Notes From:Burckhardt: Relative Lack of Class Consciousness Among Italians

Toward the middle of the compiled notes on this period, Burckhardt gives a quick sketch on what he thought separated Italian culture from the rest of Europe before 1500. It is because he says it so simply and directly that I include it here. Words italicized are as printed in 1958 edition used here.*

"Outside of Italy, the nobility and the middle class were separated socially and remained so for a long time. the two had different cultures, almost; and each class was incapable by itself of supplying the basis for a complete culture. Especially in Germany the nobility became brutalized and ran wild...". [p.91]

He says that where there was not a king, like Francis in France acting as a center for culture to flourish around, then there was little culture to speak of. In literature, art, architecture, and in education, the old traditional scholastic and Gothic forms, "...seem to us mannered and tedious... a wooden mockery, by turns more didactic and more cynical." Outside Italy, he stresses, there was more superstition, more astrology and alchemy, rather than science. There were more quality mystics, he admits, but less harmonious a culture, overall. One with "... great incomplete and latent forces." [pp. 92-3]

On the other hand, Burckhardt says, Italy had an inner harmony. Italy was a "country of a common culture", where, "... the form of intercourse was a higher sociability independent of class differences, and its content was intellect."

"Toward the end of the fifteenth century, that which to other Europeans was still a conjecture and fantasy was already knowledge and a free object of thought to the Italians. Imagination was beautifully channeled into poetry and art.

The scope of the intellect, still a very close and narrow sphere among the other Europeans, , is here enormously widened through an interest in an ideally conceived Greco-Roman antiquity, ... and in nature and human life;  indeed, nature is expanded through a universal urge for knowledge, appreciation, and discovery that is no longer inhibited by the old scholastic system which still blanketed the rest of Europe." [p. 93]

He says, Italy thought about the soul differently too: self-aware, self-revealing. Yet seems less concerned about the man-made ravages of 'despotism' and credits the popes and Ludovico il Moro as graet patrons of the arts. The simple notion that 'everything can be done here and one must possess the best', is the 'conviction' that made Florence stand out among the best.


_________________________________________
* Jacob Burckhardt: Judgments on History and Historians: translated by Harry Zohn, Beacon Press, Boston, 1958

news bits mid-late July 2014

There are a number of alternate news bits and a couple series that deserve special mention this season.

Of course there are the conspiracy theories surrounding the downing of the Malaysian plane #MH17 in Ukraine.

NPR tours a Shell oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

Cemetary at Ostia, Italy found to be 2700 years old. From The Japan Times


A white flag appeared above the Brooklyn Bridge Tuesday. No one is sure what that was about but the NYPD showed up in force the next day for deterrence, saying they had a few leads.

Mysterious white flags appear atop Brooklyn Bridge - http://t.co/dM293urYG3 pic.twitter.com/eeJpn7fxW6
— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 22, 2014

The Tour de France. Here's a quick view of the Pyrenees Wednesday along the route of the Tour de France.

Wow, paysages extraordinaires dans les Pyrénées... / Incredible scenery into the Pyrenees... http://t.co/UmHg7s0zYn #TDF
— Le Tour de France (@letour) July 23, 2014

The view from Ca' Foscari on the Rialto in Venice, Italy.

Seminario internaz a Ca'Foscari sul finanziamento delle reti e energie rinnovabili:distratti dalla bellezza del luogo pic.twitter.com/4Tj7I3AVuV
— Franco Bassanini (@FrancoBassanini) May 9, 2014

The water was shut off in Detroit, Michigan for thousands of people. This article in the Atlantic explains the story. People marched and afterward, the city agreed to turn it on for some. These nurses helped make a difference July 18.

Nurses at Detroit rally calling to end the health emergency and turn on the water #DetroitWater #NN14 pic.twitter.com/MOc5KXptQX
— NationalNursesUnited (@NationalNurses) July 18, 2014

Visions of Mars July 2014.

I took a photo on Mars and emailed it to your planet, but NBD, you just keep watching cat videos. pic.twitter.com/YMcF3pQ5O7
— SarcasticRover (@SarcasticRover) July 6, 2014

Who's In Charge? German Social and Spiritual Norms in Late 1400's

A traditional way of looking at the late medieval Christian world is to point out the plentiful dualities found along every walk of life. God and Man, Man and Society, Man and Woman, come up in any day. Pairings such as Rural and Urban, Continuity and Reform, reflect the dynamism in populations and local concerns. The broad comparisons of Earth and Heaven, Sin and Salvation, and Secular and Spiritual matters and practices plunge us into the medieval world. The days would bring examples of Relic and Forgery, confronting the Past and Present. Thomas A Brady makes a case for a much broader view, in actuality (albeit more complex), pointing out the variety of multi-polar aspects and views, across German lands.

The old understanding of two swords, that is, both systems for justice, that of the temporal (or secular) and those spiritual realms that ruled the Christian world, was an idea repeated when the Church wanted to keep or extend its authority. Or when kings or princes or other powers wanted to exert their own. As can be expected, the history of this is long and the greater, more recent points of this longstanding argument - like the Council of Basel 1433-49 - which  Brady later discusses at length, highlight the forms this long-reaching, ongoing tug-of-war took on.

