Sunday, May 11, 2008

Propellerheads Record

San Crescentino patrono di Urbino. Iconografia e attributi araldici.

From Città di Castello in Urbino.
In September 2003, was held in the Town of Castle on Saint Crescenziano a major conference whose proceedings were published in 2005 by Andrea Czortek and Pierluigi Licciardello. San
Crescenziano is one of the patrons in Città di Castello, a town near which was martyred around the year 287. During the conference Tifernate was pointed out that if the origin of the cult was born in the upper valley of the Tiber, " is not in Città di Castello will find that the holy His center of worship, playing a role historically significant, but in Urbino, which since 1068 elected him as the patron protector , "and in this city as" the new cult requires next to Our Lady and St Sergius, introduced Holy Military possibly in Urbino in the Byzantine era, which came from Ravenna (Licciardello, 2005, pp. 118 and 119).
E 'Everyone knows that in Urbino San Crescenziano acquired the name of San Crescentino for unknown reasons. Given the diversity onomastics was accompanied perhaps some iconographic diversity? Judging by the activation of Mirko Santanicchia Tifernate the conference it would seem not, but it is the recognition iconographic Santanicchia conducted by giving notice to our investigation that this provides an additional contribution to the knowledge of the tradition of St. Creswell focusing in particular on the appearance and iconography to arms.

representation of a military saint.
From the first note iconographic evidence, dating from the years between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the representation of St. Creswell is that of a knight riding his steed is intent on defeating a dragon (Santanicchia, 2005, pp. 175, 177 and 178). Yet, from what seems to emerge from the research conducted so far, the first proof of the biographical legend of the dragon dates back only to 1567, contained in a work intended dall’arcivescovo urbinate Felice Tiranni. Appare perciò evidente che lo scopo del Tiranni fu quello di riprendere una tradizione ben più antica ormai consolidata (Licciardello, 2005, pp. 128 e129; Santanicchia, 2005, p. 176).
Al primo modello rappresentativo se n’è successivamente affiancato un secondo. Il santo è ritto in piedi e senza il cavallo e il drago giace a terra morente. Notiamo come nel primo modello iconografico il drago è trafitto dalla lancia. Non così nel secondo modello, laddove il santo mostra a Dio le spoglie del drago sconfitto (Santanicchia, 2005, p. 182). In alcuni casi san Crescentino è raffigurato intento a calpestare il drago esanime come l’Immacolata calpesta il serpente.
San Creswell was a Roman soldier, and in fact is constantly represented in weapons, wearing armor mainly to fashion. So if in the fifteenth century knight wearing armor of the time (similar to the one worn by Duke Federico in the so-called Pala di Brera), since the sixteenth century, he wears a Roman-style breastplate. This second type of armor responded better to the ideal representation of a soldier of the third century, but in reality was nothing but a new model of stylish armor. Think armature Guidobaldo created by Bartolomeo II Della Rovere Fields in 1546 (Fig. 2) or the well-known portraits of the Medici princes carved by Michelangelo.


fig. 1 fig. 2
If the first is the saint appears bareheaded, from the Renaissance is mostly represented with a helmet on his head. According Santanicchia this news should have been introduced after 1520, probably as a result of the discovery of the alleged helmet Crescenziano occurred in 1524 (Santanicchia, 2005, p. 183). But we must note that the saint wears a helmet already in a currency Guidobaldo da Montefeltro (Fig.3) was coined between 1482 and 1508 (Cavicchi, 2001, p. 44, n. 28) (fig. 3), and maybe a helmet is also present in the image of an embossed seal of the city of Urbino in a letter dated August 12, 1502 (ASRSM, Correspondence of the Captains Regent, Busta 1990).

fig. 3

But the presence of the helmet, though frequent, is not constant. In addition to a seal used in the first half of the sixteenth century (but probably dates back to the previous century), the saint on horseback is devoid of the helmet and is characterized by a rather long hair (ASRSM, Correspondence of the Captains Regent, Busta 90, letter of March 28, 1507, letter dated May 4, 1508, Busta 91 / 2, letter 21 June 1522). The long hair also characterizes the saint in a currency Guidobaldo da Montefeltro (Cavicchi, 2001, p. 44, n. 27) (Fig. 7). We note here too, a match with the canons of taste of those years, expressed in particular by the hair of the same Duke of Urbino as represented in its coins.


fig. 7
About the helmet, we note that it is always a Burgundy, a type of helmet fashion that recalls a distant Roman helmet, in line with the use of the lorica. In general, the change
Apparel the saint is thus caused by the change of fashion, the recovery of old-style armor for the parade that have now replaced the old armor tournament.

