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Talking cards from “Les cartes à jouer” by D’Allemagne (Hachette 1906).
CHAPTER ONE
“…A THOUSAND HOPES… ”
The figures on playing cards are pretty odd, although they are mostly taken for granted,
because they are so familiar.
There are thousands of types and sizes of packs of cards with every kind of image on them.
Elegant, refined or rudimentary ex voto-like figures, magical, satirical, erotic, tourist packs,
etc., produced by every kind of culture and class, often in the same country. The Swiss packs
change from canton to canton. In Italy, each region has its own variation. The Brescia,
Bergamo, Treviso and Trento packs being of Venetian provenance; the Romagna, Piacenza,
Neapolitan, Sicilian and Sardinian packs, of mixed Venetian and Spanish origin, whilst the
Piedmontese, Lombard, Genoese and Tuscan packs come from France, with the symbols of
hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades, instead of cups, coins, staffs and swords.
One could conclude that all this mass of packs are variations on a theme, and are merely
numbered cardboard rectangles, to be played with.
The concept of variations on the theme can also be applied to games that are similar, but are
called by different names in different parts of the world. For instance: the Italian games of
Tressette and Tarocchi, are like Bridge, without possessing the latter’s suave overtones. The
strategy of the game, the tricks, long suits, and conventional discarding are much the same.
Busso and volo in the Italian game of Tressette are direct biddings in Bridge, while ventinove
and ventotto are broken sequences, and the humble passetto is the same as the haughty
finesse....
If the similarity of these games to each other is never mentioned, it could be due to linguistic
and class barriers. Marble table tops in a wine tavern would obviously have quite a different
class of player around them, compared with the guests at a bridge party or the wealthy
travellers around the Art Déco card-tables on the Titanic. It’s the people who play and where
they do it, that makes one call games upper or lower class, not the games themselves. Playing
is human and an important aspect of life. One plays, if one wishes, whenever and for as long
as one wants to: gratuitous difficulties, created by freewheeling imagination; games follow
rules established spontaneously, outside everyday schemes.
Another thing to remember is that only humans indulge in gambling. Animals play
competitive games and would be incapable of meekly subjecting themselves to abstract fate,
like human children, for whom playing means action. To place oneself voluntarily at the
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mercy of fortune is a peculiarly adult form of pastime. Gamblers deliver themselves, body
and soul, to chance, like Pushkin’s tragically stupid hero.
It is the same mechanism that makes people play at lottery: they find the lottery numbers they
play in their dreams, or try to pick out the numbers that have not been extracted for a long
time, and sometimes win, thanks to calculated forecasts, or mathematical expectations, based
on probability calculations of the type studied by people like Galileo Galilei and Cardan,
which were specifically designed to solve gambling problems.
The likelihood of a certain event happening depends on the relationship between the number
of favourable and possible cases, provided all of them be equally probable. A pack of rummy
cards contains 26 red and 26 black cards. There are therefore 26 possibilities of uncovering a
red card, i.e.: (26+26)=½.
Which means, that if the law of large numbers ensures that the proportion of red and black
cards theoretically tends to even out, as infinite attempts are made, the luck factor is
eliminated and all players enjoy an equal chance of winning. A player, however, is always
operating within a limited time span, which subjects him or her to any specific moment’s
probability variations, which may or may not be favourable. The possibility, for instance that a
hand of Bridge contain 13 spades is 1 to 635,013,559,500, but exactly the same possibility
applies to any other combination. In a limited series of attempts, it is chance that decides,
without reference to past or future results.
One of the oddities of new card packs, is that in Italy, the pack always begins with the Ace of
Hearts and ends with the King of Spades. In England, the first card of the pack is the Ace of
Spades.It must have something to do with the way cards are made. Every pack is printed on a
single sheet and after cutting, the machine assembles the cards in a certain order, sealing them
in cellophane. If one bears the progression in mind, it is quite easy to guess any covered card.
In a pack of 52 Italian cards, the King of Diamonds has to be the 26th and the 27th has to be the
Ace of Clubs, but once the cards are shuffled, there is total chaos.
Playing cards seems to consist in re-ordering chaotically disordered cards according to the
rules of the game, but when covered cards are dealt to several players, winning involves luck
and ability in proportions that vary from game to game. When one turns a card over, in the
hopes of its being red, one needs no ability, but luck. In more complex games, an unfavourable
hand can provide excellent results, if played with skill.
The main reason why cards have been so successful, is that before they were invented, the
necessary gambling ingredients of chance and skill were never united. Throwing dice, did not
need ingenuity, but relied solely on luck. In chess or archery, on the other hand, one put ones
skill on the line. In these games, however, it was necessary to create equal initial possibilities,
to provide winning with a precise value. Cards enabled one, at last, to combine chance with
intelligence.
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Fortune and ability can vary not only from game to game, but during the course of it. To start
with, ones knowledge of the cards’ whereabouts is extremely limited, although there are more
manoeuvring possibilities. When the last card is played, the initial position of the cards has
been discovered, but one cannot make use of ones knowledge. The player’s skill consists in
guessing where the cards are, when manoeuvring possibilities are highest. Francesco Berni
wrote: ... “Nella Primiera è mille buon partiti, mille speranze da tenere a bada!...”(In Primero
there are a thousand good outcomes, a thousand hopes to watch out for!).
We’ve just been stating a whole lot of obvious and well-known facts, but no game, before
cards were invented, possessed the characteristics we’ve mentioned.
In 1300 cards were unknown, but in 1350 cards were being played all over Europe.
Chance and skill vary from game to game.
The knowledge of the cards’ whereabouts
In the Russian game of Svoyi kosin, where cards
Are dealt to players uncovered, chance is
increases in direct proportion to the reduced
possibility of making use of such knowledge.
Of no use and the most skilful player wins.
GAMBLING IN THE 13TH AND 14TH CENTURIES
Ludovico Sdekauer assembled a lot of valuable information on the laws regulating gambling
activities in the 13th and 14th centuries. He taught Italian law in Siena and in 1855 decided to
investigate unpublished source material he had found in the archives of various Italian cities,
and produced a historical reconstruction of playing cards’ deeds and misdeeds after their first
appearance in Tuscany. There seems to be no Italian municipal statute, in which regulations on
gambling do not appear. A mass of administrative legislation reveals the opinion of political
administrators on the subject. Gambling was criticised at the time and was considered a crime
against public morality, solely per accidentia, i.e.: as a catalyst to fraud and as an inducement
to profanity or swearing, which was severely punished, either by beating, the piercing of the
tongue or in extreme cases, by death.
The first provisions refer exclusively to games of chance, with particular reference to dice and
variations of backgammon. The most widely played game was Zara or Zaro, played with three
dice (inventi ludere azarum sive a Zara - Siena Reg. Pod. F 235 condemnagioni). The game
was won, if one threw the number called out before throwing. In many municipal ordinances,
gambling was allowed during the last days of December and on locally celebrated saints’ days
or during market or fair days “in order to attract the travellers”, much as ancient Roman laws
had allowed gambling during the Saturnalia..
Games of hazard, unlike games of skill, were not only tolerated, but players were considered
parties to a kind of mutual agreement to abide by the dictates of chance. Gambling was
permitted in public and was only forbidden, if carried out privately or at night (absconse et
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nocturno tempore). The regulations therefore, never interfered with the game itself and at any
rate never referred to games played in a public place or in daytime.
The public gambling place or baratteria was in the open air and was free to operate, albeit
under the control of the municipality, who derived income from the dues payable for gambling
activities. The barattieri, or managers of the gaming houses, were professional gamesters (like
today’s croupiers), sometimes registered as members of a guild or corporation and were
entitled to bear arms. In other words, they were municipal, state-controlled employees.
Their names were entered in special registers and they were assigned a space of their own in a
public place, where they were allowed to carry out their activity. In military contexts, one
often comes across the official barattieri, who were exempted from military service and
recognised as professional gamblers. (Laws of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen - “ the barattiere
lives by gaming and has no other occupation whereby he may earn his living”)
The gabelle aczari, i.e.: the municipal dues, also known as gamesters’ toll or datium
baratterias were not to be sneezed at. By paying them, a barattiere was not only purchasing
his right and privilege to take bets, but was also thereby bound to spy and inform on anyone
gambling without a licence.
The 1336 Lucca ordinances state that the highest official of the guard must give the barattieri
his favour and help upon request (il Maggior Officiale de la Guardia li debba dare lo suo
favore e aiuto et forza a sua richiesta).
The Siena ordinances reveal a kind of monopoly of gaming rights claimed by the state and in
these years the income from the Gabelle aczari rises by up to ten fold because of a new game
played in all the gaming establishments, that has become so popular, as to set everything else
at nought. In 1364 the Camerlengo announces that the state of Siena has received 17.000 lire
from the various gaming houses. No mean figure, when one considers that a university teacher
of the time earned a yearly salary of 25 lire.
Gaming was to become a ruling and universal passion and the frequent excesses threatened the
very existence of certain players, such as the well-known Florentine merchant, Bonaccorso
Pitti. The game they all played was Naibs, or cards that, for the first time ever, relied on
chance and skill entwined.
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CHAPTER II
SEVENS IN DICE AND CARDS
When you come to think of it, playing cards are an extraordinary blend of chance and
rationality, as if dice throwing (pure hazard) and chess (pure skill) had been shuffled together.
If one counts the points one can score by throwing a couple of dice, simple mathematics prove
that certain numbers are thrown more than others:
1+1=2
1+2=3
1+3=4
2+1=3
2+2=4
2+3=5
3+1=4
2+3=5
3+3=6
4+1=5
2+4=6
3+4=7
5+1=6
2+5=7
3+5=8
6+1=7
6+2=8
3+6=9
1+4=5
1+5=6
1+6=7
2+4=6
2+5=7
2+6=8
3+4=7
3+5=8
3+6=9
4+4=8
4+5=9
4+6=10
4+5=9
5+5=10
5+6=11
4+6=10
5+6=11
6+6=12
In thirty-six possible throws, all equally probable, seven is six times more likely to be thrown,
a six and an eight are five times more likely, whereas a twelve (a double six) has only one
probability.
For the Pythagoreans, in the Greek colonies in southern Italy, philosophy was the quest of
wisdom, wherefore they believed that numbers were knowledge and the whole universe a
harmony of numbers. Music, astronomy and everything in the world, according to them,
derived from and returned to numbers. Some numbers were attributed sacred and mysterious
virtues. In a sequence from one to ten, seven is indivisible and its multiples divide human
existence, as Aristotle said, when he assigned three times seven years to youth, twice seven
years to virility and three times seven years to old age. Varro, Aulus Gellius and Macrobius all
attributed secret virtues to seven and even Cicero, in his Somnium Scipionis said that seven is
the link connecting all things.
Petrarch claimed that seven scanned his whole life. The number seven and it multiples is one
of the keys that open up a secret that has been very well kept for centuries.
To find out who invented playing cards, one has to hark back to tarot cards, from which they
obviously derive and observe that the pack is regulated by seven and its multiples. Sdekauer
was partly right, when he said it could have been a Florentine.
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THE ORIGIN OF PLAYING CARDS
For over five centuries, scholars from all over the world have vainly tried to identify
Ringhierri’s (1551) “industrious and very sage inventor” (l’industrioso e molto savio
inventore) of playing cards.
Starting from the tantalisingly exiguous remarks that appear almost simultaneously in archives
all over Europe, one comes across the oddest and most fanciful theories. The Chinese, Indians,
Arabs and Gypsies have been successively hailed as inventors or sometimes as propagators of
the first packs of illuminated cards.
In 1526, in the midst of all this uncertainty, Pier Paolo di San Quirico, in his chapter on the
game of Primero, ironically states: “I do not know who invented cards and card games; some
say it was the Magnificent Lorenzo, others Ferdinand of Naples, others the King of Hungary,
queen Isabella or the Grand Seneschal... To cut a long story short, we shall leave the enigma
to be solved by those who wish to know how many barrels of wine Alcestes gave to Aeneas, or
what Anchises’ handmaiden was called or whether the chicken came before the egg.... As far
as I am concerned, cards have always existed and always will exist, which is to say that none
of them discovered playing cards, but cards certainly found them!”
After the great Egyptian expeditions in 1789, tablets, papyri and other objects covered in
hieroglyphics turned up all over Europe, and interior decorators, designers, etc., went Egyptmad. In the same years, Antoine Court de Gebelin, an unfrocked Protestant pastor, published
his pseudo-scientific theory on the origin of tarot cards, calling them: “the Egyptian book that
escaped destruction at the hands of time, barbarians, fire and ignorance, that greatest of all
destructive forces.”
Gebelin’s hypothesis was supported by abstract sophistries and seductive analogies that were
difficult to prove. This did not prevent Alliette, a humble Parisian hairdresser, from designing
a pack of tarot cards, based on Gebelin’s theories, which enjoyed instant and unexpected
success all over France. The tarots of Etteilla (a pseudonym of Alliette) stayed in fashion until
the Rosetta stone enabled scholars to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics and proved that tarots
had absolutely nothing to do with the inexplicable mysticism of the Egyptians.
In 1855, Alphonse Louis Costant, a Frenchman dedicated to the occult, who had taken the
name of Aliphas Lévi, attempted to identify a series of relationships between tarots and the
Quabbalah, only to return, some years later, to the idea that the Romany folk had been
responsible for their circulation, a view shared later on by Gérard Encausse (Papus).
Some years earlier, a flash of light pierced the mists, however, when Count Leopoldo
Cicognara in his book “Memorie spettanti alla Storia della Calcografia” - Prato 1831
(Memoirs regarding the History of Chalcography), called them admirable allegories, adding:
“...there is a link between the origins of the various arts, that leads to new ones and their
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inventors are unknown until the latter achieve a degree of perfection; the original discoverers
often lie buried in deepest obscurity and this most particularly applies to the inventors of
playing cards...”
Ludovico Sdekauer, in his “Il Gioco in Italia nei sec. XIII e XIV - Firenze 1886; Rivista
Storica Italiana - vol.IV fasc.I 1887” (Gaming in Italy in the 13th and 14th C.), agrees with
Cicognara, and remarks: “One could grant that Naibs might have been introduced into Europe
via trade with the East, as affirmed by the Chronicler of Viterbo and as their name suggests.
The ingenious way in which they however developed and specially the highly significant
transformation of the ancient material into the new form, that gave them their lasting name of
cards, is typically Italian. The 1376 Florentine ordinance, that seems, at present, to be the
oldest extant document recording Naibs, leads us to presume that this development took place
in Tuscany. The speed at which the new invention spread is further demonstrated by the 1377
Sienese ordinance, that echoed the Florentine one, as well as by the regulations, compiled,
again in Siena, by an association of noblemen, whose main occupation was playing cards the first instance of such an association, the forerunner of many a later “gentleman’s club”!The Tuscan origin of playing cards is further supported by the Florentines’ deep-seated
reaction against card-playing, not to mention the character of the Florentine tarots or
Minchiate... It is certainly most odd that Italy, the land most closely affected by this question,
should have contributed practically nothing towards its solution. The merit of such an
ingenious invention, as far as one is able to conjecture at present, should be awarded to
Florence.”
Henri René d’Allemagne, at the end of a detailed research, published under the title “Cartes à
jouer du XIV au XVIII siècle” - Paris 1906, concluded: “What can be more poetic than the
nebulous and uncertain origin of playing cards?”
Nationalism, during the Fascist period in Italy, even affected the world of cards. Poker became
Pocher, Chemin de fer: Ferrovia (Railway) and Bridge, “a logarithmic anti-Italian and
Protestant pedantism” became Gioco del Ponte (Game of the Bridge). Regional packs were
the cards every patriotic Fascist played with: one sang the praises of Scopone (a sort of Whist
played with 40 cards), Tressette (also similar to Whist), Asso sbarazzino (Ace takes all) and of
course Morra and Scassaquindici : “Explosive inventive trainers of Italian daredevil
Mediterranean intuition!” F.T Marinetti - La Matta - Firenze 1940”.
In the mid-1970s the Italian state abolished the monopoly stamp on the Ace of hearts (the old
municipal dues or Gabella aczari), which for years had caused cards to be sold together with
salt and stamps by tobacconists. The new value-added-tax allowed them to be sold, together
with scores of Tarot packs that poured into Italy from all over the world, in stationers,
department stores, etc. A whole range of publications, suddenly appeared in book shops and
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attempted to reveal how Tarots should be used in fortune-telling, arousing renewed interest in
cards, the real meaning of which, however, remained a mystery.
Men playing at cards and dice, XVI century engraving (D’Allemagne)
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An early 20th century card reader at her table (D’Allemagne)
CHAPTER III
TAROTS AND FORTUNE TELLING
Whenever one looks at Tarots, one thinks of T.V.fortune tellers, whose carefully chosen
questions lead their credulous clients to provide them with all sorts of relevant details. Fortune
tellers always use their favourite type of pack and they must earn quite a lot, to be able to rent
a T.V. station for such a long time every day. It is not easy to grasp the connection between
the cards lying face up on the table and the answers given by the fortune teller, who’s asked
the person ‘phoning in for his or her age, and Zodiac sign before shuffling the cards. The
cards, under the influence of some allegedly magic current, presumably slide into such an
order, as to provide the postulant with the right answer. As the cards are shuffled by the
fortune teller, one might suppose that the images are somehow detached from the cards, or that
the act of shuffling itself is in some way governed by the magic fluid!
One obviously consults a fortune-teller, when all rational alternatives seem to offer no
openings or because one wants to gain knowledge by other means. People have always been
aware of hidden forces governing life, that appear to be to have nothing to do with reality, as
an enormous portion of the physical world cannot be perceived by most human senses. Even
extremely evoluted people resort to fortune-tellers. Popes and emperors always had astrologers
and soothsayers as their counsellors. Card reading is based on the belief that transcendental
powers affect human events and that nothing is based on pure chance. Eruptions, thunderbolts,
eclipses, rainbows all used to be thought expressions of such powers; whence the adoption of
rituals and the search after the magic moment, so that the medium in touch with them could
dispose the potent energies favourably towards the postulants.
Natural forces used to be represented as gods. Neptune or Aeolus used to be called upon by
seafarers, before the days of weather forecasts. In more developed societies, prophets,
shamans and astrologers have been replaced by religious organisations, who generally support
the established lay power structures and monopolise all forms of contact with the divinity.
Intuition and rudimentary psychology probably provide most fortune tellers with their
answers. There is no magic in tarot cards themselves: they are simply one of the many tools
used by fortune-tellers, such as palm reading, etc. Long before tarots were invented, fortune
telling cards were widely used, as proved by comma 23 in the statutes issued the 13th July
1296, by the Council of Grado, presided over by pope Boniface VIII, where one forbids
spouses resorting to sorcery to ensure the love of their consorts adding that “all magicians,
soothsayers and tireurs des cartes (card readers) will be excommunicated”.
In ancient Rome, augurs observed birds in flight, in England most people consult tea leaves.
Health, marriage, adultery, fortune, travel, grief, poverty, death, etc., recur in every fortune-
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teller’s utterances. The images can be interpreted in so many different ways. The picture of
two lovers could be made to portend marriage, love or adultery. A figure crouching in a corner
can mean grief, poverty, disaster, imprisonment, etc. On the other hand, the unmistakable
Death card in every tarot pack, is hardly ever mentioned in T.V. séances.
THE CONSECRATION OF TAROTS TO FORTUNE TELLING , ACCORDING TO THE
RITE OF IGLESIAS JANERO (Guida all’occultismo di Julien Tondreau - Sugar Ed.
Translated by R.P.)
“ The consecration of the Tarot pack must take place in a totally isolated dwelling,, behind
closed doors and windows. The celebrant must be turned towards the east; the moon must be
waxing and the hour must be that of Jupiter; a white table-cloth must be spread on the table.
The celebrant must first purify his or her hands and must be clothed in clean clothing and
underclothing. Women may perform the consecration, only when seven days have elapsed
since their last menstruation and after complete and general purification. The resin of the
Zodiac sign in which the sun was placed on the day of birth of the celebrant, must be sprinkled
on the table or burnt, like incense, after which the complete series of the Arcana must be
taken, passing them one by one in numerical order, looking at the cards in front of one
progressively, building up the pack. Close the fingers of each hand, keeping ones palms facing
down and with the thumbs and first fingers of each hand touching each other, so that ones
hands are about two or three centimetres above the pack. Hold ones hands in this position for
three minutes, keeping ones mind totally passive, ones eyes and mouth closed, the body
naturally erect, ones elbows close to ones body so that ones arms do not touch the table. Once
the three minutes are over, the following three minutes are to be spent shuffling the Arcana,
after which they must be laid out in the same manner face down; the laying on of hands is
once more performed. After the same amount of time one recommences the operation with the
cards face up. After three and a half minutes the pack must be wrapped in a violet coloured
silk handkerchief and put away in a place where it will be kept for seven days, after which the
Book of Thot is consecrated and can be used. So that the emanation of the hands and the
celebrant be attuned with his or her tools, the Arcana must not be touched by anybody and
must be kept protected in the same silk.”. Before buying the pack one must make sure that the
cards are 78, as some Tarot packs have fewer cards (the Tarots of Bologna are 62, the
Austrian ones 54, etc.)
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Card players, German print of the 15th cent. (D’Allemagne)
CHAPTER IV
GOLDEN TRIUMPHS AND RONPHA CARDS
One look at a pack of ancient Tarot cards proves they are drenched in the kind of cultural and
allegorical climate one associates with late Medieval thought and philosophy. There is
absolutely nothing oriental, Arabic or gypsy-like in them. They seem in fact to be linked to
one another; as if they had been conceived as separate parts of a single line of thought and
were thus the product of a unitary process rather than the result of a lengthy, composite
evolution.
If one accepts this as a premise, one could draw the following conclusion: if the very first
packs had simply meant to be played with, the producers of the later packs would have
faithfully copied the images on them, as the manufacturers of dice, chess, etc., did, without
subjecting them to subsequent variations. The figures on the ancient tarots, on the other hand,
underwent profound changes during the first few years of their existence, whereas the
sixteenth century editions have remained unchanged to this day. Such a profound and unusual
initial revision had to have some reason behind it. Perhaps the initial images had a provocative
meaning, in view of the reactions and censure they underwent at the beginning, that was in
direct proportion to the unexpected way they spread all over Europe like wild fire.
It often happens that a truly masterly work is the one that the unconscious creator gives birth
to, without thinking of its potential and would never expect to succeed in the manner it
actually does.
Tarot cards, in fact, made it possible, for the first time, to combine chance with personal skill
and the sudden attention they attracted,as playing instruments, betrayed and distorted the
ultimate end their inventor had in mind. Almost immediately the pack was split, and the
numbered and court cards were separated from the 22 figures. The decoration and arabesques,
as well as the size of the cards, were gradually reduced. The symbols were also simplified:
cups, coins, swords and staffs, which were too lengthy to draw by hand, were often replaced
by equivalent symbols that could be reproduced faster in a single colour, and were easier to
identify.
On the 2nd May 1492, Ippolito d’Este wrote to his mother Eleonora of Aragon: “I received the
bonnets, gloves, glove cases, the balls and foot-balls, hawking hoods, shaping blocks
GOLDEN TRIUMPHS AND RONPHA1CARDS...to give me great delight and pleasure, I kiss
your Excellency’s hands.”(Ho ricevuto le berrette, guanti, guantieri, palle, palloni, cappelletti,
1
Early kind of card game.
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forme, TRIUNPHI DORATI E CARTE DA RONPHA...per darmi grande dilectatione e
piacere, bazo le mani a Vra Exa.”)
In 1492 the golden triumphs had already been separated from playing cards and the two packs
were obviously used for different purposes. In 1500, in his Gargantua and Pantagruel books,
Rabelais lists 35 different card games (au flux, à la prime, à la triumphe, à la condemnade, au
tarau, à la ronfle, au cocu, à la malheureuse, aux honneurs, à la sequence, à la pille, etc.)
What was the true meaning, the message of these illuminated cards, sometimes called the
Devil’s Bible or the Steps to Hell? The hundred or so ancient tarot cards that have survived,
scattered all over the world, must have had some precise meaning. It was a truly fascinating
mystery and difficult to solve, as even those ancient examples were probably counterfeits of
the initial idea.
For the moment, one thing was certain: scholars of the past, each in his or her specific field
had followed parallel or diverging paths, which rarely intersected. Whoever considered tarots
as fortune telling instruments, had, for instance, sought out and underlined and even invented
occult and talismanic aspects, making no reference to historical or gaming aspects. The
gaming experts, commencing from modern cards, had tried instead to reconstruct the original
pack directing their attention to sequences, numbered cards, suits, colours, the uniformity of
the cards’ backs, handling properties, in short: anything that had a bearing on card playing
itself. Lastly, historians and critics had confined their research to even narrower paths, aimed
at identifying styles and dates, without taking them too seriously, inasmuch as they were
considered artistically irrelevant or viewed with barely masked contempt, as objects used by
fortune tellers.
Stefano Bottari, for instance, when he comments on the tarots of Castello Ursino in Catania
(Emporium Nr.681 - September 1951) only takes six figured cards into consideration, without
examining their position in the pack and leaving the remaining cards to be examined by
gambling specialists. He attributes the cards to Bonifacio Bembo’s workshop, totally ignoring
the French Gringonneur tarots, which resemble the Catania ones far closer.
Mario Salmi writes, that Bonifacio Bembo of Cremona paints stage sovereigns, knights and
foot soldiers that belong to a gallant world at the end of the Middle Ages, but in the illustration
XCI, he calls Justice the Queen of Swords.
To solve the enigma, one would have to branch out in all directions very meticulously, relive
past situations, allowing research to expand without channelling it into preconceived lines of
thought and after a summary reconnaissance, follow up with checks and counter-checks.
The obvious way to start was with the cultural and historical events of 14th century Europe,
focusing on the most ancient tarot cards, although they were probably modified copies of
copies of the earliest version of all.
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Card and dice players, 16th century German engraving (D’Allemagne)
CHAPTER V
A GAME FOR FEW
Seventy eight hand-painted cards with silver and gold leaf arabesques must have been meant
for a restricted number of well-off bods, who must also have been well read, if the cards’
contents are anything to go by.
Not everybody would have understood them or been able to afford them, even if they had
been designed as a game. They certainly became a game a very short time after being
invented.
Too much handling must have caused rapid wear and tear which explains successive
simplified packs consisting only of numbered cards for the less wealthy players.
This rapid change is recognised by Cicognara and Sdekauer. The medieval and scholastic
outlook attributed an educational function to the figurative arts, even if the message was at
times rather contorted and allegorical. The first tarot cards may have been conceived not as a
game, but as a moralising, didactic instrument, in short as some kind of lesson or guidance.
They seem to reflect the realities of the time and the human ingredients, which probably also
include the inventor, and appear to be described from a cosmological, philosophical
standpoint.
There were probably two inventors. The actual production of the cards presumes a philosopher
or historian, but also involves a painter, who translated the idea into images. Figurative artists
often consult men of letters. There is a third possibility: the two hypothetical inventors might
have worked on the project together.
Here a a few historical quotes:

In 1275 the Towerbook of Angsbury mentions a series of games, without any
reference to cards.

The Nuremberg Codex (1289) does not include cards in the list of forbidden games.

The French manuscript “Renard le Contrefait”, (1328 1341?), contains a passage that
might, just might, refer to cards.

When we come to 1377, however, a monk in Brefeld (Switzerland) speaks of playing
cards

In 1378 playing cards are forbidden in Regensburg (Germany).

In 1379 the purchase of playing cards is registered in the accounts of the Duchy of
Brabant (Belgium).
14

In 1380, in the Nuremberg Codex, mentioned before, playing cards are considered
legal.
If one calculates the time required for the cards to spread and be transformed into a playing
instrument, one might say that the first tarot cards were made somewhere between 1330 and
1350.
The Gringonneur quotation, refers to a Tarot pack that is still extant: in 1392 Charles Poupart,
treasurer to King Charles VI of France, records the following in his registers: “Donné à
Jacquemin Gringonneur, peintre, pour trois jeux de cartes à or à diverses couleur, des
plusieurs devises pour porter devers le dit Seigneur Roi, pour son ébattement cinquante-six sol
parisis.”(Given to Jacquemin Gringonneur, painter, for three packs of cards in gold and
different colours and several devices to be taken before the said Lord King for his amusement
fifty six Parisian sous ) Some texts quote the name Jacquemin with an e at the end, others say
he or she was a miniaturist.
Miniaturists and calligraphers were employed by every royal court. They sometimes carried
out each other’s job (illuminator sive scriptor), as once the calligraphers had copied in the
texts, the manuscripts were handed over to the illuminators or miniaturists, whose delicate
brushwork filled in the spaces that had been set aside for them. It might well have been a
woman, as the diminutive of Jacques is normally Jacquot. 56 sols parisis is therefore
Gringonneur’s payment for supplying three packs of cards. The originality of the work is not
mentioned, and it would seem to be a simple copyist’s job.Which makes sense, it being
impossible to order three of something previously unknown. The order for three copies allows
one to conclude that wear and tear consumes cards and that Gringonneur had merely been
asked to copy an older pack that was too worn and torn to be played with. Incontrovertible
proof is further supplied by the fifteen tarot cards in the Museo Civico of the Ursino castle in
Catania. Their affinity with the Gringonneur cards is obvious. The style however is far more
detailed and refined, wherefore one has to suppose them to have been painted earlier. The
Bembo cards, painted for the Visconti of Milan are different in style, but may be linked to the
Gringonneur cards, through family ties: the brother of the king of France, Louis of Touraine
and Orléans had married Valentina Visconti, the daughter of Giangaleazzo, duke of Milan.
To revert to seven and its multiples, which are frequently lucky combinations when throwing
dice, they are the key to the tarot pack. The figures are 21, the numbered cards 56, each suit
contains 14 cards and the pack is composed of 77 cards plus the Joker or Fool, which is the
odd card that cannot take or be taken.
The Joker has a separate status. In the midst of popes and emperors, queens and knights, the
isolated position of the Fool might imply contempt and scorn towards the plebeian and
uncouth populace. - see Dante saying: uomini siate e non pecore matte! (Be men, not foolish
sheep!).
15
If the card is supposed to represent a jester, it might also mean the opposite, as jesters
customarily and with a fair degree of impunity, were satirically critical of the customs of the
time.
The figures of the emperor, the pope, the virtues, the knights, Fortune, etc. Could have some
connection with each other and are certainly in tune with the Middle Ages: even the Fool or
Joker, as a counter chant to the rest of them, fits in, but what are the Hermit, the Chariot, the
Hanged Man or Death doing in the pack?
A history of playing cards by Catherine Perry Hargrave, first printed in America in 1930,
provides an important clue.
16
CHAPTER VI
POETRY, THE VOICE OF PAINTING
Catherine Hargrave reports in her book that the very first playing card suits to appear in
Germany at the beginning of the 15th century, were dogs, deer, duck and falcons, instead of
cups, coins, swords and staffs. When commenting on this singular practice, she quotes the
letter of a young Florentine, who had been given the post of secretary to Emperor Frederick. In
homesick tones, he writes to his family that the people of the north were barbarians, as they
only thought of the chase and never of poetry. Tarots have been called the Steps to Hell, the
Devil’s Bible, the Book of Thot, let us see what poetry has got to do with them.
Mundum regunt numeri: numbers are the scheme of life and the universe. Poetic metres and
rhythm in painting are numerological constructions, like architectural proportions in great
cathedrals. All things must be harmonious and fit into a proportionate, arithmetical scheme.
Augustine attributed the universal order in God’s creation to numbers. In his Enarrationes
seven represents temporal and extra-temporal unity. There are seventy-seven, cards, plus the
Fool or Idiot, whichever one wants to use. They were called Tarots, a word that is vaguely
Judaic in its origin.If one reads Petrarch, one finds out that one of his favourite writers was
Augustine.
The poet who sang Laura’s praises, as the censors called him, who have recorded him for
nearly seven centuries as the composer of rhymes in the vulgar tongue, that he wrote,
according to his own account, to amuse women and children, or to tickle the ears of the
common herd(!), was also the author of the Triumphs and they explain some of the figures
that have so far made no sense. The first cards were in fact called Triumphs. Ippolito d’Este,
when writing to his mother Eleonora of Aragon, had called them Triunphi dorati (golden
Triumphs)! The figurative tradition of the Triumphs erupted in his time: bridal chests,
engravings, tapestries, sculpted panels, the tarots themselves! Artists of his time and later used
every possible way of representing them.
Petrarch writes that equality in friendship is a wonderful thing. If one side prevails, one has the
impression that the souls of friends are unequally weighed down by the yoke of friendship,
like oxen of different build. This rare, dear and intimate kind of equality he enjoyed with
Simone Martini. Both Tuscans, possessing a lively imagination, so in tune with one another,
that a glance told each of them what the other’s humour or ideas were, they told each other the
most jealously kept secrets, unreservedly, generously. “Never have I bent my spiritual knee to
anybody, save to Him who gave me my soul, and to certain rare souls akin to mine own, to
whom love inclined me in the sweetest of confrontations. This array includes humble and
illustrious people, popes and kings. Thus it happened that I was often subject to men of humble
condition, because I descried in them fewer marks of that fortune, that I neither love nor
17
venerate, and in greater measure the imprint of merit and virtue, that I have always sought to
love and venerate, at least in others, as I cannot do so when I view myself!”
He learnt to love Simone in Provence: in 1337 he bought a small house in Vaucluse, near the
source of the Sorgues. In that bucolic, tranquil spot, far from Avignon, their friendship throve.
Dante found himself in the dark wood against his will. Petrarch sought it out, voluntarily.
Vaucluse is halfway between the true monastic existence that his brother Gerard chose and
dedicated wholly to God, and the yearning for an aristocratic, solitary life enlivened by books
and a few choice friends, so as to gain a better knowledge of himself, far from the tumult and
irritations of town life. In his eclogues, he compared Gerard to the Cyclops, Silvius, whose
one-eyed vision was always directed heavenwards, whilst in his own case, one of his two eyes
tended to scour the heavens, whereas the other was incapable of detaching itself from the
earth.
Left: the path leading to the source of
Of the Sorgues and the great rock.
Right: the source of the Sorgues
On the 17th April 1338, to his delight, he recovered his adored Virgilian Codex, which had
been stolen from him twelve years earlier. He had often told Simone, and other friends, of
Aeneas, the perfect example of a superior man, armed with virtue and forger of his own
destiny, capable of finding the strength within himself to confront every adversity. He
embodied their Ghibelline aspirations, inasmuch as the Aeneid was composed by Emperor
Augustus’ poet Virgil and advertised the nobility of the imperial role. To celebrate the poet’s
happiness, Simone Martini executed a splendid miniature on the first page of the Codex,
marvellously illustrating the spiritual strength of the Virgilian hero. Never was Simonides of
Cleo’s saying that painting is mute poetry and poetry lends speech to painting truer!
The eulogy of an armed vir could not but spring from the pen and paintbrush of a couple of
imperialist Ghibellines, one a Sienese, the other a Florentine!
In their friendship, if we interpret Petrarch’s writings, the poet awakened painting, the world
veiled its golden nobility and he then wept over its interment. “ Vulgar spirits are often
incapable of grasping the meaning of allegories, which are never cold pretence, but efficient
lyrical expedients, used in all poetic compositions. The lofty purpose of a poet is to conceal
truth behind a luminous veil, so that it remains invisible to the ignorant populace, without
however being difficult for a more cultured reader to understand, giving the latter the
additional private delight at having made the discovery. All writings require a spiritual effort!
It is better not to be understood than be one of the multitude.”
Thanks to the friendship and esteem of cardinal Giacomo Colonna, Petrarch spent some time
on familiar terms with pope John XXII. Giacomo received from him the archbishopric of
Lombes, for having defended him in Rome against Ludwig of Bavaria and Petrarch wrote a
18
short guide of Jerusalem, so as to keep the desire of organising another crusade alive in the
heart of the pontiff. In his Rerum Memorandarum Libri, he mentioned that this pope, a keen
scholar and of fiery disposition, earnestly wished to read, but inasmuch as he was continually
engaged in intricate problems and consumed by the desire to subdue the empire to the papacy,
he intended to devote part of his other life to reading. In short, as old age and the variety of his
occupations distracted him from his studies, he was exceedingly grateful to whoever might
pluck the flower of a book’s contents, summarising the concepts therein, and illustrating them
on tabulae. Thus compendiums on tabulae or cards had been made of Thomas Aquinas’
Summa Theologica and of a number of histories of the saints. The Minorite, Henry de Saxe
had, among other things, illuminated the Tabula Originalium and the Tabula Philosophiae,
imitating the Tabula Boetii and the Tabula librorum Dionisii, already in the papal library.
The cards Petrarch and Simone created were a compendium of tables, a breviarium
consolatorium, that would probably have been forgotten, if the ingenious sequence of images
they devised had not immediately proved to be an irresistible playing device!
And to think that their illuminated tabulae were not only intended to be an aid to meditation,
striking out at vices and guiding the user towards temperance, thereby transforming him into a
model of virtue, but were chiefly supposed to be an antidote to gambling, an occupation
loathed by Petrarch.
The twenty one figures, known today as Arcana, include the figures of the emperor and the
pope, as well as the virtues and vices or sins, etc., which were everyday subjects of speculation
in the 1300s. The triumphs, however, which could be called six moments of human existence,
chronologically succeeding and linked to each other, were the product of Petrarch’s own
fancy. Six triumphs and the portrait of their poet formed one of the groups of seven cards in
the new set of tabulae.
When he met Simone, he had only composed the Triumph of Love, dedicated to Laura, and it
would have remained without following, if they had not spoken about the frescoes in Tuscany,
in which death and eternity had been represented in triumph. For numerological and poetical
reasons, they chose six triumphs and Simone painted them straight away, and put them into
the pack, before Petrarch had written them, or perhaps even thought them out.
After the incredible success of the cards and after the death of Simone, who was old enough to
be his father, Petrarch decided to honour his memory and composed the other five triumphs,
giving him the role of guide. He avers that he could not find the necessary inspiration and
continued to put off what he considered his bounden duty. The composition dragged on and he
rewrote it several times, whilst the figures of the Triumphs were already widely known all
over Europe. He finally finished the Triumph of Eternity when he was seventy, one month
before his death...
19
The numbered cards with their four suits link up with the twenty one figured cards and, in
multiples of seven, they are an integral part of the allegory: the coins represent the moneyed
hierarchies that administer the temporal power of the emperor. The chalices, or cups, on the
other hand, symbolise the spiritual hierarchies subject to the pope. The ever decreasing values
of the figures revolve along parallel and independent orbits around the two Suns, the powerful
twin leaders, considered ideal necessities, whose power was gradually waning throughout the
century Petrarch lived in.
The other two suits represent the errant swords, the mercenary troops, that cum gladiis et
fustibus (with swords and staffs), served the twin leaders: he probably drew the idea of the
swords and staffs from the gospel of Matthew (XXVI - 47). Giovanni Boccaccio, in his sixth
tale in the Decameron, used the same expression.
20
Francesco Petrarca and Simone Martini
Not only did their cultural background, their Tuscan tongue and their poetic leanings bind
them to each other: they both possessed a natural dignity, a kind of nobility, that enabled them
to enjoy life and judge mankind and the world’s events from the same point of view. When they
met, the pressing engagements and torments of life, together with their instinctive diffidence
were put aside: their hearts vibrated in unison, deeply and mutually moved at perceiving the
same values that the rest of the world seemed incapable of seeing and appeared to despise.
At times, the events of their times must have appeared painful and bitter, if not repugnant and
their joint love of reading led them to celebrate the ancient virtues, the only values capable of
redeeming mankind.
Both must have been aware of the ineluctable fragility of earthly existence and their
pronounced individuality led them to consider all philosophies and moral teachings with
detachment. They shared a taste for exhorting and entreating their neighbour in a lay manner,
rather than from a religious and punitive standpoint, drawing comfort from philosophy and
the remedies it provided and from classical consolatory literature. During their passionate
observations and reflections on morality - poetry and painting had recovered their status as
“sister arts”, i.e.: in Horace’s words: “Ut pictura poesis” - a magnificent alliance between a
writer and a painter. In the midst of their life’s pilgrimage, the background and experience of
each had melded together: poetry and painting had become equivalent idioms.
As Parini was to say a few centuries later “painters, sculptors, architects, musicians, poets,
great writers, even in the midst of everyday life, converse easily and make friends agreeably
with each other, communicating their thoughts upon their separate arts, thereby acquiring
similar customs and mannerisms. One should therefore be in no doubt that excellent examples
of painting and sculpture not only stimulate and instruct painters and sculptors, but also
enflame poets and writers spurring them to higher efforts in their own fields.”
+
21
Simone Martini’s pictorial invention shows the
Rhaetor Servius lifting a veil to show the poet Virgil,
The author of the Aeneid, of the Georgics
And of the Bucolics to Aeneas. Why should Servius
Reveal Virgil to Aeneas? Because Virgil was the
Political philosopher who advertised the “virtuous
Wisdom” of the Empire, that both Simone and Petrarch
Wanted, as Ghibellines, restored to its former state.
