news from 19nov12

In the wake of all the silliness around the General Petraeus story (and the realization that, if for instance, the FBI can read the CIA director's email then what else can they do) and the furor over the endless seemingly quixotic search for culprits in the Benghazi consulate terrorist attack or its messengers, then, it might be good to look around at what else fits this pattern of ... what is it? Information overload, sifting the wheat from the chaff, calling balls and strikes, finding context or what all else this may mean? This is all part of what I've seen is a big part of the internet's overall credibility problem.
It both is and it isn't, but how to tell?
We hear both.
"Where'd you hear that, the internet?"
This is commonly understood as calling someone out on bogus sourcing. But people forward things they find on facebook all the time despite dubious sourcing and people don't have to apologize for failing to double-check. We get it. And yet, we are constantly bombarded by so much infos out there that is immediate, well-sourced and highly relevant. You have to learn to know and trust the sources and how to both see and weed through them all.

A great example here of how we are living in an information-driven age. The anon letter whether 'real' or not, to Karl Rove is a hoot. The letter on that site labeled Benghazi purportedly is from Sen. Harry Reid to Sen. John McCain last week. Remarkable!

This purports to be evidence that Honeywell don't like them no unions

This guy in the Atlantic asks why investment income isn't taxed like regular income. The answer is because it is unregulated. Why isn't it regulated? If you ask Sen. Chuck Schumer, who knows, he'll say instead it's because no one can agree on rates. Which is basically only half true. PBS has a show relating this week on Park Avenue...

Meanwhile DDay and bloomberg says finance industries off-balance sheet shadow banking practices grow unabated since 2008 collapse

The Guardian reports some are heading for special dividend payouts before the end of the year, in case we go over the fiscal cliff and Bush-era tax-cuts and exemptions disappear

Fannie and Freddie got a $140 bn bailout and can't pay it back

and in Adventure's of Intellectual Curiosity ... the word on The Street says the disconnect between Hostess and the unions is how to 'privatize pensions'. Sun Capital has also expressed interest in the Hostess Brand but has a record of wiping pension plans from the rolls and the national law review even says this law office has a record of how to do that. So maybe not a rumor.

Debunking one myth of the glories of privatized services. They're not always more efficient in dealing with disasters like Sandy...

Karoli at C&L thinks Republican Gov's who refuse Health Care Act or the expansion of medicare actually help enable single-payer...

Can Catalonia,  may Catalonia secede from Spain?

Tonight I watch the Ken Burns piece on the Dust Bowl

Ercole d'Este reconciles with Venice: Sanudo Diaries: November 19, 1497

nedits: Several years after the events of and following the war on Ferrara, now the Marquis Ercole d'Este I was warmly received in Venice along with a great number of other visiting notables.

Editor's note: "The doge's role as ceremonial head of the government consisted largely in the reception of important visitors. Along with the rituals of governmental processes and judicial procedures, state receptions served the mystique of Venetian power, expressing the Venetian ethos and reaffirming Venetian self-esteem.... Among the earliest receptions described in Sanudo's accounts was the visit in 1497 of Ercole I, the Duke of Ferrara, to Doge Agostino Barbarigo. This was a visit of reconciliation, for Ercole had fought a bitter war against Venice in 1482-84, and in 1494-95 he had given the invading French king, Charles VIII, free passage through his territories. Now the duke sought an alliance with Venice, putting aside his french connections (and fashions) and demonstrating his loyalty to the doge...." pp. 67-8

Sanudo Diaries: November 19, 1497: (1:820-21); "On November 19, Duke Ercole de la ca' di Este, the Marquis of Ferrara, arrived in this city with his second son, don Ferrante, who had been at court and on the payroll of the king of France. The duke was accompanied by about two hundred people, most of whom were no longer wearing French styles, as they used to, but Spanish and Ferrarese styles. Don Ferrante, who is a very handsome young man, was also dressed in the Spanish style."

Editor's footnote: "Don Ferrante had been in France since 1493, receiving an annual pay of 13,000 ducats and the title of royal chamberlain from Charles VIII. He had accompanied Charles into Italy in 1494, but now, since August 1497, as part of the duke's reconciliation with Venice, he had been ordered by his father to leave the french court and accompany him to Venice, where he was to be invested with the title condottiere della Republic di San Marco (military captain in the service of the Venetian Republic)." p. 68

Sanudo, con't: "Several patricians were sent to Chioza to receive the duke honorably. He did not bring a large barge with him, but came on smaller flat-bottomed boats. He was honorably welcomed by Beneto Trevixan, knight and governor of Chioza. He was also accompanied by Bernardo Bembo, knight and doctor, who is our visdomino in Ferrara."

Editor's footnote: "Bernardo Bembo (1453-1519) was a distinguished patrician, senator, and ambassador and father of Pietro Bembo.... After the war of Ferrara ended in 1484, Venice exercise a kind of protectorate over Ferrara, with Venetian authority represented there by a resident Venetian consul known as a visdomino." p. 68.

nedits: Pietro Bembo would get the contract for writing the official history of Venice for the years 1487-1513. As official historian, Sanudo commented, Bembo was given 200 ducats a year for housing and nothing else. Of course this was a position Sanudo wanted. Bembo produced three volumes on that as well as love poetry, a treatise on Italian grammar and much else. He also became the secretary of Leo X the de'Medici pope.... and Bembo would also feature as a character in Baldessar Castiglione's Book of the Courtier which I'll talk about later, in the right context.

Sanudo con't: "When they reached Malamocho, they found the patricians who had been sent there to greet them, as is customary. The Senate had decreed that that [the city officials] would go to meet him in the Bucintoro, so today, which is Sunday, the doge and the ambassador of Spain (although he was in mourning for the king's only son), as well as the ambassadors of Naples, Milan, Monferrato, Rimini, and Pisa, went forth. Also attending were the members of the Signoria, many richly dressed patricians, and knights wearing cloth of gold. Because of the lateness of the hour and the tide, the Bucintoro went as far as Sant' Antonio, where it met the boats from Chioza bearing the aforementioned duke. "

Editor's footnote: "Sant' Antonio is on the Pellestrina litoral between Chiogga and Venice." p. 68.

Sanudo con't: "When they had disembarked on the Piazzetta, the doge greeted the duke warmly. The duke was wearing a floor-length, tight-sleeved robe of black damask lined with marten. Over it he wore a cape of black cloth because he is in mourning for his daughter, the Duchess of Milan [Ed. footnote: Beatrice d'Este , 22, wife of Ludovico Sforza, died Jan'97]; on his head was a cap of black velvet. After boarding the Bucintoro, they proceeded along the Grand Canal until they reached his house, which had been prepared for him...."

