At first there were a number of stories that mention women. Then I noticed there were many mentions in springtime. When I decided to bring a collection of them together and made a list of stories that mention women, in the spring, I noticed there were many spread out in time. A wide view over thirty-years time of many different topics. So I decided to go through them all but set them down in order, per story, per time. First, the one from the talk in town 1500, then an official gift in 1506, followed by 1509 and news of muneghini and chasing the prostitutes out, then a skip of five years for a wedding, and so on.
There always seems to be these issues that the state always wants to stay on top of.
It should be remembered that these are all notable occurrences, listed precisely because they are exceptional and stand out from the normal flow of the times. It's hard to show any periodicity or pattern in activities or responses, as things would recur or not. But many kinds of examples are shown in the sampling gathered by our editors: Patricia H LaBalme and Laura Sanguineti White in the book, Venice, Cita Excellentissima, Selection from the Renaissance Diaries of Marin Sanudo translated by Linda L Carroll, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008
1500
Editor's note: "...the flouting of public mores was viewed as a serious crime because patrician women were involved and because the actions against them undermined the formal procedures of betrothal and marriage to which patrician families subscribed." p. 131
Sanudo Diaries: May 13, 1500: (3:314-15); "I will not omit something that I heard, that the son of Andrea Morexini, the former state attorney, was brought before the Senate for having kissed a woman and taken a jewel from her. And he said publicly [of his son]: "Off with his head!" And so he was condemned."
Editor's note: "There is no further mention in Sanudo's diaries of this charge or its punishment, which he certainly would have recorded had it taken place." p. 131
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1506
Editor's note: "The spiritual health of the city was attested to not only by its extravagant processions, its religious festivals, and its support of the Christian teachings of itinerant friars but also by its resident clergy, its multiple parishes, and its many monastic establishments. Among these monastic establishments, certain aristocratic women's convents played a special role. For the nuns in these convents were closely related to the governing class and could serve the state through their piety, purity, and prayer. Conversely, they could create difficulties for the state through a derogation of their religious duties, which their contemporaries equated with sacrilege, a lese majesty against God. At their best, female convents represented the religious dedication of Venetian society. Such a relationship found expression in ceremonies such as the 'wedding' of the doge to every newly appointed abbess of Santa Maria delle Vergini, a convent founded and endowed by Doge Pietro Ziani in 1219 and remaining within the doge's right of patronage."
Editor's footnote: "This right was known as ius patronatus and included the right to appoint its clergy, procurators and employees." p. 380
Sanudo's Diaries: June 14, 1506: (6:353); "Sunday. The doge went with ceremonial galleys to wed the abbess of the Verzene. She is of the Badoer family, and the doge [always] comes to marry the abbess in the year of her installation since the church is under his patronage. He was accompanied by the Signoria and patricians. They heard Low Mass. Then the patriarch celebrated a High Mass for which the doge did not stay. And the church was beautifully decorated, more so than any church in the city was ever decorated, at a cost of sixty ducats. And one could go inside as far as the refectory, where more than 500 women and a few men were fed. And the display on the cadenza was magnificent."
Editor's footnote: "...The 'wealth' displayed in this symbolic wedding paralleled that of other patrician weddings.... Originally called Santa Maria Nuova in Jerusalem, the convent was founded with the mandate that it remain within the patronage of the founding doge's successors.... To confirm the abbess's position, the doge gave her two rings, one with St Mark's lion on it, the other, a precious sapphire to represent her pastoral office..... The convent of the Verzene (Virgins) was attached to the regular canons of San Marco di Mantova, which may explain why the symbol of St Mark is on one of the rings." p. 381
nedits: This is different than the ceremonial wedding of the doge to the sea on Ascension Day where he would take a special boat out to the Adriatic Sea - for a long time at San Nicolo on the Lido - and throw a ring into the sea. I looked for pictures but found only a smattering of portraits and they were slightly different. An announcing too, but only the famous one of Titian forthe Ascension, completed about a decade later.
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1509
Editor's note: "In combating even the possibility of scandal, the government sought also to control young male patricians who were accustomed to visiting these convents and who, because of their illicit relationships with nuns, were known as muneghini, or frequenters of nuns." p. 382.
Sanudo diaries: May 25, 1509: (8:307-8); "This morning the cases of several young patricians were brought before the Quarantia Criminal at the request of the state attorneys ser Bernardo Bembo, university laureate and knight, ser Marin Zustignan, and ser Daniel Renier, with Marin Zustignan speaking for the group. The Quarantia decided to arrest them. In the past few months, at the when the newly elected abbess held her ceremonial meal in the convent of the Celestia, these remained locked in the convent [when the other guests departed] and, to a wind band, danced all night with the nuns. This is against the law or the nuns and for the muneghini as well. Thus it was decided that they should be arrested. There are sixteen of them.... in my opinion this was not the time to stir up these things. It should be noted that nothing came of it."
Editor's note. "Sanudo's closing comment that the time was not propitious for this investigation refers to the fact that only eleven days earlier Venice had suffered the crushing defeat at the battle of Agnadello." p. 382
nedits: see last month under the start of the War of the Cambrian League, May 8, 1509 when the whole city seemed in a daze.
Editor's note: "Prostitution was generally recognized by the government as an unavoidable activity. Prostitutes were even allotted a particular district near the Rialto and protected from the competition of male homosexuals. But their presence elsewhere was considered inconvenient. For example, one month after the defeat of Agnadello, prompted by the pressure of war and a concern for military discipline in the camp near Mestre, [on the mainland] only a few kilometers distant from the invading imperial troops, an attempt was made to remedy an undesirable condition in that camp." pp 321-2
Sanudo Diaries: June 18, 1509: (8:414); "I note that today in the military encampment it was proclaimed that all prostitutes and their pimps must clear out within two hours, on penalty of being whipped. So immediately, despite the outcry of the soldiers, about 1,000 got up and left, although a few remained in disguise or in hiding. I don't know what the cause of the proclamation was, but it was a good idea."
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