History of the name Schiavon
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Towns
Schiavons made stock in Italy and particularly in north, Veneto, and gave their names to cities and villages like:
Schiavoï to 77 km of Venice.
Schiavon to 87 km of Venice. Comune Schiavon provincia di Vicenza.
The people of Schiavon are named the Schiavonensi. Their Saint Patron is Saint Isodoro.
to 21 km of Vicenza. it counts 2237 inhabitants and its C.A.P. is 36060. Only one line of their history says to me that it exists since 1146 and that it had a castle. I would like to know some more. To which belonged this castle? Who was charming prince? a Schiavon? Why does it bear this name? I am asking you this question to you the schiavonensi, please come to dazzle us your knowledge.
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Schiavonia to 66 km of Venice.
Schiavoni to 714 km of Venice (in the south of Napoli).
In the province of Taranta, the heel of the Italian boot, July 18, within the framework of a festival take place a show of dance " Voice and dances " for "Mother Schiavoni".
In Forli, city located at the south of Bologna and San Marino, is a monument: Rocca di Schiavonia, built at the 15th century .
"At the end of Corso Garibaldi rises the mighty Porta Schiavonia, the only gate to survive the urban restructuringprocess during the 19th century involving the demolition of the city walls and the old gates. Only a few traces of the over five thousand metre walls remain today: the old construction now comprises two fragments of the towers of the small fortress called Rocchetta di Schiavonia, wall rests in Piazzale Porta Schiavonia. " ref emilia-romana-Forli
Belluno
My great grand-mother has been abandoned in a church in this town . What church wa there in 1886? Where are the archives of this church? She lived then in Treviso, in an orphan place , where was it ? How can I find her birth record ?
It is extremely difficult to find records about an abandoned child. There were to many in these times.
Heritage
The Schiavone sword
To the left is the Schiavona, and to the right is a Scottish sword.
Image and texts from this book:Armes blanches et défensives edited in 1973 about the SCHIAVONA sword ;
Schiavona Venetian sword of the first years of the XVIIe century (left) and Scottish sword of the XVIIIe century (on the right). Schiavone has a blade of 8o cm length, with double edge and rather broad; It carries seven times the mark (a crowned head) of Johannes Wundes, a German arms manufacturer of Solingen, which worked of the end of XVIe century at the beginning of the XVIIe century. Accompanying the marks and the signature also appears, engraved, the currency "Gloria Deo me fecit" (it made me for the glory of God). Schiavona holds its name of a militia mercenary, Esclavons, populates Serbo-croatian which lived Slavonia or Esclavonie. The sword of which they were useful started to be used starting from first half of XVIe century and provides a perfect example of the functional character which this kind of weapon offers: blade with double edge, broad and heavy, with a robust guard which wraps the hand completely; It was, for the effectiveness of the attack and the safety of that which held it, the best sword of cavalry than one ever knew. While preserving its enveloping form, the guard of the Schiavone sword varied in the interlacing of the branches and as from the XVIIe century, it was taken as model for the swords of cavalry in Great Britain and Germany, as the Scottish sword of the XVIIIe century shows it (on the right).
(Translation from French with an automatic translater)
The folowing text come from Adam S. Eterovich
The Schiavona came from the 16th century sword of the Venetian Doge guard which largely consisted of Dalmatian-Croatian Slavonians (Schiavoni). The Schiavona is one of the most beautiful of all the basket-hilt swords. The Schiavona proved to be such an effective and attractive sword that it was soon in use all throughout Europe. Interestingly enough, in Drummond's famous book, "Ancient Scottish Weapons", there are several Schiavonas. This sword combined the full hand protection of a deep basket hilt made up of a number of connecting iron bars, and a very efficient blade that allowed both cut and thrust. During the 17th century, due to the trade with northern Italy, the “Schiavona” won a wide popularity in other European armies as well. Fitted with a long blade, it became the favorite sword of the heavy cavalry. It is also a magnificently well balanced and efficient soldier’s sword which certainly deserved its wide popularity among the 17th century cavalry. (ref:Adam S. Eterovich www.croatians.com)
About our name
Slaves or not slaves?
Some says that our name Schiavon come from sciavo in italian that means slave, and so that the schiavons were slaves. Is-it thrue?
Was the Schiavon name a surname or a designation given by the Venetians to the Schiavon people (the Schiavons versus the Germans)?
As told by René Teissier (cousin from Schiavon his mother) the name of Schiavon is due to their origine: The Eslavons (slaves), and this appellation have noting to do with slaves.
