Tomb of Accursius, Bologna. Photograph courtesy of John W. Barker.
The Acciaiuoii, a great Florentine banking family, originated in Bergamo. They migrated to the Borgo Santi Apostoli, in the Florentine quarter of Santa Maria Novella, in the early twelfth century and obtained property in the Val di Pesa. The Acciaiuoii were popolani ("of the common people") and Guelf by political tradition, and they joined the Black Guelfs after the schism. Leone di Riccomanno, a doctor of law and one of Florence's fourteen buoniuomini of 1282, founded the bank and international commercial enterprise that soon ranked among the city's greatest. These businesses had branches throughout the Mediterranean and in England, France, and Germany. The Acciaiuoii served as papal bankers, and Acciaiuolo Acciaiuoii (d. 1341) began a fiscal and political relationship with the king of Naples that led to commercial monopolies, the post of seneschal for his famous son Niccolo (or Niccola, 1310-1365), and feudal lordships in Greece that the family finally lost in 1460 to the invading Turks. Angelo Acciaiuoii (1349-1408) rose quickly in the church to become bishop of Rapallo (1375), bishop of Florence (1383), and a cardinal (1385).
The bankruptcies of Edward III of England led to financial disaster for the family in Florence in 1345, and their fortunes and prestige never fully recovered, although they remained influential in the later trecento. Before that, however, they had been very active politically. Between 1282 and 1341, the family contributed seven standard-bearers of justice and five buoniuomini to the Florentine state and three consuls to the Calimala guild. From 1310 to 1342, family members served in the Signoria twenty-five times; Dardano di Tirigo (d. 1335), for one, was elected ten times between 1302 and 1334. Angelo Acciaiuoli (b. 1298) was bishop of Florence from 1342 to 1355 and was a leader in the overthrow of Walter of Brienne.
See also Acciaiuoli, Niccola; Florence
JOSEPH P. BYRNE
Becker, Marvin. Florence in Transition, 2 vols, Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1967.
Brucker, Gene. Florentine Politics and Society, 1343-1378. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1962.
Chrystostomides, J. Monumenta peloponnesiaca. Camberley: Porphyrogenitus, 1995.
Davidsohn, Robert. Storia di Firenze, 8 vols. Florence: Sansoni, 1956-1968.
Laberge, George A. "Select Documents Relating to the History of the Acciaiuoli (1319-1364) with Special Reference to Niccolo (1310-1365)." Ph.D. dissertation, Boston University, 1952.
Schevill, Ferdinand. Medieval and Renaissance Florence. New York: Harper and Row, 1963.
Tanfani, Leopoldo. Niccola Acciaiuoli. Florence: Le Monnier, 1863,
Ugurgieri della Berardenga, Curzio. Gli Acciaiuoli di Firenze nella luce dei loro tempi (1160-1834), 2 vols. Florence: Olschki, 1962.
The Florentine Niccola Acciaiuoli (1310-1365), a friend of Boc-caccio, became grand seneschal of the kingdom of Naples. Although writers sometimes refer to him as Niccolò, he himself used the spelling Niccola. He was born in the Val di Pesa to Acciaiolo Acciaiuoli and Guglielmina de' Pazzi. Although his father was of illegitimate birth, the Acciaiuoli, a family of Black Guelfs, were one of the most prominent lineages in Florence, with thriving commercial interests throughout the Mediterranean.
At eighteen, Niccola Acciaiuoli married Margherita degli Spini, and in 1331 he was sent to represent his father's business in Naples. He entered the service of Catherine of Valois-Courtenay, princess of Taranto; became her lover; and was sent to administer her lands in Greece (1338-1341), where he won for himself the barony of Calamata. After the death of King Robert of Naples, Acciaiuoli arranged the marriage of Prince Luigi of Taranto to Queen Giovanna, possibly after assisting in the assassination of Giovanna's first husband, Andrew of Hungary. In 1348, Acciaiuoli was named grand seneschal ("grand" to distinguish him from other seneschals) and count of Terlizzi; and, after Giovanna's flight to Provence and return to Naples, he helped Luigi to establish control over the kingdom. In 1349, he traded Terlizzi for the county of Melfi and was also named captain general of the duchy of Calabria. An unsuccessful attempt on his life by followers of the queen in 1350 was followed by the liberation of Giovanna by the Marseillais. Giovanna and her husband were being taken back to Provence when Acciaiuoli engineered their return. This proved definitive, and it put an end to the resistance of the queen's partisans. With Luigi of Taranto the sole holder of power, the grand seneschal in effect ran the kingdom. In 1354, he took back most of Sicily, although Messina resisted until 1356 and Catania held out successfully. Luigi of Taranto's defeat at the battle of Arcireale (20 June 1357) was unfairly blamed on Acciaiuoli by his enemies, but in 1359 Acciaiuoli was sent on a successful embassy to defend the kingdom against the claims to papal sovereignty that were being made by Pope Innocent VI. Innocent chose Acciaiuoli to negotiate the departure of the Milanese from Bologna in 1360, when he met Petrarch in Milan. Acciaiuoli returned to Naples in 1361 to find the kingdom threatened by marauding mercenary captains. Although he showed considerable personal bravery in surmounting this crisis—at one point he gave himself, his children, and his friends as hostages to a company of Hungarian mercenaries—Acciaiuoli continued to have enemies at court. In 1364, they accused him before Pope Urban V of having taken so many gifts that there was no money to make the usual payments to the papacy. The charges prompted Acciaiuoli to write a long autobiographical letter defending his actions to Angelo Soderini (26 December 1364).
Acciaiuoli died on 8 November 1365. His body was buried in a splendid tomb (attributed to Orcagna) in the Carthusian monastery of San Lorenzo (known today simply as the Certosa) outside Florence, whose construction he had sponsored after first mentioning it in an early autograph testament of 1338.
See also Acciaiuoli Family; Naples
WILLIAM J. CONNELL
Hoshino, Hidetoshi. "Nuovi documenti sulla Compagnia degli Acciaiuoli di Firenze nel Trecento." Annuario dell'Istituto Giapponese di Cultura, 18, 1982-1983.
Léonard, Émile G. "Niccolò Acciaiuoli victime de Boccace." In Mélanges de philologie, d'histoire, et littérature offerts à Henri Hauvette. Paris: Presses Françises, 1934, pp. 139-148.
—. "Acciaiuoli, Niccolò." In Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Vol. 1. Rome: Istituto delPEnciclopedia Italiana, 1960, pp. 87-90.
Palmieri, Matteo. Vita Nicolai Acciaioli, ed. Gino Scaramella. In Rerum italicarum scriptores, 2nd ed., Vol. 13, pt. 2. Bologna: Zanichelli, 1934, (Includes editions of the testaments of 1338 and 1359 and the letter to Angelo Soderini.)
Tanfani, Leopoldo. Niccola Acciaiuoli: Studi storici, fatti principalmente sui documenti dell'Archivio fiorentino. Florence: Le Monnier, 1863.
Ugurgieri della Berardenga, Curzio. Gli Acciaiuoli di Firenze nella luce dei loro tempi, 2 vols. Florence: Olschki, 1962.
Villani, Filippo. Liber de civitatis Florentine famosis civibus, ed. Gustavo Carnillo Galletti. Florence: Mazzoni, 1847, pp. 39-40.
See Banks and Banking; Bookkeeping, Double-Entry
Many biographical details are in dispute regarding the greatest medieval glossator of Roman law. Accursius (also Acursius, Accurxius, or Acurxius; c. 1182-c. 1263) was born at Bagnoio near Montebuoni in the contado (district) of Florence to a family in modest social circumstances, perhaps even of recent peasant origin, that was nevertheless economically secure enough to pay for his legal education at the university in Bologna. Two brothers are mentioned in the sources: Bonus (or Donus, a notary) and Bonajutus. Accursius was also known as A. Fiorentino or A. da Bagnoio, but the sometimes alleged forename Francesco is without historical foundation. In a Digesta gloss he later jestingly explained "that it is an apposite name, because he [Accursius] hurries forward and assists against the darkness of civil law" (quod est honestum nomen, dictum quia accurrit et succurrit contra tenebras iuris civilis).
In Bologna, he studied mainly under the great jurist Azo; Jacobus Balduini was perhaps another of his chief teachers, a supposition that would place some of Accursius's studies in the years after 1213. Tradition places Accursius's promotion and the beginning of his teaching career c. 1215, and more specifically before 1221, when he was identified as doctor legum and a colleague of Azo and Hugolinus in a legal consultation. The dating of this collaboration has recently, however, been questioned, for it could have occurred as late as 1230. Considering Accursius's contemporary eminence among law professors, the number of his distinguished students was small: his own son Francesco; the canonists Vincentius Hispanus and—perhaps—Sinnibaldo Fieschi (later Pope Innocent IV); and probably his younger contemporary Odofredus, also a Romanist. During a teaching career that spanned forty years, Accursius also found time to be a practicing advocate who gave his clients expert legal opinions. There is some dispute regarding whether or when he became a citizen of Bologna; one later historian identifies him in 1252 as an associate of the podestà (podesta), a post held only by noncitizens. But Accursius's attested membership in 1248 in the Societas Tuscorum, a club comprising Bolognese citizens born in Tuscany, more plausibly indicates his possession of this status at least as of that date. His descendants certainly had Bolognese citizenship. Reports of Accursius's hostile rivalry with contemporary colleagues (e.g., Hugolinus and Odofredus) are fictions created later.
Accursius married twice; his first wife bore his eldest son Francesco (1225-1293), his second his remaining sons Cervotto (c. 1240-1287 at latest), Guglielmo (1246-1314 at latest), and Corsino (b, 1254), The disparaging rumors regarding Corsino's paternity were probably due only to the fact that Accursius was about seventy years old at the time. All the sons but Corsino became doctors of law, and two of them (Francesco and Guglielmo) also taught at Bologna. Accursius himself once expressed the opinion that sons of university doctors should receive preference in the filling of vacant chairs, a view that was sometimes put into effect at Bologna after the mid-thirteenth century.
During his career Accursius became quite prosperous. Part of his wealth certainly derived from his professorial stipend and the income from his legal practice. His town house in Bologna was eventually acquired by the city government and later integrated into the Palazzo Comunale. His country villa, "La Riccar dina," was near Budrio; it was the center of an estate so large (271 hectares, or 670 acres) as to permit his sons and grandsons to receive portions of it upon his death. It later became a Franciscan convent. In later times, Accursius's great wealth earned him a bad reputation as a usurer and receiver of bribes from aspiring academic examinees, a charge also made against his son Francesco. Some modern observers remain unconvinced of these charges, citing a lack of trustworthy evidence especially as regards Accursius himself.
Accursius retired from his university post after four decades, that is, c. 1255 or thereafter. One tradition, noting that a ruined house at Bagnolo was subsequently known as the studium Accursii, holds that he returned to the vicinity of his native city. Other historians more plausibly suggest that he retired to his property at Riccardina. Although portions of his masterpiece, the Ordinary Gloss (Glossa ordinaria) on the Corpus iuris civilis, had already been published decades before, it is almost certain that he continued to revise this work throughout his lifetime. As for his other pursuits during these years, one historian (Kantorowicz 1929) has suggested that Accursius now embarked on another monumental, albeit never completed, project: the preparation of a great encyclopedia of both laws, a speculum iuris predating that ultimately written by Guillelmus (William) Durandus. This suggestion rests, however, on an unconvincing reconstruction of the contents of Accursius's library, and at this point must remain an interesting conjecture.
Tomb of Accursius, Bologna. Photograph courtesy of John W. Barker.
Accursius's final years gave rise to another story—that in early 1263 he served in Florence as a resident "judge and assessor" subordinate to the podesta, dying there later that same year during his term in office. This account is inherently implausible, for why would an already rich and very famous man accept such a modest and modestly paid job? A simple confusion of names lies at the bottom of the problem—the Florentine judge and assessor was another jurisconsult, Accursius Reginus (of Reggio Emilia). The date 1263 does, however, provide a terminus ad quern for Accursius's death, for in May of that year a document referred to his son Francesco as condam Domini Accursi. In documents, Accursius was last listed as alive in 1259; a Bolognese chronicle placed his death in 1260, but a document of 1262 listed Cervotto's name in a manner suggesting that his father was still alive. The early fourteenth-century historian Villani wrote that Accursius lived to be seventy-eight. Taken together with reports regarding his birth date, the time frame 1259-1263 for his death is the best available. It is presumed that Accursius died in or near Bologna; he was first interred near San Domenico, but his remains were later moved—at his son Francesco's request—to a monumental sepulcher at the apse ofSan Francesco, where this son was also ultimately interred. The gravestone there is probably from the original grave with the later addition (1293) of Francesco's name: Sepulchrum Accursii Glossatoris legum [et] Francisci eius filii.
Descriptions of Accursius's personal appearance and habits note his tall powerful build, pensive and serious facial expression, affability, modest lifestyle, fine manners, and taste for good but not ostentatious dress. He was a heartfelt Ghibelline, but his posthumous fame was such as to release his entire family, eventually, from the penalties enacted in 1274 by Bologna's triumphant Guelf government for adherents of that defeated party. The amnesty statute of 1306 identified him and Francesco as men "who have conferred such great honor of the city of Bologna, fathers and teachers of all scholars and students of civil law throughout the entire world" (patrum et dominorum omnium scolarium et studentium in iure civili per universum mundum, qui tantum honorem fecerunt civitati Bononie).
Accursius's fame as a scholar rests squarely on his Ordinary Gloss on the constituent parts of Justinian's Corpus iuris emits. His other works are of far less consequence. The Summa authen-tici and Summa feudorum attributed to him by some scholars are considered by others to be the work of, respectively, Johannes Bassianus and Hugolinus. Also, the Tractatus de arbitris attributed to him is a work of his teacher Azo. Accursius edited several extravagant texts to the Librifeudorum, and (at least) eight expert legal opinions (cortsilia) of which he was the author or a coauthor are extant from the period 1230-1258. A letter written to Piero della Vigna is of doubtful authenticity, and various quaestiones are reported secondhand.
See abo Azo; Francesco d'Accorso; Glossa Ordinaria: Roman Law; Innocent IV, Pope
ROBERT C. FIGUEIRA
"Accursius (Ital. Accorso), Franciscus." In Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed., 1911, Vol. 1, p. 134.
"Accursius, Franciscus." In New Encyclopedia Britannica, Micropaedia, 15th ed. 1994, Vol. 1, p. 57.
Balon, Joseph. "Accurse." In Grand dictionnaire de droit du Moyen Age (Ius medii aevi, 5). Namur, 1972-, fascicule 1, pp. 143—144.
Clarence Smith, J. A. Medieval Law Teachers and Writers: Civilian and Canonist. Ottawa, 1975. (See pp. 42-44.)
Colliva, Paolo. "Documenti per la biografia di Accursio." In Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi Accursiani, ed. Guido Rossi. Milan, 1968, Vol. 2, pp. 381-458.
de Zuleta, Francis. Notice in Law Quarterly Review, 46, 1930, pp. 148-150.
Dilcher, Hermann. "Accursius." In Handwörterbuch zur deutschen Rechtsgeschichte, ed. A. Erler and E. Kaufmann. Berlin, 1971-1998, Vol. 1, pp. 24-25.
Fiorelli, Piero. "Minima de Accursiis." Annali di Storia del Diritto, 2, 1958, pp. 345-359.
—. "Accorso." In Dizionario degli Italiani. Rome, 1960, Vol. 1, pp. 116-121.
Genzmer, Erich. "Zur Lebensgeschichte de Accursius." In Festschrift ftir Leopold Wenger. Munich, 1945, Vol. 2, pp. 223-241.
Kantorowicz, Hermann. "Accursio e la sua biblioteca." Rivista di Storia del Diritto Italiano, 2, 1929, pp. 35-62, 193-212.
Kay, Richard. "Francesco d'Accorso the Unnatural Lawyer." In Dante's Swift and Strong: Essays on Inferno XV. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1978, pp. 39-66, 319-332.
Kisch, Guido. "Accursius' Grabschrift." Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi Accursiani, 3, pp. 1239-1244.
—. "Accursius-Studien." Gestalten und Probleme aus Humanismus und Jurisprudenz. Berlin, 1969, pp. 17-97.
Lange, Hermann. Römisches Recht im Mittelalter, Munich, 1997-, Vol. 1, pp. 335-385.
Magnin, E. "Accurse, Francois." In Dictionnaire de droit canonique, ed. R. Naz. Paris, 1935-1965, Vol. 1, pp. 150-151.
Savigny, Friedrich Carl von. Geschichte des romischen Rechts im Mittelalter, 5, 1850, pp. 262-305.
Weimar, Peter. "Accursius." In Lexikon des Mittelalters. Munich and Zurich, 1980-1998, Vol. 1, pp. 75-76.
—. "Accursius." In Juristen: Ein biographisches Lexikon—Von der Antike bis zurn 20. Jahrhundert, ed. Michael Stolleis. Munich, 1995, pp. 18-19.
Adelaide (931-998) was the daughter of Rudolf II of Burgundy. Her intelligence and beauty—in addition to a tenuous Carolingian connection through descent from Welf (Wulf, Wolf)» the brother of Judith, wife of Louis the Pious—made her a desirable marriage prospect. When Rudolf died in 937, Hugh of Provence, who dominated northern Italy and had earlier clashed with Rudolf, obliged Adelaide to marry Lothar, Hugh's son. By 945, Hugh's power declined and Berengar of Ivrea, another warlord, forced him from Italy. Berengar tried to marry Adelaide to his son, Adalbert, when Lothar died in 950. Otto of Saxony rescued and married her (951). This match was successful, and Adelaide was crowned empress with Otto in 962. She accompanied her husband during his six years in Italy (966—972). She was regent for her son, Otto II, and despite some friction when he became emperor, was his viceroy in Italy. When Otto Ill's mother, The-ophano, died, Adelaide assumed the regency for her grandson. She spent her last years in Germany.
See also Otto I
MARTIN ARBAGI
Liudprand (or Liutprand), Bishop of Cremona. Antapodosis and Liber de rebus gestis Ononis. In Die Werke Liudprands von Cremona, ed. J. Becker. Scriptorum Rerum Germanicarum in Usum Scholarum ex Monumentis Germaniae Historicis Separatim Editi, 3rd ed. Hannover and Leipzig: Hahnische Buchhandlung, 1915.
Odilo. Epitaphium Adalheidae imperatricis auctore Odihne, ed. G. Pertz. Monumentis Germaniae Historica, Scriptorum, 4. Hannover and Leipzig: Hahnische Buchhandlung, 1841.
Regino of Priim. Chronicon, ed. F. Kurze. Scriptorum Rerum Germanicarum in Usum Scholarum ex Monumentis Germaniae Historicis Separatim Editi. Hannover and Leipzig: Hahnische Buchhandlung, 1890.
Liudprand of Cremona. Antapodosis, or, Tit-for-Tat and Liber de rebus gestis Ottonis, or, A Chronicle of Otto's Reign. In The Works of Liudprand of Cremona, trans. F. A. Wright. London: Routledge, 1930.
Halphen, Louis, "The Kingdom or Burgundy. In The Cambridge Medieval History, Vol. 3, Germany and the Western Empire, ch. 6. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1922.
Hiestand, Rudolf. Byzanz und das Regnum italicum im 10. Jahrhundert. Zurich: Fretz and Wasmuth, 1964.
Kreutz, Barbara M. Before the Normans: Southern Italy in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991.
Leyser, Karl. "The Women of the Saxon Aristocracy." In Rule and Conflict in an Early Medieval Society. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980, pp. 49-73.
Previte-Orton, Charles. "Italy in the Tenth Century." In The Cambridge Medieval History, Vol. 3, Germany and the Western Empire, ch. 7. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1922.
The Adimari were one of the noblest and most powerful of Tuscany's great medieval families. Originally Franks who took over Lombard land around Florence, the family stemmed directly from Count Adimaro (mid-tenth century), son of Marquis Bonifazio and brother of Tedaldo, founder of the Alberti clan. From their castle of Gangalandi and other strongholds, they controlled traffic on the Arno River, and Florence battled them to submission. By 1178, Bernardo Adimari was serving as communal consul in Florence. The Adimari had become leading urban nobles as well, with a group of towers and houses centered on Via Calzaiuoli, near the Baptistery; one tower, Guardamorto, reached a height of 70 meters (230 feet). They were active in commerce and banking, with offices in Genoa by the 1260s and in Treviso somewhat later.
By the thirteenth century, the Adimari were powerful politically, as Ghibelline-hating Guelfs, and members of the family served as podestas (a podestà is a mayor or peacekeeper) in Tuscan towns such as Arezzo, Pistoia, and San Gimignano, as well as captains of the parte Guelfa (Guelf party) in Florence. Their continual feuding brought about their denunciation as magnates under the Ordinances of Justice in 1293.
Branches of the family included the Aldobrandini, Argenti, and Cavicciuli, who, in the later thirteenth century, were usually among the White Guelfs. A rare Black Cavicciuli took over the property of the exiled Florentine poet Dante Alighieri and opposed his return. Dante placed Tegghiaio Aldobrandi among the sodomites (Inferno, 6.79-81, 16.40-42) and, likewise, placed Filippo Argenti, of the "arrogant race," oltracotata schiatta (Paradiso, 17.115), in hell (8.32-63).
Despite their decline in political power, the family remained large and rather wealthy (with thirty-three taxable households in 1378) through the fourteenth century.
See also Florence
JOSEPH P. BYRNE
Brucker, Gene. Florentine Politics and Society, 1343-1378. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1962.
Davidsohn, Robert. Storia di Firenze. Florence: Sansoni, 1956-1968.
Flavius Aëtius (d. 454), sometimes called the "last of the Romans," was born at the end of the fourth century in the Roman province of Lower Moesia on the Danube River. He was the son of the master of soldiers Gaudentius and an Italian noblewoman. He pursued a military career, and in his youth he served as a hostage first to the Visigoths and then to the Huns. Under the western usurper Johannes (423—425) he held the office of overseer of the palace. He was sent to recruit a large army of Huns, but he did not return to Italy with them until after the fall of Johannes, at which time he was able to make his peace with the new emperor, Valentinian III. Aetius then served as master of soldiers, primarily in Gaul, during which time he became involved in a quarrel with another western general, Count Boniface. In 432, Aetius was defeated at Rimini by his rival, who himself was mortally wounded. Aëtius then took refuge with the Huns, and with their aid he soon was restored to power. In 433, he became supreme master of soldiers; the title "patrician" was added in 435.
Aëtius spent most of his remaining years campaigning in Gaul. In spite of the virtual disappearance of the Roman army, he was generally successful in keeping the barbarians out of Italy by masterfully playing one barbarian group off against another. In 451, he used a coalition of Romans, Visigoths, and Franks to defeat the invasion of Attila and the Huns. In 452, however, he inexplicably failed to defend the Alpine passes against Attila's return, and only after the Huns had captured Milan and destroyed Aquileia were they compelled to withdraw.
Aëtius exemplifies the powerful generalissimos who, in the fifth century, truly controlled the western empire. During most of the second quarter of that century, Aëtius was the most powerful Roman of the west, the real "power behind the throne." He held the consulate no fewer than three times, in 432, 437, and 446. Around 440, the senate in Rome honored him with a statue; its inscription is still extant. He was married twice, first to a daughter of the count of the domestics, Carpilio (her name has not survived), and second to Pelagia, the widow of Boniface. In the early 450s, his status was enhanced by the betrothal of his son Gaudentius to Valentinian's daughter, Placidia.
Eventually, however, Aëtius's preeminent position was his own undoing. In 454 Aetius was murdered in the imperial palace by the emperor Valentinian himself: a Roman aristocrat later told the emperor that he "had cut off his left hand with his right."
It may be that Aëtius's efforts delayed, for a time, the eventual fall of the western Roman empire. After his death, the western empire rapidly disintegrated and soon shriveled to an Italian core, which itself fell under barbarian control in 476.
See also Valentinian III
RALPH MATHISEN
Degrassi, Attilio. "L'iscrizione in onore di Aezio e l'Atrium Libertatis." Bollettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma, 72, 1946-1948, pp. 33-44.
Lizerand, Georges. Aetius. Paris, 1910.
Moss, J. R. "The Effects of the Policies of Aetius on the History of the Western Empire." Historia, 22, 1973, pp. 711-731.
O'Flynn, J. M. Generalissimos of the Western Roman Empire. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1983.
Tackholm, Ulf. "Aetius and the Battle on the Catalaunian Fields." Opuscula Romana, 7, 1969, pp. 259-276.
Twvman, Briees L. "Aetius and the Aristocracy." Historia, 19, 1970, pp. 480-503.
Zecchini, Giuseppe. Aezio: L'ultima difesa dell'occidente romano. Ricerche e Documentazione sull'Antichita Classica, 8. Rome: "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, 1983.
Agilulf (d. 616) was king of the Lombards from 590 until his death, following Authari. He had been duke of Turin before his accession and legitimized his position by marrying his predecessor's widow, Theodolinda.
During his reign, Agilulf solidified the Lombard conquest of large portions of northern Italy by making peace with the Franks and establishing a fairly stable boundary with the exarchate of Ravenna. The relative independence of the more southern duchies of Spoleto and Benevento was also confirmed. Thus the Lombard kingdom was established essentially as it was to remain until the eighth century.
Agilulf's court was increasingly influenced by Roman and Catholic forms, and a Roman historian, Secundus of Non (from the Trentino), resided there. He welcomed the Irish Columbanus and granted him land at Bobbio, where a monastery was established.
Agilulf was succeeded by his son Adaloald, whose reign inaugurated a period of dynastic strife that had both national and religious overtones.
See also Authari; Benevento; Lombards; Ravenna; Spoleto
KATHERINE FISCHER DREW
Foulke, William Dudley, trans. Paul the Deacon History of the Lombards. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1974.
Hartmann, L. M. "Italy under the Lombards." In Cambridge Medieval History, Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan, 1913.
Wickham, Chris. Early Medieval Italy. Totowa, N.J.: Barnes and Noble, 1981.
In medieval Italy, as elsewhere in Europe, farming practices were constrained by basic ecological facts that people found extremely hard to overcome. The uncultivated world of forest, marsh, and heath, although often feared as "wild," had to be exploited for all the food and building materials it could provide because the success of agriculture was very uncertain. Medieval farmers, like farmers in all premodern societies, found it difficult to cope with the almost randomly occurring "good years" and "bad years" for crops. Cultivation methods were often too rudimentary to produce much in the way of a surplus, and if any surplus could be accumulated, storage techniques were often inadequate to prevent rotting and insect damage. Climate was the most unpredictable natural element. Abnormally low winter and summer temperatures (as in the cold period between a.d. 600 and 800) could have disastrous effects on even the most carefully tended crops, but comparatively warm times (as between 1000 and 1250) helped farmers to increase yields. Obvious regional differences in climate— as between Lombardy and Apulia—determined what crops could be attempted in the first place; but it is likely that microclimatic peculiarities, which are now becoming better understood as a result of archaeological investigations involving analyses of pollen and other plant remains, helped to define the agricultural character of a given area at a much more local level. Exploiting difficult terrain was also problematic, since it was hard to drain and dig large forested, marshy, or steep areas with hoes, spades, and very simple plows. The labor required was phenomenal; this explains why the vast majority of medieval people had to be agriculturists. Consequently, agricultural life was harsh and remained so between the millennium 400 and 1400, despite the changes in farming practices, technology, and economic organization that were taking place in Italy. (Real improvements in conditions had hardly taken place before the twentieth century.)
Still, agriculture was in many ways more richly diverse in medieval Italy than it had been in Roman times. This can be seen from the very wide variety of crops, many of which had not been cultivated in Italy in the Roman period. Most descriptions of medieval Italian agriculture stress, rightly, that its basis was cereals, vines, and olives, the classics of Mediterranean farming and diet. Cereals were widely grown, the choice of grain depending on the soil quality, terrain, rainfall, and so on. Predominantly, the farmers of the early Middle Ages grew the so called poorer cereals (barley, rye, oats, millet, and sorghum); but olives were also common—in fact, they were present almost everywhere.
Cereals, vines, and olives may have been the most characteristic crops, but many other plants, edible and nonedible, were raised. Of staples, the chestnut was particularly important in hilly regions, especially in the Appennines; it was not a "wild" plant but was carefully cultivated and highly valued. Vegetables and fruits are not mentioned so commonly in the historical sources, but that may be because their presence was taken for granted. Certainly orchards were prized, and they were common near the northern lakes, in Romagna and the Marches. New citrus fruits—lemons, bitter and sweet oranges—were introduced into southern Italy from the east in the later medieval period. Other new exotics, like sugarcane, also appeared at that time. Important plants grown for textiles and dyes included flax, hemp, madder, and woad in the north, and cotton and saffron in the south.
Stock raising has received rather less attention from historians than plant cultivation, but there can be little doubt that it had a crucial place in the medieval Italian economy. Animals provided fertilizer and energy for farming, both of which were in short supply from other sources. The commonest animals raised were pigs, sheep, goats, and cattle, supplemented by horses, asses, and poultry. Fish, too, were sometimes farmed. As with plants, techniques of animal husbandry varied across Italy. How animals were raised also seems to have depended on what products they were required for. According to the archaeologist Gillian Clark, evidence from many central Italian excavations indicates that dead animals were mainly used for meat and leather (primary use); that living animals were exploited for wool, hair, eggs, and milk (secondary use); and that stock-raising techniques varied accordingly (younger animals were intended for meat, older animals for wool and other products). Many farms seem to have kept a motley mixture of animals, but in the later Middle Ages specialized production of beef cattle began to become important in some areas, notably Farfa Abbey and the Arno valley in Tuscany, Apulia, and the lower Po plain. Animals were useful because their pastures were land that was often unsuitable for other purposes, but they could also be extremely labor-intensive when transhumance was involved—that is, when animals were taken on the great annual summer movements from plains to hills and back again. Transhumance was common in the Appennines, although not in the Alps. Apart from this movement, most Italian agriculture was suited to a sedentary settled existence and was organized accordingly.
There were many variations in the organization of agricultural production across Italy. It is likely that most agriculturalists lived on small holdings, in family units, often within the framework of a nucleated village settlement to form, in Pierre Toubert's phrase, a "complete peasant exploitation." These peasant farmers produced food for themselves and their families, and sometimes a surplus that was either sold or given as rent to a powerful local lord. The relationship between peasants and lords took differing forms. Often, it is hard for historians to characterize such a relationship with any precision, because contracts between cultivators and noncultivators were usually not written down in the period before about 1200. Therefore, it is extremely hard to know to what extent the secular or monastic owners of large estates actually determined what was produced there, or if the peasants were given a free hand so long as they produced a surplus with which to pay the owner. Italy, like many other regions in medieval Europe, can be said to have had a "manorial system" (a rough translation of the Italian sistema curtense), particularly between about 800 and 1000. Nowadays, historians emphasize that such estates were organized locally in many different ways and were not self-sufficient as commonly as had previously been thought. This was because the agricultural economy—with the possible exception of some (not all) particulary isolated mountain farms—was never static and was never removed from the wider ecological and economic systems of Italian society.
Toubert proposed a helpful typology of earlier medieval Italian estate structures that has become the standard framework for analyzing the organization of agricultural practice. Toubert suggests a threefold division of widely recognizable types:
Examples of each type have been found by historians all over Italy during most periods. Toubert's discussion is valuable because it provides a reminder that a degree of specialization in production was evident in Italian practice from the early Middle Ages on. This seems to have been particularly true in two contexts: monastic estates, where abbots often demanded cash-crop production of oil and wine and caused some land to be opened up to agriculture for the first time; and farms near towns, where, increasingly in the later period, specialized market garden crops were grown for urban sale.
It is not always easy to imagine, from the surviving texts, what these estates actually looked like on the ground. However, certain general points can be made. The cultivated landscape in most places was a combination of open (terra aperta) and enclosed fields (clausurae), in close proximity to uncultivated land. The proportions at any given time and place are almost impossible to work out. However, one can generalize by saying that in the earlier period there were more open fields, which were sometimes communally owned and worked by the village, whereas from the twelfth century on more enclosed fields appeared, especially around Milan, as more owners fenced off plots from communal use. This development spread to the rest of Lombardy, Liguria, and Tuscany in the thirteenth century and a little later to Lazio and Campania. Most of these changes seem to have taken place veiy slowly, with a consequent gradual change in the appearance of the landscape. Occasionally, more obvious changes took place more rapidly. There was probably more land under cultivation in Italy during the medieval period than at any earlier time, and this was largely a result of a new combination of efforts by the peasants and pressure from the monasteries. Vito Fumagalli has found that the monasteries of Nonantola and Bobbio caused new areas of the lower Po plain to be opened up for agriculture by deforestation and drainage as early as the first half of the ninth century. Their abbots pursued this as a deliberate policy by issuing special libellus contracts to peasants requiring them to undertake clearance as part of their contractual relationship with the community. Terms such as novellae (new plots) and noviculta (newly cultivated) also appear in charters from elsewhere in the Po valley.
The farmers had little in the way of new technology to aid them in transforming the landscape. Most of their basic tools were ancient and did not change for centuries. The most important technological change was the increasingly widespread use of the water mill from about 1000 on. It made the milling of flour much more efficient, as did the later introduction of the windmill to Lombardy around 1300. New irrigation techniques borrowed from the Arabs aided the cultivation of rice and cotton in the south.
The study of medieval Italian agriculture is now entering a new phase with the increasing use of advanced archaeological techniques to analyze site data such as pollen, grain samples, animal bones, and farming implements, allowing a more precise picture of individual agricultural sites and their production in the medieval period. These new techniques are important because only through them can we determine how much of medieval practice was inherited from Rome and how much was true innovation. Perhaps even more exciting is "landscape archaeology." Landscape archaeology uses the field survey—pioneered in central Italy by teams from the British School at Rome—to analyze large areas and observe changes in land use and settlement patterns over a longer span of time than is possible with conventional historical methods. Notable among these surveys are those of south Etruria, the Biferno valley, and Farfa, which have given us more precise data than ever before about what was grown where.
See also Land Tenure and Inheritance; Peasants; Revenues; Transhumance; Viticulture
ROSS BALZARETTI
Andreolli, Bruno, and Massimo Montanari. L'azienda curtense in Italia. Bologna: Cooperativa Universitaria Editrice, 1983.
Barker, Graeme. "The Italian Landscape in the First Millennium A.D.: Some Archaeological Approaches." In The Birth of Europe, ed. Klaus Randborg. Rome: Bretschneider, 1989, pp. 62-73.
Clark, Gillian. "Animals and Animal Products in Medieval Italy: A Discussion of Archaeological and Historical Methodology." Papers of the British School at Rome, 44, 1989, pp. 152-171.
Dean, Trevor, and Christopher J. Wickham, eds. City and Countryside in Late Medieval Italy: Essays Presented to Philip Jones. London: Hambledon, 1990.
Fumagalli, Vito. Terra e societa nell'Italia padana, Vol. 1, Secoli ix e x. Turin: Einaudi, 1976.
—, ed. Le prestazione d'opera nelle campagne italiane del medioevo. Bologna: Cooperativa Universitaria Editrice, 1987.
Herlihy, David. "The History of the Rural Seigneury in Italy, 751-1200." Agricultural History, 33, 1959, pp. 58-71.
Jones, Philip J. "An Italian Estate, 900-1200." Economic History Review, Series 2, 7, 1954, pp. 18-32.
—. "A Tuscan Monastic Lordship in the Later Middle Ages: Camaldoli." Journal of Eccesiastical History, 5, 1954, pp. 168-183.
—. "Medieval Agrarian Society in Its Prime: Italy." In Cambridge Economic History of Europe, 2nd ed., Vol. 1, ed. M. Postan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966, pp. 340-431.
Luzzatto, Gino. An Economic History of Medieval Italy, trans. Philip Jones. London, 1965.
Mazzaoui, Maureen. The Italian Cotton Industry in the Later Middle Ages, 1100-1600. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.
Montanari, Massimo. L'alimentazione contadina nell'alto medioevo. Naples: Liguori, 1976.
Toubert, Pierre. "L'ltalie rurale aux viii-ix siècles: Essai de typologie domaniale." Settimane di Studio del Centro Italiano di Studi sullAltro Medioevo, 20. Spoleto, 1973, pp. 95-132. (Reprinted in his Études sur l'Italie médiévale, ix-xiv siècles. London: Variorum, 1976.)
—. "Il sistema curtense: La produzione e lo scambio interno in Italia nei secoli viii, ix, e x." In Storia d'Italia: Annali 6. Turin: Einaudi, 1983, pp. 5-63.
Wickham, Christopher J. Early Medieval Italy. London: Macmillan, 1981.
—. "Pastoralism and Underdevelopment in the Early Middle Ages." Settimane di Studio del Centra Italiano di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo, 31. Spoleto, 1983, pp. 401-451.
Aistulf (d. 756) became king of the Lombards in 749 by overthrowing his brother Ratchis, presumably because Ratchis was not following an expansionist policy aggressively enough. Under Aistulf, the Lombards in 751 occupied Ravenna and moved toward Rome. Pope Stephen II appealed for aid to the Franks, who were indebted to the papacy because it had legitimated the new Carolingian dynasty. In 755, the Franks under Pepin I invaded, defeated Aistulf, and obtained an agreement that the Lombards would cede to the papacy all of the exarchate they had occupied. When Aistulf failed to carry out these terms, Pepin invaded again, in 756, and forced compliance. When Aistulf died there was a brief interregnum; he was then succeeded by Desiderius.
See also Desiderius; Frankish Kingdom; Lombards; Pepin the Short; Ratchis; Ravenna; Stephen II, Pope
KATHERINE FISCHER DREW
Hallenbeck, Jan T. Pavia and Rome: The Lombard Monarchy and the Papacy in the Eighth Century. Philadelphia, Pa.: American Philosophical Society, 1982.
Noble, Thomas F. X. The Republic of Saint Peter: The Birth of the Papal State, 680-825. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1984.
Wickham, Chris. Early Medieval Italy. Totowa, N.J.: Barnes and Noble, 1981.
Alaric (c. 370-410) was one of the Visigoths who were allowed to cross the Danube River into the Roman empire by the emperor Valens in 376. The Visigoths were the first group of barbarians to be allowed into the empire en masse, and their arrival marked the beginning of the "barbarian invasions." In reality, the Visigoths were more a motley conglomeration of ruffians than a discrete ethnic entity. They were augmented by accretions of renegades, deserters, slaves, dispossessed peasants, and other barbarian tribes.
Alaric himself first appears in history in the early 390s as a Visigothic military leader. In 394, he served in Theodosius's campaign against the usurper Eugenius, but then, unhappy about not receiving a sufficient reward, he revolted. Between 395 and 397, he and his Goths devastated Thrace and Greece, sacking several famous cities and on several occasions escaping destruction by the western general Stilicho. In 398 or 399, Alaric was granted the office "master of soldiers of Illyricum." In spite of this honor he invaded Italy in 401 and besieged the emperor Honorius in Milan. In 402, he was defeated at Pollentia and again at Verona by Stilicho, who then allowed him to withdraw from Italy. In 407, Alaric was engaged by Stilicho in a plan to seize Illyricum for the west, but this scheme was frustrated by the revolt of Constantine III in Britain and Gaul (407-411).
After Stilicho was murdered in 408, many of his partisans joined Alaric, who had since moved into the province of Noricum on the northern Italian border. Then, when Honorius refused to pay Alaric for past services, the Visigoths invaded Italy once again in 408 and besieged Rome, having been promised assistance from a group of Visigoths and Huns led by Alaric's relative Athaulf. A long series of negotiations then ensued among Alaric, the senate at Rome, and Honorius, who by then was safely ensconced in Ravenna. The siege of Rome was alternately lifted and renewed several times as Honorius continued to delay, the main sticking point being Honorius's refusal to make Alaric master of soldiers. In 409, Alaric even allowed the senate to name a new emperor, Priscus Attalus, who then granted Alaric his desired rank. Finally, in 410, after being joined by Athaulf and attacked by imperial forces, Alaric returned to Rome, which he captured and sacked beginning on 24 August. As sacks go, this one was rather genteel. It lasted only three days, and the churches, at least, were generally left untouched. The damage was more psychological than material. For the first time in 800 years Rome had fallen. No longer could the city be called Roma invicta ("unconquered Rome").
After leaving Rome, Alaric and his men traveled south, hoping to cross to Sicily. Foiled in this endeavor when the Gothic fleet was wrecked, Alaric turned back north, and on this journey he became ill and died in Bruttium. He was said to have been buried in the bed of the Busento River after the stream had been diverted. His position then was taken by Athaulf, who, two years later, led the Goths into Gaul.
See also Honorius, Emperor; Stilicho; Visigoths
RALPH MATHISEN
Brion, Marcel. Alartc the Goth, trans. Frederick H. Martens. London, 1932.
Matthews, John F. Western Aristocracies and Imperial Court A.D. 364-425. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975.
Mommsen, Theodor. "Stilicho und Aiarich." Hermes, 38, 1903, pp. 1-15.
Alberic (fl. 1065—1100) was a monk, deacon, and teacher or grammar and rhetoric at the abbey of Monte Cassino under its great abbot Desiderius. Alberic's life offers few fixed dates. He was probably born in southern Italy and was at Monte Cassino (to which he may have come as an adult) by 1065. In 1078— 1079, he successfully defended orthodox eucharistic doctrine against Berengar of Tours at a Roman synod; perhaps during the 1080s he composed a lost work, Contra Heinricum imperatorem de electione romani pontificis. He died before 1105 (when his name appears in two datable Cassinese necrologies) and was buried in Rome.
The chief primary sources for Alberic's life are the Chronicon Casinensis (3.35) and De viris illustribus (21), both by Peter the Deacon, a twelfth-century archivist and historian of Monte Cas-sino. Of Alberic's prose writings listed by Peter, those on music, astronomy, and dialectic are lost, as are De virginitate sancte Marie and his "very many" letters to Peter Damian. His rebuttal ofBerengar, De corpore domini, has recently been identified. Five saints' lives are attributable to Alberic, and a homily and verses on Saint Scholastica (with her brother, Saint Benedict, buried at Monte Cassino); other hymns and rithmi named by Peter the Deacon are not by Alberic. Alberic helped Desiderius compile four books of Dialogi recounting miracles among the monks of Monte Cassino (Chronicon Casinensis, 3.63).
Alberic is best-known, however, for his writings on rhetoric and style, all of which reflect the needs of classroom teaching and an active writing community. The Liber dictaminum et salutationum named by Peter may refer either to one part of the Breviarium de dictamine (preserved in five manuscripts, only one complete), which in its present form combines grammatical and rhetorical material from various sources, or—though this is less likely—to the Flores rhetorici (also called Dictaminum radii, known from four manuscripts). The Liber de barbarismo et soloecismo tropo et schemate draws on numerous texts, including Cassiodorus's massive Expositio psalmorum and some distinctively Cassinese sources, to define and illustrate (chiefly from the Bible) a remarkable total of nearly 130 rhetorical figures. Finally, a work on syllable length bespeaks an interest in prosody, and Alberic may also have been responsible for a Lexicon prosodaicum, a systematic, alphabetized guide to metrical quantities in classical Latin poetry.
Debate about Alberic's importance in the history of medieval rhetoric, especially the beginnings of the an dictaminis, has been handicapped, though seldom inhibited, by the fragmentary publication of his works. Dictamen means artistic composition in general, and both the Flores and the Breviarium concentrate on techniques of rhetorical ornament in prose. The term refers especially to letter-writing, however—an important literary genre throughout the Middle Ages—and these two works, as the first to contain instruction accompanied by sample salutations and model letters, presage the twelfth-century ars dictaminis with its many handbooks devoted to epistolary theory and model letters.
Alberic himself was a precocious student: in a recently discovered letter accompanying his Passio sancti Cesarii that exudes self-confidence and stylistic polish, Alberic declares that he is thirteen years old and has been engaged in liberalibus studiis for six years. Like most of his other hagiographical compositions, this one reworks an existing text (and as such represents a typical school exercise); it uses the cursus (techniques of rhythmic prose) and displays his characteristic exuberant delight in manipulating language.
See also Ars Dictaminis; Monte Cassino, Monastery
CAROL D. LANHAM
Breviarium de dictamine, ed. Ludwig Rockinger. Briersteller und Formelbiicher des Eilften bis Vierzehncen Jalirhunderts, Quellen und Erorterungen zur Bayerischen und Deutschen Geschichte, 9.1. Munich, 1863. (Extracts. Reprint, New York: Ben Franklin, 1961, pp. 29-46.)
Flores rhetorici, ed. Mauro Inguanez and Henry M. Willard. Miscellanea Cassinese, 14. Monte Cassino and Rome: Arti Grafiche Fotomeccaniche Sansaini, 1938.
"Flowers of Rhetoric," trans. Joseph M. Miller. In Readings in Medieval Rhetoric, ed. Joseph M. Miller, Michael H. Prosser, and Thomas W. Benson. Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press, 1973, pp. 131-161.
Lentini, Anselmo. "Alberico di Montecassino, Senior." Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, 1, 1960, pp. 643-645.
Repertorium fontium historiae medii aevi. Rome: Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo, 1967, Vol. 2, pp. 165-167.
Bloch, Herbert. "Monte Cassino's Teachers and Library in the High Middle Ages." In La scuola nell'Occidente latino dell'alto medioevo. Settimane di Studio del Centro Italiano di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo, 19. Spoleto, 1972, pp. 563-605. (See especially pp. 587-601.)
Gehl, Paul F. "From Monastic Rhetoric to Ars dictarninis: Traditionalism and Innovation in the Schools of Twelfth-Century Italy."American Benedictine Review, 34, 1983, pp. 33-47.
Murphy, James J. Rhetoric in the Middle Ages. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1974, pp. 203-211.
Albertanus (c. 1190-1251 or after), an author of legal treatises and addresses, was active in the political and professional life of the commune of Brescia in the first half of the thirteenth century. We know quite a lot about him from his appearances in official records (e.g., as a witness to a treaty or to a legal document) and from what he reveals in his own writings. A causidicus, or legal intermediary, perhaps with judicial powers (the precise function of this role is now unclear), he was regarded highly enough to be called on to serve his commune politically. On at least one occasion he was an aide to his fellow-Brescian Emmanuel de Madiis when the latter went to Genoa as podestà. In 1238, he was entrusted with the captaincy of the fortress of Gavardo, to defend it against the forces of Emperor Frederick II in the struggle of the Lombard League against the imperial campaign in northern Italy. He lost, but only after a vigorous defense against an especially vicious siege.
Albertanus was the author of three Latin didactic treatises and five "sermons"—spoken addresses delivered before his fellow causidici at meetings of their lay confraternity. These works became widely—in fact, explosively—available immediately after their creation and are to be found all across Europe; AJbertanus's works were read and copied until the eve of Reformation. His first (and longest) work is De amore et dilectione Dei et proximi et aliarum rerum et de forma vitae, completed while he was imprisoned at Cremona in 1238. Here he first set out his notion that social transformation is to be achieved through voluntary personal commitment to a "rule," an idea which would permeate all his subsequent writing. A sermon he delivered in Genoa in 1243 provides a prototype for his De doctrina dicendi et tacendi of 1245. Structured according to the rhetorical "circumstances" of classical tradition, this treatise examines the use of spoken discourse, especially among the legal profession, as a means of social empowerment, A third treatise, Liber consolationis et consilii (1246), denounces the threat to order afforded by the urban vendetta—the northern cities of Italy were frequently riven by lobbyists, and street fights between politically partisan groups were far from unknown. In this work, he sees social change as to be achieved through personal moral development. His final works comprise four more sermons, delivered to his legal confraternity in Brescia in or about 1250. In these short sermons, Albertanus develops and reiterates themes of his major works, and they may be seen as reflecting the maturity of his thought. The last sermon, with its topic of fear of the Lord (and perhaps also its lack of clear structure), suggests that these sermons were his swan song. There is no reason to believe that he wrote anything after them, and further attributions of authorship are undoubtedly false.
Albertano drew on familiar sources for his works, among them Seneca, Cicero, Justinian, Cato, Godfrey of Winchester, and the Bible. But he appears also to be the first writer to make use of the work of the Spanish convert from Judaism, Peter Alfonsi, and may well be the first scholar to have assembled ail twelve books of Cassiodorus's Variae. In this sense we can regard Albertanus as a precursor of the Renaissance book collector. The focus and synthesis of his writing, however, make it wrong to dismiss him as a mere compiler. His remedies for the social problems he met with professionally mark him as an early and insightful social theorist. His views on the consensual adoption of a secular rule (propositum) as a way of life and its potential as an engine of social change make him unique for the period. That he wrote as a layman is also remarkable. His beliefs about the role of the legal profession as a body with responsibility for social stability and development reveal an early understanding of the significance of the rise of an urban professional class. His sermons are among the earliest evidence we have of lay preaching and oratory.
Tre trattati. Florence: Giunti, 1610. Reproduced from original held by Department of Special Collections of the University Libraries of Notre Dame.
More than 320 surviving Latin manuscripts, across Europe, indicate that Albertanus was one of the most widely read authors in the latter medieval period. De doctrina in particular is well represented in manuscript, and it also went through at least thirty-five printed editions by 1500. Among the subsequent writers who knew and utilized these works are Brunetto Latini, Chaucer, John Gower, the author of the Fiore di virtù, Christine de Pizan, and (arguably) Dante. Except for his sermons, Albertanus's work was translated into every major western European language, though sometimes at quite a distance from the original context. More than 130 manuscripts and numerous early printed editions are known of vernacular versions of his treatises; these include English, German, Italian, French, Catalan, Castilian, Czech, and Dutch versions. More research on his influence is needed.
Powell (1992) supplies a recent and authoritative discussion of Albertanus and his works and provides a starting point for contemporary scholars working in English. Some discussion, especially of vernacular versions, is added by Angus Graham (1996), who extends Powell's bibliography. Both supply further reading. Further literature in English is concerned largely with Chaucer's use of Albertanus. Details of Latin manuscripts are given by Navone (1994, 1998), though she lists only 243, and supplemented by Graham (2000a,b). The currently published Latin editions do not reflect the best critical edition, but adequate ones are provided by Sundby (1884, De doctrina, app., 475-509), Romino (1980), Fe d'Ostiani (1874), Ferrari (1955), and more recently by Navone. Ahlquist offers a welcome fresh edition of the four Brescian sermons (with English translation); and Marx has translated, from Sundby, a portion of the Liber consolationis (in Blamires et al. 1992, 237-242). All but two of the published vernacular versions are cited by Graham (1996), and there are further discussions and vernacular manuscript listings in Graham (2000a,b).
See also Brescia
ANGUS GRAHAM
Ahlquist, Gregory W. "The Four Sermons of Albertanus of Brescia: An Edition." M.A. thesis, Syracuse University, 1997.
Blamires, Alcuin, Karen Pratt, and C. W. Marx. Woman Defamed and Woman Defended: An Anthology of Medieval Texts. Oxford: Clarendon, 1992.
Fe d'Ostiani, Luigi F. Sermone inedito di Albertano, giudice di Brescia. Brescia: Pavoni, 1874.
Ferrari, Marta. Sermones quattuor: Edizione curata sui codici bresciani. Lonato: Fondazione Ugo da Como, 1955.
Graham, Angus. "Who Read Aibertanus? Insights from the Manuscript Transmission." In Albertano da Brescia: Alle origini del razionalismo economico, dell'umanesimo civile, delta grande Europa, ed. Franco Spinelli. Brescia: Grafb, 1996, pp. 69-82.
—. "Aibertanus of Brescia: A Preliminary Census of Vernacular Manuscripts." Studi Medievali, 41, 2000a, pp. 891-924,
—. "Aibertanus of Brescia: A Supplementary Census of Latin Manuscripts." Studi Medievali, 41, 2000b, pp. 429-445.
—. "The Anonymity of Albertano: A Case Study from the French "Journal of the Early Book Society, 3, 2000, pp. 198-203.
Navone, Paola. "La Doctrina loquendi et tacendi di Albertano da Brescia: Censimento dei manoscritti." Studi Medievali, 35, 1994, pp. 895-930.
—. Liber de doctrina dicendi et tacendi: La parola del cittadino nell'Italia del Duecento / Albertano da Brescia. Per Verba, Testi Mediolatini con Traduzioni, 11. Tavarnuzze: SISMEL, 1998.
Powell, James M. Albertanus of Brescia: The Pursuit of Happiness in the Early Thirteenth Century. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992.
Romino, Sharon Hiltz. "De amore et dilectione Dei et proximi et aliarum rerum et de forma vitae: An Edition." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1980.
Spinelli, Franco, ed. Albertano da Brescia: Alle origini del razionalismo economico, dell'umanesimo civile, delta grande Europa. Brescia: Grafo, 1996.
Sundby, [Johannes] Thor. Albertani Brixiensis Liber Consolationis et Consilii. London: Chaucer Society and N. Trübner, 1873.
—. Della vita e delle opere di Brunetto Latini, 2nd ed. Florence: Le Monnier, 1884.
Albertino (1261-1329), the greatest Latin poet of his age, was born in Padua of lowly parentage. Orphaned at a young age, he had the responsibility of caring for three younger siblings—two brothers and a sister. (One of the brothers would eventually become the abbot of Santa Giustina, the great Benedictine monastery of Padua.) Early in his life, Albertino earned money by copying books for students at the university; later he became a notary and the son-in-law of the powerful Guglielmo Lemici, a very successful Paduan usurer. With the backing of the Lemici clan and his own natural abilities, he played a prominent role in Paduan public life, at home and abroad, in peace and war, from around 1310 to his final exile in 1325, when the Carrara family finally broke the influence of the Lemici. He died in exile in Chioggia four years later.
But it was not Albertino's successes as orator, statesman, warrior, or diplomat of Padua that make his name illustrious today. It is, rather, his remarkable achievements as a man of letters in the context of a late medieval Italian commune. Even before his emergence as a figure in Paduan political life, Albertino had become a member of a small group of scholars gathered around Lovato de' Lovati, an older Paduan judge. These men studied the Latin poets as an avocation. The existence of Carolingian manuscripts at the Capitular Library in Verona, and in the Benedictine abbey of Pomposa near Ravenna, made possible this learned diversion of the cenacolo padovano ("Paduan circle"). The members of the cenacolo were already familiar with the traditional set of Latin poets, established earlier in the thirteenth century—Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Lucan, and Statius—and Lovato was the first to take the next logical step, composing original Latin poetry himself. Indeed, Petrarch recalled his achievement.
Albertino, following in Lovato's wake, composed poems that helped to rehabilitate some forms of Latin poetry. One example is his defense of such poetry against the strictures of a Dominican, Fra Giovannino. Another is his birthday elegy, in which he reviews his life and the highlights of his career, including his laureation. This may have been the first work since antiquity in which an author focused on his own day of birth for reflection and celebration.
In the 1320s, Albertino went to Siena in his capacity as a diplomat and on the way, near Florence, fell ill. The literary result of this illness was his poem Somnium ("A Dream"), recounting his concept of the afterworld, with particular attention to the nether regions. (Dante's Inferno was already in circulation at this time.)
Albertino also left us a bountiful harvest of Latin prose works, especially contemporary histories of Italy—De gestis Henrici VII Cesaris (The Deeds of the Emperor Henry VII) and De gestis italicorum post Henricum VII Cesarem (Italian Events after the Death of Emperor Henry VII). However, for all his learning and experience, his histories were no match for his poetry, or for the historical text that was at the root of Padua's self-understanding: Ro landino's Chronicles of the Trevisan March.
