[Continuing last post]:
I owe you the right citation for the Devil being an Emperor in Dante’s Inferno:
It is in Inf. XXXIV, 28:
https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante ... nferno-34/
Lo ’mperador del doloroso regno
[The emperor of the despondent kingdom]
But if the Devil can be an Emperor in his reign, the God is another Emperor in his reign, and his representant on earth, the pope, can also be one.
We have to ask for the definition of “emperor” at the time of the cards. The wordly definition is, that an emperor reigns over the whole earthly world, also over kingdoms within his empire. He dominates kings. He triumphs over kings, over all four kings of the kingdoms from north, south, east and west. This holds true for HRE, roughly: north is Germany, east is Bohemia, south is (northern) Italy, west is France. This gives explicitely
Definition of Emperor: whenever a person triumphs over a king, he is an emperor.
This holds true for the pope in his reign. I cite again
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donation_of_Constantine
In his gratitude, "Constantine" determined to bestow on the seat of Peter "power, and dignity of glory, vigor, and imperial honor," and "supremacy as well over the four principal sees: Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Constantinople, as also over all the churches of God in the whole earth". For the upkeep of the church of Saint Peter and that of Saint Paul, he gave landed estates "in Judea, Greece, Asia, Thrace, Africa, Italy and the various islands". To Sylvester and his successors he also granted imperial insignia, the tiara, and "the city of Rome, and all the provinces, places and cities of Italy and the western regions"
Note “imperial honor”, “supremacy […] over four principal sees […] over all churches of God in the whole earth”, “To Sylvester and his successors he also granted imperial insignia” – so no doubt that the pope is a kind of emperor. He triumphs over every king in the sense that he can excommunicate him at every time – he can exclude the king from God’s domain (see e.g., the road to Canossa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_to_Canossa , where even the HRE was excommunicated by the pope).
Now I come to your remark
Phaeded wrote: 04 May 2022, 01:07
* As for "Carnival Emperor" - is this attested anywhere in cards? And I say that because I see survivals of details of suggested in JvR in the likes of Flötner's late card deck of 1545 (where an Emperor and three kings are suggested, one being a Sultan).
The Carnival Emperor is not attested in the cards as a depiction [Perhaps you might see the noble bagatella of Visconti-Sforza as one, at least he wears a hat similar to a pope’s winter hat].
In another post in this very forum, I proposed to see the bagatella –card less like a person, more like a situation, a situation in which even a king is deceived and hence someone tricks him and reigns him and his senses – for a short moment, following the above definition, a bagatto is an Emperor, because he dominates a king.
There is even more to this, since a “Carnival Emperor” really existed in history. We are in Renaissance times, hence we have to look into the roots of Carnival in the Saturnalia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturnalia
Role reversal
Saturnalia was characterized by role reversals and behavioral license. […] slaves feasted first, or that the masters actually served the food. […] Saturnalian license also permitted slaves to disrespect their masters without the threat of a punishment.
[…]
King of the Saturnalia
Imperial sources refer to a Saturnalicius princeps ("Ruler of the Saturnalia"), who ruled as master of ceremonies for the proceedings. He was appointed by lot, and has been compared to the medieval Lord of Misrule at the Feast of Fools. His capricious commands, such as "Sing naked!" or "Throw him into cold water!", had to be obeyed by the other guests at the convivium: he creates and (mis)rules a chaotic and absurd world. The future emperor Nero is recorded as playing the role in his youth.
Since this figure does not appear in accounts from the Republican period, the princeps of the Saturnalia may have developed as a satiric response to the new era of rule by a princeps, the title assumed by the first emperor Augustus to avoid the hated connotations of the word "king" (rex). […]
Io Saturnalia
The phrase io Saturnalia was the characteristic shout or salutation of the festival […] It was a strongly emotive ritual exclamation or invocation, used for instance in announcing triumph […]
Note the role reversal, note “the princeps of the Saturnalia may have developed as a satiric response to the new era of rule by a princeps, the title assumed by the first emperor Augustus” word “, note the “triumph” associated with the shout “Io Saturnalia”.
In the same Wikipedia article, the connection between emperor and saturnalian princeps is discussed by the picture
Ave, Caesar! Io, Saturnalia! (1880) by Lawrence Alma-Tadema. The painting's title draws a comparison between the spontaneous declaration of Claudius as the new emperor by the Praetorian Guard after the assassination of Caligula and the election of a Saturnalicius princeps.
So the Carnival Emperor is not only a fantasy, it is history. Whether he is in the cards or not is another story. But if Carnival is the bagatella situation – and there were imposters at Carnivals—then the personification of Carnival can be the Carnival Emperor. Note that up to day, German Karneval has its Karneval Prince, its Carneval Princeps.