some more news mid-jan2014

A longer form interview with former US Department of Defense Secretary Robert Gates on npr this morning gave retrospective insight to his focus and priorities. He had been appointed by former US pres Bush and continued into the early years of the Obama presidency. At the time of his appointment, at the height of wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan, Gates was touted as a pragmatic moderate, compared with someone like former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. On the other hand, in contrast with some of Gates' views on say, vice-president Biden's stated views over the last 35 years, Gates sounds much more like a pro-war champion. Another view says Gates was a careerist military man, and wrong about larger views such as ending the cold war. At least there is some discussion, some reflective analysis of views leading to these wars. At least Gates can admit that Bush had engaged in 'wars of choice'.

In other news, Ariel Sharon, former PM of Israel who had been in a medically induced coma for the last eight years, died this weekend. The memorial was today. Called 'the butcher', 'the bulldozer' and worse, former PM Shimon Peres called him 'the shoulder of the state of Israel' today, as his body lay in state outside the Israeli Parliament.

Pope Francis I elected nineteen "new cardinals... from Italy, Germany, Britain, Nicaragua, Canada, Ivory Coast, Brazil, Argentina, South Korea, Chile, Burkina Faso, the Philippines and Haiti."
Found in this AlJazeera article...

Education in Kansas, after suffering cuts for years, could get worse... a link-rich commentary on a current New York times piece. Governor Brownback is expected to speak on this issue at his state of the state speech, Wednesday January 15.

Women probably do have a worse time with terrifying encounters on the internet. Law enforcement seems unable or unwilling to do much to counter these threats.

A great interview on Fresh Air with an expert on servants in manors in Britain c. 1920. 32 min audio

US Navy sailors who served on USS Ronald Reagan, offshore during the earthquakes, tsunami and catastrophic failures of the Japanese Fukushima nuclear plants, have been reporting symptoms of radiation induced sickness, in years since. Scores have come forward and are suing the TEPCO power company, as the Navy is not monitoring their health and US Government says it has no jurisdiction.

Excellent short film, 'El Empleo' reveals inhuman nature of much of our modern technological age. < 7 min animation

UPDATE: marketplace answers why your zipper says 'YKK': they have half the world's business in zippers

Caterina Sforza Holds Her Own and Improves Holdings: 1488-91

The years following the death of Girolamo Riario were uncertain for his widow, Caterina Sforza. But in time, quite patiently, she managed to take complete control of the three most important fortresses of Forli and Imola. This was accomplished by using and placing her own captains into positions of control over each one. Within a couple years she would be master of all three and housed in the strongest, in Forli, with a new lover, Giacomo Feo. This could seem quite a reversal of fortune, coming after the murder of her husband and the capture of her and her remaining family in the spring of 1488. But fortune had little to do with it.

Essential to this reversal was the papal embassy of bishop Savelli and Caterina's guard, Tomasso Feo. He was captain of il Ravaldino, the strongest of the three fortresses in Caterina's domain. He was the one she secretly conspired with to force the Orsini - her would be captors - to at first wait and then negotiate with the papal bishop and eventually, weeks later, to back down [p. 128 - 132]. This larger story with its many turns and reversals is well-captured in Elizabeth Lev's biography The Tigress of Forli [pp. 120-50].

Along the way, although she had gained by the actions of others, in each occasion, she also would find it necessary to, one by one, turn them away. Within the week that the Count was killed, bishop Savelli was sent from Rome with a very small contingent. The people of Forli, desperate for a leader, rallied around the papal embassy sent as soon as the trumpets sounded, announcing the arrival with banners and horses and armed men [p. 127]. This quieted the looters and kept the Orsini at bay, until time that Caterina could gain a brief negotiation with her loyal guard at Ravaldino, Tomasso Feo.
When at last, the bishop forced this encounter, he would be left behind to defend her family, and Caterina was now guarded in the biggest fortress in the region, with her own captain. The Orsi were outraged, as they knew they first needed to oust Caterina and her allies from these central fortresses in the town, if they were to sieze power. They knew she would not cease to conspire some kind of escape, and the bishop meanwhile had given her his word, and so made it his business to protect her heirs, Ottaviano and the others in the other fortress. The Orsinio were right and still more delays were contrived, until which time that soldiers could be sent, from her uncle, Ludovico the duke of Milan.
When the Orsi capitulated at last, Caterina had then to prevent the Milanese troops -her external champions - from looting Forli. This after all, was how soldiers expected to be paid. She could pay them with what little had not already been looted by the Orsini, but she could not allow these Milanese soldiers to loot the property of her townspeople [p. 147]. So she invited the leaders to lunch and shamed them. And they left empty-handed.

The last of these reversals came with her dismissal and replacement of the hero at Ravaldino, Tomasso Feo. Despite his unquestionable devotion to her and crucial help in returning her to power, he knew her too well.
So it was that, in June of 1489, she offered him the hand of her sister Bianca in marriage. She even offered a dowry that included lands in Bosco, but still he would not leave Ravaldino. He had loyalties to the Riario side of the family and remained friendly with Cardinal Rafaello Riario. She knew how the Riario could be and must have felt she needed someone to protect her fortress that was devoted solely to her, and was without those potentially meddlesome ties [p. 161].
One hot day, the following August, Caterina went to il Ravaldino to make a call on her captain of the guard there. She had planted a garden outside the keep and asked if he would like to see it. He hesitated as captain, he was forbidden to leave his post. She insisted, perhaps even lured him, with female charm, according to Andrea Bernardi, out into the grounds and across the courtyard. Tomasso was caught by other guards and thrown in prison for his effrontery and presumption [pp. 161-63].

In his place, Caterina installed Tomasso's younger brother Giacomo as the new captain of Il Ravaldino and she moved in as well. The two stayed there together for the next six years. He was young and strong, uneducated, formerly he looked after the horses. Now he was captain of Il Ravaldino serving the Countess however she wanted. At first the people seemed not to mind. After so many years, the popular and still young Countess had found someone she could at last be happy with. Who could begrudge that? Some did complain and she publicly rebuked them or threw them in prison. And she stayed.

