Sanudo Diaries: Oct 2, 6, 1531; Andrea Gritti; death of Contarini, Oct 7, 1524

nedits: At first this may seem like a jumble. But from where I'm sitting, seeing what's coming, makes pretty good sense. During happier times with the Turks, Constantinople became the preferred market for luxury goods.

Sanudo Diaries: October 2, 1531 (55:14); "This morning in the Jewelers' Street I saw ser Francesco Zen, whose father Piero is the bailo in Constantinople, he was holding a gold ring. Mounted on it was a very beautiful and well-crafted watch that shows the time and chimes. He wants to send it to Constantinople to be sold."

Editor's footnote: "Piero Zen was actually the vice-bailo in Constantinople at that time. " p. 264. 

nedits: A bailo was a permanent ambassador to the Ottoman sultan in Constantinople. The Zen's had many relations with the sultan in the 16th century. What follows is an example of how Venetians liked to portray themselves in a description of a [now lost] painting by Titian of doge Andrea Gritti.

Sanudo Diaries: Oct 6, 1531 (55:19); "I saw, newly installed in the Collegio, the full-length painting of the doge. He is pictured kneeling before Our Lady, who is holding the Christ child, and he is presented to her by San Marco; behind her are San Bernardin, Santo Alvise, and Santa Marina. It has been suggested that these three saints are quarreling over which of them made him doge. San Bernardin in saying, 'He was elected on my feast day.' Santa Marina is saying, 'He was elected because he retook Padua on my feast day, July 17.' Santo Alvise is saying, 'I am the namesake of ser Alvise Pisani, the procurator, who is his supporter, who was a member of the Forty-one and was responsible for his being elected doge.' Thus, given the dispute among the three saints,it appears that St Mark is presenting him to Our Lady and her son so that they may decide which of the three saints determined the election of His Serenity to the dogeship. It is a beautiful painting made by Titian the painter and an  amusing commentary, which I wanted to preserve for posterity."

Editor's note: "Patronage of the arts was also exercised by wealthy Venetians such as the Corner family and the Grimani. Cardinal Domenico Grimani was well known not only for his library but also for his collection of furnishings and art..." p. 458.

nedits: after Gritti died, Titian did another, but a solo portrait, presumably for the family. But in his and Sanudo's earlier life, it was Andrea Gritti that had resolved a great grain shortage in Venice through his actions in Constantinople as a grain merchant. For example. He had also used secret code to get the word out in those days about the Turks impending invasion of Corfu, an important holding of Venice in their water the Adriatic Sea. That had been 1499.

Editor's note: "... by August 1499 he was imprisoned [for espionage] along with many other Venetians, including other merchants and workers in the Venetian community of Constantinople.... The detention was to last two and a half years, for much of the period of the war between the Turks and Venice, 1499-1503." p. 234

nedits: Gritti was doge from 1523-1538. It's a wonder Venice was still intact then, though he did his best.

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Editor's note: "The role of Patriarch Antonio Contarini in the religious life of Venice was marked not only by the reform of the convents but also by the reconstruction of the church of which he had been prior before his elevation to patriarch. As Sanudo wrote at the time of Contarini's death, this reconstruction was among his most cherished projects." p 393

Sanudo's Diaries: October 7, 1524: (37:17-18); "The canons of [San Pietro di] Castello came to notify the Serenissimo of the death of the most reverend patriarch, domino Antonio Contarini.... This patriarch was appointed in 1508, on November 17, by the Senate and confirmed by the pope. He was the prior of San Salvador..., a good and devout person.... He exerted himself greatly in reforming the convents of nuns. He wore his habit [as a canon regular of San Salvador] of a white with a black mantle. He did not live ostentatiously, but rather in a simple manner. With his own means he had a chapel built in San Salvador, arranging for mosaics in the upper part, and it was he who had the church pulled down in order to rebuild it, as is happening now."

nedits: October marked the time when the Duke of Milan came to visit in 1530 but also was when they held the great procession and feast for the alliance struck in 1511 during the great War of Sanudo's time. Also an interesting bit of news from France in 1498 appeared and in 1502, Sanudo claims responsibility for getting the senate to purchase a printer to print books. A famous singer died in 1514, and the same month a cry to tax the prostitutes was made to help pay for the war. Much of it though seems to have happened in the middle of the month, oddly enough.


All quotes as Sanudo Diaries or Editor's notes or Editor's Footnotes from 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