As example, Brady gives an exchange in 1480 between a local Margrave and the bishops of Würzburg and Bamberg. This Margrave (like Marquis) Albert Achilles, saw the call by the pope for a war against the Ottoman's as a rise in his taxes, since, he would have to send something to Rome as a good and faithful servant of the Church. Crucially he thought he should get some of that money from the bishops in charge within his Franconian domain.

"The prince-bishops of Bamberg and Würzburg objected that this would violate clerical immunity from temporal jurisdiction.... Lay rulers longed to liberate the lands and incomes from the Church's "dead hand."" [p. 59]

Brady concludes this was a sign of the times. The clerics wanted things to remain as they were, free from demands put on them by the local Margrave, even when these were for a policy they couldn't disagree with. But also, it made sense to Albert Achilles that these leaders should be able to contribute, especially since they were, in effect, the other sword.

Many an abbey or monastery, as well as lands held (even personally) by this bishop or that, essentially had their own contracts or agreements with certain parishes, the diocese or local nobility, as benefices etc. and that were fixed in the past, and whose current protectors wanted to continue to exclude or limit external control. Then there were those lords who wanted to consolidate their control over all the various parts of their promised dominion(s). Especially lands that the various churches let lay fallow and unproductive. These were just the sorts of 'points of neglect' that a forward thinking prince might want to take under his wing.

These kinds of conflicts happened, as the fifteenth century saw a broad swelling in the criticisms and castigation of many of the various clerical Orders, as well. The stories of corrupt parsons or friars, gluttonous Dominicans and hypocritical Benedictines filled more than just Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. But also, as Brady says, the religious community in German lands had been populated by old noble families, for generations, and which filled,

"... by the fifteenth century many such institutions, [these which] lay fast in the grip of the regional nobilities,[and] which defended their possession by requiring genealogical proofs for admission." [p. 57]

If the ranks of the clergy were full of nobles who jealously guarded the entrance to those institutions and could continue to control who would eventually make decisions, then there could be no redress. Except when that could be to the local prince, margrave or local lord. But, in this case, the local lord had turned it all around and Margrave Achilles made the bishops pay and was so incensed, he told them he would make them an example for all the other princes who would thereby learn how to deal with church officials. He was also, as Margrave, a servant to Emperor Frederich III, who conveniently then had his own pressing concerns elsewhere.

This all goes to show it wasn't just the relations between a bishop and the pope, that mattered, or the bishop and the local prince. Even when a prince and a bishop could agree, there were of course, the people to account for, as well as, who may be best able to pay.

The people had expectations for both secular and spiritual authorities. They expected the church and the bishop or their local Marian cult or pastor, to act as mediator between them and God, not between them and Rome. They expected the state, such as it might be to lead in efforts to protect them from other states. But more often, in German lands, the most direct power lay in local smaller institutions. Meanwhile the bishops and clerics were often absorbed in courting wealthy, worldly powers, and Rome, which in truth, gave poorer responses from the far-off, and relatively weak, though larger, institutions. This was nobody's fault. The institutions had all grown into these relations over long stretches of time. [p. 59] But this was the physical world. The masses of people were taught all year long to understand they were incomplete without the salvation promised to them from God. But the Roman sacraments, the eucharist and festivals had to be supplemented by the many local festivals, holidays, faces, relics and practices. All of which, grounded in the natural seasonal cycle, in time, still wanted something more. In a word, sublimation.

People wanted salvation, people wanted justice. Since on those occassions that church or bishop, prince or emperor could not bring it, for whatever reason, more and more sought ways to capture it themselves. This tension and a desire to find a way out of it produced many novel approaches.

Brady gives us three or four examples to point out these trajectories. Erasmus, a contemporary of Luther focused on good works of the faithful individual rather than, penance or 'trips to Rome'. [pp. 61-2] This too, could and did directly counter the common stereotype of the day's lazy clergy, the gluttonous bishop or the stuffed collars, the pretenders who begged alms for false pieties.
The Devotio Moderno,  also Dutch in origin, similarly had a very devout, disciplined rigor in all matters of the faith, and was widely read, but was not canonical. Brady says there were over fifty editions of this printed between 1472 and 1500. [p.65]
There was the case of the miracle of the Wilsnack blood earlier in the fourteenth century. Cakes of the eucharist were said to grow red with the blood of Christ. The question Where did it come from or How did that get there was never fully explained. In a way, Brady suggests, it was there because people were missing something and wanted it to be there. This miracle generated a fabulous pilgrimage, was also denounced by prominent critics as it opened radical theological discussions, but was left to remain in place until 1552.
The last example Brady gives of the novel responses to the tensions of the age was that of the prophecies of the drummer of Niklashausen. He of course, was burnt at the stake on July 19, 1476 on order of the Bishop of Würzburg.
______________________________________________
quotes and pagination from: Thomas A Brady Jr: German Histories in The Age of Reformations, 1400-1650;  University of California, Berkeley for the Cambridge Univeristy Press, 2009

Columbus Leaving Shoals of Cuba: On Second Voyage, June-August 1494

Accepting the tale of the son of Columbus, it was on June 13, 1494, that Christopher Columbus decided to return to Hispaniola. The Admiral had been exploring the southern and westernmost coast of Cuba for several weeks already. Continually running into shoals, sandbars, bad luck, illness, his dispirited, even fearful, companions saw that it was clear they had to do something else. Taking aboard provisions at Isla de Evangelista, they then set off in a wrong direction.

