“Fra Sabba da Castiglione: The Self-Fashioning of a Renaissance Knight Hospitaller” by Ranieri Moore Cavaceppi B.A., University of Pennsylvania 1988 M.A., University of North Carolina 1996 Thesis Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Italian Studies at Brown University May 2011 © Copyright 2011 by Ranieri Moore Cavaceppi This dissertation by Ranieri Moore Cavaceppi is accepted in its present form by the Department of Italian Studies as satisfying the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date Ronald L. Martinez, Advisor Recommended to the Graduate Council Date Evelyn Lincoln, Reader Date Ennio Rao, Reader Approved by the Graduate Council Date Peter M. Weber, Dean of the Graduate School iii CURRICULUM VITAE Ranieri Moore Cavaceppi was born in Rome, Italy on October 11, 1965, and moved to Washington, DC at the age of ten. A Fulbright Fellow and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Ranieri received an M.A. in Italian literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1996, whereupon he began his doctoral studies at Brown University with an emphasis on medieval and Renaissance Italian literature. Returning home to Washington in the fall of 2000, Ranieri became the father of three children, commenced his dissertation research on Knights Hospitaller, and was appointed the primary full-time instructor at American University, acting as language coordinator for the Italian program. iv PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I deeply appreciate the generous help that I received from each member of my dissertation committee: my advisor Ronald Martinez took a keen interest in this project since its inception in 2004 and suggested many of its leading insights; my readers Evelyn Lincoln and Ennio Rao contributed numerous observations and suggestions. Without their steadfast guidance, the clarity and scope of my work would have suffered enormously. I would also like to thank the members of the Italian Department at Brown University, especially Massimo Riva and Mona Delgado, for their unfailing support during my years as a graduate student. I also wish to thank the Graduate School for promoting advanced research in the humanities. In Washington, DC, I would like to thank William Kloman for tirelessly proofreading my work. I also need to thank Damon Smith for correcting all of my Latin translations. I am deeply grateful to American University for nurturing my teaching career while providing me with wonderful library resources. I wish to thank the many scholars, both in Italy and the United States, too numerous to name, who kindly shared with me advice and encouragement. Last but not least, I would like to recognize the great contribution of my family, my wife Hilary Dove and my children Francesca, Orlando, and Sebastian, whose encouragement, love, and support made this work possible. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature page ...................................................................................................................iii Curriculum Vitae...............................................................................................................iv Preface and Acknowledgments..........................................................................................v Table of Contents...............................................................................................................vi List of Illustrations.............................................................................................................ix Introduction........................................................................................................................1 0.1 Sabba Castiglione’s Roles and Works...................................................................3 0.2 Methodology and Justification...............................................................................8 Chapter One: From Proud Lineage to Particularized Patronage.......................................11 1.1 An Elusive Lineage...............................................................................................11 1.2 An Adequate Humanist Education........................................................................13 1.3 Studies in Pavia.....................................................................................................17 1.4 A Sojourn with the Gonzaga.................................................................................22 1.5 Knight and Antiquarian.........................................................................................23 1.6 Among the Roman Curia.......................................................................................28 1.7 The Commenda faentina: Origins and Topography..............................................35 Chapter Two: A Hospitaller Eclogue: Sabba’s Lamento..................................................43 2.1 Pastoral Origins and Development.......................................................................45 2.2 Sabba’s Inclusive Language Use..........................................................................53 2.2.1 Baldassarre Castiglione and Cesare Gonzaga’s Tirsi...........................................58 2.2.2 Niccolò Machiavelli’s Mandragola......................................................................72 2.3 Literary Components of the Lamento...................................................................79 vi 2.4 Pastoral Conventions............................................................................................89 2.5 Imagery and Ideology...........................................................................................97 2.6 Military Text and Subtext....................................................................................107 2.7 Modern Analyses of Sabba’s Eclogue.................................................................112 Chapter Three: Liturgy, Rules, and Spirituality...............................................................121 3.1 The Order’s Origins and Ethos............................................................................122 3.2 Structural Codification.........................................................................................125 3.3 Augustinian Principles, Benedictine Practices....................................................130 3.4 The Divine Office................................................................................................133 3.5 The Book of Psalms.............................................................................................138 3.6 The Lyons Breviary.............................................................................................142 3.7 A Particularized Version of Christianity..............................................................146 3.8 Personal Piety, Group Prayer ..............................................................................151 3.9 Objectives of the Order........................................................................................154 Chapter Four: Italian Hospitaller Imagery.......................................................................161 4.1 Hospitaller Imagery before 1500.........................................................................163 4.1.1 Saintly Icons and Sepulchral Inscriptions............................................................164 4.1.2 Holy Sepulchre Imagery......................................................................................167 4.1.3 Hospitaller Imagery in Rhodes............................................................................169 4.1.4 Medieval Hospitaller Architectonic Features......................................................172 4.2 The Codification of Hospitaller Iconography......................................................174 4.2.1 Guillaume Caoursin’s Incunabulum....................................................................175 4.2.2 The Commenda di San Jacopo............................................................................176 4.2.3 The Rhodes Missal...............................................................................................179 4.2.4 Bodrum Castle.....................................................................................................182 4.2.5 The Abbazia di Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri Gerosolimitani...............................184 vii 4.3 The Amalgamation of Hospitaller Purpose and Imagery....................................186 4.3.1 The Siena Frescoes..............................................................................................188 4.3.2 Exploiting New Realities.....................................................................................191 4.4 Sabba’s Contributions to Hospitaller Imagery.....................................................193 4.4.1 Extant Wall Inscriptions......................................................................................195 4.4.2 Lost Wall Inscriptions..........................................................................................202 4.5 An Unexplained Malady Becomes a Life-Altering Event...................................207 4.6 Sabba’s Idiosyncratic Aesthetics.........................................................................209 4.6.1 Eclectic Influences Displayed in the Commenda................................................210 4.6.2 Art and Artists in the Ricordi...............................................................................216 4.7 Contemporaneous