Bartholomew of Neocastro

Bartholomew of Neocastro (c. 1240 – after 1293) was an Italian jurist, and author of a chronicle called the Historia Sicula, which covers the years from 1250 to 1293. Quotes Cum autem praetitulato penultimo' die martii ob reverentiam festorum paschalium idem populus in ecclesia Sancti Spiritus prope civitatem ipsam dedicationem annuam celebraret, dictus justitiarius mandavit ministris eisdem, ut si quis de populo arma portaret, auferretur, poenam debitam soluturus. Licet enim cives ipsi ab antiquo honoris causa gladios tantum et lanceas causa solatii portare ad festa ipsa consueverint, tamen tunc perfidia Gallicorum perterriti arma nulla secum portabant; et cum non invenirent, ad alias irruebant injurias contra ipsos, dummodo causam haberent in eos discordias iniendi, ex quibus in praejudicium civium scandalum oriretur. Ipsi vero, licet inviti, pacifice singula substinebant. Dumque sedentibus aliis super herbas, aliis flores legentibus, quos martius praestabat aperiens, ac tota planicies civium gaudiis resultaret, ecce nobilis nympha, facie satis decora, adspectu formosa per omnia, quam nedum tangere, verum videre sufficeret, comitata parentibus, sponso et fratribus, ac comitibus aliis circumducentibus, ducebatur ad sacra, spectabilis reverentiae cultu insignita. Quidam Gallicus nomine Drohettus in ipsam nobilem proruit audax, et praetextu scilicet investigandi, si arma sponsi, vel alterius illorum secum portaret abscondita, manu intrepidus, pectus infra vestes et ubera tangit illicita, simulans, quod ea perpenderet ipsam portare. Haec quidem praesumpserat in odium evidens civium ipsorum et injuriam manifestam. Necessarium quidem dicti Drohetti peccatum, et tantae audaciae felix culpa, quod Summi providentia Creatoris per Siculorum manus mirabilem et infandam de sanguine Gallicorum eorum culpis ultionem accepit. Statim nobilis illa diriguit, et dum fugitivus relinqueret gelidus cruor artus, venustatis formam mutavit et speciem in cordis dolorem anxium, quem monstrabat; et ea vultu demissa ceciderunt in gremium brachia semifracta, ac ca'put in pectore sponsi declinans, jam exinanita est spiritu, licet vivat. Clamor extemplo tumultuosus insurgit, nescitur unde progreditur; irascibilis furor dissolvitur; adolescens quidam, arrepto gladio, quem Drohettus portabat accinctum, percussit ipsum in ilia; jam exinanita est spiritu, licet vivat. Clamor extemplo tumultuosus insurgit, neverum fatear, quis auctor fuerit hujus funeris, quis percussor. This Easter Monday [30 March 1282], all, both men and women, went up the beautiful hill, according to custom, from Palermo to Monreale, to hear vespers. The foreigners were there to trouble the festival: so great an assemblage of people was not without giving them uneasiness. The viceroy [John of Saint-Rémy] had forbidden the wearing of arms, or exercising with them, as was the custom on that day. A certain Frenchman, named Drouet, stopped a beautiful girl, of noble birth, whom her bridegroom and the whole family were conducting to church. Having searched the bridegroom and found no arms, he pretended to think the maiden had them about her, and passed his hand under her gown. She faints. The Frenchman is at once disarmed, and slain with his own sword. Historia Sicula, ch. 14. Edited by Giuseppe Paladino, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, vol. 13, pt. 3 (Bologna: Nicola Zanichielli, 1900), pp. 11-12. Paraphrased in Jules Michelet, History of France, translated by G. H. Smith (New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1882), vol. 1, bk. 5, ch. 1, p. 339 External links Category:Historians from Italy Category:Chroniclers Category:Jurists from Italy