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BOARD OF CONGRESS

FadeySarklssyan - RA NASPresident,Academician, Co-chairman RadikMartirosyan - YSU Rector,Academician, Co-chairman SergoYeritsyan - RA Ministerof Educationand Science VladimlrBarkhudaryan - RANAS Vice-President, Academician Gerard(Glrayr) Dédéyan - PaulValeryUniversig, Professor (France) BoghosLevon Zekiyan - RA NASForeign Member (ltaty) RichardHovhannlsyan - UCLA,Head of the Chairof ArmenianStudies, RA NAS Foreign Member(USA) Aram Simonyan - YSU Prorector,Professor AN ARMENIANPILGRIM IN MEDIEVALITALY: CULT AND ICO- NOGRAPHYOF ST DAVINUSOF LUCCA

Michele Bacci (Univercity of Siena)

Inthe lastfew decades a greatdeal of researchactivity has been devoted to the historyof the Armenian communities of Medievalltaly, orArmenians < as theywere sometimes called. Scholars have emphasized their role in the economic lifeof the 13ththrough 1Sth century Communes, and have provided us with a valu- ablebulk of historicalevidence about their civil and religious organization, as wellas aboutthe materialvicissitudes of theirecclesiastic foundationsl. Less investigated is the impactof Armeniancultural and devotional traditions upon the Westand the waysand reasons of the Westerners'fascinationwith them. Inthis respect, the telling of Armenian saints'lives is a casein point.We lackeda generaloutline of ltaly'sArmenian hagiology until the organizersof the exhibition Roma-Armenia,held in the VaticanLibrary in 1999,devoted an entiresection to the topicz.There, even an inattentivebeholder should have been able to seethat each saintcould be classifiedaccording to his historicalvalue. Those holy men being actuallyvenerated by theArmenian Gregorian church should have been placed in the firstcategory; the onlyone to deservesuch a classificationwas St. Gregorythe llluminator,whose cult in Naples,where he is knownas 'SanGregorio Armeno', datesback to the EarlyMiddle Ages: already the marblecalendar of the late8th or 9thcentury registers his name on September30 andDecember 2 and3, aswell as thoseof Hripsimeand Gayane on September283. All othersaints (all of them beingmale) are completelyunknown to Armenian hagiologyand seemto have had no directconnection with ltaly'sArmenian communities,or, at least,there is no evidenceabout Armenians < taking partin the shaping,promulgation or diffusionof suchcults. These ones can be distinguishedinto two categories. The first one includes those men whose legendary pedigreesounds absolutely fictitius, theirArmenian origins being nothing more than a rhetoricalpretext to providethem with an exoticappeal. That is definatelythe case of St. Minias,a paleochristianmartyr who was arbitrarilydescribed from the 13th centuryonwards as a princeor kingof Armenia,as we distinctlysee in the apsis mosaicof histitular church in Florence(San Miniato al Monte),where he is represented as a youngaristocrat, offering his royalcrown to the Kingof Heaven4. The secondcategory is composedof threeArmenian holy men: St. Liberiusof Ancona,Saint Symeon of Mantua,and St. Davinus of Lucca,all sharinga common statusof pilgrims.Liberius is, by far,the mostfabulous one. According to the local sources,dating back only to the 13thcentury, he hadcome to theAdriatic shores in -548- the5th century in order to visit the churchesof Ro- ffi*P@ me; later,he had t '."* $T''1"'î:?;[:î3 fh, in the neighbour- hoodsof Ancona

I : kenresidence in a Er.-l . grottonext to the -i-J i cnurcn oÍ St E t ,. Silvester.As far V t ' as we know,his - i, public worship

