Thursday, July 28, 2016

Dual Crowns In Spain For Ferdinand and Isabella United Separate Entities

One of the reasons I've enjoyed J.H. Elliott's Imperial Spain 1469-1716 is its clear explication of Spanish spheres both internally and externally. In an era when the prevailing culture was self-described as being new (and is still called and thought of as such five-hundred years later), Elliott asserts that Spain did not follow those patterns. The joint but dual crown of Ferdinand and Isabella was different than what was previously known there, he says, but government institutions and the ways they handled themselves and circumstances remained remarkably consistent with what had happened before. In many ways, the means with which they could have handled new situations, were instead based on precedent and traditional methods. Elliott looks at both the external relations and, internally, under both crowns independently, to make his case.

Following chapters on the unification of the two newly unified crowns of Aragon and Castile, and another charting the advances of the reconquista in the later 1400's, Elliott begins his chapter on 'The Ordering of Spain' in this way.
"The late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries are commonly described as the age of 'the new monarchies': an age in which such forceful monarchies as Henry VII in England and Louis XI of France consolidated the power of the crown and devoted their efforts to the creation of a unified and centralized State under royal control.... Yet in practice the Spain created by Ferdinand and Isabella diverged in so many respects from the theoretical model of the 'new monarchy', as to make it appear either that it must be entirely excluded from the European model, or alternatively that the model itself is at fault." [p. 77]
Contemporary with Elliott's treatment, J.D. Mackie's history of The Earliest Tudors shows Henry VII in England as being very careful not to appear too new, for his own reasons. Similarly, Ferdinand in Aragon, Valencia, and Catalonia worked at maintaining the traditional modes of rule by consent of the governed while buttressing the old forms of royal authority. But so did Isabella in her way in her inherited lands. For them, a king was right to exercise his authority, to assert their dominance and to 'protect the weak' as well as 'humble the proud'. This was in line with both monarchs of Spain during their joint rule, keeping intact their intentions and ideals. These rights and privileges, Elliott notes, rarely carried over from King to Queen or vice versa, in more ways than name, from one set of states to the other's. This was in keeping with their hewing to the charters of their respective states and their outlook.

Elliott treats both of these differently and explains this by saying there was no movement between the two joint monarchs, in either royal person trying to legally appropriate each other's crowns.
"These rights, and the laws which guaranteed them, naturally varied considerably in Castile and Aragon, but the fact that the two Crowns were now united did not in any way imply their legal and constitutional systems should be brought into line." [p. 78]
Elliott cites their marriage contract, the coat of arms constructed for them, and Queen Isabella's will to show the limits of their dual crowns. He helpfully goes on to delineate both the status quo and the changes for Aragon and for Castile during their respective tenures, providing a rich flavor of the differences.
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J.H. Elliott: Imperial Spain 1469-1716 : Penguin, NY, 2002


Wednesday, July 20, 2016

July Miscellany, 1496


In Florence, based on the effects of the Corbizzi scandal which began in May , and swelled into June, the Grand Council decided to reject pleas for clemency on the perpetrators. These were found guilty of conspiring to bring the forces of Piero de' Medici back into places of influence. Savonarola's sermon on June 17 was in favor of 'justice', in this case rejecting the pleas by the families and relatives of the Corbizzi. [p.198] This positive interpretation 'for justice', by implication, both condoned the acts of toture and forced confessions from captured witnesses by the state, and even the judgement upon Filippo Corbizzi and his many adherents to be sent into exile.

There had been calls for the refining of the Parlemento in Florence that summer. That great expansion of the representatives of Florence in Parlemento, following the revolution in the days of the French 'occupation', needed in time, some admitted modification. Even Savonarola agreed and then began demanding that unqualified men be purged from the rolls and new eligibility requirements be set.

There were economic troubles aplenty that year as well. In July, the Signoria proposed a new tax in the form of interest charged to churches for loans previously given by the state. It was against canon law but money was needed all over for everything that the church supplied. [p. 200]

from Donald Weinstein: Savonarola: the rise and fall of a renaissance prophet , Yale University Press, New Haven, 2011
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In Forli, Caterina Sforza was repeatedly called on by a handsome thirty-year old member of the cadet branch of the de' Medici family, Giovanni di Pierfrancesco. A businessman with a civic agenda, he wanted to hire some of Caterina's well-trained troops to add to those of Florence and her allies who were looking to take back Pisa. Her economic problems began to fade as he plied her with gifts and various resolutions to debts. They both were educated and knew about the problems of leadership, its responsibilities and tragedies. There was much to talk about. Elizabeth Lev in her sharp biography of Caterina says that political observers sensed that "... his real motive was to lure the countess of Forli to the side of Florence and France in the latest arrangement of Italian political divisions."

