Английская Википедия:Banquet of Chestnuts
Шаблон:Short description The Banquet of Chestnuts (sometimes Ballet of Chestnuts, Festival of Chestnuts, or Joust of Whores) was a supper purportedly held at the Papal Palace in Rome and hosted by former Cardinal Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI, on 31 October 1501.
Burchard's account
An account of the banquet appears in the Шаблон:Lang of Johann Burchard, the Protonotary Apostolic and Master of Ceremonies. This diary, a primary source on the life of Alexander VI, was preserved in the Vatican Secret Archive; it became available to researchers in the mid-19th century when Pope Leo XIII opened the archive, although Leo expressed specific reluctance to allow general access to a document which might harm the reputation of Alexander VI.[1]
According to Burchard, the banquet was given in Cesare Borgia's apartments in the Palazzo Apostolico. Fifty prostitutes or courtesans were in attendance for the entertainment of the banquet guests. Burchard describes the scene as follows:[2] Шаблон:Blockquote
Historicity
Both contemporary and modern authors have questioned the accuracy of Burchard's account.[3] Two independent contemporary sources confirm that a social event occurred on the date given by Burchard, but give fewer details of the festivities.[4][5]
Vatican researcher Peter de Roo, in his five-volume history of Alexander VI, speculates that the passage may be a later interpolation in Burchard's memoirs, arguing that the Pope could not be capable of such "truly bestial" behavior.[6] Other historians, however, have criticized de Roo's biography, describing it as "a vast apologetic work in which much useful material is often almost undetectable under the coat of white-wash"[7] and as uncritically accepting all praise and rejecting all criticism of Alexander VI.[8]
Alexander Lee notes that "The so-called 'Banquet of the Chestnuts'… is, for example, attested only in Burchard's memoirs, and not only was intrinsically implausible, but also was dismissed as such by many contemporaries."[9] Henry A. Brann, a Catholic priest and historian, argues that "courtesans" is an improper translation of a word better understood as "courtiers", and that references to "nudity" merely describe "a throwing off of the outer robes."[10]
Defending the historicity of the account, Giles Milton argues that the Шаблон:Lang is "a deeply serious work", Burchard is generally a reliable source not prone to exaggerations, and that the events described are not out of character for Alexander VI, known for fathering the most illegitimate children of any pope.[11]
In popular culture
William Manchester's book A World Lit Only by Fire, embellishes the story: "Servants kept score of each man's orgasms, for the pope greatly admired virility and measured a man's machismo by his ejaculative capacity… After everyone was exhausted, His Holiness distributed prizes."[12] Professional historians, however, have dismissed or ignored the book because of its numerous factual errors and its dependence on interpretations that have not been accepted by experts since the 1930s at the latest. In a review for Speculum, the journal of the Medieval Academy of America, Jeremy duQuesnay Adams remarked that Manchester's work contained "some of the most gratuitous errors of fact and eccentricities of judgment this reviewer has read (or heard) in quite some time."[13]
The banquet is depicted in episode 4 of season 3 of the Showtime TV series The Borgias. In the show, the Banquet is shown to be a trap to blackmail otherwise disloyal members of the College of Cardinals, and is officiated by Giulia Farnese, and witnessed by Burchard who chronicles the debaucheries of the Cardinals while hidden behind a screen. None of the Borgia family are seen to be present, and loyal Cardinals such as Cardinal Farnese are warned not to accept the invitation. In the series, the event takes place in Шаблон:Circa.
See also
References
Bibliography
- John (Johann) Burchard, Pope Alexander VI and his Court: extracts from the Latin diary of the Papal Master of Ceremonies, 1484–1506; ed. F. L. Glaser, New York, 1921
- Barbara W. Tuchman, The March of Folly. New York: Knopf, 1984; p. 106 Шаблон:ISBN; another issue has Шаблон:ISBN
- Burgo Partridge, A History of Orgies, Bonanza Books, 1960, p. 106
- Английская Википедия
- History of Catholicism in Italy
- Sexuality in Catholicism
- Renaissance Rome
- 16th-century Catholicism
- 16th-century Christianity
- 1501 in Italy
- 16th century in Rome
- 1501 in Christianity
- History of the papacy
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