Fkrl _*- before the 11th centuryand there UU'*-*;;Jj- .:::::"-'' ' is titttedoubt rhar nothing l.Armenianinscription,late 13th century. Lucca, San Martino. can be said of him on historicalgrounds. Thislegend, however, bears witness to the fascinationof localbelievers by A-rmenian and.orientalpilgrims visiting the HolyPlaces of ltalyin the LateMiddle Agess. We knowthat pilgrimagefrom the EasternChiistian countries to Romeand the mostholy sites of bothltaly and other lands of WesternEurope was not infrequent in the EarlyMiddle Ages, when we find substantialtestimonies about Greek visitors. The samephaenomenon also involved many Armenians, at leastfrom the lOthand 11thcenturies, and their number remarkably increased as newcommercialand cul- turalcontacts were established with the newlyfounded Mediterranean Kingdom of Cilicia.Their primary destinations were Rome, with its manybasilicas and màrtyria - themost impoftant being St. Paul's and St. Peter's - thenthe Galician town of Santiago de compostela,which housed the corpseof the AposileJames the Elder;priorio Italy,thepiligrims had usually visited Jerusalem, from where they sailed to the ltalian shores.Such an itinerarywas followedby manyArmenian travellers such as Davit Bjnetsi,the priest Vardan, the monksargis, living in the 13th,14th, and 1Sth centu- ries6;moreover, the franciscan friar Guillaume de Rubruk,in the accountof hisexpe- djtionto Mongoliain 12s4,writes that an Armenianmonk he had met in Móngke Khan'scamp in the GobiDesert once confessed to himhis will to visitthe papal$ee andthe sepulchreof St.JamesT. such had been the very route of st. symeon,whose historicalexistence is confirmedby the vrfawritten shorily after his death,in 1016,in the monasteryof san Benedettoal Polirone,near Mantua,where he had spenthis last years.'we knowthat his first stop had been Jerusalem,where he had obtaineda letterof recommendationfrom the Patriarch, and then he had travelled from Rome to Santiago de compostela:along his itinerary,he had alsovisited many other sites, such às Pisa,Lucca, Pavia, Turin, the Abbey of Novalesa,and rours (where he hadvenerated st. Martin'srelics). Finally, he had decidedto stop near tÈe polironemonastery,

