Huck wrote: 01 Sep 2020, 02:38
Source: Das Konzil von Konstanz und Ungarn (... council of Constance and Hungary 1415-1418)
by Forschungsgruppe "Ungarn im mittelalterlichen Europa" Universtität Debrecen (2016)
Article by Péter E. Kovács: Imperia im Imperium. Unterhaltung und Spektakel auf dem Konzil von Konstanz. (p. 107-129)
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/78474556.pdf
The emperor Sigismund gives the order at 7th of October 2017, that nobody shall play with cards or other items in Constance till the new pope is elected. The order was distributed in the churches of Constance.
Nice find Huck.
Certainly interesting in light of previous discussions about Eugene and court being resident in S. Maria Novella/Florence when tarot first emerges, as it seems clear from that reference that the ecclesiastical class - which had plenty of down time - played cards. Why wouldn't they have taken notice of a new type of deck that emerged in their midst? The socio-political context is, of course, the Church militarily allied to Florence against F. Visconti and exiled Florentines.
In light of all that, I continue to posit that tarot was conceived of with an eye regarding that alliance...and to say it again, an argument as to why the Theological virtues, later found in Milan in the CY, were there from the beginning in Florence, for this very reason. They were replaced at a later date by one who did not have any sort of alliance with the Church - F. Sforza.
The military outcome of that alliance was celebrated by both Florence and the Church:
Notably the Theological Virtues are treated monumentally in the heart of Florence in the intervening period between the Council of Constance and Anghiari, in Donatello and Michelozzo's Tomb of Antipope John XXIII (c. 1425 - 1430) in the Baptistery, paid for by the same man who brought the current pope, Eugene, to Florence.
A c. 1435 cassone by dal Ponte celebrating all seven virtues in Florence, thus in the same intervening period leading up to the emergence of tarot:
That we would have a c. 1441 early tarot deck in Milan featuring all seven canonical virtues, but only the Cardinal virtues in Florence, flies in the face of all the contemporary evidence in Florence (and there is plenty more evidence of the fetishizing of all seven virtues monumentally in Florence; e.g., the Loggia dei Lanzi).
To the point: Pratesi has shown the state's regulation of cardplaying in the period right before the emergence of tarot, so employing a new deck of cards in a propagandist manner would be wholly unsurprising, extrapolating an assumed popularity among the local masses; to produce such a deck that was also inclusive of the allied and resident Pope is somewhat unsurprising as well, but especially if it flattered them in some ways, which arguably the Theologicals do (they are associated with a pope in the baptistery, not the commune). This additional notice that the prelates were already busily playing cards at a council (and the Florence church council just precedes tarot) supports this thesis.
Phaeded