Between Sanudo and Fedanzola: Ashtori Ha-Parḥi as Mediator
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Published:2021-09-21
Issue:3
Volume:27
Page:209-240
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ISSN:1380-7854
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Container-title:Medieval Encounters
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language:
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Short-container-title:Mediev. Encount.
Affiliation:
1. Lecturer of Medieval Studies, Department of Jewish Heritage, Ariel University Israel
2. Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Bar Ilan University Ramat Gan Israel
Abstract
Abstract
This essay will examine the close similarity between the treatises of a Franciscan monk named Giovanni di Fedanzola and a Jewish sage named Ashtori Ha-Parḥi in the fourteenth-century Holy Land. The absence of guides for Christian pilgrims after the final departure of the Crusaders in 1291 was filled inter alia by Jews, and some new traditions regarding toponyms and geographical identifications were adopted by Christians as a result. Fedanzola mostly relied on his predecessors Burchardus de Monte Sion and Marino Sanudo. However, I will demonstrate that there are some instances where Fedanzola accepts Jewish traditions regarding locations mentioned in the Old Testament, with Ashtori Ha-Parḥi as his source. I will also show that positing a relationship between the two can clarify some obscure passages in Ashtori’s treatise, Kaftor va-feraḥ.
Subject
Linguistics and Language,Religious studies,History,Language and Linguistics,Cultural Studies