The last of these fortresses, the one protecting Imola, was much easier for her to gain control. The captain there sent her a request for an outrageous sum to fund his continued efforts. She sent him a letter promising the amount was in nearby Modena. He rode off at a gallop to receive it but when he arrived found only a useless letter of credit in his name. When he returned to Imola, he found the place shut up by Caterina's new captain, her stepbrother Pietro Landriani [p. 163].

Barring decption or betrayal from Rome or elsewhere, she could plausibly now rest more easily with all three fortresses held by her trusted henchmen. She was right, and by all external accounts fell in love with her new young captain, Giacomo Feo. They would stay in that fortress for years, and only rarely would she leave Forli, to stay near her young captain.
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all notes, pagination from Elizabeth Lev, The Tigress of Forli: Renaissance Italy's most courageous and notorious countess, Caterina Riario Sforza de'Medici : 2011, USA, Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt Publishing Company

Naples Wanted To Find Agreement With Rome: January 10, 1493

The King of Naples sent his son Don Federigo to visit the new pope in December 1492. This came less than four months after Rodrigo Borja was elected to the papacy in Rome, where he took the name of Alexander VI, that previous August. Relations were strained between the two, as the previous pope Innocent III had tried to extract loaned funds from the aging king for some years. This new pope, despite his attempts to appear friendly toward this offer of homage by the King's son, Federigo, knew he could not show signs of any excess favoritism in this mostly perfunctory offer. It was a complex issue with so many people involved and  thereby, the possibilities for feeling slighted, greatly increased.

The college of cardinals that year to elect this new pope was full of the gifts received from Cardinal Borja, the longtime vice-chancellor, a post he had kept in Rome for thirty-six years. Yes, he was rich, yes, he was well-liked. Yes he kept a number of mistresses and children at his palace.  But it was easier to accept Borja with so much money flowing and he seemed a good manager of people. Even so, there were a few who did not want to particpate in what some would call bribery. Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere (later pope Julius II) was first on that list. Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, the brother to the duke of Milan would accede to Borja's vote but not accept his gift. The cardinal of Naples was not one to take the money that had helped elect cardinal Borja either. But even without such benefices from the Borja candidate, that the wags reported was a sufficient financial coercion overall in the college of cardinals that year, it was hoped the King might still expect a warm welcome for his son, Federigo.

Relations had been strained between Rome and Naples even prior to the salt wars concerning Ferrara, a dozen years before. The present King Ferdinand I of Naples had been at the throne since 1458, when he inherited the seat at the death of his father, as listed in the will. But now the King was nearing seventy years of age and despite the problems and slights occuring between Naples and Rome during his reign, he still hoped for better relations for his successors. There were factions aplenty, in Naples, from Rome, Milan, Venice, from Spain and France. Culturally, Rome and most of Italy looked on Naples as a backwater, though her armies were respected with a wary caution. Such a fearsome army had to be contained or better, controlled, if any of the powers wanted to extend their sway in Italy. And everyone seemed to want that.

Less than ten years before, Naples effectively had attacked Rome and her armies. Girolamo Riario was captain-general then, and Sixtus IV was pope. There was also a time, many years before, Ferdinand had married a princess of the House of Aragon with, then Cardinal Rodrigo Borja, officiating as vice-chancellor of the city (1476). But since then, the last two popes had tried to effect greater control over Naples, ultimately toward the purpose of trying to secure the historical papal lands. Innocent III, the pope who had just died was particularly unhappy the King had not payed his dues the last several years. But he wasn't judged a very good leader in these things.
So it is little surprise that with a new pope, especially one who was seen as so friendly as Cardinal Borja, who had married him after all and, whose uncle (the previous pope Calixtus III) had before that, been the secretary to King Ferdinand's father for so many years, that old king Ferdinand might hope for a new understanding.   It is here where we can turn to Johann Burchard, the pope's Master of Ceremonies to learn just how the chances for such an agreement, amidst official ceremonies, failed to materialize.

Burchard had received word that the King wanted to send an emissary in early December. The new pope had asked his opinion on how to go about receiving such an honored guest seeking to pay homage. Burchard reports that as the pope had recived the Duke of Ferrara earlier that year, so could he receive the emissary from Naples. The King's son could come and kiss the pope's foot and then go to his lodgings. After a few days it could be scheduled for him to come and fulfill the requirements of the official homage ceremonies. But this pope did not want to allow the King's son to come at once upon entering the city by sending a number of cardinals to lead the prince, not to the Vatican, but instead to his lodgings and thus make him wait. But as it turned out, despite being led all through town with this and that entourage, Don Federigo did get to the Vatican and kiss the pope's foot and secure a later audience with him. But this was not enough.

Burchard spends some time on the subject and by his account, the prince left Rome empty-handed. A small group of cardinals, those friendly to Naples were at first denied, and then given permission by the pope to go with Don Federigo. But even they insisted that his entourage should lead the column, the procession of notables through the sometimes narrow and violent streets of Rome, dressed in their finery and jewelery. When they reached the riverside where a galley waited to take the prince back to Naples, the escorting cardinals said goodbye and left without getting off their horses. Burchard said this was on a Thursday, January 10, 1493.
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from Johann Burchard: At The Court of the Borgia translated for english, with introduction by Geoffrey Parker, The Folio Society, Ltd, 1963

news from early jan2014

Fifty years ago US President Lyndon Baines Johnson gave a speech to announce his plan that he called a War on Poverty. The press all reported it here dutifully and commentary sprouted up like flowers. The current president has a new plan, 'promise zones' that he hopes to spread certain benefits to help urban areas, and... yesterday, the other party had a spokesperson, FL Sen Marco Rubio to tell us how the War on Poverty of fifty years ago had failed. He suggested people get married to escape poverty.

