Simon Atumano
Encyclopedia
Simon Atumano was the Bishop of Gerace in Calabria
from 23 June 1348 until 1366 and the Latin Archbishop of Thebes thereafter until 1380. Born in Constantinople
, Atumano was of Greco-Turkish
stock, his surname deriving from the word "Ottoman." He was a famous humanist
and an influential Greek scholar
in the Italian Renaissance
.
transferred Atumano to the see of Thebes in reward for his "great integrity." Atumano did not begin well with the Catalan Company
which ruled Thebes as part of the Duchy of Athens
at the time. He was described later as "a very lukewarm Catalan." While the Catalans supported the Avignon Papacy
during the Western Schism
, Atumano remained faithful to Rome.
In 1379, Atumano assisted the Navarrese Company
under Juan de Urtubia
to take Thebes. The details of the assistance he gave them are unknown, but it put him in further bad stead with the Catalans. However, Atumano got along no better with the Navarrese and sometime in 1380–1381 he fled to Italy, where he was at Rome in the winter of the latter year. He lost 1,500 florins
of revenue from Thebes and lived thereafter in poverty "more acceptable in the sight of God," though the Peter IV of Aragon
assumed that Atumano would receive a higher dignity from the Roman Pope. From Italy he wrote to Demetrius Cydonius about his worries for his flock and about the blasphemy and lack of respect for law of the Ispanoi, that is, the Navarrese.
while in Thebes. In the mid-late 1370s, he began the composition of a Biblia Triglotta, a polyglot Latin-Greek
-Hebrew bible written a century before the Complutensian Polyglot. Whether or not Atumano's interest in Hebrew was ignited by the large Jewish presence in Thebes is unknown, since it appears that the Jewish population there had dwindled significantly by the late fourteenth century. The Biblia Triglotta, dedicated to Urban VI, was never finished. He did, however, complete a Hebrew translation of the New Testament
and a Greek of the Old
.
In 1373, Atumano translated the De remediis irae of Plutarch
into Latin from Greek. In 1381–2 he taught Greek to Raoul de Rivo.
, for his "innate goodness and praiseworthy character" and by his twentieth-century biographer as "no common scholar." Coluccio Salutati
, the famous Florentine humanist, praised him to Petrarch
as a vir multe venerationis: most venerable man. He was made a citizen of the Republic of Venice
. Even the Antipope Clement VII
referred to him as of bone memorie (good memory).
However, some latter day historians, especially the Catalan
Antonio Rubió y Lluch, have labelled him an untrustworthy scoundrel on the basis of four documents in the archives of the Crown of Aragon
in Barcelona
dated to 1381 and 1382. In one of the letters, Peter IV of Aragon requests that Urban VI remove Atumano from Thebes and replace him with John Boyl, the Bishop of Megara
, exiled from his see since the Florentine occupation of 1374. According to the letter, Atumano fled to Italy when still a Greek monk on account of nefarious sins for which, Peter claims, he would have been burned alive. In Italy, he succeeded in "parading himself as a man of honour" and so obtaining the archdiocese from Pope Gregory XI
. The letter, however, is probably mere calumny, as the "only verifiable information given" is readily falisified: Gregory was not Pope when Atumano received the archbishopric.
Calabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....
from 23 June 1348 until 1366 and the Latin Archbishop of Thebes thereafter until 1380. Born in Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, Atumano was of Greco-Turkish
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
stock, his surname deriving from the word "Ottoman." He was a famous humanist
Renaissance humanism
Renaissance humanism was an activity of cultural and educational reform engaged by scholars, writers, and civic leaders who are today known as Renaissance humanists. It developed during the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth centuries, and was a response to the challenge of Mediæval...
and an influential Greek scholar
Greek scholars in the Renaissance
The migration of Byzantine scholars and other émigrés from southern Italy and Byzantium during the decline of the Byzantine Empire and mainly after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 until the 16th century, is considered by some scholars as key to the revival of Greek and Roman studies and...
in the Italian Renaissance
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe...
.
Ecclesiastical and political career
On 17 April 1366, Pope Urban VIPope Urban VI
Pope Urban VI , born Bartolomeo Prignano, was Pope from 1378 to 1389.-Biography:Born in Itri, he was a devout monk and learned casuist, trained at Avignon. On March 21, 1364, he was consecrated Archbishop of Acerenza in the Kingdom of Naples...
transferred Atumano to the see of Thebes in reward for his "great integrity." Atumano did not begin well with the Catalan Company
Catalan Company
The Catalan Company of the East , officially the Magnas Societas Catalanorum, sometimes called the Grand Company and widely known as the Catalan Company, was a free company of mercenaries founded by Roger de Flor in the early 14th-century...
which ruled Thebes as part of the Duchy of Athens
Duchy of Athens
The Duchy of Athens was one of the Crusader States set up in Greece after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire during the Fourth Crusade, encompassing the regions of Attica and Boeotia, and surviving until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century....
at the time. He was described later as "a very lukewarm Catalan." While the Catalans supported the Avignon Papacy
Avignon Papacy
The Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1376 during which seven Popes resided in Avignon, in modern-day France. This arose from the conflict between the Papacy and the French crown....
during the Western Schism
Western Schism
The Western Schism or Papal Schism was a split within the Catholic Church from 1378 to 1417. Two men simultaneously claimed to be the true pope. Driven by politics rather than any theological disagreement, the schism was ended by the Council of Constance . The simultaneous claims to the papal chair...
