CANTO IX

v. 2.  O fair Clemenza.] Daughter of Charles Martel, and second wife of Louis X. of France.

v. 2.  The treachery.] He alludes to the occupation of the kingdom of Sicily by Robert, in exclusion of his brother s son Carobert, or Charles.  Robert, the rightful heir.  See G. Villani, 1. viii. c. 112.

v. 7.  That saintly light.] Charles Martel.

v. 25.  In that part.] Between Rialto and the Venetian territory, and the sources of the rivers Brenta and Piava is situated a castle called Romano, the birth-place of the famous tyrant Ezzolino or Azzolino, the brother of Cunizza, who is now speaking.  The tyrant we have seen in “the river of blood.”  Hell, Canto xii. v. 110.

v. 32.  Cunizza.] The adventures of Cunizza, overcome by the influence of her star, are related by the chronicler Rolandino of Padua, 1. i. c. 3, in Muratori Rer.  It.  Script. t. viii. p. 173.

She eloped from her first husband, Richard of St. Boniface, in the company of Sordello, (see Purgatory, Canto vi. and vii. ) with whom she is supposed to have cohabited before her marriage:  then lived with a soldier of Trevigi, whose wife was living at the same time in the same city, and on his being murdered by her brother the tyrant, was by her brother married to a nobleman of Braganzo, lastly when he also had fallen by the same hand she, after her brother’s death, was again wedded in Verona.

v. 37.  This.] Folco of Genoa, a celebrated Provencal poet, commonly termed Folques of Marseilles, of which place he was perhaps bishop.  Many errors of Nostradamus, regarding him, which have been followed by Crescimbeni, Quadrio, and Millot, are detected by the diligence of Tiraboschi.  Mr. Matthias’s ed. v. 1.  P. 18.  All that appears certain, is what we are told in this Canto, that he was of Genoa, and by Petrarch in the Triumph of Love, c. iv. that he was better known by the appellation he derived from Marseilles, and at last resumed the religious habit.  One of his verses is cited by Dante, De Vulg.  Eloq. 1. ii. c. 6.

v. 40.  Five times.] The five hundred years are elapsed:  and unless the Provencal MSS. should be brought to light the poetical reputation of Folco must rest on the mention made of him by the more fortunate Italians.

v. 43 The crowd.] The people who inhabited the tract of country bounded by the river Tagliamento to the east, and Adice to the west.

v. 45.  The hour is near.] Cunizza foretells the defeat of Giacopo da Carrara, Lord of Padua by Can Grande, at Vicenza, on the 18th September 1314.  See G. Villani, 1. ix. c. 62. v. 48.  One.] She predicts also the fate of Ricciardo da Camino, who is said to have been murdered at Trevigi, where the rivers (Sile and Cagnano meet) while he was engaged in playing at chess.

v. 50.  The web.] The net or snare into, which he is destined to fall.