San Nicola di Casole

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San Nicola di Casole , a few kilometers south of Otranto , was a monastery with a Greek rite that was widespread in Salento until the 15th century. It was destroyed by Turkish troops when Otranto was conquered in 1480 , but its possessions continued to be given as commodities . The sparse ruins lie in a Masseria privately owned.

origin

According to the report in 1160 recorded food and fast rules for monks in a Turin manuscript, which also Typikon are handed down includes the monastery was founded τῶν κασούλων 1098/1099 from the first abbot Joseph. Although the archive of the monastery was destroyed, a donation by Bohemond of Taranto from the years 1104–1111 can be proven, with which he transferred the Casale Casole to the monastery and exempted it and all other possessions from all taxes. Archaeological research shows that the place was used since the 8th or 9th century. The Norman successor Bohemund likely the monastery have promoted since the Empress Constance confirmed in general terms donations of their predecessors, and in the liturgical Memoria of San Nicola, in addition to Bohemond, his wife Constanze and his son Bohemund II. And Roger II. , His first wife Elvira and his sons Roger and William I listed. Frederick II confirmed his mother's privilege and granted exemption from various taxes, for example when buying and selling things for the supply of the monastery. Finally, in 1305 , Charles II of Anjou confirmed the documents submitted to him by Bohemond, Constance and Frederick.

The monastery was also sponsored by the Popes. We do not know which Pope granted the Rome freedom ( exemption ), but San Nicola is noted in the addenda to the Chamberlain Cencius' Liber censuum and in 1233 the monastery paid back payments for 18 years. In the Vatican registers are also documents from Honorius III. from the year 1218 and Innocent IV. from 1254. During his legation to reorganize ecclesiastical conditions in the Kingdom of Sicily after the death of King Manfred in 1266, Cardinal Bishop Radulf von Albano rededicated the monastery church, transferred the Hegumenos Basilius from Casole to San Vito del Pizzo and installed a Jacobus (1266-1275) in San Nicola. as abbot.

San Nicola also had a number of Metohija : the type icon called Vaste , Policastro , Trulazzo, Melendugno , Alessano , Castro , and Minervino . In the ownership list of the privilege Honorius III. is also called a monastery in Monopoli .

At the beginning of the 13th century, the monastery housed a circle of Greek poets under the direction of Abbot Nektarios , who also included Georgios of Gallipoli and John of Otranto (Johannes Grassus). In the monastery there was an extensive library with numerous Greek and Latin manuscripts. The fact that Pantaleo, named as the creator of the floor mosaic in the cathedral of Otranto , came from San Nicola cannot be proven and is controversial in recent research.

The library was also destroyed in 1480, but thanks to the Greek humanist Sergio Stiso and Cardinal Bessarion , the former Archbishop of Nikaia , who often “took” Greek-Byzantine manuscripts from the monasteries and libraries he visited, something was saved.

description

The ruins are located near a farm, along the coastal road towards Santa Cesarea Terme . The rectangular floor plan is clearly visible, with parts of the surrounding walls and the apse being almost completely preserved. The points of contact between the sides were finely decorated in the corners with typical Gothic ribs. The apse is semicircular. What was left was a small fresco depicting a bearded figure raising its hands to the sky.

literature

  • Pasquale Corsi - Giovanni Lunardi: Otranto (LE). S. Nicola di Casole. In: Monasticon Italiae III: Puglia e Basilicata a cura di Giovanni Lunardi, Hubert Houben , Giovanni Spinelli. Prefazione di Cosimo Damiano Fonseca . Cesena 1986 (Monasticon Italiae. Repertorio topo-bibliografico dei monasteri italiani, 3) P. 90 No. 255 with extensive sources and literature.
  • Charles Diehl : Le monastère de S. Nicolas di Casole près d'Otrante, d'après un manuscrit inédit . In: Mélanges d'Archéologie et d'Histoire de l'Ecole française de Rome , Vol. 6 (1886) pp. 173-188. ( Digitized on Persée )
  • Walther Holtzmann : Italia Pontificia IX: Samnium - Apulia - Lucania . Berlin 1962, pp. 412-413.
  • Vera von Falkenhausen : Casole. In: Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium , New York 1991, Volume 1, p. 387.
  • Theo Kölzer : On the history of the monastery S. Nicola di Casole . In: Sources and research from Italian archives and libraries 65 (1985), pp. 418-26. ( Digitized version )
  • Timothy Miller: 43. Kasoulon: Rule of Nicholas for the Monastery of St. Nicholas of Kasoulon near Otranto . In: Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents . Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington DC 2000, p. 1319-1330 .

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Kölzer: On the story, p. 424.
  2. ↑ Kölzer: On the story, p. 425.
  3. ↑ Miller: Kasoulon S. 1319th
  4. ↑ Kölzer: On the story, p. 425.
  5. ↑ Kölzer: On the story, p. 425.
  6. ↑ Holtzmann: Italia Pontificia p. 413; Kölzer: On the story p. 419.
  7. ↑ Holtzmann: Italia Pontificia p. 413
  8. ↑ Miller: Kasoulon S. 1320th
  9. ^ Diehl: Le monastère de S. Nicolas di Casole p. 186; Miller: Kasoulon p. 1319.
  10. ↑ Kölzer: On the story, p. 423f. with note 19.
  11. ↑ Manuel Castineiras:  Pantaleone. In: Raffaele Romanelli (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 81:  Pansini – Pazienza. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2014.