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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
i
F
INTRODUCTION
I.~
More trustworthy traditions, recorded among the Family
Histories of Venice, but still no more it is believed than
traditions, represent the Family of Polo as having come from
Sebenico in Dalmatia, in the II th century.* Before the end of
the century they had taken seats in the Great Council of
the Republic ; for the name of Domenico Polo is said to be
subscribed to a grant of 1094, that of Pietro Polo to an act
of the time of the Doge Domenico Michiele in 1122, and that of
a Domenico Polo to an acquittance granted by the Doge
Domenico Morosini and his Council in 1153.1-
The ascertained genealogy of the "Traveller, however, begins
only with his grandfather, who lived in the early part of the
13th century.
Two branches of the Polo Family were then recognized,
distinguished by the confini or Parishes in which they lived, as
Polo of S. Geremia, and Polo of S. Felice. ANDREA POLO of
S. Felice was the father of three sons, MARCO, NICOLO, and
MAFFEO. And N icolo was the Father of our Marco.
14. Till quite recently it had never been precisely ascer-
tained whether the immediate family of our Traveller belonged
to the Nobles of Venice properly so called, who had
Claims to
be styled seats in the Great Council and were enrolled in the
noble. Libro d'Oro. Ramusio indeed styles our Marco Nobile
and Mag nivico, and Rusticiano, the actual scribe of the
Traveller's recollections, calls him "sajes et noble citaiens de
Venece," but Ramusio's accuracy and Rusticiano's precision were
scarcely to be depended on. Very recently, however, since the
subject has been discussed with accomplished students of the
Venice Archives, proofs have been found 'establishing Marco's
personal claim to nobility, inasmuch as both in judicial decisions
and in official resolutions of the Great Council, he is designated
Nobilis Vir, a formula which would never have been used in such
documents (I am assured) had he not been technically noble.+
* The Genealogies of Marco Barbaro specify 1033 as the year of the migration to
Venice ; on what authority does not appear (MS. copy in Museo Civico at Venice).
t Caj5j5ellari, u. s., and Barbaro. In the same century we find (T125, I 195) indi-
cations of Polos at Torcello, and of others (ii6o) at Equileo, and (1 179, 1206) Lido
Maggiore ; in 1154 a Marco Polo of Rialto. Contemporary with these is a family of
Polos (1139, 1183, 1193, I2o1) at Chioggia (Documents and Lists of Documents from various Archives at Venice).
$ See Appendix C, Nos. 4, 5, and 16. It was supposed that an autograph of
Marco as member of the Great Council had been discovered, but this proves to be a
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