Mottoes and Devices of the Sforza

DoctorArcanus

I think the Sorbonne page is reliable, and its translations can be accepted.

In other documents, the "mit zeit" motto appeared with the correct spelling:
http://www.archive.org/stream/notiziesulmuseo00unkngoog/notiziesulmuseo00unkngoog_djvu.txt
http://www.comune.milano.it/dseserver/webcity/documenti.nsf/d38e0f65f96d36fc0125690e00465e37/96418ffdd704d4d9c1257576003fc6fc/$FILE/07_Fuori%20Porta.pdf

In the Cremona church door, the device features fruits that look like grapes and that could be blackberries or mulberries ("more" in Italian, with reference to the nickname of Lodovico). I think the motto should be interpreted as "all things need time to grow, as plants do"


About "hic verges nit", Pozzati presents a banner (at the bottm of this page) where the motto appears in the form "ch verges nit". He says the object represented on the device (the "scrolls") is a "morso" or "moraglia" i.e. a bit (the part of the bridle inserted in the mouth of a horse).
The association of the bit with this motto is not obvious to me. Ripa (who uses "freno" for bit) associates the bit to a number of concepts: obedience, temperance, self-control, religion, reason.

PS

Cesare Ripa said:
Punitione.

Donna vestita di bianco, sarà alata, nella destra mano terrà un Passo, overo Legno da misurare, et nella destra un Freno.
Questa Figura si rappresenta per la Dea Nemesi, onde si dice esser figliuola della Giustitia, et si veste di bianco per la ragione detta. L'Ali dimostrano la velocità et la prestezza che si deve adoprare, in punire i malvagi et in premiare i meritevoli. Il Freno et il Passo da misurare significa che ella raffrena le lingue et l'opere cattive, misurando in modo che né la pena, né la colpa ecceda soverchiamente, ma che serbino insieme conveniente misura et proportione, il che si osserva nell'antica Legge, pagando ciascuno in pena l'occhio per l'occhio, il piede per lo piede et la vita per la vita.

Punishment

A winged woman dressed in white, holding a compass or a meter in her right hand and a bridle in her left.
This figure represents Goddess Nemesis ... The Bridle and the measuring Compass mean that she limits bad tongues and bad deeds, measuring in such a way that neither the guilt nor the punishment are excessive ... as is read in the ancient Law, that every one pays an eye for an eye, a foot for a foot and life for life.


Apparently, the bridle was an attribute of Nemesis since ancient times. In this context, the motto "I do not forget" makes sense.
 

Rosanne

DoctorArcanus said:
About "hic verges nit", Pozzati presents a banner (at the bottm of this page) where the motto appears in the form "ch verges nit". He says the object represented on the device (the "scrolls") is a "morso" or "moraglia" i.e. a bit (the part of the bridle inserted in the mouth of a horse).
The association of the bit with this motto is not obvious to me. Ripa (who uses "freno" for bit) associates the bit to a number of concepts: obedience, temperance, self-control, religion, reason.
....snip
Apparently, the bridle was an attribute of Nemesis since ancient times. In this context, the motto "I do not forget" makes sense.

Well in that flag or standard it does look like a steering bit for horses. It goes well with the Latin 'Verges' to bend or turn and the bit hurts the horse, because it pulls on the tender side of the mouth- so the Horse does not forget.
It was scroll rods on my school uniform badge and motto and had to do with learning your lines and acting well your part. So the two are not the same.
It was not clear on the Church door either, I thought it the same scroll rods.
Thank you DoctorArcanus- that was helpful. I have discovered one of the mottos 'Bon Droit' was a war cry- from where these mottoes sometimes originated. I found a site but no dates- I will look for a book. Just very popular in the 15th Century.
~Rosanne
 

Huck

ZEIT, f. f o r m :
ahd., mhd. zît, as., afrs., ags. tîd, altn. tíð, mnd. tît, mnld. tijt; im got. fehlend, dafür das unverwandte þeihs, n.; eine ahd., nur im Isidor bezeugte nebenform nom. ziidh, dat. ziidi, zide zeigt grammatischen wechsel. der flexion nach ein fem. i-stamm, wie die ahd. formen sing. gen., dat., plur. nom., acc. zîti, plur. gen. zîteo, dat. zîtim, zîtin (GRAFF 5, 635) und altn. nom. plur. tíðir lehren; daneben besteht ein neutraler a-stamm (s. u.) im obd. die starken pluralformen weichen in der nhd. periode den schwachen, doch reichen sie noch ins 16. jahrh. hinein, vgl. schon gen. zyten N. V. WYLE transl. 21 K., sonst aber acc. zyte 157 K., auch nom. zeit H. SACHS

http://germazope.uni-trier.de/Proje...pattern=&lemmapattern=&verspattern=#GZ02915L0

There are a lot of writing forms for the terminus "Zeit", but I would think, that the modern writing from "zeit" is late, 16th century.
The document, which we see (Salluste page), shows a "MIT RAIT" ... whatever others have read or said or defined in the meantime. Maybe an Italian "Z" around the time looked like an "R", I don't know.

Naturally, for persons without the German wordbook Grimm, which, as you see above, should be an horror for every foreigner, the word "Rait" makes not much sense, as it more less disappeared from modern language. As something with "time" appears in the other motti (Merito etc.), it's possible, that somebody concluded, it should mean "Zeit" ... why not.
The Grimm is the largest German wordbook, and it started at begin of 19th century, when the older language was still a little bit more alive.
 

Huck

Strange enough, in the "Hic Verges Nit" at the Salluste page actually one reads not "nit", but an "IT" (whatever it might mean), possibly the missing "N" is somewhere unreadable hidden.
I agree, that the later Massimiliano book page or banner "CH verges nit" writes somehow more similar to "Ich vergess nit", but actually it's also another time with dramatical changes between 1500 - 1512. Perhaps the motto was repeated cause tradition, but modified cause this changes?

Or shall we assume the famous writing errors?
 

DoctorArcanus

Huck said:
Strange enough, in the "Hic Verges Nit" at the Salluste page actually one reads not "nit", but an "IT" (whatever it might mean), possibly the missing "N" is somewhere unreadable hidden.

The N is upside-down and is separated from the rest of the word by the bit. "HIC VERGES N IT".

Huck said:
Or shall we assume the famous writing errors?

As I have already pointed out, the motto "mit zeit" appears with the correct German spelling in other Milanese documents.

In the mottoes of the Sallustius manuscript, German words have been adapted to Italian phonology. The sound of "EI" in "ZEIT" is written "AI" in Itaian, Adelheid becomes Adelaide and Reimund becomes Raimondo.
As the Sorbonne page reasonably suggests, "RAIT" should read "ZAIT". The R is an error of the copyist, who likely knew Latin but not German. The copyist also replaced the unfamiliar "ich" with its anagram "hic" with which he was familiar. The Paleographic Commentary underlines that the quality of the text is far from perfect: errors occur in the Latin as well.

Similarly, the "ch" in Nicht was dropped because "cht" has no Italian equivalent.
 

Ross G Caldwell

Here are some images to illustrate Marco's point -

"ICH VERGHES NIT"

ichverghesnit1.jpg


ichverghesnit2.jpg


"MIT ZAIT"

mitzait1.jpg


Full page:

ital973f1sm.jpg


(large scan:
http://www.rosscaldwell.com/images/visconti/ital973f1.jpg )

I apologize they are not better quality and in colour.

They are from the treatise on dancing by Guglielmo da Pesaro and Domenico da Ferrara, dedicated to Galeazzo Maria Sforza, 1463 (BnF, Ital. 973, f. 1). Illustrated in b/w in Elisabeth Pellegrin, La bibliothèque des Visconti et des Sforza, ducs de Milan. Supplément avec 175 planches (...) (Florence, Olschki, 1969), plate 124, description pp. 40-41.
 

Huck

They are from the treatise on dancing by Guglielmo da Pesaro and Domenico da Ferrara, dedicated to Galeazzo Maria Sforza, 1463 (BnF, Ital. 973, f. 1). Illustrated in b/w in Elisabeth Pellegrin, La bibliothèque des Visconti et des Sforza, ducs de Milan. Supplément avec 175 planches (...) (Florence, Olschki, 1969), plate 124, description pp. 40-41.

If the motto was used as early as 1463, I redraw my objection, no problem.

Likely it means, that the dating of 1467 for the Salluste edition of Ludovico Sforza indeed is correct, and that this German language motto was chosen by Francesco Sforza himself .. strange, but perhaps he was interested to show Emperor Fredrick (who had shown his cold shoulder before) his own somehow strong position.
 

Ross G Caldwell

Huck said:
If the motto was used as early as 1463, I redraw my objection, no problem.

Likely it means, that the dating of 1467 for the Salluste edition of Ludovico Sforza indeed is correct, and that this German language motto was chosen by Francesco Sforza himself .. strange, but perhaps he was interested to show Emperor Fredrick (who had shown his cold shoulder before) his own somehow strong position.

Pellegrin also lists a manuscript with the mountain with three pine cones and "Mit Zait" as early as 1459. She says it was one of Francesco's "new emblems", added to the old Visconti ones.

Unfortunately I didn't photocopy that page when I had the book (7 years ago now), but is a manuscript in Chantilly, Musée Condé lat. 368, De arte bersandi (a treatise on hunting; also called the Moamin or even Maomin).

Maybe we can find it online.
 

DoctorArcanus

Thank you Ross!