Editor's footnote: "This house, the Casa del Marchese, was a palazzo given to Nicolo d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara, in 1381, confiscated from the Estensi in 1482, as it would again in 1509. In 1497 it could still be referred to as belonging to the duke. Later it was given to Julius II and used by several papal legates thereafter until it was again restored to the Estensi in 1527.... It was often used by the government for high-ranking guests. In 1621 it became the Fondaco del Turchi." p. 69

nedits: This is a really glorious building. If you google map search Fundaco del Turchi, it will bring up Ca San Giorgio, the house next door. So zoom in and then flip it with the directional dial so N - for north - is on the bottom of the dial. This will give you a view of this amazing gothic relic. It has had rehab in the last century to redo the front like it must have been in Sanudo's day. I'm amazed I can't find it anywhere else under that name on the web... I have even heard recently that United Colors of Benetton are considering purchasing this building to be their world headquarters..

Sanudo con't: "When they had disembarked, the doge accompanied him as far as his chamber, where he left him to his repose.

On the morning of the following day, the 20th, the duke was joined by the knights and patricians who had been sent to bring him to the public audience on flatboats. When he reached the Piazza San Marco, our doge, along with the members of the Signoria, in order to give the duke every sign of affection, came out to meet him on the landing of the stairs to the tribunal. The doge grasped the duke's hand and led him to sit near him, with the duke's son on his left. The duke then spoke some very sweet words, saying that he wished to be a more devoted son to this state, offering himself, etc. And the doge skillfully responded to him publicly in a voice that could be heard by all. After the duke took his leave, he returned to his dwelling.

On the 21st, after dinner, the doge, together with the members of the Signoria and many patricians, went on flatboats to the marquis's house to visit the Duke of Ferrara. Then just the duke and the visdomino went to the Ducal Palace to speak in private with the doge. Thus did the duke begin to repent, protesting his desire to be a good and loyal son of this Signoria."

_____________________________________________________________________________

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

War on Ferrara shakes up Italian politics: 1482-84

The Italian Guerra di Ferrara

A story of three men, three big cities and three smaller cities and the pope will help reveal more of the inter-relatedness and interconnectedness of the players in our period.

In 1480 Girolomo Riario was ruler of Imola near the eastern seaboard of Italy, south of Ferrara, east of Bologna and due west of Ravenna. Most of the landscape that spread east and north of Imola was marsh or salt mines and land reclaimed from marsh. Famously these same marshes had kept the Huns and the Goths, the Lombards away from each other so well that Justinian named them as property for the Catholic Church centuries before.
By the fifteenth century, Pope Sixtus IV wanted to increase the size of the papal states which did still include Rimini and Ravenna but very little of the lands around them. Girolamo Riario was the son of Beatrice della Rovere and also the nephew of Sixtus IV and acted in these days as his Captain General overseeing the papal armies. He was the military arm of the pope, as such things were needed then.  This same Girolamo Riario was also one of the conspirators in the recent plot against the de Medici of Florence. He's lucky he got away. But after a couple years he was looking to help his uncle in other areas. In short order Riario took nearby Forli and asked his uncle the pope to condone it. He did and next Riario turned his attention to Ferrara.

There is little confusion in the record as to his or the pope's intentions but, Ferrara and Venice by their actions help us understand what these might be. The duke of Milan was interested and so was Lorenzo de Medici in Florence. The pope wanted to increase his revenue and power in Italy. Traditionally there had been papal holdings in Ravenna and along the coast and then,  turning south over the mountains, a broad swath of lands and cities loyal to the papcy could almost stretch it's way to Rome. All of these had been contested in some way since Roman times. So for the current papacy, increasing control over these areas would indeed be a boon in establishing some kind of control, along the highways, and in the towns, with loyal captains who could facilitate all manner of deeds.

It is also just another example of how individual actors in the right places and with the right backing could upset the careful balance of decades of peace, centuries of protocol and mutually assured sovereignty. Though not the first, Sixtus IV, a proud exponent of his family the della Rovere clan, continued and helped make 'traditional' the pattern of recruiting favorites or relatives to the increasingly important position of Captain-General.

One such captain with this title of Captain-General that won greater autonomy for the papacy was Roger I, son of Louis VIII and brother of St Louis in the thirteenth century. He had wrestled control of the kingdom of Naples and held on to it as a city and a force capable of protecting the pope and his interests from all external incursions by any other force or power.

This became a traditional role, that the king at Naples would fulfill - with a few exceptions - for nearly 200 years. But by the later end of the 1400's, the pattern had been disrupted. For one thing a descendant of the House of Aragon had taken and held Naples and his illegitimate son, in turn, Ferdinand I held it until 1494. For one reason or other the Aragons and Ferdinand had reasons to disagree with the wishes of the pope and by the time of the Pazzi conspiracy in 1478 they had plenty of reasons to think worse.

There are three men and three small cities in this story. Girolomo Riario, Duke of Imola as well as now, controlling Forli, is one actor and two of the cities. Ferdinand I, was king of the not-so small Naples, the pope Sixtus IV was at Rome, the Venetians in Venice. So who was left? Ercole d'Este I was proclaimed Duke of Ferrara in 1471 by Pope Paul II though the duchy had already been in his family for centuries. It was situated as it was at the head of the delta of the river Po that drained into the head of the Adriatic, and was nearly surrounded by salt marshes. Not just any salt marshes but the ones where Venice had held the salt mine monopoly for centuries. By the time Girolomo Riario took Forli, Ercole d'Este had been slowly taking parts of this area for ten years and Venice would turn around and take it back. 

I say 'took' Forli, but in fact, Riario gained it through marriage by wedding Caterina Sforza, an arrangement set up as a generous gift of the Duke of Milan for his daughter's dowry and condoned by his uncle, pope Sixtus IV, Francesco della Rovere. When they were married, Riario became not just the husband of the daugter of the Duke of Milan, but also ruler of Forli as well as Imola, perfectly placed to halt any actions by the duke of Ferrara with regard to the salt marshes. 

This was potentially important not least of which because Duke Ercole d'Este was married to the daughter of the king of Naples, Ferdinand I of the House of Aragon. It was possible that if Bologna stayed neutral and Venice could be enlisted to help, that Ferrara and the salt mines could be crushed in between Riario in the south and Venice's force in the north. And with the right outcomes, Rome could extend their papal lands as well as a firmer peace with Venice and not have to worry about Naples or his forces intervening. That was the theory.

So it was one of those consequential footfalls when everyone heard the story of a priest in Ferrara that was jailed there by the Venetian visdomino in 1481 for not paying a debt. Somebody had to look after the interests of Venetians in Ferrara as anywhere else so, as in many other places, a visdomino -- 'force-master' -- was placed in these various places to make sure Venice or, at least her representative could have a say in the day to day happenstance that might come up. Like a foreign consulate or embassy, the visdomino could be a real help to those Venetians abroad and distressed. Not this time. The vicar of the bishop of Ferrara excommunicated the visdomino from the Republic of Ferrara and threw him out of the city.

Word spread and very soon the lists of antagonists formed up.

The pope and Girolomo Riario took the side of Venice, but so did Genoa and the Marquis de Montferrat showing France's interest in the matter.

Ferrara and Ercole d'Este of course was aided by his brother-in-law Alfonso II son and heir to the king of Naples and recent victor over the Turks in Otranto, so a seasoned captain. But the allies and other friends of Ferrara quickly grew and agreeing to be led by Federico da Montefeltro included neighbors like Ludovico il Moro, duke of Milan, Federico Gonzaga of Mantua and Giovanni Bentivoglio of next-door Bologna.

