Durham E-Theses Leiðarvísir. Its Genre and Sources, with Particular Reference to the Description of Rome MARANI, TOMMASO How to cite: MARANI, TOMMASO (2012) Leiðarvísir. Its Genre and Sources, with Particular Reference to the Description of Rome , Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/6397/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Abstract: PhD Thesis, University of Durham 2012 Leiðarvísir. Its Genre and Sources, with Particular Reference to the Description of Rome Tommaso Marani This thesis examines Leiðarvísir, a medieval itinerary from Iceland to the Holy Land. The itinerary indicates stops and distances, but is also rich in significant information on the places along the route. Leiðarvísir has been attributed to the twelfth-century Abbot Nikulás of the Benedictine abbey of Munkaþverá in Iceland and the text has been considered to be a travel account based on the direct experiences gained by the abbot during a journey. An analysis, however, of all the datable termini present in the itinerary demonstrates that the attribution of the whole itinerary to Nikulás cannot be maintained. Having taken into consideration the most relevant criteria and definitions required to categorise a text as ‘travel writing’ and as a ‘travel account’, this thesis will then show that Leiðarvísir does not share any of the distinguishing genre features typical of a travel account, and that it should rather be classified as an impersonal guide. Finally, the thesis focuses on the description of Rome in Leiðarvísir, putting it in the context of other medieval descriptions of Rome. Not only does this contextualization make evident that the description of Rome is largely based on written sources, but it also proves that some of its details are incompatible with a twelfth-century dating and with its attribution to Nikulás. It emerges that Leiðarvísir is a work composed by an erudite scholar using written sources, and that it was probably successively enriched and updated with relevant information by one or more later scribes. Leiðarvísir. Its Genre and Sources, with Particular Reference to the Description of Rome Tommaso Marani Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD University of Durham Department of English Studies 2012 Contents List of Illustrations ......................................................................................... vii Tables ............................................................................................................. vii Abbreviations used ........................................................................................ viii Introduction ...................................................................................................... x 1 Leiðarvísir and Abbot Nikulás .................................................................. 1 1.1 A Review of Scholarship on Leiðarvísir ............................................ 1 1.2 Manuscript 194 8vo of the Arnamagnæan Collection ........................ 4 1.2.1 Leiðarvísir as an Autonomous Text ............................................. 6 1.3 Abbot Nikulás ..................................................................................... 9 1.3.1 Nikulás, the First Abbot of Munkaþverá ...................................... 9 1.3.2 Other Information about Nikulás’s Biography in Primary Sources ...................................................................................................11 1.3.3 Nikulás Sæmundarson: A Problematic Attribution .................... 12 1.3.4 Other Works Attributed to Abbot Nikulás ................................. 16 1.4 The Itinerary ..................................................................................... 17 1.4.1 From Iceland to Denmark........................................................... 17 1.4.2 From Ålborg to Stade ................................................................. 18 1.4.3 From Stade to Mainz .................................................................. 19 1.4.4 From Mainz to Lake Geneva ...................................................... 22 1.4.5 From Lake Geneva to Rome ...................................................... 23 1.4.6 Rome .......................................................................................... 31 1.4.7 From Rome to Bari and Brindisi ................................................ 32 1.4.8 From Italy to Acre ...................................................................... 35 1.4.9 From Acre to Jerusalem ............................................................. 37 1.4.10 Jerusalem and the Holy Land ..................................................... 39 1.4.11 From the Holy Land to Ålborg ................................................... 41 1.5 The Dating and the Attribution of Leiðarvísir ................................. 42 1.5.1 The Datable Termini in Leiðarvísir ............................................ 42 1.5.2 Problems in the Attribution of Leiðarvísir to Nikulás of Munkaþverá .............................................................................. 44 iv 2 The Genre of Leiðarvísir ......................................................................... 48 2.1 Previous Definitions of Leiðarvísir .................................................. 48 2.2 Travel Writing and Travel Accounts ................................................ 54 2.2.1 Travel Writing ............................................................................ 55 2.2.2 Travel Accounts ......................................................................... 58 2.2.3 Features of Medieval Travel Accounts ...................................... 61 2.3 Absence of Evidence to Define Leiðarvísir as a ‘Travel Account’.. 78 2.3.1 Travel Accounts in Old Norse Literature ................................... 83 2.4 Features of Medieval Pilgrim Guides ............................................... 87 2.5 Leiðarvísir as a Pilgrim Guide ......................................................... 92 2.6 Medieval Pilgrim Guides to the Holy Land ..................................... 97 2.6.1 The Innominati Guides ............................................................... 98 2.6.2 Leiðarvísir and the Innominati Guides ..................................... 100 2.7 Conclusions .................................................................................... 109 3 The Description of Rome in Leiðarvísir ................................................ 111 3.1 The Description of Rome in Leiðarvísir (Description A) .............. 111 3.2 The Description of Rome in borga skipan (Description B) ........... 114 3.3 Medieval Descriptions of Rome ..................................................... 116 3.4 The Dimensions of the City ............................................................ 118 3.5 The Five Patriarchal Churches ....................................................... 120 3.6 The Indulgentiae ecclesiarum as a Source for Description A and B .........................................................................................................120 3.7 The Church of John the Baptist ...................................................... 130 3.7.1 The ‘Throne of the Pope’ ......................................................... 132 3.7.2 The List of Relics in Leiðarvísir: Sources and Dating ............. 133 3.8 The Church of Santa Maria Maggiore ............................................ 160 3.9 San Lorenzo fuori le mura .............................................................. 161 3.10 Sant’Agnese fuori le mura .......................................................... 161 3.10.1 The Constantinian Basilica of Sant’Agnese and the Basilica Built by Pope Honorius I ................................................................. 162 3.10.2 The Honorian Basilica in Pilgrim Guides ................................ 165 v 3.10.3 Written Sources for Sant’Agnese in Leiðarvísir ...................... 166 3.10.4 Possible Written Sources for the Description of the Church of Sant’Agnese ............................................................................ 172 3.11 The Porta Latina and San Giovanni a Porta Latina .................... 174 3.12 The Palace of Diocletian ............................................................. 174 3.13 Santa Maria in Domnica and Santi Giovanni e Paolo ................ 175 3.14 The Pantheon .............................................................................. 176 3.15 The Church of San Paolo fuori le mura ...................................... 179 3.16 The Catacombs and San Sebastiano fuori le mura ..................... 180 3.17 The Tiber..................................................................................... 181 3.18 The Castle of Crescentius ........................................................... 182 3.19 The Kauphús of Peter the Apostle