medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
In honor of Peter and Paul, herewith a brief look at the fortified
monastery church of the former Basilian monastery of Sts. Peter and
Paul, Apostles, at Casalvecchio (ME) near Taormina in northeastern
Sicily. The monastery dates from shortly before 1116, the year in which
Roger II gave to the monk Gerasimos, who seems to have already begun
construction at the site, the nearby village of Vicus Agryllae (today's
Forza d'Agro'). In the early 1130s the monastery was one of a number
placed under the supervision of the archimandrite of the monastery of
the Most Holy Saviour at Messina but allowed the privilege of electing
their own abbots. In 1171-72 the abbot Theosterictos rebuilt the church
out of his own funds: an inscription recording this benefaction survives
over the church's main entrance. The monastery remained occupied until
1794, when its last inhabitants removed to Messina. The other buildings
are now ruinous, but the church was restored in the last century.
A few views:
http://tinyurl.com/ra3ej
http://tinyurl.com/lnu8n
http://tinyurl.com/oumn6
http://tinyurl.com/lgkhv
http://tinyurl.com/lk8tr
Theosterict's inscription:
http://tinyurl.com/o4832
The three lines facing outward identify and date the benefaction. They
use non-standard suspensions and require some puzzling (or a good trot)
to make out. But the line underneath (facing downward) is quite plainly
read: _Ho protomaistor Girardos ho Phrankos_ ('The master builder [was]
Girard the Frank'). Not only is this part made legible for any visitor
with a little Greek but it also contains two spelling errors that a
Greek-literate person could spot right away (the first and last 'o's in
_protomaistor_ should be omegas, but they're not). Was this the work
crew's (and the abbot's) way of getting back at a Latin Westerner who
had made himself unloved?
The inscription is edited by Andre Guillou in his _Recueil des
inscriptions grecques medievales d'Italie_ (Rome: Ecole Francaise de
Rome, 1996; Collection de l'Ecole Francaise de Rome, no. 222), where it
is no. 205 at pp. 227-28 and pl. 187. Another dedication to Peter and
Paul in the same collection is no. 195 at pp. 210-11 and pl. 181,
recording the building in 1080-81, 'in the days of the illustrious duke
Robert and of his consort Sikelgaita', of a now vanished church at Palermo.
An illustrated page on the Monumento (as it now is) dei SS. Apostoli
Pietro e Paolo d'Agro', with text both in Italian and in German, is here:
http://www.scifiweb.it/La_chiesa.htm
Another Italian-language page (the source of the views linked to above)
is here:
http://tinyurl.com/gdpax
And yet another Italian-language discussion occurs about halfway down
the page here:
http://tinyurl.com/jrlr2
Best,
John Dillon
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|