From the outset, the conflict was dominated by Venice who in a few months had taken the area around the works at Commachia and laid siege to Ferrara.

Alfonso II of Naples -- at this time the duke of Calabria -- had approached from the south but was soundly defeated by Roberto Malatesta the lord of Rimini commanding the Venetian forces. On August 17, 1482 Rovigo had capitulated to Venice, but on August 21, Alfonso barely escaped with his life and the Battle of Campo Morto  near Velletri went in the history books as a major loss for the prestige of Naples. But Malatesta had caught fever in the swamps so it is said, as did so many in that season of war and he died in September.

The pope it is said, was shocked at the advancement of Venice and began insisting they stop their attacks. They refused and continued their siege of Ferrara. By early summer of 1483, the pope had reversed position, put an interdict on the Republic of Venice, and had already finalized a peace treaty with Naples in December '82.

The siege in Ferrara dragged on though and Venice wrote to the new king of France, Charles VIII asking, that if he might want to come take his undeniable inheritance of Naples, now might be a good time to do it. It took him ten years. The war up north meanwhile was good for the della Rovere family and it's hold on Rome too as many longtime adversaries were at least partly overcome, like the Orsini, and Colonna families in Rome. Out in the field, Alfonso's army began ransacking Visconti and Sforza strongholds and Venice was caught up in it as well attacking Milan's fortresses. Everyone seemed distracted.

In 1484 negotiations sprang anew and by August a peace treaty was signed. The treaty of Bagnola was a victory for Venice. She got to keep Rovigo, much of the Po delta and was welcomed back into the church. Ercole d'Este could rebuild his city into something stronger and after such a great humiliation, in time, he could carry more dignity. He would stay neutral in the Italian Wars for the rest of his life and be a patron of the arts and correspond with Savonarola. He died at the age of 74 leaving his city to his son who in turn ruled it for thirty years. So Ferrara besieged, nearly dismantled would continue.

Five days after the treaty of Bagnola, Sixtus IV died after complaining that he didn't get to agree on a final version and that the treaty was too lenient on Venice. Lord Norwich repeats the one about Sixtus IV, sick in bed received word of the treaty and called it 'full of disgrace and confusion.'  Girolomo Riario retreated in time to Imola and Forli. His wife temporarily took and held Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome after Francesco's death for safe-keeping and stayed there until she got word that her husband's assets were still intact.  It was only then that she herself returned to Forli where she then became legend as the last independent Lady of Forli. Her own story really is a great one -- if we only knew. Girolomo himself, the last of those Pazzi conspirators against the de'Medici still left alive, was assassinated in Forli in 1488. Caterina continued to defend her city. After her death, both Imola and Forli fell into Spanish possession.

In 1485 Ferdinand I king of Naples suffered a revolt at the hands of his nobles. The rebellion was crushed and the conspirators after having been promised amnesty were killed. The last ten years of his life were not peaceful and the negotiations with Milan and Pope Alexander VI may have wore him out as he died before Charles VIII of France could try and take him. Don Ferrante was 70 years old and had been king of Naples for nearly 36 years.

Three men, the king of Naples, the Duke of Ferrara and the duke of Imola, Captain General of the pope. Three cities, Ferrara, Imola, Forli, a pope and Venice.

Acqua Alta, War Reports: Sanudo Diaries: November 16, 1517, 1509

In addition to fighting in Syria, Gaza, Israel, the strikes all over Europe this week and the economic instability underlying the entire region, they have also been hit by some very big storms. Floods are reported all over but especially in Italy and Venice that here at the end of the week are said to begin to recede. The Atlantic has a big bunch of photos this week at their blog.

So today in Sanudo's Venice two reports on two occasions, both of the same day and both relating to our present circumstances: bad weather and war reports.

Editor's note: "...like all urban blights, they were harder on the poor than on anyone else. Sanudo described such an acqua alta in 1517:" p. 328.

Sanudo Diaries: November 16, 1517: (25:84); "Monday morning, the 16th. Because it rained heavily during the night and in the morning, and there was a high sirocco in the morning, about tierce the water rose very high in the city, the highest it has been in many years. The Piazza San Marco on the Grand Canal side and Rialto and all the walks were full of water. It was almost impossible to move about on land and even more so by boat because of the bridges, except that by boat one could travel over some flooded fondamente. It was terrible to see the water continually rising, which it did until the twentieth hour. If the wind had not been blowing against the tide,[the opposite of Sandy and the eastern seaboard in our day] no doubt it would have been much higher. In the memory of living man it had never been so high.  The high water ruined many wells, with damage, it is said, of ten thousand ducats. It destroyed much merchandise in warehouses, especially ashes. [Editor's footnote: "Ashes were used in the manufacture of soap.] and other goods. In many houses of poor people, everything on the ground floor was flooded, inflicting great damage. It is likely that this flood will give rise to many diseases in the city, which God forbid. In my courtyard, although it is elevated, there was more than a foot and a half of water. By the twenty-second hour the water had returned to normal, and one could walk everywhere in Venice. I wanted this to be noted and remembered."

nedits: But the city had more than a city to worry about... and it had developed a complex system of local loyalists who were constantly being trained at home and sent abroad to run their empire.

Editor's note: "For the purpose of governing these extended territories, the patrician class itself was not wanting in military and naval skill.  The Venetian system of commissaries or proveditors connected the governing class to the practical details of military matters, including such decisions on fortifications as were made above. A high degree of professionalism was achieved  by these civilian proveditors. They liaised with commanders of infantry and men-at-arms. They recruited spies, detected traitors, saw to the billeting and feeding of troops, and above all were the information network of the Venetian government. In the spring of 1509, at the time of Agnadello, Venice had thirty-seven proveditors in the field. Sixteen of them became prisoners after that battle. Such dangers were real. ... In addition to the dangers, the proveditors had to deal with the continuous shortage of funds. "Money is needed" was their incessant plea. There were also the difficulties and discomforts of daily military life, frequently described in the proveditorial disaptches. On November 16, 1509, Sanudo summarized five letters from ser Piero Marzello, proveditor general, sent to ser Bernardo Donado from Noale, in the Trevisano, and Vicenza (9:314-9). Two letters written on November 11 vividly describe the delay of a reconnoiterer because he had only a "bad and exhausted horse," the lack of money to pay the crossbowmen and stradiots, German plans to sack the territory, the population in full flight. Then came a letter written on November 13, which Sanudo records a few days later:" pp. 90-1

Sanudo Diaries: November 16, 1509; (9:316-7); "...yesterday morning, at the twelfth hour, he had left Noale with his men, in such a downpour as destroyed the world, and that by evening he had arrived at Camisano. There he was poorly lodged, and without food until the night, and he had to sleep on a bench, as he would also have to do this night. They had hoped to enter Vicenza but had remained outside the city. And since this morning, November 13, when they left Camisano, where they hjad been billeted, itself eighteen long miles from Noale, they had ridden all day, soaked, in their armor, without food or drink, without dismounting until dark, deprived of every comfort. Having arrived this morning, they went on until they were under the city walls with the light cavalry and infantry. Finally, not seeing any sign of an agreement, which they had hoped to see, they decided to draw the artillery up to the Borgo San Piero gate, which faces Padua. And after many rounds of cannon and falconeti [guns] had been fired, and the first gate of the guardhouse destroyed, and a breach made in the wall, some infantry jumped inside. They were rebuffed, and many were killed. And when night finally came, Lactantio da Bergamo stayed there with part of the infantry and light cavalry, and the captain of the infantry was sent to the Pusterla district with the rest of the infantry and light cavalry. All day their proveditors -- some on one side and some on the other -- were exhorting [the men to fight], under a rainstorm so heavy that it dispersed the infantry and men-at-arms. It was a pitiable sight."

