Brief notes on Cosimo and Lorenzo de Medici

For nearly a hundred years the name Medici held prominence if not dominance in the city of Florence. Despite exile, coups, a theocratic insurrection and repeated widespread incompetence in the family itself, the name built and maintained a strong presence in Florence, Italy and Europe. But the name was not just the family and its members, it was also a bank and by extension a valued currency and a form of credit.

Modern British popular historian Christopher Hibbert tells us that the contemporary French-Burgund historian Phillipe de Commines described the Medici he knew,

"... as not merely the most profitable organization in Europe but as the greatest commercial house that there had ever been anywhere. 'The Medici name gave their servants and agents so much credit ... that what I have seen in Flanders and England almost passes belief.'" [p.89]*

They were financiers for the papacy off and on, for monarchs all over, for several wars and, again and again, were asked to subsidize several acts of the Florentine Signoria. It was probably Cosimo de Medici in the 1420's who firmly established the dominance of the family's business and political influence in Florence. He was exiled from the city in 1433, but this caused such a flight of capital from Florence that the ban was lifted the following year and Cosimo made a triumphant return to even greater prominence. The banks by then were into everything. Their houses imported and exported jewelery, wool, silk, furs, finished goods like brocades and tapestries, as well as sugar, pepper, almonds, olive oil, lemons. One of the biggest trades was in alum, a mineral salt used in glassmaking, as well as tanning hides and making fast dyes, essential to current modes of cloth manufacture. [p. 88]*

Cosimo seemed a genius at finding and hiring gifted traders and managers, establishing trade houses in cities and capitals all across Europe. Beyond Florence and Rome, there were stations in Venice, Pisa, Bologna, Antwerp, Lübeck, Bruges, Lyons, Avignon, Geneva, Naples, Cologne and London. By 1470 the average had nine or ten employees, busy all day. Some had many more. And then there was the retinues, the messengers, the advisers that grew in numbers, the guards.

This grew and grew for decades. When Cosimo died in 1464, the Signoria named him father of the city. The greatest of all that would carry the name, perhaps, was Lorenzo, grandson of the great Cosimo. After his father Piero called 'the gouty', died in 1469, Lorenzo assumed control at the age of 20. In 1471 he is said to have calculated how much the family had given away since 1434 to charity, taxes and to build bridges, buildings and pave roads. A sum he thought amounted to 663,000 Florins, recalculated to some $460 million in 1971 dollars. He himself was not as good as his grandfather at managing these monetary surpluses.

Lorenzo was a great patron of the arts like his father and grandfather. He was a great intellect and interested in everything according to contemporaries. Also a great manager of people and institutions, as well as public and foreign affairs. He had maintained such a fine balance of alliances in Italy that when he died in 1492, Italy would lose that peace that had become an expected agent again for trade after centuries of disruptions.
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* Christopher Hibbert, The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall, originally pub 1974, this edition Perennial/Harper Collins, New York 2003

Capturing Moctezuma: Another Myth Gone Down? late 1519

The capitulation of Moctezuma was probably not quite as simple as Cortes and even the later recollections of the local Mexica would remember and relate. The versions of Cortes and Diaz differ on central points. Other recollections and manuscripts reveal inconsistencies among the different versions and compared with other portions of the overall tale, a strange lack of information about the details of this capture and complete capitulation is apparent.

Camilla Townshend helpfully provides a guide first, to underscore the inconsistencies among the versions and second, to posit motives for Cortes, Moctezuma and the other parties directly engaged. A generation later the locals tried to understand why Moctezuma had given up so completely. Perhaps he had been temporizing with his enemies - he always did - waiting for a time to strike. He welcomed guests and treated them to what could be offered and when they would leave satisfied, then he would strike. But the time never came. So the later Mexica would tell themselves.
Townshend goes farther and makes a clear case for a combination of motives for the great ruler, based on a basic analysis of the local political situation. For example, Moctezuma knew,

"... the Spaniards generally won their battles.... The heartland of the empire accepted the arrogance of their Mexica neighbors in exchange for peace and the privilege of living close to power. If the Mexica could not deliver a quick victory on the outskirts of their own capital, they were politically doomed. If the emperor's army could not win quickly and easily here - and he knew for certain from his spies and generals that it could not - then they could not fight." [p. 90]

Townshend quotes both Cortes' secretary Gomara and, Diaz affirmatively in this. On the one hand, Gomara said both that it would be dishonorable for Moctezuma to fight and lose near the capital and also, that Moctezuma did not want more trouble for himself. This of course, would imply that those other locals would immediately rise against him - the Otomi, the Tlaxcala - even if he did win against the Spaniards. She quotes Diaz to affirm that Moctezuma knew they would attack in the surrounding towns as well. Perhaps, as she states, the locals or Moctezuma already had a longer view in mind: the Spaniards had come already and would likely come again.[pp. 90-91]

