Falco from Benevento

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Falco von Benevent , also Falcone Beneventano or da Benevento , ( p. 1092 - 1143 , † possibly after 1154 in Benevento ) wrote a chronicle of his hometown, which, along with the work of his contemporary Caffaro, represents the oldest city ​​history written by a layman . At the same time, it is the oldest chronicle penned by a notary.

life and work

Falco's date of birth has not been recorded. Probably in 1092 he appears for the first time as a notary , provided this act can be assigned to him, which so far has only been based on diplomatic and stylistic considerations. The document is preserved in the Chronicon Sanctae Sophiae (V, 13). His employment as a notary and clerk at the Sacro Palazzo of Benevento can be traced back to 1134. That year he was named Judex by his own testimony .

The pontificate of Paschal II was of great importance for the administrative organization of the papal Benevento. The Pope determined that the Curia should nominate the rectors of the city. But in 1113 the Beneventans elected a new rector without the permission of the Curia. Citizens called “quorum mens erat sanior” against this decision, including Falco, the Pope, who had the decision cashed in. In the following months a dispute developed between Bishop Landolf and the Comestable Landolfo della Greca. Finally, in October 1114, the archbishop was deposed by Paschalis at the Council of Ceprano. Falco remained neutral and shouted "Iddio a testimone di narrare soltanto ciò che ho visto, e di scrivere solo ciò che ho ascoltato", so he only wanted to tell God what he had seen and only write what he heard would have. He probably attended the council.

Landolf was reinstated in office by Paschalis on August 11, 1116. Shortly after his return, relics were found during construction work and excavated in May 1119. The bones were exhibited for the citizens, among them Falco, who remembers: “anch'io, indegno uomo, le ossa di quei Santi ho baciato”, saying that he kissed the bones of the saints as an unworthy person. He was present during the election of the Abbot of S. Sofia, Johannes Grammaticus , then at the consecration of the new Abbess Bethlem of Santa Maria di Porta Somma by Archbishop Roffred. When the libellus iudicii was set up, a dispute between the said Bethlem and Agnese, the abbess of San Pietro Apostolo, ended.

Outwardly, Benevento was threatened by Norman barons who demanded a number of tributes. When Robert of Montefusco was murdered on May 12, 1121 and his body was hewn to pieces near Benevento, some citizens, including Falco, ran up. The latter noted his feelings in his chronicle. In 1122 Jordan von Ariano was finally defeated by Duke Wilhelm von Hauteville. His submission was carried out in the presence of Cardinal Crescentius, Rector of Benevento. Among the Beneventans present was Falco, who saw the Count lying stretched out on the floor in front of the Duke and asking for "Misericordia".

In 1124 the tomb of St. Barbatus exposed, the patron of the city. Falco personally attended the exhumation , he was among the first to kiss the bones. He was also one of the first to report miracles. On October 11, 1125, the city was struck by a severe earthquake. Falco described the scenes that he experienced, but above all gives an insight into everyday life and the piety patterns of the population.

Falco reports on the events in the Norman Empire, such as the death of the Apulian Duke Wilhelm II in 1127 or the accession to the throne of Rogers von Hauteville in 1130 and the founding of the kingdom through indirect testimonies, but he himself was not present. But in 1130 Benevento, to which Falco turned his attention, was at the center of the power struggle between Pope Innocent II and Emperor Lothar III. on one side and the antipope Anaclet II and Roger on the other.

Falco remained neutral for a long time, but when it became clear in July 1132 that urban freedom for Benevento would end with the king of Sicily, the author openly sided with Innocent. In April 1133 he went to Rome with a delegation from the city to meet the Pope and the Emperor. One of the consequences of this meeting was the appointment of Falco to the Judex of Benevento. But Roger won, and so more than 1000 supporters of Rome had to leave Benevento, including Falco. They went into exile in Naples , where Falco had to stay until 1137. When Lothar returned to Italy, the Beneventans swore allegiance to Innocent again. Falco received the Empress Richenza von Northeim and Pope Innocent. With the departure of the emperor, the situation was reversed again, but now the Normans were looking for a compromise. Roger remitted the city the tributes that had been raised so far.

