Writing against Time: Pietro Lazzaroni’s Carmen ad Alexandrum VI (1497)

• In Event: The Economics of Encomia

Abstract

This paper presents the techniques Pietro Lazzaroni employed to produce Latin encomia at breathtaking speed. Reconstructing the background of a poem dedicated to Pope Alexander VI, fast composition emerges as a crucial skill in producing poetry for transient diplomatic occasions. In July 1497, the Pavia-based professor Pietro Lazzaroni completed 2,125 lines of hexameter so that his poem would arrive at the curia simultaneously with Bernardino de Carvajal, a legate the Pope had recalled from Milan in May 1497. Lazzaroni’s unrivalled speed of composition thus enabled Duke Ludovico Sforza to present the Pope with a poem evoking the old alliance between Rome and Milan at a time when Alexander was aiming to sever all ties between the Borgia and Sforza. By tracing the structure of the encomion to the poet’s earlier works, Lazzaroni’s method of poetic composition is revealed as well as his efficient response to the exigencies of Sforza diplomacy.

Author

• Bernhard Schirg, Freie Universität Berlin