Guglielma / Manfreda

Valperga

Mary Shelley drew on an account of Guglielma from
Muratori, Ludovico Antonio, Dissertazioni sopra le Antichità Italiane, 1751
to gain some of her information before visiting Italy. She is said to have begun the story in 1817 IIRC.
Re: Guglielmites
"Muratori gravely observes: "We may piously believe that some were distinguished by supernatural gifts and admitted to the secrets of heaven, but we may justly suspect that the source of many of their revelations was
their ardent imagination filled with ideas of religion and piety."
http://www.freeonlinebooks.org/displaybook1.php?chapter_id=9&id=5267

There is (I think) a download-able work here which requires some kind of plug-in:
Gerolamo Biscaro, Guglielma la Boema e i Guglielmiti, p. 1
Archivio Storico Lombardo
Milano, Società Storica Lombarda
Annuale
LVII, 1930, 1-2, ser. VI, fasc. XXV-XXVI
http://emeroteca.braidense.it/eva/s...lume=1199&CodFascicolo=4027&CodArticolo=93746

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guglielmiten
-also informative

Guglielmites are apparently aka Wilhelmites, which is confusing because there is another non-heretical order so named after William of Maleval....

-John

biscione/Saracen

"Bonvesin de la Riva (1240-1313) friar member of the brotherhood of Umiliati secular as well as historical and singer of the Milan Viscontea, on the emblem used by Visconti thus writes: "It is offered by the municipality of Milan to one of noble lineage of the Visconti who seems the more worthy a banner with a biscia painted in blue that swallows a Saracen red, and this banner goes before any other, and our army is not camping never fails to see if the first wave from an antenna the sign of biscia . This privilege is said that family granted in view of victorious achievements in the East against saracini by a Ottone Visconti valorosissimo man. "
Indeed Ottone Visconti actually participated in the Crusade and said that during the siege of the Holy City faced in the duel Saracen knight Voluce (Volux) famous for his courage that brought teaches on armour as a snake divorava a man. The duel was very long and bloody and ended with the victory of Brass that led to Milan l 'armor of Saracen and memory of that memorable duel used l' teaches the biscione for his family.
Subsequently also Galvano Flame (1283-1344) Dominican theologian and historian cites the same episode for the birth of the emblem visconteo but is probable, even certain that he had read the chronicles of Bonvesin de la Riva.
http://translate.google.com/transla...channel=s&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=G

an account is said to have existed in the Visconti library as recorded in the inventory of 1426
http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?h...l&sa=G&usg=ALkJrhh3ax10vNRof5KFL875I3kNItKBtQ

more on Otto & the Saracen Voluce(Volux)
http://books.google.com/books?id=Ma...=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA54,M1

"Despite the primitive Cistercian mystique of "wilderness," Chiaravalle was very much an urban institution, the center of a group of religiously active laity who attended festivals and sermons there. Many of these, including Guglielma and some of her friends, entered into contracts of vitalizio with the abbey--a form of spiritual life insurance whereby they bequeathed their property to the monks in return for support as long as they lived, inclusion in the monastic community of prayer, and burial at the abbey with commemorative masses. (16)

The secular clergy and laity stood under the jurisdiction of their archbishop, who as of 1262 was Ottone Visconti. But the Visconti, whose rise to power was just beginning, were bitter rivals of the Della Torre family, which ruled Milan at that point and refused to let the new bishop enter his city until 1277, when he finally did so by force of arms. In the meantime Milan lay under interdict, deprived of the sacraments. (17) In this context of civil and religious strife, it is not surprising that heresy had a certain appeal, especially when it offered some way beyond a patently corrupt institutional church. In particular, the prophetic ideas of the ex-Cistercian Joachim of Fiore (d. 1202) were embraced by the more radical branch of the Franciscan order, the so-called Spirituals, as well as some of the common people. Joachim, whose teachings were not condemned during his lifetime, had prophesied the advent of a Third Age or status of the Holy Spirit, superseding the ages of God the Father (the Old Testament era) and God the Son (from the Incarnation through his own days). Following an elaborate system of biblical typology, Joachim had predicted that the new age would begin in 1260, heralding the inauguration of an ecclesia spiritualis in which grace, spiritual knowledge, and contemplative gifts would be diffused to all. (18) Coincidentally or not, it was around 1260 that Guglielma, escorted by a grown son, appeared in Milan."
http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache...cen&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=9&gl=us&client=firefox-a

