Bianca Lancia

Love at first sight The town of Melfi (LINK) is linked to the history of Bianca Lancia, the woman Frederick II loved more than any other. Frederick met Bianca in Agliano (presumably in May 1226) during a parade lap of the imperial cities, in anticipation of the fight against the towns of the Lombard League since he was a guest of Count Bonifacio d’Agliano, Bianca’s father and the Marquis Manfredi Lancia’s brother-in-law. Bianca descended from the Piedmont Lancia family because her mother, before her second marriage to Bonifacio d’Agliano, had been married to a Lancia count. The emperor fell in love with the young lady (when he met Bianca Frederick II was only fifteen) and brought her to the castle of Melfi (link) following her uncle Manfredi, marquise of Monferrato. The casket of happiness Almost certainly the Lucanian fortress was the place where the Emperor and Bianca Lancia conceived in August 1231, in the midst of processing the Constitutions of Melfi, their second son Manfred, the favourite of Frederick II. Sources agree on the presence of Frederick in the castle of Melfi in early June 1232, coinciding with the birth of the baby; here the Emperor organised a banquet to celebrate the happy event. The pride of the princess According to a legend that was handed down from father Bonaventura da Lama and recovered by the historian Pantaleo, during the pregnancy of Manfredi Frederick kept her lover locked in a tower of the castle of Gioia del Colle. Desire for privacy, whim, jealousy? Bonaventura argues for the latter, although the appearance of the son resembled the father, dispelling any slightest doubt. The fact remains that the sensitive princess could not resist humiliation; won by pain, he cut off her breasts and sent them to the emperor on a tray along with the baby. After that, says the chronicler, “she passed to another life.” From that day on, every night in the castle tower now called “Tower of the Empress” you will hear a faint, heartbreaking lament: the lament of an offended woman endlessly protesting his innocence. The unique woman but not the unique wife The most support the idea that Bianca was the only woman Frederick ever really loved, reminding that only to her he could have dedicated a poem, whose first lines only are famous: “ poi che ti piace amore faronde mia possanza dat’agio lo mio core ch’io degia trovare ch’io venga a compimento in voi, madonna, amore…” Was Bianca ever the emperor’s wife? It is said that on his deathbed, in the ceremony celebrated by Archbishop Berardo di Castacca, the bride obtained the legitimacy of the love bond and of the children born in their relationship. Sources: R. Russo “Federico II e le donne”, 1997, Editrice Rotas A. Gentile “Le quattro mogli di Federico II fra mito e realtà”, 2002, www.stupormundi.it

Love at first sight The town of Melfi (LINK) is linked to the history of Bianca Lancia, the woman Frederick II loved more than any other. Frederick met Bianca in Agliano (presumably in May 1226) during a parade lap of the imperial cities, in anticipation of the fight against the towns of the Lombard League since he was a guest of Count Bonifacio d’Agliano, Bianca’s father and the Marquis Manfredi Lancia’s brother-in-law. Bianca descended from the Piedmont Lancia family because her mother, before her second marriage to Bonifacio d’Agliano, had been married to a Lancia count. The emperor fell in love with the young lady (when he met Bianca Frederick II was only fifteen) and brought her to the castle of Melfi (link) following her uncle Manfredi, marquise of Monferrato. The casket of happiness Almost certainly the Lucanian fortress was the place where the Emperor and Bianca Lancia conceived in August 1231, in the midst of processing the Constitutions of Melfi, their second son Manfred, the favourite of Frederick II. Sources agree on the presence of Frederick in the castle of Melfi in early June 1232, coinciding with the birth of the baby; here the Emperor organised a banquet to celebrate the happy event. The pride of the princess According to a legend that was handed down from father Bonaventura da Lama and recovered by the historian Pantaleo, during the pregnancy of Manfredi Frederick kept her lover locked in a tower of the castle of Gioia del Colle. Desire for privacy, whim, jealousy? Bonaventura argues for the latter, although the appearance of the son resembled the father, dispelling any slightest doubt. The fact remains that the sensitive princess could not resist humiliation; won by pain, he cut off her breasts and sent them to the emperor on a tray along with the baby. After that, says the chronicler, “she passed to another life.” From that day on, every night in the castle tower now called “Tower of the Empress” you will hear a faint, heartbreaking lament: the lament of an offended woman endlessly protesting his innocence. The unique woman but not the unique wife The most support the idea that Bianca was the only woman Frederick ever really loved, reminding that only to her he could have dedicated a poem, whose first lines only are famous: “ poi che ti piace amore faronde mia possanza dat’agio lo mio core ch’io degia trovare ch’io venga a compimento in voi, madonna, amore…” Was Bianca ever the emperor’s wife? It is said that on his deathbed, in the ceremony celebrated by Archbishop Berardo di Castacca, the bride obtained the legitimacy of the love bond and of the children born in their relationship. Sources: R. Russo “Federico II e le donne”, 1997, Editrice Rotas A. Gentile “Le quattro mogli di Federico II fra mito e realtà”, 2002, www.stupormundi.it