The End of Fortuna and the Rise of Modernity PDF
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ArndtBrendecke,PeterVogt(Eds.) TheEndofFortunaandtheRiseofModernity The End of Fortuna and the Rise of Modernity Edited by Arndt Brendecke and Peter Vogt ISBN978-3-11-045042-2 e-ISBN(PDF)978-3-11-045504-5 e-ISBN(EPUB)978-3-11-045259-4 LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData ACIPcatalogrecordforthisbookhasbeenappliedforattheLibraryofCongress. BibliografischeInformationderDeutschenNationalbibliothek TheDeutscheNationalbibliothekliststhispublicationintheDeutscheNationalbibliografie; detailedbibliographicdataareavailableontheInternetathttp://dnb.dnb.de. ©2017WalterdeGruyterGmbH,Berlin/Boston Typesetting:bsixinformationexchangeGmbH,Braunschweig Printingandbinding:CPIbooksGmbH,Leck ♾printedonacidfreepaper PrintedinGermany www.degruyter.com Content Brendecke/Vogt Introduction TheLateFortunaandtheRiseofModernity1 SusanneReichlin TheRelationshipbetweenRegularityandIrregularityin MiddleHighGermanPoemsonFortuna15 BurkhardtWolf Fortuna'sSeaChange RenaissancePoeticsofContingency47 NicoletteMout JustusLipsius(1547–1606):FortuneandWar63 Müller/Gruber FortunaRevalued OntheGoddess'sSexualisationintheRenaissance82 JoséM.GonzálezGarcía FortunainSeventeenthCenturySpain Literature,PoliticsandtheVisualArts108 PeterVogt TheDeathofFortunaandtheRiseofModernity ProlegomenatoanyFutureTheoryofModernity125 FranziskaRehlinghaus FarewelltoFortuna–TurningtowardsFatum TheTransformationofFateConceptionsintheSeventeenthand EighteenthCenturies151 KristiinaSavin FortunainEarlyModernSweden TheHeydayandDeclineofaCommonplaceConcept175 VI Inhalt FlorenceButtay LaFortunevictimedesLumières? RemarquessurlestransformationsdeFortuneaux XVIIeetXVIIIesiècles192 ListofIllustrations211 IndexofPersons215 ArndtBrendecke/Peter Vogt The Late Fortuna and the Rise of Modernity 1 Fortuna’s Transformations Fortuna,thegoddessofchanceandluck,shouldactuallynolongerhavehada place in the Christian mediaeval period, at least if Christianity had abided by the condemnation of Fortuna in late antiquity by the church father Augustine. AsWalterHaug–inareferencetoMatthew10:29–aptlyputit,Fortunawould have“noplace[inaworld]inwhichnotasinglesparrowfallstoearthwithout the will of God.”1 But Fortuna possessed a fascinating ability to transform, al- lowing her to survive the transition of the ages and live on until the threshold ofmodernity.2Anancientgoddess,knownasTycheorFortuna,thusbecamea persistent motive in the Christian mediaeval period.3 This transformation was possibleonthebasisofStoic-Neoplatonictraditionswhichmaintainedtheirin- fluencewithinChristianity.TheyseeFortunaandchance(casus)astheexpres- sion of a hidden order, i.e. based on causes that exist but remain unknown to us.4 While Boethius, in De consulatione philosophiae (524 CE), was not entirely able to resolve the fundamental contradiction between the omniscience and providence of God and the actions of an apparently arbitrary Fortuna, he did manage to exploit it for Christian didactic purposes. This Boethian Fortuna, namely, was able to demonstrate to the individual Christian the unpredictable vicissitudesofworldlyexistence.Shetaught himorhertoplacelittlevalueon earthly life and to treasure the safe ground of faith. This Christian mediaeval Fortunaappearedwithincreasingfrequencyfromthetwelfthcenturyonwards: 1 Haug, Walter, “O Fortuna. Eine historisch-semantische Skizze zur Einführung”, in: Walter HaugandBurghartWachinger(eds.),Fortuna.Tübingen1995,1–22,1. 2 Meyer-Landrut, Ehrengard, Fortuna. Die Göttin des Glücks im Wandel der Zeiten, Munich, Berlin1997. 3 Frakes,JeroldC.,TheFateofFortuneintheEarlyMiddleAges.TheBoethianTradition,Lei- den,NewYork,Copenhagen,Cologne1998,29–30. 4 Even in the early work of Augustine, in Contra Academicos (AD 386), the argument can clearly be found that that which we call Fortuna could be directed by a system of order to which we have no access (“etenim fortasse quae vulgo fortuna nominatur, occulto quodam ordineregitur”).Later,inDecivitateDei(AD415)andintheRetractationes(AD426/427),an explicitcriticismofContraAcademicos,Augustinerejectshisearlierpositionasanillegitimate obligationtoancientthought.SeeMarkschies,Christoph,“‘Providenceleavesnorealroomto fortuna’.VomZufallbeiAugustinus”in:HartmutBöhme,WernerRöckeandUlrikeStephan (eds.):Contingentia.TransformationendesZufalls,Berlin,Boston2016,39–49,43. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110455045-001 2 ArndtBrendecke/PeterVogt asanassistantoftheChristianGod,shenolongerstoodforpurearbitrariness, butratherforthedecrepitudeofallthatisworldly.Thewheelnowbecameher primaryattribute: itsrotation demonstrated adrasticchange infortune, which did,however,followacertainregularpattern.Butthedepictionofkingsbeing castdownandpeasantsraisedupwasinfactarepresentationofaphenomenon that was virtuallynon-existentin estates-basedsociety, namelysocialmobility betweentheestatesandarotationofsocialroles.5Fortuna’sactionscouldthus leadtoabruptchangeinindividualcases,butwhatseemedunjustinansingle casewasactuallysubjecttoabalancinglogicoverall. The Renaissance formed a very different concept of the increasingly popu- lar Fortuna. She was considered to be fundamentally unpredictable, but also potentially open to influence, either through fortitudo or prudentia, thus reviv- ing and renewing ancient ideas on the subject. The former was also based on authorssuchasTerence(“fortisfortunaadiuvat”),butprimarilyonCicerowith his concept of a vir virtutis,6 while the latter drew its legitimacy from Seneca and Stoicism. Cicero had argued that Fortuna could be set on a favourable course through fortitudo. The Stoic tradition, in contrast, emphasised that one should make oneself independent of her whims through prudentia and the calmnessofone’sownsoul(tranquillitasanimi).Oneshouldallowoneselftobe corrupted neither by misfortune nor by unexpected luck, which Fortuna also constantlypromisedtodeliver.Theonetraditionthusaimsforaself-awareness abletowinthebenevolenceofFortuna,climaxinginthetoposofvirtùvincefor- tuna.Theother,Stoictraditionaimsforaninnercountenancewhichminimises the effect of worldly vicissitudes. Both have been well researched, as the Re- naissance Fortuna has attracted generations of historians. They have followed thetransformationofthegoddessintoatopos,therebyalwaysremainingaware ofherroleasahighlysignificantmarkeroftheepochaltransitionofEuropean formsofthought.7ForwithFortuna’shelp,anewrelationshipoftheindividual tohistorycanbemarkedout,thusenablingustofollowthetwogreatepochal trends of the early modern period, namely the development of a new under- 5 Haug,Walter,“OFortuna”,7;Müller,Jan-Dirk,“DieFortunadesFortunatus.ZurAuflösung mittelalterlicherSinndeutungdesSinnlosen”,in:WalterHaugandBurghartWachinger(eds.), Fortuna,216–238,218. 6 Cicero,TusculanaeDisputationes,lib.II,cap.18,par.43;Vogt,Peter,“Virtùvincefortuna. Aufstieg,WandelundspäteBlüteeinesfrühneuzeitlichenTopos”,in:HartmutBöhme,Werner RöckeandUlrikeStephan(eds.),Contingentia,81–82. 7 Haug,Walter,“OFortuna”,21;Politis,Cordula,TheIndividualizationofFortuneintheSix- teenth-CenturyNovelsofJörgWickram.TheBeginningsoftheModernNarrativeinGermanLit- erature,Lewiston,N.Y.2007,1. TheLateFortunaandtheRiseofModernity 3 standingofhistoricaltime(andopenfuture)andtheconstitutionofaself-con- sciouslyactingsubject. The history of Fortuna shows that this transformation occurred neither quicklynorinlinearfashion.Asinglemomentcannotbedeterminedinwhich, asJacobBurckhardtillustrativelyputit,theveilwasliftedunderwhichtheme- diaevalperiodhadlain“dreamingorhalf-awake”.8Infact,theoppositeismore the case, namely that there was a long period of overlap between late mediae- val-Christian and proto-modern views of mankind and history. Fortuna was partytoneitheronenortheother.Infact,shewasquitetheopposite,contribu- ting to the practical mediation between the fundamental contradictions which persisted for an extended period of time. For pointing out these contradictions meantadmittingthatthesuccessandfailure,theluckandmisfortuneofaper- son could be ascribed neither entirely to providence nor entirely to his or her ownachievementsandvirtues,andaboveallmeantemphasisingthatitwasin- determinableinaverysignificantwaywhichofthesefactorswasmostdecisive. ThemotifofFortuna,therefore,continuedtoappearduringtheRenaissanceas a quasi-divine power, while also representing a deficiency, namely human in- ability to predict and plan the courses of their lives and courses of