Next, our guide shows a series of disputes over the the first version of the quick capture of Moctezuma. She says it probably didn't happen, despite both the record of Cortes and the later Nahua remembrances of the Codex Florentinus. She even supplies motives for the early acceptance of Cortes' claim that Moctezuma had been captured at all. It would do no good for people like Gomara and Diaz to dispute such a tale. The problem with the story of the quick capture is that there are also a number of sources which say that Moctezuma continued being rather busy being emperor even after the Spaniards had arrived and been brought in and housed and fed and given tours and ready access to the great ruler and his ministers. Meanwhile,

"... Moctezuma continued to live in various palaces, to go on hunting expeditions, to meet regularly with his advisers, and to give all orders regarding the operation of the kingdom. And except when Malintzin was present, his supposed captors never knew what he and his companions were talking about." [p. 93]

Townshend acknowledges in a footnote here,  that 'Francis Brooks wrote a pathbreaking article' on this notion - that Moctezuma was largely unfettered at this time - in "Motecuzoma Xocoyotl, Hernan Cortes, and Bernal Diaz del Castillo: The Construction of an Arrest," Hispanic American Historical Review 75 (1995).

She also cites further sources for discrepancy in the Chronicle of Andrés de Tapia (a participant), the priest named Motolinia who came later and who left the capture out of his story, as well, and the later court cases that came up  in subsequent decades.
Andres de Tapia's story she singles out as revealing several details of Moctezuma's relative freedom. There is the wealth in Moctezuma's dinner cupboard when the Spaniards were there, that Moctezuma had sent local messengers to find out about still more newcomers who came ashore in the new year, as well as the close-quarters and general busyness of the Spaniards themselves while they were there in the city. [pp. 94-95]

The motive of Cortes was much more straightforward. The goal of Spanish conquerors of the previous generations (a tactic used against Moslem princes up until the retaking of Granada in 1492), was to first capture the leader, make him beholden to the Spanish - by persuasion, coercion or force -while still being held responsible for his holdings. This is what Cortes wanted. The fact it did not turn out that way with Moctezuma as chosen captive-leader would cause many problems for Cortes. But it was also what Cortes wanted, in a different way.
A year later when Motecuzoma was dead, Cortes wrote to his king Charles V, telling him that this great local king had given up and ceded all his lands to Charles in Spain. This was a legal move, because once a king can be said to rule, then he can come in and take possession of the land and use its resources to battle insurgents or put down disturbances. But first, they had to say it was now a possession of the king, in Spain. This, what appears today as a kind of sleight of hand, was precisely how the legal understanding worked in Spain in the sixteenth century. Again, not at all how the locals in mesoamerican saw themselves and their relations with others. They continued to sacrifice to their gods.
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quotes and pagination from Malintzin's Choices: an Indian Woman In The Conquest of Mexico, Camilla Townshend, University of New Mexico Press, as part of the series Dialogos, 2006

Defense Document Offered In Inquisition Case: December 30, 1511

In Lu Ann Homza's excellent book, The Spanish Inquisition 1478-1614, Inquisitors in the Holy Office of Inquisition called one Maria Gonzalez to confess. But this was no ordinary confession, but a confession for knowledge of other people. This followed a request (below) by the defense lawyer in her case to ask for such testimony on this day in 1511. He does this in such a way that shows this lawyer's deference or allegiance to the current tribunal court of the inquisition and not to his client. It is the process that stems from this act of due vigilance, in fact, "...not out of rigor, but equity...", as the defense lawyer puts it, that will lead to changing the sentence of Maria Gonzalez from 'perpetual prison' to, death by hanging, as she was since then found guilty of lying, a capital crime for a heretic.

"Very Reverend Lords,

I, Alonso de Vaena, appear before your Reverend Fathers as the defense lawyer for María González, wife of Pedro de Villareal, merchant, resident of Ciudad Real. I say that my party has confessed all the offenses she remembers having committed against our Holy Catholic Faith, and asks for penance for them. The chief prosecutor insists that my party, María González, is being silent and hiding other people who committed the crimes with her. This assertion is not believable. But because the naming of others is usually included in these matters and is natural, and is even more natural in women, I ask your Reverend Fathers to order her to name such people as the law allows, secretly or publicly, not out of rigor, but equity. On account of which I beg for testimony, [and ask] that justice be done and consciences charged."