Aeneas stands assured, erect, his piercing gaze
Fixed on the poet. The Virgilian hero is the symbol
Of man, the mythical ancestor of Virgil’s
Patron, Augustus, the first Roman emperor and
Predecessor of the imperial leader of the Ghibelline
Faction in Petrarch’s time, who has achieved the
Supreme level of civic and human qualities, drawn
From within his soul, armed and protected by the
Practice of virtue (symbolised by his lance and
Sword) against temptation and misfortune.
The vine pruner is less aware and spiritually more
Distant, whilst the shepherd, on the same level as his
Goats, seems to express total mental torpor.
The scrolls, held by winged hands, celebrate Virgil,
Servius and Simone, author of the miniature.
Simone Martini: Frontispiece for
Petrarch’s Virgilian Codex
(Ambrosian Library, Milan)
(Familiarum Rerum IX 13 Letter to the musician Philip of Viltry, upon the advantages of
travel.)
....If experience makes one more cultured, if it generates the arts, what fine and praiseworthy
result can any man hope for, if he remains perpetually on guard outside his father’s house?
It is the duty of the good husbandman to stay on his land and learn the qualities of the earth he
tills, as well as the character of his oxen, the nature of the waters, the growth of the trees and
crops, the seasonal changes and the alternating storms. He must be familiar with the rakes,
hoes and ploughs he employs. A noble soul, however, who aspires to noble things, must
observe and record many lands and human customs; and what you read in Apuleius is most
true: “Rightly,” he said, “the divine author of ancient poetry in Greece, wishing to describe a
man of great intelligence (Ulysses), said he had achieved the highest level of virtue by visiting
many cities and by studying many peoples.” Echoing these thoughts, our poet (Virgil), as you
know, involved Aeneas in many a voyage through countries and cities.....
22
Francesco and Simone’s cards were intended to spur the “Vir” towards widening his horizons,
so that he would try to acquire, by means of observation and knowledge, the necessary virtue
to support him on his pilgrimage through life.
23
CHAPTER VII
SIMONE AND FRANCESCO’S DISBELIEF
The miracle of the boy brought back to life by
St. Martin, by Simone Martini
(Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi)
Detail of self -portrait
by Simone Martini
A series of questions that have, so far, received unsatisfactory answers, confront the human
race, even after centuries of prophets and teachers. When the Christian faith reached Western
Europe, for instance, the religious question, instead of being confined to the individual sphere
- for purely social and political reasons - crystallised into a kind of cultural tradition, run by
power structures.
The anguish of existential doubt, however, led certain people to reflect and speculate, without
taking such structures into consideration, in the hope of achieving some truly convincing inner
certitude. Believers and those who wanted to understand thus found themselves divided.
Most people find it natural to adhere collectively and passively to common dogmatic beliefs.
Others, whose natural inclination is to view reality critically, find themselves refusing to
accept static and immutable principles and disbelief becomes for them a conquest of human
reasoning and freedom of thought.
Jibbing at any kind of hegemonic ideology, such people also refuse to toe the line passively or
uncritically and accept all established political structures carefully, their spiritual alertness
undiminished, notwithstanding the suspicion generated by the disturbing charismatic potential
of their “otherness”.
In Europe, in the 1300s, the Swabian Empire was collapsing and the papacy was in deep crisis.
Simone and Francesco, both cultured and intelligent men of the world, had reached an inner
compromise, in order to exercise their professions advantageously and had placed their talents
at the service of the power-holders of the time. Their attitude was sceptically detached, as they
refused to let themselves become too deeply involved, so as to maintain their inner
independence. What credible moral values were there left, in fact, if the flames of the
Inquisition had even devoured the pure Franciscan spiritual friars?
Simone Martini was about thirty-three, when he painted the cycle of frescoes on the life of St.
Martin in the basilica of St. Francis in Assisi (the very place from which the rebellious
spiritual friars, burnt in Avignon, had sprung). The ideal age to paint his self-portrait, as other
painters would later do in Florence: Ghirlandaio in Santa Maria Novella or Masaccio,
Masolino and Filippino Lippi in Santa Maria del Carmine.
In the episode of the Miracle of the boy brought back to life, Simone places himself to the
right of the figures moved and astounded by the event. His self-portrait, a kind of mirror of his
24
soul, expresses no vanity, self-aggrandisement or other values normally to be found in selfportraits, but only his doubt as to what is truly taking place.
His sceptical expression is underlined by the gesture of his hand and by the disapproval of his
neighbour, who seems disappointed at the doubtful Sienese not taking part in the general
amazement.
Francesco Petrarca is a free spirit too. Armed by a strong historical sense, constantly searching
for harmony between faith and reason, he calls attention to the humanistic values provided by
the classics for the benefit of the emerging classes of his time, ignoring theological doctrine
and leaving blind faith to the masses. He searches for wisdom, balance and freedom to be
himself, without suffering undue external interference. As Simone did in painting, he
expressed his ideals in words.
(from Invective against a man of high rank)
... I am not subject to anybody in my spirit, but the part of myself that is earthy must be
subject to the lords of the earth, as it inhabits their territories. It could not be otherwise, as I
see that even those who give orders to their inferiors are in turn subject to their superiors and
everything is reduced to Caesar’s dictum: humanity lives for few; in truth, those few for whom
it is said that humanity lives do not strike dread into the hearts of the peoples of the earth, any
more than the peoples strike dread into theirs. Consequently, practically nobody is free;
everywhere there is slavery, prisons, shackles, except, on very rare occasions, for those who
manage to shake off their material chains, thanks to spiritual virtue sustained by heavenly aid.
Turn thy gaze upon any part of the earth: there is no single place free of tyranny: where there
are no tyrants, the people tyrannise; thus when thou thinkest that thou hast escaped from a
single tyrant, thou willst fall into the clutches of many; unless thou canst show me a place in
which a just and mild king rules. If thou pointest it out to me I will make a bundle of my
possessions and take up residence there. I will be held back neither by the love of my homeland, nor by the beauty and nobility of Italy....But it is fruitless to search for what does not
exist in any corner of the earth. We should be grateful to our age, as by creating an almost
total uniformity, it has spared us this effort...There is no point in exploring the most distant
regions and penetrating unknown lands: languages, clothing, physiognomies change, but
aspirations, psychology and habits are utterly similar...
(from De Vita Solitaria)
...I shall not be so vehement an upholder of my own opinions as to believe that everybody else
is mad or to try to make them swear upon my words: many can be forced to confess, nobody to
believe. No freedom is greater than freedom of thought: as I claim it for myself, thus shall I
not deny it to others. However righteous, however holy anybody’s intentions are: I should not
25
wish to sit in judgement upon human conscience, which is the most hidden and deep-seated of
all things....
...to live as thou pleasest, to go and stay where thou wishest, to repose in springtime upon a
bed of purple flowers, in autumn amidst piles of fallen leaves; to cheat the winter by sitting in
the sun, and summer by keeping in the shade and not to feel one or the other season, unless
thou wishest to. But in every season to be master of thyself, wherever thou beest, to live with
thyself, far from evil, far from the example of bad people, without being pushed, shoved,
influenced, pursued; without being dragged to a banquet, when thou wouldst prefer to fast,
forced to talk, when thou wouldst prefer to remain silent...
...to dedicate thyself to reading and writing, alternating one as a rest to the other, to read what
the ancients wrote, to write what our successors will read, to the latter, at least, as we cannot
to the former, demonstrate the gratitude of our souls for the gift of letters handed down to us
by the ancients, and towards the ancients themselves to be not ungrateful, within the confines
of what is allowed to us, but let their names be known; if they be unknown, let them be
returned to honour, if they be forgotten, draw them out of the ruins of time, transmit their
names to thy great grandchildren, as worthy of respect, guard them in thy heart and on thy
lips as a sweetness; in all ways, in short, love them, remember them, praise them and render
them the tribute of gratitude, which if not proportionate, is however due to their merits....
Did he not nourish such a hope regarding the tribute he would have liked to have paid one day
to himself and to Simone Martini?
Familiarum Rerum III 15 - Letter to a quarrelsome friend)
From Horace: “As no man is born without vices, excellent is he who fewer has”
...amongst the kind of men who do not have no vices, but who have fewer vices than virtues
(and thou shallst see that they be very rare), seek to make friends, employing every effort thou
canst and thus thou shallst imitate their customs and emulate their studies. On the other hand,
with evil people, of whom there are an infinity, be neither friend nor enemy, rather let them
not even know thee: Let them see thy visage, but ignore thy soul; follow the council of Seneca
who said “let thy face be patterned on the vulgar herd, let thy soul be totally unlike it.”Let
them believe that thou behavest like the common herd, but continue to follow thine objective
and ever think on greater things. Thus willst thou issue unscathed by the world’s perils, dear
to few, unknown to many, to none hateful...
( Familiarum rerum VIII 7 letter to my friend Socrates on the Plague)
....how can I, as I write to thee, be any longer sure of my life, than thou, whilst thou readest, of
thine? Too transient and too proud an animal is man and too high does he build on too fragile
foundations. Thou seest how few we be left of such a host of friends; and whilst we speak, we
26
flee ourselves and, as shades, disappear; from one moment to the next, one will learn of the
other’s death, only to follow him shortly afterwards.
What are we therefore, dearest brother, what are we? Yet are we not able to cast off our pride.
Broken hearted by his sorrows, Cicero, in a letter to his friend Atticus wrote: “What are we
and for how long shall we suffer thus?” A brief, but if I err not, a fine question and a salutary
one and full of helpful teaching, in which, whoever there can delve, will find much true
humility and modesty and contempt for fleeting things. What are we? So say I too: as heavy,
slow and frail is this our body, as blind, troubled and unquiet is our soul and as varied,
uncertain and voluble our fortune! And how long shall we suffer thus? Not for long, doubtless.
For Cicero’s words signify: “that we be ourselves and for how long shall we be what we
are?” Not for very long; for this being of ours, inasmuch as it cannot last long, can cease
whilst we converse; if this should hap, small wonder. Rightly and gravely thou questionest oh
Marcus Tullius, but tell me please where didst thou leave the third and most perilous question
and most deserving of answer? When we shall have finished existing on this earth, what shall
be of us? Oh great, oh dubious question, so often neglected, Farewell.
When he described himself, Petrarch was more complacent than Simone:
“My person in youth was not overly robust, but dextrous and most agile. Not handsome, but
such as could please in the flower of my age: of fine colouring, between white and brown, my
eyes vivacious and possessed of sight, that continued to be most acute for a long time, but
failed me after my sixtieth year, forcing me to reluctantly have recourse to glasses. I enjoyed
excellent health all my life, old age overcoming me with its customary host of infirmities.”
(Letter to Posterity – G. Fracassetti, Le Monnier, Florence 1863, p.201 - English translation by
author).
Professor Giovanni Canestrini’s anthropological study on Petrarch’s bones, carried out when
his tomb was opened for the third time on the 6th December 1873 reveals that he was tall
(about 1m.83 –84) and that his leg bones were proportionally very long and uncommonly
strong, which is proved by the highly developed femoral crests that support the leg muscles
and by the considerable size of the rotula. The femurs were asymmetrical, the right one being
more curved inward than the left and about one centimetre shorter, which probably made him
limp slightly.
Sennuccio, in a letter he wrote to Cangrande della Scala, described the coronation of the poet
on the 8th April 1341, saying “Remounting the cart, he betook himself to the Vatican and
dismounting at the church, Vespers were solemnly sung. Whereafter he returned to the house
of the Colonnesi, where supper was plentifully laid out. After which, in order to show courtesy
to a brigade of beautiful ladies, he undressed to his jerkin and after having danced with them,
27
finally performed a fine and gallant Moresque on his own. This was judged a magnanimous
and courteous act, certes worthy of a triumphant poet.”
Regarding the skull, here is what Canestrini said:
“Petrarch’s head …belongs to the ancient Etruscan type….On the other hand, one cannot
deny that the well raised eyebrow arches and his pronounced cheekbones gave his face a
virile aspect, that contrasted with the overall delicacy of his features…His forehead was not
very high and slightly receding. This feature is most evident in the portrait of the poet in St.
Michael in Padua….Considering his bone structure, one can affirm that Petrarch’s face was
broad and short, his nose prominent and wide at the base…His face, as he says himself, being
of a healthy colour between white and brown.”
Pronounced cheekbones, suggesting an ample vocal cavity, very likely provided him with a
pleasant, sonorous voice.
Canestrini states that his cerebellum was most probably highly developed and that as “this
organ is considered the seat of muscular sense and physical love, we are led to presume that
both these aspects were powerfully developed in him,”
Speaking of physical love, Petrarch himself avers: “ I would like to claim that I am totally
unversed, regarding voluptuous pleasures; as, however, I cannot say this without lying, I shall
be content to say that although the heat of my age and temperament urged me towards them
most strongly, at the bottom of my soul I recognized and condemned the base nature thereof.”
To sum up his conclusions, Canestrini observes that “Petrarch’s skull reveals a voluminous
cerebrum….possessing superior psychological faculties…but the back section of the brain
predominated, if only slightly, over the frontal section, wherefore we have to admit that in
Petrarch, feelings and instinct prevailed over his nonetheless extremely high intelligence.”
Nature had certainly provided him with a strong, attractive body, imposing stature, vivacious,
intelligent eyes and a winning voice, his richly elevated, tumultuous thoughts drew men,
women, popes, kings, philosophers and painters, as the fine portrait carried out in 1397 by
Jacopo da Verona in the Oratory of St. Michael in Padua, reveals. It is a human, credible
portrait, which gainsays the traditional images of the idealised, spiritual features of Laura’s
adoring sonneteer.
Portrait of Francesco Petrarca drawn by B. Belzoni from the fresco by Jacopo da Verona, painted in 1397 in
the Oratory of St. Michael in Padua.
Frontal and side views of Petrarch’s skull, drawn by B. Belzoni when the tomb was opened on the 6 th
December 1873.
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CHAPTER VIII
FRANCESCO PETRARCA AND GAMBLING
“When I think of human events and actions and of uncertain sudden occurrences , I find
nothing is more frail or disquieting than human life” Thus run the opening lines of Petrarch’s
De remediis utriusque fortunae, in which he uses dialogue to prove that success and
catastrophe are two great impostors. The work, that was to have enormous success in the first
centuries after his death, examines a number of lucky and unlucky situations and suggests the
reader draw upon his soul, in order to confront them accordingly, with moderation or courage.
Below, we include three dialogues between Gaudio (Enjoyment) and Ratio (Reason),
concerning gambling. The Latin text, translated into Italian and Christianised by the monk B.
Fiorentino, was printed in Venice in 1549. (Translation by the author)
REGARDING LUCK AT DICE AND TABLES (dialogue XXVII)
GAUDIO - I like throwing dice.
RATIO - Oh insatiable abyss, oh sudden, sad loss of ones paternal estate, oh tempest of the
soul, that obscures reputation, oh spur to infamy and pathway to despair, the others we
discussed above could almost be called games, but this is pure sorrow.
GAUDIO - This game was always propitious to me in the end.
RATIO - Dice never produced positive results, rather were they miserable and unhappy, as
who loses is afflicted and who wins is seduced and falls a victim to deception.
GAUDIO - I have played happily.
RATIO - Present happiness often portends future grief and this pestilence too has its delights,
for if everybody lost when playing, none would ever play; now many win, but those winnings
are the earnest of loss.
GAUDIO - I have played and won.
RATIO - It is well, if thou dost not return to it, otherwise, there is no battle in which chance
proves so fickle.
GAUDIO - I have played and won.
RATIO - Thou shallst play again and thou shallst lose. What thou hast won will be taken from
thee from every side and what thou losest, none will restore to thee. To this add that if there be
justice, what thou winnest, does not become thine and what thou losest shall ever cease to be
thine. There be certainly many things that hold back the mind from this madness, if it were not
urged by a certain impetus moved by avarice.
GAUDIO - I have won at gaming.
RATIO - Know that thou hast received the hundredth part of the usurer’s fee from thy
collector and that thou willst restore what thou hast won and willst add to it more of thine
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own: and albeit there be none to ask thee what thou hast won, it will disappear of its own
accord and thou willst find that thou werest but rich and happy in thy dreams.
GAUDIO - I have won and I have become wealthy.
RATIO - Monies never keep still, rather, because they are round, they ever turn, and the
monies derived from gaming are even less stable. This game never gave anything to anybody
and even less to those who practiced it the most, rather it lends something or takes everything,
becoming ever more cruel when it seemed agreeable to thee and there be no bitterer loss than
to taste the sweetness of winning at the beginning.
GAUDIO - I have played and I have won a lot.
RATIO - To rejoice at thy winnings is like rejoicing at the sweetness of poison, as both will
suddenly explode in thy veins.
GAUDIO - I have had great pleasure in my luck at gaming.
RATIO - To take pleasure in sin is worse than sinning itself; some sin, almost urged to it by
bad habits and after sinning are not happy, but sad and had they done ought else, they had not
sinned. Others, we have seen, in the midst of the flames of enjoyment, shiver with cold sorrow
and repentance and, if I may say, wish and not wish at the same time, albeit they be bent in
their worse part by the strength of bad habit; from such, one can hope that once the evil
custom is removed, they be able to return to better ways. But in those who rejoice in ill doing,
what hope can there be?
GAUDIO - I take pleasure in gaming.
RATIO - I hope that thou willst not always take pleasure in it and not for much longer. The
state of well-founded republics changes continuously and thou thinkest not that the game
might change. Believe me that it will change, thus changing thy happiness into tears. T’will
not change as thou hast seen, as then it laid before thee an empty happiness, now however it
will lay real tears before thee.
GAUDIO - To play is beneficial to me.
RATIO – T’ is a mortal delight and ugly and as nothing to a corrupt soul, wherefore thou
deservest reprehension and scorn. For what gentle man, or rather crude beast, can be
delighted by gaming, which is full of iniquity and most ugly impiety? Where the outer visages
reveal no human thing and the visages themselves, covered with rage and pain, thanks to the
confused savage shouts, do not appear human, where no honest custom is apparent, rather
paucity of words, no love towards men, no reverence for God, but fighting, rancour, deceit,
falsehood, theft and finally wounds and then murder. And human temerity has nothing which
is more cruel to God than blasphemy of the divine name, whereby, amidst other wickedness is
that unhappy game on all sides abominable; wher,e if peradventure shame makes many silent,
they do not say what they pronounce with the lips of their hearts. And who is that true man
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who can, not, I say, touch, but even look at this game and not be afflicted and fly, because of
the ugliness of the wicked scene?
GAUDIO - Every time I am full of delight.
RATIO - Take care that the curse of the Cretans fall not upon thy head (Cretan=cretin), as
there is no lighter thing to say, neither graver at the end, nor closer to ruin, than to delight in
bad habits.
GAUDIO - I like playing.
RATIO - One must distance oneself from dishonest delight and if not for love of virtue, at least
for love of fame and to ensure ones honour; foreasmuch in human dealings thou willst find
with great difficulty where customs and vices are better discovered. Thou hast seen that men
who are wont to enter happily into battle, tremble in this game and weeping, utter vows and
call out their numbers.
The ancient game of Zara or Zaro was played with three dice, shouting out the number that
would appear after the dice were thrown in advance. Morra, in which the fingers of the
players replaced dice, was a derivation from it; the term hazard came from Ad Zarum ludere.
Others, elsewhere of lofty and serene disposition, here, for little money pray and turn to
anger, finally becoming furious and many things have strong men done here for little price,
who would not have done them elsewhere for great treasure and finally here is the kingdom of
all vices, but principally of ire and avarice. Thou rememberest how Ovid, sometimes in that
book, in which he teaches the superfluous and little honest art of loving, inserts something
useful. He makes women in love vigilant, so that in order to cover the vices of their souls, they
watch that they play no game in the presence of their lovers, so that they shall not displease
their loved ones by being seen swollen by ire or in the grip of avarice,. How much more
worthily must one order men that they not only should not offend the eyes of men, but the eyes
of God, who sees all things and loves good souls and honest customs.
GAUDIO - I have played and won and am happy.
RATIO - Gaming is brutish, winning is dangerous and happiness is foolish.
GAUDIO - I have won and I am pleased.
RATIO - All pleasure in ones own harm is madness, which is why the inventor of the game
must have been a devil, who renders who ignores him prey to shame and harm and who is
aware of him full of wonder and surprise. As what is more admirable, than what one knows to
be true in accordance with the ancient and vulgar proverb, thanks to continual experience?
Which is to say all masters at this art be naked, poor and beggars”
A masterly, if somewhat lengthy description: gamblers’ overweening passion for terror and
risk alternate with their greed for easy winnings. Reason seems powerless against this
senseless lust and unhesitating squandering of wealth, which reduces them to naked poverty.
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REGARDING BAD LUCK AT DICE (Dialogue XVI)
GAUDIO - I have lost at dice.
RATIO - Did I not tell thee, when thou wonnest that those monies were not thine, but had been
lent to thee at usury?
GAUDIO - Thanks to gambling I am all used up.
RATIO - Gambling is like doctors, who put little into the body of the patient and draw much
out, believe me, now thou hast much more to make thee happy, than when thou wer’st cheered
by false happiness. Bitter punishment is better than sweet deceit, those little winnings drew
thee to the game, this loss shall make thee draw back and it is better to travel along a straight
road with an ugly brake, than to rattle golden reins along a precipitous, rocky and dangerous
path.
GAUDIO - I have gambled and lost.
RATIO - Thou hast won the game of customs, because thou hast more closely seen if thou hast
done some good by playing or if it were not better next time to avoid it: and if this remedy
does not heal thee, know that thy malady is incurable and if harm or shame do not force thee
to withdraw from this game, words will be of little avail, where facts have not had the required
strength.
OF HAZARD AND CHESS (Dialogue XXXI)
GAUDIO - I very much like playing at hazard and chess.
RATIO - The former is harmful, the latter is foolish. Once, they say that Scevola himself
played at both and that Caesar Augustus played one of them. I will not praise this in thee,
because the former had chosen to amuse himself, amidst the ceremonies of the gods and the
laws of men in which he had enough to do and the latter sought distraction from the cares of
the great empire, foreasmuch as great and learned men possess errant appetites, which, if
thou followest them along the paths of their knowledge, as well as of their customs, thou willst
easily slip, as not everything in men that are praised is praiseworthy.
GAUDIO - I delight in playing at hazard
RATIO - Who would not take pleasure in throwing square bones with ones elbow bent on a
painted table, marking the numbers and placing the round markers wherever they be directed,
on the board, according to ones points (It was the game of backgammon or royal tables). Oh
glorious army worthy of a crown, an illustrious name and a triumphal chariot.
GAUDIO - I like playing chess.
RATIO - Oh childlike pursuit. Oh wasted time. Oh vain thoughts, oh foolish reasoning, mad
happiness and laughable rages, let senile old men draw out their chess boards and the little
pieces of wood that deceive thee with their wanderings and steal from thee unawares,
wherefore it was called by the ancients the game of thieves, which Pliny claimed he played
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with a monkey. Thou marvellest? It is in truth a monkeys’ game, to mix the chess pieces, say
rude things to thy companion and grinding thy teeth, threaten him, rage, fight and
alternatively make a noise and in the words of Flaccus, scratch thy skull, bite thy nails, in
short do things that awaken laughter in everybody passing. (In ancient times, chess was
played for money).Do you leave behind you any of these things to any sort of madness? Do
you not torment yourselves to such a degree, as if your private or public health were in doubt?
And many, I believe, would have won in war had they spent the diligence they spend on wood
and ivory on their various soldiers. And with difficulty willst thou find diligence used in
greater or more inept a manner than in this game. This, however, is common in the kingdom of
madness, that the fewer the fruits, the greater the appetite and delight in them!
GAUDIO - I like games.
RATIO - If thou willst mind my counsel, I shall show thee a game, that was used by the
learned men of Athens, who on feast days, with their friends each brought up some aspect of
knowledge, and presented it, not as a sensual sophism, but according to the ingenuity of the
person presenting it, who shall give it good foundations and it shall pertain to virtue and the
blessed life. After which, without anger or envy, all these aspects shall be compared and those
judged by the wisest, as the losers shall be punished with a light pecuniary punishment, which
can be transformed into philosophical repasts, thus the same thing shall be the cost of the
repast, the practice of learning, the spur to ingenuity, leaving the winners on one side, the
vanquished on the other. This is the kind of game that the ancients played during the
Saturnalia and the Attic nights, thus you too order your holy feasts and Roman nights. Thou
hast in this manner a game that is of benefit to the players and is no shame to play.
The conclusion of dialogue XXI seems to refer to the game of Triumphs, an ideal contest
between Reason and Gaudio (Hedonism), in other words a sublime exercise in virtue. Petrarch
is truly the first to realise that the propelling force in gaming is not only avarice. Ludovico
Sdekauer writes that the poet knew human nature too well to attribute value to metaphysical
reasons.
During the religious crusade against gaming, launched by the Franciscan, cardinal John Capestran,
A friend of Bernardino da Siena, who had defined Tarots the Devil’s Bible; in 1452, 2640 backgammon
Boards, 40,000 dice and an enormous pile of playing cards were burnt on a bonfire. (D’Allemagne)
Ancient view of Avignon, seen from the opposite bank of the Rhone (D’Allemagne)
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CHAPTER IX
THE CARDS THAT WERE FATHERED
BUT COULD NOT BE ACKNOWLEDGED.
In Petrarch’s work, poetry and allegory merge: this enables him to express his thoughts
regarding the people and events of his time and protect himself when uttering uncomfortable
or dangerous truths. If he can, he avoids using clear unmistakable definitions, which means
that one must assess his writings with ones mind and listen with ones instinct, rather than
interpret the words he writes literally.
In the letter addressed to Ludwig of Beringen, the first of the great sheaf of his Familarum
rerum (I.I.), he writes:...Time, as one might say, has slipped through my fingers and my distant
hopes are buried with my friends. It was the year 1348 (the year of the Black Death) that left
me alone and cheerless...I have nothing to sell, yet I am richer, or rather weighed down, as
there is in my home such an abundance of writings of various kinds, scattered around and in
great disorder. Whilst I was rummaging about amidst my mould-covered chests, I covered
myself in dust and found manuscripts nibbled away by bookworms... Almost submerged by a
mountain of paper, my first wish was to throw it all onto a bonfire...part was in free prose,
other sheets composed in the style of Homer, others destined to tickle the ears of the common
herd...in short: I consigned over a thousand poems of various types together with letters to
friends to the flames; whilst they were burning, I noticed a few more in a corner, saved more
by chance than by deliberate choice, that had withstood the onslaughts of time. These I
decided to share between two of my friends, dedicating the ones in prose to you and the ones
in verse to my Barbato.
Taken up by his more important works, his first intention was to burn everything, had his fond
friends not stopped him.
In two letters written to his childhood friend, Guido Sette (Guy Seven) (Rerum Familiarum V
16/17), he nonetheless expresses unusual anguish and sorrow for the “loss” and “death” of a
letter and for the way in which it had been “snatched from its cradle”, and had been “entrusted
to paper and not to memory”.
...I had written a beautiful letter, he says, but due to the excessive haste of my friends, whose
continual desire to hunt down my latest writings leads them to rummage around in my library,
it was seen and taken away without telling me.... I would never have believed that such a loss
should grieve me so much...for many days and nights I hunted for it, lamenting the reckless
liberty taken by my friends as well as my foolhardiness...in the hopes that a premature glory
would derive from it, inasmuch as it contained the first fruits of my studies.
We have already seen how many of his works were not valued by the poet as a means to fame,
and had therefore been consigned to a bonfire, but this letter was something different. He is
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intensely perturbed by the reckless liberty taken by his friends and by his own foolhardiness
for at least four serious reasons.
Like his Sine Nomine, the golden cards, albeit in images, contained unequivocal biting
criticisms levelled at the popes in Avignon, which, if known, could have caused him serious
problems. The sudden, amazing success of the game, that united chance with skill, had
induced his friends to copy the idea, with the chief object of being able to play with the cards,
leading in time and after a succession of copies, to a perversion and breaking up of the original
work. The card game lent itself to being reproduced in many different ways, with the most
varied political connotations. Lastly, in view of the subjects illustrated, fortune-tellers had
adopted them for their trade.
As his friend Guido marvels at his sorrow for the fate of a letter (epystola), he rejoins...You
are perfectly right, it is not the mark of a great soul to hope for glory from ones letters (ex
literis gloriam sperare) ... True glory is not dispensed by the vulgar herd, which great souls are
in truth almost disturbed by, rather it flourishes and thrives in the breast of great men...far
from the applause and favour of the common crowd... The latter is not a lasting asset and
easily fails, perturbed and destroyed by the puffing that pushed it up and even were it capable
of eternity, if obtained through vulgar and ignoble means, shall never give happiness to a
generous soul, inasmuch as it would be degenerate reward for servile work....
In the Latin text, the word epystola, i.e. Missive, written letter, changes into litera (pl.), i.e.
Literary works, poetic compositions. He renews his lamentations over the way his literae have
been taken from him by the common herd, who by spreading them around have destroyed
their original meaning (ruined by the puffing exhalations that raise them up). This is the kind
of vile reputation, that he had not foreseen and wishes to have nothing to do with, indignantly
rejecting it.
....Thus I brooded within myself, marvelling and indignant, remembering however how sweet it
had been to peruse these letters (i.e. Play with them) and was inclined to forgive myself for
having suffered so much at their loss and for wishing for them so intensely. I know not if
rightly or wrongly, but for various reasons I convinced myself that my sorrow at their loss was
not caused by vain ambition and desire for praise, but because they had seemed useful. My
trust in them did not depend on my own artistry and talented endeavour, but on him who
was true master and dispenser of art and talent, so that I dared to hope that the lines written
by my hand would not only give pleasure but be beneficial to their readers.
In dialogue XXVII of his De Remediis , Petrarch defines the game of dice “a tempest of the
soul, a stimulus to evil ways and the path to despair”, whilst in the dialogue dedicated to
chess, he suggests a game “pertaining to virtue, that encourages learning and is a spur to wit
and ingenuity.”
35
Petrarch meant his cards as an antidote to gaming, as well as an encouragement to talent: it
was thus he considered them useful and beneficial to their readers. The expression true master
who dispenses art and talent (veros ille magister artis ingeniique dipensator), refers to the
ingenious illustris artificiis, mentioned in book III of his Secretum, in other words to the
illustrious creator of Laura’s portraits (we shall see that there were two), i.e. To Simone
Martini. In Sonnet CXXX of his Canzoniere the painter is once more defined Miglior mastro
e di più alto ingegno (Better master and of greater talent). The letter continues in an
increasingly explicit vein as regards the contents and the authors.
...Fiercely in it did I inveigh against fortune and spineless humanity, and as a double set of
spurs, I had armed its flanks with incitement to virtue and not a few condemnations directed
against this century of ours and against the vices that now dominate the world (See diagram
on page 51).
Therefore, when I read it again, I could hardly believe it was mine and celebrated it higher
than I am wont to prize my other writings.... The physical beauty of Phidias and Apelles is
unknown, yet remains of famous works of the former still remain and the fame of the latter has
reached our times...wherefore we find Apelles in books and Phidias in marble. In our times, I
have known two egregious painters, neither of them beautiful: Giotto of Florence who has
great fame among modern painters and Simone of Siena... It is no wonder that unlovely as I
am I should have written a fine letter and that an ugly painter should have painted a
handsome man...
The fame of Apelles in books, i.e. Written letters, is the lyrical invention that Petrarch
proposes to the painter: the marble statues of Phidias are like the handsome man, i.e.: the
miniatures painted by the artist. In their case, however, Simone was no passive craftsman. He
played an active role, as a friend, in the creation of the pack, painting the Triumphs, not yet
composed by the poet, on illuminated golden cards.The explosive success of the game forced
Petrarch to compose his verses, dragging on dispiritedly over the following years, as he recalls
in Sonnet XCIII of his Canzoniere, after Simone’s death:
Many a time had Love told me: Write,
Più volte Amor m’avea già detto:Scrivi
Write what you saw in golden letters
Scrivi quel che vedesti in lettre d’oro,
Just like my followers I pale,
Sì come i miei seguaci discoloro,
And in a moment I make them dead and alive
E’n un momento gli fo morti e vivi
There was a time that you felt within yourself
Un tempo fu ch’n te stesso sentivi,
Vulgar example to the amorous chorus;
Volgare esempio a l’amoroso coro;
Then other work removed it from my hand
Poi di man mi tolse altro lavoro;
But I had already caught you up whilst you did flee.
Ma già ti raggiuns’io mentre fuggivi
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The golden letters were the literae, or golden illuminated cards created by Simone Martini at
Francesco’s verbal suggestions (memory).
...It was their superior beauty when compared with other letters, that caused their loss and my
sorrow...so to this dead letter, not acknowledged, but fathered, I addressed a lament, that was
almost a funeral oration...grieving that it had been taken from me so soon, as if it had been
snatched from its cradle and my sorrow is the more inconsolable as I cannot hope that its
bones give birth to another, as the Phoenix from its ashes...nothing is left, as I had entrusted
all to paper and nothing to memory, which is not what I commonly do....when I search for it in
my memory, it is not there... I know that I enjoyed great sweetness in writing it and even more
when I re-read it, whereas there is only bitterness in remembering it...I experienced what the
finder of a honeycomb does, when he lifts it to his lips but has it taken away from him almost
immediately, wherefore the sweetness being removed, he is only left with the bitter memory.
The cards illuminated by Simone Martini must have been splendid, if the miniature he
executed for the Virgilian Codex is anything to go by. Playing cards in the meantime, in ever
slimmer and more simplified packs, were being circulated in ever increasing circles. The
original concept, as Petrarch rightly says, was not only lost, but dead; and although he had
fathered them, he refuses to acknowledge what they had become, bitterly excluding any
likelihood of a return to the original purpose. He was profoundly embittered inasmuch as the
gaming passion that he had always condemned, had, thanks to his new paper instrument,
become epidemic.
In Francesco Petrarca’s last document, his will, almost at the end , at codicil 23, where he
provides for his servants, he leaves Bartolomeo da Siena, known as Pancaldo, 20 ducats,
adding laconically “providing he does not gamble with them!”(quos non ludat)
THE QUOTATION OF THE CHRONICLER COVELLUZZO AND THE “NAIBS”
In the various works on the origin of playing cards, it is surprising to see how the quotation of
the chronicler of Viterbo, Covelluzzo, has always been mentioned and accepted, without any
of its historical aspects being checked. The passage, recorded in the Viterbo archives, has
nearly always been quoted in part, whereas the whole passage is much more interesting and
revealing. In his history of the town, Covelluzzo states: “In 1379, the mercenary troops of the
opposing factions of Clement VII (antipope) and Urban VI were encamped near Viterbo and
unrestrainedly sacked and robbed throughout the Roman territories. In this year of great
tribulation, the game of cards was introduced to Viterbo; it came from the Saracen lands and
was called Naibs.”
To speak extensively of the Great Western Schism, which threw the Catholic Church into
turmoil, from 1378 to 1449, is not the purpose of this book. It is worth remembering, however,
37
that there was no doctrinal question underlying this upheaval, which was chiefly due to the
decline of papal authority and prestige during the devastating period of the Avignon papacy
and the growth throughout Europe of the new lay, humanistic spirit, heralded in by Petrarch,
some fifty years earlier. In 1379, in fact, there were two popes and two holy sees: Rome and
Avignon.
Against the background of this factious situation, the political interests of the various
European nations favoured one or the other pope, further widening the gap between the
powerful group of French cardinals and the Roman contingent.
Before providing a short biography of the two popes in question, it might be useful to assess a
series of historical facts, that demonstrate the fairly continuous coming and going between
Viterbo and Avignon, before the arrival of the antipope’s troops.
In 1342, Simone Martini introduces Matteo Giovannetti, prior of San Martino in Viterbo, to
the holy see authorities in Avignon, with the consequence that Giovannetti will profoundly
change fresco painting techniques in Provence. In Avignon he will be given the Chartreuse,
founded by Innocent VI, to decorate, as well as a number of rooms in the imposing papal
palace. In 1350, Francesco Petrarca, whose leg had been kicked by a horse, is forced to
prolong his stay in Viterbo. The 5th September 1367, Urban V is in Viterbo and the arrogance
of his followers causes the city to rebel. The residences of the cardinals and prelates are
broken into and sacked and the prelates seek refuge in the papal residence (Vitae paparum
avenionesium 1305/1394). In the same year, in Viterbo, Giovanni da Siena and others are
admitted by the pope into the consiliarum camerae and granted special duties. Lastly, in 1378,
the year of the schism, the papal census carried out in the seven parishes of Avignon, causes a
mass emigration of all Italians. Amongst the various merchants and bankers, there were
postulants, adventurers, beggars and vagabonds of every kind, all returning to Italy.
The early Provençal tarots, similar to the ones in the Ursino Castle in Catania, had therefore
had had numerous possibilities of getting to Viterbo, long before the siege, mentioned by
Covelluzzo; but let us proceed:
The French cardinal faction, who had refused to recognise pope Urban VI, recently elected by
their colleagues, elected Clement VII in Fondi, the 20th September 1378. The election of the
latter indicated the firm desire on the part of a considerable part of the Catholic hierarchy to
remain in Rome, to which city it had moved some months earlier, definitely leaving Avignon.
The election was absolutely legitimate and the accusations of invalidity put forward by the
French cardinals, concealed their desire to restore the papal see to Avignon and place it once
more under the influence of the king of France. The intransigence of pope Urban VI caused a
simple movement of discontent to develop into the lengthy and ruinous Schism. Clement VII
took up residence in Avignon. Here the expenses and social engagements of the papal court
brought discredit on the pope and his supporters. Clement VII died on the 16th September
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1394: Urban VI, before his election, had been Bartolomeo Prignano and was a Neapolitan. He
had spent his youth in Avignon and on the 21st March 1364 he was consecrated bishop of
Acerenza. On the 14th April 1378, Gregory XI transferred him to the bishopric of Bari.
Prignano was elected pope on the 8th April 1378. His entire papacy was afflicted by a turbulent
relationship with the Avignon see. He died in Rome on the 15th October 1389.
Clement VII’s mercenaries, mentioned by Covelluzzo and mustered thanks to the aid of
Charles V of France, were Du Guesclin’s bloodthirsty squadrons, most of them Bretons or
Gascons, who spread indescribable terror and destruction wherever they went. Soldiers of
fortune and veritable blackguards, like the Landsknechten, they were the true propagators of
the new card game, which was obviously different from the original Provençal tarots. All of
which seems to indicate that playing cards did not come from the land of the Saracens.
As far as the word Naib is concerned, if one discounts all the forced linguistic analogies with
Arabic, we only know for certain that in Hebrew, the word indicates magic, witchcraft.
Let us now return to Avignon and its Jewish community at the beginning of the 14th century.
At the time, there were just over a thousand Tibbonid Jews, many of whom studied the
Quabbalah, a science based on mystic combinations of numbers and letters, that allegorically
summed up the contents of the Bible (Torah).
All Jews lived juridically isolated lives, but were bound to follow the destiny of the Christian
society they lived in. Before the election of John XXII, the Jewish community lived in a
closed area, near the parish of Saint Pierre, clustered around the synagogue, the schools, the
butchers and ritual baths and ovens, not far from the small Jewish cemetery, south of the city.
After the new pope’s election, the Jewish community, viewed with increasing suspicion and
hostility, began to be persecuted. After the Synod of 1326, orders were given to destroy the
Talmud and precise instructions were published, ordering all male Jews over fourteen to wear
a round medal on their breast, whilst the male children under fourteen had to wear their hair in
a special way (cornalia).
Jewish doctors and surgeons, to whom occult and magical practices were attributed (born out,
occasionally by such unfortunate instances, as when the Visconti in Milan tried to bring about
the death of the pope by slowly melting down wax effigies, in which pins had been stuck, that
had been manufactured by a Quabbalist from Avignon), were discriminated against and antisemitic feeling reached its peak, when the whole community was accused of spreading the
terrible Black Death in 1348.
It is quite likely that the “strange allegories” on tarots, that the Church had vainly tried to
censure and condemn, were later palmed off as Quabbalistic devilry. After all, one of the
activities that Jews were permitted to exercise, was the sale of books and parchment rolls
(many card packs were made of parchment) and the apostolic chamber of John XXII
purchased their supplies regularly from Jews. (Shaefer, I p.891). Another point to be
39
considered is how the Hebrew word TORAH ( i.e. The books of the Pentateuch, or Hebrew for
instruction) sounds rather like TAROT.
And what of the monk, fifty years later, who called tarots the “Devil’s Bible” – the Jews often
being likened to devils?
Familiarum Rerum XXI.1 To Ernest, bishop of Prague, as to why truth has so many enemies.
…Many things had I conceived in my mind and expressed in writing that I do not send thee;
the reasons for which will be told to thee by the person who will give thee the few words that
thou willst read and the many thou willst hear, which he has undertaken to refer to thee by
voice: most devoted man to thyself, to me most trusted friend. As truth is holy and honest, but
not always safe; many enemies has she had in every age, but many more in ours; the reason
being that never as at present has virtue had so few friends. None but the evil hate truth. Fear
leads a strong man not to lie, but to be silent. Urged by the desire for truth, even nowadays, I
have never noticed this, neither did I remark it in the past, excepting when I could not not have
spoken. In the course of a conversation, words cannot be recalled, but when writings are too
free, one can remedy by hiding them or by erasing what one has written.
