Postmark: Renaissance Love and Venom in the Medici Courts By Edward Goldberg Two and a half centuries after the end of Medici rule, the most complete documentary record of any princely regime in early modern Europe is being cataloged and indexed with the latest information technology. Virtually every letter sent or received by the Medici family and the Medici court from 1537 to 1743 has survived, filling 6,429 volumes and a full kilometer of shelf space. Because the Medici grand dukes had ambassadors, agents, and correspondents in every major city and court in Europe and the Mediterranean world, their archive is international in scope, making it a source for the history and culture of an entire age. Under the auspices of the Medici Archive Project, this mountain of paper is being excavated, revealing the remarkable archival culture that developed at the Tuscan court during the reign of Cosimo I and flourished throughout the life of the Medici rule. Cosimo I de Medici was elected capo e primario of Florence
in 1537 at the age of seventeen, three days after the assassination of
his cousin Alessandro. Though Cosimo was apparently viewed as a short-term
compromise, he not only survived, but quickly began to consolidate During Cosimos early reign, while he was inventing a new government
for his new state, his administration was based on a fluid collaboration
between executive secretaries who traded assignments back and forth. Since
everyone and no one was responsible for everything, the only way to avoid
administrative chaos was through meticulous record keeping. From the beginning,
every major and minor executive decision was duly noted, every incoming
letter was saved and every outgoing letter was recorded for the files.
This had revolutionary implications in Even the weekly news bulletins called avvisi--expensive handwritten
newsletters sent to princes, No less significant was Cosimos proclamation of 14 December 1569 assuming direct control of the notarial archive, which recorded all Florentine property transactions. This proclamation set the terms for filing, consulting, and copying all contracts, including transfers of ownership, wills, and marriage settlements. This is not to say that the documents have been entirely spared mishaps due to fire, flood, and the heedlessness of scholars. The historian Riguccio Galluzzi in preparing his monumental Istoria del granducato di Toscana sotto il governo della casa Medici, published in 1781, worked in the amiable old-fashioned way, marching through the Medici Granducal Archive, seizing whatever took his fancy and setting it aside for eventual use. Galluzzis selection of documentary material was returned but never refiled, and now constitutes the 676 filze of the so-called Miscellanea Medicea, known to scholars as the Bermuda Triangle of the Medici Granducal Archive. In the twenty-first century, the researcher hardly expects to take rare
documentary material home for leisurely perusal. However, through searchable
databases, digitized images, and web delivery, the Medici Archive Project
is working to recreate such access virtually. A Paycheck for Galileo 24
MAY 1608 We hereby authorize
you to debit to our expenses 235 scudi, lire and 10 denari (at 7 _ lire
per scudo) equaling the 297 12 ducats disbursed by Mannelli in Venice,
at an exchange rate 79 1/6% to be paid to Agostino Parenti and Company
silk merchants Considering the fame of Galileo Galilei, it is surprising to see his name getting lost in the bureaucratic shuffle. Giulio, however, was a far more common first name than Galileoand in May of 1608, the forty-four-year-old astronomer was on the verge of becoming an international phenomenon. Two years later Galileo Galilei published Sidereus Nuncius, or The Starry Messenger, announcing his discovery of Jupiters moons--flatteringly named The Medicean Planets. As a result, he was appointed chief mathematician and philosopher to Grand Duke Cosimo II de Medici. In previous years, Galileo had worked strenuously to achieve a position
at the Medici Court. The In 1597 in Padua, Galileo began manufacturing a new kind of military compass, which performed mathematical calculations relevant to problems of ballistics. When he discovered a Latin treatise plagiarizing his ideas in 1605, he transformed his manuscript users manual into a fuller printed version and dedicated it to Prince Cosimo de Medici. He eventually succeeded in having all unsold copies of the rival work confiscated and the author expelled from the University of Padua. In 1605, Galileo began spending his summers in Florence giving mathematical instruction to the young Prince Cosimo, who would become Grand Duke Cosimo II in 1609. Galileo had no regular contract and had to reapply for the job each year. The present document most likely authorizes payment for one of these summer trips.