With lawyers like these, it's no wonder people left, if they could.
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page 50, The Spanish Inquisition 1478-1614: An Anthology of Sources, edited and translated by Lu Ann Homza, Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. 2006

Count of Forli Is Dead! Long Live Caterina Sforza! A Brief Digest: 1484-88

The last five years of the life of Girolamo Riario both proved nearly impossible, but also made Caterina his wife prove just what she was capable of and surprised all Italy. These are just a few notes from Elizabeth Lev's startling and penetrating biography of her in those tumultuous times.
Of course there has to be the reminders of the weak character of Girolamo Riario (p. 84) and an intro of Thomasso Feo. (p 85)

The story of the civil war in Rome as Sixtus IV lay dying, became a kind of awful harvest - and sowing of still more awful harvests to come - after the conflicts with Naples and Ferrara in 1482. After that, when we see Girolamo Riario again, he is in the center of the opposing Colonna and Orsini clans. Members of the Orsini family had long been allies and brought many services to Girolamo. They were to become his hated enemies however, by the time that Riario left Rome and stopped being captain general to pope Sixtus IV. Several miserable attempts at reconciling the two clans (pp 86-90) in Rome were made, both houses that still held the most power in that city, but also those that hated each other the most. A feud that went back to before the popes moved to Avignon, two centuries before was coming to a head again.

When Sixtus died, Riario had to leave the city as the 'unfavored' clans - the Colonna and their allies - poured into the city, looting and ransacking. [pp 84-90]

Caterina saw all this and took Castell San Angello as the one place in the city that could be most easily held by arms and also, as the central strategic point in the city between the Vatican buildings and the secular government buildings. Here was where she could keep the Castell's cannon pointed in either direction, and guard the all-important Ponte Vecchio. [p 91] This story and its resolution spread all over Europe. Lev's depiction is clear and direct: lines on motives, scenes, outcomes and interim periods of waiting, all show realistic colors, people, circumstances.

After, having retreated to Forli from Rome, Girolamo retired almost entirely from public appearaces. The story of Thomasso Feo picks up again as Caterina installs him as the captain of the Ravaldino. Whoever controlled this fortress controlled Forli and the lands around it. Communication had become too difficult to maintain, as trusted riders and messengers were frequently lost to the dangers ignited between so many different factions. All of these forces infiltrated throughout urban centers and across the Italian countryside. [pp 110-14]

Girolamo Riario was finally killed in 1488, in his own home. Girolamo ended up getting the Orsini sent out of the city after several betrayals. [pp 120-22] In the resulting coup against the Count, he was thrown out the window of his favorite parlour, down into the town's courtyard. Caterina, her children, her mother and sister were all captured and held as hostages: until Caterina found a solution. The harrowing account of this is masterfully told, by Lev. The result would nearly destroy the house of Orsini. [pp 125-40]

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all notes, pagination from Elizabeth Lev, The Tigress of Forli: Renaissance Italy's most courageous and notorious countess, Caterina Riario Sforza de'Medici : 2011, USA, Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt Publishing Company

more news late 2013

the US Congressional budget agreement mentioned last week, was signed by the President today. It left out unemployment insurance for 1.3 million people. Everybody talks about how terrible Congress is this week. There is much remaining left, still yet to be agreed on and paid for. But the hostage tactics remain employed by the far right who refuse to go along with any more spending without cuts in still other areas. But the military departments did get a 'sweeping'  exemption from such cuts that will still be effecting millions of jobs in other sectors throughout the country. Seems they err on the side of stupid, in too many ways, as a policy. Military strikes in Yemen and bombings in Baghdad this week will force more forces there, more heightened tensions. More stories from Syria and now South Sudan, as well as the Central African Republic. Overnight, still more reports of major bombings, in Beirut, and in Kabul, for instance.

In Iowa, the state government decided to expand it's own medicare system and accept federal funding to implement the Affordable Health Care Act, but 'on it's own terms'. Will other states follow?  five min audio from NPR.

A look at famed Chungking Mansions in Honk Kong by some inhabitants.

and here's Edward Snowden's remarks on the bbc channel 4

nice, even a whirlwind look at how 1913 art world broke with traditions, leading up to a kind of dramatization of the Rite of Spring premier in May. The hour audio here spends fast.

But I have to face it, I pulled together these links just as an excuse to put up a link for a radio show. On Radio6 of the bbc this week is a two-hour broadcast of the remaining members of the british punk band The Clash, playing favorite songs which was first presented on Boxing Day there, the day after Christmas. Click on the lower listen link on top of the leftside of the picture... incudes news updates of heavy rains in Britain tonight and tomorrow and this recording will only be there a week.

some news on Christmas Eve, 2013

• UN investigators find evidence of mass killing, as conflict in South Sudan escalates. After a week of fighting and, perhaps a coup attempt, there are many sides vying for power in a population that is heavily armed and militarized.
• The AP reports that the new US Health Care Law is not the first with start-up troubles. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, even President Bush's Medicare Part D, suffered harsh criticism and early lack of popular support.
• US Domestic needs for the poor increase this season with food stamp cuts and unemployment checks dropped from the spending bill last week. This send millions more into complete economic uncertainty.
• NPR had a probing story. Looking at the effects of the failure of the credit markets five years ago on Recreational Vehicle sales and manufacturing. Reporters look into the lives of men, formerly in that industry, today. Many jobs in the Pacific northwest, just in this industry, were lost that aren't coming back.
• This is the report and interview this week with Edward Snowden by Barton Gellman for the Washington Post. People will be talking about and referring to this article for awhile. 

some good news 14dec2013

Today is the first day of the twelve days of Christmas.