I have done the former and have locked up many of my writings, which I shall perhaps one
day destroy, or perhaps let live so that when I depart this world, they may emerge from hiding
and prove me a scholar of truth, albeit hidden for fear of the Jews. And who knows that being
of scornful soul and careless of vain shadows, I might not open the door for them myself, as
they ask for nothing better…
The consequences of gambling (D’Allemagne)
40
Landsknechts playing at cards, engraving by A. De Worms (D’Allemagne )
CHAPTER X
...AND HE PORTRAYED HER ON CARDS.
It is no mystery that medieval men were fascinated by the magic of numbers. Petrarch, like
Dante and Boccaccio, had read and re-read ancient texts on numbers, considered the essence
of all things and had forged an idealised image of his own life, scanned by the number seven
and its multiples, attributing to this number some secret virtue, as Cicero had also done. There
are innumerable references to this concept in his writings. His love for Laura had lasted twenty
one years and even the cardinal in his Sine Nomine “whose lasciviousness was worthy of a
billy goat” was seventy years old and had seven teeth in his head. It is moreover remarkable
that Petrarch ended his life in 1374 at the end of his seventieth year.
The cards illuminated by Simone and linked to each other by means of a harmonious scheme,
were seventy seven plus the Fool or Jester, who, as such, if not excluded, was only marginally
part of the pictorial cycle
Seventy seven and seventy eight were therefore the numbers that symbolised the pack. Let us
now see how the poet - to identify the only two sonnets in his Canzoniere, dedicated to
Simone Martini - used the same two numbers. (This kind of numerological identification had
been used by the poet before: the poem he composed when he was fourteen, at his mother’s
death, consists of thirty eight hexameters, his mother being thirty eight when she died in
1318).
SONNET LXXVII
Per mirar Policleto a prova fiso
To admire Polyclitus bent upon his task
Con gli altri ch’ebber fama di quell’arte
with the others who had fame in that art
Mill’anni, non vedrian la minor parte
a thousand years would not see the least part
De la beltà che m’ave il cor conquiso;
of the beauty that has conquered my heart,
Ma certo il mio Simon fu in Paradiso
but certes my Simon was in Paradise
Onde questa gentil donna si parte;
to which this gentle lady departed
Ivi la vide, et la ritrasse in carte
there he saw her and portrayed her on cards
Per far fede qua giù del suo bel viso.
To bear witness down here of her fair face
L’opra fu ben di quelle che nel cielo
The work was truly of the kind that can in heaven
Si ponne immaginar, non qui tra noi,
be imagined, not here in our midst,
Ove le membra fanno a l’alma velo.
Where our limbs do veil our sou
Cortesia fe’; né la potea far poi
Courtesy he paid, and could do nothing after
Che fu disceso a provar caldo et gielo,
he descended to endure heat and ice,
Et del mortal sentiron gli occhi suoi.
And mortality his eyes perceived.
41
Let us now examine the seventh verse of Sonnet LXXVII.
Streams of praise have gushed from commentators in every century as to Petrarch’s exquisite
rhymes, the Phoenix of poets, whose courtly, elegant style, constantly corrected and revised,
and care for verse form and musicality was subjected to endless labor limae. Nonetheless they
have blithely dismissed what could be defined as an instance of slovenliness, a grammatical
error, that not even Cecco Angiolieri or Burchiello would have committed: instead of in carte,
he could have written ad arte: Petrarch would never have pluralised the singular backing of a
miniature if what he meant to say had not been the truth. Laura really had been portrayed on
the cards and not only once, as we shall see.
Further confirmation of which seems to come from verse fourteen (twice seven)of Sonnet
XCVII of his Canzoniere: ....
Amor in altra parte non mi sprona,
Love urges me not to other parts
Né i piè sanno altra via, né le man come
nor do my feet know other path, nor do my hands know how
Lodar si possa in carte altra persona
one can praise in cards another person
SONNET LXXVIII
Quando giunse a Simon l’alto concetto
When Simone was touched by the high concept
Che a mio nome gli pose in man lo stile,
that in my name the stylus put in his hand,
S’avesse dato a l’opera gentile
Colla figura voce et intellecto,
Di sospir molti mi sgombrava il petto,
Che ciò ch’altri à più caro e me fan vile;
if he had given his gentle work
not only a figure, but voice and intellect,
of many a sigh would he have freed my breast,
for what others hold most dear a coward makes of me;
Però che ‘n vista ella si mostra humile
as her semblance so humble seems
Promettendomi pace ne l’aspetto.
Promising me peace in her aspect.
Ma poi ch’io vengo a ragionar co’llei
But when I come to reason with her
Benignamente assai par che m’ascolte,
Full benignly does she seem to listen
Se risponder savesse a’detti miei!
If only she knew how to answer my say
Pigmalion, quanto lodar ti dei
Pygmalion how much should I praise you
De l’immagine tua, se mille volte
for your image, if a thousand times
N’avesti quel ch’i sol una vorrei!
You had not made what I wanted only one of!
In Sonnet CXXX, he praises Simone’s work yet again:....
E sol ad una immagine m’attegno
Che fé non Zeusi o Prasitele o Fidia
Ma miglior mastro e di più alto ingegno.
And only to one image do I cling
That neither Zeuxis, nor Praxiteles, nor Phidias made,
But better master and of higher talent.
In the first two verses of Sonnet LXXVIII, directly dedicated to Simone, the poet’s influence
on the stylus, the artist’s instrument, would appear excessive, if it was solely meant to sketch a
single little portrait. But the miniatures were really seventy-eight, a didactic scheme (the high
42
concept) linking them to one another, according to detailed suggestions provided by the poet
to his painter friend.
Let us now see the third book of the Secretum: after Augustine has provided a meticulous list
of all the ills caused by Petrarch’s love for Laura (read also: his pride in his Laureate and his
desire for glory), he defines delirationum supremum, i.e.: supreme folly the habit of carrying
around Laura’s portrait executed by the great talent of an illustrious artist, wherever he goes.
Sleepless nights, tears, sighs, spiritual torment, the premature fading of his vigour, his
weariness with all things, his hatred for life and his yearning after death, etc. He says are lesser
evils compared with this major folly, this supreme delirium. This Summa of images, according
to Augustine, and of course to Petrarch, whose thoughts he utters, is obviously something
more important than a mere miniature. It was, of course, his Letter, on cards, that contained
Laura’s portrait and his most secret thoughts.
Detail of Laura’s portrait from the Triumph of Chastity: one of the Castello Ursino of Catania Tarots.
43
CHAPTER XI
SIMONE “A SHADE BY FAR LESS DEJECTED THAN
TH’OTHERS”
The Triumphs, we know, cost Petrarch much effort. He started them again and again, he
corrected them and finally finished the work shortly before his death, by which time the
images they described, already spread all over Europe by playing cards, were universally
known and familiar. One has to suppose that the initial version of the Triumph of Love, read
or shown to Simone did not include a “Guide”, but that the success of the tabulae, that both of
them had invented, must have induced the poet, after the death of Simone to rewrite the
Triumph of Love, adding on the other triumphs, almost out of gratitude towards his Tuscan
friend, who had so ably translated his thoughts into images. It was undoubtedly in memory of
this that he gave Simone the role of friend and interpreter, as Calcaterra says, rather than that
of guide
.
TRIUNPHUS CUPIDINIS I
Un ombra alquanto men che l’altre trista
A shade, by far less dejected than th’others
Mi venne incontra e mi chiamò per nome,
Came towards me and called me by name,
Dicendo: - Or questo per amor s’acquista! -
Saying : -This is what you acquire from love! -
Ond’io meravigliato dissi: - Or come
Wherefore, marvelling I said - How now
Conosci me, ch’io te non riconosca?-
Dost thou know me who do not know thee? -
Et e’: - Questo m’ avèn per l’aspre some
And he: - This is because the bitter burdens
De’ legami ch’io porto e l’aer fosca
of the bonds I bear and the dark air
Contende a gli occhi tuoi; ma vero amico
Doth distray thine eyes; but true friend
Ti son, e teco nacqui in terra tosca.
Am I to thee and with thee was born in Tuscan land
Le sue parole e’ l ragionar antico
His words and ancient reasoning
Scoverson quel che ‘l viso mi celava;
revealed what his visage did conceal;
E così n’assidemmo in logo aprico
and thus we sat us down full in the sun
E’ cominciò: - Gran tempo è ch’io pensava
He started: - Long hence that I did think
Vederti qui fra noi, chè da primi anni
to see thee here amidst us, as since your earliest years
Tal presagio di te tua vita dava.
Thy life did give of you this kind of promise.
-E’ fu ben ver, ma gli amorosi affanni
- True dost thou speak, but amorous torments
Mi spaventar si ch’io lascia la ‘mpresa
affrighted me so that I did the enterprise abandon;
Ma squarciati ne porto il petto ‘e panni
but both my breast and clothes were thereby rent.
.
44
For Calcaterra, the guide in the Triumphs is “still pale, colourless and faceless, as attempts,
hitherto carried out by critics, have not been able to find a personage who fully corresponds
to the few biographical allusions implied by the verses.”
Adriani, in his commented version of the Triumphi, on the other hand, argues that “the guide
must have been sufficiently recognisable to readers of average culture and that Petrarch
judged the clues offered sufficient; so he must have been a celebrity, or the enigma would
make no sense.”
If the guide of the Triumphs has not yet been identified, it is because researchers have only
thought of searching for him among poets, philosophers and men of letters, ignoring the host
of men renowned for action. We shall see now how Simone Martini perfectly fits the poetic
description.
I)
The guide emerges from the host of men renowned for action (artists, military
leaders, etc.) And not from the group of poets. Simone had not only been a great
artist, but he’d also been entrusted with various missions by the municipality of
Siena and had been knighted by Robert of Anjou, king of Naples - thus a true man of
action.
II)
He is a shade by far less dejected than th’others, in other words: he is not struck and
enflamed by love, because he is no longer young and speaks as an experienced father
to a son. Simone Martini was born in 1284, twenty years before Francesco.
III)
He is not immediately recognised by the poet, because of the “ bitter burdens of the
bonds he bears”. If one remembers that the poem was interrupted, while Petrarch
was composing the first two triumphs, in 1344, only to be resumed in 1352, with
corrections and additions, Simone Martini was already dead. The painter died in
1344, aged sixty, one year after Robert of Anjou. It is plausible to think that Simone
became unrecognisable during the last years of his life and that 12 years after his
death, Petrarch’s memory of him should be hazy and confused.
IV)
He declares he is true friend and born in Tuscan land. One should here recall the
declaration of true friendship made by Petrarch in an annotation to Pliny’s Natural
History, that he bought in 1350. After reading a passage on Apelles, the poet sadly
recalls a friend who had died (his words and ancient reasoning) and noted: a
pleasant friendship of this kind I once had with Simone of Siena. Apelles had already
been quoted in the letter that describes the cards (Familiarum Rerum V 16), where
Petrarch compares the talent of the 4th century B.C. Greek painter to the ingenuity
of his friend Simone. Thus, as the reputation of Apelles survived the disappearance
of his work in the writings of those who saw it, in the same manner shall the
paintings of Simone, condemned by their very nature to disappear before any
sculptural work, survive in the poet’s writings.
45
V)
The composition of the Triumphs, due to amorous torments or simply due to a
prolonged case of writer’s cramp, was interrupted, resumed, revised several times
and finally concluded in June 1374, one month before the poet’s death. Long hence
that I did think to see thee here amidst us...says the guide and similarly see Sonnet
XCIII of the Canzoniere: Many a time had Love said to me: Write, write what you
saw in golden letters! (the golden cards illuminated by Simone). In Familiarum
Rerum V 16, when Francesco describes how the vulgar herd perverted his work, he
uses the word litera (pl.: literary work) and not epystula, i.e. Missive.
VI)
Unlike Dante’s Virgil, a master and a poet like Dante, the friend in Petrarch’s vision
is only “an informer who speaks from experience, a familiar figure, a friendly
interpreter, who appears to him in the procession of Love’s followers” (Calcaterra).
VII)
When Laura appears, the guide and paternal friend disappears, only to reappear in
the Triumph of Fame, when Robert of Anjou, honoured by both Francesco and
Simone issues from the throng. Simone Martini had painted a panel for the church of
San Lorenzo Maggiore in Naples, showing St. Ludovic of Toulouse handing his
crown to his brother Robert. The latter, out of gratitude, had assigned him an annual
pension of 50 ounces of gold, and had knighted him the 23rd July 1317. King Robert
had also crowned Petrarch Poet Laureate in the Capitol in Rome the 8th April 1341.
46
INTRODUCTION TO THE ORIGINAL SCHEME OF THE
TRIUMPHS
The pack painted by Simone, that, according to Augustine’s scolding, Petrarch always kept
with him, was copied and recopied, spreading first amongst the privileged circle of Avignon
friends and later all over Europe.
These early packs could not be shown with impunity to just anybody. The series of ingenious,
skilfully allegorised miniatures contained criticisms that were far too dangerous for their
authors to admit they had created them. The cards would probably have been forgotten in due
course, if they had not proved to be a highly original playing device, that spread everywhere,
notwithstanding prohibitions, bans and threats, taking different directions and undergoing
endless variations.
The ancient golden, damasked Triumphs continued to be the pastime of the nobility, although
their autobiographical and political contents gradually lost its burning topicality, whilst newer,
cheaper, reduced versions, gradually took on the aspect of Naibs or playing cards.
The rare, incomplete fourteenth century packs that have come down to us are scattered all over
the world. How many others were consumed by use, or burnt in one of the early Renaissance
purifying bonfires! A few others are probably preserved in forgotten private archives of
difficult access.
A very short time after they were invented, two stylistic currents were already in existence: the
Emperor in the Gringonneur pack, for instance, holds the Anjou lily (a Guelph symbol), whilst
the Bembo Emperor ostentatiously bears the German imperial eagle( the Ghibelline emblem).
If one compares the Gringonneur pack with the Castello Ursino of Catania cards, one can quite
justifiably talk of a “Provençal” school, at considerable variance with the “Italian” current
followed by Bembo, Cicognara or by the Minchiate Fiorentine.
Both the earliest French and Italian versions contain the bitter accusations the two Tuscans had
levelled at the Avignon papal see. The Emperor’s flanks are armed by the Cardinal Virtues
(Prudence, Justice, Temperance, Fortitude), whilst the Pope is flanked not by the Theological
Virtues (Faith, Hope, Charity), but by the vices of Avarice (the hanged man), Pride and Lust
(the Tower) and capricious Fortune (the Wheel).
The thorny allegory of the Popess is a counter-chant to the Empress.
The cards painted with graphically exquisite late Gothic care are generally more faithful to the
original scheme.
Mario Salmi writes about the Bembo Tarots: …in the mid-fifteenth century, when the
Renaissance is emerging in Lombardy as well, Bonifacio Bembo, from Cremona, continues to
dream of the Gothic world and re-evokes it felicitously, untrammelled by any concrete
47
considerations. His Tarots represent sovereigns and knaves, who play in a gracious world at
the end of the Middle Ages. (La Miniatura italiana – 1955).
His opinion is illuminating. Bembo, like Gringonneur, for that matter, were not creating, but
re-evoking, i.e.: were copying a much older artefact, adding very little of their own. Their
already old-fashioned, i.e. Re-evoked tarots had been very up-to-date just half a century
earlier.
It is only at the end of the Middle Ages, in fact, that graceful images are etched against gilded,
damasked backgrounds, as in Simone Martini’s works.
The original pack, as shown in the scheme, consisted of 77 cards plus the Fool and contained
specific and very contemporary images as well as poetic and universal themes. The
reconstruction of the scheme has been achieved by examining and comparing the cards of
certain historically important packs, i.e.:
The Tarots of Castello Ursino in Catania
The Tarots painted by Gringonneur for Charles VI
(Bibliotèque Nationale de Paris)
The Bembo and Cicognara Tarots
(the Colleoni Collection, the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo and
The Pierpont Morgan Library in New York)
The Marziano da Tortona Tarots
(according to L. Cicognara’s description)
The Minchiate Fiorentine
(British Museum and other sites)
It is still very difficult to achieve any degree of certainty as to the painters who actually
painted the various versions, as, it must be remembered that the cards were enth copies of
copies from an initial model.
48
PORTRAIT OF
THE POET
TRIUMPH TRIUMPH
OF LOVE
OF CHASTITY OF DEATH
STARS
EMPEROR
VIRTUES
TRIUMPH
TRIUMPH
TRIUMPH
TRIUMPH
OF FAME
OF TIME
OF ETERNITY
SUN
MOON
EMPRESS
KING
OF COINS
POPE
KING
OF SWORDS
KING
OF CUPS
PRUDENCE
QUEEN
QUEEN
QUEEN
JUSTICE
KNAVE
KNAVE
KNAVE
KNIGHT
TEMPERANCE
FORTITUDE
KNIGHT
KNIGHT
POPESS
KING
VICES
OF STAVES
QUEEN
KNAVE
KNIGHT
10
10
10
10
9
9
9
9
8
8
8
8
7
7
7
7
6
6
6
6
5
5
5
5
4
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
ACE
ACE
ACE
ACE
HANGED MAN
FORTUNE
TOWER
49
THE TRIUMPHS OF POETRY
The idea of using figures born on triumphal chariots to represent abstract ideas was adopted in
antiquity, both by the Greeks and the Romans. Renewed admiration for the classical world, at
the beginning of the Renaissance, led to a return of interest in this type of ceremony, but the
Roman triumphal attitude changed into a glorification of new values.
In Dante’s Divine Comedy, for instance, we witness the triumph of his muse, Beatrice. In
Petrarch, this type of allegorical representation reaches its peak, when the poet’s views on
existence are voiced in his six triumphs.
Petrarch’s ideas achieve immense popularity and allegorical figures on chariots decorate
frontispieces, wedding chests, birth dishes, etc. Proving the widespread interest in his
concepts.
In the 14th century, the triumphal chariots sung by the poet also make their appearance in the
streets of Florence, during public celebrations. A whole new literary genre comes into being,
such as Fazio degli Uberti’s De Modo del Triunphare or Canti Carnascialeschi, etc.
Petrarch’s Triumphs scan the existence and planetary dimension of a superior human being.
Life no longer progresses from adolescence through youth, virility to old age, as Aristotle had
stated. Petrarch commences his progress from his Love for Laura, followed by Chastity, the
condition necessary, according to Francesco, to concentrate on what he considers most
important, i.e. : his love for the Laurel Crown, or consecration as a Poet Laureate.
Recognition, necessary to Fame, will preserve the memory of his value, of his writings (even
of his Nugae, the love poems conceived to “caress the ears of the common herd” ) for ever in
the minds of future generations. However, as Death and Time are “great poison to great
names”, the triumph of Eternity is looked forward to and desired as the “staying of all things
governed and turned by the heavens”… … Nor shall, nor was, nor past, nor future, nor
before, nor after, that human life make various and unfixed!
Neither yesterday, today, nor tomorrow, but the heartfelt desire for a fixed boundary, as if he
wanted to make himself eternal within the reality surrounding him.
Surrounded by respectful requests for advice, he was always anxious to help mankind to
achieve balanced wisdom, so that all yesterdays, todays and tomorrows should be lived in a
noble, honourable manner.
His six Triumphs are:
THE TRIUMPH OF LOVE: sensual yearnings dominate man in his youth.
THE TRIUMPH OF CHASTITY: reason and chastity, in the guise of Laura (the Laurel
Crown of the Poet Laureate) overcome sensuality.
THE TRIUMPH OF DEATH: death is the destiny of all mankind, overthrowing even
Chastity.
THE TRIUMPH OF FAME: Fame preserves the memory of mankind, vanquishing death.
50
THE TRIUMPH OF TIME: the passage of time corrupts all things and overthrows fame.
THE TRIUMPH OF ETERNITY: beyond the last judgement is eternity, where even time is
overcome and constrained to stand still.
Illustration from the Palatine Codex by B. Bembo (Biblioteca Nazionale in Florence)
PORTRAIT OF FRANCESCO PETRARCA
The series of figured cards begins appropriately with the portrait of the man who conceived
the pack.
It is the card that has been interpreted in the most preposterous ways and has even been
described as the Magus or Peddler.
Unbridled fancy on the part of some analysts have led them to describe his hat as an eight
turned on its side: “the symbol of inborn wisdom and of the fusion of consciousness with
unconsciousness, in an eternal and unshakeable whole” (Kaplan).
The objects on the table have been taken as “fortunate experiments of thought, words and
actions”, whereas the baton in his hand has even been called “phallic”! The objects have also
been described as “spheres, cups, glue pots and cobblers awls”(?)(B.Innes).
Let us now observe an illustration from the Palatine Codex 556, in the National Library in
Florence, dedicated to Lancelot and attributed to Bembo himself. From the paraphernalia
arranged on the table, it is easy to realise that our “Magus” is standing at an ordinary laid
table, on which there are a knife, a glass and two little bowls for salt and herbs. There is also a
covered dish. The table is unusually bare - no tablecloth - which contrasts with the sumptuous
apparel of the “Magus”- and does not seem to be prepared for any other guest, because of its
reduced size. The two latter details suggest a medieval desk.
In the Hall of Giants in Padua, on the wall devoted to illustrious men, there is a portrait of
Petrarch, sitting at his writing desk, which gives one an idea of what the original card may
have looked like.
The painting was one of a series of frescoes commissioned by Francesco da Carrara, to whom
the poet had dedicated his De Viris Illustribus.
It was only the Triumphs- amongst his many works - that set off a widespread iconographic
tradition influencing the figurative arts. Miniatures, enamels, porcelain, dower chests, even
bronzes and ivory carvings. Would it be hazardous to state that the cards circulating amongst
the members of the European courts might have been responsible for the trend? How are we to
explain the many portraits of Petrarch sitting at his desk, which have come down to us, whilst
Dante and Boccaccio are always portrayed standing, holding their works?
.
51
Card of the “Magus” by B.Bembo
The poet, who was a tonsured cleric, is always depicted in canonical apparel, with a hood over
his head: perhaps too austere an image, to be flanked by so many powerful and profane
personages, maybe leading Bembo to choose more refined and elegant clothing for his card….
Lastly, the modern definition of “Magus”, given to the card is fairly plausible, considering the
accusations levelled at the poet on various occasions by the prelates of the papal see in
Avignon.
From the Senilium Rerum Libri (1,4) Letter to Cardinal Talleyrand
Edited by Ugo Dotti – UTET (translation by author)
…Who, being a friend, would, in fact, not be simultaneously amazed and happy on hearing
that the vicar of Jesus Christ, who not only suspected me of being a magician, but declared
that I was, has not only suddenly given up his false opinion of me, to date obstinately upheld
in the face of your eloquence and the expostulations of many who wanted to eradicate such
ideas, but has changed his mind in so marked a fashion, that whereas he even seemed to fear
my words and my sight, today he begs for my closest intimacy and my most faithful service,
offering me presents?...
God forgive whoever put such false reports around….whatever the reason for it, he certainly
called me magician… and found ears ready to listen to him: such are the heads to whom the
destinies of the state are entrusted! You know well how we laughed at these rumours,
sometimes in the presence of the man who had believed in the informer, only when the latter
rose to the papacy (Innocent VI) things began to be serious, arousing your ire and my
sorrow…A pope can certainly not believe that the man he wants as his secretary is a
magician, nor can he believe devoted to sorcery, someone he considers worthy of being party
to the most secret affairs and capable of writing holy documents…
(see also Familiarum Rerum IX.5 page 137)
Petrarch’s fortune as a poet in France is tied to the increasing admiration for things Italian and
it was the humanist, rather than the poet who wrote in the Vulgar tongue, who influenced
French intellectuals. He attempted to evoke a nobler humanity, setting Scipio before Caesar.
The petrarchan myth of the perfect individual, rather than the Catholic medieval concept of a
civilisation powerfully swayed by social considerations, was to influence European culture for
centuries to come. Consider, for instance the English sonnet writers of the 16th century.
Petrarch held that an active man was truly wise and true knowledge was the pursuit of virtue,
thus a “vir” can be historian, philosopher, poet and theologian. His religious faith is never
dogmatic, but above all moral and perfectly compatible with the philosophy of the ancients.
He is firmly convinced of the existence of a natural, universal, eternal morality that guides
every free man. He often comforts or encourages and at times stigmatises vices that are
52
concessions made to interest and passion, which he hopes will be countered by the force of
reason and with all ones energy.
He quotes illustrious men, in order to show which path one should tread to grow within. He
celebrated moderation, introspection, equilibrium, a solitary life and contempt for human
stupidity, envy, avarice and pride. He praises the “Vir”, the universal man and is not always
understood by the advertisers of historical movements involving heavy social content.
(See for instance: De Sanctis – Risorgimento or Valpolicelli – Fascismo, etc.)
BRIEF PORTRAIT OF FRANCESCO PETRARCA BY UNKNOWN WRITER OF
THE 14TH CENTURY,
PUBLISHED IN ROME WITH THE CANZONIERE IN 1471
Francesco Petrarca was of eminent presence, vivid colouring, most handsome; not overly
strong, but dextrous; he enjoyed excellent vision until his old age; his disposition most human
and an enemy of pride; anger never rose within him so as to affect others; he profoundly
despised all forms of wealth, not because he underrated its power, but because he detested the
cares that are the inseparable companions of all wealth. He was the enemy of all vacuous
pomposity, not only because he knew it to be evil and contrary to humanity, but also the
destroyer of spiritual tranquillity. His fervent youth and natural disposition led him greatly to
lust, but his soul always lamented his vile subjection to this costly yoke. After his fiftieth year,
albeit in possession of much warmth and lusty strength, not only did he separate himself from
such obscene acts, but from all memory of it, as if he had never looked at any woman. He was
ever content with a mediocre life, and with simple homely food rather than with delicate
dishes; he disliked crowded gatherings, preferring to meet his friends, than whose company
nothing was dearer to him or gave him more joy; he never happily took food without some
company. His spirit was haughty but forgetful of all insults, full of gratitude for all benefits
received, most anxious to secure honest friendships and faithful observer; enviably fortunate
in his familiarity with great lords; a lover of his own freedom and most attentive scholar of
beneficial and salutary subjects; of elevated and subtle intelligence, his later years were
delighted by his curiosity for ancient histories, no less than for sacred writings. Clear and
eloquent when speaking, he also most readily turned to verse or prose, whether he was writing
in Latin or in the Vulgar tongue and in this his singular gift was his graceful, polished prose
and his chiselled and sonorous verse; in both styles did he compose many most noble works,
earning perpetual praise in this life and immortal fame.
Portrait of Francesco Petrarca
(Medicean Laurentian Library, Strozzi 172, c.Iv)
53
THE TRIUMPH OF LOVE
The Triumph of Love in a 15th century engraving
Plato entrusted spiritual love with “ the task of causing the soul to ascend from bodily beauty
to spiritual beauty so that through the lower, that ones senses can perceive, one shall descry
the higher spiritual beauties.” In his Triumph of Love and in all his writings on this theme,
Petrarch’s intellectual pride, which Aphrodite’s followers would have dubbed arrogantly
hostile to the goddess, constrains him not to be ruled by what he considers the worst side of
human nature. He is undoubtedly influenced by the values of the dominant, misogynous,
monotheistic Christian world, and repeatedly states that Love is the most weakening
experience for the Vir, whose sole ambition should be the pursuit of knowledge and the
suppression of all corporal and natural aspects of existence. Respect for love implies humility
and the acceptation of the joint material and spiritual nature of every being, but Petrarch seems
incapable of accepting this ancient harmony, drenched as he is in the Neoplatonic teachings of
the Fathers of the Church and signally of St. Augustine. He disparages the world of emotions
and sensations, praising instead the masculine values and virtues of self-control and
intellectual knowledge. These concepts were probably not entirely shared by Simone Martini
or by Giovanni Boccaccio, both less intellectually arrogant than Petrarch and, to judge from
their actions, much more tender with their female companions. In the Triumph of Love, such
is Petrarch’s desire to belittle its sacred aspects, that, like the ancient followers of Zeus, the
oppressors of the matriarchal, agricultural, Mediterranean civilisation, he chooses as symbol of
love not omnipotent Aphrodite, the benevolent generator of life, but spiteful, childish Eros,
winged and naked, his face framed by curls and armed with bow and arrow, born of human
idleness and wantonness, nourished on sweet, gentle thoughts, whom vacuous humanity
proclaim lord and god, who subjects the world to his cruel, wicked will.
(From the Triumphus Cupidinis)
Quattro destrier vie più che neve bianchi
Four chargers whiter far than snow
Sovr’un carro di foco, un garzon nudo
upon a fiery chariot, a naked boy
Con arco in man e con saette a’fianchi
with bow in hand and arrows at his flank
Nulla temea, però non maglia o scudo,
of nought afraid, though without mail or shield,
Ma su gli omeri avea sol due grand’ali
upon his shoulders bore he but two great wings
Di color mille, tutto l’altro ignudo;
of a thousand colours, his body wholly bare
D’intorno innumerabili mortali
around him countless mortals
Parte presi in battaglia o parte occisi
part taen in battle, or part slain
Parte feriti di pungenti strali;
part pierced by stinging arrows;
The heraldically vivid Gringonneur card has almost completely done away with the original
classical concept, although the choral meaning has been preserved. The Triumph of Love is
54
translated here into a lively courtly scene, where gestures, attitudes and costumes of the
figures evoke the amorous lyrics of the troubadours. Two little cupids, supported on a cloud
replace Eros. Their eyes are not bandaged, so no allusion to blind love.
One has to remember that the courtly, troubadour-inspired ideas, glorifying the concept of
love, with which cultured society and the French court were imbued, did not fit in with
Petrarch’s more or less convinced moralism and his barely disguised condemnation of GraecoRoman Eros.
The Bembo card is undoubtedly closer to the poetic idea. Cupid’s role is more evident and he
is portrayed with traditionally bandaged eyes, in a dominant position on top of a column, with
his wings of a thousand colours still spread wide. The lovers are two and, being well defined,
probably allude to two real people, possibly the patrons who caused the pack to be painted.
The miniature is more individual than the former choral vision.
The same compositional choices are adopted in the card painted by Marziano da Tortona.
(Rime sparse (Scattered verses), Sonnet CXXXIV)
Pace non trovo et non ò da far guerra;
No peace have I nor can I wage a war
E temo, et spero; et ardo, et son, un ghiaccio
I fear, and hope and burn and am of ice;
Et volo sopra ‘l cielo, et giaccio in terra;
And fly above the sky, and lie upon the earth
E nulla stringo, et tutto’l mondo abbraccio:
And nothing do I hold and the whole world embrace:
Tal m’à in pregion, che non m’apre né serra
So does she hold me, that I am neither free nor ‘prisoned.
55
THE TRIUMPH OF CHASTITY
The Triumph of Chastity, from a 15th century codex
The second Triumph voices Petrarch’s exalted love for Laura, one of the most typical themes
of courtly verse. Dante, Boccaccio, Sennuccio and even Cecco Angiolieri followed the same
rule, dedicating ardent verses to their Ladies. Woman, the link between man and God, is
always at the centre of aristocratic amorous poetry, revolving around the theme of devoted
platonic love in an infinity of repetitious variations.
The spiritual torment caused by love always overcomes the fleeting desire to embrace the joys
of living. Petrarch takes the line that the eternal discord between human and divine conscience
can only be solved by a process of moral and spiritual self enhancement through literary
education and the sublimation of the loved one.
Quoting Livy (X.23), Petrarch embarks on a classical appraisal of Chastity, lauding Pudicitia
Augusta, an ancient deity who guarded the conjugal chastity of Roman matrons, to whom a
temple had been erected in the Forum Boarium.
(From Triumphus Pudicitiae)
….
…...
Lucrezia da man destra era la prima
Lucretia, on the right, was first
L’altra Penelope: questa gli strali
t’other Penelope: the arrows
Avea spezzato e la faretra a lato
and the quiver had she broken at the side
A quel protervo, e spennecchiate l’ali
Of that proud conqueror and plucked feathers from his wings.
…..
……
Per spegner ne la mente fiamma insana
To quench within the mind the maddening flame
Passammo al Tempio poi di Pudicizia
To the temple of Chastity, thence we passed
Ch’accende in cor gentile oneste voglie
Who wakes honest desires in gentle hearts
Non di gente plebeia ma patrizia
Not of plebeian but patrician stock
….
…..
Era la lor vittoriosa insegna
Their victorious banner was
In campo verde, un candido ermellino
A spotless ermine upon a green field
Ch’oro fino e topazi al collo tegna
Bearing a collar of topazes and pure gold
Chastity, in the various Renaissance engravings, is placed upon a chariot drawn by unicorns,
symbols of chastity. At her feet lies vanquished Cupid, bound and with his arrows broken. The
chariot is followed by virtuous ladies, among them Penelope, Judith, Camilla, etc. The banner
with the ermine is also sometimes included.
56
Above: detail of the Triumph of Chastity shown on the following page
With a view of the “great rock”, the Vaucluse with the Sorgues, Petrarch’s
House and top right, the castle of his friend Philippe de Cabassole.
Left: view of the Vaucluse as it is today: not much has changed.
In Simone’s cards, the Triumph of Chastity was represented by Laura and the Venaissin
County. The latter, where Francesco had tortured himself with his burning love for Laura,
comprised the subterranean source of the Sorgues, the Vaucluse and numerous castles,
grouped into nine Dominions or Bailies, where Petrarch loved to stay, sometimes choosing his
chamber on one side or the other of the hills. Feeling uncomfortable in Avignon, he spent ten
years in solitude, beside the transparent waters of the river, meditating on the perplexing and
dubious ascent along the path to virtue. His little house possessed two gardens where he lived
in solitary contemplation of nature and in the deep peace of the countryside, feeding on
brown bread, fruit and fish, in the company of his dog, given to him by Cardinal Colonna.
(From the Canzoniere)
Chiare, fresche, e dolci acque
Ove le belle membra
Pose colei, che sola a me par donna
Gentil ramo, ove piacque
(con sospir mi rimembra)
A lei di fare al bel fianco colonna
Erba e fior che la gonna
Leggiadra ricoverse
Co’ l’angelico seno;
Aere sacro sereno
Ove amor co’begli occhi il cor m’aperse
heart:
……..
Clear, fresh sweet waters,
where her fair limbs
dipped she who alone to me seems woman
gentle branch, where she delighted
(with sighs do I remember)
to lean her fair flank on, as t’were a column
grasses and flowers that her floating
gown veiled over
with her angelic breast;
sacred serene airs
where love with her fair eyes oped up my
…..
View of Petrarch’s house (a reconstruction), seen from beyond the transparent waters,
Near the source of the Sorgues in the Vaucluse.
The Triumph of Chastity, a card kept in the Civic Museum of the Castello Ursino in Catania
and erroneously attributed to Bembo (Emporium N. 681- Sept 1951), most obviously belongs
to the Provençal school and contains a ringed overall view of the Vaucluse. Laura has a
rounded face, a wide forehead, fair hair and dark eyes, as described in Petrarch’s verses. She
floats above the source of the Sorgues, that flows past the poet’s house. Beyond the great rock
where the Sorgues is born, one can distinguish Avignon. The bailies or castles of the
Venaissin County are painted on the ring surrounding the view. As the landscape is very
similar to the Vaucluse, it is probably a faithful copy of a card from one of the most ancient
packs.
57
The Gringonneur card reveals the same origin, is better preserved, but shows the limited
expressive capacity of a modest court copyist. If one compares the two female figures, the
former is exquisitely graceful whilst the latter is childishly stiff.
The palm branch has become a stick and the pointed halo, the symbol of Laura’s virtuous
behaviour, is also used by Gringonneur for the Virtues. The Venaissin County is barely
alluded to, with the nine bailies it comprises and an evocation of the succession of hills and
ravines so evident in the country around the Vaucluse. There is no chariot to raise Chastity,
rather the figure of the girl who embodied the virtue, in Petrarch’s eyes, hovers above the
landscape in which he had spent so long fighting against his passionate love for her. The
circular frame surrounding the landscape will be used in successive versions, leading to
interesting misinterpretations. It will in fact be called the card of the World.
The card’s scheme in the Marziano da Tortona pack is similar. Beneath Laura’s figure one can
see a river and a boat: a horse and rider on the banks, a fisherman and in the distance, hills,
towers and castles surrounded by fields.
AVIGNON - The Triumph of Chastity by Bembo was painted when medieval spiritual
lyricism, was superseded by novel ideals. The dreaming countryside of Vaucluse, dominated
by Laura had lost its meaning and the Venaissin County was replaced by the fortified papal
city. The image of Avignon thus took on burning political significance, specially for the antipapal Visconti dukes of Milan, who’d had Bembo paint the pack.
View of Avignon, from an engraving of the 17 th century (D’Allemagne – Ed. Hachette)
Between 1305 and 1378 one of the most disputed and tormented chapters in the history of the
Catholic Church gradually unfolded. Far from Rome and Italy, seven popes succeeded each
other in the new papal see in Provence. In 1304, Boniface VIII had already founded a
university in the small French city- so much safer than enslaved Italy, the abode of sorrow,
and the whole county had long been under the control of the Counts of Provence. The climate,
language, etc. Were moreover familiar to all who had absorbed the southern civilisation, like
the Italians and the Gascons. When the papal court was installed, Avignon became the capital
of Christianity extending its influence all over Europe. The administrative, political and
spiritual functions of the new papal see had no territorial or juridical limits, but extended to
wherever the Roman Church was present. High-ranking prelates, pilgrims on their way to
Santiago de Compostela, Rome, Loreto or the Holy Land, plus postulants of every type
elbowed each other in the streets of Avignon, which had acquired a new political,
cosmopolitan appearance. Princes, kings, emperors met in the city, when they were summoned
by the pope to discuss international affairs. Great historical figures, like Robert of Naples,
58
Cola di Rienzo, Catherine of Siena and naturally Petrarch, who had dealings with all the
Avignon popes, including Urban V, peopled this international scene.
Much has been written about the corrupt customs of this city, when the ambitions and the
political intrigues of all Europe concentrated their activities within its crowded streets. Some
French historians attributed the widespread corruption to the taste for insolent luxury, the
dissolute lifestyle and the inclination to falsehood and simony, with which the numerous
Italian immigrants had easily corrupted the population, that had once been so simple and
innocent.
Petrarch, however, who had already withdrawn to the Vaucluse, sang his indignation against
the evil helmsmen of Peter’s barque, hurling accusations against his distressed times. He saw
humanity about to fall into an abyss, from which no salvation was possible. He forecasts
terrible revenge because the example of Christ has been forsaken and marvels at God’s
patience in withholding his anger by putting off the day of judgement.
The Bembo card shows Avignon held aloft by two winged cherubs. The city is seen from the
opposite bank of the Rhone surrounded by the powerful fortifications commissioned by
Benedict XII after the death of John XXII: many of the buildings have the Christian cross
above them. Its similarity with other views of the time is indisputable, even if the card was
probably reproduced from memory or copied from one of the many medals of the period. It
was the popes’ desire that Avignon should be the fairest and strongest house in the world and
the easiest to hold (Froissart). Second Rome and of universal fame, it was haunted by erudite
writers, merchants, lawyers, booksellers, etc. The Florentine bankers, well ensconced in
Avignon, had loaned 100.000 florins to Charles V, king of France. In 1327, John XXII got the
Florentine mint to strike his own coinage (papal florins). In Avignon one spoke the language
of the Provence, but the city had a semi-Italian character. Even nowadays it possesses a “rue
de Florence”.
In the Minchiate Fiorentine, the 22nd card obviously refers to Avignon and the countryside
around it with the waters of the Sorgues and the Rhone flowing through it.
Bronze medal of Avignon for the vice-legate Joseph Ferrier (Calvet Museum in Avignon)
(Scattered Verses – Sonnet CXXXVI)
Fiamma dal ciel su le tue treccie piova
Let flame from the sky upon thy plaited tresses rain
Malvagia, che dal fiume e da le ghiande
Evil one, who from the river and from the acorns
Per l’altrui impoverir se’ ricca e grande
From others’ impoverishment art rich and great,
Poi che di mal oprar tanto ti giova;
Because of such evil doing so greatly dost rejoice;
Nido di tradimenti, in cui si cova
Nest of betrayals, in which doth crouch
Quanto mal per lo mondo oggi si spande
All the evil that today spreads through the world
In cui Luxuria fa l’ultima prova.
In which Lust doth give her latest proof.
Per le camere tue fanciulle e vecchi
Through thy chambers young maidens and old men
Vanno trescando, et Belzebub in mezzo
Do disport and Beelzebub amidst them
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Co’ mantici e col foco e co li specchi
With bellows and with fire and with mirrors
Già non fostù nudrida in piume al rezzo
Thou wer’st not nourished in feathers in the cool breeze,
Ma nuda al vento, et scalza fra gli stecchi:
But naked in the wind and unshod amidst the sticks:
Or vivi sì ch’a Dio ne venga il lezzo.
Thou livest now so that thy stench doth God assail.
(Scattered Verses – Sonnet CXXXVIII)
Fontana di dolore, albergo d’ira,
Fountain of sorrow, abode of ire,
Scola d’errori et templo d’eresia,
School of errors and temple of heresy,
Già Roma, or Babilonia falsa e ria,
Once Rome, now false and guilty Babylon,
Per cui tanto si piange et si sospira;
For whom so many tears and sighs are shed;
O fucina d’inganni, o pregion d’ira,
Oh forge of deceit, oh prison of rage,
Ove’l ben more, e’l mal si nutre e cria,
Where goodness dies and evil feeds and thrives,
Di vivi inferno, un gran miracolo fia
Hell to the living, great miracle it be
Se Cristo teco alfine non s’adira.
