Martino Martini

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Martino Martini by Michaelina Wautier .

Martino Martini ( Chinese  衛 匡 國 , Pinyin Wèi Kuāngguó ; born September 20, 1614 in Trient , Principality of Trento ; † June 6, 1661 in Hangzhou , China ) was an Austrian Jesuit , cartographer and historian in China.

youth

Title page of Novus Atlas sinensis by Martino Martini, Amsterdam , 1655.

Martini was born in Trento , in what was then the Principality of Trento . After finishing school in Trento in 1631, he joined the Society of Jesus and was sent to the Collegio Romano in Rome to study classical literature and philosophy (1634–37). However, he developed greater interest in astronomy and mathematics and studied under Athanasius Kircher . At that time his request to be sent to China had already been approved by Mutius Vitelleschi , the Superior General . He did his theological studies in Portugal (1637–39) when he was already on the way to China. In 1639 he was ordained a priest in Lisbon .

In China

He left in 1640 and reached Macau in 1642, where he learned Chinese. In 1643 he moved inland and took up residence in Hangzhou , Zhejiang , from where he traveled extensively in order to gather as much scientific information as possible. He mainly collected geographic data, visited several provinces, as well as Beijing and the Great Wall of China, and worked in many ways as a missionary , scholar, writer and provincial .

Soon after his arrival in China, the capital Beijing fell to the rebels of Li Zicheng (April 1644) and then to the Manchu . The last Ming emperor , Chongzhen (Zhu Youjian) hanged himself. In Zhenjiang , Martini tried to work with the Prince of Tang , Zhu Youjian, who proclaimed himself Emperor Longwu ( Southern Ming Dynasty ). However, the Manchu troops soon reached Zhejiang. Martini reports (in some editions of De bello tartarico ) how he had the opportunity to establish simple contacts with the new rulers. When Wenzhou in Zhejiang was besieged, Martini was on a mission for Zhu Yujian at the same time. When the city was about to surrender, he adorned the house with a large red poster with seven symbols on it: "Here lives a scholar of divine law who has come from the great West." Under it he placed a table with European books and astronomical instruments grouped around an altarpiece of Jesus Christ . When the Manchus troops arrived, the commander was so impressed by the exhibition that he politely approached Martini and asked if he would pledge his loyalty to the new Qing dynasty . Martini agreed and had his head shaved in the Manchus fashion and traded his Chinese clothes for the Manchus costume. The Manchus then allowed him to return to his church in Hangzhou and gave him and the Christian community in Hangzhou the necessary protection.

Trip to europe

In 1651 Martini returned to Rome as a delegate of the Chinese Mission. He traveled via the Philippines and then on a Dutch merchant ship to Bergen , Norway , where he arrived on August 31, 1653. From there he went to Rome via Amsterdam , Antwerp , Vienna and Munich . On the way he met with various printers to give them historical and cartographic material for printing. These prints made him famous.

In Leyden Martini met Jacobus Golius , a scholar of Arabic and Persian . Golius could not speak Chinese, but had read about "Cathay" in Persian books and he wanted to clarify the reports of the older reports about China, in which Matteo Ricci and Bento de Góis had claimed that "Cathay" was identical to China. Golius was familiar with the discussion about the Chinese calendar in the Zij-i Ilkhani , a work by the Persian astronomer Nasir al-Din al-Tusi from 1272. When Golius met Martini, they discovered that the names of the branches of the earth and the names of the 24 year divisions the Nasir al-Din narrated in Persian, consistent with those who learned martini in China. Martini published this story in the "Additamentum" of his atlas. This ultimately convinced European scholars that China and Cathay were the same country.

On the trip from the Netherlands to Rome from July to late summer, Martini also sought sponsors for the mission. While passing through, he visited Landgrave Ernst I of Hesse-Rheinfels (1623–1693) from 25 to 27 July 1654 at his Rheinfels Castle near St. Goar. The Catholic prince put together an extensive record of Martini's lectures on China and the Jesuit mission, thus documenting Martini's campaigning for a mission. On the trip, Martini also met his 10-year-old cousin Eusebio Kino , who would later become another famous Jesuit , explorer and cartographer of New Spain .