San Creswell and St. George.
Santanicchia highlighted the fact that the representation of St. Creswell horse that draws much of St. George slaying the dragon "in determining the return iconography of the event, must have severely affected the reputation of St. George, whose story the common element of the dragon postponed so too inviting (Santanicchia, 2005, p. 176).
The story of St. George slaying the dragon to save the princess goes back only to the times of Crusades and was originated by " an erroneous interpretation of an image of Constantine. Therefore it's common attribute, the red cross on a white field , "the fame of the saint was then widely available around the middle of the thirteenth century, the Golden Legend by Jacopo da Varazze (d. 1298) (Licciardello, 2005, p . 132; Santanicchia, 2005, pp. 176 and 177).
Santanicchia also shows us the image of Saint George carved in the lunette of the portal of the cathedral of Ferrara between 1135 and 1140 (Fig. 8)

fig. 8

In this work is significant the absence of any reference to arms and even banners. The Saint shows the inside of the shield held by the arm, not an unequivocal sign of the importance of what you would possibly be represented (as in many equestrian seals of that time still largely prearaldica). So

Santanicchia second iconographic influence of St George on St Creswell was relevant and " persisted, generating sometimes confusion," but, according to this scholar, "what does not seem to ever entered the ranks of the attributes of Crescenziano, it is precisely the banner crucesignato, despite the sources they make explicit mention: in the text reviewed by the sixteenth century there is a definite Bollandists riferimento ad un segno di Cristo ricevuto dal soldato, Christi signaculo insignitis. Non è detto che fosse presente in questa forma anche nella versione più antica della passio, e non è del resto scontata una lettura troppo letterale dell’espressione, ma è raro che tali spunti non vengano colti nella trasposizione iconografica; viene a questo punto da domandarsi se fu omesso con lo scopo di limitare la confusione con san Giorgio, che invece mostra sovente questo attributo" (Santanicchia, 2005, p. 177).
Premesso che esistono importanti rappresentazioni di san Giorgio senza alcun attributo araldico, il punto, l’oggetto di questa nostra disquisizione è questo: non è esatto affermare che san Crescentino (ovvero St. Crescenziano) was never represented with the attribute of arms of the cross.
The presence of this emblem is found in the seals of the City of Urbino Santanicchia that Mirko did not take into consideration while wide iconographic analysis in his contribution to the conference Tifernate. In
of common seals in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, were often represented the patron saints, and Urbino was no exception, indeed. Apart from the description of a seal of 1232 in which it was being represented eagle (Tonini, 1862, pp. 497 and 498), all known seals of the City of Urbino see represented St. Creswell on horseback slaying the dragon .
Among the prints that I could Sigillaria see during my research, many show the knight with shield and banner difficult to read, however, other, we clearly show the presence of a shield and a banner crusader. In the seal affixed in a letter dated March 28, 1507 can be seen, albeit with difficulty, the cross on the flag, while it is practically impossible to read the contents of the small shield rounded shouldered by the saint (ASRSM, Correspondence of the Captains Regent, envelope 90, letter of March 28, 1507) (Fig. 9).

fig. 9

much more clearly the flag and the shield plate, both crusaders are seen in other seals as the one printed in a document dated September 22 1568 (ASP-UP, Notaries Santinelli Orazio, No 1168).
According to our current knowledge mean we would not know what were the disposal of these coats of arms. They were probably the same as the sign of St. George. Moreover, the red cross on a silver is a typical representation of the sign of Christ (Fig. 10). (Fig. 10)
The seals on the letter of 1507, but also affixed to the letter of 1568 (unless the latter was not of recent construction) show that the presence of the attributes of arms crossed before the work of tyrants, and were not a consequence. The author of the biography of 1567 was therefore redone examples iconographic legacy. But how old?
Unfortunately, we came across hagiographic seal of the City of Urbino before 1502, and the sources of a more distinctly religious speech that is made from Santanicchia.
But among the documents examined by iconographic Santanicchia we highlight the likely presence of a standard in much older age. The document in question is the miniature decorates the antiphonary No Chapter 9 of the Archives of the Cathedral of Urbino, dated 1348, by Nicholas Saraceno from Bagnacavallo (Fig. 11).