If Christ at last be not enraged by thee.
Fondata in casta et humil povertate,
Founded in chaste and humble poverty,
Contra’ tuoi fondatori alzi le corna,
Against thy founders raisest thou thy horns,
Puta sfacciata: e dove ài posto spene?
Shameless whore: where dost thou lay thy hopes?
Negli adùlteri tuoi? Ne le mal nate
In thine adulteries? In thy from evil born
Ricchezze tante? Or Costantin non torna; Piled up wealth? Now shall not Constantine return;
Ma tolga il mondo tristo che ‘l sostiene.
But let him the wicked world remove that this supports.
(From the Sine Nomine 18 – Sine nomine, lettere polemiche e politiche, edited by Ugo Dotti –
Ed. Laterza 1974 – translation by author)
……If thou wishest to know the beauty of God, look at how ugly are his enemies. Thou dost
not have to go far to find them: they live in Babylon, every quarter of which swarms with these
worms. If thou wishest to know the composure and decorum of honesty, look at how ugly are
vices, of which thou hast before thee all kinds and examples….But thou rejoicest, for thou art
mistress of all virtues, at least of their opposite! Rejoice, I say, and claim glory from being of
use in some thing, oh enemy of goodness, oh abode and asylum of evil, oh worst Babylon in
the world, flung upon the ferocious banks of the Rhone, I know not whether famous or
infamous whore who has fornicated with the kings of the earth! Thou art she whom the spirit
of the holy Evangelist saw. Thou art she the very she, I say, no other, thou who art seated
upon many waters, both because thou art literally surrounded by three rivers, and because of
the swarming merchandise and mortal wealth upon which thou sittest in lascivious arrogance,
forgetful of eternal duties, as well as because of what he who saw her revealed: “The waters
upon which thou sittest, oh whore, are peoples, multitudes, languages”. “A woman arrayed in
purple and scarlet, decked with gold and pearls, with a golden cup in her hand, full of
abominations and the filthiness of her fornication”: dost thou recognise thyself in these words,
dost thou recognise thyself, oh Babylon? Unless thou art misled by the fact that “Babylon the
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Great” was written upon her forehead, whilst thou art a little Babylon. Little, certes, if one
thinks of the circle of the walls, but as regards thy vices, the greed of thy souls, thy infinite
avarice and numberless evils, thou art not only great, but vast and immense. What follows too,
can only be used to describe thee and none else: “Babylon, mother of fornications and of the
abominations of the earth”. Impious mother of the worst of offspring, inasmuch as all
abominations upon the earth and all fornications are generated by thee and whilst thou givest
birth, thy womb is ever swollen, full and pregnant with like offspring…..
From the moral treatise Mélancolies, regarding the vices and virtues of the classes of society,
by Jean Dupin (1340).
REGARDING THE PAPAL STATE – free translation from verses in the Franco-Provencal
idiom.
The wolf will devour the flocks because the shepherd has fallen asleep. A wise shepherd must
not sleep and must keep his dogs alert, because the wolf is always ready to strike.
The Prince of Darkness wakes and the Pope slumbers and dreams. The prelates are
defenceless. Their greed makes them deaf and their pride blinds them.
The Pope has settled himself in Avignon in Provence, like a lord. His court is there, but his
family grabs all privileges, episcopal crosses and high dignities. The pope has achieved his
purpose: from now on, like a hawk he will prey effortlessly on everything that flies around
him. His house is fortified. He dwells within it and nobody can speak to him unless he bears a
bag of gold. He has decked his castle with battlements and decorated his apartments with
family crests. Thus he busies himself. He should instead go to and fro across the sea visiting
the faithful, controlling whether the religious rules are respected, protecting virtue and truth.
Dwelling in his castle, he does not imitate the way of Christ, who walked unshod in summer as
in winter, in the cold weather and in the snow. Simony and corruption corrupt the institutions
of the Church. As it should not be, no church, archbishopric or abbey, priory or canonry
change hands without being paid for. It is truly ignoble to sell God and his Church! One buys
and sells in Avignon as if in the market. Never will a poor man receive a benefice, unless he
purchases it at the price of usury. Moral and intellectual qualities have no value. The pope, in
his majesty, pronounces decisions against which no appeal is possible and grants indulgences,
at a distance from the faithful, as he fears being poisoned and the audiences he grants are
rare. If the gold and pearls that enable him to eat white bread will protect him, his power will
last long.
If the bestowal of a transfer or of a benefice within the church are asked for they are sold, not
given. Decisions are paid for at prices of usury. The papal court grants nothing without large
sums of money being handed out to ushers, notaries, knights, etc. It is to be hoped that the
pope is unaware of the half of these dealings, as it would be indecent should he be cognisant
of them.
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The pope, the royal flower who laves our souls, should observe human problems from above.
He has two sceptres. One temporal and the other spiritual: the cross and the sword in his right
hand. Only by elevating himself morally will he be able to see all the countries and the regions
of the earth….
…The gangrene of this society blinds all men of good customs. The flocks are left to
themselves. The herds will be slaughtered and torn to pieces because the dogs and the
shepherd are absent and the wolf will be free to attack.
Description of papal Avignon by Alphonse Daudet
…Thanks to its gaiety, animation and many feasts, it was a unique town. From dawn to dusk
there was a succession of processions, pilgrimages, streets decked with flowers and tapestries,
of arrivals of cardinals from the Rhine, billowing flags, barges arrayed with ensigns, the
soldiers of the pope singing in Latin; the mendicant friars chanting their psalms.
From the top of the town to the walls, little houses swarmed around the papal palace, like bees
around a hive, then there was the click-clack of the lace-makers, the swift passage back and
forth of the spools weaving the gold of the sacred robes, the little hammers of the engravers of
ampoules and chalices, the songs of the embroiderers and on high, the sound of the bells and
from the bridge, at all times, scattered drumbeats. When the people are happy, we have to
dance and sing and as the streets are so narrow, everybody used to take their fifes and
tambourines to the bridge of Avignon to dance the farandole, in the fresh breeze of the Rhone,
and we danced and danced!…
Ah happy times! When halberds did not have sharp edges and prisons were used to keep our
wine cool!…
View of Avignon
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THE TRIUMPH OF DEATH
The rare representations of the Dance Macabre, that were produced after Petrarch’ times,
should not be confused with the Triumph of Death.
The dead were supposed to issue from their tombs at night to dance, and this belief, underlying
certain lugubrious representations, was sometimes misleadingly confused with the concept of
resurrection. The images, laden with the irresistible fascination the dead have always exercised
on the living, often contained satirical undertones, which can be detected in some of the late
medieval pictures.
The ancient world’s rule of the “good death” re-emerged in the humanists’ language, as the
final act of a well spent life, whilst sudden, unprepared death was fearfully warded off, as
unlucky and as the consequence of an ill spent life. The choral concept of death was also of
ancient origin: life quits the individual, but dying is, in itself, a common law, affecting all
humanity.
Which led to the individual being exhorted to confront quitting the world with courage,
dignity and in full awareness.
Shortly after Petrarch’s death, specially in France and Tuscany, death was shown triumphing
over mankind without regard to rank or age, and the ruthlessly mowed down figures of popes,
cardinals, princes and kings are always pictured scattered at her feet.
The Triumph of Death
From a 15th Century codex
Familiarum Rerum XIV.1 – To cardinal Talleyrand on the difficulties and dangers of the lives
of the great
…all of us who live are wayfarers, well aware of the difficulty of our path, uncertain of our
destination; and from this state none can escape, whether he be a rough peasant, a hairy
shepherd, a wandering merchant, a suppliant beggar, a motionless hermit, an arrogant rich
man, a king of France or a Roman emperor, or even a humble priest or finally the highest
pontiff, to whom the admiration of the peoples of the earth gave the name of pope.
All of us, I repeat, are wayfarers, although you run to your destination along a wide and
clearly visible road, and the rest of us along a more humble pathway; and that is not to say
that even lower than us there is a great and lengthy array of travellers, thus they in the dark,
deep valleys, you on the high, fatiguing mountain tops, we between, on the flanks of the hill, by
different ways, but in equal danger all make our way, sighing, towards the same end….
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From the Triumphus Mortis I
…Io son colei che sì importuna e fera
… I am she who so importune and fierce
Chiamata son da voi, e sorda e cieca
am called by you, both deaf and blind
Gente, a cui si fa notte inanzi sera.
Oh people to whom night appears afore the evening falls
…et ecco da traverso
and lo, from side to side
Piena di morti tutta la campagna,
the fields entire aswarm with dead
Che comprender no’l po’ prosa né verso:
that neither prose nor verse can comprehend:
Da India, dal Cataio, Marrocco e Spagna
from India, from Cathay, Spain and Marocco
El mezzo avea già pieno e le pendici
the centre was all filled and th’ hillsides too
Per molti tempi quella turba magna
since long time by that vasty throng.
Ivi eran quei che fur detti felici,
Pontefici, regnanti, imperatori;
Or sono ignudi, miseri e mendici;
U’ son or le ricchezze? U’ son gli onori?
There were those who were as full of joy described,
popes, rulers, emperors;
now are they naked, beggars and most wretched;
Where are their riches now? Where are their honours?
E le gemme e gli scettri e le corone,
And their gems, and sceptres and their crowns,
E le mitre e i purpurei colori?
And their mitres and their purple colours?
Miser chi speme in cosa mortal pone
Miserable are they who lay their hopes in mortal things
(ma chi non ve la pone) e se si trova
(but who does not so hope) and if they find themselves
A la fine ingannato, è ben ragione.
At length deceived, ‘t is only right.
O ciechi, el tanto affaticar che giova?
What can such labour bring to you, blind beings?
Tutti tornate a la gran madre antica,
All to your great ancient mother must return,
E’l vostro nome a pena si ritrova.
And your name shall ill be found.
(From the Secretum )
….Augustine:…..It will not however be enough to automatically perceive the sound of the
word (Death) or to briefly remember the thing itself: one must halt and think about it at
greater length and list one item at a time, reflecting, with the greatest intensity, upon the
members of the dying body; and while the limbs are already becoming cold, see the burning
breast fill with noisome sweat, the flanks heave, the breath of life waning as the end
approaches. Moreover the sunken unseeing eyes, the tearful gaze, the livid, corrugated
forehead, the sunken cheeks, the yellowed teeth, the rigid, narrowed nostrils, the foaming lips,
the slowed, roughened tongue, the dry palate, the heavy head, the heaving breast, the
suffocated rattle and sad sighs, the repellent odour of the whole body and above all the horror
arising from the expressionless visage…
The Gringonneur card provides the most faithful representation of the concept of triumphant
death. The ribbons fluttering around her flanks and forehead dynamically underline her cruel
activity that knows no rest nor pity. She brandishes an enormous scythe and grins in a sinister
fashion, as she rides her powerful black steed. At her feet, transfixed in death, lie a pope, two
cardinals, a bishop and a king.
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Death, in the Catholic world, was the consequence of the temporary nature of the union
between body and spirit, but from a transcendental point of view, it was the punishment that
the Original Sin had inflicted on all human beings. In Petrarch’s view, it was the powerholders of the earth, who had overloaded their souls, already weighed down by the Original
Sin, with evil, as we have seen in the verses above.
The Bembo card, on the other hand, has undergone a profound revision. The political and
social hierarchies have disappeared and with them the poet’s critical attacks. The bow replaces
the scythe and Death appears placidly static, almost elegant and no longer pale of visage,
horrible and proud, as described by Petrarch. The fluttering ribbon contrasts with the calm
overall effect. The total absence of realism makes the card almost pathetic.
From the Triumphus Mortis II
“la Morte è fin d’una pregione oscura
“Death is the end of a dark prison
All’alme gentili; all’altre è noia
to gentle souls; t’is noisome to the others
C’hanno posto nel fango ogni lor cura”
who have placed all their hopes in the mire”
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THE TRIUMPH OF FAME
This is the most exquisitely poetical among the allegories. It could be called the
personification of rumour, spreading throughout the world, and determining popularity. Ovid
(Metamorphoses XII-39/63) provides a simple metaphor to illustrate fame, imagining his
home, made of bronze, like a bell, with open windows and doors, full of simple, unreasoning
people who repeat the same things over and over again. The house is inhabited by credulity,
error, happiness, fear, seduction and whispers.
(From the De Remediis Utriusque Fortunae I. 108 – La Letteratura Italiana – Vol. 7 –
Ricciardi ed.) (Translation by R. P.)
ENJOYMENT: I have gained immense glory!
REASON: I fail to understand how great things can find room in small spaces. If thou
measurest the restrictions of time and place, thou must admit that no great glory can reside in
them. Neither will I remind thee that the whole earth is but a dot; and that nature made most
of it uninhabitable, as chance made it inaccessible; neither will I remind thee that the present
moment is even less than a dot and, what is more, ever instable and flees away so rapidly, that
the mind can barely keep track of it, moreover the other two parts of time are ever absent, in
such a manner that one anguishes us with the anxiety of transient remembrance, the other with
the anxiety of expectation. Neither will I remind thee that the whole of time together is so
broken up and confused because of pouring rains, excessive heat, epidemics, inclement
seasons, and lastly because of the furious pace at which it flows, that one epoch often
possesses practically nothing in common with another. No less than in time, in space canst
thou see how after a short distance what is very well known in one place is entirely unknown
in another. There are hundreds of such instances, but I will not mention them here. Everybody
knows them and they illustrate clearly to what extent mortals can enjoy glory upon this
earth…
ENJOYMENT: Glory is splendid!
REASON: Try to deserve it or else divest thyself of a garment that is not thine and weighs thee
down. It is better to be inglorious than falsely glorious. It is fatiguing to preserve even true
glory: what canst thou hope from false renown?
….Glory, as certain wise man say, is a kind of shadow of virtue: it escorts, follows and at
times precedes it; as we see in those adolescents of good disposition that men’s hopes,
precociously conceived, make famous before their virtue has reached perfection. That kind of
fame is thus a spur that urges a generous and modest spirit, lifting him up and pushing him to
fulfil the hopes of his co-citizens, but throws down foolish and presumptuous souls. Whence
the ridiculous transformation of famous adolescents into universally unknown old men. The
truth is that praise benefits a wise person, but harms a fool. Thou seest therefore that a
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shadow cannot exist by itself; it must per force belong to some thing. Dost thou desire that thy
glory be genuine? See that thy virtue be true and strong.
Petrarch’s interpretation differs from Ovid’s, being more classical and monumental. Fame’s
chariot is followed by the unending cortege of honoured people, that include among others,
Caesar, Scipio, Hannibal, Achilles, Cleopatra, etc. It was the triumph upon which Petrarch
laboured the longest and more than one version is extant. One partial version, was found in
1950, in the British Museum and was probably written around 1371.
(From the Triumphus Famae I)
Da poi che Morte triumfò nel volto
Since Death triumphed over the face
Che di me stesso triumfar solea, (Laura)
that over my own self was wont to triumph
E fu del nostro mondo il suo sol tolto,
and its sun was from our world removed,
Partissi quella dispietata e rea,
thus she departed, pitiless and cruel,
Pallida in vista, orribile e superba,
her visage pale, horrible and proud,
Che il lume di beltate spento avea;
having beauty’s bright glow snuffed out;
Quando mirando intorno su per l’erba,
When looking ’round upon the grassy sward
Vidi da l’altra parte giugner quella
I saw coming from the other side
Che trae l’uom dal sepolcro e’n vita il serba.
She who from the grave men draws and keeps alive.
Quale in sul giorno un’amorosa stella
As a loving star at break of day
Suol venir d’oriente innanzi al Sole,
from the east comes forth to meet the Sun,
Che s’accompagna volentier con ella,
who gladly with her doth disport himself,
Cotal venia. Et, oh! Di quali scole
did she advance. And oh! What schools
Verrà il maestro che discriva a pieno
can teach the master who can full describe
Quell ch’io vo’dire in simplici parole?
What I would say in simple words?
Era d’intorno il ciel tanto sereno
The sky around was so serene
Che, per tutto ‘l desir ch’ardea nel core
that, for all the desire that burnt within my heart
L’occhio mio non potea non venir meno.
My eye could not but fail me.
Scolpito per le fronti era il valore
Engraven on their foreheads was the valour
De l’onorata gente, dove’io scorsi
of those honoured people, amongst whom I saw
Molti di quei che legar vidi Amore.
Many of those whom I’d seen bound by Love.
The theme of Fame is too abstract and poetic to be understood by successive copyists and to
be correctly interpreted. Gringonneur, in this instance, shows all his limits, both in form and
substance.
His execution is scholastic and almost infantile. The perspective of the horses is askew
compared with that of the chariot. Instead of the figure of Fame, the copyist has flatteringly
substituted the king for whom the pack was painted (Charles VI).
The Fame card, in the tarots at the Museo Civico di Catania is undoubtedly better from an
aesthetic point of view. The majestic figure clasps the terrestrial orb in his left hand with a
firm expression. The horses are still and have a vaguely leonine expression, reminding one of
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the horses painted by Sienese painters. The composition is on the whole, harmonious and
charged with potential energy.
The Bembo card shows the chariot from the side: the dynamic, graceful figures of the horses
enhance the calm, serene figure of Fame on her chariot. Petrarch’s solemn classical spirit is
here transfigured by late Gothic grace of Sienese inspiration. The presence of a triumphal
chariot in both these versions led later copyists, unaware of the themes that lay behind the
earlier packs, to call this card the Chariot.
The Fame card of the Florentine Minchiate is closer to the original idea.
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THE TRIUMPH OF TIME
In the poetic narrative, Love and Fame are terrible vanities, compared with the concrete and
eternal reality of time, which in its passing, annihilates past, present and future.
(From the Canzoniere, Sonnet CCCLV)
O tempo, o ciel volubil che fuggendo
Oh time, oh fickle sky that fleeting
Inganni i ciechi e miseri mortali,
blind and wretched mortals dost deceive,
O dì veloci più che vento e strali,
Oh days, faster than wind or bolt of lightning speeding,
Ora ab experto vostre frodi intendo.
Now ab experto, see I your deceits.
Ma scuso voi e me stesso riprendo,
But you I excuse and I myself do blame,
Ché natura a volar v’aperse l’ali,
For nature ope’d your wings for flight,
A me diede occhi, ed io pur ne’ miei mali
To me gave she eyes and tho’amidst my plight
Li tenni, onde vergogna e dolor prendo;
I kept them, and so assailed am I by pain and shame;
From the Secretum – Book III
… the sky, the earth, the seas being subject to change: what can man, frailest of creatures,
hope for? The changing seasons follow their course ever and again, never halting; if thou
thinkest that thou canst halt, thou errest….
Thus whenever thou seest the summer harvests follow the spring flowers, and the cool of the
autumn succeed the summer sun, or the winter snow come after the autumn wine harvests, tell
thyself: “all this passes, but will return many times. I, on the other hand depart never to
return”; every time, when the sun is about to set, thou seest the shadow of the hills lengthen,
thou shallst say: “now, with the fleeing of life the shadow of death lengthens; this sun,
however will return tomorrow, exactly as it did today, whilst for me, today has passed away
forever.” Who can count the sublime spectacles offered by a peaceful night, that is a
propitious moment for whoever commits evil just as it lends itself to meditation to whoever
does good? Thus, like the helmsman of the Trojan fleet, not being able to rely on the ship any
more than he could, getting up in the middle of the night. “observe all the stars that pass in
the silent sky”, and whilst thou watchest them hurrying towards the west, know that thou art
drawn along with them and there is no hope for thee of staying still except in Him who neither
moves nor sets. More, when thou seest those whom thou hast but recently seen children, now
mounting the steps of life, remember that in the meantime thou steppest down on the other
side, and all the faster, inasmuch as the fall of every heavy body is favoured by nature .When
thou observest ancient walls, let thou first of all wonder: “where are they whose hands did
build them?”
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And when thou lookest at recently built walls: “Where shall they be shortly?” Likewise for the
trees, from whose branches whoever planted and cultivated them does not gather the fruits
thereof…
Petrarch describes the personification of Time as an ailing old man supported on crutches.
Wings allude to the passing of time, as does the hour-glass. In successive packs, the subject
underwent a singular transformation, becoming the Hermit, dressed as a monk and holding a
lantern against a background of ruins. Sometimes a child and a dog are included, they, like the
rest, subject to the law of time. The stags or deer, drawing the chariot or beside the old man,
are the symbols of intelligence and wisdom.
From the Canzoniere – Sonnet CCCXIX
I miei dì più leggier’che nessun cervo
My days lighter far than any deer
Fuggir come ombra; e non vider più bene
fly as shades; and no more good saw they
Ch’un batter d’occhio e poche ore serene
but the flicker of an eye and a few serene hours
Ch’amare e dolci ne la mente servo.
Which bitter and sweet I in my mind do keep.
Misero mondo instabile e protervo!
Miserable, insecure, most cruel world!
Del tutto è cieco chi’n te pon sua spene;
whoever places hope in thee is wholly blind ;
Ché’n te mi fu’l cor tolto,et or se’l tene
For in thee my heart was taen from me and now is held
Tal ch’è già terra e non giunge osso a nervo.
So ‘t is already earth and no nerve reaches bone.
Ma la forma miglior, che vive ancora
But the loveliest form, that still lives
E vivrà sempre su ne l’alto cielo,
and ever in the high sky will live
Di sue bellezze ogni or più m’innamora;
with its beauties I fall in love every hour the more
E vo,sol in pensar, cangiando il pelo,
so thinking, alone I go, changing my hair to white,
Quale essa è oggi e ‘n qual parte dimora
demanding how she is today and where she dwells,
Qual a vedere il suo leggiadro velo.
Or whether I shall see her beauteous veil.
(From the Triumphus Temporis)
….Un dubbio iberno, instabile sereno
… An insecure, doubtful, serene winter,
È vostra fama, e poca nebbia il rompe,
is your fame and little mist disrupts it
E ‘l gran tempo a gran nomi è gran veneno
and much time is to great names great venom.
Passan vostre grandezze e vostre pompe
All your greatness and your pomp do pass away,
Passan le signorie, passano I regni:
The lordly and the kingly realms all pass:
Ogni cosa mortal Tempo interrompe,
All mortal things doth Time interrupt
E, ritolta a’ men buon, non dà a più degni
…..
And what it from the less good takes, to the worthier too denies;
Tutto vince e ritoglie il Tempo avaro
Miserly Time all vanquishes and takes back
Chiamasi Fama, et è morir secondo;
Fame is bidden and a second death ensues;
Ne più che contra ‘l primo è alcun riparo.
And no more than ‘gainst the first can aught avail.
Così ‘l Tempo triumfa i nomi e’l mondo!
Thus does Time triumph over names and the world!
The card kept in the Museo Civico di Catania and the Gringonneur card are very similar. In
both, a noble old man with a long, flowing beard, dressed in sumptuous colourful robes, that
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have nothing religious about them, sadly contemplates an hour-glass, which reveals the
continuous flight of time
In the Bembo cards, the iconography is very similar. The old man is richly apparelled amd
wears an elegant hat, lined with ermine. He stares absorbedly into the distance and advances
tiredly leaning on a long staff. The hour-glass symbol is repeated as well.
In the Minchiate Fiorentine, the ailing old man, symbolising Time, advances on crutches and
carries the symbolic hour-glass on his hunched shoulders. A stag, symbol of wisdom, is at his
side.
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THE TRIUMPH OF ETERNITY
If young Petrarch, hoped to teach humanity with the example of a Vir, armed with knowledge
and ancient virtues, when he first realised how his new friend, Simone Martini could help him
to do it, it was not until 1374, five months before his death , that the poet finally found the
strength within himself to complete the translation of the ambitious project, painted by his
friend, into poetry. Many years earlier, he had planned the scheme with his friend born on
Tuscan soil, who had admirably illustrated it on the 78 cards, but, discouraged and embittered
by the rapid and unexpected subversion of the poetic idea ( the cards had spread like wild fire,
being used for gambling and not for ennobling the soul), he only began to write the work after
the death of his beloved Simone (1344). So deeply did he regret this lost letter, entirely
entrusted to paper and not to memory, that although his eyes ached and his limbs were
weighed down by the afflictions of old age and the aftermath of a heart-attack, he sat down to
write the last Triumph on Sunday, 15th January 1374, before supper. He was to close his eyes
for ever between the 18th and the 19th July, the same year, one day before his seventieth
birthday. It was almost as if, having concluded the task he’d taken thirty years to finish, he had
used up the energy necessary for living any longer.
The Triumph of Eternity is Francesco’s swan-song, as well as his last spiritual testament. As
he approached death he must have often re-examined the splendid miniatures, painted by
Simone, as he always kept them upon his person…the Sun, the Stars, Love, Time, Fame, the
Emperor, Death, as well as Fortune and Avarice, the Pope’s companions, and lastly Laura,
who once more, in her angelic livery was to illuminate him in immobile eternity. Everything
was right and perfect. His task was at last concluded. To appreciate the richly packed verses
Petrarch composed during the last months of his life, one should really read the whole
Triumph of Eternity, but here are some verses that best summarise the ideas we have
mentioned:
(From the Triumphus Aeternitatis)
…Beat’i spiriti che nel sommo coro
Blessed are the spirits that in the supreme choir
Si troveranno, o trovano, in tal grado
shall be placed or find, in this degree
Che sia in memoria eterna il nome loro!
That their name be in eternal memory.
…Quei che governa il ciel solo col ciglio,
… He who the heavens rules but with his brow,
Che conturba ed acqueta gli elementi
Who perturbs and calms the elements
Al cui saver non pur io non m’appiglio
Whose knowledge I cannot even grasp,
Ma gli angeli ne son lieti e contenti
But which the angels gladden and delight
Di veder de le mille parti l’una,
to see of a thousand parts but one,
Ed in ciò stanno desiosi e’ntenti…
…Quel che l’anima nostra preme e ‘ngombra:
“dianzi, adesso, ier, diman, mattino e sera”
Tutti in un punto passeran com’ombra;
wherefore they stay desirous and intently poised…
… What our soul doth press and crowd:
“afore, now, yesterday, tomorrow, morn and eve”
all in one point shall as shadows pass;
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Non avrà loco “fu” “sarà”né “era”,
no more shall be “was” “will be” or “has been”,
Ma “è” solo in presente, ed “ora” ed “oggi”
but only “is” in the present, and “now”and “today”
E sola eternità raccolta e ‘ntera
and but eternity, gathered in, entire.
…Questi trionfi, i cinque in terra giuso
…These triumphs, five down upon earth
Avem veduto ed alla fine il sesto,
had we seen and the sixth at last
Dio permettente, vederem lassuso..
With God’s permission, shall we see up there…
…E quei che Fama meritarono chiara,
…and those who did clear Fame deserve,
Che Tempo spense, e i be’visi leggiadri
that Time did quench, and the fair beauteous faces
Che’mpallidir fe’ ’l Tempo e Morte amara
That Time and bitter Death did blanch,
L’oblivion, gli aspetti oscuri ed adri,
Oblivion, and dark, gloomy aspects,
Più che mai bei tornando, lasceranno
shall they, to even greater beauty turning, leave
A morte impetuosa, a giorni ladri
to impetuous death, to thieving days
Ne l’età più fiorita e verde avranno
Con immortal bellezza eterna fama….
…A riva in fiume che nasce in Gebenna
and in their greenest and most flowering state shall have
With immortal beauty eternal fame…
…Upon the banks of a river born in Gebenne,
Amor mi diè per lei si lunga guerra
love girted me for her so long to war
Che la memoria ancora il cor accenna.
That memory still in my heart doth ring.
Felice sasso che ‘l bel viso serra!
Oh happy stone that her fair visage closest!
Che, poich’avrà ripreso il suo bel velo,
For when she shall her beauteous veil resume,
Se fu beato chi la vide in terra,
if blessed was who did her see on earth,
Or che fia dunque a rivederla in cielo!
How then will it be to see her again in heaven!
Mortal fame will have little value in the triumph of Eternity. Only those who had honest words
and chaste thoughts shall wear the angelic liveries.Gringonneur depicts the Last Judgement in
greater detail. Two angels blow their trumpets and the dead issue naked from their graves to
meet their Maker “who the heavens rules but with his brow”
Bembo’s version is more intimate. The Almighty is shown above the angels blowing their
trumpets, whilst three figures in ecstatic admiration slowly emerge from the grave.
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SUN, MOON AND STARS
At the end of the Middle Ages, unreserved admiration for everything ancient brought about a
return of interest in astrology. Although its doctrines and superstitions were often at variance
with common religious belief, society accepted them indiscriminately, and continual
reference was made to the affinities perceived between the starry heavens and the terrestrial
globe, with especial reference to human existence. The rising and setting of the stars was
studied with renewed interest and astronomical knowledge was used to foretell the future.
Popes and powerful people kept astrologers by them to establish the hour and day in which
any important event should take place, believing that the movement of the planets (the sun
being also considered a planet) constituted a kind of wheel of fortune, that, in conjunction with
the rotation of the zodiac signs, influenced destiny, establishing days that were prevalently
negative or positive. The universities of Bologna, Paris, etc.welcomed professors of astrology
and many of these admired star traders also studied alchemy, medicine and magic, acquiring
great renown. Periodic planetary conjunctions and eclipses were thought to herald-in wars,
famines, pestilence and other astrological calamities, which customarily alarm populations.
See, for instance Chapter 58 of G. Villani’s Chronicles:
…In the year 1345, on the 28th of March, shortly after the ninth hour, according to the
calculations of Master Paolo, son of Ser Piero, great master in this science of astrology, the
conjunction of Saturn and Jove took place at twenty degrees from the sign of Aquarius…This
conjunction, with its aspects and considering the other planets and signs, according to the
same master and according to the writings of others in the books of the ancients and masters
of astrology, means, God willing, great things in the world, which is to say battles, murders
and great changes of kingdoms and peoples, and the death of kings and the traduction of lords
and sects and the appearance of prophets and new errors of faith and the arrival of lords and
the passing of populations and famine and death in those climes, kingdoms, lands and citizens,
who are said to be subject to the influence of the said signs and planets and at times it leads to
the birth in the air of comet stars or other signs of floods and excessive rains, inasmuch as it is
a great conjunction because of the proximity of Mars and also because of the preceding
eclipse of the moon and also because of the concordant yearly figure and also because a little
time later with the backgrading of Saturn and Jove,they approached one degree, thirty-five
minutes, so that they could be considered as conjoined a second time; good shall ensue from
the delay on the effect due to the retro gradation. This we say must be, but it be God’s greater
or lesser pleasure to provide for the said heavenly bodies, through his justice and mercy, and
to punish and reward according to the merits and sins of the people and of the kingdoms and
of the populations; he moreover gave us the freedom of man’s free will, when the latter
should choose to make use of it, which is by few chosen, due to the shortcomings of the vice of
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laziness and the reduced constancy of virtue, wherefore most conduct their lives by following
the course of fortune…
The lack of logic in astrological doctrines and the avarice that guided the activity of
astrologers generally made Petrarch healthily sceptic. Reason and human wisdom take
precedence over the changing situations of the sky, that in his view seem to be closed in by
physical immutability. The poet’s contempt for astrology was not, however, always constant.
He had a profound respect for Dionigi da Borgo San Sepolcro, although the latter had been a
much appreciated astrologer at the court of Robert of Anjou in Naples. In later years,
reflecting on the friendship accorded to him by nearly all the princes and illustrious men of his
time, he considers the horoscope, that a famous astrologer had calculated for him in his youth,
most truthful. The sky, with the heavenly bodies is in truth the background against which the
eternal succession of human events takes place, as well as his love for Laura, as he proclaims
in the well known long sonnet CXXVII from the Canzoniere, which we quote later.
(Familiarum Rerum V5 - To Giovanni Colonna, description of a storm the 25th November
1343)
Fame, one marvels to relate, had forecast this imminent calamity, inasmuch as it was foretold
some days earlier by a pious bishop on a nearby island, who was a student of the stars… he
had managed to spread such terror amongst the population that most were intent on doing
penance for their sins and on changing the tenor of their lives, although many made fun of
such vain fears, all the more so as a mild storm had taken place in those days and people
believed that the wrong date had been foretold, so that the whole force of the prophecy had
been discredited….As for myself, I nourished neither hope nor fear, letting myself fall prey to
neither, although I was more inclined to fear, as, in all human things, it is less likely that what
one hopes for than what one fears will happen… I had just fallen asleep, when not only the
windows, but the very walls, built upon solid vaulted stone foundations, started to vibrate with
a horrible din and the night light that is always lit while I sleep, was extinguished. …What
rain, wind, lightening, and clamour in the sky, what tremors in the ground, what howling of
the sea, what screaming of men! When, after a night that seemed to us, by magical
enchantment, to last double its normal length, we finally got, in this state, to morning, and
believed that dawn was near, more by conjecture than because there was any gleam of light…
I shall draw this conclusion, namely to beg thee never again to order me to entrust my life to
the waves and the winds; as I would not be prepared to obey either thee, or the Pope or even
my father, were he to return to life. I leave the air to the birds, the sea to the fish; being a
terrestrial animal, I choose to travel by land….
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THE SUN
The Gringonneur card – the poet, born under the influence of the Sun, the 20th July 1304,
identifies himself with the Sun and finds it natural to re-propose the figure of Laura bearing a
spindle, beneath the rays of the sun. Spinning used to be a female occupation. Homer
describes queens and princesses using distaff and spindle. Aristophanes quotes spinning as a
symbol of eloquence, political activity or the passing of human life (the three Fates). No
astrological reference is present, as the observation of the heavens can only take place at night.
Note the blond tresses unbound upon her neck and the white and yellow flowers, as described
in Sonnet CXXVII from the Canzoniere.
Poi che sormonta riscaldando il sole,
As the mounting sun doth warmth provide
Parmi qual esser sole
Meseems I be the sun
Fiamma d’amor che ‘n cor alto s’endonna
Flame of love that from on high her heart endows;
…Le bionde trecce sopra’l collo sciolte,
… Her blond tresses unbound upon her neck,
Ov’ogni lacte perderia sua prova
‘gainst which all milk would ill compare ,
E le guance ch’adorna un dolce foco.
And her cheeks by a sweet fire adorned.
Ma pur che l’ora un poco
But as the hour doth lightly
Fior bianchi et gialli per le piagge mova
white and yellow flowers raise from the fields
Torna alla mente il loco
My mind turns to the place
E ‘l primo dì ch’i’ vidi a l’aura sparsi
and to the first day I saw in th’air unbound
I capei d’oro, ond’io sì subito arsi.
Her golden hair, wherefore so suddenly I blazed.
Bonifacio Bembo does not include the effigy of Laura, as it was, perhaps, irrelevant for his
patrons. His Sun card represents the sun with rays held up by the dynamic naked figure of
Helios or Apollo, in this case without his usual chariot drawn by four horses.
…Le treccie d’or che devrien fare il sole
… Her golden braids which would the sun
D’invidia molta il pieno
with envy make most full,
E’l bel guardo sereno,
and her beauteous serene gaze,
Ove i raggi d’Amor si caldi sono
in which Love’s rays so warmly be
Che mi fanno anzi tempo venir meno
that ‘fore my time I am by weakness taen .
Detail of the portrait of Laura
In the Triumph of Chastity,
From the Tarots in the Museo
Civico of Castello Ursino in Catania
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THE MOON
By the 13th century, Provence had already become a centre for the kind of esoteric Jewish
doctrines, generally known as the Quabbalah. The term had formerly been used for the oral
teaching Moses had received on Mount Sinai, together with the Ten Commandments. The
original object of the Quabbalah was the study of the genesis of the world and the
development of a method of religious meditation based on letters, symbols and numbers. In
the 14th century a large number of quabbalistic texts were written (like the Zohar and the
Book of Splendour) that, drawing on neo-platonic ideas, introduced a number of novel themes,
such as cosmology, magic (naib) and the tendency to consider the Torah the law of the
universe.
Quabbalists, specially on a more popular level, practiced in fields neighbouring black magic,
exorcism and alchemy, as well as producing amulets. Their followers, albeit blandly criticised
by other Jews, and constituting a closed group within official Judaism, exercised quite a
notable influence on Hebrew liturgy and on popular Jewish customs.
The esoteric and magical aspects, of popular inspiration, derived from the ancient Quabbalah,
that had become a “science”, like astrology itself, were often incorrectly linked to the ancient
Tarots, as proved by the imaginative theories of Eliphas Levi and Papus.
The Provencal Jews belonged to the dynasty of the Tibbonids and the Avignon rabbis were
known for their wisdom and orthodoxy. Among them, Levi Ben Gerson, who studied
philosophy, like Petrarch, wrote part of his works (Milchamot Adonai) while dwelling in the
papal city. They dealt with physics, ethics, etc.; he also invented a graduated measuring stick,
provided with a sliding ruler, which enabled one to observe the horizon and the stars, to
determine their latitude.
In 1342, Clement VI ordered a Latin translation of his book, Trigonometry and the principle of
Jacob’s stick or Arbalestril.
In 1215, the fourth Lateran Council obliged Jews to wear marks or clothes that differentiated
them from the Christians, as followers of the Mosaic law. The marks differed from country to
country: the head coverings of the two astrologers calculating the position of the moon with
the aid of the sliding rule and recording it on the star map, in order to calculate horoscopes,
seem to indicate two Quabbalists. Their rich clothing trimmed with ermine suggests privileged
status.
In the Bembo card, the Moon is represented in a more classical and traditional manner. The
female figure certainly refers to Selene or Diana, the Roman moon goddess, called Artemis by
the Greeks, to whom great beauty was attributed, shining eyes and luminous hair, like the
moon rays (Ovid, Metamorphoses II, 722).
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THE STARS
The Gringonneur Star card is missing. Probably the subject was similar to the one included in
the Minchiate Fiorentine, as the latter reveal extensive affinity with the French cards. The
image on the card refers to the comet that guided the three Wise Kings to Bethlehem. Comets
usen’t to be considered heavenly bodies but mere atmospheric phenomena and were thus
excluded from astrological investigation.
The Bembo Star card represents a much more static female figure than the others. Ancient
astrologers had remarked the difference between stars and planets. The former rose and set,
while maintaining the same distances from each other, whereas the planets incessantly roamed
all over the sky.
The Star cards in the later packs had nothing mysterious or magical in them. Astrology had
become more and more popular, specially in France and Northern Italy, and was associated
with other equally speculative activities. It managed to fascinate men of great worth, who
upheld its merits. Doctors, for instance, used to consult the heavens before operating, as every
part of the body was believed to derive protection from its own Zodiac sign; alchemists,
moreover, took the position of the planets into account before carrying out their experiments.
In the 15th century innumerable works of art were adorned with astrological motifs. Interest,
limited initially to the sun, stars and moon grew and card iconography became richer,
including the signs of the Zodiac and the symbols of the elements (water, air, earth and fire),
as shown in the Minchiate Fiorentine.
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POPE AND EMPEROR IN THE 14TH CENTURY
In medieval political thought, the concepts of state, sovereignty, social co-existence, etc. So
often harmoniously regulated in the pre-Christian world, seemed to lose their independence,
inasmuch as they were compelled to come to grips with Christianity. The ancient values, in the
new collective self-awareness, were turned upside down and at time juxtaposed. Human
countered divine, heaven was ranged against earth, reason against theology and ethics.
Although, from an abstract point of view, it was sometimes possible to harmonise opposing
tendencies, in practice, the conflict between the opposites became more and more dramatic.
Theologians and students of ethics endlessly debated the relationship between Church and
State. Teachers, lawyers, theologians, or philosophers drew up opposing dissertations. In the
mean time, a variety of national autonomous states were born and municipalities or city-states
became independent. All political discussions tended, even if from an abstract point of view,
to juxtapose or establish a hierarchic relationship between Papacy and Empire, the two great
antagonists in Medieval history.
To start with, the Church was purely the Communitas fidelium Christianorum, intent on
establishing its dogmas and spiritual unity. If it had kept rigidly to the Gospels, no conflict
would have ensued. It did, when the Pope decided to unite heaven and earth and in the name
of his moral superiority, laid claim to the dominion and ordering of earthly affairs.
The fight between the Church and the various states became violent and things became even
more incandescent when the Waldo confraternities and the Franciscans uttered their dissent.
Pope Gregory VII refused to recognise the origin and dignity of states. The sovereign was
subject to the pope, who claimed infallibility: spiritual power judged everything and could be
judged by nobody; all the kings of the earth had to bow down to the pope.
Only one discordant voice was raised, that of Arnaldo da Brescia, who tried to fight the
temporal power of the Church, the ecclesiastical hierarchies and the simony practiced by the
clergy, calling for a new, republican Rome.
In 1300, the papacy, under Boniface VIII, reached the peak of its hegemony and witnessed the
beginning of its fall from theocratic power, whilst Philip the Fair, king of France was trying to
take the place of the German emperor as head of the Empire.
The De Monarchia by Dante was written in these years. It was chiefly designed to confute
Boniface VIII’s papal lawyers and the French Guelphs. It was a period divided by factions and
bloody fighting between neighbouring cities and often within the city walls themselves. Peace
was everybody’s desperate hope. In the midst of this immense aspiration towards universal
conciliation, pope and emperor were singled out as the great peacemakers. They alone would
be able to give humanity temporal and spiritual peace, putting an end to fighting and
divisions. For centuries, the papacy and its hierarchy, founded on faith and obedience, had
been held, by the faithful, to be the universal moral guide of humanity, and a bulwark against
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anarchy and the barbaric events of post Roman history. Nonetheless, albeit drenched in
Christianity, a new lay awareness started emerging. The emperor was conceived as an
autonomous entity, whose value and dignity was on the same level as the pope’s.