This misdirected trip got them stuck again, on 30th of June, damaging the ship. When they could break free they found themselves in water only twelve feet deep.

"On top of these difficulties, they met every day at sunset with violent squalls of rain, which blew down from the hills on the further side of the lagoons which border the sea. They were greatly afflicted and troubled by these until they reached the eastern coast of Cuba along which they had sailed on their outward voyage. From here, as when they had passed before, there blew a scent as of the sweetest flowers."

By the 7th of July they landed there, came ashore and heard mass. A well-travelled local cacique sat with them and listened 'attentively'. After, the son of Columbus tells us clearly, that this man said he agreed, that it was a good thing,

"... a very good thing to give thanks to God, since if the soul was good it went straight to heaven and the body remained on earth and that the souls of wicked men must surely go to hell." [p. 180]

This straightforward expression of some of the most complex of Christian ideas, the soul, heaven, hell, gratitude to God are all put in the mouth of a local chief.  How could this be? How could it be more than mere parrotting of the sermon? How could a local articulate to Christians, in a language they would understand (?) these core understandings of Christian faith, unless it were some sort of miracle? It certainly stretches credulity, if not possibility. But there it is in this tale from the pair of  father and son Columbus. They would stay here and repair and replenish for over a week.

Leaving this place by 16 July, weather battered them again, forcing a heading to Cabo de la Cruz. A giant wave almost submerged them, they began taking on water 'from the bottom planks' faster than they could pump it out. Everyone was exhausted, from the rough seas, the miserable rations, the 'pound of rotten biscuit' and 'pint of wine' a day. Even Columbus wrote he ate the same as the rest of the men.

"Pray God that it be in His service and in that of your Highness. Otherwise I would never subject myself to these hardships and dangers. Every day we seem about to be engulfed by death." [p. 181]

 It was on the 18th of July they reached Cabo de la Cruz, welcomed by the locals with 'plenty of their cassava bread... much fish and... fruit...'. But there was not a favorable wind to Hispaniola. So they set out for Jamaica, which theyquickly reached by July 22. Here the locals gave them food as well, which the sailors said they preferred to that of the other islands. So it was here that they spent the next month exploring that island's lush coast,  friendly, food-bearing locals, and fair weather. By August 19, they set a course again for Hispaniola.
_____________________________________
quotes, pagination from: The Four Voyages, Christopher Columbus, edited, translated and with an introduction by JM Cohen, The Penguin Group, London, 1969 

Index of Subjects: Francesco Guicciardini: History of Italy i: Prelude to French Invasion, to end 1493

This aims only to act as a list of topics with pagination for the first section of book i from the edition printed by 1763 in English and found at the John Adams Library at the Boston Public Library. So it therefore reads as a nearly discursive table of contents for this section leading up to the end of 1493. A rambling and wandering table.

(5)     Ludovico Sforza described as usurper to Dukedom of Milan.      

(6)     above described as potential problem for king Ferdinand of Naples, along with Venice, and

(7)     nobles in Naples, w/Angevin French interest. Sforza felt secure from attack by Venice and

(8)     sought at first to maintain alliances w/Florence, Naples as set prior to this in 1480 - for 25 years.

(9)     This alliance was to protect against Venice, described as threatening Milan, Ferrara.

(10)   This alliance built tensions between the allies, each wanting to outdo the others. Then Lorenzo died.

(11)   Lorenzo had helped quell tensions between Ludovico and Ferdinand. Then pope Innocent died.

(12)   Rodrigo Borgia elected as pope Alexander VI w/ promises of gifts for cardinal Ascanio Sforza

(13)   as vice-Chancellor in Rome. Description of that office under Borgia, then Ascanio's downfall,

(14)   Description of traits of Rodrigo Borgia.

(15)   Description of traits of Piero, heir to Lorenzo de'Medici but married to Ordelaffi interests.

(16)   But Ordelaffi interests included king Ferdinand & Alfonso of Naples, which Ludovico of Milan feared.

(17)   Ludovico proposes all princes enter Rome the same day to honor new pope. All agree, but 

(18)   Piero begged off to Ferdinand citing the oratory would be eclipsed by so many others that day.

(19)   Ferdinando agreed and pleased 'in Effect if not in Manner'; but Ludovico was furious at secrecy.

(20)   The castles at Cervetri near Rome, Ferdinand had wanted in hands of Orsini, an ally since 

(21)   Calixtus III, the previous Borgia pope who had tried to take them from his (F's) father. Aragon-Borgia

(22)   relations turn sour, with pope Alexander claiming the castles as Rome's, denouncing Ferdinand et al.

(23)   Ludovico of Milan jealous of Ferdinand's power, beseeches the new pope to keep his dignity, that

(24)   these provocations could seem small but later would seem bigger & bigger, to remember history.

(25)   Ludovico offered pope money & soldiers; he petitioned Ferdinand, the Orsini and Piero de'Medici,

(26)   to remember their shared history. But Ferdinand of Naples convinced Orsini to take the castles.

(27)   Ludovico then sought some other form of security. Alfonso pressed on with diatribes against Milan.

