Ross Caldwell wrote: 09 Jul 2023, 09:23
Vulcan forges Jove's thunderbolts, so I wonder if this was some kind of propitiatory ritual. Perhaps Filippo Maria was not normally present, since Filelfo emphasizes that "not only was he present, but he directed the whole thing." ....


XXIV.
Franciscus Philelphus to Catone Sacco jurist.

I had intended to return to you today, but by order of the Prince, it is not permitted to move from here before the third day. Therefore, you will inform my wife Chrysolorina not to wonder or be disturbed that I have not returned by the appointed day. For one must obey the Prince. Farewell. From Milan. The day before the Kalends of January, 1439.


XXVI. Franciscus Philelphus Catoni Sacco, jurist.
... All the gifts were rings made of gold with gems, either pyropus or adamant... They claim that the most precious and superior rings are found in the metals of gold and that the first of these was discovered among the metals found in Ethiopia, between the temple of Mercury, which the Greeks call "hermen," and the island of Meroe, also a diamond found in Macedonia, discovered in the gold mines of Philippus,...There is another diamond found in Cyprus, which has a coppery color and is highly valued for its medicinal properties. There is also a diamond called Siderites... another diamond, specifically the one from Cyprus. While the more precious diamond is resistant to fire and iron and is called "adamant," it still yields to the blood of a male goat. When fresh and warm, it is soaked and eventually yields to blows and anvils. They believe that diamonds possess such power that they can remove the power of desire and dispel vain fears and drive them from the minds of men. ... From Milan, on the Kalends of January, in the year 1440 since the Christian Nativity.

XXVII.
"Franciscus Philelphus to Bornio Sala, jurist.
...whether it be the stubbornness of men or the influence of a fatal star, that I have twice fallen into the most atrocious storms and tempests of your republic.

First of all the breadth of his lapidary interest is undoubtedly part and parcel of his intertest in astrology (all things "hermetic"; and his keen interest in where the stones are from meshes with different countries being under different planets or constellations), which indeed gets alluded to in letter XXVII.

As for Vulcan, the god appears in direct dialogue with Filelfo along with Venus and Neptune regarding whether he should take a third wife, which is oddly yet another instance of a female spouse in connection with gods/heroes. The most relevant snip, where he again appears in connection with lightning bolts:


Re. "classicizing the annual burning (Vulcan) of the Yule log (trunk)" - might be relevant given that particular burning brand/bucket stemma:

Ross Caldwell wrote: 09 Jul 2023, 18:33 I'm really intrigued by Filelfo's brief allusion to Filippo Maria's annual offering of the trunk to Vulcan on 31 December/1 January (the day starting in the evening, so the night of 31 December is 1 January). Letter number XXVI here -
viewtopic.php?p=26011#p26011

It turns out that the classical Vulcanalia was on 23 August, so nowhere near 31 December. Anybody have any ideas what could be going on here? Another tradition?

+
It occurs to me that Filelfo could merely be classicizing the annual burning (Vulcan) of the Yule log (trunk), if that tradition were known then.

In the Ode, Vulcan's father is noted as the Nile, which puts us in the realm of the Phoenix, which probably leads nowhere, but calls to mind the significance of that bird. Given the duke's fears of eclipse and identification with the sun due to the solar stemma, the time of the winter solstice would be a time to rekindle the sun. The reborn sun = phoenix, which again is of course in Marziano. Probably need to look again at that odd 1430 ritual chariot he had made.

Cengarle, Federica, Covini, Maria Nadia (eds.), Ducato di Filippo Maria Visconti, 1412-1447. Economia, politica, cultura, 2015, "Il Sole ducale (1430): a proposito di una divisa viscontea", by Federica Cengarle. A bad machine translation from a line in the beginning, but to give you a taste:
In July 1430 Filippo Maria Visconti commissioned his courtiers to give an oration to celebrate the effigy of the sun of his quadriga [four horse chariot], an image that takes up the classic representation of the Sol Invictus, already used by the emperors, as well as its Christian repositioning, and which he now wants to use for his sign.

