Banquet of Chestnuts
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Banquet of Chestnuts
The Banquet of Chestnuts, known more properly as the Ballet of Chestnuts, refers to a fête in Rome, and particularly to a supper held in the Papal Palace by Cardinal Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI on October 30, 1501. An account of the banquet is preserved in a Latin diary by Protonotary Apostolic and Master of Ceremonies Johann Burchard (it is entitled Liber Notarum).
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History
The banquet was given in Cesare's apartments in the Palazzo Apostolico. Fifty prostitutes or courtesans were in attendance for the entertainment of the banquet guests. After the food was eaten, lamp stands holding lighted candles were placed on the floor and chestnuts strewn about. The clothes of the courtesans were auctioned; then the prostitutes and the guests crawled naked among the lamp stands to pick up the chestnuts. Immediately following the spectacle, members of the clergy and other party guests together engaged in sexual activity with the prostitutes.[1] According to Burchard: "Prizes were offered—silken doublets, pairs of shoes, hats and other garments—for those men who were most successful with the prostitutes."[2]
According to William Manchester: "Servants kept score of each man's orgasms, for the pope greatly admired virility and measured a man's machismo by his ejaculative capacity."[3] Manchester also refers to the use of sex toys.[4] Burchard, however, makes no reference to this in his account of the banquet.[2]
See also
References
- ^ Mundt 2006, p. 239.
- ^ a b Burchard, Johann (1963). Liber Notarum [At the Court of the Borgia]. Trans. Geoffray Parker. London: Folio Society.
- ^ Manchester 1992, p. 79.
- ^ Manchester, William (1992). A World Lit Only by Fire. Boston, New York and London: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-54556-2.
Bibliography
- John (Johann) Burchard, Pope Alexander VI and his Court: extracts from the Latin diary of the Papal Master of Ceremonies, 1484–1506; ed. F. L. Glaser, New York, 1921
- Barbara W. Tuchman, The March of Folly. New York: Knopf, 1984; p. 106 ISBN 0-394-52777-1; another issue has ISBN 0-349-13365-4
- Burgo Partridge, A History of Orgies, Bonanza Books, 1960, p.106
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