195:“Stamura" is given as her family name. The heroine's first name is given as Maria, and she has a daughter named Virginia. She is the widow of Pietro Stamura, a Milanese citizen, who for being opposed to the troops of Barbarossa, was brutally tortured and killed together with other Lombard patriots. (The manner of his death is described at great and horrifying detail). At the time of her heroic self-sacrifice, Maria Stamura is engaged to Guglielmo Gosia, son of Martino, Mayor of Ancona, and is a friend of the priest Don Giovanni da Chiò, another hero of the siege of 1173.
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came out of the walls, wielding an ax with which she broke the barrel and set it on fire, thus destroying part of the besiegers' war machines – but at the price of herself being killed. Thanks to this sacrifice, the Ancona inhabitants were able to leave the walls for a short time, so that they could supply themselves with food and continue the resistance of the city.
237:” pointed out that “Stamira” must be the correct version of her name, based on the specific grammatical rules of the Ancona Dialect. In 1936 Palermo Giangiacomi, self-taught historian and Ancona City Councilor, convinced the municipal administration to accordingly change the name in the public locations commemorating her.
89:, Venice among them, Venice was happy to seize this occasion to rid itself of Ancona, a long time rival for the maritime trade in the Adriatic and Mediterranean Seas. The combination of the Imperial Army by land and the Venetian Navy by sea presented the Republic of Ancona with a formidable challenge.
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Muratori, after long research on the history of Italy – especially on the
Medieval Period – published the "Annals of Italy", a major work recounting Italian history up to 1749, and giving considerable attention to the Heroine of Ancona. Muratori called her “Stamura”, and this version of her name was
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The siege lasted over four months. During a particularly dire moment of the siege, Ancona inhabitants staged a short sortie and managed to throw a barrel containing resin and pitch in front of the besiegers - but it was very dangerous to light it. It was at this moment that the widow
Stamira boldly
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All of the above details are entirely fictional, derived from 19th
Century invention. Of the actual historical woman, hardly anything is known beyond the bare fact of her having been a widow. Still, the fictional account had a considerable popularity during the struggle for
70:, for its assertion of independence. Ancona had already stubbornly and successfully resisted an earlier attempt at Imperial occupation in 1167. Moreover, to counterbalance the power of the Holy Roman Empire, the Anconans made a voluntary submission to the Byzantine Emperor
222:, in appreciation of the intervention of Aldruda Frangipane, Countess of Bertinoro, which ultimately helped lift the siege. The canvas is placed at present at the office of Mayor of Bertinoro.
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Due to the great popularity of
Cannonieri's work, especially widely disseminated in mid-Nineteenth Century Italy, “Stamura” was the commonly accepted version of her name.
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and the third remained unpublished until 1723, when it was bought by Father
Auriberti of Brescia, from which the text was translated and published by the historian
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38:) (date of birth unknown – Ancona, 1 September 1173) was, according to a long-standing tradition, a heroic self-sacrificing woman who saved the city of
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when applied to a person who lived at a time when Italy was divided into numerous, often mutually-hostile principalities and city states.
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In 1848 the publisher Pier Carlo Soldi of
Florence brought out the novel “The Siege of Ancona in The Year 1174” by the
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214:, himself a native of Ancona, made for the Earl Ragnini a painting of Stamira. Another Podesti painting depicted
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The events of the 1173 siege – including
Stamira's heroic act – were narrated some years later, in 1204, by
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259:. L'eroina di Ancona tra storia e leggenda, Ancona, edizioni laboratorio culturale di Ancona, 2004.
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129:. The arrival of these forces caused the Imperial and Venetian troops to lift the siege.
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This bought Ancona time until mid-October, when reinforcements came from Ancona's allies
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184:, France. In this account the story of Stamira/Stamura is made into a full-fledged
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85:. Despite the ongoing conflict between the Empire and the Italian cities of the
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in 1725. In the
Nineteenth Century this copy was again sold and transferred to
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Legendary figure who saved the
Italian city of Ancona from invasion in 1173
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However, the vernacular poet
Ferruccio Marchetti, in an essay entitled “
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Memorial plaque to Stamira placed at the 18th Century building of the
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In the latter part of May 1173 the Imperial forces, commanded by
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The Statue of Stamira erected at the Piazza Stamira, Ancona
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79:Christian von Buch, Archbishop of Mainz
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252:, Tipografia Niccolai 1848, Firenze.
62:bore a long-standing grudge against
383:Women in medieval European warfare
343:The History of the Siege of Ancona
249:L'assedio di Ancona dell'anno 1174
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310:History of the Byzantine Empire
297:The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos
93:Stamira's heroic self-sacrifice
176:writer Giuseppe Cannonieri of
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373:Women in 12th-century warfare
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23:"Stamira", 1877 painting by
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368:12th-century Italian women
277:Republic of Ancona#History
216:The Oath of The Anconetani
151:Liber de Obsidione Anconae
241:Bibliography (in Italian)
159:Ludovico Antonio Muratori
155:National Library of Paris
264:Le guerre del Barbarossa
266:, Laterza, Bari, 2014.
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246:Giuseppe Cannonieri,
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349:Boncompagno da Signa
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147:Boncompagno da Signa
103:Lazzaretto of Ancona
60:Frederick Barbarossa
44:Frederick Barbarossa
235:Stamira or Stamura?
201:Italian Unification
174:Italian Nationalist
48:Italian nationalism
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378:People from Ancona
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115:Aldruda Frangipane
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271:See also
210:In 1877
58:Emperor
257:Stamira
127:Ferrara
36:Stamura
32:Stamira
178:Modena
123:Guelph
64:Ancona
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182:Blois
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