The pope returns to Rome and receives the ambassador from Venice. They meet and greet and the ambassador tells the pope that Andrea Ferrara, known preacher of Lutheranism was no longer in Venice, and that...
Sanudo Diaries: February 9, 1521 (29:552)' "... neither his conclusions nor anything else against the pope had been or would be printed. The pope thanked the Signoria, saying, "This crazy man wants to follow the path of Martin Luther, who is favored by many." The ambassador responded, "These people end badly." The pope said, "That is the truth.""
The pope was Leo X, who had excommunicated Luther on 3 January the same year. The year before the pope had written a lengthy bull using forty-one examples of Luther's thesis as reasons for excommunication from the church and the kinds of things he would have to do, for him and his followers to cease and recant.
Editor's note: "But for all the professed cooperation of the Venetian authorities, it was not until 1524 that Venice took an official stand against Luther. And even after that, Lutheran beliefs and practices continued to penetrate the city and its religious communities." [pp. 414-5]
______________________________
A year before,in a remarkably candid moment, Sanudo tells how he did not want to change what he considered his present work.
Sanudo Diaries: February 9, 1520 (28:247); "By chance, speaking with ser Zuan Antonio Memo, the head of the Quarantia, I learned that yesterday I was nominated inspector, which pained me in two ways: in the bad luck that I have had this year and in the ill will of someone who was the enemy of my very good fortune. Thus, I have never let myself be nominated for this office in the past, and to everyone who asked me, I refused, because my age and my condition and my status do not deserve this. Moreover, I want to stay here and supervise those who supervise,..."
Editor's footnote: "Sanudo's words are a clue both to his ambitions and to his failure to achieve it. He wished to stay home and compel his fellow citizens to obey the laws, many of which he could cite to them from having recorded them in his diaries." [p. 22]
Sanudo Diaries: February 9, 1520 (28:247); "... not wait for three years to be nominated to any other office. Even if you gave me one hundred ducats a month and expenses, I would never wish to leave here. I have never sailed. I have held the rank of zonta ordinaria. It is against my principles to do harm to anyone just to win; my concern is to obey the laws and serve my country. Sometimes while giving a speech either in the Great Council or in the Senate when I am there, I express my opinion without reservation. Moreover, [if I went away] the history that I am writing, which I started --- years ago, and my annals and diaries would be stalled. Thus it should be plain to everyone that I did not want to be nominated, and I have said this openly to everyone . But I suffer from that unjust person, that enemy that caused me to be nominated, whose only reason was malevolence, because since I did not want the office, no one should have done me this wrong. Patience! God will give him what he deserves, and if I can find him out, sooner or later, I will never forget him."
Later that same day (28:248), "A dinner was put on this evening for the members ... at San Polo at Ca' Capello, on the Grand Canal. It was given by ser Zuan Jacomo Bembo, who had been inducted into the compagnia of the Ortolani, and at the festa there was a kind of armed scuffle between ser Nicolo Bondimier and one of the members.... After dinner ... their ladies went dancing ,,, and the party continued until the ninth hour ... and until later.... So our city rejoices and celebrates! And Monday there will be a festa at Ca' Foscari ... as well as a comedia. Then there will be another at Ca' Loredan ... with a fine comedia that will be performed in the courtyard by the members themselves. In sum, our city is triumphant. And a couple of betrothals also occurred this year. May God bless the city during this peace!"
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
______________________________
The same day, in 1493 was the day that Hernando Colon wrote that his father had accurately predicted the distance his ships were that day from the south-westernmost Canary Island, Hierro. Colon and his men were sailing back to Castile on the first recorded transatlantic return from the Indies. They hadn't made it back yet. No one knew, yet of any discovery:
"... on February 9 the pilots thought they had reached a point south of the Azores. But the Admiral said that they were 150 leagues short of this, and this proved correct, for they were still meeting many strands of seaweed which they had not found on their way to the islands until they had gone 263 leagues west of the island of Hierro."~from, The Life of the Admiral By His Son, Hernando Colon, ch 37...
But for now, Columbus hasn't returned from 'the Indies' and he is still in the mid-Atlantic and they have only been out just under three weeks. They still are sailing amidst lots of seaweed, in winter. And his two remaining boats were laden with artifacts - to show back home for proof of his discoveries - a good reason the boats could be taking on water...
quote from: The Four Voyages, Christopher Columbus, edited, translated and with an introduction by JM Cohen, 1969 and for The Penguin Group, London, p. 101
No comments:
Post a Comment