The rite dispute

Martini reached Rome in the autumn of 1654. There the hardest part of his journey awaited him. He had brought a long, detailed report from the Jesuits in China for the Holy Office to defend their method of inculturation . The so-called Chinese rites ( ancestor cult , Confucian sacrifice ) were allowed to the Chinese newly converted Christians by the missionaries. The discussions and debates stretched for five months until the Propaganda Fide finally passed a decree in favor of the Jesuits (March 23, 1656). That battle was won, but the dispute was far from settled.

Return to China

In 1658, after a very arduous journey, Martini finally arrived back in China with the decree and immediately engaged in pastoral and missionary tasks in the Hangzhou area , where he had a three-aisled church built, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception , which is considered one of the most beautiful of the country (1659–61). The church had just finished when he died of cholera .

Post mortem phenomenon

Martini's grave in Hangzhou

Prosper Intorcetta reports that Martini's body was still unchanged after twenty years. This made his grave an important place of worship not only for Christians until he was buried again in 1877 on suspicion of idol worship .

legacy

Scientific interest in Martini's works increased over time. He is now considered the father of Chinese geographic science. Speaking at an international conference in Trento, a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences , Ma Yong, said, "Martini was the first to study the history and geography of China with strict scientific objectivity; the extent of his knowledge of Chinese culture, the accuracy of his observations, the The depth of his understanding of everything Chinese is exemplary for all modern sinologists. " Ferdinand von Richthofen calls Martini "the leading geographer of the Chinese Mission, who was never surpassed and seldom reached during the 18th century; there was no other missionary, before or after, who made such good use of his time for information about this Collect land ". (China, I, 674 sq.)

Works

European depiction of a Manchu warrior on the title page of Martinis Regni Sinensis a Tartaris devastati enarratio .
  • Martini's most important work is the Novus Atlas Sinensis , which was published as volume 10 by Joan Blaeus Atlas Maior in Amsterdam in 1655 . The volume had 171 folio pages of text and 17 maps. According to the French Jesuits, not even du Halde's monumental description… de la Chine didn't have that much information.
  • The great chronological work about the history of China from the beginning appeared only the first part up to the birth of Jesus: Sinicæ Historiæ Decas Prima . (Munich 1658).
  • His story De Bello Tartarico Historia . (Antwerp 1654) is particularly important for Chinese history as Martini lived in China even in the time of crisis. The work has been translated into several languages. A later version Regni Sinensis a Tartaris devastati enarratio . (1661); has some additions and an index.
  • His Brevis Relatio de Numero et Qualitate Christianorum apud Sinas is interesting in terms of mission history . (Brussels, 1654).
  • Martini also wrote several theological and apologetic works in Chinese, including a De Amicitia tract (Hangzhou, 1661), which may have been the first European tract to be published in China.
  • He translated various works, such as the works of Francisco Suarez .
  • Grammatica Linguae Sinensis : 1652-1653. The first grammar of Mandarin and the Chinese language. those in: M. Thévenot: Relations des divers voyages curieux. (1696) was published.

expenditure

  • Opera Omnia, vol. I, Lettere e documenti, a cura di Giuliano Bertuccioli, Trento, Università degli Studi di Trento, 1998
  • Opera Omnia, vol. II, Opere minori, a cura di Giuliano Bertuccioli, Trento, Università degli Studi di Trento, 1998
  • Opera Omnia, vol. III, Novus Atlas Sinensis [1655], con note di Giuliano Bertuccioli, Trento, Unitn, 2002, con un volume di complemento intitolato Tavole (le diciassette carte geografiche dell'Atlas riprodotte in folio).
  • Opera Omnia, vol. IV, Sinicae Historiae Decas Prima, a cura di Federico Masini e Luisa M. Paternicò, Trento, 2010.
  • Opera Omnia, vol. V, De Bello Tartarico Historia e altri scritti , a cura di Federico Masini, Luisa M. Paternicò e Davor Antonucci, Trento, 2014.

See also

literature

  • Constantin von Wurzbach : Martini, Martin . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 17th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1867, p. 39 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Giovanni Vacca: Martini, Martino. In: Enciclopedia Italiana. Volume XXII, Rome 1934, p. 448.
  • B. Bolognani: L'Europa scopre il volto della Cina; Prima biografia di Padre Martino Martini. Trento, 1978.
  • Anthology: Martino Martini geografo, cartografo, storico, teologo. (Trento 1614-Hangzhou 1661), files of the Convegno Internazionale. Trento 1983.
  • Osvaldo Baldacci: Validità cartografica e fortuna dell'Atlas Sinensis di Martino Martini. Trento, Provincia Autonoma di Trento, 1983.
  • F. Demarchi, R. Scartezzini (eds.): M. Martini a Humanist and Scientist in XVIIth century China. Trento, 1996.
  • Massimo Quaini, Michele Castenovi: Visioni del Celeste Impero. L'immagine della Cina nella cartografia occidentale, Genova, Il Portolano, 2007 (English: Massimo Quaini & Michele Castelnovi, Visions of the celestial empire. China's image in western cartography, Genova, Il Portolano, 2007). translated «天朝 大 国 的 景象 —— 西方 地图 中 的 中国» [Visions of the Celestial Empire: western maps of China], 本书 由 意大利 学者 曼斯 缪 · 奎尼 (The book by the Italian scholar Massimo Quaini) e 和他 的 学生 米歇尔 · 卡斯特诺威 (and his student Michele Castelnovi), Shanghai, 范 大学 出版社 (ECNU - East China Normal University Press) - authorized translation allowed by Centro Martini di Trento, 2015. ISBN 978- 7-5617-9620-7 .
  • Federico Masini:  Martini, Martino. In: Mario Caravale (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 71:  Marsilli – Massimino da Salerno. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2008, pp. 244-246.
  • Anthology: Riflessi d'Oriente. L'immagine della Cina nella cartografia europea, Mostra 18/12 / 08-18 / 02/09, a cura di Aldo Caterino, Genova, Il Portolano (Centro Studi Martino Martini di Trento), 2008.
  • Giuseppe O. Longo: Il Mandarino di Dio. Un gesuita nel Celeste Impero. Dramma in tre scene, Trient, Centro Studi M. Martini, 2008.
  • Giuseppe O. Longo: Il Gesuita che disegnò la Cina. La vita e le opere di Martino Martini, Milan, Springer, 2010.
  • Federico Masini: Martino Martini: China in Europe. In: Luisa M. Paternico (Ed.): The Generation of Giants. Jesuit Missionaries and Scientists in China on the Footsteps of Matteo Ricci. In: Sulla via del Cata. n. 11, Trento: Centro Studi Martini, 2011, pp. 39–44, (Italian version: MASINI, Federico, Martino Martini: la Cina in Europa, in Paternicò, Luisa M. (a cura di), La Generazione dei Giganti , Gesuiti scienziati e missionari in Cina sulle orme di Matteo Ricci. In: numero monografico di Sulla via del Catai. Anno V, number 6, Genova, Il Portolano, 2011, pp. 70-82).
  • Michele Castelnovi: Il primo atlante dell'Impero di Mezzo. Il contributo di Martino Martini alla conoscenza geografica della Cina. Trento, Centro Studi Martino Martini per le relazioni culturali Europa-Cina, 2012. ISBN 978-88-8443-403-6 .
  • Luisa M. Paternico: When the Europeans Began to Study Chinese. Leuven Chinese Studies XXIV, Leuven: Ferdinand Verbiest Institute, KU Leuven, 2013, ISBN 978-90-814365-8-8 .
  • Michele Castelnovi: Perché stampare un Atlante, in Scartezzini Riccardo (a cura di), Martino Martini Novus Atlas Sinensis: le mappe dell'atlante commentate. Trento, Università degli Studi di Trento, 2014, ISBN 978-88-7702-365-0 , pp. 37-39.
  • Michele Castelnovi: La Cina come sogno e come incubo per gli occidentali. In: Sulla Via del Catai. Trento, anno VII, number 9, maggio 2014 (numero monografico "La Cina come sogno e come incubo. Uno sguardo sull'immaginario onirico occidentale" a cura di M. Castelnovi), pp. 11-27.
  • Michele Castelnovi: Monti e fiumi della Cina secondo Martino Martini. In: Approcci geo-storici e governo del territorio. 2, Scenari nazionale e internazionali (a cura di Elena Dai Prà), Milano, Franco Angeli, 2014, pp. 274–283.
  • Michele Castelnovi: Il cibo nell'Impero cinese secondo l'Atlante di Martino Martini. In: Alimentazione, Ambiente, Società e Territorio. per uno sviluppo sostenibile e responsabile. Contributi e riflessioni geografiche a partire dai temi di Expo Milano 2015, a cura di Alessandro Leto, supplemento al number 2 di "Ambiente, Società e Territorio", Rome, June 2015, pp. 69-72, ISSN  1824-114X .
  • Luisa M. Paternico, Claudia von Collani, Riccardo Scartezzini (eds.): Martino Martini Man of Dialogue. Proceedings of the International Conference held in Trento on October 15–17, 2014 for the 400th anniversary of Martini's birth, Università degli Studi di Trento (con il contributo del DAAD e della Regione Autonoma Trentino-AltoAdige / Sud Tirol), 2016.
  • Elena Dai Prà (Ed.): La storia della cartografia e Martino Martini. Milano, Franco Angeli (collana: Scienze geografiche ), 2015, ISBN 978-88-917286-4-7 .
  • Michele Castelnovi: From the Polo's Marvels To the Nieuhof's Falsiability. In: Documenti geografici - nuova serie. a cura di Alessandro Ricci, numero 1, Roma, May – June 2016, pp. 55–101. ISSN  2281-7549 .

