THE LETTERED PUBLIC FOR THE FUNERAL ORATIONS OF POGGIO BRACCIOLINI ON FRANCESCO ZABARELLA AND LEONARDO GIUSTINIANI ON CARLO ZENO

Abstract

The contemporary efflorescence of comprehensive codicological and paleographical scholarship, supported by the swelling digitalization of extant manuscripts, allows a statistical and cultural analysis of the audience for two popular funeral orations from the early Italian Renaissance. In 1417 Poggio Bracciolini eulogized Cardinal Francesco Zabarella at the Council of Constance, and in 1418 Leonardo Giustiniani commemorated Admiral Carlo Zeno before the assembled Venetian oligarchy. The material evidence of the codices suggests that educational concerns often prompted the copying of both orations. They were generally preserved among the texts of ubiquitous miscellanies that were written on paper by more than one hand. Over 25 percent of the manuscripts belonged to professional humanists and university students. Though the contents of a miscellaneous codex are at least in part spontaneous, those with the orations of Poggio and Giustiniani had a core of works that suggest an evolving textbook of rhetorical models for public speaking. The young humanist orators presented Zabarella and Zeno as committed public servants faithful in deed to the values that they advocated. Poggio offered Zabarella as a model for the reformed cleric. As a leading churchman, Zabarella had a powerful impact on the Council where he promoted unity and grounded his pleas on the ethos of his pedagogical and pastoral service. Zeno emerged as a contrast to the typical military commander because he was as esteemed for his counsel as he was for his courage. The admiral did not shy away from combat, but he won more impressive victories through his humane clemency. Both the cardinal and the admiral embodied the Ciceronian ideal that we are not born for ourselves alone.