Louis XI., King of France, to Piero de’ Medici
Dilecto Filio Nobili Viro Petro de’ Medicis. Louis, by the grace of God King of France.
Most dear and great Friend,—We have received by our beloved and faithful courier Francesco Nori your letters which you sent to us by him. From him and from your letters we have learned how kindly you have acted in our favour towards our dear and beloved uncle the Duke of Milan about the affair of the Marches of which we wrote, and we are much pleased and very grateful to you. We also heard of the death of the late Cosimo de’ Medici, our great friend and your father, which has given and does give us much sorrow, both for the singular love we bore him and for the great and laudable services he rendered to us and to the French crown during his whole life. For the enduring memory thereof and of the friendship he showed to us and to the crown, and in order to honour him and you and all his relatives and family, and for the salvation of his soul, we beg you to dedicate to the service of your said dead father banners with our arms, of such number as seems best to you and is customary in such cases. We have also, in order to show the confidence we place in you, in your wisdom, loyalty, goodness, and diligence, and for the preservation of the friendship and goodwill which always existed between your late father and ourselves, appointed you one of our privy councillors, and have ordered the letters patent to be made out, which we send by the bearer; and when you desire anything for yourself, for your family or for your Commune, we shall grant it in your favour if you signify it and let us know by the said Franceschino, for whom we have always felt and feel singular affection and esteem.[89]
Privilege granted by Louis XI. to the Medici to quarter the Lily of France in their arms
Louis, by the grace of God King of France. We make known to all present and for the future: Bearing in mind the great, praiseworthy, and much to be commended fame enjoyed by the late Cosimo de’ Medici during his life in all his actions and his affairs, which he conducted with such great virtue and prudence that his children and other relatives and friends must be commended and held in high honour. For these reasons and moved by the supplication and prayer which has been addressed to us by our friends, and by our loyal Councillor Piero de’ Medici, son of the said late Cosimo de’ Medici, we by our own will, special grace, full power and royal authority decree and command by these presents that the said Piero de’ Medici ... his heirs and successors born and to be born in legal wedlock may henceforward and for ever have and bear in the arms three Fleur de lis of the shape and manner herein portrayed.... And these arms we have given and give to them by these said presents, to use as seems good to them in all places and among all people, in time of peace or in time of war, without any impediment either now or hereafter being placed to their so doing. And in order that this thing should be firm and stable for ever, we have caused our seal to be set to these two presents, reserving our rights in all other things and our authority in everything.—Given at Mont Luçon in the month of May, the year of grace 1465, and the fourth year of our reign.[90]
Owing to Piero’s miserable health, his son Lorenzo was sent, even as quite a lad, to visit foreign courts and to receive foreign princes who passed through Tuscany. Thus in April 1465 he met Don Federigo d’Aragona, second son of the King of Naples, at Pisa, on his way to Milan to escort his eldest brother’s bride, Ippolita Maria, daughter of Francesco Sforza, to Naples. The two youths formed a lasting friendship, and on Federigo’s return with his sister-in-law they came to Florence and stayed in the Medici palace. Ippolita and Lorenzo then became such friends that she never hesitated to appeal to him when, as often happened in the needy Neapolitan court, she wanted money. They often corresponded, and when Lorenzo went to Naples in 1479, the Duchess of Calabria and Don Federigo were his powerful allies. The following letter, a remarkable one for a lad of seventeen, was sent to Don Federigo with a volume of poems selected from those writers Lorenzo considered to be masters of the Tuscan tongue. There are two copies in Florence, one in the Nazionale Library,[91] the other in the Riccardiana.[92]
The Magnificent Lorenzo to the Illustrious Lord Federigo, son of the King of Naples
Often have I reflected, Illustrious my Lord Federigo, which among the many and infinite poems of antiquity is the most excellent. Certes, one must have been more admirable than the others. It has always been a matter of surprise to me that no great and fine work was originated in ancient times, either of hands or head, which did not receive private and public recognition and reward. So as all rivers and springs are said to have their origin from the great Ocean, all the famous deeds and marvellous works of bygone men may be said to derive from this laudable habit. The nutriment of every art is honour, and by the desire of glory alone are men’s minds spurred to produce admirable works. Thus in Rome we see magnificent triumphal entries, in Greece the famous Olympian games, and both are celebrated by poets and orators with infinite mastery. For this alone were the chariot and the triumphal arch, the highly decorated theatres, the statues, the palm branches, the garlands, the funereal honours; for this alone were devised other splendid ornaments, and thus were encouraged high and noble deeds of the intellect and of the sword, all the marvellous works of the great men of ancient days, who assuredly (as our Tuscan poet says) will never lack fame so long as this world lasts. These of a truth were great and divine men, desirous of enduring fame and supremely grateful to those who, by celebrating the valour and noble deeds of great men in fine poetry, made their names immortal. Inflamed by such desire, Alexander the Great on seeing the tomb of the famous Achilles with a sigh uttered those memorable words: “Fortunate art thou to have so glorious a sepulchre and to have been sung by such a pen.” Fortunate indeed. For without the divine poet Homer Achilles’ body and fame would have been buried in one tomb together. And even this poet, excellent above all others, would not have attained such honour and glory had he not been so admired by a learned Athenian, almost one may say raised from death to life. For after his death the great poet’s noble work was scattered and dismembered until Pisistratus, prince of Athens, a man endowed with many virtues and of noble presence, offered large rewards to whosoever brought him verses by Homer. Thus with great diligence and care he collected and reconstructed the glorious poem, giving to it eternal life and to himself everlasting glory. For this reason the only epitaph on his statue is the record that he collected the poems of the great Homer. Oh, truly divine men, born for the good of humanity and of the world. The prince knew that his other deeds, however admirable, were as nothing compared with this one poem. Such were these antique men, whose deeds are not to be equalled in later times, and indeed are hardly believed. For as rewards for noble deeds no longer exist the flame of courage is extinguished; and as men do nothing worthy of praise the singers of great deeds are despised. If this had not been the case we should not now mourn the loss of so many Greek and Latin writers. With them have also perished many of our own old poets, who had begun to cultivate the desert fields of the Tuscan tongue, which now again, in our century, are covered with wild flowerets and weeds. But thy gracious hand, Illustrious Federigo, which thou hast deigned extend to them will, after their long struggle, lead them safely into port.