Albertino also studied the tragedies of Seneca with Lovato and composed introductions to the plays, as well as an explanation of tragic meters for the younger Marsilius of Padua, the author of Defensor pads. In 1315, in imitation of Seneca and in connection with local history, Albertino wrote his finest and most lasting work, Ecerinis (The Tragedy of Ecerinus), about the tyrant Ezzelino III da Romano (1194-1259), the ruler of Verona. Like some of his contemporaries, Albertino saw an analogy between Ezzelino and the current lord of Verona, Cangrande della Scala. Albertino was familiar with the details of Ezzelino's career from Rolandino's Chronicles, which stressed the heroic, united, Catholic character of Paduan resistance. This was the story Albertino found ready to hand as he attempted to awaken his fellow citizens to the danger of renewed aggression by the Veronese. He was inspired to cast this tale in the form of a Senecan tragedy, Thyestes, and thus wrote the first tragedy since antiquity. It was for Ecerinis that Albertino was crowned with laurels, just as Rolandino had been crowned for the Chronicles. However, Albertino failed in his goal of awakening Padua, and Cangrande conquered the city in 1328. Because of his staunch political opposition to Cangrande, Albertino went into exile; he died at Chioggia on 31 May 1329.
See also Ezzelino III da Romano; Lovato dei Lovati; Padua
JOSEPH R. BERRIGAN
Albettino Mussato. Thesaurus antiquitatum et historiarum italiae, ed, Graevius. Leyden, 1722, Vol. 6(2). (Poems.)
—. Rerum italicarum scriptores, ed. L. A. Muratori. Milan, 1727, Vol. 10. (Histories.)
—. Ecerinide, ed. L. Padrin. Bologna, 1900.
—. Mussato's "Ecerinis" and Loschi's "Achilles," trans. Joseph R. Berrigan. Munich: Wilhelm Fink, 1975.
Berrigan, Joseph R. "The Ecerinis: A Prehumanist View of Tyranny." Delta Epsilon Sigma Bulletin, 12, 1967, pp. 71-86.
—. "Early Neo-Latin Tragedy in Italy." In Acta Conventus Neo-Latini Lovaniensis. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1973, pp. 85-93.
—. "A Tale of Two Cities: Verona and Padua in the Late Middle Ages." In Art and Politics in Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Italy, 1250-1500, ed. Charles M. Rosenberg. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1990, pp. 67-80.
Billanovich, Giuseppe. I primi umanisti e le tradizioni dei classici latini, Fribourg: Edizioni Universitarie, 1953.
Billanovich, Guido. " Veterum vestigia vatum nei carmi dei preumanisti padovani." Italia Medioevale e Umanistica, 1, 1958, pp. 155-243.
Cosenza, Mario. Biographical and Bibliographical Dictionary of Italian Humanists. Boston, Mass., 1962, Vol. 3, pp. 2396-2398; Vol. 5, pp. 1223-1224.
Dazzi, Manlio Torquato. Il Mussato preumanista (1261-1329): L'ambiente e l'opera. Vicenza: Neri Pozza, 1964.
Hyde, J. K. Padua in the Age of Dante. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1966.
Martellotti, Guido. "Mussato, Albertino." In Enciclopedia Dantesca. Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 1984, Vol. 3, pp. 1066-1068.
Raimondi, Ezio. "L'Ecerinis di Albertino Mussato." In Studi Ezzeliniani, Fasc. 45-47 of Studi storici. Rome: Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo, 1963, pp. 189-203.
Weiss, Roberto. The Dawn of Humanism in Italy. London: Lewis, 1947.
Albertus Magnus or Albert the Great of Ratisbon (c. 1193 or 1206-1280) has emerged as one of the great encyclopedist theologians of the late Middle Ages. He entered the Dominican order at Padua in 1223; moved north to teach at the schools of Hildesheim, Cologne, and Ratisbon and then moved to Paris; but in 1248 returned to Cologne, where he organized the Studium General. In 1260, he was appointed bishop of Ratisbon; however, he resigned so that he could concentrate on his literary efforts. H is most distinguished pupil was Thomas Aquinas, whose doctrines he later defended at Paris in 1277.
As a cleric, Albertus was interested in documenting the world around him according to the sanctity of tradition, but he departed from most of his predecessors and contemporaries by actually trying to test some of the legends he recorded in his vast works. His approach to the science of his time represented a major shift from the earlier tradition, which had been based entirely on authority. For example, he tested the story that ostriches like to eat iron by attempting to feed them some nails. To his surprise, the ostriches refused the iron, though they would, he testifies, eat small stones.
The works of Albertus are considered somewhat disorganized and are full of digressions, but they are very comprehensive: in scope, Albertus is exceeded only by Aquinas. Albertus's largest work (although incomplete) is the Summa theologiae. His other works include Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard and Summa de creaturis.
In general, Albertus often avoided the fantastic, preferring direct observation and straightforward commentary on nature; for example, he describes how an herb or a fruit might affect the body, mind, or spirit rather than relating traditional allegories about it. His Book of Secrets of the Virtues of Herbs, Stones, and Certain Beasts, as its title suggests, has more to do with the benefits of herbs and stones and their therapeutic or culinary uses than with their symbolic value for moralizers. His comments are linked to the four humors, which medieval medicine inherited from Hippocrates, the chief physician of the ancient world. In his book On Falcons, Dogs, and Horses, Albertus is clearly interested in the hunt.
As a whole, Albertus's methodology, as expounded in Meta-physicorum, is based on a breakdown of knowledge into the medieval "trivium" and "quadrivium," numbers in themselves replete with symbolism. The trivium comprised the superior areas of learning (i.e., the three divine philosophical and theological subjects); the quadrivium pertained to more practical knowledge, such as music and geometry. Learned persons—in actuality, only the priesthood and the nobility—were those trained in both classes of information.
Albertus Magnus, De secretis mulierum; item De virtutibus herbarum, lapidum, et animalium. Amsterdam: Apud Ioannem Ianssonium, 1662. Reproduced from original held by Department of Special Collections of the University Libraries of Notre Dame.
Albertus also had significant influence on artistic taste, through his commentaries on the feminine figure of Mary in De laudibus beatae Mariae Virginis (In Praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary) and Mariale, sive questiones super evangelium: De eorporali puchritudine Mariae (Questions Concerning the Gospel: On the Corporeal Beauty of Mary). Albertus also wrote about the sacramental altar and about what constitutes a reliquary and a sacred site.
See also Thomas Aquinas, Saint
DARRELL D. DAVISSON
Albertus Magnus. Opera omnia, ex editione lugdunensi religiose castigata, et pro auctoritatibus ad fidem vulgatae versionis accuratiorumque patrologiae textuum revocata, auctaque B. AJberti vita ac bibliographia operum a P. P. Quétif et Echard exaratis, etiam revisa et locupletata, cura ac labore Augusti Borgnet. Parisiis, apud Ludovicum Vivès, 1890-1895.
—. Opera omnia ad fidem codicum manuscriptorum edenda /apparatu critico, notis, prolegornenis, indicibus instruenda curavit Institutum Alberti Magni Coloniense, Bernhardo Geyer praeside. Monasterii Westfalorum: In aedibus Aschendorff, 1951- .
—. De la virtu de le her be, animali, et pietre preciose; e di molte maravigliose cose del mondo: E secreti delle done e degli huomini dal medesimo authore composti. Venice, n.p., n.d. (1537).
—. De vegetabilibus libri VII: Historiae naturalis, pars XVIII, ed. Ernesto Meyero. Frankfurt: Minerva GMBH, 1982.
—. De vertus admirables des herbes et des pierres. Paris: GLM, n.d. (1957).
—. Libellus de natura animalium, A Fifteenth Century Bestiary, intro. J. I. Davis. London: Dawson's of Pall Mall, 1958. (Facsimile of 1508 edition.)
—. Le proprietà degli animali, ed. Giorgio Celli. Genoa: Costa and Nolan, 1983.
Albertus Magnus. Art and Sport of Falconry. Chicago, Ill.: Argonaut, 1969.
—. Book of Minerals, trans. Dorothy Wyckoff. Oxford: Clarendon, 1967.
—. The Book of Secrets ofAlbertus Magnus of the Virtues of Herbs, Stones, and Certain Beasts; also A Book of the Marvels of the World, ed. Michael R. Best and Frank H. Brightman. Oxford: Clarendon, 1973.
—. De secretis mulierum; or, The Mysteries of Human Generation Fully Revealed. Written in Latin . . . Faithfully rendered into Engl[t]sh, with explanatory notes, and approved by, the late John Quincy. . . . London: E. Curll, 1725.
—. Man and the Beasts (De animalibus, Books 22-26), trans. James J. Scanlan. Binghamton, N.Y.: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1987.
—. The Paradise of the Soule. Menston, Yorkshire: Scolar, 1972. (1617).
—. Women's Secrets: A Translation of Pseudo-Albertus Magnus' De secretis mulierum, trans. Helen Rodnite Lemay. Saratoga Springs: State University of New York Press, 1992.
Albertus Magnus and Thomas. Selected Writings, trans, and ed. Simon Tugwell. New York: Paulist, 1988.
Albertus Magnus and the Sciences: Commemorative Essays 1980, ed. James A. Weisheipl. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1980.
Cross, F. L. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. London, New York and Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1963.
Esposizione e documentazione storica del culto del B. Alberto Magno. Rome, 1930-1931.
Weiss, M. Reliquiengeschichte Alberts des Grossen. Munich, 1930.
Zambelli, Paola. The "Speculum Astronomiae" and Its Enigma: Astrology, Theology, and Science in Albertus Magnus and His Contemporaries. Dordrecht and Boston: KJuwer Academic, 1992.
The Albizzi represented the most conservative element within the merchant aristocracy of republican Florence. A long-established family who were first represented in the signoria in 1283, they attained their greatest commercial and political prominence in the second half of the fourteenth century. By 1350, the Albizzi had emerged as the leaders of a political faction which sought to dominate the parte Guelfa (Guelf party) and the Florentine government by restricting the major offices of both to members of the older families. Opposed to the Albizzi was a faction led by the Ricci that favored the inclusion in politics of new men, those recently risen to wealth and membership in the major guilds.
The rivalry between the Albizzi and the Ricci was regarded by the Florentines as such a threat to the republic that in 1366 both families were banned from holding office for ten years. In 1378, Piero degli Albizzi, whose wealth and political alliances had made him the dominant political figure, was dealt a severe blow by the reform-minded balia created in the wake of the ciompi (working-class) uprising. Piero and his male descendants were declared magnates subject to the political liabilities imposed on the nobility by the Ordinances of Justice, and he was exiled from Florence.
The Albizzi again became the leaders of an oligarchical faction in Florence in the 1380s, and once again their ambition threatened the stability of the republic as they and their new opponents, the Medici, sought to gain control of the machinery of government.
See also Ciompi; Florence
E. HOWARD SHEALY
Brucker, Gene A. Florentine Politics and Society, 1343-1378. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1962.
—. The Civic World of Early Renaissance Florence. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1977.
Najemy, John M. Corporatism and Consensus in Florentine Electoral Politics, 1280-1400. Chapei Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982.
Velluti, Donato. La cronica domestica di Messer Donato Velluti. Florence: Sansoni, 1914.
The semilegendary king Alboin (d. 572) led the Lombards over the eastern Alps into Italy in 568. He had become king some years before, succeeding his father, Audoin, who was not a member of the old Lething dynasty.
Alboin's career before the descent into Italy is known primarily from old sagas. The Lombards, in league with the Avars, made war on the Gepids (who were living in the central Danube region). The Gepids were defeated, and their king, Cunimund, was killed by Alboin, who then took Cunimund's daughter Rosamund as his captive and wife. It is said that after the invasion of Italy, Rosamund conspired to have Alboin murdered in his bed because he had forced her to drink from a cup made from her father's skull. In any event, Alboin was assassinated in 572.
The invaders that Alboin took into Italy included not only Lombards but also a number of other Germans, including a large group of Saxons. The incursion seems to have taken the Byzantines by surprise. Cividale (Friuli) fell first and became the center of a first Lombard duchy (a frontier march). A number of fare (kin groups) were left to organize the march; the remainder followed Alboin into the Po Valley, where Milan and Pavia (the latter only after a long siege) were occupied and became the center of the slowly emerging Lombard kingdom. Alboin was followed as king by Cleph.
See also Byzantine Empire; Lombards; Milan; Pavia
KATHERINE FISCHER DREW
Foulke, William Dudley. Paul the Deacon: History of the Lombards. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1974.
Wickham, Chris. Early Medieval Italy: Central Power and Local Society 400-1000. Totowa, N.J.: Barnes and Noble, 1981.
Cardinal Gil Alvarez Cabrillo (Carillo, Carrillo) de Albornoz (1302 or 1303-1367) was a soldier as well as a churchman. Albornoz's campaigns restored central Italy to the papacy in the 1350s and 1360s, after decades of control by local despots. This made possible the return of the papal court from Avignon to Rome in 1377, ending the Avignonese papacy.
Born to an aristocratic Castilian family, Albornoz was marked early for an ecclesiastical career. After studying canon law at Toulouse, he became chaplain and counselor to King Alfonso XI. In 1338, he succeeded his uncle as archbishop of Toledo. Over the next decade Albornoz took a leading role in the wars of reconquest, gaining a considerable reputation not only as a soldier but as a diplomat.
Albornoz's relations with King Alphonso's successor, Pedro I (the Cruel), were strained. Fearing disgrace, Albornoz fled to the papal court at Avignon in 1350. By December of that year, he had renounced the see of Toledo and been made a cardinal. In 1352, Pope Innocent VI named him papal delegate and vicar-general to the papal states and to central and northern Italy. His mission was to regain control of these areas from the petty lords who had seized them after the popes left Italy for Avignon.
Albornoz fought two long campaigns in Italy. The first, lasting from 1353 to 1357, secured the papal states, the Marches, and Romagna, including the city of Bologna. The second, fought between 1358 and 1364, attempted to free papal territories from the influence of the Visconti and the Ghibellines of the north by extending papal power into Emilia and the southern reaches of the Po valley.
In 1357, Albornoz promulgated a set of laws for the lands he had conquered that was later known as the Constitutiones aegidianae. This became the basic legal code of the papa! states and was not superseded until the Napoleonic era. Constitutiones attempted to regularize earlier laws of the region while reversing legislation that Albornoz considered prejudicial to ecclesiastical liberties. It also balanced strong papal government with a certain autonomy for towns, since Albornoz was concerned to avoid alienating these important allies against the troublesome nobility. Generally, Albornoz championed communal rights and the authority of communal assemblies against the privileges of the nobles.
During his campaigns in the papal states, Romagna, and the Marches, Albornoz made rapid progress and achieved quick success. He was not as fortunate in his subsequent operations in the north. These dragged on at enormous cost, with no assurance of victory. In 1363, a new pope, Urban V, decided to replace Albornez and seek a negotiated peace. Albornoz was kept in Italy, however, as papal legate to Naples and Bologna. In 1365, he founded the Spanish College at the University of Bologna. He died in 1367, while accompanying Urban V on the first papal visit to Rome in more than sixty years.
Albornoz's victories made certain that the papacy could return to Rome in 1377, and his administrative and legal reforms provided the basis for papal government in central Italy for centuries. His achievements might be better recognized had not many of the political gains he made for the papacy been so quickly lost during the Great Schism of 1378-1417.
THOMAS TURLEY
Sella, Pietro, ed. Costituzioni egidiane dell'anno MCCCLVIL Rome: Loescher, 1912.
Beneyto Pérez, Juan. El cardenal Albornoz: Hombre de iglesia y de estado en Costilla y en Italia. Madrid: Fundacion Universitaria Española, 1986.
Colliva, Paolo. Il cardinale Albornoz, lo Stato della chiesa, le Constitutiones aegidianae (1353-1357). Bologna: Real Colegio de España, 1977.
Filippini, Francesco. Il cardinale Egidio Albornoz. Bologna: Zanichelli, 1933.
Marti, Berthe M. The Spanish College at Bologna in the Fourteenth Century. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1966.
Millet, Hélène. "Great Schism of the West (1378-1417)." In The Papacy: An Encyclopedia, ed. Philippe Levillain. New York: Routledge, Vol. 2, pp. 632-638.
Sáez, Carlos. "El cardenal Albornoz y la jerarquí eclesiástica de Emilia Romaña: Relaciones políticas (1353-1367)." In Homenatge a la memòria del Prof. Emilio Sáez: Aplec d'estudis del sens deixebles i collaboradors. Barcelona, Inscitució Milà i Fontanals (CSIC), Centre d'Estudis Medievals de Catalunya, Universitat de Barcelona, 1989, pp. 69-88.
From Carolingian times to the late thirteenth century, branches of the Aldobrandeschi family controlled an enormous feudal territory in western Tuscany. At first centered on Lucca, with holdings as far north as Parma, the family's power later shifted south to the Maremma. The Aldobrandeschi were probably of Lombard origin and may have been descendants of Liutprand's successor, King Ildebrandino, who reigned briefly c. 744. Family lordship was based on a combination of control over monastic lands and comital authority, from the late ninth century around Lucca. By the communal period, the main branch ruled the contado (district) between Siena and Orvieto as counts of Sovana, Pitigliano, Santa Fiora, etc. This terra aldobrandesca began to come under the control of Orvieto with a minor submission to the commune in 1168. In 1208, Orvieto arbitrated a testamentary dispute among four Aldobrandeschi heirs and gained further submissions in the process. Communal control increased in 1216 after another arbitration and the imprisonment of two Aldobrandeschi brothers for debt.
In 1251, family rivalries caused a defection to the Sienese, long rivals for control of the Aldobrandeschi lands; in 1259, a Sienese army ousted the haughty Omberto from his castle of Campagnatico and killed him (Purgatorio, 11.58-69); and in 1274, the northern portion, Santa Fiora, formally submitted to Siena. Throughout the fourteenth century, Siena absorbed these lands, eventually nullifying the authority and power of the Aldo-brandeschi. In 1284, the southern portion was inherited by Margherita, who had married Guy di Montfort. Orvieto and Pope Boniface VIII dueled for hegemony, and in 1303 Orvieto gained the upper hand, with title descending to the Orsini family through Anastasia, the daughter of Margherita and Guy.
See also Orvieto; Siena
JOSEPH P. BYRNE
Bowsky, William. A Medieval Commune: Siena under the Nine. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981.
Ciacci, G. Gli Aldobrandescbi nella storia e nella "Divina Commedia," 2 vols. Rome: Biblioteca di Fond e Documenti, 1932-1935.
Rosetti, Gabriella. "Gli Aldobrandeschi." In I ceti dirigenti in Toscana nell'età precomunale. Pisa: Pacini Editore, 1981.
Waley, Daniel. Mediaeval Orvieto. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1952.
Alessandria is a commune in the Piedmont region along the Tanaro River in the Marengo plain. The first settlement (c. 1164) was named Civitas Nova or Cesaria and was founded by the Ghibelline William V "the Elder," marquis of Montferrat, who drew together the leading citizens of four smaller communes (Rovereto, Bergoglio, Marengo, and Gamondio) with the intent of expanding his own sphere of interest. However, factions opposed to Montferrat grew in the new city and drew it into an alliance with Milan. In 1167-1168, with the assistance of "new men" and refugees from small towns in the vicinity, the city was renamed Alessandria in honor of Pope Alexander III. Alessandria was attacked by the imperial forces of Frederick I (Frederick Barbarossa) and William the Elder, who besieged it for six months in 1174-1175. In 1183, as a consequence of the Peace of Constance, the city reassumed its original name, Cesaria, a name it held until nearly the end of the century. In 1198 it returned to Guelf control and was once again renamed Alessandria.
For the next 150 years, Alessandria was in a continual struggle with the neighboring cities of Casale and Genoa, while torn by internal strife between Guelf (Guaschi and Dal Pozzo) and Ghibeliine (Lanzavecchia and Inviziati) family factions. It was also subject to depredations by William VII of Montferrat (1260) and by Charles of Anjou (1268). The Angevins (Robert of Anjou) and the Visconti contended for the city, and in 1348, the Visconti annexed it definitively for Milan.
The original town walls, consisting of earthworks, moat, and guard towers, were replaced at the beginning of the thirteenth century with stone fortifications and a bridge over the Tanaro River. These were reinforced and expanded in 1362 and served the city until the sixteenth century. Among the earliest ecclesiastical buildings are the churches of Saint Rocco (twelfth-fourteenth centuries), Saint Francis (thirteenth-fourteenth centuries), and Santa Maria di Castello (fourteenth-fifteenth centuries). The city's first cathedral, dedicated to Saint Peter, was demolished in 1805 by the French.
See also Montferrat, Marquisate of
JOHN W. BARKER AND CHRISTOPHER KLEINHENZ
Leardi, E. La provincia di Alessandria. Milan, 1970.
Nothing is known of Alesso di Guido Donati's life except that he was a Florentine poet who lived during the second half of the fourteenth century. His collected poems comprise eleven madrigals and two ballate that are contained in the manuscript Magliabechi VII, 624 (fourteenth century), at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Florence. Unlike the ballate, Di te son servidor and Da poi ch'Amor più volte m'ha fallito, Donati's madrigals are steeped in lively, realistic imagery and dialogue and treat conventional themes, especially the vicissitudes of amorous pursuit, in a daring and playful manner. Antonio Lanza has noted the "clearly hedonistic and fundamentally erotic" (1978, 142) tone of Alesso's poetry.
In the madrigal Accese montanine, for example, Alesso creates a humorous and innovative effect by artfully combining features of stilnovo and scuola siciliana style with references to the beginning of Dante's infernal journey (deh la via mia smarrita m'insegnate: / tan to ch' i' torni al mio dritto cammino) in order to represent the lover's conquest (e io con bad sollazando seco). In another madrigal, Ellera non s'avvitola, Alesso represents the euphoria of two lovers as they dare to embrace before the eyes of a dozing guardian: "Abracciamirisposile, / "e, s'ella ci ode e grida, fuor cacciamola."/ E ciò dicendo volto a volto puosile / e colsi frutto del suo orto giovine (vv. 7-10). The incisive representation of the lovers* actions and emotions (desire, and fear of being caught in flagrante delicto) is enhanced by the fluid development from the descriptive analogy that introduces the poem through the dialogue that occupies the central verses and finally to the narrative that concludes the poem. After reading these and other madrigals, such as Cavando d'un cespuglio calcatreppi, Di rietro a un volpon che sen portava, I' mi son qui selvaggia pasturella, and Con lieve piè, come la pecorella, the reader will perhaps agree with Lanza, who believes that Alesso has been underrated.
See also Ballata; Italian Poetry: Lyric
DARIO DEL PUPPO
Carducci, Giosuè. Cantilene e ballate, strambotti e madrigali del secolo XIII e XIV. Bologna: A. Fomi, 1970, pp. 297-309. (Originally published 1871.)
Corsi, Giuseppe, ed. Rimatori del Trecento. Turin: UTET, 1969, pp. 537-545.
Lanza, Antonio. Studi sulla lirica del Trecento. Rome: Bulzoni, 1978, pp. 142-147.
Sapegno, Natalino. Il Trecento. Milan: Vallardi, 1973, pp. 418-419. (Originally published 1933.)
Pope Alexander III (Rolando Bandinelli, c. 1105-1181) was born in Siena. He received training as a theologian and canon lawyer and became a member of the faculty at the University of Bologna. He was made a cardinal by Eugenius III in 1150 and was appointed chancellor of the Roman Curia in 1153. During his academic years, he wrote a commentary on Gratian's Decretum; subsequently, as a cardinal, he wrote a theological treatise, Sententiae, directed against the influence of Abelard, Under Pope Adrian IV he was the strongest opponent of Frederick I (Frederick Barbarossa) and an advocate of the papal alliance with the Normans. In September 1159, in a divided election, he was chosen pope, but a pro-imperial minority of cardinals chose a rival pope under the name Victor IV, blocked Alexander's investiture, and drove him out of Rome. Two weeks later, in Ninfa, Alexander was consecrated pope; he then began a series of protracted international negotiations over his status while Frederick continued to back a series of antipopes.
Pope Alexander III. Hartmann Schedel, Liber chronicarum (Nuremberg Chronicle). Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 1493, p. 202v.
During a period of exile in France, Alexander began to build a series of alliances against Frederick that eventually enabled him to return to Rome in 1165. He became the focal personality in the organization of the cities and regimes of Italy against the imperial schemes of Barbarossa. The climax of the and- imperial struggle came with the victory of the Lombard League at Legnano in 1176. Through the mediation of the Venetian republic, Alexander and Frederick became reconciled in a famous meeting in Venice in 1177.
It was in part Alexander's preoccupation with Italian affairs that allowed Henry II of England to pursue his struggle with Thomas Becket (c. 1118-1170) over the status of the English church; in 1173, Alexander canonized Becket. In 1179, Alexander presided over the Third Lateran Council, which established the principle of a two-thirds vote in papal elections. He also conducted brief, superficial negotiations with the emperor Manuel I Comnenus over the reunion of the Greek and Latin churches. In Alexander's last years, renewed popular violence forced him to leave Rome, and he died in Civita Castellana on 30 August 1181. His struggle with Barbarossa is recorded in a cycle of frescoes by Spinello Aretino in the Sala di Balia of the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena.
See also Frederick I Barbarossa; Legnano, Battle of
JOHN W. BARKER AND CHRISTOPHER KLEINHENZ
Boso's Life of Alexander III, trans. G. M. Ellis. Oxford: Blackwell, 1973.
Laudage, Johannes. Alexander III und Friedrich Barbarossa. Cologne; Böhlau, 1997.
Somerville, Robert. Pope Alexander III and the Council of Tours (1163): A Study of Ecclesiastical Politics and Institutions in the Twelfth Century. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977.
Pope Alexander IV (Rinaldo Conti, count of Segni, 1199-1261) was a nephew of Gregory IX and a patron of the Franciscan order and was elected pope in 1254 to succeed Innocent IV. He saw the Ghibelline cause revive under the leadership of Manfred, an illegitimate son of Frederick II. Although peace-loving, Alexander supported candidates to the thrones of both Naples and the empire who would oppose Hohenstaufen interests. He also excommunicated Manfred. Faced with unrest in Rome and Manfred's armed threat, he retired to Viterbo and Anagni. From his residences outside Rome he extended his patronage to the mendicant orders, defending their right to appoint the chairs of theology at the University of Paris. The Augustinian Hermits were organized under the papal aegis. Alexander canonized Clare of Assisi in 1255. He also sought, though unsuccessfully, a reunion between the eastern and western churches; and he tried to organize a crusade against the Mongols.
See also Manfred
THOMAS IZBICKI
Les registres d'Alexander IV recueil des bulles de ce pape publiees ou analysées d'après les manuscrits originaux des archives du Vatican, 3 vols. Paris: Fontemoing, 1902-1953.
Tenckhoff, Franz. Papst Alexander IV. Paderborn: Schöningh, 1907.
Al-Farabi (c. 870-c. 950) was born at Wasij near Farab in Turkestan. He studied in Baghdad under the Nestorian philosopher Yuhanna ibn Haylan. In 942, he went to Syria, where he was welcomed at the court of Sayf al-Dawla at Aleppo.
Al-Farabi was called the "second master"—that is, second after Aristotle—a title indicative of Al-Farabi's influence as a philosopher on the whole of Arabic and Latin thought in the Middle Ages. In the 150 years after his death, a period I. R. Netton (1992) has called the "age of Farabism," Arabic philosophy was shaped directly and distinctly by his thought. Through his Arabic and Hebrew successors as well as Latin translations of some of his writings, al-Farabi's influence on Latin medieval philosophy was equally notable.
Al-Farabi's Book of the Enumeration of the Sciences is the earliest known Islamic work on the classification of the sciences. Two Latin translations under the title De scientiis were made in the medieval period, one by Dominicus Gundissalinus (Toledo, c. 1140) and the other by Gerard of Cremona (c. 1230), In this work al-Farabi analyzes the place and nature of all sciences, which he orders under eight headings: linguistic, logical, mathematical, physical, metaphysical, political, juridical, and theological disciplines, with extensive subdivisions for each category. These subdivisions are modeled after the earlier Aristotelian corpus, and the influence of Aristotle is also reflected in the primacy of logic. De scientiis in turn influenced Gundissalinus's On the Division of Philosophy (De divisione philosophiae, c. 1150).
A similar but less elaborate treatise, On the Origin of the Sciences, was also translated into Latin (as De ortu scientiarum), probably by Gundissalinus. Another work ascribed to al-Farabi was a commentary on Aristotle's Rhetoric, this commentary is preserved only in several Renaissance editions of the Latin translation by Hermannus Alemannus (c. 1256). At least in the early printed editions, al-Farabi's On the Intellect was often attributed to Avicenna. It was read by medieval western scholars in a translation, De intellectu, which may have been made by Gundissali nus. This unique work sets out to discuss the various meanings of the term "intellect" in Aristotle and common Arabic speech, but it is especially important for its interpretation of the active intellect in Aristotle's On the Soul (De anima). Like al-Farabi's Philosophy of Aristotle (which, however, was not translated into Latin), this treatise expounds the Neoplatonist view of the active intellect as the end point of a ninefold hierarchy of emanating incorporeal intelligences. By contrast, De intellectu describes the active intellect as a source of emanation of natural forms into the sublunar realm. The active intellect here also illuminates the human intellect in such a way that it can grasp concepts instead of mere general first principles. D. Salmon (1939) presents evidence for the existence of several other Latin translations of works by al-Farabi in the Middle Ages.
See also Aristotle and Aristotelianism, Neoplatonism
STEVEN VANDEN BROECKE
Marmura, M. E. "Farabi, Al-." In Dictionary of the Middle Ages, ed. Joseph Strayer. New York: Scribner, 1985, Vol. 5, pp. 9-12.
Rescher, N. Al-Farabi: An Annotated Bibliography. Pittsburgh, Pa., 1962.
Bédoret, H. "Les premières traductions tolédanes de philosophic: Oeuvres d'Alfarabi." Revue Néoscolastique de Philosophic, 41, 1938, pp. 80-97.
Burnett, Ch. S. F. "Vincent of Beauvais, Michael Scot, and the 'new Aristotle."' In Lector et compilator: Vincent de Beauvais frère prêcheur—Un intellectuel et son milieu au XIIIe siècle, ed. S. Lusignan and M. Paulmier-Foucart. Nancy and Montreal, 1997, pp. 189-213.
Davidson, H. A. Alfarabi, Avicenna, and Averroes, on Intellect. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.
Netton, I. R. Al-Farabi and His School. London and New York, 1992.
Salmon, D. "The Mediaeval Latin Translations of Aifarabi's Works." New Scholasticism, 13, 1939, pp. 245-261.
Weisheipl, J. A. "Classification of the Sciences in Medieval Thought." Mediaeval Studies, 17, 1965, pp. 54-90.
Alfraganus is the latinized name of Abu'i-Abbas Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Khatir Al-Farghani (b. late eighth-early ninth century). Alfraganus was born in Farghana (Transoxania) and rose to fame in Baghdad as an astrologer-astronomer and engineer to Caliph al-Ma'mun of the Abbasid dynasty (813-833). As an engineer, Alfraganus was responsible for the construction of the "Great Milometer" in old Cairo, which was completed in 861. However, he achieved his greatest renown as an astronomer.
Several of Alfraganus's astronomical works have not come down to us; these include Book on the Construction of Sundials and a commentary on the astronomical tables of al-Khwarizmi, which was mentioned by al-Biruni and Ibn ai-Muthanna and possibly provided the basis for the latter's extant commentary on these tables. By contrast, Alfraganus's Elements did survive and was popular both in the Arabic world and in the Latin west. Elements provides an unusually clear account of the mathematical astronomy of Ptolemy's Almagest (second century C.E.).
In the Almagest, Ptolemy had given a thorough analysis of planetary motions and had derived models and parameters that could serve as a basis for accurate predictions of celestial motions. A set of individual mathematical models, however, did not necessarily constitute a satisfying cosmological model, particularly in comparison with the Aristotelian homocentric universe. Alfraganus's contribution in Elements was to strip the Almagest of most of its mathematical content and offer a qualitative description of Ptolemy's models, along with certain basic parameters relevant for establishing the size of the universe. Thus an influential step was taken toward a generally acceptable synthesis of Ptolemaic astronomy and Aristotelian cosmology, in the form of a textbook that provided an excellent introduction to Ptolemy's mathematical astronomy.
Elements (known in the Middle Ages as Compilatio astronomica, Liber de aggregationibus stellarum, or Liber 30 differentiarum) was translated twice into Latin in the twelfth century, by John of Seville (1135) and Gerard of Cremona (before 1175). The first translation was printed in 1493 (Ferrara), 1537 (Nuremberg), and 1546 (Paris), the second only in 1910. A third Latin translation appeared in 1590 (Frankfurt); this was based on an undated Hebrew version by Jacob Anatoli. The Arabic editio princeps, with yet another Latin translation, appeared in 1669 (Amsterdam). The translation by John of Seville was particularly popular throughout medieval Europe, and it established an important tradition of introductory astronomy textbooks; the various Theoricae planetarum and Sacrobosco's De sphera are part of this tradition. Elements was quoted as early as 1282 in the Composizione del mondo of the elusive Ristoro d'Arezzo; and Paget Toynbee (1895) identified several instances in Dante's work that show the poet's acquaintance with Alfraganus's treatise. Moreover, Elements was the topic of public lectures by no less an astronomer than Regiomontanus at Padua in 1464. Alfra-ganus also wrote several treatises on the astrolabe that survive in a number of Arabic manuscripts.
Only Gerard of Cremona's Latin translation of the Elements has had the benefit of a modern printed edition (Campani 1910). Sabra (1971) provides a bibliography of other printed editions, as well as references to bibliographies of the extant manuscript material. A detailed overview of Elements can be found in Delambre (1819).
See also Arabs in Italy
STEVEN VANDEN BROECKE
Campani, R., ed. Alfragano (Al-Fargani): Il "Libro dell'aggregazione delle stelle" (Dante, Convivio, II, vi-134) secondo il Codice Mediceo-Laurenziano, Pl. 29, Cod. 9 contemporaneo a Dante. Città di Castello, 1910.
Cortabarria Beitia, A. "Deux sources arabes de S. Albert le Grand: Thabit b. Qurra et al-Farghani." Melanges de I'lnstitut Dominicain d'Études Orientates, 17, 1986, pp. 37-52,
Delambre, J. B. J. Histoire de l'astronomie du moyen-âge. Paris, 1819, pp. 63-73.
Duhem, P. Le système du monde. Paris, 1914, Vol. 2, pp. 206-214.
Martinez Gazquez, J. "La 'Summa de astronomia' de Pedro Gallego y el 'Liber de aggregationibus scientie stellarum' de al-Fargani." In De astronomia Alphonsi Regis, ed. M. Comes et al. Barcelona, 1987, pp. 153-179.
Sabra, A. I. "Al-Farghani." In Dictionary of Scientific Biography. New York, 1971, Vol. 4, pp. 541-545.
Saliba, G. A. A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories during the Golden Age of Islam. New York, 1994.
Toynbee, P. J. "Dante's Obligations to Alfraganus in the Vita Nuova and Convivio." Romania, 24, 1895, pp. 413-432.
Wiet, G. "Une restauration du Nilometre de File de Rawda sous Muwatakkil (247/861)." Comptes Rettdus de lAcademie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 1924, pp. 202-206.
Allegory—the term comes from the Greek allos (other) and agoreuein (public speech)—is an important means of writing and interpreting texts, which developed in various forms throughout the Middle Ages. Allegory is polysemous and challenges the reader to discover its multiple meanings.
In its simplest form, allegory is an extended metaphor in which the literal figures can be interpreted abstractly as well. This type, called reification allegory, was developed from the rhetorical tradition as exemplified by the Roman Quintilian (c. 35-100).
Typological allegory emerged from the tradition of biblical exegesis. Scholars of religion sought parallels between the Old and New Testaments: a woman, Eve, brought sin into the world but a another woman, Mary, brought us salvation; David was a king as Christ would be; and so on.
By the sixth century, another type of Christian allegory had emerged. This complex form has four levels of meaning, as later articulated by Dante in his Convivio and again in his Letter to Cangrande. These senses are (1) literal, (2) allegorical, (3) moral, and (4) anagogic. If we apply this to the biblical story of Jonah, the four interpretations are: (1) a man spent three days inside a great fish, (2) Christ spent three days in the tomb, (3) God will save us from peril, and (4) God's plan is salvation by Christ.
A fourth tradition in the Middle Ages was the allegorical interpretation of classical texts, such as those of Virgil and Ovid, to give them Christian meanings. This was a means of recuperating the content of "pagan" texts that were widely used as schoolbooks to teach Latin. French and English authors wrote moral glosses on Ovid's Metamorphoses, a literary tradition to which Boccaccio's Genealogie deorum gentilium libri belongs. Similarly, "scientific" descriptions of beasts or precious stones inherited from antiquity were given a Christian interpretation; for example, the pelican piercing its breast to feed its young became a symbol of Christ's supreme sacrifice.
Ovid's Heroides, meanwhile, gave rise to another strain of allegorical texts. From the Provencal lyric to the romances of Chretien de Troyes, and most importantly in the Roman de la Rose, reification allegories sought to express the human emotions connected with amorous love. These texts, especially the Roman, had a clear influence on Italian authors. The late thirteenth-century Tuscan poem Il fiore omits the theological and scientific aspects of the French original, focusing instead on the erotic. This poem's attribution to Dante is still debated. The fragmentary verse Detto d'amore—by the same author, as is demonstrated by the similarity of its language—gives a larger role to the lady.
Most of the medieval Italian moral, didactic texts that use allegory are Tuscan, perhaps simply because there was a high level of literacy and book production in Tuscany. These texts include Il detto del gatto lupesco, a strange little poem, generally considered allegorical, about a species of wildcat making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The animal encounters two knights of the Round Table, spends a night with a hermit, and then passes through a desert wilderness where he encounters many savage beasts.
More important (and comprehensible) is the uncompleted poem Tesoretto ("Little Treasure") by Brunetto Latini. In this shorter Italian vernacular version of his Livre dou trésor, the poet-protagonist, recently exiled, seeks refuge in nature and meets its female personification, who rules the physical universe and who explains creation, the humors, the elements, astronomy, animal species, rivers, and seas. In the second section of this poem, Brunetto crosses a huge desert before entering a delightful land ruled by the empress Virtue, whose daughters are the four cardinal virtues. Each daughter elucidates the positive attributes she represents; for example, Justice discourses at length on the proper behavior for a knight. This poem also contains echoes of the Roman de la Rose, especially in the section concerning the male character II Piacere (Pleasure). Documenti d'amore and Reggimento e costumi di donna, by Latini's near contemporary Francesco da Barberino, also use allegory for didactic purposes.
Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy, Textus Boetij: Anitij Manlij Torquati Seuerini Boetij . . . consolatio philosophica. Lyon: Simon Vincent, 1510. Reproduced from original held by Department of Special Collections of the University Libraries of Notre Dame.
Perhaps the most intricate and most successful allegory ever created is Dante's Comedy (Commedia). The author himself calls it his "strange allegory" (Inferno, 9:59-60). His poetic skill is capable of endowing even historical personages with symbolic significance. The pageant of the church scene at the end of Purgatory (Purgatorio) is an allegorical tour de force. Characters in his earlier Vita nuova such as the Lord of Love and Lady Compassion are analogous to figures in the Roman de la Rose. Some of Dante's love poems are allegorical, in reality celebrating Lady Philosophy, not an earthly ladylove.
The poem Intelligenza, once attributed (unconvincingly) to Dino Compagni, is the work of a cultivated Tuscan contemporary of Dante. This lengthy didactic poem has as its subject a lady who symbolizes and personifies Intelligence. Its encyclopedic content is stretched across a slender allegorical web: the poet visits her and describes her court, which includes queens, lovely damsels, and courteous maids-in-waiting. One room of her palace is decorated with stories of Caesar, Alexander, the Trojan war, and the Round Table. The salon represents the human heart, the vaulted ceiling represents the mind, and the walls decorated with scenes represent memories. Expressed in courtly terms, the poet's desire to love and serve this lady is entirely appropriate.
One notices that the personified figures in these allegories are predominantly female: earlier examples are Boethius's Lady Philosophy and Saint Francis's Lady Poverty. This may be simply due to the fact that the Latin and Italian nouns expressing such abstract concepts are often feminine.
A final example is La giostra delle virtù e dei vizi, from the late thirteenth century; it was written in the Marches, perhaps by a Franciscan, in epic style. Two cities—Jerusalem and Babylon—engage in a military confrontation; the virtues are the armor that protects the warriors of the Holy City, who are pitted against a long list of enemies, the vices. Allegory also appears in the letters of Saint Catherine of Siena.
See also Brunetto Latini; Dante Alighieri; Francesco da Barberino; Intelligenza
GLORIA ALLAIRE
Brunetto Lacini. "Tesoretto." In Poet: del Duecento, ed. Gianfranco Contini, 2 vols. Milan: Ricciardi, 1960, Vol. 2, pp. 175-277.
Chydenius, Johan. The Typological Problem in Dante: A Study in the History of Medieval Ideas. Helsinki: Societas Scientarium Fennica, 1958.
"Detto del gatto lupesco." In Poeti del Duecento, ed. Gianfranco Contini, 2 vols. Milan: Ricciardi, 1960, Vol. 2, pp. 285-293.
The "Fiore" in Context: Dante, France, Tuscany, ed. Zygrnunt G. Barariski and Patrick Boyde. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1997.
"La giostra delle virtu e dei vizi." In Poeti del Duecento, ed. Gianfranco Contini, 2 vols. Milan: Ricciardi, I960, Vol. 2, pp. 319-349.
Hollander, Robert. Allegory in Dante's Commedia. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1969.
Alcichiero (c. 1330-after 1390) was already an established painter in March 1369, when he is first documented in his native Verona. Ail subsequent documents relating to Altichiero refer to his activities in Padua. The earliest of these documents—dated April 1376—has to do with an altarpiece in a church at Polverara, near Padua. That altarpiece and another one paid for in 1382 are lost or untraceable, and no other altarpiece panels currently attributed to Altichiero are actually by him.
The earliest surviving documented works by Altichiero are some frescoes in the chapel of San Giacomo (now San Felice) in the basilica di Sant'Antonio in Padua; this was the mortuary chapel of Lupi, a soldier and diplomat serving the ruling house of Carrara. The contract for the architecture and sculpture in the chapel was signed in February 1372 by Bonifacio Lupi and the Venetian Andriolo de Santi. The original ledger survives and records work in the chapel from 1372 to 1379. The painting appears to have been done during the last two or three years. Altichiero, the only painter recorded by name, was paid for his work in the chapel (and for the decoration of the sacristy, now lost) in 1379. It is clear from stylistic evidence that another artist, working independently and not from Altichiero's designs, executed some of the lunettes—the first four and the sixth—depicting the legend of Saint James the Greater. Except for some marginal figures, the remainder of the decoration is by Altichiero: the other scenes of Saint James, the panoramic three-bay Crucifixion, the votive fresco, and the Annunciation, Resurrection, and Man of Sorrows.
The identity of the other artist is a subject of controversy. He was probably the Bolognese painter Jacopo d'Avanzo (or Avanzi), who is mentioned by some of the early sources—including the earliest, Michele Savonarola (c. 1446)—as having worked in the chapel. This seems to be the artist who is cited in Bolognese archival documents from 1375 to 1384, but it could instead be a Jacopo di Pietro Avanzi, who was already dead in 1378. The artist Avanzo (or Avanzi) who represented the brotherhood of painters in Padua in March 1405 appears to have been a different person; this is also certainly true of a homonymous painter recorded in Vicenza in 1379, 1380, and 1389. The Bolognese Avanzo signed a Crucifixion (now in the Colonna Gallery in Rome)—the basis for the attribution of the Massacre of the Hebrews, detached from the church of Sant'Apollonia di Mezzarata in Bologna and now in the Pinacoteca there. Twelve miniatures now in Dublin, illuminating Statius's Thebaid, have also been ascribed to Avanzo, but they may be by a close follower. (In either case, they cannot be a clear reflection of the lost frescoes by Guariento in the Carrara Palace in Padua, as is sometimes claimed.)
After completing the chapel of San Giacomo, Altichiero decorated the nearby oratorio of San Giorgio, a barrel-vaulted structure modeled on the Arena Chapel. It became the resting place of Raimondino Lupi, who was Bonifacio's relative and, like Bonifacio, a soldier of Francesco da Carrara, lord of the city. The elaborate freestanding tomb has been much reduced. Documents show that the oratory was constructed by December 1379, possibly by May 1378, and that Altichiero finished his painting by May 1384. Other documents attest to his presence in Padua from July 1381 to 1384. The frescoes depict the legends of saints George, Catherine, and Lucy, with some scenes from the lives of Christ and Mary, and a votive image. Although it has been damaged by moisture, this is one of the most magnificent picture cycles of its century. The hand of Avanzo is not visible—we see only the hands of Altichiero and the expected assistants—nor is Avanzo mentioned in the documents. Yet it is sometimes claimed, on the basis of some of the early sources and an illegible inscription, that Avanzo's work is present.
The last record of Altichiero is a Paduan archival document of September 1384. At that time he was either in Verona or about to go there. The Florentine art historian Giorgio Vasari (1568) is the source of the tradition that Altichiero returned to Verona after working in Padua.
Vasari is the authority who tells us that Altichiero painted frescoes illustrating Flavius Josephus's Jewish War in the palace of the Scaligeri lords of Verona. Vasari writes that Avanzo also worked in the room, which he discusses before Altichiero's and Avanzo's Paduan works. This has given rise to the belief that the frescoes, for which there are no relevant documents, were done before Altichiero moved to Padua, for Cansignorio (1359-1375). Some portraits of Roman emperors and empresses survive and may be attributed to Altichiero, although these are not the subjects of the border medallions described by Vasari. They reflect a study of Roman coins, directly or indirectly through the illustrations of the Historia imperialis by the Veronese protoiiu manist Giovanni de Matociis (Mansionario). The rest of the decoration is lost, though some drawings may reflect it.
Altichiero da Zevio (1330-1385), Crucifixion. Oratorio San Giorgio, Chiesa del Santo, Padua. Photo: © Scala/Art Resource, N.Y.
The early sources mention the undocumented Sala virorum illustrium (Room of Famous Men) in the Carrara Palace at Padua. The sources give conflicting attributions: Guariento; Altichiero; Avanzo; and an artist by whom no documented works survive, Ottaviano (Prandino) da Brescia. The decoration was destroyed by fire and repainted with an altered scheme. The portion of the portrait of Petrarch which alone survives of the original decoration suggests that Altichiero worked in the room. Historical and literary evidence shows that the frescoes could not have been begun before 1367 and had been completed, or nearly completed, by January 1379. The decoration was based on De viris illustribus (On Famous Men), begun by Petrarch, finished after his death by Lombardo della Seta, and dedicated by both to Francesco da Carrara the Elder. The original program must have consisted of thirty-six figures of famous generals and statesmen from Romulus to Trajan, all but three of them Roman, with narrative scenes and inscriptions beneath; portraits of Petrarch and Lombardo in their studies; and a Triumph of Fame. Assisting with this reconstruction are illuminations from two manuscripts of De viris illustribus in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris (Lat. 6069F and I) and one in Darmstadt (ms. 101). The Triumphs of Fame in the first two and an allegory of Padua and Venice in a third manuscript in Paris (Lat. 6069G) are often attributed to Altichiero, though it seems more likely that they were painted by his followers.
No sources or documents exist for the votive fresco of the Coronation of the Virgin on the tomb of Diamante Dotto, which was in the church of the Eremitani in Padua before it was destroyed during World War II, or for the votive fresco in the Cavalli Chapel in the church of Sant'Anastasia in Verona. Scholars unanimously attribute both to Altichiero, although they disagree on the dates. The first was probably painted around 1371, when Dotto died. The other was done before September 1390, when it was broken by another monument. It must have been painted after the chapel of San Giacomo in Padua, which its architectural background presupposes, and it may have been done after 1384, when Altichiero presumably returned to his native city.
By about mid-century, the painters of Verona had absorbed the style of Giotto from nearby Padua, along with more recent Florentine and Sienese influences that seem to have been transmitted primarily through Riminese and Lombard intermediaries. With the exception of a polyptych signed by Turone and dated 1360, in the Castelvecchio, and some attributions based on it, the surviving works of this school are all anonymous.
Altichiero built on the local school, which had already naturalized the art of Giotto. Although he also knew the work of Maso di Banco and probably other Florentine followers of Giotto, he turned directly to the great example of Giotto's frescoes in Padua for the essentials of his own style. However, whereas Giotto's forms are abstract and timeless, Altichiero's figures are dressed in the costume of his time. Also, their features are more individualized than Giotto's, and the flesh tones are more softly graduated. Altichiero was more sensitive to nuances of light, color, and surface texture. His figures are smaller in scale than Giotto's, relative to their surroundings and to the picture field; they are more numerous; and their distribution is more random and lifelike. Despite these differences, Altichiero retains Giotto's sense of monumentality and human dignity. His architectural settings, which were inspired by the Carrara court painter, Guariento, are more spacious and complex than Giotto's. But unlike these artists and others of their century, Altichiero generally avoided showing a structure with its front wall arbitrarily removed to reveal the interior; he preferred views more truthful to optical experience.
Altichiero, like Giusto de' Menabuoi, was probably called to Padua to fill the vacancy left by the death of Guariento. Altichiero, Giusto, and Avanzo (whose frescoes in Sant'Antonio are close to Altichiero and were influenced by him) were the leaders of a Giottoesque revival in Padua at a time when painting in Florence had stagnated, owing to a relaxation of Giotto's principles, Altichiero and, to a lesser extent, Avanzo had a dominant influence on painting and manuscript illumination in Padua and Verona that lasted to the beginning of the fifteenth century. This influence extended chronologically as far as Pisanello, Jacopo Bellini, and the Renaissance. Geographically, it extended beyond the Veneto as far as Austria and France, where the Limbourg brothers worked.
See also Giotto di Bondone; Giusto de' Menabuoi; Guariento di Arpo;
BRADLEY J. DELANEY
Benati, Daniele. Jacopo Avanzi nel rinnovamento delta pittura padana del secondo '300. Bologna: Gratis Edizioni d'Arte, 1992.
Cuppini, Maria Teresa. "La pittura a Verona e nel territorio Veronese dal principio del sec. XIV alia metà del Quattrocento." In Verona e il suo territorio. Verona: Istituto per gli Studi Storici Veronesi, 1969, Vol. 3, pt. 2, pp. 286-383.
Gnudi, Cesare. "Introduzione." In Pittura bolognese del '300: Scritti di Francesco Arcangeli, ed. Pier Giovanni Castagnoli, Alessandro Conti, and Massimo Ferretti. Bologna: Grafts Edizioni d'Arte, 1978, pp. 234-239.
Kruft, Hanno-Walter. Altichiero und Avanzo: Untersuchungen zur oberitalienischen Makrei des ausgehenden Trecento. Bonn: Rheinishche Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, 1966.
Mellini, Gian Lorenzo. Altichiero e Jacopo Avanzi. Milan: Edizioni di Cornunità, 1965.
Mommsen, Theodor E. "Petrarch and the Decoration of the Sala Virorum Illustrium in Padua." Art Bulletin, 34, 1952, pp. 95-116. (Reprinted in his Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1959, pp. 130-174.)
Pettenella, Plinia. Altichiero e la pittura Veronese del Trecento. Verona: Edizioni di Vita Veronese, 1961.
Sartori, Antonio. "La cappella di S. Giacomo al Santo di Padova." Il Santo, 6, 1966, pp. 267-359.
—. "Nota su Altichiero." Il Santo, 3, 1963, pp. 291-326. Simon, Robin. "Altichiero versus Avanzo." Papers of the British School at Rome, 45, 1977, pp. 252-271.
Vavalà, Evelyn Sandberg. La pittura Veronese del Trecento e del primo Quattrocento. Verona: Tipografica Veronese, 1926.
Amadeus VI (Amadeo, 1334-1383), the son of Count Aymon of Savoy and Violante de Montferrat, was born at the family seat of Chambery. Through earlier and subsequent genealogical and matrimonial ties, he was related to numerous royal and princely families of western Europe, and even Byzantium; but he belonged to a dynasty—the house of Savoy—that was, in the midst of terrible divisions, struggling to create the beginnings of a state in the rough, disconnected rural and mountainous territories in the western Alpine regions. Amadeo's grandfather, Amadeo V "the Great" (1285-1323), had begun drawing together territories in areas long disputed between the French crown and the German empire and caught in a tangle of conflicting feudal claims by local ruling families. The house of Savoy itself was divided between the main branch of Amadeo V's line and the rival Savoyard line of the titular princes of Achaea.
Amadeo was only nine in 1343 when his father died and he succeeded to the still rickety titles. Under a responsible regency of feudal relatives, he continued to receive a solid education in both military skills and intellectual disciplines, which developed in him a genuine religious bent shaped by the highest ideals of chivalry. In his early years, both under the regency and after his majority was proclaimed (in 1348, when he was fourteen), Amadeo gained experience in balancing the pressures of the French crown, the independence of his Swiss subjects, and the disloyalty of separatist vassals. In 1352, he won his first military victory. At a tournament held during the following Christmas season, his elaborate use of green robes and trappings earned him the sobriquet "Green Count"—a name that would last and an identity that he would continue to cultivate deliberately. By 1360, through both military and diplomatic assertion, Amadeo had expanded his territories in the western Alps, including significant areas of present-day France and Switzerland, and thus consolidated the western regions of the nascent Savoyard state. In many of these regions, he remained a vassal of the French king, whose cousin he took as his first wife in 1355; it was only by a turn of circumstances that Amadeo did not participate in the battle of Poitiers the following year and thus escaped being captured there with his overlord.
Amadeo was drawn meanwhile to protect the interests of his southern holdings in the Piedmont. Through the marriage in 1350 of his sister Bianca to Galeazzo II Visconti of Milan (Bianca and Galeazzo II became the parents of the great Gian Galeazzo), Amadeo developed cordial relations with the powerful Visconti family, eventually consolidating power over territories he had held in vassalage to them. He accomplished an uneasy subjection of his cousin of the Achaea branch, Giacomo, whose territories he annexed and with whom he developed a long and bitter rivalry. This rivalry was extended to Giacomo's son Filippo, whom Amadeo was finally to destroy in 1368. In a campaign in 1363, Amadeo subjected his rebellious vassal the marquis of Saluzzo. Two years later, Amadeo entertained the Holy Roman emperor Charles IV, who confirmed Amadeo's title of imperial vicar over areas that corresponded to much of the old kingdom of Aries. This status was more symbolic than real, but it allowed Amadeo to play off his dependency on the French crown against his vassalage to the empire.
In 1364, Amadeo was caught up in schemes for a crusade being fostered by Pierre de Lusignan, the king of Cyprus. Amadeo formally "took the cross" and organized a crusading Order of the Collar, signaling his new ambition to distinguish himself in this sphere. However, he was drawn away from Lusignan's project by an idea of collaborating with Louis the Great of Hungary against the Turks, who were progressing in the Balkans. He was also distracted by the needs of the Byzantine emperor John V Palaiologos (Palaeologus), his first cousin through their shared Montferrat links; Amadeo might have seen himself as a distant pretender to John's title. Leaving his wife as regent, Amadeo set forth in the spring of 1366, sailing from Venice with a substantial military force. John was himself visiting the Hungarian court when Amadeo set out for Constantinople. The Green Count undertook some immediate military operations on his way, compelling the Turks to surrender the crucial port city of Gallipoli, and then making a demonstration against the Bulgarian king, who was preventing John's return to his capital.
