You may like to know how marionettes came by their name. One day, in the year 944, in the city of Venice, twelve beautiful maidens went forth from their homes to marry twelve young men at the church of Santa Maria della Salute. Suddenly a band of Barbary pirates landed near the church, attacked the crowd, and in the confusion that arose, carried away the maidens. In a short time the young men of Venice recovered from the shock, jumped into their ships, followed and overtook the pirates. After much fighting, they rescued the brides. From that very day it was the custom in Venice to celebrate the anniversary of this event by a great festival. Always on the last day of the festival came the marriage of twelve beautiful young women to twelve handsome young men. The wedding gowns and doweries were provided by the state from the public treasury. In the course of time, this led to so much jealousy and so many quarrels among the young men and women of Venice, that the city decided to substitute life-sized wooden dolls for the maidens. By and by, the Venetian toy makers began to make little figures that were exactly like the large figures, to sell as toys for the children. These were called “little maries” or “marionettes.”
When one learns to know the people of Italy, he can easily understand how puppets might feel more at home there than in any other country in the world. The Italian people love music and color and motion and life, above all else they love heroes, their great adventures and romances. All these things are equally dear to the hearts of the marionettes. They repay the sympathy of the Italian people by keeping alive for them their great heroes and hero tales. The people might have forgotten many of their great stories had it not been for the puppets. The legend of the Court of Charlemagne, the story of golden-haired Roland, which Taillefer sang before William of Normandy at the Battle of Hastings, have been acted by puppets in Italy for more than three hundred years. One may still see all the characters that were in the story as it was told in the Xth Century. There is Rinaldo of Montauban, his horse Bayard, his sword Flamberge, Malagigi, the magician, and Ganelon, the traitor, fair Clarissa and Charlemagne himself. Italian boys and girls learn much of their history from puppets. Sometimes it requires a whole year to give one of their great plays like Orlando Furioso or the story of the seven Paladins. From Italy marionettes traveled to all the other countries of Europe, to France, Spain, Germany, and England. Finally they came to the United States.
FRANCE
You may wish to know how puppets found their way from Italy to France. There were two brothers, Giovanni and Francesco Briocchi. Francesco was a skilful wood carver and mechanic. Giovanni was very clever with his speeches and jokes. As children, they loved marionettes. They hardly knew which they enjoyed more, sitting in the audience watching the play, or standing behind the stage watching their friends manipulate the puppets. They decided that when they grew up they would be puppeteers, make their own puppets and travel from town to town and to the fair land of which they had heard so many interesting tales. This they did. Giovanni made the figures skilfully and dressed them beautifully. Francesco made them say and do such clever and amusing things that their fame went before them into small towns and into the large cities. When they had made enough money they said, “Now we can go to France. We can easily carry our little stage and puppets on our backs. We can earn our way by giving plays.” This they did, to the delight of all who saw them. Finally they reached the city of Paris. In those days great fairs were held where people came to buy and sell and to make merry. Here was just the place for Giovanni and Francesco. When the fairs became permanent the brothers decided to settle down and make a real home for their marionettes. This at first was a simple kind of theater, but later came to have every beautiful thing that French taste and ingenuity could provide. One day the king and queen made them a visit and engaged them to come out to their beautiful château at St. Germain en Laye and give puppet plays for their young son, the dauphin, and his friends. In the records of France you may still see the account as it stands: “Sept. 1669, to Jean Briocchi, divertir les enfants de France, 1365 livres.” When the Frenchmen saw the success of the Italian showmen, they, too, began to make puppets and to take them to the places where people gathered who might be willing to spend a few sous for entertainment. Among these was an old dentist, who found it difficult to earn a living. He made some marionettes and a clever little boxlike stage with a curtain about it. It was just large enough for him to stand inside and manipulate the puppets. He decided to take his stand to the Pont Neuf, one of the principal bridges of Paris. Here he would pull teeth when anyone needed his services and for the rest of the time would entertain the people. He had also a very celebrated monkey, called Fagotin, that he knew would attract a crowd. Fagotin he dressed as a sentry, gave him a sword, and trained him to march up and down in front of the little puppet booth. One day a great poet, whose name was Cyrano de Bergerac, was crossing the bridge and stopped, as did most of the people, to see Fagotin and the puppets. It happened that the poet had a very large nose and was a very sensitive person. When he saw Fagotin marching up and down and making grimaces, he thought he must surely be making fun of his large nose. At this, the poet was so angry that he challenged him to a duel. Poor little Fagotin drew his sword with the air of a master of the foils, only to be slain by the irate poet.
The French people, like the Italians, had a great many heroes celebrated in song and romance. It certainly would have been poor taste on the part of the Italian puppets to have overlooked this. In a short time the puppets forgot Italy and were at home in many new rôles of French literature. New plays were written for them. When that great struggle, the French Revolution, came, the puppets took sides. Some were on the side of the poor starving people, others were unwilling to give up their lives of ease and luxury. During the Reign of Terror many puppets were beheaded. In fact, while one group of people was beheading King Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette, another group in almost the same place was beheading poor Punchinello. Many puppets, however, survived, and a whole book might be written about the history of puppets in France and the great men and women who have loved them.
SPAIN
In Spain, the puppets first appeared in the churches, presenting great scenes from the Bible. At first their garments were simple and beautiful, but later they were so bejeweled and vulgar that they offended the good taste of the people and the puppets were driven out. Spain is the only country in which a marionette was ever made a citizen and baptized. Don Quixote saw them, and the great Emperor Charles V, in his retirement in the monastery of Cremona, spent many days with the famous scholar, Torriani, making puppet soldiers and bull fighters, with such skill that they were really able to fight.
ENGLAND
As in almost all other countries, the earliest English puppets were those which gave religious plays in the churches. From the churches, they went out among the people, still giving plays founded on the Bible stories and the lives of the saints. These plays were combinations of shadowgraph and marionette, and the English people sometimes called them “motions.” English puppets were also very fond of going to the fairs. Here is the pamphlet of a play given at the Fair of St. Bartholomew in 1641: “Here a knave in a fool’s coat, with a trumpet sounding or a drum beating, invites you to see his puppets. Here a rogue, like a wild woodman, or in antic shape like an incubus, desires your company to see his motion.”