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

news from 15nov12

On Monday I put up a post  'Report from the New World'. It now has an update linking to the very letter that don Cortes wrote to Emperor Charles V in translation and the ambassador gave a synopsis that Sanudo recopied...

Big week of strikes in Europe against austerity measures, a fast minute of audio from marketplace; there are links to other pieces on this today

in wake of Hurricane Sandy, marketplace provides a series of pieces on recovery of Joplin, MO

Alistair Cooke has a couple remembrances of Americans, courtesy of the BBC and here is the archive currently available

New treason law in Russia puts handcuffs on much we call freedom here, from Al Jazeera

New leader in China Xi Jinping for the next decade is all over the bbc overnight. Lots of people talking about this.

BP has pled guilty and will pay the largest fine ever in response to the BP gulf spill of 2010, over $3 billion

On Friday, it seems official that Europe has slipped into it's second dip on this recession. In Washington all talk is on avoiding the fiscal slope. After years of saying they will get rid of Obama and THEN deal with the messes they've made, Republican partisans remain in denial about their role and what to do now. The Pres and Congress say we need to do some things but not what to do. So R leadership whine about Benghazi and fight amongst themselves and yell at the pres and start over the same the next day.

The whole front page of firedoglake has updated clear analysis on much of that.

Syria takes second seat to Israel and Palestinian trading rocket fire. Eighteen Palestinians killed, IDF announces attacks by twitter.

Emperors and Extant Venice 1518: Sanudo Diaries: November 13, 1518, 1521

Only a year after the Sultan's ambassador Ali Bey had come and gone from Venice, a report came in from Venice's holdings in the east.

Sanudo Diaries: November 13, 1518 (26:200); "This morning Janus di Campo Fregoso, a condottiere in our army, came before the Collegio. He returned yesterday from an inspection tour of Corfu, Candia [Crete], and Napoli di romania [Nauplion] whose purpose was to determine how best to fortify those cities against all eventualities. He sailed as far as Istra on the galley commanded by ser Bernardin Taiapiera. Reporting on what he had seen, he concluded that those cities can be fortified at little expense and that if their inhabitants want to hold them, particularly against the Turks, they will be able to do so, especially if a strong armada is available. He went on to report on all the important things he had seen. The doge, with a pleased expression, thanked him for the trouble he had taken, saying that he should talk to the savi and remind them of what was needed."

nedits: There were lots of places that Venice felt needed tending even at this late date. Our editor's make it plain.

Editor's footnote: "The shape of the Terraferma was, in the words of one Venetian military commander in 1579, 'long and narrow... nothing but frontier', that of the stata del Mara, as the sea possessions were called, was 'a series of clusters of islands and ports ending in two widely spaced and weighty pendants, Crete and Cyprus.' Mallet and Hale ,1984, 412, 428." p. 89

Editor's note: "Beyond its preservation of the peace, prosperity, and integrity of the city and its canals, the government of Sanudo's day attended to a great empire. In the early sixteenth century it stretched from Crete, Cyprus, and the Morea (Peloponnesus) [aka Nauplion, Greece] in the east to Brescia, Cremona, and Bergamo in the west. In addition, the Adriatic litoral was for the most part in Venetian hands, as were certain pockets in Lombardy, Romagna, and Apulia. This disparate collection of territories was administered by Venetian civil, military and ecclesiastical personnel and ruled by a system that was both centralizing and relatively tolerant of local custom and style. It was a dominion acquired over time, and each territory, with its own character and problems, challenged the Venetian administrative systems." pp. 88-89

"... when the proposal was made to fund these fortifications [in Crete, Cyprus, Nauplion] with monies taken from funds established to fortify Padua, Verona, and Brescia, it was much debated. It was only passed after the argument was made that the fortifications of Padua, Verona, and Brescia "did not matter so much, for there was nothing to fear from the emperor [Maximilian I who would die in a couple months], with whom there is a truce. And anyway, no other funds were available to aid [in the fortification of Corfu, Candia, and Napoli di Romagna] but these" (26:228)." p. 89.

nedits: Maximillian I did die in January 1518 and for Venice it was a relief. He had been a royal pain as far as Venice was concerned. In 1509 he took Padua. Just the previous year, 1517 had Venice taken back her traditional holdings on Terraferma from Max's armies. The war had lasted nearly ten years. Many internal changes had to turn over and then evolve and she remained heavily in debt. But north Italy was essentially split between France and Venice at this time. What she didn't know was that the next emperor Charles V would not overtly be bothered with Venice. He had bigger ambitions and succeeded and surpassed most of them and then retired from office in 1558.

By the time of Charles V accession as Holy Roman Emperor, after the death of Maximillian, he had been King of Aragon and Castile, with his mother crazy Queen Joanna for two short years. In that short time he had to convince the Spanish he could be their king. A no small task for a youth of sixteen who was raised most of his life in Germany and Burgundy. But by the time he entered the world stage he seemed quite ready. 

Another famous monarch, in 1515, the day after he turned twenty-one, Francis I of France took Milan after beating the Swiss troops hired to protect it by Ludovico Sforza, last Duke of Milan. Francis and his forces had swooped down over the alps in the spring and at the small burned out town of Marignano, Italy some 15 km south of Milan met the Swiss forces and broke their packed lances again and again. The battle lasted through the night with neither side giving ground until the following mid-morning when Venetian forces arrived under Bartolomeo d'Alviano who arrived and shattered the last resistance. The famous Swiss halberds ran away. For Francis I, Venice and France it was a huge victory. 

By comparison, in 1522 Charles V took Milan back from France and in 1525, Charles took the king of France, himself. Francis I was captured in Padua at the famous battle there. That was to end the designs of France in Italy and Charles, as son of Maximillian and King of Spain and Aragon meant he was king of Naples as well as emperor in Holland and the Lowlands and Germany and Hungary too. He had to quell revolts in Holland but then turned and spent the remaining years losing but then stopping the Turkish sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent. eventually, at Vienna in 1529. Busy guy.

This is a good place to mention Padua as the seat of the University that Venice was protector for and provider of necessaries. Proud of it if even they couldn't pay for it. Between the many wars Venice did encourage Padua in her academic pursuits.