fig. 11

As shown Pierluigi Licciardello this is the most Urbino ancient manuscript known to speak of St. Creswell (Licciardello, 2005, p. 120). The author found that nell'antifonario is not a biography of the saint, but only the lyrics and melodies of the songs. This, significantly, the author observed, provide metaphors and images of military life that " in this case [...] not only allude to the usual theme of the militia Christi, but refer, of course, also in the tradition of holy knights "which, by the author undergoes an" area of \u200b\u200binfluence supposedly free "(Licciardello, 2005, p. 125, note 133).
If this is not the story of legend of the dragon, the thumbnail says it all: St. Creswell horse is intent on killing the dragon. Appropriately
slip this image of the saint was placed on the cover of the volume of transactions we are dealing with (Fig. 12). Even as this image shows a curious thickening of the end of the spear upwards. What is the reason for quell'ispessimento?

fig. 12
Looking at the miniature we see that part of the field above the saint's head shows a lack of pigment that seems to be in the form of a long triangular flag waving to the right. The shortcoming of pigment is also seen in the figure below dragon.
We believe that we can not exclude that in place of that gap will be represented just a banner which has been paradoxically track because of the fall color. In this case, the thickening of the auction of the spear only represents the grafting of the same cloth.

The presence of the flag in miniature of 1348 should be tested with appropriate analysis, the fact remains that we still do not know which banner it must have been: If the standard cross-certificate later, or some other banner.
Incidentally we may note that the thumbnail of 1348 the saint does not wear the armor but a blue robe and a red coat lined with vair. The absence armor does not mean anything to the characteristic of a knight. In fact, even the count Galasso da Montefeltro (died right in 1348) was performed in a miniature wearing a robe and a cloak, with the characteristic spurs, sword in hand to the track and a club-at-arms (Franceschini, 1970) ( Fig. 13).
fig. 13
So, as we have seen, is not exactly what was claimed by Santanicchia " what you do not think has ever entered the ranks of the attributes of Crescenziano, it is precisely the banner crucesignato . Iconographic sources Urbino attest the use of that sign. As to the author's question: “ se fu omesso con lo scopo di limitare la confusione con san Giorgio, che invece mostra sovente questo attributo ” (Santanicchia, 2005, p. 177), si deve rilevare che l’omissione o la presenza di questa insegna risulta un difficile fattore discriminante nell’individuazione di un santo piuttosto che l’altro. Sia perché molti san Giorgio non inalberano il vessillo e non imbracciano lo scudo crociato, contrariamente alla più classica rappresentazione, sia perché anche san Crescentino venne rappresentato con quelle insegne.

Il tema della confusione tra i santi Giorgio e Crescentino torna, a me pare prepotentemente, nelle importanti notizie che Franco Negroni ha tratto dagli archivi notarili di Urbino.
8 settembre 1329 […] Rog. Benveduto notaio nella piazza del Comune, dove è la Maestade di S. Giorgio avanti alla stazione di Alessandro notaio […] ”; “ 1 gennaio 1408 […] in Civitate Urbini in platea magna ipsius Civitatis et prope trasanale positum ante maiestatem sancti Criscentini ubi priores populi dicte Civitatis iurant officium prioratus dicte Civitatis ”; “ 18 ottobre 1417 […] Urbini in trazanali Ecclesie maioris Katredalis Civitatis predicte ubi posita est figura Georgii aliis armigeris, cui trazanali a primo latere est dicta ecclesia […] ”; “ 29 giugno 1420 […] Urbini et in trazanali ecclesie Katredalis Civitatis Urbini ubi sunt picture hominum armigerum et sancti Georgii ”; “ 6 novembre 1428 […] Urbini in trazanali maioris ecclesie ubi et quo daur iuramentum prioribus iuxta ipsam ecclesiam, plateam et alia latera […] ” (Negroni, 1993, p. 25 nota 13).
I priori del popolo della città di Urbino, nell’atto di assumere il mandato, giuravano d’innanzi all’immagine maestà di San Crescentino. Questo dipinto si trovava nella piazza grande sotto il portico del duomo. Sempre sotto il portico del duomo queste fonti attestano la presenza di un immagine di San Giorgio con altri armigeri. Due maestà con santi pressoché identici, possible? In this regard
Franco Negroni wrote: "Surely the saints paintings in the gallery of the cathedral was not lacking S. George, but we are sure that the most prominent figure was that of S. Creswell, for the very close similarity with the iconography of St. George, notaries Urbino could not just be a matter of misunderstanding (Negroni, 1993, p. 25 note 13). They were thus represented both the Saints? Or some notary san incredibly confused and hastily Crescentino for St. George? In the latter case, the theme of the confusion mentioned by Santanicchia (Santanicchia, 2005, p. 177) appears to have found practical application.

