CORNOMANIA. – A Roman folk festival that took place on the afternoon of Low Saturday at the Lateran in the presence of the pope, and then continued in the individual parishes of the city.
The name *c.* (also *cornomania*) seems to derive from the words *cornu* and *mavix*, frenzy of the horns, from the frenetic aspect that the dance of the individual mansionarii must have assumed, as they wore a horned crown on their heads. The ingenious hypothesis of Mercati, according to which the name would derive from *ξομφός* (trunk) and *mavix*, does not seem convincing.
The origin of this sacro-profane festival is unknown; the first testimony of it is found in the prologue prefixed in 876 to the satirical burlesque poem entitled *Caena Cypriani* (v.) by John the Deacon (cf. critical text in A. Lapòtre, p. 319). It ceased during the pontificate of Gregory VII “postquam expendium guerre crevit,” as observed by Canon Benedict (cf. P. Fabre, p. 23), with a probable allusion to the struggles against Henry IV. The oldest description of this festival is preserved under the title *De laudibus cornomaniae* in the manuscript of Cambrai 512 (12th century, second half) containing the *Liber politicus* of Canon Benedict (1140).
On the afternoon of Low Saturday, as has been said, the archpriests of the eighteen diaconiae, having gathered the clergy and parishioners, went to the Lateran. The archpriest was dressed in the *piave* and the mansionarius (sacristan) in a tunic or surplice, with a horned crown of flowers on his head—“cornatus corona de floribus cornuta”—and in his hand the *finobolo*, a concave copper instrument adorned with bells. When the people of the eighteen parish diaconiae were assembled, the pope descended from his palace and went to sit near the “Follonia”; meanwhile, the archpriests, arranged in a circle around the clergy and parishioners, began to sing the “laudes cornomaniae,” that is, acclamations, of which the text in Latin and Greek is extant. At the same time, the mansionarius began to dance and play the *finobolo*, “cornutum caput reclinando.” After the singing, an archpriest mounted an ass backwards and, bending backwards three times, attempted to take in a basin held on the ass’s head by a cubicularius three handfuls of coins, which then became his property. This was followed by the offering to the pope by the archpriests and clergy of the crowns, with a curious exception: the archpriest of S. Maria in Via Lata also offered an unbound fox cub, which naturally fled; that of S. Maria in Aquino a rooster; and that of S. Eustachio a small deer. The archpriests received a donation from the pope, and the festival concluded with his blessing.
Upon returning to their own parish (diaconia), the mansionarius, accompanied by a priest and two others, carrying holy water sprinkled with laurel branches and small loaves (*nebulas*), went through the parish dancing and singing. The priest blessed the houses, burned laurel branches in the hearths, and distributed the small loaves to the children, while the mansionarius sang two incomprehensible verses: “Iaritan, Iaritan, Iarariasti, Raphayn, Iercyon, Iarariasti.” Each head of household then made his offering.
Frame – C. of the painted altarpiece by Dosso Dossi (16th century). Ferrara, Pinacoteca.
Choir – Left side of the stalls of the c. of the cathedral of Aosta (mid-15th century).
A. Pietro Frutaz