A story in the New York Times gave voice to a robbery 41 years ago of a Media, PA FBI office where the burglars took all that offices documents which showed, among other things, the secret COINTELPRO set of policies institued by the bureau. They have finally felt they could come forward and evn proclaim Edward Snowden a whistleblower, not something else. Stunning, a case left unexplained  for oever forty years, suddenly blown way open.

Yesterday was David Bowie's birthday, today is Richard Nixon and Jimmy Page's.

Another case that broke wide yesterday took place in New Jersey. Jon Stewart nails that one, with part two giving the ramifications and a classic rant on New Jersey corruption.. The Governor of that state had a two hour press conference today, when he fired two of his closest aides.

Yesterday was also the third year anniversary that Rep Gabby Gifford was shot in the head by a disturbed young man who opened fire on a gathering in front of a shopping center in Tucson, AZ. There was a ceremony and then later that day, she went sky diving.

But it was reported that Amiri Baraka died today. NPR had a nice piece on him.

If you want some laughs and proof that the masses are smarter than some may think, check out #economyths.

The last couple weeks of last year, I listened to various interviews with the former members of the British Punk legend The Clash. On Boxing Day the three went into a bbc studio with another, using a sped up voice that claimed was Bernie Rhodes, one-time manager. That show expired after a week, but there are several more at the clashblog (scroll down for trhe links). I listen to this site with some frequency online. There are reminescences but much about music and the business, and what it took to be The Clash. A newer band did a cover of one of their older songs in London, a couple months ago. Makes me think the kids are alright.

A View Into Papacy of Alexander VI: The French Armies In Rome, January 8, 1495

It was near the middle of December that the hordes of french troops had arrived at the gates of Rome led by King Charles VIII, in 1494. For days, messengers went back and forth. The Borgia pope Alexander VI was very careful in all his dealings with them. A few days after all the valuables were taken from the Vatican palace and put into safe keeping in Castel Sant' Angelo, around January 6th, this pope and his retinue also retired there for a time. King Charles for his part, made public proclamations forbidding all french forces and their allies and minions from looting or pillaging any property in or around the city. These happened anyway.

Johann Burchard, now in his role as the steadfast master of ceremonies for this his third pope, also gives us a view in his Liber Notarum from inside the city. Compared to what even he had seen before, with tens of thousands of french and other troops in and around the city, this must have seemed a nearly complete military occupation of Rome. Even so, the amount of troops did not ensure security so much as breed its opposite.

"On Thursday, January 8th, the house of Paolo Branca, a Roman citizen, was plundered and pillaged by the French, and his two sons were killed, whilst others, including Jews, were murdered and their homes ransacked. Even the house of Donna Vanozza Catanei, the mother of Cardinal Cesare Borgia, did not escape being pillaged." [p. 106]

The next day several thieves were hung from windows of prominent houses in central Rome. With the pope and several of his closest members of his court in Castel Sant' Angelo, an exterior wall there collapsed. The wall 'from the tower to the gate' according to Burchard, was where the Castel's keeper was on watch, and which crushed him as it fell.  These and many other frights would beset this pope. Yet somehow he kept his cool.

Effectively under siege, pope Alexander VI, Rodrigo Borgia also knew that his office held captive - in this very same Castel in Rome that he himself was now hidden in - Djem, the brother of the current Turkish Sultan. In time, this Borgia pope would use this exalted personage as leverage in his negotiations with Charles VIII. The pope managed to convince Charles that the real reason the french were in Italy, the real dispute, was with Naples, not Rome. But this story came a few days later.
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from Johann Burchard: At The Court of the Borgia translated for english with introduction by Geoffrey Parker, The Folio Society, Ltd, 1963

Alfonso de Borja, secretary to King of Aragon, becomes Pope Calixtus III

Another of Christopher Hibbert's bio romps through history, is one on the Borgia family. Also prominent in the period of what's known as the Italian Renaissance, they were to help set in motion a different degree (and forms of measure) of state control than the various Italian city-states managed amongst themselves. Hibbert has written a number of these and is currently widely cited as a popular historian. His books seem current and the writing style is very easy on the eyes, in that the words cascade so fluidly. It is a polished effort here that impels the reader on and on, as if all the tricks of a salesman were used to cajole the reader into just another page or three. The problem with these widely available shorter secondary sources of great repute and ease of readability is the lack of footnotes. It's really sad. Perhaps, the original editions of his many historical works were published with footnotes. Not this one.

But to Italians of that age, as Spaniards, first of all, the Borgia's were outsiders. The first Borgia pope (in 1455), Alfonso de Borja was, although bishop of Valencia and while considered erudite and intellectual, as well as pious, he was not expected to live long [p. 11]. Similarly, Hibbert explains, he was chosen as someone who was not going to do much to change the papacy, or - conveniently for the power players in Rome - local politics, in any substantial way. In fact, the newly named Calixtus III set out first on a crusade against the Tuks, who recently had taken Constantinople [p. 13]. Hibbert spends less than four pages on this first Borja pope and that in an easy-read larger font. But the language is plain, direct, compelling. Unfortunately, it is not permitted to be quoted directly, so a mere summary or periphrasis of notes is in order.

The Borgias - as it's spelled in Italy... came, they claimed, from the royal House of Aragon. Alfonso de Borja was born in 1378, son of an estate owner at Játiva outside Valencia. He studied, then taught at Lérida; at thrity-eight, was appointed to post of private secretary to his King, Alfonso V of Aragon. He would stay in that job for forty-two years. [p. 12]

As Alfonso was the private secretary to the King of Aragon who became King of Naples (1442), so was Poggio Bracciolini secretary to the popes of the same period. Alfonso de Borja would write frequently to the pope in this period on behalf of his King. For this work, Alfonso was involved in bridging the gaps between King and pope Eugenius IV, who then made him a cardinal in the church [p. 12].