In recent times much more in Peter Sella, autore della rinomata edizione della raccolta I sigilli dell’Archivio Vaticano, così scriveva a proposito di un sigillo del Comune di Urbino del 1735: “ Scudo sormontato da una corona sorretta da due angeli: San Giorgio che trafigge il drago; lo scudo di San Giorgio è a due bande ” (Sella, 1946, II, p. 281). In questo caso a confondere Sella non ci sono gli attributi araldici, ma la semplice figura del santo col drago, visto che egli stesso annota che lo scudo del santo è a due bande e non crociato. Il sigillo descritto da Sella deve essere stato quello che si trova ancora in un documento del 1722 custodito nella biblioteca universitaria di Urbino (BUU, Fondo del Comune, Busta 170, fasc. 1, c. 84).


To complement the analysis of the iconographic sources discussed in the meeting of Citta di Castello, I have to confirm the opinion given by Santanicchia reliability of the woodcuts of the seals of the bishops from Urbino Bramante Ligi published in 1953. They are, in fact, pleasing artistic interpretations of some original "can not be a reliable source of iconography in all its details" (Santanicchia, 2005, p. 181).
dell'inattendibilità An example is their by the seal of the bishop Bartolomeo Carusi Urbino (1347-1379) as quoted by Santanicchia containing the image of the patron saint of Urbino (Santanicchia, 2005, p. 181, Ligi, 1953, p. 69). Thanks
Prior authorization of the Brotherhood of Corpus Domini of Urbino, dr. Giuseppe Cucco, I was able to examine the seal of the bishop Carusi hung on a parchment dated July 16, 1348 (ACDU, parchment 1).

Well seal almond is divided into three registers: the upper one sees a representation of the Virgin, the middle shows St. Creswell on horseback slaying the dragon with his lance, and the bottom is largely missing, and we are not allowed to understand that What could be represented. Perhaps the image of the bishop who prays, perhaps the arms of the prelate? The woodcut published by Ligi entirely omitted from the lower register, as well not exist. In most places the saint and dragon in very different positions of the original. Ligi image released by the rider's helmet, in what is actually represented in the seal identifies a kind of headgear, but we can not say with certainty whether this is a helmet. In both representations the rider not Take up a shield, as the flag, the seal imprint can not determine the presence or absence, and is completely absent in the woodcut.

The author also cites another bishop's seal contains the image of St. Creswell, to Oddone Colonna (1380-1408), also published in woodcut from Ligi (Santanicchia, 2005, p. 181; Ligi, 1953). L’immagine pubblicata da Ligi mostra il santo con l’elmo, senza scudo e senza vessillo. Come sarà in realtà il sigillo appeso alla pergamena n. 7 dell’Archivio S. Croce di Urbino, datata 7 agosto 1406?
Carusi e Colonna furono vescovi negli anni del dominio di Antonio da Montefeltro (1375-1404), al quale è spesso attribuita una moneta citata anche da Licciardello e Santanicchia per via della rappresentazione del busto di san Crescentino (Licciardello, 2005, p. 126; Santanicchia, 2005, p. 181). Va detto però che questa moneta è stata da tempo attribuita al figlio di Antonio, il conte Guidantonio da Montefeltro (1404-1443) (Cavicchi, 2001, p. 33, n. 4) (fig. 14). Nella reproductive tract of the coin published by Reposa in 1772, the saint in armor in front (which in fact seems to be a horse) holding a spear with a banner bifid no figure (Repos, 1772, p. 125) (fig . 15).

fig. 14 fig. 15
in the currency of the lords of Urbino are also other representations of St. Creswell.
In two coins Guidobaldo (1482-1508): a saint is on horseback, the other is the saint on foot, but as seen in both cases the shaft of the spear has a banner, unfortunately unreadable (Cavicchi , 2001, p. 44, nos. 27 and 28).
Other coins san Crescentino a cavallo vennero coniate sotto tutti i duchi rovereschi tra il 1508 e il 1631 (Cavicchi, 2001, p. 59, n. 64, p. 60, nn. 65 e 66, p. 81, n. 121, p. 82, nn. 122, 123 e 124, p. 122, n. 224).
fig. 16