(28)   Isabella, daughter of Alfonso and her letter. Ludovico's subjects, upset with usurper, high taxes, would not be swayed by further arguments of Ludovico that 

(29)   Naples was legacy of a former Milanese duke Visconti. So Ludovico sought his fortune. The Borgia pope did love his children and wanted to advance them and

(30)   offered a son to a daughter of Alfonso. Ferdinand accepted but Alfonso disputed dowries. So pope Alexander turned his efforts toward Ludovico and Venice.

(31)   Venice was delighted by all these disputes as they had trouble with previous popes.

(32)   Agreement between Milan, Venice and Rome April 1493, for mutual support and oust Orsini from castles, alarms everyone else.

(33)   An aliance between Alfonso of Naples, Piero of Florence, the Orsini and Giuliano della Rovere, bishop of Ostia, for mutual aid.

(34)   Ferdinand saw the dangers in this and tried to mollify the pope. Then Ludovico saw the dangers if his new allies backed out, and he began then to think of French aid.

"...Resolutions taken out of Fear seldom appear sufficient to the Fearful..."

(35)   History of Naples since it was siezed by Manfred from Frederick II, then taken and given (in 1262) to Charles of Anjou by St Louis IX.

(36)   History of House of Anjou in Naples.

(37)   Charles Durazzo, and Joanna II who adopts Alfonso of Aragon to protect her dominion. 

(38)   This Alfonso was thrown out and she gave her legacy to Rene of Anjou. She died in 1435.

(39)   Rene and Alfonso would fight many battles for control of Naples. Rene gave it to the kings of France.

(40)   The state of the kingdom of France in 1400's. Advances of Charles in Guienne and Normandy, by Louis XI in Picardy, Burgundy and Provence and Charles VIII in Brittany by marriage.

(41)   Charles VIII of France wanted Naples, if not by inheritance then as platform to beat back the Turks.

(42)   Ludovico plays on ploys of persuasion to France and for pope to help send a delegation to France.

(43-51)   Charles Barbiano, count of Belgioioso appeals to the nobles and prelates of France with the designs of Ludovico of Milan.

(52-4) French officers of Prudence counsel against such an attack.

(55)   Charles VIII 'founded on Levity and Impulse rather than Maturity of Counsel', listened instead to his own attendants 'of mean Condition', some of whom were 'venal' and accepted payment from Ludovico.

(56)   List of some of these French advisors to Charles VIII. These were assisted by desperate Neapolitan agitators.

(57)   Charles VIII prevaricates then agrees with Ludovico. Terms of agreement follow including Ludovico granting passage through Milan, and 200,000 ducats sent to King Charles.

(58)   Ludovico could expect support from the king, help with forces at Asti, & control of Taranto by the end of the war. History of Francesco Sforza on behalf of Naples in fending off Rene of Anjou.

(59)   Francesco Sforza's reasons for such deliverance. The avoidance of Louis XI in affairs of Italy:

"... a Scheme which would be attended with great Expense, many Difficulties, and prove, in the End, pernicious to the Kingdom of France."

(60)   Opinions in Italy, of the Duke of Ferrara, Ludovico's father-in-law

(61)   possibly gave bad advice to him since Milan had sided with Venice over salt mines. Or,

(62)   Opinions of King Ferdinand of Naples about such an invasion, that by sea it would fail, and by land would cause chaos for everyone in Italy.

(63)   Ferdinand thought it as likely that France would come and take Milan instead, reasoning that Naples was well supported in goods, arms, leaders and friends.

(64)   Ferdinand trusted also in the friendship with Spain and his relations there, despite size and reputation of the French army.

(65)   But, narrator tells us that Ferdinand's army was not so great and he had few friends in all of Italy. Even Spain and then there were the bad portents, letters and prophecies.

(66)   Ferdinand turned to trying to dissuade Charles from the trip. By marriages, bribery, negotiation for an annual tribute.

(67)   Ferdinand tried to blame the entire issue of the castles near Rome on Orsinio obstinacy,

(68)   fixed an agreement with the pope for them and married a grand-daughter to the pope's youngest son.

(69)   This agreement included a mutual defense pact between Naples and Rome. But this did not materialize. Ludovico of Milan was telling Rome, Florence and Naples that

(70)   he was trying to dissuade France from coming, at times saying they were talking about their rights re:Genoa. This would change. Charles VIII went securing relations with

(71)   Spain who agreed not to help the House of Aragon, but to receive Perpignan at the foot of the Pyrenean mtns. Narrator convinced French people disliked this.

(72)   Charles also secured peace with Maximilian II with

(73-4) History of Imperial actions with Louis XI and Mary of Burgundy and Margaret sister to Philip of Austria, who was promised Artois by Charles for peace.

(75)   Ludovico sought to marry his niece [ this happened Nov1486] Bianca Maria (sister to Gian Galeazzo) to emperor Maximilian after death of M's father Frederick. Visconti family had a 

(76)   History and how this was related to such relations, including Francesco Sforza and

(77)   how Ludovico used these relations to his advantage. Along with another rumored 400,000 ducats.

(78)   Ludovico got more people to believe he should be invested with title of Duke since he was the last Duke's brother.

(79)   Aged Ferdinand gets a last list of hopes, that Milanese alliances would fail.

(80)   King Charles VIII France sends letters of his demands to Rome, Florence, and Venice of his intentions to cross alps next year to take Naples.

