Pax et Bonum ... the peace and goodness represented by the medieval life and works of Saint Francis of Assisi remembered in a Latin inscription dated 1216 - during his lifetime - over a doorway in Monteriggioni, Tuscany, Italy, a frontier fortress during centuries of war between Siena and Florence.
Monteriggioni, Tuscany, Italy: this Latin inscription above a doorway is dated AD MCCXVI (1216), just three years after the town was founded by the nearby city of Siena. The date also falls well within the lifetime of the Christian saint who was said to have frequently used the phrase "Pax et Bonum" as he travelled around Italy: St Francis of Assisi. The first line of the inscription, "In Hoc Signo" translates into English either as In This Sign or Upon This Sign, while "Pax et Bonum" (literally Peace and Good) has been variously translated, colloquially, as Peace and Goodness, Peace and Goodwill or Peace and All Good. Saint Francis (1181 or 1182 - 1226), founder of the Franciscan Order, is said to have used "Pax et Bonum" as a greeting to anyone he met on the road, and it soon became the customary greeting or farewell phrase used by Franciscan friars. Monteriggioni is still surrounded by the roughly circular ring of walls built by Siena from 1213 to 1219 as a defensive bulwark against Florence, the other major Tuscan city state. The two cities spent most of the medieval era fighting each other for supremacy and Monteriggioni was planned by the Sienese as a northern bulwark against Florentine raiders intruding into their territory along the Via Francigena pilgrimage route from France to Rome. The town was often under siege, but it proved to be a near-impregnable stronghold for several hundred years.
Size: 4032px × 2691px
Location: Monteriggioni, Tuscany, Italy
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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