Amadeo's limited resources prevented anything more than token local military operations. Nevertheless, on the basis of discussions held during the winter, Amadeo persuaded John to appeal directly to Pope Urban V for more aid against the Turks. John achieved few practical results from this, but Amadeo established his own stature as an international diplomat and a valiant crusader. Following his triumphant return to Italy in the summer of 1367, Amadeo personally attended Urban V on his arrival in Rome from Avignon.
In the following years, Amadeo was caught up in the tangle of northern Italian politics, which were strained by the bold new ambitions of the Visconti, directed especially against the lands of Montferrat. By July 1372, Amadeo joined a broad alliance against the Visconti—the coalition included Pope Gregory XI; the princes of Montferrat, Este, and Carrara; the queen of Naples; and the republics of Genoa and Florence, Accepting the command of the allies' forces, Amadeo broke the Visconti's siege of Asti and, in concert with the league's other commander, John Hawkwood, discomfited the enemy forces. In the spring of 1374, satisfied with his record, Amadeo withdrew from the league and became reconciled with the Visconti; but relations between the house of Savoy and the Visconti continued to be precarious. Through complex manipulations, Amadeo was able to annex considerable areas of Montferrat lands, although Gian Galeazzo Visconti, who was in power by 1378, retained Asti.
As he consolidated the Savoy lands, Amadeo began to develop orderly institutions for his nascent state. The Great Schism of 1378 brought the election of the French counterpope Clement VII, a cousin of Amadeo. Clement was naturally recognized gladly by Savoy, which benefited from his resolutions of some jurisdictional disputes. By 1380, Amadeo became concerned about the expansion of the latest war between Genoa and Venice; initially, this was a conflict over the Greek island of Tenedos, but it expanded into the "Chiogga war," with a scrambling of alliances that threatened the balance of power in northern Italy and encouraged the Visconti's aggression. Amadeo's offer of mediation was accepted, and his negotiation of the Peace of Turin (April 1381) established him even more firmly as a statesman of international stature. One faction in strife-ridden Genoa even offered Amadeo the protectorship of the city, with the title of doge. Meanwhile, with the Visconti momentarily checked again, Amadeo established his theoretical rights over Asti (though not actual control of it) and, more tangibly, secured possession of the important border city of Cuneo.
Amadeo is said to have dreamed of a new crusade, directly to the Holy Land. But his final adventure instead involved him in a scheme by Louis of Anjou to claim the throne of Naples, in collaboration with the efforts of Pope Clement VII to establish himself in Rome. In the spring of 1382, Amadeo set forth, marching through Italy into a badly mismanaged campaign that was foiled in part by John Hawkwood, who was now a Florentine captain in support of the Roman pope Urban VI, and Hawk-wood's Neapolitan ally Charles of Durazzo. Over the winter, Amadeo's forces were ravaged by disease, which finally took his own life (on 27 February 1383). His remains were lovingly transported back to Savoy for burial.
Though he was an occasional patron of Guillaume de Machaut and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch), Amadeo VI was a man of war and statecraft rather than of culture. Shaped at first by the traditions of chivalry, Amadeo learned to blend them with the newer impulses of pragmatic realism. From his grandfather he inherited bare feudal elements which he began to fuse into a viable entity, balanced between the neighboring powers of France and Italy and acquiring prestige from his personal reputation. His grandson, Amadeo VIII, would further consolidate Savoy as a duchy, established in the natural capital of Turin and securely set on a course that would turn the once peripheral house of Savoy into a monarchy which would eventually unite Italy.
See also Gregory XI, Pope; Hawkwood, Sir John; Petrarca, Francesco; Urban V, Pope; Visconti Family
JOHN W. BARKER
Cognasso, Francesco. Il conte verde. Turin, 1926.
Cox, Eugene L. The Green Count of Savoy: Amadeus VI and Transalpine Savoy in the Fourteenth Century. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1967.
See Theodoric
Amalasuntha (also Amalasuintha, Amalasuentha, Amalaswintha; 498-535) was the daughter of Theodoric. In 515, she married Eutharic Cilliga (d. 522; he was the son of Veteric, her uncle). This marriage reunited people of Amalian blood. Emperor Justin I (c. 450-527, r. 518-527) recognized Eutharic as a brother in arms, and they were joint consuls in 519. It was expected that Amalasuntha and Eutharic's issue—Athalaric and Matasuentha—would embody the central aspects of Theodoric's vision of leadership: pure Amalian blood and close ties to the Roman imperial system.
Upon the death of Theodoric, Athalaric (515-534, r. 526-534), a child of not more than ten, succeeded to the throne. Amalasuntha, by then a widow, ruled as regent and later as queen mother until Athalaric died. When she tried to educate Athalaric in the Roman literary tradition that she considered important, the non-Amalian nobility, who formed a determined opposition, chose that moment to demand the right to train their king as a "Goth." Even before Athalaric's death, Amalasuntha had set about freeing herself from the opposition of the nobles and securing some kind of recognition so that she could rule after her son. She eliminated several principal nobles and entered into discussions with Emperor Justinian. However, she could not rule without a male as king, and so, perhaps acting under the advice of the emperor, she offered the throne to her cousin Theodahad (d. 536; r. 534-536). The nobility supported Theodahad but rejected Amalasuntha's idea that she herself would continue to rule in his name. She went into exile on an island in Lake Bolsena in Etruria, where she was murdered (probably on 30 April 535) by the relatives of the Gothic nobles whose lives she had declared forfeit.
See also Gothic Wars; Justinian I; Ostrogoths; Theodahad; Theodoric
THOMAS S. BURNS
A western spur of the Appennines reaching the coast separates the Gulf of Naples from the Gulf of Salerno, in the form of a continuous rocky bastion that falls steeply down to the sea and is ridged by a few deep, narrow canyons, formed by mountain streams heading seaward. Amalfi (with a population of some 6,000 around the year 2000) lies at the mouth of the funnel-shaped end of one such canyon, the Valle de' Mulini—a name referring to the numerous mills alongside the river that descends through the canyon and cuts through the city. Archaeological findings along the Amalfitan riviera include a number of villas from the Roman era, whose owners were attracted by the mild climate and the great beauty of the area. Most of the villas were destroyed by mudslides when Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79 and were never rebuilt, and no established settlements have been found dating from before the founding of Amalfi in the sixth century.
There have been all sorts of fables about the origins of Amalfi, some enchantingly naive and some ingeniously devised to satisfy demands for historical realism. Interestingly, even in these fantasies the original settlers are always presented as merchants who found the site during their commercial travels. It is significant that no eponymous hero or saint is ever mentioned. In fact, like the patron saints of Venice and Bari, the protector of Amalfi, Saint Andrew, came to the city during a great expansion of its commercial routes, in the tenth century.
The first mention of Amalfi in recorded history is found in a letter written by Pope Gregory the Great in 596; from this letter we learn that a Byzantine stronghold existed there and had spawned a settlement large enough to warrant a diocese. A "castrum of Amalfi" is also mentioned by the geographer George of Cyprus in a work written between 591 and 603. The castrum (garrison town) was probably a base for the Byzantine fleet, which at the time maintained an active presence along the Tyrrhenian coast, and a defensive bastion against Lombard invaders who had penetrated the area and captured neighboring Salerno (625-649).
This revelation of the existence of Amalfi is followed by two centuries of silence, until 785, when Pope Hadrian I wrote to Charlemagne informing him that Amalfi, with help from Naples, had beaten back an attack by Duke Arichis II of Benevento, at the time the most powerful ruler in southern Italy. Thereafter, information about Amalfi becomes less sporadic, but it is still only episodic, allowing no more than a general outline to be drawn. In 812, an Amalfitan naval squadron was dispatched to assist the Byzantine commander in Sicily. In the winter of 838-839, Amalfi fell into the hands of Duke Sichard of Benevento, who forced many Amalfitans to move to Salerno but then was assassinated by his own people in July 839. Taking advantage of the ensuing confusion and panic, some Amalfitans avenged themselves by looting Salerno and destroying its walls; they then returned to Amalfi. The issue of Sichard's successor led to a long and bloody war which at the end split the great duchy of Benevento apart. The Amalfitans supported Siconolf, Sichard's brother, and in a daring action freed him from the prison in Taranto where he had been held under an order by Sichard. When Siconolf became prince of Salerno, he showed his gratitude by granting a number of concessions to the large Amalfitan colony that remained there. Amalfi itself, which had commercial interests throughout southern Italy, soon came to terms with the other claimant, Radelchis of Benevento, who did not want it in his enemy's camp. The policy of neutrality, maintained strictly whenever possible, became traditional throughout Amalfi's history as an independent state.
The events of 839 marked a decisive moment for Amalfi. During the ninth century, its prosperity increased and its economic activities expanded. Its ships, with those of Napies and Gaeta, prevented the Arabs from gaining a foothold in Campania and then turned the Arabs away by defeating them at the battle of Ostia in 846. Amalfi's ruling families formed a web of marriage alliances with their counterparts in Naples, Salerno, Benevento, Capua, and the rest of the region. In 870, at the request of Emperor Louis II, Amalfitan ships rescued Bishop Athanasius, who was besieged by the duke of Naples, Sergius II, on a small island off the port of Naples. In 871, Amalfitan ships managed to bring desperately needed supplies to Salerno, which was besieged by an Arab force.
Arab mercenaries had first been introduced into southern Italy by Naples, to counter Sichard's aggression in the early 830s. They then became an indispensable tool of ambitious or fearful local rulers. Emperor Louis II fought valiantly but in vain to eradicate these mercenaries from the region. When he died in 875, his Carolingian successors withdrew from southern Italy. From then until 915, bands of Arab marauders raided the coasts of Campania and Latium and pushed deep into the interior, looting, killing, and leaving desolation behind them. Naples, Gaeta, and Amalfi, however, actually benefited by offering shelter to the Arabs, selling them supplies, and buying their booty. The entreaties and condemnations of Pope John VIII (r. 872-882) were of no avail. Only the return of a strong Byzantine initiative early in the tenth century led to an alliance that finally, in 915, stormed and destroyed the Arab camp at the mouth of the Garigliano River. There is no evidence that Amalfi was among the Byzantine allies.
Until violent changes convulsed southern Italy in the second half of the eleventh century, the leaders of Amalfi steered a course of neutrality and cooperation that provided stability at home and safety for its merchants and commercial colonies abroad. The arrival of the Normans in the first quarter of the eleventh century, however, had upset a delicate political equilibrium. At first, the Normans were satisfied with their role as mercenaries in the service of local magnates; but as their number increased, with new recruits attracted by reports of successes, their goals changed. Ambitious, seeking riches, and no longer content to be soldiers of fortune, the Normans turned against their former employers, seizing their holdings and establishing in southern Italy a feudal kingdom that, in wealth and vitality, was unequaled in western Christendom.
Amalfi and Salerno had been enabled to develop from obscure fortresses to strong and very rich cities because of their close economic and social ties. They also had a common destiny when they fell. Amalfi was forced to accept Robert Guiscard as overlord in 1073, and Salerno fell to him in 1076 after a bitter struggle. Amalfi managed to regain its freedom for brief intervals until a final attempt was put down in 1131 by King Roger II.
Traditionally, Amalfi is referred to as a "maritime republic." The term is of modern coinage, and its implication of some form of popular governance does not correspond to historical reality. Early in the history of Amalfi a magistrate, called a comes, was chosen from among the noble families. During the ninth century, various men attempted but failed to seize power permanently, until Manso was able to establish a dynasty that persisted from 898 to 958. Its last ruler, Mastalo II, was assassinated by Sergius, the leader of a revolt, who in turn established a dynasty that ruled until Amalfi fell to the Normans in 1073. Evidently, until the establishment of the Manso dynasty the nobles of the duchy had participated in the choice of the head of state; and even during the dynastic period their general interests and will could not be opposed or ignored for long with impunity.
Duomo with bell tower, Amalfi. Photograph courtesy of Christopher Kleinhenz.
From prehistory through the late Roman empire and beyond, trade between the eastern and western Mediterranean had always been dominated by eastern merchants. As late as the seventh century Syrian merchants, Syrici mercatores, were still numerous and well entrenched in in the markets of Merovingian France and in Rome. Then they disappeared, as a result of a new alignment of forces reacting to the Islamic conquests. Their absence disrupted and radically changed a trade network that had operated for centuries. Soon, however, they were replaced by merchants from Campania and Venice among whom Amalfitans played a seminal role.
Geography was clearly a factor in the destiny of Amalfi. Its narrow territory offered scanty resources, and no large-scale movement of goods was possible because the area had no roads and could be reached only by sea or by difficult mountain trails. Thus maritime activity was not a matter of choice but a matter of survival. During their two centuries of historical anonymity, the Amalfitans had not been idle. When Amafi reappears in documents, it is no longer an obscure castrum but a well fortified, prosperous town with considerable shipping, and its merchants are already dominating the commerce of southern Italy. This is indicated by a peace treaty of 836 between Duke Sichard of Benevento and Naples: although its text has been lost, one entire chapter dealt with "How the Amalfitans should conduct their commerce" within the duchy, which at the time covered most of southern Italy.
Amalfi's commercial fortune has traditionally been explained in terms of its ties with the Byzantine empire, which allowed Amalfitans a quasi-monopoly on imports of expensive silk cloth, precious ornamental and ceremonial vestments, jewels, objets d'art, and other luxuries—items in great demand in western markets. Papal records, monastic chronicles, and reports of gifts from or to emperors, princes, and dignitaries bear ample testimony to this. On the other hand, it may seem difficult to explain where the Amalfitans got the gold needed for such purchases, since they had no wares that were in particular demand in Byzantine markets. For an answer, one must look at the needs of the rapidly expanding cities of North Africa, which were an ideal market for goods the Amalfitans could provide: agricultural products, linen cloth, hemp, naval stores, possibly slaves, and especially wood: all wood products, from household utensils to building materials, as well as wood for naval construction, which was sought especially by Arab rulers. It was from these markets— where, as in the Byzantine empire, only gold circulated—that the Amalfitans drew the gold which let them buy medical and aromatic spices, pigments and fixers, and many other items besides eastern luxuries. Such items were much sought after in Italian markets, particularly in Rome and as far north as Pavia. Notably, when western Christendom, after the reforms of Charlemagne, adopted the silver standard, only southern Italy was able to maintain the circulation of gold; and the Amalfitan tari, an imitation of the Arab quarter-dinar, circulated widely through the region from early in the tenth century until well into the fourteenth.
The most surprising aspect of Amalfi's trade was that the city itself was not its hub. The port of Amalfi was small and had no hinterland, and communications with the interior were so difficult that only highly valuable items—expensive silks, jewels, Oriental rugs, and the like—were brought there, besides foodstuffs and other necessities that could be shipped in with the necessary margin of profit. All the goods exported on the first leg of the triangular trade had to be procured where they were available and then shipped directly to their destination: an overseas market. The procurement of export commodities and the distribution of imports from overseas were carried out by colonies of Amalfitan merchants, organized wherever there was a suitable market. Their extraordinary ubiquity and success are proof of the important role they played. Aside from their large establishments in Salerno and Naples, Amalfitan colonies could be found in many places in Italy (Rome, Benevento, Capua, San Germano, Aversa, Bari, Barletta, Trani, Molfetta, Venosa, Giovinazzo, Monopoli, Brindisi, Reggio, Messina, and Palermo); in Africa (Tunis, Tripoli, Alexandria, and Cairo); in the Middle East (Acre, Laodicea, and Antioch); and in the Byzantine empire (Durazzo, Almiro, and Constantinople). Amalfitan monks had a monastery on Mount Athos; and when the crusaders entered Jerusalem, they found several Amalfitan establishments that had been there for more than seventy years and were being maintained with alms collected in Amalfi. One of these was the Hospital of Saint John, from which sprang the Order of the Knights of the Hospital (or Knights Hospitallers), later of Rhodes and then of Malta.
Ibn Hawqal, a shrewd merchant from Baghdad, visited Amalfi in 972 and gave this description:
Then there is Amalfi, the richest city in Lombardy, the noblest and most illustrious for her condition, the busiest and wealthiest. The territory of Amalfi borders with that of Naples, which is a beautiful city, but less important than Amalfi.
When Amalfi was incorporated into the Norman state, it was exposed to hostility generated by the aggressive policies of the rulers, which led to the sack of the city by the Pisans in 1137. Unable to match the resources and naval power of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice, Amalfi began a slow decline into provincial anonymity; and on 24 November 1343, a sea storm destroyed most of the medieval city. Amalfi would not be rescued from its its backward, decrepit condition until the advent of modern tourism, spurred by the construction of the famous Amalfi Drive.
Few buildings from medieval Amalfi survive today. However, the cathedral of Saint Andrew preserves certain elements of its twelfth-century architecture, although it was extensively rebuilt, primarily in the baroque style, in the eighteenth century and its most familiar aspect, its spectacular facade, is actually a nineteenth-century creation. Its most notable medieval feature is a pair of bronze doors commissioned at Constantinople around 1065 by Pantaleone, son of the Amalfitan merchant Mauro. These doors are contemporaneous with a similar set of bronze doors at San Salvatore in the nearby town of Atrani. The cathedral's bell tower, built in 1180-1286, is topped with multiple cupolas that are a fine example of southern Italian decorative style. Adjacent to the cathedral is the Cloister of Paradise, which dates from the second half of the thirteenth century; its interlacing arches richly demonstrate the Christian assimilation of Islamic architectural features.
See also Arabs in Italy; Byzantine Empire; Benevento; Garigliano. Battle oft John VIII, Pope; Louis II, Emperor; Normans; Roger II; Salerno
ARMAND O. CITARELLA
Berza, Michaii. "Amalfi preducale." Ephemeris Dacoromana, 8, 1938, pp. 349-444.
Citarella, Armand O. "The Relations of Amalfi with the Arab World before the Crusades." Speculum, 42, 1967, pp. 299-312.
—. "Patterns in Medieval Trade: The Commerce of Amalfi before the Crusades." Journal of Economic History, 28, 1968, pp. 53!—555.
Filangieri di Candida, Riccardo, ed. Codice diplomatico amalfitano. Naples: San Morano, 1917 (Vol. 1). Trani, 1951 (Vol. 2).
Kreutz, Barbara. Before the Normans: Southern Italy in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991.
Schwarz, Ulrich. Amalfi im fruhen Mittelalter (9.-11. Jh.): Unters. zur Amalfitaner Überlieferung. Bibliothek des Deutschen Historischen Instituts in Rom, 49. Tubingen: Niemeyer, 1978.
Willard, Henry M. Abbot Desiderius and the Ties between Monte Cassino and Amalfi in the Eleventh Century. Cassino: Badia di Montecassino, 1973.
In Italy in the mid-fourth century, the place of Christianity was secure. The threat posed by Julian the Apostate had passed; Christianity held a favored position and was making many converts. Bishops were gaining prestige, and they increasingly acted as imperial officials, with civic as well as spiritual functions. However, Christianity would not be fully established as the official Roman religion until Theodosius's decree at the end of the century, and meanwhile certain religious questions remained to be resolved. What was the role of the old state paganism, which was intimately connected with loyalty to Rome? Within the Christian congregations, what was to be the accepted Christology? Perhaps most important, what was the relationship between church and state to be in the west? These were central issues, on which Ambrose of Milan (339-397) exerted an abiding influence.
Ambrose was born in Trier in Gaul, into a distinguished Christian Roman family. His father, Aurelius Ambrosius, held the highest possible civilian rank, praetorian prefect of the Gauls. Ambrose had two older siblings: a sister, Marcellina; and a brother, Uranius Styrus. When Ambrose was an infant, his father died, and the family moved back to Rome. In 353, Marcellina dedicated herself to a life of virginity, receiving the veil from Pope Liberius. She continued to live at home, as was the custom among nuns in Rome at that time. Ambrose was strongly influenced by the piety of his mother and sister's Christian household.
In addition to his instruction in Christianity, Ambrose received a classic Roman education in which grammar and rhetoric were emphasized. In his mid-twenties, he began work as a lawyer. Around 370, his success in his civil career was ensured by his appointment as governor of the province of Aemilia-Liguria, which included Milan.
That career was interrupted, however, when Milan became involved in a political and theological struggle between Arian and Nicaean Christians, who differed concerning the nature of Christ. The conflict had been precipitated by the death of Bishop Auxentius of Milan, an Arian, in 373; each faction wanted to capture the newly vacant bishopric. As governor, Ambrose used his considerable rhetorical skills to try to calm the antagonists, and his personal popularity overcame the doctrinal controversy. The congregation set aside its differences and took up the cry, "Ambrose Bishop." Over Ambrose's protests, Emperor Valentinian confirmed the election. Thus, in 373, Ambrose was baptized and consecrated bishop by a Catholic (not an Arian) bishop.
During his long episcopate, Ambrose confronted several issues that shaped the future of the western church: he was victorious over Arianism; he influenced emperors, demonstrating the force of religious authority over secular power; and he helped break Italy's ties to the old state paganism.
Ambrose, Opera. Paris, 1586. Reproduced from original held by Department of Special Collections of the University Libraries of Notre Dame.
As we have noted, Ambrose took office during a dispute between Arian and Nicaean Christians. By the mid-fourth century, although Arianism was largely on the wane throughout the empire, it still retained pockets of strength—as in the confrontation over the bishopric in Milan. In northern Italy, there were many Arian Goths serving in the armies. Furthermore, Empress Justina was an Arian. On the death of her husband, Emperor Valentinian, who had been orthodox, Justina tried to use her influence to strengthen the Arian cause. The situation was intensified in 378, after the Goths' victory at Adrianople, when more Arians entered Milan, These new Arians tried to take over a Catholic church for their worship.
Using his rhetorical skills ana his popularity with his congregation to win his way, Ambrose repeatedly withstood Justina's efforts to support Arianism. He refused to obey a law extending liberty of worship to Arians, and he forbade Arians to convert the Catholic church for their own use. During the controversy, he wrote on religious matters in order to articulate the Catholic position. His theological tracts Concerning the Holy Spirit and Concerning the Faith educated Emperor Gratian in matters of faith and remained influential throughout the Middle Ages. Gratian's successor, the usurper Maximus, ended the Arian conflict in Italy by invading and forcing Justina to flee Milan. Ambrose's success in withstanding imperial pressure regarding Arianism set a precedent that far outlasted Justina and the dispute over the nature of Christ.
Ambrose soon became involved in a second controversy, concerning the state paganism that was entrenched in Italy, Under Ambrose's influence, Gratian was the first emperor to renounce the title pontifex maximus, and he passed laws that reduced state paganism from a public duty to a private belief. When Gratian died in 383 (or 384), a pagan party tried to reestablish the state's support of pagan temples. Ambrose opposed this party and continued to contravene any reestablishment of pagans' privileges. Emperor Theodosius yielded to Ambrose and in 391, forbade any pagan observances. Ambrose's uncompromising position helped bring about the end of formal state paganism in the west.
In his relations with Theodosius, Ambrose continued the policy he had established in his controversies with Justina. The bishop was the conscience of the empire, and his stand on paganism reflected that. Ambrose also challenged Theodosius over something that took place in Syria, thus claiming influence over matters outside his own bishopric. In 388, Syrian Christian congregations destroyed a Jewish synagogue at Cailinicum. Theodosius ordered Christians to pay reparations to rebuild the synagogue, but Ambrose protested strongly, believing that no Christian should build a non-Christian place of worship. Because of Ambrose's popular support, Theodosius was again forced to yield. Ambrose's victory set another precedent for the future influence of the church in state matters, and for future expressions of anti-Semitism.
In 390, Ambrose again demonstrated the political strength of the episcopate. As punishment for a riot, Theodosius had ordered a massacre of 7,000 Thessalonican citizens. Ambrose excommunicated Theodosius for this command and required him to do penance; by this act, Ambrose finally and firmly established the principle that bishops are responsible for the moral health of rulers. Here too, Theodosius yielded to the principle.
After Theodosius died in 395, Ambrose was no longer so actively involved in imperial politics, but the relationship between church and state that he had established in Milan remained a precedent for bishops and popes throughout the Middle Ages. Ambrose's treatise De officiis ministrorum (On the Duties of Ministers), which considered the relationship between the individual, the church, and the state, was widely used as a text during the medieval period.
Ambrose is also remembered as one of the Latin doctors of the church for his influence on the formation of church doctrine. His contributions as a theologist derive not so much from originality of thought as from his clear presentation of ideas, including Platonic biblical exegesis, developed in the eastern empire. Because of his stand against Arianism, Ambrose was the first western writer who specifically articulated the doctrine of the Holy Ghost (in De spiritu sancto), bringing eastern thought on this subject into the western church.
Ambrose was often called "doctor of virginity" for his advocacy of chastity as the ideal Christian way of life. He wrote several tracts on virginity (De virginibus, De virginitate, De institutione virginis ad Eusebium, and Exhortatio virginitatis), and through these and his sermons, he contributed (with Jerome) to a growing veneration of virginity in general, and to the development of the cult of the Virgin Mary in particular.
Finally, Ambrose—who had a pastoral concern for accessible church services—made a substantial contribution to liturgical music in the west. He began by introducing the practice of having two choirs chant psalms alternately; then he set psalms to music. Also, he wrote hymns to be sung by the whole congregation (instead of the traditional soloist). He is considered one of the fathers of liturgical music because, although he was not the first to bring music into services, he popularized its use.
Ambrose was a man of high integrity and a strong sense of duty. He had come to the episcopate reluctantly; but once there, he never wavered from what he believed was virtue, and his actions left a powerful mark on western religion and society. His strong position as the spiritual leader of emperors set precedents that shaped relations between church and state throughout the Middle Ages. His doctrine moved Italy and the west toward the Nicaean Catholic view. His writings on virginity helped develop the anticarnal philosophy that has characterized western Christianity; and he was among those who filled the churches with Christian hymns. Ambrose continued to be an active pastor until he became ill and died on Easter eve, 4 April 397. He is buried in Sant' Ambrogio in Milan.
See also Ambrosian, Chant; Milan
JOYCE SALISBURY
Ambrose. Opera omnia. In Patrologia Latina, 15, 16, 17.
Ambrose. Saint Ambrose: Letters, trans. Sister Mary Melchior Beyenke. New York: Fathers of the Church, 1954.
—. A Select Library ofNicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 10, ed. P. Schaff and H. Wace. New York: Christian Literature, 1895.
Paulinus. Life of Saint Ambrose by Paulinus, trans. John A. Lacy. New York: Fathers of the Church, 1952.
Beatrice, Pier Franco, et ah, eds. Cento anni di bibliografia ambrosiana. Milan: Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 1981. (Annotated bibliography of works on Ambrose from 1874 to 1974.)
Brown, Peter. The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity, New York: Columbia University Press, 1988.
Dooley, William Joseph. Marriage According to Saint Ambrose. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1948.
Dudden, F, Homes. The Life and Times of Saint Ambrose, 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon, 1935.
Springer, M. Theresa. Nature-Imagery in the Works of Saint Ambrose. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1931.
Ambrosian chant is the music indigenous to liturgy of the archdiocese of Milan. The term "Ambrosian" supposes an influence on the formation of this music by the great fourth-century bishop Ambrose. His biographer Paulinus, as well as his contemporary Augustine, tell us that in Milan, Ambrose introduced the singing of hymns and antiphonal chanting. A dozen hymns are said to be by Ambrose, but only four of these attributions seem secure, and the melodic tradition of all the hymns seems late. In the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, scholars were divided regarding the influence of the Ambrosian repertoire on other ancient western rites: some considered it the chant sung throughout Italy before the creation of the better-known Gregorian repertoire; some described it as an ancient body of chant from which were derived the other known non-Roman repertoires of the west (including the Gallican, Beneventan, and Mozarabic). A better understanding of the vibrant Italian chant tradition of the early Middle Ages has since led to a general view that the repertoire called Ambrosian is of a later origin than had been presumed, and that it was created under the influence of many other chant dialects. It is now frequently called "Milanese" chant—a term that reflects its origin rather than its supposed founder.
Milanese chant is the only non-Roman repertoire other than the Spanish to have survived complete and fully notated. Public worship was divided between a winter and a summer church, a practice reflected in the complete sources, which are arranged as books for summer or winter liturgies. The books contain music for both the mass and the hours of the canonical offices. Three manuscripts are most frequently consulted: (1) London, British Library, Add. 34209, and (2) Milan, Bibiioteca Capitolare F. 2. 2, for the winter services; and (3) Bedero di Val Travaglio, San Vittore B, for the summer. All date from the twelfth century, and their melodies can be reliably transcribed. A large number of less comprehensive sources also exist, the earliest dating from the eleventh century. An edition was prepared in 1935 by Dom Sunol for modern church usage, but it includes inauthentic material. An edition of the winter book appeared as Volumes 5 and 6 of Paléographie musicale, consisting of a facsimile of London, British Library, Add. 34209, and a transcription of the manuscript into modern musical notation.
Roughly contemporary accounts describe an Ambrosian liturgy rich in ceremonial pomp and spectacle. A twelfth-century Milanese ordo presents these celebrations in some detail as regards performance of the chant and the varying size of singing forces. This ordo was written by Beroldus, who oversaw the candles used in the frequent processions of the Ambrosian rite. In his descriptions, Beroldus often details the number of singers employed for particular celebrations, the money they are to receive, the specific chants they are to sing, and the place in the church where they are to perform. At times, even dynamic indications are offered, as in the following description of vespers:
The archbishop or priest, standing behind the altar, kisses it, after which he begins Vespers saying Dominus vobiscum. Then the weekly terminarius lector softly sings the Lucinarium (on Saturday only the beginning and the verse), followed by the Magister of the schola with his boys, who also sing quietly. Then the lector begins again, followed by the chorus, all singing loudly.
Weakland (1966) noted a slightly later account of the Ambrosian liturgy by Landolphus, who describes a sevenfold repetition of an antiphon sung during processions on important feast days. Beginning with the sixth statement of the antiphon as the procession is just entering the building, Landolphus says: "The sixth time [the antiphon] is sung in the body of the church with great noise (magno clangore) and the seventh in choir with high, resonant tones {vocibus altis atque sonoris)." Weakland continues: "Frequent allusions are made by Beroldus to the feet that the verses of hymns and psalms were alternated between notaries and lectors or lectors and boys. [Landolphus] also indicates the repetition of the same piece by another section of the choir." On special feast days, a surprisingly large number of singers were involved: by Weakland's count a choir of 100 would not have been unusual.
The chants of the Milanese Mass are often functionally similar to their Gregorian counterparts, but the genre titles are usually different from Roman and Frankish practice. The ingressa serves the role of the more familiar introit, but it differs from the introit in that it is not processional in function and thus has no psalmody associated with it. No separate Kyrie was sung in Milan; rather, the Kyrie was an addendum to the Gloria. The psalmellus is analogous to the Gregorian gradual. Because the Milanese retained the ancient practice of having three readings at the mass rather than two (as in the Franco-Roman rite), a chant called the post-epistolam followed the second lection, and the post-evangelium was sung after the reading of the gospels. The familiar Credo, Oftertorium, and Sanctus followed, but there is no Milanese counterpart to the Agnus Dei. The confractorium was sung before the faithful took communion; the transitorium followed as the final chant. (No Ite missa est exists in the Milanese repertoire.)
The Milanese melodies, like the Old Roman and Beneventan melodies, are often quite elaborate. In particular, the office responsories marked with the rubric cum pueris (or cum infantibus) contain highly decorative melismas or melodiar, some fifteen sets have been identified. Bailey (1987) has shown that these expansive melismas were often reused in other chants as well. Because Milanese chants are frequently ornate, it is often difficult to discern relationships between them and Roman and Gregorian counterparts with the same texts. There are clear associations, however. Hucke (1956) saw a closer relationship between the Milanese mode 2 graduals and their Gregorian counterparts than is evident from comparisons with the Old Roman versions and suggested that the Milanese melody derives from the Gregorian. Huglo (1956) cites some 360 pieces for both the mass and the office that were adopted from the Gregorian repertoire as transmitted in northern Italian sources. Bailey found that all the cantus (or tracts) of the Milanese repertoire are variations on a single type-melody, which is itself related to Old Roman and Beneventan melodies; he also sees common melodic ground between the Milanese alleluias and their counterparts in Rome, Benevento, and the Gregorian tradition.
See also Ambrose, Saint; Beneventan Chant; Gregorian Chant; Liturgy; Old Roman Chant
BRAD mAIANI
Bailey, Terence. The Ambrosian Alleluias. Englefield Green, 1983.
—. The Ambrosian Cantus. Ottawa, 1987.
Hiley, David. Western Plainchant: A Handbook. Oxford, 1993, pp. 540-549.
Hucke, Helmut. "Die gregorianische Gradualeweise des 2. Tons und ihre ambrosianischen Parallelen." Archiv fiir Musikwissenschaft, 13, 1956, pp. 285-314.
Huglo, Michel, Luigi Agustoni, Eugene Cardine, and Ernesto Moneta Caglio. Fonti e paleografia del canto ambrosiano. Archivio Ambrosiano 7. Milan, 1956.
Magistretti, Marcus, ed. Beroldus sive Ecclesiae Ambrosianae Mediolanensis: Kalendarium et Ordines saec. XII. Milan, 1894.
Paleographie musicale: Les principaux manuscripts de chant gregorien, ambrosien, mozarabe, gallican. Series 1, Vols. 5 and 6. Antiphonarium ambrosianum de Museee Britannique (Xlle siècle), Codex Additional 34209. Solesmes, 1896 (Vol. 5), 1900 (Vol. 6).
van der Werf, Hendrick. The Emergence of Gregorian Chant: A Comparative Study of Ambrosian, Roman, and Gregorian Chant, 2 vols. Rochester: Author, 1983.
Weakland, Rembert G., O.S.B. "The Performance of Ambrosian Chant in the Twelfth Century." In Aspects of Medieval and Renaissance Music: A Birthday Offering to Gustave Reese. New York, 1966, pp. 856-866.
When Pope Honorius II died in 1130, a rivalry between the Frangipani and Pierleoni—two Roman families—immediately surfaced once again, and this conflict was mirrored in the College of Cardinals. In a disputed election, the Frangipani faction elected Gregorio Papareschi as Pope Innocent II, while the Pierleoni faction elected Pietro Pierleone as Pope Anacletus II. A schism developed when neither Innocent nor Anacletus would resign. Anacletus managed to hold on to the city of Rome, and he also had the support of the Normans of southern Italy. In return for this support, he recognized Roger II, the Norman king, as king of Sicily by hereditary right. The schism was not healed until the death of Anacletus in 1138.
See also Frangipani Family; Normans; Papacy; Pierieone Family; Roger II; Rome
DANIEL R. SODDERS
Morris, Colin. The Papal Monarchy: The Western Church from 1050 to 1250. Oxford: Clarendon, 1989.
Robinson, Ian S. The Papacy, 1073-1198: Continuity and Innovation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Stroll, Mary. The Jewish Pope: Ideology and Politics in the Papal Schism of 1130. New York: Brill, 1987.
Ullmann, Walter. A Short History of the Papacy in the Middle Ages. London: Methuen, 1972.
Cathedral with statue of Pope Boniface VIII, Anagni. Photograph courtesy of Christopher Kleinhenz.
Anagni—one of the historic towns of the Ciociaria in the modern province of Frosinone—sits above the Sacco River valley on a rocky height in the hills southeast of Rome. The people of the ancient town fought and were conquered by the Romans in the fourth century b.c.e. (see Aeneid, VII.684: "dives Anagnia"). By the fifth century C.E. Anagni had already been designated a bishopric, and it became a site of considerable importance for the medieval church as an official country residence of the popes, as it had been for several Roman emperors, who often took advantage of its relative proximity and its relatively healthy air. In the twelfth century, Thomas Becket was received by the canons at Anagni as he fled Henry II. At the Council of Anagni in 1160, Pope Alexander III pronounced the excommunication of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa along with the antipope Victor IV. Imperial representatives signed the preliminary pactum anagninum (1176) at Anagni after the defeat of imperial forces by the Italian Lombard League at the Battle of Legnano.
It was in the thirteenth century that Anagni earned the title "city of the popes." Four thirteenth-century popes came from Anagni: Innocent III (r. 1198-1216), Gregory IX (r. 1227—1241), Alexander IV (r. 1254-1261), and Boniface VIII (Benedetto Caetani, r. 1294-1303); Dante calls Boniface queld'Alagna, "the one from Anagni," in Paradiso 30.148. This small town therefore witnessed much of the intrigue that developed from the growing struggle between pope and emperor. Pope Gregory IX was host to Frederick II of Hohenstaufen in 1230 in the Conti family palace, which in 1295 became the palace of the Caetani, the clan of Boniface VIII.
Boniface remained attached to and supportive of his native city. He had a delicate constitution, and so he often retreated to his residence in Anagni to escape the stress of his turbulent reign and to scheme against recalcitrant European monarchs and Roman nobles. When his struggle with Philip IV (the Fair) of France reached a crisis in September 1303, Philip's minister Guillaume de Nogaret and the exiled Sciarra Colonna went looking for Boniface in his palace at Anagni. According to legend, Boniface donned the papal robes and ascended the throne to await his assailants, whose action became known variously as the "outrage" or "slap" of Anagni. For three days the pope's enemies laid siege to the palace and held Boniface hostage. He was eventually rescued by sympathetic townspeople, but he died shortly thereafter in Rome.
The palace can still be visited today, along with the nearby Palazzo Trajetto, which was Boniface's original residence. Also of interest in the medieval quarter of Anagni is the Palazzo Comunale (1159-1173) by the architect Jacopo da Iseo. There is a fourteenth-century statue of Boniface in the loggia of the cathedral (1071-1105, with thirteenth-century additions), which has significant thirteenth-century pavement mosaics by a member of the innovative Cosma family. The cathedral treasury contains a wealth of items from Boniface's papacy, including an elaborate red silk cope.
See aslo Boniface VIII, Pope? Caetani Family; Colonna Family; Dante Alighieri; Papacy; Rome
GARY P. CESTARO
Ambrosi de Magistris, Raffaele. Storia di Anagni. Rome, 1889.
"Anagni papale." In Bonifacio VIII e il sua tempo: Anno 1300 il prima giubileo, ed. Marina Righetti Tosti-Croce. Milan: Electa, 2000, pp. 239-244. (Catalog of an exhibit in Palazzo Venezia, Rome, 12 April-16 July 2000.)
Boase, T. S. R. Boniface VIII. London: Constable, 1933.
Digital Anagni. Centro Servizi Culturali del Comune di Anagni. (Website: http://www.comune.anagni.fr.it)
John, J. "Anagni." In The Catholic Encyclopedia. Online ed., 1999. (Website: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/0l448a.htm)
Ancona is situated on the Adriatic coast of Italy, about 132 miles (212 kilmometers) northeast of Rome, at the eastern end of the central ridge of the Apennines. It is the principal city of the modern region of the Marche, or Marches. The name Ancona is from the Greek anchon, "elbow," and was derived from the mountainous promontory that forms the only significant natural harbor in the central reaches of Adriatic Italy. The city itself rises from the harbor up a northward-facing natural amphitheater between headlands to the east and west. Ancona has been a prosperous hub of commercial activity for most of its history. It serves as the main port for the agricultural products of its rugged but intensely cultivated hinterland. Merchants from medieval Ancona carried the region's grain, wine, olive oil, and salted meat to urban markets in northern Italy, the eastern Adriatic, and the eastern Mediterranean. Medieval Ancona developed a silk industry, which flourished into the twentieth century. Throughout the Middle Ages, Ancona remained a viable commercial force despite the persistent efforts of Venice to remove it from competition.
Ancona was probably founded c. 390 B.C. by Dorian exiles from the tyranny of the elder Dionysius of Syracuse. It became an ally of Rome in the mid-third century B.C. and a municipium after the "Social War" of 90-88 B.C. In imperial times Ancona traded actively with Illyria and was the home port of a Roman naval fleet. With the collapse of the western empire in the fifth century after Christ, Ancona came under the protection of the emperors in Constantinople. Under Byzantine rule, it was the southernmost city of the Maritime Pentapolis—Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, Senigallia, and Ancona—and was subject to the exarchate of Ravenna. Heavily fortified, Ancona underwent many sieges throughout the Middle Ages. In 539, it held off an attack by the Ostrogoths; in 551, with the help of a Byzantine fleet, it thwarted Totila's atttempt to take it; in the late sixth century, it repelled the Lombards. Unable to protect the Pentapolis directly, the Byzantine empire placed these cities under the duke of Spoleto in 728. Lombard kings quickly moved into the region, but they relinquished Ancona and several nearby cities to the papacy in 739 and 757. Charlemagne and Louis the Pious included Ancona in the territorial grants that they made to the papacy in 774, 781, and 816-817.
In 848, Saracens sacked Ancona after a long siege. The city rebuilt its defenses and became ever more heavily fortified as the centuries passed. In 876, Ancona acknowledged the overlordship of the pope. Emperor Otto III granted the eight counties of the Pentapolis to the papacy in the late tenth century; however, attempts by the papacy to rule Ancona failed, despite an interdict in 1059. Emperor Henry IV granted a march around Ancona to a Guarnerius c. 1090, and it remained in the hands of imperial designates until the beginning of the thirteenth century. However, the city itself fended off imperial control. Emperor Lothar III failed in his attempt to take the city in 1137. Ancona accepted Byzantine protection from the German emperors and Venice in 1155. It withstood a brief siege by Frederick I Barbarossa in 1167, but imperial and Venetian military and naval forces returned to besiege the city in 1173-1174. The heroic and successful defense of Ancona by its citizens gave rise to many popular legends. Pope Alexander III granted near-autonomy to Ancona, a status confirmed by the Peace of Venice (1177).
Ancona was a semiautonomous commune from the twelfth century to the sixteenth. It was populous, prosperous, and usually strong enough to protect its maritime interests. Merchants from Ancona, many of whom of were Jews, competed aggressively with the Venetians for business in the cities of the eastern Adriatic and established colonies in Constantinople, Acre, and Alexandria. The city negotiated commercial treaties with dozens of trading partners. Ancona routinely paid an annual census to its papal overlord and thus was never fully independent, but its government functioned much like those of other Italian communes, with a council of citizens and a public magistracy. It minted its own silver coinage, the anconetano or agontano, which circulated widely and became a model for other coinages in central Italy. Ancona was instrumental in the codification of the statuti del mare that regulated navigation in maritime Italy. The many substantial stone buildings in modern Ancona that date from the Middle Ages testify to the uninterrupted prosperity of the medieval city. These structures include the Duomo San Ciriaco (eleventh-thirteenth centuries), several other large churches, the Palazzo del Comune (thirteenth century), and the Loggia dei Mercanti (fourteenth century).
The ability of Ancona to deny Venice a monopoly over commerce in the Adriatic provoked the Venetians to attack it in 1183,1229,1257,1274-1278, and 1428. The outcome of these wars was more or less favorable for Ancona, but by the beginning of the sixteenth century the city had been gradually forced to yield much of its commercial position to Venice. A continuing weakness of Ancona was its inability to extend its territorial control into the Marches. The papacy resumed lordship over the March of Ancona under Innocent III (1198-1216), who granted it in fief to Azzo IV d'Este in 1208. The Estensi held it until 1233, when Pope Gregory IX replaced them with a papal rector. Frederick II sent his son Enzo to seize the Marches in 1239, and imperial vicars governed them until the emperor's death in 1250. Manfred of Sicily controlled the Marches from 1258 until his death in 1266, when the papacy reasserted its claim.
Papal jurisdiction over the Marches in the late thirteenth century and the early fourteenth century was often little more than a legal fiction, but Ancona was still unable to push its influence into the Marches. Its chief obstacle was not the papacy but the intense opposition of its nearest rivals, the middling and smaller walled cities of Fermo, Iesi, Legato, Macerata, Osimo, Pesaro, Recananti, and Senigallia. During the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, Ancona fought numerous inconclusive wars with its neighbors. From one conflict to the next, alliances shifted, turning allies into enemies and back again. These wars prevented the Adriatic Marches from developing a regional identity strong enough to contest the claims of a resurgent papacy in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
During the early decades of the Avignon papacy (1305-1378), several signori established lordships in the Marches, including a brief Malatesta signoria in Ancona. In the 1340s and 1350s, Cardinal Albornoz recovered much of the Romagna and the Marches for the papacy. Revenues from the city were an important factor in the successes of the papacy during the mid-fourteenth century. Indeed, Ancona paid as much as half of its communal revenues as tribute to the church from the mid-fourteenth century until its full incorporation into the papal state in the sixteenth century. In 1357, Albornoz convened the Parliament of Fano, at which he issued the Constitutiones marchiae anconitanae that served as the basic law of the papal state until the time of Napoleon.
Ancona continued to negotiate independently with its trading partners and competitors into the sixteenth century, but the political and fiscal subordination of the city to the papacy was an accomplished fact by the end of the papal schism in 1417. Occasionally, strongmen such as the Ferretti could dominate local government and had a fairly free hand in the contado, but papal rectors collected taxes from the commune throughout most of the fifteenth century. In the 1430s, the condottiere Francesco Sforza took control of Ancona and the March. The March returned to direct papal jurisdiction in 1446, but Sforza continued to dominate the city into the 1450s. The papacy suppressed what remained of the communal autonomy of Ancona in the sixteenth century. Significantly, the papal keys appeared on the reverse of the anconetano under Pope Julius II (1503—1513). In 1532 Pope Clement VII, who was financially pressed, sold the revenues of the populous and prosperous city to Cardinal Benedetto Accolti for 20,000 gold scudi, and the pope ordered his legate to take and rule the city directly. Except for the brief Napoleonic interlude, Ancona remained an integral part of the papal state until the forces of the kingdom of Italy captured it in 1860.
See also Álboroz, Gil Alvarez Cabrillo de; Alexander III, Pope; Coins and Mints; Exarchate of Ravenna; Ferrara; Fran lush Kingdom; Frederick I Barbarossa; Frederick II Hohenstoufen; Gregory IX, Pope; Henry IV, Emperor, Innocent III, Pope; Lombards; Otto III; Rimini; Venice
JOHN PHILLIP LOMAX
Boncompagno da Signa. Boncompagni Liber de obsidione Ancone [a. 1173], ed. Giulio C. Zimolo. Bologna: Zanichelli, 1937.
Filelfo, Giovanni Mario. Cbronicbe de la città de Anchona, ed. Pietro Frassica. Florence: Licosa, 1979.
Ancona Repubblica marinara, Federico Barbarossa e le Marche. Convegno di studi storici Federico Barbarossa, Ancona e le Marche. Ancona, 19-20 aprik 1969. Citta di Castello: Arti Grafiche Cittá di Castello, 1972.
Centro di Studi Storici Maceratesi. Le Marche nei secoli XII e XIII: Problemi e ricerche. Atti del VI Convegno del Centro di studi storici maceratesi. Studi Maceratesi, 6. Macerata: Centro di Studi Storici Maceratesi, 1972.
—. La cittá medievale nella Marca: Problemi di storia e di urbanistica. Atti del VII Convegno di studi maceratesi. Studi Maceratesi, 7. Macerata: II Centro, 1973.
Leonhard, Joachim-Felix. Die Seestadt Ancona im Spätmittelalter: Politik und Handel. Tubingen: Niemeyer, 1983.
Maggiori, Alessandro. Le pitture, sculture, e architetture della città d'Ancona. Ancona: A. Sartori, 1821. (Reprint, Bologna: Forni, 1974.)
Partner, Peter. The Lands of Saint Peter: The Papal State in the Middle Ages and the Early Renaissance. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1972.
Waley, Daniel. The Papal State in the Thirteenth Century. London: Macmillan, 1961.
The Genoese astronomer Andalò di Negro (c. 1260-1334) is also known as Andalone Negro or Andalo de Nigro. According to Sarton (1947), Andalò owes his fame to the "enthusiastic, incompetent, and uncritical praise" of his most illustrious pupil, Giovanni Boccaccio. However, Andalò was well trained in the Ptolemaic and Arabic schools of astronomy and was also a successful diplomat. In 1314, he negotiated for Genoa an advantageous treaty with Alexius II Comnenus, emperor of Trebizond (the Turkish town of Trabzon on the Black Sea). Four years later, when Genoa became part of the domain of King Robert of Anjou, Andalò joined the Angevin court in Naples. It was there that he taught astronomy and astrology to Boccaccio. Boccaccio, in fact, transcribed Andalò's Tractatus sphaerae in his Zibaldone medicea laurenziana (Plut. XXIX, 8), and used Andalò's Introductorius ad indicia astrologie (unedited) as his primary astrological source for his own early works. Besides these two treatises, Andalò also wrote a dozen other works, including several tracts on the relationship between medicine and astrology, one on the astrolabe, one on the theory of planets, one on the distances of al! the other planets from Earth, and one on the Almanack of Profatius Judaeus.
As the leading astronomer in both Genoa and Naples, Andalò, through his teaching, spread Ptolemaic Arabic astronomy in these two important cultural centers. Scholars concur that his knowledge of contemporary astronomy was thorough and precise, as are many of the corrections he made to some important astronomical texts of his time. Thus Andalò is sometimes seen as a precursor of the scientific experimental methods that would become prominent in the fifteenth century. As for his astrological philosophy, Andalò believed that the judgments of astrology were not necessary but contingent: they depended as much on the disposition of the patient as on the actions of the agent. In the words of Thorndike (1934), Andalò "serves to illustrate the point that the occult arts and sciences were then supported by men of the highest education and learning and not merely by the vulgar and charlatans, and that astronomy and astrology were indistinguishable then."
See also Astrology; Boccaccio, Giovanni; Magic
STEVEN GROSSVOGEL
Cesari, Anna Maria. II Trattato della Sfera di Andalò di Negro nello Zibaldone del Boccaccio: Edizione critica. Milan: Societa Astronomica Icaliana, 1982.
Quaglio, Antonio Enzo. Scienza e mito nel Boccaccio. Padua: Liviana, 1967.
Sarton, George. Introduction to the History of Science, Baltimore, Md.: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1947, Vol. 3, pp. 645-648.
Thorndike, Lynn. A History of Magic and Experimental Science. New York: Columbia University Press, 1934, Vol. 3, pp. 191-204.
Andrea da Barberino (c. 1371-c. 1431), a son of Jacopo di Tieri de' Magnabotti from Barberino in Val d'Elsa, was a prolific writer and compiler of chivalric narratives in Tuscan prose. Andrea lived and wrote in Florence, where he owned a house. His vast cycle of nine works is modeled on French and Franco-Italian epics in the Carolingian cycle but also shows the influence of the Arthurian romance cycle. In addition to his published writings listed below, there are two other texts probably written by him—La storia del re Ansuigi and Storia di Rinaldo da Montalbano, both still unedited—and his Prima Spagna, which has been lost. His best and most original work, commonly known as Guerrirto il meschino, has been printed numerous times, but there is still no reliable edition.
According to contemporary scribes, Andrea recited his narratives in the piazzetta San Martino in Florence; but they were also intended for private reading, as is clear from the author's appeals to the "reader" and from numerous extant manuscripts. Manuscript evidence and library inventories reveal a range of readers from shoemakers and tradesmen to kings and princes. Although his texts were best-known in Florence and Tuscany, Guerrino circulated in many other areas, including Ferrara, Bologna, Venice, Umbria, and Naples, and it was translated into French and Spanish in the early sixteenth century. Andrea's works were still being published and copied after the great chivalric epic poems by Boiardo and Ariosto had appeared.
In contrast to the French epics on which they were modeled, Andrea's narratives have a less austere and more human tone. Although Andrea says that he translated these works from French, and this statement is supported by philological studies, his process of translation was not slavish. Instead, he freely adapted the material, expanding, abbreviating, and innovating as he worked. Despite the prevalence of ottava rima in narratives of Carolingian material, Andrea seems to have selected prose as more appropriate to his purpose: he wanted to create an epic cycle more closely related to actual chronicles than to fictional material. Accordingly, he strove for verisimilitude, providing extensive genealogies for the heroes, linking all the works chronologically in a vast cycle, furnishing dates for the events portrayed, and including realistic details. However, even though he is concerned with pragmatic descriptions, his prose remains fresh and interesting and his language attains a certain gentility. In some scenes he creates suspense rather successfully. His occasional humorous touches are mild and tasteful, never crude or burlesque. While many of the characters and episodes in Andrea's works were already commonplace in the semipopular cantare literature of the time, his style is more learned than that of other cantastorie. Like the cantari, his "histories" present abundant action and adventure; but his characters, unlike those in the typical cantari, are sensitively drawn and psychologically nuanced.
Because of his huge output, his distinctive voice, and his long popularity, Andrea's work holds an important place in Italian cultural and literary history. Although his prose lacks the virtuosity of the Renaissance epic poems, his influence on later chivalric authors was nevertheless greater than has previously been recognized.
See also Cantare; Carolingian Material in Italy; Ottava Rima
GLORIA ALLAIRE
Andrea da Barberino. Storia di Ajolfo del Barbicone e di altri valorosi cavalieri: Testo di lingua inedito, 2 vols., ed. Leone del Prece. Bologna: Romagnoli, 1863-1864.
—. Storia di Ugone d'Avernia volgarizzata nel sec. XIV, ed. F[rancesco] Zambrini and A[lberto] Bacchi della Lega. Scelta di Curiosità Letterarie Inedite o Rare dal Secolo XIII al XIX, Dispense 188-189. Bologna: Romagnoli, 1882, and Commissione per i Testi di Lingua, 1968.
—. Le storie nerbonesi: Romanzo cavalleresco del secolo XTV, 4 vols., ed. I. G. Isola. Vols. 1-3, Bologna: Romagnoli, 1877-1891; Vol. 4, Genoa: Tipog. del R. Istituto Sordo-Muti, 1891.
—. I reali di Francia, ed, Giuseppe Vandelli and Giovanni Gambarin. Scrittori d'ltalia, 193. Bari: Laterza, 1947.
—. L'Aspramonte: Romanzo cavalleresco inedito, ed. Marco Boni. Collezione di Opere Inedite o Rare, n.s. Bologna: Antiquaria Palmaverde, 1951.
Allaire, Gloria. The Language of Chivalry: Similes in the Romances of Andrea da Barberino." La Fusta, 9, 1992-1993, pp. 69-84.
—. "The Chivalric 'Histories' of Andrea Da Barberino: A Reevaluation." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1993.
—. "Portrayal of Muslims in Andrea da Barberino's Guerrino il Meschino." In Medieval Christian Perceptions of Islam: A Book of Essays, ed. John Victor Tolan. New York: Garland, 1996, pp. 243-269.
—. Andrea da Barberino and the Language of Chivalry. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1997.
Bertolini, Virginio. "II Rambaido di Andrea da Barberino: Appunti per un'edizione dell'opera." Quaderni di Lingue e Letterature, 16, 1991, pp. 41-90.
Grendler, Paul F. "Chivalric Romances in the Italian Renaissance." Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History, 10 (o.s. 20). New York: AMS, 1988, pp. 59-102.
Rajna, Pio. I reali di Francia: Ricerche intorno ai Reali di Francia seguite dal libro delle storie di Fioravante ..., Vol. 1. Bologna: Romagnoli, 1872.
Vitullo, Juliann. "The Medieval Epic Romance and a New Urban Order." Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University, 1991
The composer Andrea da Firenze (d. c. 1410) is known variously as Frater Andreas Qrganista de Florentia, Fra Andrea di Giovanni, Andrea dei Servi, and, most commonly, Andreas de Flore ntia. Of the final generation of musicians of the Trecento, he is perhaps the best-documented biographically. Though we have no information about his birth or background, he was presumably Florentine, and we know that he entered the Servite order in 1375. In 1378, he became organist at the order's monastery in Florence, Santissima Annunziata; from 1380 to 1397, he served intermittently as its prior, and also as prior in Pistoia (1393). He eventually (1407-1410) became the head, or provincial, of the Servite order in Tuscany. Evidently he died c. 1410.
