Re: Anghiari Deck debate

11
I stumbled about this ...

Sorci Castle
In fact, the castle inspired one of the most famous Italian directors and actors Roberto Benigni and Massimo Troisi, in the script of the popular Italian film “Non ci resta che piangere” (“Nothing left to do but cry”). The film tells the story of two friends, Saverio and Mario, who got lost in the Tuscan countryside in 1984. They find themselves in the late 15th century, they meet Leonardo da Vinci and try to teach him how to play Italian cards, they try to stop Columbus, they sing beatles’s song etc.. Not that difficult to guess that all their actions were taking place in our castle surroundings!
http://www.papaleo.eu/sorci-castle/

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Somewhere around Giusto Giusti I saw this name "Sorci" mentioned. It must be near Anhiari.
Deep in the depths of Tuscany, not too far from a delightful little place called Anghiari, which is on the border with Umbria, there is the hauntingly interesting restaurant: the Locanda al Castello di Sorci.

Now, this restaurant, which seems to have a good reputation for its culinary expertise incidentally, has a little extra on its menu, in the form of the ghost of a certain Baldaccio d’Anghiari, who used to own the castle.

In this enchanting restaurant in Tuscany, diners may be heard to utter, “waiter, waiter, there’s a ghost in my soup!”, sometimes.

Apparently, Baldaccio, when he is out on his haunting rounds, has been known to have caused the restaurant’s patrons to flee their tables in utter terror – without paying, probably! Could it be that this Baldaccio is the spirit of a discontented customer? Someone who choked himself away from this world on a huge glob of Fiorentina steak?
http://italychronicles.com/ghoulish-gas ... n-tuscany/

Actually I search the castle Pantaneto or "Rocca di Panteneto" or Pantaneta. Giusto was there.
http://books.google.de/books?id=7DvIoZe ... to&f=false

Somehow between Monterchi and Anghiari I suspect, possibly with another name nowadays. Or completely lost.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Anghiari Deck debate

12
Phaeded wrote:Huck,
I don't think we can expect too much directly between Cosimo and a provincial notary, Giusti, before the latter assumed a higher profile; the Medici have rightfully been described as a political party that had many supporters. You've previously already pointed out one of these in connection with Giusti:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=904
we find [Giusti] in Anghiari as the cancelliere of Giovanni Pagolo di Morelli (this seems to be the same, who with a short note about naibi and children wrote playing card history in his "Ricordi"). The literary activity of Morelli might have inspired the younger Giusto Giusto, cause in this year 1437 (precisely April 1437, a few days before he married for the second time in May) he started to record his diaries.
Morelli was from the Medici "homeland" of the Mugello and was most definitely a partisan of Cosimo's. As you note above he is in Anghiari before the battle there in 1437 when Giusti begins his own diary; Giusti himself could have hardly been neutral in a batlle in his backyard and indeed plays an active blocking role of a mountain pass during Piccinino's retreat after the battle. Both Giusti and Morelli quickly ascend within the hierarchy of the "party" after the victory at Anghiari - Morelli becoming Florence's standard-bearer of Justice the very next year, in 1441; Giusti a slew of contado posts.

Giusti's link to Cosimo (or his brother Lorenzo) need not have been direct to establish whose side Giusti was on before 1440. And given the direct link to such a highly placed official within the Medici party, Morelli, I still think my hypothesis that it was the Medici who pioneered the tarot to celebrate Anghiari makes perfect sense, with the provincial minion (Giusti) aping that effort (you've already suggested Giusti copied Morelli's practicce of writing a ricordi).

Phaeded
Morelli ...
http://cds.library.brown.edu/projects/t ... IT+MORELLI
... took part in elections variously, 7 times his name is noted between 1430-36.