The phoenix definitely shows up as a kind of Sforza stemma, strongly with Bona of Savoy, but it preceded her use of it with Ippolita Sforza who was married off in Naples. She places a 'del parto' gesture hand on her stomach like the PMB Venus/"Star" (perhaps in consideration of future children) with the phoenix at her feet:

This manuscript of 1465, belonged to the Duchess of Calabria, Ippolita Maria Sforza. After his wedding with Alfonso de Aragón, Duke of Calabria, fourteen manuscripts were taken to Naples as part of his dowry. Of these codices, two are preserved in the University of Valencia, Ms. 49 and this Ms. 891 that contains the works of Virgil. This codex is one of the most beautiful manuscripts of the miniaturist known as the Master of Ippolita Sforza.

Bona's Hours (1490)

As well as a coin: N. GIAN GALEAZZO MARIA SFORZA - REGENCY OF BONA DI SAVOIA, 1476-1480. Testone (or Grosso da 20 Soldi). (face of St. Ambrose) BONA 7 IO GZ M DVCES MELI VI Veiled bust r. of Duchess Bona of Savoy. R/ (face of St. Ambrose) SOLA FACTAS SOLVM DEVM SEQVOR The phoenix with spread wings at the stake. https://drouot.com/en/l/21488332-ji-an- ... i-sa-wo-ya



Way back in 2009 mikeh posted this excellent info in the 5x14 thread, which would lead one to believe that the turtledove is radiate because it emerges phoenix-like from the flames:

Music in the Castle: Troubadours, books, and orators in Italian courts of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Centuries, by F. Alberto Gallo, Anna Herlotz, and Kathryn Krug, pp. 57-58. The authors describe a series of sonnets by Francesco di Vannozza, poet-musician at Giangaleazzo's court from 1389:
...it opens with a "canzon morale fatta per la divisa del conte di virtue (moral canzone written for the heraldic device of the count of Virtue). This introductory canzone describes the emblem and motto created by Petrarch for Giangaleazzo on the occasion of his marriage to Isabelle of France: a white turtledove within a sun emanating golden rays, and the French motto "A bon droyt" (with good reason: by right)...
The authors then talk about the miniatures that accompanied the verses, combining emblem, motto, and music. They continue:
"These same three elements are even more tightly and functionally grouped in a contemporary musical composition with the following descriptive French text:

Le ray au solely qui dret son karmene
En soy bracant la douce tortorelle
...
A bon droyt semble que en toy perfect regne.

The sun ray which leads a correct melody,
The sweet turtle dove rocking herself,
...
It seems that a bon droyt, perfection reigns in you.

These are lines from a famous canon by Johannes Ciconia; the song itself, "Le Ray au Soleyl," is enjoying a renaissance of its own these days and is available in both traditional and (I think) Latin dance arrangements (the latter on a CD entitled "Alarm will sound"). The point is that the song alludes to the elements of Petrarch's emblem. See also an article entitled "Virtue and the Viper: Emblems and Imagery at the Court of the Visconti," for the San Francisco Bay Area Early Music News for April 2007, by Carolann Buff, on p. 9, available on-line, which makes the point explicitly.

The latter article also talks about the turtledove as a heraldic device. Jacopo da Balogna, at the court of Bernabo Visconti, has a song with the words, "I was a phoenix of life tender and pure, now/ Transformed into turtledove." Buff explains that these words describes Bernabo's wife Beatrice della Scala, from Verona: "During her years as a young woman in her father's court, her emblem was the phoenix, but upon her marriage to Bernabo she adopted the Visconti turtledove" (p. 9).

Another song by Jacopo is "Aquilla altera-Creatura gentile-Uccel di dio," written for the marriage of Gian Galeazzo Visconti and Isabella de Valois, 1360. "The madrigal is full of the ancient Visconti emblems of the eagle and the sun," Buff reports. So the eagle was not in itself an emblem bestowed upon the Viscontis by the Emperor.