-549- whoseabbot deci- dedto builda spe- cial cell in the neighbouring countryside,where Symeonwas allo- wed to live as an anchorite.As inthe caseof Liberiusof 2. 'SanDavino Master', The Rediscovery of SaintDavinus' Ancona, Symeon Corpse,about 1425. Florence, Acton Collection (formerly in was describedas Lucca,Church of SanMichele in Foro). an itinerantmonk or hermit,being urgedby hisdevotion to visitthe holyplaces of the West.His mysteriousorigins, thé auraof sanctityindistinctly attributed to the EasternChristian countries, and his píous behaviourprobably had an extraordinaryappeal on localbelievers and fashioned his laterreputation as an excellentthaumaturge Strikingfyenough, St. Davinus of Lucca(9HL2114), the third on ourlist, seems to haveacquired his fame as a miracle-workeronly because of hisArmenianorigins. His Vita,tirst published by the Bollandistsin the 17thcentury on the basisof a .late12th centurymanuscript in the Vaticanlibrary and of a later,now missing codex, does not pointout any peculiar virtue or spiritualmerit of his,apart from his beinga nobleman andalso a noble-mindedperson who had decided to go on a pilgrimagewhen he was alreadygetting on in yearse.After his departurefrom Armenia, he went,as usual,to Jerusalemand then to Rome,where he desiredto go to Santiago.Along his route, he stoppedat Lucca,just as St.Symeon had done, but unlike him he didnot perform any miraclesduring his stay there. He simply kept on with his usual behaviour, i.e. with his frequentfasting and praying, as manydevotees and pilgrims used to do.Nevertheless, whilehe was in the houseof his host,a noblewomannamed Atha, he happenedto getill andforetell his near death,,which occurred, according to tradition,on June3, 1050. Ihe banaland undistinguished deeds of thisodd saint were redeemed by a great deafof spectacularmiracles that Davinus was able to performafter his death, around his tombin the cemeteryof the churchof San Michelein Foro,where he had been buried.From the groundwhere his corpse was laid grew a vine,whbse fruits proved to be ableto curethe sick of theirillnesses. Moreover, some angels dèscended at nightfrom Heaven to honourthe tomb by lightingand incensing it. The people living nearthe cemeteryand, among them, the Regularcanons of San Michelein Foro wereastonished at seeingsuch celestial apparitions; dnd concludedthat Godwas indicatingto themthe holinessof the man beingburied there. Soon the bishop Anselmus,who later became Pope Alexander ll, oneof the mostimportant figures of theGregorian Reformation of theLatin church, heard of the rniracles involving Davinus' corpseand gave orders to exhumeand venerate it as a relicinside the church,near the altarentitled to St. Luke(which was locatednext to mainentrance). Whatcan we reallysay about this personage's historical reality and the first stages of his worshipin Lucca?The manuscriptcontaining his Vita,'nowin the Vatican library,probably pertained to the Canonsof St.Pantaleon, who lived in a coenobium onthe Pisan Mount, to thesouth of Lucca.According to onehypothesis, the archetypal textmay have been written by oneof the priestsof SanMichele in Foroby the end of -550- the 11thor the firsthalf of the 12thcentury1o. Some details of his life poíntto the. Reformedclergy of that age as the intellectual background which fashioneO tne legend. Regularcanons,i.e. secular priests living under a commonrule in the style of traditional monks,became promoters of manynew cult phaenomena in orderio increasethe prestigeof the institutionsthey represented.As the canonsof San Martino- the towncathedral - supportedthe cult of the VottoSanfo, a miraculousstatue which wassaid to be thework of St.Nicodemus, so thoseof SanFrediano promoted the publicveneration of theirtitular saint and those of San Michelein Foromade the samewith ourArmenial.pitgrlmll. By the 13thcentury, st. Davinus'feaston July3 wassolemnly venerated by allthechurches of the Régularcanonsl? . tlndgubtedly,the nameDavinus does not sound génuinely Armenian, the most similar.beingDawit'or, maybe, Zaven. The 19th century Mekhitarist scholar Mesrop Ughurlian,in a workdevoted to Armeniancolonies in fuscany,was convinced that Davinuswas a corruptedform for Dawit',and that had beenihe opinionof some Armeniantravellers who had visited Lucca in the 17thcenturyi3. lt is truethat the trasformationof Dawit'intoDavinus sounds relatively odd, and óne may suspect that suchan etymologyhas beenworked out a posteriori.lluch moreinterestìng is to interpretDavinus as a Latinizedform for'dvenatsi' or'dvinatsi', a wordconneCted to thetown of Dvin,the ancient capital of Armenia, which could be used to makeallusion to an aristocraticstatus; we haveseen, in fact,that the legendstates tnat tnà iaint wasof noblebirthl4. However,it is alsopossible that Davinusis shortfor Davidino (i.e. 'lit1e David'in Italían).W.e should point out that the oldermanuscript containinj nis Vita,i.e. that preservedin the Vaticanlibrary, describes him as a man corninglromthe Eastbut doesnot mention that he was born in Armenia; this information wàs integrated by the Bollandistson the basisof another manuscript, maybe dating back to tneì gtnceítrry. Thismay mean that, at the beginning of hiscult in Lúcca,Daùnus was not yet regarde-d as an outsider,and that only at a latertimehis ethnic identity had been shap-ed. lf thiswas the case,we shouldwonderwhy the Luccheseof the 13thor 14th centuryhad decided to makehim an Armenian. First of all, we should take into account ll'"t ql Orientalpedigree was a traditionaldevice to enlrancea holyman's prestige. Despitewhat had occuredin the past,ltalians of the Duecentoand Trecento wàre peffectlyable to distinguishthe differentpeoples inhabiting the Easterncountries, since,on the onehand, their merchants and'missionaries úere wellestablished in the landsof Outremer,and, on the otherhand, numerous colonies of Orientalshad dwelledon ltaliansoil. Pisa had a veryclose relationship with the Kingdom of Cilicia andwas inhabited by a bigArmeniancolony since the 1250s15; analogoul communities hadsettled by that time in othertowns of ruscany.Regarding LucCa, we havesome evidencefrom the early 14th century onwards, nui it is-mostpìroOaOte thatArmenians hadbeen living there since the previouscenturyi6. . 