Scipione Tolomei

Scipione Tolomei

Scipione Tolomei (* 1553 in Perugia ; † September 16, 1630 ibid) was an Italian writer. During the Counter Reformation he was a political writer and also served as court secretary to the della Corgna family , Marquis of Castiglione del Lago .

biography

“The Marchesato di Vostra Eccellenza non è molto vecchio né del tutto libero per la superiorità del Papa.
Perciò non essendo sostenuto da qualche antichità né da dominio assoluto che renda paura, ha bisogno di piacevol maneggio che produce amore. "

“Your Excellency's Marquesat is neither very old nor completely free because of the Pope's rule.
Since it is not supported by any frightening antiquity or absolute rulership, it needs a pleasant, love-generating, guidance. "

- Scipione Tolomei, Lettere , letter addressed to Ascanio II della Corgna in 1596

Origins of the family and their formation

First page - Dell'Acquisto de 'Dominij. Libro Primo - from Il Giardino de 'Prencipi , unpublished treatise by Scipione Tolomei (Biblioteca Augusta, Perugia )

Son of Livio (the Tolomei of Porta Santa Susanna : the Perugian branch - founded in 1393 by Giovanni from the famous Sienese family and died out with Silvestro in the 18th century) and of Elisabetta Petrini, like other young people of his class, in literature , Teaches rhetoric and fluency without completing a doctorate. The Tolomei were merchants (Livio was a member of the Collegio della Mercanzia) and lived in the Porta Santa Susanna district of Perugia, between the medieval tower of the Sciri and the parish church of the Santi Stefano e Valentino family, where the Madonna enthroned and the saints of the Umbrian Artist Domenico Alfani can still be admired today. The origins of Tolomei go back to Charlemagne . It is certain that the founder, Baldistricca, was a German baron of mythical Egyptian-Macedonian descent who followed Carlo Martello to the Italian peninsula in the 13th century. The first documents about the presence of Tolomei in Siena date back to 1229. The ancestor of the Scipione family, Giovanni (di Tolomeo di Guglielmo di Tolomeo), Conservatore della moneta , descended from the Sienese Tolomeo (1219) and founded with Giacomo di Tolomeo, the first two lines.

The young Scipione entered the Accademia degli Insensati after completing his studies, a fundamental step for a writer from Perugia. Marchese Ascanio II della Corgna (1596–1606) called a secret meeting of the Insensati during the summer , at which Tolomei and the poet Cesare Caporali were introduced, in the mysterious three esoteric rooms of the Palazzo of Castiglione del Lago.

The Academy has as a symbol a flock of cranes flying over the sea, each with a small stone in its claw and Vel cum pondere (flight in balance) as a motto. The seat of the association is, under the protection of the apostle Matthias , in the Villa del Valiano near Montepulciano, where you can still see frescoes with the works of the ancient scholars made available to them by the Pasino family. The insensati set their own rules and goals, preferring above all the works of Francesco Petrarca and the peculiarities of the modern Italian language . In the beginning it had few members and consisted mainly of Perugians who, under the direction of the historian Cesare Crispolti (1563-1608), achieved further and more important goals between 1590 and 1608.

Stay in Rome

Tolomei, who enjoyed the reputation of an upright and cultured man between the 1670s and 1880s , was added to the list of "forbidden books" by Cardinal von Montalto , the future Pope Sixtus V (the Prince of Machiavelli) is hired as a letter writer. The learned Perugian was recommended by Fulvio Giulio della Corgna, brother of Ascanio I, and moved to the Palazzo Peretti in Rome. In 1581 he was almost certainly an involuntary witness to the frightening story of Vittoria Accoramboni , the wife of Francesco, the nephew of Sixtus V, who was mysteriously murdered.

Secretary at the court of the Corgna family, Marquis of Castiglione del Lago

Coat of arms of the Tolomei family

Scipione Tolomei returned to Perugia in 1588 and freed himself from family ties, took on the coveted role of court secretary of the Marquese Diomede della Corgna (1571–1596) in the prestigious palace of Castiglione del Lago, designed by Vignola and Galeazzo Alessi and by Pomarancio, among others was frescoed.