Alfonso, as pope Calixtus III also made Enea Silvio Piccolomini, cardinal of Siena. Piccolomini would become, among other things, one of the greatest chroniclers and diarists of the era [p. 13].

Though Alfonso's extreme age and gout slowed him down, his energy and determination for a crusade surprised many. He sold many artworks that his predecessors had bought for the papcy, stopped many building projects in Rome, and raised taxes in order purchase galleys and muster troops for a crusade.

Of course, the time for a crusade had already arguably passed. Maybe as much as several generations prior to his time in office. But Calixtus III was seen as self-willed and obstinate to many, and many monarchs and leaders in Europe would not comply with sending troops or funds to help his crusade. His belligerence may have helped give him the reputation as a nepotist. Two of his nephews he made cardinal were under thirty years of age. One of these was Rodrigo de Borja. who later became pope Alexander VI. Another nephew, Rodrigo's elder brother was made captain general to the pope, prefect of Rome and governor of the fortress of Castel Sant' Angelo [p. 14].

When Calixtus died, August 6, 1458, riots engulfed Rome. The next election would go to Piccolomini with help from Rodrigo de Borja [p. 16]. His name would be Pius II.
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notes culled from, and pagination from, Christopher Hibbert and Mary Hollingsworth: The Borgias and Their Enemies , Harcourt Inc., Houghton Miflin, Harcourt, Orlando, FL 2008

Brief notes on Cosimo and Lorenzo de Medici

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Capturing Moctezuma: Another Myth Gone Down? late 1519

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Defense Document Offered In Inquisition Case: December 30, 1511

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

"Very Reverend Lords,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

more news late 2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

some news on Christmas Eve, 2013

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

some good news 14dec2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today it snowed in Egypt.

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

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

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

some bad news early dec2013

Some things aren't getting any better.

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

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

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

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

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

A story of Syrian refugees happier in a Turkish jail.

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

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

Marked: Saved on 25nov13

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

early dec2013 ellipsis

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

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

Montezuma Captured: A Nahuatl Remembrance: November 14, 1519

The last great ruler of the Mexica, Motecuhzoma was captured mid-November by Spanish forces in the capital city. The stories of Nahua elders that friar Sahagun put down decades later, give a vivid tangible account.

"When the Spaniards entered the Royal House, they placed Motecuhzoma under guard and kept him under their vigilance. They also placed a guard over Itzcuauhtzin [the lord of Tlatelolco], but the other lords were permitted to depart.

Then the Spaniards fired one of their cannons, and this caused great confusion in the city. The people scattered in every direction; they fled without rhyme or reason; they ran off as if they were being pursued. It was as if they had eaten the mushrooms that confuse the mind, or seen some dreadful apparition. They were all overcome by terror, as if their hearts had fainted. And when night fell, the panic spread through the city and their fears would not let them sleep.

In the morning the Spaniards told Motecuhzoma what they needed in the way of supplies: tortillas, fried chickens, hen's eggs, pure water, firewood and charcoal. Also: large, clean cooking pots, water jars, pitchers, dishes and other pottery. Motecuhzoma ordered that it be sent to them. The chiefs who received this order were angry with the king and no longer revered or respected him. But they furnished the Spaniards with all the provisions they needed -- food, beverages and water, and fodder for the horses." [page sixty-five - sixty-six]

He would no longer be his own master til the end of his days.
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 The Broken Spears: the Aztec account of the conquest of Mexico, translated, edited with an introduction by Miguel León-Portilla, expanded and with a postscript, Boston, Beacon Press, 2006.

Battle of Campo Morto: August 20, 1482

In the spring of 1482, the Venetians began retaking some salt marshes around Commachio. Over the previous dozen years, south of the Po river delta, the duke of Ferrara, Ercole d'Este had, bit by bit, taken over and begun to run what the Venetians had always claimed was their monopoly on salt.  This was seen as a dispute that was also an act of aggression, with two separate claimants.

Alfonso II of Naples, heir to his father's throne, and as the loyal brother of the wife of the Duke, took his army north to defend his sister and brother-in-law. No one to trifle with, after spending the previous year fighting the Turks in southern Italy, he had seasoned troops. But on the road north, he was stopped and not allowed to cross papal lands in order to get close enough to give relief to the embattled Duke. Outraged at this affront to his dignity, Alfonso turned instead to the nearby rich papal lands, near Rome, and began laying waste to the countryside. The pope was understandably horrified.

Girolamo Riario the captain-general of the papal forces was summoned to defend Rome. He amassed his army inside the city walls near the Appian Gate, on the southern side of the city, and waited. Skirmishes in the countryside, other armies assembled, Girolamo stayed in Rome, on the grounds of the Saint John Lateran church. This was the church [and a link to a virtual tour] where Peter and the other early popes first celebrated mass in Rome. Lev tells us that contemporary storyteller Stefano Infessura even heard that the soldiers of the captain-general were gambling and telling obscene stories in the nave. And worse. Lev, our storyteller, assumes that her heroine, Caterina, the wife of the dissembling Girolamo, must have 'burned with shame', but shows no evidence for it. Months dragged on.

"At the beginning of these tensions Caterina had offered to go to Milan with her husband to "calm and pacify these issues," but nothing came of it. From that letter in January 1482, Caterina wrote nothing more until the final battle of the Salt War played out in August of that year." 

That 'letter' refers to those of Caterina Sforza, collected in a three volume set by Pier Desiderius Pasolini and published in Rome, by Loescher in 1893 and kept in the Milan State Archives. I mention this and the existence of her letters, because our author does and because absence of evidence doesn't make her case. Instead, she helpfully does explain what women of Caterina's station did in those times when their menfolk were or should be at war.