Apparently the phoenix was not a Visconti emblem. It may have been for the Savoys. There was a famous emblem (combination of motto and picture) about her. Paradin (1562) wrote that after the death of Galeazzo, she put on her small coins the device of a phoenix in the midst of a fire, with the words,, "being made lonely, I follow God alone" (Shakespeare and the Emblem Writers, p. 234, in Google Books). The explanation was that there was only one phoenix at any one time. Other emblem writers spoke similarly. Of course these stories don't prove anything. (I did see an article on-line stating explicitly that the phoenix was a Savoy device, but I can’t find it now.)

Clearly the origins of the phoenix entering the visconti symbols then is per above: Jacopo da Balogna, at the court of Bernabo Visconti, has a song with the words, "I was a phoenix of life tender and pure, now/ Transformed into turtledove." For Bernabo's wife Beatrice della Scala, from Verona: "During her years as a young woman in her father's court, her emblem was the phoenix, but upon her marriage to Bernabo she adopted the Visconti turtledove". Even the phoenixes used by Bona look a bit dove-ish, as in the midst of a metamorphosis from phoenix to dove.

Finally that Filelfo Ode for Vimercate is relevant here: "[Vimercate] sought out with divine favor courageous Francesco Sforza, great Filippo's son-in-law, just as Thetis's son [Achilles] is said to have followed the Centaur's teachings [Chiron] and far-famed Phoenix's counsel in the war on the shores of Troy" (ll. 41-49, pp. 141-143). This Phoenix is not the bird [not sure how Robins misses that], although its meaning was understood that way per the marginalia in the footnote below, but rather Achilles' companion at Troy who was part of the unsuccessful embassy sent by Agamemnon to persuade Achilles to return to the battle. Clearly the Trojan hero was named for the fabulous bird and perhaps a double-entendre intended by Filelfo as Sforza's arrival meant Milan would rise from the ashes thanks to Vimercate's counsel, with Sforza repeatedly connected to Apollo.

Phaeded, you collected ...

The latter article also talks about the turtledove as a heraldic device. Jacopo da Balogna, at the court of Bernabo Visconti, has a song with the words, "I was a phoenix of life tender and pure, now/ Transformed into turtledove." Buff explains that these words describes Bernabo's wife Beatrice della Scala, from Verona: "During her years as a young woman in her father's court, her emblem was the phoenix, but upon her marriage to Bernabo she adopted the Visconti turtledove" (p. 9).

I found this ...
https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bits ... thesis.pdf .... at page 11.

Examples of madrigal texts that refer to stable paraheraldry are La fiera testa, set by
both Niccolò del Proposto and Bartolino da Padova, which describes the personal device of
Bernabò Visconti, a leopard surrounded by flames with the motto Soufrir m’estuet. Similarly,
Donato da Cascia’s Dal cielo scese refers to the phoenix, the personal badge of Antonio Della
Scala. The greatest number of works celebrating a personal paraheraldic device, however, was
composed for Giangaleazzo Visconti, and refer in various ways – and with varying levels of
precision – to his dove-in-sun badge, which he adopted in 1360 and used for the rest of his life.

It seems, that the della Scala family had indeed a phoenix in their heraldic.

Giangaleazzo married in second marriage a Beatrice de Scala daughter. So Beatrice became the grandma of Filippo Maria Visconti. Filippo's use of the
phoinix looks natural.

Both pictures are called "Scala family Crest"


****************

Vulcanus festivities in the night December 31 / January 1might have been an old firworks tradition.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fireworks
At least firework is old enough ... "Fireworks were produced in Europe by the 14th century, becoming popular by the 17th century."

