Note 829 — Chapter I · THE EQUALISATION OF CLASSES.

Comp. the poetry, already quoted, of Politian and Luca Pulci (p. 349, note 3). Further, Paul. Jov., Vita Leonis X. l. i.; Macchiavelli, Storie Fiorent., l. vii.; Paul. Jov. Elog., speaking of Pietro de’ Medici, who neglected his public duties for these amusements, and of Franc. Borbonius, who lost his life in them; Vasari, ix. 219, Vita di Granacci. In the Morgante of Pulci, written under the eyes of Lorenzo, the knights are comical in their language and actions, but their blows are sturdy and scientific. Bojardo, too, writes for those who understand the tournament and the art of war. Comp. p. 323. In earlier Florentine history we read of a tournament in honour of the king of France, c. 1380, in Leon. Aret., Hist. Flor. lib. xi. ed. Argent, p. 222. The tournaments at Ferrara in 1464 are mentioned in the Diario Ferrar. in Murat. xxiv. col. 208; at Venice, see Sansovino, Venezia, fol. 153 sqq.; at Bologna in 1470 and after, see Bursellis, Annal. Bonon. Muratori xxiii. col. 898, 903, 906, 908, 911, where it is curious to note the odd mixture of sentimentalism attaching to the celebration of Roman triumphs; ‘ut antiquitas Romana renovata videretur,’ we read in one place. Frederick of Urbino (p. 44 sqq.) lost his right eye at a tournament ‘ab ictu lanceae.’ On the tournament as held at that time in northern countries, see Olivier de la Marche, Mémoires, passim, and especially cap. 8, 9, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, &c.