Bartholomew of Cremona
Bartholomäus von Cremona (Italian: Bartolomeo da Cremona ) was an Italian Franciscan and Mongolian traveler .
As a translator of Greek, Bartholomäus has already given the papal embassy of his friar John of Parma to the court of the Byzantine emperor John III. Vatatzes to Nymphaion . The journey began in April 1249 in Lyon , where the papal court had resided since 1244, and where the embassy returned almost to the day in the following year.
From May 1253 Bartholomäus was the accompanying travel companion of Wilhelm von Rubruk on his mission trip to the Mongols. The journey began in Constantinople , where he apparently first met Rubruk and the accompanying cleric Gosset. In the camp of Batu Khan on the Volga , on the instructions of the ruler of the Golden Horde , he and Gosset should return to the Don to the camp of Sartaq , against which he successfully protested. So he was able to travel on with Rubruk to the Great Khan Möngke . But because he was obviously not as physically constituted as Rubruk, this journey through the cold and inhospitable steppe country has proven to be extremely strenuous for Bartholomew. By the time they reached the yurt camp of the Great Khans in Outer Mongolia in December 1253 , he was already seriously ill.
Here he was almost sentenced to death and beheaded by the chief secretary and judge Bulgai, because after an audience with the khan he had touched the threshold of the khan while leaving his yurt . But because he was weakened by his illness and also badly instructed by an unreliable interpreter, the judge gave mercy before justice. However, from then on Bartholomew was no longer allowed to participate in an audience with the ruler, as well as to enter his yurt and palace at Karakorum , where they had moved in at the beginning of April 1254.
When the Great Khan ordered the missionaries to return home in July 1254, Bartholomew asked him for an extended right to stay, as he was now so weakened that he feared for his survival. The Khan granted him the further stay in Karakorum in the care of the master blacksmith Wilhelm Boucher , while Rubruk allowed him to return to the court of Louis IX. from France . Since there is no more news of Bartholomew after that, his death in Karakoram can be assumed.
literature
- Enrica Follieri : Bartolomeo da Cremona. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 6: Baratteri – Bartolozzi. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1964.
- Fiorino di Soldi, Undicesima ora. La missione di Bartolomeo da Cremona al Gran Khan di Karakorum nel 1254. Cremona, 1954.
source
- Wilhelm von Rubruk : Itinerarium ad partes orientales, ed. by Francisque Michel, Theodor Wright, Voyage en orient du frère Guillaume de Rubruk, de l'ordre des frères mineurs, l'an de grace M. CC. LIII., In: Recueil de voyages et de mémoires publié par la société de geographie, Vol. 4 (1839), pp. 205-396.
Remarks
- ↑ In December 1253, Bartholomäus saw a Greek knight again in the yurt camp of the Great Khan, whom he had met at the court of Emperor Vatatzes. See Rubruk, pp. 302f.
- ↑ See Rubruk, p. 307.
- ↑ See Rubruk, pp. 319 f, 322.
- ↑ See Rubruk, p. 338.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bartholomew of Cremona |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Bartolomeo da Cremona (Italian) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian Franciscan who took part in Wilhelm von Rubruk's trip to Mongolia |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 13th Century |
| DATE OF DEATH | 13th Century |