IN 1548, at a stormy period of the history of Italy, Birth and 

 Bruno was born in the township of Nola, lying within 

 the kingdom of Naples, which at that time was under 

 Spanish rule. His father, Giovanni, was a soldier, 

 probably of good family, and in deference, it may be 

 supposed, to the King of Spain, the son was named 

 Filippo ; the more famous name of Giordano was only 

 assumed when he entered a religious order. Through 

 his mother, Fraulissa Savolina, a German or Saxon 

 origin has been claimed for Bruno ; there were several 

 inhabitants of Teutonic name in the village of his birth 

 suggesting a settlement of Landknechts, and the 

 name, Fraulissa, has a German ring ; l but Bruno him- 

 self nowhere in the addresses or works published in 

 Germany makes any hint of his own connection with 

 the race, while the name was probably a generic term 

 for the wife of a soldier, borrowed from the Swiss or 

 German men-at-arms. 2 



Their home was on the lower slopes of Mount 

 Cicala, which rises above Nola, and amid its laughing 

 gardens Bruno first imbibed a love of nature, which 

 marked him out from so many of his contemporaries, 

 The soil of Nola is among the most fertile of all Italy. Noia. 

 and the pleasant plain in which it lies is ringed with 



1 Brunnhofer, p. 321, Appendix. 2 Sigwart, i. p. 118 (note 5). 