Two parallel authorities, equally necessary for the peace of humanity. The earthly monarch, he
too appointed by God, all-powerful and above all avarice, was to watch over peace on earth,
exercising his temporal power with justice and leaving total control over all theological affairs
and matters of faith to the pope.
The two supreme figures of pope and emperor were the continuous object of political and
religious speculation by the writers of the time: from Thomas Aquinas to Marsilio of Padua,
from Dante to Petrarch.
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POPE AND EMPEROR, THE WIDOW’S SONS
If one visits the Chapter Hall of the Dominicans in Santa Maria Novella and reads the guide to
the frescoes, one realises that the Triumph of St.Thomas Aquinas was ordered by seven and its
multiples and one finds the portrait of Petrarch near those of the pope and emperor.
Examining the Triumph of St. Thomas, one finds twenty-one figures in the top part and fiftysix figures and symbols in the lower part. Seventy seven themes, and if one adds the allegory
in the cusp of the throne, they come to seventy-eight. Remarkably reminiscent of the scheme
of Petrarch and Simone’s cards.
The Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas. Above the throne: the three theological and the four cardinal virtues –
seven in all; beneath: Thomas on his throne; in the cusp, a youth with a book (knowledge), a mirror
(wisdom) and two faces, one old (experience) and one youthful (ardour), symbols of the supreme ambition of
the Dominicans: the union of theological wisdom with scientific knowledge acquired with youthful
enthusiasm and the prudence of maturity. At Thomas’s feet : Arrius of Alexandria (who preached that the
Christ’s nature was not that of God’s, and who is looking at John and Moses), Nestorius of Constantinople
(who held that the divine nature of Jesus dwelt in his body as in a temple, a theory similar to that of the
Gnostics and the Cathars) and Averroes of Cordova, the translator of Aristotle; flanking Thomas’s throne
from left to right: Job, David, Paul, Matthew, Luke and John, Moses, Isiah, and Solomon.
In the cusps of the choir stalls, from right to left: the seven beatitudes of the Gospels and the seven liberal
arts above the hexagons that contained the initials of the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost and above the
squares, that contained the initials indicating the seven heavens; the allegorical figures in the choir stalls
represent (from the left) the seven holy sciences; civil law, canonical law, philosophy, holy scriptures,
theology, contemplation, preaching, and (on the right) , the seven liberal arts: arithmetic, geometry,
astronomy, music, dialectics, rhetoric and grammar; below them are 14 legendary or historical figures who
exercised the arts and sciences symbolised above : from left to right: Justinian, Clement V, Aristotle, St.
Jerome, St. John Damascene, St. Dionysius the Areopagite, St. Augustine, Pythagoras, Euclid, Ptolemy,
Tubalcain, Peter Hispanicus, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Donatus or Priscian.
One must remember that the Chapter Hall used not to be accessible to untonsured laymen and
the scenes were only supposed to be seen by the Dominicans and the scholars of the Studium
of Santa Maria Novella.
According to the teaching in the Triumph, the Dominicans were bound to spread the dogmas
of faith and fight the followers of any ideology the Church defined heretical. Which they did:
the Dominicans were in charge of the crusade against the Cathars, due to which thousands of
innocents were massacred between 1209 and 1271. When the tribunal of the Inquisition was
founded in 1231 with the object of uprooting heresy, the pope appointed the black and white
friars as its magistrates.
The feudal hierarchies with the pope and emperor, with the portraits of Petrarch and Boccaccio, on the
right - in the Chapter Hall of Santa Maria Novella (Florence)
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The pope, in the scene on the right, as one enters, shows him flanked by his allies: the
emperor, the kings and the feudal hierarchy, created by Charlemagne, first great ally of the
Roman Church, thanks to whom Arianism was definitely eliminated. They remind one of the
figures painted on the cards and recall the representations of Castor and Pollux, one whose
duty was to govern all things pertaining to heaven – his right hand held up: the other whose
responsibility was to regulate matters on earth, alluded to by the orb in his left hand.
The allegory in the cusp of St. Thomas’s throne depicts a man with a book (knowledge) and a
mirror (prudence), with two faces of an old and a young man beneath him as the symbols of
the Dominican mission. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, in fact, a Dominican preacher had
to accumulate knowledge (the book) with youthful ardour and mature wisdom, reflecting and
spreading (the mirror) only those parts of knowledge that could support the Catholic faith. A
principle he kept to when he christianised the Aristotle that Grossetete had translated up at
Oxford.
Since the opening up of ecclesiastical buildings to the public, anybody can enter the cloisters
of Santa Maria Novella and see the startling scenes painted in the Chapter Hall.
Petrarch was in Florence in 1350, the year of Grace, when he went on pilgrimage to Rome
and the walls were still undecorated. Due to the plague, Florence was like a ghost town and
the few friars who had escaped the epidemic of 1348 could be counted on the figures of one
hand. It was certainly his friends who painted the scenes on the walls, as the many Sienese
characteristics reveal
Lippo Memmi is officially recognised as having painted Our Lady with her Son in the cloister
outside the Chapter Hall and it was undoubdedly the painters of his workshop who worked on
the walls in the Chapter Hall. Andrea di Bonaiuto, to whom the frescoes are ascribed
nowadays, in order to remove all suspicion of Sienese contamination, was in truth a good
helper to the Sienese painters (translator’s note: Bonaiuto means good helper).
Both Crowe and Cavalcaselle said that Sienese hands painted these scenes. Vasari went so far
as to attribute them to Simone Martini. Ruskin did too.
But Simone was already dead. The Memmi workshop was made up of his followers and had
earned a very good name for itself in Avignon, working for the popes and for the cardinals of
the papal court. Their reputation earned them the commission to carry out these frescoes and,
as he had always loved to do, Petrarch probably simply gave them a few ideas, advice,
suggestions. Where else did the bosky scenes, with dancing maidens and nest and fruit pickers
come from, if not from the leafy walls, thronged with hunting hounds and falconers that were
painted in the Camera Cervi for Clement VI in Avignon? The follower of Nimrod, who always
kept his darling “niece” Cecilia – his Semiramis- at his side! Here was an unmistakable
petrarchan jab, painted by the followers of his beloved Simone, at the pope, whom he had
advised in one of his sonnets, to transfer his court to Baghdad! Clement VI was the pope,
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who kept the poet waiting in vain, promising to appoint him his apostolic secretary, which
may account for some of Petrarch’s venom, when writing about him. He was nonetheless
supposed to have been generous with the poor and stood up for the Jews when they were
accused of having spread the Black Death.
Details from the frescoes in the Camera Cervi in the Palace of the Popes in Avignon.
Detail, showing the falconer, the nest and fruit pickers in the
Chapter Hall of Santa Maria Novella in Florence
When the poet felt the ground burning beneath his feet in Provence, because of the unexpected
and explosive success of his cards,Petrarch left Avignon and ignoring Naples, Rome,
Florence, chose Milan, the Ghibelline Visconti’s town obtaining considerable moral and
…economic advantages, exploiting his remarkable reputation as a scholar and the delight the
Visconti undoubtedly felt at getting hold of one of the “pope’s men”.
As for the lustful aspects of the pope, which Petrarch was so censorious about, a letter of his
reveals that he was, to say the least, somewhat hypocritical: “I am oppressed by the remains of
my old ills; I would like to prove myself a virtuous man but cannot: nobody trusts me, as I am
crushed by my former reputation. My girlfriend insistently besieges my door and although I
have told her to go away more than once, she comes back and waits the night through to leap
upon me…” Even if one were to disregard the verses he dedicated to Laura, he had children
from two different women, whom he neither married nor mentioned in his writings. How
dared he moralise?!
Elsewhere he says: I would like to be able to say that I was untouched by lust, but it would be
a lie. I can only say that although the ardour of my youth and temperament drew me to it, I
always, deep within myself, detested my weakness.
He held it a weakness to love a woman. His friend Giovanni Boccaccio was far less arrogant:
he tenderly kept his old Bruna Cianchi with him to the last.
Petrarch was, of course, a tonsured cleric and in his words: It is better to keep silent about
what one cannot talk: the Church imposed chastity on its priests and one of the reasons that it
persecuted the Cathars, was because they failed to oblige the men and women who guided
their communities to follow this rule. They followed the teachings of the Mosaic Law and
held the Gospel of St. John most sacred. In Provence, the poet must have been acquainted
with some of the survivors, although it was very dangerous in his times to say one was a
Cathar. Many, to escape persecution, had become travellers, transmitting their traditions in
hermetic verse, called trobar clus, which gave them the name of troubadours. They sang their
pure love for their Lady, i.e. Their faith. They refused violence and the privileges that
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belonging to a certain cast entitled people to. They earned a lot of respect because of the
austere kind of life they led, as well as because they did not try to impose their beliefs on
others.
Their tenets undermined the pyramid of privileges, which supported the whole feudal system,
whereby, according to Innocent III, the pope’s authority had to prevail over all kingly power.
Innocent III was born in Anagni, like Boniface VIII. In the 1302 Papal Bull Unam Sanctam,
Boniface re-stressed the idea: there were two swords in the Church and the temporal one had
to serve the spiritual one. They were probably both influenced by the painting on the vault of
the undercroft of the Judge of the Apocalypse in the cathedral of Anagni, from whose mouth
issue sword-shaped tongues.
Both pope and emperor considered that their chief duty was to maintain the dogmas of the
Faith, and the feudal order, wherefore all heresy, i.e.: dissent, had to be rooted out.
Frederick II of Swabia, for instance, who was a ward, in his childhood, of Innocent III,
decreed the extermination of the Cathars in his Constitutions of Melfi.
There are a lot of analogies between the creed of the Cathars and that of the Essenes. The
Essenes used to call themselves pure, too and they also had female preachers. Both lived in
Occitania, as Provence was also called, where the Essenes had taken refuge to escape Roman
persecution in Judea.
Manuscripts, hidden for centuries in Egypt and Israel, have been recently translated, revealing
the beliefs of these zealous followers of the Law. Whilst the privileged high priests in the
Temple of Jerusalem proved more accommodating, the Zealots, or Essenes, refused to accept
any compromise with the Roman invaders of Judea.
In Petrarch’s time such things were whispered from mouth to ear. He probably used to discuss
them with his friend Philippe de Cabassole, bishop of Cavaillon, who had a castle on the hill
above his little house in Vaucluse and they often used to meet. Philippe de Cabassole wrote a
book on the life of the Magdalen, whom he nourished a great veneration for. On one occasion,
cardinal Colonna asked Petrarch to accompany an important personage from Vienne to the
cave of the Magdalen at Sainte Baume and during the three days of my sojourn there, he
composed 36 hexameters in her honour. The basilica of St. Maximin was not far from Sainte
Baume. It had been built by the father of Robert of Anjou, Charles, above and around the
remains of the Magdalen.
In 1295, Charles of Salerno entrusted the basilica to the Dominicans, who had been the
custodians of the false relics of the Magdalen at Vézelay in Burgundy.
To revert to the Chapter Hall: it was payed for by the legacy of Buonamico de’Guidalotti,
chamberlain of Florence. In 1350, after a lengthy exchange of letters, Petrarch at last met
Giovanni Boccaccio in Florence. The following year, Boccaccio went to see him in Padua. He
too had been appointed chamberlain of the Florentine Republic and was the bearer of good
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tidings. The Florentines had decided to return the house and land at Incisa, which had been
confiscated from his father in 1302, to the poet; they moreover offered him the chair of docent
in the Florentine Studium. Petrarch called Florence a “wool weaving, mercantile city”
(mercatrix et lanifica)! They were offering him what had belonged to his family for
generations, as if it were a present in their gift! He did not rise to the bate.
In the 15th century, richly illuminated copies of his writings were produced thanks to the
florins of the Florentine bankers and a marble plaque in the Palace of the Priors recalls his
visit: the Florentines were a bit tardy, true, but the town tried to honour the prickly poet.
If the state his house today, at Incisa, is anything to go by, one is entitled to nourish a few
doubts, as to the real warmth of their feelings.
It was when he was in Florence that he was undoubtedly asked to outline the scheme of the
Chapter Hall frescoes, in view of his friendship with the Sienese painters. As a potential
secretary of Clement VI, he seemed the most suitable person to interpret the Dominican
tradition.
Most of his instructions must have been followed, as they had by Simone, some years earlier
on the cards. They were no strangers to the ideas and traditions found in Provence. Most of the
Dominican friars had died in the plague in 1348 and the poet had been Enea Tolomei’s friend
when the latter had been General Inquisitor for Tuscany - he too was dead. As a tonsured
cleric, he was probably asked to speak for him. The painters included two of Petrarch’s dearest
writers, Cicero and Augustine, in the Triumph of Thomas Aquinas, which is ordered by sevens
(one of Petrarch’s fixations).
The pyramid composition with its fixed, immobile summit, was supposed to impose
obedience. All knowledge, in all its various branches had to be subservient to the dogmas of
the Faith.
One is reminded of something written by a Father of the Church, called Clement of
Alexandria, who died at the beginning of the 3rd century: “Even if one of your opponents were
to say something true, whoever loves the truth must not in any way admit it. As not all truths
are real and the truth that seems true, according to human opinions, must never be preferred
to the real truth which is that of the Faith.”
Which perfectly describes the Church’s thinking. In other words, not only is one required to
misrepresent, as Clement advised, but one must demolish the truths of ones opponents, making
use of their logical systems, as Aquinas suggests in his Summa contra Gentiles.
One of the most significant truths that should not be admitted is before ones eyes, as one walks
into the Hall. In the Calvary scene, one sees the Magdalen, with Martha and her brother
Lazarus. Her right arm is majestically raised to protect two children who bear different headgear. She is looking imploringly at the regal Christ who walks away from her whilst looking
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back at her meaningfully. Like a true queen, in her crimson mantle, which is the same colour
as the Christ’s, she seems noble, lonely and confronted by a very heavy mission.
Detail, showing the Christ, the Magdalen and her children Chapter Hall of the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella - Florence
Normally, a Calvary scene shows the Magdalen weeping and desperate. Here, her expression
is most remarkable. If one is not looking for them, one does not notice the children, but as
soon as ones attention is drawn to them, they are very striking.
Protected by the arm of the Magdalen, who can they be, if not the sons of the king of the
Jews? What does a mother fear more than the loss of her companion, if not danger for her
children? Once one has been to Provence and visited Saintes Maries de la Mer and St.
Maximin, one becomes aware of the Occitanian tradition that states that the Magdalen fled
with her family from Palestine to Occitania, to hide from the Romans: she had to save her
children, the children of her companion, whom they had slain:
The arrival of the Maries in Provence –
Church of Saintes Maries de la Mer, Provence, France
Which seems to indicate that the Dominicans were fully aware of the Magdalen’s status as
mother of the Christ’s children.
It was whispered in Provence and many of her heirs and a large number of faithful followers
of the royal blood, scattered around Europe, carefully nurtured the tradition. Simone knew. In
the scenes he painted of the Passion for cardinal Napoleon Orsini, he included the Widow’s
sons. Simone’s followers knew it too.
Two panels from the polyptich, today divided, painted by Simone Martini for cardinal Napoleone Orsini
with the Crucifixion (Antwerp, Musées Royaux des Beaux Arts) and the Calvary (Paris, Musée du Louvre),
showing the two young princes, bottom right.
In a Crucifixion by Andrea Orcagna, a pupil of Giotto, in the refectory of the Augustinians in
Santo Spirito, in Florence, similar children are shown at the foot of the cross. Orcagna may
have got some of his ideas from the Sienese masters, when he was working in the transept
chapel of Santa Maria Novella. In the Collegiata of San Gimignano, there is a Passion by
Barna of Siena with two children, and they are shown in the Calvary, by Andrea di Bartolo,
who was from Siena, as well. The panel is now in Madrid. One can see them in the cathedral
of Orvieto, too. There are probably many other representations of the two little princes of
royal blood scattered around.
Charles of Anjou had appointed the Dominicans custodians of the tomb of the lady called the
Widow of Christ in Provence and he, according to ancient tradition, claimed descent from her
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children. Which is why he searched so assiduously for her tomb. Which also explains why
Robert of Anjou, on the coins minted in the kingdom of Naples, proclaimed himself king of
Jerusalem, adopting the Jewish lily and the six pointed star of David’s tribe.
One is inclined to wonder why, if the Dominicans knew, they did not admit that Jesus, as the
Jews, Arians and Muslims have always said, was king, husband, generator of kings and not
God, but of course, this is a human truth, not a truth of the Faith.
Shades of Clement of Alexandria: the Faith states that the Christ is God, so the Occitanian
tradition could not be divulged.
If one then looks at the right wall, one sees the Jews and Muslims destroying their sacred
books, whilst St. Dominic shows them the Catholic Gospels.
One Jacob d’Ancona, a rabbi, merchant and husband of Sara Bonaiuto, travelled to Cina,
reaching it in 1271. He hid the account of this voyage so carefully, that it survived the many
anti-Jewish persecutions and has only been recently published for the first time, translated
from Italian and Hebrew into English. In it, he mentions the black and white friars destroying
Jewish writings.
Ones eyes are then drawn to the pack of black and white hounds intently tearing the wolves to
pieces: the muzzles of the hounds have been deliberately and consistently defaced, quite
recently: someone has scratched out their serpent’s eyes so that they look less fierce. One is
irresistibly reminded of the Dominican friar who cracked open Petrarch’s tomb in Arquà,
trying to remove his poor old bones.
Detail of the Hound of God (Domini Canis) sinking his fangs into the wolf (heresy);
Chapter Hall of the basilica of Santa Maria Novella - Florence
St. Dominic’s gesture as he addresses the Jews and Muslims, on the right wall, alludes to the
scholastic practice of syllogism: for instance - The Catholic faith is the religion of the state;
whoever is a good Catholic is therefore a faithful subject of the state; wherefore whoever isn’t
a good Catholic is an enemy of the state.
Petrarch’s contempt for the windy scholastic practices emerges in many of his writings
“He I mean to understand me shall understand me!” He hinted at these matters to whoever
was in a position to understand. As a cleric of the papal court, he had access to the libraries,
which contained ancient manuscripts of inestimable value, he met and conversed with
illustrious people and enjoyed a comfortable economic situation. Of course he was reluctant to
give all this up, perhaps risking the stake. He could not be too overt. “Gravis at periculosa
materia est, vivum potentem verbis offendere… non est enim tutum in eum scribere qui potest
proscrivere!” ( It is grave and dangerous to offend a powerful person when he is alive…it is
not in fact safe to write against someone who can proscribe you).
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St. Dominic preaching, availing himself of the syllogism (the gestures of his hands) The Jews and Muslims destroying their holy books –
Chapter Hall of the basilica of Santa Maria Novella- Florence
Not even the Anjou family, with all their influence, dared undermine the indissoluble power
structure agreed upon by emperor and pope, by revealing undesirable historical truths. Louis,
Robert’s brother, chose the only escape he felt worthy of a descendant of Jesus: he followed
the path indicated by the courageous friar from Assisi, the pure follower of the Law. Thus
Louis became a Spiritual Franciscan, leaving his throne to his brother. Robert himself, mindful
of the holy simplicity of the long haired and bearded Merovingian kings, his ancestors, whose
only steeds were donkeys,wrote a treatise on the holy poverty of Christ and of the Apostles,
attempting throughout his life to restore the destinies of his dynasty. The descendants of the
Widow’s Sons, however, could not allow themselves to be recognised. At most, the Church
could proclaim them saints! The faithful believed in the truth of the Faith. They wanted to
believe in it. Who dared disappoint them?
Although the Dominicans knew all these things, they took active part in the persecution of the
Cathars, the Jews and specially of the Spiritual Franciscans, who most certainly followed the
real teachings of Jesus, whom the Church has always claimed to revere.
The structure of the Church owed its power and its existence to the dogmas of the Faith, which
the faithful had to believe in, under pain of persecution on this earth and damnation for all
eternity. The Dominicans were the defenders of the dogmas (whether they were true or false),
which upheld the indisputable authority of pope and emperor. It was a war and they did
everything needful to win it. They really were the pack of Domini Canes, the hounds of the
Lord, whose task was to defeat the Church’s opponents, destroying their traditions and
writings.
The children, painted four times in the hall, wear princely apparel and very distinct head gear:
one has a crimson skullcap, the other bears a pointed diadem, as Isaac does in the Limbo
scene, on the wall opposite the entrance: the poetic idea that Petrarch and his Sienese friends
wanted to represent was that they represented the tradition of the two Messiahs, of the two
Guides, the two Suns. The Pontifex, the sublime bridge between the people and the Godhead,
enabling them to achieve eternal life and the Dux or leader, whose task is to administrate the
terrestrial existence of the people according to the Law, guaranteeing temporal peace and
happiness. The High Priest and the Head of the Government: pope and emperor, as they are
described in the cards and on the wall to the right.
These images were supposed to remind the preaching friars that the two high functions had
been joined in the Christ, inasmuch as he was the true descendant of the “anointed” (with the
chrism or oil) kings of Israel, as stated at the beginning of the Gospel of St. Matthew, and that
he had inherited the High Priestship when his cousin John, of the line of Aaron, was beheaded
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by Herod. The sons of the Christ were thus heirs to the two sacred functions. One as temporal
guide, with the princely diadem, the other as spiritual guide, with the skullcap ( shown beneath
the cross, pointing up, like certain representations of John the Baptist, his uncle), thus
identified as the ideal predecessors of a long succession of emperors and popes.
The two little princes beneath the Magdalen’s arm and at the foot of the cross –
In the Chapter Hall of the basilica of Santa Maria Novella – Florence
The northern wall of the Chapter Hall of Santa Maria Novella, showing the Calvary, the Crucifixion and the
Descent to Limbo. At the foot of the cross: the two little princes.
When the scenes were painted, the role of the emperor had lost much of its significance, due to
the extinction of the Swabian dynasty, whilst the popes were endeavouring to possess
themselves of the imperial functions, engaging the Church in lay conflicts. Many thus
advocated the separation of the two roles. By laying so much emphasis on the two princelings,
Petrarch probably hoped that the sacred origin of the two roles would bring about some form
of reconciliation between the two parties. The same noble ideal that Simone and the poet had
first illustrated in their cards.
Dante too, in his De Monarchia, claims that the existence of the two rulers is the result of
divine will. He ignores the unending arguments of theocrats, jurists, papal decree scholars, etc.
Regarding the supremacy of one over the other and moreover queries the donation of
Constantine, inasmuch as the natural vocation of the empire was to preserve and strengthen its
dominions, whilst the Church, as St. Matthew says, should not accept gold and possessions.
Petrarch claims that he did not want to read his contemporaries, in order not to be influenced
by them and imitate them, but even so, he cannot have ignored the import of what Dante had
said about such widely discussed themes.
The right wall shows the pope and the emperor surrounded by their hierarchies - powerful,
august figures seated loftily above the poor trusting sheep curled up at their feet.
Hoping for peace and unity, Petrarch appealed to kings and popes and even to Nicola di
Rienzo, who wanted to restore the order of the ancient Roman republic who, however failed
disastrously, which is why the poet put all his hopes for a time in king Robert, of such glorious
descent. Petrarch rewrote his second version of the Triumph of Fame in Robert’s honour,
naming all his great predecessors in Israel, in the same order in which you see them painted in
the scene of Christ descending into Limbo in the Chapter hall.
Detail from Christ’s descent into Limbo – Chapter Hall of Santa Maria Novella - Florence
Italy’s lovely fields, drenched in the blood of the hoards of soldiers asked for nothing but
peace. Whom could the Italians turn to, drained by war as they were, if not to the Anjou
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family? One cannot tell whether he would have been an impartial emperor, but Petrarch
believed that he was far-sighted, and called him a true Argus. The powerful of his times were
merciless and many a time did he write of it, but he held that men must learn that there is but
one refuge from present evils: inner virtue, which cannot be harmed by anyone. This is what
he hoped to teach with his cards.
HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS SUPPORTING THE CHAPTER:
POPE AND EMPEROR, THE WIDOW’S SONS
From the Epistulae of Innocent III, I 401.
… The vicar of Jesus Christ, the successor of Peter, is a kind of intermediary between God
and man, not as great as God, but greater than man. The Roman Church, which I have
espoused, has brought me a dowry: I have received from Rome the mitre, symbol of my
religious function, and the tiara, which endows me with dominion over the earth. God has
placed me above all populations and realms. Nothing that takes place in the universe should
escape the attention and power of the sovereign pontiff. As God, creator of all things, has
placed two great sources of light, the greater one to illuminate the day and a lesser one to
illuminate the night; thus, in the firmament of the universal Church, that takes the name of sky,
he has placed two great dignities, the greater, to preside over the souls as if over the days and
the lesser, to preside over the bodies as if over the nights; these dignities are the papal and the
kingly authority. Certes, as the moon receives light from the sun, because it is smaller, both
because of its greatness, as for its quality, as well as for its situation and its effect, so does the
kingly authority derive the splendour of its dignity from the papal authority…
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Frederick II of Swabia, the Constitutions of Melfi (1231), Title I – Regarding heretics and
Patarines or Cathars.
Heretics endeavour to tear apart the unity of the same indivisible faith and to drive away the
sheep from the protection of Peter, to whom the Good Shepherd entrusted them, so that he
would lead them to pasture. Fundamentally, they are ravening wolves, they who pretend to be
as meek as lambs in order to enter the divine sheepfold…. Like the martyrs who underwent
martyrdom for the Catholic Faith, they call themselves Patarines, as those who suffer
passion… Against such as these, therefore, we cannot but wield the sword of just vengeance
and with all the more perseverance shall we persecute them, the more extensively they
exercise their criminal superstition, blatantly offending the Christian faith, within that Roman
Church, that by all is judged the leader of all Churches… And inasmuch as we hold this thing
most grave, we decree that the crime of heresy – whatever name the followers of the
condemned sect adopt – be included among public crimes…and we decree that the Patarines,
condemned by the present edict, suffer the death they desire; so that they be burnt alive before
the people, being entrusted to the judgement of the flames…
From Boniface VIII’s Unam Sanctam Bull- 18th November 1302
…We know from the words of the Gospel that in this Church and in its power there are two
swords, which is to say a spiritual and a temporal one… Both the spiritual sword and the
material sword are therefore wielded by the Church; one in truth must be wielded for the
Church, the other by the Church; the first by the clergy, the second by the hands of kings or
knights, but according to the orders and condescension of the clergy, as it is necessary that
one sword depend on the other and that temporal authority be subject to spiritual
authority…We thus declare, establish, define and affirm that it is absolutely necessary for the
salvation of every human creature that he or she be subject to the Roman Pontiff…
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From the Defensor Pacis by Marsilio Mainardini of Padua (1324)
(In ancient times), like Christ and the apostles, the bishops in Rome and the provinces, as well
as the priests and all the ecclesiastical communities, lived under the constricting dominion of
princes and under the authority of human legislators.
However, thanks to the persuasion and incitement of that prince of the world, first father of
pride and ambition and prompter of all other vices - I mean the devil - they travelled down a
road that was not the way followed by Christ and the apostles…
Greed and avarice, in fact, invaded their souls and chased out the highly deserving poverty
that Christ had introduced into the Church. Moreover, as the pride of governing according to
the law of the world invaded them, they drove humility out… (II,XXV, 7)
Not being content with the temporal possessions granted to them by the princes, due to their
insatiable appetite,…they occupied many provinces subject to imperial rule…or other
jurisdictions, taking advantage of the imperial absence.
And, betrayal most foul, they appointed themselves princes and legislators so as to most
indecently subject kings and peoples to intolerable servitude (II, XXV, 14). And in this novel
and so far unheard of falsehood, the Roman pontiff, no less false than reckless…dares to
declare explicitly and obstinately that he is superior, in the field of constrictive jurisdiction
and political power to the Roman emperor…(II, XXV, 20).
This was what Boniface VIII decreed… Anyone who carefully considers letters and decrees of
this kind cannot but judge them real madness… (II, XX, 8).
THE MAGDALEN TRADITION IN PROVENCE
The hill of the Magdalen, the Magdalen pass, Saintes Maries de la Mer, Sainte Baume: all
these places are near St. Maximin and the tomb of the loving, faithful companion of the Christ.
According to the Occitanian tradition, she died and was buried in Provence, next to the tomb
of Maximin, who landed with her and with Jesus’ family in the Camargue, in the place now
known as Saintes Maries de la Mer.
The Magdalen cult, which spread throughout Provence, led Charles of Anjou to search for her
tomb and commence building the great basilica of St. Maximin (1295) around her remains.
Pilgrims continued to visit the great building, the adjacent royal cloisters and the cave of
Sainte Baume for centuries. Over forty kings and many popes came on pilgrimage too.
Petrarch himself was asked by his patron, cardinal Giovanni Colonna, to travel to the cave of
the saint in 1338, to escort an important personage (the Dauphin Humbert from Vienne?) And
during the three days of his stay in the cave, he wrote a poem in Latin verse, calling her the
Consul or deputy of the anointed king.
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The basilica of St. Maximin – two panels of the main door with St. Dominic and the Magdalen –
The tomb of the saint in the crypt of the basilica
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
Thomas was born near Naples, in Aquino, in 1225. From the age of five, he was educated by
the Benedictines at the monastery of Mount Cassino; in 1244, he entered the new order
founded by Dominic of Guzman. He studied under Albertus Magnus in Cologne from 1248 to
1252, concentrating on the writings of Aristotle. From 1259, he was a member of the papal
court in Anagni, Viterbo, Orvieto and Rome, while composing his Summa contra Gentiles,
that missionaries would be able to use during their contacts with Jews and Muslims, and which
only appealed to natural reasoning, in view of the fact that Jews only recognised the Old
Testament and that Muslims did not recognise the authority of any Christian text. Around
1267 he concluded the first part of the Summa Theologiae, returning later to Paris, where he
countered Averroes’ doctrine upon receptive intellect (1269-70). Between 1269 and 1273,
with the help of three or four secretaries, he composed the second part of the Summa,
travelling to Florence in 1272 for the general assembly of the Dominican order. He was asked
to set up a new theological Studium for the Dominicans in Naples, financed by Charles of
Anjou, king of Naples, whose brother, St. Louis IX, had praised Thomas in Paris. On the 6th
December 1273, while he was celebrating mass, he had a vision, after which, he never wrote
again, saying that everything he had written until then seemed so much straw. He died in
1274, at Fossanova, while he was on his way to Lion, to take part in the Council on the much
desired reconciliation between Rome and Byzantium.
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THE EMPEROR AND THE EMPRESS
The Gringonneur and Bembo cards, as we have already said, were copies of copies of the
original pack. Both reveal the tendency to represent the great protagonists of the civil and
religious strife, at the end of the Middle Ages, in a mythical light.
The images are certainly coherent from a historical point of view, as both the French and the
Italians could not but choose to depict the highest representatives of the Guelph and Ghibelline
factions of their times. On one side, king Robert of Naples, whose aspiration was to bring
peace and unity to Italy, with the object of placing it under the rule of the Avignon papacy and
the king of France, and on the other, the excommunicated Ludovic of Bavaria, who hoped to
occupy the imperial throne, upheld in Italy by Matteo Visconti, Cangrande della Scala, etc., as
well as by the dissenting spiritual Franciscans, led by Michele from Cesena and William of
Occam.
Petrarch had unbounded admiration for king Robert of Anjou, both because the latter had
conducted his examination, as well as decided his coronation as Poet Laureate on the
Capitoline Hill. Simone Martini was also grateful to the Neapolitan monarch, who had granted
him a knighthood and an annuity.
(Familiarum Rerum IV 2 – To Dionysius of Borgo San Sepolcro, congratulating him on his
having been to king Robert)
… who, in Italy, nay in Europe, is more illustrious than king Robert? When I think of him I do
not so admire his crown, as much as his customs, not his kingdom, so much as his soul. I
consider truly king, he who rules and governs not only his subjects, but himself; who
dominates his own passions, which rebel against him in his soul and will defeat him, if he
surrenders.
Just as no victory is more glorious that the defeat of oneself, so no rule is nobler than the
control of oneself. How can I consider king, one who is ruled by ambition? How can someone
be called invincible, if he lets himself be defeated by adversity? How can someone be defined
serene, if he yields to despair? Magnanimous, if he is assailed by fear when confronted by the
least difficulty?
If one says nothing of other greater virtues, how can a man be called free, if he be under the
yoke of many passions? And descending lower, how dare we call man, he who we know merely
bears the aspect of a man, whereas he is deformed by bestial customs and made terrible by his
brutish ferocity? It is therefore an amazing, albeit common foolishness to call someone who is
not free and often not even a man, a king.
It is a great thing to be a king, a small thing to be called one; kings are much rarer than the
common herd thinks; for it is no vulgar title. Ivory and gems would be used much less
frequently to adorn sceptres, if only kings were to use them.
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True kings have within themselves what makes them honourable; even without guards and
insignia, they are kings; external pomp make others terrifying.
(Familiarum Rerum XII – 2 To Niccolò Acciaioli upon the way of educating a king)
….A crown does not make a man, but calls attention to him and honours do not change
customs and souls, but they reveal them. Convince him that it is of less worth to be born a king
than to choose to become one; as the former depends on fortune, the latter on merit; teach him
to venerate God, love his country, observe justice, without which no kingdom, even if rich and
strong, can survive; let him know that no violent state lasts long and that to be loved is much
safer than to be feared; let him accustom himself to desire nothing if not a good conscience, to
hope for nothing, if not for a good name and to fear nothing, except dishonour. Let him
remember that the higher he is placed, the less can what he does remain hidden and the
greater his power, the less can he exercised it arbitrarily. Let him learn that a king differs
from his subjects, not only in his robes, but in his customs; let him, keeping all extremes at a
distance, pursue virtue, which always keeps the middle road, let him flee both prodigality and
greed, as one is the ruin of possessions and the other of reputation; let him be jealous of his
fame, sparing of honours, miserly with time, generous with money and let that modest and
magnanimous answer given by the Roman commander always ring in his ears: one should not
desire gold, but rule over who possesses it. Let him prefer wealth for his subjects rather than
in his treasury and let him be persuaded that a king of wealthy subjects, can never be poor….
(Metrical epistles III – To Dionysius of Borgo San Sepolcro)
…there is a great poplar tree on the banks of this pure spring, the thick fronds of which cover
the water, the rock and the adjacent fields with its shadow. They say that, captivated by the
beauty of the surroundings and the novelty of the view, the great Robert long reposed his tired
limbs and his thoughts oppressed by heavy responsibilities, on the flowery slope, praising the
silence of my modest refuge…His royal spouse was there, whose beauty and nobility of birth
no just judge could but proclaim higher than those of a Goddess….
Historical accounts regarding king Robert of Anjou are somewhat controversial. Dante, for
instance calls him the sermon king. Thirty years after the death of the king (1324), Petrarch
somewhat revised his opinion, as his letter to Niccolò Acciaioli, grand seneschal to the king of
Sicily, reveals:
(Familiarum Rerum XXIII 18)
….Do not leave me in painful apprehension regarding thy state and tell me if thy fortune has
in some way been affected by the death of the king, whom thou didst vainly endeavour to raise
not only to rule but also to acquire kingly virtues; in which tasks, I fear, we strove in vain, I in
writing, thou with words. A very bad man said most appropriately that words couldn’t
increase virtue; which is true if there is no spark thou canst kindle in the soul of thy listener.
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Oh, if he had proved docile to thy remonstrations! Forgive me if sorrow excites my soul and
pen! For he would have, without doubt, lived longer, died happier and left a more glorious
name. Farewell, my and our country’s decorum.
After the election of John XXII, who was very much under the influence of the Anjou and
French lobbies, king Robert was proclaimed Imperial Vicar and spent five years in Avignon
preparing an efficient Italian policy, which, however, did not produce the hoped for results, as
the new Italian Lordships or Signorie were all trying to shake off their allegiance to papal
absolutism. Most of Robert of Anjou’s failures were due to the fact that, as the popes had quit
Rome and were bound firmly by French policies, they had, in the eyes of the Italians, lost their
universality. The Lords or Signori were able thus to manoeuvre all Italian xenophobic feelings
against the pope, France and its soldiers. Gringonneur has depicted king Robert of Anjou in
armour, giving him a long beard and long hair like those of the Merovingian kings, from
whom he traditionally descended. The finial of Robert’s sceptre is the Judean lily adopted by
Clovis, the first Merovingian Frankish king to be baptised.
The Empress card is missing.
Ludovic of Bavaria, after the battle of Muehldorf, had assumed the title of Emperor, without
waiting for papal approval, which was, in fact, never to arrive, due to John XXII’s abovementioned plans. When Ludovic arrived in Italy, he met Castruccio Castracani, Galeazzo
Visconti and Frederic of Aragon, all ready to support him in order to humiliate the Guelph
leader, Robert of Naples. The dissident Franciscans also gathered around Ludovic, adding
religious to political opposition. The Bembo card, painted a century after Simone and
Petrarch’s card, shows a fairly abstract emperor, wearing a large hat with the imperial eagle.
The image, in this case does not portray the original protagonist, as it would have been
politically incorrect, but replaces it with a pro-Ghibelline image.
The Bembo Empress is an idealised figure, deriving significance only from the Ghibelline
imperial insignia.
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THE POPE
Of the seven Avignon pontiffs, Jacques Duèse of Cahors, who took the name of John XXII,
when he was elected at the age of 72, with the support of the kings of France and Naples, was
to have enormous influence on the political events of his time. A slender, wiry, little man, with
great strength of character, he was the first to envisage Avignon as the new capital of
Christianity, due to the political uncertainty in Italy and in particular in Rome.
As a highly efficient administrator, he modified the way the Church was run, by introducing
an extensive tax system, which guaranteed a plentiful, regular income for the Holy See, thus
contributing to the growing luxury at the papal court but also increasing the papacy’s
allegiance to the king of France.
He appointed twenty-eight cardinals, twenty-three of which were Frenchmen, including his
nephew Arnaud de Via and many co-citizens of his from Cahors, who rapidly became very
wealthy. He moreover re-stated the supremacy of divine over temporal power, declaring the
imperial throne vacant, for which Ludovic of Bavaria and Frederic of Austria were competing.
During the first year of his papacy, he proclaimed Louis of Anjou, bishop of Toulouse, a saint
and confirmed his brother, Robert of Anjou, king of Naples, his Deputy or Vicar General in
Italy. It should be said that Robert was the landlord of Avignon, as he was also Count of
Provence.
The Franciscan question was particularly troublesome and earned him many enemies, as well
as the election of the anti-pope Nicholas V, protected by Ludovic of Bavaria.
A most cultured man, John XXII promoted education and universities and was very interested
in natural sciences, medicine, alchemy and magic arts.
His love of philosophical discussions caused him to summon scholars and men of letters to his
court, and to try to keep them by him, by offering them salaries and privileges.
One of the men of letters was Francesco Petrarca, a protégé of cardinal Colonna, who enjoyed
a remarkable reputation and was to become the most illustrious example of modern mankind,
before the flowering of Humanism.
The Vatican archives contain 65,000 letters, recording pope John XXII’s tireless activity and
the chronicle of his eighteen years of papacy is as full as that of a century. He died on the 4 th
December 1334 and was buried in the cathedral of Avignon.
In order to gain a more accurate picture of the personality and frantic activity carried out all over
Europe by this exceptional pope, we have appended, at the end of this book, a few pages dedicated to
him in the Universal History printed in Amsterdam in 1776, ordered by A. Foglierini, bookseller in
Venice and translated from the 18th century Italian by the authors.
The critical and impartial spirit of the text stresses the international range of interests of an
extraordinary man, who was both highly intelligent and untiring, and who cannot but arouse
considerable admiration
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CURIOSITIES ON JOHN XXII
He believed in black magic, like his contemporaries, thinking that horns and serpents’ tongues
could reveal the presence of poison in food. He also thought that the possession of certain
amulets could protect one against illnesses. Philip V gave the pope a Languier, for his dining
table, to keep horns and serpents tongues in. By means of the tribunal of the inquisition,
however, he had wizards and soothsayers severely persecuted.
The Visconti of Milan attempted to kill him by means of black magic (wax figurines with pins
stuck into them, which were slowly melted, etc., made by an Avignon quabbalist).
When his niece, Jeanne de Trian married Guichard de Poitiers, on the 22nd November 1324,
the following fare was served at the banquet: 4012 loaves of bread, 9 oxen, 56 sheep, 8 pigs, 4
wild boar, a large quantity of different fish, 200 capons, 690 pullets, 580 partridge, 270
rabbits, 37 geese, 50 pigeons, 4 cranes, 2 pheasants, 2 peacocks, 292 birds, three quintals of
cheese, 3000 eggs as well as 2000 pears, apples and other fruit (Introitus et exitus 65, fol.39
V°).
Villani, in his Florentine Histories, tells us that at his death, John XXII left 18 million golden
florins plus about 7 million florins worth in chalices, crosses, crowns, mitres, jewels and
precious stones, bringing the total to 25,000,000 florins.
