GARISENDI, Antenore or VIZANI Pompeo

by Antenore or VIZANI Pompeo Garisendi

£3,450 · Offered by Sokol Books

Rare first edition of this fascinating description of a chivalric 'tournament' held in Bologna for the carnival of 1578, containing descriptions of the various scenes enacted for the occasion, including the names of the participants and details of the poems and songs recited. It is a blow by blow account with speeches, poems and songs reported verbatim. The local participants are identified by the stylised names of chivalric romance, 'gli Cavalieri Ardenti, Fideli, placito' and the rest by place of origin eg "Cavaliero di Scotia, Cavalieri Portoghesi". The 'knight of Scotland' speech is of particular interest as he may be identified with the semi-mythical James Crichton better known as "The Admirable Crichton" who arrived in Italy at around this time having served in the French army. In his speech the 'Scottish Knight' makes many references to Merlin and to the 'Great Queen of Scotland' and his adventures and travels in France. The show was staged in the Piazza delle Scuole (now the Piazza Galvani) on a gigantic platform, which was built up above the heads of the surrounding onlookers. This was the second and last tournament organized by the Accademia della Viola, initially founded in 1561 as the Academy dei Desti, by Ettore Ghisileri, Legnani Vincent and others, with the intention of reviving the ancient traditions of the knightly orders of Europe. The present account was compiled by Pompeo Vizani (1540-1607), also a member of the Academy of Viola, who signed the work under

• Binding: Hardcover

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