As both composer and organist, Andrea became a colleague and collaborator of his distinguished older contemporary, the blind organist Francesco Landini, and we know that they worked together on two organ-building projects: one for the Annunziata in 1379 and the other for Florence's cathedral in 1387. (There is a record of a "Maestro Andrea" who was charged with building an organ in Rieti, near Rome, in 1382, but it is not certain that this was the same person as Andrea da Firenze.)
Andrea was one of the latest composers to be included in the great Squarcialupi Codex, which contains a presumed portrait of him playing an organetto. Indeed, it has been argued that he may actually have prepared the manuscript of this remarkable compilation. Whether or not that is true, the codex is the main source for Andrea's surviving output, a total of thirty ballate, eighteen of them for two voices and twelve for three voices. (Other sources give a French ballade for three voices and an Italian madrigal for two voices, but their attribution to Andrea is dubious.) Andrea seems to have composed the Italian texts himself, on amorous, moralizing, or polemic themes. His apparently exclusive preoccupation with the ballata form, by then regarded as old-fashioned and generally ignored by others of his generation, marks him as an unusual traditionalist for his time. Nevertheless, despite ail the conservative elements of his style, which was firmly rooted in the traditions of his friend Landini, Andrea's technique clearly shows some French influences, and his use of finely detailed imitation conveys a nervous pulse that goes beyond Landini, whose texture is much smoother. Thus Andrea may be considered the true concluding figure of the Tuscan ars nova tradition, in contrast to the more unconventional, cosmopolitan, and progressive composers of his generation such as Antonello da Caserta, Johannes Ciconia, and Matteo da Perugia.
See also Antonello da Caserta; Ars Nova; Ciconia, Johannes; Landini, Francesco; Matteo da Perugia; Squarcialupi Codex
JOHN W. BARKER
Corsi, Giuseppe, ed. Poesie musicali del Trecento. Bologna: Commissione per i Testi di Lingua, 1970.
Fischer, Kurt von. Studien zur italienischen Musik des Trecento und frühen Quattrocento. Bern, 1956.
Königsglow, Annamarie von. Die italienischen Madrigalisten des Trecento. Wiirzburg: Triltsch, 1940.
Li Gotti, Ettore. La poesia musicale italiana del secolo XIV. Palermo: Palumbo, 1944.
Marrocco, William Thomas, ed. Italian Secular Music. Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century, 10. Monaco: Editions de L'Oiseau-Lyre, 1974.
Pirrotta, Nino, ed. The Music of Fourteenth-Century Italy. Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae, 8(5). Rome: American Institute of Musicology, 1964.
Taucci, Raffaello, Fra Andrea dei Servi, organista e compositore del Trecento. Rome: Coliegio S. Alessio Falconieri, 1935. (Reprint from Studi storici sull'ordine dei Servi di Maria, 2, 1935.)
Wolf, Johannes, ed. Der Squarcialupi-Codex, Pal. 87 der Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana zu Florenz. Lippstadt: Kistner and Siegel, 1955.
Andrea di Bonaiuto (c. 1325-1379) was a respected and successful painter active in Florence after the black death; he is also known as Andrea da Firenze (but should not be confused with the composer Andrea da Firenze). Unfortunately, only a few archival entries refer to Andrea di Bonaiuto by name, and this of course hampers any attempt to reconstruct his career or personality.
Andrea matriculated in the Florentine painters' guild in 1346; this would suggest a date of birth sometime around 1325. He lived in the parish of Santa Maria Novella and seems to have been influenced by the work of Nardo di Cione, with whom he may have trained. He left Florence in 1355 to work in Pisa, where he stayed for roughly ten years. When he returned to Florence, he received the most important painting commission of the 1360s.
In December 1365, Andrea accepted an offer to decorate the Dominican chapter house of Santa Maria Novella, built sometime around 1350 and funded in part by the estate of Buonamico di Lapo Guidalotti. To compensate Andrea, the Dominicans provided him and his wife with a house next to the church and a generous stipend. The agreement called for the artist to cover the four walls and the ceiling vaults of the chapter house with frescoes within a two-year period. Andrea appears to have met this deadline.
Probably as a result of this commission, Andrea was simultaneously appointed to a committee planning the design for the dome of the cathedral of Florence. He served on this board for two years, completing his term in 1367. He then spent a brief time in Orvieto before returning to Florence, where he painted a panel of Saint Luke for the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in 1374. In 1377, he accepted a commission to paint an altarpiece in Pisa, and then stayed in Pisa long enough to execute a fresco (now damaged) in the Camposanto. He died in 1379, leaving only a paltry estate for his widow and his one child, Bartolomeo.
Because almost none of his other works survive, Andrea's murals in the chapter house of Santa Maria Novella, commonly referred to as the Spanish Chapel, stand as his greatest paintings. This cycle—probably based on ideas expressed by Fra Jacopo Passavanti of Santa Maria Novella—celebrates the spiritual and intellectual achievements of the founder of the Dominican Order and his disciples. The central image, on the north wall facing the entrance, depicts scenes from the passion of Christ. The Way to Calvary, Crucifixion, and Harrowing of Hell are placed in a continuous frieze running from one end of the lunette wall to the other. Flanking this space on the west wall is an image of Thomas Aquinas, enthroned, presiding over allegorical representations of the cardinal virtues and the liberal arts. The Via Veritatis decorates the east wall, with Dominic, Thomas, and Peter Martyr converting heretics, providing spiritual guidance to the devout, and leading the faithful into heaven. An architectural portrait of the cathedral of Florence, complete with an envisioned octagonal dome (the actual dome had yet to be constructed), serves as a backdrop to this scene; it may have been a result of Andrea's membership on the committee planning the dome. Scenes of the Navicella, Resurrection, Ascension, and Pentecost occupy the vaults above, providing theological analogies to the images below.
The choice of Andrea di Bonaiuto as the painter of the Spanish Chapel suggests that he was one of the most important artists of the day; his appointment to the committee planning the dome of the cathedral indicates that he was highly respected by Florentine civic leaders. There can be no doubt that Andrea was recognized as a major figure in his native city during this period, and his works in Santa Maria Novella are one of the great decorative programs of the late Trecento. But the paucity of signed or dated paintings leaves us with only a meager understanding of the artist's abilities, interests, and influences.
See also Dominican Order; Florence; Nardo di Cione
GEORGE BENT
Andrea di Bonaiuto (fourteenth century), Triumph of Saint Thomas Aquinas. At the feet of Saint Thomas are the heretics Sabellius, Averroës, and Arius. Spanish Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence. Photo: © Scala/Art Resource, N.Y.
Gardner, J. Andrea di Bonaiuto and the Chapterhouse Frescoes in Santa Maria Novella." Art History, 2, 1979, pp. 107-138.
Offner, R„ and K. Steinweg. A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting, Section 4, Vol. 6. Locust Valley, N.Y., 1979.
Polzer, J. "Andrea di Bonaiuto's 'Via Veritatis' and Dominican Thought in Late Medieval Italy." Art Bulletin, 1995, pp. 262-289.
See Orcagna, Andrea di Cione
See Pisano, Andrea
Andreas Capellanus was a writer of the late twelfth or early thirteenth century whose identity remains enigmatic. Although most manuscripts call him Andreas regis Franciae capellanus ("Andreas, chaplain of the king of France"), no chaplain of that name is known during this period at the court of France. Pio Rajna discovered an Andreas who from 1185-1187 was the chaplain of Countess Marie de Champagne, daughter of King Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine; however, there was also an Andreas "Cambellanus" in Paris, attested to between 1190 and 1201. In any event, Andreas Capellanus was a cleric well versed in the scriptures who probably wrote, between 1181 and 1186, the Latin treatise De amore, representing a fusion of the theories expressed by Ovid in Ars amatoria and Remedia amoris. The work is dedicated to a supposed friend of Andreas's, Gautier (Walter); this might very well have been Gautier de Nemours le Jeune (b. 1163), son and successor of Gautier the Chamberlain, himself very much in favor with Philip II Augustus, with whom the younger Gautier started his public career c. 1190.
De amore consists of three books. The first book explains the nature of love, clarifies who is qualified for love, and illustrates these topics with dialogues that distinguish between the love of men or women of the same and of different social classes. The second book, "How to Keep Love," is presented as twenty-one judgments. The third book deals with the condemnation of any love that is not the love of God. The ladies who pronounce the judgments of love in Book 2 were among the most famous in the kingdom during the late twelfth century, and all belonged to the same family: they were Marie, countess of Champagne; Eleanor (Alienor) of Aquitaine; Eleanor's mother, Elizabeth of Vermandois, countess of Flanders (a relative of the French queen); and Ermengard, viscountess of Narbonne. Their consensus is that marital affection and the true love of lovers are wholly different and derive from entirely disparate sources. Andreas does not write for these ladies but rather uses them to mock a new literary trend called "courtly love," because it also results from an Arthurian (i.e., secular and hence frivolous) story, appended to Book 2, which concludes with thirty-one ridiculous rules of love, such as, "Marriage is no real excuse for not loving," "One who is not jealous cannot love," and "No one can be bound by a double love."
Although De amore is preserved in more than thirty manuscripts, it seems to have begun to circulate relatively late. It is first quoted by Albertano da Brescia in 1238—under the title Liber Gualteri—in Albertano's Liber de amore Dei et proximi. After 1295, it is quoted by Geremia da Montagnone in his Compendium moralium notabilium. Both of these works are theological and moral in nature. Among the Old French works treating the art of love, however, only Jean de Meung's Roman de la Rose mentions De amore. Toward the middle of the fourteenth century, Art d'amours by Jacques d'Amiens is somewhat influenced by De amore, which seems to have been read nearly exclusively by clerics and jurists.
De amore is a disconcerting work, and on 7 March 1277, the bishop of Paris condemned it. But there were several adaptations in the vernacular, such as the last part (Ci se demande la doctrine d'amor) of the Franco-Italian Livre d'Enanchet (c. 1250). There were also two versions in Tuscan prose: the versione fiorentina, dating from the mid-thirteenth century, is preserved in four manuscripts; and the versione barberiniana, adapted between 1309 and 1313 by Francesco da Barberino in his Documenti d'amore, is preserved in one manuscript.
See also Albertanus of Brescia; Francesco da Barberino
HANS-ERICH KELLER
Andreas Capellanus. The Art of Courtly Love by Andreas Capellanus, trans. John Jay Parry. New York: Columbia University Press, 1941.
—. Trattato de Amore, ed. Salvatore Battaglia. Rome: Perrella, 1947.
—. Andreae Capellani regit Francorum fit Amore libri tres, ed. E. Trojel. Copenhagen: Gadi, 1892. (Reprint, Munich: Fink, 1972.)
—. Andrea Capellano, De amore, ed. Graziano Ruffini. Milan: Guanda, 1980. (Versione barberittiana.)
Karnein, Alfred. De Amore in volksprachlicber Literatur: Untersuchungen zur Andreas-Capellanus-Rezeption in Mittelalter und Renaissance. Heidelberg: C. Winter, 1985.
Schlosser, Felix. Andreas Capellanus: Seine Minnelehre und das chrisdiche Weltbild um 1200. Bonn: A. Bouvier, 1960.
Angela (1248 or 1249-1309) was born into a wealthy family in Foligno. She underwent a conversion after her mother, husband, and children died c. 1288, and her renunciation of worldly goods and increasing devotion thereafter to a life of penitence and good works eventually led her to become a tertiary in the Franciscan order (1290—1291). From this time on she experienced numerous visions, especially of the suffering and death of Christ; one very public raptus during a pilgrimage to Assisi, in which she had a vision of the Trinity, caused some controversy. She dictated these visions (presumably in the vernacular of Foligno) to her confessor, Arnaldo, whose written version (in Latin), Memoriale, prepared between 1292 and 1296, became widely popular and influential in late medieval Italy. It was approved in 1296 by a Franciscan theological commission headed by Cardinal Colonna. As her reputation grew, Angela attracted many followers, and she was visited in 1298 by the leading Spiritual Franciscan Ubertino da Casale, who mentions her with gratitude in his Arbor vite crucifixe Jesu; among her surviving texts is a letter to Ubertino, dating from 1302. She continued to have visions, including a famous experience at the Portiuncola in 1300. She was beatified in 1693.
Angela's dictated writings were collected in Liber sororis Lelle de Fulgineo (Book of Sister Leila [Angela] ofFoligno), also known as Liber de vera fidelium experientia (Book of the True Experience of the Faithful). This consists of the Memoriale, various sayings, moral precepts, advice, letters, and some shorter accounts of visions. Vernacular works, including the Via delta salute (Way of Salvation) have been attributed to Angela but appear to be a product of her admirers.
Angela's mysticism owes much to the Victorine tradition and to Bonaventure but has a force and originality of its own, centered on Angela's concept of Christ's encouragement to the believer to ascend through various levels of mystical experience to the point of identification with Christ himself.
STEVEN N. BOTTERILL
Angela of Foligno. II libra della Beata Angela da Foligno, ed. Ludger Thier and Abele Calufetti. Grottaferrata: Editiones Collegii S. Bonaventurae ad Claras Aquas, 1985.
—. Complete Works, ed. and trans. Paul Lachance. New York: Paulist, 1993.
Schmitt, C., ed. Vita e spiritualità della Beata Angela da Foligno: Atti del convegno per il VII centenario della convenione della Beata Angela da Foligno. Perugia, 1985.
Artgelo Clareno (or Chiareno) was bom at Fossombrone between 1247 and 1255 and died in 1337. He led an extraordinary life and was at the heart of a bitter dispute between the Spiritual Franciscans and the Official or Conventual wing of the order. Angelo became a Franciscan as Pietro da Fossombrone in 1270 and immediately allied himself with the Spirituals; he was persecuted, imprisoned, and finally sent, apparently for disciplinary reasons, on a mission to Armenia (1290). In Armenia, he encountered opposition from the Conventuals already working there, and he was driven back to Italy in 1294. He attempted to found a community of his own in Italy, to perpetuate the strict observance of the Franciscan rule, and at this time took the name Angelo Clareno ("angelic trumpet"). He was initially encouraged by Pope Celestine V, but after Celestine's brief reign he was firmly discouraged and then again subjected to persecution by the succeeding pope, Boniface VIII. Further travels and tribulations followed: Angelo went on a pilgrimage to Greece in the early 1300s; was back in Italy in 1304-1305; and in 1311, having been named leader of the Spirituals in 1307-1308, went to the Council of Vienne to advocate their cause, with some success. He was persecuted yet again under Pope John XXII after 1316 and was imprisoned in Avignon, but he soon obtained his release, at the cost of surrendering his membership of the Franciscan order. He returned to Italy in 1318 and continued to work on behalf of the Spiritual Franciscans under the protection of the sympathetic abbot of Subiaco. But the church remained hostile, and eventually Angelo took refuge in Basilicata, where he lived in poverty and sickness until his death.
Angelo's writings, all in Latin, include several translations from the Greek fathers, a rule for the Spiritual Franciscans, spiritual treatises, letters, and Historia septem tribulationum Ordinis Minorum (History of the Seven Tribulations of the Order of Friars Minor). Many of these were quickly turned into vernacular versions and circulated widely during the Trecento.
See also Franciscan Order
STEVEN N. BOTTERILL
Angeli Clareni opera, Vol. 1, Epistole, ed. Lydia von Auw. Rome: Istituto storico italiano per il Medio Evo, 1980.
Potestà, Gian Luca. Angela Clareno: Dai poveri eremiti at fratkelli. Rome: Istituto storico italiano per il Medio Evo, 1990.
von Auw, Lydia. Angela Clareno et les spirituels italiens. Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1979.
The first Angevin dynasty was the ruling house of the kingdom of Naples and Sicily established by Charles I, Count of Anjou and Provence, in 1266. Although Charles II ceded the county of Anjou to Charles of Valois in 1290, the dynasty retained the name Angevin. The second Angevin dynasty was founded by Louis, second son of John II of France; it claimed the succession in the Regno—the kingdom of Sicily—in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Although the Angevins lost Sicily following the Sicilian Vespers in 1285, they continued to claim it except for ten years after the Treaty of Caltabellotta in 1302. Charles II had thirteen children, of whom the eldest, Charles Martel, yielding his claims to the throne of the Regno, inherited his mother's rights to the throne of Hungary, which finally passed to his son, Charles Robert (Carobert, crowned in 1310). Charles II's next son, Louis, bishop of Toulouse (d. 1296), was later canonized. Louis is the subject of a painting by Simone Martini which also includes an allegedly faithful portrait of his next brother, Robert, who in 1309 succeeded Charles II as king of Naples and Sicily. Younger brothers were provided with appanages in the Regno. Two of them—John, duke of Gravina (later prince of Durazzo); and Philip, prince of Taranto—had children who became involved in bitter struggles for power during the reign of Robert's daughter and heir, Joanna I. John's grandson, Charles III, ultimately deposed Joanna and became king (1382-1386). He was succeeded in turn by his son Ladislas (d. 1414) and his daughter Joanna II (d.1435). Joanna, being the last descendant of Charles I, recognized as her successor first Louis II and then his brother Rene of Anjou of the second dynasty. They were not relations: Charles of Valois's son Philip became king of France, thus bringing Anjou back into the hands of the French monarchy. It was granted as a new appanage by King John II to his second son, Louis I, father of Joanna II's heir. Louis I himself had been recognized as the heir of Joanna I and by right of this claim had conquered Provence, which was separated from the Neapolitan kingdom in 1381. His sons, Louis II and Rene, retained Provence but were unsuccessful in Naples, where Alfonso V of Aragon, who already ruled Sicily, seized the mainland (1435-1453). The Angevin claim was not forgotten, however. Rene died in 1480 and left it, with Provence, to his nephew Charles of Maine, who himself died a year later leaving all his claims to his cousin, King Louis XI of France, the son of Rene's sister Marie. Louis XI's claim was inherited by his successors and became one excuse for the invasion of Italy by Charles VIII in 1494. That invasion started the prolonged Italian wars of the sixteenth century.
See also Caltabellotta, Treaty of; Charles I of Anjou; Charles II of Anjou; Charles of Valois; Joanna I of Naples; Sicilian Vespers
CAROLA M. SMALL
Gleijeses, V. La storia ai Napoli, Vol. 2. Naples: Società Editrice di Napoli, 1974, 1981, pp. 7-127 and bibliography.
Leonard, E. Les Angevins de Naples. 1954.
Angilberga (Engelberge, d. 891), a member of the powerful northern Italian Supponid family, married Louis II of Italy (son of the emperor Lothair I) in 851. When Louis succeeded his father in 855, Angilberga became his very active consort, sharing the numerous tasks necessary for a Carolingian king to assert himself among the fractious Italian nobility and against the grasping hands of Louis II's uncles, Charles the Bald of France and Louis the German of Germany.
Although Louis II was not known for making generous land grants, he nonetheless made many grants to Angilberga, including the monastery of the Holy Savior at Brescia with its numerous dependencies and the abbey of Saint Peter near Piacenza. Louis died in 875 leaving no male heirs, and thereafter Angilberga's position was much reduced; however, she fought vigorously for her possessions against those who would have taken them from her. In this struggle, she had the support of Pope John VIII, but even John could not prevent Charles the Fat—son of Louis the German (who had secured the crown of Italy)—from sending her into exile in 880—882 because of her presumed meddling in politics. All her possessions were later confirmed by Charles.
See also Frankish Kingdom; John VIII, Pope; Lombards; Louis II, Emperor
KATHERINE FISCHER DREW
Odegaard, Charles E. "The Empress Engelberge. Speculum, 26, 1951, pp. 77-103.
Wickham, Chris. Early Medieval Italy. Totowa, N.J.: Barnes and Noble, 1981.
See Agriculture; Transhumance
Though his true identity remains unknown, it seems likely that the poet called Anonimo Genovese was a government official or notary affiliated with the Congregazione di Santa Caterina d'Alessandria in Genoa. His work, probably composed c. 1270-1311, survives in a single manuscript known as the Molfino. The 181 poems (147 in the vernacular and thirty-four in Latin) vary widely in theme and style, from hagiography and didactic verse to invectives, patriotic panegyrics, and humorous anecdotes. The style, both learned and accessible, is persuasive and often remarkably candid. After Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, Anonimo Genovese was the first to use the Genoese dialect for serious literary purposes.
See also Proverbs
MICHAEL PAPIO
Anonimo Genovese. Poesie, ed. Luciana Cocito. Rome: Edmoni dell'Ateneo, 1970.
Anonimo genovese: Rime e ritmi latini, ed. Jean Nicolas. Bologna: Commissione per i Testi di Lingua, 1994.
Mannucci, Francesco Luigi. L Anonimo genovese e la sua raccolta di rime (sec. XIII-XTV). Genoa: Municipio, 1904.
Saint Anselm of Aosta (1033 or 1034-1109) was a Benedictine monk, theologian, and archbishop. He was born the son of a Lombard nobleman in the Alpine town of Aosta and spent his early years in Italy, but he received his monastic education at the abbey of Bee in Normandy. At Bee, he succeeded Lanfranc as prior in 1063 and was elected abbot in 1078; thus in France he is known as Anselm of Bee. He eventually became archbishop of Canterbury, a position he held from 1093 until his death; in England he is therefore known as Anselm of Canterbury.
Although Anselm acquired a reputation for sanctity during his lifetime, his lasting fame rests on a series of great theological works, including Monologion, Proslogion, and Cur deus homo. He was named a doctor of the church in 1720 and is often described as the most important Christian thinker between Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.
SHERRY REAMES
Evans, G. R. Anselm. Wilton, Conn., 1989.
Southern, R. W. Saint Anselm: A Portrait in a Landscape. Cambridge, England, 1990.
Ansprand (d. 712) overthrew the last member of the so-called Bavarian dynasty of Lombard kings, Aripert II (r. 701-712). Before that, Ansprand had been the guardian of the young king Liutpert, son of Cunincpert; but Liutpert had been overthrown by Raginpert, duke of Turin. Raginpert died shortly thereafter, leaving the throne to his son Aripert II. During the greater part of Aripert's rule, Ansprand was in exile in Bavaria, but in 712 he returned with a Bavarian army and secured recognition as king. Ansprand's reign lasted only a few months before he died; he was followed by his son Liutprand, who would be one of the greatest Lombard kings.
See also Liutprand; Lombards
KATHERINE FISCHER DREW
Foulke, William Dudley. Paul the Deacon History of the Lombards. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1973.
Hartmann, L. M. "Italy under the Lombards." Cambridge Medieval History, Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan, 1913.
Wickham, Chris. Early Medieval Italy. Totowa, N.J.: Barnes and Noble, 1981.
Antelami (fl, 1178-c. 1230) was the third major Romanesque sculptor—after Wiligelmus and Nicholaus—of the central Po valley; he was also an architect. Though he worked principally in Parma, his sculpture was very influential throughout northern Italy. He is known through two reliefs in Parma, which are signed Benedictus. His earliest securely attributed work, a relief of the Deposition (dated 1178) in the cathedral of Parma, bears the inscription Anno Milleno Centeno Septuageno Octavo Sculptor Patuit Mense Secundo Antelami Dictis Fuit Hie Benedictus. The lintel on the north door of the baptistery of Parma, begun in 1196, carries a similar inscription. The name Antelami suggests that he belonged to one of the guilds of civil builders, known as Magistri Antelami, of the Valle d'Intelvi on Lake Como.
The Deposition relief in the cathedral of Parma is now in the south transept, but it appears to have originally been part of a pulpit or some other liturgical furnishing. It has the principal traits of Antelami's style, notably a balanced composition focusing on a few vertically aligned figures separated by areas of flat background inlaid with niello. The figures have a solemn, austere, simple dignity, reminiscent of the work of Wiligelmus, combined with a greater degree of narrative complexity, surface detail, and ornament. Antelami also seems to have carved the episcopal throne in this cathedral c. 1180.
bbAntelami's major work is the architecture and sculptural decoration of the baptistery of Parma, largely executed between 1196 and 1216. This unified, coherent three-portal program with its systematic and comprehensive joining of architecture and sculpture was unique in Italy at the time. The north portal presents the Adoration of the Magi on the tympanum and the story of the Baptist on the lintel, with prophets on the archivolts and the Tree of Jesse on the jambs. Inside, this tympanum depicts the Flight into Egypt. The iconographically inventive west portal links for the first time the Last Judgment, on the tympanum and lintel, with the Six Acts of Mercy and the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard, on the jambs. The south portal portrays the legend of Barlaam—an allegory of the transience of life. The Presentation in the Temple is on the inside tympanum. The iconographic program thus links salvation through Christ with the Old Testament (past), the Last Judgment (future), and allegories of human life and works. This ensemble introduced to northern Italy the use of complex iconographic programs that integrated representations of time and human activity into a complete cosmic and temporal scheme of salvation. A frieze with animal and floral motifs runs around the entire structure. Additional sculptures, including Labors of the Months and prophets, may have originally been created for a portal of the cathedral.
Another important work is a series of figures and reliefs from the central portal of the cathedral of Fidenza (formerly Borgo San Donino), executed c. 1185-1195. In this series, the freestanding prophets David and Ezekiel, in niches flanking the central portal, are most closely linked to Antelami. These solid, massive, dignified figures best reveal the plasticity of Antelami's sculpture.
Benedetto Antelami, Deposition. Duomo, Parma. Photo: © Alinari/Art Resource, N.Y.
Nothing is known about Antelami's training or his work before the Deposition in Parma. Certainly, some Roman influence is discernible in the solemnity, volume, and equilibrium of his compositions. However, a strong influence of French sculpture is also apparent. From his style and iconography, Antelami appears to have been familiar with both Chartres and the Romanesque sculptures of Provence, particularly Saint-Gilles-du Gard and Saint-Trophime in Aries; possibly, then, he made one or more journeys to France. This possibility is also suggested by Antelami's extensive use of the carved tympanum in Parma—a form common in France but seldom seen in Italy at this time. The complex iconographic scheme of the program for the baptistery in Parma may also reveal the influence of early Gothic portal programs in the ile-de-France.
Antelami or his workshop, or both, did carvings at San Andrea in Vercelli from 1219 to 1225. The central lunette of the Martyrdom of Saint Andrew is particularly close to his style. Antelami's workshop remained active and highly influential throughout the first half of the thirteenth century. Maestro dei Mesi, who carved the reliefs of the months on the Porta dei Mesi in the cathedral of Ferrara between 1225 and 1230, appears to have been trained in Parma by Antelami. Additional work by Antelami's followers includes the equestrian statue of Oldrado da Tressano in Milan (1233), the cathedral of Forli, San Marco in Venice, and the work of Radovan in the cathedral of Trogir in Dalmatia.
See also Parma
SCOTT B. MONTGOMERY
Chrichton, G. H. Romanesque Sculpture in Italy. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1954.
Francovich, Geza de. Benedetto Antelami architetto e scultore e I'arte del suo tempo, 2 vols. Milan: Electa, 1952.
Frugoni, Chiara. Benedetto Antelami e il battistero di Parma. Turin: Einaudi, 1995.
Porter, Arthur Kingsley. Lombard Architecture, 4 vols. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1915-1917.
Quintavalle, Armando Ottaviano. Antelami "sculptor. " Milan, 1947.
Quintavalle, Arturo Carlo. Romanico padano, civiltà d'occidente. Florence: Marchi e Bertollo, 1969.
—. La cattedrale di Parma e il romanico europeo. Parma: Università di Parma, 1974.
—. II battistero di Parma. Parma: Artegrafica Silva, 1988.
—. Benedetto Antelami. Milan: Electa, 1990.
Romanico padano, romanico europeo. Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi, Modena-Parma, 26 otcobre-1 novembre 1977. Parma, 1982.
Saint Anthony of Padua (Fernando de Bulhoes, c. 1195-1231) was a Franciscan preacher and theologian. As one of the first generation of Franciscans, he helped determine the theological orientation of the order. He also achieved great fame as a preacher. After his death, his reputation as a miracle worker made him an extremely popular saint.
Anthony was a member of the lesser Portuguese nobility; he was educated at the cathedral school of Lisbon and entered the order of Augustinian canons regular at age fifteen. After two years at the monastery of Sao Vicente in Lisbon, he was transferred to the order's study house in Coimbra, where he received instruction in scripture and theology and was ordained a priest.
Devoted to an austere and studious life, Anthony was apparently disappointed by the level of religious observance in his order. Thus he was drawn to a group of Franciscans who frequently begged for food there; he found their emphasis on absolute poverty, mendicancy, popular preaching, and conversion of the Muslims closer to his concept of the apostolic life than what was becoming the more conventual monastic rule of his own order. When the relics of Franciscan missionaries recently killed in North Africa were displayed in Coimbra, Anthony was seized with a desire to continue their work. He joined the Franciscan order soon afterward, at the friary of San Antonio, probably changing his name when he professed. He then set off for Morocco. But a serious illness halted his missionary journey just after he arrived in North Africa, and he was forced to return to Portugal. When a storm drove his ship to Sicily, Anthony decided to travel to Assisi in search of direction. After meeting Saint Francis and taking part in the order's general chapter of May 1221, he was sent to a hermitage near Forlì, where he spent a considerable period in contemplation and penance.
Anthony found a new focus for his Franciscan vocation by accident, when he was called to preach at an ordination. His learning and skill as a speaker astounded his hearers, and he was soon commissioned to preach against Cathar and Waldensian heretics in northern Italy. He preached in the north from 1222 to 1224, then in southern France in late 1224. From 1227 to 1231, he was back in northern Italy, keeping an exhausting schedule. By 1228, he had achieved sufficient fame to be asked to preach before the papal curia.
Anthony also served his order in other capacities. In 1223, Saint Francis himself seems to have commissioned Anthony to be the first Franciscan lector in theology. Over the next few years Anthony taught at Franciscan houses of study in Bologna, Aries, Montpellier, Toulouse, Le Puy-en-Velay, and Padua and introduced the theology of Saint Augustine to the order. In 1224, Anthony helped found Franciscan houses at Limoges and Brive in Aquitaine. In 1225, he was chosen as guardian of the house at Le Puy; then he was chosen as custos at Limoges; and in 1227, he was chosen as provincial of Lombardy and Emilia. He held the last post until 1230, when he asked to be relieved so that he could pursue his preaching without hindrance. At about this time Anthony's health began to fail, apparently as a result of his intense schedule. In 1231, he developed what was described as dropsy; he died in Arcello, outside Padua, on 13 June. FJeven months later, on 30 May 1232, he was canonized.
Anthony's preaching made him a tremendously popular figure in Padua during the late 1220s. His sermons survive in four major collections: Sermones in festivitatibus sanctorum per anni circulum, Sermones per annum dominicales, Sermones in Psalmos, and Sermones in laudem et bonorem beatae Mariae Virginis. The published versions are rather academic, but it is likely that these sermons were much livelier when he preached them. Anthony's themes are typically Franciscan: he urges evangelical virtue, reception of the eucharist, devotion to Christ's humanity and to the Virgin Mary, civic harmony, and just treatment of the poor. There was a trend in Franciscan preaching toward vivid examples taken from popular stories and romances, but Anthony resisted this, preferring to drive home his message with constant references to scriptural texts and examples. He urged other Franciscans to use this conservative technique but had little success in persuading them. In two other areas, however, he influenced Franciscan preaching profoundly. The first Franciscan preachers had focused only on repentance and moral reform. Anthony and other educated men added a new emphasis when they began to instruct the faithful in dogma in order to combat heresy. In addition, Anthony's academic training led him to construct his sermons systematically and analytically. This approach was much admired and widely imitated.
Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua, Padua. Photograph courtesy of Gail Geiger.
Anthony's reputation during his lifetime rested on his preaching; his popularity after his death was based on his miracles. Wonders were reported at his tomb almost immediately after his burial. Belief in his miraculous powers was reinforced by several biographies written shortly after his death, and later hagiographers continued to develop his fame as a miracle worker. His reputation for miracles led to his inclusion in the collection of Franciscan stories known as the Fioretti (Little Flowers). Eventually Anthony's popularity outstripped that of all the other Franciscan saints except, of course, Francis himself. Anthony came to be venerated as a patron of charity and marriage who cured fevers and diseases in animals, recovered lost articles, and protected lovers, women in labor, and miners.
Anthony was one of the best-educated of the early Franciscans, and so his authority as a theologian was quickly established in the order. After his death the order treated him as a doctor of the church, although he did not have that title officially until 1946, when it was granted by Pius XII. Anthony's theological views are fairly conventional for his time and training as an Augustinian canon; they derive from a biblical theology rooted in the church fathers, particularly Augustine. His scriptural exegesis focuses on the moral sense of the text, which he uses primarily to call his audience to moral reform and avoidance of heresy. Like many early Franciscans, he was very much interested in the humanity of Christ and in the theological role of Mary, and he was among the first to articulate a variety of characteristic Franciscan Christological and Mariological doctrines.
The main biographies of Anthony are Legenda prima, commonly called Assidua; and Legenda secunda, also called Anonyma. Both were written in the 1230s. Several other biographies were published during the thirteenth century, all based generally on the material in Assiaua and Anonyna. At the end of the century another biography appeared that may contain some authentic material not included in the first two; this is known as Benignitas. The authorship of all three works is uncertain.
See also Francis of Assisi; Franciscan Order; Padua
THOMAS TURLEY
Costa, Beniamino, et al., eds. Sancti Antonii Patavini sermones dominicales et festivi ad fidem codicum recogniti. Padua: Centro Studi Antoniani, Edizioni Messaggero, 1979.
de Kerval, Léon, ed. Sancti Antonii de Padua vitae duae. Paris: Fischbacher, 1904.
Palandrini, Eletto, ed. "La iegenda fiorentina." Studi Francescani, 4, 1932, pp. 454-496.
Clasen, Sophroriius. Saint Anthony, Doctor of the Gospel, trans. Ignatius Brady. Chicago, I11.: Franciscan Herald, 1961.
Felder, Hilarin. Die Antoniuswunder nach den älteren Quellen, Paderborn: Schoningh, 1933.
Gilliat-Smith, Ernest. Saint Anthony of Padua According to His Contemporaries. New York: Dutton, 1926.
Kieinschmidt, Beda. Antonius von Padua in Leben und Kunst, Kult und Volkstum. Dusseldorf: Schwann, 1931.
McHam, Sarah Blake. "The Cult of Saint Anthony of Padua." In Saints: Studies in Hagiography, ed. Sandro Sticco. Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 141. Binghamton, N.Y., Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1996, pp. 216-232.
Toussaert, Jacques. Antonius von Padua: Versuch einer kritischen Biographic. Cologne: Bachem, 1967.
Virtually nothing definite is known about the the life of the Neapolitan composer Antonello (fl. c. 1400). Apparently, he was born near Naples sometime in the late fourteenth century and lived into the early fifteenth. His name appears in five or six different forms, including Anthonello, Anthonelius, Marotus de Caserta, and Abbas de Caserta; the last form suggests that he was an abbot.
Antonello is considered to belong to the third generation of Italian musicians of the Trecento, and specifically to have been one of a subgroup that responded to the bifurcated tastes of Italian patrons of the time, divided between French and Italian styles of the ars nova. Antonello's two styles are so distinct (and the surviving manuscripts of his works are so completely separated) that it has even been suggested there were actually two different composers of the same name. However, this duality may simply reflect his service to two culturally divergent courts, whose tastes related as much to their political orientation as to aesthetics. Thus his French compositions have been identified with the courts of the antipopes Alexander V and John XXIII at Pisa, where he would have been in contact with the francophile composer Matteo di Perugia; and it has been proposed that one of his Italian works was written on the occasion of one of the marriages (1415, 1423) of Queen Joanna II of Naples.
Eight or Antonello's Italian compositions (seven ballate and one double-texted madrigal) and eight French works (five ballades, two rondeaux, and one virelai) survive. Except for the madrigal, the Italian pieces are relatively simple in style, whereas the French works demonstrate the composer's mastery of the most intricate techniques, in the highly complex and "manneristic" French idiom known as an subtilior. Indeed, Antonello is one example of the Italian imitators who carried that French idiom to its extremes.
See also Ars Nova; Matteo da Perugia
JOHN W. BARKER
Antonio Beccari da Ferrara (1315—1371-1374) was a minor poet who produced about 150 works in the tradition of poesia giocosa (comic poetry). Antonio's father, Tura, was probably a butcher, as implied by the surname. His brother Nicolò, also a lesser poet, was a familiar of Charles IV. Antonio may have received a humanistic education; certain stylistic elements and motifs in his poems suggest this.
Beccari led a disordered life, ruining himself with gambling despite the desire to reform expressed in his Capitoli alia Vergine (Poems to the Virgin, 1340). In 1343, he was banished from Bologna after wounding the canterino (minstrel) Jacopo di Salimbene in a fight. Antonio's vagabondage thereafter may have been necessitated by further such behavior. He sojourned with dynastic families: the Pepoli at Bologna, the Ordelaffi at Forli, the Da Polenta at Ravenna, and the Da Carrara at Padova, He is also known to have lived in Modena, Venice, Florence, and Siena.
Beccari's poetic works consist mostly of sonnets but also include some twenty canzoni, sixteen capitoli, four ballate, and three frottole. Although his canzoniere may confound modern critics looking for a unified poetic "voice," the themes and content of his energetic poems are representative of his literary development; they also preserve glimpses of northern Italian court life, reflect contemporary political concerns, and express autobiographical and even moral sentiments. His Dantism is apparent: Beccari coined the term padre Dante ("father Dante"), and the lyric persona of one of his poems is so Dantesque that it was for a time attributed to Dante. Beccari knew or exchanged verses with Petrarch, Fazio degli Uberti, Cecco di Meletto de' Rossi, Gano da Colle, Antonio dalle Binde, Braccio Bracci, Lancillotto Angosciuoli, Antonio Pucci, and Menghino Mezzani. Franco Sacchetti remembers Beccari in his Trecentonovelle.
GLORIA ALLAIRE
Antonio da Ferrara. Rime, ed. Laura Beilucci. Bologna: Commissione per i Testi di Lingua, 1967.
Cesari, Anna Maria. "Una ballata nel codice ambrosiano E 56 sup." Letters Italiane, 35, 1983, pp. 503-508.
Dutschke, Dennis. "Un altro manoscritto dei sonetti 'alia valigia' di Maestro Antonio da Ferrara." Studi e Problemi di Critica Testuale, 24, 1982, pp. 7-14.
Gallo, F. Alberto. "Antonio da Ferrara, Lancillotto Anguissola, e il madrigale trecentesco." Studi e Problemi di Critica Testuale, 12, 1976, pp. 40-45.
Levi, Ezio. Maestro Antonio da Ferrara rimatore del sec. XIV. Rome: Rassegna Nazionale, 1920.
Verhulst, Sabine. "Fortuna, gioco, e disperazione in Antonio Beccari da Ferrara." Revue Beige de Phiblogie et d'Histoire, 59, 1981, pp. 585-596.
Antonio da Tempo (c. 1275-c. 1336) was a judge and poet from Padua. He is best known as the author of Summa artis rithmici vulgaris dictaminis (1332), a treatise on vernacular poetry that was the most important work of its kind until the publication of Pietro Bembo's Prose della volgar lingua in 1525. Dante had written De vulgari eloquentia much earlier—in 1304 and 1306—but this treatise was not widely known to scholars and poets until its publication in the sixteenth century. Antonio does not acknowledge it, although he was probably familiar with Dante's Commedia (Andrews 1977, vii).
Antonio's Summa was enormously popular during the Trecento and in the following centuries. It was transmitted in many manuscripts, the most important of which are MS 4 (fourteenth-fifteenth centuries) of the Biblioteca del Seminario in Padua, MS. II 357 (fourteenth century) of the Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea of Ferrara, and MS 3436 (fourteenth century) of the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. Antonio's tract in Latin was translated and popularized by the Veronese Gidino da Sommacampagna c. 1350 and by the Paduan Francesco Baratella in 1447. The Summa was first published in 1509 in Venice and was reissued in 1869; a fine critical edition was published in 1977.
In the proemium, Antonio explains the subject matter and its importance. He then outlines seven poetic genres: (1) sonnet, (2) ballata, (3) cantio externa (canzone distesa in Italian), (4) roton-dellus, (5) madrigal, (6) sirventes, and (7) motus confectus (a genre that is metrically similar to the frottola but, unlike the frottola, deals with high-minded themes). Except for the cantio externa, which takes only one form, all these genres are polymorphous; Antonio describes, for instance, many types of sonnets. He follows his typological presentation with several short sections dealing with the dos and don'ts of writing poetry. For example, he explains the etiquette of receiving and sending poems. He reminds readers that when responding to a sonnet, a poet must use rhyme words that are different from those of his correspondent and may use the same words only if they have a different meaning. He then presents different types of subtle wordplay and rhyme used in poetry, including an illustration of the technique of ligata composition in which each word in a verse shares its final syllable with a word in the verse that immediately follows. As with all of Antonio's examples, the one mentioned here underscores the importance of the visual as well as the oral features of poetry.
See also Dante Alighieri; Gidlno da Sommacampagna; Italian Prosody
DARIO DEL PUPPO
Apel, Willi, ed. French Secular Vocal Musk of the Late Fourteenth Century. Cambridge, Mass.: Medieval Academy of America, 1950.
—. French Secular Compositions of the Fourteenth Century. Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae, 53(1). Rome: American Institute of Musicology, 1970.
Ghisi, Federico. "Italian Ars Nova Music: The Perugia and Pistoia Fragments of the Lucca Musical Codex and Other Unpublished Early Fifteenth Century Sources." Journal of Renaissance and Baroque Music, 1, 1946, pp. 173-191.
Gombosi, Otto. "French Secular Music of the Fourteenth Century." Musical Quarterly, 36, 1950, pp. 603-610.
Pirrotta, Nino. "Dulcedo e Subtilitas nella pratica polifonica francoitaliaa al principio del '400." Revue Beige de Musicologie, 2, 1948, pp. 125ff.
. "Scuo—e polifoniche italiane durante il secolo XIV." Collectanea Historiae Musicae, 1, 1953, pp. 11-18.
Reese, Gustav. Music in the Middle Ages. New York: Norton, 1940.
Wilkins, Nigel. "The Post-Machaut Generation of Poet-Musicians." Nottingham Mediaeval Studies, 12, 1968, pp. 40-84.
. Music—in the Age of Chaucer. Cambridge: Brewer, 1979.
Antonio da Tempo. Delle rime volgari, ed. Giusto Grion. Bologna: Forni Editore, 1970. (1st ed., 1869.)
—. Summa artis rithimici vulgaris dictaminis, ed. Richard Andrews. Bologna: Commissione per i Testi di Lingua, 1977.
The Florentine poet Antonio Pucci (c. 1310-1388) is known for sonnets in the medieval Italian comic tradition; poems on historical events involving Florence; cantari on popular legends; and Centiloquio, a poetic transcription of Giovanni Villani's Cronica (Chronicles) in terza rima. The son of a bronze caster whose specialty was church bells, Pucci was appointed the official bell ringer of Florence in 1334. In 1349 he became the banditore (town crier), a position he held for the next twenty years. During his tenure as banditore, he had occasion to spread the news concerning many events of Florentine history, and some of them became subjects of his serventesi: the flood of the Arno in 1333, the famine of 1346, the plague of 1348, the victory of the Florentine militia over Padua in 1337, and the overthrow of Gualtieri di Brienne, the duke of Athens, in 1343.
The great variety of themes found in Pucci's poetry gives the reader a broad picture of life in Florence during the mid-fourteenth century. In addition to historical events, Pucci delighted in portraying quotidian life: for example, an invective against a chicken vendor who sold the poet a desiccated old hen (Andrea, tu mi vendesti per pollastra), an ode to a sloppy barber (Amico mio bar bier, quando tu meni), and the poet's lament at being forced to churn out his art for inadequate compensation or none (Deb fammi una canzon, fammi un sonetto). Many sonnets are didactic, offering advice on how to be a good husband or wife {Amico mio, da poi ch'hai tolto moglie and Figliuoia mia, poi che se' maritata), or how to raise children (Quando 'I fanciul da piccolo scioccheggia and II giovane che vuol avere onore). Temario sulle noie lists numerous annoyances of daily life in the form of the traditional Provencal enueg, beloved of many medieval Italian comic poets.
Pucci was a great admirer of Dante. He wrote a sonnet (Questi che veste di color sanguigno) commemorating the portrait of Dante that Giotto painted in 1335; and in Centiloquio, Canto LV is dedicated to praise of Dante, a description of his works, and the story of his life. In Libra di varie storie, also known as Zibaldone, which Pucci intended for his private use, there are frequent citations from Dante's Commedia.
Another painting by Giotto, the allegory of the comune rubato ("robbed city"), was the probable model for two of Pucci's sonnets: Ohmè, Comun, come conciar ti veggio, a lament on the suffering of Florence due to bad government; and Se nel mio ben ciascun fosse leak, in which Florence, personified, addresses those who maltreat her.
One of Pucci's recurring themes is his defense and praise of women. In response to a misogynistic sonnet by Buto Giovannini, Antonio mio, di femmina pavento, Pucci wrote La femmina fa I'uom viver contento, extolling the virtues of feminine companionship and lamenting the abuse without provocation that many women receive at the hands of men. This theme is more amply developed in II contrasto delle donne, a poem of seventy-five stanzas cast as a debate between an unnamed misogynist and a defender of women. Using exempla from the Bible and classical literature, each interlocutor presents a case, but the poem is structured so that the defender of women can refute all the arguments advanced by the detractor.
Exemplary women are the protagonists of three of Pucci's five cantari on popular legends: Gismirante, Bruto di Brettagna, Madonna Leonessa, La reina d'Oriente, and Apollonio di Tiro. Other cantari were written to commemorate political events; the seven cantari of Guerra di Pisa (War with Pisa) are examples. These short poems in ottave, written in a formulaic style, were composed for recital in the piazze of Florence. The virtuous behavior of the heroes and heroines of the cantari and other canzoni written by Pucci to illustrate a moral point are indicative of the didactic bent of much of his poetry.
Pucci enjoyed writing sonnets in the tradition of courtly love, adding a note of overt sensuality to an allusive but circumspect genre. Corona del rnessaggio d'amore, a cycle of nineteen sonnets depicting the ritual of courtship, concludes with a description of lovemaking. The serventese on the beauties of his lady, Quella di cui t' son veracemente, is also markedly sensual.
As a man whose work involved riding around Florence on horseback blowing a trumpet and making official proclamations, Pucci knew the streets of the city well. In Ternario delleproprietà di Mercato Vecchio, Pucci describes the colorful bustle of the market piazza at various seasons of the year, giving the reader a rich and vivid document of Florentine life in the poet's time.
See also Cantare; Florence; Italian Poetry: Lyric
JOAN LEVIN
Corsi, Giuseppe. Rimatori del Trecento. Turin: UTET, 1969, pp. 870-880.
D'Ancona, Alessandro. "L'arte del dire in rima: Sonetti di Antonio Pucci." In Miscellanea di filologia e linguistica in memoria di Napoleone Caix e Ugo Angela Canello. Florence: Le Monnier, 1886, pp. 293-303"
Levi, Ezio, Fiore di leggende: Cantari anticbi. Bari: Laterza, 1914. (Gismirante, Bruto di Brettagna, Madonna Lionessa, and La reina d'Oriente.)
McKenzie, Kenneth. "Antonio Pucci on Old Age." Speculum, 15, 1940, pp. 160-185. (Delia vecchiezza.)
Pucci, Antonio. Le noie, ed. Kenneth McKenzie. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1931.
—. II contrasto delle donne: A Critical Edition with Introduction and Notes, ed. Antonio Pace. Menasha, Wis.: George Banta, 1944.
Sapegno, Natalino, ed. Poeti minori del Trecento. Milan: Ricciardi, 1952, pp. 349-420.
Brambilla Ageno, Franca. Per 1 interpretazione delle Proprietà di Mercato Vecchio di Antonio Pucci." Lingua Nostra, 37, 1976, pp. 9-10.
Fasani, Remo. "II Fiore e la poesia del Pucci." Deutsches Dante Jahrbuch, 49-50, (1974-1975), pp. 82-141.
Kleinhenz, Christopher. "The Other Face of the Late Thirteenth-Century Lyric: Realism, Comedy, and the Bourgeoisie." In The Early Italian Sonnet: The First Century (1220-1321). Lecce: Milella, 1986, pp. 157-200.
Messina, Micheie. "Pucci, Antonio." In Encicbpedia Dantesca. Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 1970-1978.
Petrocchi, Giorgio. "Cultura e poesia del Trecento." In II Trecento. Milan: Garzanti, 1965; rpt. 1979.
Rabboni, Renzo. "La tradizione manoscritta delPApollonio di Tiro di Antonio Pucci." In Studi in onore di Raffaele Spongano, ed. Emilio Pasquini. Bologna: Boni, 1980, pp. 29-47.
The Apostolic Brotherhood, a religious sect also called Doicinites, pseudoapostles, or minimi, was founded in Parma c. 1260 by Gerardo Segarelli, an uneducated laborer. Gerardo was apparently influenced by the apocalyptic speculations of Joachim of Fiore, whose disciples had predicted that the year 1260 would begin a new, more spiritual age in Christian history. To usher in this new age, Gerardo began going about as he imagined the apostles doing, living in poverty and preaching the gospel. He soon attracted followers who, like himself, tried to imitate Christ and the apostles, even in their dress: they wore tunics of rough white cloth with a cord cincture and had long hair and beards. They recognized no authority in their midst, took no vows, and felt bound only by the practice of poverty and the spirit of love. They did not pretend to offer a new message; they taught only the gospel. Women soon joined the sect and were also accepted as apostles.
The group operated for many years in and around Parma with no interference from the ecclesiastical authorities. The bishop of Parma treated them as eccentrics rather than heretics. Meanwhile, Gerardo seems to have been content to live as an equal among his followers, although he did use his influence to encourage missionaries to go to other parts of Italy, southern France, and Spain.
The growth of the brotherhood eventually drew the attention of the papacy, however; and in 1286, Pope Honorius IV ordered that all the Apostolic Brothers were to be rounded up and imprisoned. Four years later Pope Nicholas IV repeated the order, this time calling for inquisitorial intervention. In 1294, four important members of the sect were captured at Parma; shortly afterward they were tried by the inquisitorial tribunal and executed. Gerardo then submitted himself to the bishop's tribunal, recanted, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. The bishop commuted this sentence to perpetual house arrest in the episcopal palace. Meanwhile, the inquisitors continued their suppression of the brotherhood. In 1300, they called Gerardo before them on suspicion of having relapsed. He was found guilty and burned with several recalcitrants, although a number of his followers recanted and were given penances.
The reaction of many in the sect to this persecution is reflected in the views of Gerardo's successor, Dolcino di Novara. Dolcino propounded a radical form of Joachimism, branding all who opposed the sect ministers of Satan and declaring that the enemies of the brotherhood might be killed because they were attacking the true church. Dolcino and a sizable band of followers remained at large for seven years, often hiding in the mountains. When they became increasingly violent, plundering the countryside from a stronghold in the Alps, Pope Clement V called a crusade against them. An army led by the bishop of Vercelli defeated Dolcino's force and captured him in early 1307. Three months later he was executed.
The death of Dolcino did not finish the Apostolic Brotherhood. The brotherhood seems to have survived well into the fourteenth century, and it was still of sufficient concern to be mentioned as a menace by the council of Narbonne in 1374. However, later identifications were sometimes a result of confusion with other groups, such as the the Beghards and Beguines.
See also Dolcino, Fra; Heresy and Religious Dissent; Joachim of Fiore
THOMAS TURLEY
Bernard Gui. Practica inquisitionis haereticae pravitatis, ed. Célestin Douais. Paris: Picard, 1886, pp. 257-264, 296-298, 327-355.
Anagnine, Eugenio. Dolcino e il movimento ereticale all'inizio del Trecento. Florence: Nuova Italia, 1964.
Orioli, Raniero, ed. Fra Dolcino: Nascita, vita, e morte di un 'eresia medievale, 3rd ed. Novara: Europi'a, (See also 4th ed. Novara, Europía, 1993.)
—, ed. Venit perfidus heresiarcha: II Movimento apostolico-dolciniano dal 1260 al 1307. Rome: Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo, 1988b.
Späding, Luchesius. De apostolicis, pseudoapostolicis, apostolinis. Munich: n.p., 1947.
Aquileia was founded in 181 B.C. on the Via Postumia—the Roman highway centered on Cremona—and rapidly became an important Roman commercial and military center. According to tradition, Saint Mark established the first Christian bishopric at Aquileia, although the see really dates from the third century. By the fourth century, Aquileia had become the administrative capital of Venetia and Istria, and in the fifth century, it was designated a metropolitan see.
Bishop Macedonius of Aquileia ran afoul of Rome when he embraced the heretical Three Chapters and was condemned by Pope Vigilius in 554. Defiantly, Macedonius declared Aquileia independent of the Holy See and adopted the title "patriarch" to underscore his succession from Saint Mark and his equality with the successor of Saint Peter. But the greatest threat to Aquileia was not the pope in Rome. In 568, the Lombards swept into the region and conquered the city. Patriarch Paoiino I gathered his clergy and the faithful and fled to Aquileia's island port of Grado. There he and his successors remained in exile. In 607, a new patriarch, Candianus, restored the see to obedience to Roman; but in so doing, although he ended one schism, he started another. Refusing to accept submission to Rome, the bishops on the Lombard mainland elected their own patriarch, John.
As long as the patriarch of Aquileia remained schismatic, the pope and the emperor in Constantinople recognized the patriarch in Grado as the legitimate successor of the metropolitan see; but this changed in 696 when at last the patriarch in Aquileia returned to obedience to Rome. With no schism, there was therefore no longer a need for two patriarchs. Not surprisingly, neither metropolitan was willing to have his see dissolved. Pope Sergius I recognized both, dividing the old Aquileian jurisdiction between them
Relations between the patriarchs of Aquileia and Grado were never good. Each prelate considered his neighbor a usurper of his own rights and privileges. Because of its position on the mainland, the see of Aquileia was invariably controlled and enriched by mainland powers. In 770, the Lombards conquered Istria, allowing the patriarch to take control of the church there. At the synod of Mantua in 827, the pope formally recognized what was already fact, transferring jurisdiction over Istria to Aquileia. As a result, the patriarch of Grado became little more than the prelate of the Venetian lagoon.
During the first half of the eleventh century, Aquileia profited greatly from good relations between the papacy and the German empire. Patriarch Poppone of TrefFen acquired extensive political privileges and lands from the German kings. It was he who built the beautiful Basilica Teodoriana in Aquileia. In the papal court he argued that the patriarchate of Grado was useless and redundant and should be dissolved. The patriarch of Grado was summoned to Rome to discuss the situation but did not come. Taking matters into his own hands, Poppone invaded Grado in 1024, capturing the cathedral and palace and presenting the new pope, John XIX, with a fait accompli. Soon afterward, the Venetians came to the aid of their prelate, forcing Poppone back to the mainland. At a synod in 1027, the pope and the German emperor Conrad II pronounced Poppone the metropolitan of both Aquileia and Grado, thus dissolving the latter see. But the Venetians stood ready to fight for their patriarch, so the decree could not be implemented. In 1044, the patriarchal dignity was officially restored to Grado.
During the ensuing struggle between the empire and the papacy, Aquiieia was firmly in the German camp while the patriarchs of Grado were themselves active reformers. In 1053, Pope Leo IX declared Grado "New Aquiieia" and transferred jurisdiction over Istria and the patriarchal title to the island see. The patriarchs of Aquiieia ignored the papal constitutions, retaining their power until it was officially restored to them by Pope Innocent II in 1132. Istria, however, remained a bone of contention, particularly as Venice extended political control over the region.
