Table Of ContentCIVIC
RITUAL IN
RENAISSANCE
VENICE
EDWARD
MU IR
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
PRESS
COPYRIGHT© 1981 BY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
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FOR
ANNETTE
CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES ix
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii
ABBREVIATIONS AND A NOTE ON DATING xv
INTRODUCTION 3
Map: The Ritual Geography of Venice 9
PART O N E:
MYTH AND RITU AL
ONE . THEM YTHOF V ENlCE
The Meaning of the Myth 13
Historiography of the Myth 23
Myth and Reality 34
The Myth Abroad 44
From Myth to Rirual or from Ritual to Myth? SS
PART TWO:
AN INHERITANCE OF LEGEND AND RITUAL
TWO • AN ESCAPED TROJAN AND A TRANSPORTED EVANGELIST:
AUSPICIOUS BEGINNINGS
The Legends of the Origins of Venice 65
The Festive Calendar 74
Pax Tibi Maree Evangelista Meus 78
Saints Theodore, George, and Nicholas 92
THREE• A GRATEFUL POPE AND A DOWERED BRIDE:
IMPERIAL PREROGATIVES
The Donation of Pope Alexander III 103
The Marriage of the Sea 119
FOUR • T WELVE W OODEN MARYS AND A FAT T HURSDAY:
s
A ER ENE SOCIETY
The Doge's Annual Visit to Santa Maria Formosa 135
Giovedl Grasso and the Carnival Season 156
PART THREE:
GOVE RNMEN T BY RITUAL
FIVE • A R EPUBLIC OF PROCESSIONS
From Theory to Practice 185
The Ducal Procession 189
viii
CONTENTS
s T x • T HE RITUAL OCCASION
Annual Observances 212
Corpus Christi 223
Special Observances 231
SEVEN • T HE PARADOXICAL PRINCE
The Doge as Prim11s Inter Pares and as Princeps 251
The Funeral and Coronation of the Doge 263
The Dogaressa 289
CONCLUSION 299
MANUSCRIPT SOURCES 307
BIBLIOGRAPHY 310
INDEX 343
LIST OF FIGURES
1. Leandro Bassano, Pope Alexander III Gives the White
Candle to Doge Sebastiano Ziani in San Marco, after
1578, oil on canvas in the Hall of the Great Council,
Ducal Palace (photo: Palazzo Ducale) 110
2. Francesco Bassano, At the Point of Departing with the
Armada against Barbarossa, Doge Sebastiano Ziani Re-
ceives the Sword from Pope Alexander III, after 1578,
1
oil on canvas in the Hall of the Great Council, Ducal
Palace (photo: Palazzo Ducale) 110
3. Andrea Michieli, called "il Vicentino/' Doge Sebas
tiano Ziani Presents Otto to Pope Alexander III and Re
ceives the Ring with Which He Celebrates the Marriage
of the Sea Every Year, after 1578, oil on canvas in the
Hall of the Great Council, Ducal Palace (photo: Pal-
azzo Ducale) 111
4. Girolamo Gambarato, Accompanied by Frederick Bar
barossa and Doge Sebastiano Ziani, Pope Alexander III
Arrives at Ancona and Gives to Ziani a Golden Um
brella, after 1578, oil on canvas in the Hall of the Great
Council, Ducal Palace (photo: Palazzo Ducale) 111
5. Giacomo Franco, On Ascension Day the Doge in the
Bucintoro Is Rowed to the Marriage of the Sea, engrav
ing, plate xx1x in Franco's Habiti d' huomeni et donne
venetiane con la processione della serenissima signoria
et altri particolari cioe trionfi feste cerimonie publiche
della nobilissima citta di Venetia, Venice, 160[?] (Cour
tesy of New York Public Library, Spencer Collection,
Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations) 123
6. Giacomo Franco, Giovedi Grasso Celebrations in Mem
ory of the Victory of the Republic over the Patriarch of
Aquileia in Friuli, engraving, plate xxv11 in Franco's Ha
biti d'huomeni et donne venetiane con la processione
della serenissima signoria et altri particolari cioe trionfi
feste cerimonie publiche della nobilissima citta di Vene
tia, Venice, 160[ ?] (Courtesy of New York Public Li
brary, Spencer Collection, Astor, Lenox and Tilden
Foundations) 165
x
LIST OF FIGURES
7. A, s. c, o. Matteo Pagan, The Procession of the Doge on
Palm Su~day, 1556-59, engraving (photo: Museo
Civico Correr) 194-197
8. Cesare Vecellio, Procession in Piazza San Marco, 1586,
oil on canvas in the Museo Civico Correr (photo:
Museo Civico Correr) 210
9. Frontispiece of a pamphlet containing poetic para
phrases of the Psalms of David, published in Venice in
1571 in honor of the Holy League's victory at Lepanto
against the Turks. In the Biblioteca Nazionale Mar
ciana, Misc. 2096/4 (photo: Biblioteca Nazionale Mar-
ciana) 215
10. Giacomo Franco, The Procession of Corpus Christi, en
graving, Plate xxv in Franco's Habiti d' huomeni et
donne venetiane con la processione della serenissima sig
noria et altri particolari cioe trionfi feste cerimonie pub-
liche de/la nobilissima cit ta di Venetia, Venice, 160[ ?] 228
11. Andrea Michieli, called "il Vicentino," Visit of King
Henry III to Venice in 1574, oil on canvas in the epis
copal residence of Litomerice (Leitmeritz), Bohemia
(photo: Narodni Galerie, Prague) 236
12. Giacomo Franco, Procession for the Consignment of the
Baton to the Captain General of the Sea, engraving,
plate xx11 in Franco's Habiti d' huomeni et donne vene
tiane con la processione della serenissima signoria et
altri particolari cioe trionfi feste cerimonie publiche
della nobilissima citta di Venetia, Venice, 160[ ?] (Cour
tesy of New York Public Library, Spencer Collection,
Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations) 259
13. Giacomo Franco, Arsenal Sailors Carry the Doge-Elect,
His Relatives, and the Admiral, Who Throw out Coins
to the Crowd before the Coronation, engraving, plate
xx in Franco's Habiti d' huomeni et donne venetiane con
la processione della serenissima signoria et altri parti
colari cioe trionfi feste cerimonie publiche della nobilis
sima citta di Venetia, Venice, 160[?] (Courtesy of New
York Public Library, Spencer Collection, Astor, Lenox
and Tilden Foundations) 287
XI
LIST OF FIGURES
14. Giacomo Franco, The Dogaressa aboard the Bucintoro
and Accompanied by Other Noble Ladies Goes from Her
Palace to the Ducal Palace, engraving, plate xxx1 in
Franco's Habiti d' huomeni et donne venetiane con la
processione della serenissima signoria et altri particolari
cioe trionfi feste cerimonie publiche della nobilissima
citta di Venetia, Venice, 160(?] (Courtesy of New York
Public Library, Spencer Collection, Astor, Lenox and
Tilden Foundations) 297
15. Andrea Michieli, called "il Vicentino," The Coronation
1 of Dogaressa Morosina Grimani, after 1597, oil on can
vas in the Museo Civico Correr (photo: Museo Civico
Correr) 298
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The second section of chapter seven, entitled "The Funeral and
Coronation of the Doge," is a revised and amplified version of
an article first published as '1The Doge as Primus Inter Pares:
Interregnum Rites in Early Sixteenth-Century Venice," in Es
says Presented to Myron P. Gilmore, edited by Sergio Bertelli
and Gloria Ramakus, Florence, 1978, 1:145-60. I wish to
thank "La Nuova Italia" Editrice, Florence, for permission to
republish the essay here. In revising this section, I have bene
fited from the comments and criticisms of Robert Finlay, Felix
Gilbert, and Donald Queller, who have led me to modify my
views somewhat on the actual powers of the sixteenth-century
doges.
In the course of researching and writing this book, I have
enjoyed aid and encouragement from several sources, which
deserve my thanks. I thank first of all my mother for introduc
ing me to Tosca and Titian, thus determining my bent toward
things Italian, and my father for cheerfully helping me through
the lean years of graduate school and research in Venice. While
writing my dissertation, I spent an invigorating year as a fellow
at the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Stud
ies at Villa I Tatti, Florence, with a stipend from the Committee
to Rescue Italian Art. Our hosts, Sheila and the late Myron
Gilmore, created a congenial community that will always be
· fondly remembered. Since then, I have received a summer sti
pend from the National Endowment for the Humanities and a
Research Fellowship for Recent Recipients of the Ph.D. from
the American Council of Learned Societies, for which Syracuse
University graciously granted me a semester's leave. Over the
years numerous acquaintances, co1leagues, and friends have
made suggestions, passed on references, pointed out my stupid
ities, and provoked me to revise my interpretations. I must
thank William Brown, Peter Burke, Demetrios Constantelos,
Paul Grendler, Deborah Howard, Norman Land, Christopher
Lloyd, Oliver Logan, William Lubenow, Michael Mallett, Mar
garet Marsh, Reinhold Mueller, Kenneth Pennington, James
xiv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Powell, Guido, Ruggiero, and James Williamson. Olga Puma
nova of the Narodni Galerie, Prague, kindly provided me with
a photograph of the Andrea Michieli ("ii Vicentino") painting
in the episcopal residence of Litomefice (Leitmeritz), Bohemia.
In Venice the informed help of the personnel of the Archivio di
Stato, Biblioteca del Museo Civico Correr, Biblioteca Nazionale
Marciana, Biblioteca Querini Stampalia, and Fondazione Gior
gio Cini solved many of my problems; Dottoressa Maria Fran
cesca Tiepolo has earned my special regards for her generosity
in guiding me through the Archivio di Stato. Richard Trexler's
advice on various theoretical and practical problems in the in
terpretation of ritual has been invaluable. A constant intellec
tual companion over the last seven years who has listened to
my inchoate ideas and read and commented on scattered bits
and pieces of this book, David R. Edward Wright has influenced
my thinking in many subtle and, I am sure, unrecognized
ways. At Princeton University Press Joanna Hitchcock, R. Mir
iam Brokaw, and especially William Hively made my manu
script a book. My study of Venetian civic rituals began as a
paper for a seminar led by Donald Weinstein; he has remained
an unflagging guide, a mentor in the highest sense of the word,
and will ever be ii miglior fabbro. My wife, Annette, merits
more credit than a simple dedication. She helped in the re
search, especially in the tedious reading of the fifty-eight vol
umes of Marin Sanuto's diaries, tendered suggestions and crit
icisms at every stage, taught me how to write what I meant,
and held me to her uncompromising standards. I hope this book
may be a worthy offering.
May 1980 E.M.
