TREATY OF INDULGENCE GRANTED
TO PERPETUITY
BY POPE ALEXANDER VIII, TO MEMBERS
OF THE BROTHERHOOD
OF THE THREE KINGS, FOUNDED IN 1550
document dated October 1821 stipulating, “We grant Plenary Indulgence and Remission of all sins, to all the faithful of either sex, who will enter the said Confraternity in the future.”
(France, 19th c.)
Magos Foundation Collection
THE CONFRATERNITY OF THE THREE WISE MEN: THE IDEAL ALLIBI TO MASSACRE OR CONSOLIDATE ITS AUTHORITY (14th- 15th c.)
The “Confraternity of the Three Kings” openly offers their followers, thanks to the patronage of the highest authorities, “a remission of all sins”. This murderous immunity in the name of the wise men of the East is written in the “Treaty of indulgence in perpetuity” of the brotherhood. In Italy, the Republic of the Magi (Compagnia di Magi) was founded in Florence under the aegis of the Medici family. Every year the procession of the Magi, as depicted in the frescoes of the chapel of their palace, called “the Chapel of the Magi,” featured members of the family and their allies dressed as the Magi. The cult of the Magi was recognized as being of “public interest” and allowed the Medici, rich merchants from Florence, to consolidate their power and ennoble their dynasty by pretending to be real kings every year.