MONETA of Cremona. – Dominican theologian and writer, born in Cremona, died in Bologna c. 1260. He taught the liberal arts at the University of Bologna and was already famous throughout Lombardy when he entered the religious life (1219). He studied and taught theology in the Dominican *studium* of Bologna.
Mondovì, diocese of – Sanctuary of Vicoforte. Arch. Ascanio Vitozzi. The pilone of the Regina Montis regalis (1586). The deco-
In 1228 he founded for his Order the convent of S. Guglielmo in Cremona together with his fellow citizen and confrere Rolando. He preached against heresy in Lombardy, thereby incurring the hatred of the heretics, who attempted to take his life. Around 1240 he retired to Bologna, where he wrote the *Summa adversus catharos et Valdenses* (ed. T. A. Ricchini, Rome 1743), the most complete and solid treatise by a doctor against the two great heretical sects, embracing the whole of Catholic theology with the particular references and developments required by the purpose of the work: the conversion of the Cathars and Waldensians. It is therefore the theology in which the first Friars Preachers, destined to preach and inquire against heretics, had to be most thoroughly grounded. For each question the positions of the heretics and of the Church are set out side by side.
Alfonso D’Amato
MONFERRATO, Marquises of – Tower of the Marquises of M. (15th cent.) – Aceramo, Marquises of – Tower of the Marquises of M.
ably productive. The conflict between Manfredi and Charles of Anjou gave him the opportunity to offer his support to the Angevins, but later he turned against the Angevins and allied himself with Alfonso of Castile, whose imperial aspirations he recognized, and later favoured Rudolph of Habsburg. He skilfully exploited the rivalries among the various political factions to compel not a few communes to call upon him, whether as a result of internal strife or as captain or lord. Ivrea, Vercelli, Acqui, Tortona, Casale thus entered his political game. Guglielmo VII could not hope to annex these communes to his distinctly feudal state, but it sufficed him to coordinate these communal forces under his hegemony. A momentary triumph was his invitation to Milan, where Archbishop Otto procured him the government in order to secure his aid against his enemies, the Torriani; however, Guglielmo VII believed he could play off the Torriani against the Visconti, and his rule in Milan came to a swift end. To the west, too, he ran up against the hostility of the Counts of Savoy: in 1280, while on his way to the court of Castile, he was captured by the Savoyard forces and had to regain his freedom by agreeing to abandon Turin, which he had succeeded in occupying. Guglielmo VII persisted, however, in his outdated policy, and his adhesion to the coalition against Charles of Anjou led to the marriage between the Byzantine emperor Andronicus II Palaeologus and the marquis’s daughter Violante, who in Byzantium took the name Irene. The Visconti, the Savoys, and the Republic of Genoa formed a coalition against the marquis to eliminate the danger posed by the establishment on the Po of a state threatening to the various parties. The conflict ended with the rebellion of Alessandria: the marquis was captured and died in captivity (1292). The collapse of the Monferrat political structure was exploited above all by the Visconti of Milan. In Monferrato the young Giovanni I began his rule under the protection of King Charles V of Naples and Tommaso, Marquis of Saluzzo. Marquis Giovanni died as early as 1306 without issue.
to regain his freedom, he agreed to abandon Turin, which he had succeeded in occupying. Guglielmo VII persisted, however, in his outdated policy, and his adhesion to the coalition against Charles of Anjou led to the marriage between the Byzantine emperor Andronicus II Palaeologus and the marquis’s daughter Violante, who in Byzantium took the name Irene. The Visconti, the Savoys, and the Republic of Genoa formed a coalition against the marquis to eliminate the danger posed by the establishment on the Po of a state threatening to the various parties. The conflict ended with the rebellion of Alessandria: the marquis was captured and died in captivity (1292). The collapse of the Monferrat political structure was exploited above all by the Visconti of Milan. In Monferrato the young Giovanni I began his rule under the protection of King Charles V of Naples and Tommaso, Marquis of Saluzzo. Marquis Giovanni died as early as 1306 without issue.
(from R. Bonaparte, *Documents de l’époque mongole des XIIIe et XIVe siècles*, Portici 1937, text I, row 1)
Monferrato was then contested between Giovanni’s sister, the Empress of Byzantium Irene, and a kinsman, the Marquis of Saluzzo. The Monferrat feudatories decided in favour of the Byzantine emperor, who sent to govern the marquis his second son Theodore. Thus began in Monferrato the second marchional dynasty, that of the Palaeologi. Theodore I Palaeologus and his son GIOVANNI II hoped to pursue an independent policy with a view to achieving a predominant position in western Italy. They ran, however, into the opposition of the major political forces, the Visconti of Milan and the Savoys to the west, who were determined to suppress Monferrat ambitions and secure predominance over the marquises. During the second half of the 14th century and throughout the 15th the Palaeologi of Monferrato reverted to the policy of Guglielmo VI and Boniface II: to secure the preservation of the state by balancing the influence of the Savoys against that of the Visconti-Sforzas. The extravagance of the Palaeologan dynasty enabled the emperor Charles V to decide the future of the marquisate of Monferrato: to prevent too great a strengthening of the Savoyard cause, he assigned the marquisate to the House of Gonzaga of Mantua. Thus arose in Monferrato the third marchional dynasty, that of the Gonzagas, who under the protection of the Empire and Spain secured the existence of the marquisate until the 18th century: in 1708 the emperor occupied Mantua and authorized the Duke of Savoy, Vittorio Amedeo II, to take possession of Monferrato in accordance with the secret agreements of 1703. Thus, after a life of seven centuries, Monferrato disappeared as an autonomous state.