When he was elected to the papal throne, he gave 100,000 golden florins to each cardinal
elector (Baumgarten-Wahlgeschenke der Paepste – 1908).
Fur was considered a luxury to be used only by the knights and ladies of the court. John XXII,
however,had had his pillow covered with ermine.
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LONG LIVE MOST HOLY MARY
VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOD
The exact size of the most
Blessed Mother of God’s foot
Derived from one of her own shoes,
That is kept with great devotion in
The Holy House of Loreto, and in a
Monastery in Spain. Pope John
XXII granted three hundred years
of Indulgence to whoever kisses
This image three times and recites
Three Aves etc., which was also
Confirmed by Pope Clement VIII,
In the year of our Redemption 1603.
This indulgence has no limits as to the
Number of times it can be obtained and
Can be acquired any number of times by
The faithful devoted to the most holy
Virgin Mary and can be dedicated to
The souls in Purgatory. It is also
Permitted, to the greater glory of
The Queen of Heaven to make
Other similar sizes from this size,
Which will have the same
Indulgence granted to them.
Maria Mater Gratiae
Ora pro nobis
The Gringonneur card, although an enth copy, is fairly true to the original. The papal tiara
shows a great royal crown at the base, that looks more like the crown of a king.
After the death of John XXII this kind of tiara ceased to be used and starting with his
successor, Benedict XII, all pontiffs were to adopt the three-tiered tiara, or triregnum.
The great keys of Saint Peter underline the increased temporal and spiritual importance of the
Church in Europe, built up by John XXII. On either side of the pope are two cardinals, who
are unusually well defined. They were almost certainly meant to be two of the Cahors set, and
one of them could be the pope’s nephew, Arnaud de Via. When Gringonneur copied the card
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in 1392, Pope John XXII had become a legend, remembered all over France with great regret.
The Great Schism had changed many things and the conflict between the Roman and the
Avignon papacy caused much foreboding amongst the French, who feared the waning of
French influence. Charles VI of France, who came to Italy in 1391, aided by Clement VII, to
support the Anjou rule over the kingdom of Naples, only obtained very transitory results.
The Bembo card, painted for the Ghibelline Visconti family of Milan is obviously different
and anti-Guelph. Moreover, at the beginning of the XV century, new facts had emerged. After
the Council of Pisa, there were no fewer than three popes and, after a succession of events,
that would take too long to recount, the Little Schism of Basle brought this tremendous
upheaval within the Church to an end in 1449, re-uniting the Holy See under the leadership of
Eugene IV. The presence in the pack of the Popess, would lead one to surmise, however, that
this is supposed to be a portrait of the aged Cahors Pope, even if painted almost a century
later.
THE POPESS
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In order to understand the subject illustrated on this card, one should briefly recall certain
historical events.
At the beginning of the 14th century, Clement V had already tried to discipline the Franciscan
order that had split into two factions. In his Bull Exivi, the Spiritual branch (upholders of
Christ’s poverty) and the Conventuals (followers of the papal doctrine) had been told to find a
modus vivendi, based on mutual tolerance. After the election of John XXII, the thorny
Franciscan question once again raised its head.
In 1317, a crowd of Poverelli (Poor little brethren), wretchedly apparelled, marched on
Avignon, with the object of conferring with the pope. They were part of a delegation of
Spirituals from Provence, who had deposed and banished their Conventual superiors and had
reconfirmed the zealous bretheren, who had been excommunicated and banished earlier by the
pope as the heads of their order. John XXII attempted to solve the problem much more
drastically than his predecessor. After forcing them to spend the night in the open, waiting to
be received, he ordered six of the more vocal brothers put in prison, while the rest of the
group was taken to various monasteries in Avignon to be kept under control.
After which, the pope convened a Council, in which he ordered the recalcitrant friars to re-don
the habit of the Conventuals, submitting themselves to papal authority, in order to reconstitute
the unity of the Franciscan order. Most of them accepted, but four Spiritual brothers did not
and were tried by the Tribunal of the Inquisition and burnt alive in Marseilles the 7th May
1318.
The 12th November 1323, John XXII published the Bull Cum Inter Nonnullos, which declared
that the doctrine of the absolute poverty of Christ and the Apostles as well as the doctrine of
the Spirituals, that condemned the right to property, were heretical.
The majority of the Franciscans submitted, but a zealous minority proclaimed John XXII
guilty of heresy and in 1327, Friar Michael of Cesena, General of the Franciscans, declared, in
Perugia, that the doctrine of absolute poverty, was not only not heretical, but was to be
considered a Catholic dogma.
Friar Michael was immediately deposed for his temerity, but after his brethren re-appointed
him as their General, John XXII invited him to Avignon.
Whereupon, Friar Michael conferred with Ludovic of Bavaria, the claimant to the Imperial
throne, more than once thwarted and condemned by the pope. Both of them, together with
William of Occam and urged on by the Spiritual branch of the Franciscan order, accused John
XXII of heresy (the appeal of Sachsenhausen), the pope responding with elaborate Bulls
(Quia quorundam – Quia vir reprobus – 1329), expounding his own and the Church’s
doctrine, and asserting that “the right to property was divine and that poverty consisted not in
renouncing, but in being detached from earthly possessions”.
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Ludovic of Bavaria, followed by various zealous Franciscans and at the head of a powerful
army, marched on Milan and Rome and in April 1328 published a violent proclamation,
excommunicating the “priest” John XXII, whom he declared deposed from his papal throne,
as notoriously and manifestly heretical, and guilty of such pestilential and detestable
blasphemy, as to deserve the punishment owing to heretics.
He then set about arranging for the election of a new Roman pope, to stand against John XXII,
wherefore the Franciscan, Peter of Corbara was elected in Rome, taking the name of Nicholas
V, and, in exchange, crowned Ludovic with Charlemagne’s imperial circlet. Peter’s papacy
was not to last very long. After a brief sojourn in the archbishop’s palace in Pisa, he made his
way to Avignon. On the 25th August 1330, wearing a rope around his neck and kneeling in the
dust at John XXII’s feet, he proclaimed himself scelleratissimus peccatorum, asking for
forgiveness. The pope lifted him to his feet, kissed him and as a mark of his absolution, gave
him 3000 golden crowns for his personal sustenance in Avignon, where he was to remain until
his death, “treated as a friend, but controlled as an enemy”.
At this point, the meaning of the allegory is clear. The female figure is the Franciscans’ my
Lady Poverty, who was raised to the throne of St. Peter with Urban V. Before a passion for
power and wealth had assailed the more elevated hierarchies of the Catholic clergy, the
poverty preached by Christ was well known and accepted by the faithful. It was the deviations
of the pope and of the prelates that scandalised the Christian believers, awakening the desire
amongst the purer souls for a return to the Law, preached by Jesus. The Popess, devised by
Petrarch and Simone Martini, was the spouse they wished to see the pope embrace. The
burning topical content of the first tarot cards explains the extensive modifications they were
initially subjected to, in order to comply with factious feelings and the very real constraints of
censorship.
Petrarch lived through the knotty Franciscan question first at the university of Montpellier,
then in Bologna, which was a kind of melting pot for the various schools of thought from all
over Italy, as well as in Avignon, with Cardinal Colonna, whose opinion concerning the papal
court was well known.
In the Bembo card, the Franciscans’ my lady Poverty is shown wearing the triregnum. The
three knots, symbolising Poverty, Chastity and Obedience are clearly visible against her habit.
Her ringless hands hold a slender cross and the Gospels.
The card is missing from the Gringonneur pack.
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THE POPESS AND GUARIENTO IN PADUA
In his Memorie spettanti alla storia della calcografia (Memoirs regarding the history of
Chalcography), published in Prato in 1831, Count Leopold Cicognara tells us that “The almost
universal practice of painting symbolically was even more implemented in Padua. Towards
the middle of the 14th century, Guariento of Padua, painted those highly singular allegories, in
the choir of the Eremitani church, in which, in fact, he associated an emblematic description
of the Planets and of the signs of the Zodiac, with human passions, painting symbol over
symbol….the figure of Guariento’s Pope may have alluded to the increased dominion that the
papacy had at that time over all earthly things, as the figure bearing an orb in his right hand
and a sceptre in his left, with a cross as its finial and a triregnum (?) On his head could refer
to all this and to many other aspects concerning the period of Boniface VIII and the
Ghibellines, which faction was visibly in power in Padua.”
Before painting these frescoes, Guariento probably consulted the Eremitano astrologer, friar
Augustine of Trent as well as Francesco Petrarca, as to how to disguise the dissent of the
Eremitani towards the Avignon see, on the Franciscan Poverty question, with sagacious
allegories. Venturi, Pecchiai and other authors confirm the existence of a working friendship
between Guariento and Petrarch, which was to surface on various occasions. The idea of
suggesting allegorical images to painters had always been a fixation of Petrarch’s. Altichiero
used his ideas in the Hall of Giants, in Padua, Simone Martini consulted him regarding some
of the frescoes he painted in Avignon (now lost), as well as for the cards and for the
frontispiece of Petrarch’s Virgilian codex; lastly, the Memmi workshop had used his
suggestions for the Chapter Hall in Santa Maria Novella in Florence. Let us now examine
some of the frescoes in the Eremitani choir.
Who could this slight, hollow-faced figure be, if not John XXII? During his papacy, he
declared the imperial throne vacant, proclaiming the Church absolute ruler over the universe,
thereby enhancing its temporal power. His rigidly centralising policies however reawakened
the medieval anti-ecclesiastical resentments that led to the Great Schism. Some elements, like
the orb in his right hand, the slender cross, transformed into a sceptre and the great crown at
the base of his tiara, allude to the figure of a monarch, as do the two lions on either side of his
throne, “which surely pertain more to a Roman imperial throne” (Cicognara). John XXII’s
tiara only had two crowns, whilst all successive popes adopted the triregnum. In the Eremitani
fresco, there is a singular absence of colour just above the tiara, in the place of a hypothetical
third crown (which would make it difficult to identify the seated figure). Guariento, however,
gave the tiara a conical shape, which eliminates any doubts, as the triregnum used by popes
after John XXII was egg-shaped, so the second crown would have been bigger than the lower
one and not smaller, as in the Eremitani choir.
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Allegory of the Planets, by Guariento, Church of the Eremitani, Padua
In the panel dedicated to Mercury, there is an ingenious allegory of a specific moment of John
XXII’s papacy, when he was tenaciously and increasingly interfering in the temporal affairs of
his time and was confronted by the uneasiness of the Spiritual Franciscans, who wanted to
follow their ideals of poverty and purity. The central figure’s features resemble those of the
Pope. On the right, a gentle maiden embodies Franciscan Poverty. In her right hand she shows
the cord around her waist with its three knots, symbolising the fundamental vows of the order
(Poverty, Chastity, Humility). The central figure, however, is turned away from her, and his
entire attention is focused on the lawyer or jurist at his service.
The books lying open on the desk and on the lectern allude to the rhaetorical, doctrinal and
philosophical reasons that led to the poor spiritual brethren’s being condemned as heretics,
thanks to the elaborate Bulls and documents in the jurist’s hands.
Allegory of the Planets by Guariento. The panel dedicated to Mercury, Church of the Eremitani, Padua
(Familiarum Rerum VI 1 – Letter sent by Petrarch to Annibaldus, cardinal bishop of
Tusculum, against the avarice of pontiffs.)
…I would not know straight away whether envy or avarice be the most miserable of vices.
Envy, in effect is always sad, but lethargic, whilst avarice is sad and energetic; pride, which
has a great concept of itself, derives pleasure from this opinion, albeit false, whilst avarice is
at all times avid and needy…
Ire sometimes fills itself with ferocious and inhuman satisfaction; avarice is never content and
increases, the more it acquires; wherefore what Juvenal says is true: “The love of gold grows
with gold” and who possesses none, desires it less…
The poor man desires fields or money, only to satisfy his natural requirements, which are few
and small… The wealthy man, on the other hand, has a superabundance of everything
necessary, and is never satisfied, but always seeks useless and unnecessary things, of which
there are an infinite quantity, and is accustomed to admire his immense possessions, not as
fields that should raise him from penury, but as kingdoms to satisfy his pride, and to count his
great piles of coins, no longer considering money as money, but as mountains of gold, of
which - there is no doubt - consists the great kingdom of avarice… Many have we known, that
having earned, by dint of hard work, what they never dreamt they could possess, were moved
by new desires and hopes and consigned themselves to new madness. And if you were to
remind such as these of what they used to be, they would be furious and would be ashamed of
having been content with modest desires….
Regarding the other sins, such as sloth, one can say the same; as for greed and lust, they have
their delights, providing transient joy and exultation; avarice gives nothing but bitterest
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anguish: while one breathlessly accumulates what he does not yet possess, he cannot see what
he already has, if not to repine. Wherefore, so being the facts, one can well say that the most
pestiferous of the seven sisters is avarice, which the Apostle calls the root of all evil.
I know that thou art wondering why I have departed today from my usual subjects and am
taking thee to task, concerning this, so to speak, inopportune philosophy. It is not so much
thyself, as nearly every man in general and most specially those of thy rank….
For whom do you pile up so much gold? You cannot have any legitimate descendants; you
should behave parsimoniously and modestly; the rest belongs to Christ’s poor, whom you are
not afraid to defraud and plunder, whilst their Lord sees all from on high and threatens
vengeance…Many use their children as their excuse and they cover the sin of their soul with
the veil of paternal affection; thus do lionesess or tigresses become more ferocious after the
birth of their cubs; even the meekest of animals, for love of their offspring, become bold. You
have no excuse; there is no veil for your vice; naked before the eyes of the world you are
pointed at, amidst biting reproof. “Here are the auctioneers of virtue,” they say, “who talking
eloquently of life eternal and freedom of spirit, without any reason, attach themselves to
worldly possessions and are slaves to avarice…Whom do you pile up riches for, if not for the
devil and his followers?...” Thou art still amazed and ask me “Why didst thou not talk to me
before, about these things, as thou art doing today? I will respond to thy wonder: I knew you
were avaricious, and nobody ignores that avarice is a vice; it is not that I have opened my
eyes today to these truths, but having visited thee the other day, I saw thy altars, or rather the
altars of the God of Virtue, loaded with gold and silver and studded with gems and I said to
myself “These are the new arms of avarice, a new kind of curse; our own avarice was not
enough: we want Christ to become avaricious as well” and as Virgil says: -“The gods call
Jupiter himself to devour the prey”.Do you think that you can justify your ill-gotten gains, if you force Christ to take part in your
thefts and envelop him with gold? That is not the way one propitiates God… The first men
sought wealth to become rich; you seek it to adorn Christ; a pious task, if he took pleasure in
wearing what has been despoiled from the poor, rather than in the virtue and devotion of the
faithful and if greed, united to hypocrisy were not even more hateful to God. What will you
answer, when Persius cries:”Oh pontiffs, tell us, what advantage does gold bring to sacred
things?” Answer, oh pontiffs; becauses he speaks to you; you, who are old, answer a young
man, you theologians, reply to a poet, you Christians to a pagan. What do you say? What
advantage does gold bring to sacred things?… A sin has no excuse; even if the excuse were to
be just, a sin is never just; the love for ones offspring, many needs, the ignorance of the
common herd do much to attenuate guilt. But you, oh pontiffs, tell me to what end do you rage
to possess so many and more secure riches, amidst so much knowledge of human and divine
things, in this solitary and celibate life of yours, which should not think of the morrow?
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You will answer me with those well-known words: “The Church possesses gold? It is well that
it should possess, bad if it is possessed; wealth in the hands of men can please, not men in the
hands of riches”… Let useless gold be removed from the temples and be taken to other
temples of God, to the advantage of the poor; let vain secular pomp become Christian charity
and let idolatry no longer be served under the mantle of devotion .Don’t you know that
avarice is the servitude of idols? Nobody has more idols that you and nobody can be more
justly told than you to “Beware of idols”. Believe me, oh pontiffs, do not look for vain excuses
and do not, under the banner of Christ give free reign to your avarice and feed your fury;
Christ does not need your gold, neither does he like your superstition; he only desires a naked,
pure heart, pious deeds, honest thoughts and humble desires. How can gold have anything do
with all this? Stop, oh sorry beings, providing for your sacrifices to be proud, decorated and
magnificent, …sacrifice,I repeat, the sacrifice of praise, the sacrifice of justice and place your
hopes not in gold, but in God…
Detail, showing Franciscan Poverty, from the frescoes by Guariento, in the Church of the Eremitani in
Padua
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VIRTUES AND VICES
Towards the beginning of the 14th century, one starts seeing representations of the Virtues, as
incitement and models for lay ethics, in non religious contexts, especially in Florence. The
concept had already spread throughout the Greek and Roman philosophical world. Socrates
recognised the possibility of learning virtue by means of knowledge and willpower. Plato, in
his Republic (books IV, VI), noted that wealth and poverty can compromise the unity of the
state, wherefore governors must be prudent, strong in adversity, temperant and just (whence
the four cardinal virtues).
Later on, Christianity took possession of these teachings, setting the theological virtues next to
the human ones.
From the first, the virtues were represented as virgins, who, according to Prudentius’
Psichomachia, fought against the vices and were often shown beside the arts and crafts, as
auspicious to human activity.
The theme, towards the beginning of the 14th century, was especially widespread in Italy,
making its appearance later in France. The greatest exporter of these ethical and philosophical
allegories was Petrarch, revered in France as the greatest scholar of his century.
It is interesting to note that the most frequently used word in his writings, after Love, was
Virtue.
Quotes from Petrarch’s De remediis utriusque fortunae:
“Nothing is more graceful or of shorter duration than beauty, which brings less happiness
when it comes, than sadness when it departs... Virtue in a beautiful body is lovelier to the
onlooker, but not more perfect or better than its owner… Beauty without virtue is heaviness of
spirit…Philosophy does not teach one to enjoy virtue, but to use it when necessary… Man
must find fame in virtue…Nobody will ennoble thee, if not thyself, with virtue…If fortune has
left thee naked and destitute, thou willst be clothed and enriched by virtue, providing thou dost
not despise it… It is a mark of great virtue to be bitten by the tongues of the populace…Virtue
does not guard or defend ones body, but is an ornament of the soul and grants man glory and
immortal fame…Be a friend to virtue and do not fear the threats of fortune…Ancient statues
were carved for virtuous men or for whoever had died for the republic; today they are erected
for wealthy people… Good will is the main and most important part of virtue…Whoever
expects to prosper without virtue is mad and presumptuous…
As soon as the copies of Simone’s painted cards started spreading around, Petrarch felt
morally bound to complete the composition of the Triumphs, in order to stake his claim as
originator of the idea, although his innate caution led him, for the present, to maintain his
anonymity.
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The idea of dividing human existence into six seasons, from youthful love to eternity, was
poetically innovative and before the composition was finished, it had only been entrusted to
memory, i.e. To the painted cards, that were liable to be involuntarily modified by ignorant
copiers.
Although he was continually distracted by duties, travel and by the constant vagaries of his
thoughts, if not by justifiable fear, Francesco finally composed the last Triumph six months
before his death.
Petrarch was legitimately proud of the originality of his creations, to the extent that he more
than once stated that he did not want to read anything written by his contemporaries, so as not
to be, even involuntarily, influenced by them, as various letters he wrote to Giovanni
Boccaccio, from Certaldo bear witness to:
(From Familiarum Rerum XXIII 19)
“… the imitator must try to be similar, not identical, and the resemblance must not be as that
between the original and the copy, which is all the more praiseworthy, the more it manages to
be alike, but as the likeness between father and son. The latter, in fact, although often differing
in aspect one from the other, nonetheless recall each other, by what painters call an air, that
emerges in the face and eyes, producing that similarity, whereby one can immediately
recognise the father in the son, although, if the examination were to be detailed, each aspect
would seem different; there is, however, something mysterious between them that produces the
effect of similarity. Thus, we too, when imitating, must endeavour that if there be something
similar, many things must be dissimilar and the similarity must be so concealed that one
cannot discover where it lies, if not by means of a tacit investigation of thought and this should
take place by intuition, rather than by demonstration. One can use another person’s ingenuity
and colour, not his words; for the former imitation can be concealed, whereas the latter is
apparent, the former being used by poets, the latter by monkeys. One, should, in other words,
follow Seneca’s advice, which was first given by Horace, writing, as bees make honey, not by
gathering flowers, but by transforming them into honey, so as to meld the various elements
into a single one and this different and better…
The third group of seven cards, is dedicated to the Virtues and Vices, which were supposed to
arm the flanks and be as spurs to the pope and emperor (see scheme on page…); the theme
had been, in fact, all too well known to the ancients, so the desired originality had to be
achieved by choosing a different context. If Valerius Maximus, in his Factorum et Dictorum
Memorabilium Libri, had mentioned various Roman and foreign citizens as perfect
exemplifications of Cardinal Virtues, Francesco, in the third section of his Rerum
Memorandarum Libri, which he calls modern, thought of comparing the ancients with his
contemporaries, stating in his foreword, that he intended to exclude the Theological Virtues
and all religious subjects from his treatise. The stance he chose, this time was openly critical
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of the Avignon see, along the lines of his Sine Nomine - a series of stinging, perilous letters,
in which Petrarch deliberately avoided quoting the recipients, so as not to endanger them.
(From Sine Nomine 18 , sent to his friend Francesco Nelli - quoted in Sine Nomine lettere
polemiche e politiche, edited by Ugo Dotti – Ed. Laterza 1974)
…Why dost thou still dwell in those places? Art thou detained there or dragged thence against
thy will? Certes it is so: I prefer to know thee a victim to violence, rather than prey to sloth.
Laziness is not one your characteristics, ardent as thou art of intellect, of vigorous mind, of
generous nature. But of what use are these qualities, if there is an impediment stronger than
virtue? However great, a force is quenched, if opposed by a greater and all succumbs to
necessity. It drew thee to Babylon (Avignon) and there it keeps thee. It is hard, but must be
born: it is the nature of the place. There all decency is lost, but before everything else,
freedom, afterwards, in order: peace, joy, Hope, Faith and Charity, ones soul: great
calamities, but in the kingdom of avarice, as long as money is safe, nothing is considered a
tragedy. There, hope in life after death is considered a foolish tale; everything that is told
about Hell, a legend and the resurrection of the dead, the end of the world and the return of
Christ on the day of Judgement, an old nursery rhyme.
There truth is folly, abstinence is coarseness, chastity: great shame; unlimited are licence,
grandeur, freedom in sinning and the more a person is corrupt, the greater does his life shine,
the more it is covered in crime, the greater the glory: an honest reputation is considered viler
than mire and the least sought after commodity is fame. Thus in a few lines have I given thee,
in this letter of mine, a portrait of that holy city, and thou readest there no more than thou
seest every day on the forehead of its inhabitants, whose lives no pen or mind will ever be able
to encompass.
The Rerum Memorandarum Libri, begun in 1343 and continued with exceptional dedication
until 1345, throughout his stay in Parma, were to follow the lines of the Sine Nomine. Broken
off suddenly in the fourth book, because of the siege of Parma by the Visconti, they seem
never to have been taken up again, which gives them an aura of mystery. There is, for
instance, no proof that they were ever read by anybody, whilst the poet was alive, and after his
death, only a rough draft of part of his manuscript was left, from which the Florentine
Franciscan, Tedaldo della Casa transcribed a copy, which, during the international convention
on Petrarch’s Latin works, in Florence, 19th May 1991, was called “diplomatic”. The original
manuscript has strangely disappeared and in the 1378 copy, for instance, the introduction or
scheme of the work is missing, although it is mentioned in the second book, where Petrarch
quotes a passage by Cicero on the four Cardinal Virtues. The surviving copy mostly contains
examples of Prudence, with continual references made to Robert of Anjou, who had crowned
him Poet Laureate.Let us now look at the Virtues in the oldest extant packs, which are thus
those closest to the pack painted by Simone for Francesco.
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PRUDENCE (THE VIRTUES)
The Visconti pack is incomplete and Prudence is one of the missing cards. Inasmuch as the
card of Justice of the Bembo pack shows a knight in the background (perhaps a Visconti), it is
possible that behind Prudence, with her mirror and serpent attributes, one could have made out
the figure of Robert of Anjou, as supreme example of a prudent monarch. Prudence is also
missing from the Gringonneur pack.
JUSTICE
(THE VIRTUES)
Thanks to the virtue of Justice, one behaves in an upright fashion, so that everyone receives
what is his or her due, as, if anybody’s rights are violated, the stability of society is
undermined. In his Republic, Plato stated that justice is harmony between the three parts of the
human soul: the rational, the irascible and the concupiscible, which correspond to the three
social classes that make up the ideal state: the rulers or wise men, the military class and the
populace.
Justice, according to Plato, is shown, when everyone performs his or her function, without
interfering in another person’s task. To confirm his theory, he states that the carpenter must
not interfere with the cobbler, exchanging tools or prerogatives. Whovever, made bold by
wealth and success, wants to be soldier, magistrate, merchant, counsellor, etc., will cause great
damage to the state and will commit an act of injustice towards his neighbour. Aristotle, in his
Nichomachean Ethics, distinguishes between justice and legality, which only involves
adapting ones behaviour to the law, without presupposing inner rectitude.
As for as the Stoics and for Roman law, justice is an intrinsic part of human nature.
The Gringonneur and the Bembo cards show Justice armed, bearing scales, with the dishes on
the same level. In the Bembo card, in the background, above the figure of Justice, there is an
armed knight, riding a richly caparisoned horse. It could be meant to represent Galeazzo
Visconti, who, after the crusade banned by John XXII, managed to defeat the papal army,
establishing himself as an extremely powerful lord in Lombardy.
TEMPERANCE
(THE VIRTUES)
Plato used to say that temperance is a kind of ordered equilibrium, a dominion over passions
and pleasures. There are two natures in the human soul: a better and a worse one. When the
better prevails over the worse, the person is master of him or herself, otherwise he or she is
only a slave of him or herself and intemperate.
Temperance is governed by simple, moderate desires that are amenable to reason and guided
by intelligence. An excellent quality when governing ones own or other peoples’ destinies,
and which all people in power ought to possess.
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The images of Temperance in the the Gringonneur and Bembo cards, because of their moral
character are not imbued with any factious spirit and have undergone no censorship. The
female figures will remain substantially unchanged until today. The two amphora in the
Virtue’s hands allude to the two natures of man, that can harmoniously cohabit, decanting into
each other.
The Temperance image on one of the few cards preserved at the Castello Ursino in Catania is
decidedly older and of Provencal inspiration, depicting a naked virgin, which evokes one of
the virtues described in Prudentius Clement’s Psychomachia. She is decanting two vases into
each other, while reclining upon a stag, the symbol of prudent wisdom, and often used in the
representations of the Triumph of Time.
FORTITUDE
(THE VIRTUES)
When Plato speaks of fortitude or courage, he doesn’t mean physical force, but spiritual
strength or firmness of character. He thus alludes to the virtue of a human being, who
confronts pain, pleasure, desire and fear with a firm spirit, fortified by legality and education,
and who is always capable of choosing the most worthy conduct.
The Fortitude card in the Gringonneur pack shows a female figure with a pointed halo, symbol
of virtue, while she shatters a column. The gesture reminds one that spiritual strength can
overcome any obstacle, as Samson, armed with righteousness, shattered the columns of the
temple of the Philistines.
The Bembo card misconstrues the original sense of the virtue of Fortitude, as spiritual strength
and represents it as physical strength, showing Hercules fighting the lion of Nemea. Hercules
is often used as a symbol of strength and courage. The seal of the Florentine Republic bore an
effigy of Hercules.
FORTUNE
(THE VICES)
The most admired and widely distributed of Petrarch’s works, for various centuries,
throughout the western world, was his De Remediis Utriusque Fortunae. It was translated into
the Vulgar tongue – Italian – and Christianised by Giovanni da San Miniato, a Camaldolese
monk, at the beginning of the 15th century. It almost ceased to circulate in Italy, but continued
to enjoy enormous success in every other European nation, as it provided the rules that made it
possible for a wise and virtuous man to confront success or catastrophe with spiritual strength
and intellectual independence. In the work, Fortune is described as the nemesis or necessary
and fatal succession of human events, in which the inscrutable divine will and the magic
influence of the stars and fatality reveal themselves. It is the opposite of virtue. The theme of
Fortune, continuously taken up by Petrarch, is present in all his works. Dante places fortune
with the angels, with the other first creatures, happy to govern great success and sudden
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disaster and Boccaccio states that “lord of the world is chance”. In his Decameron, virtue and
fortune are continually juxtaposed.
Throughout the Middle Ages, Fortune is almost unknown and is normally represented as the
goddess or with a wheel.
Around 1340, when the cards began to expand throughout Europe, the iconography of
Fortune became popular: in the castle of Poppi, near Arezzo, in a fresco dated around 1340,
we find the wheel of Fortune. In Weiditz’s German translation of Petrarch’s De Remediis, the
wheel appears more than once in the illustrations. In Florence, in the Palace of the Signoria,
there is the Audience Hall, frescoed by Salviati around 1540, where Favour or Fortune prances
above a wheel. It is possible that erudite Salviati upon his return from Rome, was influenced
by the Florentine Minchiate or by some more ancient pack, that he happened to get hold of.
His frescoes, infact, also include the Sun, the Moon, Fortitude and Time, bearing the attributes
of Prudence and Temperance. One of the doors leading into the Hall shows an inlaid wooden
portrait of Francesco Petrarca, by Giuliano da Maiano.
D’Ancona states that many ancient images of Fortune’s wheel have come down to us thanks to
playing cards.
Taletes used to say that Fortune is like a poetess who creates innumerable personages: the
shipwrecked mariner, the beggar, the exile, the dark man. Thus, a man of value is bound to put
up with any and every role she imposes and it is both useless and unjust to protest.
The allegory of Fortune in the Tarot cards bears Petrarch’s masterly imprint, in Midas’s
donkey ears. In his Triumph of Fame, Petrarch defines Herodotus father of Greek history and
later writes:
…..
Curio e Fabrizio, assai più belli
Curius and Fabritius, of greater beauty yet
Con la lor povertà, che Mida e Crasso
with their poverty, than Midas and Crassus
Con l’oro, onde a Virtù furon rebelli
with their gold, wherefore ‘gainst Virtue they rebelled
…..
According to Herodotus, the legendary king Midas found wise Silenus, drunk and trussed up
by farm labourers in his garden.There was a tradition that if Silenus was a prisoner, he could,
if questioned, reveal the truth and the future.
King Midas therefore asked him the secret of wisdom and Silenus answered that as regarded
mankind, it would have been better never to have been born, but once the unhappy fate of
being born had been imposed upon one, the best was to die immediately.
There are moreover two tales related by Ovid, on Silenus drunk and lost being taken home by
Midas to Dionysus, the god Silenus was the follower of. The grateful god allows king Midas a
wish and the king therefore asks that everything he touches become gold. Returning home, he
is delighted to realise that Dionysus has kept his word, but then sees to his horror that food and
drink undergo the same metamorphoses, so that he risks dying of hunger and thirst. Dionysus
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thus advises him to wash in the river Pattolus, the waters of which, will be thereafter full of
gold, and the king is freed from the accursed gift. Another legend recounts that king Midas,
tired and nauseated by his wealth, goes to live in the forest, where he becomes a follower of
the Pan cult. One day he is on the banks of a river, whilst the god of the mountain is about to
judge a musical contest between Pan and Apollo, who is awarded the victory. King Midas
does not approve the god’s verdict, so Apollo, to punish him, gives him donkey’s ears. The
king, full of embarrassment, covers his head with a Phrygian beret, hiding his secret, until his
barber, not being able any longer to hold the secret, digs a hole and whispers the fate of the
king into it. Rushes, however, grow out of the hole and swayed by the wind, sigh repeatedly
that king Midas has donkey ears, so the secret is very soon known by everybody.
Wisdom, prudence, justice, self-control, etc. Make up spiritual strength, i.e. Petrarch’s
“Virtue”, capable of confronting wayward Fortune, considered a “Vice”, inasmuch as it is
extraneous and indifferent to mankind’s merits.
The allegory of Fortune in the Gringonneur pack is missing. The Bembo card shows the
blindfolded goddess in the centre of the wheel. Atop the wheel, king Midas with his donkey
ears and beneath, drunken Silenus, crawling on a meadow in king Midas’s gardens. Another
version of Fortune’s wheel is in the Brambilla Tarots, where the blindfolded goddess is
dressed differently, but the scheme is identical: king Midas’s ears are clearly visible, as well as
drunken Silenus and the gardens around.
In the Minchiate Fiorentine, the allegory has undergone a major transformation. The poetic
allusion has disappeared and king Midas has taken on the semblance of a donkey, like
Shakespeare’s Bottom.
(Familiarum Rerum VII 12 – To Giovanni dell’incisa, on fortune)
…Do not believe in Fortune; she is a liar, wayward, inconstant, untrustworthy; thou knowest
that to start with she is bland and mild, then cruel. Thou who by now knowest this horrible
monster and needest no teacher, made wary by thine own examples, see to thyself and have no
more truck with her; despise her in what she promises thee and what she denies thee, in what
she gives and what she takes…
(Familiarum Rerum VIII 1 to Stefano Colonna, upon the grave knocks of fortune)
…let what thou canst not recover go; it is up to thee to derive sorrow or happiness from it; let
the populace call you abandoned, old, unhappy; let the populace be foolish, as it usually is
and consider thyself happy. Thou drankest from both fortune’s cups, and thou knowest what
they taste of. The sweet one made thee happy, the bitter, prudent, so that thou shouldst learn
up to what point one can trust prosperity. Thou knewest it before, I believe, but now thou willst
not deny that thou hast understood it more clearly. No school is more efficacious than that in
which the teacher is experience; what thou heardst say, thou sawest proof of and what thine
ears had learnt, thine eyes confirmed.
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Thou understandest now that fortune, of which every man speaks is but nothing; that what the
populace calles happiness is but a fable; thou hast lost it, but hast acquired another, truer and
more secure. “What can this happiness be” thou sayest, “that thou showest me amidst so
many sorrows?” What dost thou think it can be, if not that which nobody can take from thee? I
show thee a happiness that is the opposite of the former: be content with what thou hast;
persade thyself that what was thine ornament did not belong to thee and that freed at last from
error, thou art, at last, albeit late, come to truth; and above all that thou no longer fearest the
whims of fortune, which all do fear. What more can I say? With this I conclude: naked camest
thou into the world, naked willst thou depart; despise with upright spirit she who is called
mistress of human events; she has so injured thee, up to now, that she cannot do thee more
harm.What can she now devise, what threats can she pose thee? She has emptied her quiver
and has no more weapons, she has nothing left to throw at thee, neither is there any room on
thee for further wounds.
(Familiarum Rerum XVIII 15- To Giovanni Boccaccio he writes that no arrow of fortune can
pierce the fortress of reason)
From thy many letters that I have read recently, one thing have I understood: that thou art
perturbed, which causes me wonder, indignation and sorrow. For what ever can shake a mind
like thine, that is rooted upon such noble studies, and built upon such solid foundations of art
and nature. I well perceive what thou meanest by alluding to Syracuse and Dionisius. And so
what? What does it matter if death, sorrow, prison, exile, poverty threaten us? These are more
or less the arrows of fortune, but which of them can penetrate the sublime, fortified fortress of
thy mind, if thou dost not open thy gates to the enemy thyself? It is true, however, that these
things are easier to say that to carry out, to teach than to learn….
THE HANGED MAN
(THE VICES)
The contrast between wealth and poverty, a practical moral subject in the philosophy of both
Cinics and Stoics, had been the object of reflection long before St. Francis of Assisi. Diogenes
claimed that poverty was a form of independence. “Possessing nothing, we have everything;
you on the other hand having everything, have nothing because of your individual ambitions,
fears and vainglory.”
Dion Chrisostomos used to say that “many, beset by thirst, go beyond the water springs and
try in every way to buy wine from Chios or Lesbos and are more stupid than beasts!”
Musonius, Lucian, Horace and many others make fun of wealth and its consequences. “The
wealthy do not know how to use their wealth and it is their very wealth that prevents them
from caring for and perfecting their intelligence. A rich man is never the owner, but merely
the user of his wealth, as Fortune or Chance has given it to him and can take it away
whenever she wants.”
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Taletes finally advocates the avoidance of pleasure and if necessary keeping apart from the
world in contemplation, which will help one to improve oneself. These and other concepts
were so well known and heartily supported by Petrarch, as to lead him to adopt the lifestyle,
which took him to his solitary cottage in Vaucluse.
(Familiarum Rerum XX 1 – To Neri da Forlì, as to how powerful is gold)
…I marvel not at thy facetiously running on concerning the power of gold: for I know that
nothing can be truer than what Horace says:
Gold loves to insinuate itself into weapons
And split stones with greater noise
Than a bolt of lightning from the sky
Apuleius says the same in his Metamorphoses: “I well know how frail men’s faith is and how
every difficulty yields to money and that gold breaks open the stoutest of doors.” A judgement
that is both ingenious and widely known - attributed not only to philosophers, but also to
philosophising donkeys! Perhaps thou hast read in Pomponius Mela’s Cosmography, that the
Ethiopian people are rich in gold and poor as regards copper, so that scarsity and abundance
have changed the value of the objects, and they have bronze ornaments and golden chains.
We, dear friend, have everything of gold: spears, shields, chains and crowns; we deck and
bind ourselves in gold; thanks to it we are rich, poor, happy and unhappy. Gold imprisons the
free, frees slaves, absolves the guilty, condemns the innocent, makes the mute eloquent, makes
the eloquent mute; for gold, Metellus spoke against Caesar, for gold, Demosthenes held his
tongue; gold transforms servants into princes and princes into servants, fills the brave with
fear, and cowards with courage, the lazy with restlessness, and the active makes lazy. It arms
the defenceless, disarms those with weapons, tames untameable leaders, oppresses great
peoples, defeats strong armies, swiftly brings to an end interminable wars, makes and
unmakes peace, dries up rivers, paces the earth, shakes the seas, flattens mountains, opens
closed places, attacks cities, storms fortresses, dismantles castles; and as one reads in Cicero,
“there is no place so fortified, that a donkey laden with gold cannot penetrate it:” Gold
procures useful friends, extensive clientèles and noble espousals, and its possessors are
thereby made generous, strong, erudite and beautiful and, most wonderful of all, even saints.
For the rich in a town are considered good and are the only ones to be believed. Nobody
trusts a poor man who possesses no gold and what Juvenal says is most true: “The more gold
a person locks up in his chest, the more is he believed”.
In effect, I say this unwillingly, but it is true: gold is not only powerful but all-powerful and
everything beneath the skies yields to it and serves it: pity, modesty, faith, every virtue and
glory are subject to it and even our souls given to us by God – oh shame! – are dominated by
this glowing metal, which is the dregs of the earth. It binds kings and pontiffs, appeases men
and they say even the gods; and there is nothing that it cannot reach and obtain. Knowing
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this, Jupiter, changed himself into golden rain, in order to overcome the modesty of the
carefully sheltered maiden and demolish the gates of her prison; truly an act worthy of such a
god. Our God, however, whatever his successors may do, loves chastity, despises gold, and
abhors avarice.
I wish you unchangeable health in both mind and body.
Regarding the cardinals in Avignon, the poet writes: “Unlike the apostles who travelled on
foot, we see satraps riding horses covered with gold, shining and laden with gold. One could
take them for the kings of Persia or Phartes, who have to be adored and whom nobody would
dare approach with empty hands” (Seniles I. XV).
The Hanged Man is the allegorical representation of a person overcome by an excessive
interest in money and earthly things who betrays his divine nature, by living upside down.
There is nothing macabre about it: in other words it does not represent a hanging. The
suggestion that it depicts Judas can be disregarded. The numerous representations of the
traitor, always show him with a cowardly, perfidious or desperate expression, whilst this
youthful, expressionless figure has his head where his feet should stand and his hands are
weighed down by the sacks of coins that are dragging him irresistibly towards the kingdom of
the god of riches – Pluto.
In the Gringonneur card, the allegory is very explicit. The hanged man is young, handsome
and finely apparelled; he grasps two heavy bags full of gold and his gaze is fixed upon them.
The background is a flowery meadow and the whole scene is represented without any feeling
of emotion whatsoever.
In the Bembo card, as in the Triumph of Death card, the allusion to exaggerated interest in
money is pretty generic. The man’s hands are concealed behind his back and the bags of gold
have disappeared. There is only his upside down position to indicate a way of life, which is
contrary to natural laws. The patron, for whom the Visconti pack was painted, probably
suggested the elimination of the bags of gold.
In the Minchiate Fiorentine, the concept expressed in the Gringonneur card is intact. Even the
poles holding up the bar and noose are fixed into the ground by the same kind of wedges.
(From the Triumph of Eternity verses 115-118)
….E vederassi in quel poco paraggio
And in that little place, one will see
Che vi fa ir superbi, oro e terreno
what makes you walk proudly, gold and land
Essere stato danno e non vantaggio
having been damnation and no ‘vantage.
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THE TOWER
(THE VICES)
In Avignon, John XXII bequeathed an excellent financial situation, which enabled his
successor, Benedict XII, to build the imposing complex, known as the Old Palace, between
1335 and 1345.
After having demolished various pre-existing buildings, he doubled the papal chapel, built the
Conclave wing, the Concistory wing, the great dining chamber, etc. And began the
construction of the Papal Tower or Great Tower, which still bears its original aspect.