The struggle between Aquilieia and Grado continued throughout the Middle Ages, with neither side willing to give ground. Aquiieia remained a feudal principality until the Venetians conquered Friuli in 1420. Even then the patriarch refused to acknowledge the conquest for twenty-five years. In 1445, he accepted a treaty that reduced his possessions to the city of Aquileia, San Vito, and San Daniele del Friuli. Henceforth, all patriarchs of Aqulieia were Venetian. The patriarchate was suppressed in 1751.
THOMAS F. MADDEN
Atti delk Settimana di studi aquileiesi. Udine: Arti Grafiche Friulane, 1972- (Proceedings of an annual conference on Aquileian history and culture; topics vary yearly.)
Kehr, Paul F. "Rom und Venedig." Quellen und Forschungen aus Italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken, 19, 1927, pp. 1-180.
Schmidinger, Heinrich. Patriarch und Landesherr: Die weldicbe Herrscbaft der Patriarchen von Aquileja bis zum Ende der Staufer, Graz: H. Böhlaus, 1954.
—. Patriarch im Abendland: Beiträge zur Geschichte des Papsttums, Roms, und Aquileias im Mittelalter, ed. Heinz Dopsch, Heinrich Roller, and Peter F. Kramml. Salzburg: Verlag Saint Peter, 1986.
The northern Italian city of Aquilieia became a patriarchate in the sixth century. Though there has been speculation about an independent liturgical rite being celebrated there, and even a repertoire of Old Aquileian chant, the surviving evidence is very scanty. There are some details in early liturgical sources that suggest distinct practices: the Sanctus is not yet found among eucharistic prayers, and Patriarch Paulinus is mentioned in the Canon. Some Aquileian sacramentaries are distinguished from other mixed Gelasian books in the preface of the mass and the use of certain prayers from the Gregorian missal. An anonymous seventh-century source mentions the fourth-century Aquileian bishop Cromatius in relation to the origins of chant, and an eleventh-century musical source contains a pre-Carolingian baptismal rite with melodies that are notably simpler than settings of the same texts found in Gregorian and Ambrosian sources. A twelfth-century trope survives that gives evidence of local composition, and liturgical drama was quite popular. These elements may suggest unique liturgical practices and a unique musical repertoire, but so little survives that we cannot speak with certainty on the exact nature of an early independent rite or its accompanying liturgy and music. Many fourteenth- and fifteenth-century plenary missals survive—such as the Missale pro S. Aquileiensis ecclesiae ritu, which appeared in 1494, 1517, and 1519—but the differences they contain in comparison with other rites are limited. Following the Council of Trent, the Roman missal of Pope Paul V was put into use, and the patriarchate rite was abolished in 1594-1595.
See also Ambrosian Chant; Aquileia; Gregorian Chant; Liturgy
BRAD MAIANI
Gamber, Klaus. Codices liturgici latini antiquiores, 2nd ed, Freiburg, 1968, pp. 81 -83, 187-189, 287-291, 397-405.
Huglo, Michel. "Vestigio di un antico repertorio rnusicale dell'Alta Italia apparentato col canto ambrosiano." Ambrosius, 31, 1955, p. 34.
—. "La liturgia e la musica sacra aquileiese." In Storia della cultura veneta, ed. Gianfranco Folena. Vicenza, 1976- .
Zovatto, P. L. "II Santo Sepolcro di Aquileia e il dramma medievale." Atti e Memorie dellAccademia di Udine, 6th series, 13, 1954-1957, p. 127.
Between the ninth century and the eleventh, Sicily was occupied and ruled by Muslims. During the first phase of this period, Muslim Sicily—in Arabic, Siqilliyya—suffered from the sort of upheavals that characterize newly colonized regions, and the unrest there was compounded by dynastic tensions and transitions elsewhere in the Arab world. The relative peace and prosperity that followed this first century as a Muslim state—roughly, from the mid-tenth century until the mid-eleventh—was shattered by the arrival of Norman conquerors. The Normans' first military activity on the island occurred in 1038, and they finally took Palermo, the chief city of Muslim Sicily, in 1072. The Normans" rule of the island (along with the southern part of the Italian mainland) ended with the death of the last Norman king of Sicily, William III, in 1194. Throughout the Norman era, Arabic culture remained a dominant presence in the kingdom of Sicily.
Because of the unrest that characterized the early years of Muslim rule in Sicily, the cultural life of the state did not come into its own until roughly the time of the Norman conquest. The great medieval anthology of Sicilian poets, collected by Ibn al-Qatta' (1041-1121), has been lost. But an Andalusian, 'Imad al-Din (1125-1201), included the works of some Siculo-Arab poets of the eleventh and twelfth centuries in his anthology of the poetry of his age. For these reasons, the Arabic literature written in and about Sicily during the Norman era has attracted more scholarly attention than the sparse literature preserved from the early years of Muslim Siqilliyya. The Arabic literature of Norman Sicily—which includes poetry written both to praise and to condemn the Norman conquerors of Sicily, travelers' accounts of Sicily, and a small number of scientific and philosophical works—provides a remarkable portrait of a state under Christian rule but still to a large extent culturally Arabic.
Ibn Jubayr, an Andalusian who wrote a record of his travels while on pilgrimage, left a succinct and eloquent account of the cultural tension during the years of Norman domination. In 1184, on his return from Mecca, Ibn Jubayr was shipwrecked in Sicily. He tells us that the Sicilian monarch, William II, came to the dock to welcome the travelers and personally paid the landing fee for the Muslims on Ibn Jubayr's ship. Ibn Jubayr considers William's admiration of Muslim learning, like the island's famous volcano, Etna, to be one of the wonders of Sicily. William speaks Arabic; he has an 'alama (an Arabic honorific title used in numismatic and architectural inscriptions and in the heading of official documents); he retains Muslim physicians and astrologers. But Ibn Jubayr also illustrates through interviews and anecdotes the daily lives of Muslim Sicilians, who endure increasingly severe economic and religious restrictions. During Ibn Jubayr's visit, Palermo was rocked by an earthquake. Ibn Jubayr tells us that the palace rang with the cries of William's servants—many of whom had converted to Christianity as a condition of employment—calling on Allah, in the moment of crisis, to save them. William, unperturbed, was reported to have said: "Let each of you call upon the God to whom you are subject; let that give you peace."
The Norman monarchs—in particular Roger II, king of Sicily from 1095 until 1154—encouraged the composition of panegyric poetry in their honor. One poet, known as al-Atrabanishi (the name means "from Trapani"), wrote a panegyric for Roger celebrating the royal fishing preserve, Favara. "O Favara!" the poet sings, "in you, desires converge! ... It is as if your waters, where they flow together, in their clarity were melted pearls, and the land were dusky skin." Because of its beauty and elegance, this has become the most famous of the Arabic poems of Sicily. Gabrieli (1980) called it "practically the symbol of Muslim Sicily," despite the fact that it was a product of a Sicily under Norman, not Muslim, rule. 'Imad al-Din's anthology preserves a number of other panegyrics written for the Norman monarchs. Al-Buthayri ("from Butera"), for instance, celebrated the Norman line as a "dynasty that rivals the empires of the Caesars." Another poet, Abu Hafs, was imprisoned by Roger and wrote an impassioned poem celebrating the monarch in the hope of winning his release.
Most of the Arabic poetry of the Norman era, however, denounces the Norman conquerors. (The most notable exception is al-Balianubi—"from Villanova"—who left Sicily after the Norman conquest but did not use anti-Norman invective as a poetic theme.) Abu al-'Arab (1032-1112 or 1113), much celebrated for his eloquence, wrote contemptuous verses accusing his homeland of betrayal for having fallen to the Normans. So did 'Abd al-Halim, who drew an implicit comparison between Muslim Sicily's capitulation to the Normans and Adam's fall: "Ardently did I love Sicily as a young man, and it was like a corner of the garden of eternity; but it was not ordained that I should live to middle age before it became a burning hell." Abu Musa produced a bitter denunciation of the Normans. He also left a number of tender poems celebrating his love for a "blond girl," who may herself have been a Norman. This interpretation is supported by one of the more enigmatic verses in the poet's anti-Norman invective: "Is it beautiful to forsake one who has affection for you? And is it lawful, in the Messiah's faith?" The anti-Norman poems illustrate the upheavals and the tension that followed the Normans' arrival and serve as testaments to the attachment that Muslim Sicilians felt to their homeland before its loss.
Arab Sicilians and Arab visitors to the Sicilian court also produced important non-poetic literary works. Ibn al-Qatta', who compiled the lost anthology of Sicilian poets, wrote a history of Sicily, which has also been lost. Al-Idrisi (1100-1166) was born in Ceuta, in present-day Morocco. It was at Roger's court, however, that he wrote his great geography, one of the most ambitious and accurate treatises of the Middle Ages: Kitab al-Rujjar (Book of Roger). Al-Idrisi interviewed travelers arriving in Sicily for information concerning the lands they had visited. On the basis of these interviews, a globe was constructed from precious metals, and Al-Idrisi wrote his geography as an accompanying gloss for the globe. According to some sources, the prominent writer Ibn Zafar (1104-1171) was born in Sicily. He was raised in Mecca, however, and returned to Sicily only as an adult. Some scholars believe that he was living in Sicily when he wrote his "mirror for princes," Sulwan al-Muta'. The text was well known and had a wide circulation in the Arab world.
Sicily's most prominent Arab writer, and one of the greatest Arab poets of the Middle Ages, was Ibn Hamdis (1056-1133). Ibn Hamdis was born in Sicily, after the Norman invasions of the island had begun. He was sixteen years old when the Normans took Palermo. Six years later he left, and he spent the rest of his life in al-Andalus (Andalusia) and North Africa. His magnificent poems about Sicily, known as the siqilliyyat, are imbued with the exile's tender nostalgia and bitterness. One of the most haunting of these begins with a description of an idyllic scene from the poet's youth in Sicily: a bacchanalian party at a convent, where Ibn Hamdis and his friends obtained wine from the nuns and entertained each other with music through the night. As the poem draws to a close, the poet turns to the theme of memory, contrasting his recollections of the lost delights of his homeland with his suffering in exile. "I remember Sicily," he writes, "and sorrow is aroused in my soul by the memory." The poem's rhyme scheme requires that each line end with a feminine possessive pronoun. The pronoun may refer to any feminine noun (and also to plural masculine nouns), but in Ibn Hamdis's poem its most frequent referent is Sicily. This knell at the close of each line dramatizes the exiled poet's obsessive memories of his lost homeland.
The Arab writers of the Norman age represent, ironically, the culmination of Arabic literature in Sicily. Frederick II, son of a Norman mother and the Hohenstaufen king Henry VI, was king of Sicily from 1197 until 1250, He maintained significant contacts with Arab rulers and cultural figures outside Sicily, and translations of Arabic philosophical and scientific texts were made during his reign (including a translation of Maimonides's Guide for the Perplexed, which has been lost). But Frederick's treatment of the Muslims in his own kingdom contrasted sharply with his enthusiasm for Arabic culture. He transferred the Muslims remaining in Sicily to a ghetto city on the Italian mainland, Lucera (in present-day Puglia, or Apulia). By the beginning of the thirteenth century, Arabic ceased to function as a language of culture in the kingdom of Sicily. Some scholars have argued that Sicily's Arabic literary tradition influenced the poets of the scuola siciliana, who wrote during Frederick's reign. Although no convincing evidence to support this supposition has appeared, the remarkably swift transition between Arabic and Romance literary traditions in Sicily remains one of the most striking, and least understood, chapters in medieval literary history.
See also Arabs in Italy; Frederick II Hohenstaufen; Normans; Roger II; Scuola Poetica Sicilian a; William II
KARLA MALLETTE
Abbas, Ihsan, A Biographical Dictionary of Sicilian Learned Men and Poets. Beirut: Dar al-Gharb al-Islarni, 1994.
Amari, Michele. Storia dei Musulmani di Sicilia, 2nd ed., 3 vols., ed. G. Levi della Vida and C. A. Nallino. Catania, 1930-1939.
De Stefano, Antonino. La cultura in Sicilia nel periodo normanno. Bologna: Zanichelli, 1954.
Gabrieli, Francesco. "Ibn Hamdis." In Delle cose di Sicilia, ed. Leonardo Sciascia. Palermo: Sellerio, 1980, Vol. 1, pp. 21-48.
Granara, William. "Ibn Hamdis and the Poetry of Nostalgia." In The Literature of Al-Artdalus, ed. Maria Rosa Menocal, Raymond P. Scheindlin, and Michael Sells. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000, pp. 388-403.
Ibn Jubayr. The Travels of Ibn Jubayr, trans. R. J. C. Broadhurst. London: Cape, 1952.
Ibn Zafar. Sulwan al-muta', ossiano Conforti politici, trans. Michele Amari, ed. Paolo Minganti. Palermo, 1973.
al-Idrisi. L 'Italia ckscritta nel Libro del Re Ruggero, trans. M. Amari and C. Schiaparelli. Rome: Coi Tipi del Salviucci, 1883.
Mallette, Karla. "Poetries of the Norman Courts." In The Literature of Al-Andalus, ed. Maria Rosa Menocal, Raymond P. Scheindlin, and Michael Sells. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000, pp. 377-387.
Poeti arabi di Sicilia, ed. and trans. Francesca Maria Corrao. Milan: Mondadori, 1987.
For roughly three centuries—the ninth, tenth, and eleventh— the Arabs played a major role in Italian history. During most of that period, they held Sicily and even penetrated the Italian mainland. After Sicily fell to the Normans, however, Arabs were no longer seen as dominant or threatening, and the character of the interrelationship changed. Norman Sicily continued to have a large Arab population; thus Arab influence was noticeable there in architecture as well as in the Norman court and its cultural interests. Later, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, one can detect even in mainland Italy some elements of Arab influence—for example, in literary forms and in science. Also, trade with the Arab world persisted; Genoa offers a prime example. But by then the Arabs who had invaded Italy were only a remote memory.
Therefore, we must concentrate here on the first phase, primarily the ninth through the eleventh centuries. It had begun gradually, with intermittent raids on Byzantine-held Sicily not long after Egypt and then most of North Africa had surrendered to Arab armies. (Alexandria was taken in 642, and by 670 the Arabs' power was solidifying in what is now Tunisia.) In the early eighth century, most of Spain was also taken, Italy's vulnerability increased, and there were more reports of raids and piracy. But the true dimensions of the threat did not become apparent until the ninth century, when the situation became much more complex.
Mahomet (Muhammad). Hartmann Schedel, Liber chronicarum (Nuremberg Chronicle). Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 1493, p. 151v.
The first dramatic development was the Arab conquest of Sicily, which began in 827. The western half of the island, including Palermo, was quickly taken, and then much of the northeast; Messina fell in 842. It is true that the entire island did not come under Arab control until the turn of the tenth century. (Beleaguered Syracuse, the Byzantine capital of Sicily, had held out until 878, and a few lesser outposts even longer.) But as early as 831, when Palermo was declared the new Arab capital, the implications for mainland Italy seemed clear. There would surely now be more raids on the mainland, and other contacts were also more likely. There is evidence that trading had never entirely ceased between southern Italy and what were now Muslim territories; with Sicily in Arab hands, the potential for this commerce would be enhanced. More immediately, however, there was a different development: in the mid-830s, local southern Italian rulers started hiring bands of Arab mercenaries, mainly from Sicily.
Naples, under continual attack from the southern Lombards based at Benevento and Salerno, was the first city to bring in such mercenaries. Less than five years later, both Benevento and Salerno (by then at war with each other) did the same. From that point on, through the rest of the ninth century and into the early tenth century, southern Italy knew Arabs in several roles. Some were imported as mercenaries and then stayed on as freebooters, operating from bases scattered throughout the lower peninsula and marauding as far north as the duchy of Spoleto and Farfa. Others came uninvited, including one group which seized the important port of Bari on the Adriatic and created there a minor emirate that lasted from 847 to 871. Actually, many of these invaders, like many of the presumably Arab conquerors of Sicily, were probably Berber; the North African Berbers had been converted to Islam after being conquered by the Arabs. But to the victims of their raids—such as those who were seized and carried off for the slave trade—this ethnic differentiation hardly mattered. Nor did it matter to the important monasteries of southern Italy; for them, the crucial issue was the continual menace represented by all the interlopers. Both Monte Cassino and San Vincenzo al Volturno were raided again and again, and, in the early 880s, both had to be abandoned; they remained abandoned for several decades.
In marked contrast, successive dukes of Naples, the Lombard rulers of Benevento and Salerno, and port towns such as Gaeta and Amalfi seem to have remained, for the most part, on excellent terms with these "infidels." There were reasons for this. During most of the ninth century, Byzantium, which claimed a significant portion of southern Italy, was in no position to intervene there; and the Carolingians, mostly preoccupied with matters far to the north, appeared equally disinterested. So it was perhaps inevitable that, for example, Naples in the second half of the ninth century became known as a "second Palermo": the streets of the city were full of Arab visitors, and even the powerful bishop of Naples committed himself to a connection with the Arabs. To southern Italian leaders concerned with survival, it must have seemed that the region's future lay with the Muslim world.
There were, nonetheless, a few notable interventions. In 846 a combined Sicilian and North African force had dared to attack Rome (and had carried away an array of treasures from Saint Peter's and other churches). In response, the emperor Lothar dispatched to southern Italy an army led by his son, the future emperor Louis II. Although the raiders who attacked Rome had come directly from overseas, Lothar plainly saw southern Italy as the root of the problem. In due course, Louis cleared away some of the Arabs, partly by forcing a settlement of the southern Lombards' civil war. About twenty-five years later, in 871, Louis finally managed to take Bari, dislodging the Arab emirate that had stood as the most glaring example of the Muslims' dominance. After Louis's death, however, Pope John VIII found Naples, Salerno, Gaeta, and Amalfi still intransigent; neither large bribes nor excommunication could persuade them to break their links to the Arabs. Even a fierce Arab attack on the city of Salerno, mounted by the North African emir in the 870s with the clear intention of conquest, had dampened their enthusiasm only temporarily.
By the turn of the century, however, we find a change, for which two developments were primarily responsible. First, in the 880s, the Byzantine emperor had moved to restore Byzantium's image and power in the Italian peninsula—no doubt also hoping to retake Sicily eventually. Armies were dispatched, and the Lombards, who had been dominant throughout most of southern Italy for centuries, were stripped of much of Apulia and Calabria. This altered the balance of power in the south, but it also suggested new possibilities to the rulers of the minor Lombard states; Byzantium could provide a counterfoil to the Arab thrust. In 902, something happened that made this possibility seem eminently desirable: an implacable North African emir, Ibrahim, who terrified not only Christians but even his fellow Muslims, led the fiercest Arab attack ever against southern Italy. Although Ibrahim died suddenly in Calabria before he could fully achieve his goals, his campaign caused southern Italians to reconsider their tolerance of the Arabs in their midst. At that time, the most rapacious Arab enclave was situated along the Garigliano River, near Gaeta. It constituted a threat not only to Rome but also to Lombard Capua, and so the Capuans, after failing to dislodge the Garigliano Arabs with the help of some Neapolitans and Amalfitans, sought help from Constantinople. In 915, a combined army of Byzantine and Lombard southern Italians, supplemented by northern and papal forces and with a Byzantine fleet standing offshore, swept the Garigliano region clean.
General histories of medieval Europe often portray the action in Garigliano as signifying the end of the Arabs' presence in mainland Italy, but this was not the case. Although Campania seems to have been little troubled thereafter, Genoa was raided in 934 and again in 935, and Pisa was raided as late as 1004. Moreover, Byzantine southern Italy—Apulia and Calabria—continued for a long time to be plagued by Arab raiders. Important towns there were devastated, and in the mid-tenth century Byzantium, its hold significantly weakened, was forced to condone widespread payments of tribute to the Arabs and to accept the building of a mosque at Reggio Calabria. The situation eased somewhat in the later tenth century, when there were power struggles among the Arabs. Nonetheless, in the first half of the eleventh century Calabria still suffered sporadic attacks.
In one respect, however, the year 915 and the Garighano campaign did indeed mark a watershed. With Arab raiders gone from their immediate area, the independent minor states of southern Italy began to strengthen their economic relationship with the Arab world. By then the political situation in Campania (the core area of these small independent states) was stable; there was no further need for Arab mercenaries. Instead, we find increased prosperity and agricultural activity, and the widespread use of a Sicilian and North African coinage, the tari. Locally, the carrying trade with the Arab world was dominated by the city-state of Amalfi; there are reports of Amalfitans throughout the Arab Mediterranean, from Palestine to Spain, during the tenth and eleventh centuries. But Amalfi was plainly not alone in benefiting from this trade; almost everywhere in Campania, in charters from this period, tari are cited as the medium of exchange.
It was surely no coincidence that this period was the golden age of Arab Sicily. The conquest of the island had taken up most of the ninth century, and in the late eleventh century the Sicilian Arabs would dissolve into factionalism, making it easier for the Normans to take over. But in the tenth century and the early eleventh, Sicily was more or less stable and well-governed. Simultaneously, moreover, the Fatimid region in North Africa was thriving, and in 969 its ruler assumed control of Egypt as well. Sicily and North Africa were relatively near Campania, and Amalfi seems to have enjoyed particularly good relations with the Fatimids.
In the early eleventh century, Byzantium gave more attention to southern Italy, putting new pressures on the southern Lombard principalities. At the same time, a number of Normans appeared on the scene, in essence assuming the role once taken by Arab mercenaries. During the resulting disorder and conflict (which involved the papacy as well), we hear little about Arabs until a move by the Normans against Sicily in the second half of the century. Yet Campania (particularly Amalfi and Salerno) had obviously maintained strong links with the Arab world; and, notably, Constantinus Africanus, the Arab who in the latter eleventh century played such as important role in medical teaching at Salerno, was said to have come there initially as a merchant.
Constantinus Africanus is the first example of an Arab conveying Arab high culture to mainland Italy. The marauding bands of the ninth century left no trace except destruction (and, in reaction, increased fortification). The Bari emirate, essentially the creation of dissident adventurers, also left no lasting mark. Even the nearness of Arab Sicily had not resulted in any major cultural transmission. Not until the Norman twelfth century did that situation change; only in the period of Roger II does one begin to encounter translations from Arabic scientific works, an appreciation of Siculo-Arab poetry, and a conscious adoption of an Islamic aesthetic in building and decoration. Earlier, the most one can say is that trade with the Arabs brought into Italy material objects from the Islamic world. In treasuries throughout Italy, one can still find examples of tenth- and eleventh-century Islamic glass and metalwork, and we know that textiles also came in. Presumably this explains why, here and there in southern Italy, one finds Islamic motifs incorporated into some buildings of this period.
Otherwise, however, the first three centuries of interaction with the Arab world seemingly had little impact on the culture of mainland Italy. There was an economic impact—positive for Campania, largely negative for the regions held by Byzantium— but nothing broader. Perhaps the reason, in part, was that Sicily, the nearest Arab territory, bore little resemblance to Muslim Spain. We do find some mention of Arab Sicily, especially its poets, in Arab sources. Overall, however, Sicily was scarcely a center of high culture, and its rulers were very minor figures in the Islamic world. Even those Arabs who figured prominently in the court of Roger II, or during the time of Frederick II, were often not native Sicilians.
If Italy in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries showed some fondness for Islamic motifs and forms, one must attribute it not to "Arabs in Italy" but rather to influences from Norman Sicily, Frederick II, and miscellaneous Arab contacts during and after the period of the Crusades. The last colony of Arabs in mainland Italy was an unfortunate group of Sicilian Arabs settled by Frederick II in and around his fortified castle of Lucera in the 1220s; evidently, they had been brought there as involuntary exiles after rebellions by the Arab population in Sicily. On two occasions, some of these Arabs around Lucera served Frederick as an elite fighting corps—once again, then, they might be described as imported Arab mercenaries—but for the most part the colony, numbering in the thousands, was simply settled on agricultural lands around Lucera. For a time, this transplantation appeared successful. However, after Frederick's death and the imposition of Angevin rule, the descendants of the original colony had no protectors. They were resented by those who coveted their lands and were preached against as infidels and idolaters. Most of them were massacred in 1300, and like their ninth-century predecessors on the mainland of Italy, these Arabs left no trace,
See also Amain; Constantinus Africanus; Frederick II Hohenstaufen; Garigliano, Battle of; Naples; Normans; Palermo; Roger II; Salerno; Sicily
BARBARA M. KREUTZ
Ahmad, Aziz. A History of Islamic Sicily. Edinburgh, 1975.
Amari, Michele. Storia dei Musulmani di Sicilia, 3 vols., 2nd ed., annot. C. A. Nallino. Catania, 1933.
Cilento, Nicola. "Le incursioni saraceniche nell'Italia meridionale," In his Italia meridionale longbarda. Milan and Naples, 1966.
Ferber, Stanley, ed. Islam and the Medieval West, Vol. 1. Binghamton, 1975.
Gabrieli, Francesco, and Umberto Scerrato. Gli Arabi in Italia. Milan, 1979. (Reprint, 1985.)
Kreutz, Barbara M. Before the Normans: Southern Italy in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991.
Menocal, Maria Rosa. The Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1987.
See Sicily
See Arnolfo di Cambio; Pisano, Nicola
See Pavia
Arduin (d. 1015) was marquess of Ivrea, in the Piedmont. During the reign of the German Roman emperor Otto III, Arduin became embroiled in a land dispute with Bishop Peter of Vercelli, and in 997 Arduin and his followers killed the bishop and burned his cathedral. For this act, Arduin's lands were confiscated and he was condemned to a life of penitent wandering. However, Otto III died without heirs in 1002. His death gave Arduin—who was a relative of Berengar II of Italy (950-961)—a chance to secure election as king of Italy, during an interregnum before the German princes elected Henry of Bavaria as king of Germany and future Roman Emperor,
From 1004 on, Arduin was challenged on a number of occasions by Henry II, but he held out in his homelands in northwestern Italy until 1014. Then, worn out by the constant conflict, Ar duin retired to a monastery, where he died the next year.
See also Henry II, Saint and Emperor; Lombards; Otto III
KATHERINE FISCHER DREW
Holthouse, Edwin H. "The Emperor Henry II." In Cambridge Medieval History, Vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1922.
Previté-Orton, C. W. "Italy in the Tenth Century." In Cambridge Medieval History, Vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1922.
Romano, Giacinto. Le dominazioni barbariche in Italia (395—1024), Milan: Vallardi, n.d. (Possibly 1933.)
See Giotto di Bondone; Padua; Scrovegni Family Chapel
During the reign of the emperor Augustus, Arezzo had a primary role in Etruria (region VII); but by the fourth century after Christ the city was in a period of economic and political decline. There are few literary or archaeological sources for this period. Undoubtedly, Christianity spread rapidly in and around Arezzo, aided primarily by a good network of roads in the region, even though the Via Cassia was relocated almost 20 kilometers west of the city in a.d. 123. As the new religion became widespread, Arezzo came to comprise a vast diocese—the most extensive in Tuscany before 1325.
During no era did political and religious jurisdictions coincide. In the east at the higher elevations of the Tiber Valley, for example, the comitatus of Arezzo included part of the diocese of Citta di Castello; but to the southwest the diocese of Arezzo included a huge territory that was politically dominated by Siena. In all four Aretine valleys—Casentino, Valdarno Superiore, Valdichiana, and Valtiberina—there are clear traces of the ethnic presence and dominance of the Ostrogoths between 480 and 553, and these traces are most evident in the toponymy.
As early as this period, urban growth—from the southern slopes (250 meters above sea level) to which it had extended in the late Etruscan era of the third century B.C.—was restricted to the summit of the hill (300-310 meters); it would spread from there to the south and west in the eleventh century. On the small rise of Pionta, 1 kilometer southwest of the city wall (of which little remains), there is archaeological evidence of an important early Christian necropolis, with epigraphs dating from 407 and 408. A later necropolis was built on this site in the sixth and seventh centuries. Sometime before 840, on the same site, the cathedral of Santa Maria and Santo Stefano was built over the necropolis, which then became, after numerous alterations and annexations, the fortified citadel of the bishop until 1203. A document of the emperor Charles the Bald dating from 876 mentions that on the summit of the hill around the forum were a public granary; an already abandoned church, San Benedetto; and another church, San Pietro. Via Maior—the main road (as the name implies) and part of the ancient Roman cardo—rises from the midpoint of the slope to its summit. This road corresponds to the present-day Via Pellicceria and Via delle Gagliarde. Other streets identified on the rectangular Etruscan-Roman town plan (e.g., the present Corso Italia and Via Cesalpino) survive as roadways outside the city wall.
Pieve di Santa Maria, Arezzo. Photograph courtesy of Christophei Kleinhenz.
Arezzo was completely occupied by the Longobards in all likelihood by 599, following a peace treaty between their king, Agilulf, and the Byzantine exarch. Although never a part of the Longobard duchy, Arezzo remained adjacent to it for several centuries. For this reason and also because the Valdichiana—the most fertile of the Aretine valleys—was marshy, the route through Siena became the principal one between northern Italy and Rome in the interior of the peninsula sometime during the eighth century. Although archival records are lacking, indirect evidence suggests a significant expansion of Longobard influence over the Aretine territory. There are records, however, attesting to the fact that its bishops were of Latin descent, at least until the second half of the eighth century, and to the existence of a cathedral school; both factors demonstrate the persistence of a limited Roman culture between the end of the seventh century and the beginning of the eighth. Numerous tenth-century parchments bear witness to a vibrant civic and cultural rebirth in the area, which was controlled by a bishop loyal to the emperor. Among the achievements of this period were the reconstruction of the Duomo between the tenth century and the early years of the eleventh century; the consecration in 1032 of the magnificent Byzantine temple of San Donato, the fourth-century bishop and evangelist who was presumably martyred and who later became the patron saint of the diocese; and important innovations in musical notation developed by the monk Guido. A close relationship between the Aretine bishopric and the imperial Germanic authority is indicated by the presence of emperors in Arezzo for centuries: from Charlemagne to Otto I, Henry IV, Henry V (who in 1111 destroyed the urban center and its encircling towered walls), and others. Despite the power of the bishops, the city on the hill developed as a free commune, and consuls are mentioned as early as 1098. Noblemen of barbarian and feudal descent also wielded great power, bolstered by their castles in the surrounding countryside.
In 1038, the records mention an immense Platea Civitatis outside the city walls built in the High Middle Ages; this is the site of the present, smaller Piazza Grande. The Platea Civitatis was constructed next to the apse of the Pieve of Santa Maria, the mother church and baptistery; Santa Maria as we see it today was rebuilt during the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries in the typical grand style, as a people's church in contrast to the cathedral of the bishop. As early as the eleventh century, residential areas were developing outside the gates of the city walls, which were only about 1500 meters long. The first such areas were Santa Maria, to the south along the modern-day Corso Italia on the way to Rome; and Sant'Angelo, to the northeast on the road to Rimini and the Adriatic. Also in the eleventh century, a group of churches (some with hospices) are documented on the connecting roads outside the walls: Santa Croce, San Giustino, San Michele, Sant'Adriano, San Pier Piccolo, Santa Maria in Gradi, San Clemente, and Sant'Angelo in Arcaltis. Some of these churches had certainly been in existence for centuries. In the thirteenth century, Arezzo reached its greatest importance, as is evident from the founding of the university in the first decades of the century and from the construction of the monumental public palaces overlooking the Platea Civitatis; these palaces are situated on the hill near the present-day cathedral, which was begun in 1277.
Aretine architecture is characterized by simple forms and little ornamentation—an austere style that is accentuated by the local gray sandstone. Most of the medieval monuments were destroyed during the sixteenth century, when Arezzo was dominated by Florence: Pionta, the bishop's seat, was razed, as were churches and aristocratic buildings along the highest part of the hill and notable monuments in other parts of the city. Recent discoveries reveal the existence of Aretine schools of painting and miniatures dating from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
The Aretiries were the first to write in the Tuscan vernacular, which would become the Italian language. Their writers included Fra' Guittone d'Arezzo, the leader of a school of poetry; and Ristoro d'Arezzo, who wrote La composizione del mondo (1282), the first scientific work in the vernacular. This period coincides with the rule of the Ghibelline bishop and warrior Guglielmino (1248-1289) of the feudal family Ubertini.
Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca) was born in Arezzo in 1304; it was the native city of his father, ser Petracco, who had returned there from Florence as an exile. Recent archival findings show that ser Petracco worked in Arezzo as notary to Bishop Guglielmino.
Arezzo was defeated by the Florentine Guelfs at the battle of the Campaldino (1289), and this defeat contributed to a decline that had already been set in motion by geographic, economic, social, and ideological changes. The factors causing Arezzo's decline worked in favor of Florence, which flourished rapidly and developed new concepts of culture and civilization.
Under the rule of Bishop Guido Tarlati (1312-1327)—who, against the pope's wishes, crowned Ludwig the Bavarian emperor in Milan in 1327—Arezzo experienced a brief political resurgence and an energetic military and territorial expansion. At this time the largest of its many successive city walls were built; they measured more than 5 kilometers around. Even during this period, the population never reached 20,000; nevertheless, Arezzo had a thriving economy that included the production of woolen goods (until the eleventh century) and other commercial operations, such as long-distance trading, owing to its favorable location. The territory was densely populated and intensively cultivated and had hundreds of villages, some at elevations as high as 800 to 1000 meters above sea level. Because of these high altitudes and the unique features of the soil, the agricultural economy could be supplemented by forestry and herding.
After alternating phases of long, bloody battles with external enemies and between internal factions, the city became progressively impoverished and, finally, devastated. In 1384, it fell into the hands of the French condottiero Enguerrand de Coucy; he sold it to the Florentine republic, which was in a position to become a regional state.
See also Agilulf; Campaldino, Battle of; Florence; Guido d'Arezzo; Guittone d'Arezzo; Ristoro d'Arezzo
ALBERTO FATUCCHI
Translated by Adria Bernardi
Atti del Convegno su Arezzo e il suo territorio neU'alto medio evo, Arezzo, Casa del Petrarca 22-23 ottobre 1983. Cortona: Calosci, 1985.
Black, Robert. "Arezzo e la sua universita sconosciuta del Rinascimento." Atti e Memorie Accademia Petrarca di Lettere, Arti, e Scienze, 48, 1986, pp. 119ff.
Carta Arcbeologica d'ltalia, Foglio 114, ed. Ferrante Rittatore e Franco Carpanelli. Firenze, 1951.
Cherubini, Giovanni. "Schede per uno studio della società aretina alia Fine del trecento." In Contributi alio studio della storia di Arezzo, I, ed. Rotary Club di Arezzo. Arezzo, 1977.
Delumeau, Jean Pierre. "Arezzo dal IX ai primi del XII secolo: Sviluppo urbano e sociale, e gli inizi del Comune aretino." Atti e Memorie Accademia Petrarca di Lettere, Arti, e Scienze, 49, 1987, pp. 271ff.
Falciai, Massimiliano. Storia di Arezzo: Dalle origini alia fine del granducato Lorenese. Arezzo: Federico Scheggi, 1928.
Fatucchi, Alberto. "I primi mille anni della vicenda urbanistica di Arezzo." Atti e Memorie Accademia Petrarca di Lettere, Arti, e Scienze, 39, 1968-1969, pp. 284ff.
—, ed. La diocesi di Arezzo. Corpus della Scultura Altomedievale, 9. Spoleto: Centro Italiano di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo, 1977.
Franchetti Pardo, Vittorio. Arezzo. Città nella Storia d'ltalia. Rome and Bari: Laterza, 1986.
Lazzi, Giovanna, ed. Codici miniati in territorio aretino (secoli XII-XV). Florence: Le Monnier, 1990.
Maetzke, Anna Maria, ed. Arte nell'aretino: Seconda mostra di restauri dal 1975 al 1979. Dipinti e sculture restaurati dal XIII al XVIII secolo: Arezzo, San Francesco, 30 novembre 1979-13 gennaio 1980. Florence: EDAM, 1979.
Pasqui, Ubaldo, ed. Documenti per la storia della città di Arezzo nel medio evo, Vols. 1-4. Florence: G. P. Vieusseux, 1899-1937.
Salmi, Mario. Civiltà artistica della terra aretina. Novara: Istituto Geografico De Agostini, 1971.
Tabacco, Giovanni. "Nobiltà e potere ad Arezzo in età comunale." Atti e Memorie Accademia Petrarca di Lettere, Arti, e Scienze, 41, 1973-1975, 123ff.
Tafi, Angelo. Immagine di Arezzo: Guida storico-artistica—La città oltre le mura medicee e il territorio comunale. Cortona: Calosci, 1985.
Wieruszowski, Helene. "Arezzo as a Center of Learning and Letters in the Thirteenth Century." Traditio, 9, 1953, pp. 32Iff.
When the emperor Constantine I supported Christianity, he expected Christians to be a unified body, but he discovered that they were divided over the question of the relationship between God the father and Christ the son. In spite of Constantine's efforts to resolve the dispute quickly, the controversy affected churchmen and politicians throughout most of the fourth century. Orthodoxy was not fully victorious until the sixth century.
The controversy began in Alexandria c, a.d. 318, when Arius, a popular priest, reflected on the relationship between God and his son. Arius believed in the absolute singleness of the godhead, which he defined as the father. He then argued that if there was originally only one God, Jesus must have been created. Therefore, Jesus, although superior to every other creature, was subordinate—not equal—to God the father. Furthermore, Arius claimed that as a creature, Christ was not eternal.
It did not take long for Arius's views to be opposed. Arius's superior, Bishop Alexander, called a synod in 320, condemned Arius's ideas, and articulated the position that Christ was eternal and eternally God. The bishops at this synod believed that only by the incarnation of the true God could human flesh be fully redeemed, and the crucifixion of a created being would not have accomplished such salvation. Athanasius, Alexander's successor to the see of Alexandria in 328, took up the struggle against the Arians. Athanasius's writings on the subject, such as Discourse against the Avians (350), did much to establish the church doctrine of the Trinity.
By the time Constantine became the sole emperor in 324, both sides in the dispute had found many supporters. To try to resolve the issue, Constantine presided over the first ecumenical council, the Council of Nicaea, in 325. This council developed a creed that supported the bishop of Alexandria and explicitly denied the Arian position. But Constantine's hope of resolving the theological issue by imperial fiat was unrealistic: Christians who believed that their salvation depended on a correct understanding of the relationship among the members of the Trinity did not easily give up the struggle.
Churchmen trying to find an acceptable understanding of the Trinity held many councils during the next decades. They proposed various formulas to solve the debate, and passions raged about the subtle meanings of disputed Greek words. Was Jesus of the same substance (homoousia) as the father, or of like substance (homoiousia)? Was Jesus exactly like (homoios) or—as the most radical Arians claimed—unlike (anomoios) the father? Only when churchmen finally agreed that there could be various interpretations of each word would they be able to form a coalition including all but the most radical Arians. However, imperial politics further complicated the theological discussions.
Just as Constantine had involved himself in the dispute, creating a connection between politics and theology, subsequent emperors were also drawn in. Constantine's son, Constantius, emperor of the east, supported the Arian cause, and the Arians strengthened their position at several church councils under his rule. Julian the Apostate, during his brief reign (361-363), withdrew imperial support from the Arians and permitted the Nicenes to reassert themselves. Emperor Valens (364-379) again strengthened the Arian cause, but Emperor Theodosius (379-395) finally ensured victory for the Nicenes among the Romans. In 380, Theodosius ordered everyone to adhere to the Nicene position, and he replaced all Arian bishops with Nicenes.
The Council of Constantinople in 381 drafted a creed restating the formula that the Council of Nicaea had developed fifty six years earlier; all forms of Arianism and semi-Arianism were condemned. The orthodox position was that Christ was "begotten from the Father before all ages .. . begotten, not made, of one substance with the Father." Throughout the Middle Ages, and later, this was known as the Nicene Creed. A few months after the Council of Nicaea, Ambrose of Milan presided over a council of western bishops that also condemned Arianism.
By the late fourth century, then, Arianism was no longer a real issue among Roman Christians. However, it continued to appeal to Goths. In 341, during a period of Arian ascendency, the Goth Ulfilas had been ordained a bishop. Ulfilas supported the Arian position, and his missionary work among the Goths served to make Arianism almost a Gothic religion. The Vandals, Visigoths, Burgundians, and Lombards who invaded the empire were all Arians, and their beliefs prevented them from assimilating readily with Roman Christians. Religious differences may have been a factor in the establishment of independent German kingdoms from the weakened empire.
Nevertheless, the majority—the Nicene Christians—eventually predominated. In the sixth century, all the Germanic Arians finally converted to the orthodox view. After centuries of dispute about the nature of the Trinity, Christendom was united under the difficult and mysterious concept of three persons (hypostases) who were one God, of one substance, eternally uncreated.
See also Heresy and Religious Dissent
JOYCE SALISBURY
Athanasius. "Apologia contra Arianos and 'Historia Arianorum ad Monachos." In Patrologiae cursus completus, Series Graeca, ed. J. P. Migne. Paris, 1857-1866, Vol. 25, cols. 247-410 and 691-796.
Davis, Leo Donald. The First Seven Ecumenical Councib (325-787). Wilmington, Del.: Michael Glazier, 1987.
Frend, W. H. C. The Rise of Christianity. Philadelphia, Pa.: Fortress, 1984.
Gregg, R. C., ed. Arianism: Historical and Theological Reassessments. Philadelphia, Pa.: Fortress, 1985.
Gregg, R. C., and D. E. Groh. Early Arianism: A View of Salvation. Philadelphia, Pa.: Fortress, 1981.
Gwatkin, Henry Melville. The Arian Controversy. New York: Anson D. F. Randolph, 1889.
Pollard, T. E. "The Origins of Arianism." Journal of Theological Studies, 9, 1958, pp. 103-111.
Stead, Christopher. Divine Substance. Oxford: Clarendon, 1977.
The Italian prelate Aribert (Ariberto da Antimiano; b. between 970 and 980; d. 1045) was the son of Gariardo, born at Intimiano in the province of Bergamo, Aribert rose through the ranks in the cathedral of Milan and in 1018 became archbishop with the support of Emperor Henry II and the local nobility. He used this position to strengthen the role of the archbishop in the political arena of the city of Milan. He became a strong ally of the German emperors and established a particularly close political and personal relationship with Conrad II, whom he crowned king of Italy in 1026. However, Aribert came into conflict with some of the emperor's feudal representatives in Italy; they poisoned his relations with Conrad, and the ensuing conflict lasted until the emperor's death in 1039. Aribert reestablished good relations with the new emperor, Henry III. When he became a target of civic unrest in Milan, Aribert reasserted his rule, with assistance from the Germans. Having restored peace, Aribert died in Milan on 16 January 1045.
See also Conrad II; Milan
JOHN W. BARKER AND CHRISTOPHER KLEINHENZ
Savio, Fedele. Gli antichi vescovi d'ltalia dalle origini al 1300 descritti per regioni, Vol. 1, Lombardia. Florence: Libreria Editrice Fiorentina, 1913.
Violante, Cinzio. La società milanese nell'età precomunale. Bari: Laterza, 1953.
Arichis II (c. 735-787 or 788) was duke (from 758) ana prince (from 774 or 775) of Benevento. He was invested with the duchy by his father-in-law, Desiderius, king of the Lombards, who hoped thereby to bring the duchy of Benevento more directly under Lombard control. Arichis and his wife, Adelperga, established a court at Benevento that modeled itself closely on the Lombard court at Pavia and, somewhat later, on the Byzantine court at Constantinople.
After the overthrow of the Lombard kingdom in 774 by Charlemagne, Arichis proclaimed himself prince of Benevento and claimed to be the legitimate continuator of the Lombard line. Although he was forced by the temporary presence of a Frankish army to recognize the overlordship of Charlemagne, Arichis and his successors were for all practical purposes independent until the conquest by the Normans in the eleventh century. Reflecting this independence (even before the fall of the Lombard kingdom), Arichis continued the Beneventan practice of issuing gold and, later, silver coinage. He rebuilt and expanded the fortifications of Benevento and Salerno, remodeled the ducal palace and added a palace chapel dedicated to Saint Sophia (its central plan shows the influence of Ravenna and Constantinople and prefigures Aachen), and liberally endowed a number of religious establishments. After the fall of the Lombard kingdom, Arichis issued seventeen laws to add to the corpus of Lombard legislation and to lend credence to his claims of sovereignty.
Both Arichis and Adelperga were patrons of art and learning, and their court at Benevento became a center of cultural influence. Paul the Deacon resided there for a time and dedicated his early works to Adelperga. Although the relative claims of Benevento and Monte Cassino for the establishment of a "school" are difficult to evaluate, there is no doubt that Benevento was a center of learning, and the work of the chancery, either during the time of Arichis or somewhat later, developed the very beautiful Beneventan script.
After his death, Arichis was succeeded by a younger son, Grimoald III (r. 787 or 788-806).
See also Benevento; Desiderius; Lombards
KATHERINE FISCHER DREW
Belting, Hans. Studien zum Beneventanischen Hof im 8. Jahrhundert. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 16. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies, 1962.
Pochectino, Giuseppe. I Longobardi nell'Italia meridionale (570-1080). Naples: Guida, n.d. (Possibly 1932.)
The Lombard term arimannus (plural, arimannt) was equivalent to the Latin exercitalis and signified a free Lombard soldier and property holder. Arimanni were obligated to perform military service, help maintain bridges and roads, and participate in the public courts. By the eighth century, arimanni swore an oath of fidelity to the Lombard king. During the late eighth century and the ninth century, the uniform class of Lombard smallholders and soldiers tended to disappear. Many arimanni had become tenants or had been forced into other forms of dependency, and their public duties were being privatized. Carolingian legislation aimed at protecting arimanni from the oppression of counts and other powerful lords was largely ineffective.
RICHARD RING
Henry or Henricus Aristippus (d. 1162), a prominent Latin cleric and court figure in the kingdom of Sicily during the reign of William I, brought important Greek philosophical and scientific writings into the intellectual orbit of the medieval Latin west. How he acquired his knowledge of Greek is unknown. His translation of Plato's Meno was finished sometime between early 1154 and 10 November 1160. His translation of Plato's Pbaedo was begun in the spring of 1156 while Aristippus, now archdeacon of Catania, was in camp during William's siege of Benevento. It was completed in Palermo shortly thereafter and was later revised; two forms are known, both thought to be auctorial. The Phaedo and the Meno are the only Platonic dialogues that refer by name to an Aristippus; this fact may have some bearing either on Henry Aristippus's adopted byname or, if he was already so called (probably after the ancient Greek philosopher Aristippus, also a Sicilian court figure), on his decision to translate these works. Though they were not the only sources for a knowledge of Plato, these versions in Latin, made from the original Greek, are the only complete translations of any of his dialogues known to have circulated outside the Arab world during the Middle Ages. Henry Aristippus's designedly literal efforts are now and probably always were preserved in relatively few manuscripts, but they were sought out and read by early humanists for whom their content must have been more appealing than their style.
In 1158 Aristippus returned from a diplomatic mission to Constantinople with gifts to the kingdom from the emperor Manuel I Comnenus that included a copy of the Greek text of Ptolemy's Almagest and, in all likelihood, the Greek Prophecy of the Erythrean Sibyl later translated into Latin by Eugenius of Palermo. The anonymous early translator of the Almagest (who had come to Sicily from Salerno in 1158 or 1159) tells us that he found Aristippus investigating, at some personal risk, the wonders of Mount Etna, the volcano whose lava flows have often threatened Catania and its vicinity. Apparently connected with this interest is Aristippus's undated and still only partly edited translation, from the original Greek, of Book 4 of Aristotle's Meteorology, a text dealing in part with the liquefying and congealing of matter. Known to Gerard of Cremona (d. 1187), who translated Meteorology from the Arabic, this remained the standard Latin version of Book 4 until it was superseded in the thirteenth century by William of Moerbeke's new translation of the entire work. Even so, much of it lived on, as William's version here is largely a revision of Aristippus's. Probably Aristippus's as well, and also known to Gerard, is a translation of the Greek scholia (annotations) for this book.
Preserved with the earlier form of Aristippus's translation of the Pbaedo is a preface praising the king's intellectual curiosity and providing valuable information about secular Greek texts available in Sicily. In the prologue to his translation of the Meno, Aristippus parades his connections with the powerful while proclaiming their interest in this sort of cultural acquisition: the admiral Maio (King William's chief minister) and Hugh, the archbishop of Palermo, have asked him, he says, to translate the ancient Greek Diogenes Laertius's Lives of the Philosophers-, and the king himself has commanded him to translate some writings of the Greek church father Gregory of Nazianzus. It is not absolutely certain that these announced versions were completed, but if they were, they may have been the source of quotations from both authors by Aristippus's contemporary John of Salisbury. A lost partial translation of Diogenes Laertius is usually supposed to have been Aristippus's: excerpts from it showing characteristics of his style, which allowed more lexical variation than that of most medieval western word-for-word translators, occur in the widely read De vita et moribus philosophorum (Lives of the Philosophers), formerly attributed to Walter Burley but now believed to have originated in northern Italy early in the fourteenth century. According to a recent argument, this translation was only of Books 1 and 2 of the Laertian original (plus, perhaps, the Life of Aristotle from Book 5), rather than, as commonly thought, of the entire first five books. If so, and if Henry Aristippus really was the translator, then he left it unfinished: the earlier Aristippus and Plato are both in Book 3.
Henry Aristippus's scholarly activity is often said to have ended in November 1160, when, after Maio's assassination, William I chose Aristippus to be his interim chief minister and also head of the royal chancery. Thereafter Aristippus was involved, deeply but ultimately unsuccessfully, in the tumultuous affairs of the kingdom. Suspected by William of complicity in a coup of 1161 that failed but had almost cost the king his life, Aristippus was imprisoned in the spring of 1162 and died soon afterward.
See also Greek Language and Literature; William I
JOHN B. DILLON
Fobes, F. H. Mediaeval Versions of Aristotle s Meteorology. Classical Philology, 10, 1915, pp. 297-314. (See pp. 310-311, ch. 1 of Henry Aristippus's translation.)
Kordeuter, Victor, and Carlotta Labowsky, eds. Mew interprete Henrico Aristippo. Plato Latinus, 1. London: Inaedibus Instituti Warburgiani, 1940.
Minio-Paluello, Lorenzo. Aristoteles Latinus: Codices. Supplementa altera. Bruges: Desciee de Brouwer, 1961, pp. 23, 38-39. (Specimens of the translation of scholia to Meteorology, Book 4.)
—, ed. Phaedo interprete Henrico Aristippo. Plato Latinus, 2. London: Inaedibus Instituti Warburgiani, 1950.
Lacombe, Georges, et al. Aristoteles Latinus: Codices. Rome: Libreria delta Stato, 1939 (Vol. 1); Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1955 (Vol. 2, suppl.); Bruges: Desclée de Brouwer, 1961 (suppl. altera).
Bluck, R. S., ed. Plato's Meno. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1961, pp. 142-145.
Dorandi, Tiziano. "La versio latina antiqm di Diogene Laerzio e la sua recezione nel Medioevo occidentale: II Compendium moralium notabilium di Geremia da Montagnone e il Liber de vita et moribus phibsophorum dello ps. Burleo." Documenti e Studi sulla Tradizione Filosofica Medievale, 10, 1999, pp. 371-396.
Grant, Edward. "Henricus Aristippus, William of Moerbeke, and Two Alleged Medieval Translations of Hero's Pneumatica." Speculum, 46, 1971, pp. 656-669.
Hankins, James. Plato in the Italian Renaissance. Leiden: Brill, 1990, Vol. 1, pp. 40-48.
Jamison, Evelyn. Admiral Eugenius of Sicily: His Life and Work and the Authorship of the Epistola ad Petrum and the Historia Hugonis Falcandi Siculi. London: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, 1957. (See especially pp. xvii-xxi.)
Minio-Paluello, Lorenzo. Opuscula: The Latin Aristotle. Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert, 1972. (See especially pp. 57-86, 87-93, 94-97.)
Round, Nicholas G., ed. Libro llamado Fedrón: Plato's Phaedo Translated by Pero Diaz de Toledo (MS Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional Vitr. 17,4). London: Tamesis, 1993, pp. 18-36. (And elsewhere as noted in index, p. 381.)
Takayama, Hiroshi. The Administration of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily. The Medieval Mediterranean: Peoples, Economies and Cultures, 400-1453, 3. Leiden: Brill, 1993. (See especially pp. 98-102.)
See Nobility
In the heyday of scholasticism, Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) was considered "the philosopher" par excellence; his writings offered a comprehensive view of the visible universe and the human condition that presented the first serious challenge to Christian thinkers and theologians of the Middle Ages.
Aristotle was born at Stagira in northern Greece and studied under Plato, He reacted against Plato's reduction of the physical universe and laid the foundations of a scientific approach in the ancient world. Few philosophers have contributed so effectively and enduringly to the study of logic, epistemology, physics, metaphysics, biology, meteorology, mathematics, psychology, rhetoric, dialectic, aesthetics, and politics. Some of the linchpins of his system may be listed. According to Aristotle, the earth is at the center of an eternal universe. Below the moon, everything is composed of four elements (earth, air, fire, water) and is subject to change and destruction. Everything in the heavens above the first sphere is composed of ether and is immutable. In the sublunar world, rectilinear motion is the norm; above the moon, motion is circular, indicative of perfection. All material things are an indivisible amalgam of "matter" (sheer potentiality) and "form" (the essence of each given thing). Human beings are "political" in that they are social animals born to live in an organized state. Virtue is a mean between two vices: excess and deficiency. Any valid deductive argument can be expressed in one of four perfect syllogisms involving three terms: two premises and a conclusion. For a proper understanding of any natural organism, a teleological explanation must be sought: the purpose or goal of humanity is a life of rational activity. Intellective cognition is to be understood as the reception of abstract concepts; this idea led Aristotle to posit an intellective power which had a purely potential nature: nous pathetikos, the passive or "possible" intellect. However, since the reception of abstract concepts must necessarily to be preceded by abstraction of the universal content from sensible images, another power, the "active" intellect, is necessary to actualize intellectual potentiality. In Aristotle's De anima, this active power is conceived as separate from the body and surviving death, but it is also seen as inseparably joined to the body. Such are a few of the ideas that were to electrify philosophers and generate immense debate, especially from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries in western Europe.
Aristotle, De anima. Venice: Octaviani Scoti per Bonetum Locatellum, 1497. Reproduced from original held by Department of Special Collections of the University Libraries of Notre Dame.
The most important influence on Latin Christianity throughout the Middle Ages was Augustine of Hippo (Saint Augustine, 354-430). For ten years before his conversion to Christianity, Augustine had been under the spell of the dualist Manichaen doctrine, which regarded matter as evil. After having rejected this absolute condemnation of the body, Augustine was attracted by some of the tenets of Neoplatonism which he considered "well accommodated" to the Christian faith and therefore exploitable in its defense, especially the view of the soul as a dynamic principle capable of ruling the body. Augustine was in full agreement with Plato and his followers that philosophical truth is attainable through intellectual reflection rather than through the analysis of sensible, material reality. On the other hand, he firmly rejected the Neoplatonist view of the universe as a series of emanations, in favor of the Judeo-Christian belief in creation ex nihilo by the deity.
Boethius (c. 475 or 480-524) set out to translate into Latin the complete works of both Plato and Aristotle, with a commentary intended to iron out their differences. He did not go beyond Aristotle's logic. Nevertheless, his writings remained a philosophical beacon for at least the next 600 years. Until the twelfth century, or even later, Aristotle was known in the Latin west solely through Boethius's translations of Categories and Prior Analytics (which made the syllogism available as the central tool in logic), as well as Boethius's own treatises on special aspects of logic and his commentary on Porphyry's lsagoge. These works formed a corpus known as the "old logic" (logica vetus).
