During the early years of the thirteenth century
Emperor Frederick II ruled the western portion of the old Holy
Roman empire. The emperor ruled from Germany. Rome had been
a "backwater" town for centuries although the Popes resided there.
The church was very weak but getting stronger. Pope Innocent IV
was in constant competition with Frederick II. They fought over
control of everything, Innocent for the domination of the papacy
having control over emperors and Frederick II over resisting
that takeover. At Frederick's death in 1250 A.D. his son,
Manfred, became emperor. Pope Innocent searched for a strong
military leader to counter the influence of Manfred. After years
of haggling during which Pope Innocent died and was succeeded by
Pope Urban IV the stage was set for the entrance of Charles of
Anjou (France). Charles was the younger brother of Louis IX,
king of France. Charles' aim was to re-invigorate the kingdom
of the two Sicilies under Angevin rule.
Charles accepted the Pope's military offer to rid Italy of the
Normans, Saracens, Arabs and other factions that were a threat
to the papacy. After defeating Manfred at the battle of
Benevento, he invited hundreds of farmers and tradesmen from
his Franco-Provencal homeland to southern Italy to dilute the
influence of the Saracens, Greeks and Arabs. Many settled in
Lucera, Troia, Celle di San Vito, Foggia and surrounding towns.
Over the years a group of these settlers (probably from Celle)
seeking a more healthful climate, settled in the Faeto area and
eventually, in 1344, founded the new town. By this time the
Faetar dialect was well-entrenched.
In recent years linguists and historians have researched the
origins of the Faetar dialect. In 1991 John Carosiello (now
residing in Bethlehem, PA) carried a brief history he had
written of Faeto to the Linguistics Dept. at the University of
Pennsylvania in Phildelphia. He was asked to leave his writings
at the university so that the graduate students would be able to
review it and, perhaps, one might accept the challenge of
studying the Faetar dialect. Much to Mr. Carosiello's surprise,
within two weeks he received a call from Ms. Naomi Gail Nagy, a
graduate of Dartmouth informing him that she would like to study
the Faetar dialect for her doctoral dissertation. She spent the
next three summers in Faeto working on the project and making
many friends.
Ms Nagy received her doctoral degree in April, 1996. Her 287
page dissertation is a masterfull technical document. She was
a professor of linguistics at the University of New Hampshire.
Ms. Nagy's research substantiated that the Faetar dialect
originated in the Ain and Isere river regions of the
Francoprovencal area of France. However, today's Faetar dialect
is well diluted with the local Apulian and Neopolitan languages
and would hardly be recognizable by today's locals of the Ain and
Isere rivers.
Both Nagy and Carosiello agree that there are other credible
influences of the Faetar dialect. One is the Waldensian
migration from northern Italy. The true facts may never be known
but Faetani and Cellesi descendants, who are scattered all over
the world, have a rich history to contemplate.
[by Ray LaMacchia 1998]Links:https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol7/iss3/17/
http://individual.utoronto.ca/ngn/research/faetar_research.htm