"Like many other women of her age unable to intervene in earthly affairs, she invoked divine assistance. And because Caterina always threw herself wholeheartedly into her endeavors, she did more than light a few candles. According to her eighteenth-century biographer Antonio Burriel, her pale figure, emaciated from fasting, knelt for hours in a penitent's robes at the altar or distributed alms to the poor. She certainly prayed for peace, but probably also that her husband would desist from destroying the last shreds of respectability he enjoyed in Rome." [p.75]

Because I can't read the letters in the Milan archives, this is the only real criticism I might have on occasion, reading Ms Lev's biography of Sforza. As an example, saying that Caterina 'probably had' prayed that her husband 'would desist from destroying the last shreds of respectability he enjoyed...' without seeing the originals, leads a little much. Or later, that "... nothing of substance existed within..." her husband. [p. 77]  Again, I would not be aware of this as a topic without Lev's excellent biography, which is also duly, plentifully cited. But this statement and others like them, posit too much of Caterina's innermost thoughts and motives into such a narrative, with little more than modern supposition for such conjecture. It helps drive the narrative but does so by blurring cultural norms and expectations that we moderns may not share with Italian nobles of the renaissance period.

It also makes such 500 year old expectations of how people should act, normative, rather than, as in the case of Caterina Sforza, exceptional, as she very much was. Maybe there isn't the evidence to know what she thought about her husband this summer of 1482. In that case, we shouldn't make it seem certain with abstract ideas like shame and failing honor, or duty. Even if, or especially since, the eighteenth century biographer Pier Desiderio Pasolini was the source for such beliefs and we have no letters of hers to back it up. Lev notes in her introduction the difficulties she had with Pasolini's work. In other areas the author does point out when judgemental, interior thoughts are projected by others, as she does in the case of Stefano Infessura [p. 78-79].

By August, the pope had asked Venice for someone else to break the stalemate. Roberto Malatesta, a mercenery hired by Venice came to Rome and, together with Girolamo's, that is, the pope's forces, marched in parade thru the city. When the day of the battle came, Alfonso's forces had grown to include many of the Colonna, and Savelli families of Rome. Girolamo and the pope had grown very unpopular indeed in the city, by all accounts.
Lev tells us the battle lasted from Four til Eleven o'clock on August 20, 1482 and would be the most bloody Italian battle in a decade. Malatesta's army bravely stood their ground and did great damage to and soundly defeated those forces of Alfonso of Naples. Girolamo had stayed back, 'guarding the tents'. The pope had to accept that Malatetsa was the victor and he was awarded the honors. Like an ancient Roman General, Malatesta was paraded through Rome with a long train of Cardinals behind him, and the people came out and cheered their liberator. But he had contracted dysentery and died within a month.

Girolamo tried to take credit and was ignored. When Malatesta died, as lord of Rimini, his infant son became the new lord there. When Girolamo, desperate for a victory, galloped off to take control of Rimini,  he was stopped by forces from Florence. So, Girolamo returned, empty-handed. Naples had been humiliated, as well as Ferrara. Venice could continue to maintain the works near Commachio. Faenza, still independent, now had a weaker ally in the duke of Ferrara, and greater reason to fear 'empty-handed' Count Girolamo Riario.
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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

Summer Travels, Troubling Portents; From Forli to Venice and Rome:1481

One way to describe the picture of Girolamo Riario that becomes clear is through his failures. Failures it seems true, by his own recurring examples, in Elizabeth Lev's biography of his wife Caterina Sforza. Failures measured by what may have been important then, with regard to personal status and the hierarchical, the political, and the military, the guards, the horses, real-estate, dice. Time after time, especially toward the end he is seen, again and again not measuring up. Because his position in that world was so very powerful and he, seemed never able to fill the shoes of the office, but also, he just as often seemed to make things worse, it seems even easier to condemn his rather dramatic fall from grace. A series of dramatic examples were part of Caterina's life too, and she, somehow managed to not just act extraordinarily, but even save him and all the wealth they'd accumulated and retire to Forli.

So in that sense it may be fitting to draw Girolamo so darkly. On the other hand it makes the 'perfection' of Caterina stand out that much brighter. Always happy, obedient and acting just as she should in all offices and appearances, and then when circumstances forced the issue, she could then triumph over her husband's failings and save them both anyway, despite his mismanagement. But this is the story of the slow downfall of Girolamo Riario that Elizabeth Lev tells.

A thread of that tapestry starts with Ferrara in that summer that the Count and Countess went to Forli, in 1481. In August that same year they took a bunch of their belongings and went to nearby Imola, which they also were lord and lady to. Passing around Faenza the small town between them. Both Forli and Imola were part of the inheritance for Caterina, but they were also newly won for the papal lands of pope Sixtus IV, Girolamo's uncle. Previously, her father the duke of Milan had wanted to cement relations with this pope and his family. The idea was to form an alliance between Milan in securing these as papal lands. The region known as Romagna lay between Venice and everywhere else, near to Florence, halfway to Naples, bordered the important city of Bologna and could suport the eastern coast if needed to. A strong papacy, acting in the interests of Milan and hopefully France as well, could act as a strong check on any of the other strong impulses vying for control of central Italy there. Ferrara, sat on the edge of all this.

The couple stayed only a month in Imola but, the Count set in motion a number of building projects in the style of the Florentines there, and a massive project to pave the muddy roads. He also decided to take the entourage to Venice with his wife Caterina eight months pregnant.