The history, and search of other historians corroborre this version, which says that Schiavoni of Italy were originating in Slavonia (Dalmatia or Schiavonia), from where their apellation.
Here a quotation which describes the School of the Schiavoni, and which proves well that it is not an institution belonging to slaves.
Scuola di S. Giorgio degli Schiavoni
"The School took its name by the Dalmatian community which became a corporation in the 1451 with the patronage of saints George, Jerom and Tryphon; protagonists of the cycle of paintings maded by Vittore Carpaccio at the beginning of sixteenth century.
Even if it's not a "Grande" as the other Schools, "Scuola Grande degli Schiavoni" has a big importance in the Venetian history of art. It was officially opened in the 1451 and testified the presence of the Dalmatian (Schiavoni) community: Venice always trades with Dalmatia during its history, even more beginning from the fifteenth century when all the Dalmatia was annexed to Serenissima Republic. As a result of this annexion, all the people who came from Dalmatia felt the need to be represented by a symbol that testified both their history and culture: the School.
Following on was bought the old S.Caterina hospital and were used the first sums collected to restores the building: as a results was built the room at the groun floor destinated to the religious cerimonies while the room upstairs was used for meetings of the confraternity.
This School would probably be anonymous now if the Jerusalem patriarch had not gave the S.George's relic to the commander of Venetian fleet in the 1502. When the commander came to Venice decided to give the relic to the School dedicated to the Saint. At the same time, Carpaccio, was charged to realize some paintings dedicated to the saints Agostino, Matteo and Giorgio: masterpieces where Carpaccio reached the perfection of its art. Both this happenings gave to the building a great importance in Venice.
In the middle of sixteenth century the facade was transformed using marbles giving to it the actual aspect.
School was closed as the other by Napoleon and reopened later allowing the confraternity to be active till today. "
Research about the name
Here is a document written by Claude Schiavon from Castres, France, in 1993 and sent by Max, his son: I quote
"Contrary to what most of us believe, the Schiavon name does not originate from Italy, but rather from Central Europe. In facts, we found traces of the name in the sixteenth century Slavonia. The Schiavons (or Esclavons) were a mercenary small tribe and possibly a rather violent one who gave name to a specific weapon: the schiavone. This weapon was one of the firsts to be improved with a hilt, to protect the wielder's hand from the opponent's blows.
Slavonia (not to be mixed up with Slovenia), an independent republic, is actually a Croatia province (now occupied by the Serbs). It is located between three important rivers: the Danube, the Drava and the Sava. The region is mostly rich alluvial plains. It is most certainly the birthplace of the Schiavon name. If we go back to the sixteenth century, Slavonia was part of Hungary, but had a local autonomous government: the Ban. Slavonia is situated at the occidental world's frontier, facing the Muslim Turks and in a minor part the Serbian orthodox. However, the Turks invaded part of Croatia in 1559, which resulted in a migration to the west for the Schiavons. There are reasons to believe that our ancestors migrated to the Venice region, mostly because the sword that bares our name was reported to be Venetian, at the very beginning of the seventeenth century.
We most take notice that the name Schiavon fits with some Hungarian foreign-sounding names (Balaton, Sopron, etc.). Incidentally, the name Schiavon is quite similar to the name Salvon. This migration to the west was already part of the history. The facts:
-Slavonia, part of the Balkans, was under perpetual problems.
According to that, many southern Slavs had to migrate to the west between the Turkish invasion of 1559 and the nineteenth century. Naturally, the Schiavon founders migrated to the Venice province, a 270 miles travel. At the time, the Venice region was part of the Lombardy-Venetian, which itself was part of Austria. Venice became part of Italy on October 1886, with the Vienna Treaty. Therefore, our ancestors, who we thought were Italians of origin, were either Hungarian or Austrian for three centuries before becoming Italian in 1866 or between 1866 and the day they moved to other countries. It would also seem that our ancestors were linked to trade generally speaking and particularly to triangular slave trade! Unfortunately, these facts lack in accuracy. Let just note that the word slave is translated in Italian by schiavo and that there is a riva de schiavoni in Venice The founders name of the Schiavons in Slavonia around the sixteenth century was Esclavons, which substantiate the possibility of a probable relation between our name and this historic fact . In nineteenth century Italy, the Schiavons were established in villages named Preganziol, Zerobranco or Roncade".
(Translation Marc Dufresne)
SchiavonMJ.com 