1! inscription,nowwalled up into the fagade of the town cathedral, possibty dates backto the late13th century (as suggested by palaeographicfeaturesj; it is pàrtor a tombstoneand we caneasily conclude that its originailocation had béen thé church or cemeteryof a localdiaspora communitylT. In the 14thcentury, the Basilianor friars (as they are sometime! labelleo in ModernsourceslB) had their seein the areaof the cathedral,just to the apsisof the baptismalchurch of Santa Reparata.They probably had been awardeo à titttechurch or chapelthat,by 1363, wasbeing extended; they also possessed a small plot to be usedfor the buriàl of the dead,and in 1416they were allocated another one on conditionthat they reserved it -551_ forthe plague-striken. As far as we know,this little building was still extant by the year 1535, when it was destroyed to makeroom for the palace of the noble family Bernardi; bythat periÒd, localArmenians had probably disappeared, but in the previous centuries theirinfluence had been of considerableimportance, since we knowthat, from ca. 1408 through1462 they had also managed to comeinto possession of a secondconvent, thatof SantaMaria del Corso nearthe San Donato Gate. Wealso knowthat they had played a rolein the town life and had taken advantage ofthe support of the peopleof Luccale.This is evidentfrom the testamentary bequests in favourof them,the mostsignificant being that of a younglady who, right in the middleof the Black Plague in 1348,left a legacyof bothone florin and her own silken handbagon condition that they transformed it into a cushionto beused as a liturgical item2..such a gift was the mostprecious object owned by that girl, and it is quite significantthat she decided to giveit, for hersoul's sake, to the priestsof a foreign community;she probably would have never done this, had she not believed in the specialefficaciousness of their prayers.We knowthat Bartholomiteliturgy was modelledon thatof the Dominicans,but it wasperformed in Armenian and probably had preservedalmost some chants of the Easternrite: a proverbialexpression witnessedby contemporarywriters described them, in general,as the sotfadegli Ermini,i.e. the Armenians' singsong, which sounded boring but was also invested witha mysteriousand magicalaura21., Thereligious attractiveness of the Armenians on ltalianlaity is a matterof fact. Weshould bear in mindthat, almost everywhere in the peninsula,lay testators sup- ported,by meansof generousbequests, the needsof the Basilianmonks and con- tributedto the embellishmentof their churches and monasteries. Moreover, the Ar- meniansprobably succeeded in diffusingforms of worshipassociated with their motherland;we know,for example,that in 1360sa merchantfrom pistoia made a dispositionconcerning a considerable amount of moneyto be paidto anyoneagree- ingto go on pilgrimageto thetomb of saintBasil "in Armenia', i.e. to caesareaof Anatolia,the present-dayKaiseri, which was locatedjust beyondthe rangeof Antitaurus,not far fromthe boundaries of theKingdom of Cilícia.Unfortunately, that bequestwas never executed, since nobody had the heart to beginsuch an adventur- ousjourney22. "citra Althoughthe Armenian monks mare"were usually under the Dominicans' aegid,the communityof Luccaseems to havehad a closerelationship with the regularcanons, and abOve all withthose of san Martino,whose churches were in the sameneighbourhoods as theirown. lt is temptingto interpretSaint Davinus' metamorphosisand success from the 13ththrough the 15thcenturies as an effect of theprestige and aura of holinessenjoyed by the localArmeno-Basilian friars. Surely, duringthat periodboth the laityand clergy of San Michelein Forosponsored the worshipof thatsaintly pilgrim. The original, simple earthen sarcophagus containing his corpsewas includedinside a marbleone, which displayed a solemngothiò inscriptioncelebrating him as Davinus, that man 'Who came to Luccafrom the country ofArmenia" to performsuch magnificent miracles in favourof the sick23. The sepulchre was associatedto an altarentitled to him,which was frequentlyornamented with embroideriesand liturgical items by pioustestators. ln1424thesaint's left arm was separated from the body and included in a 'speaking' reliquarywhich was exhibitedto believerson the saint'sfeast day24. In thosesamè yearsthe altar-tombwas providedwith a paintedantependium visualizing a gisànt- likeimage of the holyman25. There an inscriptionreads: Hic iacetcorpui s(an)c(t)i - 552- (i.e.'Hereraysthe ?1y!,*,4r*i!.ea bodyof st. Davinusof Armenia). He is represented lnme mlddle of the scene, laying overthe catafalque and holding a circulumpraècatorium, inthe very moment of hisrelocation from the cemetery to thà church. Censing angels revealinghis sanctity are locatedjust overhim; on OótnslOes of the catafal[ue,"tfre bishopAnselmusand the regular canons of SanMichele in Foroare represented in a diminutivescale, solemnly performing the ceremony in honourof him.The bishop is slgyn kneelingand blessing next to Davinus'head, while a deaconis holding the edge ofhis cape; on the side of the saint's feet the prior of the chapter-house is ràading tÉe office,and two black-dressed canons are attending to him.lt is clearthatthe iriage aimsat emphasizing the institutional affiliation of thipublicworshipto the clergy of tn-at church.But what about Davinus,dress and appearance? TheVita contained no details about the holy man's lay or religiousstatus; we only learnthat he had been a pilgrim,but