Paolo Santonino

Paolo Santonino (Paulus Santoninus / Sanctoninus / de Sanctoninis, * in Stroncone in southern Umbria ; † 1507 ) was an Italian lawyer of the 15th century.

Life and personality

Giuseppe Vale developed the previous biographical knowledge of Paolo Santonino and placed it in front of his edition of Santonino's “Itinerarium”. In addition, relevant details about Santonino's personality can be derived from the “Itinerarium” itself.

The native Umbrian Paolo Santonino can be traced back to Friuli from 1469 , and here he apparently stayed settled. In Udine , where he later met as an “imperial public notary and properly appointed judge ”, he obtained citizenship in 1473 . There he owned a house with land in what is now Via Vittorio Veneto. With his wife, Allegrezza Lucretia, he had, as far as is known, a daughter and five sons, three of whom also pursued legal careers. Paolo Santonino himself, who initially worked as the private secretary of the Udine Vicars of the Patriarch of Aquileia , rose in 1491 to become the sole chancellor of this vicariate due to his recognized competence .

As an author, Paolo Santonino is only known today thanks to his "Itinerarium", and sometimes very well, especially in the regions he has traveled to. In the "Itinerarium" Santonino shows on the one hand a communicative and eloquent, witty and humorous nature, and on the other hand he shows, in accordance with his legal professional activity, the qualities of an educated, spontaneous, even "notorious" observer who strives for objectivity and who differentiates in his richly differentiated Records also includes many independent judgments. Santonino seems to have used the official documents , written by himself on site, as text modules and memory aids for his "Itinerarium" - an indication of his claim to truth. Although the regions and cultures visited were previously unknown, foreign-language areas of experience for Santonino, he does not show the slightest reservation against cultural strangeness , indeed the negative literary stereotypes of Italian authors towards the "transmontane" cultural areas (the so-called barbarian verdict ) are downright with him turned into the positive opposite. The spectrum of his attention appears to be virtually unlimited in terms of content. The focus is on: official church acts, church furnishings , features of the landscape, descriptions of towns, descriptions of people, topographical and cultural features, remnants of Roman antiquity and, above all, festive banquets, which were sometimes accompanied by musical performances. With his numerous descriptions of food, Paolo Santonino provides an absolutely solitary information density in this sector for the Middle Ages . As a real rarity, the structure of meal sequences in the sense of medieval dietetics is sometimes understandable. Santonino's striking interest in the paraphrasing of exquisite culinary art can be explained by excellent personal competence, because terminological and linguistic similarities with the “Libro de l'arte coquinaria” of the Friulian Maestro Martino or with the then brand-new main dietary work, “De honesta voluptate et valetudine ”by the humanist Bartolomeo de 'Sacchi (“ Platina ”), Santonino attest a highly qualified culinary judgment horizon. So that this pointed focus of interest does not provoke misjudgments, it must be noted that Paolo Santonino's personality structure, although a layman, shows in many details of his "itinerary" how resolutely his mentality is committed to the Christian worldview. A typical example of this is the repeated emphasis on the laboriousness of traveling (a Christian metaphor for the desperate "path" to heaven ), another is the description of the city of Villach (a "beautiful city" in the religious sense). With this in mind, Santonino's food descriptions should also be put into perspective: Although he visibly enjoyed the daily return of an exceptional holiday standard, he could not possibly have rated this density in terms of the vice of gluttony , which from the modern point of view is mostly interpreted into it. Rather, the sumptuous descriptions of food appear to be explainable from the Christian worldview, namely from the postulate of hospitality , which is a decisive factor in the seven Christian works of mercy (eat the hungry, give the thirsty to drink, accommodate strangers). Seen in this way, Santonino would have wanted to manifest with the food descriptions that a fundamental norm from a Christian point of view was excellently fulfilled during the trips under canon law.

