The Tarot: The name originally came from the Brescian "Tarocho" - Part III

Cards from the Pierpont Morgan Bergamo deck

Final thoughts

Apparently the Tarot came into Europe via Marduk, Egypt (Egypt, the Levant, and Hejaz), and the first European records of them were in Milan, Ferrara, Florence, and Bologna. With such an obscure origin, they may be a remnant of the old mystery schools which stretched from ancient western Europe (Druids?) to Greece to Egypt to India to China at one point. Also, it was very dicey with the Medieval power of the Church, and the Islamic world looming so large. The old knowledge and teachings of Hermeticism and similar ancient traditions were already present when Christian and Muslim despots arrived on the world stage as societies transitioned from native paganism to Abrahamic systems (the Middle East had been largely Indo-European with spiritual systems such as Zoroastrianism).

Queen Theodelinda fresco at Monza

Where the Tarot may have fit in within the ancient wisdom... I'm sure someone from some level of initiation knows. It's very curious that the modern incarnation of Tarot got its name from Brescia. The artisans of Brescia--whether producing fine clothing, luxurious silk accessories, leather products, brilliant weaponry, the finest textiles, etc--were second to none. They exported their crafts to the Near East during that time period, and perhaps that's how the Tarot came in. Brescia was then part of the Venetian Republic, and Venetian ships exported the goods overseas.

The middle card in the image above looks much like depictions of the Lombard Queen Theodelinda, and perhaps the figure on horseback as well. Compare those images to the example of the art depiction of Theodelinda on the left, from the Cathedral she had constructed at Monza, Lombardia. What other monarchical figure in Lombardia appeared like that... blonde.. monarchical.. so grand? Clearly someone important, a queen. I can't think of too many others. Was there a Queen Theodelinda card(s) on the Pierpont Morgan Bergamo deck? She ruled some seven centuries earlier.

Milanese tarocchi, c. 1500

A terrific head of state, Theodelinda could very well have been declared a Catholic saint. The Pierpont Morgan Bergamo card image would be very consistent with her artistic portrayals, downplaying her beauty, and depicting her as merely stately. Early historians had clearly described her as tall and beautiful, and she was later depicted as somewhat shorter as well. I guess it wasn't acceptable to show a woman as beautiful and physically imposing, especially if she was such a great head of state. Things were very touch-and-go when she took over alone as Queen of the Langobards. She was extremely loved by her people, and proceeded to patch things up with the Vatican and other surrounding states, pragmatically codified laws, defined the culture, and was a great patron of the arts. One of the great underappreciated female rulers in world history; one of the great underappreciated heads of state, period!

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The Cathedral at Monza: Centerpoint of the Langobard period

Monza Cathedral, Monza Brianza, Lombardy, Italy, Europe
 
Pietro Pecco
 
The Duomo of Monza often known in English as Monza Cathedral is the main religious building of Monza, near Milan, in northern Italy. Unlike most duomos it is not in fact a cathedral, as Monza has always been part of the Diocese of Milan, but is in the charge of an archpriest who has the right to certain episcopal vestments including the mitre and the ring.

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Theodelinda - Queen of the Lombards

iron crown

The val padana, for those who don't know, is very flat. Everything looks flat from the window of a plane, even mountains are squashed and foreshortened, but the val padana doesn't leave any room for topographical speculation, it is flat and fields and swept with the swirling lines of tributaries and tractor trails and everything is in mud coloured, from a pale sandiness to a rich brown, at least in this season and from this plane.

Monza begins with Theodelinda, lombard queen on a mission: to find somewhere breezy to spend the long hot sunmmers in the val Padana. And to build, of course, a nice church, standard practice for the 8th century. She dedicated the church to John the Baptist, who of course was beheaded, or as it's usually put in Italian, decollato a word that always make me look twice as it means 'un-necked', but also, in modern parlance, 'take-off' as in a plane. Surely the patron saint of airports, then? Oh I'm not going to explain that here it is much too hot.

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The Iron Crown

Royal Regalia: The Iron Crown of Lombardy

It may not look like much compared to some others, but the Iron Crown of Lombardy is one of the most significant symbols of monarchy in western Christendom. It is called the “Iron Crown” because of a small, narrow strip of iron that circles the interior of the piece. What is significant about this is that, according to tradition, this circle of iron was beaten out from one of the nails used at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. That is where the story of the Iron Crown begins. 

As with most of the relics association with Christ and the crucifixion the nail was said to have been found by St Helena and given to her son the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (the first Roman Emperor to be a Christian) who, so the story goes, later sent it to the Queen of the Lombards who were converted to Christianity. At some point the nail was incorporated into a crown though no one is sure exactly when. Some say Emperor Charlemagne was crowned King of the Lombards using the Iron Crown while others maintained it was not made until after his time. Kept in the Cathedral of Monza, near Milan, it was the most sacred and well known symbol of the Kingdom of the Lombards which grew up following the fall of Rome.

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