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Bucentaur
Bucentaur, the traditional name of the state galley of the doges of Venice, from the Italian buzino d'or, golden bark. The name was also given to any great and sumptuous galley. The last and finest of the Venetian Bucentaurs was built in 1729 and, like all its predecessors, was used in the annual procession for the traditional symbolic ceremony of the wedding of the sea by the doge on Ascension Day, a ceremony which commemorates the victory of the Doge Pietro Orseolo II over the Dalmatian pirates (see piracy) in the year 1000. This Bucentaur was destroyed by the French for its golden decorations during their invasion of the Italian states in 1798. Its remains are in the Museo Civico Correr in Venice, and there is a fine model of it in the arsenal there.
The name, in the form of Bucentaure, was used as a warship name in the French Navy in the 17th and 18th centuries, and Admiral Villeneuve flew his flag at the battle of Trafalgar in a man-of-war called Bucentaure. See also warfare at sea. |
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"Bucentaur." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Bucentaur." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O225-Bucentaur.html "Bucentaur." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O225-Bucentaur.html |
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Bucentaur
Bucentaur the state barge used by the Doge of Venice for the Marriage of Chancery on Ascension Day.
The name comes ultimately from Italian bucentoro, and may be taken from the figurehead of the vessel, representing a mythical creature, half man and half ox, perhaps from Greek bous ‘ox’ + kentauros ‘centaur’. Alternatively, bucentoro may be from Venetian Italian, literally ‘barge of gold’. |
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Cite this article
ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Bucentaur." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Bucentaur." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Bucentaur.html ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Bucentaur." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Bucentaur.html |
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