It was founded directly on the rock and is 46.50 ms. High. The walls are three metres thick
and are further strengthened by buttresses, that enhance its defensive nature.
The tower was intended to contain the private apartments of the pope, the papal treasury and
the library, with its precious manuscripts. Moreover a turret, that stood within the battlements,
on the fifth floor, was designed to be the quarters of the papal guards. At Benedict XII’s death,
Clement VI further enlarged the papal residence, by adding a new tower (the Wardrobe
Tower), alongside the first one, where his beloved “niece”, the countess of Urgel had her
quarters.
The Gringonneur card shows a tower with a smaller turret within the battlements above it, like
the Papal Tower in Avignon. In his Sonnet CXXXVII, from the Canzoniere, Petrarch hopes
that heaven will bring justice to bear on the pride of new Babylon. He hopes that this will take
place before his death, either by means of a new pope or thanks to the actions of a great lay
personage. The bolt of lightning from the sky, that destroys the tower alludes to the hopes of
Petrarch and of those who shared his opinions.
The Tower card in the Bembo pack is missing.
The Tower card in the Minchiate Fiorentine shows a man and woman fleeing naked from a
tower in flames. The image probably refers to the well-known customs of Clement VI (Venus
and Bacchus), so clearly described by the poet in his Sine Nomine.
Model of the Papal Palace in Avignon, kept within the Palace museum; left, the Great Tower.
(Sine Nomine 10 – addressed to his friend Francesco Nelli, translated from Sine Nomine,
lettere polemiche e politiche, edited by Ugo Dotti, Ed. Laterza 1974)
…Cease to wonder. This part of the world too has its Babylon. Where, for goodness sake,
could the City of Confusion more legitimately exist if not in the western lands? We know not
who founded it; we all know who lives in it. Certes, they, who most legitimately give the town
its name. Here too, believe thou me, there is a Nimrod (Clement VI), powerful on earth and
great hunter, enemy of the Lord, who assails the sky with his proud towers; here dwells
Semiramis (the Countess of Urgel) with her quiver…
Here are horrible prisons and the intrigues of the dark palace, the fatal urn that mixes the
destinies of mankind; not even imperious Minos is missing, nor voracious Minotaur and the
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proof of a noisome passion (the Countess of Urgel was Clement VI’s lover); there is no
succour, love, charity, trusworthiness in promises, nor friendly counsel, there is no thread
which silently helps one along the difficult way, there are neither Dedalus nor Ariadne. The
only hope of salvation lies in gold. Gold assuages the ferocious sovereign, gold vanquishes the
huge monster, the thread of salvation is spun out of gold, gold shows the hard threshold, gold
splits bars and blocks of stone, gold tames the sad porter at the gate, gold opens up the
heavens. Why should I say more? Gold is used to sell Christ.
(Sine Nomine 13 – Unknown recipient in Avignon – Translated from Sine Nomine, lettere
polemiche e politiche, edited by Ugo Dotti, Ed. Laterza 1974)
Things go as thou seest, rather they do not go, but drag along: there is no safety in virtue,
justice is dead, freedom is extinguished, fairness is vanquished; lust rules, avarice rages, envy
is untrammelled. Tyrants oppress all mankind. Created to sing God’s praises with our lips and
hearts, we spend our entire life in quarrels and rivalry. Jesus Christ’s illustrious chamber,
which used to be the supreme fortress of divine worship, is now, because of our sins, deprived
of heavenly succour, and has become the cave of robbers beyond measure. All evil certainly
springs from a single source, but other minor sources add their contribution, thus producing
an impetuous torrent of every kind of misfortune. The consequence is that we are bound soon
to die, drowned by the extreme wave of evil and if divine compassion does not oppose human
wickedness, the Church will be sadly shipwrecked. How truly different were the customs, how
opposite the intentions of those who built it and of those who destroy it! Let God almighty see
to his house; I have nothing to confront such opposing forces with, save the piety that I owe
my mother, and thou knowest the sweet escape which frees my eyes from such a bitter sight.
Certes, I see it from a distance, but being unable to stop it, I give up observing from a closer
viepoint these cruel and infamous machinations, whereby this ecclesiastical Dionysius
(Clement VI) extorts from and despoils our Syracuse. I see with which tiara, claiming the
qualities of her man, Semiramis (the Countess of Urgel) crowns her forehead and the wiles
she uses to blind the onlookers, and contaminated by incestuous embraces, mocks all men.
(Sine Nomine 18 – to Francesco Nelli - Translated from Sine Nomine, lettere polemiche e
politiche, edited by Ugo Dotti – Ed. Laterza 1974)
…Tell me therefore, who would not feel scorn and laugh at the sight of those puerile old
boffins, who, with white hair and long robes are still so lascivious that Virgil’s verse
Frigidus in Venerem senior,
Seems here to be the most mendacious affirmation in the world. So warm and hasty are they in
love, as forgetful of their age, condition and strength. See them burn with lust, plunge into
every shameful act, as if all their glory lay not in Christ’s cross, but in the inebriation of
debauches and base acts in the alcoves. Thus do they draw back their youth that has fled and
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hold that the sole merit of advanced old age is to undertake whatever young men would not
dare to attempt.
Indomitable Bacchus, on one side, and the stimulus of oriental Bacchantes, on the other,
provide the necessary impetus and vigour.
Oh vine shoots of Liguria and Campania, yielding reeds, blackening vine shrubs, created for
honest pleasures and the comfort of mankind, to what use have you been put, to what ruination
and extermination of souls! Satan observes everything, sniggering and enjoying equal
jubilation and sitting as arbiter between the maidens and those decrepit old men, is amazed
that they can achieve more than his urgings and, so that there be no sudden pauses, see him
prick and stimulate those senile loins, see him keep the blind flame alight with diabolical
bellows and spread the vile fire everywhere.
I shall not speak of the rapes, kidnappings, incest, or adultery that constitute the pastimes of
the lustful pope. Neither shall I tell of the husbands of the kidnapped women, who, so that
they dare not speak, are chased not only from their paternal homes, but from their native
lands and are forced – worst of insults – to take back their raped wives made pregnant by
other seed, only to re-offer them again, after childbirth, to the erratic satiety of whoever uses
them for his pleasure. These are things that not only I know, but the whole population, and
even if it does not speak, I say that their anger now is greater than their fear and that sorrow
has vanquished threatening lust.
(Scattered rhymes – Sonnet CXXXVII) – One of the sonnets that was not allowed to be
printed after the Council of Trent
L’avara Babilonia à colmo il sacco
Avaricious Babylon has so filled her sack
D’ira di Dio, e di vitii empii e rei
with God’s anger and impious, vile vice
Tanto che scoppia, et à fatti suoi dei
that she bursts and has chosen as her gods
Non Giove et Palla, ma Venere e Bacco.
Not Jove and Pallas, but Venus and Bacchus.
Aspectando ragion mi struggo e fiacco;
Awaiting justice, I fret and fail;
Ma pur novo soldan veggio per lei
and yet a new sultan see I for her,
Lo qual farà non già quand’io vorrei,
who will make, not as soon as I would like,
Sol una sede, et quella fia in Baldacco.
But one seat and that will be in Baghdad (Rome)
Gl’idoli suoi saranni in terra sparsi,
Her idols will be spread upon the ground,
Et le torri superbe, al ciel nemiche,
And her proud towers, enemies of heaven,
E i suoi torrer, di for come dentro arsi.
And her inhabitants, fired inside and out.
Anime belle e di virtute amiche
Fair souls and of virtue friends
Terranno il mondo; et poi vedrem lui farsi
Will hold the world; then shall we see him become
Aureo tutto, et pien de l’opre antiche.
All golden, and full of ancient works.
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THE FOOL
The subject of this card, in Petrarch’s intentions, was the fool, as a counterchant to the
cultured, wise and virtuous man. In the Scrovegni chapel in Padua, the allegory, painted by
Giotto, of the Vices opposing the Virtues, shows a clumsy, unwary fool, crowned with chicken
feathers and armed with a staff, similar to the one depicted by Bembo. The concept is linked to
the ancient Stupidus or blockhead or Greek Pappus, i.e.: the naive dimwit. The figure is nearly
always uncouth, simple, and vulgar, the butt of popular derision.
Bembo’s classical version is gainsaid by Gringonneur, who provides a different interpretation
of the figure, preferring the more familiar figure of the jester or clown, who is anything but
naïve. Provence was where these singular personages originated. Their profession was to
amuse the public in the town squares on market or fair days. Jesters, mountebanks, tumblers,
trapeze artists, jugglers, mocking story-tellers, etc., distinguished by unbiased morals,
represented amusement and dissipation. Within the political and spiritual reality of their time,
their jesting repertory and salacious, shrewd spirit heralded in today’s clowns.
Dialogue from the De Remediis Utriusque Fortunae – Regarding the pleasantries of jesters –
Translated from the 1579 Vulgate version.
GAUDIUS: I like jesters’ pleasantries.
RATIO: The delights of music are much more noble, as it is a liberal art, whereas jesters are
only full of vanity and impudence.
GAUDIUS: Mountebanks amuse me.
RATIO: I would prefer thee to be amused by the poor, or by solitude.
GAUDIUS: Jesters move me to laughter.
RATIO: And what dost thou move in them? How often has the jester laughed at the master
who laughs at him? How often, marvelling at the folly of his public, he feigns something,
wherefore he falsely amuses others but really delights himself?
GAUDIUS: My jesters are erudite.
RATIO: Thou hast reason to laugh at thyself. This pestilential friend of the wealthy, which
originated among the Tuscans, grew in Rome in manner and prestige, so that Aesop left his
son an unbelievable inheritance and therefore grew great. And Roscius gathered together
much scattered and lost material, compiling a book on the art of jesting, in which, in the
manner of an orator teaching his art, he was not ashamed to compare himself to Cicero,
merely beause those effects and hidden concepts of the soul, which Cicero uttered with fine and
varied words, he expressed differently: with effects and suitable gestures of his body.
….
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GAUDIUS: Jesters come to see me every day.
RATIO: They will stop coming round as soon as thou ceasest to be rich and munificent; I
should really say spendthrift and foolish.
GAUDIUS: I have a vast squad of jesters.
RATIO: Call them buzzing flies, which swarm around thee, because thou art covered with
grease; they will quit thee as soon as thou art dry; and they will not only leave thee, but this
felicity will be followed by identical infamy. There are certain tongues that cannot bear to rest
or be silent. They are only happy when gossiping about others; they either falsely praise or
enviously revile them and bite the reputation of anyone whose riches they cannot devour and
this is the law of both jesters and parasites; as both, armed with flattery, are followers of
fortune: to fill their stomachs is sufficient for the former, whereas the latter hunger after
another fashion and to mention food is to insult them, wherefore one has to fulfil their desires,
which are endless.
The Gringonneur figure is a caricatural masked jester with absolutely nothing dull or foolish
about him. The ancient word Bateleur (Mountebank) probably referred to this personage, who
completely betrays the original poetic idea.
Bembo’s card has nothing histrionic, showing a sleepy looking simpleton, his head decorated
with chicken feathers and a long staff on his shoulder. The figure is painted with lyrical
elegance, and gentleness, differing radically from the doltish clot, painted by Giotto in the
Scrovegni chapel.
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THE IMPERIAL AND PAPAL HIERARCHIES
AND THEIR MERCENARIES
The allegories illustrated in Simone’s twenty-two miniatures, if connected to a series of
numbered cards would have constituted an educational pastime and a valid remedy capable of
overcoming the consequences of games of hazard.
The 31st dialogue of the De Remediis advises to teach by playing and the two Tuscan friends
hoped that if they mixed noble concepts with the strategies of chess and the rules of chance,
that govern dice, it would encourage more people to read them, as if they were two doctors
who knowing they have to administer a bitter medicine, add honey to it.
As both of them loathed all games of hazard, they did not realise what an explosive
contrivance they were putting together, as they carefully added their sweetening!
The allegories had been painted on cards, so the numbered images had to be transferred onto
cards as well, to be held in ones hand, hidden from the other players, so that the ability,
necessary when playing chess and the luck, indispensable when throwing dice, which had,
until then, been kept strictly separate, were suddenly inextricably combined, originating a
game that immediately fascinated the players, entranced by the infinite strategies it opened up.
King, Queen, Knave (see the German Knabe=boy, son) and Knight of coins in the Bembo pack. Remark the
uniform cloth used for the clothes of the royal family, whilst the Knight, as in the other three suits, wears
clothes of different cloth and bears different devices.
The poetic message that Francesco and Simone so wanted to spread was immediately ignored.
Alas, in the hopes of extinguishing the burning passion for hazard, they had lit an even more
devouring fire!
The Triumphs and the other philosophical allegories, linked to the numbered cards spread
rapidly. People noticed almost immediately how much more exciting it was to play with the
numbered cards by themselves, separating them from the rest of the pack and inventing new
games on the way.
Only the noble and more cultured classes, although playing with the numbered cards,
continued to use packs with seventy-eight cards, as an intellectual pastime, just as the poet had
hoped.
To make the game more attractive, Francesco and Simone, drawing on the game of chess, had
devised a decreasing series of numeral values, in order to allegorise the hierarchies of power
subject to the pope and the emperor, and maintain the septenary scheme that governed the
pack.
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IMPERIAL MINT AND CHALICE OF SALVATION
The imperial administrative hierarchies, symbolised by money, were made up of the King,
Queen and Knave - prince and commander of the armies - and then by the Knight, followed by
ten armed men (vassals on horseback and their followers on foot). The series thus comprised
fourteen cards. The coins represented the right of the state to mint coinage, the state treasury,
the banking echelons, the various European consortiums serving the emperor and his subjects.
Another series of fourteen cards, on the other hand, illustrated the hierarchies faithful to the
pope, bearing the symbol of the chalice or cup, which alluded to the international array of
prelates, who administered the sacrament of Communion, upholding the Church.
The chalices and the coins were to represent the unarmed formations commanded by the rulers
of the destinies of Europe.In France, the coins, in time, were simplified and changed into
diamonds, or bricks (symbolising the sovereign asset: land and houses), i.e. Carreaux, in
French, in Italian quadri or mattoni (squares or bricks), in English, the term diamonds
indicated a highly transportable and universally acceptable form of currency. The chalices, in
due course, were simplified and changed to hearts, perhaps as an allusion to the power
excercised by the prelates on peoples’ hearts, i.e.: on the souls of the faithful.
Hearts and diamonds were painted red, the colour of living blood, which runs through our
veins and makes every activity possible.
GLADIIS ET FUSTIBUS
During the years in which disorder, war and the crumbling of certainties, led society to desire
a return to social order (the Carolingian era in Italy, France and Germany or the 11th century in
Spain, when the bases of the Spanish monarchy were being constructed), the support for the
new system was so heartfelt, that poets and musicians composed songs like the Chanson de
Roland, El Poema del Mio Cid, etc., followed in England by the tales of Arthur and his
knights, to honour the feudal order and the military classes.
Detail from the Tryptich of St. Laurence (workshop of Lorenzo Monaco, 1407),
Musée du Petit Palais,Avignon.
Ace of Cups from the Castello Ursino pack - Ace of Cups from the Visconti pack.
Petrarch and Simone had no such illusions. They had seen how the powerholders of their own
times used the companies of mercenaries solely to increase their own wealth, without any
thought for their subjects or, in the case of the popes, of the faithful. Too often had they seen
the horrible reality of war, to praise it.
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(From Familiarum Rerum XXII 14) - To Peter of Poitiers, on the changing of customs and
specially of the military art
…Thou knowest Scipio’s edict, issued near Numantia; an edict that was famous and well
known, whereby prostitutes, women sutlers, and small shopkeepers were expelled from his
camp, which is to say, pleasure was sent into exile and virtue was called to his aid, and with
virtue came victory. He imitated Metellus in Numidia, using the same council and the same
object: he banished pleasure and restored strength to his army and thereby led the Roman
ensigns to a victory they had long forgotten how to achieve. Do not expect me to tell thee what
discipline reigns amongst our militia, nor what customs and order prevail in the camps,
neither can I tell you of the prudence of their leaders or the vigour and moderation of the
soldiers. Thou wouldst think thou hadst entered not the abode of heroes, but the brothel of
prostitutes and the taverns and bawdy houses of procurers. It is truly thus, nor does the
barbaric horde get honestly drunk on wine; if the most outlandish drinks do not abound, they
call on famine as a pretext, or scarcity or unquenchable thirst, which is supposed to excuse
their escape and their dedication to drink. This is the progress of military art: from arms,
military ambition has risen to their cups; it does not matter how they fight, but how they drink
and get drunk; in this, allied to their enemies, they compete day and night with their squadron
members, and the glorious victor is he who can drink deeper and offer more wine… What
canst thy hope from such institutions, such discipline? The visible effects are truly worthy of
drunkards.
This breed of robbers – and the unhappy Italians do not know or pretend not to know – dwells
in our country not to fight, but to plunder and drink: an ancient sickness. We read that, drawn
by our good harvests and above all by wine, this race came in ancient times to Italy;
unfortunately they are still doing it and encounter on our threshold no enemies but imitators
of their madness. Wherefore, little by little, everything degenerates, our homeland’s dignity,
our language, our customs, our way of living in peace and war….
How can we marvel if authority in our country is dead and buried, freedom oppressed, peace
in our world does not last and war has no end, if we cannot even keep ourselves quiet, nor
win with such mercenaries? How can we vanquish those who do not want to win, but consider
winning a defeat? They are horrified by the idea of returning home; and who can blame them?
For they have enjoyed the taste of Italy and fear the end of the war which would put an end to
their drunkenness and licentiosness.Although, even if they wished to they could not vanquish
the enemy, vanquished as they are and captured and oppressed and disarmed by their own
vices, having become degenerate slaves of their lust…our armies, full of thieves and robbers,
plunder their allies, more than their enemies and trust more to flight than to valour, more to
spurs, than to their swords, they are readier to deceive than fight, and prefer to break trust
than wound the enemy. As there is no Senate in their country to punish crime , or chastise
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cowardice … therefore no misdeed is punished and the greatest impunity and prizes are
granted to the most unworthy.
Innocence is mocked; abstinence takes the name of fear, faith is stupidity, whereas deceit is
called prudence and ability;modesty labelled as miserliness, frugality - avarice, chastity is
derided as rustic…And if the leaders are drunk, our soldiers bibulous, what else can they do
but what is customary after a drinking bout? Snore, perspire, not the honoured sweat of hard
work, but feverish sweat, like womanish hirelings, like mountebanks.They age in their tents,
dedicating themselves to jokes, dinners, dice; they plunge into pleasure, surround themselves
with droves of whores…each is his own leader. They love stench, idleness, the name of war, to
which they owe their salary, but they hate war itself…Lazy, ignorant, fearful, loquacious,they
have arms and horses not to serve their masters, not to defend their homeland, but for their
own gain, pomp or amusement.
One should really marvel that such causes do not produce effects, as it cannot be that with
such leaders, with such soldiers, with such customs, ruin be not near and that in the meantime,
whilst it delays its arrival, we be not torn by endless war, peace be dead, virtue exiled and the
State, torn apart by the hands of its own citizens and by foreigners, be not enslaved and in
misery.
Such is Petrarch’s hatred of the gratuitous brutality and cruelty of mercenary troops, that he
draws on the Gospel of St. Matthew (Ch. 26 v.47) where the military contingent, armed with
swords and staves, are described arresting Jesus in the garden of Getsemane, thus comparing
the thousands of poor “Christians” massacred by the mercenary hordes, to the Christ, insulted
and killed.
In the cards, the armed men cum gladiis et fustibus, were mere “numbers” to be tossed into the
hurly-burly of war, with no thought as to whether they were to survive or be slaughtered.
In chess, pawns are sacrificed to protect more important pieces. The decision to include in the
pack two opposing armies at the service of the Empire and the Church – the two Suns around
which their whole educational pastime revolved - was undoubtedly inspired by this ancient,
widely known game, which reflects the military values of all eras.
King, Knave, and Knight of swords in the Bembo pack: the sumptuous clothes of the unarmed arrays are
here replaced by steel armour. Here too, the device born by the Knight differentiates the vassal
From the royal family.
In the Italian regional packs, the mercenary troops maintained their medieval appearance,
armed with swords and staves, i.e.: pikes or lances. In the French cards, on the other hand,
swords very soon became piques, which the English called spades, prompted possibly by the
broad, spade-shaped swords, five fingers wide at the hilt, called cinquedea, that were very
fashionable towards the end of the 1300s.
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The staves or lances were changed into three-leaf clover or fleur de lys crosses (perhaps
derived from the Guelph or French liles), known in Italian as fiori, in French, as trèfles and in
English as clubs, probably because the shape recalled that of the maces used for splitting the
helms of the enemy. These new symbols were painted black - the colour of dark death.
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SECRETUM MEUM ES
(Familiarum Rerum XXIII 13)
Thou canst ill abide that others should take advantage of thy labours. Do not be indignant, nor
wonder at it; life is full of such jests and one should not marvel at ordinary events, all the
more so as only very seldom does anything else happen. Few things benefit the person who
made them and most often the greater the labour, the less the reward.
A short marble slab covers the founders of great cities, which are enslaved by foreigners; one
man builds a house, another lives in it and its architect lies under the open sky; this man sows,
that one gathers and the sower dies of hunger; one sails, another becomes wealthy with the
merchandise brought from the sea and the sailor is miserably poor; lastly, one weaves,
another wears the cloth and the weaver is left naked; one fights, another receives the reward
of victory and the true victor is left without honours, one digs up gold, another spends it and
the miner is poor; another collects jewels that yet another bears upon his finger and the
jeweller starves; a woman gives birth to a child amidst suffering, another happily marries him
and makes him her own, to the loss of his mother.
There is not enough time to list all the examples that spring to mind and what else does that
well known verse of Virgil’s mean: Not for yourselves do you make nests, oh birds? Thou
knowest the rest….
Thus, in 1359, Francesco exhorts his friend Socrates to serenely put up with others benefiting
from his labours.
It was almost as if the poet himself was trying to accept that he had been born in a century, in
which he could not claim the paternity of the noble teachings he had conceived for mankind,
without putting himself in serious danger.
After Simone’s death, fifteen years earlier, his inner thoughts were troubled by frustration and
terror. The frighteningly rapid expansion of his cards all over Europe had taken him
completely by surprise.
(Familiarum Rerum XIII.6) To Francesco di Sant’Apostoli as to how the ignorant masses
profane the name of poetry.
….I shall tell thee what will make thee laugh even more: even I, the most hostile among all
men to divination and magic, am at times called a negromancer by these excellent judges,
because of my friendship with Virgil…
(Familiarum Rerum XIII. 7) To Peter abbot of San Benigno, regarding the incurable mania of
writing.
…At last I have realised that it may be perfectly true: that whilst I try to do good to myself, I
am unwittingly doing myself and many others harm and that the complaint, addressed to me
by an old father of a family, might be correct: he came to me one day and sorrowfully, almost
in tears, said: “whilst I have always respected thy name, look at what thou hast rewarded me
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with in exchange: thou art the cause of my only son’s ruin”::: Every day letters, every day
verses rain on me from all over Italy; and that is not enough, because tempests of letters fall
upon me even from abroad and not only from France, but from Greece, Germany,
England…and all this would be nothing if this creeping desease had not at last penetrated –
and how to believe it ? – even the papal court. What dost thou think that the jurists – the
doctors – do? They no longer recognise either Justinian nor Aesculapius; they do not hear the
howls of their clients or patients; they have been deafened by the names of Homer and Virgil.
What use is it to recount humbler aberrations? Carpenters, dyers, farmers, have dropped
their ploughs and the other tools of their trades and talk of the Muses and of Apollo; it is
impossible to describe the extent of this plague, which earlier used to strike but few…Thou
findest many places in the public squares, none in Helicon, for many taste the honey of the
Muses with their lips, but nobody can digest it. Judge now how great and pleasing a thing
possessing this poetry can be that so delights those who dream of it as to force them, though
busy and avaricious, to neglect business and money! …I carry the anguish of my sin, full of
disquiet at home, and not daring to go out and be seen in public, as people attack me from
every quarter.
They question me frantically, clutch at me, give me advice, discuss, quarrel, say things
unknown to the Mantuan shepherd and to the old Meonian (Etruscan). I wonder, smile,
commiserate,grow angry and at last am gripped by fear that the magistrates may call me to
judgement and accuse me of corrupting the public good. If the infection spreads, I am lost:
shepherds, fishermen, clodhoppers, the oxen themselves will but bellow poetry, and ruminate
but poems….
Being of a prudent disposition, he had forced himself to stifle his legitimate pride, denying his
authorship of the game created with Simone, whereas he would have so loved to have received
the world’s applause, even if it came from the “vulgar herd”, which he so often claimed to
despise.
His terror was caused by the fact that the subjects illustrated in the cards were scrupulously
echoed in his writings. His intimate friends, who haunted his library, and with whom he had
no secrets, might have unwittingly spoken of the game to somebody and if such information
were to come to some French cardinal’s or to the Pope’s ear, he would have been hauled up in
front of the Tribunal of the Inquisition.
As the cards had also got to Siena and Florence, Francesco suspected that Simone, before
dying, had ordered other copies of the game from his followers, to be sent to his Sienese
friends.
His able rhaetor’s brain, however, was seething with a series of arguments in his own
defence:
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- although people were fascinated by the game of Triumphs, none of his poetic compositions,
then known to the public, mentioned the subject: perhaps he would write the Triumphs in the
next few years, to be read once he was dead, like his Sine Nomine, and the Rerum
Memorandarum Libri on the Virtues and Vices, that were safely hidden in Parma and nobody
would ever read them while he was alive.
- The French, moreover, never had anything to do with these classical themes and the
allegorised vices in the pack were neither easy to understand, nor clearly directed at the
prelates of the Avignon see. Fortune and the Hanged Man were general concepts, that could
apply to anybody; only the Tower, surmounted by its turret, unfortunately, inequivocably
recalled Benedict’s apartments in the papal palace.
- Anyway, everybody knew that there were two conflicting factions in the Holy See: the
French cardinals who were faithful to the king of France and the Italians, who wanted to take
the papal see back to Rome. Even if the fact, that he had conceived the pack still had to be
proved, the pack of cards was merely one of the many accusations levelled at the Avignon
see, that had even been advanced by French critics. After all, Jean Dupin, had certainly not
measured his words, in his Melancholies, on the Papal State, written in Provencal!
Petrarch, however, had a pronounced bump of common sense and this led him to remember
that the situation was dangerous, not because of the accusatory images in themselves, but
because they had spread everywhere and had penetrated every level of society, whereas all the
other accusations had not been heard of outside the Venaissin County.
As a last resort, if really up against it, he could have claimed that his thoughts might have
inspired some painter: after all Simone was already dead. Ashamed of having even thought of
such a thing, he raged, not wishing to recognise weak or base aspects in himself.
He had lately noticed that people in the papal see looked at him differently; moreover the
pope, who suspected him of having something to do with the Devil’s Bible, had accused him
of negromancy, under the pretext, that the cards, that “stank” of Petrarch, were being used by
the tireurs de cartes for fortune telling, which was forbidden by the Church.
(Familiarum Rerum IX 5)
…How now am I judged at the same time well-intentioned towards my enemies and an enemy
of my friends, a lamb amongst wolves and a wolf among lambs? To what purpose did I keep
myself at a distance from business and from towns, searching out solitude and peace, loving
quiet and silence, if I am now considered the forger of evil? …labour is often changed into
harm and rarely does the beginning match the end. This is what I have got from what should
have given me the reputation of innocence: no less than the suspicion of hatching new
intrigues and plots to damage the most excellent people; perhaps - and this came to my ears
after it had been given credit by the great, the great I say for their wealth and not because of
their talents – perhaps, I say, to many I may seem a negromancer and magician, probably
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because I often keep my own company and – this moves me both to laughter and rage –
because I read Virgil’s writings, as these highly erudite men say and this I cannot deny: yes I
do read them. This is the reason of all this suspicion. This is what causes them to condemn my
studies. And I marvel more that Apuleius of Madauras was accused of magic, which he
defended himself against in a wonderfully elegant book. I do not need such a laborious
defence; I have not yet been hauled up before a court and one only speaks ill of me in
whispers, in the darkest corners. And dost thou think that it be a thing of little moment that
the frail barque of my fame be so often hurled againt these rocks of ignorance? Exercise thy
ingenuity, spend sleepless nights, write something that will then fall into the hands of thy
censors, only to to be called a magician, if thou hast said something that they, who nothing
understand, cannot grasp.
The more cultured and clearsighted prelates were beginning to understand how damaging and
dangerous Petrarch’s writings were for Holy Mother Church.
If one excluded the innocuous, enchanting sonnets dedicated to Laura and a few mannered
religious compositions, all Petrarch’s work drew on ancient philosophies and tended to induce
his 14th century readers to adopt a novel ethical and religious approach to faith, that did not
celebrate the Docta Ignorantia, the humility and simplicity of spirit, that mankind was
supposed to cultivate, in order to meekly approach the Church and its sacraments, but rather
advocated inner growth and self-awareness.
The cardinals of the papal see, however, wrapped up in their irrepressible burocratic and
courtier-like vocation, did not understand the changes in society, that Petrarch voiced. So
caught up in their efforts towards interpreting the designs of the pontiff, they did not perceive
the true danger and simply endeavoured to cast out any dissenting votes from the Sacred
College.
Not even Ser Petracco of Parenzo, Francesco’s father had understood what his son was
looking for in the Classics, which distracted him from the legal studies he wanted his son to
follow. During a memorable quarrel with his son, Ser Petracco burnt all the ancient codexes,
on which his son spent so many hours, all however, save the Virgilian codex, which he
himself had had copied for his son.
In the late Middle Ages, after the chaotic migration of populations, a renewed humanity had
settled into groups, classes, hierarchies. In no other period had the masses lived, worked or
thought in so uniform a fashion. The greatness or power of the individual did not depend on
chance or on personal qualities, but on the more or less vigorous manner in which he or she
managed to be a perfect exponent of his or her system. Within this cristallised society, Thomas
Aquinas and Dante had already praised the Cives, the citizen - well integrated in his
community, according to his merits and natural capacities - exhorting him to recognise his
salvation in the Church…
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Petrarch, on the other hand, had become an eager supporter of the Vir, the individual, armed
with Virtue, capable of morally uplifting himself, without depending on his own era, or on the
system he belonged to. Petrarch’s self-reliant Vir, like Aenaeas, armed with the ancient
cardinal virtues and concentrated on building his inner self, was capable of confronting the
variable events of life, and finding his divine origin within himself, on his own. Truly
disconcerting theories, which undermined the very survival of all churches, inasmuch as they
questioned the philosophical and theological justifications crucial to their existence. Whence
the enormous and lasting success of his De remedies utiusque fortunae in the countries where
Wycliff, Huss, Calvin and Luther’s thought was to challenge papal and clerical authority.
Which was one of the reasons why a cloud of distrust had begun to surround the poet.
Notwithstanding the reassurances proffered by the cardinal of Boulogne and the brotherly
advice offered by the bishop of Cavaillon, which had led him to believe that he would be taken
on as private secretary to the pope, his hopes were dashed, because his style was accused of
being “ too elevated to be suited to the humility of the Roman prelacy”.
(Familiarum Rerum XIII 5)….When I learnt this from those who were so assiduously kind to
me, I was at first, amazed and feared that they were attempting to offend my little worth with
ironical words, as I am fully aware of my shortcomings in many things as well as in my
speech. But when they swore that the pope and college of cardinals really had judged me in
this manner, and that the only thing they wanted me to do was to accustom myself to lowering
my talents – I refer their words – and simplifying my style; moreover when what my two
friends had told me was repeated to me by other princes of the Church, I was seized by the
kind of joy that a person on the threshold of his hated prison feels, when he suddenly beholds
an unhoped for liberator appear, as I judged this to portend a safe escape, and I was right.
Namely, when I was asked to write something that would prove that I was able to hover near
the ground and adapt myself to humble expressions – and this was declared the easiest thing
in the world for me by those who were pushing me towards a high, but narrow prison – I
opened the full wing-span of my words and talents to lift myself off the ground, as first Ennius
and then Virgil used to say, and flew up so high as to remove myself , if possible, from the
view of those who held me prisoner. I suppose the Muses and Apollo protected me, and though
it was no poetic work that I wrote, it seemed to most of my readers insufficiently
comprehensible, although it was extremely clear, some even thought it was Greek or rather
barbarian: such are the intellects to which our government is entrusted!
Where could he find a safe haven? Paris was impossible and Naples too, where he had been
invited to stay, did not attract him, after the death of king Robert. Guelph Florence, the
“mercatrix et lanifica” city of bankers offered no better assurances.
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(Familiarum Rerum XV 8)
…no place on earth pleases me; wherever I turn, I see only trouble and thorns; I believe that
the time has come for me to pass on to the other life, as here, I confess, I feel ill at ease,
whether the fault be mine, of the place or of mankind or of all together…no longer, as often
before, can I find peace at the source of the Sorgues, a poor, narrow countryside, but solitary
and peaceful, if one compares it with other richer sites, and more than suitable to whoever
devotes himself to honest and peaceful study As far as the place concerns me, I could live here
in the most complete tranquillity, if I were not troubled by the winds from outside. For, even in
my harbour I scan the horizon with fear, and am chiefly frightened by nearby Babylon, which
they call the Roman see; a strange name, as nothing could be less Roman, nothing is more
hated there than Rome; and its nearness, the sight of it and its stench are truly terrible and
hostile to all happiness, so much that it, alone, would be sufficient to put me to flight, without
mentioning the remains of past tempests, that persecute the battered barque of my life even
within this harbour…..
Regretfully, “for futile reasons” he left his house in Vaucluse, his friends, the beloved libraries
in Avignon and returned to Italy, taking refuge where the Inquisition would not be able to get
at him, if not with great difficulty: in Ghibelline territory, under the protection of the Visconti.
No wonder Guelph Boccaccio indignantly protests at his friend Francesco choosing such an
abode, but Petrarch certainly could not explain to him why a Tuscan cleric, an admirer of
Robert of Anjou had suddenly decided to take shelter in Ghibelline territory. He could not
possibly tell him that he was the inventor of the cards, that had spread like wildfire all over
Europe, and contained such bitter and comprehensible accusations against the corrupt Avignon
prelates.
Petrarch’s house in Arquà
He therefore stifled his frustration and terror and, as he wrote on the last page of his Secretum:
“Adhero michi ipse quantum potero, et sparsa anime fragmenta recolligam, moraborque
mecum sedulo” ( “I shall keep myself to myself for as long as I can and gather up the
scattered fragments of my spirit and sedulously live within myself…”).
The hope that he would, one day, be able to disclose the truth, led him to sow revealing
allusions in his Familiarum Rerum, in his sonnets and in the works he kept with him until his
death (like the Triumphs), or which he did not finish, like the Rerum Memorandarum Libri.
So successful were his precautions and his veiled discourse, that the secret, hidden for so long,
became a real secret, that has been kept to the present day.
In the following centuries, the Church became increasingly aware of the enormous damage
inflicted on it by Petrarch’s writings.
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Wycliffe had defied the Pope’s authority, but his followers were burnt at the stake and
Wycliffe’s own remains were dug up and flung into the waters of the Swift.
Huss was tricked into going to Constance and was burnt at the stake, causing the Hussite wars,
that were only suppressed after nearly fifty years of massacres. Calvin constituted a theocratic
organism, hostile to the Church, which did not, however undermine it. Luther also created a
Church, that called the pope diabolical, but did not suggest that mankind could do without the
salvation offered by the Gospels. Galileo Galilei, in his scientific speculations, involuntarily
found himself confuting the Holy Scriptures, but was re-accepted by the Church, after his
abjuration.These and many other episodes, which beset the progress of the Church, did not
diminish its ascendancy over the faithful and were solved each time, either with rhetoric or by
changing opinion, without any apparent contradiction.
Francis Petrarch, a cleric, privy to the most intimate secrets of the highest ecclesiastical
hierarchy was something different. He advocated a philosophy of life that refused spiritual
guidance, priestly orders, constituted religions. He upheld Seneca’s stoical and self-sufficient
thinking, and did not only challenge and question the existence of the Catholic Church, but of
all churches.In his writings, he reminded his readers that mankind has within itself its own
strength, and the capacity of recognising good from evil. Re-evoking the wisdom of the
ancients, he opened up a novel initiatic way towards individual emancipation, praising love,
natural morality and the personal quest for truth. The Gnostic thinking of the Cathars, which
he had probably become acquainted with in his youth, had also doubtless inspired him to to
search within himself for a renewed “vir” – “armed with virtue” - capable of looking the
churchman, legislator, or governor in the eye and judging him for what he really was, without
fear or submission, but not necessarily rejecting, if they proved convincing, the other’s
authority.
In his heart, he nourished justice, temperance and fortitude and perceived in himself the light
of the Creator of the Universe, upon whom, the various hierocratic hierarchies spread around
the world, taking advantage of the innate religious sense in mankind, proclaimed their
exclusive rights.
Petrarch was neither an atheist, nor a churchman, nor an enemy of the Church. He was simply
a free man, a citizen of the world. For as long as his ideas remained concealed he could neither
be excommunicated, nor burnt at the stake, as the writings he published in his lifetime did
nothing to confute the dogmas of the Church. Too discreet to publish the Triumphs, the Rerum
Memorandarum Libri or his Secretum, while he was alive, after his death, he was to inspire
generations of thinkers with his lucid and poetic intuitions.
The stoical teachings, the quest for knowledge and the courage to live in doubt, without
leaning on spiritual crutches, attracted many brilliant intellects, delighted to follow in
Petrarch’s footsteps. Think, for instance of the eclectic ideas of Pico della Mirandola or
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Descartes’ “cogito ergo sum” or Voltaire’s tolerant and anti-absolutist philosophy. The only
safe haven for Petrarch, in his century, was death. He died one day before his seventieth
birthday between the 18th and 19th July 1374.
On the 24th July he was buried near the church of St. Mary in Arquà, before Francesco da
Carrara the Elder, the bishop of Padua, and other bishops.
Sixteen doctors of the university of Padua carried the bier and friar Bonaventura from Prague,
later cardinal, gave the funerary oration.
In 1380, his son in law, Francescuolo da Brossano, his heir, had a pink marble sarcophagus set
up in the graveyard of the church, into which the body of the poet was transferred. Petrarch
himself is supposed to have composed the words engraved on the sarcophagus:
FRIGIDA FRANCISCI LAPIS HIC TEGIT OSSA PETRARCE; SUSCIPE VIRGO PARENS
ANIMAM; SATE VIRGINE PARCE. FESSAQ(UE) IAM TERRIS CELI REQUIESCAT IN
ARCE
M CCC LXXIIIJ XVIIIJ JULIS
(This stone covers the cold bones of Francesco Petrarca; receive his soul oh virgin mother;
protect the virgin’s seed (see page 90). Tired now of the earth let it rest in the citadel of the
sky).
His son-in-law’s inscription reads:
VIRO INSIGNI F.(RANCISCO) P.(ETRARCE) LAUREATO FRANCISCOLUS ED
BROSSANO MEDIOLANENSIS GENER INDIVIDUA CONVERSATIONE AMORE
PROPINQUITATE ET SUCCESSIONE MEMORIA
(To the illustrious man Francis Petrarch, poet laureate, his son-in-law Francescuolo da
Brossano, Milanese, in memory of the everlasting bonds of love, family relationship and
inheritance).
There used to be another inscription, attributed to the poet, which is no longer legible, because
of successive restaurations:
INVENI REQUIEM; SPES ET FORTUNA VALETE NIL MIHI VOBISCUM EST;
LUDETE NUNC ALIOS
( I have found peace, farewell hope and fortune; I have nothing more to do with you; now
play with others)
The marble sarcophagus in which Francis Petrarch’s body was enclosed, did not protect it
from the Dominican friar Thomas Martinelli of Portogruaro, who, the 27th May 1630, shortly
after midnight, having, with others, split a corner of the enormous sarcophagus, managed, by
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rummaging blindly inside, to separate his jaw and body from the skull that had contained such
a brilliant mind and to steal some of the bones from his right arm and perhaps part of his right
hand, which had so assiduously written against the Church’s corruption
Prof. Giovanni Canestrini, who described the third opening of the tomb, carried out the 6th
December 1873, enclosed the following extract from a document, kept in the municipal
archives of Arquà.
From behind the tomb, which looks towards midday and the west, where there is now a piece
of Verona marble in profile, placed there with art, which grips the said tomb with grappling
hooks sealed with lead, the largest grappling hook towards sunset has in the lead the seal of
St. Mark, the device of the Republic of Venice, on the other, on the left, the seal of the city of
Padua, that is also impressed in large figures on the said grappling hook and one can see the
year and the initials of the city, as follows: C.1630.P., which signifies Civitas Patavina. Of this
sacrilegious robbery, the planner was a certain bad regular friar, named Tomaso Martinelli
of Portoguaro, here sent on purpose by the Florentines with the order to remove some little
part of that blessed body; and this because they envy our Paduans for having that beloved
body; according to these orders, the said friar attempted to obtain something that the great
poet had used, but to no avail; he thought with monies to win over the deacon of the village,
Batista Polito, one Stefano blacksmith, one Zulio Galo, Aneto Bono and a young lad of twelve
years, son of the said Zulio and together with these after midnight of the 27th May 1630, as
there was a dark night and a strong storm, with a great sledge hammer he broke the western
corner, and then the cases in which that body was closed and getting the lad to put his arm
inside, extracted, not without great resistence, the right arm and having done this that robber
friar ran away with all his accomplices; upon the morn, the present excellent vicar roused the
municipality by ringing the alarum bell and then informed the representative of Padua and
with the doge’s order 11th September under the great doge Nicola Contarin, order is given
that the precious urn be closed and strict investigations be made as to the guilty and if not
found, immediately announcement be made to search for them.
