Catherine de Valois-Courtenay

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Portrait of Catherine de Valois-Courtenay; Chapel of the Madonna di Montevergine in Mercogliano

Catherine de Valois-Courtenay (born November 18, 1301 in Siena , † September 20, 1346 in Naples ) was titular empress of Constantinople and regent of the Principality of Achaia . She was the daughter of Charles de Valois and Catherine de Courtenay .

Life

Head of Hodegetria, whom Baldwin is said to have taken from Constantinople in 1261; Cappella della Madonna di Montevergine in Mercogliano
The Madonna of Montevergine
The Chapel of Madonna di Montevergine in the 19th century

Catherine was the daughter of Charles I and Catherine de Courtenay , the titular empress of Constantinople .

As early as 1303 she was engaged to Hugo V of Burgundy . After her mother's death in 1308 inherited Catherine the title of emperor and head of the large Hodegetria - icon , to her great-grandfather Baldwin II. Is said to have taken in 1261 in his flight from Constantinople Opel. Owning the Hodegetria was very important at the time. It meant the true palladium of Constantinople and meant securing its protection and the hope of a return to the city that was so close to our hearts.

Catherine's uncle, King Philip of France , known as the Handsome, considered her fiancé Hugo unsuitable to retake Constantinople , and proceeded to dissolve the engagement that Catherine announced on September 30, 1312. At the same time, their intention was announced to marry Prince Philip of Taranto , who had been divorced since 1309 .

In 1310 Catherine and her husband Philipp brought the head of the Hodegetria from Naples to Montevergine and gave it to the Benedictine monks of the pilgrimage site of Montevergine , which, however, conflicts with the date of their wedding on July 29, 1313. With the completion of the body and a border of golden lilies, the royal coat of arms of the Anjou , Philip commissioned the Tuscan painter Montano d'Arezzo .

A document of the Angevin chancellery dated June 28, 1310 shows that Philip I had commissioned the painter Montano d'Arezzo to work in the family chapel in the cathedral of Naples and the Maestà of Montevergine . In this document Philip describes the painter as a royal “familial” ( see: Art Patronage ) and expresses his appreciation and gratitude towards the artist because they, the Anjou, are mainly devoted to the Madonna. In return for his work, Montana received fiefs.

"[...] maxime in pingendo Cappellam nostram in domo nostra Neapolis quam in ecclesia Beate Marie de Monte Virginis ubi specialem devotione habemus [...]"

The panel is 4.30 × 2.10 × 0.6 m in size , weighs 8 quintals and consists of two large wooden panels that are held together on the back by cross bars. The piece of wood on which the head of the Hodegetria is painted is egg-shaped with a maximum size of 1 m × 85 cm and a gradual thickness from bottom to top of 2 to 5 cm, so that the face of the Madonna has a slight forward inclination .

The Hodegetria became the Madonna of Montevergine. It was given its place in the right nave of the old church, which was converted into a chapel at the request of the Anjou.

Catherine married in Fontainebleau on July 29, 1313 , after the papal dispensation was received and Catherine renounced her French possessions. In the marriage contract that Philip the Fair signed on July 30th, the reestablishment of Latin rule in Constantinople was stated as a political goal of marriage. In the event of Philip of Taranto's untimely death, Catherine was appointed regent of her underage sons; as a dowry she received the County of Acerra .

Cappella della Madonna di Montevergine (visible on the right is the mausoleum of Catherine de Valois-Courtenay and her children Ludwig and Maria)

Catherine de Valois-Courtenay died suddenly on September 20, 1346 in Naples and was buried in the Chiesa San Domenico, where her husband was buried in 1331. At the request of her son Ludwig, her remains were transferred to the Territorial Abbey of Montevergine in September 1347 , where they were buried in the ancient basilica of Montevergine in the chapel of the Madonna di Montevergine. Ludwig almost promoted a "cult" in memory of his mother. When the children Maria (?) And Ludwig (1362) died, their bodies rested in separate sarcophagi , which, according to tradition, had great artistic value. Later the remains were housed in a memorial until the abbot Matteo Iacuzio built a mausoleum in 1776 , had Catherine opened the sarcophagus and put the bones together. Under the sarcophagus there is an epigraph with the following inscription:

"Alla sempiterna memoria
di Caterina di Valois
Augustissima Imperatrice di Costantinopoli
che l'Immagine della Madre di Dio
by antichità, via e miracoli by universal venerazione
celebratissima quasi in tutto l'orbe
nell'anno MCCCX insieme al marito Filippo d'Anjou
ebb cura di qui portare ed esporre al culto
come anche al nome immortale
dei suoi figli Ludovico re di Napoli e Maria
i quali la real famiglia dei Verginiani
specialmente questa cappella e questo cenobio
arricchirono di grandi beneficii
e con le loro ceneri qui riposte
anche verso il supremo Verginiani
ai posteri in ogni tempo lasciarono più che attestato
i cenobiti canonici di questa regia imperial cappella
memori di tanta larghezza verso di loro
alcuni sacri suffragi giornalieri e di altri più solenni
tributano in contraccambio pel loro riposo in cielo
ed a cura dell'Abate generale
ordinario di questa Sede
Matteo Iacuzio
posero questa lapide col titolo l'anno MDCCLXXVI. "

Descendants

Your children were:

Portrait of Maria; Cappella della Madonna di Montevergine in Mercogliano
  • Robert II (around 1318–1364), Prince of Taranto and Achaia, and Titular Emperor of Constantinople
  • Ludwig (1320–1362), Prince of Taranto; ⚭ 1348 with his cousin Queen Joan I of Naples
  • Margaret (around 1325; † 1380); 1. ⚭ 1344 with Edward Balliol († 1364), ex-King of Scotland ( House Balliol ); 2. ⚭ 1352 with François des Baux ( Francesco del Balzo ; † 1422), Count of Montescaglioso and Avellino
    • Jacques des Baux (son from the second marriage), Prince of Taranto and Achaia, and Titular Emperor of Constantinople.
  • Maria (1327– ?, died young)
  • Philip II (1329–1374), Prince of Taranto and Achaia

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ especially on the painting of our chapel in Naples and the church of Santa Maria del Monte Vergine, which we especially venerate

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Margherita Guarducci: La più antica icone di Maria, un prodigioso vincolo tra Oriente e Occidente . Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca Dello Stato, Rome 1989, p. 68 (Italian).
  2. ↑ Matteo Iacuzio, Angelo Maria D'Amato: Brevilogio della cronica ed istoria dell'insigne Santuario di Montevergine real capo della regia Congregazione benedittina de 'Verginiani . Naples 1777, p. 24 (Italian).
  3. ↑ Brevilogio della cronica ed istoria dell'insigne Santuario Reale di Montevergine, p. 26
  4. ^ Matteo Camera: Annali delle Due Sicilie dall'origine e fondazione della Monarchia fino a tutto il regno dell'augusto sovrano Carlo III. Borbone, Volume 2 . Fibreno, Naples 1860, p. 163 (Italian, online version in Google Book Search).
  5. ↑ a b Montano d'Arezzo. Treccani.it, accessed June 18, 2017 (Italian).
  6. ↑ Un timbro a secco con l'immagine della Madonna di Montevergine nei documenti d'archivio. Biblioteca Statale di Montevergine, accessed on June 19, 2017 (Italian).
  7. ^ L'autore della "Maestà" di Montevergine Montano d'Arezzo e la sua rivoluzione. Retrieved March 13, 2019 (Italian).
  8. ↑ Madonna di Montevergine. Santiebeati.it, accessed June 19, 2017 (Italian).
  9. ^ Santuario di Montevergine - Mamma Schiavona. Leggenda e tradizione. Avellinomagazine.it, accessed June 19, 2017 (Italian).
  10. ^ A Mercogliano (AV), presso l'abbazia di Loreto, un convegno dedicato alla "Maestà" di Montevergine di Montano d'Arezzo nei giorni 7 and 8 giugno. Beniculturali.it, accessed June 19, 2017 (Italian).
  11. ↑ Mercogliano, fraz. Montevergine (AV), santuario di Montevergine. Nigrasum.it, archived from the original on September 1, 2017 ; Retrieved June 18, 2017 (Italian).
  12. ↑ a b Gaetano Curzi: Santa Maria del Casale a Brindisi. Arte, politica e culto nel Salento angioino . Gangemi Editore, Rome 2015, ISBN 978-88-492-9829-1 , p. 117 (Italian, online version (preview) in Google Book search).
  13. ↑ PP. Benedettini di Montevergine: Montevergine: guida-cenni storici . Desclée, Lefebvre e C. Editori, Rome 1905, p. 66 (Italian).
  14. ↑ Montevergine: guida-cenni storici, p. 67
personal data
SURNAME Catherine de Valois-Courtenay
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Catherine de Valois; Catherine of Valois-Courtenay; Catherine of Valois; Caterina di Valois
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Titular Empress of Constantinople, Regent of Achaia and Princess of Taranto
DATE OF BIRTH November 18, 1301
PLACE OF BIRTH Siena
DATE OF DEATH September 20, 1346
Place of death Naples