Giacomo Soranzo

Giacomo Soranzo (1518–1599) was a Venetian diplomat, General Commissioner of the Fleet, and one of the Procurators of Saint Mark in 1575.[2]

Career

He was a son of Francesco Soranzo and a brother of Lorenzo Soranzo.[3] Giacomo Soranzo served as a Venetian ambasador in England (1551–1554), France (1555–1558), Florence, Germany (to Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, 1559–1561), Rome (1562–1565), and Turkey, as Bailo (1566–1567).[4]

As a Provveditore Generale di Terrafirma, in 1574 Soranzo banned the use of wheellock guns in Brescia to prevent feuding and banditry.[5]

Relazioni

Giacomo Soranzo's diplomatic correspondence is thought to have been destroyed in a fire. He wrote several Relazioni for the Venetian state, papers detailing the customs and international policy of the countries where he was stationed.[6] In August 1554, Soranzo wrote a Relazione describing England and recent events.[7][8]

The Relazioni were copied and circulated. The author and language teacher Giacomo Castelvetro owned copies of Soranzo's 1576 and 1582 reports from Istanbul. In 1582, Soranzo attended the ceremony of the circumcision of Mehmed, son of Murad III.[9] Castelvetro's copies of the Turkish reports are held by the Newberry Library in Chicago.[10][11]

England

Soranzo arrived in England as ambassador to the court of Edward VI in June 1551. Jean Scheyfve wrote that he was young and well educated.[12] He described the new epidemic of the "sweating sickness".[13] The king was busy practicing martial sports and immersed in his studies.[14]

Soranzo was knighted by Edward at Westminster Palace on 5 February 1553. Scheyfve noticed that he was frequently with the Duke of Northumberland and was close to the French ambassador René de Laval de Boisdauphin. Scheyfve guessed Soranzo was working on a plan for Princess Mary to marry Alfonso II d'Este.[15][16] As Edward's health worsened in June 1553, Soranzo visited Elizabeth and Mary. According to his Relazione, Soranzo bought Venetian luxury goods for Mary before and after her accession.[17] Edward VI died from tuberculosis according to Soranzo, but the diagnosis is uncertain.[18]

Soranzo advised Mary to leave London during the succession crisis and rode out from London to greet her in July 1553 on her return.[19] After a discussion with the "cloaked" French ambassador Antoine de Noailles in September 1553, they found common ground to try to prevent the wedding of Mary I of England and Philip of Spain.[20][21]

Soranzo attended Mary's coronation on 1 October, spending freely to represent the magnificence of the Venetian Republic, (he was later reimbursed).[22] Later in October, Simon Renard wrote to Charles V that Soranzo had forgotten his duty to Venice to forward French interests, but the ambassadors' efforts to prevent the Habsburg marriage had failed.[23]

Simon Renard wrote that Soranzo's house in London was full of spies.[24] According to Renard, Mary was informed that Soranzo and Noailles had been in touch with Edward Courtenay, (suggested as a husband for Queen Mary). When Noailles and Soranzo's informant told them this news they started to be more careful and discreet. It has been suggested that Noailles' informant on this occasion was John Leigh, a son of Lord Edmund Howard.[25] Soon after, Queen Mary told Renard that Courtenay's mother Gertrude Courtenay had discussed a supper party for her son with Noailles at Soranzo's house which needed her approval. Renard suspected the supper was arranged by Soranzo to sound out Mary's disposition.[26] In December 1553, the Venetian Council of Ten were critical of Soranzo's informal alliance with France and its object.[27]

Noailles and Soranzo gave some encouragement to Wyatt's rebellion in 1554. Soranzo was said to have supplied the rebels with guns from a Venetian merchant ship in the Thames. According to Renard, the Admiral William Howard did not accept Soranzo's excuse, and Sebastian Cabot denounced his intrigues.[28] Although he was recalled from England, Mary gave him a gold chain and he escaped censure in Venice.[29]

Soranzo on English court fashion

Soranzo's descriptions of the appearance of Mary I of England and her costume and jewellery are frequently quoted by historians.[33] Soranzo wrote that on state occasions she wore a gown and a bodice with French-style sleeves, and at other times fashions like those usually worn by women in England (which also appeared French to his eye).[34][35][36][37][38] In his Relazione, Soranzo commented:

Ma sopra ogni altra cosa le piace vestir ornata; e superbamente, e li vestiti suoi sono in due modi; uno con una veste come portano gli uomini, ma assai stretta, con un'altra veste di sotto con la coda molto lunga, e la porta ordinariamente, siccome la portano anco le signore inglesi; e l'altro una veste con il busto e con le maniche; larghe rinversate, come usano le francesi, e usa di portar questo nelli giorni pi solenni, e porta molti ricami e vesti e sopravvesti d'oro e d'argento di molto valore, e si muta ogni giorno. Usa anche molte gioie; portandole e sopra il capperone che porta in testa, e al collo, per guarnimento delle vesti.[39]

Above all else she likes to dress ornately, and superbly, and her clothes are of two kinds. A robe (or garment) like that worn by men but very tight, with another dress underneath with a very long train, which she wears ordinarily, as English ladies wear. On the most solemn days, she is accustomed to wearing the dress with a bodice and sleeves, wide and turned up, as worn by French women. She wears a lot of embroidery and dresses and overdresses of gold and silver cloth of great value, and she changes them every day. She makes great use of jewels, wearing them on her chaperon (or French hood), and round her neck, and as trimming for her gowns.[40]

Roy Strong suggests Soranzo's description of two styles as a useful guide to costume in portraits.[41] The subject is complex.[42] Costume historians have been able to relate these remarks to wardrobe accounts and warrants. The ordinary costume seems to have been a new style called a "loose gown" in the royal accounts, though Soranzo mentioned it was a close fit. The "loose gown" was worn with a "French kirtle".[43][44] A costume historian of an earlier generation, Herbert Norris, had suggested the tight-fitting everyday garment mentioned by Soranzo was a Spanish-style surcote.[45]

In the Relazione, Soranzo also says more generally that English women's costume was French in style while men's clothes appeared Italian, l'abito uomini è assai conforme coll'italiano, e quello delle donne col francese.[46] Soranzo's diplomatic colleague, Noailles also mentioned French-style sleeves in his dispatches and reported that Elizabeth and Anne of Cleves wore French gowns of cloth of silver at Mary's coronation.[47]

France

Giacomo Soranzo was sent to the French court in 1554, despite misgivings about his activities in England. In November 1557, he reported on the forthcoming marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Francis, Dauphin of France, noting that the Dauphin Francis was still of a weak constitution. He wrote approvingly of the role and initiatives taken by Catherine de' Medici in the government of France.[48] In December, he was joined by Giovanni Michiel.[49]

Death and monument

Giacomo Soranzo was banshed from Venice for two years in 1584 for revealing secrets. He died in March 1599 and was buried in the Santa Maria degli Angeli, Murano. His monument was carved and signed by Alessandro Vittoria.[50] The portrait bust has been attributed to Vittoria's workshop.[51]

