Marozzo Coat of Arms and the Curious Case of a Quartered Viggiani
Blassone Bolognese
I feel like when I'm working on a big article I do my best research unrelated to the piece I'm currently working on. Today I was scouring Jherek Swanger's marvelous Marozzo translation trying to devise a way to summarize how Marozzo discussed tempo, and I stumbled across something in his introduction that sent me careening down a rabbit hole: the epitaph of Sebastiano Marozzo.
SPECTABILIS VIR DOMINUS SEBASTIANUS QUANDAM ACHILLES DE MAROTIIS ALIAS TAMBURINIS BONONIE COVIS CAPELLE SANCTI GEORGII IMPOGLIALI ET ARTEM GLADIATORIE SEU UT VULGO DICTUR DELLA SCRIMIA IN IPSA CIVATE PUBLICE OLIMEXEECENS
The illustrious man, the Lord Sebastiano, son of Achille Marozzo, also known as Tamburini, citizen of Bologna, residing near the Chapel of San Giorgio, once practiced at the public expense in that same city in the art of swordsmanship, or as it is commonly known, ‘fencing’.”
—Swanger, pg. 18
Aliases are fairly common, so I wanted to check and see if there was a Tamburini family in the Bolognese heraldic record. Sure enough, there was.
A family that had been around long enough to get the characteristic Ghibilline three fleur di lis in the top of the families arms. That got me thinking, that if Jherek's assertion that a member of the Tamburini family may have been Sebastian's mother, then Marozzo had to have been ennobled at some point. That would make sense, given the profile of the other characters training in di Lucas fencing school.
So I started poking around, and finally came across something I've been looking for. The Arms of the family Marozzo:
Listed with with the spelling variation Marozzi, which is a common pluralization, ie. Bentivoglio→Bentivogli, and Marescotto→Marescotti.
Truly fascinating, and cool to finally see the families arms.
Generally any level of discovery will inspire further research, and so I dug a little deeper into Canetoli's compendium, and came across something that's going to require a bit more research. Fortunately I have some great minds and resources at my disposal to help point me in the right direction.
What I stumbled across was a Viggiani coat of arms quartered with the Imperial eagle in the rural castellans collection. Now, in the 1570’s the Viggiani {Vizzani} family purchased Castello Lambertazzi, and renovated it. You can still visit today. The interesting thing is, the family’s arms likely showed up in the rural Castellans catalogue because they made that purchase, so the arms would be representative of that time or later.
What I would like to find out is if Angelo Viggiani was afforded the right to quarter the families arms on account of his service to the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, who he dedicated his treatise, lo Schermo, to.
Should be a fun little rabbit hole to explore in the future!
Now, the cool thing is, I'm fairly certain—80% sure—we now have the arms of all the Bolognese families that handed down fencing manuscripts.
Either way, just wanted to share the days exciting little discovery!
Coming your way soon:
Tempo: A History of Time
Podcast with Jürg Gassmann
Podcast with Dan Bernardo
The Siege of Padua: Part 1
The Chronicle of How Annibale Bentivoglio Was Taken and Removed From Prison, Then Killed and Avenged: by Galeazzo Marecotti
Works Cited
Swanger, Jherek. “The Duel, or the Flower of Arms for Single Combat, Both Offensive and Defensive, by Achille Marozzo.” Lulu Press. 22 April 2018. Print.
Canetoli, Floriano. Tomo IV, parte I - Supplemento alle arme gentilizie delle famiglie nobili bolognesi. Presso Floriano Canetoli, 1793. MLOL. https://arbor.medialibrary.it/item/eac892d7-58a5-4251-9295-ede44f74812e. Digital
Canetoli, Floriano. Tomo I, parte I - Arme gentilizie delle famiglie nobili bolognesi paesane. Presso Floriano Canetoli, 1793. MLOL. https://arbor.medialibrary.it/item/d29eb59a-adcc-4f3d-bba2-5dbe8c1fcbcc. Digital.
Canetoli, Floriano. Tomo II - Arme gentilizie delle famiglie nobili forestiere aggregate alla nobiltà di Bologna.Presso Floriano Canetoli, 1793. MLOL. https://arbor.medialibrary.it/item/f72a8dbe-60ec-4dfc-98ec-de3d2d0b918f. Digital.
Canetoli, Floriano. Tomo III, parte I - Arme gentilizie delle famiglie bolognesi cittadinesche. Presso Floriano Canetoli, 1793. MLOL. https://arbor.medialibrary.it/item/20125d0f-21f8-49e2-b95c-ecca1ba3481a. Digital.
Hey, so I had a look at this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attitude_(heraldry)
And found it curious that Marozzo's griffin isn't shown with a tongue, or splayed, extended claws. Which would put him in the "morne" position - a guard!