And moreover:
We received this morning the letters of Your Serenity dated XI instant with the order to carry
out most diligent enquiry regarding the case of gravest temerity committed by those, who in
the past months dared impiously to ope with violence, in the place known as Arquà, the tomb
of the famous Petrarch, and remove from it the bones of one of his arms, despising every law
and humanity itself, adding that we should give due sworn account as to the veracity of our
saying: which we can even execute immediately, as we have discovered that the most
illustrious sir Podestà preceptor organised the enquiry with great diligence and had it
examined by one of his judges. From the said enquiry it emerges that during the night of the
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27th May last, the said execrable excess was perpetrated and those responsible were a
Dominican friar named Friar Tomaso Martinelli, who preached the last Lenten masses at the
church of Arquà and due to the death of the Archpriest of the said church, had at the time the
curacy in loco of the said Archpriest and was accompanied by one Bastian Politi deacon of
the place, by one Steffano blacksmith and by five others who that evening all went to sup with
the aforesaid preacher, and perpetrated the act together, removing by force a stone portion of
the said tomb, with chisels and saws and through that hole with a hook extracted two bones
from the arm of that venerated man and took them away. The tomb was mended and secured
by this magnificent city; all this being done, on the 19th August last, unkown people again tried
to open the sepulchre, again at night-time, but in vain, and with new diligence this same city
secured the sepulchre in greater measure; on which second attempt the illustrious sir Podestà
preceptor had another enquiry held, and again sent a notary to the site; and as our
magnificent city greatly resented this repeated excess, my lords the deputies appeared before
the said most illustrious Podestà preceptor and demanded that all the aforesaid dealings
should be reported to your Serenity, to obtain encreased authority for the due chastisement of
the miscreants, which as it has not followed, the said lords deputies recently presented a
document, which was to be sent to your Serenity, wherefore, after receiving it, when we had
resolved that we would send it together with the above information to the exalted Council of
the Ten, the above letters were brought to us, in obedience to which we bring your Serenity the
whole series on this affair for your complete information regarding the successive events.
Thanks
From Padua the XV of September 1630
VINCENZO CAPELLO Podestà, sworn and in his own hand.
PIERO SAGREDO Captain, sworn and in his own hand.
Thus do all human efforts end, as Petrarch himself had concluded in his writings. The cards
that he had created with his friend Simone, to urge mankind to pursue virtue and knowledge,
have today become something totally different. It is neither possible nor right to think that this
can be changed. It would not be amiss, however, to remember that they were the product of
such noble minds.
If thousands of players in Las Vegas, Montecarlo, in the taverns and drawing rooms from one
side of the world to the other, handle infinite packs of cards for enormous sums of money, for
beans, or to read the future, it is because two Tuscans in the 1300s , far from home, in
Avignon, amused themselves by working out a game in which ability and chance perfectly
blended, would induce mankind to have fun, whilst ennobling itself.
Petrarch’s sepulchre in Arquà
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APPENDIX
We take our leave from the ancient tarots and our reader, appending an ingenious 15th century
allegory, known as the
WIN/LOSE - OR THE OTHER SIDE OF THE GAME PLAYED BY THE SWISS
The engraving was cut in 1499, and alludes to the last unlucky years of the political career of
Ludovic the Moor, duke of Milan.
Son of Francesco Sforza and of Bianca Maria Visconti, he thought, after the death of the
Magnificent Lorenzo de Medici, that he would be able to dominate European politics, setting
the king of France against Emperor Maximilian of Austria and the Swiss mercenary infantry
against the German Landsknechten.
Once Venice became the ally of the king of France and of pope Alexander VI (Savonarola’s
Borgia pope), the Austrian emperor abandoned Ludovic the Moor to his fate and the French
army, commanded by Trivulzio, was able to take control of the duchy of Milan.
The Moor took refuge in Austria, was later taken prisoner by the Swiss and handed over to the
French. He spent the last years of his life in lonely captivity in the castle of Loches, in France.
The illustration is fascinating. Emperor Maximilian, dealing out the cards, opens up the game.
Around the table are the king of France, the Doge of Venice and the captain of the Swiss
mercenaries. Venice takes part in the game but does not bid, in other words looks on, as the
eye shaped medal on his breast implies. The king of France comes out into the open, and has
the highest number of points, but the golden coins (as the game is win/lose) go to the Swiss
mercenary captain, who has the lowest number of points in the suit of coins and has made the
whole operation possible. Ludovic the Moor kneels significantly on the floor, cut out of the
game. He has a number of cards in his hand, but as he has picked them up from the floor, at
the French king’s feet, they are of no value.
Amongst the onlookers, pope Alexander VI examines the king of France’s points with visible
satisfaction, whilst Spain and England exchange a meaningful glance. See also Giacomo
Trivulzio and other lesser personalities.
If one were to create a series of cards each reproducing one of the people in the scene: one
could then give each card a number, in such a way as to give the highest number to the king of
France and the lowest to Ludovic the Moor. After which, one would shuffle the cards and mix
them with numbered cards on the table and we would have a fascinating Guelph tarot pack of
the 15th century!
In the Tractatus de moribus et disciplina humanae conversacionis (London, British Museum,
Egerton legacy n.2419), Johannes, in ordine predicatorum minimum, natione Theutonicus,
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reports: “in the year of Grace 1377, a certain game of cards came to us. This game is a
perfect description and illustration of the state of the world in our time.”
1 the king of France
10 Captain Giacomo Trivulzio
2 the captain of the Swiss mercenaries
11 Ludovic the Moor
3 the Doge of Venice
12 the duke of Lorraine
4 the Pope
13 the duke of Savoy
5 Emperor Maximilian
14 the Marquis of Monferrato
6 the king of Spain
15 Dame Marguerite
7 the king of England
8 the duke of Wurtemburg
9 the Count Palatine
(French print – Rouen – 15th century)
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JOHN XXII - HISTORICAL APPENDIX
From “Storia Universale”(“Universal History”), printed in Amsterdam in 1776,
Commissioned by A. Foglierini, bookseller in Venice
…This cardinal, persuaded by Napoleon Ursini, appointed himself; and because his brethren gave
him their consent, he took the name of John, by some counted as John XX, by others XXI, but
commonly called the XXII of this name.
He was consecrated in the Cathedral Church of this town on the 9th September 1316 and immediately
proclaimed that his court would reside in Avignon. The news of his election having arrived in
Germany, he straight away received the envoys of Ludovic of Bavaria and of Frederick, Duke of
Austria, both of them competitors for the Empire and both asking for their election to be confirmed
by the Apostolic See.
John XXII put off declaring himself in favour of one or the other, saying he wished to consider
which of them had the preferential right. At the same time he cancelled the election of John, son of
the king of Aragon, to the bishopric of Tarragona, and sent the bishop of Saragozza there.The
following year, taking advantage of the civil unrest in Germany, he decided to demolish, as
efficiently as possible, the Ghibelline forces in Italy and to confirm the claims made by his
predecessor Clement V regarding the rights of the papal throne over the Empire.
Wherefore he published the Constitutions of Clement V and detailed certain schools to read and
explain them. Some of the Constitutions declared that the Emperors were vassals of the Holy See and
that the vows they pronounced during their Coronation did not only bind them to defend the Church
and the Pope, but were also vows of fealty and homage and that during the time of interregnum, the
Pope was entitled to arrange all the affairs of the Empire, not merely as the superior of the Empire,
but thanks to the fullness of his power, that he possessed as successor of St. Peter and Vicar of
Christ. In order to confirm the claims of his predecessor, John XXII published a Bull on the 31st
March, declaring that as the Empire was vacant, that the administration thereof, both by right and
custom, belonged to the pope and he therefore forbade any person of any dignity to assume the title
of Vicar of the Empire without the permission of the Apostolic See, under pain of excommunication
and interdict.
At the same time, he granted the Vicarship in Italy to Robert, king of Naples, until the coronation of
the Emperor and ordered the two competitors to justify their pretensions before the Apostolic See.
By virtue of the said Bull, the pope hoped to destroy Matteo Visconti’s power in Milan, Cane
Scaligero’s in Verona, Passerini Bonacossi’s in Mantua and that of other Ghibelline lords in other
parts of Italy, who in their various territories assumed the title of Vicars of the Empire and generally
supported the claims of Ludovic, duke of Bavaria. At the same time John XXII created a number of
new bishoprics in France, by dividing various dioceses; moreover, at the king of Aragon’s request,
he created a new order of knights bearing the title of St. Mary and St. George and granted them the
revenues of the Knights Templars in Valencia. In the same year, he proceeded through the
Inquisition against various people who had been accused of conspiring against his own life and that
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of all the cardinals. Hugh, bishop of Cahors was found to be among the conspirators and, after he had
been convicted and removed from office, he was handed over to the office of the secular magistrates,
who sentenced him to be partially flayed and then burnt alive.
Whereupon the pope published a number of Bulls against negromancy and against whoever practiced
magical arts. Having been informed of great strife in England, he despatched two Legates to that
realm to pacify the conflict and to receive the tax of St. Peter and the vows of allegiance for the
kingdoms of England and Ireland, that had formerly been given to Innocent III. The legates were
also instructed to bring about an end of the friction with Scotland and carried with them letters from
the pope to Robert the Bruce, who’s only title was that of Governor of Scotland. At first, Robert
refused to allow the Legates to enter his realm, but later, having bidden them to come to him,
declared he would neither agree to peace nor truce with England, unless the pope granted him the
title of king. Having received this declaration from the king, the cardinals returned to London and, as
Robert refused to agree to peace, they excommunicated him and all his supporters and placed the
kingdom under interdict. Not much later, the pope published a Bull against a sect of Franciscans,
who proposed to lead a life in accordance with the rigours of the rule composed by St. Francis,
ignoring the dispensations to such rule made by popes Nicholas III and Clement V. They were not
only declared schismatic, but heretical, and from what is said, they had claimed that there were two
Churches, one fleshly, full of wealth and sin, headed by the pope and prelates, the other spiritual,
adorned with poverty and sanctity, which included themselves and their followers; that at all times
was it forbidden to make a sworn vow; and that Christ’s Gospel had lain hidden until they appeared
and had even been lost and other diverse things.
Because of the papal Bull, these friars were persecuted in Sicily and four of them were burned in
Marseilles. Nonetheless, they were protected in certain parts of Italy and specially in Milan, by
Matteo Visconti, who was accused of heresy himself; and of broadcasting erroneous beliefs,
concerning the resurrection of the dead and other matters; of having sacked the monasteries, violated
the chastity of the nuns and suppressed the power of the Inquisition; wherefore the pope renewed the
sentence of excommunication pronounced against him by his archbishop. Matteo Visconti, resentful
at the pope’s proceeding against him in such a manner, urged Can Scaligero, Passerini and other
Ghibelline lords to form a league against him and his supporters and appointed Can as general of the
alliance, which attacked various Guelph cities, while Matteo sent an army to fight Genoa,
commanded by his own son. Because of the league, furious hostilities broke out all over Italy; and
Genoa with its territories was, for many years, plundered by its allies as well as by its enemies, and
according to Petrarch, its coast, that had formerly been full of palaces, took on the appearance of a
desert.
In the meantime, as the pope had been informed that various cities of the Ecclesiatical state,
encouraged by the Ghibelline league, had expelled the governors he had appointed to rule them and
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had chosen others, published a severe Edict against them and similarly excommunicated the d’Este
family, which had accepted the government of Ferrara.
In the following year (1319), the pope sent his nephew, cardinal Bertrand, as Legate to Lombardy, to
assist the Guelphs against the Ghibelline faction; and being informed that the Waldese sect had once
again started to reappear in France, ordered that whoever was convicted of adhering to such a
Heresy, should be handed over to the Secular magistrates. At about the same time he renewed the
Edicts of his predecessors against the Jews and ordered that they be hunted down and that the books
of their Talmud be burnt.
He at last granted certain bishops in Denmark the faculty of lifting the Interdict under which
Boniface VIII had placed that kingdom, because of the imprisonment of the archbishop of Lunden.
In the meantime, realising that his spiritual arms had no effect on the Italian Ghibellines, he sent
Philip of Valois, the son of Charles and cousin to the king of France, with a body of French troops to
fight against Matteo in Lombardy. When Philip got to Asti, he was joined there by the Legate with a
cavalry contingent and from there marched to the aid of Vercelli, but inasmuch as Philip encountered
a superior Ghibelline force, he was constrained to interrupt his advance. Having conferred with
Galeazzo, the eldest son of the said Matteo, he was by him convinced to make his way back to
France, asking for his father’s and the king’s forgiveness, and attributing his retreat to the delay with
which the money and reinforcements, promised to him by the pope and the king of Naples, had been
despatched to him.
The sudden departure of Philip encouraged the Ghibelline faction, so John XXII strengthened his
alliance with the kings of France and Naples and, in order to cover the expenses of the war, he
claimed the first fruits of all the vacant benefits for the next three years.
At the same time he renewed his Anathema against the rebels in Italy and specifically
excommunicated Frederic, king of Trinacria (Sicily) and subjected his realm to Interdict, because he
had not observed the truce established by the pope between him and the king of Naples and because,
after his return from the expedition against Genoa, he had taken possession of certain ecclesiastical
benefits in Sicily. Shortly afterwards, John XXII gave an answer to the Polish ambassadors and a
commission of the archbishop of Gnesna and two other prelates , ordering them to examine the
complaints of the Teutonic Knights, who had been accused of having unlawfully taken possession of
the whole of Pomerania. At the same time, the pope declined to grant the title of king to Wladislav,
for fear of offending the kings of Bohemia and France; secretly, however, he told the ambassadors
that he would not prevent the Poles from exploiting their rights. A few months later he condemned
the doctrines of John at Poliacus, a Parisian theologian, who said that whoever confessed their sins to
monks were then obliged to reconfess them to their parish priest.
Having published a Bull against this doctrine, he commissioned other Franciscans to go to Tartary,
Ethiopia, Armenia and other oriental nations, entrusting them with missives to George, king of
Georgia, and to the princes of Tartary, exhorting them to re-enter the unity of the Roman Church.
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Similarly, he re-established the bishop of Kiev in Russia and appointed a Dominican as bishop of
Armenia. In the meantime, while the war in Italy continued and Frederic, king of Trinacria, reacting
against the sentence of excommunication that had been hurled at him, granted new reinforcements to
the Ghibelline faction, John XXII renewed his Anathema against Matteo Visconti and his supporters
and promised to confirm Frederick, duke of Austria’s election to the Empire on condition that the
latter send an army to assist the Guelphs in Italy.
Frederick willingly embraced the pope’s offer and sent his brother, with 2000 knights, to Italy, but
Matteo reminded him that if he really wanted to become Emperor, he was, in harming the
Ghibellines, acting against his own interests, as they were only engaged in upholding the rights of
the Empire and that, if their faction were disbanded, Italy would be subject to the popes.
At this, Frederick wrote to his brother, ordering him to leave Italy and, to appease the pope, who had
been mightily offended by such actions, he despatched a number of Commissioners to Italy to
promote a truce between the conflicting parties. This, however had no effect, as he himself was
defeated and taken prisoner, a few weeks after his rival Ludovic, Duke of Bavaria.
In the meantime, John XXII received an appeal from the Franciscans against a verdict pronounced
by the Inquisitor of Narbonne, who had condemned one of their order as a heretic for having said
that Christ and his Apostles had no belongings or property, either singly or in common, which
opinion was justified by a decree issued by pope Nicholas III.
The pope proposed this affair to the universities and learned men of Europe and until he received
their opinion, he decided to withhold his views regarding the Decree of Nicholas III. The Franciscans
held a General Chapter not long afterwards in Perugia and declared that they upheld the Decree of
Nicholas III and they said moreover that to renounce the possession of all temporal things was pious
and deserving, as it was an imitation of that perfection taught by Christ and his Apostles and was
confirmed by their example. When the pope was apprised of their decision, he published a Bull,
affirming that the opinion that obstinately asserted that Christ and his Apostles had no property was
erroneous and heretical and with another Bull forebade the Franciscans to ever in future ask for
anything in the name of the Church of Rome. As the Franciscans were thus deprived of their
customary manner of begging, they were gravely offended by the pope and many of them joined the
Ghibelline faction, notwithstanding the fact that the latter faction seemed to be declining in that
period, due in part to the death of Matteo Visconti (1323), that had taken place some months earlier.
Immediately afterwards, the pope’s general defeated Marco Visconti and in the month of June
besieged Milan.
However, as the Ghibellines mustered their forces under the command of Count Bertoldo, who
together with two other counts had been sent by the Emperor to Italy, and had marched to the aid of
the city, the Guelphs were obliged to lift the siege that had lasted for about two months.
The pope wrote an admonishment to the Emperor, because he had lent aid to the Ghibellines, which
he ordered published in Germany, Italy, France, England and other kingdoms.
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In this document, the pope declared that as Ludovic of Bavaria, without the approval of the
Apostolic See, had not only assumed the title of King of the Romans, but had also usurped the
administration of the Empire in Germany and Italy, manifestly prejudicing the Roman Church,
whose right it was to govern the Empire during an Interregnum, and inasmuch as he had assisted the
Visconti, although they had been condemned as heretics and had also helped other rebels against the
Church and committed many other things to the detriment of Christendom; the pope exhorted him
under pain of excommunication to abstain from exercising any of the functions of an Emperor
within the space of three months and not to resume them without the approval of the Apostolic See.
He finally forbade anyone of any degree or dignity to assist him in anything concerning the
administration of the Empire.
At about the same time, having been informed that the siege of Genoa , after having lasted for five
years had been at last lifted, he sent for the Delegates of the two factions in this city and tried in vain
to lead them to make peace. Moreover, he also sent messengers to the king of Serbia, exhorting him
to re-enter the unity of the Roman Church; he renewed the Bulls of his predecessors, ordering that
no arms and military equipment be supplied to the Saracens; he entered into a League with the king
of France and with the Venetians to oppose the progress of the Turks in Siria.
In the meanwhile, as the pope’s admonishment had been published in Germany, the Emperor sent
three messengers to the pope, to find out the reasons of his proceedings and to request they be
delayed; whereupon, in a Diet, held in Nuremburg (1324), he voiced a protest against the assertions
contained in the admonishment, appealing to the See in Rome and to a future General Council; and
declared that the pope himself was a promoter of Heresy, as he discouraged the repentant from
coming to Confession and had attempted to abolish the sovereignty of the king.
When the Deputies arrived in Avignon, they claimed the admonishment was false, but when they
were assured that it was true and real, they asked for a delay of two months, which was granted by
the pope to give the Emperor time to repent. When the two months had passed without the Emperor
making submission, John XXII declared that he had fallen under the sentence of excommunication,
but granted him a further three months, within which he ordered him, under pain of being deposed,
to appear personally before the Apostolic See or be there represented by his representatives. At the
same time he declared that any prelate or churchman who operated against the admonishment would
be liable to be sentenced to suspension, both of their incumbencies as well as of their benefits.
Whereupon, as the Emperor continued to disregard his fulminations, the pope, finally, on the 20th
July proclaimed a definitive verdict against him and declared him deprived of all sovereignty, to
which he might lay claim to thanks to his election and ordered him to come to Avignon by the first
of October.
In the meantime, as the Visconti had defeated the papal troops in Italy and taken two of their
generals prisoner, John XXII renewed his censorship against the Ghibellines and ordered a new
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Crusade preached against them. Nonetheless, their armies continued to be fortunate and towards the
end of the year, they conquered Monza.
As soon as the Emperor was told of the sentence of deposition pronounced against him by the Pope,
he decided most vigorously to defend his authority and reputation and, as as a number of Franciscan
friars, drawn by their hatred for the pope, had come to the imperial court, and were held as
Schismatic, because of their holding to the original rule of their order, Ludovic made use of their
writings in the defence of his cause; a few months later, he published a long manifesto, which is
preserved on the Aventine hill, in which he accused the pope as a disseminator of discord and
sedition amongst the Christians, of publicly boasting that when the Christian princes were at war
with one another, then the Bishop of Rome was truly pope; that he wanted to throw down the bronze
serpent, by this meaning the German empire, reducing it to dust and that he did not wish to leave a
single person in Italy who would recognise the Empire.
He also stated that John XXII was the Antichrist and had the spirit of Satan, allowing himself to be
adored; something that not even an angel had wanted to accept from St. John: that the temporal
jurisdiction, possessed by the pope, was due to the liberality or rather weakness of the emperors and
that if he was the servant of the servants of God, he was not to be, among all men, the most
ambitious as to honours and wealth; that he was a Heretic, when he condemned the orthodox opinion
as to the poverty of Christ and his Apostles and that he appealed for a sentence of a General Council
from him.To defend himself against the accusation of Heresy, the pope published another
Bull,explaining his earlier Decrees against the Franciscans, many of whom, having adhered to the
opinions of the Council of Perugia, were then burnt at the stake as Heretics in various parts of the
world.
Inasmuch as the pope did not find such prompt submission from the German prelates as he expected
when he published his admonishment, he decided to place a powerful competitor on the board
against the emperor ; he therefore negotiated with Leopold, brother of the duke of Austria, in favour
of Charles the Fair, king of France and it was arranged that Charles should force Ludovic, duke of
Bavaria to abandon his claims on the Empire and after his election he should give 30.000 silver
marks to Leopold, on condition that his brother Frederic of Austria also give up all his claims on the
Empire.
Thanks to this treaty, the pope made every effort to obtain the votes of the German Electors;
moreover, Leopold, having urged the princes who supported his brother’s claims and having
obtained a favourable answer from others, who had however not opted for either side, wrote to the
king of France, asking him to come to Bar-sur-Aube, within the confines of the Empire, to confer
with the German princes, who had promised to go there too. Wherefore Charles made his way to that
town with a splendid escort, but to his great surprise and disappointment, he only found duke
Leopold there.
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This slight greatly cooled the king of France’s ardour, although the pope and Leopold assured him
that a little money would procure him the engagement of a great number of princes. The latter, in
fact were only tepidly in support of Ludovic of Bavaria, as he was excommunicated, nonetheless,
Charles refused to interfere any further in the affair, wherefore he entirely renounced his claims.
The pope was therefore most surprised to hear the news of an agreement forged between the
Emperor and his competitor, Frederick of Austria, inasmuch as Frederick was freed on condition he
renounce all claims on the Empire and not only was he allowed to keep the title of king of the
Romans, but was also chosen to govern Germany during the absence of the Emperor in Italy, where
the latter decided to march his troops, to assist the Ghibellines.
As this agreement completedly undermined the measures taken by the pope, he immediately declared
it null and void, absolved Frederick from keeping his vow and convinced quite a number of Electors
to deny their consent to the agreement, stating that neither competitor had the right to resign in
favour of the other. After which, in order to support the expenses of the war in Italy, he also urged
the payment of Peter’s pence in the realms of Scotland, Sweden, Norway, Portugal and Sicily; in
Poland, however, instead of exacting the usual tax of three coins for every measure of oats paid by
each household, he only demanded one, because the kingdom was in a weakened state due to the
rebellion of Silesia in favour of the king of Bohemia. At about this time, he also condemned certain
propositions advanced by Pietro di Giovanni Olivi, a Franciscan, who, in his commentaries upon the
Gospel of St. Matthew, the Canonical Letters and the Revelations, had advanced doctrines that were
interpreted by the Schismatic Franciscans as being in support of their opinions. In order to prevent
the propagation of similar doctrines in the far provinces, the pope published a Bull fulminating
anathemas against any monk of any order who should dare to go beyond the seas, without letters
patent of their superiors, ordering the superiors not to grant such letters, to any except men of literary
erudition and experience. At the same time, upon request of the Dominicans, he granted the General
of the order the power to establish a Vicar to oversee all monks employed in preaching the Gospel
amongst the infidels, from which time the date of origin of the Society of Missionaries is generally
recognised, although some refer the date to the papacy of Innocent IV, seventy-two years before this
time. In this year, as John XXII was told that the Heretics which had been expelled from the other
provinces, had taken refuge in Bosnia, he wrote on the matter to the king of Hungary and to Stephen,
prince of Bosnia, desiring them to eliminate the Heretics and give their assistance to the Franciscans.
In the following year (1326), as the Romans had banished their nobility and had established Sciarra
Colonna as their Governor and had moreover appointed a Council of 52 citizens, sending
ambassadors to the pope, asking him to take up his residence in the city, as his predecessors had,
saying that otherwise they would plan and provide for themselves as best they thought regarding the
matter. It is uncertain whether the Romans really desired his presence, as around the same time they
sent deputies both to the Emperor and to the king of Naples, declaring their submission to each of
these princes. John XXII anwered that he most sincerely wished to satisfy their request, but excused
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himself, under the pretext of his advanced age and the dangers of travel, however, in order to oppose
the Emperor’s designs in Italy, he once again declared the king of Naples Vicar of the Empire in that
realm; he appointed cardinal Giovanni Orsini of Rome Legate of Tuscany, Campania and Sardinia;
he created Giacomo Savelli and Stefano Colonna Consuls in Rome. As soon as the Legate arrived in
Florence, the latter excommunicated Castruccio Castracani, commonly called tyrant of Lucca and
leader of the Ghibellines in Tuscany; the bishop of Arezzo, who supported the Ghibelline party, was
also excommunicated and deposed.
Immediately afterwards, as the Emperor had entered Trent with a small army, the heads of the
Ghibelline faction joined forces with him, together with a large number of churchmen of every
degree, specially Franciscans, who were greatly irritated by the pope.
Here he held a Council, which formulated sixteen articles against the pope, and having condemned
his as guilty of heresy, excommunicated both him and all his supporters.
From Trent, Ludovic made his way to Milan, where he was crowned with the Iron Crown by the
deposed bishop of Arezzo, together with the bishops of Reggio and Brescia, as the Archbishop of
Milan, who belonged to the opposite faction, had taken refuge at that time in Genoa. Wherefore,
having taken the government of Milan from the Visconti due to suspicion of treason, he held a Diet
in Orzi, in the territory of Brescia, where he appointed three new bishops and received a subsidy of
200.000 golden florins.
Whereafter, as the Emperor had advanced to Pisa and Lucca, the Romans, who had received a
negative answer from the Pope, invited him to their city, whilst the Legate once again renewed the
sentence of excommunication against him in the city of Florence (1327).
Although the Emperor, at the Diet of Trent, had excommunicated the Pope, nonetheless, according to
Cuspininan and Tritemius, he sent to Avignon, asking John XXII to grant him the Imperial Crown.
The ambassadors were treated ignominiously by the pope, who on the 20th October pronounced a
final sentence of excommunication and deposition against the Emperor, ordering the Electors to
proceed to a new election, and forbade anybody of any dignity to give any assistance to the emperor.
Towards the same time, he excommunicated Marsilio of Padua and Giovanni of Gandone and
condemned the errors contained in their books. In the meantime, his Legate, together with the prince
of More, entered Rome, taking it by surprise, and took possession of the Leonine part of the town,
but the party of the Emperor rang the alarum on the Capitoline bell, and the Neapolitains were
chased out with great loss. Not much later, the emperor arrived with his army in Rome and after a
few days, held an assembly in the Capitol, during which he thanked the Romans for their kindness
and promised to defend and increase their privileges. In exhange, they elected him Senator and
Captain of the People for a year and they chose four of their citizens to assist at his coronation,
which ceremony took place in the Church of St. Peter’s on the 17th January 1328 with great pomp
and magnificence, as Ludovic was consecrated by two schismatic bisops and crowned by Sciarra
Colonna. After his coronation, the Emperor appointed a great number of knights and had three
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imperial decrees read out, concerning the Catholic faith, the honour due to the clergy and the
protection to be afforded to widows and orphans.
When the Emperor was approaching Rome, all the clergy who supported the pope withdrew from the
city, which was then placed under Interdict and John XXII, not knowing that the Emperor had
already been crowned in Rome, at the end of January published a Bull for a crusade against Ludovic
of Bavaria and of his supporters. The fulmination was too late, for it to have much effect, inasmuch
as the Emperor having at that time gained for himself the affection of the Romans, resolved in turn,
to depose his enemy. In effect, towards the middle of April, he held a solemn assembly in the church
of St. Peter’s and ordered a town cryer to call out three times, asking whether there was anyone who
wanted to undertake the defence of the priest James of Cahors, who styled himself pope John. As
nobody answered, a German abbot read out a long sentence against the pope, whom he accused of
having deserted his faith and of laying unjust claim to all ecclesiastical benefits, which he granted for
simony to unworthy people, of arousing dangerous schisms and heresy in the Church of God, of
having oppressed cardinals and other prelates, of mixing together temporal and spiritual power and
of deciding upon the poverty of Christ and his Apostles against Catholic opinion; wherefore the
emperor pronounced a sentence of deposition against the said James, whom he left to be punished by
the secular powers and condemned all his supporters of any degree and condition, to have their
possessions confiscated and be condemned to death.
A few days later, the Emperor published some laws on future popes, ordering that they should not
reside for more than three months a year outside Rome; nor leave the city for more than two days
without the population’s permission; and that if, after having been summoned three times, they
refused to return, that a new pope should be chosen.
Wherefore, with the consent of the Romans, he created an Antipope, electing a Franciscan who
assumed the name of Nicholas V, who, a few days later, promoted seven cardinals. He established
governors in the city of the Ecclesiastical State and despatched Legates to the various provinces of
Christendom. This Nicholas V also published a Bull, confirming the deposition of John XXII,
declaring his followers guilty of heresy.
Ludovic of Bavaria, after these events in Rome, marched against the king of Naples, but being
dissatisfied by the support he expected from the Ghibellines and the king of Sicily, he very shortly
after returned to the city, where his faction had greatly fallen in power, due to mutiny against his
troops and the party of the Guelphs was victorious. Seeing therefore, that he could no longer
securely maintain his residence in Rome, he left the city on the 4th August together with his Antipope
and thence proceeded to Viterbo, from where he passed on to Todi. After his departure from Rome,
the pope’s Legate entered the city and annulled all the acts of the emperor and of Peter of Corbara,
the Antipope, while the Romans looked on, expressing their consent with great exclamations and the
young boys dug up the bodies of the Germans and threw them into the Tiber river.
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In the meantime, Ludovic having marched to Pisa - in order to satisfy Michael of Cesena, general of
the Franciscans and William of Occam, an Englishman - published his sentence against the pope,
who once again excommunicated the Emperor and specially Cesena and Occam; he so bitterly
attacked the Franciscans, that, according to Antoninus, he planned to suppress their whole order.
Inasmuch as the power of the Emperor was daily declining in Italy, the following year the March of
Ancona and all the Church territories reverted to obedience to the Roman See and the city of Milan
also submitted to the pope; Giovanni Visconti, brother to Matteo, renounced his dignity as a cardinal,
which he had received from the Antipope and was appointed bishop of Novara. Inasmuch as the
Emperor was greatly lacking in money, and seeing that the Ghibellines had forsaken him, he
marched towards Trent, in order to hold there a Council with the heads of his faction in Italy and the
nobles in Germany; when he was however informed of the death of the duke of Austria, he took
advantage of this, as a good reason for leaving Italy and in fact marched with his army to Bavaria. In
the meantime, the pope once more excommunicated Michael of Cesena and appointed the bishop of
Tusculum as the Vicar of the Franciscan order, until a new general had been chosen.
He also responded to Cesena’s pamphlets, which responses were examined by Occam; later on, his
objections were answered by the monk Jacques Fournier, who had recently been promoted cardinal.
In that same year, John XXII wrote to Robert Bruce in Scotland, allowing him and his successors to
be crowned by the bishop of St. Andrew’s in Glasgow. He also offered great rewards to anyone who
were to arrest the Antipope; wherefore this unhappy man was discovered in the house of count
Bonifacio, in Pisa, where he had hidden for several months. Seeing that he had no escape, and
without being able to count on the aid of the Emperor or of his party, he decided to entrust himself to
the clemency of the pope and voluntarily gave himself up into the hands of the archbishop of Pisa
and of the bishop of Lucca, who, having received commission from the pope, absolved him after he
had abjured certain articles, specified to him by His Holiness. During the course of these events in
Italy, the pope in Avignon was highly frightened by the approach of William, count of Hainault, the
father in law of the Emperor, with 1800 horsemen, who had vowed to march to Granada against the
Moors and wished to receive the pope’s blessing. As John XXII heavily suspected the count of
wishing to do him some injury, he sent for the nobles in that area, had his followers and their men
armed and forebade the count to enter Provence, under pain of excommunication, absolving him at
the same time from his vow, upon condition that he return home. Some weeks later, however, the
king of France payed John XXII a visit and they had a series of secret meetings, which concerned, as
one subsequently knew, the wars in Italy and an expedition to the Holy Land, which latter objective
earned Philip the Fair the dues from all the eccelesiastical possessions in his realm. Around the same
time, John XXII received ambassadors from Germany, proposing a reconciliation between himself
and the emperor, who offered to abandon the Antipope, to withdraw his appeal, to annul all measures
taken against the Holy See and to recognise himself as justly excommunicated, on condition that the
pope recognise him as emperor.
148
John XXII rejected these generous overtures with great disdain and in his letter to the king of
Bohemia, ordered him and the Electors to proceed to a new election.
At about the same time the Antipope arrived in Avignon from Pisa and appeared in the public
Concistory with a rope around his neck, asking for the pope’s absolution. Whereafter, having made a
long public confession of his crimes, and professing his faith in the dogmas of the Roman Church,
the antipope received John XXII’s confirmation as to the absolution he had received in Pisa, the pope
however confining him, as an honourable prisoner, in the palace, where he lived for three years and
after his death, was buried in the Franciscan church. That year, the pope sent a formula of the
Catholic doctrine to the emperor of the Tartars, and wrote also to the Armenians urging them to
continue in the unity of the Roman Church; he granted a great number of privileges and indulgences
to the Dominicans and to the Franciscans, who were engaged in preaching the Gospel amongst the
infidels and ordered the Inquisitors of the Faith to proceed against anyone practicing magic or other
illicit arts.
The following January (1331), he renewed his anathema against Michael of Cesena and forebade
Occam, Bonagrazia and Thalheim or Chalheim to obey him. This decree of the pope was published
in all the houses of the Franciscans, by the General, who, in a general Chapter of the order, that was
held in Perpignan, confirmed the sentence against the schismatics, published two years earlier in the
chapter in Paris; he condemned Cesena, Thalheim, Francis of Esculus, Occam and Bonagrazia to
perpetual imprisonment, because of their contumacious behaviour and the heresies that they publicly
taught.
In the meantime, as the king of Bohemia entered Italy with an army as Vicar of the Empire, and
having conquered most of Lombardy, his great successes greatly frightened both the Emperor, and
the Guelph faction. As Ludovic had been told that the king of Bohemia had met the papal Legate, he
greatly feared that he would be encouraged by the pope to aspire to the empire; in the meantime, the
Guelphs, thinking that the pope had secretly sent the king to Italy and was conniving in his
conquests, entered into a league against him, and were joined by the Ghibellines, who thought that
the king was not so much operating to serve the emperor, as to enhance his own family. As the king
of Bohemia had by this time returned to Germany to repel certain enemies who had invaded
Bohemia, during his absence, the emperor sent two of his secretaries, as ambassadors, to the pope to
treat a reconciliation with the Holy See, but without any result. Not much later, according to Villani,
John XXII received an embassy from the king of Fance, informing him that he intended to undertake
an expedition to the Holy Land and desired for this purpose the Church dues from the whole of
Christendom for six years, the right to confer all the ecclesiastical benefits within his realm, the
kingdom of Italy for Charles, his brother and the title of king of Arles and Vienne for his son; which
extravagant demands, if they were truly made, were advanced, as Spondanus observes, to excuse the
king from keeping his vow. John XXII, however, intent on opposing the emperor, wrote to the king
of Bohemia and the duke of Austria, exhorting them to abandon the emperor’s faction. His demands
149
finally prevailed with the duke of Austria, who not only gave up his alliance with the emperor, but
proclaimed himself the pope’s vassal and said that he held his hereditary domains in fealty from the
Holy See. As the king of Bohemia hoped that the great confusion in Italy would induce the pope to
listen to some sort of agreement, he went to Avignon and spoke to him in the emperor’s favour. John
XXII remained inflexible to all the king’s proposals, notwithstanding the fact that Ludovic, upon the
request of the king of France, sent him yet another embassy, to treat peace. He moreover deposed
the bishop of Castello, because he had reported to Germany that the emperor had been reconciled
with the Holy See and offered the empire to the king of Bohemia, who rejected the proposal and
shortly afterwards left Avignon.
The following year, John roused another kind of enemy against himself, stating in a discourse he
held in Avignon, that the souls of the Blessed or the damned are not perfectly happy or miserable,
until the moment of the resurrection, when they shall once again receive their bodies. Although this
opinion seems to have been shared by Justin, Ireneus,Origen and other ancient Fathers, both Greek
and Latin, nonetheless it aroused a great number of opponents to the pope, not only among the
cardinals and prelates, but in every order and rank and specially among the Dominicans, some of
whom were so zealous in their opposition to this opinion, that they did not hesitate to incur
punishment upon themselves.
Many Franciscans, however, declared themselves in favour of the pope’s thesis and Gerard, General
of the order, preached in favour of the doctrine in Paris. His speeches caused disturbances in that city
and after the king had received the opinion of the doctors, he ordered him publicly to withdraw his
statements, as otherwise he would be burnt as a Heretic.
Philip the Fair finally wrote to the pope, saying that it was not the business of His Holiness to
propose dubious questions, but rather to decide on matters advanced by others.
To say the truth, John XXII excused himself, declaring that he had not mentioned the opinion as an
assertion, but as a probability and as a subject for debate, with the intention of obtaining the opinion
of erudite scholars on the subject so that, after diligent research, he could then give their judgement
on it. By explaining his opinion, and by declaring that he had never meant to uphold a doctrine that
was contrary to the Catholic Faith, the pope suppressed the clamour that had been aroused against
him.
Nonetheless, the schismatic Franciscans or Little Brothers (Fraticelli) continued to proclaim him a
heretic, not only because of his opinion regarding the state of the souls of the dead, but also because
of his decrees regarding the poverty of Christ and his Apostles, which they based on the statement of
our blessed Saviour: Whoever does not sell everything he possesses and give it to the poor, cannot be
my disciple.
In the meantime, the king of Bohemia, who had returned to Italy, joined his troops to those
commanded by the Legate; he was however defeated near Ferrara by the confederates and deemed
it proper to leave Italy and abandon all his conquests in Lombardy. Soon afterwards the pope was
150
told that the emperor, fearing to die outside the communion of the Church, had consented to give up
his sceptre and return to the status of private citizen, so he wrote him a letter exhorting him to put
such a praiseworthy plan into action; he also sent two Legates to Munich to receive his renunciation,
ordering them in the case of a refusal, to absolve the princes and barons of the empire from their vow
of fealty given to Ludovic.
When the Legates reached Munich, they did not receive permission to enter into any kind of
negotiation; which so angered the pope, that he wrote to the bishops of Bremen, Magdeburg and
Cologne to publish new anathemas against the emperor and his followers and prompted various
princes to devastate his hereditary dominions. At about the same time he commissioned the
archbishop of Rouen to give the cross to the king of France as well as to the king of Navarre and
Bohemia and to many other nobles, who were at that moment in Paris. Meanwhile, the emperor, in
order to oppose the designs of the pope, resolved to conclude a peace treaty with Robert, king of
Naples and to summon a General Council to proceed against John XXII as a heretic; wherefore he
commenced secret negotiations with cardinal Napoleon Orsini, who was similarly disgusted with the
pope, as the latter had broken his promise and had taken up residence again in France.
Before the emperor could put his plan into action, is opponent was removed from this world by
death, which took place on the 4th December 1334, in Avignon. Inasmuch as John XXII had realised
that the gravest scandal had been caused by his doctrine concerning the souls of the dead, on the 3rd
December he sent for the cardinals to come to his chamber and in their presence revoked his opinion
regarding the said doctrine and submitted all the questions, on which he had spoken or written, to the
decision of the Church and his successors.
Whereafter, having confirmed this declaration by means of a Bull, he died the following day, leaving
an immense fortune. Villani affirms on the faith of a brother of his, who was one of the pope’s
merchants, and was informed by the officials who assisted at the act, the the treasure was weighed
and that in coinage and jewels it amounted to twenty-five million golden florins. This sum, however
is said by other authors to have been much less. Whatever the truth of the matter, Villani states that
he acquired it by keeping for himself the collections of all the benefits of the whole of Christendom,
under the pretext of preventing Simony, although it seems that he never granted any benefits without
obtaining payment for them. He also claimed the annual rents deriving from the first year of all the
newly assigned benefits, which were very numerous during his papacy, as he generally filled
vacancies by transferring beneficiaries from other benefits.
It is also said that he had instituted the tribunal of the twelve chaplains of the pope, called Rote
Auditores, which was supposed to determine the appeals, that came from all over the Christian
world.
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