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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Dear Eliana, On Friday, March 4, 2005, at 4:47 am (my time, not yours!) you wrote, quoting Phyllis: > > Peter of Cava (d. 1123) Peter Pappacarbone was a native of Salerno > > who became a monk at Cava. He spent some years at Cluny, and on his > > return to Italy was appointed bishop of Policastro. But he resigned > > his bishopric and returned to Cava. The monks elected him abbot, > > but > > then complained at his strictness, so he left---only to be recalled > > by the Cava monks again. Peter introduced Cluniac practices at Cava > > and attracted many monks and donations. > > Pappacarbone in Italian means 'the one who eats coal'. Perhaps Cava, > the cave, was/had a coal mine? The Pappacarbone are one of Salerno's medieval noble families. In "popular" accounts of the abbey of the Most Holy Trinity at Cava de' Tirreni (SA), this name is attached both to the founding abbot, Alferius, and to the present Peter (the third abbot). Since the abbey early enjoyed Salernitan princely and other noble patronage, it's not unreasonable to suppose that its third abbot might well have belonged to the local nobility. But was he really a Pappacarbone or is that merely later conjecture? The two places to start looking for an answer would be the _Vitae quatuor priorum abbatum Cavensium_ (formerly ascribed to abbot Hugh II[?] of the abbey of the Most Holy Trinity at Venosa [PZ] but now assigned to his immediate predecessor abbot Peter II of that abbey), which is our basic source for the sainted Peter, and the so-called _Romualdi Salernitani chronicon_, which covers local events down to the year 1178. Both of these are in RIS, 2d series, where they are in vols. 6, pt. 5 and 7, pt. 1, respectively; the latter has recently been re-edited by Cinzia Bonetti, with an Italian translation and with introductory articles by leading scholars, as Romualdo II Guarna, _Chronicon_ (Cava de' Tirreni: Avagliano, 2001). You might find a reference to a pertinent location in one of these (or perhaps even to an early charter out of the abbey's incredibly rich archive) in _La Badia di Cava_, a cura di Giuseppe Fiengo e Franco Strazzullo (Cava de' Tirreni: Di Mauro, 1985-90; 2 vols.). Ditto for a possible coal mine (assuming that you weren't just jesting about this). The Lives of the first four abbots contain both the standard foundation account, with its description of the cave that was the community's first home), and some details about the abbey's economic activities. I don't remember coal, but it's been a while since I read these. And wouldn't lignite be a better bet? Italy is notoriously coal-poor. My (untested) assumption about the 'carbone' part of 'Pappacarbone' has always been that it refers to charcoal. And possibly, by extension, to the offal, etc. that medieval south Italian communities burnt on charcoal pits as a form of public sanitation. In which case the name would originally be derogatory and then borne in defiance or the like (cp. the Neapolitan family name 'Pappacoda", also of medieval origin). But "Pappa-" might also be "Old Man", as in Oscan 'pappus' (as a proper noun, one of the character names in Atellan farce) or even as in a not unheard of term for the bishop of Rome. 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