A “LOST” MANUSCRIPT ON THE JOURNEY OF THREE VENETIANS FROM ALEPPO TO JERUSALEM

A unique Italian manuscript «Ital. Q IV. N 21» is kept in the National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg. This is a copy of a travel diary of the three Venetians Pietro Querini, Bernardino Cornaretto and Bernardino Cole in the Holy Land. At the end of the 16th century they made a pilgrimage from Aleppo through Damascus to Jerusalem and back. Originally, this manuscript was kept in the book collection of Paolo di Bruschi. Then it was in the collection of Baldassare Boncompagni. In the 19th century it was described in the catalog of E. Narducci and was known to R. Röricht. At the end of the 19th century Boncompagni’s collection was sold out, the manuscript arrived in Russia and was forgotten and lost by researchers for a long time. In the modern catalog of the Boncompagni library, compiled in 2013 by R.B. Thomson and M. Folkerts, the manuscript is described by using the catalogues of E. Narducci and R. Röricht with a question mark about the place of its current location. In this paper, the history of this manuscript is traced, its source study features are revealed, and a brief description of its main content is given. The task of this work is to reintroduce this manuscript into scientific community, to show that it has not disappeared and requires close attention and study. The Venetian travel diary is the most important source on the history of European pilgrimages in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period.

manuscript, libraries, pilgrims, pilgrimage, travel, Venetians, merchants, Holy Land