The Perugian writer remained in the service of della Corgna for over thirty years, until around 1617-20. The secretary of the court not only had the duties of the chancellor, but also supervised the "house" of the marquese. He was the private treasurer, the man of trust and the adviser, he gave political, social and economic statements or gave insights into court life (" She is wise and I prefer to remember, not lecture ": sentence that is in the Advice for the Government of the Subjects, addressed to Ascanio II in 1596), issued the decrees and edicts of the Marquis and wrote letters of diplomatic, familial, polite or formal content in the name and on his behalf to kings, popes, artists and intellectuals. Famous was the one whom Scipione addressed to the poet Cesare Caporali at the request of the feudal lord to live and work at the court of Castiglione.

The Marquesat of Castiglione del Lago was founded in 1563 by Pope Pius IV for Ascanio della Corgna (the fiefs had been granted in 1550 by his uncle Julius III) and his sister Giacoma Ciocchi del Monte. Paul V will make it a duchy in 1617 . Tolomei exercised his office conscientiously with the last Marquese, the later Duke , Fulvio II. Alessandro (1606–1647), and his wife Eleonora de Mendozza, after he had already served his ancestor Diomede and his father Ascanio II. The court secretary worked in the Hannibal room of the Palazzo della Corgna, with frescoes by Caporali and in connection with the governor in the anteroom of the throne room.

The cultural events of the 17th century were also characterized by the special figure of the secretary , which is defined in a versatile appearance of the educated individual in the service of the Lord, rather than a courtier called to help, and embodies one of the cornerstones of the princely retinue. The development of this figure, who is considered a public official with a special literary predisposition, had its roots in the chancellor and humanist, who were installed in the imperial and papal courts or in clerical and secular centers. The historian of the della Corgna family, Maria Gabriella Donati-Guerrieri, qualified Tolomei as an important and effective source for the affairs of the Lords of Castiglione del Lago: “ a form of written mentor who gave commandments on behalf of less capable third parties and beautifully designed letters formulated. »

Works

Letters, from Scipione Tolomei (Stamperia Augusta, Perugia , 1617 )

Scipione Tolomei

After he had retired from the post of secretary, Tolomei therefore devoted himself to the writing of his literary works. In 1617 he published a collection of the "Lettere del Signore Scipione Tolomei Perugino Accademico Insensato" in the Augusta printing works in Perugia, a compilation of his intensive work at the court of Castiglione. The edition is divided into ten books and is dedicated to Cardinal Scipione Borghese , whose coat of arms can be seen on the title page . The work was praised in two letters from the Peruvian scholar and critic Giovanni Battista Lauri (1579–1629). In the decade 1620/1630 the elder Scipione finally devoted himself to the elaboration of the - unpublished - political treatise on an anti- Machiavellian approach, Il Giardino de 'Prencipi , the manuscript of which is still in the catalog of the Augusta Library of Perugia (ms. 2684) .

The work is divided into two volumes that deal with buying and maintaining the principalities. In the spirit of the Counter-Reformation and in the context of moderate polemics, the garden ... obviously contradicts the dictates of the work of the Florentine secretary , which had already shaped the work of many authors such as Giovanni Botero and Scipione Ammirato . After listing the book " The Prince " in the list of forbidden books by parts of the Church in 1559, there were many supporters of Catholic anti-Maschiavellism (train of thought, criticism and contradiction of the speculations by Niccolò Machiavelli ), but few stood out in examining a fuller and broader vision of state and politics, which then ended in a dispute between proponents and opponents of raison d'etat.

In the lower part of the frame is the only known portrait of the Peruvian scholar, on the title page you can read the following personal motto of Ciceronian memory: " Labore occiduus meo, alieno exorior " (worn down by my work, I regain my courage when I talk to others think). Scipione Tolomei, an anti-Machiavellian writer of the early 17th century who is to be included in the great number of authors of the time, an advocate of the works of Botero, and Scipione Ammirato , a well-informed tactician and historian, deserves a place in the anti - Princes' literature, especially because of its silent controversy, which, together with that of the other writers, led to a greater consolidation of Machiavelli's political authority.