in this casé he's not iepresÀited in the traditional habitof a travellerto Santiago(usually wearing a largehat with a sheiland a rude tunicand holding a stick).Saint Symeon the Armenian was usually represented as a priestor a Benedictinemonk, because of hisaffiliation to the abbey of banBenedetto al Polirone26.Davinus' identity was much more difficult to ouiliné.A[hough the fur mighthave been an itemof the pilgrim'swardrobe, such details as its V-neckand wa.vyedge seem quite unusual and recallthe shapeof a prieslydress, like the pelliceum wornin winter.Much more astonishing is hísorange tunic-and cowl, whose colorpossibly echoed that of the canonsof saÀ Micheleinioro. Thatsort of koukoutioncovering his head,as wellas the saint'slong beard, may be regardedas the mostexotic feature within the image,aiming at sùggestinghió beingan Armenianmonk, although in quitegeneric ano iancituiterms. ilUe shluld emphasizethat, by the 14th and 1Sth century, Lltin clergymen(apart from missionaries to theNear East) were.not allowed to growa beard,sJnce tnis'one was regarded as a specificdevice of Orientalmonks and priests;because of this matterof fact,the :11ît'slook in the paintingproves to be evenmore meaningful, since we knowfrom 17thcentury sources that the corpseshowed a clean-shaìrenchin27. lt is unlikely, however,that Davinus'features had been inspired by the Basilian friars,attire, sincé, asfar as we. know by the early 1Sth century tney weie dressed in the white tunic with blackscapular of the Dominican conversi whosé constitutions they had been obliged to followin 135628;before that date, they had worn a bluishhabit and had useà to covertheirhead with a capand cowl of the same colour, as we see in a fresco,dating backto1348,inthechurchofSanMatteodeg|iArmeniinPerugia2 .. Probablythe regular canons only aimed at suggestingsome úague assonance of thatholy man from the East-.withtheir priestly status. Unàoubtedly, iheir strategies of cultsponsorship proved efficacious; st. Davinus'public worship became more and morepopular during the 15thand 16th centuries, and it wasstili alive in thefirst half ofthe 20th century. ln 1592the corpse was located on the main altar and became the maindevotional focus in the church.Each year on July3rd hisfeast drew a great crowdto SanMichele in Foro,and the old earthen sarcophagus was filled with water whichwas then given to the sickas a miraculousdrink; móreover, those suffering fromhead-ache were allowed to wearfor some minutes St. Davinus'cowl, which haà beenfound inside his tomb3o. The room where it wassaid that the saint had spent his lastdays was also an importantdestination of localdevotees; it waslocated on the firstfloor of via calderia,just next to san Michelein Foro,and nouseo a hospicefor pilgrims andmendicants and also a littlechapel whose altar was embellished by a sculptedgroup of the crucifixion, allegedty the one being specialty worshippeo oy íne -553- holyArmenianhimself. There was also a frescoedimage of the Virgin and Child with the ArchangelMichael and Davinus, probably dating Oaóf to Medievaltimes. This one, beingthe only other extant iconographic witness of thesaint, was destroyed no later thanthe 1930s;according to a 17th century historian, a replicaof the three figures was paintedon the external wall of the building, where we canstill see a streettabernacle housinga muchrepainted fresco of the Virgin Mary.t. We cannotbut conclude that the vicissitudes of SaintDavinus'worship in Lucca testifythat the prestigeof Armenians- thoseEastern.Christians who, unlikethe Greeks,had more fully recognized the spiritual authority of the Roman Catholícchurch - wasquite slow to vanish.Although the Basilian monks had completely disappéared in Luccaas earlyas the early16th century, important Armenian communities were stillalive in the near:bytowns of Pisaand Livorno. Some of theseArmenians, such as thebishopAr'ak'el ofYerevan in 1669,participated inthe yearly feast of Saint Davinus on June 3'dand were probablypleased to learnthat a fellowcountryman was so widelyworshipped by the peopleof Lucca. Appendix.Evidence about the ArmenianFriars in Late MediaevalLucca ' Sources: B. Baroni,Detle chiesedetto Statodi Lucca,notizie estrafte dagtiArchivi di Lucca [18thcentury], Lucca, Biblioteca Governativa, ms. 915. A.N.Cianelli, Collected nofes [18th century], Lucca, Biblioteca Governativa, ms. 1771. A. Lettieri,Zibatdone 2, Lucca,Archiviodi Stato,Dono Leftieri,vol. lX. ca.1290 AnArmenian inscription, probably walled up in the Cathedralfagadeinthe 16thcentury and coming from the church of SanPaolo degliArmeni, may date back to the 13thcentury. lt reads: z-YakobKarc'i-n yisec'ék'[]. 1320Adocument dated December 8, 1363,r:ecords that in 1320 thePrior and the Chapter of the church of SantiGiovanni e Reparata hadallocated a plot to the Armenian Giovanni di Martino[Hovhannes Mardinyan?1,friar of SaintBasil, Prior and administrator.Since the oratorywas alreadyextant by 1310,they probablyhad taken up residencein Luccaalready in the previous decades,perhaps in thesecond half of the 13thcentury. 1348OnApril 7, Cilladi PuccioMassavitelli de'Mansi, widow of the noblemanNicolao Arnolfi, makes a bequestof ten /ireto the Armenianchurch. 1348OnJuly 8, a younggirl named Tora, daughter of the merchant BiancuccioBianchi, makes a testamentarybequest in favourof the Armenianfriars living next to thechurch of SantiGiovanni e Reparata; shegrants them a florinand her major silken handbag, which should be convertedinto a liturgicalcushion for their main altar. 1356Thebishop of Lucca,Berengarius, appoints brotherJacopo di Giovanli[Hakob Hovhannisyan?l de lJrbe.asthenew prior of San PaolodegliErmini. 1363Theprior of San Paolodegli Erminiasks the Lucca Governmentfor permissionto expandthe churchof theArmenian friars.They are allowed to enlargethe frontwalls of the building as far -554- i