Sanudo Diaries: November 13, 1521: (32:132); "In the morning there were no letters of any importance, nor any noteworthy events. Ser Marin Zorzi, university laureate, appeared before the Collegio dressed in black velvet to make his report. He has just returned from being podesta of Padua, having been replaced Sunday by ser Piero Marzello. First [he spoke] about justice and the procedures of that palace, complaining that the [state] attorneys prevented justice from being done by suspending sentences. [this remained a widespread problem at all her holdings].... He spoke of the university and the quality of the professors, describing it as a flourishing and excellent university more so than it has been for many years, with a good number of students, among whom are twenty noblemen who maintain retinues of twenty, thirty and forty persons apiece. He spoke a little about the fortifications and the city.... He was praised according to custom by the doge in the usual way."

Editor's footnote: "The Palazzo della Ragione, the seat of the Venetian government in Padua, where judicial procedures were administered by a variety of local and Venetian bodies." p. 453

_________________________________________________________________________________

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

Report From the New World: Sanudo Diaries: Nov 10, 1522

On November 10, 1522 Marin Sanudo recopied a letter from their Spanish ambassador giving a report on a description of the New World.  How much this letter gets right I really don't know. But how fascinating to get such a ringside seat of such amazing news! Remarkable!

"Most Serene Doge, etc. The emperor having received news of the Indies in the past few days from individuals who have returned from the region, including items worthy of being brought to Your Serenity's attention, I will not fail to communicate them to you. May Your Excellency know, then, that the visitor is don Hernando Cortes, the governor of His Majesty on the island of Cuba; it is he who in past years discovered Yucatan and sent to His Majesty several presents offered by the people of Yucatan as a token of their obeisance. They included a sun made of gold and a moon made of silver and some other gifts, of which Your Excellency was informed by our most worthy procurator, the then ambassador Corner, in his letters. After landing, Cortes contained his journey and discovered that Yucatan, which he had believed to be an island, was joined to the mainland, which continued on to the west. He penetrated the interior and discovered various cities and castles inhabited by peoples of a higher level of civilization than have heretofore been encountered. He then arrived in a city named Tlascala [Editor's footnote: In Yucatan, spelled Scalteza by Sanudo", p 199], which is governed communally and which is a very large city. They are at war with a prince whom I will name below, who claims to have jurisdiction over that city, while the people wish to be free. Cortes and his men having arrived there, as I said, they soon persuaded the people, for the reasons I have given, to pledge obedience to and recognize [as their sovereign] the present Holy Roman Emperor, since the Spanish told them that His Highness was ruler of our world. The Spanish then penetrated more than sixty leagues into the interior, where they found a lake with a circumference of sixty leagues; its water is salty and rises and falls, as do most seas. In the middle of that lake they discovered a very large city called Temistitan, which they said had more than 40,000 hearths. Its ruler is that great prince I mentioned above who claimed to have jurisdiction over Scalteza; he is the lord of more than one hundred leagues of land all around this area. He is held in awe by all of his subjects and is scrupulously obeyed. The inhabitants are very civilized except in the matter of religion, because they worship pagan gods and make human sacrifice to them. Moreover, they are set in the following custom: when they go to war against their enemies, they eat all of those who die in battle.

Their homes are comfortable and nicely decorated with cloths made of cotton that they use for their garments. They have a great quantity of gold, which they do not use as coins; rather, they revere it and use it to make a variety of ornaments. All of their commerce is conducted by bartering one item for another. However, for small items that they need to buy and that are not easily obtained by bartering, they employ as currency a small fruit similar to an almond that is rare. This city and its prince is surrendered to the Spanish when they arrived. However, when the majority of the Spanish had left, they rose up in rebellion and killed those who remained, eating them as is their custom. When the Spanish captain don Hernando Cortes learned of this, he dispatched many Spanish with artillery and many citizens of Tlascala, who were enemies of Temistitan. They recaptured it, and the prince resumed his obedience to the emperor.

The inhabitants of the island described above eat bread made of Indian grain and meat and drink a potion similar to beer. They do not have an alphabet, but write the most important things with pictures of animals or other things, in the manner used by the ancient Egyptians. These characters, however, are not adequate for all matters. This is all that they related about those islands.

It was later said by the Spanish that they received letters [from their explorers] who remained there about how they traveled so far that they came to the sea, although they did not specify whether the sea they found was on the west or on the south. Then on the sixth of this month there arrived in Sybilliis [Seville, Spain] one of the five ships that the Spanish king had sent three years ago to discover the spice routes with several Portuguese who had fled from the most serene king of Portugal.... They returned by the Portuguese route, the eastern route, thus they went entirely around the world, as will be explained more clearly and completely to Your Serenity in the letters. They brought 600 hundredweights [cantere] of cloves and samples of every other kind of spice. 

September 24, 1522 in Valladolid."

Here's a link to an English translation of don Cortes' Second Letter to Emperor Charles V, conveniently at the Jesuit University of New York, Fordham .edu.

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

more news from 08-10nov12

make the banks public utilities, this would solve the problem of prices as 35-40% of what we spend goes to pay... interest charged by the banks.

mathbabe tells off Ghietner and SEC, in a formal statement

Petraeus resigns, twitterverse goes nuts, right-wing loses grip on sanity and the Benghazi CIA testimony next week gets given to a deputy who will act as director of spooks. scary, huh?

center right media increase the circle of dissent on Romney loss, npr, 4 minute audio

JK Galbraith says it's a phony debt scare, so who's telling Boehner, and McConnell different?

Here's a place where people can donate money for blankets for people on east coast. I'll happily vouch for these folks.

David Dayen says it's getting hotter in Australia as court rules S&P liable for bad ratings 

Report on Jailing of journalists in Turkey after two years of the continuing practice, npr, 4 minute audio

RIAB: radio in a box, fwd base Shank, Afghanistan, npr, 4 min audio

alert levels around the world

making a new city with Paul Romer in Honduras, on planet money , 20 minute audio

Feast of St Teddy Disrespect; A Turkish Dragoman; That View from the Bell Tower - Sanudo Diaries: November 7,1517

nedits: Antonio Contarini strikes again! St. Theodore needed to be remembered (yes, that's him stabbing an aligator on top of a column in the center left of the Piazza San Marco). Year after year this founding Saint wasn't getting enough praise so the city had to act. His relics were kept in San Salvador that by 1519 was still being rebuilt...

Sanudo Diaries: November 8, 1519: (28:57); "Noting that the feast day of Saint Theodore, who was the first protector of this city and whose body is in San Salvador, has not been observed, with shops staying open, the Signoria has on this day made a public proclamation that according to the law passed on another occasion, and with the penalties therein described, the day [of November 9] shall be a holiday, and the shops may not be opened, under penalty of twenty-five lire and other penalties, including excommunication, as our reverend patriarch has ordered."