For 1437 he is noted by treccani.it for a high commission in Anghiari, when young Giusto became cancellieri below him (possibly the commission was only for one year ?).
Giusto got a similar commission for the location Monterchi, which became possession of Tuscany in 1440, after the battle of Anghiari (12 of July 1440). Monterchi is close to Anghiari (maybe 10 km) and Giusto became the first Florentine official there. Monterchi blocks the long road between Citta di Castello and Arezzo (c. 40 km) and is, though rather small, the major location for this road. Very close to Monterchi is the location Cisterna, but somehow there is no direct road, likely cause it#s not possible cause of natural conditions.

Treccani.it and its biography of Giusto frequently returns to this Monterchi and the close court of Pantaneto, which somehow belongs to Malatesta, but was once also property of the Tarlati family, from which Giusto and his condottieri took once Monterchi.
Spesso la sua partecipazione agli eventi militari si spinse ben oltre la semplice presenza come "cancelliere del soldo". Il 28 maggio 1440, con alcuni degli uomini della compagnia di Agnolo Taglia, il G. cavalcava verso Montagutello e i territori di madonna Anfrosina da Montedoglio, vedova di Carlo Tarlati da Pietramala e alleata dei Milanesi contro Firenze, facendo razzia di bestiame. Tra la fine d'agosto e l'ottobre 1441 prendeva parte alla spedizione organizzata da Agnolo Taglia e dal cognato di questo Alberigo Brancaleoni per strappare a Guidantonio da Montefeltro alcuni castelletti del Montefeltro un tempo appartenuti ai Brancaleoni e che, a seguito dell'accordo di pace tra Sigismondo Malatesta e Guidantonio, il Taglia fu costretto a restituire, cedendo al contempo anche la piccolissima signoria che aveva iniziato a costituire con l'appoggio del Malatesta tra Romagna e Toscana acquistando nel novembre 1439 da Laudadeo da Sarsina, al costo di 4000 ducati veneziani, Castel d'Elci, Senatello e la Faggiola, per intermediazione e per atto rogato dallo stesso Giusti.
I frequenti rapporti intrattenuti come procuratore di conestabili con i principali cittadini fiorentini, e specialmente con Cosimo de' Medici, avevano permesso al G. di costruire un legame di familiarità e fiducia con gli uomini del regime mediceo, che gli valse importanti incarichi, sia informali sia ufficiali. Il 19 ag. 1442, alla notizia del passaggio da Città di Castello di Francesco Piccinino, il vicario di Anghiari lo inviò con 20 fanti anghiaresi alla guardia di Monterchi, che insieme con Valialle e Montagutello era stata sottratta dai Fiorentini a madonna Anfrosina da Montedoglio all'indomani della battaglia di Anghiari (29 giugno 1440). Di lì a poco, il 21 febbr. 1443, la Signoria lo elesse primo vicario fiorentino di Monterchi.

...

La familiarità tra il G. e il Malatesta datava almeno dal tardo 1439, quando aveva iniziato a negoziare con lui la condotta di Agnolo Taglia e quando Sigismondo aveva favorito la creazione della piccola signoria del conestabile. Nel settembre del 1440, andando a visitare Agnolo che si trovava in campo presso Forlì, il G. aveva portato in regalo al signore di Rimini un paio di naibi a trionfi, che aveva fatto dipingere apposta a Firenze con le insegne del Malatesta. Il 30 giugno dell'anno successivo il Malatesta gli aveva a sua volta donato la possessione di Pantaneto, posta tra Anghiari e Citerna; e più volte, nell'ottobre del 1441, nel giugno del 1442 e nel luglio del 1457, gli aveva offerto di entrare al suo servizio come cancelliere deputato sopra le genti d'arme. Nel giugno del 1457, sentendosi il Malatesta minacciato dalle forze di Jacopo Piccinino, aveva chiesto e ottenuto che il G. gli procurasse alcuni conestabili, e a più riprese, tra la seconda metà del 1457 e gli inizi dell'anno successivo, gli aveva dato incarico di cercare di ottenere aiuti a Firenze, sia informalmente presso Cosimo de' Medici, sia ufficialmente, come suo inviato presso la Signoria.
Tra ottobre e novembre 1463 il G. venne incaricato dalla Signoria e da Cosimo di trattare per il Comune di Firenze l'acquisto di Citerna, situata tra Anghiari e Monterchi e facente parte dei territori del Malatesta, che più volte ne aveva offerto l'acquisto a Firenze, anche tramite il Giusti. Nel novembre 1463 il Malatesta si trovava in guerra col papa e Citerna, come gli altri territori del suo Stato, stava per cadere in mani pontificie. Il G., con gli ampi poteri discrezionali concessigli dalla Signoria, cercò di negoziarne la dedizione a Firenze dietro pagamento di un'ingente somma al Malatesta e al suo capitano residente nella rocca del piccolo Comune. Lo scarso entusiasmo nei confronti del dominio fiorentino da parte di alcuni eminenti membri della comunità locale e l'intenzione di Sigismondo di riservarsi fino all'ultimo la cessione di Citerna al papa per poter avere più ampio margine di trattativa sul versante romagnolo fecero sì che nonostante gli intensi sforzi di mediazione del G. la dedizione non andasse in porto.
I wrote about the Tarlati earlier in the Arezzo thread (Phaeded participated)...

