RICOLDO DA MONTECROCE - Enciclopedia Cattolica, Vol. X, p. 521

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

RICOLDO da MONTECROCE. — Dominican traveler and apologist, born in Florence ca. 1243, died there on 3 Oct. 1320. He entered religious life in his native city in 1267 and for several years taught the liberal arts in Pisa (1272–87), Prato (1287–88), and Florence (1288). In 1288 he began, by order of Nicholas IV, his journey to the East. He traveled through Palestine (in memory of which he took the name Montecrocce), Lesser Armenia, Turkey, and Persia, working for the union of the Jacobites in Mosul and of the Nestorians in Baghdad; he also disputed with Muslims. Frightened by the fall of Acre (18 May 1291), he fled from Baghdad; attacked and robbed, he disguised himself as a camel-driver and reached Mosul and Baghdad. After ten years he is found again in Florence (10 Oct. 1301).

Of his journey Ricoldo left an account, the *Liber peregrinationis*, in which he describes in detail the places visited in the Holy Land, while his topographical indications for the rest of the journey as far as Baghdad are briefer. In this second part he dwells more on the history, customs, character, and religious beliefs of the peoples he visited. He speaks especially of the Mongols, Tartars, and Sabians, of whom he is the first to provide extensive information. The *Liber peregrinationis* was edited by C. M. Laurent in *Peregrinationes medii aevi quattuor* (Leipzig 1864, pp. 101–41); Italian editions by V. Fineschi (Florence 1793, incomplete) and by F. L. Polidori–F. Grottaelli–L. Bianchi (Siena 1864). News of Ricoldo’s journey is also found in his *Epistolae V ad Ecclesiam triumphantem* (ed. R. Röhrich, in *Archives de l’Orient latin*, 2 [1884], pp. 258–96). Also important is his *Improbatio Alcorani* (Seville 1500), a study of Islam written in Florence in 1320. Translated into Greek by Demetrius Cydones (ca. 1360) and retranslated from the Greek into Latin by B. Picerno (Rome 1506), this retranslation saw many editions and caused the original to be forgotten; it was also used by Migne (PG 144, 1035–1152).

BIBL.:** V. Fineschi, *Memorie istoriche degli uomini illustri del convento di S. Maria Novella*, Florence 1700, passim; P. Mann, *Memorie di S. Maria Novella*, Florence 1700, passim; P. Mann, *Memorie di S. Maria Novella* (in *L’Esprit de la foi* 1893, pp. 44–61, 182–222, 584–607); A. Barge, *Der Dominikanermönch Ricoldus und seine Missionare nach dem Orient*, in *Allgemeine Missionszeitschrift*, 4 (1916), pp. 27–40; U. Monneret de Villard, *Il libro della Peregrinazione nelle parti dell’Oriente di frate R. da M.*, Rome 1948.

**RECONCILIATION OF THE CHURCH:** V. CHIESA, B., II, IV.