The birth of the Italian language on a journey in search of Christianity

Travels in the Holy Land

“In 1384 thirteen Tuscan travellers visited the Holy Land. On their return … Leonardo Frescobaldi … and Simone Sigoli … wrote accounts of their journey”.¹

And that, basically, is the plot.
Contemporary Europe was split by the Western Schism and there were two Popes: Urban VI in Rome, and Clemente VII in Avignon. In the East, governed by a Mamluk Sultan, Europeans were not in an enviable position. They had gained a reputation as pillagers and made no secret of their designs on reconquering the Holy Land. Our travellers, however, encountered peaceful countries, acceptable roads and very affordable costs for a European. They met no hostility, apart from the occasional fanatic. Indeed, a solution could be found to everything, as long as you were willing to pay for it! With money…

One of the reasons that sets these accounts of travels to the Holy Land apart from others is their attention to extremely practical details of everyday life. In fact they tell the tale of pilgrims “without endowments”: the company from Florence, with Frescobaldi and Sigoli among them, wasn’t one of great noblemen or knights, despite the fact that there were some noteworthy personalities and their servants among them.

They were the first to give a complete list of expenses.

Their concern with the value of money, the price of travel and how much things cost shouldn’t seem out of place (they were pilgrims after all). In their circumstances money was a “prime necessity”, and as they spent so much, they wanted to make it clear how that money had been spent. Much of it, as we have already mentioned, ended up in the pockets of the Muslims, who allowed the trip, but wanted payment in exchange for permits. Pilgrims were put on their guard against giving money to “infidels”, which was also the reason for the Pope having the last word on whether or not pilgrimages were allowed to go ahead. In 1318 Brother Guglielmo Adagia, in De modo Sarracenos extirpandi, wrote: “Peregrini qui vadunt in Jerusalem magnum adiutorium dant principi Babilonia…” (The pilgrims who travel to Jerusalem give great aid to the princes of Bable…).

So, in this unusual way, we now know how much it cost to undertake such a long journey at that time, together with descriptions of the interesting things they encountered, the important things to see and what they were particularly struck by.

Unless we have an interest in Palestinology, the complete list of churches visited is less than enthralling. However, despite some rather approximate nomenclature on occasion, it is one of the most comprehensive such lists ever compiled.

Once more thanks to Frescobaldi and Sigoli, we now know that pilgrims were accompanied on their “Holy Circuit” by the Franciscans of Jerusalem. Covering many different sites, from Gethsemane to the Holy Sepulchre, it was a long tour on foot, starting before dawn. But the early start was not just because of the distance to cover. There were other reasons too, such as to avoid harassment by the Muslims and to encourage the composure of the travellers, who were only too easily distracted by the exotic location. The visit to the Holy Sepulchre was deliberately delayed so that the tension of the wait would encourage an emotional predisposition to “conversion”.

In the description given by Frescobaldi and Sigoli we also notice that the stopping points or stations in the tour included not only “evangelical” sites, but also places linked to tradition, if not legend. At times the purpose of these additional stops was eminently practical: to allow a pause in a tiring itinerary.

The manuscripts by Frescobaldi and Sigoli were consigned to relative oblivion until the start of the nineteenth century, when they were examined by the members of the Crusca academy, established in 1583 to conserve the purity of the Italian language. They first chose Sigoli, with 140 words flagged and 53 included in the dictionary. At a later date Frescobaldi was also examined and both were finally published.

The main reason given for publication was their enrichment of the language with terms from the golden (or originating) age of the Italian language. But their lasting diffusion is also, and primarily, because they are a good read. While the pious and edifying intentions contained in the narratives were not always of help, as the Church looked suspiciously on the ingenuity of medieval devoutness and the seductive influence of fantasy and legend.

Of course, it would be anti-historical to expect greater objectiveness from our authors or pass judgment on their genuine but often ingenuous faith. In short, despite the inclusion of legends which excited the imaginations of readers of the period, the narratives remain valuable and reliable historical sources.

In conclusion, a few words on the differences between the two reports. Guglielmo Manzi, the publisher of the account by Frescobaldi, adds an appendix he himself wrote: a “Discourse on Italian trade in the XIV century”. By doing so he emphasises the primary importance of economic issues. Sigoli’s work on the other hand, published by Fiacchi, is introduced by the academics of the Crusca Academy (one is Fiacchi himself), in which they justify their attention to the work as a document with “pure” Italian origins, to which the Crusca Dictionary owes a great debt. Finally, they compare it with other travel accounts in the XIV century.

While Frescobaldi has a reputation for content and Sigoli for form, schematic divisions must be avoided. Because Frescobaldi’s style is sober and elegant, and the content in Sigoli is basically the same. The sources, stated in Sigoli, are the same as those we can deduce in Frescobaldi. The fact that they had the same guides makes for a certain similarity between the two, but there is no imitation, as the information received was filtered by each of them.

Particularly worthy of note in Frescobaldi’s account is the quality of his observations and their subject. At the invitation of Visdomini (the future archbishop of Florence), Frescobaldi observed the layout of the places he passed through with a view to an eventual military action (a crusade?). However, his qualities as a “strategist” were not particularly strong and the period was not favourable: men in arms were quickly banished from these places. Perhaps, simply, his powers of observation were better than those of other pilgrims and his account is almost a study in anthropology.

Sigoli’s narrative, which was written five years after the journey, was a more successful publishing venture (more than 400 hundred years after it was written!). Content-wise it is perhaps inferior to Frescobaldi (but superior to others). The information lacks reliability and has a gloss of impersonality and estrangement from the events described. But this impersonal style becomes of value when he reports accounts like the one by Simone di Candia, which is very useful for understanding his ideas about the Sultan of the time. Or about the mentality of the monks of the period (Fra Giovanni di Candia). However, the simple elegance of the style makes it a lesson in good writing and the Italian language at its birth.

text courtesy of Bookolica.com ©

Notes

¹ These are the first sentences of the preface to the volume Travels in the Holy Land (Franciscan Press, Jerusalem 1948), containing both accounts translated into English.

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Viaggio di Lionardo di Niccolo Frescobaldi Fiorentino in Egitto e in Terra Santa
con un discorso dell'Editore sopra il Commercio degl'Italiani nel Secolo XIV. Roma, 1818.
with
Viaggio al Monte Sinai di Simone Sigoli
testo di lingua citato nel vocabolario ed ora per la prima volta pubblicato con due lezioni sopra il medesimo, una di Luigi Fiacchi, e l'altra di Francesco Poggi accademici residenti della Crusca, e con note ed illustrazioni di quest'ultimo. Firenze, 1829.

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