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=901&p=13149&hilit=tarlati#p13149

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....

... reading through this older material and looking at these dice in the heraldry of the Tarlati bishop in Arezzo, I remember, that Hübsch (he noted very early early playing cards in Bohemia since 1340) and others noted, that the returning soldiers of emperor Henry VII in Bohemia were very fond of dice-playing and started excessive gambling sessions in Bohemia ... in early 14th century.
Card playing (according Hübsch) was interpreted by Charles, later emperor (since 1446), as a game of skill, not of luck. Charles seems to have been interested to stop the gambling habits of his knights. And he seems to have used cards for it.

Franco had a lot of early card playing documents findings in Arezzo. He interpreted, that these documents were dependent of imports from Florence. But Florence had card prohibition in 1377. And Florence was often hostile to Arezzo, till Arezzo was taken in 1384.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Anghiari Deck debate

13
Structuring the text of Giusto Giusti, mainly according to the condition: "Where was Giusto?" And: "Where were the others?"

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Giusto was in Florence and hears of the victory of Anghiari (or Angari). In 1-2 days he arrived near his condottieri.
(30th of June to 1st of July)

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The condottieri take Bibbiena, after some fights. Giusto is with them. (2nd to 3rd of July)

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Nero di Gino, top commander, seems to be present in Bibbiena. (5th to 7th July)

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Giusto returns to Florence. (8th to 9th of June)

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Agnolo Agnari, condottiero, arrives in Florence (11th of July)

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Agnolo Agnari, condottiero, leaves Florence (17th of July)

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Giusto leaves Florence (21st of July). They gather around Arezzo, Monterchi, Citerna and the corte of Pantaneto (30th of July) at the border of Tuscany.

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Only two notes for the month of August. Giusto is possibly in all this time on Malatesta or foreign territory, which possibly explains other missing notes. Gregorio d'Angari, condottiero and brother of Agnolo, travels to Florence and back (12th till 24th of August). Possibly it's Gregorio, who brings the Trionfi deck from Florence. Or it's Gregorio, who orders the Trionfi deck production in Florence and also orders the transport to the soldier camp.

I've trouble to locate "Valdilamona". Was Gregorio really in Florence?

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Notes in September till 16th of September. All from foreign territory. For the 16th of September it seems, that Malatesta gets the Trionfi cards.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Anghiari Deck debate

14
Controlling the presence of Giusto short after battle of Anghiari according his diary there is the impression, that he hadn't much time in the city of Florence, only 9th - 21th of July. We cannot be sure about August, cause there are not much notes.
About the action of Gregorio of Agnari in this month August ..

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.... there is my impression, that he wasn't in the city of Florence, but only on Florentine territory close to the location "Valdilamona", from which I can't say, where it is.

