Doge Of Venice Research Articles

Russian Travelers 17th Centuries about the Ceremony of Marriage of the Adriatic

The article considers the ceremonial of the Doge’s betrothal to the Adriatic sea through the prism of its perception by Russian travelers of the end of the 17th century. In the Republic of Venice there were a considerable number of ceremonies, which were held annually on the occasion of victories and various festivals. Among them, a special place was occupied by the rite of betrothal of the Doge to the sea (with the Adriatic) (Marriage of the Adriatic). Its origins rite of passage is leading with deep absent. Almost all Russian travelers who visited Venice at the end of the 17th century, paid attention to this ceremony. In their travel notes stolnik P. A. Tolstoy and an unknown author write about the date of the ceremony, its history, the details of the protocol of its ceremonial, the value for the Venetian state. The splendor and colorfulness of its holding attracted the special attention of Russian travelers. In their opinion, the central place in this ceremony was occupied by the figure of the venetian doge. In addition, they emphasized its state character. But the venetian vessels that took part in the ceremony, and above all, the ceremonial galley of the venetian doge Bucintoro, attracted the special attention of russian travelers. The interest of the stolnik P. A. Tolstoy and unknown author called private ships of the venetians, who accompanied the doge of Venice in the maritime procession. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that the rite of betrothal of the venetian doge to the Adriatic caused some interest among russian travelers of the 17th century, but to a greater extent their admiration was associated with architectural masterpieces, religious shrines, music, gardens and fountains. Perhaps this was due to the fact that in the Moscow state there were no similar ceremonies. In any case, the russian travelers of the 17th century, namely stolnik P. A. Tolstoy and an unknown author in their travel notes recorded this ritual, leaving the memory of this to posterity.

Bessarion on Economics and Geopolitics

This paper deals with those aspects of Byzantine intellectual heritage, which belong to the Bessarion’s thought and writing. Bessarion, Cardinal of the Roman-Catholic Church, proposed specific, systematic and analytical measures for a re-organization and recovery of the Despotate of Mistra, while, as it is known, he lived there from the end of 1431 until the end of 1436. Then Вessarion, in his capacity as cardinal, showed his continual and undiminished interest to the advancement of Greek nation, as proven by three famous memoranda of scholar. These are appeals to Constantine Palaiologos, Despot of Mistra, as well as to the doge of Venice. Dated July 13, 1453 the letter to the doge informed him on the Fall of Constantinople and the sufferings of Greek nation! Especially noteworthy is the third (and only surviving) letter of Вessarion, addressed to his friend, Despot Constantine Palaiologos in the spring of 1444. Here Вessarion proposes a specific, specialized program for the economic restructure, social reorganization and military strengthening of the Despotate. The intellectual associates education with economy. Sharing the economic philosophy of ancient Greeks on self-sufficiency and utilization of local means, Вessarion became a forerunner of mercantilism, while also acknowledging the productive contribution of education. The proposal of Вessarion for the transfer of the Despotate’s capital closer to the Isthmus was of great geopolitical importance since, when the guarding of the Hexamilion Wall would be reconstructed and constant and properly updated. These proposals, having been so important for the evolution of Byzantine economic thought, took an appropriate place in its development.

The Nineteenth-Century Italian Translators of Lord Byron’s <i>Marino Faliero</i>

The tragic story of Marino Faliero, the Doge of Venice who was executed for high treason in 1355, came to the attention of writers and artists of various European countries during the early nineteenth century thanks to a number of historians who published insightful works on the history of the Venetian Republic. Among those who were fascinated by the irascible old warrior who tried to overthrow the oligarchy on becoming head of state was Lord Byron. In 1821, the English poet published the historical drama Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice on the tragic end of a hero whose personal grievances with the Venetian Senate intertwined with an ill-fated plebeian rebellion against the nobility. Byron’s popularity in Italy brought the story to the attention of Italian romantic literary circles, where it was not only appreciated as a tragedy of honour and revenge, but also for its ideological implications in the context of the Risorgimento. This study focuses on the three translators who produced the first complete Italian versions of Byron’s play published in the nineteenth century, namely Pasquale De Virgili, Giovan Battista Cereseto, and Andrea Maffei. Based on André Lefevere’s theory on rewriting, it analyses the ideological and poetological reasons behind the translations, how the translators’ intentions shaped the target texts, as well as the impact these translations had on Italian literature and the arts. The strategies adopted by the translators are also illustrated through a comparative textual analysis of a sample passage.

