We also have from the 17th (?)* century:
La Granda de Tarocchini che invita le Sfere Celesti Auree Ferree, e Sotterranee, al Trionfante Applauso Universale del Sig. Andrea Casale
Bologna, Biblioteca dell’Archiginnasio, ms. A. 1920, parte II, c. 1/3
The Grand Ones of Tarocchini who invites the Celestial Spheres, Golden, Iron, and Subterranean to the Triumphant Universal Applause of Signor Andrea Casale
(Translated by ChatGPT)
The
Angel with a Resounding Trumpet
At Heaven's Rostrum calls and proclaims
With triple summons to the entire
World:
Andrea Casale, noble Bolognese,
Lives — and it is true, not imagined.
At such a great Proclamation were present
The Two Great Luminaries of the Spheres:
On the right, the gilded
Sun;
On the left, the silvered
Moon.
No more deceits — but rather, triumph!
Let all yield in favor of the triumphant.
The
Star that ruled at his nativity
Willed to return him beneath the Roof
Where he was born in his childish age.
But lo! While found beneath the siege
Of mighty Ostend Fortress in Flanders,
He is
struck down by enemy hand,
A treacherous musket shot
Piercing his left arm.
Abandoned, and thought lifeless,
His companions believed him dead —
Who found him, who tended his wounds,
Let him himself recount, for he is not dead.
The
Devil, thrashing his tail in vain
To make others believe in his
demise,
Tries, with cunning, to sway the
Traitor
To swear by rites and solemn rites
That are reserved for mortal funerals.
Then, after thirty years in Turkish hands,
From the Congregation of Redemption
He is redeemed—and brought to Rome,
To be displayed with pomp on the Capitol,
Amid a multitude of rescued slaves.
His name, surname, rank, and homeland declared.
Though worn by hardship and long suffering,
With hair turned white, like an
old man,
His fate at last, moved by pity,
Lifts him up upon
Fortune’s wheel.
And with sheer
force against his foes —
For
just cause and
fair balance —
Almost upon a
triumphal chariot
He is led back to his beloved homeland.
Seen again by dear and loving friends,
And by the greatest throng of people.
With joyful brow and heartfelt
love,
Popes and Judges, well-informed
By thousands—yes, by thousands—of signs, proofs, and witnesses,
Have declared him to be
Andrea Casale,
True in person, real and living.
Not valuing the frivolous arguments
Of the opposing side — a mere
Trifler.
Here we conclude a royal Sentence:
It is a wondrous law of the Tarots:
Let him take nothing who tries to play the Fool.
APPLAUSE
The Angel, the World, Sun, Moon, and Star,
Lightning, Devil, Death, and Traitor,
The Old Man, Wheel, Strength, Justice, and Temperance,
Chariot, Love, four Popes with the Trifle,
Together in Rome with the Fool,
Let them sing with universal applause,
And long live, living in life, Andrea Casale.
Source: Article by Andrea Vitali here:
http://www.letarot.it/page.aspx?id=870
I am not sure about the dating of the poem, but the mention of the Pope and four Papi suggest a date at least prior to 1725. According to the biography of Andrea Cassali at Treccani, the actual person claiming to be Andrea Cassali was prosecuted as an imposter and died in prison still protesting his identity in 1639, being at odds with the happy ending of the poem
may indicate it was written prior to his conviction as an imposter?
The life of Andrea Cassali:
| Year | Event
|----------------|------
| 1584 | Son of Senator Mario and Barbara Malvezzi, born in Bologna on 3 October 1584.
| 1600 | At only sixteen years of age, he made his official entrance into the Senate on 5 October 1600 .
| 1603 | July 3 he left Bologna to join the Italian contingent of the Spanish army.
| 1604 | February - at Ostend in the camp of the troops commanded by Pompeo Giustiniani & enlisted to the company of the Milanese colonel Ludovico Melzi.
| #### | Andrea shot by a musket and left for dead at Ostend.
| #### | August, Felimeo Biancani, his companion in arms, arrived in Bologna with the news of his death and a will in which the deceased named his cousin
| #### | Michele as heir of his estate, valued at 150,000 Roman scudi, who then passed it on to his son Ferrante, who also occupied the senatorial seat.
|c1607 | Letters arrived in Bologna sent by C. to his mother, his cousin Ferrante and his uncle Protesilao Malvezzi, in which he asked to be ransomed,
| #### | but the testimonies of his companions in arms, in particular Biancani and Ippolito Marsili, who claimed to have seen him die & to have taken his remains
| #### | to Bruges to be buried, made the hypothesis that it was a forgery prevail.
| 1615 and 1624 | The family receive testimonies of the existence of a man, detained as a slave in Algiers, who claimed to be Senator C., and Ferrante Casali felt the need
| #### | to collect the official depositions of the men who claimed to have seen his cousin die.
| 1634 | the Fathers of the Madonna della Mercede ransomed a man in Algiers who claimed to be C., and in Bologna the usual poster was posted with the names
| #### | of the ransomed slaves, including that of the Bolognese senator. In Rome, the alleged C. began the process of making himself known, turning to Urban VIII himself,
| #### | whom he had met during the Bologna legation, recalling certain details of meetings they had had at that time. Ferrante Casali through his connections with the
| #### | Roman Curia, has alleged C. arrested as an impostor and forger.
According to the defendant's own version of the facts: he claimed to have been wounded by muske-shot fired by Marsili (one of his cousin's main witnesses) on the orders of Marc'Antonio Malvezzi with whom he was in dispute; then robbed of a "zibato" filled with a large quantity of gold, & abandoned for dead on the field occupied by the enemy. Taken prisoner, he fought for about five years in a fortress with the troops of Maurice of Nassau until he was allowed to return to his homeland... but during the voyage the ship was attacked by the Turks and he was taken into slavery in Barbary, where he remained for twenty-five years.
Despite public opinion and testimonies on behalf of the defendant (as the poet has it : By thousands—yes, by thousands—of signs, proofs, and witnesses,
Have declared him to be Andrea Casale, / True in person, real and living.,) and clear evidence that Ferrante Casali elicited false testimony against the defendant, (as the poet has it, identifying his prosecutors with the 'trifler' and the 'Fool', "They do not value the trifling claims / Of the opposing side a single trifle. / Here we conclude a royal Sentence: / It is the wondrous Law of the Tarot: / Let none gain who seeks to play the Fool.) after a three-year trial, the accused was found guilty and imprisoned. He died in March 1639, maintaining his identity to the end. As the poem says for those who play the fool to lose [identified with the plaintifs] , can we date it to the period of his trial, prior to the guilty verdict & imprisonment?
Source : Biography by Gian Paolo Brizzi, at Trecanni:
https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/an ... ografico)/