action, i.e. thelackofabilitybothtodisposeoveroneselfandtodecipherthemechanisms ofhistoryintheirentirety. The lessons to be learned from this varied and transformed considerably during theRenaissance. InDante’s Divina Commedia (ca.1307−1321) aswell as inPetrarca’sDeremediisutriusquefortunae(1366),Fortunainitiallyremaineda figure who acted mostly within the confines of God’s providence. For the indi- vidual,thismeantthatitappearedtobeneithervirtuousnorpromisingtorebel against Fortuna, i.e. to question God’s providence.9 In historical-philosophical terms, this raised serious questions: if Fortuna’s actions did indeed follow a (hitherto) hidden plan, then this plan must eventually be able to be deci- phered.10 Fortuna, however, historically distributed luck whimsically and un- equally.TheRenaissanceexperienceofaratherincreasingamplitudeinthevi- 8 Jacob Burckhardt, Die Cultur der Renaissance in Italien. Ein Versuch. 2nd Edition, Leipzig 1869,104. 9 ParticularlyPetrarca’sconceptofFortunaissubjecttovaryinginterpretations.Cf.ontheone handHeitmann,Klaus,FortunaundVirtus.EineStudiezuPetrarcasLebensweisheit,Cologne, Graz 1958, 84; on the other hand: Keßler, Eckhard, Petrarca und die Geschichte. Geschichts- schreibung, Rhetorik,Philosophie imÜbergang von Mittelalterzur Neuzeit, Munich 1978, 141– 158. 10 Wootton,David,“FromFortunetoFeedback.ContingencyandtheBirthofModernPolitical Science”,in:I.ShapiroandS.Bedi(eds.),PoliticalContingency.StudyingtheUnexpected,the AccidentalandtheUnforeseen,NewYork2007,21–53,22. 4 ArndtBrendecke/PeterVogt cissitudes of luck and misfortune, rise and fall, poverty and wealth, historical successandfailure,ledtoaneedfornewmodelsbothofhistoryandofhuman control over it. Both emerged in places where such vicissitudes could be most directlyobservedandindeedexperienced,namelyatthecourtsandinthecity republics of Italy. There, the motif of Fortuna experienced a new blossoming: strokesoffatebecamealiterarytheme,andeven,toacertainextent,astructur- alelementofbiographicalnarrative,suchasinBoccaccio’sDecasibusvirorum illustriumwrittenaround1360. ButhowshouldonebraceoneselfforthesewhimsofFortuna?Intheworks of many authors, including Boccaccio, the dominant argument is a moralising onewhichinsiststhatprideandgreedmustbeavoided,astheyprovokeapun- ishment which corrects the will to advanceif it is driven by sinful motives. An actualtransformedrelationshipbetweenvirtusandFortunadidnotappearuntil the quattrocento: many authors then began to portray Fortuna as a power whichcouldbecontrolledthroughvirtù,althoughtheextentofthiscontrolre- mained a matter of contention. Leon Battista Alberti highlighted the fact that individualsandpeopleswerethearchitectsoftheirownfortune.One’sownvir- tùwastherebymarkedasadeterminingfactortowhichFortunapotentiallyad- hered.11 The ancient argument now reappeared that fortune favoured the bold andstrong.“Audentisfortunaiuvat”,Virgilwrote.12AeneasSilviusPiccolomini went a step further in his Somnium de fortuna (1444): here, it is the victorious Alfonso V of Aragon entering Naples who grabs Fortuna by the scruff of the neckandsubjugatesher.13 Fortuna was now literally being brought down to earth and luck was be- coming potentially controllable. This subjugation topos had notable gender connotations,formenwerenowconceptualisingthegoddessasawomen.This was most clearly formulated by Machiavelli, who famously wrote that Fortuna is “a woman”. In order to subjugate her, according to Machiavelli, it is neces- sary“tobeatherandstrikeherdown.Andonealsoseesthatsheletsherselfbe wonmorebytheimpetuousthanbythosewhoproceedcoldly.Andsoalways, as a woman, she is the friend of the young, since they are less cautious, more ferocious,andcommandherwithmoreaudacity.”14 11 Vogt,“Virtù”,90–91. 12 AeneisX.284,Vogt,“Virtù”,81. 13 Wolkan,Rudolf (ed.),Die BriefedesEneas Silvius Piccolomini.I. Abteilung.Briefe aus der Laienzeit(1431–1445).Band1:Privatbriefe,Vienna1909,350. 14 “perchélafortunaèdonna,eènecessario,volendolateneresotto,batterlaeurtarla;esi vedechelasilasciapiúvinceredaquesti,chedaquellichefreddamenteprocedanoeperò sempre,comedonna,èamicade’giovani,perchésonomenorespettivi,piúferocieconpiú audacialacomandano.”,Machiavelli,IlPrincipe,XXV,herequotedafter:EdizioneNazionale
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