The sunk-panel book-binding of a Renaissance Venetian Commissione Dogale: the scientific examination of the decoration materials

The research aims to investigate the nature of the materials used in the decoration of the cover of a sunk-panel Commissione Dogale, a Venetian manuscript of 1582. The analysed volume Ms. It. VII, 1869 (= 8134) belongs to the collections of the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice. The Commissioni were intended as official documents written on parchment and issued by the Doge of Venice. Their bindings were very rich in decoration, especially those produced in the late 16th century. This manuscript is a sumptuous example of the Venetian Renaissance artisanship influenced by Middle Eastern style: its cover was made of gilded leather, painted with arabesque branches and buds and lastly lacquered. The scientific examination of the lavishly illuminated cover was performed before the book-binding conservation treatment, as the characterisation of the decoration materials allowed to plan an appropriate conservation project. The research first step has been the non-invasive observation of the cover surface by digital microscope through UV–VIS radiations. Then, the study of the composition of these materials has been carried out with ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, XRF spectroscopy and spot-test analyses on samples. Pigments like minium, green earth, a lead-based yellow and smalt have been detected in the painted layer, while a precise identification of the resins and varnishes layered on top of the decoration was not possible because of the heterogeneity of samples. Furthermore, the materials used for this cover can be usefully compared with those detected by other recent analyses carried out on a variety of 16th century Venetian book illuminations.

The first Doges of Venice, representatives of the Byzantine administration

The purpose of this study is to present the origins of the Venetian rulers and the relationship of the first doges with the Byzantine Empire. The fact that the first doges were officials of the Byzantine administration is an obvious form of Byzantine civilization over Venice. On the other hand, the accentuation of the Byzantine matrix of the Venetian doge is capable of shedding light on the role the doges have on universal history. The fact that the Doges adopted the ideological hegemony of the Byzantine emperors, as well as numerous forms of protocol and ceremony, inspired the Venetian rulers to impose the North-Adriatic state as the main economic force of the Mediterranean Sea. The special status that Venice acquired on the Byzantine route explains today's separatist tendency of the Veneto region, which also includes Venice. As all these tendencies find the answer in the past, it is necessary to research some important aspects of the relationship between Byzantium and Venice during the Middle Ages. Keywords: Venice, Byzantine Empire, Doges, Middle Ages

In Their Own Words: Practices of Quotation in Early Medieval History-Writing by Jeanette Beer (review)

Reviewed by: In Their Own Words: Practices of Quotation in Early Medieval History-Writing by Jeanette Beer Glynnis M. Cropp Beer, Jeanette, In Their Own Words: Practices of Quotation in Early Medieval History-Writing, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2014; cloth; pp. 176; R.R.P. US$50.00; ISBN 9781442647541. Given current interest in the crusades and chronicles, this book will have a wide readership. Jeanette Beer has here pursued her scholarly work in the field of medieval history-writing through the formative period between [End Page 219] the ninth and the thirteenth centuries, from the Strasbourg oaths to the compilation/translation of Li Fet des Romains. She sets out from Isidore of Seville’s definition of history as the narration of events that deserve to be remembered and which constitute the truth. Hence the importance of eyewitness accounts, ipsissima verba (‘words actually spoken’) and the use of direct and indirect speech in this examination of five landmark texts, three of which are chronicles by Crusade participants. The Strasbourg oaths in Nithard’s Historiae contain the earliest words of French recorded. Building on her analysis in an earlier essay, Beer explains the chancery process and the function of the oaths in the Historiae, where they are preceded by a speech in Latin. She speculates on the understanding of the vernacular by the respective French- and German-speaking armies and on what they reflect of Nithard’s anxiety for the empire. The anonymous Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum, a straightforward narrative in Latin, is an eyewitness account of the First Crusade from a soldier’s viewpoint. It has been recognised as the expedition’s unofficial history. The author believed that events in which he participated were of epic importance and frequently used direct speech to endorse the veracity and immediacy of his story. He presented, for example, the pope’s call to the Crusade as though he had been present and heard the very words. Villehardouin, a leader and negotiator in the Fourth Crusade, presented in La Conquête de Constantinople a different viewpoint and experience for an audience interested in diplomacy as well as military activity. He referred to himself and his participation in the third person, speaking also as author and eyewitness in the first person, and sometimes shifting responsibility somewhat ambiguously to li livres, ‘the book’. His use of direct speech is concentrated in the first half of the chronicle, for example, in the account of negotiations with the doge of Venice and the pope. In contrast, Robert de Clari’s account of the Fourth Crusade is that of a poor knight following his overlord and returning home before the eventual débâcle. His lively narrative of ‘le dreite verité’ (p. 58), everything he could remember, as he likes to repeat, using the first person as self-referencing and direct speech, sometimes for dramatic effect, verges on the fabliau style, it is suggested, for he is pre-eminently a storyteller. Two chapters are devoted to Li Fet des Romains, which Beer studied in A Medieval Caesar (Droz, 1976). It is an anonymous compilation translated into the French vernacular from all the known works concerning Julius Caesar, first and foremost from his Commentaries on the Gallic wars and Lucan’s Bellum Civile, with debts and attributions to other classical historians. Interesting points discussed include: Caesar’s dictum, the compiler’s tactical shifting of responsibility when he disagreed with his source material, adaptation of Lucan’s verse epic and its pagan mythology, supplementation, [End Page 220] and interpolation. The compiler/translator astutely employed quotation, sometimes appropriating it, at other times distancing himself from ancient historians and speaking in his own voice to complete the truth. Analysis of the stylistic practice of quotation and self-referencing shows how the five specimen texts significantly contributed to the evolution of medieval history-writing. An Afterword sketches their diffusion and later role as sources, in turn, for quotation. Notes, Works Cited, a Name Index, and a Subject Index complete the work. All French and Latin passages cited are carefully translated into English. Oversights are rare, but in two instances a word was inadvertently repeated: ‘are’ (p. 33, translation l.1), ‘abundantly’ (p...

