Bianca Lancia
Bianca Lancia d'Agliano (also called Beatrice, – ), was an Italian noblewoman. She was the mistress and later, possibly the last wife of the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick II. The marriage was conducted while she was on her deathbed, therefore it was considered non-canonical. Origins and name The exact filiation and even the name of King Manfred's mother, traditionally called Bianca Lancia, are unknown. Historians have different versions about the identification of her parents, there was no clarity among contemporaries either: Salimbene di Adam mentioned Manfred's mother three times and could not unambiguously choose between "sister" and "niece" ("sister's daughter") of Manfred II Lancia. According to the Genoese annals of the time, Annales ianuenses, she was "the daughter of donna Bianca, daughter of the late Marquis of Lancia". Tommaso Tosco in 1279 wrote the Manfred was born "from the sister of the Marquis of Lancia, who was the daughter of donna Bianca". Thus, the chroniclers mentioned her maternal origin from the Lancia family, and the name Bianca was called not by Manfred's mother, but by his maternal grandmother. The family received the surname Lancia because Manfred I (fl. 1160–1214), the alleged grandfather or father of Manfred's mother, has been lancifer (pikeman)