The Lombard Man:Bateleur And Other Such Buzzards

An oops to EE.... Ramon Llull- The Book of Blanquerna a medieval novel- not a Tarot Deck. DuH I say to myself as I recall Yate's book The Art of Memory and her mention of Llull and the book. Need to re read Yates again it seems. Looked everywhere for a Blanquera Tarot, until finally the penny dropped- and it was not a baggattini either, but a pound penny because I was soooo slow.....~Rosanne

I must be masochistic, but someone is interested looking at the amount of views- so I will keep going
It is said the Lombard Man lived between Holy Water and Sea Water (the Church and the State) and implies both can be used, and both can cause Death or exile.
Gaming lived there too! As did the Jew.
Many of the laws about gambling spring from selfish interests in the business, Catholic and political sectors. For example preventing work been done for the landowner. The stigma associated with gambling turns out to be a method of preventing competition from gambling (in this case the use of coins when there was a bullion famine or stockpiling of coins by the gaming house)and lead to misguided moral policies. To say that gambling was sinful, but not on Christmas day seems misguided to me. To enact laws to prevent the subjects gambling and have the elite and the clergy be allowed was two faced. The Church preached and moralised about the Jew, but both State and Church used their services.All this was obvious to the gambler and the gaming house- the Jew and the Banker.
Whether TdM was a style that lent it self to a multifaceted sequence of 22 that already existed and borrowed it- it seems to me that it was used to depict the use of money and and law as it affected the game when it was invented. I use the Tarot in an occult way, not a gaming way- but the images of the Noblet for example tell me a different story. It is that of of the social somewhat ironic take on what was happening between 1400 - 1600. For the game I think the medieval English term would be 'these card doth cock a snook' at both Church and State.
There is not one card in the TdM that this could not be applied to this view of moral and State economics from my point of view.

Now feel free to rubbish this, agree with me, debate with me. You have my permission to call me names (that seems to bring the History forum to life) start a slanging match- whatever! Bring the History forum out of the wilderness and post. ~Rosanne

One might ask if this Bateleur was a Lombard Man/Banker Merchant why was he so low on the point scale of the game.
Well he was not considered very worthy. The Catholic preachers who stirred up the population about Money-changers attributed the plague and other like misfortunes to them as the the greedy and devouring serpents of covetousness.
There was an extremely wealthy Lombard Man called Agostino Chigi who wanted to marry the illegitimate daughter of a Noble of Mantua. The Noble's wife said "he pleases me entirely, except for his being a Banker, which seems to me unbecoming to our house" His suit was denied. The Medici Queens Catherine and Marie were considered 'low caste' because they came from a family of Bankers and Merchants. Even though these Lombards were a crucial and necessary part of medieval life, they were reviled because of the association of usury/pawnbroking and loan and debts owed to the Jews. Trade and money was viewed with distaste for a long time.The three estates of medieval Christian life was interrupted by bankers who worked for themselves and their money bred money- not Christian at all. The order of things was all upset. Mercury the sign of commerce- the guardian of trading was a necessary symbol but not a liked one at Tarot's Birth.
~Rosanne

Rosanne,

You always can be counted on for interesting and thought-provoking insights. I also see many social comments in the Noblet. Bateleur as a money changer [Lombard Man]...Can he be redeemed like Scrooge was?

Mac22

Yay I hear a voice in the desert (or is that dessert?) Well Mac I guess he already was redeemed- the World was his for the taking. The trumpet sounded- Justice stood up- her scales weighted with Debit and Credit (nothing much has changed eh?) the Renaissance started with religion providing the pretext and gold and silver gave the motive. Tarot got painted. Forgive the cynic in me -I am on the gamers side. Poor sods- a little entertainment between State taxes and Church Taxes and death. I also admire the beleaguered but adaptable Jew.
Who needed redeeming? Not them or the Lombard Man.
Thus they gevern here golde glotstones to kepe (gold coin tithe)
And leveth such loseles that lecherye haunten.(Clergy said peasants are lecherous wastrels)
Were the bishop yblissed and worth his eres,
His soul shulde naught be sent to deceyve the peple
~Rosanne
(This was about the Church parting the peasant from his silver, by buying indulgences/pardons from his sins one of which was gambling)

....Or is it each of us that are "redeemed" as we each travel our own path of the Tarot Atouts....

Mac22

I'm here, but face down in the dessert plate...

Hehe Mac- that is the RWS in you along with all those occultists. Methinks TdM was far more pragmatic than was laid upon it some few hundred years later; apart from a salvation sequence of know your place, Obey the Church, work yourself to death and then maybe Heaven (if you were lucky lol)

Wake up Debra! I did not intend you to fall in your pudding- that sounds like boredom
~Rosanne

Gluttony.

The RWS in me hmm, guilty as charged..... But I do see a Spiritual path in the Noblet as well. In fact I'm finding more things in the Noblet that I ever did the RWS.

Mac22