Tolomei is, by the way, worth a reminder of the function of a typical court secretary, which he was able to perform in a masterly manner. The qualities required to perform this task were described in the works of Jean Puget de la Serre ( Il segretario di corte ) and the Neapolitan Tommaso Costo ( Trattato del segretario ): according to the latter, it was essential, among other things, that the person was morally upright, modest, "always dressed in black" and religious. Even Scipione listed in his Giardino de 'Prencipi the four virtues that a good adviser should have: deep cultural education, mature age, expressiveness and " nothing about himself is interesting ". The learned man of letters ended his life on September 16, 1630, at the old age of 77, entirely devoted to his work, in his house in Perugia (from the death register of the parish of Santi Stefano e Valentino, fol. 21). The funeral of Tolomei was attended by a delegation of the Dukes of Castiglione del Lago Fulvio II and Eleonora, where he had diligently exercised his office as secretary ten years earlier. He was buried in Perugia in the church of San Francesco al Prato, where the della Corgna, Braccio da Montone and various representatives of the local noble families rest. The wonderful Pala Baglioni by Raphael , now on display in the Galleria Borghese in Rome, was still shown by the brothers.

References in popular culture

Exhibitions

On October 31, 2014, an exhibition with cultural and didactic content on the subject of Machiavelli and the arms trade was opened in Palazzo Baldeschi on Corso in Perugia . Works and texts on Niccolò Machiavelli and his time were shown for viewing under the direction of the lecturer Alessandro Campi and some employees of the Augusta library. These include a portrait of the Florentine writer ( Vasari's workshop 1546–1547), the manuscripts of "The Prince" (16th century) and Il Giardino de 'Prencipi by Scipione Tolomei, which are kept in the city library of Perugia.

theatre

On December 20, 2014, the semi-serious comedy in two acts based on text and direction by the writer Luciano Festuccia, Il Marchese Diomede della Corgna, was performed for the first time in the auditorium of the Palazzo della Corgna in Castiglione del Lago - "A murder in Panicarola disturbs life Courtyard of the Marquis of Castiglione del Lago " . The story is based on Diomede della Corgna's murder of a harmless farmer who insulted him because of the excessive tax burden on his subjects. Among the artists who played the characters of the small court of the Corgna (Diomedes, Marquese Porzia, mayor) was the political advisor Scipione Tolomei, played by the actor Donato Celeste.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Vermiglioli, p. 305.
2. ↑ Donati-Guerrieri, pp. 81-115; 207-251
3. ↑ Tolomei, Lettere, p. 99
4. ↑ Mucciarelli, p. 10
5. ↑ Agostini, p. 21
6. ↑ Alaimo, p. 76
7. ↑ Mucciarelli, p. 7
8. ↑ Mucciarelli p. 79
9. ↑ Alaimo, p. 75
10. ↑ Mucciarelli, plate 5
11. ↑ Maylander, p. 41
12. ↑ La Porta, p. 138
13. ↑ Serafini, p. 25
14. ↑ Maylander, p. 79
15. ↑ Brigante Colonna, p. 50
16. ↑ Festuccia, p. 20
17. ↑ Tolomei, Lettere, p. 100
18. ↑ Tolomei, Lettere, p. 112
19. ↑ Festuccia, p. 21
20. ↑ Tateo, VII.
21. ↑ Donati-Guerrieri, p. 218
22. ↑ Panella, p. 47
23. ↑ Panella, p. 49
24. ^ Alaimo, p. 326
25. ^ Costo, p. 385
26. ↑ Tolomei, Il Giardino de 'Prencipi, p. 132
27. ↑ ^{a b} Alaimo, p. 95
28. ↑ Borgnini, p. 80
29. ^ Campi, p. 364
30. ↑ Festuccia, p. 23