Her uncle after all, was the Duke Ludovico Sforza in Milan, who had to keep up appearances with his allies the pope and Venice for a bit longer. But in the summer this alliance was to fray beyond repair.

from pp. 194-5; 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
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Forces from Venice, recruits from Genoa, Corsica, Umbria and elsewhere had assembled with Pisan forces near Vicopisano and driven out Florentine cavalry. As Venetian historian Pietro Bembo later tells it,
"... the people of Pisa were suffering from lack of supplies owing to the time of year, and conveyed this to the senators [in Venice]. The Senate immediately sent a transfer of money to their agent in Genoa and told him to buy grain and send it to Pisa. He carried out the Senate's orders with all speed, and revived the city's spirits by easing the food supply." [ii,46]
The Senate also sent, Bembo says, an army of 500 stradiots to Pisa under the command of Giustiniano Morosini. These left in mid July.

from Pietro Bembo: History of Venice; edited and translated by Robert W Ulery, Jr.; in english and latin, The I Tatti Renaissance Library; The President and Fellows of Harvard College, USA 2007
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It was in July as well that the pope appointed a special ambassador known as a legate a latere and had talks to discuss how to convince Emperor Maximillian for his support in protecting Pisa and Italy. This consistory extended into August  and was a major move in rapprochment and against tradition by both men. Meanwhile Maximillian had crossed the Alps with his train of attendants who then waited at Lake Como as ambassadors came to greet him and seek an audience with him.

Everyone seemed concerned about the events in Italy. Henry VII in far-off England even agreed to join the alliance with Venice and Milan and the pope. But Henry had grown more concerned about a usurper named Perkin Warbeck that styled himself as the Duke of York. He had been making friends all over Europe and by summer was said to be marshalling forces in Scotland. King Ferdinand of Aragon sent his able ambassador Pedro de Ayala as an aid to Henry to discuss this with James IV in Scotland and convince him to join forces against the French. Perkin Warbeck was an interesting character but just one of many usurpers against Henry Tudor. John Cabot left to explore west and 'investigate, claim and possess lands' beyond that ocean this summer, as well. Here's the 'patent' that Henry VII gave him in March..

from J.D. Mackie: The Earlier Tudors 1485-1558 ; Oxford, UK 1957
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Columbus stayed in Seville the summer after his second voyage west. Hugh Thomas tells us there were too many other activities that occupied the King and Queen. Columbus also learned that Alfonso Fernandez de Lugo had finished capturing Tenerife the largest of the Canary Islands. De Lugo was also granted a parade to show off his capture in Almazán where the monarchs were staying. Word had also circulated that Bishop Fonseca's fleet left for the Caribbean 16 June on a mission that Admiral Columbus had not been consulted on. Columbus may have even spent time that year reading books, like the newly produced Travels of Marco Polo.

Thomas, Hugh: Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire ; Penguin/ Random House, UK; 2003
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Friday, July 15, 2016

news in media mid 2016

Yesterday was Bastille Day and Paris has brought out the bombastic spectacles.
But before the sun went down a terrorist drove a truck filled with explsoives along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France. So far 84 people have been killed and 50 injured.
From an ID card found in the cab of the truck, they've determined the driver was French.

_________________________________________________________ In an unrelated event, a massive explosion blew up 38 oil tankers in New Mexico.

