LIBER MAIOLICHINUS. - An epic poem written in the 12th century, whose full title is: L. m. de gestis Pisanorum illustribus. It celebrates the victorious war waged in 1114 and 1115, in the time of Pope Pasquale II, chiefly by Pisa, allied with other Christian peoples, against the Saracen pirates of Majorca, who infested the seas, obstructing trade and carrying off many Christians as slaves.
Poor in poetic inspiration and classicizing in tendency, the poem is very faithful in its historical narrative. The glorification of Pisa and Rome that pervades it expresses the religious and patriotic character of the undertaking, which was almost a crusade. It has now been established that the author was the Pisan Enrico, great-grandson of Archbishop Pietro II, a contemporary and perhaps a participant in the events. Among the editions of the L. m. (Ughelli, Muratori, Migne), the best is that edited by C. Calisse, in Fonti per la storia d'Italia, XXIX, Roma 1904.
(photo Enc. Catt.)
LIBERMANN, FRANÇOIS-MARIE-PAUL,
venerable - Portrait.
Roma 1783, p. 310; P.
Pecchiai, Notizie su
l'autore del «L. m.», in
Archivio muratoriano,
3 (1906), pp. 126-28;
L. A. Botteghi, Del-
l'autore del L. m., ibid.,
19-20 (1917), pp. 513-
515; G. Volpe, Medio-
evo italiano, 2nd ed., Fi-
renze 1928, pp. 65-89.