15thc perception on swallowtail merlons?

[ReneZ]

Entries are only added to the map when we are near-certain that they had swallowtail merlons by 1450. These are considered good evidence - that's kind of the whole idea of the map.

Coming back to Villalta, while the actual building is newer, the illustration in the book clearly indicates that it would have had swallow-tail merlons in the 15th century.

[Pierre Dumont Himself]

Back to the Piemonte:

Pietro Azario, De bello canepiciano, 75v-76r. Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, cod. D. 269 inf.
The manuscript can be viewed here: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
Areli Marina, Associate Professor, Medieval Art and Architecture, Italian Architecture and Urbanism 1000-1600, describes these pictures as "a fantastical portrayal of the Canavese territory by Pietro Azario." 
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@Koen: Areli Marina teaches at the University of Kansas (previously Illinois-Urbana), and her recent project "Landscape, Dominion, and the Cartographic Imagination in Early Modern Italy (1300-1600)" might be of interest to us. Next time you talk to Lisa Fagin Davis, you can ask her if they know each other.

Pietro Azario (1312 – after 1367) was a notary in the service of the Visconti. He was born in Novara and lived in Borgomanero, Piemonte (close to Milan), but traveled extensively throughout Lombardy and the Piemonte as part of his employment. According to the author himself (folios 75r-75v*), the manuscript was written in Tortona, Province of Alessandria, though it included his notes from other places.
Francesco Cognasso's critical edition argues that Azario's chronicle takes on a pessimistic rather than propagandistic tone, reflecting Azario's firsthand experience of the unprecedented violence and social disintegration in Northern Italy following the Black Death. 
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*I will reproduce this passage in its entirety:

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Finalis conclusio.

Circumdederunt me dolores mortis et pericula inferni invenerunt me. Ego autem Petrus Azarius notarius infrascriptus stans in agone vidensque naviculam Patri remige carentem et nauta destitutum in alto pelago vacillare, vidensque in pericula lacerari et precipue in partibus italìcis et maxime Lombardie que acadunt et multo magis propter defectum duorum pastorum, qui male custodiunt greges suos nec liram in uno sono querunt concordare et tanquam disperatus, habui dolores' parturire ut exinde consequi valeam beneficium sanitatis et dolendo calamo adere ut stimulus doloris et recreationis causa scribendo tolleretur sed non profuit, cum morbo cronico non habeat sucurrere medela! Heu quantis doloribus anxietatibusque estitit animus meus cruciatus! Heu quantos dolores corporeos tuli propter nefanda scripta que audivi et vidi et morbos cum peste simul ad unum concurrentia et in malo proposito persistentia! Quibus datum non fuit remedium per premissos malos pastores
nec per medicum ut Lombardia saltim in male gestis, incendiis, dirupationibus, homicidis, remedia susceperit sanitatis; que prava morbo prevaluerunt et in tantum quod humanum genus in partibus Lombardie quasi defecit et periit.

Stando enim in infrascriptis officiis in Terdona circumdederunt me dolores mortis. Nam discedendo a Burgomanerio, ubi casualiter cum familia mea moram pertrahebam, positis prò discessu calcaribus, vidi Ambroxinum filium meum etatis annorum vii vivum et mortuum, et tunc cum tribus aliis, videlicet Philipo, Jacobo et Johanne maioribus, fugiendo morbum fugi, dimissis in domo mea Franceschina, filia quondam Ardicini de Fossato uxore, cum filia parvula nomine Antonia etatis mensium quatuor, Caterina etatis annorum trium et Johannina etatis VIIII^0 annorum, quas non potui sullevare, nesciens quo' divertere propter morbum iam publicatum de dicto loco et propter Anglicos predictos qui tunc temporis in terra Cavalii permanebant.

Quibus visis, fugi cum quibus potui et predictas dimisi cum gratia Jesu Christi. Nec mora: relatum fuit michi in Terdona quod dieta uxor mea cum iam dieta Caterina diem clauserunt extremum, alia parvula et maior sine aliquo subscidio et tutela dimissis, quibus dare non poteram nec audebam remedium, propter morbum antedictum et propter scandala cum guerra presentia et tunc circha civitatem Terdone. Et prò eo pericula inferni invenerunt me, quia per litteras abominabiles missas et receptas crucior timore cum quater in ebdomada civitas foret ad rumorem, per pravam Anglicorum Societatem incitetur et talia facientes quod quilibet terdonensis habet dubitare de persona et pluries dubitavi.