_________________________________________________________ Last week was especially tense in the US. A couple cases where civilians were killed by police in Louisiana and Minnesota (on 5,6 July) set off protests across the country. This cartoon is based on a photo where a woman is approached by heavily armed police. This depiction instead shows a wiser Uncle Sam character doing what would be just rather than what happened. She was arrested and later released as has become the norm in most of these protester apprehensions. One such protest in Dallas (on the 7th) was almost over and an ex-marine sniper began shooting at police. Five police were killed as well as a civilian protecting her kids. Seven more try to heal their wounds. The shooter was cornered by law enforcement in a parking garage, and after trying to talk him down, police sent in a robot that detonated and killed the man. He had purchased his weapon of choice (an AK-47) after answering an ad on facebook and paying cash for it in a parking lot at a nearby Target store. On the following Tuesday, the official memorial for the slain police drew Senators, and presidents Bush, Obama and vice president Biden and their wives. The Dallas Chief of Police, sad at the loss but proud of his department, beautifully gave his sentiments by quoting at length the Stevie Wonder song "As". _________________________________________________________ There were also major protests in the southern Mexico state of Oaxaca. Protesters in the streets up in arms over the loss of life by police were themselves killed. ________________________________________________________ The end of June was full of the news from Britain that a voter referendum nicknamed "Brexit" would send the world and especially the EU and the UK into economic chaos. It was Britain on 23 June, not Scotland or Northern Ireland that voted for the UK to leave the European Union. The vote had been set up by Prime Minister David Cameron who thought it would unify the various parties in the UK. But when the tallies came in, the next day Cameron resigned and, as finances there and abroad scrambled to come to grips with the shocking news, a number of other party leaders (both for and against the 'Brexit') began falling out in the eyes of the public. The new Prime Minister Theresa May promises to carry out the will of the people and yesterday had begun filling the offices of her cabinet. The actual Article 50 which would trigger the actual removal of the UK from the EU has yet to be invoked. But the government and businesses across the world are beginning to cut and refashion trade ties. Ranging from the cat at 10 Downing Street in London, to the careers of many of the central players, this speech by Jeremy Corbyn is considered a newsworthy topic again. There are many several other noteworthy news items. Air attacks in Yemen, terrorist bombings again and again in Turkey, and in Medina, Saudi Arabia. In the run up to the EU ref vote in England, the British MP Jo Cox was killed on June 15th. There were terrorist attacks as well. The tensions over the South China Sea have intensified. Fears over the beginning of the Olympics this year in Rio de Janeiro have been a constant this season as well. Another bad summer for the news.

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Florentine Portrait From Weinstein's "Savonarola", I

Getting a realistic picture of Florence in the age of Italian Renaissance is difficult as the subject has been treated for centuries with layers of nearly hagiographic features. Despite numerous revolutions, assassinations, more than a few wars, and much internal conflict among families and between classes, the city's reputation still retains a glow of freshness, virtue and even sanctity. In Donald Weinstein's modern, clear-eyed account of that city's famous Friar Savonarola the environment feels much more inhabited, even seething, and very uncertain.
"A fifteenth century traveler entered Florence through one of its massive gates, made his way through noisy, malodorous streets walled in by multistoried houses with overhanging roofs and teeming with people of every class and calling: gentlemen in doublet and hose, silk-gowned ladies with retinues of servants and exotic slaves, long-robed, sandaled clerics, grimy laborers, beggars, hawkers, cutpurses, flesh peddlers, and gangs of rowdy youths. Passing shops, street corner tabernacles, churches, and formal residential doorways, he soon entered the city's monumental center. In just twenty or thirty minutes the visitor would have retraced in the city's dense fabric more than two centuries of history, from medieval provincial town to proud Renaissance capital of near-mythic fame."
But, Weinstein cautions us, that myth was 'consciously cultivated'. It was contemporaries that called it a new Athens, and the 'Daughter of Rome'. Adorned were the churches, palazzi and public buildings. The many building projects of several decades and centuries had brought variety and beauty to so many parts.
"Graceful spires and towers, white and green marble church facades, beige-toned palaces with graceful loggias, all presided over by Brunelleschi's brick-red, white ribbed cathedral dome - largest in Christendom - tipped with Verrocchio's golden orb." [p. 42]
The proud self image was also found on public inscriptions, in its beautiful church frescoes, even in written tracts sold on street corners. Florence was always taking the opportunity to proclaim how victorious they would be, how close to God she was and how rich. The city and its people had been busy.
"Cheap woolen cloth made up the bulk of its early industrial production, but by the thirteenth century Florence was also exporting fine woolens, silks, leather, paper, soap, glass, and objects crafted from wrought iron, gold, and silver. Florentine merchants were establishing trading networks throughout Italy, the Mediterranean, France and northern Europe. With their accumulated capital they doubled as bankers, branching out into exchange and lending operations in domestic and foreign financial markets. By the end of the thirteenth century they had become the principal money men of the papacy and had a near monopoly as collectors of church revenues as far afield as England." [p. 43]
These incomes would help attract the greatest artists of the day, like Giotto, in order to craft and erect the iconic Campanile. There was also the Palazzo Vecchio just down the street which was also redone in the fourteenth century. Since those high times, the decades of plague tore apart the economic ties within and outside the city. Wages, prices, the accessibility of labor or goods, or the payment of debts continued to violently fluctuate and hang irresolvably. For centuries the tight bond between Florentine bankers and the many needs of Rome, were maintained. There were heated interruptions, now and then, but in a time of such scarcity, the money from Florence had become very important. [p.49]
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quotes and pagination in Donald Weinstein: Savonarola: the rise and fall of a renaissance prophet , Yale University Press, New Haven, 2011