Civic Knighthood in the Early Renaissance: Leonardo Bruni’s De militia (ca. 1420)
Hankins, James
Working paper – Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University (2011)
Abstract
In the comic tales of Franco Sacchetti, the trecento novellista, there is a story (no. 150) that shows with great vividness how Florentines of the early Renaissance viewed the knighthood of their time. A knight of the Bardi family has been chosen as a judge (podestà) in the city of Padua. He is a tiny man, unmilitary in his habits, and an indifferent horseman. To give himself a more impressive appearance, he decides to wear a magnificent crest on his helmet, consisting of a bear rampant with drawn claws and the motto: “Non ischerzare con l’orso, se non vuogli esser morso”(Don’t play games with the bear if you don’t want to be eaten). On his way to Padua, he passes through Ferrara, where in the main piazza by the prince’s castle he is accosted by a gigantic German knight. The German, who is a bit tipsy, is incensed to see the diminutive Florentine bearing what he claims are his, the German’s, own arms and so he challenges the Florentine to a duel. The Florentine, however, can see no point in coming to blows and arranges a deal through his seconds. “Let’s settle this with florins and put honor aside, he says. If you want me to go on my way as I came, I’ll be off right now; if you mean that I shouldn’t bear his crest, I swear by God’s holy angels that it’s mine and that I had it made in Florence by the painter Luchino and it cost me five florins; if he wants it, give me five florins and take the crest away.”
Civic Knighthood in the Early Renaissance: Leonardo Bruni’s De militia (ca. 1420)
Hankins, James
Working paper – Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University (2011)
Abstract
In the comic tales of Franco Sacchetti, the trecento novellista, there is a story (no. 150) that shows with great vividness how Florentines of the early Renaissance viewed the knighthood of their time. A knight of the Bardi family has been chosen as a judge (podestà) in the city of Padua. He is a tiny man, unmilitary in his habits, and an indifferent horseman. To give himself a more impressive appearance, he decides to wear a magnificent crest on his helmet, consisting of a bear rampant with drawn claws and the motto: “Non ischerzare con l’orso, se non vuogli esser morso”
(Don’t play games with the bear if you don’t want to be eaten). On his way to Padua, he passes through Ferrara, where in the main piazza by the prince’s castle he is accosted by a gigantic German knight. The German, who is a bit tipsy, is incensed to see the diminutive Florentine bearing what he claims are his, the German’s, own arms and so he challenges the Florentine to a duel. The Florentine, however, can see no point in coming to blows and arranges a deal through his seconds. “Let’s settle this with florins and put honor aside, he says. If you want me to go on my way as I came, I’ll be off right now; if you mean that I shouldn’t bear his crest, I swear by God’s holy angels that it’s mine and that I had it made in Florence by the painter Luchino and it cost me five florins; if he wants it, give me five florins and take the crest away.”
Click here to read this paper from Harvard University
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