It is also the first anniversary of the mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut where twenty children and six teachers were killed.

Sunday is the funeral of Nelson Mandela who died December 6. This last week has been full of the celebrations of this great man's life, honoring his achievements and those of his countrymen for moving past the policies and some of the cultural prejudices of white rule and that apartheid which controlled generations of people, on all sides in those lands. Lots of courageous people who now step boldly into the future without the guiding hand of their most famous son and father.

Some things actually got a bit better since the last month and last year, and even the year before that, or more.

Last week the US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV) went ahead after years of threatening to forego the current 'gentleman's agreement' of 'limiting the filibuster' in the Senate, thereby needing a supermajority in Congress for confirmations of presidential appointees. This was something the minority Republican party has thus used in holding up nominations and appointments for several years, preventing over eighty Obama administration appointees from going to work. So this week, Harry Reid led several votes in the Senate for federal district judges, bureau department heads and other leaders of basic functions of what used to be understood as being good government. The Republicans responded angrily and with threats of how they will treat the Dems when they are in the majority. If that ever happens.

This week it was announced that both legislative houses in the US have found a compromise plan [!?*&!] for a future budget framework. This is big news since Congress haven't passed a basic, legitimate budgetary framework for years.

Today it snowed in Egypt.

China made a soft land on the moon. Rover called Jade Rabbit gets ready to take off.

Protests in Kiev over presidential rebuff of stronger economic ties with EU, grow and last for three weeks. The people are angry and fed up with this president and would like greater economic freedom with European countries. Described as a battle over the soul of the Ukranian people, the state itself and the government of Russia are merely players in deciding whether Ukraine is European or is it Russian. For centuries the great plains of the Ukraine have been taken and retaken by Russians, Germans, Poles and Austrio-Hungarians. It has been Russia's central link to the Black Sea, it has been ruled by Orthodox, Catholics, Protestants and Atheists. It has always been rich farmland, the best place to hunt and clearly the preferred getaway for east europeans, when they could. US Senator John McCain went there today to tell them he loves them and find out what he can.

More 'serious people' are bearing witness that the NSA surveillance revelations are 'worth talking about', on a national scale. Ryan Lizza in the New Yorker makes a case.

some bad news early dec2013

Some things aren't getting any better.

It snowed in Jerusalem, too, but floods in Gaza cause 40,000 to evacuate. Coping with winter in Lebanon for Syrian refugees remains very difficult in this season that should be all about helping the poor and needy.

Another drone in Yemen kills a bunch of people. This is the third drone attack there this week.

In surprising increases of horrific tales coming from the Central African Republic, hospitals are now saying they are being overwhelmed with injuries in ominous tales of violence that have been growing for weeks.

There has also been explosions in the north of Kenya, and in the capital, Nairobi with many killed and wounded.

A week ago there was an attack on an airport in northern Nigeria where dozens of military members were killed by militant insurgents.

A story of Syrian refugees happier in a Turkish jail.

Kim Jong Un has his uncle, once his closest advisor, executed for being a traitor.

All last week, npr taked about how military veterans with 'other than honorable discharges' are not treated. Six stories here in this holiday season that is supposed to be about helping the poor and needy.

Marked: Saved on 25nov13

• Historic deal struck between Iran and six nations aimed at curbing uranium enrichment in that country in order to relieve sanctions. PM of Israel Netanyahu calls it a #baddeal and 'a historic mistake'. Just a couple weeks ago US Secretary of State Kerry had said 'we've talked more in the last thirty hours than we have in the last thirty years.'
• Some weeks later the Syrian Chemical weapons will be disposed of at sea
• massive cleanup of the Super Typhoon Haiyan in The Phillipine Islands continues
• there is a great podcast of emptywheel and digby talking about surveillance revelations

early dec2013 ellipsis

To explain the brief pause here of the last three weeks, an old phrase can describe it simply. The ink well had a leak; the stylus was eaten by worms. The tool this time was the computer that gained a virus that attacked the operating system. Within a couple days it had taken over and so I abandoned this interface entirely until it might be fixed. Now it's fixed and virus free.

Lots of notes were gathered especially over the last week continuing the Caterina Sforza story, while many things happened in the current world as well. They deserve their own posts.