doge Gritti, pope Adrian VI, and the death of Leo X: Sanudo Diaries December 6, 1523, December 5,1521

On the one hand it doesn't seem fair to deal with Leo X always with a backward glance. But seldom were so many 'last chances' at Italian sovereignty and hope of possible internal unity and external security dashed in favor of so many short-sighted gains. To many, of course, it must have seemed things had never seemed so bad, and of course, it did get worse. Much that we would call partisan worked against each other - exhausting the participants - with sides continually changing, everyone always owing more and needing more credit to finance the ever-ongoing antagonisms, among families, cities, countries. Yet it still comes as quite a shock to hear of Venice's reception of the news that Pope Leo X had died. I don't assume Sanudo's reasons for Venetian hatred of Leo were totally justified. I just point out Sanudo as a credible witness stating that those reasons or opinions hating Leo are believable even today and were very likely widely believed then, whether totally true or not...

Sanudo Diaries: December 5, 1521 (32:207): "Early this morning the crowd went to San Marco to hear the miraculous and excellent news for our Republic, and gentlemen rejoiced with one another as if some great victory had been won, because in effect [Leo] was our great enemy, being a Florentine. He sought to diminish this state in order to exalt Florence and his own Medici family, and he did not believe that the Turks were set on on the destruction of the Kingdom of Hungary or that Christianity could suffer other kinds of damage, and he fostered continuous war among Christians, as [he did] in Lombardy against the French, and between the imperial majesty and the French king in Flanders, Burgundy an France. So the whole city was very happy, even the shopkeepers and artisans, saying that [with Leo's death] "a Turkish captain general had died, and one who was ruining Christianity." And everyone rejoiced; nor could any better news have come. And people were saying that this is done by God and is a miracle in our eyes, because we heard about the sickness [malaria] and the death at the same time, therefore may the Lord God be blessed for it all."

The editors note here, p 181, that there were more satires of Leo called pasquinades posted at the statue of Pasquino in Rome, in Sanudo's volume 32:289, 302. 

It had been six months since doge Loredan had died. Venice had chosen the new doge Grimani because he was related to their cardinal in Rome, Domenico Grimani who was seen as a possible papal candidate. The college however selected Adrian Boeyens, a dutch cardinal who had gained prominence by teaching for many years at the University of Leuven in Holland. For ten years - 1507-1517 - he also served as tutor to Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian I's son, Charles who in turn would become the next emperor casting the longest shadow of any of them. Boeyens was called Adrian VI and was the last non-Italian pope for over 450 years. Massive debt had accumulated under Leo, the crusade against the Turk failed to gain any steam, Italian hatred and distrust seemed at an all-time high and Lutheranism seemed to be spreading. The college of Cardinals in Rome was split between French and Spanish partisans and so Boeyens, 'the outsider' was selected unanimously  But he died less than two years after election accomplishing very little of the tasks Leo had left undone at his death. In his place, in early summer 1523, another de'Medici was selected. The son of Giuliano de' Medici (the one brother to Lorenzo) who was assasinated in the Pazzi conspiracy of 1478 a mere month before young Giulio was born.  A cousin to Leo X, Giulio had spent the last seven years as cardinal protector to England who was then ruled by a young Henry VIII who had been trying to renew treaties with Francis I of France and ended with a non-aggression pact with Emperor Charles V. But that will come later. 

Adrian VI had many pasquinades written about him too.

Just as quickly, back in Venice, the brightness of the Grimani star faded as did that of the dutch pope in Rome. Doge Antonio Grimani died in early 1523 with little done as well. It was his replacement, Andrea Gritti who seemed to speak of the future once again with his energy and experience. But it is his likeness, his image that he is remembered for today.

Sanudo Diaries: December 6, 1523 (35:254-55); "Today, Sunday, was the feast of St Nicholas. The doge, together with the Signoria, the savi, the state attorneys, and the heads of the Ten, went to Mass in the new church of San Nicolo. The doge was dressed in a crimson damask robe with modified ducal sleeves and lined with fox fur.... The doge is responsible for the work, almost completed, at San Nicolo, and there is a very fine portrait of him there painted by Titian that even includes his little amber-colored dog behind him. Also figured in the painting are St Nicholas and the four Evangelists writing the Gospels. [Editors note (p. 457) that all we have left of this is Titian's Madonna with Child and angels. The Titian portrait of doge Gritti is later.] Now that the gilding of the altar has been completed, religious offices were said there yesterday and today. So the old church of San Nicolo will be demolished; it is very beautiful, decorated with paintings, frescoes, and mosaics. At the door there is a marble plaque inscribed with the text of a papal bull issued when ser Lorenzo Celsi was doge [1361-65].... When Mass was over, everyone went home."


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