"A mighty baggage train of thirty-six mules and twenty-one carts announced the arrival of the couple in Ravenna, and on September 8 [1481] they cruised into Venice on special gondolas constructed for the arrival of exalted guests." [p. 70]

Lev reports that Lorenzo de'Medici knew that Girolamo was asking Venice for help in squeezing Ercole d'Este, the duke of Ferrara. If the Venetians could help him, they could keep Reggio or all they took from Ferrara. He only wanted Faenza, the small town disrupting the route between Forli and Imola, between what were now his holdings. The Venetians threw parties for them, gave him honorable titles but would not commit on any future plans. All this Lev, says came from the personal archives of Lorenzo de'Medici in the Florence state archives. [p. 71]

When the couple returned to Forli in late September, they took a route that went around Ferrara. Even so, before they got home they were attacked. It was called the Artisan Uprising but Lev says they were acting on the impetus of the duke of Ferrara and Lorenzo de'Medici.  Instead, the local loyal captain Gian Francesco Maruzzi, Il Tolentino quashed the tumult and the next day, Girolamo went to mass with three hundred armed guards. [p. 72]

This is really only the first chapter of the story of what would become the War on Ferrara and the slow demise of Girolamo Riario. Continuing home, as the summer travel turned fall, they left children and treasure in Imola, the safer town. By the end of October, and within a few days of their arrival back in Rome, Caterina gave birth to a healthy baby girl, named for her grandmother Bianca. Girolamo waited until November to give the order to hang those implicated in the uprising back in Forli. [p.73]
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quotes and pagination from Elizabeth Lev, The Tigress of Forli: Renaissance Italy's most courageous and notorious countess, Caterina Riario Sforza de'Medici : 2011, USA, Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt Publishing Company

Otranto Seized By Turks, 1480; Riarios Go To Forli, 1481

It was late in July, 1480 that 128 Turkish ships swarmed near Otranto, Italy, the eastern most harbor on the easternmost edge of the Italian peninsula. Within two weeks the Turks had taken Otranto and beheaded 800 men who, it is said, would not renounce their Christian faith. This fleet of Turks would stay in Italy all winter, and into the spring, taking town after town until finally withdrawing in April, 1481. Ferdinand I, the king of Naples struck a truce, which was also partly settled by Alfonso II, his son with his army that had retaken Otranto.

Earlier this year, on February 28, 2013, Pope Benedict XVI stepped down to the shock of the Catholic World. One of his last requests as pope was to set in motion the necessary processes to canonize those 800 'martyrs of Otranto'.  It thus became one of the first things that the new pope Francis I had on his schedule to perform after celebrating the Easter holidays and becoming pope. He is reported  (by Al Jazeera and also slightly differently by the guardian) to have said,  in the May12 ceremony that

"While we venerate the martyrs of Otrante, ask God to support the many Christians who ... still suffer from violence and to give them the courage to be devout and to respond to evil with goodness." He also commented on abortion, saying legislation should be introduced to "protect all human beings from the first moment of their existence."

The AlJazeera report cited above, said the pope had said, "... Christians who ... still suffer from violence and give them the courage and fate to respond to evil with goodness." Which is an interesting difference in translated speech in the modern age.
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The news of the attack, of course, in 1480, shocked everyone. The pope called for a crusade. Naples responded affirmatively, and even Florence said it would help. France and Hungary sent money and troops. The pope's captain general, Girolamo Riario himself likely stayed in Rome. He's not heard mentioned in the efforts against the Turks. Venice could not afford to commit actual troops as they had signed a truce the year before with the sultan's ministers. This would be remembered as more evidence of Venetian duplicity.

In August, some seventy ships attacked Vieste and in September, a monastery that held a huge library was destroyed. In October, Pino Ordelaffi was killed by his own people. Despite the chaos stirred up by the loss of more and more Christian towns on south-eastern Italy, the pope secured Forli for his captain general who immediately sent Gian Francesco Maruzzi to act as it's temporary captain. It was a good thing, too. This loyal captain for Girolama Riario would save his chief, time and again over the next few years. The relatives of Pino Ordelaffi tried to retake Forli, but Maruzzi, called 'Il Tolentino' quickly seized them and had the conspirators hung, He spent the rest of the year installing new security measures and keeping his ear to the ground hoping to make things ready for a springtime visit by it's new owners. [p. 63]

Treasure was heaped up, horses harnessed, troops amassed, the attendants, courtiers, ministers, ladies-in-waiting were gathered together with the family, including the two baby boys of Caterina and Girolamo and all set off for Forli soon after Easter, 1481. Caterina was five months pregnant, so all sizes of clothing had to be brought along with jewelry and dinnerware. All the silverware of course, to receive guests and impress the people of Forli had to be mustered as well. Many carriages, many horses, many armed guards arrived in procession, including many members of the Roman nobility as part of the great retinue of the Count. These men were not fighting against the Turks in and near Otranto.

"The arrival of the Riarios was the grandest procession in the history of Forli. Nobles carrying banners and lances marched at the head, as brass horns announced their passage ... pennants proudly proclaimed the artisan trades, and the leading citizen of each of the four neighborhoods of Forli marched in the throng.... Caterina, Girolamo, and their children were resplendent in multicoloured silks... soldiers wore silver cloaks over their armor, ... the knights ... in gold brocade. The people of Forli crowded the alleys and climbed onto balconies to catch a glimpse of the splendid retinue, which included members of the ancient noble Roman houses of Orsini, Colonna and Savelli. Decked ... in fine pearls, rare jewels, and sumptuous fabrics, the rainbow of courtiers looked more than worthy of their renowned heritage." [pp. 64-65]

When they all arrived, there was a great celebration lasting many days. But after initially playing his part, the Count himself soon withdrew from the crowds. A tour of much of the treasure brought from Rome was offered for locals to come and see more of the richness of their new lords.  That same May, news arrived in Italy that Mehmet II, famed Ottoman sultan of the Turks, the conqueror of Constantinople, had died. All of Italy rejoiced. The Turks had run out of food and supplies, so they struck a truce with the king of Naples and many withdrew leaving a sizable contingent to protect their interests. When a great festival was held in July, 1481 in Forli, jousts and a mock battle based on the siege at Otranto were held. The Count promised the people he would ban some taxes and lower others to further rejoicing of the people. [p. 67]
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quotes and pagination from Elizabeth Lev, The Tigress of Forli: Renaissance Italy's most courageous and notorious countess, Caterina Riario Sforza de'Medici : 2011, USA, Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt Publishing Company

Cortes Meets Motecuhzoma: November 8, 1519

The meeting between Motecuhzoma and Cortes that Bernal Diaz said happened on this day was at first accepted at face-value. The two met, it was historic, dramatic, consequential and has loomed large for both parties and many others, down to the current day. Cortes had been wanting this day to come for some months and he would also want it to be remembered in a certain way. The locals had their varying recollections, and Bernal Diaz had his version, too. But those stories that came from the sixteenth century had accepted the initial story told by Cortes with little in any means for scrutiny or understanding of the immediate environment, the temporal context of the day and these prior months of Spanish advancement in Mesoamerica.

