6o The Banquet 



VII. THE BANQUET 



On the day^ of the wedding a magnificent banquet^ was served. 

 What may be called the classic account of this was written by 

 Paulus Jovius (1483-1552) long after the event, though no doubt 

 reposing on good contemporary authorities. His description is 

 as follows: 



Leonati porro adventu tantae opes admirabili liberalitate profusae 

 sunt, cum et nuptiale epulum daret, et equestres ederet ludos, et Britan- 

 nos ex generis comitatu supra ducentos eximiis donis adornaret, ut 

 opulentissimorum Regum splendorem superasse censeretur. In con- 

 vivio enim, in quo Franciscus Petrarcha inter principes convivas 

 discubuit, singulos ferculorum missus, qui supra triginta fuere, totidem 

 inusitatae magnificentiae, munera sequebantur : ea omnia Joannes 

 Galeacius, delectae juventutis Princeps, ad mensam perducens Leonato 

 obtulit. 



Fuere in uno tantum missu septuaginta' equi insignes argenteis et 

 sericis ephippiis strati*: in aliis vero vasa argentea,' hierofalcones,^ 

 venatici canes,^ equestria arma,' nobiles loricae, solidoque ferro splen- 



*Corio; Annal. Med.; Frag. Gabotto (Misc. di Stor. Ital. 33. 169) says 

 the banquet took place on the evening of the wedding-day ('quella sera 

 vi fu un convito'). Giulini (5. 512) represents the company as proceeding 

 directly from the basilica to the banquet. 



Cron. Monf.'s *la dominicha nella disponsatione' must be a mistake, one 

 would think. The wedding took place on June 5, which was a Monday. 

 The previous day was Trinity Sunday, and of course the next Sunday was 

 June II. Presumably the wedding-feast would not be held before the 

 wedding, and an interval of six days would have been too great. 



'Corio: 'un splendidissimo convito'; Annal. Med.: *in prandio fecit 

 maximum convivium'; Frag.: 'uno grande desinare.' Cf. that when 

 Gian Galeazzo was made duke in 1395 (Corio, p. 539), and see the 

 eulogy of this one in Cron. Monf. (p. 1225). 



^Cf. p. 73. 



*Cf. pp. 68, 71, y2. 



' Cf. p. 69. 



' Cf. pp. 66, 67. 



' Cf. pp. 66, 67. 



'Cf. pp. 68, 71, 72. 



° In 1360, the Green Count sent as a present for the wedding of Gian 

 Galeazzo and Isabella of France five suits of armor which he had had 

 made specially, and which cost 145 florins (Cordey, Les Contes de Savoie, 

 p. 157). The original account runs (ifr.) : 'Item a Jacob Lo Platier pour 

 V payres de plats par mon seigneur [Gian Galeazzo?] et par monseigneur 