Santonino's non-literary written legacy is much more extensive than the "Itinerarium", but also drier: In his office, he wrote, among other things, the gigantic files of the Curia of the Patriarchate of Aquileia (1472-1481) and a "Visitationum liber" (1488 ff.). The classical education recognizable in all of his writings and his (also professional) routine in the use of the Latin language probably justified his close relationship with Friulian writers and humanistic circles, such as Marcus Antonius Coccius Sabellicus (1436–1506). The currently last sign of Paolo Santonino's life is a document signed by him on July 8th, 1507.

Santonino's so-called travel diaries

Paolo Santonino wrote his “Itinerarium” in Latin. Due to the deliberately antiquated German translation, the title of the work “travel diaries” is circulating in the German-speaking area. This allocation of literary genre is ambiguous or even incorrect. Rather, it is a report ( historia ) about three church missions from the years 1485, 1486 and 1487, which Pietro Carlo , Bishop of Caorle , had to undertake on behalf of the then Patriarch of Aquileia, Marco Barbo . At the same time, Santonino names the beginning as well as the entirety of his three-part report as itinerarium and declares himself to be its author in the service of the patriarchate. This original genre allocation and other considerations (see below) speak emphatically in favor of replacing the title “travel diaries” with the more appropriate term “Itinerarium” in terms of literary history.

The three journeys lasted a total of 114 days and led from Friuli to the northern edge of the diocese of Aquileia, which was then marked by the Drava . As a result, those journeys in today's Austria covered parts of East Tyrol and Carinthia as well as parts of Krain and the former Mark an der Sann in today's Slovenia . The three trips came about because of ecclesiastical necessities, but had a harsh real-political background: repeated incursions by the Ottomans into the respective areas had made it impossible to give confirmation and visit the parish clergy for decades, and there were numerous (re) consecrations of churches and altars approached to restore the canonical framework for proper worship after that time of crisis.

In a significance that can hardly be surpassed by other sources from the Middle Ages, Santonino's records also reveal many practical details of being on the road, namely: the travel routes based on the places listed day by day; the distances covered every day - with the exception of Sundays and public holidays; the mean cruising speed (= 4 to 5 km / h); the predominant use of riding horses as a means of locomotion; the approximate size of the party; the nature of roads and bridges; the time schedule of the daily routines (including length of night's rest, type of hour counting, meal times and meal duration); the categories of night quarters; and a few tips on clothing and hygiene.

However, the information about food handed down by Santonino should not be interpreted in the sense of travel catering. Because Santonino experienced and described dishes and dishes in a non-everyday, festive setting and under the aspect of high culinary art. As a result, his culinary information enables the otherwise hardly documented access to dishes from the Middle Ages, not from the recipe collections and cookbooks, but from kitchen practice. Another rarity are Paolo Santonino's “statistical” notes on the annual food consumption at a late medieval manor.

The first trip

The first voyage started on September 29, 1485 in San Daniele and ended on November 11, 1485 in Udine. We visited East Tyrol , the Gailtal and a few places in the Drautal . The route first led over the Plöckenpass to Kötschach-Mauthen . From there it went over the Gailbergsattel to Oberdrauburg im Drautal. After a stay, the travel group moved on to Tristach , Amlach and finally to Lienz . From there it went back to Oberdrauburg, from where the Gailberg was crossed again. After another stay in Kötschach-Mauthen, we went to the Lesachtal . After returning to Mauthen, the journey went down the Gail River to Hermagor with several stops. From there the tour company went to the Gitschtal to the Weißensee and back to Hermagor. After a few days in and around Hermagor, they moved back through the Gitschtal to Greifenburg in the Drautal . After staying in the area around Greifenburg, we went back to Kötschach-Mauthen via Oberdrauburg. From there they moved back to Udine via Tolmezzo and Venzone .

The second trip

The second trip started on August 26, 1486 in Cividale and ended on October 1, 1486 in Udine. Were visited Upper Carinthia and Krain . The route led along the Natisone river to Kred and on to Kobarid / Karfreit and Tolmin / Tolmein. From there it went on with a few stops to Škofja Loka / Bischoflack. From there it went to Kranj / Krainburg. The route continued via Tržič / Neumarktl, over the Loibl Pass to Kappel an der Drau near Ferlach . From there it went via Rosegg to Villach . After a few days in and around Villach, from where the Arnoldstein Abbey , Sankt Stefan im Gailtal and Finkenstein Castle were also visited up the Gail , Santonino and the bishop returned to Rosegg. From there the route (presumably across Lake Faak ) led again to Finkenstein Castle. The route continued via Faak am See back to Villach. After a few days' stay, the trip went to Finkenstein again. From there it went back to Cividale via Tarvis / Tarvisio, Flitsch / Bovec / Plezzo and Kobarid / Karfreit.

The third trip

The third voyage started on May 7th, 1487 in Tolmein / Tolmin and ended on June 8th in Udine or Cividale . The Mark an der Sann was visited . The route led through the hamlet Grahova, Seltschach / Selce, Kompolje and a village called Franz to Neukirchen / Nova Cerkev to Gonobitz / Slovenske Konjice . From there it went once to Loče and to S. Johann am Čadram, today Oplotnica . Then the journey continued via Pöltschach / Poljčane to the monastery of S. Sophia in Studenitz / Studenice . From there they traveled on to Maxau / Makole and Kerschbach / Črešnjevec and to the nearby Stattenberg Castle. From there the route led to Pettau / Ptuj and Ptujska Gora . From there some churches on the plain were visited. The journey continued via Schiltern / Žetale to Rohitsch / Rogatec . After five days in and around this city, we went back to Studenitz Monastery. From there it went on to Kerschbach / Črešnjevec, Pulsgau / Polskava and Kötsch / Hoče . The next stops on the trip were Frauheim / Fram, Schleinitz / Slivnica, Slovenska Bistrica , Tainach / Tinje. Back in Gonobitz one traveled on to Malocherin / Malohorna, Weitenstein / Vitanje and Kirchstetten / Črešnjice. There they went to an unspecified nearby monastery. The route now led back via Ponigl / Ponikva to Cilli / Celje . From there it went back via Burg Glogowitz / Blagovica , Zirknitz / Cerknica , Tolmein / Tolmin and finally to Udine or Cividale.

Historical significance and afterlife

Paolo Santonino wrote no official protocol about the episcopal agendas - certainly not a purely private one, but also not a purely profane one. However, his intention can only be concretized hypothetically. In line with this hypothesis, Santonino would have intended, as an eyewitness, to present an unprecedented undertaking of world-historical significance, as it were, in a microhistorical manner, namely that and how the episcopal delegation returned the church districts that had been dispossessed by the Ottomans back into the bosom of the church.

This holistic meta-interest would initially correspond to the fact that Santonino understands his three-part opus clearly as a unit, because, as I said, he labels it (each in the singular) as itinerarium , and he qualifies this entirety as historia . Both terms convey sober pragmatics as well as high-level religious metaphors : itinerarium stands on the one hand for entries "on the way" in a daily sequence, on the other hand for eyewitness and authenticity on the "path" to a "higher" goal, and the term historia is immanent to truth, the epitome of which is the Bible . In this perspective, Santonino's main motivation for writing the "Itinerarium" would have been the (unspoken) awareness of the solitary historical relevance of the trips, and with his historia , which was designed as an itinerarium , he would have wanted to honor that unique ecclesiastical achievement that should ultimately be interpreted from a Christian perspective is as a gradual perfection according to the divine world order. Seen in this way, one would have to read Santonino's food descriptions as a mirror of the hospitality of a mostly rural upper class (lower nobility, parish clergy), who ostensibly wanted to offer the bishop status conformity on this line, but also wanted to appreciate the greatness of his accomplishments. From this point of view, the "Itinerarium" represents a highly original occasional writing - however not primarily self-portrayal (the talk was about a rhetorical exercise not intended for publication to the address of the circle of friends who stayed at home), but one that honors the unprecedented occasion and assignment. Santonino's final dedication of the “Itinerarium” ad maiorem Dei gloriam ( AMDG ) also points in this direction . The fact that Santonino's autograph entered the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana in 1549 (Cod. Vat. Lat. 3795) can signal apostolic appreciation appropriate to the occasion.

In contrast to this, adventurous travel conditions, lavish menu descriptions and the cultural foreignness of the Christian Middle Ages in itself often tempt modern readers to interpret the “itinerary” motivated by culture voyeurism. This is also the basis of the great popularity of the "Itinerarium" today. For a long time, Santonino's popularity is based on the uncritical reception of translations and retellings of the "Itinerarium". Significantly, it is not Bishop Pietro Carlo who is perceived as the main protagonist of the three trips, but his scribe Paolo Santonino. This becomes clearest when looking at the marketing of Santoninos in the local chronicles, leisure activities and inns along the route, which teem with inventive Santonino reminiscences and alleged Santonino dishes. When translating the original Middle Latin text into current national languages ​​(previously: German, Japanese, Slovenian, Italian), it is in the nature of things that, due to the linguistic transformation, crucial nuances of meaning are also lost (for example, the coining of the "Itinerarium" by Santonino's Christian World view), because many terms can only be understood from the original Latinity in their semantics anchored in the history of mentality , which, however, can usually only be rendered equivalently with difficulty in modern language. Therefore, competent discourses about the intentionality and informative value of the "itinerary" as well as about the personality of its author seem only possible on the basis of the original Middle Latin text and only within a scientific framework. But even the professional reprocessing of the dishes described by Santonino by Barbara Maier and Hans G. Kugler illustrates that with all re-presentation and reconstruction an inevitable remnant of the present connection remains.

The impression that Santonino does not report from abroad, but rather from good neighbors and friends, suggests a community-building effect of the cross-cultural diocese of the Patriarchate of Aquileia (which is probably also related to the current idea of ​​the Alps-Adriatic / Alpe-Adria regional association / Alpe-Jadran should also be considered).

Around the millennium year 2000, a Santonino renaissance took place in Friuli ( San Daniele del Friuli , Gradisca ), which the “Itinerarium” also honored with a text edition that corresponds to Santonino's mother tongue. Franz Glantschnig (Radnig) took a different media route with a video production. Television also takes up Santonino topics again and again and in varying degrees of quality. So far, Engelbert Obernosterer (Mitschig) has strayed furthest from the original text with a dramatized “moral picture” under the title “Paolo Santonino”.

literature

• Giuseppe Vale (ed.): L'itinerario di Paolo Santonino in Carintia, Stiria e Carniola negli anni 1485–1487 (= Studi e testi , Volume 103). Città del Vaticano 1943, reprint 1983.
• Rudolf Egger (Ed.): Santonino in Carinthia. From his travel diaries 1485–1486. Kleinmayr, Klagenfurt 1947. Reprint Galerie Magnet, Völkermarkt 1980, ISBN 3-901758-02-X .
• Helmut Hundsbichler: Travel, hospitality and food as reflected in the travel diaries of Paolo Santonino (1485–1487). Unprinted dissertation Vienna 1979.
• Eiko Funada ( transl .), Tyuusei Higasi Alupusu Tabinikki 1485. 1486. ​​1487. [A Middle Latin travel diary from the Eastern Alps]. Tokyo 1987 (Japanese). ISBN 4-480-85359-6 .
• Primož Simoniti (translator): Paolo Santonino, Popotni dnevniki. Celovec, Dunaj, Ljubljana 1991 (Slovenian) catalog entry at Cobiss, ISBN 3-85013-238-2 .
• Helmut Hundsbichler: Pavel Santonino o Sloveniji (1486 in 1487). Stvarnost in mentaliteta v potopisu iz pozne gotike. In: Zgodovinski časopis. 50, 1996, pp. 187–202 = Everyday life, reality and mentality in Paolo Santonino's travel diaries. Relativizations based on the examples from the Saunien church district (1486, 1487). In: Journal of the historical association for Styria. 88, 1997, pp. 71-91.
• Roberto Gagliardi ( transl .): Paolo Santonino, Itinerario in Carinzia, Stiria e Carniola (1485–1487) (= Biblioteca de “L'Unicorno”. Volume 1) Pisa & Roma 1999, ISBN 88-8147-202-3 .
• Barbara Maier, Hans Gerold Kugler: Santoninos Kost. Klagenfurt 2001, ISBN 3-85129-346-0 .
• Helmut Hundsbichler: Paolo Santonino's “travel diaries” in a new perspective. In: Volker Schimpff, Wieland Führ (ed.): Historia in Museo. Festschrift for Frank-Dietrich Jacob. Langenweissenbach 2004, pp. 215-223.