"Burning of the Yule log" seems good enough to me (and fireworks at New Years from that), for a ceremony personally and unusually conducted by Filippo himself. However, it would have been more complex than simply throwing a log on the fire. Wikipedia says (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule_log):

In Germany, where it’s called Christklotz, Christbrand, Christblock, Julklotz or Julblock it was customary, especially in Hesse and Westphalia, to burn the log slowly and then remove it and throw it back on the fire as protection from lightning.

Perhaps not only the physical effects of lightning, but its power as an omen, neutralizing it; Filippo can then ignore the omen and proceed with his plans.

Other countries had related superstitions (see link) and specific ceremonies. It was also connected with gift-giving. Of course these are documented much later than 1439. But the religions connected with the ceremonies were very old, predating Christianity.

Since Vulcan was a fire-god, propitiated with various offerings and ceremonies, there is a natural association, which Filelfo must have known from classical sources, even if the ceremonies to him were done in August (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_(mythology)). For the classical sources, see the footnotes to Wikipedia's entry (Varro, Plutarch, Tacitus, Vergil, Pliny the Elder, etc.) How the log became a "Christbrand" might be of interest, if it is more than just the time of year: a substitute for a sacrificial victim, a "burning man" of sorts, or similar to a phoenix, as has already been suggested, I think.

Ross Caldwell wrote: 09 Jul 2023, 13:02 Francesco da Fabio, Palazzo Trinci, Foligno
....

Scipio Africanus
Ille ego sum, patriam Poeno qui Marte cadentem
Sustinui rapulque feris ex hostibus urbes
Hispanas, Hannonisque acies magnumque Syphacem
Perdomui et fractum totiens armisque repulsum
Hannibalem, victorque ferox mihi regna subegi
Punica et excelsas altae Carthaginis arces.

Scipio Africanus,

I am he, the one who in the Punic war
Saved the falling homeland, and carried off cities from the wild enemies,
Conquered the Spanish and the armies of Hanno,
And tamed mighty Syphax, repeatedly breaking
Hannibal and repelling him with weapons,
And as a victorious warrior, I subdued
The Phoenician kingdoms, and the lofty citadels of high Carthage.

Marziano side note here - why the fairly minor Syphax incident would make it into a brief titulus here surely points to the centrality of the ekphrasis of Syphax's palace in Petrarch's Africa (especially since unfinished), which has 16 gods, which I argued was the basis for the 16 gods in Marziano, albeit with a few replacements. Our discussion then also revolved around Dido being Phoenician and why a suit in Marziano was the phoenix (etymologically related for the ancients), although we now clearly have additional reasons for seeing why that mythical bird was used in a game for Filippo. The above might merely show how widespread and enduring Petrarch was, especially regarding the figure of Syphax.

This is an addition to my previous post, having to do with lightning. Given Filippo's apparent desire not to make the lightning-strike on his castle public, and its significance as a bad omen, I cannot imagine him commissioning a deck with a Lightning card (early name Sagitta, late 18th century Torre) in it, whenever it may have made its first appearance, so likely not in the Cary-Yale.

Added: in case anyone wonders what this has to do with the Trinci, it doesn't. I am reflecting on Ross's posts at

viewtopic.php?p=26004#p26004

viewtopic.php?p=26011#p26011

viewtopic.php?p=26016#p26016

which are in this thread, despite the title.

Wonderful insights, thanks all.

Before I consider all of it, a couple of more things.

In his first letter on 31 December, to Catone Sacco (the same who dedicated the third book of his Semideus to Filippo Maria - the book already finished, it seems, but the dedication was new - at around this time), Filelfo says "I had intended to come to you today" - this suggests a sudden change of plans, that the evening was a surprise. He had not intended to stay for, or maybe even did not know about, the evening's festivities, nor be present for the morning, intimate, gift-giving. The duke had ordered that day that no one leave "before the third day" - the third day of what? Of January, presumably... but possibly, the third day after the lightning and fire. So all of this festivity was impromtu, unexpected on the part of the courtiers. From Filelfo's descriptions, it does strike me, then, that Filippo Maria was doing something exceptional, in reaction to an exceptional event.