References

  1. ^ Friedrich Kenner, "Die Porträtsammlung des Erzherzogs Ferdinand von Tirol", Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses (Wien, 1897), pp. 135-261, portraits collected by and made for Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria.
  2. ^ D. S. Chambers, "Merit and Money: The Procurators of St Mark and Their Commissioni, 1443–1605", Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 60 (1997), p. 58. doi:10.2307/751224
  3. ^ Rawdon Brown, Calendar State Papers, Venice, 1553–1554 (London, 1873), p. 482 no. 873.
  4. ^ Paul F. Grendler, "Prosopographical analysis", Renaissance Education Between Religion and Politics (Ashgate, 2006), pp. 68, 75.
  5. ^ Peter Laven, "Banditry and lawlessness on the Venetian Terraferma in the later Cinquecento", K. J. P. Lowe and Trevor Dean, Crime, Society and the Law in Renaissance Italy (Cambridge, 1994), p. 222.
  6. ^ Eugenio Albèri, Relazioni degli ambasciatori veneti al senato, 10 (Florence, 1857), pp. 125–126.
  7. ^ Eugenio Albèri, Relazioni dello Impero Britannico nel secolo XVI scritte da veneti ambasciatori (Florence, 1852), pp. 29–87, in Italian, from the Lazzari-Wcovich copy.
  8. ^ Rawdon Brown, Calendar State Papers, Venice, 1553–1554 (London, 1873), p. 532 no. 934, from Correr Museum MS 1072.
  9. ^ Giovanni-Tommaso Minadoi, The War Between the Turks and the Persians: Conflict and Religion in the Safavid and Ottoman Worlds (London, 2019), p. 122.
  10. ^ Palmira Brumett, "The Jacopo Castelvetro Collection: A Renaissance Man with Documents on Istanbul", Turkish Studies Association Bulletin, 11:1 (March 1987), pp. 1–8.
  11. ^ Castelvetro manuscripts of relazioni, Newberry Library, digitised
  12. ^ Royall Tyler, Calendar State Papers Spain, 10 (London: HMSO, 1914), p. 301.
  13. ^ Rawdon Brown, Calendar State Papers Venice, vol. 5 (London, 1873), pp. 531–564.
  14. ^ Aysha Pollnitz, Princely Education in Early Modern Britain (Cambridge, 2015), p. 148.
  15. ^ Kenneth R. Bartlett, "The English Exile Community in Italy and the Political Opposition to Queen Mary I", Albion, 13:3 (1981), pp. 228–229: Royall Tyler, Calendar State Papers, Spain, 11 (London: HMSO, 1916), p. 9.
  16. ^ Paul Friedmann, Les dépêches de Giovanni Michiel Ambassadeur de Venise en Angleterre (Venice, 1869), p. xxxi.
  17. ^ Rawdon Brown, Calendar State Papers, Venice, 1553–1554 (London, 1873), p. 563 no. 934, "molte robbe, e anco di valore".
  18. ^ Jennifer Loach, Edward VI (Yale, 1999), p. 161: Vertot, Ambassades, 2, p. 32.
  19. ^ Anna Whitelock and Diarmaid MacCulloch, "Princess Mary's Household and the Succession Crisis, July 1553", The Historical Journal, 50:2 (June 2007), p. 276: Royall Tyler, Calendar State Papers, Spain, 11 (London: HMSO, 1916), p. 109 fn.
  20. ^ E. Harris Harbison, Rival Ambassadors at the Court of Queen Mary (Princeton, 1940), p. 79: E. Harris Harbison, "French Intrigue at the Court of Queen Mary", The American Historical Review, 45:3 (April 1940), pp. 538–539: Vertot, Ambassades, 2 (Leiden, 1763), pp. 174–178, "en Cape".
  21. ^ Samantha Perez, "Venetian Diplomacy Under Mary I", Valerie Schutte and Jessica S. Hower, Writing Mary I: History, Historiography, and Fiction (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022), p. 78.
  22. ^ Judith M. Richards, "Mary Tudor as 'Sole Quene?: Gendering Tudor Monarchy", The Historical Journal, 40:4 (December 1997), p. 900: Rawdon Brown, Calendar State Papers, Venice, 1553–1554 (London, 1873), pp. 531 no. 933, 563 no. 934.
  23. ^ Royall Tyler, Calendar State Papers Spain, 11 (London, 1916), pp. 311–312, 329.
  24. ^ Samantha Perez, "Venetian Diplomacy Under Mary I", Valerie Schutte and Jessica S. Hower, Writing Mary I: History, Historiography, and Fiction (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022), pp. 78–80.
  25. ^ E. Harris Harbison, "French Intrigue at the Court of Queen Mary", The American Historical Review, 45:3 (April 1940), pp. 543–545: Royall Tyler, Calendar State Papers Spain, 11 (London, 1916), pp. 256, 333 and footnote.