Greek thought was, of course, kept alive at Byzantium, and later in the Arab world, especially by the Persian Avicenna (980-1037) and the Andalusian Averroës (1126-1198), who became known as "the commentator" for his attempts to salvage "pure" Aristotelian doctrine. The most controversial result was Averroës's view that there is a single, eternal active intellect for humanity; but far more devastating was his belief in the "unicity" of the possible intellect, which deprived the individual of immortality.
The twelfth century was the golden age of medieval Platonism. However, by the second quarter of that century, James of Venice had already translated into Latin some important works by Aristotle, including his Posterior Analytics, Sophistici elenchi, and Metaphysics. Michael Scot's most influential achievement was his translation of Averroës's commentaries on De caelo, De anima, Metaphysics, and Physics, together with Aristotle's texts, during the years he spent in Sicily at the court of Frederick II (c. 1230). Robert Grosseteste's important translation (from the Greek) of Nicomachean Ethics was executed c. 1247. In the second half of the thirteenth century, the Dominican William of Moerbeke not only perfected his knowledge of Greek by going to Greece but also became the most prolific translator of Aristotle's works; his translations included the first Latin versions of Politics and Poetics. By 1260, about fifty-five of Aristotle's works had been translated into Latin. Beside this "authentic" Aristotle, however, there was a strong current of Neoplatonic thought in medieval Aristotelianism, in Arabic commentaries and then in the Latin west, where it was chiefly due to the influence of Augustine, Pseudo-Dionysius and the pseudo-Aristotelian Book of Causes. This is well illustrated in the unfinished Summa Theologiae (c. 1270-1275) of Albert the Great:
There are two manners of revelation. One manner is through the light connatural with us, and this is the manner of revelation to the philosophers. This light indeed cannot be except from the first light, of God, as Augustine says in the book, The Teacher, and this is very well demonstrated in the Book of Causes. The other light is for the perception of entities above the world. . . . The first light shines forth in things known through themselves, but the second in the articles of faith.
With the Aristotelian tools of induction and deduction, and the demonstrative syllogism, logic deposed grammar as the chief area of study, especially in the new university institutions. The University of Paris (founded in 1200) became the intellectual powerhouse of western Europe, despite the continuing opposition to such a powerful philosophical system of pagan origin. The provincial synod of Sens, in 1210, forbade all lecturing on the writings of Aristotle on natural philosophy and their commentaries. The University of Toulouse, founded in 1229, boasted that its masters were free to use Aristotle—until a papal ban was extended there, in 1245. Although Pope Innocent IV reiterated the general prohibition, within ten years all the current works of Aristotle were prescribed for the arts faculty at Paris. Some, indeed, considered "the philosopher," Aristotle, "a kind of precursor of Christ, an intellectual Baptist" (Knowles 1978, 229).
The blending of Aristotle's philosophical system with Christian belief was particularly successful in the encyclopedic writings of the Dominican theologians Albert the Great (Albertus Magnus, Doctor Universalis; c. 1200-1280) and Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-1274). Despite their valiant efforts to distinguish between rational enquiry and revelation—accompanied by a conviction that "almost the whole of philosophy is directed toward the knowledge of God" (Summa contra gentiles, 1.4)—there was widespread disquiet in the ranks of Augustinian and Franciscan thinkers. Among the latter, Bonaventure (c. 1217-1274) attacked Aristotle's failure to grasp exemplarism as the cause of all his errors. In his Lenten sermons in Paris (late 1260s-early 1270s), Bonaventure highlighted three major obstacles for Christians: the belief in the "unicity" of the human intellect, which precluded the immortality of the individual; the eternity of the world, which denied God's creation and divine providence; and the independent study of philosophy, deemed to provide definitive wisdom and happiness rather than acting as the handmaiden of theology. This intellectual "divorce" was practiced, with dire consequences, by Siger of Brabant (who died c. 1283). Siger criticized Albert and Aquinas for distorting the Greek philosopher's thought. In his De anima (1269-1270), he gave currency to Averroes's theory that intellect is external to the individual. This provoked a sharp reaction from Aquinas, who denied that the possible intellect was a separate substance and reaffirmed the importance of free will (On the Unity of the Intellect, 1270). The year 1270 also saw the condemnation of thirteen philosophical errors and the excommunication of those who taught them: they included the doctrine of the eternity of the world and the "unicity" of intellectual souls. In 1277, after the inquisitor of France had summoned Siger and two others to appear before him, Archbishop Etsenne Tempier formed a commission of sixteen theologians that hurriedly condemned a hodgepodge of no fewer than 219 propositions (forty-four came from Siger, sixteen from Boethius of Dacia). Eventually, however, in his Questions on the Book of Causes (1275-1276), Siger recognized that the doctrine of the unique intellect was heretical (and, possibly, irrational). In Paradiso (10.133-138) Dante, strikingly, placed him among the wise. That other radical Aristotelian, Boethius of Dacia, boldly stated the dilemma with regard to the Christian belief in the resurrection of the body when he asserted: "Who does not believe this is a heretic; on the other hand, who seeks to know it by reason is a fool." Boethius also expounded the Aristotelian doctrine that the intellectual life is the highest good for man—one of the propositions condemned in 1277 ("that there is no more excellent state than to devote oneself to philosophy").
The discovery of Aristotle's Politics had tar-reaching consequences for political thought. Here, Aquinas's most radical move was to deny Augustine's view of the state as a remedy for sin based on force. Instead, Aquinas propounded the Aristotelian view that human nature requires an organized state. Yet after 1277, the golden age of Christian syncretism for which Albert and Thomas had worked so valiantly was over. Symptomatic of the reaction by conservative churchmen is the following statement made by the Augustinian theologian Ugolino of Orvieto in the fourteenth century: "For the most part ethics is a false doctrine. . . . Aristotle did not know virtue but only the semblance of the virtues, nor did he give proper rules." Plato was soon to be in the ascendant once again. From 1367 to 1370, Petrarch wrote his famous Latin treatise On His Own Ignorance and That of Many Others, in which he attacked the pretensions of Aristotelian science and its inability to encompass the transcendent while he agreed with Augustine that Plato would undoubtedly have been a Christian if he had lived after Christ: "Aristotle explains what virtue is . . . but reading his works does not offer . . . those words that set on fire the heart and make it love virtue and detest vice. Whoever seeks them out will find them ... in Cicero and Seneca, above all." The way was open to Renaissance humanism and its philosophical syncretism, so memorably illustrated in Raphael's School of Athens (c. 1510), where we find Aristotle and Plato once again at center stage: Aristotle with a hand outstretched to cover the physical world, Plato with a finger pointing toward the transcendental world of ideas.
See also Albertus Magnus; Averroes and Averroism; Avicenna; Boethius; Bonaventure, Saint; Dante Alighieri; Petrarca, Francesco; Scholasticism; Thomas Aquinas, Saint
JOHN A. SCOTT
Barnes, Jonathan. Aristotle. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.
Dod, Bernard G. "Aristoteles latinus." In The Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy, ed. Norman Kretzmann et al. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982, pp. 45-79.
Haren, Michael. Medieval Thought: The Western Intellectual Tradition from Antiquity to the Thirteenth Century, 2nd ed. Basingstoke and London: Macmillan, 1992.
Knowles, David. The Evolution of Medieval Thought, London, 1978 (Reprint.)
Lohr, Charles H. "The Medieval Interpretation of Aristotle." In The Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy, ed. Norman Kretzmann et al. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982, pp. 80-98.
Marenbon, John, ed. Routledge History of Philosophy, Vol. 3, Medieval Philosophy. London and New York: Routledge, 1998.
Steenberghen, Fernand van. Aristotle in the West: The Origins of Latin Aristotelianism, trans. L. Johnston. Louvain: Nauwelaerts, 1955.
Thorndike, Lynn. University Records and Life in the Middle Ages. New York: Columbia University Press, 1944, pp. 80-81, 85-88. (The errors condemned at Paris in 1270 and 1277 are listed in this source.)
See Liberal Arts
The blurriness of the line separating radical reformers from heretics is dramatically evident in the career of the cleric and ecclesiastical critic Arnold of Brescia (c. 1100-1155). The backdrop for this drama was Patarine error, Hildebrandine reform, Italian communalism, and the struggle between pope and emperor. However, at many points the record is silent, sketchy, or contradictory. Of Arnold's origins and youth we know nothing, and the idea that he studied with Peter Abelard in Paris c. 1ll5-1119 is speculation based on Arnold's later defense of Abelard. Whether or not Arnold was ordained, he became a canon of the Augustinian friary in Brescia c. 1120 and served as prior. His moral life remained free from criticism, even by his enemies. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who heartily opposed both Arnold and Abelard, nevertheless described Arnold as "a man who comes neither eating nor drinking . . . whose life is as sweet as honey." John of Salisbury, who served in the papal court, said that Arnold was "a priest by office, a canon regular by profession, and one who had mortified his flesh with fasting and coarse raiment: of keen intelligence, persevering in the study of the scriptures, eloquent of speech and a vehement preacher against the vanities of the world."
In the mid-1130s, Prior Arnold became involved in a movement against Bishop Manfred of Brescia, whose efforts at reform had angered the local clergy and had, among the populace, added to the impetus for communalism. Arnold probably admired the bishop's efforts to end simony and clerical marriage, but he stood against the clerical hierarchy and sympathized with the people's defense of their political "liberties." Whatever his actual activity may have been, he was condemned as schismatic by the Second Lateran Council, was exiled from Brescia, and apparently wandered as an itinerant preacher in Lombardy in 1139-1140. In the spring of 1140, he traveled to Sens, where he accompanied Abelard in the latter's defense against the accusations of Bernard of Clairvaux. Abelard's failure to sway the council resulted in the condemnation and burning of books containing his errors and those of Arnold, a sentence confirmed by the pope. No works by Arnold survive, nor do contemporary references to any of his works, so it is unclear which books were meant in this sentence; it is also unclear whether Arnold's ideas were spreading through written sources as well as by his preaching.
Arnold immediately set himself up in Abelard's old school on Mont-Sainte-Geneviève in Paris, where he railed against Bernard and against the church's unholy wealth and temporal power. Reflecting Patarine ideas, and anticipating those of later groups, he fervently believed that preaching the gospel could not be accompanied by the accumulation and use of wealth and political authority, and that the church must divest itself of these things in order to adhere to the gospels. The clergy had rights to no funds other than ecclesiastical tithes, first fruits, and freewill offerings and should have no hierarchical organization. The laity should be free to organize their communal life as they saw fit. These concepts were not heretical, but neither were they ideas with which any authorities of the period were comfortable. Bernard persuaded Louis VII to exile Arnold from French territory, and Arnold went to Zurich, where he continued to preach church reform and to be hounded by Bernard's missives. Moving to Passau in 1142 or 1143, he befriended the local bishop and papal legate, Guido. Arnold was subsequently reconciled with Pope Eugenius III at Viterbo in 1145 or 1146.
A penance imposed by the papacy, and possibly Guido's patronage, took Arnold to Rome shortly thereafter. Here he gathered a following because of his public sermons and disputations and his reputation for piety and asceticism. He continued to attack the vices and wealth of the clergy and the nature of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, gradually developing from a critic to a radical demagogue. His support came initially from the lower clergy and devout women and later, more broadly, from the lower classes in Rome, where antipapal communalism had been active since 1143. This pressure forced Pope Eugenius to flee in 1147, and from Brescia the pope issued an ineffective bull branding Arnold as a schismatic (though not a heretic) and forbidding the clergy to have contact with him.
The Roman aristocracy, dueling with the pope for political control of Rome, found the newly demagogic Arnold a useful ally who could deliver and control the support of the lower classes. The Roman senate and Arnold exchanged oaths of loyalty, in regard of which the senators refused to hand Arnold over to the pope, who had returned and made his peace with the new Roman republic in 1149. With this settlement between Eugenius and the republic, Arnold's influence began to wane, although in mid-1152 he nonetheless attempted a coup, supported only by the lower classes. According to Eugenius's agreement with the republic, his followers were to be made senators, and a new emperor would be elected in Rome but would remain only a symbolic figure in the self-governing commune. Despite its failure, this move led the pope to arrange the Treaty of Constance (1153) for mutual support with the newly elected but uncrowned Frederick I Barbarossa.
When Nicholas Breakspeare became Pope Hadrian IV in 1155, he demanded Arnold's expulsion and the dismantling of the republic and put the city under interdict during Holy Week to enforce his will. Both the mob and the senate quickly abandoned their republic and Arnold for the eucharist, and Arnold fled north toward Tuscany. At Bricole he was captured by Cardinal Odo, but he was soon rescued by the counts of Campagnatico. When Frederick, advancing on Rome for his coronation, captured one of the counts, Arnold was exchanged for the hostage. In Rome, there was armed resistance to the return of the pope and to the imperial coronation (18 June 1155); and the subsequent flight of emperor and pope from Rome convinced Frederick that he should put Arnold before a canonical tribunal. The tribunal condemned Arnold, and the Roman prefect, or chief criminal magistrate, carried out the civil sentence of hanging and burning. Arnold's ashes were dumped into the Tiber.
Arnold's legacy is twofold, lending subsequent support to Roman republican communalism and to radical ecclesiastical reform: the poor and pure church. One strand leads to Brancaleone and Cola di Rienzo and the other to the Waldensians and Spiritual Franciscans. His most immediate effect may have been the establishment of the Arnoldist sect, whose members shared many of Arnold's ideas but in addition heretically denied the efficacy of the sacraments.
See also Eugenius III, Pope; Frederick I Barbarossa; Hadrian IV, Pope; Heresy and Religious Dissent; Investiture Controversy; Pataria; Rome
JOSEPH P. BYRNE
Bernard of Clairvaux. The Letters of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, ed. and trans. Bruno Scott James. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1998.
De Stefano, Antonino. Riformatori ed eretici del Medio Evo. Palermo. Societa Siciliana per la Storia Patria, 1990.
Frugoni, Arsenio. Arnaldo da Brescia nelle fonti del secolo XII. Turin: Etnaudi, 1989.
Giesebrecht, Wilhelrn von, Arnold von Brescia: Ein akademischer Vortrag. Munich; Verlag der Königliche Akademie, 1873.
Greenaway, G. W. Arnold of Brescia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1931; New York: AMS, 1978.
John of Salisbury. Historia pontificalis, ed. and trans. Marjorie Chibnall. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.
Merlo, Grado. Eretici e eresie medievali. Bologna: II Mulino, 1989.
Moore, R. I. The Origins of European Dissent. London: Penguin, 1977.
Otto of Freising. The Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa, trans. C. C. Mierow with R. Emery. New York: Norton, 1966.
Arnolfo (c. 1245 or 1250-1302 or 1305) was one of the more prolific and innovative Italian sculptors and architects of the late thirteenth century. He was born near Florence, in the town of Colle Val d'Elsa, and was trained in the workshop of Nicola Pisano together with his contemporaries Giovanni Pisano and Tino da Camaino. Arnolfo, Giovanni, and Tino developed into strikingly different masters. While Giovanni's art became increasingly "expressionistic" and leaned more toward French Gothic, Arnolfo's and Tino's sculpture continued Nicola Pisano's more classical, reserved manner. During his later years, Arnolfo also distinguished himself as an architect in Florence.
Arnolfo is first documented in 1265 as one of Nicola Pisano's assistants on the Area of San Domenico in Bologna (1264-1267); he then worked on the pulpit for Siena Cathedral (1265-1268); and the Fontana Maggiore in Perugia (1277—1281). It is clear that by the time of the commission in Perugia, Arnolfo was already in the service of King Charles of Anjou. This is confirmed in a letter that Charles sent to the Perugian authorities in 1277, releasing the mason "Magister Arnulfus de Florentia" to work on a fountain. For Charles himself, who was resident in Rome as the senator of that city, Arnolfo served as a court mason, becoming conversant with ancient Roman art and architecture and the decorative manner of the contemporary Cosmati workshops. Arnolfo's appointment at the court put him into position to receive royal commissions, such as a seated portrait of Charles dated before 1278 (now in the Museo Capitolino in Rome); it also led to important commissions from high-ranking curial patrons, including two altar canopies in Roman basilicas and a small though highly influential series of sepulchral monuments in Rome and Orvieto. Inscriptions of 1285 and 1293 establish that "Arnolfus" was responsible for the altar canopies in two Roman churches: San Paolo fuori le Mura and Santa Cecilia. These canopies, both of marble with rich Cosmati-style ornamentation, seem to have been part of larger redecorating projects at the two churches, projects in which the fresco painter Pietro Cavallini was also involved. For these commissions, or at least for the canopy in San Paolo, Arnolfo may have collaborated with Piero Oderisi.
Arnolfo's best-documented sepulchral works include tombs erected for Cardinal Guillaume de Bray (San Domenico, Orvieto, after 1282); Pope Honorius IV (Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Rome, after 1287); Cardinal Riccardo Annibaldi (San Giovanni in Laterano, Rome, after 1289); and Pope Boniface VIII (old Saint Peter's, Rome, after 1303). Boniface's tomb, now destroyed, was part of an entire chapel; a recorded inscription on it mentioned "Arnolfus Architectus," indicating that Arnolfo had been responsible for both the architecture of the chapel and its sculpture. Finally, a statue of a deacon with a part of a curtain (now in the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool) is believed to be a fragment from a fifth sepulchral monument. Of these tombs, de Bray's was perhaps the most influential, and today—despite a problematic reconstruction—it is the best preserved. This monument is a large wall construction with an elaborate base; an effigy and accompanying acolytes who draw back curtains in the middle register; and a kneeling resurrected de Bray, patron saints, a dedicatory inscription, and a Madonna and Child at the summit. Every surface that is not a figure is embellished with mosaic inlay in the Cosmati style.
The multiple figures in de Bray's tomb and the other tombs were also a feature of Arnolfo's unfinished (and now dismantled) facade for the cathedral of Florence (c. 1300); its original appearance is known from a sixteenth-century drawing in the Opera del Duomo in Florence. Many parts of this facade, both statuettes and relief carvings, are also preserved in the Opera del Duomo. Arnolfo certainly received the commission for the facade in conjunction with his control of the architecture of the cathedral itself. He is widely believed to have been the architect of the cathedral, for which he was appointed capomaestro (foreman) in 1300.
Architectural historians also attribute to Arnolfo the designs of other building projects in Florence that were begun during a boom in the last decade of the thirteenth century. These buildings include the Benedictine church of the Badia, the Franciscan church of Santa Croce, and the civic Palazzo della Signoria. They are clearly indebted to his knowledge of late Roman and early Christian buildings and are characterized by bold powerful massing, large unencumbered spatial volumes, and—unlike the facade of the cathedral—a minimum of ornamentation. Today, only the Badia, which was substantially remodeled by Giorgio Vasari in the sixteenth century, gives little evidence of its original appearance. The Palazzo della Signoria strongly influenced the design of other civic palazzi in Tuscany as well as the development of private palazzo architecture in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Arnolfo died sometime in the first decade of the fourteenth century.
See also Florence; Pisano, Giovanni; Pisano, Nicola; Rome; Tino da Camaino
ROGER CRUM
Gardner, Julian. The Tomb and the Tiara: Curial Tomb Sculpture in Rome and Avignon in the Later Middle Ages. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.
White, John. Art and Architecture in Italy 1250-1400, 2nd ed. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1987.
Arnulf (c. 850-899), grandson of Louis the German and son of King Carloman of Bavaria—was the last member of the Carolingian family to hold the office of Holy Roman emperor. Arnulf began his career as margrave of Carinthia in the service of his father. In 887, he led a revolt against his uncle, the ineffective emperor Charles III the Fat, and was elected ruler of the East Frankish kingdom. As king, he demonstrated considerable political talent in defending his realm against external enemies, resisting the efforts of powerful nobles to weaken the royal power, and winning the support of the clergy. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, Arnulf recognized the non-Carolingians elected as kings of West Francia, Provence, Burgundy, and Italy. In return for his support in legitimatizing these rulers, and partly because of their respect for his Carolingian lineage, he was able to exercise a vague lordship over them. As a consequence of his preeminence among contemporary rulers, Arnulf emerged as a leading candidate to become emperor. In 894 and 895, he responded to the appeals of Pope Formosus for protection against Emperor Guy of Spoleto. Arnulf's capture of Rome in 895 led to his coronation as emperor in early 896. But he was paralyzed by a stroke soon thereafter and so was unable to exploit the imperial office to prevent the final dissolution of the Carolingian empire.
See also Frankish Kingdom
RICHARD E. SULLIVAN
Die Urkunden Arnolfs, ed. Paul Kehr, 2nd ed. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Diplomata Regurn Germaniae ex Stirpe Karolinorum, 3. Berlin: Weidmann, 1955.
Dümmler, Ernst. Geschichte des ostfränkischen Reiches, 2nd ed., 3 vols. Leipzig: Dunlder and Humblot, 1887-1888. (Reprinted, Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1960, Vol. 3, pp. 297-491.)
Schlesinger, Walter. "Kaiser Arnulf und die Entstehung des deutschen Staates und Volkes." Historische Zeitschrift, 163, 1941, pp. 457-470.
Tellenbach, Gerd. "Zur Geschichte Kaiser Arnulfs." Historische Zeitschrift, 165, 1942, pp. 229-245.
Arrigo (Henry) of Settimello is Italy's leading Latin poet of what is called the twelfth-century Renaissance. Almost all we know about him is inferred from the only poem transmitted under his name, the 1,004-line Elegia ("Elegy," dated 1193 on the basis of internal evidence). Its speaker, conventionally and probably correctly assumed to represent the poet, is named Henry (Henricus; in Italian, Arrigo or Enrico). We are told that he is poor, of rural origin, and a priest; further, that he studied at Bologna, was once prosperous but has suffered a reversal of fortune and with it public disgrace, and is in the service of the bishop of Florence, to whom he issues a concluding appeal for relief. Local tradition, surviving paratextually in manuscripts of the poem as well as in a life by Filippo Villani, adds that Henry came from Settimello (near Prato), that the reversal in question was his loss of the nearby benefice of Calenzano, and that he served as cancellarius to bishops of Florence and of Volterra. Some of this information may be true.
Elegia is so called from its meter—elegiac distichs—and perhaps also because this verse form was thought particularly appropriate to sorrowful occasions. It is a lament in four books of 250 lines each, followed by a four-line conclusion. It consists largely of a diatribe against fortune (in Books 1 and 2) followed by a consolation from philosophy (in Books 3 and 4; the latter is chiefly precepts). This Boethian theme is expressed in a modern style of quasi-antique Latin verse made famous by such French contemporaries as Matthew of Vendome and Alan of Lille. Henry's reminiscences of ancient and medieval auctores testify to his reading, and the presence of Ovid is especially notable: much of the dialogue is written in Ovid's elegiac manner. The combination of moral and stylistic excellence in Elegia made it popular for the next several centuries. It was read in schools, and "poor" or "humble" Henry (in Latin, Henricus pauper, in Italian, Arrighetto) was also excerpted in florilegia and is quoted or referred to, either in Latin or in one of two fourteenth-century Italian translations, by a wide range of later medieval Italian authors.
See also Boethius; Latin Literature
JOHN B. DILLON
II Boezio e I'Arrighetto nelle versioni del trecento, ed, Salvatore Battaglia. Turin: UTET, 1929. (14th-century Italian translation.)
Enrico da Settimello. Elegia, ed. Giovanni Cremaschi. Bergamo: Istituto Italiano Edizioni Atlas, 1949. (Latin.)
Cioffari, Vincenzo. "Fortune and Fate in the Elegia of Henricus Septimellensis." Romanic Review, 29, 1938, pp. 311—321.
Cremaschi, Giovanni. "Enrico da Settimello e la sua 'Elegia.'" Atti dell'Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere, ed Arti, 108, 1949-1950, pp. 177-206.
Giovini, Marco. "L'insonnia come metafora del taedium vitae in Arrigo da Settimello." Maia, 48, 1996, pp. 349-360.
Zappacosta, Guglielmo. "Arrigo da Settimello." In Dizionario critico della letteratura italiana, 2nd ed., ed. Vittore Branca et al. Turin: UTET, 1986, Vol. 1, pp. 141-145.
Most scholars consider the poet Arrigo Testa to be the same person as a powerful nobleman of that name who between 1228 and 1247, as a close ally of the emperor, was podestà (podesta) in several cities—among them Jesi, Siena, Ravenna, Lucca, and finally Parma, where, according to the chronicler Salimbene, he lived almost like a king. The podesta Arrigo died in a skirmish on the Taro River near Parma in 1247. If this identification is correct, the poet Arrigo Testa was a native of Arezzo, but the attributions that accompany his only surviving poem leave room for doubt. The Vatican Codex (Lat. 3793) attributes the poem to Notaio Arigo Testa da Lentino; Lentino is in Sicily, and there is documentary evidence for the existence of a Testa family there. This Arrigo Testa's canzone, Vostr' orgogliosa ciera, is noted for its skillful changes in tone.
See also Italian Poetry: Lyric; Scuola Poetica Sictliana
FREDE JENSEN
Apollonio, Mario. Uomini e forme nella cultura italiana delle origini. Florence: Sansoni, 1934, pp. 188-189.
Bertoni, Giulio. 11 Duecento. Milan: Vallardi, 1947, p. 106.
Monaci, Ernesto. Crestomazia italiana dei primi secoli. Rome, Naples, and Citta di Castello, 1955, p. 96.
Scandone, F. "Notizie biografiche di rimatori della scuola siciliana." Studi di Letteratura Italiana, 5, 1904, pp. 39-45.
Torraca, Francesco. Studi sulla lirica italiana del Duecento. Bologna: Zanichelli, 1902, pp. 99-100.
Werder, E. Studien. Zurich, 1918, pp. 116-118.
Zenatti, Albino. Arrigo Testa i i primordi della lirica italiana. Florence: G. C. Sansoni, 1896.
Ars dictaminis is the medieval art of letter-writing. Between the late eleventh century and the mid-fifteenth century it involved a highly formalized code of rules for the composition of prose letters in Latin. Dictamen manuals did recognize that letters could also be composed in verse or in prosimetron, a mixture of prose and poetry; however, these manuals were themselves concerned solely with prose communication. While eloquent expression was emphasized, the primary goal of the instruction was practical: a letter was meant to persuade the recipient to grant whatever the writer was seeking. In classical antiquity, a letter had been considered a form of conversation and was not subject to rules; thus ars dictaminis was an original creation of medieval culture.
This art arose out of a need for increased communication in a society that was experiencing rapid economic and political development but had a low standard of literacy in Latin. The manuals, which set forth detailed rules and provided a wide range of sample letters, made letter-writing accessible even to people who had only a modest grasp of Latin. From its origins in Italy in the late eleventh century, ars dictaminis spread rapidly to northern Europe during the twelfth century. The styles varied from simple to elaborate, but the basic formulas and rules of organization remained remarkably similar throughout western Europe, thereby affording a standardized mode of international communication.
Medieval letters were a product or a highly oral culture, designed to be read aloud either by or to their recipients; thus they took on an oratorical character unknown in either ancient or modern letters. This helps to explain why the writers of manuals felt justified in utilizing, even as fragments, the rules governing oratory found in ancient textbooks such as Cicero's De inventione and the Pseudo-Ciceronian Ad Herennium. Like an oration, a letter was strictly divided into distinct sections. By 1150, the five divisions of the letter—(1) salutatio, (2) exordium, (3) narratio, (4) petitio, and (5) conclusio—had become almost invariant. Frequently, the manuals supplied a choice of words or phrases appropriate for introducing parts 2 through 5. A large portion of every manual was usually devoted to discussing the formulas in the salutatio and exordium, which were cast to please and convince the reader. In contrast, very little space was given to the narratio, because this was potentially the part of the letter least amenable to structure. The intent of the manuals was to-constrict the writer's freedom of invention, and so—citing Horace's dictum on brevity (Ars poetica, 25-26)—they emphasized that the narratio should be reduced to the briefest possible statement of facts. Like a speech, a letter was expected to be efficient, and no allowance was made for digressions that did not serve its central objective. From the late twelfth century on, the formal character of the letter was enhanced by the introduction of a series of prose meters to be used at the end (and in some cases the beginning) of clauses and sentences.
Letters conceived along such impersonal lines suited official purposes very well. Indeed, ars dictaminis provided an international language of diplomatic protocol in which formulas or structure signaled the favor or disfavor of those in power—or a subtle range of differences between favor and disfavor. At the same time, the manuals were tyrannical, imposing stylistic prescriptions and discouraging the qualities that give a personal letter its character: spontaneity and direct expression of thoughts and feelings. Furthermore, the demand for brevity (brevitas) gave the letter writer little opportunity for the kind of philosophical rumination and anecdotal meandering found in the personal letters of other eras. In Italy, the generation of Peter Damian (d. 1073) and Gregory VII (d, 1085) was the last until the advent of humanism in the fourteenth century to give correspondence a personal tone. The death of Peter of Blois in 1205 marked an eclipse, north of the Alps, of the ancient concept of a letter as conversation.
Alberic who is generally recognized as the author or the first manual of ars dictaminis (c. 1075), was a monk of Monte Cassino in the south, but almost immediately the lead in the development of the art shifted to northern and central Italy. For a brief time in the last third of the twelfth century, France rivaled Italy in creativity; but Italy regained predominance in the early thirteenth century, primarily because of the work of three great masters in Bologna—Boncompagno da Signa, Bene of Florence, and Guido Faba—and thereafter never lost it. Copies or imitations of the writings of the three Bolognese masters are found today in libraries throughout western and eastern Europe.
Ars dictaminis appears to have had little effect on vernacular letters, which made their appearance early in the thirteenth century. Brunetto Latini's Rettorica, an uncompleted commentary on Cicero's De inventione written in Tuscan in the 1260s, represents the first attempt to provide rules for composing letters as well as speeches in the vernacular. Brunetto is also the probable author of Sommetta ad amaestramento di componere volgarmente letterc, this was the first manual expressly intended to teach letter-writing in the vernacular and was to remain the only one of its kind until the last half of the fifteenth century. From the fourteenth century on there were vernacular translations of Latin manuals, but these were not numerous. A survey of actual vernacular letters indicates that as late as the mid-fifteenth century they remained relatively idiosyncratic and were not subject to restrictive formulas. After that time, manuals and actual letters reflect the influence of Latin humanism rather than ars dictaminis.
In Italy, unlike France, the letter played almost no role in literary prose and poetry. The letter form is prominent in the salutz of mid-twelfth-century Provence and later in the French salut d'amour, the dit, and prose and poetic romans; but in Italy, with the exception of the Filostrato of Boccaccio (1313-1375), this form does not appear in the rich production of literary works in Provencal and native Italian dialects. The strong practical associations of the letter form in Italy perhaps hindered its use for other purposes.
By the end of the thirteenth century, the great age of dictamen was already past. The production of new Latin manuals continued undiminished for almost another century, but creativity had disappeared, and perhaps the major point of contention among the writers was the names and appearance of the signs of punctuation. During this period a new literary movement, humanism, was on the rise. The humanists were concerned, in part, with reasserting the classical concept of the letter as conversation, and so they represented a challenge to the dominance of an dictaminis. The first letters that survive in the new classicizing style are those of Geri d'Arezzo written in the 1320s. Geri, clearly influenced by Seneca, implicitly adhered to the idea of the letter as conversation, although this idea was not made explicit until thirty years later, in Petrarch's introductory letter to Rerum familiarium.
If by 1400, ars dictaminis had ceded its control over the personal or private letter to humanism, it proved more resilient in the domain of the public or official letter. After 1400, even in Italian chanceries where humanists were in charge, it was difficult to make sweeping changes in long-standing traditions. As a result, during the course of the fifteenth century ars dictaminis came to be joined with humanism, creating the formulas and structure of a new official style characteristic of the early modern era.
See also Alberic of Monte Cassino; Brunetto Latini; Buon-compagno da Signa; Cicero; Guido Faba
RONALD WITT
Alessio, Giancarlo, ed. Candelabrum by Bene da Firenze. Padua, 1983. (Alessio's introduction gives information of the state of ars dictaminis in early thirteenth-century Italy.)
Constable, Giles. Letters and Letter-Collections: Typologie des sources du moyen-age occidental. Turnhout: Brepols, 1976, fasc. 17A-I1. (General analysis of the medieval letter.)
Emil, Polak. Epistolography in the High Middle Ages and Renaissance: A Catalogue of Latin Manuscripts Found in Eastern Europe and the U.S.S.R. (Has references to unpublished dictamen manuals.)
Kristeller, Paul O. Iter italicum, 4 vols. Leiden and New York, 1963-1989. (Contains numerous references to still unpublished manuals of ars dictaminis.)
—. "The Humanist Movement" and "Humanism and Scholasticism in the Italian Renaissance." In Renaissance Thought and Its Sources, ed. M, Mooney. New York, 1979, pp. 21-32, 85-105. (Pioneering essays on the relationship of ars dictaminis to humanism.)
Lanham, Carol D. Salutatio Formulas in Latin Letters to 1200: Syntax, Style, and Theory. Munich, 1975. (An analysis of links between dictamen and ancient rhetorical theory.)
Murphy, James J. Rhetoric in the Middle Ages: A History of Rhetorical Theory from Saint Augustine to the Renaissance. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1974. (The best general survey of European dictamen.)
Patt, William D. "The Early 'Ars dictandi' as Response to a Changing Society." Viator, 9, 1978, pp. 133-155. (A view on the originality of Alberic of Monte Cassino.)
Rockinger, L. Briefiteller und Formelbiicher des Eilfien bis Vierzehnten Jahrhunderts. Quellen und Erorterungen zur Bayerischen und Deutschen Geschichte, Vol. 9. Munich, 1863. (This remains the most important edition of manuals of ars dictaminis.)
Wieruszowski, Helene. "Rhetoric and the Classics in Italian Education of the Thirteenth Century." In Culture and Politics in Medieval Spain and Italy. Storia e Letteratura, 121. Rome, 1971, pp. 589-627.
Witt, Ronald. "Medieval 'Ars dictaminis' and the Beginnings of Humanism: A New Construction of the Problem." Renaissance Quarterly, 25, 1982, pp. 1-35.
—. "The Origins of Italian Humanist Style." In Renaissance Humanism: Foundations, Forms, and Legacy, ed. Albert Rabil, 3 vols. Philadelphia, Pa., 1988, pp. 29-70. (Italian cultural background for the rise of dictamen.)
Worstbrock, Franz J. "Die Anfänge der mittelalterichen Ars dictandi." Fruehmittelalterlich Studies, 23, 1989, pp. 1-42. (Considers the originality of Alberic of Monte Cassino.)
See Notaries
Ars nova is the written tradition of polyphonic art music of fourteenth-century and early fifteenth-century Italy. The term was first used c. 1300 by Parisian music theorists to describe a notable advance in rhythmic notation. Although contemporary Italians did not use this term, modern musicologists have found it apt to describe distinctively new musical developments that began at about the same time in Italy. The Italian an nova maintained its indigenous genres and notation quite independent of French developments through the last quarter of the fourteenth century, but by the second quarter of the fifteenth century it had merged with the French style.
Music of the Italian ars nova was an elite art cultivated in only a few geographical regions, mostly at the courts of the Scaligeri (in Verona and Padua) and the Visconti (in Milan) and in elite circles in Florence. The extant repertoire comprises more than 600 works—madrigals, ballate, and cacce—composed between c. 1335 and 1420. There are also some thirty Latin motets and motet fragments (one dating from 1305); over 150 sacred works and laude that set sacred text to known ballate; some instrumental dance pieces; and a handful of instrumental arrangements of songs, presumably for keyboard.
The Italian ars nova has its roots in the troubadour art cultivated in northern Italy. Italians prized the lyrics and music of the troubadours more than their own vernacular works. Troubadours writing in Old Occitan were prominent in northern Italy beginning in the late twelfth century, and their songs were performed at northern Italian courts—Montferrat, Genoa, Ferrara, and Treviso—throughout the thirteenth century. Indeed, we owe more than half of the extant sources of troubadour lyric poetry to the antiquarian collecting efforts of the northern Italians from the mid-thirteenth century to the mid-fourteenth. Of forty-one major extant manuscripts, twenty-seven are of Italian provenance. In addition, almost all of some twenty sources of vidas and razos of the troubadours, the biographical notices of the troubadours and commentaries on individual poems, were written in Italy, as was one of only two extant troubadour chansonniers with melodies (Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, S. P. 4, olim R 71 sup.).
In the early fourteenth century, Dante, who may have heard troubadour music in Verona at the court of Cangrande della Scala (whose sons Alberto and Mastino would be patrons of ars nova composers), expressed his esteem for Occitan poetry; and the Florentine Francesco da Barberino cites twenty-five troubadours in his Documenti d'amore (c. 1315). The works still resounded for Petrarch, who names fifteen troubadours in his Triumphus cupidinis (Triumph of Love).
In the mid-thirteenth century, the period of the Sicilian school, and continuing in the dolce stil novo of the late thirteenth century, Italian poets composed vernacular lyrics not intended for musical settings, at first imitating the Occitan lyrics. (The break between poetry and music thus came in Italy more than a century before the break was acknowledged in France.) Dante stipulated in his De vulgari eloquentia (c. 1305; see II.3-4 and 8) that music was suitable more for the "mediocre" style of the ballata, while the more elevated canzone enjoyed its own natural musicality through the pleasing harmony of formal stanzaic structures, rhyme scheme, and syllable count. Although a few of Dante's canzoni and ballate were set to a simple monophonic music by friends (Dante names in Purgatorio 2 one Casella, none of whose music survives), his authority confirmed a clear split in ars nova between higher poetic forms not set to music (canzoni ind some ballate) and lesser poetic genres suitable for musical settings (ballate, madrigals, and cacce). Almost all the early madrigals and all the cacce were poesie per musica: poems written solely co be set to music and not considered literary works. Indeed these forms earned the contempt of literary theorists such as Francesco da Barberino and Antonio da Tempo.
The poetic genres set to music in ars nova are systematically defined in the anonymous Capitulum de vocibus applicatis verbis (Veneto, c. 1315-1320), a brief treatise that complements one manuscript of Antonio da Tempo's more thorough treatment, Summa artis rithimici vulgaris dictaminis (1332). Capitulum covers all the secular genres of ars nova', ballade, rotundelli, motteti, cacie or incalci, madrigalia, and soni or sonetti. The ballata, motet, caccia, and madrigal are the principal genres; Italian rondeaux (rotundelli) are extremely rare (there is only one known example); and soni is a term contemporaries applied to ballate not intended for dancing.
Of these forms, the ballata was the most popular. We have texts of some ballate or danze copied into late thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century notarial acts from Bologna, always without music, doubtless because courtiers were expected to improvise suitable music for dancing. Boccaccio's Decameron (1348-1353), which includes eleven complete ballata texts, affirms the popularity of ballata performances among upper-class Florentines. Ballate could be sung by a soloist as others listened, danced, or joined in at the ripresa; ballate were also performed as pure instrumental music. (Such practices are illustrated by the nine figures in a round dance with a singing tambourine player in Ambrogio Lorenzetti's fresco The Effects of Good Government, c. 1338—1340, in the Palazzo Pubblico of Siena.)
None of these ballate, however, is part of the written ars nova repertoire. Nino Pirrotta emphasized the exceptional nature of written music in the Middle Ages, music reserved for special occasions by a very limited elite, and we must remind ourselves that the sophisticated ars nova polyphony which we prize today was not much known at the time. Instead, one was far more likely to encounter simple ballate, the dance songs performed throughout fourteenth century; or—even more likely—one might encounter lay societies throughout Italy singing laude, spiritual counterparts to the ballata, perhaps as sacred contrafacta of lost secular ballate.
The few examples of written monophonic ballate we have are doubtless far more sophisticated than the everyday fare, and no longer suitable for dancing: five in the early Rossi Codex and a few more among the earlier composers in the Squarcialupi Codex. After c. 1360, however, the ballata was transformed into a polyphonic genre, composed first in two voices and later in three. It soon surpassed the madrigal as the most popular genre, ind in the end a full two-thirds of the ars nova repertoire, more than 400 works, are polyphonic ballate. Francesco Landini alone wrote 141. As a further indication of their popularity, many of Landini's ballate were adapted as sacred laude.
Though not found in Dante's writing, the madrigal was established in his lifetime. The first mention appears in Francesco da Barberino's Latin gloss to his Documenti d'amore (c. 1315; Vol. 1, 260, in Egidi's edition), and it is likely that a gloss later in the work also refers to early cultivation of the madrigal: "In my opinion, the old songs, exhibiting the dolce stil novo [habentibus dulces novas] and few notes, have more to delight the spirits of discriminating listeners" (Vol. 3, p. 20). Francesco may thus characterize an important trait of the new style, the exuberant melismas prominent in the madrigal. The description of the madrigal in Capitulum de vocibus applicatis verbis mirrors the actual compositions found in the manuscripts, calling for strophes of seven or eleven syllables, a tenor in long notes and one or two other voices in short notes, in perfect time and in aere italico (duodenaria division), mixing in passages in aere gallico (novenaria division), especially at the ritornello (refrain). The earliest extant madrigals, twenty-nine works for two voices, appear in the Rossi Codex of around 1350, though perhaps some of this anonymous repertoire can be pushed back to about 1335. The simple harmonies supporting exuberant fioreture of the earliest written madrigals suggest earlier cultivation in an oral tradition. In fact, striking variants among works in concordant manuscripts may document a continuing wide latitude for improvisation; the variants go well beyond what one sees in contemporary French works.
A "classic" ars nova madrigal style is seen in works of the first generation of northern composers. The texts are pastoral, as called for in Capitulum de vocibus applicatis verbis, often embedding senhals (code names), emblems, and symbols. After c. 1360, the popularity of the madrigal waned, although madrigals continued to be written up to c. 1415, and many of the few extant examples are autobiographical, moralizing, or occasional. Two-voice polyphony was always favored for the madrigal: about 90 percent of the some 200 extant ars nova madrigals are for two voices.
No cacce survive of the type defined in Capitulum de vocibus applicatis verbis, involving five singers and a technique of voice exchange. Those we have (there are only about twenty-five cacce in the entire ars nova repertoire) use two voices in canonic imitation over an accompanying voice without text. The texts, descriptive of hunting or other highly evocative outdoor scenes (fishing, sailing, market scenes, etc.), are either in madrigal form (most with ritomelli) or in unrhymed irregular heterometric lines in long stanzas.
Scholars have only recently isolated characteristics of an indigenous Italian ars nova motet genre. About thirty works are known, many surviving only as fragments; a few are for sacred functions, but most celebrate doges, bishops, and powerful lords. Cultivation of the motet may have depended on local custom; as noted above, the madrigal takes on the occasional function of the motet in late fourteenth-century Florence.
It is often stated that Italian ars nova music came from nowhere, since it lacked the polyphonic tradition long established in France; and that it disappeared without a trace, forced aside by French art. The actual situation is more nuanced. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, neither France nor Italy cultivated polyphonic settings of vernacular lyrics. French polyphony, primarily in the form of the Latin and French motet, was the art of highly specialized clerics centered in Paris, a milieu for the most part completely separate from the southern troubadours and northern trouvères, with their vernacular lyric poetry and monophonic music. Just as the application of polyphony to French lyrics in the fourteenth century was a new development, accomplished at the hands of poet-clerics such as Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300-1377), so too lyrics were first set to polyphony in fourteenth-century Italy at the hands of university trained clerics, composers who were for the most part priests, members of religious orders, or church organists.
Simple two-voice polyphonic elaboration of plainchant had been described in Italy as early as Guido of Arezzo (c. 995-c. 1050), and a few unmeasured written examples of this mainly improvised practice survive from the thirteenth century onward (cantus planus binatim). The learned polyphony of France, the motet, derived from Parisian liturgical polyphony of the late twelfth century and the early thirteenth, does not seem to have been known in Italy until the late thirteenth century. Italians soon became conversant with the leading theory of French mensural notation, that of Franco of Cologne (c. 1280), judging from the many surviving abbreviations of Franco's theory copied in Italy, beginning with the formula Gaudent brevitate moderni.
The French ars nova of the early fourteenth century, propounded by a circle of clerics in Paris, expands Franco's theory, providing a rational and flexible notational system for motets. The French mathematician Jean de Muris proclaimed that "what can be sung can also be notated," discussing intricacies of syncopation and the proportional combination of meters that would not be utilized even in the practical sources for many years. An indigenous Italian notational system developed from the same foundation in Franco, but apparently Italian notation was designed from the start to serve practicing musicians; it was a means of notating and organizing the virtuosic and flowery vocal style lamented by Francesco da Barberino.
An early treatise attached to one of the Franconian Gaudent brevitate moderni compendiums lays out the essentials of Italian ars nova notation at the earliest stage: (1) imperfect time, or duple meter, now coequal with perfect time, or triple meter ("perfect" time was cultivated first by the French because of its doctrinal authorization in the Trinity); and (2) division of the imperfect breve into faster notes, four or six semibreves. Capitulum de vocibus applicatis verbis labels the subdivision of the imperfect breve into six semibreves the "French air" (aer gallicus), and indeed this division is ubiquitous in motets and songs of the French ars nova; the subdivision of the imperfect breve into four semibreves is labeled the "Italian air" (aer ytallicus). Two other early treatises indicate the delimitation of semibreve groups by dots of division, similar in function to the modern bar line.
Marchettus of Padua stands as die primary figure in the systematic codification of the new developments in Italian notation. Jacopo da Bologna, in his madrigal Oselleto saivaço, mentions "Filipoti e Marcheti," acknowledging the two musical authorities, Philippe de Vitry on the French side and Marchettus on the Italian side. Marchettus's early motet, Ave regina coelorum/Mater innocencie/Ite missa est, probably composed while he was serving as cantor at the cathedral of Padua (1305-1307), gives little evidence of a new style. Marchettus must therefore have consolidated the new notational system between c. 1310 and 1320. His Pomerium in arte musice mensurate, written at Cesena c. 1317-1319, documents a fully formed system.
In Marchettus's theory, the perfect breve of Franco and the newly accepted imperfect breve are subject to three levels of division. The perfect breve can be divided into three semibreves (ternaria), and these three can in turn be divided into six minims (senaria perfecta), nine minims (novenaria), or twelve minims (duodenaria). The imperfect breve can be divided into two semibreves, and these two can be further divided into four minims (quaternaria), six minims (senaria imperfecta), or eight minims (ottonaria). Letters served as meter signatures: .d. for duodenaria, .o. for ottonaria, etc. Confirming the "airs" noted in Capitulum, Marchettus observed that Italians preferred the divisions featuring binary groupings—senaria perfecta, ottonaria, and duodena ria—while the French preferred ternary groupings. The rhythmic profile of the senaria imperfecta was so distinct from the senaria perfecta that Marchettus advocated identifying them by nationality: G (gallicus), or Y (ytallicus). Meter signatures of .sg. (senaria gallica) and .sy. (senaria ytallica) are indeed encountered in the Rossi Codex, and such changes within a composition are common in the madrigal. Gallo has related the facile shifts between styles perceived as French and Italian to the bilingualism common among northern Italian poets.
As in the early French ars nova practice, the actual durations of individual semibreves within a group could vary, depending on the context. (Marchettus dubbed certain default durations— which were distinct from the French defaults—the via naturae, and departures from the norm the via artis.) In France, from about 1320 on, the systematic addition of stems to all short notes (minims) allowed strict prescription of all durations, and the dots delimiting measure were eliminated, facilitating the notation of hockets that helped articulate sections in highly structured motets. The revised French system easily allowed the notation of complex syncopations, something that was very restricted in the Italian system. The Italians retained the dots of division, allowing for a more exuberant melismatic melos. Italians also cultivated the possibility of changing meters and contrasting metrical patterns in ways very different from the French. In the end, the greater flexibility and international currency of the French system won the day, but the Italian system maintained itself as the ideal notation for indigenous genres and was strongly defended as late as 1412 by Prosdocimus de Beldemandis at Padua (Tractatus practice cantus mensurabilis ad modum ytallicorum). The system is still used, with modifications, in the Florentine manuscript known as the Squarcialupi Codex (1410—1415).
The first generation of composers of extant songs—Piero, Giovanni da Cascia (Giovanni da Firenze), and Jacopo da Bologna—worked in the 1340s and 1350s at powerful northern Italian courts. References in their works link all three composers first to the court of Luchino Visconti (r. 1339-1349) in Milan, and later to the court of Mastino II della Scala (d. 1351) in Verona, where each man contributed to a cycle of eleven madrigals that hide the senhal "Anna." Jacopo's career is the most thoroughly documented from references in his works, and we can follow him from service to Luchino Visconti, for whom he wrote two motets, to Mastino II and then Alberto della Scala in Verona, where he met Petrarch and set the madrigal Non al suo amante, the only work of Petrarch set by a fourteenth-century composer. After the death of Alberto in 1352, Jacopo returned to the Visconti and wrote a triple madrigal (Aquil' altera/Creatura gentil/Ucel di Dio) celebrating either the coronation of Emperor Charles IV in 1355 or the marriage of Gian Galeazzo Vis conti and Isabella ofValois in 1360. (Gian Galeazzo was known as the conte di Virtù, a name deriving from the county of Vertus in Champagne that he acquired as part of the dowry; two anonymous istampite (instrumental dances)— Virtù and Isabella—may also refer to this marriage.) Most of the more than sixty known works of this earliest generation of composers are two-voice madrigals, though Piero was particularly important in consolidating the caccia style. Many of the works continued to be copied in later Tuscan sources, and Simone Prodenzani still referred to works of Giovanni and Jacopo in his Saporetto (c. 1415).
Cultivation of Ars nova polyphony in Florence was centered in convents and churches, especially San Lorenzo, Santa Trinità, Santa Felicita, and Santo Spirito. The first generation of Florentine composers of extant songs includes Gherardello da Firenze (d. 1362 or 1363), who was active at exactly the same time as the first generation of northerners; Vincenzo da Rimini (Vincenzo da Imola), Lorenzo da Firenze (Lorenzo Masini), and Donato da Cascia, who were slightly older, were active c. 1350— 1370. About sixty works are known from this first group of four composers, mostly two-voice madrigals, with a strong representation of influential monophonic ballate by Gherardello and Lorenzo, and a handful of cacce. Lorenzo, who may have been Landini's teacher at San Lorenzo, set two works by Boccaccio: a baliata (Non so qual i' mi voglia) and a madrigal (Come in sul fontefit preso Narciso). Both Vincenzo and Lorenzo set the madrigal Ita se n'era a star nel paradiso, which alludes to Il Paradiso, the villa of the Alberti family at Florence. Gherardello and Lorenzo left a few movements for the mass which apply the madrigal style to sacred music.
The next stage is represented by Niccolò da Perugia and Francesco Landini (c. 1325-1397). Niccolò's work includes, for the first time, a preponderance of two-voice ballate (half of some forty works), some on moralizing texts, many of which are balla-tae minimae of the type described by Gidino da Sommacam-pagna. One of Niccolò's madrigals, O giustizia regina al mondo nacque, is attributed to "Giovanni Bocchasi" (possibly Boccaccio) in a text source.
The extraordinary output of Landini— 154 works that make up a full quarter of the entire surviving Trecento repertoire— place him in a category of his own. All but fourteen of his works are polyphonic ballate, elevating the ballata, first two-voice and later three-voice, to a role analogous to that of the contemporary French fixed forms. This decisive shift in emphasis is seen in all the Florentine composers who followed Landini. It is possible that Landini was active in Venice for a time during the 1360s, when he may have written motets for the doges Marco Cornaro (1365-1368) and Andrea Contarini (1368-1382). Villani reports that Pierre de Lusignan, king of the French outpost at Cyprus, gave Landini the corona laurea (1362, 1365, or 1368), and the miniature of Landini at the head of his collection in the Squarcialupi Codex depicts him with his laurel wreath. But his professional ties to Florence are attested to as early as 1361. Landini figures prominently in Giovanni Gherardi da Prato's account of Florence set in 1389, Il Paradiso degli Alberti (c. 1420). Not only does he sing and play the organetto; he also enters into philosophical and political discussions. A surviving poetic invective against humanist attacks on William of Occam's logic confirms his scholastic training.
Although most of the texts set to music were probably written by the composers themselves, Gherardello, Lorenzo, Donato, Niccolò, and Landini set several texts by known poets, including Franco Sacchetti and Niccolo Soldanieri (some are cited in the Novelle of Giovanni Sercambi), and isolated texts by others (Cino Rinuccini, Antonio degli Alberti, Rigo Belondi, and Bindo d'AIesso Donati). Of these, the ballate, madrigals, cacce, and canzonette of Sacchetti are particularly significant because he arranged the texts in chronological order in his Libra delle rime, thus providing some valuable chronological anchors to specific ranges of years from 1354 to 1380. It is a revealing commentary on the state of survival of this music that of the thirty-four texts Sacchetti lists with a composer's name, only twelve are extant.
A younger Florentine generation includes Andrea da Firenze (Andrea de' Servi, died c. 1415), Paolo da Firenze (Paolo Tenorista, c. 1355-1436), and Giovanni Mazzuoli (Jovannes Horganista de Florentia, c. 1360-1426). Andrea, Paolo, and Giovanni Mazzuoli were all closely associated with Landini, Giovanni perhaps as his pupil. Almost all their works are ballate; among Paolo's thirteen madrigals is the famous victory madrigal Godi Firenze, commemorating the conquest of Pisa by Florence in 1406.
Recent research, based on newly discovered fragmentary manuscripts, careful reexamination of the previously known manuscripts, and meticulous archival work, has begun the difficult task of teasing out the intricate connections that characterize musical culture in northern Italy in the turbulent years around 1400. One important center was at Padua, where Bartolino da Padova(fl. c. 1365-1405) andJohannesCiconia(c. 1373-1412) were active. Four or five of Bartolino's songs can be associated with political events relating to the ruling Carrara family, and three works antagonistic to the Visconti may indicate a stay in Florence from 1388 to 1390, when that family occupied Padua.
Johannes Ciconia, from Liège, is the most distinguished of the many Netherlanders active in northern Italy in this period. He may have been a pupil of Filippotto de Caserta at Pavia, settling in at the cathedral of Padua from at least 1401 until his death in 1412. Ciconia's output, some of it widely transmitted, includes about twenty secular works (mostly Italian), about ten movements for the mass, and about ten Latin motets, many of them datable political works from the period between 1390 and 1409, honoring, for example, the conciliarist Francesco Zabarella (archpriest of Padua cathedral, law professor at the university, and probably Ciconia's patron) or Michele Steno (doge of Venice, 1400—1413). The work honoring Michele Steno, Venecie mundi splendor/Michael qui Stena domus, acknowledges the Venetians' conquest of Padua. (Enough motets survive honoring Venetian doges—beginning with Francesco Dandolo in 1329—to suggest that such ceremonial motets were well known in Venice throughout the fourteenth century and early fifteenth century.)
The very different milieu at the court of Gian Galeazzo Visconti (r. 1378-1402) in Pavia provides a model of the complex interrelationships of French and Italian culture possible during this period. Gian Galeazzo's close political and dynastic relationship to the French court, firmly established by his wedding to Isabella of Valois in 1360 and confirmed when his daughter Valentina married Louis of Orléans, brother of King Charles VI, in 1387, was a center for the diffusion through Italy of complex French music of the ars subtilior. His library contained a narrative by Guillaume de Machaut and a book of French motets. A manuscript copied at Pavia in 1391 (now at the Newberry Library in Chicago, MS 54.1) contains treatises on music theoiy attributed to Marchettus of Padua, Johannes de Muris, and Filippotto da Caserta, with an intricate ars subtilior virelai by the French composer Jacob de Senleches, La harpe de mélodie, copied in a unique musical notation that resembles a harp. A sample of some other works written specifically for Gian Galeazzo include Antonello da Caserta's madrigal Del giorioso titolo d'esto duce, perhaps composed for his coronation as duke of Milan in 1395; Bartolino da Padova's madrigal Alba colomba, perhaps composed for his entry into Padua in 1388; and Johannes Ciconia's canon Una panthera in conpagnia de Marte, composed for a visit to Pavia of a Lucchese ambassador in 1399.