I capture ...
Four great battles had now been fought during this war, those of Zagonara, of Valdilamona, of Anghiari, and of Faggiuola ; and in every one of them the Florentines had been thoroughly defeated. " The grief in the city," says Ammirato,* " was much greater than can be described by words !"
.. and this relates to the year 1426 and the condottieri Piccinino was involved, and Piccinino was painted as the Hanging Man.
http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_ ... 361698/465

There is a river "Lamone" on my map, which flows from the city Marradi in direction Brisighella and then to Faenza, far away from Florence city. But the Lamone has naturally created a valley, and the valley has naturally a street and the street leads through the mountains to Tuscany. A natural place for a battle against an army, which attempts to enter Tuscany.
So I assume, that Gregorio wasn't in the city of Florence, but in the country of Florence and he went with some men to defend the Val di Lamona.
The Lamone river springs from Poggio alle Travi in Tuscany at high of 972 mts, flows through Marradi, after enters in Romagna touching Brisighella, Faenza, Russi, Bagnacavallo, emerging into the sea after 88 km near Marina Romea. The source unfortunately, especially in Summer, is sometimes dry becouse the water has been captured by an acqueduct. The source can be easily reache from the La Colla Pass in 10 minutes of strolling. Enjoy!
http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC4K ... del-lamone

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Where was Giusto in August 1440 .... ?

http://stemmieimprese.it/2011/03/03/%E2 ... malatesta/
Nello stesso anno il Giusti inizia a negoziare il passaggio della condotta del Taglia sotto le bandiere di Sigismondo il quale arriverà persino a favorire la creazione di un piccolo feudo del capitano. Quest’ultimo pochi mesi dopo la battaglia di Anghiari passerà sotto il Malatesta con 300 cavalli e 400 fanti trasferendo anche la sua residenza a Rimini[17]. Sigismondo dona ad Agnolo poderi, case, castelli in mezzadria, il capitano vince per il suo signore più volte ma specialmente sui Montefeltro ( storici nemici dei Malatesta ) a Montelocco nel 1441[18]. Infine il Taglia fa una breve ferma sotto Francesco Sforza fino al 1442, poi più nulla fino alla morte, come racconta il Taglieschi, avvenuta a Rimini all’età di 52 anni[19] con esequie di gran pompa poco frequenti al periodo. Era il 1444 all’incirca l’anno della medaglia del Pisanello.
Well, they were active for Malatesta, likely with some agreement from the Florentine side. 300 cavalli and 400 fanti are quite a lot of people to care for. Giusto likely had enough to do and no time to make formal visits to Florence. We have to assume, that he made a good job in the Florentine eyes, finally he becomes an important man in Monterchi. Giusto was enjoyed about this commission "for one year" ... at 21st of February 1443. Giusto is the first, who gets such a commission in Monterchi.

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Condottieridiventura.it has for Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta the presence in August and September/October...

http://www.condottieridiventura.it/inde ... di-brescia
August: Combatte i ducali agli ordini di Francesco Sforza, mentre il fratello Domenico si conduce al soldo dei Visconti. Colloca il campo a Ronco ed assedia Forlimpopoli: i difensori hanno spesso la meglio sui suoi uomini. Si accampa a Selbagnone ed assedia Forlì.

September/October: Occupa Bagnacavallo, Massa Lombarda ed altre terre dell’imolese; non può, o non vuole, impedire a Francesco Piccinino l’ingresso in Forlì. Danneggia molti villaggi e tenta di espugnare il capoluogo. Vista l'inanità dell' impresa si sposta prima a Forlimpopoli con gli altri condottieri. A metà ottobre i fiorentini prendono la strada di Capodicolle e della val di Savio: Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta si ferma a San Vittore perché trattenuto dai fiumi in piena. Le milizie fiorentine proseguono per la Toscana; egli deve, invece, fermarsi per qualche giorno in quanto non può trovare riparo a Cesena dal momento che il fratello milita al soldo del duca di Milano. Rientra a Rimini.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Anghiari Deck debate

