Bojano or
Boiano is a town and
comuneIn Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division of both provinces and regions, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.- Importance and function :...
in the province of
CampobassoCampobasso is a city in southern Italy, the capital of the Molise region and of the province of Campobasso...
,
MoliseMolise is a region of Southern Italy, the second smallest of the regions. It was formerly part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise and now a separate entity...
, south central
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
.
Originally named
Bovianum, it was settled by the 7th century BC. As the capital of the Pentri Samnites, it played a major role in the
Samnite WarsThe First, Second, and Third Samnite wars, between the early Roman Republic and the tribes of Samnium, extended over half a century, involving almost all the states of Italy, and ended in Roman domination of the Samnites...
, as well as in the Social War, when it was a temporary capital (93 BC). It was sacked by Sulla.
It was colonized under both the
triumvirateA triumvirate is a political regime dominated by three powerful individuals, each a triumvir . The arrangement can be formal or informal, and though the three are usually equal on paper, in reality this is rarely the case...
s, and by
VespasianTitus Flavius Vespasianus, commonly known as Vespasian , was a Roman Emperor who reigned from 69 AD until his death in 79 AD...
, who settled veterans of
Legio XI ClaudiaLegio undecima Claudia was a Roman legion. XI Claudia dates back to the two legions recruited by Julius Caesar to invade Gallia in 58 BC, and it existed at least until early 5th century, guarding lower Danube in Durostorum...
(whence the name
Bovianum Undecumanorum), and remained an important centre into
late antiquityLate Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the transitional centuries from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown...
.
After the
LombardThe Lombards were a Germanic people originally from Northern Europe who settled in the valley of the Danube and from there invaded Byzantine Italy in 568 under the leadership of Alboin. They established a Kingdom of Italy which lasted until 774, when it was conquered by the Franks...
conquest, the deserted area was given to a group of
BulgarsThe Bulgars were originally semi-nomadic people, probably of Turkic descent, originating in Central Asia, who from the 2nd century onwards conquered different parts of Europe...
and became a seat of a
gastaldA gastald was a Lombard official in charge of some portion of the royal demesne with civil, martial, and judicial powers. By the Edictum Rothari of 643, the gastalds were given the civil authority in the cities and the reeves the like authority in the countryside...
ate.
Bojano or
Boiano is a town and
comuneIn Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division of both provinces and regions, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.- Importance and function :...
in the province of
CampobassoCampobasso is a city in southern Italy, the capital of the Molise region and of the province of Campobasso...
,
MoliseMolise is a region of Southern Italy, the second smallest of the regions. It was formerly part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise and now a separate entity...
, south central
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
.
History
Originally named
Bovianum, it was settled by the 7th century BC. As the capital of the Pentri Samnites, it played a major role in the
Samnite WarsThe First, Second, and Third Samnite wars, between the early Roman Republic and the tribes of Samnium, extended over half a century, involving almost all the states of Italy, and ended in Roman domination of the Samnites...
, as well as in the Social War, when it was a temporary capital (93 BC). It was sacked by Sulla.
It was colonized under both the
triumvirateA triumvirate is a political regime dominated by three powerful individuals, each a triumvir . The arrangement can be formal or informal, and though the three are usually equal on paper, in reality this is rarely the case...
s, and by
VespasianTitus Flavius Vespasianus, commonly known as Vespasian , was a Roman Emperor who reigned from 69 AD until his death in 79 AD...
, who settled veterans of
Legio XI ClaudiaLegio undecima Claudia was a Roman legion. XI Claudia dates back to the two legions recruited by Julius Caesar to invade Gallia in 58 BC, and it existed at least until early 5th century, guarding lower Danube in Durostorum...
(whence the name
Bovianum Undecumanorum), and remained an important centre into
late antiquityLate Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the transitional centuries from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown...
.
After the
LombardThe Lombards were a Germanic people originally from Northern Europe who settled in the valley of the Danube and from there invaded Byzantine Italy in 568 under the leadership of Alboin. They established a Kingdom of Italy which lasted until 774, when it was conquered by the Franks...
conquest, the deserted area was given to a group of
BulgarsThe Bulgars were originally semi-nomadic people, probably of Turkic descent, originating in Central Asia, who from the 2nd century onwards conquered different parts of Europe...
and became a seat of a
gastaldA gastald was a Lombard official in charge of some portion of the royal demesne with civil, martial, and judicial powers. By the Edictum Rothari of 643, the gastalds were given the civil authority in the cities and the reeves the like authority in the countryside...
ate. After two centuries marked by
SaracenSaracen was a term used by Europeans in the Middle Ages for Arabs at first, then later for all who professed the religion of Islam.-Etymology:...
attacks, in the mid-11th century it was conquered by the
HautevilleThe family of the Hauteville was a petty baronial Norman family from the Cotentin which rose to prominence in Europe, Asia, and Africa through its conquests in the Mediterranean, especially Southern Italy and Sicily...
NormansThe Normans were the people who gave their names to Normandy, a region in northern France. They descended from Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of mostly Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
, becoming a fief of Raoul de Moulins, a companion to
Robert GuiscardRobert Guiscard, from Latin Viscardus and Old French Viscart, often rendered the Resourceful, the Cunning, the Wily, or the Fox, was a Norman adventurer conspicuous in the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily...
. The city became a county capital.
The city was destroyed by a long series of earthquakes, the last occurring in 1913.
Main sights
The remains of Cyclopean walls can be seen on the heights above the modern town. Other attractions include:
- The Cathedral of St. Bartholomew (11th century), several times damaged by earthquakes. The apse is still in Norman style.
- The church of Sts. Erasmus and Marinus, with a noteworthy Gothic
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture which flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
portal.
- The Hermitage of St. Egidius, on a 1,025 m high mountain in the neighbourhood.
- The remains of the Norman Castle.
History and Legends of Bojano
The Greek geographer Strabonium (Strabone), recounts how after a war between the Samnites and the Umbri (each an Italic people related by language and lineage), which was won by the Samnites, a Ver Sacrum (Sacred Spring) was held—a festival which is yearly re-created in Bojano—honouring the god Mamerte (corresponding to the Latin god Mars and the Greek god Ares). In the year following the war, the people held the first festival offering, the Ver Sacrum.
They offered the god the fruits of the earth and their domesticated animals and sent off small expeditions of their young people to colonise new areas. The group was led by a bull—an animal sacred to the god Mamerte. A Como (Comino) or Castronio headed the expedition. The expedition started out in the area of Rieti, known as the centre of Italy.
Strabonium writes how the bull stopped at the foot of a mountain called Samnium the place the people derived their name—the Samnites.Other versions of the story suggest the bull stopped to drink at the ford of the river Biferno and this is where the people built the city of Bovaianom (literally meaning Ox-ford) which is the Oscan name for the city.
It is interesting to note that in the Oscan language the word Samnium and the word Sabine were both represented by the name Safinum. The Matese area is one of the oldest inhabited areas of the planet. The first known people to settle here were the Osci or Opici. The Osci were Indoeuropean people who intermarried with the later arriving Italic people (Umbri, Samnites, Pentri) in the VII Century BCE).
Fractions
Alifana, Campi Marzi, Castellone, Ciccagne, Chiovitti, Civita Superiore, Codacchio, Cucciolone, Fonte delle Felci, Imperato, Limpiilli, Majella, Malatesta, Monteverde, Pallotta, Pietre Cadute, Pinciere, Pitoscia, Pitti, Prusciello, Rio Freddo, Santa Maria dei Rivoli, Sant'Antonio Abate, Tilli Tilli.