Cristoforo Buondelmonti

Cristoforo Buondelmonti (* 1386, † 1430 ) was an Italian monk and geographer who created descriptions and maps of the Aegean Sea and Constantinople.

In Florence Buondelmonte probably learned at Guarino Veronese, through whom he met the patron Niccolo Niccoli, which dealt with classical works and geography.

From 1414 to 1430 Buondelmonte be held on Rhodes, Crete and Cyprus, but also within the Byzantine capital Constantinople Opel. At Rhodes he learned Greek. Based on these travels he wrote a Descriptio insulae Cretae (description of the island of Crete ) and the Liber insularum Archipelagi (Book of the islands of the archipelago ), he devoted most in the years 1417 and 1420. His Crete plant Niccolò Niccoli, his work over the Aegean Sea the Cardinal Giordano Orsini. In it he described from the Tuscan perspective the core of the Venetian colonial empire in the Aegean. Crete he attended at least two trips. In addition, he was one of the first authors that adding to it their business cards of the areas described.

1419 acquired Buondelmonte commissioned by Cosimo de ' Medici on the island of Andros a manuscript, translated by an unknown translator named Philippos into Greek, the title Hieroglyphica wore. This in turn was derived from a putative Horapollon writer who described himself as an Egyptian. 1422, the manuscript came to Florence. The work was well known throughout the academic world and often cited, but it was not until 1505 published in Greek in 1515 was followed by a Latin translation.

The Liber insularum was edited in 1824 by G. Reimer in Leipzig and Berlin, other issues followed much later, such as 1974 in Paris. 2005, the Düsseldorf Manuscript Ms. G was 13 issued as facsimile, was published in 2007 a ​​translation into German plus commentary. Buondelmontis Descriptio urbis Constantinopoleos appeared in 1864. Overall, there are about 60 of the manuscripts in the early modern widespread plant.

Editions

• Karl Bayer ( eds.): Cristoforo Buondelmonti. Liber insularum Archipelagi: Transcription of copy University and State Library Dusseldorf Ms. G 13, translation and commentary, Reichert 2007.
• Émile Legrand ( Ed.): Description of the Îles de l'Archipel grec, Philo Press 1974.
• Irmgard Siebert, Max Plassmann (ed.): Cristoforo Buondelmonti. Liber insularum Archipelagi. University and State Library Dusseldorf Ms. G 13, Translation and Commentary, Wiesbaden 2005.