Preterea in ipsa civitate nullus ordo in quiescendo propter predicta et alia etiam in comedendo potest haberi, cum de singulis tam prò victu quam vestitu habeatur infinita carestia propter que mora Terdone, mora inferni de presenti. Set cogitans quod predicta' et  similia alias occurrerunt, testante Psalmista, ut hic superius est descriptum, cogitavi dolere cum dolentibus et gaudere cum gaudentibus. Si qua autem in premissis superius scripta defectiva reperiantur, supleat manus corrigentis. MCCCLXII, inditione xv, de mense novembri.

Ego autem Petrus Azarius, filius quondam domini Jacobi Azarii, publica auctoritate novariensis notarius, dum essem in civitate Terdone iudex ad dacita, iudex heris dicti comunis solvendi, nec non cancelarius nobilis viri domini Johannis de Pirovano civitatis Terdone honorandi potestatis prò magnifico et excelso domino domino Galeaz Vicecomite Mediolani et imperiali Vicario generali, predicta diversis temporibus gesta compilavi, scripsi et in testimonium premissorum signum meum consuetum apposui.

Dvinae quidem res perfectissime sunt;  humani vero iuris condirio in infinitum decurrit; ed nichil est in ea quod stare perpetuo possit. Karissimi, quia superius dixi de statu illarum civitatum Lombardie et quomodo propter errores, morbum et scandala quasi sunt destructe, nunc autem cogitavi describere de statu Canepicii, qui est comitatus situs in Lombardia, cuius Canepicii comites et nobiles solebant liberi esse et tempore pacifico nulli preterquam Imperio respondere. Nunc autem post eorum detrimenta necessario habuerunt fieri et diversimode servi et aliis dominis propter detestanda
inter ipsos comissa penitus subiugari. Est enim comitatus Canepecii similis districtui Novarìe et modo huius comitatus districtus Novarie ante fabricationem civitatis Novarie procedebat nec cessaverunt nobiles etiam illi, donec popularis status predictos nobiles, etiam comites, usurpavit et, ut situs eorum magis patefiat, burgorum et castrorum suorum nomina hic inferius declaravi:
Comitum Valperge: 
§ Burgus Pontis cum castro
§ Burgus Corgnate cum castro
§ Castro Valperge
etc. 

Unfortunately, he did not translate the labels. Maybe someone here can help?
EDIT: added the text on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. EDIT 2: corrected "index" to "iudex"

[MarcoP]

Unfortunately, he did not translate the labels. Maybe someone here can help?

Those two pages are amazing, thank you very much for sharing them, Pierre!

I think I can help, but I am not sure what you are asking. Finding the modern names of the listed places, or transcribing parts of the text (labels) that are missing?

EDIT: the labels in f.75v:
Monsferratus
Rocha Gasseni 
Pars superior Montis ferrati

I am not sure about the town at the center, it looks like "Capsa ville", but I don't know what that might be.

Left margin: Planicies Pedemontium

EDIT2: I see that "Casale Monferrato" is "Casà" in the local dialect. So Capsa could be that.

[Pierre Dumont Himself]

What about the labels on the next folio, above some of the buidings?

[MarcoP]

1. Perticha
2. Perlum
3. Pons [Pont?]
4. Telarum [Telario]
5. Comitum Valpurge
6. Comitum Sancti Martini
7. Comitum Maximi
8. Comitum Blandrate [Biandrate]
9. Comitum Mazadi [Mazzè]
10. Sanctus Zorzius
11. Comitum Sancti Martini
12. Salugia
13. Clavasium [Chivasso]
14. Garglavara? [Gargallo?]

   

[Pierre Dumont Himself]

Outstanding work, thank you.

[Pierre Dumont Himself]

Next batch:
1. Torrazzo di Villarbase.

The swallowtail battlements were added in the early 15th century. A new palace was built nearby between 1420 and 1438, following which the tower was sold and never inhabited again. The new owner added a roof, which was only removed in 1974.
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2. Castello di Villar Dora

The official website of the Metropolitan City of Torino (corresponding to the former province) states that the castle was continuously renovated between the mid-14th and mid-15th centuries. it dates the swallowtail merlons and the decorations below them to a period before 1442, when the final renovations were ordered by the Count of Savoy. 
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3. Casaforte di Chianocco

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Mario Cavargna makes a few interesting statements about this structure (pages 243-254):