(81)   These letters were instigated by Ludovico, but this was discovered only later, FG says.

(82)   Piero of Florence brought these letters to Ferdinand but was rebuffed with bitter complaints from the old king.

(83)   Cardinal della Rovere stays in Naples while pope tries to 'secure' him. Description of della Rovere, future pope Julius II.

(84)   This redounds badly for king Ferdinand as well. 1494, a terrible year for Italy begins.

Information (and who wields it) has become a hot topic: news mid July 2014

Last Thursday, a Malaysian commercial passenger jet #MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine. The powers there engaged in a sort of civil war have blamed each other, while the international community including the US, have demanded a complete investigation. In addition to the awful loss of life in such a terrible way, in a warzone where the very region itself is contested, the cleanup efforts afterward have drawn international criticism. Working on the assumption that those Russian-backed seperatist forces in the area (which were newly trained on anti-aircraft missiles), had made a mistake, Europe is trying to determine collectively how to respond. It was a flight from Amsterdam to Malaysia, carrying many Dutch and other Europeans. The initial news and subsequent stories have dominated the international and national news circles. 14 min audio via msnbc's All In w/ Chris Hayes.

Meanwhile, the fifth day of a ground assault into Gaza comes to a close after two weeks of shelling have killed over 500, with as many as 27 Israeli's possibly dead. The day that started there coincided international protests in many major cities on every continent.

Palestinian death toll rises as Israel threatens broader Hamas offensive http://t.co/8ysbdTkoQR pic.twitter.com/weYrFDGCTZ
— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) July 16, 2014

The time for the US Federal Reserve Bank to close the window, and "taper", and then end the qualitative easing policy of the last sevral years is running out, say some.

Huh. RT @boes_: Damn pic.twitter.com/JzNsUvLsB9
— Kai Ryssdal (@kairyssdal) July 18, 2014

One of the proponents of the theory that inflation is a big looming problem, was exposed on national television for constantly being wrong. About six years too late, but still welcome to see.

WATCH: Tea Party hero Santelli told how wrong he's been about everything forever. http://t.co/nbRN36KkJl pic.twitter.com/bY6dB7bBBO
— The National Memo (@NationalMemo) July 14, 2014

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Another story is the crisis in Central America causing a wave of some 60,000 refugees, mostly children, to come to the southern US border. Since immigration has become such a loud issue in the last five years, all the politicians want to talk about it. But little is done to ease the suffering of the kids,  and little news is available from the source of the problem - they kill journalists there. So without either I can expect this catastrophe to only get worse. Reuters reported that President Obama will visit with leaders of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala on July 25.
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The DC Circuit court has upheld a lower court ruling, exempting state from subsidies to implement the ACA exchanges. A summary is here. A longer version of the story is here.  But the fourth circuit court in Virginia ruled the other way. These rulings, some say, will probably be overruled later by a majority of that Circuit court's judges, sometime this fall.
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NPR interviewed Walter Binney and aired the story today. He and Thomas Drake applaud Edward Snowden for avoiding capture by telling their story of what happened when they went through 'proper channels'. 8 min audio
________________________________________________

Amazing history on discovery of the disease Typhus, its carriers and vaccine, thru WWII. 35 min audio on Fresh Air.
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Forty-five years ago this week, Apollo 11 went to the moon.

Apollo 11 was launched 45 years ago today at 9:32 EDT: #NASA pic.twitter.com/KpobhKX6BK
— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) July 16, 2014

Francesco Guicciardini: The History of Italy: i; A Beginning of the French Invasion

At the very beginning of Guicciardini's massive History of Italy he says what he is going to do.

"I propose to relate what past in our memory in Italy,
since the French, invited by our own princes,
came with powerful armies, and interrupted her Repose...."

At first, he says, Italy had been placid and her prosperity by 1490 was greater than it had seen in over a thousand years. Industry and production and sale of goods in cities, and agricultural abundance in the valleys had made the whole region great, and for some while. Part of this, as he gently assures us was due to 'the Virtue and active Spirit' of Lorenzo de'Medici. He knew 'how destructive' it would be 'to himself and Florence' if any of the surrounding powers 'should increase their Dominion'. So he made pacts with the ones he could. There was one with Pope Innocent, and one with King Fernando/Ferrante in Naples. This king, he tells us, as a youth was 'formerly ambitious and turbulent', but by old age, found instead his son Alfonso 'instigating ... resentment' at the plight of Gian Galeazzo Sforza, of Milan.

All this is presented, for Guicciardini, as substrate, the background to the invasion of the French king, Charles VIII in 1494. The gist of this primary story that comes down to us, this resentment, is already here in the first five pages. But the reality and breadth of the story did become much broader and longer. Still, before the account, he says, before talking about the causes and actions of the invasion, first he reminds us how good things were when Lorenzo was the chief man in Florence. When Guicciardini was still a child, in Florence.

Quickly, our narrator then takes us down a long series of paths that fork this way and that across Italy, to France and Spain, giving (in eighty more pages) a wide-ranging catalog of the first persons and powers in Europe. Those with a perceived stake in Italy. The ones with motives.  It is remarkable Guicciardini went this far to develop a context, and for so many players, at least in those times. It was a new way to do history.

