of his play with the negative elements of Carnival: So escaping from carnival and the stone fights we will nourish ourselves with these sweet delights.80 Aside from these theatrical productions for young people – which are now beginning to be studied – comedies were regularly presented for Carnival. Organised for the most part by the Medici, these performances are major landmarks in the history of the theatre, as Ludovico Zorzi has brilliantly pointed out. The peak of theatrical refinement was reached during the Carnival of 1586 with the inauguration of the first permanent theatre in Florence, 76 Plaisance, “L’Invention de la Croix,” 59–60. It is likely that in 1494 Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de’ Medici composed his Invenzione della Croce (Invention of the Cross), in which Massenzio and Costantino represented respectively Piero di Lorenzo de’ Medici and Charles VIII, the second Charlemagne (Plaisance, “L’Invention de la Croix,” 52–53). 77 Plaisance, “L’Exaltation de la Croix,” 13–41. On the current state of the confraternity’s archives following their restoration, see the important contribution by Evangelista, “L'attività spettacolare della compagnia di San Giovanni Evangelista nel Cinquecento,” 312–314. 78 See Weissman, Ritual Brotherhood, passim. 79 See Eisenbichler, “The Religious Drama of Giovan Maria Cecchi”; RadcliffUmstead, Carnival Comedy and Sacred Play. 80 D’Ancona, Origini del teatro italiano, 1:389: “Così fuggendo il carnesciale e ’ sassi / ci pascerem di questi dolci spassi.” 34 Florence in the Time of the Medici where Giovanni de’ Bardi’s L’Amico fido (‘The Faithful Friend’) was performed on the occasion of Virginia de’ Medici’s wedding to Cesare d’Este, duke of Ferrara (30 January 1586). At first suspicious, Grand Duke Francesco I later performed the honours at the opening of this theatre built inside the Uffizi.81 One must remember, however, that at the same time a rift was developing between the Grand Duke and traditional elements in Florence attached to the city’s mercantile and Christian values. Some Florentines were scandalised, as was one contemporary chronicler, to see that theatre performances continued during Lent, and they quickly attributed to the wrath of God the lightning that struck the Grand Duke’s residence.82 That same year, Giovan Maria Cecchi began work on a play for the youth confraternity of the Evangelist, L’Esaltazione della croce (‘The Exaltation of the Cross’), that would be performed only three years later, at the wedding of Grand Duke Ferdinando I with the French princess Christine of Lorraine (1589). Cecchi’s play depicted the tyrant Cosroe shut in a tower with his court and being entertained by theatrical performances. Was Cecchi making an oblique reference to Francesco?83 Conclusion There was a great deal of continuity in the festive policy of the Medici because festivals always seemed to be an efficient way of reinforcing the image of the regime. Furthermore, their effect could be noticed in several areas. They ensured the support of the potenze, which from time to time were granted a festive initiative with carefully defined boundaries. They offered the Florentine people a spectacle that recalled a prestigious past, thereby perpetuating the myth of Lorenzo the Magnificent while, at the same time, responding to new requirements through the establishment of an original ceremonial.84 In fact, in a city that had become the capital of a princely state, Florentine festivals were used more and more often 81 Berti, Il principe dello studiolo, 184. that while fictional storms were being represented on stage, the irate hand of God was raising real ones, to everyone’s fear that the performance of the comedy was displeasing to God, since the holy days of Lent had already begun” ( “di maniera che mentre su la scena si rappresentavano le tempeste finte, dall’irata mano di Dio si esercitavano le vere, con gran timore di ciascheduno che il recitare la detta commedia non dispiacesse a Dio, essendo già cominciati i giorni santi della quaresima”; BNCF, MS. II, I. 204, Piccolo diario, fol. 35 r). 83 Plaisance, “L’Exaltation de la Croix,” 34–37. 84 See Jacquot, “Dalla festa cittadina,” 9–22. 82 “so Medici Carnivals 35 to display the values of a dynasty that was annexing and taking over the traditional cycle of festive events. At this point, a breach can be discerned between the Florentine people and their government, a breach that widened even further under Grand Duke Francesco I de’ Medici. Clearly, Carnival no longer allowed the expression of a social dynamism such as had been the case in the days of Girolamo Savonarola, nor did it re-create the consensus, however illusory, that Lorenzo the Magnificent had sought and perhaps had even obtained. Cited Works Manuscript Sources Florence, Archivio di Stato (ASF) Carte Strozziane, serie I , 361 Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale (BNCF) MS. II.I.204 Piccolo diario delle cose della città e governo di Firenze dall’anno 1580 alli 30 aprile del 1589 MS. 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