Editor's note: "The first attempt to restore Theodore's feast day seems not to have been effective, since the order had to be given again the next year...."  p. 395.

nedits: Sanudo also treats us to a description of the longtime ambassador of the Turk Ali Bey that he calls Alibe and our editor's call a dragoman, a 'professional interpreter'. It is but forty years later than this portrait by Gentile Bellini. But should give a good idea, we think. This his second official trip to Venice was to collect the tribute promised by Venice for the Ottoman Turk for defending Venice's interests in Cyprus against the Turk enemy, the Mamluks. This tribute was also for the loss Venice incurred in 1503 when they were effectively thrown out of the eastern Mediterranean, at last. Now years later the Turks want to renew the treaty and receive tribute but Venice was under many obligations... sometimes the long view was more effective.

Sanudo Diaries: November 7, 1517 (25:72-3);  "This morning Alibei, the interpreter and ambassador of the sultan, arrived. Several elderly patricians were sent on barges to meet him, [along with] the heads of the Forty and the savi ai ordeni, to increase the size of the group, for of the many who were ordered to meet him twelve were absent. He was wearing a dolman of crimson velvet and a tunic of cloth of gold with a sable lining, part of his entourage were dressed in silk, and part in scarlet. He has with him only seven men, however.... The doge spoke gracious words to him of the good peace that our Signoria wants to maintain with his lord, saying that he respects his lordship more than all the others in the world and that he hopes that his lord has the same attitude toward our Signoria. He also hopes that, should something happen, [Ali Bey] would intercede to put things right with his lordship, and he also said other things. He said that we are writing to our baylo to say that in the matter of the debt of Niclolo Zustinian the Signoria has no obligations, because he [Nicolo] does not have an [official] contract, as has our baylo, but has his own business undertaking, etc. "

nedits: The Editors note that ser Zustinian had previously been their bailo in 1514 and I have to assume, bailo of Cyprus, because they're not explicit. But if Sanudo is to be believed, it is here that he refers to a kind of sleight-of-hand by the doge. Passing off a previous annual debt to the Turks by saying the person involved in that is no longer in their charge or under contract is almost identical to "He doesn't work for us anymore so anything he agreed to we won't stand by." How this may or may not be different from how things were or were not before this, or even if this interpretation is at all correct, I'm not certain. I'd like to know more. The transcript then takes a more detailed turn.

Sanudo Diaries: November 7, 1517 (25:72-3); "Ali responded in part through the interpreter and in part on his own, for he knows Latin, saying that he will undertake every favorable office with his lord and that he wants to maintain the good peace. He touched on the idea that it would be wise to renew [the treaty] now, then took his leave. He was accompanied by the same gentlemen, and when the weather is right he will leave. His expenses have been taken care of, great friendship is being shown to him, and great honors have been paid him. He is a shrewd man and an evil one, and wherever he goes he spies for his lord.

Apropos of this, I wish to record that last Saturday , the last day of October, he wanted to climb the Bell Tower to see the city of St Mark from it, saying that it had been so well restored. The savi ai ordeni were sent to accompany him, and a collation of the malmsey wine and confections, etc. was prepared for him, and off he went. Once he was up there, he asked how one could approach the city by sea. He was told that it could be done with large ships by way of the two castles but that the port, or the channel, did not stay in the same place, that seasoned pilots were brought along to plumb it continuously, and that at times it represented a danger to ships and galleys and other large vessels. And he said, "If my lord came with 300 galleys to this port and armed the boats with good artillery, he would come inside." The savi ai ordeni said, "And then what? The inhabitants of the city would be there to oppose you." Then he said, "But couldn't you come by way of Chioza [Chiogga]?" He was told that that would only work with small boats because of the shoals. Then he asked how far away dry land was, and he was told five miles to Liza Fusina and Mergera [Marghera]. Next he asked, "Don't your enemies come?" And he was told that they did. Then he asked, "Why don't they advance with their artillery loaded on rafts?" and he said, "When my lord goes on expedition, he has so many people with him that if each one carried just one bundle of sticks, he could make a bridge that would reach the city." The answer given to him was, "Those who would be defending the city would not let them get close, and ten would be enough against one hundred." Then he asked where Friuli was, on what side. It was shown to him. He remarked that one could ride horseback to a distance of only five miles from the city. And the savi ai ordeni said, "My lord ambassador, we are telling you that in this recent cruel war [of the League of Cambrai], in which all the kings of the world joined to defeat Venice, not a single man of this city died. Everything was accomplished with money and the deaths of foreign soldiers, and this city is still as packed as an egg with people, nor is it possible to conquer it," and other such words. Then they came down from the Bell Tower."

Editor's footnote: "There is no better example of Venetian triumphalism than this, turning the disastrous experience of Agnadello and the grueling recovery of Venice's Terraferma empire into a paean of self-praise.... Ali Bey's questions justify Sanudo's declaring him a spy.. More than a decade later, Sanudo disapproved of taking Turks up into the Bell Tower unless the tide was high enough to hide the channels (27 September 152, 39:479)" pp. 215-6.

______________________________________________________________________________________

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

news from 08nov12; Aquinas pivot, 'material harm'

After midnight 08nov12,

fatster pointed me to an article that's right along the lines that 

I've been saying for years but now The Atlantic Monthly says it, too.

listened to marketplace today and the host asks a good question,

how do we feel about all this money in politics?

and double WOWOW: Angela Merkel in Brussels says they have to change the nature of the EU in order to save it!

and meanwhile, we're just finding out about more lost funds over there now?

This is a fire that looks like it needs to be frontpaged at least

CBO and CRS says losing Bush tax cuts for wealthiest won't have a dampening effect on economy. Studies of 65 years of data say so. Let's just say it, they don't want to see a success in Obama column.

Shiela Bair says Congress should be a pay for performance deal., hilarious!

well now, this may be newsworthy. The US Int'l Trade Commission affirmed that China has done material harm to the US solar panel market by dumping onto our market far more cheaper models and swamping US market for those. Steep tariffs are now in order. It jumped out at me because of ... Solyndra etc. and the solar panel market as a whole in the US but also with the term, the phraseology of 'done material harm'.

WOW man! That brings me back.

Ten years ago I was reading this book. The author Phillip Bobbitt explains how legal experts worked out a deal with Phillip II, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain and Holland and much else. It was he that insisted on there being a just and Christian response to 'material harm'. He could be convinced  it would be enough if that justification was based on Thomas Aquinas and so we are told that the lawyers found ways to do that. For them, the consequence of 'material harm' meant not turning the other cheek but responding with force if necessary. They needed to use government money in this case to pay for ships to transport troops across the Atlantic to combat the heathen hordes in America, of course. The Thomas Aquinas quote: "Unica est et sola justa inferendi bellum, iniuria accepta." There is one and only one just start for war, by receiving injury. It was the loss due to the hazards of transatlantic crossings, disease, as well as indigenous inhabitants that caused the merchants and bankers to need this materielle support. And so they got it.

In modern terms injury is called 'material harm'. Thankfully this is justification for trade war, the tipping point for imposing tariffs, not launching armies. Thankfully. The story from there to here is much longer, but this is how it started.

Also this crept by at the end of the business day,

"Highly Scripted, China Moves To New Leaders" 4 minute audio

Germans want to see their gold buillion in New York! It's been thirty years since they've had an audit.

and how's this for vindication?

