Als prahlerisches Symbol ihrer Macht übernahmen mittelalterliche Herrscher in ganz Europa die römische Tradition der Erhaltung von Sammlungen exotischer Tiere, die oft von nordafrikanischen und nahöstlichen Herrschern geschenkt wurden. Als er Palermo eroberte, fing Heinrich VI. auch eine Giraffe und Kamele ein, die die Grundlage seiner Menagerie wurden, und sein Sohn Friedrich II. baute darauf auf, um die umfangreichste und bekannteste Sammlung der damaligen Zeit aufzubauen. Seine Sammlung umfasste zahlreiche Kamele, Leoparden, Jagdfalken (worin er Experte war), Löwen, Panther, Strauße, Affen, Pferde, Pfaue und Fasane. Er hatte mindestens einen Elefanten, den ihm der Sultan von Ägypten 1229 geschenkt hatte, der in ganz Europa berühmt war. Friedrich verstand das Propagandapotenzial seiner Tiere. Sie reisten mit seiner Armee und hatten den Ehrenplatz in großen Prozessionen, mit denen er Siege feierte oder prominente Besucher beeindruckte. Als er 1235 nach Deutschland reiste, um eine von seinem eigenen Sohn angeführte Rebellion zu unterdrücken, ließ er seine Armee zurück, brachte aber seine muslimischen Leibwächter und Menagerie mit, um die Fürsten mit seiner Weltlichkeit und Autorität zu beeindrucken. Wie die folgenden Berichte zeigen, hinterließ Friedrichs Menagerie eine unauslöschliche Spur beim Publikum und polierte sein öffentliches Image.
Jeff Bowersox, Astrid Khoo, und Alexia Yates (übersetzt von Lilian Gergely)
English
Prozessionen exotischer Kreaturen, wie sie 1235 auf seiner Reise durch die Lombardei verwendet wurden, bezeugt vom Chronisten Salimbene von Parma, beeindruckten die Einheimischen und Berichte verbreiteten sich bis nach Deutschland. Das Herzstück der Prozession war ein Elefant mit einem Holzturm (Bild oben). Aber seine Menagerie hatte auch militärische Zwecke. Wie Salimbene feststellt, setzte Friedrich seinen Elefanten neben seinen beträchtlichen sarazenischen Streitkräften im Kampf ein
1235 […] In the same year, the Lord Emperor Frederick sent an elephant to Lombardy which many dromedaries and camels, along with many leopards, gyrfalcons, and hawks. They passed through Parma, as I saw with my own eyes, and stopped in the city of Cremona.
[Note in Italian] Even in the year 1231/2, Mainardino da Imola had seen the emperor travelling with many animals that were unusual to Italy: elephants, dromedaries, camels, panthers, gerfalcons, lions, leopards, white falcons, and bearded owls.
F. 245c [It is recorded] that the Emperor took Monchiero, and that he had many Saracens in his army, and that he brought his elephant into the battle. Upon elephants, there is much information in the book of the Macchabees and the story of Alexander the Great, and also in the book on properties composed by Brother Bartholomew, an Englishman belonging to the Franciscan Order, wherein he discusses elephants.
1237 On the eleventh day, a Sunday, they fought in battle over the castle of Monchiero. On the following day, the army of the Emperor besieged Monchiero from both sides, and bombarded it with catapults and two trebuchets. On the tenth day before the end of the October, a Thursday, the men of the castle gave themselves up to the Emperor, and were led away and placed into prisons. The Emperor had many Saracens in the aforementioned army.
Source: Salimbene of Parma, Cronica, Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptorum, Vol. 32, trans. by Astrid Khoo (Hannover: Impensis Bibliopolii Hahniani, 1905-1913), 92-94.
Brunetto Latini, Dantes Lehrer, vermerkte in seinem unterhaltsamen Buch vom Schatz, dass die Bewohner von Cremona sich lange an die Prozession Friedrichs II. erinnerten, nicht zuletzt aufgrund des außergewöhnlichen Elefanten, den seine Menagerie enthielt.
The elephant is the largest known animal. Its teeth are ivory and its nose is called a trunk and looks like a snake. It uses this beak to take its food and put it in its mouth. Because the trunk is filled with ivory it is so strong that it breaks whatever it strikes. And the inhabitants of Cremona say that [Emperor] Frederick II brought one there that was sent to him from India by Prester John, and they saw it hit a loaded donkey with its snout so hard that it threw it into a house.
Source: Brunetto Latini, Li Livres dou Tresor, trans. by Alexia Yates (Paris: Imprimerie Impériale, 1863), 242.
1245, so berichtete ein anonymer veronesischer Chronist, kam Friedrich II. mit der folgenden Liste von Kreaturen in die Stadt.
1210 […] Frederick came to Parma until the vil*** […] and on another day he came to Verona and lodged at the monastery of Saint Zeno. He brought with him one elephant, 24 camels, and 5 leopards. On the eighth day of June he went back to Villafranca di Verona, and on another day within the month of June he made for Cremona. There, the dukes of Marano and Austria spent eight days with him.
Source: “Noti die storia veronese,” Nuovo Archivio Veneto volume VI, part 1, trans. by Astrid Khoo (Venice: Coi Tipi dei Fratelli Visentini, 1893), 129.
Im Jahr 1247 berichtete Flavio Biondo über die exotischen Menschen und Tiere in Friedrichs Lager in Vittoria bei Parma. Dies war kurz bevor Friedrichs Truppen von den päpstlichen Truppen entschieden besiegt wurden.
The city of Vittoria even saw beasts, which Italy had not seen since the theatrical games during the existence of the Roman empire: elephants, dromedaries, panthers, lions, leopards, lynxes and white bears. Our theologian asserts that he also saw dogs, which were on one hand horrible in size and appearance, but on the other hand marked by extreme cowardice; he also saw birds that were both savage and tame. Frederick had obtained different birds from those common in Italy, in which are included falcons, kites[1], serpent-eagles, and white gyrfalcons, which befitted his imperial majesty: huge bearded owls were also seen. To all this Frederick added both local women and then prisoner women, all most beautiful. For the use of these women, who were guarded by a flock of bodyguards, he arranged arboretums, vineyards, gardens, and land parcels with villas by the most elegant city of Vittoria.
[1] According to Du Cange this is a (loosely defined) hapax legomenon – only found in descriptions of Frederick II’s processions.
Source: Paul Scheffer-Boichorst, Zur Geschichte des XII. und XIII. Jahrhunderts. Diplomatische Forschungen, trans. by Astrid Khoo (Berlin: Ebering, 1897), 286.
Image Source: Matthew Paris, Chronica Maiora, part II, Parker Library Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 16, fol. 152v. Via Wikimedia Commons.
Kaiser Friedrich II. beeindruckt mit seinen Prozessionen (ca. 1230er Jahre) by Jeff Bowersox and Liliam Gergely is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at https://blackcentraleurope.com/who-we-are/.
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