Web links

• Santonino, Paolo in the repertory "Historical Sources of the German Middle Ages"
• Interactive editing of Santonino's first journey after Egger's translation

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Giuseppe Vale (Ed.): L'itinerario di Paolo Santonino in Carintia, Stiria e Carniola negli anni 1485–1487 (= Studi e testi. Volume 103). Città del Vaticano 1943 (Reprint 1983), pp. 103-119.
2. ↑ For the following see Helmut Hundsbichler: Travel, hospitality and food as reflected in the travel diaries of Paolo Santonino (1485–1487). Phil. Diss. Vienna 1979 (unprinted); Helmut Hundsbichler: Il ruolo e l'importanza dell'Itinerarium Sanctoniniano. In: L'Unicorno. 2, 1999, pp. 17-30; Helmut Hundsbichler: Paolo Santonino's “travel diaries” in a new perspective. In: Volker Schimpff, Wieland Führ (ed.): Historia in Museo. Festschrift for Frank-Dietrich Jacob. Langenweissenbach 2004, pp. 215-223.
3. ^ Hundsbichler: Travel, Hospitality and Food. Pp. 158-177.
4. ^ Hundsbichler: Travel, Hospitality and Food. P. 21 f.
5. ↑ Hundsbichler: Santoninos “travel diaries” in a new perspective. P. 218 f .; Helmut Hundsbichler: The “beautiful” city of Villach in the “Itinerarium” by Paolo Santonino (1486). In: Helmut Bräuer, Gerhard Jaritz, Käthe Sonnleitner (eds.): Viatori per urbes castraque. Festschrift for Herwig Ebner (= series of publications by the Institute for History. Volume 14). Graz 2003, pp. 293-299.
6. ^ Vale: Itinerario. Pp. 116-119; Hundsbichler: travel, hospitality and food. P. 12 f.
7. ↑ Hundsbichler: Santoninos “travel diaries” in a new perspective.
8. ↑ Helmut Hundsbichler: Realities on the subject of “travel” in the travel diaries of Paolo Santonino (1485–1487). In: The function of the written source in material culture research (= publications of the Institute for Medieval Realienkunde Austria. Volume 1 = Meeting reports of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, phil.-hist. Kl. Volume 304/4). Vienna 1976, pp. 55-143 and 250-258.
9. ↑ Helmut Hundsbichler: All'ora debita. Il computo delle ore ei riferimenti temporali in Paolo Santonino (1484/87). In: L'Unicorno. 2, 1999, pp. 7-16 = Helmut Hundsbichler: At the right time. Counting the hours and organizing the day with Paolo Santonino (1485/87). In: Gernot P. Obersteiner, Peter Wiesflecker (Red.): Festschrift Gerhard Pferschy (= research on the historical regional studies of Styria. Volume 42). Graz 2000, pp. 79-93.
10. ^ Helmut Hundsbichler, inns and parsonages as episcopal accommodation on the northern edge of the ecclesiastical province of Aquileia. Examples from the travel diaries of Paolo Santonino and related sources from the 15th century. In: Hans Conrad Peyer (Ed.): Hospitality, tavern and inn in the Middle Ages ( writings of the historical college, colloquia. Volume 3). Munich 1983, pp. 189-203.
11. ^ Hundsbichler: Travel, Hospitality and Food. P. 105; Helmut Hundsbichler: "quibus omnibus victum prebet". For food consumption in a Lower Styrian rulership of the late Middle Ages. In: Herwig Ebner et al. (Ed.): Festschrift Othmar Pickl for his 60th birthday. Graz / d Vienna 1987, pp. 241–248.
12. ↑ This and the following see Hundsbichler: Santonino's “travel diaries” in a new perspective. Pp. 219-222.
13. ^ Vale: Itinerario. P. 268.