literature

• Arrigo Agostini: Famiglie perugine . (Italian, ms. 210, Perugia, Archivio storico di San Pietro).
• Vincenzo Alaimo: Un "politico" perugino dell'età della Controriforma . Scipione Tolomei e il suo "Giardino de 'Prencipi". Facoltà di Scienze Politiche, Perugia 1974 (Italian).
• Valentina Borgnini: La Chiesa di San Francesco al Prato in Perugia . BetaGamma, Città di Castello 2011 (Italian).
• Leopoldo Boscherini: Notes historiche di Castiglione del Lago . Le Balze, Montepulciano 2000 (Italian).
• Alessandro Campi: Machiavelli e il mestiere delle armi . Aguaplano, Perugia 2014 (Italian).
• Gustavo Brigante Colonna: La nepote di Sisto V . Manni, San Cesario di Lecce 2005 (Italian).
• Cesare Caporali: Gli Orti di Mecenate, Ellera Umbra . Era Nuova, 1998 (Italian).
• Cesare Caporali: Rime . Venice 1662 (Italian).
• Venerio Cattani: Il Signore del Lago . Duca della Corgna, Perugia 2004, p. 12-13-75 (Italian).
• Vincenzo Coronelli: Atlante "Umbria" . 1708 (Italian).
• Tommaso Costo: Trattato del segretario . Venice 1602 (Italian).
• Mario D'Addio: Machiavellismo e antimachiavellici nel '500 . Olschki, Florence 1969 (Italian).
• Ascanio della Corgna: Statuti . Bonetti, Siena 1750 (Italian).
• Rodolfo De Mattei: Dal premachiavellismo all'antimachiavellismo . Sansoni, Florence 1969 (Italian).
• Maria Gabriella Donati-Guerrieri: Lo Stato di Castiglione del Lago ei della Corgna . La Grafica, Perugia 1972 (Italian).
• Luciano Festuccia: Castiglione del Lago . Cornicchia, Perugia 1985 (Italian).
• Gian Biagio Furiozzi: Il Giardino de 'Prencipi, trattato inedito di Scipione Tolomei . Il pensiero politico. Olschki, Firenze 1969, p. 7 (Italian).
• Guido Lana: Ascanio I della Corgna ed il suo tempo . Nuova Stampa, Castiglione del Lago 1999 (Italian).
• Gabriele La Porta: Grandi castelli grandi maghi grandi roghi . Rizzoli, Milan 1994 (Italian).
• Michele Maylander: Storia delle Accademie d'Italia . Licinio Cappelli, Bologna 1937 (Italian).
• Roberta Mucciarelli: I Tolomei banchieri di Siena . Protagon, 1995 (Italian).
• Notie di famiglie perugine (ms. 1555) . Biblioteca Augusta, Perugia (Italian).
• Antonio Panella: Gli antimachiavellici . Sansoni, Florence 1944 (Italian).
• Augusto Pompeo: Il Marchesato di Castiglione del Lago e Chiugi . Deputazione di Storia Patria per l'Umbria. Perugia 1992 (Italian).
• Jean Puget de la Serre: Il segretario di corte . Venice 1661 (Italian).
• Remo Serafini: Storia di Valiano . Porziuncola, Assisi 1985 (Italian).
• Giovanna Sapori: I della Corgna mecenati del lago . Trasimeno lago d'arte. Seat, Turin 1994 (Italian).
• Fabrizio Sarazani: Il papa tosto (Sisto V) . Il Borghese, Milan 1970 (Italian).
• Francesco Tateo: Presentazione . Giangirolamo II Acquaviva. Ed .: A. Spagnoletti, G. Patisso. Galatina, Congedo 1999 (Italian).
• Scipione Tolomei: Il Giardino de 'Prencipi . Perugia (Italian, Biblioteca Augusta, ms. 2684, approx. 1622/30).
• Scipione Tolomei: Lettere . Stamperia Augusta, Perugia 1617 (Italian).
• Giovanni Battista Vermiglioli: Biography degli scrittori perugini . tape I . Bartelli Costantini, Perugia 1829 (Italian).

Web links

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