Individuals
conti Alberti, Berta (beata)
Description
After making her profession at the Benedictine convent of Santa Felicita in Florence in the early 1130s, Berta was appointed around 1143 as abbess of the convent of Santa Maria a Cavriglia, a Benedictine house that Gualdo, abbot general of the Vallombrosan Order, soughtBu to reform. The oldest document referring to her role as abbess of Cavriglia is dated 17 December 1145.
Some scholars identify Berta with an abbess of S. Maria in Mantignano, to which the community of Cavriglia is thought to have relocated because of financial hardship. Her date of death is uncertain, traditionally given as 24 March 1163 but also identified as 6 April 1197, a significant gap in time that is difficult to reconcile. Tradition holds that she was buried beneath the high altar in Cavriglia, though this too is disputed. Remains discovered in 1671 at Cavriglia were claimed to be her relics.
Berta's family of origin is also disputed. The daughter of a Count Lotario, she has been variously identified with the Bardi, conti Alberti, and Cadolingi families. While Stefano Rosselli notes in his history of S. Felicità that Fra Michele Poccianti, in his history of Florentine churches, assigned her to the Bardi family, others believed her to be "from the most noble family of the Contalberti" (ella sia della nobilissima famiglia de Contalberti). Following the attribution reported by Rosselli, Berta is identified here with the Conti Alberti. Given that the conti Alberti and Cadolingi belonged to the same consorteria, identifying Berta as the daughter of Lotario d’Uguccione de’ Cadolingi (act. 1104) need not contradict an association with the Contalberti.