Quotes from The History of Italy, translated and printed by 1763 into English and found at the John Adams Library at the Boston Public Library, or online at archive.org.

Dante: Purgatory: xvi; 'Two Swords Fused Into One'

One of the perennial problems that the Christian world of Europe continually had to deal with through the middle ages was the conflict between physical and spiritual powers. The farther from Rome, the more the local authority in reality held the reigns of control. The history of this conflict played itself out again and again famously with popes and emperors, kings and princes. In Dante's time this conflict in Italy had fevered the efforts of Guelphs and Ghibellines, supporting the claims of popes and the 'German' emperor, respectively.
At the exact mid point of his Divine Comedy, exactly in the middle of his second book, called Purgatory (more of his context here and here), Dante finds himself on the Terrace of the Wrathful, and this conflict is put on the lips of the shade he finds there. It is a good shepherd of people who holds the restraining crook for the faithful, after all.

"On Rome, that brought the world to know the good,           line 106

once shone two suns that lighted up two ways:

the road of this world and the world of God.

The one sun has put out the other's light;

the sword is now one with the crook -- and fused

together thus, must bring about misrule,

since joined, now neither fears the other one.

If you still doubt, think of the grain when ripe -- 

each plant is judged according to its seed.

The region of the Po and Adige

flowed with true worth, with honest courtesy,

until the time of Frederick's campaign;

but now, the kind of man who is ashamed

to talk with, even meet with, honest folk,

may travel there completely reassured! "                           line 120

____________________________________________________________

nedits: Through the mouth of Marco, shade on the Terrace of the Wrathful on mount purgatory, Dante says,

There are two suns - the pope and the emperor, not a moon and sun,

with one eclipsed by the other. Two powers, sword and crook, joined

must lead to misrule as neither can be kept in check. The seed and the grain

show their value in the consequences.

Is it too far a stretch to see the sword and the crook joined as the military/state and the church joined for some other day?

And from this a misrule born of such a marriage, neither afraid of the other, neither checked by the other.

This Wrathful shade tells Dante that his home region used to be full of honest folk until Frederick II's campaign

that shook the notions of papal and imperial power all around. 

The rift, and the weld, the knowledge of their once separate rulers, divided, from here on,

became too much to bear and caused new problems all across Christendom. 

Dante saw the results of decades - others would say they saw centuries - divided, the people against each other.

The Guelf and Ghibelline conflicts in Italy would tear cities and regions apart, it is true, 

and those factions continued to mold opinion as issues, kept hardset in fevered remembrances, retold, reframed in endless examples.

This was not a universal opinion, of course, but one Dante was often quick to provide for his hellsent souls 

and penitent pilgrims bent to traverse his Divine Comedy.

So what does it mean that even one 'who is ashamed' to meet with honest folk, can travel to Tuscany without having to be ashamed?

A roundabout way of saying it's full of liars, for one. This, we must infer, means the wrathful is still undergoing his penitence.

Mark Musa, our translator and guide here is quick to say there is nothing in this speech that deals '...with original sin, the need for grace or a soul's salvation.'

The wrathful shade speaks only a kind of 'chaos'.

The shade continues.

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"There three old men still live in whom the past                       line 121

rebukes the present. How those three men must yearn

for God to call them to a better life! --

Currado de Palazzo, good Gherardo,

and Guido da Castel -- who's better named

'the simple Lombard,' as the French would say.

Tell the world this: The church of Rome, which fused

two powers into one, has sunk in muck,

defiling both herself and her true role."

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nedits: This wrathful shade here explains that the past knew better how to act.

His examples, Currado a standard bearer who carries the flag despite lack of hands,

Gherardo, the captain-general, a military leader for Treviso, 1283 - 1306, described elsewhere by Dante as an example of true nobility (Convivio IV, xiv, 12); and

Guido da Castel, still living in 1315, hosted Dante, in life, during his period of exile.

This one, 'the simple Lombard', could have gained the name from French guests,

as open-minded, yet somehow discerning, 

rather than the regular 'shrewd and unscrupulous' Lombard, Musa seems to complain.

But the tradition of the two swords can be traced back to Luke, 22:38 and to Pope Gelasius I (d 496) who reminded Theodoric, the Ostrogothic Emperor, that there were two powers.
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Mark Musa translator of Dante: Purgatory Penguin Classics Edition, for the Penguin Group Ltd, London, 1981, 1985

The German Bishop: Changing Models In Changing Times

Tradition maintained that the seat of the Church remained with the local bishop, wherever he was, all across Christendom. In German lands the reality of this worked itself out in as many ways as there were places. Every city-state, the local nobles, or kings, the urban towns or lands held by the protectorate of the Emperor, all had different relations with the local bishop, depending on local time-honored practice. Such is the view provided by Thomas A Brady Jr.[p. 54] Since the period of the Bubonic Plague, greater local selection of bishops can be seen, reversing the trend (before that cataclysm) of greater selection by popes or other 'clerical assemblies'.

