medieval worlds • no. 16 • 2022
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Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |
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DATUM, UNTERSCHRIFT / DATE, SIGNATURE
BANK AUSTRIA CREDITANSTALT, WIEN (IBAN AT04 1100 0006 2280 0100, BIC BKAUATWW), DEUTSCHE BANK MÜNCHEN (IBAN DE16 7007 0024 0238 8270 00, BIC DEUTDEDBMUC)
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medieval worlds • no. 16 • 2022 ISSN 2412-3196 Online Edition ISBN 978-3-7001-9289-3 Online Edition 2022 Indexed by: ERIH-PLUS, Crossref, DOAJ, EZB
Eva Caramello,
Romedio Schmitz-Esser
S. 210 - 228 doi:10.1553/medievalworlds_no16_2022s210 Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften doi:10.1553/medievalworlds_no16_2022s210
Abstract: This article scrutinizes two extraordinary funerary monuments to members of the Ilioni family from Genoa through paleographical methods. Erected in 1342 and 1344 respectively, they commemorate Caterina and Antonio, two children of an Italian merchant that died as members of the small Catholic community in the central Chinese trade hub of Yangzhou. Although well known in recent debates on the history of medieval travel and occasionally discussed in an art-historical context, they have not yet received an in-depth epigraphic analysis. In doing so for the first time, the article argues for the importance of such material, as processes of acculturation can be traced in the development of the scripts themselves. The epigraphy of these monuments is both in line with contemporary letter styles from northern Italy and, at the same time, epigraphic observations show how the influences of Chinese characters were slowly included in the Latin text. In sum, the authors argue that it is most likely that a Franciscan missionary gifted with some craftmanship as a stonemason generated this part of the two funerary slabs, and that this in turn forces us to think about late medieval practices of epigraphic production in Europe at the time, too. What seemed at first an exotic case of “global epigraphy” reveals itself on second glance as an example that teaches a valuable lesson about the role of friars in the epigraphy of Latin Europe more widely. Keywords: China, Genoa, Yuan dynasty, medieval trade, palaeography, Franciscans, Yangzhou Published Online: 2022/06/30 07:50:06 Object Identifier: 0xc1aa5572 0x003d8961 Rights: .
medieval worlds provides a forum for comparative, interdisciplinary and transcultural studies of the Middle Ages. Its aim is to overcome disciplinary boundaries, regional limits and national research traditions in Medieval Studies, to open up new spaces for discussion, and to help developing global perspectives. We focus on the period from c. 400 to 1500 CE but do not stick to rigid periodization.
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Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |