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A Lament on the Death of John of Legnano

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2019

R. Joseph Schork  and
John P. McCall
R. Joseph Schork
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
John P. McCall
Affiliation:
University of Cincinnati
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Extract

When John of Legnano died in Bologna on 16 February 1383, the University lost an esteemed professor and the city one of its best loved leaders. Born in Milan and educated at Bologna, Legnano became well known as a professor of canon law at the University and a man of wide learning, loyal both to the Church and to the city which adopted him. His writings were numerous, ranging from standard legal commentaries and tracts to treatises on theology, moral and political philosophy, astronomy, and optics. His broadest reputation, however, came from the authorship of De Fletu Ecclesiae (1378-1380), a series of arguments defending the validity of Urban VI's election at the outbreak of the Great Western Schism. Through this work he became the chief spokesman for the Italian Pope on a politicalecclesiastical question which concerned every state in Europe.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in the Renaissance , Volume 19 , 1972 , pp. 180 - 195
Copyright
Copyright © Renaissance Society of America 1972

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References

1 For details of Legnano's life, see Bosdari, F., Giovanni da Legnano (Bologna, 1901)Google Scholar; Cook, A. S., ‘Chaucer's “Linian” ‘, Romanic Review, VIII (1917), 353–382 Google Scholar; Holland, T. E. (ed.), Tractatus de Bello, de Represaliis et de Duello by Giovanni da Legnano (Oxford, 1917)Google Scholar, pp. x-xxi; and S. Stelling-Michaud's article in Dictionnaire de Droit Canonique, VI, 111- 112. On Legnano's works, see McCall, J. P., ‘The Writings of John of Legnano’, Traditio, XXIII (1967), 415–437 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 Legnano's role in the events of 1376-1377 is described at length by Bosdari (pp. 34- 52) who also gives a complete transcription (pp. 111-113) of the grant of citizenship to Legnano.

3 Despite minor discrepancies in the chronicles, the evidence overall supports the chronology we have given. See Muratori's Rerum Italicorum Scriptores, Vol. 18, Part 1, ed. A. Sorbelli, III, 370-372; and Vol. 18, Part 2, eds. L. Frati and A. Sorbelli, p. 78 (see n. 5, below); C. Ghirardacci, Delia Historia di Bologna, Part 2 (Bologna, 1657), pp. 395-397 and Fantuzzi, G., Notizie degli Scrittori Bolognesi (Bologna, 1783-1790), v, 36–38 Google Scholar. Among the documents printed by Bosdari is the codicil to Legnano's will (pp. 129-133). The chronicles do not support the observation (Ghirardacci, p. 397, and Fantuzzi, v, 38) that further solemn obsequies were held on 28 February.

4 Bosdari's account of the funeral (pp. 77-80) includes this 17th-century report from the Legnano family archives.

5 The frequent use of nunc and iam in the poem suggests that it was written close to the time of Legnano's death. It is also possible that the star imagery in the poem (see Commentary on lines 14-16) has added significance because of the appearance of the large bright ‘star’ on the evening of 14 February. The following account is given in Matthaeus de Griffonibus, MemorialeHistoricum de Rebus Bononiensium (RIS, 18,2,78): ‘Eodem anno [1383], die xiiij februarii, hora vj noctis. - Sepultura sancti Dominici, quae est in ecclesia fratrum Praedicatorum de Bononia, aperta fuit et in ipsa reperta fuit una capsa de arcipresso, in qua erant ossa dicti sancti…. Et incontinenti, hora qua aperta fuit decta archa, aparuit una Stella clarissima, magna et grossa, cum tribus caudis, et stetit continuo supra ecclesiam sancti Dominici per multas horas, donee dicta archa stetit aperta, et omnes ibi praesentes videbant stellam praedictam. Eodem anno, M.CCCLXXXIII, die xvj mensis februarii, hora xxj. - Obiit ille doctor utriusque juris famosissimus et excellentissimus, dominus Johannes de Lignano, et die xviij dicti mensis fuit honorifice sepultus ad Sanctum Dominicum juxta introitum sacristiae. Eodem anno. - Fuit magna mortalitas in civitate et comitatu Bononiae.’

6 For some specimens of allusions to Legnano, see T. E. Holland (ed.), pp. xi, xix-xxi; Bosdari, p. 78; and Rossi, L., Degli scritti inediti giurdico-politici di Giovanni da Legnano, (Bologna, 1898), pp. 11–12 Google Scholar.

7 Clerk's Tale, lines 31-35: ‘Fraunceys Petrak, the lauriat poete, / Highte this clerk, whos rethorike sweete / Enlumyned al Ytaille of poetrie, / As Lynyan [Legnano] dide of philosophic, / Or lawe, or oother art particuler… .’ See Cook, n. 1, above, and McCall, J. P., ‘Chaucer and John of Legnano’, Speculum, XL (1965), 484–489 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 A full description of the MS appears in E. Narducci, ‘Sentenze morali ridotte in versi latini ed italiani da Fra. Gio: Ginesio da Parma’, Miscellanea Francescana, III, V (Sept.-Oct., 1888), I - II (esp. 1-3). The MS is erroneously numbered 537 in Traditio, XXIIII, 437.

9 We wish to thank the Biblioteca Nazionale (Rome) for permission to reproduce the manuscript text. Mr. McCall first came across the MS when working on the Legnano canon in 1963. The photographs were taken at that time. Mr. McCall's research was supported by a fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies.

10 See O. A. W. Dilke, ‘The Hundred-Line Latin Poem’, Collection Latomus 101 (= Hommage à Marcel Renard 1) (Bruxelles, 1969), pp. 322-324. Though Dilke focuses on classical Latin poetry, his suggestion that approximately 100 lines is a convenient length for a ‘commissioned’ poem may have some point here. Also see Curtius, E.R., European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages, trans. W. R. Trask (New York, 1953), pp. 501–509 Google Scholar. In this excursus, entitled ‘Numerical Composition’, Curtius discusses the popularity of numerical symmetry: “This round-number composition, to which the Decameron also belongs, was done to death in the Latin poems of Francesco Filelfo (1398-1481). We “owe” him 10 books of satires, each book containing 10 satires, each satire 100 lines (“Hecatosticha“), as well as 10,000 lines of epigrams, divided into 10 books; he had also planned 10 books of 100 100-line odes each—but only finished half of them’ (508).

11 Professor Carl R. Trahman of the University of Cincinnati examined a preliminary transcription of this text and made several valuable suggestions.

12 See Turner, E.G., Greek Papyri: An Introduction, (Oxford, 1968), pp. 71–72 CrossRefGoogle Scholar: ‘Lastly it may be suggested that [in editing a papyrus text] a translation should always be given. The making of it may reveal flaws in the text offered. In any case it is the best (as it is the briefest) commentary to that text.’

13 From various transcriptions and translations of the epitaph, we have favored Cook's (n. 1, above, 355-357). The text we print accepts his emendation of aura (8) to ara, but leaves unchanged the medieval e for ae. Cook, Holland, and others have printed photographs of the fragments of Legnano's tomb, including the epitaph. To the four MSS of the epitaph previously noted (Traditio, XXIII, 437) should be added Cambridge University, Gonville and Caius College MS. 230, f. 167. For a discussion of the question of Legnano's responsibility for his own epitaph, see Cook, pp. 358-359.