Elephant from Cremona
The elephant of Cremona (13th century, also in literature: Cremona elephant ) accompanied the Staufer emperor Friedrich II on his triumphal procession .
Origin and life
In 1229 the elephant came into the possession of the emperor as a diplomatic gift from the Sultan Al-Kamil of Egypt. It is said to have accompanied its owner on his ventures and to have enjoyed good health for decades.
On the occasion of the visit of Richard of Cornwall , Frederick's brother-in-law, to Cremona in 1241, about which Matthew Paris (1199–1259) reported in detail in his Chronica Maiora , the chronicler also mentions a triumphal procession: as he approached Cremona, they came to him The inhabitants met happily and led the emperor's wonderfully dressed up elephant, which carried a wooden tower in which there were some leaders of the animal, who blew horns and clapped their hands merrily. The annals of Cremona, which was traditionally loyal to the emperor, also report on the use of an elephant, but as early as 1237. These reports refer to a piece of the city's recent history: in 1237, Frederick II was at Cortenuova shortly after his victory over the Milanese on 27./28. Moved to Cremona November 1237. The entry into the city was led by an elephant, who pulled the carroccio , the captured flag wagon with the Lombard insignia on which the Milanese Podestà was tethered.
Later sources will report a similarly described triumphal procession with an elephant in Milan. In 1238 the emperor sent a letter to Rome announcing the delivery of the flag car in question. If one follows the predominant interpretation of the passage in Paris' Chronica in literature , the emperor apparently repeated the elephant parade in Cremona in 1237 to receive his brother-in-law in 1241.
meaning
The Cremona Elephant is by Abul Abbas , the elephant of Charlemagne , and 400 years ago, the first more occupied in Europe by contemporary sources elephant. A second specimen documented in the 13th century, the elephant of Louis IX. of France, in 1255, as soon as it had arrived in France as a souvenir from the Holy Land , was immediately passed on to England by its owner. The elephant of Frederick II was the only one who verifiably set foot on the soil of the Holy Roman Empire in the High Middle Ages .
Sources
There is no evidence for an individual name for the elephant. Since the report by Matthäus Paris was quoted repeatedly in the 19th and 20th centuries, it went down in literature as the Cremona elephant . The sources known so far therefore also leave the question open whether the mentions of the elephant mean the same thing or whether the emperor, of whom it is said that he often carried a menagerie on his travels to enliven his triumphal procession , possibly owned several. Richard's visit to Cremona is certified with a festive reception ; that the elephant illuminated it is suggested only in Paris' representation.
In Matthäus Paris' Chronica , the report is accompanied by an illustration, the author of which obviously never saw the elephant, but relied on his own imagination and description. The features of the elephant depicted and described in the reports on Friedrich's triumphal procession may have led to various views of it as a war elephant ; however, there are no contemporary sources for this.
literature
- William S. Heckscher: Bernini's Elephant and Obelisk . In: The Art Bulletin . Vol. 29, No. 3 (September 1947), pp. 155-182.
- Stephan Oettermann : The elephant curiosity. An Elephantographia Curiosa . Syndikat, Frankfurt am Main 1982, ISBN 3-8108-0203-4 , p. 99.
Individual evidence
- ↑ According to Chronica maiora of Matthew Paris 1229
- ↑ Oettermann (1982), p. 99
- ^ Matthew Paris: Chronica Maiora . o. JS 141; quoted according to Oettermann (1982): note 122 refers to further receptions in 1887 and 1930
- ↑ MGH SS XXXI, p. 512 (translation by Klaus J. Heinisch: Kaiser Friedrich II. In letters and reports of his time . Darmstadt 1968, p. 397f.).
- ↑ Cf. Regesta Imperii V 1,1, No. 2289g
- ↑ K. Hauck: Zoos in the plant area . In: German royal palaces. Contributions to their historical and archaeological research . Göttingen 1963, I, pp. 30-74; P. 67; quoted n. Petrus de Vinea : Epistolarium . Ambergue, 1609; Pp. 240–241 (after: Oettermann 1982, p. 99, note 121)
- ↑ Cf. Regesta Imperii , V 1,1, no.2311
- ↑ after Oettermann (1982)
- ↑ Cf. Regesta Imperii 5286o
- ↑ In: Matthew Paris: Chronica maiora . Parker Library, MS 16, fol. 151v: Illustration of the procession in Cremona with an elephant. Cambridge, Corpus Christi College. See Heckscher (1949) Fig. 19; see. also Oettermann (1982)