News of the Armada 3
SEPTEMBER 1588 This evening there were letters from London dated the 29th of last month, with news that the Catholic Armada was in Scotland, at an island called Hylandia in the area of the Orkneys. According to highly reliable sources, the men were given provisions and other refreshments and when word reached the king [James VI of Scotland] some would have it that he decreed the death penalty for anyone who gave them anything. It was also noted that all of Scotland had taken up arms in support of the Queen of England [Elizabeth I]. The Dragon [Francis Drake] and the Admiral [Charles Lord Howard of Effingham] were at her court for a few days, working to rehabilitate their fleet which had suffered at the hands of the Catholics. They were eager for another engagement and it is said that they have already embarked with 180 ships. In fact, it was the Spanish Armada that suffered grievously at the hands of the English in August of 1588, and not the other way around. However, avviso writers in Antwerp, the chief port of the Spanish Netherlands, must have enjoyed sharing unwontedly optimistic tidings with the Medici court, which was resolutely Catholic and pro-Spanish. Spanish troops did not land in Scotland, nor were they aided by the Orkney Islanders--least of all those of the island of Hylandia, which does not appear on any known map, past or present. There is indeed an Orkney island called Hoy--and the better known islands Ireland and Iceland. Perhaps this overzealous avviso writer scrambled his Scottish geography and moved the mountainous region of the Highlands offshore. By September of 1588, when this avviso was circulating, bad weather and three battles with the English navy under the command of Admiral Howard and Vice-admiral Drake had already reduced the Invincible Armada to a straggling caravan limping homeward around the coast of Scotland. How could the avviso-writer have gotten it so wrong? Avvisi were the product of a peculiar journalistic underground. Working independently or in avviso shops, the writers were a motley assortment of penniless scholars, aspiring literati, moonlighting diplomats, and marginal eavesdroppers. Like present-day journalists, they worked against deadlines, struggling to get out a story under the pressure of time. Most avvisi were distributed weekly, though there were occasional special editions when warranted. More often than not, avviso writers competed to scoop each other with the late-breaking news and insider revelations for which their subscribers were paying. There were established networks of correspondents or intelligencers around Europe and the Mediterranean, and information gleaned from people with privileged access to correspondence in embassies and government offices. In a seafaring city like Antwerp, there were merchants and sailors freshly arrived from other ports, as well as private travelers of every description. Though information could make the rounds with surprising speed, it was often difficult to verify sources or check facts. And when ones competitors were not lingering to check their facts, there was little incentive to do so. The names of people and places were often the chief victims of error in an age when there were few detailed maps and atlases. With regard to place names, there was seldom a single standardized form, but rather a proliferation of variants in Latin and the local languages. As documented by the correspondence in the Medici Granducal Archive, letter writers in 1588 could opt for Firenze, Fiorenza, Florentia, Florencia, Florence, or Florenz, and count on getting their letters delivered. The Medici Granducal Archives collection of avvisi allows us to track the developing Armada story as it shocked, frightened, encouraged, and bewildered its readers of all religious and political persuasions across Europe. Information may have alternated with misinformation and sheer fabrication; but whatever people believed at a particular moment stands as a historical truth in its own right. Chronicle 19 March 1588 26 March 1588 13 August 1588 29 October 1588
Overture for an Inquisition 26
APRIL 1581 On Holy Wednesday in the Church of the Descalzas [Reales] in Madrid, founded and richly endowed by the Princess of Portugal, a most ugly and scandalous event took place. When they performed the rites of the Tenebrae, which normally last for half an hour without light of any kind, many of the chief gentlemen of these kingdoms found themselves near to various noblewomen. Incited by the darkness and the devil, they affronted these women, wanting at first to kiss them and then go even further. Even if the women cried out, they were foiled by the noise of banging and were thus not heard, which resulted in further insolent behavior. Various of these men were imprisoned, including the Prince of Ascoli, the Conte de Castagneda eldest son of the Marchese de Aguillar, the Marchese de Carpio eldest son of Don Diego de Cordova, Don Pedro Vanegas son of Don Luis Master of the Queens Horse, Don Antonio Manrique, Don Luis de Cordova, the Conte de Peredes and Don Enrico de Mendozza. This, it seems, will be to the detriment of the court since they are all principal gentlemen. It is believed that His Majesty [King Felipe II] will have to make an exemplary lesson since the Holy Inquisition has become involved. The rite of the Tenebrae or The Darkness was a monastic
service for Matins that took place between Palm Sunday and commemmorated
the three days Jesus lay in his tomb by dramatically reenacting this cosmic
darkness. Candles were gradually extinguished, leaving the church in near
or total obscurity. Since the participants were unable to see each other,
movements such as rising The Tenebrae was probably the only time during the year when such acts
could have taken place, under the cover of these rites. A common hour
for the Tenebrae was four or five in the afternoon, though the windows
might have been shuttered or curtained in any case. The noise of pounding
at A Ghost in the Garden 14
AUGUST 1620 I will tell Your Lordship about a fine joke at the Escorial. One evening the Crown Princess [Isabel de Borbón] and some of her ladies were enjoying the fresh air at a window overlooking the garden right below the church. They heard a noise coming from amidst the trees but didnt see what caused it and were frightened since its been said that spirits frequent that place. And so everyone believed there was a ghost, especially
since the people they sent to check out the noise didnt see anyone
there at all. Then immediately the story spread and gave rise to the most
wonderful speculations that the fervid imaginations of these courtiers
can conceive. In fact, the same rustling was heard another evening at
the same time and once again the soldiers of the If ever a place seemed designed for ghostly infestation, it was the Escorial--the
vast, brooding Though the incident of the ghost donkey might seem to have been lifted
from a comic story or operetta, it was a deadly serious matter for some
of its participants, most notably the Augustinian Friars of the monastery.
