Importance Of Public Rituals In Renaissance Florence

Public ritual in Renaissance Florence involved many actors took many forms.1 Rituals could be civic rituals performed by the citizens of the city, or rituals primarily concerned with one family or group of people, but were displayed and therefore made available to the public.2 Some rituals were popular rituals were anyone could participate. These public rituals had various purposes, the most important ones being reproducing hierarchies which conditioned the organization of power within the Florentine polity, and ensuring civil peace and harmony.3 This was particularly important in Renaissance Florence as no one monarch ruled the city, and there was not a singular figure embodying authority and morality and who the people could look up to. …show more content…
It was the first carnival celebrated after the return of the Medicis from exile in 1512, after they had been expelled from the city in 1494.17 In 1512, Giuliano and Lorenzo de Medici returned with papal support to Florence, but this was not marked by any public ceremony.18 This carnival thus was the first public ritual that the Medicis could use to their advantage to signify their return to the city. Patronage of this event was a strategic move for the Medicis. Indeed, hierarchies are inverted during carnival, and as such it as a way of containing social unrest.19 This carnival can therefore be seen as a way of avoiding rebellion against the return of the Medici family to Florence. It was also a way of expressing respect for the popular and civic traditions of the Republic, and in this way reassure the office-holders who were sceptical of the Medicis ' return.20 The Carnival of 1513 was also a very particular one because it merged two different traditions of public rituals: that of the carnival, which was a way of letting the people get their grievances against the government out of their system in a contained way, and that of theatrical events which clearly enforced the hierarchies that the carnival mocked.21 To do so, Lorenzo and Giuliano created two festive brigades, Il Diamante and Il Broncone, which they led themselves, and staged triumphs at the end of the carnival season. These triumphs promoted the newly restored Medici regime, but were also similar to the festivities that Lorenzo the Magnificent, Giuliano 's father and Lorenzo 's grandfather, had organized during his rule.22 There was a clear willingness to bring back the past grandeur of the city 's golden age under the rule of Lorenzo de Medici.23 Staging events, rather than letting the peopel of Florence participate freely is a way for the Medicis to create entertainment in the ways that they want and