It now seems likely that before his service at Padua cathedral, Ciconia was at the Visconti court, possibly from 1390 to 1401. Ciconia's virelai Sus une fontayne pays homage to the older composer Filippotto da Caserta by quoting music and text from three of Filippotto's French ballades. Filippotto was an Italian composer who did not cultivate Italian ars nova genres at all, preferring the intricate genres with French texts favored at the Visconti court. After the death of Gian Galeazzo in 1402, the main composer at Milan, Matteo da Perugia, also cultivated French forms almost exclusively. His works include about two dozen French ballades, virelais, and rondeaux, and only two Italian ballate. From 1402 on, Matteo served Pietro Filargo (Peter Philarges), who was archbishop and, beginning in 1405, cardinal at the then unfinished cathedral of Milan. (Filargo had once taught theology at the Sorbonne but now taught at the University of Pavia, and he had been an adviser to Gian Galeazzo Visconti.) Matteo followed Filargo to Pisa, where the latter was elected Pope Alexander V in 1409; after Filargo's death in 1410, Matteo continued in the service of the antipope John XXIII, finally returning to the cathedral in Milan in 1414.
Antonio Zacara da Teramo (died c. 1413-1415), who lived in Rome from at least 1390 to 1407, served as papal singer and scribe under popes Boniface IX, Innocent VII, and Gregory XII and was maestro di cappella in the chapel of the antipope John XXIII in 1412-1413. Some scholars wonder if Zacara joined the antipope Alexander V in 1409 at Bologna; but since some of his intricate songs in ars subtilior style were written for the Visconti, he may have served Giovanni Maria Visconti (r. 1402-1412) at Pavia between 1408 and 1412. Zacara has only recently been recognized as one of the most important and original composers of this period. His works, including about twenty secular pieces and about fifteen settings for the Gloria and Credo, had a very wide geographical distribution.
The French, Netherlandish, and English music known in such northern Italian courts and chapels probably arrived there initially through extensive commercial contacts with the Low Countries, and a significant southward migration began with the Great Schism in 1378, Formerly, clerics in the Low Countries had gone to Paris or Avignon to further their education or careers; now they went to countries that were obedient to Rome, taking their music with them. A typical expression of the facile mixing of Italian and French secular polyphony is seen in a literary source, Il saporetto (c. 1415) of Simone Prodenzani of Orvieto. Among a series of forty-eight sonnets devoted to "worldly pleasure" are several celebrating one Sollazzo, a fictional musically talented performer who sings or plays a number of named works on the harp, lute, organ, cembalo, and other instruments. Besides Italian ars nova pieces by late composers and known poets (including works of a Sicilian woman), Sollazzo performs a French repertoire of the sort heard at the courts of powerful northern lords and in the private chapels of cardinals and popes, as well as dance tunes from Spain and Germany. Keyboard arrangements of French and Italian songs, along with dance tunes and liturgical pieces—exactly the repertoire performed by Sollazzo—are preserved in the Faenza Codex, a manuscript possibly of Ferrarrese provenance (Faenza, Biblioteca Comunale, MS 117).
Of the manuscripts containing music of the Italian ars nova, the Rossi Codex is the earliest, preserving music of the first generation of northern composers (Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostoiica Vaticana, MS Rossi 215, with additional fragments at Ostiglia, Fondazione Opera Pia don Giuseppe Greggiati, fragment without signature), probably copied for the Scaligeri in Padua and Verona c. 1350. All thirty-seven extant works in Rossi are transmitted anonymously, although concordances establish that five of them are by Piero or Giovanni da Cascia.
The proud tenacity with which Florentine elite circles held on to the fast-disappearing ars nova traditions is seen in the great Squarcialupi Codex. With 352 works, of which 150 are unica, it is the largest and most important source for the Italian ars nova. On the other hand, the idea of a homogeneous Italian ars nova repertoire that the Squarcialupi Codex seems to suggest is illusory. There are four other large Florentine sources: Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, MS Panciatichiano 26, a major source for Landini's works which is also strong on music of the first-generation northerners; Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, MS Fonds Italien 568, important for the later generation of Florentine composers, especially Paolo; London, British Library, MS Additional 29987, the unique source for many monophonic instrumental istampite;, and the recently discovered manuscript Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Archivio Capitolare di San Lorenzo, MS 2211, a palimpsest that once rivaled the Squarcialupi Codex in size, copied c. 1417-1420. (Because of erasure and overwriting in the sixteenth century, most of the works in San Lorenzo 2211, including a collection of Giovanni Mazzuoli's songs, all unica, are not recoverable in their entirety.) Unlike the Squarcialupi Codex, all these manuscripts include a fair sampling of French songs, usually added to occupy space left at the bottom of folios after the copying of Italian works.
Several sources preserve a portion of the diverse musical culture of Padua during the late fourteenth century and the early fifteenth. According to current research, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS Nouvelles Acquisitions Francises 6771—the so-called Reina Codex—was copied in Venice or Padua, although the repertoire it transmits is very inclusive and does not seem to reflect the tastes of a single court. A large manuscript known as the Lucca Codex or Codex Mancini, also a fragment (Lucca, Archivio di Stato, MS 184; and Perugia, Biblioteca Comunale "Augusta," MS 3065), was probably copied at Padua and reflects the musical tastes of the Carrara, though it also contains some of the repertoire of the Visconti at Milan and Pavia c. 1390-1408. For Padua cathedral and the abbey of Santa Giustina, what was once a large repertoire of motets, music for the mass, and Italian and French songs survives only in several fragments. Given the high foliation numbers on some of them, these fragments seem to have been parts of large manuscripts, reminding us that important centers in northern Italy remain less known to us simply because of the accidental preservation of more complete Tuscan sources.
Finally, the main corpus of the manuscript Modena, Biblioteca Estense, MSa .M.5.24, reflects the taste of the Pavian-Milanese orbit, and the last section of this manuscript contains a repertoire from the chapel of the antipope Alexander V at Bologna. The Modena manuscript, important for the French ars subtilior style, is the unique source for works of Matteo da Perugia.
It should be clear by now that the term ars nova is no longer very useful in discussing the local musical culture of late fourteenth-and early fifteenth-century Italy. The movement effectively ends with the Council of Constance (1414-1418), which brought together hundreds of musicians from all over Europe in the retinues of ecclesiastical and secular princes. After the council, many musicians continued the southward migration that had begun during the schism of 1378. Among them were the young Guillaume Du Fay of Cambrai, who followed the Malatesta entourage to Italy and played a crucial role in the merging of the French and Italian musical traditions. Later in the century more northerners joined an expanding papal chapel, as well as the important courts of King Alfonso I of Aragon at Naples, Leonello and Ercole I d'Este at Ferrara, and Galeazzo Maria Sforza at Milan. Northern practices in music were also encouraged by the Medici in Florence. The French notation and French forms brought by the northerners put increased pressure on indigenous art music; and although Italian polyphonic art music exerted some influence on the foreign composers, it soon disappeared. Fifteenth-century Italian humanists preferred simpler oral traditions to the earlier scholastic polyphonic techniques and notation, and the Venetian nobleman Leonardo Giustiniani (c. 1390-1446) popularized simple songs, giustiniane, in dialect (the music of this improvised art is of course lost). The next important body of Italian music that survives is the frottola repertoire, cultivated at Mantua under the patronage of Isabella d'Este and printed by Petrucci in Venice in the first years of the sixteenth century.
See also Antonio da Tempo; Ballata; Boccaccio, Giovanni; Caccia; Dante Alighieri; Dolce Stil Nuovo; Francesco da Bar-berino; Giovanni da Cascia; Guido d'Arezzo; Jacopo da Bologna; Landini, Francesco; Lauda; Madrigal; Marchetto da Padova; Motet; Niccolò da Perugia; Prodenzani, Simone; Sacchetti, Franco; Squarcialupi Codex.
LAWRENCE M. EARP
Gallo, F. Alberto. Il codice Squarcialupi: MS Mediceo Palatino 87: Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana di Firenze. Ars Nova. Florence: Libreria Musicale Italiaria/Giunri Barbera, 1992. (Includes the following essays and an excellent bibliography: F. Alberto Gallo, "Introduction," pp. 9-17; John Nádas, "The Squarcialupi Code::: An Edition of Trecento Songs, c. 1410-1415," pp. 19-86; John Nadas, "Inventory of the Squarcialupi Codex," pp. 87-126; Kurt von Fischer, "The Biographies," pp. 127-143; Luciano Bellosi, "The Squarcialupi Master," pp. 145-157; Margherita Ferro Luraghi, "The Miniatures," pp. 159-192; Nino Pirrotta, "The Music," pp. 193-221; Giuseppe Tavani, "The Poetic Texts," pp. 223-241; Giulio Cattin, "The Laude Set to the Music of the Squarcialupi Codex," pp. 243-251; Agostino Ziino, "The Musical Notation," pp. 253-77.)
—, ed. Il codice musicale Panciatichi 26 della Biblioteca nazionale di Firenze. Comune de Certaldi, Centro di Studi sull'Ars Nova Musicale del Trecento, Studi e Testi per la Storia della Musica, 3. Florence: Olschki, 1981.
Nádas, John, and Agostino Ziino, eds. The Lucca Codex (Codice Mancini): Lucca, Arcbivio di Stato, MS 184-Perugia, Biblioteca Comunale "Augusta," MS 3065. Ars Nova, 1. Lucca: Libreria Musicale Italiana, 1990.
Pirrotta, Nino, ed. Il codice Rossi 215 (The Rossi Codex 215): Roma, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana-Ostiglia, Fondazione Opera Pia don Giuseppe Greggiati. Ars Nova, 2. Lucca: Libreria Musicale Italiana, 1992.
Ziino, Agostino, ed. Il codice T. III. 2 (The Codex T. III. 2): Torino, Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria. Ars Nova, 3. Lucca: Libreria Musicale Italiana, 1994.
Corsi, Giuseppe, ed. Poesie musicali del Trecento. Collezione di Opere Inedite o Rare, 131. Bologna: Commissione per i Testi di Lingua, 1970.
Da Barberino, Francesco. I documenti d'amore, ed. Francesco Egidi, 4 vois. Rome: Presso La Società, 1922-1927.
Da Prato, Giovanni Gherardi. Il Paradiso degli Alberti, ed. Antonio Lanza. Rome: Salerno, 1975.
Da Tempo, Antonio. Summa artis rithimici vulgaris dictaminis, ed. Richard Andrews. Collezione di Opere Inedite o Rare, 136. Bologna: Commissione per i Testi di Lingua, 1977.
Debenedetti, Santorre, ed. "Un trattello del secolo XIV sopra la poesia musicale." Studi Medievali, 2, 1906-1907, pp. 79-80. (Anon. Capitulum de vocibus applicatis verbis.)
Gidino da Sommacompagna. Trattato dei ritmi volgari, ed. Giovanni Battista Carlo Giuliari. Scelta di Curiosità Letterarie Inedite o Rare dal Secolo XIII al XIX, 150. Bologna: Romagnoli, 1870. (Reprint, Bologna: Commissione per i Testi di Lingua, 1968.)
Levi, Ezio. "Cantilene e ballate dei sec. XIII e XIV dai 'Memoriali' di Bologna." Studi Medievali, 4, 1912-1913, pp. 279-334.
Marchetus de Padua. Pomerium in arte musicae mensuratae, ed. Giuseppe Vecchi. Corpus Scriptorum de Musica, 6. Rome: American Institute of Musicology, 1961.
Prodenzani, Simone. Il "Sollazzo" e il "Saporetto" con altre rime di Simone Prudenzani, ed. Santorre Debenedetti. Giornale Storico della Letteratura Italiana, suppl. 15. Turin: Loescher, 1913. (Prodenzani cites musical pieces in sonnets 25, 26, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 47, and 48.)
Sacchetti, Franco. Il libro delle rime, ed. Franca Brambilla Ageno. Italian Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1. Florence: Olschki; Perth: University of Western Australia Press, 1990.
Villani, Filippo. Philippi Villani: De origine civitatis Florentie et eiusdem famosis civibus, ed. Giuliano Tanturli. Padua: Antenore, 1997.
Pirrotta, Nino. The Music of Fourteenth Century Italy, 5 vols. Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae, 8. Amsterdam and Rome: American Institute of Musicology, 1954-1964. (Edition of the secular music; it was left incomplete but is still valuable for Pirrotta's introductory essays and his presentation of the music.)
Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century, Vol. 4 (Landini works, ed. Leo Schrade), Vol. 24 (Ciconia works, ed. Margaret Bent and Anne Hallmark), Vols. 6-11 (remaining secular music, ed. W. Thomas Marrocco), and Vols. 12-13 (remaining sacred and ceremonial music, ed. Kurt von Fischer and F. Alberto Gallo). Monaco: L'Oiseau-Lyre, 1958-1987. (The Italian ars nova repertoire is published in this series.)
Baumann, Dorothea. "Die Musik des 14. Jahrhunderts: Italien. In Die Musik des Mittelalters, ed. Hartmut Möller and Rudolf Stephan. Neues Handbuch der Musikwissenschaft, 2. Laaber: Laaber, 1991, pp. 385-415.
Bent, Margaret. "The Fourteenth-Century Italian Motet." L'Ars Nova Italiana del Trecento, 6, 1992, pp. 85-125.
Bockholdt, Rudolf. "Après une lecture du Dante: De vulgari eloquentia. Die Canzone als gesungene, als vorgetragene und als vertonte Dichtung." In Festschrift für Horst Leuchtmann zum 65. Geburtstag, ed. Stephan Horner and Bernhold Schmid. Tuning: Schneider, 1993, pp. 35-48.
Brown, Howard M. "A Fantasia on a Theme by Boccaccio." Early Music, 5, 1977, pp. 324-341.
—. "The Trecento Harp." In Sttidies in the Performance of Late Mediaeval Music, ed. Stanley Boorman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983, pp. 35-73. (See pp. 56-61 on the performance of ars nova polyphony in Simone Prodenzani's Il Sollazzo and in Giovanni Gherardi da Prato's Il Paradiso degli Alberti.)
Cattin, Giulio. "Church Patronage of Music in Fifteenth-Century Italy." In Music in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, ed. Iain Fenlon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981, pp. 21-36.
Debenedetti, Santorre. Il "Sollazzo": Contributi alia storia della novella, cklla poesia musicale, e del costume nel Trecento. Turin: Fratelli Bocca, 1922.
Di Bacco, G., and John Nadas. "Verso uno 'stile internazionale' della musica nelle cappelie papali e cardinalizie durante il Grande Scisma (1378-1417): II caso di Johannes Ciconia de Liège." In Collectanea I: Capellae Apostolicae Sixtinaeque collectanea acta monumenta, Vol. 3. Città del Vaticano, 1994, pp. 7-74.
Fischer, Kurt von. Studien zur italienischen Musik des Trecento und friihen Quattrocento. Publikationen der Schweizerischen Musikforschenden Gesellschaft, 2(5). Bern: Haupt, 1956.
Gallo, F. Alberto. "The Musical and Literary Tradition of Fourteenth Century Poetry Set to Music." In Musik und Text in der Mehrstimmigkeit des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts: Vortrdge des Gastsymposions in der Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbuttel, 8. bis 12. September 1980, ed. Ursula Giinther and Ludwig Finscher. Gottinger Musikwissenschaftliche Arbeiten, 10. Kassei: Barenreiter, 1984a, pp. 55-76.
—."Die Notationslehre im 14. und 15. Jahrhundert." In Die mittelalterliche Lehre von der Mehrstimmigkeit, ed. Frieder Zaminer. Geschichte der Musiktheorie, 5. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1984b, pp. 257-356.
—. Music in the Middle Ages II, trans. Karen Eales. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
—. Music in the Castle: Troubadours, Books, and Orators in Italian Courts of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Centuries, trans. Anna Herklotz and Kathryn Krug. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Hallmark, Anne. "French Influence in Northern Italy, c. 1400." In Studies in the Performance of Late Mediaeval Music, ed. Stanley Boorman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983, pp. 193-225.
Hoppin, Richard H. Medieval Music. New York: Norton, 1978.
Long, Michael P. "Francesco Landini and the Florentine Cultural Elite." Early Music History, 3, 1983, pp. 83-99.
—. "Landini's Musical Patrimony: A Reassessment of Some Compositional Conventions in Trecento Polyphony." Journal of the American Musicological Society, 40, 1987, pp. 31-52.
—. "Trecento Italy." In Music and Society: Antiquity and the Middle Ages, from Ancient Greece to the Fifteenth Century, ed. James McKinnon. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1990, pp. 241-268.
Nadas, John. "Further Notes on Magister Antonius dictus Zacharias de Teramo." Studi Musicali, 15, 1986, pp. 167-182.
Petrobelli, Pierluigi. " "Un leggiadretto velo' e altre cose petrarchesche." Rivista Italiana di Musicologia, 10, 1975, pp. 34-45.
—. "La musica nelle cattedrali e nelle città, ed i suoi rapporti con la cultura letteraria." In Storia della cultura veneta, Vol. 2, II Trecento, ed. Gianfranco Folena. Vicenza: Pozza, 1976, pp. 440-68.
Pirrotta, Nino. Music and Culture in Italy from the Middle Ages to the Baroque. Cambridge, Mass., and London: Harvard University Press, 1984.
Strohm, Reinhard. "Filippotto da Caserta, ovvero i francesi in Lombardia." In In cantu et in sermone: For Nino Pirrotta on His Eightieth Birthday, ed. Fabrizio Delia Seta and Franco Piperno Italian Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2. Florence: Olschki; and University of Western Australia Press, 1989, pp. 65-74.
—. "Master Egardus and Other Italo-Flemish Contacts." In L'Ars Nova Italiana del Trecento, 6, 1992, pp. 41-68.
—. The Rise of European Music, 1380-1500. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Wilson, Blake McD. "Madrigal, Lauda, and Local Style in Trecento Florence." Journal of Musicology, 15, 1997, pp. 137-177.
See Preachers and Preaching
See specific arts; individual artists
The term "matter of Britain" refers to a group ot narratives that were originally independent but became fused in literary tradition by virtue of their British setting and themes: the adventures of the legendary King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table, the quest for the Holy Grail, the downfall of Camelot, and the two pairs of lovers Lancelot and Gueneviere and Tristan and Isolde. Scholars generally agree that the story of Tristan developed in Wales from the ninth to the twelfth centuries and identify Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia regum Britanniae (c. 1136) as the earliest written source for the vernacular Arthurian cycle.
These powerful narratives circulated throughout Europe, serving as popular entertainments in oral performance as well as favorite reading matter for newly literate laymen and laywomen. The tales were transmitted by troubadours and other travelers from France and Provence—where literary forms in the vernacular had already developed—to the Sicilian court of Frederick II and into northern Italy.
Nonliterary and extratextual evidence proves that this material was already being widely diffused in the twelfth century: Arthurian characters decorate the cathedrals at Modena, Otranto, and Bari; the names of Arthurian heroes were included in onomastics; and there are references or allusions to these characters by early poets like Giacomo da Lentini and Guittone d'Arezzo, in early narratives like Il novellino and I conti di antichi cavalieri, in didactic poems like Intelligenza and Fazio degli Uberti's Dittamondo, and even by Saint Francis. French romances were copied at Naples in the late thirteenth century. In the Divine Comedy, Dante refers to the prose Lancelot (in a famous passage in Inferno 5) and to the vulgate Mart Artu (in Inferno 32). He also refers to an episode from Lancelot in Convivio and praises the text in De vulgari eloquentia. In the mid-fourteenth century, Petrarch (in Trionfo d'amore) and Boccaccio (in Decameron) refer explicitly to Arthurian romances.
As literacy spread in Italy because of intense urbanization and commercial activities, the demand for reading matter was met not only by original compositions in Italian but also by volgarizzamenti, texts translated from other languages. Modern literary critics tend to dismiss the volgarizzamenti as imitations, but the process by which they were created must be understood not in the modern sense of literal translation but rather in the medieval sense of freely reshaping and reordering preexisting material, and even innovating, according to the tastes and norms of a particular author or audience. Although Old French sources for episodes and characters can be identified, such elements were elided, omitted, and combined in new ways to produce, in effect, a new text.
Scenes from Arthurian romances on archivolt, and from Aesop's fables on architrave (school of Wiligelmus), Porta della Pescheria (detail), Duomo, Modena. Photograph courtesy of Christopher Kleinhenz,
Several anonymous Arthurian romances in various dialects have survived in fourteenth-century manuscripts. Three of them—Tristano Riccardiano (considered the earliest Arthurian text copied in Italian), Tristano Panciatichiano, and Tristano Corsiniano—are named for the collections where the manscripts are conserved; and one, Tristano Veneto, is named for its dialect. Other such manuscripts are La tavola ritonda (The Round Table), La storia di Merlino (attributed to the Florentine chronicler Paolino Pieri), and Palamedes (also called Girone ilcortese). Fragments and book inventories that are now coming to light testify to the widespread popularity of this literature in Italy.
Focal episodes from the Arthurian romances were set in verse in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century cantari: Febusso e Breusso retells an episode in Palamedes; La pulzella Gaia deals with the love of Morgan's daughter for Gawain; and Carduino contains material from the enfances of Perceval and the adventures of Guinglain. (Enfances are a medieval genre in which the legend of a hero is completed by recounting his childhood or origins.) The Florentine poet Antonio Pucci (1318-1388) composed a canzone about Gawain as well as two cantari about Gismirante. Other cantari based on the prose Tristan and the vulgate Mort Artu are La morte di Tristano, La vendetta che fe meser Lanzelloto de la morte di meser Tristano (The Revenge of Lancelot for the Death of Tristan), Tristano e Lancielotto, and Lancellotto.
In fifteenth-century Tuscany, the "matter of France" eventually overshadowed the "matter of Britain," but surviving library inventories of the house of Savoy, the Este at Ferrara, the Gonzaga at Mantua, and the Visconti and Sforza at Milan prove that the Arthurian romances remained important. The story of Tristan was apparently more popular in Tuscany than that of Lancelot; but in the north manuscripts of Lancelot were copied and read in the original French, and there were other versions in Franco-Italian dialect and a few in local vernaculars. Social differences may explain the readers' differing tastes: bourgeois entrepreneurs in Florence were drawn to the combative exploits of autonomous warrior heroes while the more feudal northern cities preserved the courtly literature they had inherited from France. Thus the several popular prose narratives by the Florentine Andrea da Barberino and others shunned the adulterous love themes of Arthurian literature and restored the knight-errant as a defender of family and patria, whereas the Ferrarese poet Boiardo, and later Ariosto, nostalgically fused the love theme with the tale of the warrior hero Orlando in an unprecedented intermingling of the two "matters."
See also Cantar; Canzone; Carolingian Material in Italy; Lancelot; Tavola Ritonda; Tristan, Volgarizzamenti
GLORIA ALLAIRE
La Inchiesta del San Granule: Volgarizzamento toscano della "Queste del Saint Graal", ed. Marco Infurna. Florence: Olschki, 1993. (Tristano Panciatichiano, ff. lr-38..)
Il libro di messer Tristano, ed. Aulo Donadello. Venice: Marsilio, 1994. (Tristano Veneto.)
Il romanzo di Tristano, ed. Antonio Scolari. Genoa: Costa Nolan, 1990.
Il Tristano panciatichiano, ed. and trans. Gloria Allaire. Cambridge: Brewer, 2002.
Tristano Riccardiano, ed. E. G. Parodi, rev. and notes Marie-José Heijkant. Parma: Pratiche, 1991.
Delcorno Branca, Daniela. I romanzi italiani di Tristano e la tavola ritonda. Florence: Olschki, 1968.
—. "Sette anni di studi sulla letteratura arturiana in Italia: Rassegna (1985-1992)." Lettere Italiane, 3, 1992a, pp. 465-497.
—."Tradizione italiana dei testi arturiani: Note sul Lancelot." Medioevo Romanzo, 17, 1992b, pp. 215-250.
Ferrante, Joan M. The Conflict of Love and Honor: The Medieval Tristan Legend in France, Germany, and Italy. The Hague: Mouton, 1973.
Gardner, Edmund G. The Arthurian Legend in Italian Literature. New York: Octagon, 1971. (Reprint of 1930 ed.)
Heijkant, Marie-José. La tradizione del Tristan in prosa in Italia e proposte di studio sul Tristano Riccardiano. Nijmegen: Sneldruck Enschede, 1989.
Kleinhenz, Christopher. "The Quest Motif in Medieval Italian Literature." In Conjunctures: Medieval Studies in Honor of Douglas Kelly, ed. Keith Busby and Norris J. Lacy, Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1994, pp. 235-251.
Psaki, Regina. "Le donne antiche e' cavalieri: Women in the Italian Arthurian Tradition." In Arthurian Women: A Casebook, ed. Thelma S. Fenster. New York: Garland, 1996.
Viscardi, Antonio. "Arthurian Influences on Italian Literature from 1200 to 1500." In Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, ed. R. S. Loomis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1969. (Reprint of 1959 ed.)
See Guilds
Ascoli Piceno, the ancient Roman Asculum, is in the region of the Marches (Marche), at the confluence of the Tronto and Castellano rivers, on the east side of the Apennines in an alluvial plain. It has been inhabited since the Iron Age. Ascoli became a Roman colony in 286 B.C., and many remains of Roman structures survive: the late republican Gemina gate, parts of the Augustan theater and of several temples, and two bridges—the Solesta over the Tronto and the Cecco over the Castellano. Pompeo Strabo spoke of its streets as strade breve, to suggest its small size. Ascoli was mentioned by Julius Caesar in De bello civile {On Civil War), by Cicero in Pro Sulla (Oration for Sulla), and by Paul the Deacon in Historia Longobarda {Lombard History). The city was taken by Caesar during the civil wars and became an important market for several centuries. In the Roman era, as now, the region produced cereals, wine, fruit, olives, honey, and silk. Christianity was introduced to Ascoli in the fourth century by Saint Emidius, and the town was for a while the seat of a bishop. In 544, Ascoli was occupied by the Goths under Totila (Procopius, De bello gothicum, 3.2). In 578, it was seized by the Lombards, who controlled it for almost two hundred years until it passed to the church in 774. In the mid-ninth century, it twice repelled attacks by Saracens, and by 1185 it had become a free commune. Frederick II conquered it in 1242 and granted it free institutions and privileges; these were respected even after Ascoli returned to the control of the church upon the death of Manfred in 1267. There were several episodes of seigneurial rule, such as that of Galeotto Malatesta (1349-1356).
In addition to its Roman remains, Ascoli preserves a number of Romanesque churches in the Lombard style. For example, the twelfth-century octagonal baptistery has a characteristic blind arcade adorning the surface of each exterior wall. Other Romanesque churches from this period include San Vittore, which has Byzantine frescoes; Santa Maria inter Vineas, with its beautiful thirteenth-century bell tower; Sant' Angelo Magno (1292); San Gregorio; Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio; San Tommaso; and San Venanzio. The civic buildings include the imposing Palazzo Comunale (late twelfth century) and the Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo (thirteenth century).
Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo, Ascoli Piceno. Photograph courtesy of Christopher Kleinhenz.
Ascoli Piceno's large Gothic church, San Francesco, was begun in 1258 and consecrated in 1371. With its octagonal piers, it reflects the plan of the cathedrals of Florence and Siena. The Gothic arches of the nave rest on octagonal columns, and double trifora designed by the Embriachi of the late fourteenth century appear in the clerestory above the nave. Other churches begun in the fourteenth century but completed later are Sant' Agostino (1317), Saint Peter Martyr (1332), and San Giacomo. A fortress constructed by Galeotto Malatesta in 1349 was rebuilt in the sixteenth century by Antonio Sangallo the Younger for Pope Paul III.
Among Ascoli's notable citizens during the late Middle Ages are Pope Nicholas IV (1288-1292); the poet and astrologer Cecco d'Ascoli (Francesco Stabili, 1269-1327), who was burned as a heretic in Florence; and the fifteenth-century humanist Enoch d'Ascoli.
See also Cecco d'Ascoli
DARRELL D. DAVISSON
Chiesa, E. La chiesa dei Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio in Ascoli Piceno. Empoli, 1919.
Ferriani, Daniella. Ascoli Piceno: Pinacoteca civica. Bologna: Calderini, 1994.
Grigioni, C. "Per la storia della pittura in Ascoli Piceno nella seconda metà del secolo XV." Rassegne Bibliografiche dell'Arte Italiana, 11, 1908, pp. 1-5.
Guidoni, Enrico, ed. Cittá, contado, e feudi nell'urbanistica medievale: Padova, la Valdelsa, il Casentino, Gubbio, Todi, Ascoli Piceno, L'Aquila, Ferentino. Rome: Multigrafica, 1974.
Laffi, Umberto. Storia di Ascoli Piceno nell'età antica. Series Asculum, 1. Pisa: Giardini, 1975
Mariotti, C. "I maestri lombardi in Ascoli Piceno." Rassegne Bibliografiche dellArte Italiana, 3, 1900, pp. 211-217.
—. Il monastero e la chiesa di S. Angela in Ascoli Piceno. Ascoli Piceno, 1920.
Moretti, G. "L'antico ponte di Cecco e 1'annessa fortezza in Ascoli Piceno." Bolletino d'Arte, 4, 1924, 43-48.
Poli, G. Ascoli vecchia e nuova. Ascoli, 1934.
Assisi, a city on the lower slope of Monte Subasio, today has a population of about 25,000. It is part of the province of Perugia and the region of Umbria. Despite its small size and somewhat isolated location, it is one of the sites in Italy most frequently visited, especially by pilgrims who come to venerate Saint Francis and Saint Clare and by tourists who come to see the basilica of San Francesco, which contains the world's greatest collection of late medieval and early Renaissance painting.
Assisi was the Roman town Assisium, incorporated into the republic c. 300 B.C. Its most famous citizen in ancient times was the poet Propertius. It still has visible Roman remains, most notably the front of what is called the temple of Minerva, which greatly impressed Goethe when he visited the city in 1786, in the Piazza Comunale. In ancient Assisi, when the piazza was much lower, a flight of steps led up to this grand building. The original forum has been excavated and can be visited; it is literally a walk under the present piazza. Other ancient remains in Assisi include the outline of its amphitheater.
Christianity came to Assisi perhaps in the third century after Christ, and by tradition its first missionary and martyr was Saint Rufinus (San Rufino), to whom the cathedral of Assisi is dedicated. Little is known about Rufinus, or about the other early martyrs; written accounts of their lives date from several centuries later and are historically unreliable. There is better evidence for evangelization in the area by Saint Felician, who became a victim of the persecution by Emperor Decius c. 250.
There is documentary evidence that an episcopal see was established in Assisi by 545; that year, the Gothic king Totila sent the bishop on a diplomatic mission after having taken the city, which had been garrisioned by a Byzantine army. Assisi eventually became a part of the duchy of Spoleto when the Germanic Lombard tribe captured the region from Byzantium shortly after 568. Occasionally, the name of a bishop survives in the papal archives, but otherwise we know almost nothing about the development of the town during the Lombard period. Although the Lombards submitted to the Franks and Assisi came under Charlemagne's control, we have almost no information about specific events in Assisi; however, there is a legend—recorded much later—that Charlemagne personally conducted the siege which led to the city's surrender to him.
Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva (Roman temple) and Torre del Popolo, Assisi. Photograph courtesy of Christopher Kleinhenz.
The ninth and tenth centuries are as "dark" for Assisi as for much of the rest of Europe. Muslim and Magyar raiding parties entered Umbria, but we do not know whether they ever attacked Assisi. A few records survive concerning the local bishops, but these have to do with land and give us little insight into the city's development. Still, it does appear that the bishops were involved in the defense of some of the lands of their dependents. The crypt of the church of Santa Maria dates from this period; it is the oldest Christian structure in Assisi.
As we look at the increasing documentary evidence from 1000 to 1200, we find a succession of conflicts: some common to many other Italian towns of the time, others peculiar to Assisi. The most important of those that were unique to Assisi was a struggle over which church would serve as its cathedral. Ultimately, San Rufino replaced Santa Maria as the cathedral—a triumph for the canons and the old feudal nobility over the bishop.
Rocca Maggiore, Assisi. Photograph courtesy of Christopher Kleinhenz.
As noted above, Assisi was a part of the duchy of Spoleto, a territory that had been long governed, at least indirectly, by the Holy Roman emperors in Germany. However, the papacy claimed that the area had been "donated" to the church by previous emperors. At the end of the twelfth century, the question whether Assisi came under the Holy Roman empire or the church had serious consequences, because Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (1152-1190) and the popes who were his contemporaries were usually at odds. In 1198, people from Assisi stormed the powerful fortress above the city, La Rocca; they expelled the German soldiers and then destroyed it. However, Assisi was not about to trade one master for another, and the city sought to establish its independence, at least de facto.
Being an object of dispute between two superpowers was not Assisi's only problem. It was also involved in a sharp rivalry with Perugia, a larger city just a few kilometers away. In 1202, Assisi and Perugia fought for control of some of the small towns and farmland between them, and Perugia was the victor.
There were also numerous conflicts within Assisi. Serious tension existed between the bishop, who was the spiritual head of the city and also a great landholder, and the local secular lords. Furthermore, there was conflict between those wealthy landed aristocrats and the town's increasingly wealthy merchants. Some of the various conflicts were not fully separate from one another. For example, it was the comune of Assisi, a group of leading townspeople, who destroyed La Rocca in 1198, and several powerful aristocratic families were exiled to Perugia. As the comune took charge of Assisi in the early thirteenth century, it came into conflict with the bishop.
In the midst of all of this tension and change, the city's most famous native, Francis of Assisi, was born in 1181 or 1182. He may have taken part in the destruction of La Rocca when he was sixteen; and he fought for Assisi against Perugia in 1202 and was taken as a prisoner of war. He briefly joined a military recruiter who was organizing an army to fight the German ruler of Sicily. At the end of his life he wrote a song for the purpose of bringing peace between the bishop and the leader of the comune.
Assisi was never one of the largest or most important cities in central Italy, although it did have some international merchants, including the father of Francis of Assisi. It was not able to defend itself in the long run against Perugia. And as the papacy aggressively asserted control over the papal states, Assisi was essentially absorbed into that larger political entity. During the fourteenth century, when the church was struggling to keep control of the papal states while the popes were living in Avignon, Cardinal Albornoz reconstructed La Rocca above Assisi. It still stands as a reminder of Assisi's place in the papal states. Assisi's political history from the fourteenth century to the present is a chapter in the history of the papal states and then in that of the nation of Italy.
Though Assisi was not a major economic or political force, even in Umbria, it developed an importance out of all proportion to its size by being the birthplace and, even more significantly, the burial place of two of the greatest saints in the Catholic church: Saint Francis (or Francesco) and Saint Clare (Chiara). Francis died in 1226 and was canonized in 1228, the same year that pope Gregory IX laid the cornerstone for the church in which Francis is buried, the basilica of San Francesco at the western end of the city. Pilgrims flocked to visit the tomb of Saint Francis, and the friars and their patrons hired many of the greatest artists from Italy and from beyond the Alps to decorate the basilica. The stained-glass windows were made largely by French and German craftsmen, and the walls were decorated by a "who's who" of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Italian painters including Giunta Pisano, Cimabue, Jacopo Torriti, Giotto, Simone Martini, and Pietro Lorenzetti. Near the eastern end of Assisi is the somewhat smaller basilica of Santa Chiara, begun almost immediately after her death in 1253. Seven hundred fifty years later, the city is still crowded with pilgrims and with visitors who come to see these churches.
Assisi remained an important place in the twentieth century. During World War II, thanks largely to its mayor, Arnaldo Fortini, the city was saved from destruction; and it also was the center of an underground that protected Jews from persecution. John Paul II, who became pope in 1978, once called for the world's religious leaders to come to Assisi for a day of prayer; he was joined there by the Dalai Lama, the archbishop of Canterbury, and leaders of many religious traditions including a Native American of the Crow nation in Montana. Such a gathering could not, perhaps, have taken place anywhere else but the city where Saint Francis had embraced lepers and preached to birds.
There are no books in English that provide a straightforward history of Assisi, but most books about the lives of Saint Francis and Saint Clare contain some historical setting. By far the best source for learning about Assisi is Fortini's Francis of Assisi (1981). Fortini was mayor of Assisi for many years and knew the documentary evidence for the city's history better than anyone else. It has been suggested that his book really should be titled Francis and Assisi, since the city is as important to the author as the saint. Two other books that are ultimately concerned with Francis of Assisi also contain a great deal of information about the city. The more accessible of the two is Brown (1982). The second, which is also valuable, is a collection of essays: Assisi al tempo di San Francesco (Assisi in the Time of Saint Francis, 1978). Although Assisi was not one of the most important cities to develop in Italy in the Middle Ages, it is included in books that deal with the medieval city-republics. A rather concise example is Waley (1988); a more thorough but perhaps less readable account is Jones (1997).
See also Cimabue; Clare, Saint; Francis of Assisi; Giotto di Bondone; Lorenzetti, Pietro and Ambrogio; Martini Simone, Perugia;
WILLIAM R. COOK
Assisi al tempo di San Francesco. Assisi: Società Internazionale di Studi Francescani, 1978.
Brown, Raphael. The Roots of Saint Francis. Chicago, Ill.: Franciscan Herald, 1982.
Fortini, Arnaldo. Francis of Assisi, trans. Helen Moak. New York: Crossroad, 1981. (Edited version of the original Italian version of more than 2,000 pages.)
Jones, Philip. The Italian City-State. Oxford: Clarendon, 1997.
Waley, Daniel. The Italian City-Republics, 3rd ed., New York: Longman, 1988.
Asti is a town in the region of Piedmont, on the Tanaro River and along an ancient Roman road, the Via Fulvia. The ancient name of the community is pre-Roman and is found in inscriptions as Asta; Pliny (in Natural History, 3.49) records the name as Hasta Pompeia. The Roman settlement dates from the second century B.C. During the later years of the Roman empire, in the fifth century after Christ, it was attacked by Alaric. According to one tradition, Saint Siro was the first bishop of Asti, in the mid-first century; but other traditions suggest a certain Saint Evasio, in the third century. The first documented evidence for the bishopric dates from the fifth century. The city suffered invasions by the barbarians and came under the control of the Ostrogoths, who gave it a certain importance. Under the Lombards, in November 596, it became a duchy. Duke Aribert ruled there before he was chosen king. Under the Franks, it was the seat of a lineage of counts, of whom the best-known is Suppone (d. 887). In the tenth and eleventh centuries, the archbishops were recognized by the German emperors as civic leaders who exercised comital authority in the city (i.e., authority ranking with that of a count). However, by the end of the eleventh century the commune was beginning to challenge the bishops' authority. As a result of its defiance of Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, Asti was destroyed in 1155; but four years later, in 1159, the emperor was forced to recognize its autonomy. In 1168, in an attempt to escape the hegemony of the marquis of Montferrat, the commune allied itself with the Lombard league; after an attack by Frederick I in 1174, however, it returned to the imperial side. This status was confirmed by the Peace of Constance in 1183.
Despite the factional struggles in subsequent years, Asti, which had an advantageous geographic location, became a center of commerce and banking. During this period it was one of the wealthiest cities in Piedmont, and its merchants and bankers were actively involved in commerce with France and Flanders, to such an extent that it competed favorably with economic centers such as Milan, Piacenza, Florence, Siena, and Lucca. In the second half of the thirteenth century the city was one of the staunchest opponents of the ambitions of Charles of Anjou. In 1275, Asti, in alliance with Genoa, Pavia, and the marquisate of Montferrat, won a decisive militaiy victory at Roccavione. At the end of the thirteenth century and the beginning of the fourteenth, internal strife between Guelf and Ghibelline families—respectively, the Solaro and the de Castello—prepared the way for a number of overlords such as the prince of Acaia; Henry VII of Luxembourg; Robert of Anjou; the house of Savoy; and the Visconti family of Milan. In 1387, when Valentina, daughter of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, married Louis of Orleans, Asti became part of her dowry. In this connection, the city became one strand of the interests that drew the French royal family into Italian affairs during the late Middle Ages.
While Asti still retains some traces of its Roman and medieval buildings, its most important religious and private structures date from the late medieval and postmedieval periods. The Romanesque-Gothic Collegiata di San Secondo (thirteenth-fifteenth centuries), the crypt of Saint Anastasius, the Baptistery of Saint Peter (twelfth century), and the cathedral—which was begun in the fourteeenth century and is in the Piedmontese Gothic style—have undergone significant renovations. A number of fine public and private palaces from the thirteenth through the fifteenth centuries survive.
See also Frederick I Barbarossa; Lombards; Milan; Montferrat, Marguisate of; Visconti Family
JOHN W. BARKER AND CHRISTOPHER KLEINHENZ
Bianco, A. Asti medioevale. Asti, 1960.
Bordone, Renato. Città e territorio nell'alto Medioevo: La società astigiana dal dominio dei franchi all'affermazione comunale. Turin: Deputazione Subalpina di Storia Patria, 1980.
Vergano, L. Storia di Asti. Asti, 1960.
Astrology is the divination of the supposed influence exerted on human affairs and earthly events by the stars, and especially by six of the other planets. This modern definition distinguishes astrology from astronomy, the scientific study of the universe outside the earth's atmosphere; but before the seventeenth century the two terms were often used indifferently to designate the study of the stars, which at that time might embrace both pursuits. Although astrology is a pseudoscience, at least some of its practitioners did, like astronomers, apply a high level of mathematical skill. The Greeks found such studies already well advanced in Egypt and Mesopotamia; borrowing selectively, they developed their own system, which was definitively formulated c. A.D. 150 by Ptolemy in his Almagest (on astronomy) and Tetrabiblos (or Quadripartitum, on astrology). Educated Romans, who were bilingual, never bothered to translate these technical works into Latin but studied them in the original Greek. To be sure, Latin authors wrote about the nonmathematical aspects of the study of stars, but their works were addressed to a nonprofessional audience who approached astronomia-astrologia as one of the seven liberal arts. Even the most detailed Latin treatise on astrology—Mathesis, by Julius Firmicus Maternus of Syracuse (fl. c. 335)—failed to explain how to cast a horoscope. Consequently, after the knowledge of Greek died out in Italy in the 500s, no one in the Latin west was able to practice astrology on its own terms until the twelfth century, when the relevant manuals of geometry and astronomy were finally translated into Latin.
The church fathers disapproved of astrology because it seemed to deny man's free will, but they felt that they could not dismiss it as the work of demons as they dismissed most pagan magic. Their reasoning was that astrology had been considered simply a natural phenomenon in Greek science, and also that it was authorized by the biblical story of the three Magi, to whom a star announced the birth of Christ. The Latin fathers favored a solution proposed by Tertullian (c. 200): although astrology was natural, it was no longer licit after the birth of Christ. Calcidius, a Christian Neoplatonist (c. 394, possibly at Milan), purportedly resolved the issue by limiting the effects of the stars to the human body, leaving the mind and will free. Augustine (d. 431) went further, denying the efficacy of astrology altogether; his (sound) argument was that twins often differ in character and fortune.
For various reasons, the founders of the liberal arts curriculum tended to exclude astrology. Martianus Capella (fl. 410-439) considered the casting of horoscopes an art but not a liberal art; Cassiodorus (died c. 483) considered it contrary to the Christian faith and hence something that should not be studied by monks. Consequently, astrology had no place in the Latin monastic culture of subsequent centuries. It was deplored by Isidore of Seville (d. 636) and ignored by Bede (d. 735), and it played no part in the Carolingian Renaissance. When Gerbert of Aurillac (later Pope Sylvester II), who was reputed to be a magician, visited Rome in 970, he found that astronomy was "almost completely unknown in Italy," and what little equipment he had brought with him from Spain was inadequate to do astrology. It would seem that in rejecting astrology, western Europe was simply making a virtue of necessity, since it had no access to the information that was needed to cast even a simple horoscope.
Meanwhile, astrology flourished in the east; and beginning c. 800 it was assimilated, refined, and expanded by the Muslims, who translated the key works of Greek science into Arabic. By 1000, the sophisticated Arabic astrology was well known to the Muslim neighbors of Catholic Europe in Sicily and Spain. Christian scholars were eager to improve their knowledge of the quadrivium, but the opportunity came only after the reconquest of significant centers of Muslim culture—Palermo in 1072, Toledo in 1085. In the course of the twelfth century, the greater part of Greek science was translated from Arabic into Latin, including the works of some three dozen Hellenistic and Muslim authorities on astrology and astronomy. Most of the translations were done in Spain, especially at Toledo under the patronage of the local archbishop. Scholars flocked to Spain from every part of Europe to do the translations; these scholars included two Italians. Gerard of Cremona (1114-1187) was the most prolific translator; at Toledo he translated Ptolemy's Almagest as well as many other mathematical, medical, and philosophical works, including six astrological treatises. Plato of Tivoli, working in Barcelona (c. 1134-1145), specialized in astrology; he translated eleven works, most notably Ptolemy's astrological textbook Tetrabiblos. By 1200, Greek and Arabic astrology was at the disposal of the Latin west.
Before native Italians had mastered the new doctrines, a wandering scholar from Spain, Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra, com posedan important manual of astrology at Lucca in 1148. From 1140 to 1161, he visited a series of Jewish communities in Italy, France, and England. For his hosts, he wrote many biblical commentaries and a few secular treatises, including the Beginning of Wisdom, which presented the basics of Arab astrology. This treatise was translated into French in 1273, and the French version was translated into Latin twice—first by Henry Bate at the papal curia in Orvieto in 1292 and then by Peter of Abano at Padua in 1293.
In the thirteenth century, the University of Bologna became a center for astrology. In 1220, it attracted Michael Scot from Spain, where he had been translating from the Arabic. Frederick II and his enemies, the cities of the Lombard league, sought Scot's advice as an astrologer. Michael dedicated to the emperor an enormous introduction to astrology, describing how to read "astrological character" from physiognomy and other traits. After Scot's death in 1235, Frederick's chief astrologer was Theodore of Antioch; but on one occasion Frederick was advised by Italy's first great native astrologer, Guido Bonatti of Fori! (c. 1210-c. 1297). After studying medicine and astrology at Bologna, Bonatti practiced both arts at Forlì and occasionally advised Ghibellines and Ghibelline powers, such as Ezzelino da Romano, Guido Novello, the commune of Florence (1259-1261), and Guido da Montefeltro (1275-1283). Bonatti's massive Liber astronomicus—a veritable summa of astrology—became the standard Latin introduction to the subject, being somewhat shorter than Scot's and more traditional in approach.
Christians, of course, could not believe that the stars deprived man of his free will, so extreme astrological determinism was deemed heretical (e.g., by the bishop of Paris in 1277). But scholastics steeped in Greek philosophy had to admit that astral influence was a natural, "scientific" phenomenon. Thus Albertus Magnus (d. 1280) wrote a Speculum astronomiae (Mirror of Astronomy) in which he distinguished between licit and illicit astrology; he was confident that the will could not be bound by the stars, and he defended astrology as a natural science, while condemning its magical applications in demonolatry, necromancy, and divination. His pupil Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) was more guarded, allowing that the stars could influence the human body but not the mind. Thus the Inquisition had reason to consider the more extreme claims of astrology heretical, though accusations were few and condemnations rare. The Inquisition was investigating certain astrological opinions of Peter of Abano when he died (c. 1316), but it is unknown which ones were objectionable and it is doubtful that he was ever condemned. Cecco dAscoli certainly was burned at the stake in 1327, ostensibly for contumaciously continuing to teach extreme astral fatalism, but this may well have been a convenient pretext seized on by his enemies (as with Joan of Arc). Neither case discouraged Italians from studying astrology, which flourished as never before during the next generation.
Peter of Abano was the most original astrologer of the Latin Middle Ages, After studying in Constantinople and Paris, he returned to teach at Padua. His masterwork is the Conciliator (1310), in which he discusses and resolves with astonishing erudition some 200 scholastic questions, mostly medical but often involving astrology: e.g., "Whether a doctor today can help the sick by his knowledge of astronomy." Peter argued that the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the first degree of Aries produces great prophets, such as Christ and Moses, and that human history is cyclical, being governed by each of the seven planets in turn for a period of about 354 years. His achievement was a magisterial synthesis of scholastic philosophy and medicine, in which astrology was seen as the controlling force of nature.
The learning of Cecco d'Ascoli was merely commonplace, however high an opinion he had of himself. His lectures at Bologna included an astrological rationale of the life of Christ but otherwise were conventional enough. He was, however, the first to write in Italian about astrology, in L'acerba, a rambling, obscure encyclopedic poem with satiric asides—directed, for example, against Dante—and with a strong admixture of folklore and magic.
By the fourteenth century, astrology was an accepted part of Italian cultural life. Dante believed that "it is without doubt within the capacity of human understanding to comprehend the mover of the heaven, and his will, through the motion thereof' (Epistle 5.8). Accordingly, Dante's Comedy teems with astrological allusions, especially in the planetary heavens of the Paradiso. Petrarch was ambivalent about astrology, as he was about medicine and much else. Although he befriended astrologers, praised their accuracy, and often took astrology for granted, still on occasion he could be skeptical and wary of charlatans. Boccaccio lavished fulsome praise on the Genoese astrologer Andalò di Negro, under whom he studied at Naples in the 1330s.
Astrology was cultivated intensively throughout Europe in the fourteenth century, and Italy was no exception. Boccaccio's teacher, Andalò di Negro (died c. 1340), wrote a short introduction to judicial astrology as well as several treatises on how the stars affect procreation. Two Italian friars wrote on medical astrology. One, a Dominican named Niccolò di Paganica, who was born near Aquila in the Abruzzi, compiled a brief summary of astrological medicine in 1330, which he rededicated to the Visconti ruler of Bologna in the 1350s; Petrarch's copy of this work survives in Venice. The other friar, Augustine of Trent, a native of Brescia, was an Augustinian who taught at Perugia and was chaplain to the bishop of Trent. In 1340, he composed an astrological explanation of the plague that was then raging, well before the black death of 1348. Other, less distinguished Italian astrological authors of the period include Master Romano, a physician of Rome (c. 1300) who summarized the ways in which a planet's influence could be modified; Thaddeus of Parma, who drew up a bibliography and classification of astrology and the occult arts for his students at Bologna in 1318; and Paolo Dagomari of Prato, who included rules for making astrological calculations in his Trattato d'abbaco (Treatise on the Abacus, Florence, 1339).
The proliferation of astrology in medieval Italy depended on two conditions: first, the availability of suitable textbooks, which were provided by the twelfth-century translators; and second, the systematic exposition of these texts in the universities. Although Bologna seems to have been a center for astrological studies from the days of Scot and Bonatti onward, the details of the curriculum were first set down in the university statutes of 1404. By then, astrology was an independent four-year degree program on a par with philosophy and medicine. The curriculum included arithmetic, Euclid's Geometry, and astronomy, with special stress on the use of tables of planetary positions; the chief astrological texts were Alcabkius's Introduction and Ptolemy's Quadripartium (Tetrabibios) and Centiloquium. Once established, academic astrology enjoyed a long life. As late as 1799, the university statutes at Bologna required the professor of astronomy to draw up an annual almanac for medical use.
See also Bonatti, Guido; Cecco d Ascoli; Michael Scot; Pietro Abano; Thomas Aquinas, Saint
RICHARD KAY
Carmody, Francis J. Arabic Astronomical and Astrological Sciences in Latin Translation: A Critical Bibliography, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1956.
Garin, Eugenio. Astrology in the Renaissance: The Zodiac of Life, trans. C. Jackson and J. Allen. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1983.
Sarton, George. Introduction to the History of Science, 3 vols. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1927-1948.
Tester, S. J. A History of Western Astrology. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell, 1987.
Thorndike, Lynn. A History of Magic and Experimental Science, Vols. 1-3. New York: Columbia University Press, 1923-1934.
See Liberal Arts
Ataulf (Ataulphus, Atawulf, Aistaulf; d. 415) was king of the Visigoths from 410 to 415, having succeeded his brother-in-law Alaric. After the death of Alaric and during the movement of the Visigoths through Italy, Ataulf led them in their continuing march northward—eventually, out of Italy into Provence and Aquitairte, taking advantage of the discord among Roman governors in the region. He obtained the recognition of the western emperor Honorius to establish his people ostensibly under the authority of Rome, but in fact as an independent regime ultimately focused in Spain, the first of the eventual Germanic successor states in the west. His ties to the imperial regime were strengthened by his marriage to Honorius's sister Galla Placidia at Narbonne in 412. He was assassinated by his political opponents in Barcelona.
See also Galla Placidia
JOHN W. BARKER AND CHRISTOPHER KLEINHENZ
The Huns appear to have been related to the Hsiung-Nu, a Turkish-Mongolian people who are mentioned in Chinese records of the early centuries after Christ. They eventually made their way across central Asia, and they acquired a fearsome reputation as savage warriors who lived mainly on horseback. Around a.d. 370, the Huns halted their advance north of the Danube River. For a time their relations with the Romans were like those of other barbarians, and they often served as auxiliaries in the Roman army. In the fifth century, however, they once again grew restive. In the early 420s, the Hun king Rua had to be bought off by the Romans with a subsidy of 350 pounds of gold per year.
Attila. Hartmann Schedel, Liber chronicarum (Nuremberg Chronicle). Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 1493, p. 137v.
In the late 430s, Rua's sons Attila (c. 435-453) and Bleda succeeded to the throne. Around 445, Attila murdered his brother and became sole king. He imposed increasingly severe terms on the eastern Roman emperor Theodosius II (402-450), raising the yearly subsidy first to 700 pounds of gold and then to 2,100. In 447, the Romans even agreed to evacuate a strip south of the Danube five days' march wide.
Subsequently, Actila's interests seem to have turned toward the west, and to the princess Justa Grata Honoria, elder sister of the western emperor Valentinian III (425-455). Around 449, she had been apprehended in an illicit love affair and exiled to Constantinople. She then sent her ring to Attila and appealed to him for help. At this, Theodosius II, who already had enough problems with the Huns, immediately dispatched her back to Italy—with the recommendation that Valentinian turn her over to Attila.
Valentinian refused, and what happened next is described by the historian Priscus, who had visited Attila's camp in 448. According to Priscus, Attila:
.. . sent men to the ruler of the western Romans to argue that Honoria, whom he had pledged to himself in marriage, should in no way be harmed. ... He sent also to the eastern Romans concerning the appointed tribute, but his ambassadors returned from both missions with nothing accomplished. . . . Attila was of two minds and at a loss which he should attack first, but finally it seemed better to him to enter on the greater war and to march against the west, since his fight there would be not only against the Italians but also against the Goths and Franks. . . . He sent certain men of his court to Italy that the Romans might surrender Honoria. ... He also said that Valentinian should withdraw from half of the empire. . . . When the western Romans held their former opinion, he devoted himself eagerly to preparation for war.
When Attila led the Huns and their subject peoples across the Rhine into Gaul in 451, the situation looked bleak for the Romans. The Roman army then consisted of little more than barbarian mercenaries in the personal service of Flavius Aetius, a "patrician and master of soldiers" (field marshal), who had once been a hostage of Attila's and who had skillfully played one barbarian group off against another for twenty-five years. The other powers in western Europe—the Visigoths in Aquitania and the Franks in the Rhineland—decided that they had more to fear from the Huns than from the Romans, and Aetius became the leader of an unlikely coalition of Visigoths, Franks, and what remained of the Roman army.
