Abstract
This article offers a first study and edition of Burchard of Mount Sion’s ‘Egyptian section’. This text—hitherto almost completely neglected by scholars—provides a detailed account of Egypt, and is preserved in its entirety in two manuscripts, following Burchard’s Descriptio Terrae Sanctae. The present work provides an analysis of the contents and characteristics of this text, of the cultural context in which it was composed, and of its reception in medieval and early modern times. Appendix 1 includes a provisional edition of Burchard’s account of Egypt. Appendix 2 offers an edition of the final part of a shortened version of this text which is significant from the point of view of the history of its reception.
Highlights
This article offers a first study and edition of Burchard of Mount Sion’s ‘Egyptian section’. This text—hitherto almost completely neglected by scholars—provides a detailed account of Egypt, and is preserved in its entirety in two manuscripts, following Burchard’s Descriptio Terrae Sanctae
It is very significant that there exists a highly elaborate thirteenth-century Latin travel account of Egypt, which has hitherto remained almost completely neglected by scholars: this text was composed by Burchard of Mount Sion and appears, in some manuscripts, following his extremely wellknown description of the Holy Land, or Descriptio Terrae Sanctae
As we shall see below, he seems to have been strongly connected to the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem and may have belonged to the Dominican province of the Holy Land.[3]
Summary
Burchard presents his readers with considerable information concerning Egypt’s inhabitants He is concerned, first and foremost, with the country’s Christians, providing, as was already noted, different estimates as to their number in two places . A considerable part of the text is devoted to Burchard’s attempt to describe the Nile’s branches His geographical interests were not limited to the Nile, and he discusses Egypt’s size and shape, names the regions bordering it, provides distances between various sites in it and enumerates its ports. Of central importance in this respect are locations considered to be related to the Exodus of the Hebrews, and to Mary and Christ’s flight to Egypt It is noteworthy, that in contrast to the part of the Descriptio which is devoted to the Holy Land, these sites do not take a central position in Burchard’s account of Egypt
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