Matthew Restall gives a great breakdown of the meeting between Cortes and Motecuhzoma as one centerpiece in his fifth chapter of Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest. There was an attempted handshake, according to Cortes and a gift by him of a great necklace. Cortes says he tried to hug the great leader but was stopped by his guards from touching him. Restall points out that Gomara in the official biography of Cortes 'glosses over this and said they saluted each other.' Bernal Diaz said they both 'bowed deeply' toward each other, but Restall says that neither Cortes nor Gomara mention this.
Further, Restall points out that the bowing and the direct address of Motecuhzoma to Cortes, as told by the locals of friar Sahagun decades later, broke with the strict adherence to the leader's own protocol. No one was allowed to look directly at the great leader unless he gave permission. But Restall says, the way they tell it "... suggests that Moctezuma took the initiative in breaking the taboo, permitting Cortes to look right at him, attempting to meet him at a cultural  halfway point."  He sees the same thing in the Spanish versions of this meeting but says they put a greater emphasis on Montezuma essentially "submitting to Cortes ... prostrated himself". [p. 80]

There really is no way to square these overlapping circles. One can only set the accounts beside each other and compare them and think through the events that led them to this point. Like any encounter. Unless another way is found to hear them or witness it, some other definitive document or some type of time machine that could take us back to the event. As we recall and remember and set things down, it's human nature, we also ammend, reformulate, focus on specific items and re-interpret, for whatever reasons. As time goes by. We want stories to be remembered that make us look good. We want them to show the best aspects of people we like, or are like us. We want to see people putting their best foot forward, to try to do 'good' things. Cortes said he was doing it for God and King and for his men. These basic motives were themselves, we know, subject to quite a bit of manipulation. Then and later.

What compelled Moctezuma that day to go meet Cortes down on the causeway? He didn't have to. Was it curiosity? A mixture of political pressure, a sense of superiority that such a great leader might after all, have? A need perhaps, to show dominance toward this stranger, who Moctezuma might well expect to use at some point for his own advantage. Perhaps even against the long-term enemy of the Tlaxcala or others toward the coast. Perhaps they might act as decent buffers against these soldiers from the ocean, for awhile. But first, what sort of people were they? They were obviously people. After all the evidence of how they ate and lived, this had to be obvious. We also, as we have to eat, as humans, we want to know the truth, as well as somehow, to see justice done. Whatever that is and for whoever that is. But then there are divisions, if not over what happened, and what is to be done, but then over what it all means.

Many years later, historians and officials wanted in hindsight, for their own reasons, to see Montezuma giving away the empire, even accepting that he had been beat or that he thought the Europeans were gods or otherwise invincible. Maybe he did, but probably, he didn't. But truly, the two leaders did not understand each other, coming from two very different cultures and with very different assumptions about what was to be gained in such a meeting. Different ideas about what the future could look like from this point on could develop.
Finding out what lay in common between them depended on the translators of Aguilar and Malintzin to explain every subtlety in every conversation. These conversations between the two would continue for several days. Malintzin knew the subtleties of the Nahua elite from the point of view of a child but not those of the Mexica. Aguilar knew how wily Cortes could be but had failures in diplomacy himself.
It is entirely possible that Motecuhzoma did not realize the danger he was in, especially considering how many diverging and converging forces he was used to balancing in his great realm over a seventeen year reign. His days as leader would soon come to an end.
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quotes from Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest by Matthew Restall, New York, Oxford University Press Inc., 2004

Diaz Sees Mexico From The Inside: November 7, 1519

On the morning of November 7, Bernal Diaz says, they at last came to the great City of Motecuhzoma's capital. It was in fact, a group of many cities (like Iztapalapa), some built on the water and some on land. Giant causeways connected the various parts of the sprawling urban clusters, on which that morning, many people had already gathered to go about their work as well as come to see the newcomers. But there were just as many it seemed on the water, in canoes going every which way. Carrying flowers and feathers in great multitudes, alongside brightly painted buildings or massive white limestone constructions, that looked to be growing on top of each other, covered by vines and flowers, swarming with birds, stretching up into the sky. Like a dream, he says, they moved through a wondrous world that none of them had expected or could have foreseen.

"The next morning we arrived at a broad causeway, and we headed for Iztapalapa. When we saw so many cities and towns built in the water, and other great towns on dry land, and that causeway so straight and level as it went to Mexcio, we were amazed. We said it looked like the enchanted things they tell of in the book of Amadis because of the great towers and cus and buildings that are in the water, all built of stonemasonry. Some of our soldiers even asked if what we saw was not a dream, and it is not to be wondered at that I write here in this way, because there is so much to ponder that I do not know how to describe it: seeing things never heard of nor even dreamed of as we were seeing ... when we entered that town of Iztapalapa, seeing the palace where we were lodged, how large and well built it was, of very fine stonework, and the wood from cedar and other fine-smelling trees, with great courtyards and rooms, things wonderful to see, covered with decorated cotton awnings. After having looked carefully at all that, we went to the orchard and garden, which was such a wonderful thing to see and to pass through that I never grew tired of experiencing the variety of trees and the scent each one had, the terraces full of roses and flowers, the many fruit trees and native rose gardens, a pond of fresh water, and ... through an opening they had made, large canoes could enter the garden from the lake without landing, everything very whitened and bright with all kinds of stone and pictures on it that gave much to ponder, and birds of many kinds and species that came into the pond. I say again that I was there looking at it, and I believed that never in the world had lands like these been discovered.... Now all this is fallen down, ruined; there is nothing." [pp. 189-90]

And as an old man, Diaz remembered what was lost.