15
Huck wrote: .... there is my impression, that he wasn't in the city of Florence, but only on Florentine territory close to the location "Valdilamona", from which I can't say, where it is.
Niccolò Machiavelli, The History of Florence, Book IV [pre-Anghiari, sometime before 1434] (from an old English 1675 translation, reprinted in 1891, 196)
"In the meantime Conte Oddo, with Nicolo Piccinino, were entered into the Valdi Lamona, to see if they could reduce the State of Faenza to an amity with the Florentines, or at least hinder Agnolo della Pergola from making incursions freely into the territory of Romagna. But the vale being very strong, and the inhabitants martial, Conte Oddo was slain and Piccino carried prisoner to Faenza."

So its an Apennine pass leading to Faenza (that city being famous for its majolica in the Renaissance), which is 50 kms SE of Bologna. Imola is to the north and Forli to the south of Faenza, all on the straight road between Bologna and Rimini. Val di Lamona might have been the mountain route that the soldiers, provisioned by Giusti for Malaesta, took to get from the Anghiari area to Rimini.

Phaeded

Re: Anghiari Deck debate

16
Phaeded wrote: So its an Apennine pass leading to Faenza (that city being famous for its majolica in the Renaissance), which is 50 kms SE of Bologna. Imola is to the north and Forli to the south of Faenza, all on the straight road between Bologna and Rimini. It might have been the mountain route that the soldiers, provisioned by Giusti for Malaesta, took to get from the Anghiari area to Rimini.

Phaeded
Yes, I noted it in the meanwhile. I even went the way by car once, though not knowing the name of the valley.

Gregorio, the condottiero brother, was captured there, 5th of April 1440, together with his company.

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Mid of May 1440 Giusto got a somewhat strange commission visiting Malatesta .. and somhow also Piccinino.

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The footnote tells, that it also had the objective to get freedom for Gregorio. As far I understand it.

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This one I had already ... Gregory leaves and comes back.

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In the follow-up Gregory isn't mentioned. At September 28 he reappears again in the soldier camp (so he must have left before, but this wasn't noted by Giusto).


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I think, that Gregory had a reason to say thank you to Malatesta. Possibly he's the one, who bought the deck, but possibly he had no opportunity to meet Malatesta.

But naturally there are other possibilities. Possibly Malatesta had seen Trionfi decks for the first time, and had asked Giusto to get one for him.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Anghiari Deck debate

17
Huck wrote:
Possibly he's [Gregory] the one, who bought the deck, but possibly he had no opportunity to meet Malatesta.

But naturally there are other possibilities. Possibly Malatesta had seen Trionfi decks for the first time, and had asked Giusto to get one for him.
I don't understand what is the basis of your conjectures here in light of Giusti's own entry: He proudly notes he commissioned the cards in Florence for Malatesta. No mention of selling it to an intermediary and if a ruler of a state, no matter how small (and Rimini was important enough to be a problem for many), had commissioned the deck through Giusti then he surely would have mentioned that.

The over-riding context is that Malatesta is part of the Papal-Florentine-Venetian alliance against Visconti in the early 1440s. However, Giusti closely follows Sforza's every move in his diary and Sforza is considered the main condottiero of the "Holy Alliance", although his victories were in the east (e.g., Soncino, where Borso is captured); the Florentine herald's song celebrating the Anghiari victory hails the men of Sforza, even though he was not present (Attendolo's contingent was - perhaps wrongly - seen as an extension of Sforza's fighting forces). So Giusti has a deck made for yet another condottiero, also not present at Anghiari but part of the alliance, and he does this out of the blue, without precedent? Sforza was quite clearly Cosimo's creature (a branch of his bank was opened in Ancona, in 1436 if I remember correctly, just to service Sforza's needs) - if there were a deck made for him it would have come from Cosimo's party proper. And if there were no triumphal gifts of decks being made in Florence we are left with the unlikely position of having a notary from Anghiari concieve of the idea on his own and to have it made in Florence. There had to be a precedent, IMO, and how that precedent could not have involved Sforza and the Medici is beyond me. Again, Giusti followed Sforza's every move and was connected to highly placed Medici partisans (Morelli), so he would have been aware of the precedent and copied it. I just don't see any evidence for that precedent before Anghiari.