With the death of Anaclet on January 25, 1138 and the conclusion of peace between Innocent and Roger, the kingdom stabilized, which now established a kind of protectorate over Benevento. Unfortunately, Falco's chronicle is silent about the events from 1140 onwards.

Falco was still active in the city, as some documents show. In the Cistercian monastery of S. Maria della Ferraria , located near Vairano in today's province of Caserta , there was a more extensive copy of Falco's chronicle. Falco's notes go back to 1144.

Falco may still be alive in 1154, after King Roger's death. According to Edoardo D'Angelo, this emerges from the fact that in a passage in the chronicle from 1133, in which Falco accuses Cardinal Crescentius, the follower of Anacletus in Benevento had subjected the city to King Roger's cruelty, “di esecranda memoria ". Falco probably wrote his chronicle from 1127 in several time periods.

The work has survived in four codices from the 17th century. Two are in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Barb. Lat. 2330, 2345) and two in the Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli (S. Martino 66, 364). They all depend directly or indirectly on a now-lost copy of the 16th century. The Beneventan Giulio del Sindico had this copy made in 1530 on the basis of a libellus probably from the 12th century. It was in very bad shape and difficult to read; it has also been lost. The Editio princeps , on which all later printed editions depend, differs in some essential aspects from the manuscripts. This edition was carried out by Antonio Caracciolo under the title Antiqui chronologi quatuor , Naples 1626, on pages 178 to 343. It was reprinted by Muratori , Migne and Del Re, among others .

Editions

  • Giuseppe Del Re: Cronica di Falcone Beneventano , Naples 1845, pp. 159 / 160–252 / 276 ( digitized version )
  • Raffaele Matarazzo (Ed.): Falco Beneventanus. Chronicon , Naples 2000 (Latin and Italian)
  • Edoardo D'Angelo: Chronicon Beneventanum: città e feudi nell'Italia dei Normanni / Falcone di Benevento , Florence 1998 ( proof in Gateway Bavaria with a link to the table of contents )

literature

  • Errico Cuozzo-Edoardo D'Angelo:  Falcone da Benevento. In: Fiorella Bartoccini (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 44:  Fabron-Farina. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1994.
  • Karl Andreas Kehr: Supplements to Falco von Benevent , in: New archive of the society for older German history 27, 1902, pp. 445–472.
  • Graham A. Loud: The genesis and the context of the Chronicle of Falco of Benevento , in: L'età dei Normanni (XV Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies), Woodbridge 1993, pp. 177-198.
  • Antonio Menniti Ippolito: Falco v. Benevento . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 4, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-7608-8904-2 , Sp. 237 f. with * around 1070, † after 1142.
  • Fulvio Delle Donne: Coscienza urbana e storiografia cittadina. A proposito dell'edizione critica del "Chronicon" di Falcone di Benevento , in: Studi Storici 40 (1999) 1127-1141.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Marino Zabbia: Écriture historique et culture documentaire. La chronique de Falcone Beneventano (première moitié du douzième siècle) , in: Bibliotheque de l'École des Chartes, vol. 159, Librairie Droz, Paris / Geneva 2002, pp. 369–388, here: p. 370.
  2. ↑ Edoardo D'Angelo (ed.): Chronicon Beneventanum. Città e feudi nell'Italia dei Normanni , Florence 1998, p. VIII.
  3. ^ Antonio Caracciolo: Antiqui chronologi quatuor. Herempertus Langobardus. Lupus Protospata. Anonymous Cassinensis. Falco Beneventanus Cum Appendicibus Historicis , Naples 1626, pp. 177 / 178–343 ( digitized version ).
  4. ↑ Bartolomeo Capasso: Le fonti della storia delle provincie napoletane dal 568 al 1500 , a cura di Oreste Mastrojanni, Napoli: Marghieri 1902 (reprint Bologna: Forni 1967), pp. 70-71
  5. ↑ Proof in Gateway Bavaria

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Falco from Benevento
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Falco Beneventanus; Falcone Beneventano; Falco da Benevento
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Notary, judge and historiographer
DATE OF BIRTH before 1092
DATE OF DEATH after 1143
Place of death Benevento