The book of Amadis was a popular book in the day. Camilla Townsend says [ch. 1, note 24, p. 235] in her book Malintzin's Choices that "... the tale of Amadis was a thirteenth-century story, but Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo had published an edition of the work in 1508 in Zaragoza...". This book was known by some of the companions of Diaz to the New World. Here's a blog about that.
The next day, they went up the causeway and Cortes met the great and powerful Motecuhzoma. By now it should be clear that what they had there was a failure to communicate. But it doesn't at all seem the fault of the translator Malintzin, but that of the two leaders, entrenched in their roles.
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quotes and pagination, unless otherwise noted, from ch lxxxvii,  Bernal Díaz de Castillo: The True History of the Conquest of New Spain translated with an introduction and notes by Janet Burke and Ted Humphrey, Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing Co, Inc. 2012

Before Tenochtitlan and Popocatepetl: Cortes Could Still Tell Tall-Tales

Hernan Cortes on the way to meet Motecuhzoma passed near two mountains, Iztaccihuatl and Popocatepetl.  During the few days remaining before reaching Tenochtitlan, they also passed through a number of cities and towns and were met by the nephew of the great ruler. Cortes said that this man was the one who told him after long explanations that they would rather 'bar the road' than let him and his men go to see Motecuhzoma. This is told in the context of Cortes being encouraged to go a route that his scouts had said was dangerous and easy for ambushes. The constant drum of deception and potential trickery threads through the whole narrative by this point, in Cortes' Second Letter to his King and Emperor Carlos V. This excerpt about the volcano is a brief respite from that.

"Eight leagues from the city of Churultecal [Cholula] are two very high and very remarkable mountains; for at the end of August there is so much snow on top of them that nothing else can be seen, and from one of them, which is the higher, there appears often both by day and by night a great cloud of smoke as big as a house which goes straight as an arrow up into the clouds, and seems to come out with such force that even though there are very strong winds on top of the mountain they cannot turn it. Because I have always wished to render Your Highness a very particular account of all the things of this land, I wished to know the explanation of this which seemed to me something of a miracle, so I sent ten of my companions, such as were qualified for such an undertaking, with some natives to guide them; and I urged them to attempt to climb the mountain and discover the secret of the smoke, whence it came, and how. These men went and made every effort to climb the mountain but were not able to on account of the very great quantity of snow that is there and the whirlwinds of ash which comes out of the mountain, and also because they could not endure the great cold which they encountered there.... while they were there the smoke started to come out, with such force and noise, they said, it seemed the whole mountain was falling down, so they descended and brought much snow and icicles for us to see, for this seemed to be something very rare in these parts... because of the climate." [pp 77-78]

It was these scouts, however, who had seen and reported back to Cortes about a clear, shorter road that led to Tenochtitlan. He asked the ambassadors from Motecuhzoma about this shorter route who explained they preferred he take another route because that way led to Acatzingo who were at present enemies of the Mexica. They told Cortes that they would have to bear supplies 'from another road' if they were to continue that way. Implying a greater hardship on themselves. [p. 78]
But Cortes forged onward down the route he had decided on despite their entreaties. As it turned out the people of Acatzingo, Cortes spells it 'Guasucingo', welcomed all of them with open arms, gave them girls and gold and they were all given new quarters, built and ready for them there: "... although I brought with me more than four thousand ... natives..." of Tlaxcala, Cholula, Cempoal, there was "... plenty to eat for all, and in all the rooms very great fires and plenty of firewood, for it was very cold... very close to those two mountains...". They were, he said, allies with the Tlaxcalans. [p. 79]

There, a dignitary, 'he said he was' the brother of Motecuhzoma who came and asked him, begged him to turn back and not to proceed, giving him "three thousand  pesos de oro" saying the road forward was bad and there was no provisions that way, etc. Cortes said that,

"... were it in my power to return I would do so to please Mutezuma, but that I had come to this land by Your Majesty's commands, and the principle thing of which I had been ordered to give an account of was of Mutezuma and his great city, of which and of whom Your Highness had known for many years." [p.79]

If there is a truthful statement there, I can't seem to find it. And he is writing this to the King that he is saying that he is lying to this dignitary and doing it in that same king's name. On His order supposedly that the king knew he had not given. Cortes is saying, in paraphrase, 'I lied to this guy in your name and told him I was doing this on your orders, which we know you didn't do.'

Though they were well quartered there, another night-time secret attack was discovered. The next day a new place, Ayotzinco gave Cortes forty girls and plenty of food. But at night there was another 'attack' and 'fifteen or twenty spies' were taken or killed by his men.

The next day, another dignitary from Motecuhzoma, this time a young seemingly revered nephew made entreaties for him not to go further. In Ayotzinco:

"On the following morning, as I was preparing to leave the town, ten or twelve lords, of great importance, as I later discovered, came to see me, and among them there was one great chief, a young man of about twenty-five to whom they all showed great reverence, so much so that after he stepped down from the litter in which he came all the others began to clear the stones and straw from the ground in front of him. When they came to where I was they told me they had come on behalf of Mutezuma, their lord... I answered and appeased them ... that no harm could ensue from my coming, but rather much profit. I then gave them some of the things I had with me and they departed." [p.81]

Much harm would come and little profit for them.
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from The Second Letter from Hernán  Cortés: Letters From Mexico, translated, edited and with a new intro by Anthony Pagden, as a Yale Nota Bene book, Yale University Press, USA 2001