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Le caratteristiche dell’edificio corrispondono all’epoca indicata dai docu-menti. La costruzione ha caratteri completamente romanici e l’arco acuto com-pare una sola volta, in quello che è, evidentemente, un rifacimento posterioreperché, per formarlo, sono stati ravvicinati gli stipiti di pietra rispetto alla portagemella che è al piano superiore. Tutte le restanti dodici aperture presentanoun arco a tutto sesto, realizzato in blocchi di marmo di Chianocco lavorati ascalpello e rifiniti a gradina. La costruzione è arricchita da tre grandi ed elegantibifore romaniche ad architrave e da due finestre tonde ad oculo, realizzate conconci marmorei.
Tutto l’edificio è stato realizzato con cura e con dettagli decorativi scono-sciuti ad altri edifici medioevali della valle di Susa; valga il confronto con la“torre” del castello delfinale di Oulx, apparentemente simile, anche se la super-ficie è la metà e l’epoca leggermente più tarda. In entrambe si nota l’utilizzo dipietra bianca per gli spigoli ed il contorno delle aperture, ma gli spazi interni delcastello delfinale ulcense sono meno luminosi e l’insieme è più rustico. Man-cano del tutto ad Oulx gli elementi decorativi come i capitelli o le lavorazionia ricciolo delle smussature delle bifore che rendono quella di Chianocco unaabitazione raffinata.
L’assenza di veri e propri rifacimenti fu dovuto alle colate di pietre e fangodelle alluvioni del rio di Chianocco che, sin dal XIV secolo, sconsigliarono dicontinuare ad investire in quel luogo, ed hanno preservato i caratteri originalidi questo edificio
 [...]
Al piano del cortile c’era un ulteriore tipo di aperture ricavate nello spessoredella cinta muraria: erano delle arciere, un tipo di feritoria ancora abbastanzalarga che sparirà molto presto perché rendeva il muro troppo vulnerabile in queipunti, e perché l’uso di balestre prima e di archibugi poi, renderà possibile tirareda feritoie sempre più strette.La merlatura era di due tipi, a seconda delle due diverse esigenze difensive:nella cinta vi era quella cosiddetta guelfa, cioè a merlo rettangolare, perchéqui i difensori dovevano stare maggiormente al riparo quando dovevano fron-teggiare attacchi diretti, condotti con scale. Invece sul coronamento della casaforte vera e propria, dove non c’era questo pericolo, era a coda di rondine perfavorire gli arcieri. Nella nostra Casaforte si è eccezionalmente conservata laforma originale, che mostra bene come la coda di rondine non avesse alcunaorigine decorativa ma fosse pensata per riparare il corpo di un arciere che, daogni coda, esponeva solo mezzo viso, e poteva tirare comodamente dalla fes-sura interna, che era inclinata verso il basso per favorirlo. Questa è un’altra testimonianza importante perché la fessura tra le code del merlo è stata poisempre fatta in orizzontale, quando questo modello è stato ripreso, per motivisoprattutto estetici e se ne è dimenticato l’uso.

This is the first and only time I've seen someone mention archers shooting from the top of the merlons rather than the opening between them. In this case, the merlons are small enough to allow it.
4. The wall of Bussoleno, which still possessed swallowtail merlons in the late 19th century

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Carlo Nigra claims it was an imitation of the wall of Fénis.
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[Koen G]

I admire your dedication and thoroughness, Pierre, you are singlehandedly revitalizing the map project.

Also I love that manuscript you found, the chaotic undulating landscape with all those castles and other details. When it comes to adding manuscripts to the map, we rarely if ever know the exact location. So I kind of spread them out over the region, in order to create the visual effect of a larger cluster on the map.

If I understand correctly, we don't know exactly where it was produced, but maybe it can be placed around Novara?

[Pierre Dumont Himself]

Thank you for the compliments. I was in fact inspired by your own diligence and persistence.

I had another look at the critical edition and it turns out he only wrote the first draft of the Lombard chronicle in Tortona, which he then revised in 1364 in Piacenza. The MS D 269 inf is assumed to have been copied from an original in poor condition. The copyist even mentions in a marginal  note that he could not understand a specific word. There is an undated signature on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. belonging to a certain "Franciscus de Tonellis" (the Tonelli were Azario's protectors in Novara), and an inscription on f2r dated to the 14th century, saying:
 

"Iste liber est Ecclesie Sancti Nicolay Novarie, in
" quo continentur multa, que a modico tempore citra gesta sunt in partibus Lombardie,
" scripta per condam Petrum Azarium civem novariensem „ 

The manuscript subsequently traveled around Northen Italy for a few decades and was used by early 15th-century historians, then lost and rediscovered in 1683 in Novara. I assume it is safe to place it somewhere in the province. It is unclear which Church of Saint Nicholas was being referred to, but it could have been the 10th-century church in Borgomanero. Little is known about the life of Azario after the publlication of the chronicle.

[Pierre Dumont Himself]

According to f83v, the Canavese chronicle was completed on January 4th, 1363 in Terdona, so the two works likely appeared together in Azario's handwritten editions. The final two folios are a slightly later chapter on Venetian history written in the Venetian language. The drawing was therefore originally at the end of the manuscript.