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Two infantry fighting
Casale Monferrato, Italy, early 12th century
Casale Monferrato is a town in the Piedmont region in Italy, in the province of Alessandria. It is situated about 60 km (37 mi) east of Turin on the right of the Po, where the river runs at the foot of the Montferrat hills. The Lombard Romanesque Cathedral (Duomo) of Sant'Evasio, originally founded in 742, was rebuilt in the early 12th century and consecrated on 7 January 1107 by Pope Paschal II. Fragments of 11th century pavement mosaics discovered during restoration work near the balustrade of the main altar, have been remounted on the walls of the corridor from the apse to the sacristy.
An extract from Court Records and Cartoons by Peter Koch pp.415-416 in Historical Dialogue Analysis edited by Andreas H. Jucker, Gerd Fritz, Franz Lebsanft, 1999.
The other Piemontese mosaic (mid 11th/early 12th century) used to be in the cathedral of S. Evasio in Casale Monferrato. ... restoration work on the cathedral rendered the inscription illegible; however, it has been passed down to us in the form of a sketch by Mella, ...
Here again we are presented with two fighters armed with shields and swords. The lefthand edge of the picture bears the inscription TOSCANA, which presumably should be read as a cartoon-style caption shouted out by one of the fighters. From the purely linguistic point of view, there are two interpretations compatible with the northern Italian character of the vernacular used here: 1. tö scanna! (corresponding to present-day standard Italian to’ scanna! 'Hey, go on, kill (me)!'; 2. t’ò scannà! (in line with present-day standard Italian ti scannerò!) 'I’m going to kill you!' (cf. Coppo 1965/66: 258f.; Stella 1994: 78).