The Gallic chronicler Prosper, writing a few years later, noted, "Once the Rhine had been crossed, many Gallic cities experienced Attila's most savage attacks." In the next century, Gregory of Tours related that after destroying Metz, the Huns "ravaged a great number of other cities" before finally attacking Orleans, which was strongly defended. Unable to take Orleans, Attila began a strategic retreat northward. In July, it seems, between Troyes and Chalons-sur-Marne (ancient Catalauni), Attila was brought to battle on the Mauriac plain (the modern Mery-sur-Seine), about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Troyes, 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of Chalons, and next to the so-called Catalaunian fields.
According to the sixth-century Gothic historian Jordanes, there ensued "a battle ghastly, confused, ferocious, and unrelenting, the like of which history has never recounted." In the melee, the aged Visigothic king, Theoderic, was thrown from his horse and trampled to death by his own men, and Attila was nearly slain. The Huns then retreated to their camp, which had been fortified by their encircled wagons. On the following day, neither side felt strong enough to resume the battle; it was later said that 165,000 men had been slain. While the members of the Roman coalition debated what to do next, Attila is said to have stood atop a funeral pyre threatening to immolate himself rather then be taken captive. Neither Attila nor Aetius was in any condition to carry on the fight. Attila withdrew back across the Rhine.
However, Attila returned the next year and passed through the inexplicably undefended Alps into Italy. His forces destroyed Aquileia and captured Milan. Then, according to a pious legend, the Huns were induced to withdraw by an embassy of Pope Leo I, who was assisted in his efforts by apparitions of saints Peter and Paul. Disease, starvation, and the rumored arrival of reinforcements from the east also would have influenced the Huns' decision.
In 453, on his wedding night, Attila died. In 454 the subject peoples of the Huns revolted, inflicting a disastrous defeat upon their erstwhile masters in the battle of the Nedao River. The Huns never again posed a serious threat to the Roman empire, although the western empire soon succumbed to the encroachments of other barbarians who were neither as savage nor as feared as the Huns had been.
Attila himself subsequently developed a reputation as the epitome of the barbarian. Christian moralists referred to him as the "scourge of God" for his perceived role in punishing sinful Christians. In modern times, it has been suggested that a victory by the Huns would have caused irreparable damage, jeopardizing the future of western civilization. The defeat of Attila's invasion of Gaul has been portrayed as a victory of civilization over barbarism, and a turning point in history.
See also Huns
RALPH W. MATHISEN
Croke, Brian. "Anatolius and Nonius: Envoys to Attila." Byzantino-Slavica, 42, 1981, pp. 159-170.
Gordon, C. D. The Age of Attila: Fifth-Century Byzantium and the Barbarians. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1966.
Maencheh-Helfen, Otto. The World of the Huns. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973.
Tackholm, Ulf. "Aetius and the Battle on the Catalaunian Fields." Opuscula Romana, 7, 1969, pp. 259-276.
Thompson, Edward A. Attila and the Huns. Oxford: Clarendon, 1948.
Augustine (354-430), bishop of Hippo in Roman Africa from 396 to 430, was the predominant force behind the development of the western church in his time. Because of his eloquent defense and interpretation of church doctrine, he is generally considered the preeminent intellect of Christian antiquity. The theology he developed, which melded the scriptures of the New Testament with the Platonic ideas of Greek philosophy, had a profound effect on Christianity during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and remains a powerful influence today.
Augustine's Confessions, the autobiographical account of his first thirty-three years, contains most of what we know about his early life. He was born on 13 November 354 in Thagaste in North Africa. His father, Patricius, was a pagan and remained so until just before dying; but his mother, Monica, was a devout Christian. Although Augustine was not baptized as an infant, his early education included Monica's lessons on Christianity. When he was about sixteen, his parents sent him to Carthage to be educated further. During his time in Carthage, he took a mistress, who bore him a son, Adeodatus, in 372. Although he never married her, their relationship lasted fifteen years. In Carthage, Augustine encountered Cicero's Hortensius (now lost), and this work inspired him to study philosophy. His desire for knowledge also led him to explore the scriptures, but to his great disappointment he found them simplistic in content and form. Christianity, he concluded, was for the uneducated and uncultured.
Augustine, De civitate Dei. Venice: Octavianus Scotus, 1489. Reproduced from original held by Department of Special Collections of the University Libraries of Notre Dame.
Augustine then turned to Manicheism, when he was nineteen. The Manichees criticized the contradictions and mysteries of the Christian faith, though they did accept the truth of certain Christian teachings. They focused on the demonic, believing that opposing forces of good and evil, represented by light and dark, were struggling for control over the world. Their use of astrology also fascinated Augustine, and for about ten years he remained a member of this sect.
Augustine started a school of rhetoric at Carthage in 374. Subsequently, he also began to enter—and win—rhetorical contests. His activities in this regard led to a meeting with the proconsul Vindicianus, who was presiding over a contest in which Augustine took first prize. Augustine began to cultivate a friendship with Vindicianus, who encouraged him to give up astrology. In 380, Augustine published his first book, On the Beautiful and the Fitting. He began to study astronomy and started to question his Manichean beliefs.
Augustine's confidence in the Manichees continued to decline, not only because of his intellectual doubts about their teaching but also because he began to be critical of the moral delinquency he encountered among them. He closed his school and departed for Rome. He stayed there for a year, and although he was still nominally part of the Manichean community in Rome, his interest in philosophy began to increase. Now twenty-nine years of age, he successfully applied for a position as a professor of rhetoric in Milan.
Augustine's time in Milan would have a profound effect on his religious beliefs, as it was here that he made the acquaintance of Bishop Ambrose, the most influential Christian churchman of the day. Influenced, perhaps, by Ambrose's sermons, Augustine became interested in Neoplatonic writings, which led him to abandon his Manichean beliefs. On the advice of his friend Theodorus, a philosopher, he read the Platonists Plotinus and Porphyry and was delighted by their writings. But their emphasis on the spiritual world left Augustine feeling unfulfilled, as he was also concerned with his physical being and sought instruction on how best to control his passions and emotions. His study of Neoplatonism, which grafted philosophy onto theology, drew him further into an investigation of Christian thought.
Consequently, Augustine turned to the gospel of Saint Paul for answers to his questions. In the eighth book of his Confessions, Augustine describes his struggle with faith and his contempt at his own inability to control his physical desires. He describes his final conversion in a garden in Milan—where, on hearing a childlike voice saying, Tolle, lege; tolle, lege ("Pick up and read"), he opened his text to Romans 13:14 and read Saint Paul's message about physical concupiscence. It was now August 386.
Following his conversion, Augstine resigned from his teaching position and traveled to Cassiciacum with his mother, his son, and a few students. In the next two years, he wrote at least four books. He was baptized by Ambrose in 387.
After Monica's death in 388, Augustine set up the first monastic community in Latin Africa. His quiet life of writing and contemplation was not entirely satisfactory; at one point he earnestly considered leaving his community to take up a solitary life in the desert. The death of his son Adeodatus c. 390 gave him a deep sense of disappointment yet renewed his commitment to his work. On a visit to Hippo Regia in 391, he was compelled to take up the responsibilities of the priesthood as an assistant to the elderly Bishop Valerius. Five years later, after Valerius's death, Augustine became the bishop of Hippo. Until his own death thirty-four years later, he served the community of Hippo Regia as its religious leader and as the presiding judge in its civil court. He also continued his career as a prolific writer. At the time of his death he had completed 113 books and had written more than 200 letters. In addition, nearly 500 of his sermons are still extant. Some of Augstine's writings were directed against Manicheism. His thirteen books on this subject, in which he attacked almost every aspect of Manichean beliefs and defended the Christian scriptures, led to the demise of Manicheism as a religion.
As Augustine understood it, his role as bishop included being a defender and interpreter of church doctrine. Thus he also excoriated the Donatists, who believed that the church had been too forgiving of those who had abandoned their faith during the reign of the emperor Diocletian. The Donatist schism had long been a problem for the state and the church; in fact, the Roman police had to protect the countryside from the secular branch of the group, known as the Circumcellions, who roamed about terrorizing Catholics. Augustine spoke out against the Donatists' criticisms of the Christian church; in his anti-Donatist arguments he stressed the unity of the Catholic church, maintaining that a schism denied the Holy Spirit's true gift of charity. Augustine also argued against the Donatists' belief that the sacraments were effective only when delivered by a human minister who was undefiled—that is, free of serious sin. The attempts to reach a peaceful agreement between the church and the Donatists culminated in 411, in a council at Carthage, where Augustine argued against Donatism before Marcellinus, the imperial commissioner. The verdict was in Augustine's favor; the Donatists were cast out as misbelievers and Donatism was forced to go underground.
In 412, Augustine turned his attention to the Pelagians, another sect he regarded as heretical. The founder of this movement, Pelagius, had visited Rome c. 400 and had claimed to be horrified by the decline he observed in the moral standards of the church. Pelagius denied original sin and declared that salvation could be attained by sheer willpower. Moreover, he asserted that humanity did not require redemption, because each individual had a choice about whether or not to sin; consequently, he considered Jesus Christ not a savior but rather an inspiration or role model. Augustine found this view of sin and salvation simplistic; he responded with the argument that humanity can rely only on God for salvation and that true salvation can occur only when humanity recognizes its absolute dependence on God.
While he was confronting the Pelagians' challenge, Augustine worked on his masterpiece, De civitate Dei (The City of God). This was a time of political and religious instability; an attack on Rome by Alaric in 410 had made the Romans fear that Africa was next, and the church was being blamed for the decline of the empire. During the crisis, Augustine was primarily responsible for holding the Christian church together. When the tribune Marcellinus asked Augustine to write a work that would address the situation, he spent fourteen years writing The City of God. The work deals with such timely concerns as the pagans' accusation that the disaster was a result of Rome's apostasy, but it also narrates the history of human and divine affairs from before the earth was formed until its final destined end. Augustine died on 28 August 430, while Vandal armies were besieging Regia Hippo. That he had been able to contribute so much to theological and philosophical thought during the fall of Rome was a remarkable achievement.
See also Neoplatonism; Pelagius and Pelagianism; Plato
JENNIFER A. REA
Bibliothèque Augustinienne. Paris, 1947- . (Includes French translations and notes.)
Corpus Christianorum, latina. Brepols, 1953- .
Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum. Vienna, 1965- .
Migne, J. P., Patrologia Latina, Vols. 32-46. Paris, 1841-1842.
Ancient Christian Writers. Westminster, Md,: Newman; and London: Longmans, 1946- .
Augustinian Historical Institute. Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the Twenty-First Century. Villanova, Pa., 1992- .
Dods, Marcus, ed. The Works of Aurelius Augustine, 15 vols. Edinburgh, 1871-1876.
Fathers of the Church. New York and Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 1947- .
Library of Christian Classics. London and Philadelphia, Pa.: Westminister, 1953.
Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church. Buffalo, N.Y., 1886. (Reprint, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1956.)
Bonner, Gerald. Saint Augustine of Hippo. London: SCM, 1963.
Brown, Peter. Augustine of Hippo. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967.
Chadwick, Henry. Augustine. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986.
Hansel, Robert. The Life of Saint Augustine. New York: Franklin Watts, 1969.
Keyes, Gordon. Christian Faith and the Interpretation of History. University of Nebraska Press, 1966.
Markus, Robert. Saeculum: History and Society in the Theology of Saint Augustine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970.
Marrou, Henri. Saint Augustine and His Influence through the Ages. New York: Harper, 1962.
O'Meara, John. The Young Augustine. London: Longmans, Green, 1954.
Scott, T. Kermit. Augustine: His Thought in Context. New York: Paulist, 1995.
TeSelle, Eugene. Augustine the Theologian. New York: Herder and Herder, 1970.
Authari (d. 590) was a king of the Lombards (r. 584-590). He was the son of Cleph, who had been selected king in 572 following the assassination of King Alboin. Cleph in turn had been assassinated in 574, and from then until 584 there was an interregnum during which the Lombard dukes pursued their own interests at the expense of the kingdom as a whole. The inevitable weakness that resulted invited invasion by the Franks, and this threat encouraged the dukes to elect Authari in 584.
The Lombard historian Paul the Deacon reports that, in order to strengthen the monarchy, each of the dukes gave up half of his lands to create a royal domain. This land base continued to support the Lombard kings as long as the Lombard kingdom lasted, and it freed them from the necessity of collecting the land tax which the Byzantines had attempted to reintroduce following their defeat of the Ostrogoths in 552.
To meet the threat posed by the Franks, Authari sought an alliance with the Bavarians. That alliance was sealed by Authari's marriage to the Bavarian princess Theodolinda, who came to Italy with a Catholic entourage and gained a reputation there as a patron of the arts (she is credited with making a number of important artistic gifts to the cathedral of Monza). According to Paul the Deacon, when Authari died Theodolinda was asked to select a new husband to succeed him as king, and she chose Agilulf, duke of Turin.
See also Agilulf; Lombards
KATHERINE FISCHER DREW
Foulke, William Dudley. Paul the Deacon History of the Lombards. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1974.
Hartmann, L. M. "Italy under the Lombards." Cambridge Medieval History, Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan, 1913.
Wickham, Chris. Early Medieval Italy. Totowa, N.J.: Barnes and Noble, 1981.
See Altichiero da Zerio
Ibn Rushd (Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Rushd, 1126-1198), known in medieval Europe as Averroes, was born in Cordoba in Muslim Spain to a family of scholars and Islamic jurists. He himself became a judge as well as a physician and astronomer and is considered one of the most important philosophers of the Middle Ages. He served the rulers of the Almohad dynasty, who controlled Arabic Spain from their capital in Marrakesh. Around 1169, the renowned philosopher and physician Ibn Tufayl (1105-1185) presented him to the caliph, Abu Yaqub Yusuf (r. 1163-1184). The caliph, who was knowledgeable in philosophy but perplexed about abstruse areas in the philosophy of Aristotle, assigned Averroës the task of writing interpretations of Aristotle's books. Averroës began this work while acting as a judge in Seville and in Cordoba, where, according to some sources, he was the chief justice. In 1182, he succeeded Ibn Tufayl as chief physician of the Almohad court. After the death of Abu Yaqub Yusuf, Averroes served his son, Yaqub al-Mansur (r. 1184-1199), with whom he discussed philosophy and from who he received great privileges. In 1195, however, because conservative religious scholars were putting pressure on the caliph, Averroës fell from favor. His books were burned, and he was exiled to Lucena, near Cordoba, where he was further criticized for his philosophy. The caliph later called Averroës back to Marrakesh and restored him to his position. Averroës died in Marrakesh not long afterward; his remains were moved to Cordoba.
Aristotle, Omnia qvae extant opera . . . with the commentary of Averroës. Venice: Apud Iuntas, 1552. Reproduced from original held by Department of Special Collections of the University Libraries of Notre Dame.
Averroës wrote books on Islamic law; of these, the most influential in the Muslim world was the Bidayat al-mujtahid (The Distinguished Jurist's Primer). He also wrote on medicine. Some of his works were translated into Latin in the thirteenth century, most importantly al-Kulliyat (The Generalities; in Latin, Colliget). In his work, Averroës focused largely on philosophy. He wrote several books addressing the apparent inconsistencies and conflict between philosophy and theology, the most notable being Fast al-maqal (The Decisive Treatise), which makes a case for religion and philosophy as harmonious; al-Kashfan manahij al-adillah (The Exposition of the Methods of Proof, criticizing theological interpretations of the language of scripture; and Tahafut al-tahafut (The Incoherence of the Incoherence), commentin on Tahafut al-falasifa (The Incoherence of the Philosophers) by the Persian philosopher al-Ghazali (1058-1111) and defending philosophy against al-Ghazali's criticism. Tahafut al-falasifa was partially translated into Latin in 1328 (and fully translated in 1526). The other two works were not available in Latin during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and for that reason were known to almost no Latin scholars of the time.
Averroës was famous in medieval Europe for his commentaries on the books of Aristotle, Muslims in the east had become interested in Aristotle during the ninth century, when his books were translated and interpreted under the patronage of the caliphs in Baghdad. The Middle East had come into contact with Aristotle's works through Syrian scholars, whose intellectual ancestors, hellenized under Greek rule before the emergence of Islam, had studied Aristotle and his Greek commentators. As with science and philosophy in general, interest in Aristotle spread through the Muslim empire to Andalusia, where caliphs as early as the ninth century supported endeavors in this field. Averroes's commentaries were important because Aristotle's teaching is in many places difficult to understand, and Averroës strove to provide a clear, accurate interpretation. His commentaries, which followed Aristotle's books closely, took three forms: "short" commentaries comprising epitomes of Aristotle's text, "middle" commentaries addressing the original text paragraph by paragraph, and "great" or "long" commentaries reproducing the entire original text in segments interspersed with Averroës's own analysis.
Many of the commentaries were translated into Latin, in response to the interest of Latin scholars who were reading Aristotle and facing the same difficulties of understanding as the Arabic scholars before them. The translations that had the greatest impact were the commentaries on the books on metaphysics and natural philosophy (the study of the natural, or physical, world, which today we would classify as science): the great commentaries on Physics, De caelo, De anima, and Metaphysics; the middle commentaries on De generatione et corruptione and Meteorological (Book 4 only); and the short commentaries on De caelo, Parva naturalia, and De animalibus. These translations seem to have been made during the 1220s and 1230s in intellectual circles in southern Italy, with the support of Frederick II (1194-1250), Holy Roman emperor and king of Sicily,
The commentaries became central to the study of Aristotle, and among Latin writers in medieval Europe, Averroës came to be known as "the commentator," just as Aristotle was called "the philosopher." Certain theories found in their books posed problems for Christian readers. Because he reiterated and expanded on Aristotle's teaching, Averroës received much of the blame for the controversy the theories aroused. The most provocative was Aristotle's case in Physics and De caelo for the eternity of the world, a notion in direct conflict with creation ex nihilo as taught in Genesis. Averroës was also held responsible for a theory of the "unicity" of the intellect, sometimes called monopsychism, based on Aristotle's brief, cryptic description of the human intellect in De anima and developed in Averroës's commentary on that work. According to this theory, there is one intellect shared by all of humanity, which individuals "borrow" for the duration of a lifetime only. In order to account for conceptual thinking and the process of understanding, Aristotle had posited two intellects, an "active" or "agent" intellect and a "passive" or "potential" intellect, explaining that the active intellect exerted influence on the passive intellect in order to bring about knowledge. Aristotle said that the active intellect was somehow "separate," but as his description in De anima was brief, readers were (and still are) puzzled as to whether the intellects were located within individual human beings. The great Persian philosopher Ibn Sina (980-1037), known in Europe as Avicenna, held that the active intellect was separate and, since Aristotle had taught that separate substances are unique, that there was only one active intellect for all human beings. Averroes reasoned from Aristotle's account that the active and the passive intellect must each be separate and unique. During the life of a human body, the intellects were individuated by being related to it; but the individuated intellects did not survive the death of the body: rather, they were reabsorbed by the single, unified intellect. This conclusion had dangerous implications for Christian theology, which held that the intellect is part of the human soul: unicity meant that there could be no immortality of the soul and therefore no afterlife, no judgment of souls by God, and consequently no accountability for sin.
By the end of the thirteenth century, those who supported the dangerous opinions of Aristotle and Averroës were sometimes scornfully called Averroists (Averroistae). In modern scholarship, these thinkers, such as Siger of Brabant (c. 1240-c. 1284) and Boethius of Dacia (fl. 1275), are often referred to as Latin Averroists. At the University of Paris, the center of theological study in Europe during the thirteenth century, there were several prohibitions against teaching Aristotle, Averroës, or their more contentious principles—most notably in 1277, when Bishop Etienne Tempier listed and banned 219 principles on pain of excommunication. Some modern scholars have compared the actual views of Averroës with these "condemnations of 1277" and with the opinions of Averroists and have concluded that the Averroists' thought is not truly representative of Averroës himself; consequently, they prefer to call these thinkers "radical" or "heterodox" Aristotelians. Nevertheless, the term "Averroist" is still widely used.
An important concept attributed to the Averroists was the "double truth"—a view was that something can be true according to philosophical reasoning but not according to faith or, conversely, true according to revelation but not reason. Neither faith nor reason took priority; the opposing truths, such as creation and the eternity of the world, simply had to be seen in separate contexts. This concept offered a loophole for philosophers whose ideas conflicted with the scriptures, and it was condemned in the preamble to the condemnations of 1277 and in anti-Averroist polemics; but evidence of actual adherence to the doctrine is scarce.
Modern scholarship has associated Averroism in Italy with the University of Padua, owing to the thinking of several philosophers there in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, such as Paul of Venice (Paulo Nicoletti, c. 1369-1429); Gaetano (Cajetan) of Thiene (1387-1465), who was Averroist more by historical reputation than by persuasion; and two of Gaetano's students: Agostino Nifo (1469 or 1470-1538), who began his career at Padua and altered his Averroist views in his later work, and Nicoletto Vernias (1420-1499). Remarks by Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca, 1304-1374) in his De sui ipsius et multorum ignorantia criticizing four philosophers led the great scholar Ernest Renan to extrapolate the presence of Paduan Averroism as far back as the fourteenth century. The notion of a Paduan Averroist tradition before the fifteenth century has since been revised, however; although Aristotle was discussed, there is little evidence of proponents of Averroist theories at this time in Padua. Figures previously associated in modern scholarship with Padua and Averroist thought are now seen in a different light. Peter ol Abano (c. 1250-1316), who taught at Padua starting in 1307, was at one time considered an Averroist because he insisted on discussing philosophy without considering religious doctrine; but it has now been shown that he did not accept the unicity of the intellect. Marsilius of Padua (c. 1275-c. 1343), who taught in Paris, probably had no connection with the University of Padua and is now believed not to have adhered to Averroist doctrine. One scholar who has been described as Averroist and who did have links with Padua, Blasius of Parma (Biagio Pelacani, c. 1347-1416), taught there from 1382 to 1388; but he also taught extensively at other universities (at Pavia c. 1374-1378 and 1389-1407, and at Bologna from 1379 to 1382), and while he did hold that the soul was material and therefore not immortal, his classification as an Averroist has been called into question.
In contrast with the decline in the idea of a Paduan Averroism, there has been growing recognition of Averroist opinions in Bologna in the fourteenth century. In addition to Blasius of Parma, we find Taddeo of Parma (active c. 1320), a student of the Aristotelian commentator Gentile of Cingoli (active in the 1290s); Taddeo's Questions on the Soul shows Averroist leanings. Angelo of Arezzo (active c. 1325) almost certainly supported the theory of the unicity of the possible intellect, though he acknowledged—apparently more out of duty than conviction— that it contradicted Christian faith and hence should not be believed. Additional scholars in Bologna at this time who have been identified as Averroist include Anselm of Como (arts master, c. 1325-c. 1355), Matthew of Gubbio (arts master, c. 133447), James of Piacenza (arts master, c. 1340-1343), and Cambiolo of Bologna (probably arts master at Bologna, active c. 1333). The criteria for classifying medieval Italian writers as Averroist have come under scrutiny as modern scholars of Italian Averroism (and of European Averroism in general) consider the problem of defining Averroism in terms of the views it comprises and the way it evolved.
In spite of the controversy surrounding some of his ideas, Averroës was recognized in medieval Europe as essential to philosophical study because of the detail and clarity of his commentary, Even scholars who disagreed with him read his commentaries along with Aristotle, and their own commentaries were influenced by the form and content of Averroës's.
See also Arabs in Italy; Aristotle and Aristotelianism; Pietro Abano; Scholasticism
ANN M. GILETTI
Averroës. Aristotelis opera cum Averrois commentariis. Venice: Juntas, 1562-1574. Reprint, Frankfurt: Minerva, 1962. (9 vols, and 3 supplementary vols., comprising Averroes's commentaries on Aristotle in Latin translation. Note: English translations are available for only some of the commentaries. See below for translations of the commentaries on the works on natural philosophy and metaphysics. At the time of this writing, English translations of the commentaries on De anima, De caelo, Meteorologica, and De animalibus were not available, but Richard Taylor of Marquettte University was preparing an English translation of the commentary on De animal)
Federici Vescovini, Graziella. Le quaestiones de anima di Biagio Pelacani da Parma, Florence: Olschki, 1974. (Edition of questions on the soul by Blasius of Parma; see Sorge, below, for an Italian translation.)
Ghisalberti, Alessandro. Le "Quaestiones de anima" attribuite a Matteo da Gubbio. Milan: Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 1981. (Edition of the text in Latin with an introduction in Italian on Bolognese Averroism in general.)
Kuksewicz, Zdzislaw, ed. Averroïsme bolonais au XIVe siècle. Wroclaw, Warsaw, and Cracow: Ossolineum, 1965. (Edition of the works of six fourteenth-century scholars treating Averroist issues in Bologna, including Anselm of Como, Matthew of Gubbio, James of Piacenza, and Cambiolo of Bologna.)
—, ed. Jacobi de Placentia: Lectura cum quaestionibus super tertium De anima. Wroclaw, Warsaw, and Cracow: Ossolineum, 1967. (Edition of questions on De anima by James of Piacenza.)
Vanni Rovighi, Sofia, ed. Le "Quaestiones de Anima" di Taddeo da Parma. Milan: Vita e Pensiero, 1951.
al-Masumi, M. Saghir Hasan, ed. and trans. "Ibn Rushd's Synopsis of Aristotle's Physics." Dacca University Studies, 8, 1956, pp. 65-98. (Arabic edition and English translation of part of the middle commentary on the Physics', the great commentary was what was available in Latin in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.)
Bergh, Simon van den, trans. Averroës's Tahafut al-Tahafut (The Incoherence of the Incoherence). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1954. (Reprint, London: Luzac, 1978.)
Blumberg, Harry, trans. Averroës, Epitome of "Parva naturalia." Cambridge, Mass.: Medieval Academy of America, 1961.
Genequand, Charles, trans. Ibn Rushd's Metaphysics. Leiden: Brill, 1984.
Harvey, Steven. "The Hebrew Translation of Averroes' Prooemium to His Long Commentary on Aristotle's Physical' Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, 52, 1985, pp. 55-84.
Kurland, Samuel, trans. Averroës on Aristotle's "De Generatione et comiptione": Middle Commentary and Epitome. Cambridge, Mass.: Medieval Academy of America, 1961.
Sorge, Valeria, trans. Biagio Pelacani da Parma, Quaestiones de anima. Naples: Morano, 1995. (Italian translation of questions on the soul by Blasius of Parma with an introduction on his life and thought; for the Latin edition, see Federici Vescovini above.)
Burnett, Charles. "The 'Sons of Averroës with the Emperor Frederick' and the Transmission of the Philosophical Works by Ibn Rushd." In Averroës and the Aristotelian Tradition, pp. 259-299.
Dales, Richard C. "The Origin of the Doctrine of the Double Truth." Traditio, 15, 1984, pp. 169-179.
Dod, Bernard G. "Aristoteles Latinus." In The Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy, ed. N. Kretzmann, A. Kenny, and J. Pinborg. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982, pp. 45-79.
Endress, Gerhard. "Averrois Opera: A Bibliography of Editions and Contributions to the Text." In Averroes and the Aristotelian Tradition, ed. Gerhard Endress and Jan A. Aertsen. Leiden: Brill, 1999, pp. 339-381.
Ermatinger, Charles J. "Averroism in Early Fourteenth Century Bologna." Mediaeval Studies, 16, 1954, pp. 35-56.
Fakhry, Majid. A History of Islamic Philosophy. London: Longman and New York: Columbia University Press, 1983. (See pp. 273-292 on Averroës and Aristotelianism.)
Federici Vescovini, Graziella: Biagio Pelacani a Padova e l'averroismo. L'Averroismo in Italia: Atti dei Convegni Lincei, 40. Rome: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 1979, pp. 143-173.
Gauthier, Rene A. "Notes sur les debuts (1225-1240) du premier Averroisme." Revue des Sciences Philosophiques et Théologiques, 66, 1982, pp. 321-374.
Gilson, Etienne. History of Chritian Philosophy in the Middle Ages. London: Sheed and Ward, 1955. (Discusses Averroes, Averroism, and Italian Averroists in particular; see pp. 524-527.)
Kraye, Jill. "The Philosophy of the Italian Renaissance." In The Renaissance and Seventeenth-Century Rationalism, ed. G. H. R. Parkinson. London and New York: Routledge, 1993, pp. 16-69.
Kristeller, Paul Oskar. "Petrarch's Averroists': A Note on the History of Aristotelianism in Venice, Padua, and Bologna." Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance, 14, 1952, pp. 59-65.
—. Paduan Averroism and Alexandrism in the Light of Recent Studies. Aristotelismo Padovano e Filosofia Aristotelica: Atti del XII Congresso Internazionale di Filosofia (Venice, 12-18 September 1958), 9. Florence: Sansoni, 1960, pp. 147-155.
Leaman, Oliver. Averroës and His Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Lucchetta, Francesca. Recenti studi sull'averroismo padovano. L'Averroismo in Italia: Atti dei Convegni Lincei, 40. Rome: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 1979, pp. 91-120.
Mandonnet, Pierre. Siger de Brabant et I'averroisme latin au XIIIme siècle, 2 vols. Louvain: Institut Supérieur de Philosophic de l'Université, 1899, 1911.
Mohammed, Ovey N. Averroës's Doctrine of Immortality: A Matter of Controversy. Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press for Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion, 1984.
Nardi, Bruno. Saggi sull'aristotelismo padovano dal secolo XIV al XVI. Florence: Sansoni, 1958.
Renan, Ernest. Averroes et l'averroïsme. Paris: Calmann-Lévy, 1925.
Rosemann, Philipp W. "Averroës: A Catalogue of Editions and Scholarly Writings from 1821 Onwards." Bulletin de Philosophic Médiévale, 30, 1988, pp. 153-221.
Urvoy, Dominique. Ibn Rushd (Averroës). London and New York: Routledge, 1991.
Wippel, John F. "The Condemnations of 1270 and 1277 at Paris." Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 7, 1977, pp. 169—200.
The dry of Aversa is in southern Italy, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Naples but part of the province of Caserta. Aversa was the seat of the first permanent Norman establishment in southern Italy and became the nucleus of the Normans' power in that region. The history of the city began in 1022 when Emperor Henry II (973-1024) granted the territory around the ruins of ancient Atella to a band of Normans led by Rainulf (d. 1045) who had arrived in southern Italy in 1017. In 1030 Rainulf was named count of Aversa by Duke Sergius IV of Naples; Sergius was motivated to do this because he felt threatened by the aggressive actions of the Lombard prince of Capua, Pandulf, who had recently concluded a successful campaign in the Abruzzi. In 1038, at the conclusion of a campaign by Emperor Conrad II (c. 990-1039) in southern Italy, Rainulf was solemnly invested as count of Aversa and the Norman colony was recognized as a fief of the prince of Salerno, Guaimar V, whose territory now included Capua. In 1047, Emperor Henry III (1017 1056) agreed to recognize Rainulf as count of Aversa. Aversa was raised to a bishopric by Pope Leo IX (1002—1054) at the request of a subsequent count, Rainulf s nephew Richard I (d. 1078). In 1053, Richard began the construction of the cathedral, a work concluded by his son Jordan (d. 1090). Richard expanded his lands, and the fortunes of Aversa generally followed those of its Norman rulers until the city was sacked by the army of Emperor Henry VI (1165-1197). Andrew of Hungary, the husband of Joanna I, was murdered in the castle of Aversa in 1345.
See also Henry II, Saint and Emperor; Normans; Rainulf, Count of Aversa; Richard I, Count of Aversa
ANTHONY P. VIA
Bonnard, F. "Aversa." Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques. Paris, 1931, Vol. 5, cols. 1092-1096.
Tramontana, Salvacore. "La monarchia normanna e sveva." Storia d'Italia, ed. Giuseppe Galasso, Vol. 3, pp. 461-480.
Birds have served as practical and allegorical images throughout human history. From the earliest cave paintings, such as those found at Lascaux, the bird has served as a totemic image; in later times, it was a subject of innumerable depictions in decorative and lifelike settings. In the wall paintings of ancient Egyptian tombs and in Roman mosaic floors, birds often inhabit a naturalistic landscape. Abstracted as symbolic form and characters, they became a common image in hieroglyphics. Appliquéd images in the art of early barbarian Europe were carried over into medieval mosaics, altar frontals (such as that of Duke Ratchis, c. 799), and reliquaries. In medieval works of art and literature, birds were symbolic images. As early as the second century after Christ, literal and pictorial descriptions took on the form of allegorical images when lessons about the nature of animals could be seen as examples of some aspect of human life and morality.
The earliest medieval texts derive from ancient sources such as Aristotle's or Aelian's Historia animalium or from the Septuagint. Saint Melito (died c. 190), bishop of Sardis, probably compiled the first book on the nature of birds: De avibus, which is part of his Clavis Scripturae (Key to the Scriptures). In the tradition of the early church fathers, Melito identifes the sources from which he acquired his information. He relied primarily on the Old Testament, and so he focuses on the theological or mystical value of the natural world, which he divides into general categories before discussing individual birds. His opening chapters treat birds in general, flight, the wings of the bird, and what all winged creatures mean to the faithful allegorically. Under the heading Aves, he also includes other flying creatures such as scarab beetles, bees, locusts, and mosquitoes.
The first medieval book of animals, Physiologus, of unknown authorship, dates from the second century and contains quasiallegorical stories about birds. Physiologus appeared in various versions in Christian literature through the fifth century. Birds make up only a small part it—rarely are more than eleven mentioned—but the content varied, depending on the geographical area in which a given version was written. The Smyrna edition, for example, has different birds from later English editions, and the English versions differ from the French and German. Physiologus was superseded in the seventh century by the Etymologies of Isidore of Seville (c. 560-636), who made the first synthesis of other stories and local traditions about certain animals.
In books containing stories about and images of birds, the images might have a purely decorative function, but such books might also serve as manuals for hunting, with little or no allegorical description. Books on falconry by Albertus Magnus and the famous Art of Falconry (De arte venandi cum avibus) composed by Emperor Frederick II were quite different from the early Physiologus and from subsequent bestiaries and might be regarded as leaning toward a more practical, if not empirical, approach. Albertus and Frederick did very little moralizing and offered few allegorical comments; rather, they approached their subject in terms of avian behavior that would enable a hunter to find and kill birds and prepare them for eating. However, this factual, objective approach was not generally followed in the bestiaries.
In the later Middle Ages, as encyclopedic collections of stories about birds grew and became synthesized, the limited focus of Physiologus was replaced by the larger bestiary. By the mid-twelfth century, the first specialized Aviarium was compiled by Abbot Hugh of Fouilloy. This contribution to the expansion of the traditional bestiary was probably accidental: several comments lead the readers to believe that Hugh intended to include other animals. He relates stories about birds in detail but not necessarily in a comprehensive way. Hugh's opening chapters on the dove, for example, are both a compilation and an imaginary conflation to fit the desired theological lessons. He sees the "silvered" dove (in Chapter 2) as having the "beak of preaching" and its color as a sign of divine eloquence; the dove's feathers are monastic teachers, and its wings are the wings of contemplation by which one can transcend worldly things. The dove also has earthly value, serving as a metaphor for the church: as the dove looks out for the hawk, so the church watches for the devil. Hugh later describes the dove allegorically (in Chapter 3); still later the rest of the body is discussed at length (Chapter 4). Several chapters follow on the hawk, turtledove, and sparrow, as well as on the cedars and palm trees which they were said to inhabit. Along with common birds such as the hawk, Hugh takes up birds that were less well known to his European audience—e.g., the ostrich—and fictitious birds such as the phoenix and caladrius. Other common birds Hugh presents include the crane, stork, heron, kite, blackbird, jay, quail, partridge, swan, hoopoe, goose, and owl. He reserves for last the more spectacular peacock and eagle.
A characteristic evolution of an image in the Middle Ages can be seen in the caladrius, a mythical bird also called the calandrino, calandrello, cbaradrius, or calendar bird. Isidore of Seville described the caladrius in his Etymologies, and it has since been identified with several species, including the dove and the goldfinch. It is also described in later versions of Pbysiologus, a fact which suggests that it may have a history predating Isidore. It later appears in the Vita acerba of Cecco d'Ascoli (1322) and in Leonardo da Vinci's Fior di virtù (c. 1500-1510). The caladrius had a shorter life in pictorial art, appearing mostly in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in Italy. Friedmann (1947) counted 489 paintings depicting the goldfinch-caladrius, of which 450 were Italian. According to a legend transmitted in varying degrees of detail by Hugh of Fouilloy, Cecco d'Ascoli, and Leonardo, the caladrius plays a dual role: if the bird looks on someone who is ill, that person will get well, but if it turns its head away the person will die. (Similar myths are found in other cultures, though the animal may be different.) At the heart of this legend is the caladrius as a metaphor for Christ or Mary— each may look on ill persons, whose fate is then based on how they conducted their lives. The legend and the metaphor both reflect popular theology, in which illness and death are seen not as natural phenomena but as a consequence of sinfulness and evil. The use of the caladrius or any other fowl in divination borders on magic, which was condemned early on by Augustine in opposition to Mithraic cults. The caladrius was important as allegory rather than as a real bird found in nature.
See also llegory; Bestiaries; Physiologus
DARRELL D. DAVISSON
Albertus Magnus. Art and Sport of Falconry. Chicago, Ill.: Argonaut, 1969.
Hugo da Folieto (Hugh de Fouilloy). De Bestiis et aliis rebus, Vol. 1, ch. 55, Patrologia Latina, 177, cols. 52-53.
—. The Medieval Book of Birds: Hugh of Fouilly's Aviarium, ed. and trans. Willene B. Clark. Binghamton N.Y.: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1992.
Melito, Bishop of Sardis. Clavis Scripturae Sacre, ed. Jean Baptiste Pitra (1874). Graz: Akademische Druck-Universitäts, 1962-1963.
Vincent of Beauvais. Speculum Quadruplex, 1, Speculum naturale. Douai, 1624. (Reprint, Graz, Akademische Druck-u. Verlangstalt, 1964-1965.)
Armstrong, Edward A. The Folkhre of Birds. New York, Dover, 1970.
Barb, Alphons. "Birds and Medical Magic. 1, The Eagle Stone; 2, The Vulture Epistle," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 13, 1950, pp. 316-322.
Beasts and Birds of the Middle Ages, ed. Willene B. Clark and Meradith T. McMunn. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989.
Bibolet, Françoise. "Les portraits d'oiseaux illustrants le De avibus d'Hugues de Fouilloy (MS Troyes 177)." In Mélanges à la mémoire du Père Anselme Dimier, ed. Benolt Chauvin. Beemem, De Windroos, 1984, part 2, Vol. 4, pp. 409-447.
Friedmann, Herbert. The Symbolic Goldfinch: Its History and Significance in European Devotional Art. Washington, D.C.: Pantheon, 1947.
Hutchinson, G. Evelyn. "Attitudes toward Nature in Medieval England: The Alphonso and Bird Psalters." I sis, 65, 1974, pp. 5-37.
MacKinney, Loren C. "The Vulture in Medieval Lore." Ciba-Symposia, 4, part 2 (Summit, N.J.), June 1942, pp. 1258-1292.
—. "An Unpublished Treatise on Medicine and Magic from the Age of Charlemagne." Speculum, 17, 1943, pp. 494-496.
Pasti, Stefana. "Un altare ed un'epigrafe medioevali nel duomo di Segni." Storia dell'Arte, 44, 1982, pp. 57-62.
Wittkower, Rudolf. "Miraculous Birds: (1) 'Physiologus' in Beatus Manuscripts; (2) 'Roc'—An Eastern Prodigy in a Dutch Engraving." Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 1, 1938, pp. 253-257.
Yapp, Brunsdon. Birds in Medieval Manuscripts. London: British Library, 1981.
—. "Birds in Bestiaries: Medieval Knowledge of Nature." Cambridge Review, 20 November 1984, pp. 183-190.
The Persian philosopher, poet, and physician Ibn Sina (Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Abdallah ibn Sina; 980-1037) is known in the west as Avicenna. He was born in Bukhara and died in Hamadan, Persia.
Avicenna was famous in Italy during the Middle Ages as the author of the Canon of Medicine (al-Qanun fi 'l tibb), a gigantic medical encyclopedia that remains one of the most remarkable achievements of medieval philosophical thought. The Canon was first translated from Arabic into Latin by Gerard of Cremona and his pupils in Spain during the twelfth century, and thereafter it formed the basis of the medical curriculum at every university in the medieval west. Avicenna's great work is so comprehensive, well-constructed, and detailed that today it is still the foundation for medical teaching in some parts of the Middle East.
The life of Avicenna resembles that of many celebrated sages from the east. He was born into an educated family and displayed remarkable precocity at an early age, learning the Qur'an (Koran) from memory and then studying texts of natural philosophy and medicine; by the time he was sixteen, he was already a famous physician. He spent most of his life wandering throughout Persia, often following a wealthy patron, and serving as a physician, teacher, and government official. In the Islamic world, he is famous as a natural philosopher whose melding and reconciliation of Aristotelian, Neoplatonic, and Muslim thought was universally admired in Arabic-and Persian-speaking cultures.
Avicenna, Arabum medicorum principis. Venice: Apud Iuntas, 1595. Reproduced from original held by Department of Special Collections of the University Libraries of Notre Dame.
From the standpoint of medieval Christian culture, Avicenna's achievement was twofold. Not only did he return Aristotle's and Galen's medical thought to the west after it had been lost for many centuries, but he also helped establish the physician as a gentleman, whose decorous behavior admitted him to the most intimate circles of the wealthy and powerful. In the Islamic world of Avicenna's time, medicine was much more than mere cures for sundry diseases: it was the dispensing of learned advice about the welfare of the body. The medieval Muslim physician, like Galen in the second century, applied an intimate knowledge of nature, combined with astrology, pharmacy, and not a few merry tales and bits of gossip, to teach his patrons how to live well. It is not surprising, then, that men like Avicenna, who wrote numerous medical and philosophical treatises, also took up poetry as a mark of their gentility.
Avicenna's cultured, philosophical medicine had an immediate appeal to Latin-speaking physicians. Aristotle had said that where natural philosophy ended, there medicine began (De sensu, Book 1, 436a), but, to the constant frustration of medieval physicians, he did not elaborate on this point, Avicenna was the first philosopher to demonstrate how medicine might indeed be a development from natural philosophy and therefore a subject worthy of advanced study.
See also Arabs in Italy; Medicine; Taddeo Alderotti
FAYE M. GETZ
Avicenna (Ibn Sina). Liber canonis. Hildesheim, 1964. (Facsimile of the Latin edition of the Canon, Venice, 1507.)
Grant, Edward, ed. A Source Book in Medieval Science. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1974, pp. 715-720. (Includes part of the Canon, trans, into English, O. Cameron Gruner; annot. and corrections, Michael McVaugh.)
Siraisi, Nancy. Avicenna in Renaissance Italy: The Canon and Medical Teaching in Italian Universities after 1500. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1987. (The best study of the reputation of Avicenna in medieval and Renaissance Italy.)
The term "Avignonese papacy" refers to the period when the popes were resident in the city of Avignon, on the east bank of the Rhone, from 1309 to 1376. The Great Schism brought another line of popes to Avignon from 1378 to 1417.
The papacy first carne to Avignon because of disturbances in Rome following the death of Pope Boniface VIII in 1303; these disturbances prevented his successor, Benedict XI, from returning to the city. Benedict's successor, Clement V, considered it dangerous even to be crowned in Italy and therefore transferred the papal court to the safety of his native France in 1305. The move was intended to be temporary, but conditions in Italy made a return impossible throughout Clement's reign. From 1305 to 1309, Clement stayed briefly in several cities in the south of France. As he traveled about, he found himself pressed constantly by the French king, Philip the Fair, to assist in various political schemes. Clement was drawn to Avignon in 1309 partly because of the discomfort of continual travel (he became seriously ill at about this time) and because he was being put in an awkward position by Philip's requests, Philip being not only a king but technically Clement's host. Avignon was attractive because it was in papal rather than French territory—it belonged to a papal vassal, Robert of Anjou (king of Naples and Sicily), and it lay within the county of Venaissin, which had been a possession of the papacy since 1274—yet it was just across the Rhone from the protection of France. Moreover, it was not far from Vienne, where Clement intended to hold a general council in 1311. Avignon suited Clement so well that he made it his principal residence for the remainder of his pontificate, living in temporary quarters at the city's Dominican convent.
Papal Palace, Avignon. Photograph courtesy of Christopher Kleinhenz.
Clement's successor, John XXII, had hopes of returning to Italy and residing in Bologna; but Bologna proved as unsettled as Rome, and so John spent his eighteen-year reign at the episcopal palace in Avignon. John's relatively long pontificate gave an air of permanence to the papal residence at Avignon. Although his successors continued to talk of returning to Rome, they began to settle into Avignon for a long stay. During the reigns of Benedict XII and Clement VI the papal curia grew to more than 4,000. These popes (especially John XXII) generated considerable wealth through improved methods of ecclesiastical taxation, which allowed them to put vast sums into the construction of a papal residence and other improvements within the city. Their efforts gained momentum during the mid-1330s, when the last vestiges of papal control in central Italy were lost. Benedict XII began a fortified palace on the site of the old episcopal residence, and Clement VI expanded the palace: his court there became the most splendid in Europe. When the Hundred Years' War began in the late 1330s, a massive wall was erected around the city to protect it from marauding mercenaries. Finally, in 1348, Clement VI purchased Avignon from the Neapolitan crown so that the papacy might have a direct claim to it.
The building programs of the Avignonese popes made them the leading patrons of art in Europe during the mid-fourteenth century. They engaged not just local artists but noted Italians like Simone Martini and Matteo di Giovanetti to provide decorations for the new buildings. In the papal palace and in a number of secular buildings in Avignon these Italians created frescoes and other works that established throughout Provence the strong influence of the Sienese pictorial tradition. Under their influence, a school of painting emerged in Avignon that lasted into the fifteenth century and provided an important conduit for the transmission of Italian monumental classicism into northern Europe. The popes' increasing patronage of art and the concomitant luxury that developed in the curia at Avignon have led some authorities to consider the Avignonese papacy a forerunner of the Renaissance papacy at Rome. The popes' largesse also caused literary figures to gravitate to Avignon, among them Petrarch.
By the 1350s, however, the popes were again seriously contemplating a return to Rome. The mercenary bands of the Hundred Years' War now posed such a threat to Avignon that even fractious Italy seemed attractive. Clement VI tried to pacify Romagna in 1350-1351 but failed miserably. His successor, Innocent VI, fared better. Innocent wisely chose as his commander in Italy the famous soldier and diplomat Cardinal Albor noz, who had recently arrived at the curia from Castile. Between 1353 and 1358 Albornoz fought a series of brilliant campaigns that regained all the old papal lands, although from 1358 to 1364 he continued to struggle with Ghibelline forces in the north who threatened the security of his conquests. Innocent VT died before he could return to Rome, but his successor Urban V did go back in 1367. Unfortunately, the papacy's hold on the city was not as strong as Urban had supposed, and disorders forced him to retreat to Avignon in 1370. Gregory XI returned the papal court to Rome permanently in 1377.
Church historians often consider 1377 the end of the Avignonese papacy, because from that date popes resided in Rome who were considered legitimate in later ecclesiastical thought. But Avignon continued to be the seat of a papal court until the early fifteenth century. When the Great Schism began in 1378, one of the claimants to the papacy, Clement VII, took up residence at Avignon because his rival held Rome. Clement and his successor Benedict XIII reigned at Avignon until the end of the schism in 1417. During the interim, a significant portion of Christendom—including the kingdoms of France, Scotland, and Portugal and the duchy of Savoy—accepted the leadership of these Avignonese popes.
The Avignonese popes displayed great energy in a variety of areas. They founded many universities, promoted missionary work in Asia, vigorously suppressed heresy, and pursued successful reforms of the clergy and of ecclesiastical government. Despite this, however, they came under considerable criticism from several quarters. Because all the Avignonese popes were French and the curia was located so close to France, some people, especially the English, felt that these popes were controlled by the French monarchy. Such suspicions were fed by the fact that an inordinate number of Frenchmen were appointed cardinals during the Avignon papacy: 111 of 134. In Germany, much hostility was generated by a twenty-four-year struggle between the papacy and Emperor Louis IV (c. 1283—1347). Throughout Europe, the lower clergy resented the popes' rigorous new methods for gathering revenue. And reformers, who increasingly favored apostolic poverty, found the pomp and luxury of the papal court as offensive as the bribery and corruption in curial government. Figures as diverse as Catherine of Siena, Bridget of Sweden, and Petrarch assailed and sometimes exaggerated Avignon's immorality. They came to refer to the papacy's stay in Avignon as a "Babylonian captivity."
The Avignonese papacy was neither as corrupt nor as ineffectual as its critics charged. For the most part, the Avignonese popes were dedicated men trying to make the best of a difficult situation. But the challenges they faced were enormous. The political authority of the papacy was declining rapidly, while national states were growing in power and wealth. The cardinalate was riven by factions that often impeded and sometimes paralyzed papal government. Above all, the loss of Italy denied Avignon's popes three major sources of income vital to papal government: the tithes of the clergy of central Italy, the taxes from their Italian lands, and the gifts of pilgrims. The fiscal measures the Avignonese popes adopted to compensate for this caused a great deal of the criticism leveled at them. To maintain papal government, the popes turned to the regular use of extraordinary and questionable money-gathering practices that had developed during the thirteenth century. Most obnoxious was the systematic collation of benefices, which effectively borrowed the income of local churches to cover the expenses of the curia. This thoroughly alienated the local clergy and proved financially and administratively counterproductive. A policy of centralization exacerbated the problem by expanding the number of officeholders in the curia, and thus the number of benefices needed by the papacy.
These measures and the building projects and patronage upon which ecclesiastical taxes were spent led many to conclude that the Avignonese papacy was greedy, luxury-loving, power-hungry, and unconcerned with the true problems of the church. Instances of real corruption confirmed this impression. The prestige of the papacy might have been restored if the popes' return to Rome had been followed by a period of energetic reform. Instead, it was followed by the Great Schism.
See also Albornoz, Gil Alvarez Cabrillode; John XXII, Pope; Lewis of Bavaria; Martini, Simone; Papacy; Petrarca, Francesco; Urban V, Pope
THOMAS TURLEY
Baluze, Étienne. Vitae paparum Avenionensium, 4 vols., ed. Guillaume Mollat. Paris: Letouzey et Ane, 1914-1927.
Berthold, Otto, ed. and trans. Kaiser, Volk, una Avignon: Ausgewälte Quellen zur antikurialen Bewegung in Deutscbland in der ersten Hälfte des 14. Jahrhunderts. Berlin: Rutten und Loenig, 1960.
Brun, Robert. Avignon au temps des papes: Les monuments, les artistes, la societé. Paris: Colin, 1928.
Colombe, Gabriel. Le palais des papes d'Avignon, 3rd ed. Paris: Laurens, 1939.
Duprè Theseider, Eugenio. Problemi del papato avignonese. Bologna: Patron, 1961.
Guillemain, Bernard. La cour pontificate d'Avignon (1309-1376): Étude d'une société, 2nd ed. Paris: de Boccard, 1966.
Housley, Norman. The Avignon Papacy and the Crusades, 1308-1378. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986.
Labande, Léon Honoré. Le palais des papes et les monuments d'Avignon au XIVe siècle. Marseilles: Detaille, 1925.
Mollat, Guillaume. The Popes at Avignon, trans. Janet Love. New York: Harper and Row, 1963.
Quaglioni, Diego, ed. Storia della chiesa, XI: La crisi del Trecento e il papato avignonese (1274-1378). San Paulo: Cinisello Balsamo, 1994.
Renoard, Yves. The Avignon Papacy, 1305-1403, trans. Denis Bethell. Hamden, Conn.: Archon, 1970.
Waley, Daniel. "Opinions of the Avignon Papacy: A Historiographical Sketch." In Storiografia e Storia: Studi in onore Eugenio Duprè Theseider, 2 vols. Rome, Bulzoni, 1974.
Zutshi, P. N. R. "The Avignon Papacy." In The New Cambridge Medieval History, Vol. 6, c. 1330-c. 1415. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000, pp. 653-673.
Azo (Adso, Azone Azzo, Azzolino, Azzone; sometimes dei Porci or Soldani; c. 1150-1220 or 1230) was one of the greatest and best-known teachers of and experts on civil law connected with the university at Bologna during the first half of the thirteenth century, when the school was at its zenith. Of his life little is known for certain, and even his birthplace is a matter of dispute, though Bologna is generally accepted. However, he appears in numerous Bolognese documents, private and civic, between 1190 and 1220. Azo had five sons who survived him, and their descendants took the surname Azzi.
Azo studied in Bologna under Giovanni Bassiano and by 1190 was a doctor of law. He is said to have had many students, including several major figures in canon law—Tancred, Laurentius Hispanus, and probably Sinibaldo Fieschi, the future Pope Innocent IV—as well as scholars of civil law: Iacopo Baldovini; RofFredo Beneventano; Martino da Fano; and Accursius, who compiled the famous Glossa ordinaria, the standard study of the civil law code. Azo's own major contributions to scholarship were Summa codicis (which glosses, or comments on, the first nine books of the Codex portion of Corpus iuris civilis) and Summa institutionum (on the Institutes of Justinian). Of thirty-one extant editions between 1482 and 1610, all but one (Speyer, 1482) are combinations of these two works with one or more of the other studies (Extraorainaria) that complete the text and commentary on the Corpus-, the glosses of Piacentino on the three remaining books of the Codex; those of Bassiano on the Autkenticae; and those of Bulgaro Bolgarini, Bassiano, and Azo on the Digest. Azo honored his promise to make his commentaries clear and useful ("nothing obscure, nothing dubious, nothing contrary to the laws"), unlike much earlier scholarship, which seemed purposely vague or esoteric. Azo also treated the law as an integrated whole rather than as isolated pieces and thus captured—or imposed—a unifying spirit. Legal scholars as far away as Henry Bracton in England (d. 1268) were influenced by this novel approach. Closer to home, the importance of the Sumrnae to anyone seeking to practice law in northern Italian cities was underlined by a witticism: Chi non ha Azo non vada a Palazzo, ("Whoever does not have Azo may not go to City Hall").
Azo's commentaries, or glosses, on Roman law also appear scattered through many collections. In Accursius's Glossa, for example, one-third of the comments attributed to his predecessors are Azo's. Other surviving compilations of Azo's legal work include Brocarda, which attempts to reconcile apparently contradictory rules of law; fifty-three legal Distinctiones from a manuscript in Brussels; and nineteen scholastic Quaestiones for formal academic disputation (of which seven were presented by Bassiano to his student Azo). A series of Azo's lectures (Lectura) on the Codex were recorded by a student, Alessandro di Sant'Egidio, and these shed a good deal of light on the methods and dynamics of classroom presentation. Unfortunately, only a late printed edition (Paris, 1577) exists, which presents the modern scholar with problems of textual integrity.
See also Accursius; Bologna; Glossa Ordinaria: Roman Law; Law: Roman; Universities
JOSEPH P. BYRNE
Caprioli, Severino, ed. Glosse preaccursiane alle istituzioni: Strata azzoniano, libro primo, Rome: Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo, 1984.
Kantorowicz, Hermann, with W. W. Buckland, ed. Studies in the Glossators of the Roman Law: Newly Discovered Writings of the Twelfth Century. Cambridge, 1938; Aalen: Scientia-Verl, 1969.
Maitland, Frederic W„ ed. Select Passages from the Works of Bracton and Azo. Buffalo: Hein, 1996. (Originally published London: B. Quaritch, 1895.)