Phaeded

Re: Anghiari Deck debate

18
Phaeded wrote:
Huck wrote:
Possibly he's [Gregory] the one, who bought the deck, but possibly he had no opportunity to meet Malatesta.

But naturally there are other possibilities. Possibly Malatesta had seen Trionfi decks for the first time, and had asked Giusto to get one for him.
I don't understand what is the basis of your conjectures here in light of Giusti's own entry: He proudly notes he commissioned the cards in Florence for Malatesta. No mention of selling it to an intermediary and if a ruler of a state, no matter how small (and Rimini was important enough to be a problem for many), had commissioned the deck through Giusti then he surely would have mentioned that.
Yes, you're right. But I'm puzzled by the condition, that it looks, as if Giusto hadn't been in Florence a longer time, since 21st of July (of course, there is guarantee about this - the month of August knows not much reports).

Ross translated:
"Translation: Friday 16 September, I gave to the magnificent lord sir Gismondo, a pack of triumph cards, that I had made expressly in Florence, with his arms, and beautifully done, which cost me four and a half ducats."
Franco didn't translate, but noted, that there might be different commata, which possibly changed the meaning a little bit. Further he has doubts, that ducato might have been lire in the original text (which is missing).

Franco's both texts:
1. Venerdì a dì 16 settembre donai al magnifico signore messer Gismondo un paio di naibi a trionfi, che io avevo fatto fare a posta a Fiorenza con l’armi sua, belli, che mi costaro ducati quattro e mezzo.

2. Venerdì a dì 16 settembre donai al magnifico signore messer Gismondo un paio di naibi a trionfi, che io avevo fatto fare a posta a Fiorenza con l’armi sua belli che mi costaro ducati quattro e mezzo.

Ross has a strange "expressly" in his text, likely caused by "a posta".

http://dict.leo.org/itde/index_de.html# ... wSingle=on

Well, that's German, but according this "a posta" or "a posto" can have rather different context. But it's "a posta" and not "a posto", so shall it be, and then should it be, that "he made it with the post", as posta = "Post", but "a posta" is missing in this combination.
"A posta corrente" is given as "postwendend", then it has something of "quick and immediately". But corrente isn't in the text.

So the closest thing seems to be "he made it with the post". In 15th century he had to pay the messenger for a long way. Perhaps this explains the price. Naturally I'm not sure, but he made it ith the post its with the condition, that I don't find him in Florence for a longer time.

How do you translate it?
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Anghiari Deck debate

19
Franco Pratesi confirms the "expressly" of Ross, indicating that "intentionally" or "on purpose" might be clearer, and the "expressly" is related to the Malatesta heraldry. So it's nothing with my "indication of post".

You wrote:
The over-riding context is that Malatesta is part of the Papal-Florentine-Venetian alliance against Visconti in the early 1440s.
That's definitely wrong. He'd turned to the Visconti side around January/February 1440 (under pressure of the approaching Piccinino) and returned back likely after the battle of Anghiari, when he met the papal military leader Orsini.
However, Giusti closely follows Sforza's every move in his diary and Sforza is considered the main condottiero of the "Holy Alliance", although his victories were in the east (e.g., Soncino, where Borso is captured); the Florentine herald's song celebrating the Anghiari victory hails the men of Sforza, even though he was not present (Attendolo's contingent was - perhaps wrongly - seen as an extension of Sforza's fighting forces). So Giusti has a deck made for yet another condottiero, also not present at Anghiari but part of the alliance, and he does this out of the blue, without precedent? Sforza was quite clearly Cosimo's creature (a branch of his bank was opened in Ancona, in 1436 if I remember correctly, just to service Sforza's needs) - if there were a deck made for him it would have come from Cosimo's party proper. And if there were no triumphal gifts of decks being made in Florence we are left with the unlikely position of having a notary from Anghiari concieve of the idea on his own and to have it made in Florence. There had to be a precedent, IMO, and how that precedent could not have involved Sforza and the Medici is beyond me. Again, Giusti followed Sforza's every move and was connected to highly placed Medici partisans (Morelli), so he would have been aware of the precedent and copied it. I just don't see any evidence for that precedent before Anghiari.
Giusto starts his diary in 1436, but the first book is lost. So he jumps in the war of Lucca in spring 1437. This war finishes in 1438, with only small gains for Florence. That wasn't much of a victory, but at least it was a victory or could be interpreted a such. Sforza participated as major commander and Giusto was also engaged. Perhaps there and then the idea of Trionfi cards appeared first.

