01-05-2017, 02:49 AM
(This post was last modified: 01-05-2017, 02:51 AM by Diane.
Edit Reason: add thanks
)
I agree with Rene's saying
though we have to be constantly aware that cataloguers are chiefly concerned with manufacture of the artefact so 'origin' here means only the place it was made.
Origin for the content looks to me fairly obviously in a formerly Byzantine region and from a time when the clean-shaven northerners took over: my guess would be that the content (not manufacture) derives from a basis in early Norman Sicily, but such material was rapidly disseminated through the Norman network - along the via Francigena through France - sideways into northern Italy, and to as far as England.
What interests me is that mention of names among the Tatars. This puts a reasonable limit on the current recension of the text and I think we should ask which glossaries or other sources were available which included not only Arabic and Hebrew but Tatar names for plants.
On the point of 'Barbary' - as well as the older pirates of the Barbary coast who tended to gather around the strait of Sicily - we have record of the 'Barbara' in eastern Africa. Hourani refers to an old chant to quell unruly seas in which they are called upon to tame them.
And regarding Ethiopia - it was not so distant a place as one would imagine. For example, as preparation for his travels east, John of Montecorvino went both to Armenia and to Ethiopia, and there was a hostel for Ethiopian pilgrims established in Rome, although I can't recall the date it was formally assigned them. I'll look up the old blog-post if anyone's interested. It was called 'St.Stephen of Abyssinia' and for all I know may still exist.
Interesting to see a manuscript of such pronouncedly Latin character including these faint hints of some common roots with what is in the Vms. Thanks to Rene and to Marco for bringing it to general notice, and of course to Koen and all who have shared their observations.
Quote:merlons (i.e. at least with V-shaped incisions) in a german MS is so unusual, that it may be reason to be sceptical about this proposed origin
though we have to be constantly aware that cataloguers are chiefly concerned with manufacture of the artefact so 'origin' here means only the place it was made.
Origin for the content looks to me fairly obviously in a formerly Byzantine region and from a time when the clean-shaven northerners took over: my guess would be that the content (not manufacture) derives from a basis in early Norman Sicily, but such material was rapidly disseminated through the Norman network - along the via Francigena through France - sideways into northern Italy, and to as far as England.
What interests me is that mention of names among the Tatars. This puts a reasonable limit on the current recension of the text and I think we should ask which glossaries or other sources were available which included not only Arabic and Hebrew but Tatar names for plants.
On the point of 'Barbary' - as well as the older pirates of the Barbary coast who tended to gather around the strait of Sicily - we have record of the 'Barbara' in eastern Africa. Hourani refers to an old chant to quell unruly seas in which they are called upon to tame them.
And regarding Ethiopia - it was not so distant a place as one would imagine. For example, as preparation for his travels east, John of Montecorvino went both to Armenia and to Ethiopia, and there was a hostel for Ethiopian pilgrims established in Rome, although I can't recall the date it was formally assigned them. I'll look up the old blog-post if anyone's interested. It was called 'St.Stephen of Abyssinia' and for all I know may still exist.
Interesting to see a manuscript of such pronouncedly Latin character including these faint hints of some common roots with what is in the Vms. Thanks to Rene and to Marco for bringing it to general notice, and of course to Koen and all who have shared their observations.