"The birth of the famous "grass snake with the half swallowed man" dates back to the win of Ottone Visconti against Saracens. In 1110, during the Second Crusade, Ottone, while he was being to the head of seven thousand Milan crusaders, fought in Jerusalem the noble and courageous Saracen Voluce, who battled under the emblem of a "snake that devoured a man" (symbol of his invincibility and the one of Jerusalem). No Christian had never seen an enemy unbeatable and fiercer than Voluce! However, after an exhausted duel, Ottone succeeded in striking the infidel Voluce by a deadly slash. While Voluce was lying on the ground, covered with its same blood, Ottone took possession of his emblem and decided to use it as the heraldic symbol of his family. "
http://cgi.ebay.es/1444-d-C-Origina...41187678QQihZ017QQcategoryZ2201QQcmdZViewItem

"The Crusades, in which the Templars and in general the Ghibelline chivalry played a fundamental role, in many respects created a supra-traditional bridge West and East. The crusading knighthood ended up confronting a facsimile of itself, namely, warriors who abided by corresponding ethics, chivalrous customs, ideals of a “holy war,” and initiatory currents”
-Julius Evola : The Mystery of the Grail (Inner Traditions, Vermont, 1997)
http://www.claudiomutti.com/index.php?url=6&imag=1&id_news=130
Bonvesin de la Riva

-John

I've just posted an article on this topic, with a few additional bits of interest, at:
http://marygreer.wordpress.com/2009/11/07/papess-maifreda-visconti-of-the-guglielmites—new-evidence/

Note especially that Maifreda's Umilitate Order monastery was only five miles from a town of 1,500 Cathars during the precise years she was there. Umilitate means "the Humble." Could there be any relationship?

The link leads to a 19th century research about Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and refers to the special topic "The Innocent Persecuted Wife", which starts at page 366.

http://books.google.com/books?id=ed...ved=0CCEQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=guglielma&f=false

The story of Guglielma is noted in the article and partly told in unknown detail. In one version Guglielma's marriage to a Hungarian king called Teodo is dated to the year 795 (? !!!!) ... the list of Hungarian king starts usually with the year 1000.

Huck said:

The link leads to a 19th century research about Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and refers to the special topic "The Innocent Persecuted Wife", which starts at page 366.

http://books.google.com/books?id=ed...ved=0CCEQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=guglielma&f=false

Click to expand...

Thanks, Huck. This seems to use the same sources as Newman. I have a copy of a translation of the miracle play by Antonia Pulci but haven't had time to study it.

Teheuti said:

Thanks, Huck. This seems to use the same sources as Newman. I have a copy of a translation of the miracle play by Antonia Pulci but haven't had time to study it.

Click to expand...

hi Mary,

I'm not sure, if it's precisely the Newman stuff. The deciding point for the Papessa story is, that Bianca Maria Visconti (around 1450) and the Ferrarese court a little earlier (in the 20's of 15th century) showed an Guglielma interest contemporary to the Trionfi card development ... if this had been the very old Guglielma it's a different activity, as if it had been the Guglielma of 13th century.

Huck said:

hi Mary,

I'm not sure, if it's precisely the Newman stuff. The deciding point for the Papessa story is, that Bianca Maria Visconti (around 1450) and the Ferrarese court a little earlier (in the 20's of 15th century) showed an Guglielma interest contemporary to the Trionfi card development ... if this had been the very old Guglielma it's a different activity, as if it had been the Guglielma of 13th century.

Click to expand...

I'm confused. Isn't that exactly what Newman deals with in the more recent article that followed her book?

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb050/is_1_74/ai_n29167991/

Teheuti said:

I'm confused. Isn't that exactly what Newman deals with in the more recent article that followed her book?

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb050/is_1_74/ai_n29167991/

Click to expand...

I'm not so sure ... my article says at page 411:

"After 795 Teodo, king of Hungary, married Guglielma, daughter of the king of England .... "

Do we have the same date "795" in Newman's material ? I think I haven't read it ... Please correct me, if I overlooked it.

It seems difficult to identify Teodo with somebody "real", cause Hungarian Christian kings start with the year 1000 according common opinion. But if this information is of worth, the French king in this story (who stays unnamed in the British research) would have been Charlemagne.

Which opens a whole bunch of possibilities ...

In the English article much more attention is given to the older Guglielma story. Newman has her focus on the modern Guglielma, who "really" lived in 13th century in Milan.

Does Newman mention the English research?

For the Hungarian / English connection we have the Ursula story, propagated especially in Cologne during 12th century ... after the city got the allowance to expand the original Roman city walls(begin 12th century) a large field of bones was detected during the building of the new walls. A holy female seer from Deutz (at the other side of the Rhine) was used to identify the bones as relict of the 11.000 virgins, which accompanied Ursula and which had suffered death from the arrows of the huns with their king Attila (it seems that there were originally 11 virgins, but the many bones, which were detected, seem to have caused, that the number was raised to 11.000; it didn't really hurt, that a lot the bones were identified as bones of men)). The 11.000 virgins were a great luck and favorable business, as many places wished to have holy relict and Cologne now had enough of them. The successful trade caused, that in 1248 the building of the Kölner Dom could be started, which after more than 600 years was finished and then became the tallest building of the world ... for short time only.



