medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 11:42:20 -0500
John Dillon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
>culture
>
> Today (20. August) is also the feast day of:
>
> Herbert of Conza (Herbert of Middlesex; d. 1181, probably). Today's
> less well known saint from the Regno is thought, on the basis of a
> confused notice in the _Ymagines historiarum_ of Ralph of Diceto
>(a.k.a.
> Ralph of Diss), to have been an Englishman who moved to the kingdom
>of
> Sicily and was appointed archbishop of Conza by William II. Ralph
> actually says that H. was made archbishop of Cosenza in Calabria and
> that he perished in a great earthquake there (the one of 1184). But
>H.
> is documented in the see of Conza from 1169 through 1179 (when he
>took
> part in Lateran III) and his death date was inscribed, presumably
>from
> local records, on a pilaster in the old cathedral of Conza (the one
> destroyed by the earthquakes of 1694 and 1732, as opposed to its
> replacement that collapsed in the great Conza earthquake of 1980) as
>20
> August 1118 (presumably a mistake for 1181). He was interred
>beneath a
> side altar there and moved to the high altar in 1684 in connection
>with
> a canonical recognition of his relics. A sarcophagus said to be
>H.'s
> was housed until recently in the Museo Provinciale Irpino at
>Avellino
> but is now back at Conza. H. has no surviving Life and no medieval
> Office. Get a Life, Herb!
>
> Another later twelfth-century bishop-saint of the Regno, Richard of
> Andria (9. June), is also said to have been an Englishman. But the
> evidence for this is late and questionable.
>
> Conza (today's Conza della Campania [AV]) is a good example of a now
> obscure place that medievally was rather more significant. A hill
>town
> in southern Irpinia, it overlooks the upper valley of the Ofanto not
>far
> below the Conza Saddle. The latter is a rare low point (700 meters
> above sea level) in the southern Appennines permitting relatively
>easy
> travel across the peninsula from the Sele valley in the west to the
> Ofanto valley in the east. Already militarily significant in Roman
> times, Conza was the seat of an important gastaldate (later, county)
>in
> the duchy/principality of Benevento and the latter's successors in
>this
> region, the principality of Salerno and the kingdom of Sicily. It
>is
> first recorded as a diocese in Lombard times (743). Always
>centrally
> isolated, it has a population today of ca. 1500 and now forms part
>of
> the archdiocese of S. Angelo dei Lombardi, Conza, Nusco, e Bisaccia
>(the
> others all having been, as far as we can tell, dioceses newly
>created in
> the eleventh century). In consequence of an earthquake said to have
> demolished Conza in 990, Conza's bishops are thought to have
>re-located
> their residence to today's Sant'Andrea di Conza (population now just
> under 2000), some fifteen kilometers away. Though the latter is not
> actually documented until 1161, it does seem that Herbert will have
> lived here rather than in Conza proper.
>
> Seismic events of the sort indicated in the preceding paragraphs
>have
> pretty well eliminated any monumental remains of Conza's medieval
>past
> (though the Episcopio at Sant'Andrea di Conza is a former baronial
> fortress of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries). A
> recent photograph of the ruined eighteenth-century cathedral is
>here:
> http://www.corriereirpinia.it/domenicale/cu_03_07_12_2003.php
> Adjacent to this is Conza's archeological park (Parco Archeologico
> dell'antica Compsa), with pre-Roman and Roman antiquities on
>display:
> http://www.archemail.it/1sconza.htm
>
> Some idea of the local terrain may be gleaned from the photograph of
> Conza della Campania on this page:
> http://www.goleto.it/itinerari/conza.htm
> and from the view from the castle of Cairano (across the Ofanto
>valley
> from Conza) here:
> http://www.avellinonet.it/comuni/cairano/davisitare.htm
> and from the view here of Sant'Andrea di Conza with the mountains
>behind it:
> http://www.cmaltairpinia.it/altra_irpinia/comuni/santandrea/itinerario_00.htm
>
> Best,
> John Dillon
> (last year's post, lightly revised)
>
> **********************************************************************
> To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
> to: [log in to unmask]
> To send a message to the list, address it to:
> [log in to unmask]
> To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
> to: [log in to unmask]
> In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write
>to:
> [log in to unmask]
>For further information, visit our web site:
> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|