No economic damage shown by CBO, CRS for Bush high end tax cuts. They should be repealed. There's some revenue,

Pope Sixtus IV, Francesco della Rovere not a fan of de' Medici family

nedits: This was pope Leo X (1513-21),  Giovanni de' Medici, and he never did get a crusade against the Turks going. But he was the son of the great Lorenzo de' Medici and there was much remaining in Italy to do. Especially for his family and friends. Giovanni was born in 1475 to perhaps the most famous family of Florence. But there were so many characters then.  The following quick story about the attempted Pazzi coup in Florence  in 1478 mentions seven of these powerful families, not including da Vinci, Macchiavelli who were merely observers.

In 1464, Francesco Salviati Riario moved to Rome to become closer to Francesco della Rovere, the future (1471) pope Sixtus IV and his nephews Girolamo and Pietro Riario. This della Rovere who had grown up near Rome had been made Minister General of the Franciscan Order in that year of '64. The famous Francesco della Rovere who taught philosophy and theology at the University of Padua was selected pope in 1471 had a nephew Giuliano della Rovere who was made a bishop and sent to France that year. In quick succession and promotion he was recalled and sent to Rome, where he would serve as cardinal at San Pietro in Vincoli, then Lausanne on Lake Geneva in Switzerland, Coutances in Normandy and even Avignon, France,-- all over through the 1470's. In time he would become pope Julius II. 

But in Rome, then, so strong was the influence by the Salviati and especially the Pazzi of Florence on Sixtus IV that he had become, it is said, nearly desperate to reduce the power and influence of the de'Medici in their region. 

So much so that in 1478, pope Sixtus IV had approved the promotion of Francesco Salviati Riario to become archbishop of Pisa. Florence had taken Pisa in 1406 after Genoa had destroyed their port in 1294. So it was natural for  Florence to think Riario not so suitable a candidate for such a rich see and one so close to de' Medici interests. The de' Medici appealed to Rovere's better angels. The pope let himself be convinced this disapproval by the de' Medici a usurpation of papal privilege and their powers and agreed that something must be done, "so long as that no one be harmed." 

The archbishop of Pisa, Salviati Riario helped lead the charge, says Machiavelli, to overthrow the d' Medici franchise in Florence. He would go to the Palazzo Vecchio, kill the Gonfaloniere, Cesare Petrucci while two of the pope's nephews would seize the leading sons of the de' Medici clan, young Lorenzo and Giuliano. 

As it turned out, none of this happened, Lorenzo escaped and Giuliano de' Medici was stabbed to death. Other conspirators were seized, killed and captured including Francesco Salviati Riario, the archbishop of Pisa who was hung that day by the ensuing mob. Leonardo da Vinci was there and made this famous sketch of one of the other conspirators. 

The mob turned on the Pazzi and Lorenzo de' Medici won the hearts of the people. The pope, Sixtus IV, Francesco della Rovere, was horrified and put an interdict on Florence as all the Pazzi and their relations fled the city. Frederico da Montefeltro with a large contingent of troops lay outside waiting to see what might happen. The pope forbade the inhabitants the privilege of mass and communion and ordered King Ferdinand I of Naples to take protection of, really, to contain Florence if things got out of hand. When things settled down, Lorenzo de Medici, realizing his city was under siege, defied the odds and sped to Naples. There he made a personal appeal to Don Ferrante King Ferdinand I of Naples to end the stranglehold on his city. Ferdinand was absolutely charmed by such bravery, nobility and agreeableness so that Lorenzo came home unaided and unafraid. He was declared savior and Father to his City. 

That was 1478 and Giovanni de' Medici, future pope Leo X was three, it was his uncle who had been killed. His father, protector of the city.

-- 

Pope Leo X wants a crusade against the Turks: Sanudo Diaries: November 6, 1517

nedits: A few notes on one time Venice approved a treaty with the Turks and the time they got ready to go attack the Turks.

Editor's notes: "On October 17, 1513, the Venetians renewed their truce with the Turks, which assured their commercial safety in major Turkish ports and their suzerainty over ports and lands already under Venetian control as well as those it might acquire in the future from other Christian states. It was a long document, dealing with such common concerns as slavery, piracy, debtors, naval encounters, local taxes, and annual tributes and including the promise, on both sides, not to interfere in the wars of the other power as long as attacks were not directed against themselves. Negotiated by the Venetian ambassador Antonio Giustiniani in Adrianople, the treaty was fully accepted by the Venetian government on December 3, 1513.... In November 1514, news of the Turkish victory over the Sophi (the Persian ruler) reached Rome, and the Venetian envoy wrote in cipher to the Signoria describing the pope's reaction:" p.178

Sanudo Diaries November 5, 1514 (19:210): "The pope ... had letters from Ragusa with the copy of the letter from the sultan [signor Turcho] to Constantinople about his victory over the Sophi.... He sent for all the ambassadors and had them read this letter, saying how he had not slept that night because of the bad news for Christianity. He said that we must prepare to defend the faith, and not wait, and that he wanted to unify the Christian princes. Therefore, all the ambassadors are to write to their rulers about this and send a copy of this news and the letters received, and for his part he will use every means to defend the church and will write briefs to all the rulers and send legates, etc...."

Editor's note: "...the Venetian double game, renewing their treaty with the Turks on October 17, 1513, listening to the papal exhortations, and cautioning their ambassador in Rome to steer clear of commitments while at the same time professing their Christian loyalty. It was their standard position, and one that persisted." p. 179

Sanudo Diaries: November 6, 1517 (25:71): "After dinner the Council of Ten met with the zonta. A letter to our ambassador in Rome was composed directing him to avoid attending papal conferences on Turkish affairs. Instead he is to tell him that this state has always fought on behalf of Christianity against the Turks, nor will it ever fail to do so once it sees that the other rulers wish to react with deeds and not just with words, because whenever they begin the enterprise, we will be the first to go."

nedits: This was pope Leo X (1513-21),  Giovanni de' Medici, and he never did get a crusade going. But he was the son of the great Lorenzo de' Medici and there was much remaining in Italy to do. Especially for his family and friends. Giovanni was born in 1475 to perhaps the most famous family of Florence. But there were so many characters then.


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

and one can find it here, 

Which-- Who Was a Pope? What did he do? c. 1455-1549

nedits: There were a dozen popes during the years 1455 - 1549. Nine of them were from Italy. A pair of de Medici, della Rovere and Piccolomini and one Venetian, Pietro Barbo. And a pair from the Spanish family de Borja, one Dutchman, another Genoan and one from near Rome. It was a mix. One of the oldest traditions and problems of Roman Catholicism and Christianity in general was in how to include as many as possible and not break apart into factions. Catholic essentially means 'all together'. Unam Sanctam diversis partibus: One Faith with opposing parts.
Almost in the middle of these years, in 1503 there were three popes. When Alexander VI, Rodrigo de Borja had died there were two forces at play that had immediately to be dealt with. Cesare Borja and Giuliano della Rovere. Both families had become very powerful in Italy over the previous several decades as had the de Medici of Florence and the Sforza in Milan. Of course the Spanish Borgia had been in the papacy and ranging across Italy for nearly a decade. The nephew to the pope, Cesare Borgia acted as knight for his pope taking back Papal lands and a few more by connivance, strategy or siege, sometimes following his uncle's direction and sometimes not but sending knights, nobles, townships and maidens all aflutter off in every direction. A pope had a lot of responsibility in those days.