Kölner Dom in 1856, completed 1880, 161 meters

Americans didn't like that ... in 1885, 169 meters. The work took 43 years, but was delayed some time.



The French were disgusted ... in 1889, after 2-3 years ...



... 300-325 meters, tallest building of the world till 1930.

Another popular attempt of the same time was the French/German claim (interesting in 12th century), that Charlemagne was either a French (opinion of the French) or a German king (opinion of the German). This lead to various curious activities in the following centuries, still funny in Napoleonic time.
The conflict arrived in history, when the idea of a French kingdom got more strength. The older French kings hadn't much power, as the crown domain was rather limited.

These both puzzle pieces one has to reflect, when the older Guglielma is dated to the year 795. I don't see, that Newman reflected this.

Luigi Pulci (a brother-in-law to Antonia Pulci and surely close related to Antonia's writing experiments) has written the "Morgante" since 1461 and made surely a larger Charlemagne-study for this, cause "Orlando", the hero of the Morgante, was a famous vassal of Charlemagne.

Did Newman note Luigi Pulci? Do we have a search-engine friendly version
of Newman's article? ... this would made a research between all these nasty advertising pages more comfortable.

Beside that ..

... which pope in 1302 had which reasons to operate against a cult around a Bohemian princess in upper Italia?
What else happened with this pope?
What happened in Bohemia in this time ?
What happened in Hungary in this time?
What happened to the church a few years later?

Which French king operated in France with which aims?

I don't see these questions were really addressed in Newman's article.

Another question ... what means a Bohemian princess cult in Brunate?

Brunate is at the south of the Comer lake near Como, which is the major location there.
Clever traveling and trade routes of Milan probably went (possibly on channels from Milan) with ship to Como and from Como a longer distance (50 km) to the north of Comer Lake then crossing the land bridge (or driving the river if possible), changing the ship and traveling another smaller lake. At the north lake it's not too far to Chiavenna, and there are two passes across the Alps. The left pass leads to Innsbruck as the next major city and Innsbruck is more or less on a direct line between Chiavenna and Praha.

A medieval tourist from Praha probably found it wonderful to meet a cult of a Bohemian princess near Como, after he crossed the Alps and reached the more flat Italy.
An English tourist possibly found it pleasant, if this was an English princess.

Italians possibly were flexible in this question.

Bohemian trading routes were interesting, when King Ottokar reached a stable regiment in 13th century. When he lost a war and died, it became less interesting (1278). This is the phase, in which the pope attacked the Milanese cult.

When the scene changed in favor of French interest (1308) the relations became better. When Bohemia got a strong Emperor Charles IV. (1346), this was perfect. When the Emperor's son Wenzel sold the duke's title (1395), it was a rather good arrangement. It went worse, when this son was replaced as German king (1400). It became interesting, when Sigismondo got Bohemia from his brother in 1419 (this is the phase, when the Ferrarese manuscript was written) ... but stayed bad, as the Hussiten still made trouble. The hopes around 1450 (when Bianca Maria made her investment) were promising, as the Bohemians might gotten settled with the young king Ladislaus, and Bianca Maria wished a good deal with the new emperor Fredrick (who acted for Ladislaus) to get the duke title respected from him. She didn't get it.

Huck said:

I'm not so sure ... my article says at page 411:

"After 795 Teodo, king of Hungary, married Guglielma, daughter of the king of England .... "

Do we have the same date "795" in Newman's material ? I think I haven't read it ... Please correct me, if I overlooked it.

Click to expand...

I don't remember that date. But both articles make the point that in the Guglielma hagiography (written in Ferrara in 1425(?), the Milanese Guglielma became conflated with a more general "betrayed/abandoned woman" storyline and took on a life of its own.

... which pope in 1302 had which reasons to operate against a cult around a Bohemian princess in upper Italia?
What else happened with this pope?
What happened in Bohemia in this time ?
What happened in Hungary in this time?
What happened to the church a few years later?

Which French king operated in France with which aims?

I don't see these questions were really addressed in Newman's article.

Click to expand...

Newman does address several of these but only very briefly. They are not the main point of her article, however she mentions enough things about the papal politics so that anyone interested has a lead to follow up. She is, of course, presenting her own perspective, which is not unbiased.

I'm sure the whole story - involving all the politics of the time and comparing the various Guglielma stories with the broader story-motif would take an entire book.