The result of this shifting more and more, of power over time into such greater local selections, effectively weakened the power of a bishop, generally. There were exceptions to this of course, where for a number of reasons, some bishops could effectively hold both spiritual and temporal (secular) powers of the state. These, Brady tells us, had almost as much power as 'the greatest of lay princes'. Here, he mentions bishop Rudolf of Würzburg, as being one of these prince-bishops with Hochstift or, territory, but also mentions those of Banburg, Salzburg, Münster and Paderborn as having bishops with such holdings.[p.56] 

For those without such physical assurances, some had to remove themselves from the city or seat of the diocese they were assigned to, for security precautions. The

"... resistance to their temporal authority by burgers and cathedral canons convinced quite a number of prince-bishops to depart their cathedral cities for other, safer residences. By the late fifteenth century the bishop of Constance lived at Meersburg, Strasbourg at Saverne, Mainz at Aschaffenburg, Worms at Ladenburg, Speyer at Udenheim, Basel at Porrentruy... and Augsburg at Dillenburg. If the Church existed where the bishop was, it was very often found in a small country town or even a castle." [p.56]

This investiture of spiritual and temporal power into the hands of an imperial bishop could be traced directly back to privileges granted by Ottonian kings in German history. The selected individual would need to be approved by the pope but would act as a feudal vassal of the local emperor. But the number of these invested bishops waned over the centuries, Brady tell us, with merely 15% of imperial lands controlled by clerical servants by the fifteenth-century. These too, were spread out unevenly with more in the west and fewer in the east. The concordat of Vienna in 1448 ensured that 'cathedral chapters' would elect bishops, who then had to be approved by the pope and consecrated by other bishops. [p. 54]

Even what a bishop did was under metamorphosis. Again, traditionally, a bishop had certain functions and responsibilities. But, Brady stresses, the late middle ages produced far too many variable circumstances for these old rules to entirely dominate contemporary practice. While it was still true that they ordained parish priests, taught spiritual truths, made certain official confirmations and visited local parishes, the reality for them could fall far short of this mark.

"Nearly all of the fifteenth-century reform writings recommended an intensification of visitations as the best means for restoring clerical and lay discipline." [p. 55]

These visitations could be a procession during a festival sponsored by a church, it could involve any kind of inspection of church or abbey or their works. But very often these were handled instead by lower ranking church officials sent on these errands. Brady also notes that records in Imperial lands of such visitations remained 'scantier' than in other European countries until well into the sixteenth-century.

The bishop was also a judge over the clergy and laity. Here too, the perceived norm of the medieval bishop holding 'the two swords' of power, judging both the sinful and the devout, fell apart in practice more and more, as time went on. More often, local exceptions were made, or different authorities were sought to resolve issues. More sins were relegated to penance. More penances were worked out in fines rather than in public penalties. Marriage cases were more often litigated in courts. [p. 55]
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quotes and pagination from: Thomas A Brady Jr: German Histories in The Age of Reformations, 1400-1650;  University of California, Berkeley for the Cambridge Univeristy Press, 2009

some news early july 2014

In a summer of what already seemed too many catastrophes, happening all at once, all but one are threatening to spiral worse. Meanwhile, and surreally, the world cup competition is being called the 'pope match' as the tournament this year reaches its last weekend in Brasil. Germany who will play Argentina tomorrow have each been the home countries of the last two popes, consecutively and coincidentally.

The big news today is that Germany outed a CIA station chief and threw him out of the country. These things usually happen between agencies, quietly. This never happens in such a public, defamatory way.  The US and Germany are close allies and have big work to accomplish with major trade deals coming soon. Quite a remarkable story.
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Of course, the Iraq war and the Syrian war rage on. Last weekend saw reprisals of brutality on kids in Israel and Gaza, then riots, then further violent escalations followed by a number of days of shelling. Here's an independent twitter timeline of the latest violence. Chris Hayes has a sobering take. 4 min video

A woman at the entrance of what used to be her home. Turned to rubles last night by an Israeli airstrike in #Gaza pic.twitter.com/QCKaUv0xX4
— Dr. Ramy Abdu (@RamAbdu) July 8, 2014

Another pic of Ghannam family house bombed by #Israel with no warning killing & injuring many! #Gaza #GazaUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/JW1gqjjOH1
— Omar Ghraieb (@Omar_Gaza) July 11, 2014

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The pro-Russian separatist forces in Eastern Ukraine are slowly being driven from the cities like Slovyansk and Donetsk this week. Reports of numerous brutalities have surfaced. Here a bridge was blown up as forces retreated.

The Novobakhmutivka bridge, 30 kilometers North of Donetsk, blown up yesterday pic.twitter.com/mqMKqs6qhE
— Paul Gypteau (@paulgypteau) July 8, 2014

In another, but related area, how media in the west carefully manage their selective amnesia.

After all their Benghazi coverage, the Sunday Shows completely ignore the capture of the alleged ringleader: http://t.co/foV5uwRZoW
— Media Matters (@mmfa) June 24, 2014

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There have been a number of penetrating articles about the NSA et al targeting Muslim Americans since Wednesday, and what this may mean for the rest of us. Another on the lack of real independence (not to mention opacity) afforded to the FISA court, the much ballyhooed but amenable 'oversight' court for such queries.
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Earlier in the week a massive typhoon hit southern Japan. Thank goodness it turned out this time not near as bad as they feared.