asthe public waY. 14O8TheGeneral Minister of the Orderof the Cruciferiwritesto the Lordof Lucca,Paolo Guinigi, and askshim to removethe Armenianfriars from the church of santaMaria del corso near the SanDonato Gate. 141 0 Act of conversionof Colombafrom Monte Catinello, by which sheoffers herself to theGeneral Minister of ArmenianFriars as an oblateto theconvent of santaMaria del corso near the san Donato Gate,by virtue of her special devotion to SaintBasil and the Armenian Friars. 1416OnJune 10, the Chapterof SantiGiovanni e Reparata allocatesto brotherAndrea di Giovanni[Andres Hovhannisyan?], thenPrior of the churchof san PaoloApostolo, the plotlocated after andnext to thewall of the sacristyof SantiGiovanni e Reparata,as wellas to the lanebordering the wall of theAntelminelli mansion. lt canonly be usedby the Armenian friars for the burial of theplague- striken. 1418Theehurches and convents of san Paolodegli Armeni and santaMaria del corso near the san DonatoGate are mentioned as dependingon the samePrior. 1438Thechurches and convents of SanPaolo degli Armeni and santaMaria del corso near the san DonatoGate are mentioned as dependingon thesame Prior 144OThechurches and convents of SanPaolo degliArmeni and santaMaria del corso near the san DonatoGate are mentioned as dependingon the samePrior 1462Îhe Priorof San Paolodegli Armeni in Lucca,Brother crescimbenefrom Milan,renounces the ownershipof the church andconvent of santaMaria del corsonear the san DonatoGate andrecognizes the rightsof the carmelitesof san Piercigoli over them. 1538Thenobleman Cristoforo Bernardi is granted patronage over thechurch of SanBartolomeo del Gallo, which changes its titulation, aftersome years, to San Pao;loal Gal/o.One maysuppose that the titleof theArmenian church was transferred to thisone after it was destroyedby Bernardiin orderto buildhis private palace. 1547TheOpera di SantaReparata pleads with the Bernardi family for repairsto be madeon the dome of the baptistry.In exchange for this,the Bernardiwillbe granted a plotlocated between the garden andthe church, next to thelane bordering the former oratory of San PaolodegliArmeni.

