Appropriating the Instruments of Worship: The 1512 Medici Restoration and the Florentine Cathedral Choirbooks^*

Abstract

This study examines the impact of the 1512 Medici restoration on the antiphonaries and graduals of the Florentine cathedral. Seven choirhooks are recognizably Medicean in their artistic and, in one significant case, in their liturgical and musical content. Whether through depictions of the family's most distinguished members — notably Lorenzo il Magnifico and Pope Leo X — or the detailed representations of contemporary events in which the Medici were the protagonists, or whether through the creation of a new Office for Florentine bishop-saint Zenobius, these lavish manuscripts reflect the themes of control and propaganda central to the years of the Medici restoration.

When the Bishop Married the Abbess: Masculinity and Power in Florentine Episcopal Entry Rites, 1300–1600

“…This attribution helped the Florentine clergy elaborate a mythology of the episcopate's origins, articulating the saint's legendary reputation as defender of both city and church. 10 Recent historians have linked the rite's origins to the desire of Florentine bishops to bolster their power through ceremony, liturgy and other charismatic means. 11 Maureen Miller has shown that, in structure and symbolism, the entry was likely a local adaptation of medieval papal rituals, with Florentine bishops capitalising on the twelfth-century resurgence of papal power.…”