The Oxford History of the Renaissance by Campbell Gordon;

Author:Campbell, Gordon; [Campbell, Gordon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Incorporated
Published: 2023-04-29T00:00:00+00:00

Princely parades

A traditional and persistent obligation for the performing arts was to collaborate in making the presence of princes spectacularly visible to the crowds when they made their formal entries into cities or were disguised on their way to display their chivalric skills on the marketplace. As a Spanish visitor to London remarked, commenting on Elizabeth I’s progresses, ‘in pompous ceremonies a secret of government doth much consist’. Princely entries in the Renaissance were ubiquitous: a monarch entering his capital after his coronation; an emperor riding in a great cavalcade into a conquered city; a prince being received by a friendly power; a pope taking possession of his charge or celebrating his jubilee; or an emperor introducing his son to his heritage. Each event required close collaboration from the designer/poet, the artist, the composer, and the expert in inscriptions. The interplay of their skills emerges from specific examples. Forms of royal entries evolved from simple structures peopled with live actors singing and reciting verses in praise of the city and the prince, to become elaborate arches, covered with learned mottoes and symbols, their overall form inspired by buildings in Rome and by books of architecture and prints. There was an evolution too in the focus of such events. In the early entries, corporations expressed sincere welcome to a prince whom they exalted; affection, gifts, and a renewal of the city’s privileges were the dominant features. By the time Charles IX entered Paris in 1571, the king was no longer depicted as a dispenser of justice; that virtue had been absorbed into a display of majesty. With this evolution came a shift in the imagery used; simple biblical and allegorical themes gave way to complex symbolism derived from history and mythology.

Princely entries tended to be highly personalized. When Pope Leo X made his triumphal entry into Florence in 1515, the city had thoroughly absorbed the lessons of Lorenzo the Magnificent. He saw arches depicting the four cardinal virtues, human and divine felicity, while mingled in were structures that imitated monuments in Rome: the Castello Sant’Angelo, the Vatican obelisk, and a stately column—a copy of one in Rome. After all, the Medici pope was at home in both cities. The Emperor Charles V, too, was accorded numerous triumphal entries in Italy. In Bologna (1529/30), where the pope crowned Charles as emperor, a vast procession paraded through the streets demonstrating the emperor’s military might: cannons mounted on chariots; and an army which accompanied Charles V in full armour, his helmet topped with the imperial golden eagle. His followers reminded the crowd of the vast territories over which he ruled, yet the decorations on the arches argued for peace. His entry into Rome (February 1536) was equally spectacular. Here, many buildings were destroyed to create unhindered vistas onto surviving triumphal monuments of the ancient city, to which were added structures forming a replay of the victories of Paulus Aemilius. The parallels with the emperor could not have been more potent, and their personal application was explained to him as he stopped to study each arch.

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