medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Sunday, June 19, 2005, at 9:28 pm, Phyllis wrote:
> Silverius ... was taken to the island of
> Palmarola (off Naples) ...
Palmarola is no more "off Naples" than Kloster Schönau (of saints of the
day 18. June) is "near Bonn". The most westerly of the larger Pontine
(Ponzian) Islands, it is, like the rest of the archipelago to which it
belongs, off mainland southern Lazio and is in fact part of Lazio's
Latina Province. The Pontine Islands did indeed belong for many
centuries to the mostly mainland kingdom of Sicily (vulgo, "kingdom of
Naples") and to its nineteenth-century successor, the Kingdom of the Two
Sicilies, whose capital was also Naples; following that logic, though,
one might say with only slighly greater lack of merit that the Isle of
Arran is "off Edinburgh" (though, to be sure, Naples at least lies along
the same coast as does Lazio's Latina Province). At the time of Pope
Silverius these islands formed part of the duchy of Rome and would
usually have been reached by sailing from the latter's southern ports,
esp. Terracina, just as one does today (though now to Terracina one
would add Gaeta, not yet developed in the sixth century).
The map on this page shows the Pontine Islands ("P") in relation to
Rome, to southern Lazio, and to Naples ("A"); solid and dotted blue
lines indicate the usual ferry routes:
http://mappe.virgilio.it/tc/mappa.jsp?com1=ponza+(lt)&to1=&civ1=&com2=napoli+(na)&to2=&civ2=&rg=12&pv=na&cx=13.60549&cy=40.87361&lx=12.96315&ly=40.89415&ex=14.24783&ey=40.85308&z=180.0&rtg=C&d=1
TinyURL for this: http://tinyurl.com/dga76
> John of Matera (d. 1139) John was a native of the kingdom of
> Naples
John was a native of the duchy of Apulia, subsequently (from 1130) part
of the kingdom of Sicily. The political separation the latter's insular
and mostly mainland areas began in 1302/03 as a result of the War of the
Sicilian Vespers (1282-1302) and remained a matter of dispute and
occasional armed conflict throughout the fourteenth century. It was the
thus separated mostly mainland portion that -- over two centuries after
John's birth -- became known popularly as the "kingdom of Naples".
Best,
John Dillon
PS: If Delaney is responsible for these geographic references, this is
one aspect of his book that certainly ought to be treated with caution.
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