Or they appeared with 1439 and the council.

We've twice recorded personal triumphal habits, once of Vitelleschi and another event from this smaller condottiero Trinci (1438, in Foligno, after conquering Spoleto), who was killed short after it (1441). And Vitelleschi was also killed (1./2. April 1440), short before Piccinino came. He was accused to have cooperated with Piccinino.

In 1438 Sforza prepared his wedding party, but the bride didn't come. This was another opportunity for projected triumphal customs.

And the year 1436 was interesting, with the opening of the finished Duomo and the installment of the Hawkwood picture.

We had some earlier research to all this ...
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=905&p=13964&hilit= ... chi#p13964
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Anghiari Deck debate

20
Huck wrote:
Phaeded wrote:
The over-riding context is that Malatesta is part of the Papal-Florentine-Venetian alliance against Visconti in the early 1440s.
That's definitely wrong. He'd turned to the Visconti side around January/February 1440 (under pressure of the approaching Piccinino) and returned back likely after the battle of Anghiari, when he met the papal military leader Orsini. , after conquering Spoleto), who was killed short after it (1441). And Vitelleschi was also killed (1./2. April 1440), short before Piccinino came. He was accused to have cooperated with Piccinino.
The machine-translation from Treccani for Malatesta in 1440:
Therefore, in 1440 Filippo Maria Visconti, with cunning strategy, sent to Romagna, as a diversion, Niccolò Piccinino with 6000 horsemen to directly threaten the territories Malatesta, against which he had moved too Guidantonio da Montefeltro. The capitulation of the brothers Malatesta was the only possible solution: at the end of March he went to M. Polenta to make a deal which involved the granting to him, in common with his brother and reversing the previous alliances, a pipeline from each part of Piccinino, although neither of them was immediately forced to fight against Francesco Sforza, Venice, Florence and the Church. Probably during the same Piccinino negotiations concluded a peace on the lords of Rimini and Urbino, as a result of a war fought against the year before by M. Federico da Montefeltro.
http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/sig ... ografico)/

So Malatesta wavered in the Papal-Florentine-Venetian alliance but never initiated hostilities. But all the more reason for Medici Florence to act in getting Malatesta back into the fold immediately after Anghiari. Giusti, volunteerily as a Medici partisan or under the strong suggestion by someone higher up within the Medici ranks such as Morelli, was the one who made that diplomatic gesture via the cards. Perhaps after Malatesta's minor betrayal (which reads more like a temporary agreement to support Visconti but whose non-actions were simply neutrality) it was beneath Cosimo to reach out directly to Malatesta, and so an intermediary (Giusti) was used who was already dealing with him in arms?
Huck wrote:
We've twice recorded personal triumphal habits, once of Vitelleschi and another event from this smaller condottiero Trinci (1438, in Foligno, after conquering Spoleto), who was killed short after it (1441). And Vitelleschi was also killed (1./2. April 1440), short before Piccinino came.
You're forgetting Vitelleschi's Venetian sucessor, Ludovico Trevisan (the papal commander at Anghiari), whose medal has been connected to Anghiari and most definitely shows a triumph:
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Phaeded
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