  26. ^ Royall Tyler, Calendar State Papers Spain, 11 (London, 1916), p. 359.
  27. ^ David Loades, The Reign of Mary Tudor (Longman, 1979), p. 80: Rawdon Brown, Calendar State Papers, Venice, 1553–1554 (London, 1873), p. 450 no. 842: Vertot, Ambassades, 2, pp. 174–178.
  28. ^ Kenneth R. Bartlett, "The English Exile Community in Italy and the Political Opposition to Queen Mary I", Albion, 13:3 (1981), p. 229: Patrick Fraser Tytler, England under the reigns of Edward VI and Mary, 2, pp. 300, 304.
  29. ^ William B. Robison, "Wyatt's Rebellion: History. Memory, and Representation", Valerie Schutte and Jessica S. Hower, Mid-Tudor Queenship and Memory: The Making and Re-making of Lady Jane Grey and Mary I (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022) p. 138: Calendar State Papers, Venice, 5, p. 532 no. 933.
  30. ^ Alison J. Carter, "Mary Tudor's Wardrobe", Costume, 18 (1984), pp. 21–22.
  31. ^ Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (Maney, 1998), p. 113.
  32. ^ Elizabeth I when a Princess, RCIN 404444
  33. ^ Samantha Perez, "Venetian Diplomacy Under Mary I", Valerie Schutte and Jessica S. Hower, Writing Mary I: History, Historiography, and Fiction (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022), p. 70.
  34. ^ Hilary Doda, "Lady Mary to Queen of England: Transformation, Ritual, and the Wardrobe of the Robes", Sarah Duncan & Valerie Schutte, The Birth of a Queen: Essay on the Quincentenary of Mary I (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), p. 51: Cassandra Auble, "Bejeweled Majesty: Queen Elizabeth I", Debra Barret-Graves, The Emblematic Queen (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), p. 37.
  35. ^ Mary Jean Stone, History of Mary I, Queen of England (London, 1901), pp. 319-320
  36. ^ Diana Scarisbrick, Tudor and Jacobean Jewellery (London, 1995), p. 14.
  37. ^ Rawdon Brown, Calendar State Papers Venice, vol. 5 (London, 1873), pp. 533, 554 no. 934
  38. ^ Alexander Samson, "Changing Places: The Marriage and Royal Entry of Philip, Prince of Austria, and Mary Tudor, July–August 1554", Sixteenth Century Journal, 36:3 (Fall 2005), p. 764.
  39. ^ Eugenio Albèri, Relazioni dello Impero Britannico nel secolo XVI scritte da veneti ambasciatori (Florence, 1852), pp. 33–34.
  40. ^ Rawdon Brown, Calendar State Papers, Venice, 1553–1554 (London, 1873), no. 934.
  41. ^ Roy Strong, Tudor & Jacobean Portraits, 1 (London: HMSO, 1969), p. 211.
  42. ^ Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (Maney, 1998), p. 113.
  43. ^ Alison J. Carter, "Mary Tudor's Wardrobe", Costume, 18 (1984), pp. 15–21: Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (Maney, 1998), pp. 55, 113 & fig. 4
  44. ^ Hilary Doda, "Lady Mary to Queen of England: Transformation, Ritual, and the Wardrobe of the Robes", Sarah Duncan & Valerie Schutte, The Birth of a Queen: Essay on the Quincentenary of Mary I (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), pp. 51–52.
  45. ^ Herbert Norris, Tudor Costume and Fashion (London, 1938) p. 441.
  46. ^ Eugenio Albèri, Relazioni dello Impero Britannico nel secolo XVI scritte da veneti ambasciatori (Florence, 1852), p. 52.
  47. ^ James Robinson Planché, Regal Records: Or, A Chronicle of the Coronations of the Queens Regnant (London, 1838), pp. 6–7, 9: René Aubert de Vertot, Ambassades de Messieurs de Noailles en Angleterre, 2 (Leyden, 1763), pp. 104, 121, 197–198.
  48. ^ Susan Broomhall, The Identities of Catherine de' Medici (Brill, 2021), pp. 107–108: David Hay Fleming, Mary Queen of Scots (London, 1897), pp. 208–209.
  49. ^ Rawdon Brown, Calendar State Papers Venice, 1557–1558, 6:3 (London, 1884), pp. 1366 no. 1079, 1384 no. 1097.
  50. ^ Benedetto Giovanelli and Tommaso Gar, Vita di Alessandro Vittoria, scultore trentino, p. 120.
  51. ^ Thomas Martin, Alessandro Vittoria and the portrait bust in Renaissance Venice: Remodelling antiquity (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), pp. 146–147.
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