Henry
VII of Luxemburg (1275 – 1313) was the son of a rather insignificant count of
Luxemburg and raised at the French court. During his youth he agreed to become
the vassal of the French king and few believed he was destined for something
more. Nevertheless in 1308 he became embroiled in the political machinations,
which followed upon the assassination of the German King Albert. When an
infight broke out between the two contenders – Charles of Valois and Rudolf,
the Count Palatine – Henry was elected as a compromise. In January he was
crowned king in Aachen and in 1309 the pope – residing in Avignon – confirmed
his election and promised to crown him emperor. After much politicking to and
fro Henry began his descent into Northern Italy in October 1310.
Here
he met with a hot mixture of support and armed opposition resulting in
continuous negotiations, sieges and downright warring. In 1311 he was crowned
king of Italy in Milan but it took nearly one and a half year before he
achieved his imperial coronation in Rome – in the Lateran and performed by
cardinals since the king of Naples held St. Peter and Castel san Angelo and the
Pope resided in Avignon. A few months later and back in Pisa, where he had his
base, he began to plan a war against Naples. Unfortunately he died of Malaria
near Siena a few weeks after he had embarked upon this venture; from here he
was taken back to Pisa and buried. Of him Dante famously declared (in the
Paradiso) that it was “he who came to reform Italy, before she was ready for
it”. (Par. xxx, 137-8).
In
Pisa a sarcophagus was created by Tino di Camaiano who was a pupil of Pisano,
while his brother commisoned a chronicle, Codex Balduini Trevirensis with a
series of interesting illuminations describing his Italian campaign and the
good people of Pisa lamented their loss of the massive funding he had used up
on his way to glory. Later the tomb was dismantled and moved and nobly thought
there might be anything interesting left in the coffin.
This
week a conference was organized in Pisa in commemoration of his death 700 years
ago and at the same time it was announced that his tomb had been opened and had
revealed a treasure trove of extraordinary objects. These include a large silk
cloth worked with the imperial lions and pink and blue ribbons measuring 3 x
1.20 meters, a sceptre, an imperial crown and a globe. Apart from his physical
remains the objects are claimed to be of extraordinary value. Especially the
silken shroud is said to be extremely important not only because of its size,
but also the vibrant colours.
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