In the seventeenth century, as is still the case, there was no strict
article of Catholic faith regarding such a supernatural presence. There
was, however, a significant body of orthodox belief and biblical precedents--for
example, the appearance of the spirit of the prophet Samuel to King Saul.
In any case it seems that the denizens of the Spanish court, including
Isabel de Borbón, the future queen of Felipe IV, were strongly
disposed to credit their existence. A Lethal Recipe 15
FEBRUARY 1548 In regard to that man who offered to poison Piero Strozzis water or wine, impelling you to send a courier here to obtain a recipe from us, we inform you that we have never looked into such matters nor authorized others to do so. This is not our custom and even if we should wish such a thing, we would have no idea to whom we might turn in this city. And should such an occurrence come to pass, we think it best that either you nor I be the source. However, if that person you mention really is inclined to carry out his plan [ ] he might find that Apollonius [of Citium] gives some recipes. In any case, we do not know where to obtain such things, nor have we any interest in doing so, since we find such matters excessively horrid. In the winter of 1548, there must have been few people whom Cosimo I
de Medici would have liked to see dead more than Piero Strozzi.
Since Cosimos accession to the throne in 1537, the greatest threat
to his security was posed by the underground network of Florentine republicans
living in exile in Sienese territory and in Rome. The most visible and
powerful of these fuorusciti, or exiles, was Piero Strozzi. Pieros
father Filippo Strozzi had been captured by Cosimos forces at the
Battle of Montemurlo in 1537, but committed suicide rather than abandon
the republican By 1548, Francesco Vinta had already served for two years as the Medici
agent in Milan and Duke Cosimo, however, was more circumspect--for reasons that we can only deduce. It is worth noting that Vinta did not bother to put his homicidal letter in code, a glaring oversight since the post was often lost, stolen, or tampered with. Cosimo seems keen to cultivate deniability. He pleads ignorance and abhorrence of toxicological matters, even though Florence and Pisa were renowned centers of medical, alchemical, and pharmacological research. He refers his correspondent to Apollonius of Citium, an ancient Greek medical authority. Piero Strozzi managed to avoid being poisoned and reappeared in Tuscany a few years later as leader of the French forces arrayed against Duke Cosimo in the Sienese War. Recalled to France, he died of wounds incurred in battle at Thionville, in Lorraine, in 1558. A Gift of Glass 15
MARCH 1621 The three chests of drinking glasses arrived just
when I was beginning to wonder whether they had suffered the same ill
fate as those ships that were seized by the Turks. The timing of their
arrival was perfect, considering the present illness of the King [Felipe
III of Spain]. If the King hadnt been ill, I would have sent this
glassware to the Prioress of the Convent of the Encarnacíon so
that she could present them to His Majesty when he takes his children
to see her. However, I decided to waste no time going through such channels
since glassware is a great amusement for sick people. Therefore, I sent
the King some of the best by way of Doña Leonor and have heard
from her and others that the King greatly appreciated them and has received
no better amusement during his illness. He examined these drinking glasses
one by one and tried them out, now and This gift of Medici glassware might well have cheered King Felipe III
of Spain on his sickbed. Cosimo I de Medici officially opened the Medici glassworks in 1569
at the Uffizi Palace, then It appears from the documentation, however, that Prince Francesco--later
Grand Duke Francesco I--was already one step ahead of his father, having
built his own glassmaking facility in Florence in 1566. Francesco later transferred this activity to his favorite Florentine
retreat, the Casino di San Marco, where he could watch the work at first
hand. For many years, Prince Francescos Casino di San Marco, was
the chief center of Medici glass production, although a separate shop
was For those of a mannerist or baroque poetic sensibility, glass seemed
to contradict the fundamental
Humanities, May/June 2002, Volume 23/Number 3 |