, Atumano remained faithful to Rome.
In 1379, Atumano assisted the Navarrese Company
Navarrese Company
The Navarrese Company was a company of mercenaries, mostly from Navarre and Gascony, which fought in Greece during the late 14th century and early 15th century, in the twilight of Frankish power in the dwindling remnant of the Latin Empire...
under Juan de Urtubia
Juan de Urtubia
Juan de Urtubia was a Navarrese royal squire who led first a contingent of fifty men-at-arms on an expedition...
to take Thebes. The details of the assistance he gave them are unknown, but it put him in further bad stead with the Catalans. However, Atumano got along no better with the Navarrese and sometime in 1380–1381 he fled to Italy, where he was at Rome in the winter of the latter year. He lost 1,500 florins
Italian coin florin
The Italian florin was a coin struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard. It had 54 grains of nominally pure gold worth approximately 200 modern US Dollars...
of revenue from Thebes and lived thereafter in poverty "more acceptable in the sight of God," though the Peter IV of Aragon
Peter IV of Aragon
Peter IV, , called el Cerimoniós or el del punyalet , was the King of Aragon, King of Sardinia and Corsica , King of Valencia , and Count of Barcelona Peter IV, (Balaguer, September 5, 1319 – Barcelona, January 6, 1387), called el Cerimoniós ("the Ceremonious") or el del punyalet ("the one...
assumed that Atumano would receive a higher dignity from the Roman Pope. From Italy he wrote to Demetrius Cydonius about his worries for his flock and about the blasphemy and lack of respect for law of the Ispanoi, that is, the Navarrese.
Translation work
Atumano undertook studies of HebrewHebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
while in Thebes. In the mid-late 1370s, he began the composition of a Biblia Triglotta, a polyglot Latin-Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
-Hebrew bible written a century before the Complutensian Polyglot. Whether or not Atumano's interest in Hebrew was ignited by the large Jewish presence in Thebes is unknown, since it appears that the Jewish population there had dwindled significantly by the late fourteenth century. The Biblia Triglotta, dedicated to Urban VI, was never finished. He did, however, complete a Hebrew translation of the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
and a Greek of the Old
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
.
In 1373, Atumano translated the De remediis irae of Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
into Latin from Greek. In 1381–2 he taught Greek to Raoul de Rivo.
Character
Atumano was praised by his contemporary, Frederick III of SicilyFrederick III of Sicily
Frederick II was the regent and subsequently King of Sicily from 1295 until his death. He was the third son of Peter III of Aragon and served in the War of the Sicilian Vespers on behalf of his father and brothers, Alfonso and James...
, for his "innate goodness and praiseworthy character" and by his twentieth-century biographer as "no common scholar." Coluccio Salutati
Coluccio Salutati
Coluccio Salutati was an Italian Humanist and man of letters, and one of the most important political and cultural leaders of Renaissance Florence.-Birth and Early Career:...
, the famous Florentine humanist, praised him to Petrarch
Petrarch
Francesco Petrarca , known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar, poet and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch is often called the "Father of Humanism"...
as a vir multe venerationis: most venerable man. He was made a citizen of the Republic of Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
. Even the Antipope Clement VII
Antipope Clement VII
Robert of Geneva was elected to the papacy as Pope Clement VII by the French cardinals who opposed Urban VI, and was the first Avignon antipope of the Western Schism.-Biography:...
referred to him as of bone memorie (good memory).
However, some latter day historians, especially the Catalan
Catalan people
The Catalans or Catalonians are the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia that form a historical nationality in Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are sometimes included in this definition...
Antonio Rubió y Lluch, have labelled him an untrustworthy scoundrel on the basis of four documents in the archives of the Crown of Aragon
Crown of Aragon
The Crown of Aragon Corona d'Aragón Corona d'Aragó Corona Aragonum controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain and southeastern France, as well as some of the major islands and mainland possessions stretching across the Mediterranean as far as Greece...
in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
dated to 1381 and 1382. In one of the letters, Peter IV of Aragon requests that Urban VI remove Atumano from Thebes and replace him with John Boyl, the Bishop of Megara
Megara
Megara is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens. Megara was one of the four districts of Attica, embodied in the four mythic sons of King...
, exiled from his see since the Florentine occupation of 1374. According to the letter, Atumano fled to Italy when still a Greek monk on account of nefarious sins for which, Peter claims, he would have been burned alive. In Italy, he succeeded in "parading himself as a man of honour" and so obtaining the archdiocese from Pope Gregory XI
Pope Gregory XI
Gregory XI was pope from 1370 until his death.-Biography:He was born Pierre Roger de Beaufort, in Maumont, in the modern commune of Rosiers-d'Égletons, Limousin around 1336. He succeeded Pope Urban V in 1370, and was pope until 1378...
. The letter, however, is probably mere calumny, as the "only verifiable information given" is readily falisified: Gregory was not Pope when Atumano received the archbishopric.
Sources
- Setton, Kenneth M. Catalan Domination of Athens 1311–1380. Revised edition. London: Variorum, 1975.
- Setton, Kenneth M. "The Byzantine Background to the Italian Renaissance." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 100, No. 1. (Feb. 24, 1956), pp 1–76.