Wednesday, October 17, 2012

news 30apr12; Feast of San Marco mention, April 25, 1526



the housing market isn't going anywhere soon. Yes, it's still the banks to blame


some things to do to counter those that would steal voting rights

a collection of pictures of daily life in Kabul

There's a clutch or cupboard full of different stories set down by Sanudo in later April ... Isn't it a French saying that April is the cruelest month?

There's some criminal cases in this month selected by the editors: a kidnapping, a bigamist and a murder. And the one in Treviso 'trafficking contraband'. All interesting to see how the City carried out justice at home.

There's also Sanudo writing about refusing audience to a certain foreign diplomat who wanted to see his collection of books late in life and him asking for books in his old age.

There's the annual Feast of San Marco April 25 [if you click on this pic at the link, it will give you a frame that you can resize and get more detail even if even that is still incomplete -- dang intertubz]. 
St Mark of course, whose symbol was a lion (but often shown in Venice with wings) was the patron saint of the City, who their most holy basilica was named after, who had found the place running from ... Roman captors? Nobody knows. 
But the one church Mark was actually credited with starting? That was in Alexandria in Egypt. The center of the Coptic Christian Church, really, since the first century AD. The new basilica in Venice was consecrated in 1094 and added onto for the next five hundred years [the link brings up a page of images of the church]. This was in the period too, when the Western Catholic Church had a serious break (in 1054) with the 'Eastern' Orthodox Church, still different than the Coptic Church. But the one in Venice was built on a greek 'Cross' model complete with multiple domes all inlaid with gold and New Testament mosaic from the Byzantine masters who carried out their tradition of centuries  for their ancestors so well. Whose long work would outlast Byzantium because it was in Venice. Six hundred years later the outside looked like this , recessed into the background behind the great Campanile, the City's great bell tower. There's so much more here...

April 25, 1526: 41: 218-9: "Today, the 25th, was the feast day of St Mark. The doge was dressed in gold brocade under a mantle of crimson silk with an ermine collar and a cap of crimson silk.... Alvise Minio departing [to serveas] civil and military governor of Caodistria [Capo d'Istria], carried the ceremonial sword and was dressed in crimson damask, and his companion was ser Domenego Capello, wearing crimson velvet. Neither the primicerio nor the bishop was of Baffo was present, but there were two Englishmen with their ambassador, who were also invited to the meal; ... They went to the Church of San Marco to hear Mass, and the doge was met by the canons carrying double candles and a cross, as was customary, and the vicar who was to celebrate Mass, in his vestments ... entered the church through the door near the canonry and encircling it, passed through the ambulatory and entered the church [proper] through the main portal. After the ritual solemn confession had been completed at the altar, with the doge responding, the doge and ambassadors went up into the reserved area, as is customary, along with the sword-bearer and his companion.... After the Solemn Mass had been celebbrated, the five scuole passed by. The guardian [of each scuole] first gave to the doge a large candle and to each of the ambassadors and others a thinner candle. And each scuole carried under a baldachin crosses or icons and relics, and the Scuola di San Marco carried the ring of St Mark. Then two of the artisan guilds passed in review, the Tuscan [luxury fabric makers] and the tailors, each with an offering. And when it was completed, everyone went to the palace to dine....
It was a most beautiful meal, as is usual with this doge. There were eighty-two of us dining at the table, and there were a variety of dishes, but neither whipped-cream sweets nor cookies. There were the usual sweets, and everyone had his own. There were many songs during the meal, and then there was a short comedia performed by Cherea, who pretended to be taken by pirates, together with some little boys and girls, and then they were freed. Then the party began with dancing, and they danced the lodesana, which was  very energizing.... Finally, teh women danced, and one named Perina took the doge's hand, and the ambassadors' and everyone's, and there was great laughter -- she was a pretty young thing. And when it was over, the doge stood at the door of his palace with the Signoria and bade goodnight to everyone who had dined there, thanking them."


in Venice, Cita Excellentissima, Selection from the Renaissance Diaries of Marin Sanudo translated by Linda L Carroll,  editors: Patricia H LaBalme and Laura Sanguineti White, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008

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