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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
CHAP. NII. rUNDÚhDAR'S INVASION OF ARMENIA
so that our Envoys ran a great peril of being taken or
slaln.3 And when the Preaching Friars saw this they
were greatly frightened, and said that go they never
would. So they made over to Messer Nicolas and
Messer Maffeo all their credentials and documents, and
took their leave, departing in company with the Master
of the Temple.4
NOTE I.—Friar William, of Tripoli, of the Dominican convent at Acre, appears to have served there as early as 1250. [He was born circa 1220, at Tripoli, in Syria, whence his name.—H. C.] He is known as the author of a book, De Statu Saracenorum post Ludovici Regis de Syrid reditum, dedicated to Theoldus, Archdeacon of Liége (i.e. Pope Gregory). Of this some extracts are printed in Duchesne's Hist. Francoru;u Scriptores. There are two MSS. of it, with different titles, in the Paris Library, and a French version in that of Berne. A MS. in Cambridge Univ. Library, which contains among other things a copy of Pipino's Polo, has also the work of Friar William :—" Willelmus Tripolitanzzs, Aconensis Conventus, de Eg ressu 11Zaclzometi et Saracenorum, atque prod ressu eorumdenz, de Status Saracenorum," etc. It is imperfect ; it is addressed THEOBALDO Ecclesiarclzo digno Sande Terre Pereg-rino Sancto. And from a cursory inspection I imagine that the Tract appended to one of the Polo MSS. in the British Museum (Addl. MSS., No. 19,952) is the same work or part of it. To the same author is ascribed a tract called Clades Darziatae. (Duches;ze, V. 432 ; D'Avesac in Rec. de Voyages, IV. 406 ; Qué1iJ, Scrij t. Ord. Praed. I. 264-5 ; Catal. of MSS. in Ca;ub. Univ. Library, I. 22.)
NOTE 2.--I presume that the powers, stated in this passage from Ramusio to have been conferred on the Friars, are exaggerated. In letters of authority granted in
like cases by Pope Gregory's successors, Nicolas III. (in 1278) and Boniface VIII. (in 1299), the missionary friars to remote regions are empowered to absolve from excommunication and release from vows, to settle matrimonial questions, to found churches and appoint ido;zcos redores, to authorise Oriental clergy who should publicly submit to the Apostolic See to enjoy the privilegium clericale, whilst in the absence of bishops those among the missionaries who were priests might consecrate cemeteries, altars, palls, etc., admit to the Order of Acolytes, but nothing beyond. (See Mosheim, Hist. Tartar. Eccles. App. Nos. 23 and 42.)
NOTE 3.—The statement here about Bundúhdár's invasion of Cilician Armenia is a difficulty. He had invaded it in 1266, and his second devastating invasion, during which he burnt both Layas and Sis, the king's residence, took place in 1275, a point on which Marino Sanuto is at one with the Oriental historians. Now we know from Rainaldus that Pope Gregory left Acre in November or December, 1271, and the text appears to imply that our travellers left Acre before him. The utmost corroboration that I can find lies in the following facts stated by Makrizi :-
On the 13th Safar, A.H. 670 (loth September 1271), Bundúkdár arrived unexpectedly at Damascus, and after a brief raid against the Ismaelians he returned to that city. In the middle of Rabi I. (about 20-25 October) the Tartars made an incursion in northern Syria, and the troops of Aleppo retired towards Hamah. There was great alarm at Damascus ; the Sultan sent orders to Cairo for reinforcements, and these arrived at Damascus on the 9th November. The Sultan then advanced on Aleppo, sending corps likewise towards Marash (which was within the Armenian frontier) and Ilarran. At the latter place the Tartars were attacked and those in the town slaughtered ; the rest retreated. The Sultan was back at
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