 |
 |
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Hi John, You wrote: Finally, some mention should be made of the Lance of St. Sergius, an emblem of the city of Trieste since at least the thirteenth century. According to local legend, it dropped from the sky into Trieste (or Tergeste, as it was then) on the night that S. was martyred. The "sacra alabarda", as it is often called, is one of the treasures of Trieste's cathedral; it is shown as figure 48 (p. 183) in Volume One of Attilio Tamaro's _Storia di Trieste_ (Roma: Stock, 1924; 2 vv.). Various representations of it on the city's arms are shown here: http://www.misterkappa.it/sto-ala01.html Well, if thatīs the lance he was martyred with he must have at least lived until the 15th c, because thatīs the first time we have a picture of a weapon like that. It can be seen on a fresco by Giacomo Jaquerio (active ca 1401-53) dated to the first or early second decade of the 15th c in the church of the abbey of St Antonio di Ranverso in the regio Turin, which shows the rougher version of the polearm (www.mauriziano.it/arte/frsetpatr.htm). Itīs a corsesca, the forerunner of the partizan. It comes in two types; the first and most common is the one with the hooks turned up (this became the partizan) and the other with them turned down, which in the 16th c is sometimes called spetum. The one in the city arms is a 16th c type, also called the Friuli spetum, because thatīs the area where Trieste is situated in. Alabardo is Italian for halberd, and that itīs not. Mind you: holy weapons are often anachronistic. A case in point is the Holy Lance in Vienna, which is a 10th c Frankish winged lance, with stuff added, instead of the Roman 1st c type which would have been appropriate. Henk -- Mijn Postvak In wordt beschermd door SPAMfighter. 1318 spam-mails zijn er tot op heden geblokkeerd. Download de gratis SPAMfighter via deze link: http://www.spamfighter.com/lnl ********************************************************************** 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