Literature 1 CÍ. B.L. Zeniyan,8.L., Le colonie armene del medio evo in ltaliae le relazioni culturali italo-armene (Materiali per la storia degti Armeni in |talia), in Atti del primo simposio '1 internazionaledi artearmena (Bergamo 975),Venezia 19V8, pp. 803-946;ldem (ed.), G1 Armeni in ltalia,exhibition catalogue (lsland of San Lazzaro-Padua1990), Rome 1990;ldem (ed.),Ad timina ltatiae,ar druns italioy.ln viaggioper t'ltaliacon mercantie monaci armeni,Venezia 1996: G/l Armeni lungo Ie straded'ltalia, Proceedings of an -s55- internationalcongress (Livorno, 11 novembre19g7), pisa-Roma 199g. 2 c. Mutafian (ed.),Roma-Armenia, exhibition catalogue (Vatican city 1999),Rome 1999, pp.235-248.

3 lbidem, p. 238.

4 c. Gaignehef, san Miniato, ibidem, p. 245. cf. c. Leonardi, san Miniato: it maftire e il suo culto sul Monte di Firenze,in La Basilicadi San Miniato al Monte di Firenze.Firenze 1988,pp. 279-285;G. Dameron,The Cult of St. Miniasand the Struggtefor Powerin the Dioceseof Florence,1011-1018, in 13 (1987),pp.12S- 141. "vita" 5 P Golinelli,La dis. smeone monaco,in , ser. lll, 20 (1979),pp. 709-788:idem, San SimeoneArmeno, in Mutafian,Roma-Armema, cit., pp. 241-242. 6 P. Chobanian, Roma e l'ltalianei raccontidei viaggiatoriarmeni, in Mutafian,Roma- Armenia,cit., pp. 252-254.cf. also G. Dedéyan,Les Arméniensen occident (fin Xe- débutXle siècle),in Occidentet Orientau Xe siècle,Proceedings of a congress(Dijon 1978),Paris 1979, pp. 123-143.

7 Guillelmus de Rubruk, ltinerarium,chap. )(XXVll (ed. A. t'Serstevens, I precursori di Marco Polo, Milano1982, p. 306).

8 About St. Davinus, cf. A. Saminiati,Rflessloni soprala vita di s. Davino armeno, Lucca 1700;S. Akelian, Davino, in Enciclopediacaftolica, Vatican City 1950, vol. lV,coll. 1 248- 1249; P. Lazzarini, Davino, sanfo, in Bibliotheca sanctorum, Rome 1964, vol. lV col. 520; R. Grégoire, Lagiografialucchese antica e medievale,proceedings of a sympo- sium(Lucca 1982), Lucca 1984, pp.45-70 (56);M. Bacci,lmmaginie devozionenel tardo Medioevolucchese. Alcune riflessioniin marginealla mostra,in M.T. Fitieri, Sumptuosatabula picta.Pittori a Lucca tra gotico e rinascimento,exhibition catalogue (Lucca 1998),Livorno 1998, pp.76-97 (93-9a);D. Dineili, San Davino- Lucca,in Roma-Armenia,cit., pp. 238-240.

9 Acta sanctorumlunii, Antverpiae 1695, vol. l, pp. 329-221. Laterversions of the legend were publishedby S. Razzi,Vite de'santi e beatitoscani,Firenze 1593, pp. 164-167, andC. Franciotti,Historiadellemiracoloseimmagini edellevitede'santi,icorpi de' gualisono nellacittà di Lucca,Lucca 1613, pp.329-353. cf. also Vita di s. Davino armeno.Cenni di un sacerdotelucchese, Lucca 189g. 10 D. Dinelli, Un Passionariolucchese det Xll secolo:i manoscriftiA.79/81 delt'Archiviodet CapitolodiS. GiovanniinLaterano, in (1996), 2, pp. 5-16. 11 S. Savrgnr,Episcopato e societàcittadina a Lucca, Lucca 19g6, p. 339. 12 E.B. Ganison,Studies in the Historyof Mediaevalltalian Painting, Florence 1953-1962, vol.l, pp. 131 note6, 137 note2.

