Order Saint Stephen (2 results)

Folio (310 x 203 mm). Collation: 1) a4 A-L4 Aa6 M4. [8] 86, [2], [20] pages. Italic types. Title within elaborate woodcut allegorical border, several sets of historiated woodcut initials, woodcut printer's device (the Medici arms) on verso of errata leaf (Aa6); quire Aa, the table, bound before quire M (the papal privilege). First and last quires foxed, occasional light foxing elsewhere, internal tear to fol. H3 with loss to woodcut initial on verso, small hole from paper flaw in fol. K2 with loss of 3 letters. Bound with four related imprints (see below), of which the last with a full-page cross of the order printed in red. Early 19th-century Italian half roan and marbled paper over pasteboards, spine gold-tooled with small flower tools in each compartment, the lowermost with a small star of the Order, red morocco gilt lettering-piece, probably from an earlier binding, pastedowns of block-printed paper in pink, light brown and green, edges stained blue to match the paper of the covers (worn, soiled, worming to backstrip). Provenance: engraved armorial bookplate of the Martelli family of Florence, with motto Sola virtus vera nobilitas, mounted on the front flyleaf facing the title; 19th-century inscription on front flyleaf, citing Gamba. A Knight's copy of the First Edition of the statutes and privileges of the Tuscan chivalric order of St. Stephen, created by Cosimo de' Medici, first Grand Duke of Tuscany, in October 1561; bound with three updates to the statutes and an additional privilege. To "normalize" the transition of Florence from a city-state republic to what was essentially a monarchy, Cosimo had repeatedly tried to establish a religious military order, along the lines of the Knights of Malta, but had been thwarted by papal politics. It was only with the accession of his distant cousin Pope Pius IV (Giovanni Angelo Medici di Marignano) that he was finally able to establish the order, appointing himself as its first Grand Master. Although it was based on the Benedictine rule, the order's charge was resolutely military. Its name commemorated two battles which had consolidated Medici power, both of which occurred on August 2, the feast day of St. Stephen: the Battle of Montemurlo in 1537, in which the Grand Duke defeated republican insurgents, and the Battle of Marciano in 1554, in which Florence (backed by Spain) defeated Siena (backed by France). The new order's primary purpose was to combat the (mostly Turkish) pirates who plagued the Mediterranean and threatened the Medicis' newly built port at Livorno, and to join the Christian wars against the Ottoman Turks, and thus attract fame and prestige to Tuscany and its Medici rulers. In this the Order of Saint Stephen would succeed, participating, for example, in the siege of Malta in 1565, and the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. The seat of the order was in Pisa. "In its palazzo, designed by Vasari, along with its church, soldiers found a veritable naval academy which provided them with all the training that they required" (Treccani., transl.). It was only after the accession of the Habsburgs to the Tuscan Duchy in 1737 that the order's military charges were rescinded, and it became a mere symbol of social status, which it remained, after a brief suppression during Napoleonic rule, until its final abolition with the unification of Italy in 1859. The Tuscan order's statutes were modeled on those of the Order of Malta. Their written formulation, praised for the elegance of the prose, may have been the work of jurisconsult Lelio Torelli, first secretary of the Grand-Duke (vide Gamba). Extremely precise, the statutes are divided into 17 parts, covering the fundamental rules governing the knights (Charity, Chastity, and Obedience), rules of admission to the order, its hierarchy, uniforms, etc.; religious ceremonies and obligations; the order's hospital and treatment of the sick; finances; the general assembly; administration and government; duties and prerogatives of the Grand Mas.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. 2nd Edition. 4to. 316p including engraved allegorical title by Jacques Callot. 5 fine historiated woodcut initials with martial themes and numerous decorative initials. Contemporary vellum; neatly rebacked. The statutes of the knightly order of St Stephen founded in 1562 by Cosimo de Medici, first grand duke of Tuscany, and including the amendments made under his successors Cosimo II, and Ferdinand II. As Cosimo I had conquered both Florence and later Siena on the eve of St Stephen's day (2nd August), he established a military order in honour of the Saint to employ the new aristocracy of his aggrandized state to defend it against the marauding Barbary pirates. Pope Pius IV willingly agreed to declare the duke grand master of the new order which obliged the knights to protect the Christian faith against the infidel on land and by sea. Its device was a variant of the Maltese Cross worn on a gilt chain. The order won fame under Cosimo II, when its war-galleys captured Bona, the chief port of the Barbary pirates in 1607, and for its defeat of the Turkish fleet in the following year. These victories enhanced the prestige of the duke as grand master, and the rules of the order were printed with great care, and including 24 pages of chapter and subject indexes at the end. The fine engraved title by Jacques Callot shows 4 Turkish prisoners (2 in chains) with trophies of arms and flags; on high 3 allegorical figures representing Justice, Religion, and Force, the figure of Religion carries a shield and flag emblazoned with the arms of the Order - see Lieure 372 (2) & Meaume 428 (2). Edges of right blank title margin a little foxed with traces of wear in tailend corner, otherwise a fresh copy with occasional neat marginal notes in ink in an early hand.