Imagine sancti Crescentini advocati et patroni.
Per antica tradizione si ha che gli urbinati, ogni volta che contro i nemici loro hanno spiegato lo stendardo del Gloriosissimo Martire s. Crescentino lor avvocato habbiano conseguite meravigliose vittorie ” (Santanicchia, 2005, p. 181). Questo è quanto venne scritto nel 1567 nell’opera commissionata dall’arcivescovo Tiranni, e al di là del pomposo language, it is certain that the patron was not only an icon for religious use. As mentioned above the image of the saint became (as has happened often) the symbolic heritage of the community. We have seen the case of the municipal seal in use until a few centuries ago, but it appears quite clearly in the statutes of the City of Urbino in 1559 in which the shift key is required, seal and banner at the outset of the Gonfaloniere new and where the patch is described " vexillu Sancti Crescentini (BOP, Statuta Civitatis Urbina, 1959, cc. 4v and 6v). But it can also be seen in the news reported by Franco Negroni about commissione (datata 1509) a Timoteo Viti e Girolamo Genga per la realizzazione di un nuovo vessillo comunale in seta rossa: “ vexillum pro dicta Comunitate cum imagine sancti Crescentini advocati et patroni huius nostrae civitatis ad utroque latere dicti vexilli super equo cum dracone sub pedibus dicti equi et aliis requisitis et cum arma dictae Communitatis deauratis et com aliis fulcimentis debitis ad eorum perfectionem infra terminum duorum mensium ” (Negroni, 1993, p. 14 e 15, nota 9).

A questo proposito, va infine ricordata un’immagine di san Crescentino con in pugno un vessillo con l’arma antica dei Montefeltro (bandata d’azzurro e d’oro con l’aquila nera sulla seconda bandwidth) in a framework of Timoteo Viti hours at the Brera Academy in Milan (Fig. 17).

fig. 17

The banner, gold with two long tails, shows the weapon in a circular shield. As I understand it is the first proof of the use of the accounts of the gun as a weapon in the city.
I believe that in the representation of the patron saint of Urbino hoist the weapon of the community ("cum dictae Communitatis weapon") and not really the weapon of gentlemen. Quet'arma town was borrowed by men in circumstances still unknown to us, probably in the late fifteenth and the early sixteenth century.
coat of arms was now the oldest of Urbino Montefeltro, while the latter used mostly (but not exclusively) the Quarterly since the first half of the fifteenth century. What are the arms of Urbino was now that band is demonstrated, inter alia, by the beautiful seal of the College of Surgeons of the City of Urbino mounted on a scroll of degree 1588 (F. Farina, 2005, pp. 86 and 169) ( Fig. 18).

Fig. 18.

archival sources
(ASRSM) State Archives of the Republic of San Marino, Correspondence of the Captains Regent.
(ASP-UP) State Archive of Pesaro, Section di Urbino.
(ACDU) Archivio Corpus Domini di Urbino, Pergamene.
(BUU) Biblioteca Universitaria di Urbino, Fondo del Comune.
(BOP) Biblioteca Oliveriana Pesaro, Statuta Civitatis Urbini.

Bibliografia
Cavicchi, 2001 - A. Cavicchi, Le monete del Ducato d’Urbino, Associazione Pro Urbino, Urbino, 2001.
Licciardello, 2005 - P. Licciardello, Culto e agiografia di san Crescenziano da Città di Castello a Urbino, in A. Czortek e P. Licciardello (a cura di), San Crescentino di Città di Castello, Diocesi di Città di Castello, Città di Castello, 2005.
Farina, 2005 - F. Farina (a cura di), Honor & meritus. Diplomi di Laurea dal Fifteenth to the twentieth century, Panozzo Editore, Rimini, 2005.
Negroni, 1993 - F. Negroni, The Cathedral of Urbino, Accademia Raffaello, Urbino, 1993.
Repos, 1772 - R. Repos, Mint Gubbio, vol. I, Bologna, 1772.
Santanicchia, 2005 - M. Santanicchia, The iconography of St. Crescenziano, in A. Czortek and P. Licciardello (ed.), San Crescentino Citta di Castello, Diocese of Città di Castello, Citta di Castello, 2005.
Sella, 1946 - P. Sella, The seals of the Vatican Archives, vol. II, Vatican City, 1946.
Tonini, 1862 - L. Tonini, history, civil and sacred Rimini, Rimini, 1862.
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