เริ่มแล้ว“@BBCWorld: Nearly 500,000 urged to seek shelter as Neoguri hits Okinawa http://t.co/fYmq5M07F3 & pic.twitter.com/Bupzu8muGU”
— korbsak sabhavasu (@korbsak) July 8, 2014

An interesting series of longer clips on daily life in Japan from the early 1960's show a well-managed commercial and manufacturing economy, framed by model patriarchal families. The portraits themselves seem designed for American business and 'community educational' purposes. One focuses on the wife of a business manager. Another on the life of an electrician is a German made film from 1966. All seem to indulgently reflect as positively as possible on American influence and benevolence.
Here's a modern overview in pictures from The Japan Times.

Pope Leo X Sends Out Bull To Counter Martin Luther: June 15, 1520

While looking at a bit of the papal bull called Exsurge Domini, I noticed a pro-Luther blog fiercely and dismissively refuting some of that bull's basic ideas. Delightfully surprised and impressed with the volume of posts and detailed nature of topics there, it left me with much to wonder about with current Luther apologists. Surprised that there is so much scriptural exegesis as there is, and from a Luther-defending position, and impressed by the volume of this over years, in the current era, my wonder kept increasing. I did find much that seemed untenable, but everyone is entitled to an opinion. I'll return to that blog as I dive into the history of the Reformation. This is the page that blog offers as a resource for Luther's writings. Lots to see out there in the internet and the world of faith.

The German Clergy: Mobility Had Benefits

Every town and village in German lands had or needed a priest. So did all the places in between that extended through the rural countryside. At least to administer the sacraments, say Mass, baptize and christen babies, to preach, bury the dead and keep records. For this they were paid a tithe, they took in a collection. But, Thomas A Brady Jr tells us, most of these priests for small towns were individually poor. Overseeing these necessary rites for every Christian soul wasn't enough to live on, unless they could be done at several places. To improve one's lot in the priesthood a young man had often better chances in the cities.

There, or at university, he might learn that there were many cities of men, but, as in St Augustine's construction, only one city of God. The job of the clergy, Brady reminds us, was to tend the channels or, the means for grace, in connecting these two cities. [p. 49] If the city of God was perfect, then the city of men was far from that and thus needed more channels, more means for connection and communication between the two.

The organization of the church was widespread, far-reaching, ancient and well understood, both in theory and in practice. The sins of man were also understood but could be managed and held back, in theory, by enough servants, at all levels in the hierarchy, topped by the bishops, and extending across German lands and all the way to Rome. Brady reminds as well that there was also the parallel structure of the many orders, the abbeys, convents, monasteries, nunneries, etc. which also had their own structures, priorities and means.

These efforts required benefices to operate. A benefice could be anything and come from anywhere. But they were usually delivered promises. A lord, widow or bishop might give a benefice of land, a castle, a vineyard, or a wine press. The benefit might be remitted by an annual clutch of chickens or sheep, pigs, cattle, or a shipment of parchment. An abbey or order might agree to provide the product of their work to a church or parish in order to maintain their end of a benefice that they had received in days gone by. In short, an agreement had been struck, services were rendered - the delivering of food or fruit or garlands for a holy festival, the ill or maimed getting tended to, sermons being preached - and all in the name of the mercy of God.

In the period 1450 to 1520, Brady tells us that, in the diocese of Strasbourg, 400 of 529 parish priests came from somewhere else. Most were Swabians and Bavarians, with different dialects and 'foreign ways'. They came to this growing city, he suggests, because that is where new benefices could be found. But this example illustrates the trend of new priests making their way in the growing cities. [p.51]

A priest in the fifteenth century here did not even need to remain celibate. A papal dispensation could grant exemption for their sons entering priesthood since officially they were born out of wedlock. This relatively new admission by the church was born from necessity in order to prevent and reduce scandal. But it was also helpful in educating upcoming clergy. Those clergy that had education saw the value in it and if they had children would want to extend that to the next generation, whether legitimately born or not. This change in social mores would extend throughout Protestantism and, in time, many eventually would insist that clergy be married, in order to ensure the education of their children.

There were also many 'regular' clergy assigned to some abbey or monastery, one of the conventual or observant orders or, one of the other mendicant, wandering or beguine orders. More than thirty different orders in German lands, along with dozens or hundreds of much smaller 'collegiate chapters', Brady says. A century after the black plague had struck and, with its deprivations and hardships still in present memory, the impulse to reform lax conventuals gained earnest adherents.

"... the old monastic orders, particularly the Cictercians and Carthusians, remained relatively strict, while others were generally lax, notably the many foundations of canonesses who lived under versions of the Augustinian or Benedictine rule but sometimes kept private servants and property... The struggles to return to the rules were especially pronounced among the mendicants, whose programs went under the name of "Observance,"... ." [p. 53]

The Benedictines did well too. But they led many of the reforms from within. In 1446 the Council of Basel gave approval for six Benedictine abbeys, for example, who chose to follow a stricter life. This spread the practice widely, as was the notion of reform. But reform is popular where corruption is perceived. These regular clergies would get the worst of the criticism until Savonarola.

A great example that Brady mentions is Johannes Trithemius (1462-1516). Abbot at Sponheim by 1483, "... he labored to turn a poor, lax, and physically ruinous abbey into an important center of learning." [p.54]
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quotes and pagination from: Thomas A Brady Jr: German Histories in The Age of Reformations, 1400-1650;  University of California, Berkeley for the Cambridge Univeristy Press, 2009