When we were together last year in the ancient city of Pisa we spoke of those who had written poetry in the Tuscan tongue, and thy Lordship expressed a desire that I should collect their works in one volume for thee. Being desirous in this, as in all other matters, to fulfil thy wishes I have, not without great labour, caused search to be made for the works of all the old poets, and choosing the less rugged pieces have gathered them into the volume I now send thy Lordship, in the hopes that my efforts, such as they are, may please and that thou wilt accept it in memory of me and as a proof of my true affection. Let no one, however, despise this Tuscan tongue as unadorned or diffuse. For if its richness and beauty be rightly understood it will not be accounted rugged but rich and refined. There is nothing delicate, elegant, graceful, or ornate, nothing witty, ingenious or subtle, nothing ample and rich, nothing magnificent and sonorous, finally nothing ardent, bold, or moving, that is not found in those two magnates Dante and Petrarch, and even in others of whom thou, my Lord, didst cite brilliant examples. Poetry (according to what Petrarch writes in a Latin epistle) was held in high honour by the old Romans, and after long neglect appeared again in Sicily not so many centuries ago; then passing into France finally came to Italy as though to its own home. The first who courted the new style was Guittone of Arezzo, and about the same time the famous Bolognese, Guido Guizzinello. Both were learned in philosophy, serious, and sententious. The first rather harsh and severe and without the gift of eloquence, the second far more lucid, suave, and ornate, so that our honoured Dante did not scruple to call him his father and also father of others who wrote love songs of great sweetness and charm. He was certainly the first to colour and soften our language, which had only been roughly sketched out by the rude Aretine. After them emerged the elegant Florentine, Guido Cavalcanti, a subtle logician and philosopher, an honour to his age. As he was handsome and graceful in person and of most noble blood, so there was in his writings something, I know not what, more beautiful, noble, and rare, than in others. Acute in reasoning, sonorous, admirable, and grave in his sentences, rich and elevated in composition, wise and prudent; and all these gifts are enhanced, and as clothed in a precious garment, by a rare and exquisite style. Had he used this on a wider field no doubt he would have attained to the highest honours. One of his most admirable works is a song in which this subtle and charming poet describes every quality, virtue, and precedent of love. This was held in such high estimation that it was commentated by three renowned philosophers, his contemporaries, among them the Roman Egidio. We must not forget Bonagiunta of Lucca and the notary of Lentino, both grave and sententious writers, but so devoid of charm that they may be proud to be mentioned in the company of these honoured men. They, and Pier delle Vigne in the time of Guittone, were celebrated. The little written by the latter is not without solemnity and erudition. He was the keeper (as Dante says) of the keys of Frederick’s heart, and locked and unlocked it at his pleasure. After these shone those two great men who illumined our tongue, Dante and Petrarch. Of them (as Sallust says of Carthage) I think it better to say nothing than to say too little. Onesto the Bolognese and the earlier Silicians who flourished before them and were therefore less versed in their art, did not lack talent or ambition. Cino da Pistoja, in my estimation, well deserves his high reputation; tender and loving, he was the first to entirely shake off the antique ruggedness of which the divine Dante was not altogether free. Then comes a long line of more modern writers who are far behind those two great ones. All these, and with them some of our own time, come to thank thee, who art more worthy of praise than that ancient Athenian already mentioned. He only gave immortality to one, whilst thou givest it to many. At the end of the volume (as seemed to be thy desire) we have copied a few of our own sonnets and songs, so that when reading them thou canst remember my loyalty and affection. Although not worthy to be placed among the splendid works of the old poets, yet they may serve as a foil to show their greater beauty. Receive, therefore, Illustrious Lord, this volume and myself, not only in thy house, but in thy heart and soul, as thou hast a blithe and enduring abode in ours.
In the commentary Lorenzo wrote on some of his sonnets he not only, as in the above letter, praises Italian, but affirms its equality with the classic languages, and declares that neither Ovid, Tibullus, Catullus, or Propertius wrote love songs of such beauty and grace as Petrarch. It was by this enthusiastic participation in the intellectual pursuits and interests of his day that Lorenzo, even as a youth, attained such popularity with his fellow-citizens. They were proud of the lad who was already known as a poet, who excelled in all bodily exercises, and who was treated by foreign princes and potentates as an equal. The above letter to Federigo d’Aragona shows that he was, to quote John Addington Symonds: “A Florentine of the Florentines. Tuscan to the backbone, imbued with the spirit of his city, a passionate lover of her customs and pastimes, a complete master of her vernacular. His education, though it fitted him for Platonic discussions with Ficino and rendered him an amateur of humanistic culture, had failed to make a pedant of him. Much as he appreciated the classics, he preferred his Tuscan poets; and what he learned at school he brought to bear upon the study of the native literature.”[93]