Cunizza da Romano

Rolandini Chronica, lib. v, cap 3.

(Muratori. Scriptores Rerum italicarum, VIII, 173.)

[Ecelinus tertius] sexto genuit dominam Cunizam, vitae cujus series talis fuit. Primo namque data est in uxorem comiti Rizardo de Sancto Bonifacio; sed tempore procedente, mandato Ecelini sui patris, Sordellus de ipsius familia dominam ipsam latenter a marito subtraxit, cum qua in patris curia permanente, dictum fuit ipsum Sordellum concubuisse. Et ipso expulso ab Ecelino, miles quidam, nomine Bonius de Tarvisio, dominam ipsam amavit, eamdemque a patris curia separavit occulte, & ipsa nimium amorata in eum, cum ipso mundi partes plurimas circuivit, multa habendo solatia, & maximas faciendo expensas. Demum ambo reversi sunt ad Albericum de Romano, fratrem ipsius dominae, regentem & dominantem in Tarvisio, contra voluntatem Ecelini, ejus fratris, ut dicebatur, & apparebat; & illic stabat idem Bonius cum dicta domina Cuniza, tamen vivente adhuc uxore ipsius Bonii & in Tarvisio permanente. Occisus est demum Bonius gladio in quodam sabato sancto, cum Ecelinus civitatem Tarvisii de dominio fratris velle videretur eripere. Haec autem domina Cuniza cum post omnia haec declinasset ad fratrem suum Ecelinum, ipse maritavit eam domino Aymerio, vel Rainerio, de Bragantio, viro nobili. Sed postea, cum guerra exarsit in Marchia, Ecelinus ipsum cognatum suum, cum ceteris nobilibus de Braganzo & aliunde per Marchiam fecit occidi. Adhuc iterum ipsa Cuniza, post mortem fratris sui Ecelini, maritata est in Verona. (Chabaneau 108; Makin 273).

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In the sixth place [Ezzelino III*] begot the lady Cunizza, the order of whose life was thus: - At first she was given as wife to Count Rizzardo di San Bonifacio; but in a while, on the orders of Ezzelino her father, Sordello a man from his retinue, took the lady away from her husband secretly, and with her it was said that he lay while she was staying at her father's court. And when Sordello had been driven out by Ezzelino, a certain knight, Bonio of Treviso by name, loved the lady, and took her away from her father's court secretly, and she, excessively in love with him, went around very many parts of the world with him, having much pleasure and spending a great deal. At last they both returned to Alberico da Romano, the brother of the lady, who ruled and reigned in Treviso, against the will of Ezzelino her brother, as it was said and became apparent; and there this Bonius stayed with the said lady Cunizza, though the wife of Bonius was still living and staying in Treviso. Bonius was finally killed by the sword on a certain Sunday, when Ezzelino apparently wanted to snatch the city of Treviso from the rule of his brother. When, after all this, the lady Cunizza had fallen as far as to her brother Ezzelino, he married her to Sir Aimeric, or Rainier, of Braganza, a nobleman. But afterwards, when war broke out in the Marca [Trevigiana], Ezzelino had his kinsman killed with certain noblemen of Braganza and elsewhere in the Marca. Yet again Cunizza, after the death of her brother Ezzelino, got married, in Verona. (English translation in Makin 193).

 Note: Cunizza was the daughter of Ezzelino II, also called the Monk (d. 1235). Ezzelino III was her older brother.

REFERENCES

Chabaneau, Camille. Les Biographies des troubadours en langue provençale. Toulouse: Édouard Privat, 1885. In General Sources. The Cantos Project.

Makin, Peter. Provence & Pound. Berkeley: U of California P, 1978.