13 M. Owl'owrlean [Ughurlianl, Storiadella coloniaarmena di Livornoe dellacostruzione dellasua chiesa,ed. byA. Orengo,Livorno 1990, pp. 193-195(ltalian annotated edition of owl'owrlean's book Patmovvt'iwnHayoc' gal't'akanowt'eanew s^inovyt'eanekel'ec'woy noc'aiLivor^noy k'al'ak'i. Handerj yawelowacovk', Venice 1g91). 14 This hypothesiswas suggestedto me by Prof. HamletPetrossian during the conference in Yerevanín September2003. -556- 15F. Luzzati Laganà, Fondazionee prime vicendedel monasteroarmeno di S. Antoniodi Spazzavento in Pisa(XrV secoro), in Zekiyan,Ad riminartariae, cit., pp. 129-14g;eadem, Aspettidell'insediamento armenoin Pisanel Trecento, ln GliArmenilungo le strade d,ltalia, ctt.,pp. 13-22. 16Archival evidence aboutthe Armenianfriars is collectedin some unpublishednotes col- lectedby the localhistorian Anselmo Lettieri in the 1940s.cf. Lucca,Archivio di stato, Dono Lettieri,vol. rX (Zibardone2). cf. arsozekiyan, Le coroniearmene, cit., pp. g9z-89g. 17 V'R.Giustiniani, Liscrizionearmena nella cattedrale di San Martinodi Lucca,in > 1212 (1994), pp. 23_28. 18on thesubject ofArmeno-Basilian or Bartholomitefriars in ltalycf. G Bitio, Relazionedel principio e statodella sagra religionedei Fratidi S. Basiliod'egli Armeni in ltalia,pavia 1640;M.A' Van oudenrijn, Les constitutionsdes Frèresarméniàns en ltalie,Rome .1940; Idem,Notulae de domibusBartholomitarum seu fratrumArmenorum citra mare consistentium, praedicatorum in 22(1gs2),pp.247-267;c. Delacroix_ Besnier,lmonaci basiliani inltalia(secoli Xlll-XV),inRoma-Armenia,cit.,pp.2oB-211. 19Some documentary evidenceabout St. Paul's of theArmeniansis collectedin G.Concioni- c. Ferri-G.Ghilarducci, .l Artee pitturanel Medioevo lucchese, Lucca 994,p. 224.on April 7,1348, Cilladi PuccioMassavitelli de'Mansi, widow of the noblemanNicolaoArnolfi, made a bequestof ten lireto theArmenianchurch (Lucca, Archivio di Stato,Testamenti, n" 3, c. 20v). on June 10, 14j6, the rectorof the baptismalchurch of santa Reparata rentedto the prior of the Armenianfriars (brother Andrew of the lateJohn from pisa)a burialsite locatednext to the sacristyof SantaReparata (Lucca, Archivio arcivescovile, Libri antichidi cancelleria,n" 51, c.23v). Furtherarchival evidence, being unaccessible today,was collectedin the 18thcentury by the localhistorians B. Baroniand A.N. Cianelli (cf Lucca, BibliotecaGovernativa, mss. 915 and 1771)and transcrlbedafter them by A. Lettieriin hisZibaldone 2 (Lucca,Archivio di Stato,Dono Lettieri, vol. lX). see ourAppen_ dixA. 20 Lucca,Archivio pergamene di stato, s. MariaForisportam, 134g, June g: .cf. M. Bacci,. lmmagini sacre e pratiche devozionali in ltaliacentrale (secoli Xlll e XIV),pisa 2000, p.292 anànote 201. 21 Cf.entries nn'Vll,60 and61, in Roma_Armenia,cit., pp. 233_234. 22 A. ChiappelÍ, Pistoia,Firenze 1923,p. 126. 23 The inscription reads:.Cf. Bacci,lmmagini e devozione,cit., p. 95 note20. 24 A. Capitanio, entryn' 96, in C. Baracchini(ed.), Oreficeria sacra a Luccadal Xlll al XV secolo,exhibition catarogue(Lucca 1991), Frorence 1993, p. 466. The reriquarywas worked out by the goldsmithBartolomeo Stefani; cf. the documentarywitness in E. Lazzareschi,Gli orafiCola Spinellie BartolomeoStefani, in 1112 (1929), pp.254-261.

25 The authorof the image is known under the conventionalnickname of "San Davino Master";cf. A. Labriola,entry n. 26, in Filieri,Sumptuosa tabula picta, cit., pp. 242-243. Cf. alsoG Kaftal,The lconographyof the Saintsin TuscanPainting, Florence 1952, p. 306 andfig. 351.

26 Entries nn" V|il,8 through10, in Roma-Armenia,clt., p. 243. 27 Cf the remarksof Fiorentiniand Papebrochin Actasanctorum lunii, vol. l, pp. 335-336. 28Van Oudenrijn,Lesconstitutions, cit., p. 136;Delacroix-Besnier, I monaci basiliani, cit., p. 209. Accordingto Bitio,Relatione, cit., pp. 31, 33:34, their habit had been that of Dominicanconversi already before 1356, but Owl'owrlean,Storia della colonia armena di Livorno,cit., p. 199, writesthat beforethat datethey had worn an Orientalhabit, i.e. a deep bluetunic with a stoleJikescapular, and a blackcape and cowl. 29 G. Traina,Materiali sulla presenza armena nella Perugia medievale, in Ad liminaltaliae, cit.,pp. 97-113.

30 G. Barsotti, Lucca sacra.Guida storico-artistico-religiosadi Lucca, Lucca 1923,p. 273. 31 Saminiati,Riflessioni, cit., p. 89.

32 The namesof someArmenian visitors were recordedin some manuscripbpreserved in the archiveof San Michelein Foro;some of them (suchas a bishopYov'annesin 1596 and the bishopAfak'el of Yerevanin 1669) signed a declarationsupporting Davinus' Armeniannationality. Cf. Owl'owrl'ean,Storia della colonia armena di Livorno,cit., p. 1g5.

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