The Devil's Perspective in El Greco's Alegoría de la Liga Santa , San Juan de la Cruz's Cántico espiritual , and Cervantes's La Numancia

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth... Philippians 2.9-10 This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah.... and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. Luke 11.29-32 El Greco's famous portrait of Philip II, also known as the Alegoria de la Liga Santa [fig. 1], San Juan de la Cruz's lyrical masterpiece the Cantico espiritual, and Cervantes's first play, the epic tragedy La Numancia, are all presumed to have been composed within about fifty miles of each other, the first two in Toledo, the latter in Madrid, and all more or less around the year 1580. Therefore, it should not surprise us that they have many thematic and structural similarities. Most importantly, they all signal a kind of purposeful manifest destiny of Spain as the culmination of Christian Empire exhibiting grand, overarching designs that express moral and apocalyptic visions of Hapsburg rule as the final arrival of Christian peace on earth after centuries of human conflict. In this sense, they may be deemed idealistic, even apologetic compositions which pull up far short of the disillusionment of the baroque period to follow. Nevertheless, we should not mistake idealism for simplicity, for they are also anxious, self-consciously critical meditations on the possibly sinful nature of Spanish Empire at the peak of its expansion. As such they are not without disorienting political implications for Philip II as well as the Spanish viewing or reading public. One way of approaching the problematic nature of these pieces is to consider the key roles played in each certain malevolent intruders: the gaping hellmouth that threatens Philip II in El Greco's painting; the ominously diabolical Aminadab who lurks in the final stanza of San Juan's poem; and the disruptive devil that ruins the Numantian sacrificial ceremony in act two of Cervantes's play. In this essay, I will review the ways in which the Alegoria de la Liga Santa, the Cantico espiritual, and La Numancia all allude to Christian Empire, centering their respective apocalyptic visions on Philip II; then I will consider the problematic perspectives that diabolical transgressors bring to each work. At first glance, El Greco's painting is perhaps the most straightforward here due to its overt representation of Christian Empire. It portrays a fantastical meeting among the leaders of the Catholic alliance formed Spain, Rome, and Venice, who were victorious over Turkish forces at the great naval battle of Lepanto in 1571 (Blunt). In truth, the painting indicates the entire history of Catholic Empire: the principal kneeling figures, Philip II, the Pope, the Doge of Venice, and Don Juan of Austria, form a kind of Eucharistic communion beneath the initials IHS, representing the words In hoc signo vinces, a Latin translation of the phrase by this sign you will conquer, which for its part alludes to the cross that the first Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great, claimed to have seen in the sky prior to his victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 AD. El Greco here mixes the historical allusion and political significance of Raphael and Romano's Vision of Constantine [fig. 2] with the cosmic design and theological significance of famous Last Judgment compositions like those Fra Angelico, Marten de Vos, and most especially Giovanni Battista Fontana (Davies) [fig. 3]. In this way the painting sets up an organic and moral universe that revolves around Philip II as the problematically militant agent of Christian Empire. Significantly, he is the subject in the painting whose perspective does not allow him to perceive the diabolical threat behind him due to his steady focus on the black sword held Don Juan of Austria. Allusions to the violence of empire are arguably more difficult to perceive in San Juan's great love poem. …

Lord Byron, Copyright and the Demons of the Law

On nine separate occasions between 1816 and 1828, legal proceedings were begun or, at least, contemplated for the purpose either of prohibiting or recovering monetary compensation for the sale of an unauthorized edition of a published work or works that had been written by Byron. On seven of those occasions, a specific published work of Byron’s was involved: Hours of Idleness; English Bards and Scotch Reviewers; Beppo; Don Juan, Cantos I and II; Cain; and Don Juan, Cantos VI to VIII. On the remaining two of those occasions, numerous published works of Byron’s were involved. The paper discusses all nine of those occasions. On a further six occasions between 1816 and 1826, legal proceedings were begun that involved in some other way Byron’s literary output (or claimed literary output). On three of those occasions, a specific published work of Byron’s was involved: Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice; Cain; and The Vision of Judgement. On one of those occasions, poems deliberately falsely attributed to Byron were involved. On one of those occasions, unpublished letters written by Byron were involved. On one of those occasions, illustrations of Byron's works were involved. The paper discusses all six of those occasions too. The paper includes and discusses four satirical prints showing respectively: Byron; John Cam Hobhouse; Lord Chancellor Eldon; and William Benbow, which prints had been created by leading satirical printmakers of Byron’s day.

Man's inhumanity to children

Man's inhumanity to children

Oliver Cromwell's Policy Toward the English Catholics: The Appraisal by Diplomats, 1654-1658

For four years there were reports in western Europe concerning the persecution of the English Catholics by the Lord Protector, so that it was not unusual for the Catholic foreign diplomats residing in London to include their current views of their predicament in many surviving letters in the files of their foreign secretaries.1 At least seven of these diplomats were appointed during this period, and a close look at their reactions can offer a new and informative picture of the recusants as they saw it at different occasions. There were four princes usually represented. The Doge of Venice followed the custom of appointing a representative for a short term so that there were three Venetians sent to the Lord Protector. For a year and a half Lorenzo Paulucci was Agent and Secretary and then recalled in July, 1655. His successor, Giovanni Sagredo, had the rank of ambassador but was appointed elsewhere after eight months, and his embassy was closed for nine months. In April, 1657, Francesco Giavarina reopened it, but he too served for less than a year [End Page 29] until January, 1658. As will be seen, all three were curious about the Catholics and enjoyed giving them access to their embassy chapels. The grand duke of Tuscany was pleased with the services of his veteran agent, Amerigo Salvetti, who limited access to his chapel to Italian traders and visitors, but wrote bulletins about the regime's restraints on the "papists." His son Giovanni, born in London, was named his successor in April, 1658. As the diplomats of Portugal were concentrating at this time on commercial agreements, they will not be included here. There remain the diplomats of the two great monarchies of western Europe, Spain and France, who played more visible roles in the Catholic question at different times but without competition.

Poets as Dramatists: Pushkin and Byron's Historical Drama Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice

Poets as Dramatists: Pushkin and Byron's Historical Drama Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice

The Tombs of the Doges of Venice

The Tombs of the Doges of Venice

The Tombs of the Doges of Venice

The Tombs of the Doges of Venice

The Tombs of the Doges of Venice. Debra Pincus

<i>The Tombs of the Doges of Venice</i>. Debra Pincus

James S. Grubb. Review of "The Tombs of the Doges of Venice" by Debra Pincus.

James S. Grubb. Review of "The Tombs of the Doges of Venice" by Debra Pincus.

The Tombs of the Doges of Venice

The Tombs of the Doges of Venice

:The Tombs of the Doges of Venice

:<i>The Tombs of the Doges of Venice</i>

The tombs of the Doges of Venice

The tombs of the Doges of Venice

Fabius Maximus in Venice: Doge Andrea Gritti, the War of Cambrai, and the Rise of Habsburg Hegemony, 1509-1530*

As a consequence of its dismal experience in the War of Cambrai (1509-1517), the Venetian Republic adopted a military policy of avoiding battlefield encounters. As a commander in the war and as doge of Venice after 1523, Andrea Gritti was the foremost proponent of this strategy, earning for himself the appellation of "Fabius Maximus," the Roman general who opposed Hannibal by delay and defense in the Second Punic War. In the 1520s, the Republic aspired to play the role of a great power — or at least that of an independent, balancing force between France and the Spanish-Habsburg Empire; but its refusal to commit its troops to battle fatally weakened the political coalitions opposing Charles V and thereby significantly contributed to the rise of Habsburg hegemony in Italy. A major step toward Charles V's triumph was the infamous Sack of Rome in 1527, a calamity for which the Fabian policy of Venice bears some responsibility.

The Enamel of Doge Ordelaffo Falier on the Pala d'Oro in Venice

A detailed technical examination of the figure of Doge Ordelaffo Falier on the Pala d'Oro in the church of San Marco at Venice reveals that the figure and identifying inscription are both original, with the exception of the head and halo. The intention from the outset was therefore to depict the doge of Venice, and not, as has generally been assumed, an emperor of Byzantium. It is suggested that the head was altered for the sole purpose of adding the halo, signifier of imperial dignity, and that this change was made during the 1209 restoration of the Pala, as part of Venice's efforts to reinvent its history in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade.