View source for Riccoldo da Monte di Croce

{{Short description|Italian Dominican friar, travel writer, and missionary}}
[[File:Ricoldo de montecroce & nicolas IV.jpg|thumb|Riccoldo da Monte di Croce and [[Pope Nicolas IV]]]]
'''Riccoldo da Monte di Croce''' (Florence; {{c.|1243}}{{ndash}}1320) or '''Ricold of Monte Croce'''<ref>{{citation |contribution=China |title=Encyclopaedia Britannica |edition=9th |volume=V |date=1878 }}.</ref> ({{langx|la|Ricoldus de Monte Crucis}}) was an [[Italians|Italian]] [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] [[friar]], [[travel writer]], [[missionary]], and [[Christian]] [[apologist]]. He is most famous for his polemical works on Medieval Islam and the account of his missionary travels to Baghdad.

==Life==
Riccoldo was born in [[Florence]], and his family name originated from a small castle just above [[Pontassieve]]. As he is sometimes referenced as "Pennini", his father was presumably named Pennino.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}} After studying in various major European schools, he became a Dominican in 1267, entering the house of [[Basilica of Santa Maria Novella|Santa Maria Novella]]. He was a professor in several convents of [[Tuscany]], including St Catherine in [[Pisa]] (1272–99).  With a papal commission to preach he departed for [[Acre, Israel|Acre]] (Antiochia Ptolemais) in 1286 or 1287 and made a pilgrimage to the [[Holy Land]] (1288) and then travelled for many years as a missionary in western Asia. He arrived in [[Mossul]] in 1289, equipped with a [[papal bull]]. He failed to convince the [[Nestorian Christian]] mayor of the city to convert to Catholicism.<ref name="Roux, p.411">Roux, p.411</ref>  He was a missionary to the court of the [[Mongol]] [[Il-Khan]] ruler [[Arghun]], of whom he wrote that he was "a man given to the worst of villainy, but for all that a friend of the Christians".<ref>Jackson, p.176</ref>

Moving to [[Baghdad]], Riccoldo entered in conflict with the local Nestorian Christians, preaching against them in their own [[cathedral]]. He was allowed nonetheless by Mongol authorities to build his own church, with the interdiction to preach in public. Riccoldo brought the matter to the Nestorian patriarch [[Yahballaha III]], who agreed with him that the doctrine of [[Nestorius]], namely the duality of Christ (thus achieving a theoretical fusion of the [[Latin Church]] and the Church of the East) was heretical. Yahballaha was however disavowed by his own followers.<ref name="Roux, p.411"/>

He returned to Florence before 1302, and was chosen to high offices in his order. He died in Florence on 31 October 1320.

==Works==
[[File:ImprobatioAlCorani.png|thumb|Title page of Riccoldo's work published in Seville c.1500, showing a Christian friar preaching to Muslims]]

===Travels===
His ''Book of Travels'' ({{langx|la|Liber Peregrinacionis}}) or ''Itinerary'' (''{{lang|la|Itinerarius}}''), written about 1288–91, was intended as a guide-book for missionaries, and is a description of the Oriental countries he visited.

In 1288 or 1289 he began to keep a record of his experiences in the [[Levant]]; this record he probably reduced to final book form in [[Baghdad]]. Entering [[Syria]] at Acre, he crossed [[Galilee]] to the [[Sea of Tiberias]]; thence returning to Acre he seems to have travelled down the coast to [[Jaffa]], and so up to [[Jerusalem]]. After visiting the [[Jordan River]] and the [[Dead Sea]] he left [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] by the coast road, retracing his steps to Acre and passing on by [[Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripoli]] and [[Tartus|Tortosa]] into [[Cilicia]]. From the Cilician port of Lajazzo (now [[Yumurtalik]] in [[Turkey]]) he started on the great high road to [[Tabriz]] in north [[Persia]]. Crossing the [[Taurus Mountains|Taurus]] he travelled on by [[Sivas]] of [[Cappadocia]] to [[Erzerum]], the neighborhood of [[Ararat plain|Ararat]] and Tabriz. In and near Tabriz he preached for several months, after which he proceeded to Baghdad via [[Mosul]] and [[Tikrit]]. In Baghdad he stayed several years.

As a traveller and observer his merits are conspicuous. His account of the [[Tatars]] and his sketch of Islamic religion and manners are especially noteworthy. In spite of strong prejudice, he shows remarkable breadth of view and appreciation of merit in systems different from his own.