Web links

Commons : Martino Martini  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Charles Herbermann (Ed.): Martino Martini . In: Catholic Encyclopedia . Robert Appleton Company, New York 1913 ( Wikisource ).
  2. ↑ David E. Mungello: Curious Country: Jesuit Accommodation and the Origins of Sinology . University of Hawaii Press, 1989, ISBN 0-8248-1219-0 , pp. 106-107 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed January 10, 2017] Also p. 99 in De Bello Tartarico Historia . ).
  3. ↑ Mungello, p. 108.
  4. ^ Donald F. Lach, Edwin J. Van Kley: Asia in the Making of Europe . University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1994, ISBN 978-0-226-46734-4 . Volume III, "A Century of Advance", Book Four, "East Asia", p. 1577.
  5. ↑ David E. Mungello: The Forgotten Christians of Hangzhou . University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu 1994, ISBN 0-8248-1540-8 , pp. 30th ff . (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed January 10, 2017]).
  6. ↑ in Litt. Annuae , 1861
  7. ↑ cczj.org
  8. ↑ "Martini was the first to study the history and geography of China with rigorous scientific objectivity; the extent of his knowledge of the Chinese culture, the accuracy of his investigations, the depth of his understanding of things Chinese are examples for the modern sinologists" .
  9. ↑ Martin Martini . In: Notices biographiques et bibliographiques sur les jésuites de l'ancienne mission de Chine (1552–1773) . par le P. Louis Pfister,… Tome I, XVIe et XVIIe siècles - Impr. de la Mission catholique (Shanghai) -1932, pp. 256–262.
  10. ↑ Large format scans: gallica.bnf.fr: Quantung imperii sinarum provincia duodecima. Retrieved July 13, 2016 .
  11. ↑ Luisa M. Paternicò: When the Europeans Began to Study Chinese . Leuven Chinese Studies XXIV. Ferdinand Verbiest Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven 2013, ISBN 978-90-814365-8-8 .
personal data
SURNAME Martini, Martino
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Martinius, Martin; Wei, Kuangguo; Wei, K'uang-kuo; Martini, Martin; Martini, Martinius; Martinus, Martin; Martinus, Martinus; Martinius, Martinus; Martini, Martinus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian Jesuit, missionary, geographer, historian
DATE OF BIRTH September 20, 1614
PLACE OF BIRTH Trent
DATE OF DEATH June 6, 1661
Place of death Hangzhou , China