The copy I have of Burchard's diaries At The Court of the Borgia was edited and translated by one Geoffrey Parker, and published in 1963. He gives a nice summary of the papacy, the office and responsibilities at large. I'll quote from him liberally but in reverse order here.

"Until the closing decade of the [fifteenth] century, the Germans, French and Spanish rulers alike were preoccupied with the internal problems of their own countries, and the most threatening power was that of the Turks, who captured Constantinople in 1453 and pressed into the Balkans and through the Mediterranean in the following years... . " [p.15]

"... conditions in Rome and the Papal State, however, were not dissimilar to those in other parts of fifteenth-century Italy, where to the north,  a number of city-states -- Milan, Venice, Florence -- competed for predominance, whilst in the south, Naples alone gave stability to a more primitive realm. In each territory power rested locally very much in the hands of certain individuals or families. The condottiere or military adventures, who were employed with their mercenary armies by the city governments, and often by the papacy itself, served only to augment political rivalries and uncertainties.... the Italians could indulge their internal differences in repeated wars, where the aim was to avoid bloodshed rather than to kill, only because they were threatened by no greater foes outside." [pp 14-5]

"From the time of Eugenius IV (1431-1447), the pope exercised decisive and final government in Rome through the city governor, who was the papal vice-chamberlain and an ecclesiastic. Beyond the city walls, however, in the various lands of the Papal State, direct control was far less widely maintained, and instead, numerous local lords or barons governed particular districts and towns theoretically as Vicariates in the pope's name." 

"Territorially the city [of Rome] had to be protected, and the progressive extension of papal control around Rome had been a long development through the Middle Ages. The pope as a result was the sovereign ruler of Rome and claimed to govern various lands -- the Patrimony of St Peter, the Duchy of Spoleto, the March of Ancona, and the Romagna -- which stretched across central Italy and together comprised the Papal States.... Papal claims to jurisdiction over all these petty states existed, but were ignored whilst the pope could not raise an army or give effective power to any commander appointed as Gonfalonier or Captain-General of the Church. Real influence and control were disputed amongst the great families, such as the Colonna or Orsini, whose feuds could sometimes lead to domination of the Vatican itself." [p. 14]

"... it is both possible and important to attempt to place Alexander VI's pontificate in a wider perspective. What character, for example, did the papacy possess in the fifteenth century, how was it related to Rome and to Italy and Christendom beyond Rome, and what evaluation can in consequence be made about the Borgia episode?

The first essential is to realize that papal authority had meaning in more than one sense, for the pope, as head of a spiritual society, the Church, not only asserted a universal authority over all christians, lay as well as clerical, but also stood out as a territorial ruler with his capital at Rome in Italy.... Symbolically and traditionally, Rome held a unique, supreme position since its church was that of St Peter, to whom, as Vicar of Christ, the government of the whole christian community had been granted, and whose successor the pope was...." [pp 13-4]

In the fifteenth century not every pope had a mercenery captain-general to maintain territorial order. Alexander VI did with his nephew Cesare Borgia and did for nearly ten years. But so did Giuliano della Rovere, pope Julius II. It would become known as the beginning of the period of the Renaissance Italian wars and it would help make Spain the new heir for the next period of European history.

* All  quotes from At The Court of the Borgia, edited and translated by Geoffrey Parker, The FOLIO Society, Ltd, London, 1963

Inside Games; news from 02Nov2012

So it comes to this:

Republicans can't handle the truth  of own Congressional Research arm when it intervenes with  a 'dissenting reality'. And that's about false claims of tax cuts creating jobs, the core of the right's economic argument. Quite literally. Could not be a more telling indictment of Congress' inability to act on the eve of this national election and as for the state of this nation.

Unless you consider this.

and that's just the NYT... the bbc is in the game at least briefly about voting suppression 2 min audio

and cnbc reports on finance,

Big banks agree to hold more capital in common and at a higher percentage than before according to cnbc...

Another insider game noticed this week, here by the Washington Post: Big CEO's war over tax raises and spending or just possible spending amidst drastic cutbacks in a strange new gambit with or without sequestration. Congress should get credit for this fiasco. All of Congress.

Dave says

In times of disaster, privateers see opportunity to buy low and build on shifted sands;

or this, where Ohio just lost 30,000 of it's voters 'due to a computer glitch'. Really now?

But people still take care of people. where they can even without the big bucks. Go Occupy Sandy!

descendant of Fletcher Christian goes down with HMS Bounty in wake of Hurricane Sandy

I should also say I've spent a lot of time on twitter this week following the ramp up for Sandy, it's approach, destruction - mostly Manhattan - and rescue efforts and relaying of damages, pics etc, Very interesting.
____________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, a couple books will begin this other area I need to go into - not side trips, maybe the most important. First, found The Book of the Courtier in one of those college town used bookstores with rows of stacks all over back in 2008. It was my period of study and I knew I would need it. It was a penguin classic so I knew the translation would be at least decent for english. I looked at the date it was supposed to be and shelved it. Also, a month or so ago I began reading this other FOLIO abridgement of Burchard's famous document At the Court of The Borgia which covers the period at Rome and Italy for 1493-1503.

Finally started to look at 'The Courtier' last week. Today I looked it up on the internet.  Found this delightful comment by a guy, Jay Rudin on amazon as a review where he calls it 'Essential to understanding people in 16th century' of Europe:

"Wouldn't it be great if several people had gathered together in one of the 16th century Italian states to hash out exactly what was proper behavior for a gentle person at that time and place? And wouldn't it be better if they were led by a gracious lady who demanded that they stay on track? And wouldn't it be helpful if somebody had written down what was said, so that we could read it? And wouldn't it be wonderful if the book earned praise all over Europe at that time, so we'd know that its teachings were generally accepted? And wouldn't it be convenient if it were currently in print in English translation?

They did. We can. It is."

Great! So there's that to look at. Also, Johann Burchard gives a first person, organizer's eye view of the Borgia papacy at our pivotal time. So careful are his observations you wonder what he might miss at all. It is a strange office as Master of Ceremonies that he held for that position of papal organization. He did it all it seems as upholder of tradition and sanctity, maintaining tradition in the wake of this different kind of family so used to having their way. This was the second time in recent memory that a member of the Borgia family from Spain would hold the papacy. Also there would be a couple de Medici and a couple della Rovere family members.  Then there were a couple Piccolomini too , Pius II and III who both were buried in Rome, here. And that is near the Pantheon in the neighborhood of Sant Eustachio. But since Burchard talks about Rodrigo Borgia and The Courtier includes the della Rovere as compatriots we can turn at last to look at Rome and Naples as first tier contestants over the future of Italy.