===On the Fall of Acre===
His ''Letters on the Fall of Acre'' ({{langx|la|Epistolæ de Perditione Acconis}}) are five letters in the form of lamentations over the [[Siege of Acre (1291)|fall of Acre]] (written about 1292, published in Paris, 1884).

{{cquote|And so it came to pass that I was in Baghdad, “among the captives by the river of Chebar” [Ezek. 1:1], the [[Tigris]]. This garden of delights in which I found myself enthralled me, for it was like a paradise in its abundance of trees, its fertility, its many fruits. This garden was watered by the [[rivers of Paradise]], and the inhabitants built gilt houses all around it. Yet I was saddened by the massacre and capture of the Christian people. I wept over the loss of Acre, seeing the Saracens joyous and prospering, the Christians squalid and consternated: little children, young girls, old people, whimpering, threatened to be led as captives and slaves into the remotest countries of the East, among barbarous nations.
Suddenly, in this sadness, swept up into an unaccustomed astonishment, I began, stupefied, to ponder God's judgment concerning the government of the world, especially concerning the Saracens and the Christians. What could be the cause of such massacre and such degradation of the Christian people? Of so much worldly prosperity for the perfidious Saracen people? Since I could not simply be amazed, nor could I find a solution to this problem, I decided to write to God and his celestial court, to express the cause of my astonishment, to open my desire through prayer, so that God might confirm me in the truth and sincerity of the Faith, that he quickly put an end to the law, or rather the perfidy, of the Saracens, and more than anything else that he liberate the Christian captives from the hands of the enemies.
::''Epistolae V de perditione Acconis'' (1291), quoted in Tolan 2002, p. xiii}}

===Apologetic writings against Islam and Judaism===
[[File:BNF MS ar 384.jpg|thumb|right|[[Bibliothèque nationale de France]] MS ar. 384, the Arabic manuscript of the Qur'an read by Riccoldo while he was writing his book ''Contra legem Saracenorum'', with Riccoldo's annotations in Latin]]
During his stay in Baghdad, Riccoldo studied the [[Qur'an]] and other works of [[Islam]]ic theology for controversial purposes, arguing with [[Nestorian Christian]]s, and writing. In 1300–1301 Riccoldo again appeared in Florence. About 1300 in Florence he wrote ''Against the Laws of the Saracens'' ({{langx|la|Contra Legem Sarracenorum}}) and ''To the Eastern Races'' (''{{lang|la|Ad Nationes Orientales}}'').

Riccoldo's best known work of this kind was his book ''Against the Laws of the Saracens'', written in Baghdad, which has in previous centuries been very popular among Christians as a polemical source against Islam, and has been often edited (first published in Seville, 1500, under the title ''Confutatio Alcorani'' or "Confutation of the Koran").  This work was translated into [[German language|German]] by [[Martin Luther]] in 1542 as ''Verlegung des Alcoran''. There are translations into English by Thomas C. Pfotenhauer (''Islam in the Crucible: Can It Pass the Test?'', Lutheran News, Inc., 2002), and Londini Ensis, under the title, "Refutation of the Koran" (Createspace 2010).

Much of this work's contents derive from those sections of the ''Book of Travels'' devoted to Muslim beliefs and related topics.  One of Riccoldo's major sources, extensively quoted in his own work, is the anonymous ''[[Liber denudationis|Liber Denudationis siue Ostensionis aut Patefaciens]]''.<ref>Burman 1994, pp. 215–216</ref>  Despite Riccoldo's hostility towards Islam, his work shows specific knowledge of the Qur'an and overcomes one important prejudicial error common to other Medieval [[criticisms of Islam]]: the [[Medieval Christian views on Muhammad|view of Muhammad]] as an introducer of a [[Christological]] [[Christian heresy|heresy]].<ref>Giuseppe Rizzardi, "Il ''Contra legel Saracenorum'' di Riccoldo di Montecroce: Dipendenza ed originalità nei confronti di san Tommaso," ''Teologia'' 9 (1984), pp. 59–68</ref>

The ''Christianæ Fidei Confessio facta Sarracenis'' (printed in [[Basel]], 1543) is attributed to Riccoldo, and was probably written about the same time as the above-mentioned works. Other works are: ''Against the Errors of the Jews'' (''{{lang|la|Contra Errores Judaeorum}}''); ''Against the Eastern Races'' (''{{lang|la|Libellus contra Nationes Orientales}}''; MSS. at Florence and Paris); ''Against the Saracens and Quran'' (''{{lang|la|Contra Sarracenos et Alcoranum}}''; MS. at Paris); and ''On Different Religions'' (''{{lang|la|De Variis Religionibus}}''; MS. at Turin). Very probably the last three works were written after his return to Europe; the last has a title similar to the last chapter of the ''Travels'' (''{{lang|la|De Variis Religionibus Terre Sancte}}''). Riccoldo is also known to have written two theological works—a defence of the doctrines of [[Thomas Aquinas]] (in collaboration with John of Pistoia, about 1285) and a commentary on the ''Libri Sententiarum'' (before 1288). Riccoldo began a Latin translation of the [[Quran]] about 1290, but it is not known whether this work was completed.

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* [[Jean-Paul Roux|Roux, Jean-Paul]] (1993). ''Histoire de l'Empire Mongol'', Fayard, {{ISBN|2-213-03164-9}}
* Burman, Thomas E. (1994). ''Religious polemic and the intellectual history of the Mozarabs, c.1050–1200'', Leiden: Brill.
* [[John V. Tolan|Tolan, John V.]] (2002). ''Saracens: Islam in the medieval European imagination'', New York: Columbia University Press.
* [[Peter Jackson (historian)|Jackson, Peter]] (2005). ''The Mongols and the West'', Pearson Education Ltd, {{ISBN|0-582-36896-0}}
* Jensen, Kurt Villads, & Davide Scotto (eds.), Riccoldo da Monte di Croce (†1320) : Missionary to the Near East and Expert on Islam, Stockholm 2024. https://doi.org/10.62077/35j8k4
* George-Tvrtkovic, Rita (2012). ''A Christian Pilgrim in Medieval Iraq: Riccoldo da Montecroce's Encounter with Islam', Turnhout: Brepols Press.
* {{Catholic|wstitle=Ricoldo da Monte di Croce}}
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Ricold of Monte Croce|volume=23|page=316}}

==External links==
* [https://www2.historia.su.se/personal/villads-jensen/Riccoldo/paginaprincipalis.pdf''Riccoldi Florentini Libelli ad nationes orientales''] (web edition)
* ''Epistolae V commentatoriae de perditione Acconis'', ed. [[Reinhold Röhricht]], in [https://archive.org/details/archivesdelorie00parigoog ''Archives de l'Orient latin'', vol. 2 (1884)], pp.&nbsp;258–296 = Google PDF pp.&nbsp;765–792
* [https://archive.org/details/peregrinatoresm00brocgoog ''Liber Peregrinacionis''], ed. J.C.M. Laurent, Leipzig, 1864 (in ''Peregrinatores Medii Aevi Quattuor'', pp.&nbsp;101ff. = Google PDF pp.&nbsp;116 ff.)
* [http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/bsb00003304/images/ ''Confutatio alcorani''] (Bartolomeus Picernus' retranslation into Latin from the Greek of [[Demetrios Kydones]]), Basel, 1507, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek copy ({{OCLC|165364264}})
* Ed Emery, [https://web.archive.org/web/20030407211349/http://www.geocities.com/DanteStudies/riccoldo.html "Riccoldo of Monte Croce", Research Notes on Dante Alighieri]
* Emilio Panella, [http://emilioweb.t35.com/riccoldo/index.htm Riccoldo di Pennino da Monte di Croce]
* {{BBKL|r/riccoldo_d_m_c|band=8|autor= Klaus Peter Todt|artikel=Riccoldo da Monte Croce
|spalten=191–194}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riccoldo da Monte di Croce}}
[[Category:Clergy from Florence]]
[[Category:Italian Dominicans]]
[[Category:1240s births]]
[[Category:1320 deaths]]
[[Category:13th-century travel writers]]
[[Category:Italian travel writers]]
[[Category:Italian male writers]]
[[Category:13th-century explorers]]
[[Category:Explorers of Central Asia]]
[[Category:Italian Roman Catholic missionaries]]
[[Category:Christian apologists]]
[[Category:Christian antisemitism in the Middle Ages]]
[[Category:Christian critics of Islam]]
[[Category:Critics of Judaism]]
[[Category:Dominican missionaries]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic missionaries in Asia]]
[[Category:Writers from Florence]]