Rings symbolize unity and union, fidelity, and authority. By giving his courtiers costly rings, Filippo Maria was binding his courtiers to him more closely than ever, the exchange symbolizing confidence in their utter discretion.

I checked the moon phase, since Filippo Maria himself did nothing important during the combustion of the moon, for at least a day or two before and after the new moon, but the new moon did not occur until 5 January, so it had nothing to do with his order for his courtiers to remain at the castle for three days.

mikeh wrote: 10 Jul 2023, 05:01 This is an addition to my previous post, having to do with lightning. Given Filippo's apparent desire not to make the lightning-strike on his castle public, and its significance as a bad omen, I cannot imagine him commissioning a deck with a Lightning card (early name Sagitta, late 18th century Torre) in it, whenever it may have made its first appearance, so likely not in the Cary-Yale.

I agree and not a problem for my theory because it didn't exist in the CY. I have the first occurrence of the "tower" in the PMB as Jupiter - one of the seven cards added to the 14 trump ur-tarot, of which the CY is an exemplar (2x7, based on the seven virtues). Sforza, of course, did not have the same hang up regarding lightning and eclipses, but surely just as beguiled by astrology as Filippo. Sforza merely needed to know when it was auspicious to join battle and when to be aware of assassination attempts (see Azzolini's book in that regard: Astrology and Politics in Renaissance Milan, 2013).

Its important to understand the Phoenix in its connection with the Visconti obsessions of divine descent and their genealogy, from the Michelino Jupiter/Aeneas/Venus crowning of oak-covered genealogy to the Sforza PMB's "Star" which holds a "del Parto" hand over the stomach while reaching out to the star. If the phoenix was associated with the winter solstice (shortest day of the year in which the sun is "reborn as the days begin to grow longer again), the lighting of a fire around this time and Christ's birthday, the sun (their symbol) emerging from eclipses, then it was also associated with celestial influences directly tied to notions of their divine descent.

Sforza's daughter Ippolita is twice shown with the pregnant del parto gesture with the phoenix (her barely visible left hand rests on her belly)- it clearly has some relationship to the earlier PMB "Star" making the same gesture, who is clearly Venus per the genealogy illumination (Elogium on Giangaleazzo Visconti by Pietro da Castellato, 1403):



Catone's Semideus variation on the earlier genealogy, with a dragon/Saturn(?) at the base, Venus and Jupiter above that and at the very top Mary and child, with angel with a woman (an "Ippolita"?) petitioning her:


^ are those dark wings or the broken shell of an egg the dragon is emerging out of?

Later evidence has Galeazzo's emblem of the helmed lion - usually an animal associated with the sun (summer in Leo) - twice associated with Mary and a child: once at the annunciation and a second time with child on lap (and the Tizzio/branch with buckets, is not burning but rather the lion itself). Apparently the sun/flames/phoenix were associated with Visconti notions of divine/holy childbirth and must be why we find the phoenix with Ippolita as a kind of pregnancy talisman (and of course "Maria" is Filippo's middle name, so the talismanic thought extended to names). From a Christie's auction https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5460633 THE GREAT HOURS OF GALEAZZO MARIA SFORZA, DUKE OF MILAN, use of Rome, in Latin and Italian, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM, [Milan, 1471-76].

Actually a 3rd time here, in yet another Annunciation reference:

The original Mary/child/Sun and Visconti connection goes back to this leaf:


And finally, the PMB Sun's meaning has to be found in the context of this layered pagan Solar/Christ-child associations in the context of their genealogy, and arguably a transition into saintly 'Semideus' at death (as found in the narrative of Martianus Capella)


Above, making amends for this: "O God, enough penalty has been paid if we have perpetrated a profane Wrong, we who recently neglected the funeral rites of the noble Duke Filippo. For we did not celebrate the great prince with proper honors. Pardon us at last and kindly bring help to those who tearfully that a crime has been committed." Ode II.2, Filelfo