Ecce Agnus Dei: simbolo, dono, amuleto e sigillo. Gli spazi del sacro nella Puglia medievale e l’iconografia monetaria come pegno del vincolo tra il papato e i d’Angiò

The study of the monetary iconography imprinted on the ‘golden rams,’ coined at the behest of King Louis IX of France, a saint, allows us to identify new meanings for the reading of numerous Apulian sculptures. The theme of Agnus Dei, in fact, is investigated here with an eye toward different semantic perspectives: a religious meaning is flanked by a political one, in which the heraldic component takes on a key role. The association of the Christological symbol with noble coats of arms or emblems of the royal family makes clear the connection between the papacy and French royalty. The insertion of the lily cross in place of the more famous and recurrent patent cross constitutes the distinction of this transformation. The choice to place the symbol in certain focal points of Angevin architecture then seems to allude to the exaugural and consecrating power of the waxy Agnus Dei, whose use boasted a centuries-old tradition. The motif spreads rapidly in Puglia, more than in other regions of Southern Italy, and is encountered in the portals of cathedrals and private churches, on the slabs of sepulchral monuments and in many contexts linked to the mendicant Orders.